Open Water Dive - Sunday June 17, 2007

2007-06-21 scuba open water dive

(click on the picture above to see the rest of the photos).

Father's Day - was spent at Jamestown RI, where we did our open water dive to complete our scuba diving class. It was a wonderful day, the weather was great, but the water was still cold. The visibility was only about 10 feet. Still, we saw star fish, lobster, crab and fish. It was an amazing experience to spend time in the ocean and see what is happening down under. I'm looking forward to seeing Florida and Africa from a different perspective than on land.

Earlier this week we took our written exams and Josh beat me by one one point. I guess I am getting older when the kids score better than you on a test. I spent most of the day studying and when I went to get josh to go to class, I expected him to be studying as well, but no he was fast asleep. I think that expalins everything.

Day 14 - Sunday June 10

[SD] Last Day 2007-06-11

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I drove over to the hard top road and waited for Phillip and his family. I decided to follow them into New Castle. I meet many of the congregation. It was good to see many people who had been and Vern's branding. It seemed like a majority of those there were here at worship.
Adult Sunday school had about 15 people, of which 12 were men, with Bibles in hand. Then worship began. They began with praise songs, a prayer, then the sermon, a bible study on how to pray. It ended with a prayer by a member. It was a very different order of worship than what I'm accustom to on Sunday mornings. But it was a good sermon and very biblical. We looked up at least 20 bible passages. But I must admit that I missed the liturgy, the prayers of the people, singing of hymns and communion . I must be showing my age.

I said my good byes to Phillip and his family and headed for the airport. On the way I stopped by Mount Rushmore. I took a picture with my phone and sent it to Barbara. She was surprised. It's been almost 30 years since I was here last. It has changed, but stayed the same.

I made it to the airport with just about an hour to spare. I returned the car and got my boarding pass. But when I went to go through security, it was closed. They wait for a plane to arrive before opening it up. I made it to the gate and sat down, and looked at a paper sitting on the chair next to me. There on the front page was an article about Dewey SD and drilling for Uranium. What a strange coincidence. There are only 7 people in Dewey, not many people know where it is.

Anyway-the flights went well and we arrived in Ct around 12:45 am on Monday. It was good to see my family again. The time change of 2 hours is harder coming home than going. Looking forward to my own bed.

Day 13 - Saturday June 9

[SD] Lake Powell 2007-06-10

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Slept into 6:30 this morning. We had breakfast and I did some journaling. Took a shower and got ready for a day at the lake on a boat. Andrew another of John's sons lives and works at a ski resort just north of Custer, SD. He brought down his big boat and some friends to have a day of water skiing. The water was cold, they put on wet suits. Andrew wore his cowboy hat water skiing, it was funny. I drove the boat once I saw how things were done.
Everyone who wanted to ski, had a chance then the friends needed to go and we just putted around the edge of the lake fishing and seeing the sights. On the far end were some big rocks about 40 and 60 feet up in the air, and kids were jumping off into the water. We watched for a while and then headed in. We loaded the boat and packed up. The sun and water zap your energy as much as work.

On the way home we drove around the Holme's ranch. It was a large area of timber, with some vista's that are just breath taking. I took some pictures. As we were heading for home, Phillip and his wife Kimberly stopped by. We visited and I made arrangements to go with them to church in New Castle, WY. The attend a mission congregation of the Evangelical Free church, they meet in a senior center. They use projection for singing. I wanted to see how it worked.

Day 12 - Friday June 8

Woke up this morning to a hard freeze, 28 degrees. We had breakfast at the camper. Then we packed up and moved the camper down to a pasture area, so that as john checks the cattle, he has a place to stay. We got it moved, leveled, powered up and ready.

Then we jumped on 4 wheelers to find the calf that was having problems. We found it and treated it. It just fell over, it was so bloated. Hopefully it will be ok. We ate lunch at the trailer. It was already 78 degrees by noon, didn't need a jacket.

The rest of the morning we drove the 4 wheelers around a pasture checking fence. We found so very old barbwire that has only a single wire. John gave me a piece. Then on the way home we stopped at the holding pasture where there was a flat bed trailer that need to be brought home. We emptied the water out of the tanks. Then we changed a tire. I went and picked up the electric fencer and battery. Then we loaded up the tanks and equipment. The truck hauled it up the steep bank and once on top we loaded the 4 wheeler. We made it home just fine.

Around 4 pm we headed for New Castle, Wyoming so I could look at a western store. I found a few gifts and then we went to Pamyda and got a new phone of john. I helped hook it up at home. Called home and prepared for my trip home.

Day 11 - Thursday June 7

Today I slept in until 7:30 am. I showered and had breakfast. Margie washed my clothes, as I have nothing left to ware. We plan to go to the allotment and fix fence, move water tanks and go to a Gideon's meeting. We plan to sleep at the camper tonight and then come back tomorrow. Saturday we are going to see Andrew up by Lead, SD.

Today the wind is blowing very strong. It will be different not to be on a horse today, as I have ridden almost every day so far. We were calculating that I must have ridden over 75 miles so far, and this would be a modest estimate. I have some wear spots, but not much soreness, as I remember having. I guess all that gym work-works.

John and I went to the allotment and moved a water tank. We put together some 1 1/4" pipe and then set the tank on a flatter piece of ground. Then we took the 4 wheelers and checked the cattle. We were looking for a certain calf that had scours. We didn't find it , but we did see 5-6 elk. The Elk just stood there and watched us get closer, so I could get some pictures. Every time I've been here I've seen elk. They are big animals.

Tonight we went to a Gideon's meeting. I ate with them and then went to look in some stores while they had their business meeting. I found a few items as gifts for family. Were at the camper now, for the night. It's cold out, they had freeze warnings out for the area. Glad were in a camper and not in a tent.

Day 10 - Wednesday June 6

[SD] Powder River Wednesday 2007-06-06

(click on the album to see the pictures)

Today I woke up before anyone and took a shower. I stank and couldn't stand myself anymore. I spent some time writing this journal. It's 6 am now and Spencer and Philip are the only ones up. They are outside checking animals. Today we finish working the dry cows we brought over yesterday. Then I think we might be done. I guess we'll wait and see.
We went over to Lester Lake after breakfast. We saddled up the horses. Then we worked the dry cows through the chute. They were pregnancy checked, vaccinated if pregnant, or culled if they were open. We were done around 10:30 am. Then we mounted the horses and moved the cows that were to be kept and combined them with the cows and caves.

We are to move the cattle to another pasture, this will be our last cattle drive. We moved them to the Big West pasture. It took until 2:30 in the after noon. We had to drive them not only into the pasture, but then another 5 miles to water. We went through a big gap and the wind was blowing over 40 miles/hour. A couple of the girls lost their caps. We then rode back to headquarters for lunch and headed home.

We stopped at Casper, Wyoming at a cowboy store, but it closed at 5:30 pm and we arrived at 6 pm. Imagine stores closing in CT at 5:30 on a week day. They wouldn't get much business, but this shows the difference between the West and East. Agriculture based towns can take time during the day to get things they need. Any way we just headed for home. We got to Philips house around 9pm. I had supper with him and then headed to John and Margie's around 10pm. We talked for another hour, so it was close to 12:30 pm before we headed to bed. It was 275 miles to Powder River from John and Margie's house. The last 25 miles into the ranch was dirt road.

The Powder River Cattle Drive will be one for the ages in my life. I don't know if I'll ever be able to do something quiet like it. But I know that I shall never forget it. It reminded me of the wilderness that the Bible talks about, desolate, but beautiful, tempting but dangerous. Wow-it's Big Country.

Day 9 - Tuesday June 5

[SD] Powder River Tuesday 2007-06-06

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Today, everyone over-slept. We were tired. Phillip and I woke up at 6 am. Everyone else slept until 6:30 and then we woke them as breakfast was ready. Today we are to brand, vaccinate, castrate and ear tag the caves. We headed over to Lester Lake ( this is where the horses are in a corral). When we arrived it took almost an hour to find the cattle (small pastures are still big out here). Once we found them, we drove them to the corral and separated the cows and caves. We roped, branded, vaccinated, castrated, and ear tagged the caves. I was a wrestler today. For awhile I held small caves by myself, as we were short on help. Philip castrated. Alana Vaccinated and ear tagged. Travis branded. Colt roped. Nate and Arthur held the big caves. Susan helped Alana. Then a couple others showed up and then I had help holding. Jodi helped me hold the caves. Spencer roped. Once we were done, we went to gather more caves in the Cotton wood pasture. Nate and I gathered about 200 headed of cattle. We then helped sort after driving them across the pasture. We then drove Paulton's cattle across the creek area back to Lester Lake. We branded the caves in that group. Then we worked some of the cows. While we were gathering, some of the crew worked the other cows. They dipped them, vaccinated and pregnancy checked the dry cows.
It wasn't a big day, we branded about 42 caves in all. We even branded three caves at the end of the day that had to be trailered in. On the way home we learned the ranch is about 10 miles by 25 miles. That's a lot of ground.
Tonight we ate supper outside on a picnic table. It must have been around 9:30-10 pm. We had pulled beef, hamburgers, salad, desserts. We sat around and listened to stories that Dan the manger of the ranch told of experiences by friends in Wyoming. It was a late night, but we were satisfied with our work and the good food made the day end magically.

Day 8 - Monday June 4

Were now at the Paulton's ranch in Power River. We got up at 4:45am and had breakfast of eggs and gravy and bi. He took lunches and then headed for the pastures. Some of them are 10,000 acres. We road all day up and down the gullies looking for cows and caves, pushing them to the South. We road at least 15 miles if not more. It was amazing country. Near the end of the day we pushed some of the found cows to a pasture. 4 wheelers were driving them, one of them got stuck and Phillip roped it and he and his horse pulled it up the hill.

We could just see the main heard being driven back to the coral about 5 miles off. Our horses were just too played out to catch them. We were trying to decide what to do when we could see a truck and trailer coming our way. We road the 5 miles easy and then trailered our horses back to the coral. The wrangler had brought the trailer with fresh horses to catch the main heard. They headed off and we loaded our horses drove the trailer. The main heard arrived at the coral where the horses were staying, about the same time we arrived in the truck. It took a long time to drive, the trailer was loaded with 10 horses. We moved some heifers before the main heard arrived. Then we unsaddled, feed and watered the horses. They were glad to be done for the day. We headed to the headquarters for supper. We ate around 9 pm. Then turned in. Tomorrow is a day of branding and sorting of cows and caves.

Day 7 - Sunday June 2

[SD] Powder River 2007-06-05

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We went to church this morning in Edgemont, SD. Today went to John and Margie's church, a Southern Baptist. I went to the education hour. Then went to church. The pastor asked if I would give the opening prayer for worship. I also sang in the choir. It was a beautiful day to worship God. John drove me around Edgemont. Then we went home and had a steak dinner and I packed for Powder River, Wyoming.

Some of the neighbor's lease a ranch north of Powder River, Wyoming. It is a ranch that has 95,000 acres, which means it's size is 10 miles by 25 miles. The smallest pasture is 10,000 acres. We are going to gather up around 100 head of cows and caves. It's a chance of a life time for me.

I left for Philip's around 2pm. We waited until around 3:30 when the Paulton's came with their trailer. We loaded up 4 horses and tack. I drove Philip in my car. We headed for Powder River, Wyoming. It's a ranch with 95,000 acres. It took about 4 hours to drive. We stopped in Lusk and picked up another guy. Then we stopped in Casper, Wyoming for supper.

The last hour was spent on dirt roads that we could only go about 20 miles/hour. It was 25 miles back off the main road.

We slept in a bunkhouse for the night.

Day 6 - Saturday June 2

[SD] Branding Cattle 2007-06-02

(Click on album to see pictures)

Today we went to Vern Hovland's ranch and helped him with branding. He had 200 head of cattle, and the caves had not been branded, ear tagged, casterated or vaccinated. We trailered the horses up to a cannon and then road them up to his place. We pushed the cows as we went.

There were around 20 people who helped. We sorted the caves from the cows and then pushed them into a roping pen. The ropers would heel the caves, drag them to the open area, where a grounds crews would throw the calf, brand, vaccinate, ear tag and castrate the bulls.

I put ear tags in the heifers. It was a fun day. Everyone had a good time. We ate
Lunch then worked the cows. They needed fly dip and vaccinations. It was one of the last brandings of the season. It was kind of a ranching party. I had a great time.

Day 5 - Friday June 1

The day began, first with me feeling better. Then around 5:30 am Philip came and said that the horse I had been riding, Dandy, had colic. It's being constipated. 90% of horses that die, die of colic. They loaded him up and headed for a vet. We got things around and had breakfast. John came back from the vet and he said, the best thing for him was to be ridden. So I saddled him up and we gathered the cattle and headed down the road. It was not raining today, but the wind was blowing strong and cold. We kept them moving all morning. We arrived at the pasture around noon. We separated off a few pair and then moved the rest of them to the pasture area, which took another hour and half. They seemed to know where to go. John met us near the area and trailered the horses back to the camper. They will leave the camper, all summer, as they check the cattle and move them from pasture to pasture. We ate lunch and then headed home. It look over an hour of driving to get home. Once home we took care of the horses and unpacked. It was good to just rest and not be moving. I'm looking forward to a warm shower and soft bed tonight.

Day 4 - Thursday May 31

[SD] Cattle Drive (Day 2 and 3) 2007-06-01

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Today we began early 4 am. It will be a long day of driving the cattle. We will stay over night in the woods with the cattle and finish the drive on Friday (Day five).
The day began around 4:30 am. We were packed and ready to go by 6 am. Before we even left the ranch, it began to rain. They need the rain, but it will make the day long and cold. We gathered the cattle just fine. They moved steady in the rain. The cold that made us shiver, made the trip easier for the cattle. We stopped around 10am for a snack, and something to warm us up. We continued the drive and stopped again around 1:30 pm for lunch. We coraled them at a neighbors, Wendell Crawfords. They brought the camper along for us to stay out of the weather and warm up. We arrived at the designated stopping place around 7 pm. I was not feeling well, when we arrived. My stomach was very upset. I had to use a neighbors out-house, several times. I took some medicine and by morning I was feeling better. It was just nice to be warm once again. The cold wind and rain made for along day.

Day 3 - Wednesday May 30

[SD] Fixing Fences 2007-05-30

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Today I got up early and went for a 4 mile run. The cows just stared at me as I ran by them. I don't think they had ever seen a person running down the road. They just shook their heads and stared. Then we loaded up the 4 wheeler and went up to the Black Hills forest area. It was about a twenty mile ride.
We first built a electric fence in a area that will hold the cattle tomorrow evening before we get them up to the allotment. We finished this project by 10:30 am.

I then drove a 4 wheeler 5 miles down the road to the area where we will water the cows before we reach the final destination. We ate lunch here.

Then we checked the fence around the National Forest area. We road the 4 wheelers by about 10 miles of fence. There is over 30 miles of fence to check. It was fun riding the 4 wheelers up and down the hills. The weather was cold and rainy. A cloud would pass over and it would rain. Then we would dry out and then it would rain again. We finished up and headed home by 4:30-5 pm. While in the timber we saw 2 elk, numerous deer, and antelope.

One the way home we stopped by this area that has tepee rings. There were hundreds of them. The Native Americans used this area in the winter to camp, and make arrow heads.

Then we saw jump off canyon and red creek canyon-where we hiked up and saw a cave. The day ended with supper around 7 pm. Philip and his family came over around 7:30 pm. They came to spend the night, so we can start the cattle drive early--around 4 am on Thursday.


Breakfast was oatmeal
Lunch was baloney sandwiches, cookies, carrots, apple.
Supper was hamburgers, sweet corn, potato salad, Cold slaw and rhubarb crisp for dessert.

Day 2 - Tuesday May 29

[SD] Cattle Drive Day 1 2007-05-29

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Today we moved 100 head of cattle and caves about 5 miles up the road. It was good to be in the saddle again. The land is just beautiful. The Curchival place is where the cattle ended up. It's names after a family that once ranched this piece of land. We'll continue the drive on Thursday. Tomorrow we fix the fence in the holding pasture up in the National Forest.
We loaded up the 4 wheeler and prepared for fixing fence tomorrow.
Breakfast was bacon and eggs.
Lunch was steak, potatoes, gravy, beans, rhubarb crisp.
Supper-noodles with gravy. Fried potatoes, Banana cream pie

Day One-May 28

[SD] Arrival in South Dakota

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I arrived for my 12:30 flight to Chicago by 10:30 am. The journey through security was uneventful. I did have three people comment on my hat. I guess even in the East, there are those who long for the western hats of cowboys. The weather looks good, so everything should be on time.
I'm packing just with a carry on and one back pack. I'm using it as a trial run for our trip to Africa. I have more on this trip, that will not be going to Africa. There is enough room. We'll see how the pack stands up to the luggage handlers. And more importantly, will it make the trip with me? Let's hope.

Had supper with Holmes-steak, peas, pasta, salad, banana cream pie.