Monday, August 30, 2010

Weekend Adventures

It's been another busy weekend for the Bag Lady and the Rancher. On Saturday, they drove out west and north to a little independent sawmill operated by a retired fella and picked up some rough lumber for building a corral. On their trip they passed the "hanging tree". Rumours abound about this tree out in the middle of a field - some say it's a hanging tree, others say it marks the grave of a child. It's been there for many years, and hopefully will remain for many more:



It was a rather gloomy day, and the Bag Lady tried to capture a picture of these windmills (that she has never noticed before!) - you may have to click on the photo to enlarge it to see them:



There was also a little pasture with a few buffalo in it - the Bag Lady almost missed getting a picture for you:


On the way home, they crossed back over the river. The sun was trying to shine and turned the river to silver:


Sunday, the Rancher and the Bag Lady worked on building the corral. This picture is of the alleyway - the cows are chased into the little triangle, then along the alleyway into the waiting stock trailer for transport to a different pasture:


Here, the Rancher is nailing the last board on the other side of the corral pen:


There were some dark clouds threatening rain when the Bag Lady was on her way home, but they didn't produce anything.... at least, not at the Bag Lady's house:


And here is a picture of some of her home-grown tomatoes; yellow cherry tomatoes and some ripe sub-arctic maxis (some of you may remember that she posted a picture of them on the vine awhile back):

The weather forecast was for frost (again!) last night, so the Bag Lady picked quite a few of the almost-ripe tomatoes, and she and the Rancher covered the rest with old sheets. It didn't freeze, but it's always best to be prepared!

18 comments:

Cheryl Kohan said...

Wow, that WAS a busy weekend...thanks for taking us along. Very enjoyable :-)

I really like all your photos but especially the shot of the silver river. It is so pretty just meandering along. And the tomatoes are to die for.

Leah J. Utas said...

Love the river of silver. I quite like the Hanging Tree, too. It's got a haunting quality.
You sure sounded busy. I'm glad you rescued the tomatoes.

Sagan said...

Beautiful silver river.

Windmills always remind me of Holland... big old windmills standing in fields of tulips. Sighs. Need to go back there.

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

I wish I could get my tomato plants to produce tomatoes. Yours look lovely.

I'd love to know the real story of the Hanging Tree. I bet a lot of people take pictures of it.

Terrie Farley Moran said...

How many wonderful stories can we think of when we look at teh hanging tree?

Anonymous said...

The silver river is gorgeous.
I'm having trouble imagining frost. It was 74 degrees here last night at midnight.

messymimi said...

Even the weekends are full of work for farmers/ranchers.

Beautiful pictures, and enjoy your tomatoes!

Conny said...

That's a great looking corral! Your pictures are wonderful - they really tell your weekend. And your tomatoes look great - you're at a much higher latitude than we are and have more to show for it. How'd that happen? He, he.

Reb said...

Lovely photos Sis. The silver river is my favourite, but the tilted road shot with the bails in the field made me miss the drive between here & there.

Levi said...

All those tomatoes sure look yummy. Since surgery I've eaten a few home-grown and they are wondrous in their flavor.

solarity said...

Jealous of the tomatoes.
The windmills are my favorite: I had to enlarge it to see that those silver dots are windmills. The silver river goes nicely with them.

Mary Anne in Kentucky

the Bag Lady said...

Cheryl - thanks, glad you enjoyed it. And yes, the tomatoes are delicious!

dfLeah - that tree has been there for a very long time. It got struck by lightning, so it's shorter than it was, but it's still alive!

Sagan - the old style windmills are so cool! But these are, too - sleek and streamlined.

BG - yes, there are as many stories about the hanging tree as there are people who tell them! Wish I could share some of my tomatoes with you.

dfTerrie - it would be fun to know the truth (I actually lean toward the marking a child's grave but I'm sentimental that way), but making something up would be fun, too. You start! :)

kcinnova - I'm having trouble imagining frost, too. We had such a lovely summer, it's hard to believe it's cooled off so much so fast!

Thanks, messymimi! And you're right - it seems there is always something that needs to be done around a farm or ranch!

Conny - thanks for the compliment about the corral! I'll pass it along to the rancher. I think that even though we have a shorter summer, we have longer daylight hours in the summer, which essentially increases the growing season!

Thanks, Reb. Perhaps it's time for a road trip for you!

Janell - oh, yes, there is so much more flavour in home-grown tomatoes! I've been taking them for lunch to work and loving them!

Mary Anne in Kentucky - I can't believe I didn't notice those windmills until the drive BACK... I must have been looking on the other side of the highway the first time.

Hilary said...

Busy busy! I absolutely love that cloudy sky photo. The colours are just beautiful.

the Bag Lady said...

Thanks, Hilary! We've had some cloudy, cool weather, with lots of interesting-looking clouds!

JavaChick said...

We are having record high temperatures here this week, with the possibility of a hurricane showing up this weekend. So I don't think we're in danger of frost.

Looks like you have way more tomatoes though! I'm finding a few ripe ones every day now, mostly grape & cherry tomatoes. They sure taste good though!

the Bag Lady said...

JavaChick - I broke down yesterday and picked ALL my tomatoes and pulled the plants out (except for 3 plants in pots on the deck.
They will ripen in a box in the house and I will be canning and making salsa soon. I should weigh the box..... there are a lot of tomatoes!

David Cranmer said...

Love the windmills in the distance and the shadow of the car on the road.

the Bag Lady said...

Thanks, David. Those windmills were very cool.