Spotted! A porcupine!

I don't know if we should call him our first "guest" of the season, but this little guy is definitely been frequenting the ranch for the past couple of weeks. Porcupines are some of the most peculiar creatures, they are very shy and keep to themselves. However, if YOU bother them, they are more than well equipped to land you with a face full of quills. If the quills are not removed immediately, they can fester and cause infection in the skin, due to a small barb that is attached to the end of each quill. Removing the quills can be very painful (just ask some of the ranch dogs). And, you can see how dangerous they could be around cattle and horses.... walking along and OOPS! There's a porcupine! Ouch! Keep your distance!

In case you are wondering what he's doing with his hand... he's covering up his very yellow teeth! They are the same color as the tree... perhaps they are made of wood too?  

Looks soft and cuddly, right? Just like your teddy bear! HA HA!  

Each quill will stick into skin like a razor, and can be "shot" from a distance of up to 5 feet away! 

Like I was saying, he needs to see a dentist.... 

Wishing for Spring....

Our Current View of the Ranch.... a land covered in WHITE! 

What we can't WAIT to see again..... 

Ah, well, it's a nice dream anyways! 

Cleaning up our act!

We aren't interested in Spring Cleaning around here, too many rattlesnakes to contend with! Instead, we have opted for a much "chillier" option and have begun to unload and clean up some of the clutter around the ranch! It's been such a rewarding experience to see some of this "treasure" head off to be recycled!

With the help from Deutsche Tree Service, our friend Sam, has helped us to get A LOT of stuff cleared out of here, preparing for the "prettiest" guest season yet to come in 2013!

Old rusted feeders and metal were among much of the "scrap" that was sent to the metal recycling center!

Glad we weren't driving this load down the highway! Good Luck to you Sam!

Tribute to Tom and Prince

After our recent loss of our team of Belgian horses here at Colorado Cattle Company, we thought it only fair to pay tribute to them on our Blog. 

Here's to two of best ol' boys, Tom and Prince, 

respectfully 25 and 29 years old. 

 Rainbow Bridge

Author Unknown

By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,
Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.
Where the friends of man and woman do run,
when their time on earth is over and done.

For here, between this world and the next,
Is a place where beloved creatures find rest.
On this golden land, they wait and they play,
Til The Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.

No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,
For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.
Their limbs are restored, their health renewed.
Their bodies have healed with strength imbued.

They trot through the grass without even a care,
Til one day they whinny and sniff at the air.
All ears prick forward, eyes sharp and alert.
Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the herd.

For just at that second, there's no room for remorse.
As they see each other...one person...one horse.
So they run to each other, these friends from long past
The time of their parting is over at last.

The sadness they felt while they were apart
Has turned to joy once more in each heart.
They nuzzle with a love that will last forever.
And then, side-by-side, they cross over...together.

Tom- aged 25 years old when he suffered from heart failure and was laid to rest in our CCC horse cemetery. We will miss your sparkling eyes and curious personality old friend!  

Prince- aged 29 years old on the day he was laid to rest in our CCC horse cemetery. 

The rock of the team, he lasted just two weeks longer than Tom. It's true what they say, partners are partners for life!  

Always something to fix...

Welding 101 

(project: broken gate hinge) 

Sometimes, here on the ranch, you make plans for the day of what you'd like to accomplish....
it all starts out good and well, but then, as you start making your daily rounds, you see all of the "other" projects that require your most immediate attention, like a gate hanging off the hinges...  so, you load the gate (heavy) into the back of the Polaris and drive it to the shop. Get out the welding equipment and fix the piece that has broken off.  It's not always a glamorous job, being a "Cowboy," but it is rewarding to know that you can fix something around the ranch that needs to be done without calling a "handy man!" Nice work boys!

Here you can see the "heat mecca" center of the arc created from welding. While it may look somewhat harmless, looking directly into this light can cause serious retinal damage, which is why wearing a welding helmet (pictured below) is essential! 

Just a note about welding from Wikipedia:

"Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material (the weld pool) that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes used in conjunction with heat, or by itself, to produce the weld. This is in contrast with solderingand brazing, which involve melting a lower-melting-point material between the workpieces to form a bond between them, without melting the workpieces."

Winter Storms on the Ranch!

We've had a few nice winter storms, which are sometimes hard on the animals, but we are in desperate need of moisture, so we are thankful for any snow we can get! Luckily, some of the snow has stuck around and didn't "blow away!" The horses and cows faired well, though there was a pretty rough morning the night after the storm!

Vernon is a new addition to the ranch. He is full bred Haflinger, a small draft horse used for pulling carts and field work. He is quite possibly one of our most "photogenic" horses on the ranch as his mane is over 2 feet long! He can even make a blizzard look good!

She wasn't very happy to show off her horn icicles, but somewhat comical nonetheless. (They melted in less than 30 minutes after the photo was taken!)

This little guy was just wondering, "what happened?"

The comic relief of the ranch, Festus and Roper, our two donkeys! Despite the cold and the snow, they were still running around like normal, acting like two little kids on a snowday!

(Even Prince, a 29 year old Belgian draft horse, was feeling his "oats" on the morning after the blizzard!)

"Eyesicles"- enough said...

View from the riding arena... still snowing. So dreamy...