Happy Trails!
~ Jody
Blue Creek, MT
March came in like a lion but is turning quite lamb like as the month is progressing. Snow is melting in a hurry and mud holes & bogs are now forming in the pastures. This should make for some nice obstacles during calving season. Seems it is inevitable for cows to calve on creek banks so their little woobies can roll into the still freezing water. Just yesterday the neighbor had one roll under a log stopping him from his impending doom, and wouldn’t ya know it, mama was not too impressed with human interaction despite the help her little precious was receiving. It is in these times where you learn to appreciate the use of a good dog if you have one, or even a bad dog for that matter. As far as high headed mamma cows go when tagging or doctoring new calves a distraction is a distraction and she’s more apt to go after the more coyote-esque of her tormentors. Now when I was young and it was just dad and I checking cows I did not always bring my dog. It should have been a lesson I learned fairly quick but sometimes you just don’t have time or leave the barn in such a hurry with all supplies and said dog is out screwing around doing other dog things. I have many happy memories of being mauled, pinned to the ground or mashed between cow and 4 wheeler, being chased in circles practicing my near non-existent bull fighting skills and/or being nearly knocked off my mount by a horse charging new mom while dad was busy drenching a near frozen calf or injecting vitamins in a still slick baby bovine all the while yelling at me to “not weaken” which sometimes was easier said than done. Crawling underneath the pickup is always an option if it’s there and I’ve seen more than one grown man engage in this tactic. Yes, a distraction is a distraction and unfortunately for me I was the quicker of the two of us and I suppose the more dispensable as well. . 
This photograph was taken about 1917 in an underground mineshaft.
The horse was totally blind, as were all such horses due to a lifetime in total darkness.
It is the most impressive image I have ever seen.
It depicts the American way of life and the effort it took our forefathers to build this great country.
