pets

2011 Instagram Photos

13 Jan posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

It’s no secret I love the Instagram app for my iPhone. And it’s no secret to those reading this blog that I take a lot of photos with my iPhone! It’s handy, and I somehow manage to take good photos with it!

So I thought it would be fun to pull some of my favorite photos from last year and put them all in one place!

So cute!

Gump in the bosal for the first time:

My two favorite boys, rubbing on Promise.

Gumpy!

Dolce, chewing on some yummy grass!

A cute newborn chick!

Happy Trails and Happy Friday all!

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Filed Under: horses, pets, photography, pictures

Chick Chick!

27 Jul posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

My hens have been sitting on eggs. And like the good Chicken Farmer that I am, I had no idea how long they’ve been brooding. I just know they have. Two days ago, I went to feed and water them and found this little guy:

Here “it” is with the proud mama!

I have another hen that is sitting on 4 eggs and if she has any luck they’ll be more cuteness running around!

Happy Trails!

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Filed Under: chickens, pets, ranching

Jackson

14 Mar posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Greetings from Texas! And not only am I in Texas, I’m in Texas in the Spring! Spring has sprung here, and there’s green grass, blooming flowers and plants and it’s warm. I’ve been in t-shirts and flip flops since arriving. Can I just tell you how thankful my feet are to be out of muck boots? Actually, that probably goes without saying.

Anyway, now that I’m here, I’ve been busy taking photos of people and things, including a girl and her horse. We’ll get to those photos later, but I’ve got plenty of photos of spring, as well as a few of our newest acquisition, Jackson. Jackson is a 6 year old donkey that my friend/client picked out for us. He is a painted, stud, donkey who will be having surgery on Tuesday, but in the meantime, I absolutely must share his adorable-ness with y’all!

What is not to love about this face?

Or those spots?

Or these ears? Oh the ears!

He might just be as adorable as baby goats!

I will be back very soon with some photos of Spring and some photos a beautiful girl and her gorgeous horse!

Happy Monday and Happy Trails!

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Filed Under: pets

Spring is in the Air

4 Mar posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Despite the fact that we awoke to 9 degrees this morning, yesterday afternoon was cause for celebration. You see, one of our two nanny goats, that we keep around for no reason other than entertainment and weed control, had her kids. There is nothing, NOTHING, I tell you as cute as baby goats. They are by far one of the cutest babies on God’s planet. And without exception, animals always cease to amaze me.

I got a text from Bud, that there was one baby goat, then another that said make that two, so I immediately dropped what I was doing, grabbed my camera (of course) and headed to the corrals to find them. One hundred and forty-seven photos later (freak much?) I had chronicled the first few moments of their life and managed to catch a coming yearling heifer honing her mother skills as well. You see, #192 was just certain she needed to help mother these babies, by drying them off. Her tongue of course is just nearly as big as they are, and since they were so wobbly, she would push them around and knock them down, all the while licking and loving on them. She had the best intentions and it was so sweet to witness it.

The easiest way for you to see the photos, all 57 that I chose to show y’all, was in a slideshow. So as usual, click on the first one and scroll through to see the story unfold. I love ranch life, babies, spring and all that goes along with it. I am so fortunate to get to do what I do and live where I live.

[flickrset id="72157626066780361" thumbnail="square" overlay="true" size="medium"]

As an aside, there should be another set of goat kids still to come this spring. I just hope that nanny waits until I get back from Texas. And one of my 3 mares should foal any moment. And her, I hope she does it before I leave!

Have you ever witnessed the miracle of birth (and I’m not talking human here – though that is a miracle)? And if so, what was your feeling in witnessing that miracle?

Happy Weekend and Happy Trails!

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Filed Under: pets, ranching

It’s a Dog’s Life

28 Feb posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

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Winter makes for lazy dogs that crave the indoors. Not like they have fur coats or anything. They could all live outside but it’s hard to tell keep them outside when you know they’ll be super happy curling up on the floor, hanging out with you.

How do you say no to a face like this?

Or this?

Or to the dirtiest, one-eyed, Papillon in America?

Jake’s favorite thing to do is snooze the winter days away.

His second favorite thing to do is to have someone pet him while he’s laying around. And I’m certain that’s what he thought he needed to happen here.

Look how happy he is!

Yes, Jake, You’re a good dog!

Even if you are lazy!

Mj thought I was interrupting her beauty sleep.

But look at her!

Her favorite winter hang-out is the deer-hide rug in our living room.

And when Jake isn’t laying around, he’s super helpful for choring!

Yeah, I’d say it’s a pretty good life to be a dog on this outfit!

Happy Trails!

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It’s a Motley Crew

28 Dec posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Blue skies, sunshine and warm temps (for you Texas folks, that means it was about 35 here- and maybe 42 in the sun), called me out into the great outdoors for some photography on Sunday. I could not have asked for a better day. In fact, I have been kind of half-way waiting to take pictures of the snow covered ground (Devon!) until the lighting was good and it wasn’t a mass of gray outside- which it has been for what seems like forever.

With nary a breeze it made for a nice walk down the hill to Granny’s house, where I knew a piece of apple pie awaited me. It’s still the Holidays for us through the 9th this year, so don’t judge me for eating pie at breakfast!

Here’s some of the shots I took on the way down.

Sparkly

Looking across the dam at the saddle horses who seem to be just kickin’ it.

The dam- you can see the dried up reeds.

And as I got closer to Granny’s house, I was greeted by our misfit crew of barking dogs, that weren’t sure exactly what someone was doing walking around outside.

From left to right: Higgins, Crystal and MJ.

Jake, Higgins, Crystal and MJ.

MJ is so cute!

Here’s what I found as I walked around down by the corrals and the hay stacks:

Windbreak fence:

More snowy sparkles:

A chisel:

Jake being a handsome dog:

Hay bales:

Windbreak fence casting a shadow:

WDX Nukem, one of the studs:

Nuke loves attention, so as soon as he sees someone he usually makes a point to come see you so you can rub on him!

I hope you enjoyed the tour around the corrals, through the snow! I certainly enjoyed the weather! And there’s more photos of my ride to come! So stay tuned!

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Filed Under: holidays, life, pets, photography, ranching, winter weather

I Heart Faces: Pets

14 Dec posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

This is my entry this week, for the I Heart Faces Challenge.

For more Pet entries, visit, I Heart Faces!

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Filed Under: horses, pets, photography

Goatie-Goat

29 Jun posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

As we have established previously, testosterone makes boys, men and bulls ~~think they’re invincible~~,er, stupid. But how does it affect our billy goat?

Well, he just has plans for world domination. You can see it in his eyes, his thoughts, his long beard. He’s scheming, I tell you. Certain he can intimidate the human folk with his ability to stand on his back legs and point his ram-like horns at them, he is pretty sure this ranch is his domain and if he could only figure out how to get through the fences he’d own the state of South Dakota, and then…THE WORLD! (Insert evil billy-goat laugh here).

Yup, he’s a tough one, that’s for sure. Seeing as how he almost melts when you scratch his horns! Goatie- Goat, you’re hours of entertainment, for sure.

Happy Tuesday!

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Filed Under: pets

Jake the Ranch Dog

24 Jun posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

What’re you doin’?

Scratch, Scratch, Scratch…

Is it good, Jake?

Earth to Jake! Jake! Come in, Jake!

Is that the spot?

It must have been good, eh Jake?

Hey Buddy! Glad you got your back scratched!

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Filed Under: pets

One Billy Goat Gruff

30 Apr posted by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Who’s the baddest billy goat of all?

If you were to ask Goatie-Goat, he’d say it was him, of course.

He’s certainly trying to show this two year old who’s in charge around these parts.

And she’s not sure she’s going to have it. Any of it!

Maybe letting her think like she can push him around is part of some diabolical plan that Goatie-Goat has?

After all, this heifer has no ears. She lost them one winter to frostbite. He could be trying to help her self esteem. You know, Mother Nature, she’s not exactly kind.