Jim and I had the pleasure of spending last weekend in Seattle, visiting our grandgirls and nephew. While exploring Pike’s Place Market, we heard a ruckus above. A crow and gull were having a horrendous dispute, and I enjoyed spending a few minutes watching the crow dive-bombing the stubborn gull.
Author: Cat Urbigkit
Lambing season
Despite snow and rain storms, our lambing season has gone really well this year. Our ewes give birth out in the sagebrush and are not penned or sheltered. It’s a natural way of doing things, and we hold off on lambing until mid-May so we’ve made it through the worst of the storms and the …
Stealth of the Chicken Hunter
Just before Christmas last year, I lost my best girlfriend to breast cancer. I’m thankful that although Sheri’s no longer physically present in my life, her spirit endures, and that wild woman’s genes are coursing through the veins of her granddaughter, Kylie. A few days ago, Kylie’s mother looked out the window to catch Kylie …
Turkish friends
I’ve always suspected that we shepherds sometimes have too much time to think, and sometimes the result is often reflected in the activities that we undertake with our herds. Here on the western range, herders race their sheep wagons to claim the best camp sites on common grazing range when it opens in early December. …
Curlew and company
It’s a thrill for me every spring when I encounter a group of long-billed curlew, which I had the pleasure of finding Saturday alongside the highway north of Daniel, Wyoming.They are beautiful and graceful birds, but these guys sure had dirty bills and feet from plodding along in the mud, poking for treasures. A little …
Dancing for the joy of spring
Had to haul our last load of hay from our friend’s ranch on Sunday. It was very overcast and the ranch is ancient and captivating. These sandhill cranes were in the fields, and I’m sure they were dancing for the sheer joy of spring, rather than simply practicing their mating dances they will soon be …
Bulgarian artists
Our travels in Bulgaria last fall resulted in Jim and I both falling in love with that country and the people who inhabit it. We were pleased to spend time with brothers Atila and Sider Sedefchev, some of the most interesting and fun people we encountered on the trip. They have a working farm that …
Books + knowledge = Danger
It’s been an interesting and chaotic week. Had a great morning out on a sage grouse lek, watching and listening as the male grouse strutted and smacked each other. No hens at the lek yet, but it’s early in the breeding season. Never had any good direct light that morning (it was heavy overcast) so …
New pups
Our female Akbash livestock protection dog Luv’s Girl, gave birth to seven pups a week ago. We’ve been trying to leave the pups alone, but it’s hard to do. They are round and growing, and all is well.The sire, or sires, are Central Asian Ovcharka. Rant, and his nephew, Mikey (an Ovcharka/Akbash cross).The dark pups …
Rant’s a work of art
How cool is this? Talented artist and friend Duene Raper of Pinedale asked me for a good photo of livestock guardian dog Rant a while back. The other day she mentioned “Rant is hanging on the art room wall” at the senior center, and I was welcome to take the piece home if I liked …