broncs, bbqs and ladybugs....

Cloud Peak Reservoir

We’re getting into the full swing of summer here in Buffalo, I do believe! As I’ve said so many times, whoever decided when the seasons were, must have lived somewhere right around here because spring isn’t officially over until this week and our weather is just now starting to act like it.  We’ve hit the absolutely gorgeous days now. I certainly couldn’t have asked for better conditions for all the stuff we had planned this weekend.

Happy hour on Friday was a blast.  I had seen a picture of some “ladybugs” on the internet, well, actually, someone had posted the picture in Turkish on Facebook.  Once I saw how cute the appetizer was, I just had to give it a try on my friends.  I figured out that it really was simply bagels, lox and cream cheese with a tomato and olive on it, made to look like a ladybug sitting on a leaf. So, I set out last week to duplicate them for my friends.  Because we live in the boonies, I make my own lox. It’s an ancient recipe, going back almost 2000 years, really quite simple.  You just smother the fresh salmon in kosher salt, pepper and brown sugar, wrap it up real tight and let it marinate for four or five days and voila….you have lox! Funny, I can’t stand cooked salmon, but I love it as lox or of course, sushi.

Ladybugs!

So, anyway, I then assembled about 24 of the little bugs, which turned out to be more of a pain in the butt than I was expecting. You cut a cherry tomato in half and then slit each half to make the back of the bug and the use a half an olive for the head.  The pain part came when I tried to duplicate the little black spots, which were chopped olives.  I got more chopped olives between my fingers than I did on the shiny surface of the tomatoes! They were a hit at the bar, though. I brought along the rest of the ingredients, though, and let everyone just assemble their own, once they saw the cute ones!  We had about 8 people at the table and I made 2 ½ pounds of lox, which were scarfed up in no time flat.

Saturday, Rob and I headed to Kaycee to the 2^nd annual Chris Ledoux Days.  They had a really great rodeo in the afternoon, which consisted of nothing but bareback and bronc riding and man, were there some talented cowboys competing! I don’t know how much you know about Chris Ledoux, but he was a bareback rider, back before he got famous for his singing. He’d certainly be proud, seeing all those great cowboys competing in his name this weekend! We are fortunate that the CNFR happens in Casper during the same week, so we draw a lot of talent from there.  I think only two or three cowboys did not have a qualifying ride.

Good Ride Cowboy!

My favorite part of the rodeo the past two years has been the Indian Relay Race, though.  Three teams come down from the reservations to compete and it is a real sight to see.  Each rider must go around the track on a bareback horse, and unlike bareback rodeo, there’s not even a rope for them to hang onto to stay on the horse.  After completing two laps around the track, they then jump off the horse and onto a fresh horse, doing it again, until they have ridden three different horses. It doesn’t sound like much when I explain it, and if you’ve never tried to mount a horse bareback, probably doesn’t sound very impressive.  But, let me tell you, these young men are serious athletes!

We were unable to stick around for the street dance, unfortunately, since Thistle is still a little too young to go that long by herself.  Hopefully, next year, we can either bring her with us or she’ll be old enough to be left at home for longer. Good thing we left, because I think Rob was going to eat himself silly in rodeo food. I had brought my own food along, knowing there’d be nothing “legal” for me to eat from the concessions. I hear that Western Underground and the Younger Brothers were absolutely fantastic.  Kaycee is such a wonderful town, full of friendly, hardworking ranchers and any time we can get down there, we just have a blast with those folks. It looked to me like the day was a real success for them.  The grandstands were overflowing with spectators and downtown, where they had Main blocked off, was teeming with folks, too.

Thistle was pretty miffed that we left her for over 5 hours but a few treats got her over the slump in no time. She spent the first hour just sniffing me up and down, getting a whiff of all the horses I’d been around.

Yesterday, we had some friends over for a big Father’s Day barbeque and we had so much fun! Our neighbors up the street, Ray and Rebekka, have four kids and Ray’s brother, his wife and daughter were visiting from Missouri, so we invited them over for a cookout. His brother just got back from serving a tour in Afghanistan so I offered to make up a big batch of elk burgers, some chicken and of course, hot dogs for the little ones. It was the first time Thistle has been around a bunch of little kids and I must say I was really proud of her!

Not wanting to tempt fate with Thistle, I had her gated away from everyone when they first got there so she could just watch all the excitement and calm herself down.  Once I opened the gate, she was pretty much a perfect little hostess!  Rebekka’s kids are used to big dogs, having a Giant German Shepherd and a Saint Bernard themselves. She and the 5 kids had a blast in the back yard.  Even though Elizabeth and Ashley are only two years old, Thistle was quite gentle with them, which was pleasantly surprising! For the most part, I believe she thought they were just walking treat dispensers.  She dutifully followed the two girls around and caught any crumbs they dropped. There were only a few times when she tried to actually take food away from them.  The funniest part though, was when Elizabeth put her bottle down and Thistle grabbed it and took off for the end of the yard with it! Elizabeth, on the other hand, was more interested in Thistle’s toys than her own. It was an afternoon just full of laughter, let me tell you. I think even grouchy Rob was enjoying all the little kids running around. We haven’t had a real Father’s Day celebration since our own daughter, Jaclyn, was young, so it was a real treat for me.  Plus, any time I get to cook for a mess of folks, I’m in heaven. In addition to the main courses, I made potato salad, asparagus pasta salad, homemade bbq baked beans (even the beans were from last year’s garden harvest) and we had lots of fresh fruit and veggies (mostly for me!)

The kids relaxing with Thistle

I got some sad news when I called and talked with my parents yesterday.  Their oldest Tibetan Spaniel, Clover, had to be put down on Saturday.  She evidently had a heart attack and while the vet said they could get her stable momentarily, because of the heart problems she had, it would probably happen again soon.  She had been diagnosed with cancer a few months back and my folks were determined not to let her suffer.  She lived a wonderful full life of 16 years but she’s going to leave a big hole in our hearts.  My mom was so upset, we just couldn’t even talk, so I spoke mostly with my dad.  This means they are down to five Tibbies, which I think is the least they’ve had in many years. My heart really goes out to them.

So, it’s back to the grind today.  Sherry and I are still hard at work getting items for Peg’s silent auction, which is coming along swimmingly.  Tonight, Thistle and I have our second obedience class to continue teaching her some manners.  I sure wish Barb, the trainer, had been a fly on the wall yesterday so she could have seen how well Thistle did. Now we’ll see if she can carry these good manners over to other folks! Today, I also need to call my doc and schedule some lab work.  I haven’t had any done in over 6 months and I think it’s time to see just where my immune system stands. I try not to let numbers rule my life so I don’t get that particular bloodwork done as often as I should.  There’s not a darn thing I can do with the results except get upset, since the medications have stopped working so I really do put it off. I know it’s a sort of magical thinking to not want to know, but hey, it’s gotten me this far! But, I’ve been getting really dizzy and tired so I guess it’s time to bite the bullet and get my butt in there for a reality check.

So, go forth, all you fine folk, and conquer your world today! Savor all the little joys in life, those are the ones that really matter.  Stop and count your blessings!

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.”
—Brother David Steindl-Rast