We were also blessed with the beautiful sound of our new wind chimes given to us by wonderful friends. These alto chimes resonate (wing) gently through the air with wonderful clear tones. The photo verifies the fact that we finally received some rain here and the outside terrain is looking much better. This was much needed moisture since the last loads of hay that arrived here came all the way from Mississippi.

I winged it by creating some new wire jewelry that looks a bit like some type of flying creature. It’s already time for me to start using Spring colors since this it what my wholesale customers will need next. These are just the beginning.

I created this garnet piece at the end of last year, but it got me started on the “winged” pieces above.

In between drumming, singing and making winged jewelry, we did find a little time for baking. My grandson was only too happy to help me bake a chocolate pie. Amazingly, the rest of the family was only too happy to eat it!  

Since the New Year has been properly winged in here at Dreamcatcher Ranch, the only thing left to do is say “Happy New Year” to you.

Soon thereafter, I heard the car arrive. I watched out the front window as the men gently took a box from the back of the car, carried it to the hole and put it in. As they began to shovel dirt back into the hole, I couldn’t think what to do. I turned away, not wanting to look any more, and almost ran into the big grand piano. Sitting on the bench, I softly played Amazing Grace. This was not planned and it seems a bit corny, but it was the only thing I could think to do. My dog, Cheyenne was gone.

I believe when its time, we must let our pets go and not allow them to suffer. This ten year old dog had multiple problems and it was her time. I also believe that the best way to get past an event like this is to tell stories and Cheyenne gave fodder for many a tale. These have continued to pop into my mind for the last few days.

I can’t possibly tell them all here, but suffice it to say that she was a spirited dog. She gave us beautiful puppies and she showed me that a dog can feed eight of them while standing up.

A dog can also survive being sprayed by a skunk, bitten by a rattler and giving birth through a C-section (among many other calamities).

She also showed me that even when your legs hurt, you can still run flat out at least one time. Then, you can take your ball into your dog house and rest for a while.

Cheyenne didn’t like veterinarians and even tried to bite our vet during her very last moments. As I said, she was a spirited dog.

She left the lucky few with beautiful progeny, many of whom went on to be good cow dogs at other ranches.  I’m privileged to have kept her daughter Frosty who then produced our alpha male, Bruno.

Cheyenne was the kind of dog that would lick your face and then turn around and bite your hand if she didn’t think you were doing right. She had her bluff in on all the other dogs until age and Bruno took over this past year.

We will miss Cheyenne, but if you’re going to have a pet, you have to be prepared to let it go when it’s time. For Cheyenne – it was time.

Since I’ve experienced these calls so often and know that I can’t normally get back to sleep, I started in on several unfinished pieces of jewelry. It seemed fitting to finish the “chaos” necklaces that I had on the workbench. I wrote about this style on February 24 and have since made several other chaos necklaces. The first one shown has a riveted charm.

A second chaos necklace is a bit larger and the middle charm has a soldered flower on it. This one has sponge coral and jasper beads.

One of my customers called and ordered a couple of these the other day. I had previously told her I could make them with “less chaos” if she wanted. She called and ordered two  confusion necklaces and one with less confusion. Hmmm – I had to think about what she meant for a bit. The “less confusion” pieces are pictured below.

An article with chaos in the title caught my eye today and a read enough to learn that in time of chaos, we are supposed to rely on our creativity  in order to be innovative and work our way through a tough period.  It looks to me like I’ve certainly found the chaos and it’s time to be creative. Taking this to heart, I’m playing with new designs based on the double wire structure of these chaos necklaces. I hope the new pieces hatch and pull me forward. Yet . . . I rather like this decorative chaos – what do you think?

Most of you know that I live on a cattle ranch here in Texas. A well traversed road runs by the front of our property and you can usually see a nice part of the herd from that road. Our cows are black. Our fences act like a fortress. Our cows don’t get out on the road. Yet, when any cow is on or near the road in front of Dreamcatcher, we receive calls. We receive many, many calls.

There is always a very slim possibility that the caller has spotted one of our animals where is should not be and we, therefore, always get up, get dressed and drive to the road to check it out. In the last eight years, none of the animals have belonged to us.

When the phone rings, we always ask callers the same litany of questions: what color are the animals? Do they have Dreamcatcher brands? Do they have ear tags? We use these questions so often that we could easily program our phone to respond with them with them when we receive late night calls.

It started a little after midnight this time. We could see the red lights flashing out on the road and the deputy on the phone said some of our cows were out. This time there was an auto vs. bull accident in front of our property. The bull was not ours (no brand, no ear tags . . . ) and it had been severely injured by its battle with a car. We asked the deputies to put it down. They would not. We asked if we could put it down. They would not let us. So they tied the poor animal up and left it there beside the road.

Since our phone number is on the ranch sign, each time a car went by and saw the poor beast,  they phoned us to get something done. One of the strangest calls came at 2:30 AM from a person who was riding his bike along the road. I answered no less that seven calls from drivers informing us about the animal. Obviously, this was not conducive to restful sleep. By morning the bull had passed and animal control is now trying to figure out how to move it. I didn’t volunteer to help them.

Lest this saga continue it’s downward spiral, something good did come from the lost night of sleep. First, I learned that people are compassionate. I didn’t know any of the roadside callers; yet they were concerned about both our loss and the poor animal. Secondly, rather than spending the night up and down answering the phone, I remained up and started stringing jewelry about 2:45 AM. There’s little else you can do but string since hammering while your spouse is asleep is not permitted in this establishment and I was afraid to light my torch while I was so tired. By this morning, I had completed a nice little pile of jewelry and even though I’m sleep deprived, I think most of the pieces look OK. See what you think.

The first two necklaces are made from mookite and kiwi rubies.

The next photo shows a piece made from faceted apricot moonstone and pearls.

The red necklace below is made of pretty, faceted, rectangular stones. I regret I can’t remember what they are. The final photo shows a piece of agate dangling from blue sponge coral. It will probably require a bit more attention. I also made earrings for all of these necklaces.

Now that you probably wish you hadn’t read this post, let me leave you with sleepy words of wisdom. You know what you are supposed to do when life hands you lemons . . . I’m going to rephrase it to say that when life hands you junk, make jewelry!   (yes, I AM very tired!)

By the way, we’re removing our phone number from the ranch sign on the road!

The fourth dog, a male named Bruno, is the puppy who entered our game about a year ago. He’s rough and tough and often acts like a bully. When the older dog, Dixie, the first dog shown below, gets the ball, he chases her and nips at her all the way back to me. I’d whack him if I could catch him, but I can’t. After about four months of this, little Dixie has had all she can take. Yet, instead of giving up, she is becoming the aggressor. The other day when Bruno got the ball, Dixie nipped at him all the way back to me. Hurray for Dixie! Now when Dixie catches the ball and Bruno tries to bully her, she just stops and walks slowly back to me. Smart Dog! 

The third dog, Frosty, is Cheyenne’s daughter and Bruno’s mother. She is the smallest and the fastest of all my dogs. She leaps high, has a good eye and runs like the wind. Of the four dogs, she is the one that doesn’t display any transgressions other than being wimpy when her mother growls at her. Good dog Frosty.

When Cheyenne gets the ball and is too tired or hurt to run for it anymore, she takes the ball in her mouth and goes into her dog house with it. She will not come out and bares her teeth if I come close or try to reach a stick into the house. The other dogs and I just look at each other. We’re not going in there!

I usually keep a second ball in my pocket for when Cheyenne steals the first one and goes to her house. The other dogs appear to appreciate this and rather enjoy playing for a bit without her. Eventually she comes out of the house and we end up with two balls in play. The dogs have now learned that you can’t get two balls in your mouth at the same time. It’s very disconcerting to them and they can’t figure out what to do when arriving at the ball just thrown and there’s already one in the mouth. The dog with this problem usually just stands with the ball in the mouth pressed against the ball on the ground until I arrive to retrieve them both. Heaven forbid that some other dog should get their catches!

Finally, Bruno figured out a plan about what to do when Cheyenne takes the ball toward her house. Yesterday, she took the ball and headed toward her house. I ran to try and head her off before she got there and Bruno rushed ahead and got in Cheyenne’s house. Smart Bruno! Boy was Cheyenne surprised! She considered getting in one of the other houses, but I had them covered. Cheyenne ended up bringing the ball back to the yard and playing with us. Hurray for Bruno!

While there are far too many dog/ball episodes to share with you at this time, I can point out a few specifics that I’ve learned from the afternoon exercise.

1. You can be hurt and still work flat out if you are selective about what you want to do.
2. Even when you are old and infirm, you still want to win fair and square without any pampering.
3. When there’s no one who can help you with a bully, sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands.
4. Good problem solving pays off even if you have to move into someone else’s space.
5. It’s not becoming to put too much in your mouth at one time.

If you have a dog, pay attention. You might learn something too!

Little did Bruno know or even care at that time, that he was to be chosen as the Dreamcatcher Ranch male blue heeler. Little did WE know that he would be such a BIG blue heeler.

His first Spring days amongst the blue bonnets at the ranch allowed him to display his spirit as he romped and played with his mother, grandmother and aunt, also blue heelers. That was back when they still liked him, back before he grew and grew and grew, back before he began to dominate the dog pen.

What a difference a year makes as now Bruno rules. He is 56 pounds of ambitious dog who must surely be digging to China by the look of all the little holes around the back yard. We know they are his holes by the tale tell dirt on his nose. The girls all have clean noses. hmm . . .

As with all self respecting dogs, he would love to eat the cat. When he gets to come in the house, he must always check through the window to see if the poor calico kitty is anywhere close by. When he spots her, he chomps his teeth and makes biting sounds, surely thinking . . . Macho, Macho, DOG. He also displays his maliness by grabbing his little momma’s collar and pulling her around the yard.

All in all, Bruno is a pretty good dog. Although the girl dogs can’t wait for him to settle down, we enjoy his exuberance and have fun with him. I guess he’s going to get to stay. I thought about creating a beaded collar for his birthday, but realized he would just eat it! I guess he’ll just have to get an extra bone today. Happy Birthday, Bruno! 

I never thought these jokes were particularly funny, but yesterday a few of them flashed back through my mind during a ranch episode. Here’s the question: How many ranchers does it take to feed a new born calf?

We were out bottle feeding a new born calf. He was a big strong fellow, but his mother hadn’t yet come into her milk. We thawed some colostrum previously saved from a mom with a still born, put it in a calf-sized bottle and set off for the pasture. Luckily, we picked our foreman up at the barn prior to heading to the pastures. Yes, we wondered how many ranchers it would take to feed that newborn. When we started the feeding, the answer became obvious. The foreman straddled the calf to keep him in one place, no simple job since the bull weighed a good 70 + pounds. I poked the bottle in and the bull drank his fluid while the third party, my husband, carrying a big stick kept the momma cow from killing us. The latter was the most difficult. You just haven’t felt fear until you’ve heard a great big momma cow who just delivered a calf bellow at you and start in your direction with her head down. They don’t just stand in one spot to do this; they circle you creating a smaller and smaller distance from you with each round. As if this wasn’t dangerous enough, another new momma cow thought we were too close to her calf and decided to help out. Now there were two people feeding the newborn, one person keeping the cows away and two cows wanting to flatten the people. Meanwhile, the little calf was taking his sweet time downing the bottle. Once he finally finished, we all backed away, keeping a close eye on both angry mothers. Of course, the silly newborn followed me because I had been his only source of nourishment. This didn’t help his mother like me any better.

So, back to the original question; How many ranchers does it take to feed a newborn? From the reading, you would most likely answer “three”;  From my experience, I think FOUR would have been safer!

Aside from this experience, when the three of us went back to the pasture for the second feeding, the buzzards were swarming near the fence and a different cow was going crazy. That’s when we saw her just born calf on the opposite side of the fence from her. When a cow is calving, she may back up to something, thinking this will help with the delivery (if a cow really thinks). We’ve found many calves that were delivered outside the fence from their mothers. We picked up the calf and tagged his ears for identification. This, of course, caused him to holler as though we’d shot him and I thought him mom would come right through the fence. Eventually, we pushed him through to her side and all was well. She quickly herded him away from the terrible people.  We were certainly glad that we made that second trip to the pasture and saved this little heifer.

I’m hoping that no Aggie jokes are needed today and that all will be well out in the pasture. Yet, with another seven calves due at the same time, you just never know.