"There is nothing so American as our national parks. The scenery and wildlife are native. The fundamental idea behind the parks is native. It is, in brief, that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us. The parks stand as the outward symbol of this great human principle." Franklin D. Roosevelt

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Minnesota

Well, I'm back in Minnesota. I left Yellowstone at 6:30 am on Wednesday and arrived at my destination in Minnesota at 10:30 pm. It's a long drive but I tend to be a power driver so I manage to easily drive long distances in one shot. On Thursday night I went out to eat with my mom and dad, my son Adam, his fiance Heather and my granddaughter Kaylee. She has grown so much and is the perfect baby - all smiles and grins. What a sweetie.
I am staying at my friends, Lyle and Denise, 250 acre ranch. They raise Black Angus and it is calving time. I sit on their back porch listening to the mama cows bellowing for their babies when they fall behind or frolic off too far.
The calves are adorable and they love to leap and twist while they play with each other. The weather has been extremely warm here. It was 90 degrees today which is a welcome change from the cooler temps I have been experiencing in Yellowstone. I check out the Weather Channel to see what is happening in the Park and I saw that it was 32 degrees with snow possible. I'm enjoying the sunny warm weather here. The family pet, Lucky, has been finding the warm temps too much and yesterday decided that a nice cool dip in the manure pit was in order. We spent the rest of the evening trying to stay up-wind from Lucky. Farm life is not for the weak.
I once raised miniature donkeys and my daughter has taken ownership of two of them. Here I am with Pokie who was my first donkey (he's a standard donkey). He started my lifelong love for donkeys. He's a chocolate colored donkey who has the trademark intelligence of the donkey. I nicknamed him Fingerlips because of his uncanny ability to open any barn door or unlock a chained gate with only the benefit of his lips.
This is Maggie. She is the newest addition to my daughters herd of gaming horses. Courtney is a barrel racer who has qualified the last two years for the world championships. She also hopes to someday acquire and train a mule and a cow for barrel racing. I guess she got her love for animals from me.