Roberts Bear

I am so slow at posting this one.

We finally got Roberts bear back after almost 1 year to the day. It has been an interesting experience. We are just happy to have the skin and the skull back FINALLY. The lady that was paid to do the salting of the skin took forever and then needed more money to send it back to him. He had already paid her for all of this. He also paid her to have the skull sent to the bug farm. That is a place where they put the skulls into some bugs and they do all the cleaning off of the nasty stuff. This never happened also.

So the story of the skull goes like this. Robert met a guy in SLC at the National Hunting Expo that lived in the same area that he went hunting. He happened to know the lady that was supposed to be taking care of his bear skin and the skull. Well we had already received the skin back so that wasn't the issue. We just wondered what had happened to the skull. Anyway this guy gets back to Alaska and he talks with the lady. She says the skull is at the bug farm. Then 3 months later we find out that she says shes lost it. About 4 weeks later Robert gets an email from the guy saying that he finally got her to crack and that he has the skull and was going to mail it the next day. So we are thinking cool, finally! Well it comes and it is through the REGULAR mail! He opens it and it has NOT been to the bug farm at all. This means that there is still meat all over it and it is stinkin... BAD! I told him to get it into the deep freeze before it gets worse. Then told him to call Dan our taxidermy guy at Drop Tine Taxidermy, and see what he says to do with it. So Dan has told us how to clean it up and all the yucky stuff that we (Robert) needs to do to get it all clean and shiny. Guess where it is. Yup, still in my freezer. Robert says he is just going to have Dan take care of it as he really never has a day off to mess with it and I am not really wanting to mess with brains. Nope not me. EEEWWWW! GROSS!

We got a letter from the Alaskan State Fish and Game telling us about the bear. They took a tooth from her mouth and did some tests on it to see how old she was and stuff. So here is what they said.

"Congratulations! My records indicate that you killed a black bear in 02Z on 5-19-08. By sectioning, staining, and analyzing a cross-section of the premolar tooth pulled from your Bear's skull at the time it was sealed, it was determined that your bear was 9 years old when harvested.

The length of your black bear skull was 10.81" and the width was 6.50".

I hope you had an enjoyable hunt. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

Sincerely,
Jodi Goffinet
Program Technician
Ketchikan AKF&G Wildlife"

So she was a pretty old bear and that explains why there was no cub with her to indicate that she was female and not a male. They thought she was a boar (boy) when they saw her.

So that is the story and here are the pictures of her. She is so pretty, the fur is so thick and nice. He really got a nice rug out of her. It covers our queen sized bed right up as you can see in the picture.

I should also mention that my wonderful Uncle Steve took Robert up to Alaska and acted as his guide. They had a blast together. This is Steve with the bear.

Dan also rugged it for us once it got here salted. He does an awesome job. If you ever need anything done he is worth looking into. His shop is on 2nd North just after 6th West in Logan. It is called Drop Tine Taxidermy.

Hay time!!

So it's that time of year again. Nobody likes it, of this I am sure, well maybe the "Drill Sergent" Robert might. He really cracks the whip and he never seems to get tired. I honestly don't know how he does it. I guess if it weren't for him the entire process would go on for a lot more days than it does now. He really makes you work.

Our horses live at the neighbors house (Marla and Ross)since we don't have a place for them. So we all gather at least once a year and bring in enough hay to last the entire year. This we are all thankful for, as nobody enjoys this part of horse ownership.

We are still using the small bales as we don't have a tractor to move the big bales. Yes I know, we are doing it the old fashioned way. But you do what you gotta do. I have to mention that Robert has been eyeing some tractors on KSL. He keeps saying that he can't keep doing this he is getting to old.

This year however, we were fortunate enough to have extra good help this year so things went pretty fast actually. Our friend Craig came out and brought Jason with him to help. Robert, Ross, Craig, and Jason were the bale buckers. Vivain and I were Manning (girling) the driving. Marla went to town to get some lunch to feed the hungry boys. Later after lunch Marla was out there with the boys in the field. They kept talking about how many mice there were in the field and I was even more happy to drive. Honestly I would probably ended up walking home had I had to deal with the mice. That is the one thing I cannot do!! No way no way No way!!!

Since we have had so much rain we are a little late in the season. Usually the 1st crop is cut by Memorial Day or so. This year it is a month behind or so!! It is crazy how much rain we have had. Usually I don't mind rain, every once in a while it keeps the temp down, but seriosly it has rained more in June than it hasn't.

We got a late start to the day and we were happy for the slight breeze that was blowing. We went from almost empty hay barn to very nearly full hay barn. We still need about 240 bales to fill it. Not sure if we will do this during first crop or wait until the 2ND. What ever we end up doing we are surly glad that the hardest part it over and done. 3 trucks with 3 trailers and lots of Gatorade makes all the difference.

Isn't he a cutie pie!!

Haevyn is getting so big!! He is a whopping 19lbs now and is 6 1/2 months old. He has the best little laugh and is just an all around happy boy! I don't think I can remember a day that he was grumpy even when he didn't feel good.





He has the most squish able cheeks on earth. Betty, Roberts younger sister, thinks he looks just like Justin when he was a baby.


Him and Gauge had to check each other out for really the first time.

Ahhh Horse Ownership!

This is Mode....


This is Mode on drugs....

Robert left this morning to go on a ride up Steel Hollow with Craig, and it was dark when he left. Once they got up the canyon and unloaded he discovered that Mode was once again missing not only one shoe but two. Both the right side shoes gone. This is the second time this year and it is only JUNE!! But not only was he missing his shoes but he had this lovely injury to his right front foot.



So he loaded him back up and brought him home. Remember that it is a Saturday, yes things like this always happens on the weekends when the Vets are not working. Meaning that you pay a lot more for help. We have a wonderful horse vet, Dr. Price, so a phone call and instructions were given. Dr. Price knows we live next door to a former Vet Tech so he knew we could take care of this on our own. PHEW! Thanks Marla you are the bestest neighbor of all the land!

She drugged him up so he was calm and drooling! He kinda looked silly standing there slobbering all over. She shaved his leg up, cut the hanging piece off and then proceeded to disinfect the area. Then she wrapped it up and made him a moon boot. He is fine and doing well. He is just sad that he has to stay home and not be out in the pasture with his buddy Gus for a while.
I love how his ears are all floppy in this picture.

I am here!!

OK so it has been awhile I know. I just have been so busy laying around! What can I say. Most everyone knows that I had some surgery done this month. I have to admit I was freaked out about the whole thing. But I couldn't really voice it because compared to Kalani's surgery mine was pie. We had surgery the same day. What are the odds right? 2 sisters having surgery together in 2 different hospitals. We weren't giving any body parts to each other. From what I hear she has way to much brains to fit in her head so she really could have shared. Ha Ha Ha!

Anyway I am on the mend and have just a little sore spot around my belly button. I am guessing it is from them checking out my guts or something. Other than that I feel pretty good. I have had a few days that I have been totally zonked because I thought I could do more than I really could. Really I never REALLY did that much. It just goes to show you that when your body needs to heal it takes alot of energy.

Kalani has wrote about her ordeal on her blog and you should head on over there to check it out. It is WAY more interesting than mine!! Thanks to all the family and friends who have called, emailed, sent texts and so on to check on us! Much love to you all!

A day at the races!

Tyson, Sakia and I went up to Pocatello, Id to enjoy a day in the sun with our dad (PaPa)and watch the horse races! This is something Tyson and I have been doing with our dad since we could basically walk. It has always been a part of our lives. We love it! Dad had one horse in and he had that race just about won until the other horses nose got in the way. It was a Photo finish! Could have been Sakia's first win picture!

Dad got to see Sakia who is 20 months today!! She was shy for a minute but after that she wanted nothing to do with me and Ty, she wanted her PaPa! She called to him while he was in the paddock getting his horse ready to run and when ever she wanted his attention.

I taught her to say GO GO while pumping her little fist while the horses were running and she figured out on her own by watching everyone in the stands to clap her hands! She is such a cutie pie!

We also discovered that she is not at all afraid of horses. In fact if we had not been watching her I am sure she would have gone right into the stalls with them. So we need to keep an extra eye on her at all times. Once second with the wrong horse could be tragic!

It was a great day! We all had fun and Sakia finally crashed in the car ride home. We thought that she would sleep on the way there but she didn't. To much to see and do to sleep I guess!

The last weekend for races in Pocatello is next weekend (Memorial weekend) if anyone is interested in a day at the races!!

Spring in Cache Valley

I am slow at getting the pictures off of my camera but this was a couple of weekends ago. Such a contrast in the colors. Only in Cache Valley. But I love it! So do the finches. They were just happy that I had filled the feeders. That is really all they care about.

Today is going to be a sunny and beautiful day! No snow.