The details make life interesting and are important in the Sandhills …

Life in the Sandhills can be very demanding – requiring much hard work in extremely cold and extremely wind conditions.  The settlers have developed many techniques to ease the load.  They have also developed an approach to living in the natural world that others, like myself, have missed.

Davy was a new experience for me.  I’d never used a well-trained working dog.  I wanted a picture of the farm from the hill behind the house so one morning I was ready to go about 6:15.  Davy clearly wanted to go with me so I let him out.

As I started to climb the hills, I said, “This way Davy.”  Davy ran in front of me, found a faint animal trail, and waited for me to follow him.  I was very glad because it was much easier to climb following the trail than simply hiking through the tall grasses.

Each time he headed off in an unwanted direction, I’d point my direction and say, “This way Davy” and Davy would find the path and wait patiently for me to follow.

Once he did get way off my desired path.  I simply called him and he rejoined me and led the way.

After taking my pictures, I kept on climbing – and lost sight of the house.  So I simply said, “Home Davy!”  Davy found the path and led me home!  Wow!

Of course, working animals are a way of life – here a 4-H youngster combs –

And even shaves her steer, making sure he’s ready for the final judging.

By the way, The rancher’s are keen observers of wildlife.  Did you know whitetail deer “bound” as they run while mule deer “hop.”  It’s easy to guess the kind of this deer …

I’ve mentioned the crucial importance of prairie grasses.  Celia continued, “Also, those [grasses] left to grow tall in sub-irrigated  meadows can be hayed and put up as ‘prairie hay’ for winter use – which is just what many ranchers do. You saw all the round bales on the sub-irrigated meadow across from us. The miracle is, they are never planted.”

Burying Beetles:  you may want to skip these two pictures.

Gary and Celia are constantly studying the natural world around them.

Here they are examining burying beetles and their place in the Sandhills.

The beetles are burying a dead pocket gopher, making a place for their larva while cleaning up the land.  Yes, I know – ugh!  But it’s an essential job and some animals specialize in it to our great benefit.

For Annie and Rachel …

Here’s Celia’s tack room!

And I’ll end with a star picture of the Milky Way – in the Sandhills you can see a zillion stars we can never see if we live near any city.