Well, it’s the last week of April- obvious by the layer of snow, cold days with cold nights, and green tips of grass peeping out from the cracked Wyoming earth.
Here are some highlights:

1. Franny Anne was born. I love her.

2. Josh’s shop floor is officially cured. We have a concrete floor that will hold his equipment steady and still.

3. We are moving into the barn. Literally. We’re going to be living in a steel barn. Josh promises to install a wood stove and a toilet before the end of this week, and a fridge and a stove top by the end of next week.

4. Emma Gates has successfully NOT killed either Josh or myself- picture below is Emma and her calf (a heifer) Ypsi Gates.

5. Diego and I explored a new part of town, a beautiful crevasse up the Rawlins Uplift where we viewed not only the breadth of the town, but all parts north and south including the ranch. We sat on rocks, chased rabbits, and watched a buzzing world below. Typically, I don’t love being licked by my dog. I’m not sure why I look so content here…

6. We picked up a mortgage application from the bank with hopes that the yurt will be built by the end of July. Not that I don’t love barns and all, but I’m kind of looking forward to the yurt.

We haven’t quite reached what I would describe as a world of Spring here, but there truly are little tufts of random green grass coming up. I can’t wait for the cows to get there nozzles into it.

There is one heifer still needing to calve. She looks a bit bewildered at the little ones bucking and bawling around her, not quite sure what it means to be standing around without her own. Soon, very soon she too will have a teeny furry critter to play with the other five. It’s funny to watch the babies stand around, trying to snack on the alfalfa hay. The look a bit like I would munching on grass, like a goofy guy not sure how to say what’s actually brewing in the mind, straw hanging from the corner of the lips like a partially spoken statement.

Off to build a space in the barn to lay our heads….