Friday, May 25, 2012

Putting the LAG in Flagstaff

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We've just been holding down the lawn chairs lately. We'll do the social stuff later this weekend, when we will attend an entire party all at once.

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I haven't been paying attention to the news, but I think this might be National ATV Weekend. It's when people take their city noise for a ride out to the country. I suspect the fresh piney air makes them nauseous, because they bring fossil-fuel fumes for comfort. 

A huge (HUGE!) party moved in next door, and they were the quietest neighbors you can imagine overnight. Now that I've written that, it occurs to me I told you that about another campsite, so it's possible your hearing is gone.


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Temple Grandin was here? Single-file, you cows. There's water enough for everyone.


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TOTALLY a bald eagle. LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

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31 comments:

Brenda A. said...

So....do you two have to fight for the loungy chair? I know I wouldn't volunteer for the upright one with a loungy-er option staring me in the face. :)

The Good Luck Duck said...

Oh Brenda, it's a bone of contention in our vegan broth. Here's how it goes down: if we're both sitting outside, Annie gets the loungy chair. We have two, but since her back went out, she's been sitting indoors in the other one. So, the upright, uptight chair is too owwie for her.

Kimbopolo said...

Laugh out loud!

Love the still life: Empty Chairs in Sylvan Glen.

Brenda A. said...

Awwww.....poor Annie! Sorry to hear she's still fighting that. If I was closer I would give her a massage. You are a sweetie for seeing to it that she gets the not-so-uptight chair. :)

michael ultra said...

Beautiful photos. Did it occur to you that Annie has them both? Just wondering.

The Odd Essay said...

What's the red flower in this post? I always love your photos!

Sherry said...

Is this an anti-gravity lounger? My back pain specialist recommends it highly. Gentle hugs to Annie.

I didn't actually hear you about them neighbors from the city. But we're getting prepared here for memorial day.

VtChris said...

Wonderful photographs!!!

Annie said...

Cheese it, you guys. Ixnay on the airchay ogginghay. She's going to start to get resentful.

Sherry, yes, they're the anti-gravity loungers. So great for a bad back.

klbexplores said...

Amazing how far you have to go to find piece and quiet.....Soon the holiday will be over. Ahhhhhhhhh......

The Good Luck Duck said...

Hahaha Annie! Oooh. I'm getting vewwy angwy.

Thanks about the photos. Sharon, I don't know what it's called. i should Google it.

Brenda, thanks for the massage thoughts.

Terry said...

OK. Let me explain the long, single-file, corral extension. In our days on the farm/ranch it was called a "feed chute" in that it allowed the cowboys to feed one cow critter at a time to the working chute. One fills the feed chute with critters and then gets between the front critter and the one behind it to work in just one critter at a time. Then climb the sides of the feed chute to get behind the next one when appropriate.

The working chute is otherwise known as a squeeze chute. (Use google images and type in "squeeze chute" to see images of them and how they are used.) They are used when doctoring, branding, de-horning, and making little bull calves into little steer calves. The smaller ones are used for calves and are capable of being tipped over to lay the little critters on their sides to make the bull/steer transition work easier to do.

If all one was doing with the cattle was vaccinating them all for illnesses, we would get a feed chute full of critters and then just walk down the line giving them their shots. No need to use the squeeze chute for that function.

Oh, and by the way....cow critters of all sizes and types do not cooperate when working them. It can be hot, dirty work or cold, dirty work. However, there are times I miss that work.

The Good Luck Duck said...

Ah, very interesting, Terry! Now, Temple Grandin says that getting a cow-type-person in a squeeze-y situation calms them, and same for human-type people who may be autistic. In fact, I read that she has her own squeeze chute-like device in her home. Is it your experience that the cows were calmer when in that kind of chute?

Luci & Loree said...

Gorgeous flower pictures!!!

¡Vizcacha! said...

Thanks, Loree!

Donna K said...

Love the pictures of the craggy old tree trunks. Somehow my mind wanders to Russ...

Terry said...

Well, when one is doing things to cow critters that can be painful, I certainly wouldn't say that they were calm. Numerous large bruises (now thankfully gone) would attest that they do like to reach out and touch someone. The tight quarters is mostly to allow us to better control an animal that outweighs us. I think that if there is a calming effect, it is only because when squeezed in, they can't do as much. I've been behind the critters in the feed chute and they will try to climb up and turn around to go back. On occasion, they have been successful in their efforts. You can guess who moves rather rapidly in that circumstance.

The Good Luck Duck said...

HAHAHA! Trunk karma.

The Good Luck Duck said...

Maybe you should have read Grandin's book to the cows. They clearly didn't get the right idea about it all.

Gaelyn said...

The red flower is Indian paintbrush. Who's that looking out that tree.

The Good Luck Duck said...

Thank you, Gaelyn! I can remember that. I don't know who was in the tree, unless it was a cookie elf.

Anonymous said...

Social stuff later is my motto. I'll watch the lawn chairs for you.~Mary

The Good Luck Duck said...

There's iced tea in the fridge and oatmeal cookies on the counter. Help yourself.

Paul and Marti Dahl said...

It really is a tough job holding down those lawn chairs, but somebody has to do it.

I keep practising hoping that some day I'll get it right... ;c)

The Good Luck Duck said...

Paul and Marti, those deep-vein thromboses ain't forming themselves!

Contessa said...

Love the tranquility photos....relaxing, ahhh!

Had a fire here in the RV park yesterday....not relaxing at all!

The Good Luck Duck said...

IN the park? Holy cow! Wildfire-type, or RV?

Homeless said...

Love Flagstaff in the spring! Are you heading to the Grand Canyon?

The Good Luck Duck said...

Definitely!

Andra Watkins said...

Have you been to Sunset Crater yet? Yes. Yes. I know. You're both still feeling puny. This landscape doesn't look like AZ at all to me. I know it is, but it always surprises me when I come across it.

The Good Luck Duck said...

Not yet, Andra, but it's definitely in our plans. We were out at Doney Park tonight for a baby cousin's first birthday (yay Maddox!), and someone pointed out the window and said Sunset Crater was "right over there somewhere."