November

Sometimes I feel like I never have enough time to do the things I want to do and then I sit down to recap my month and realize I am always doing something I want to do. I came to the conclusion the other day that no matter how much time I have, I still wouldn’t have enough. To many interests, to curious about the world, to many places to go, to many friends to hang out with, just never going to be enough time. In the end I’m grateful for all the interests in my life and what time I have to enjoy them.

The first of the month our local farrier association hosted an American Farriers Association certification clinic and part of it was at my shop. Testers for the certification have to be tested every couple of years by an Examiner to prove their competence to test candidates who are taking the certification test.

My friend Cody Christensen invited me up to his place in Woodruff, Utah to hang out with him for the day while he rode colts. His father in-law has a ranch there with an old round pen he uses from time to time to start them. He thought it might be a good place to get some photos. I think he was right, I feel good about the photos I got.

When he was done working them in the round pen he saddled his good horse and tied the colts together to lead out to the meadows to check cows. The light in November is perfect for late afternoon photography.

I haven’t been with Cody when he doesn’t have one of his kids with him. He’s a great father and his kids are going to grow up to be great cowboy and cowgirls, and good humans

One of the great things about being a farrier is the places I get to shoe. The Bar-B ranch in Huntsville, Utah is one of my favorites. It’s one of the last ranches in the Ogden Valley, just east of Ogden. My good friend Seth Hadlock’s grandpa has managed the ranch for over forty years, and Seth has worked there for most of his life in one capacity or another. I always take my camera so when I’m done shoeing I can hang out and take some photos.

Somewhere in the middle of everything else I had going, one of my best friends and fishing buddies Nick Weaver, called and wanted to go fishing. Not one to turn away a good time, I had to go. With winter just around the corner, I had no choice! It worked out good for me, the fishing was slow but I was able to land one good brown to put an end to the season.

To round out the month it brought our first major snowstorm of the year. I personally feel like its to early to deal with this much snow. Winters are hard on me. I don’t have any winter hobbies and I hate being cold. Before long cabin fever sets in and my wife is ready to kick me out of the house because I get so antsy. This winter I am hoping to ride as much as I can if the weather will be half decent, and get to the desert to hang out with the wild horses. We’ll see how it goes. I’m guessing that this wont be the last time I mention struggling with winter.

We had Thanksgiving with our kids, and family, the night before so they could go be with their in-laws. That left me and my wife alone for the day, which I was great with. We were planning on some much needed relaxing time and catching up on some movies we haven’t had time to watch. We got a little of that in, but most of the day we plowed f@#$ing snow!! I wasn’t kidding, I hate winter! Haha