Thirsty Work - cowboy oil painting by Debbie Grayson Lincoln

11 X 14 oil on guessed panel

$250 includes shipping and insurance US

It looks like February has returned to Central Texas with cold blustery wet weather, and I must say I am glad. We really needed the moisture for the wild flowers, which aren't looking too happy yet. The Texas drought map has grown again, although it's not nearly as bad as last winter.
Life on the farm has been busy with getting the large garden and the raised beds prepped and planted. So far just cool weather veggies are in (potatoes, onions, garlic, spinach, lettuce, beets, radishes and English peas).  The rye grass we planted last Fall is getting a welcome wetting, too, so I expect some early green Spring grazing for Sophie and Abbey, who, along with Abbey's heifer, Elvira, are expecting calves mid-May. It's going to be a busy Spring! In addition to calves, my daughter is expecting her third baby, and our first grand-son mid-May, also!
I first painted this image as a smaller warm-up painting. It sold recently, however, which inspired me to render a slightly larger version with a few changes. The desert background came from an image I took in the Nevada desert when Mike and I journeyed to Parumph to participate in a week-long hand gun course. The cowboy comes from a calf-working at a local rancher's. I am so lucky to get invited to the few ranches where they still work cattle on horseback. It's a way of life that is soon to be seen no more, I fear.

Daniel 2:21. He changes times and seasons: he deposed kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

NODP

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Working Cowboy

8 X 6 Oil on Masonite
SOLD

These paintings look pretty neat together. In actuality, 5 cowboys handled all those animals Tuesday, and eventually I will paint them all. They took turns roping, inoculating, branding and castrating. And for you curious folks out there, yes, the "calf fries" were saved for lunch later. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, another name is "mountain oysters" and you can go here to learn what they are and how to prepare them. See, you CAN learn something new every day!
Tomorrow I go to another cattle working, and I may take my own horse to that one. I won't participate, but it's good for the horse to go. I have been putting Dandy in and out of the trailer for three days, and this morning we (PJ, Dandy and I) went to the vet for their yearly visit. Dandy did very well - of course she only had to go a couple miles, but we had no trouble going in and backing out. Another milestone in her development.
Isaiah 1:17
learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Calf Working - Get 'er Done!

8 X 6 Oil on Masonite
SOLD

I attended a cattle working at a friend's ranch yesterday. This friend is in a position where he no longer has to risk his own neck to get the rough jobs accomplished - he can afford to call in the experts. In our neck of the woods, the ranchers like to call Barry Clower when they have a bunch of calves to "work". Barry rounds up his buddies - all good hands with ropes and horses - and they show up and get the job done - efficiently and usually safely.
I pulled up in front of the working pens yesterday morning around 7:30 am. It was an overcast, dreary morning, and over 60 momma cows and their fat calves and two big bulls were already penned and in the process of being separated.
By 10:30 all the calves were roped, inoculated, ear tagged, wormed and the bull calves castrated. Mommas received their shots and worming, and several were branded. One older cow had her teeth checked and was declared good enough to go another season, and the heifers with first calves were hauled off to a separate pasture for extra feeding. I estimate that in all about 125 animals were handled - with minimum stress and with no permanent injuries. Only one cow came up dry (no calf) which I consider pretty good stats for a herd of over 60 cows. It says a lot for Brahman/Hereford cows. Good breeders and good mommas. And when you cross 'em with a Charolais bull you get some really nice calves.
These two paintings are designed to hang together or separate. I'll show them framed together in tomorrow's post.
Deuteronomy 8:3
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.