My Morning View Over Coffee

 

I love it out here first thing in the morning. It’s kind of a sanctuary where I like to come and absorb nature while I have my coffee. The air is fresh and crisp and damp. I like the way it smells; earthy, sweet, and damp.

 

 Every morning, usually around 6 or 6:30 a.m., I head out to the Reed Place to pump water for our replacement heifers and bull.

We have 20 heifers, one babysitter cow-calf pair, and a black Angus bull. On this particular day, my husband came with me and he gassed the generator up.

 

Last year we used the original well where a windmill used to fill the tank at one time. This year we had some electrical work done on the newer well we had dug about 10 years ago and now we use a generator to pump water from both wells.

One is about 175’ deep (under the generator) and the other is about 18’ deep (at the tank). Neither of them pumps very much water per minute but using the generator we can pump water from both wells at the same time.

 

We have to stay on top of filling the tank because we’re not sure either well has enough in the reservoir to recover if the stock tank were to get too low and need a lot of water pumped to fill it.

This is where I sit and drink my coffee and wait for the tank to fill. I use an old lick tub as a seat where I can read a book while I wait for the 15-20 minutes it takes to fill the tank.

Since we didn’t get much moisture over the winter (maybe 10” of snow total?), there’s concern that either well may run dry and if that should happen, I need to be there to unplug the power so the pump doesn’t get ruined.

Sometimes I stroll down the cow trail with our dog to see how full the dam is after a rain has passed through

 and check on the electric fence.

The neighbors don’t run a bull with their cows until July 15^th and it has caused some headaches with our previous heifer bull in the past. The electric fence has helped some, but it’s by no means a cure-all.

Our bull looking like he just got busted checking out the neighbor girls (in the background across the fence). 

l also enjoy entertaining myself by watching the bluebirds that have a nest of baby bluebirds they’re always  feeding in the fence post hole under the bucket.

 

Yesterday, I put up a rain gauge and did it just in time to record last night’s heavy rain shower.

 

Whenever my husband comes with me, Pepper and I walk part of the perimeter of the Reed Place and leave my husband to watch the tank.

This is my favorite view from the Reed Place at the top of a hill looking northeast. I love the view of the Black Hills in the distance.

 It’s a great place to be to enjoy my morning coffee.