Gee and Haw at the Rice Paddies

 March 31,  2012 we visited the rice paddies.  Scout the Ox turned the cart around on the narrow dike demonstrating his proficiency with the gee and haw commands. (This is from a date earlier this spring because it was lost for a while on a crashed computer.)

Sunset After the Rainbow: Single Ox with Cart

Single Ox with cart; on the prairie at the edge of the Red River Valley, in northwestern, Minnesota.

Oxcart: To See a Rainbow

While ox-carting on the prairie in northwestern Minnesota, a small storm over the Red River Valley treats us to a rainbow.

Hope Springs Eternal

Poplar Tree Log Sprouting Shoots

I set this nice poplar log aside when I was cutting firewood last winter. I'm keeping it up on blocks as a possible bolt for a future ox yoke.

In the mean time, it's sprouting branches!

Harvey Dunn's Painting of Rock Picking with Oxen

[Homesteaders Picking Rock with Team of Oxen]
Artist: Harvey Dunn (1884-1952)
Note to students of art: There is camera distortion in this  representation.

This is likely some of the early work of artist Harvey Dunn. The painting's title is unknown to me, but it certainly looks like homesteaders picking rock on The Great Plains in his home territory of South Dakota.


For more artwork depicting oxen, by Harvey Dunn, click on these three links:

Homesteaders Coming Home

On the Move

Plowman

Picking Rock with Scout the Ox

Picking Rock with Scout the Ox

We're clearing rocks from what is to be a mown firebreak between a prairie-forest edge restoration. The prairie area, on the left in the picture, is to be burned periodically. 

Picking Rock with Scout the Ox

Not long after these photos were taken we had a cloudburst and Scout the Ox took off running for home. He ended up tangled in some trees, turned his yoke upside down, and we all got very wet.

Picking Rock with Scout the Ox