Now we have a Toddler!!

Well I wish you all could have been here to help us celebrate Eli's 2 nd Birthday. But, since you were not available, we will run you through a timeline.

9:00 pm Saturday night, Jessica unloads a Box of pieces hoping they will resemble a horse. She looked for the head for about 5 minutes, it was stuffed inside the body. All of these horse body parts reminded Jessica of an earlier incident we had with horses this year. Needless to say she grabbed a beer before attempting this project. I fell asleep with Eli.
7:00am Sunday morning Eli Calls Grandpa Heil to tell him about his new horse in the living room. We were unable to upload the video, but he got on using the stirrups and throwing a leg over.

Eli was practicing his new operating skills with the Tractor Uncle Josh & Aunt Amanda got his new Business " Eli's Loader Backhoe Digging Express."

We had many visitors over for the occasion. They all enjoyed the cake that Jessica put together. Jessica, I have to Thank you for all that you did to make this birthday special for Eli!

And we will leave you with this image and thought " You can't get any work done without putting your bucket in the dirt."

Update on Family and the Round Up

I suppose I better talk about our family Star "Eli". He is growing like a weed and becoming more adventurous. Two weekends ago we went and help a a co-worker gather his summer cattle outside of St. Mary's. Eli was excited when he saw all the horses being saddled. He stayed at the ranch house and we struck out from there.

Jessica also rode with the group, early in the morning while pushing cows out of the brush she hooked her pant leg on a snag and it ripped her Jeans from her ankle to her hip. She come out from the bushes cussing like a sailor. I thought she was made a the old bag of bones she was pushing. When she caught up she looked flushed, and stayed on the edge of the brush waving at me. I went over and before I got within slapping distance I saw the damages. I about fell out of the saddle! Here was my blushing bride in distress and embare-assed, mooning everyone on her right. Luckily, I had on my shotgun chaps and was able to take one legging off. So on to camp. That was the funny part of our day. Eli got a chance to ride when we got back, below are the photos.



Eli enjoyed this so much, that when we tried to peel him off he would not let go. The little girl with Eli is Joe's daughter Maggie. The Hay-burner Eli is riding, was the horse I used for the day. Unfortunately these are the last photos of this horse living.

We left after lunch and loaded in the stock trailer and we were dropped off three miles from the ranch. We went of a ridge down to check some cows. Once down to the cows they spooked and took off. So, we started making our way back up the. When all of a sudden the horse I was riding started lagging, then stumbling, and fell over, luckily up hill. I did not know what to do I tried to hurry and loosen the cinches. The horse stiffened and gave out a long sagging breath. Once the owners of the horse were informed and came to my rescue I was done for the day.

It was on eventfull day. Once were got back to the ranch it was hard to explain to the kids why the Black horse didn't come back. It was later determined that the horse more than likely had a heart attack.


So we are doing well, even though the events were entertaining. Eli has a birthday coming up. He turns two on October 18.

Glacier Work Update

"BIG Bear!! Big Big ....Bear" John Candy, The Great Outdoors

Well its been along time since we blogged last. I have been meaning to update for a while. It's a snow day today, we have 8 inches of snow reported on Logan Pass and its still snowing. I still have a month worth of work at 6500 feet elevation. Pictured above is me (6'3" in Height) and the bucket is attached to a Cat 345 Excavator. Work is going well but winter is on its way.