One of the first sights that greeted us was a bunch of guys hanging around a pickup with the bed -  I’m talking the whole bed of the pickup – full of SNOW and BEER. Yep, snow in June.  Not only that, snow in June made into a giant portable cooler. Now THAT’s Wyoming.

Another fun thing about Woodchoppers is that all the events are going on simultaneously. The difficult thing about Woodchoppers is that all the events are going on simultaneously. I ran back and forth with the camera trying to catch the most exciting woodchopper events and the most exciting rodeo events. After a while I gave up and threw on a long lens and just kind of parked between the two. Luckily the guys with the pickup cooler were right next to me. They kept my beer cozy pretty full the whole time.

This year Woodchoppers happens the 15 & 16 of June. Do yourself a favor and head over the hill. It’s an event you have to say you went to at least once in your life!

More later on how Woodchoppers contributed to my latest pastel work titled: Watch Eye. But for now, click on the image of Mr. SC competing in the Mad Logger Chainsaw Throw below to enjoy a slideshow of Woodchopper’s Jamboree 2012. And yep, he won the event. We got a whole $40 check in the mail. That bought a lot of aspirin for his messed up back. LOL.

Good Wyoming girl that I am, I took that as a challenge. Find those pelicans, take some stellar pics, and prove it to Mr. Chicago that yes indeed, there are pelicans on the Laramie River.

The ranch where I keep my two Fjords has been in the same family since WWII. I feel so very lucky that I found this wonderful place to keep the horses. Not only do they get to live their days like horses were really meant to live, I also get to ride on this vast and wonderful place. Everything is wild — even the air smells wild!

My husband and I ventured out on my mare Fiona and our newest addition: a 10 year old Fjord mare named Pocket (more on all the Fjords later, this is a new blog and I’ve got LOTS to write about). The Big Laramie River cuts this ranch right in two. There are all sorts of nifty things along the way. Old farm equipment, well-traveled livestock trails; things you might expect to find on a ranch this size that has been in the same family for so long. An old bridge crosses the river at one point, it’s crickety and falling over – – not something I would mess with, but our border collie, Pippi, didn’t think twice about hopping aboard.

Then, out of nowhere, Fiona started in place and pricked up her ears. Pippi had found them: the pair of pelicans flew out from under the bridge, but a little too far away for my camera. So what’s a girl to do? Stalk those sneaky pelicans of course. I made Pippi stay behind with Hubby, Fiona and Pocket and I waded my way through the muck in the direction I had seen the pelicans glide towards. I got lucky. There they were. I had a few seconds to snap some shots before they caught on and whisked away again. But that was enough. Here ya go Mr. Chicago: