Purple! Because Ice cream has no bones!

They were talking -20 below here in the higher elevations (7,000-8,000 ft), yesterday in Tehachapi. Felt like temp was 13 at 0730 when we went to go feed the horses, we're at 4200 ft. It was so icy it was quite a trick to get to them on foot! No palm trees in this part of Cali!
 
You guys know me, I'll take the cooler weather for sure, if it's over 60 I'm whinin!
 
Now we're talkin.

To put how cold 40 below is in perspective- That's 72 degrees below freezing, 72 degrees above freezing is 104. When you roll that around in your head it's kind if crazy.
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Wind chills 51 below.
 
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Redmeadow Knives said:
Now we're talkin.

To put how cold 40 below is in perspective- That's 72 degrees below freezing, 72 degrees above freezing is 104. When you roll that around in your head it's kind if crazy.
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Wind chills 51 below.
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Thats too much math, too early in the morning, on not enough coffee. Did I tell ya we was looking, for a minute, at a small ranch on the Sun river there in MT, not too far from Great Falls. Ok minute and a half.
 
Ya know there are some football players, fans and everybody thats gonna be there, that are probably wishing that those players from Miami would bring some of that FL weather to MO! Forecasted to be playing in 30 below. Wildcard game between KC Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins. Will be the coldest game ever played.
 
Horsewright said:
Thats too much math, too early in the morning, on not enough coffee. Did I tell ya we was looking, for a minute, at a small ranch on the Sun river there in MT, not too far from Great Falls. Ok minute and a half.
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It's nice down there, you don't have to get too far out of town to have some peace and quiet.
Mack said:
Cut Bank is nice this time of year.
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Ha, we're no Whitefish but we have a better population density. I gotta live were the cows outnumber the people!😆
 
Redmeadow Knives said:
It's nice down there, you don't have to get too far out of town to have some peace and quiet.

Ha, we're no Whitefish but we have a better population density. I gotta live were the cows outnumber the people!😆
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😁
 
Redmeadow Knives said:
It's nice down there, you don't have to get too far out of town to have some peace and quiet.

Ha, we're no Whitefish but we have a better population density. I gotta live were the cows outnumber the people!😆
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The only thing nice about Whitefish is Ciao Mambo.
 
Mack said:
The only thing nice about Whitefish is Ciao Mambo.
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Never eaten there, you can get a good breakfast at Loula's Cafe though. That town is a little too "artisanal" for me, beautiful area but I want to get out as soon as I get there. The mix of old school Montana rednecks and California millionaires is funny to see though. I bet that place was awesome in the 70's.
 
In random news here's a 14" oal forged beasty I've been working on, little over 9" blade.

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Forged another small blade, it'll be in the same style as the one I made without scales, just a brut de forge knife.
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Another story. Those of you that were in the military know what a Challenge Coin is. If you haven't been in the military you still may know as they are kinda spreading out in other areas of life too. Bout twenty years ago I was asked by a friend, a former Special Forces officer now a Physicians Assistant and rancher if my guy could make a concho out of a Challenge Coin. I said sure, whats a Challenge Coin? This is what he related to me. The Challenge Coin idea originated with the Special Forces during the Cold War. It was originally conceived as a means of ID. If you were working an Op and a guy pulled out a handful of coins to buy a drink and he had a Challenge coin in that handful he was your contact. It became an award too as it is now. Not quite a medal but you had to do something to get one. It was often presented by a higher rank in a handshake. Now they are still presented as awards but there are generic ones for bases served at, as well as the branches of the military. Anyhoo.

My guy was the son of a famous old time California bit and spur maker and he himself was an older man at the time I knew him. We'd met him as we were selling a lot of wild rags that we sourced the silk for and Nichole made up. A wildrag is the silk scarf cowboys wear. While seldom referred to as scarf it is never referred to as a bandanna. Lots of folks like to do up a wildrag with a slide and "my guy" was making slides out of Mexican coins. Old Mexican coins were often the source of silver for bits and spurs as they had a very high silver content in them. He was buying these coins on the Bay and turning them into conchos and slides. Worked a deal with him and he was producing them exclusively for us.

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So he would dome the coin and then attach a screwback if it was to be used as a concho or a loop for a wildrag if it was to be used as slide for a wildrag.

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So Mike forwarded me his Challenge Coins, I sent them to my guy and he made them into conchos and Mike had me make him a pair of spur straps for them.

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A picture of these were on our website. A cowboy up in Montana, JD Vance, a long time customer, called me up and said "Dave, those are cool I got the next pair." I asked him what he meant and he said the next person that orders a pair of those he will pay for them. He wanted to give me his CC info right then and there but I told him to hold off. So a few months go buy and a lady orders a pair as a birthday present for her brother. He is a Major in the Marines and serving in the Sandbox at the time. I tell her that they may be covered. She says what? I says let me give the guy a call and confirm but they may already be paid for. I call the JD and he says absolutely here's my credit card. I call the lady and she starts crying and says: I got the next pair!" This went on for years. Paying it forward was a book keeping nightmare for my poor wife but she got er done. We made lots of these for all branches of the Service:

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Finally after several years the string was broken but it was cool while it was going.

Years later we have a son in the Army, he's an IT guy and he starts collecting coins that he's been awarded. Some he sends home to mom. The ones on the left side of the mirror here are his, the two on the far right are from a Marine friend that went to a unit reunion recently and those towards the center are bases. But see the large one between the two figurines? The one with Old Glory? Gots to tell ya a story about that one! First I got to go feed.

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So Nichole, my wife and I had been invited to a branding at a friends ranch to the west of us. We were roping and having a pretty good day of it. Not a lot of misses. There was a pretty large ground crew and the Boss had planned well as the calves were a lil larger than usual. We'd get em roped and drag em to the fire and they'd get processed. Rope another one and process it, repeat. Part way through the morning another guy that we didn't know, showed up to work on the ground crew. The Boss was joshing him about being late and everybody called him Sarge. Distinct military bearing, the hair and he was wearing an Army patrol cap. He was new to this you could see but was willing to listen and was learning. Groundwork at a branding is not just muscle, think cow ju jitsu and this can take a while to learn.

We took a break for lunch and the crew gathered under the shade of a large oak tree where there were a couple of picnic tables. The Boss and the jigger boss (second in command) were breaking out lunch from some ice chests. It was cool and so there was some coffee too with a lil apricot brandy in it. After getting a cup we walked over to where Sarge was sitting at one of the tables and introduced ourselves. Nichole asked if he had served and then we thanked him for his service. They got to talking and he was recently retired from the Army. She told him about our son and where he was stationed. Sarge asked if Josh had taken her to one of the balls? She replied there are balls? So he was explaining that whole deal to us why we were eating. The Boss said it was time to get back to work. As we were getting up and getting ready to get back horseback, Sarge walked over. He shook Nichole's hand and passed her a Challenge Coin as he did so, saying: "You tell your son you got that from the Regimental Command Sergeant Major, I'm thanking you for being the mom of someone who is serving and he is to take you to a ball!"

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Course that night she calls Josh, our son, and tells him the story and says when's the ball I'll fly out. Josh explains he's in the Army and stationed at an Air Force Base so it would be awkward. Basically not happening mom. Ya win some ya lose some.

Just kinda an interesting story on how Nichole got awarded a Challenge Coin.
 
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That's cool, a Sergeant Major is the most frightening thing an enlisted man could deal with, the only thing worse is a Command Sergeant Major! They can make time stand still for a ten mile radius.

I have a few coins that I got in the Army, my favorite is one from a 2 star General. I got stuck in the Brigade Color guard and after a huge dog and pony show the brass thought they would interrogate I mean, talk to the Color guard. I made the fatal error of answering a question about the ceremony honestly and with a shit eating grin he threw me a coin and said, "Any Corporal dumb enough to cuss in front of us deserves a coin". The milliseconds that preceded that were filled with full body language death threats from my entire Command. That coin flip was a lifesaver lol.

His name was Cash, hence the dollar sign on the coin.
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Years ago I was delivering a Thunderbird to a couple in San Antonio. When I got there I found out that she was a colonel in the Air Force and he was Sergeant Major of the army. I asked which of them got the most respect and she said "generals salute him".
I guess I should have asked which of their challenge coins carried the most weight.
 
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