Sunflower Ranch

The homestead from the south hill in 1907

M D and family at home in 1902 after hard storm

West of the home across the draw with orchard. The Ice house would have been just to the left of the photo in the side of the draw.

M D, Nellie, unknown woman and four children picking cherries west of the house. M D enjoyed the fruits for a good orchard until it succumbed to the draught of the 1930s

M D is Running the header. He always stood Straight as a poker!

Wheat harvest with a Gleaner pull type combine and a steel wheel John Deere D tractor. Doyle is on the tractor. Will is standing between the tractor and combine. Max is in the grain wagon. Dwight working the combine controls which would include manual header lift, Another unknown man in grain wagon. If you zoom in on the photo, looks like the grain wagon is being pulled by the car. You can see Will's artificial left hand.

A 1929 model Gleaner # 9 Combine with header folded and pulled by a John Deere D. Roylynn by wheel, W I on the other side. Doyle on the tractor, Dwight operating the combine. Gerald and Max in the bin. Graham-Page auto with rear Sucide door open.

With a smile like that - Harvest must be over!

On the east side of the house. Gerald holding Patsy, Max and Roylynn. Doyle with Patsy's colt. Sheik holding Slipper. Take special note of the tree seen over the back of Slipper. That Cedar tree is still alive north of the house.

Sheik was a smart and clever animal - the most Famous German Shepard among all dogs owned by the family. He would lead horses for the kids as seen in above photo, and help with other ranch activities. But, his most famous ability was being able to pick up a silver dollar from the ground in his mouth and throwing it into the air. The kids were showing this off one time in town, and Sheik picked the coin up, but accidentally swallowed it! This caused much alarm and concern from the family, and Gerald said Sheik felt punk for a few days until it passed.

Sadie had lots of turkeys. She liked herding them because they would alert her of snakes, which she feared!

Pullets and cockerels fattening to butcher.

Hereford Herd in East Pasture. Will on horse.

Will and Sadie by their new Graham-Page auto. It had the suicide rear doors

Frank LaRosh is driving the car. M D is next to him. Nellie is seated in the far back. Frank's wife next to her. Laura is seated on the running board and Francis is standing.

The Horse Barn M D LaRosh Built

Doyle and Gerald circa 1930

There isn't an exact build date, but it was there previous to 1907. The barn was important and use through the 1970s. Horses were kept there, of course. Also calving problems in the winter and 4-H steers in the summer for the cool inner stall.

Four stalls were set on the west side with a larger, full width free stall in the far north. The far north always seemed cooler in the summer because it was mostly in the earth berm. It's where we kept our 4-H steers. The harness have hung unused for at least 60 years. I, Kyle, remember the last few times for their use as a team was enlisted for winter feeding into the mid 1950s. I remember riding in the wagon full of silage out to feed cows. Max was driving the horses. How grand I felt in the cold winter air to be helping feed.

The Hay Loft - magical, fun, play area, especially with hay bales stored inside. It was high adventure playing and hiding in the hay, even though it seems everyone fell down a hay chute one or more times. The loft was designed for loose hay, so a limited number of square bales could be stored there before over loading the structure. These photos were taken in March of 2020.

Almost Petroglyphs

The soft stone used to build out the west and south west wall lent itself to graffiti as family and hired men endeavored to leave a lasting mark.