Flyin' With Hawks

OK - so..... they are in the air..... I am on the tractor.

To watch these flying hunters is amazing. Besides the fact that I always feel the urge to 'save' whatever it is they are diving after; I know this is just nature's way of survival.

When we hay the pivot, that is the best time to watch their maneuvers; it is basically flat ground and I don't have to worry so much about hitting a bull hole! I can spend my time watching the sky as they circle above the tractor, zeroing in on the next meal that I turn over with my rake. I have witnessed as many as 5 hawks at the same time, circling and watching for prey. This morning there were two. One just sat on the wind-row I just turned; and watched as I drove by. Then as I came up beside him, he lifted. The wind was mildly blowing as he drove his wings to meet the air. He pushed himself up, and then glided in cicles; watching below. As I made my turn onto the next set of rows; one dive-bomber was headed for the ground. I thought I would watch him crash, but at the last moment - up he swooped, his capture in the grip of his claws.

(I guess you can't see the hawk, but he is in the upper left of the picture)

They follow along with the tractor, circling and diving, feasting on what was hidden in the hay. Last year, we had a coyote doing the same thing. He just followed behind the tractor and snacked throughout the day. LIfe is amazing. In a small, small little way; we get to witness our own little 'National Geographic' shows.

Speaking of this, guess I better get back to the hay field!.....

Gilbert R Field

Today marks another 'one year ago today' episode. It's probably not real significant in the big picture of the former 3 Strikes Ranch; but it is something that gave a couple of Jason Meduna's supporters something more to lie about....

***
I've written about it; when Justin and Josh dug out the auto gate (some call them 'cattle guards'). That was on July 3, 2009. Most people living beside the Medunas would do the same: that is- make sure your own cattle couldn't just walk across an auto gate and get on to his property. That's the whole just of it; he wouldn't dig them out. He was the only 'neighbor' that would not dig out the auto gates when needed. We were his only neighbor that had an auto gate to dig out, as he had to drive through our land to get to his main entrance. There were other places he could enter his land, but the main entrance was thru ours.
***
After the kids dug the auto gate out, and Jason filled it back in, makes me wonder just what Gilbert Ray Field or Jim Lambley would have done; if they had spent the time on a hot summer day, digging out an auto gate - to keep cattle where they should be....only to have Meduna come and fill it back in. Yet, it was those 2 people who had conversation on Lambley's radio station, "The Twister", out of Gordon, NE; that the Freibergers were tresspassing onto Jason Meduna's land and digging out an auto gate that they had no business doing so. Besides this being a total lie, I wonder if they realized what idgits they made themselves sound like to anyone who knows what auto gates are all about? or what the standard, neighborly thing is about sharing the responsibility of digging out auto gates.
***

Which speaking of.... that is my subject. Ray Field - whom some in the horse world are familiar with. I prefer to call him Gilbert Ray Field, as that is his name. I received a call from a friend one day, telling me they just heard the Freibergers mentioned on the Gordon radio. It seems that Mr. Lambley, and Gilbert have developed a talk show friendship and were defending Jason Meduna for all they were worth.

***

So the next week I decided to listen. Wow, they were talking about us! I think at some time, Mr. Twisted/Twister declared that Ray Field was not paying for his radio time. They must have really been friends then, because Gilbert had a lot of radio time on there. Once I got over being upset of all the lies he was telling, he became almost comical, foolish...I'm grasping for the correct word.

***

Ray, Gilbert, Gil - whoever..... this must have been a band wagon he jumped on for politcal, financial, publicity, or just a fight with BLM? He stated on air that he had never met Jason Meduna in person, that he would not even know him if he walked past him on the street....that being; he had never been to 3 Strikes Ranch. But my how he knew all about it, about the auto gate, about the Freiberger's tresspassing. In fact, in wrote about us on his website. I believe he called us the "Frillibergers". I'm not sure if that was just to make fun of our name, or he thought it might save him if he was ever brought into the court system.

***

He posted many pictures in reference to us. I imagine Jason or Anissa were sending them to him, or one of their fan club members. One picture in particular I think of; was a picture of the brother-in-law to the owner of Rayu. (A whole other story, Rayu being the horse Meduna said Justin - my son- stole, right out from under Jason's nose. The horse that was 'like a son to him'.)
***

***

I get off track pretty easily in talking about 3 Strikes Ranch, there is so much garbage to cover. Anyway, Gilbert posted a picture of this man standing at the fence, the opposite side of the fence showed cow poop. Imagine that, there had been cows in the pasture. These guys are smarter than I thought they were. What Gilbert claimed on his web site was the the Frilleibergers had purposely fed their cows up along the fenceline - (I think this had to do with the claims that we were feeding along the fenceline, poisoning Jason Meduna's horses - which would have included the horses owned by others that people had entrusted Jason Meduna to care for).
***

I sent many emails to Gilbert Field to ask him to remove what he was printing on the internet about us, because it was all lies. I even said he should come see for himself. He finally removed the picture I mentioned, after I emailed him and told him he must feel silly, because that picture was not even our land; but that I would pass it on to the people that did own the land, and that I was sure they would like to know Gilbert was putting pictures like that on his web site, about their land. That was the only thing he removed, until court proceedings started with Meduna (perfect timing for Gilbert)
***

Gil removed that picture. OK, I was gone for a minute; rounding up all the stuff copied from Gilbert's web site about the ..... Freibergers, I mean .... the "Frilibergers" or the "Frielebergers" or the "friliberge" or the (my favorite) "Frilelibergers" and the closest, "Freilberger". I even emailed Gilbert with the correct spelling of our name! HA HA.

***

I have the cutest little folder made about the Frilelibergers, since we had our own little section on Gilbert's web site. By the way, his organization is Wild Horse Foundation, in Texas. He will probably think to himself that he just got the edge, that I have promoted his web site. Oh.... contrare! I can't believe the people he has plastered on it. To each his own, but sort of confirms my thoughts of doing this just for political reasons.....problem is - HE PUT MY FAMILY THRU THE MUD IN DOING SO. So I cannot think too much good of people that promote him on his web site; I don't care who they are. I wonder if half of those people even know they are pictured on his site with their good buddy Gil?

***

Well, more about what he wrote - about us:
***
Neighbors Gone Wild.... was that about us? Gilbert is a silly person (it's hard to use the term, 'man'.)

***

Gilbert wrote that we wanted the land and the previous owner, (which would be Glen Kooper- God rest his soul; who was a very good friend of ours) - wouldn't sell it to us. Gilbert didn't mention the fact that Don and I were over at Glen and Lucille's talking about the land... we knew that people would buy it for more than we wanted to pay. Shame on Gilbert for telling any lies about Glen or Lucille. I'd say that makes Gil scum; to tell anything but the truth about Glen or Lucille. Glen was a good neighbor, who loved his family and his neighbors meant a lot to him. He said we'd been furious ever since Glen wouldn't sell the land to us.

***
Gilbert stated on his web site that we had started at $50 per acre in our offer (did anyone even take him serious???? - I mean that's a real smart person there to think anybody would even actually put an offer of $50 to someone for land. What a joke!) Anyway, he said we went from $50 to $200 per acre, but that the former owner (which would be Glen) hated our guts so bad that he sold the land to Meduna! That is what Gilbert Ray Field (I can spell his name correctly) - put on his web site. Then he talks about the fly over pictures; and that the bad land is actually ours, and he says people are asking how we can do that to our land.

***

One thing I almost forgot; as I was listening on the radio to Lambley and Gilbert talking, Gilbert said Jason had told him that he had the land sold for $220 and the Freibergers stopped the sale! (How much intelligence does it take on this one?) - (By the way, a smart person would have called Mr. Korth and found out the truth before they broadcast the wrong information) - So Gilbert went on to say that he told Jason he just can't let the Freibergers get away with this stuff. Don't let them bully him is what he said! And then.... this is a corker: he said, "Nobody looks at that property without the Freiberger's OK, nobody bids on the land without the Freiberger's OK, and nobody buys the land without the Freiberger's OK."

***

Nothing like comic land - my husband said, "geez, if we have that much clout, we should be doing something different!" Gave us all a good laugh anyway. I'm not sure how much Mr. Korth thought it was all funny when I visited to him about it. He mentioned he was going to make a phone call.

***

Keep in mind, I emailed Gilbert Ray Field, asking him if Jason was just sending this information to him? because it was lies - everything stated about us were lies. I asked him to remove the pictures and statements about us, but he would not. I also told Mr. Lambley that my husband would like to have a person-to-person interview with Field at the radio station, but there was no reply. Courageous, right? Definately not fair and balanced news!

***

Gilbert wrote on his web site that our 'children' (I'd like him to meet face to face with my 'children'!!) dug out the auto gate on the 'other people land' because we thought we would have run Meduna off by now. Wow - more intelligence!

And people support this type of person?
***

Gilbert posted a picture of our 3 horses by the fence, and a bale on Meduna's side, when Meduna had someone come bale hay - after the horses were gone mind you!!!! - and he put the caption as 'Please let us have good grass, its sweet and green....' I wrote back to him that the only reason our horses were at the fence line, was because they hadn't seen hay being put up over at Meduna's for years. They were astonished. I know, back and forth yackity-yack. But it was pretty hard seeing someone bash your family, and your family name on an internet site, where the whole world could read.

***

He accused me of 'losing my mind'. He accused me of 'stalking' - I guess Meduna. Well, I question Gilbert Fields true love for horses; if he had seen the dead horses that we did, could he have just ignored it? That does not make someone who has the horses' best interest at heart.

***

Gilbert said that ever since Jason owned the land, we have called the BLM more than the White House. He said the dead didn't get any rest around us. (Was he talking about the horses that died at Meduna's?) He said we've caused more harassment than any 'varment in the land'. He stated that the new owners will bring "these morons to stop faster than a prairie rabbit in heat"....morons meaning the Frileilgergs? Wow, and people throw money at this person.

What class he has...what integrity.
***

He stated that it's neighbors like these (that would be us) that make a man want to own sheep. Well I can't even throw a comment out there for Gilbert on that one. I guess he speaks for himself.

***

He stated this about me...

"anyone can spell DUMB"

"you LIE you get caught"

and he called me, "Gomer"

***

Personally, I liked Gomer Pyle!

And people throw money at this person?????

***

Reading down in my notes, Gilbert goes back to the autogate...(he's a gluton for making himself sound like a fool)...

***
He stated that looking at the picture of the auto gate that the 'filiberg had her kids dig out' on MEDUNA'S place (it was IN the fence line - not ON Meduna's place) that it looked like steel pipe (whoa, Gilbert does have some smarts about some stuff). He wanted someone to explain how an autogate could be dug out like I CLAIM it can be - he went on to say that I was telling a lie, but then made a comment like, 'oops I wouldn't tell a lie'. He's write, 'ole Gilbert is...I wouldn't tell a lie.

***
This is how we dig an auto gate out... (Of course on this one, they had to first remove the dirt on top of the auto gate that Meduna put on)

It's the magic auto gate. I doubt Gilbert knows anything about these sort of auto gates, it just takes a little muscle and willing to do some digging. (Twice in 2 days in this case for the Friellelberger children)

And then you just dig out the sides from under the pipes.

When you've dug it out, just put the center panel back where it goes.

All done. And they didn't even trespass!

***

Next, Gilbert says we don't have grass on our land, 'like the Three Strikes' - and he continues on to tell me, "Grow Up".

***

He also mentions the Range Management Specialist that did the proceedure wrong! I imagine Gilbert was fed many, many lies....yet he didn't desire to call us and ask our side. He slandered us, and made no attempt to find out the truth. As far as the grass test, as he testified in
court, there wasn't enough grass to 'cut' the clippings as they usually do - and for everyone's information, sadly; the grass in the hills is still not coming back as it should. Now Gilbert would just say I'm up to my lies again, but as he stated to me, 'the proof is is the puddin or in the sand'. I always thought that was a stupid saying, but 'in the sand'? Well, that one makes sense! "The proof is in the sand" .... "or not!"

***

Of course, Gilbert posted many pictures on his web site of the 3 Strikes Ranch. He posted pictures of hay that was put up by a couple of guys for Meduna. They did it for a percentage of the hay. Anissa said in court they put the hay up to show people how much hay they had! How Einsteiny is this? Put up hay after all your horses have been removed, but you didn't put up hay when they were there, needing it for survival. I'm sure that must have made quite an impression on everyone.

***

Gilbert wrote on his web site, "Frilelibergers rant on land, gosh they want it bad". Now why would a person write this that has no idea of any of the facts about this whole situation? If we really wanted it that bad, we would have purchased it from Koopers in the first place!

***

When Gilbert rambled on about the fact that Don and Vickie Freilberger had pictures of no grass on that place, he made a remark that there was no confirmation of when the pictures were taken, or that they were even taken of the 3 Strikes Land; one thing he forgets, the Deputy Sheriff was on that land and saw for himself the condition of it - the Dep. Sheriff was there because Jason Meduna called him.

***

I question the integrity of a person that can spew so many recklace lies from his mouth and in print. I imagine he truly did jump on the Meduna band wagon; for his own gain. Whatever that might be. To me, he just buried himself. But I'm finding that some people don't always care about who they hurt, or who they can take down.... as long as they think they are coming out ahead.

***

Gilbert Ray Field said the moral was for the Freibergers that the grass ain't always greener...etc. So learn to be a good neighbor, not snoops or noisy bodies. (I'm sure he meant nosey bodies, but he spelled it as noisy. Heck, maybe he meant noisy, I never could figure out exactly where he was coming from with his statements....)

***

Oh yes, on the lighter side.... Gil posted to the world that there would be an estimate of 2 million pounds of hay that would be baled. Now the guys did get a good laugh out of that one! I guess in Texas you put up your hay by the pound? Wow. (I know, that's not to slam my Texas friends that know what they're talking about.) The two guys that put up the hay were Jeremy and Shawn. The bales averaged 1100 lb. each - there were 155 bales left at Meduna's - they too the rest. There was a total of about 310 bales of hay put up, that makes 341,000 pounds, or 170.5 Ton - a far cry from 2 million pounds.

***

And then of course, he said we should get a real life.

*

We have a real life. We take care of our animals. All of them, whether it's cattle, horses, dogs, or cats. We believe in God, in Jesus, and we try to live by the standards set forth in the Bible. We are not perfect, no one is. My husband has been on this land his entire life (except for a couple years gone for college) - he is 4th generation here. My sons are 5th generation. We have a life.

****

Tomorrow we celebrate Independance Day. With this, come my freedom and right to say what I did here. Gilbert also has rights to voice whatever. It is just sad that he doesn't care whom he hurts, he doesn't care about our reputation; he tried to bash our name in country where we sometimes sell cattle. Was that the intent?

I have noticed many well-known people on his web site: Congressman Chet Edwards; Wayne Pacelle - it states he's President of HSUS (what is strange about this, is how much he was bashing HSUS on the radio station!); Chuck Norris; Congressman Chris Bell; John Cotton; Brad Bradford, Houston's City Counsilman; Gene Norman; then he posts the names of people like Brooke Shields, Sugar Ray Leonard, Nolan Ryan, Kelly McGillis, Sparky Lyle, Kris Kristofferson, Michael Knight, Roger Clements, and on...

***

I guess these people know a different Gilbert Field. I have personally never met this man, although I have emailed him to ask him to stop putting the lies on his web site. They are of course, gone. As soon as the Meduna trial started, he removed what I've talked about. But there are copies of it all over.

***

Is this what we have become as citizens of this country? Anything to get ahead, anything to promote yourself for your own gain? NO matter who you hurt in doing so? To each his own right? I'm glad I live where I live. I'm thankful I don't have to go to bed at night feeling guilty for any wrong I've done people. I am thankful for so many people that have spent their lives truly trying to help the horses. I'm thankful I've gotten to know them. Some I've met, some by phone, and some just by emailing, etc.

***

There's always a bad apple in the bunch, thank heavens there's more good!

Have a safe and happy 4th of July.

Vicki Freiberger

Breaking In.....Our own house.....

Give me a home

where the cows do roam,

Where the deer and the antelope

eat our trees.

Where seldom is heard,

a discouraging word

(who were these people?)

And we have way too many

50 mile per hour days' breeze.

Home, home on the ranch,

where we shouldn't have to lock the house tight-

But there's someone near by,

We don't see eye to eye,

So our home gets locked up at night.

Thank heavens, the ending of that song does not apply here anymore.

***

Now we are back to pretty much normal around here, not that I should advertise that our house is sometimes unlocked (and it's probably not advisable to take a chance and see if it is locked or not, in the middle of the night, as we have become accustomed to keeping ourselves prepared) but life is back to not getting up in the middle of the night to look out windows and see if there are any 'prowlers'. But speaking of locking doors.......

***

Starting about this time, last year: we did lock our windows, our screens, our sliders, and our doors, garage doors included. Many times in the morning, I wouldn't get the south door of our house unlocked, and you know how you think a door's going to open when you put your body into it? I don't know how many times I greeted Justin or Josh with a, 'Ooops, forgot to unlock it.' I all but forced them to lock their doors; they did during crucial times (when a neighbor returned from jail, or when horses were removed from a neighbor's - times like that especially, we were all 'buttoned up' pretty tight.)

**

I remember it well, one morning last April in 2009- Don was already outside. Calving time gets us out the door pretty early. I was zipping around, gathering the garbage to take outside. Just as Don was walking up to the porch, I stepped out with my trash bag, slamming the door behind me.......

**

"Oh no", was all I said, at first.

Don looked at me with that puzzled look of why I would say 'oh no', until slowly, the realization of what I must mean soaked in. "You didn't", I think was all he said- at first.

"Hold on, we'll get in." Yes, that was me, in my totally optimistic voice.

So, around the back to the slider. Locked. Windows, all wonderfully and securely, locked. Garage doors, locked.

"Wait!" I exclaimed, "I was washing the upstairs windows....(the ones above the kitchen) ..... maybe I didn't put.... no.....the screen's back on."

Don, "Did you lock the windows up there?"

Me, "Of course."

Don, "Why do you lock the windows on the 2nd story?"

Me, "Are you kidding? I lock everything."

Don, "Of course. I thought you put a key to the door outside somewhere?"

Me, sort of sheepishly, "I did."

"Where is it?"

"In the house."

"Of course."

**

"Oh my gosh wait!...I just remembered I had the garden hose out the garage window to fill the horse tank! I don't think I locked it." (I was hoping I was right)

**

What do you know, I hadn't even put the screen on either. Eeeks, glad we were all OK. So at least we could get into our house, without breaking a window...

**

(The accessible window was the one by the grill.)

I was just so pleased. Don was still grumbling because I was locking everything...because of our circumstances. We had been through enough that 'the neighbor thing' was starting to get on everyone's nerves over here. Then because of that, I had locked ourselves out of our house.

***

Now the big problem, how to get in. We stood pondering for a few seconds with thoughts of, "I don't believe this" and "I hope no one drives up". (Actually, I sort of wish I had my camera with me). - Our first consideration was who would go thru the window. Considering the fact that I am 5'1" and Don is 5' 10"....BUT..... the bottom of the window was at 55". That means I am only 6" taller than the area I had to start from. Don was already half way up there. Yet, I, so bravely volunteered, "I'll climb through, I'm the one that locked the door." Don so generously reminded me, "Now how are you going to get down on the other side, once you get up there?" "I'll just slide, or fall," I said.

Then, of course, he had to remind me that I don't fall too gracefully. But it wasn't a 'fall'... when Justin was about 3 years old, I got BUCKED off a horse we were trying out and broke both my wrists. Yes, both at the same time. Yes, you should pity my mom. I stayed in town with her so she could help me. Oh, my poor mom. Anyway....

So Don had to remind me that I would probably kill myself taking a dive into the garage from the window. Fine. Next problem: the opening was 16" tall, by 21" wide. And this 5'10" man was going to maneuver his body into the 55" tall, 16" x 21" opening. This is the part where I wish I had my camera! He said to 'give him a lift'. Here's the part where I started giggling. I clasped my hands together, he put a foot in, and I cracked up. He was struggling to get up without kicking me, I was pushing everywhere.

"Quit laughing."

"I can't help it. What if Josh or Josie look out their window and see you trying to get in the window?" This was about the time I was pushing up on his behind, then he made it to the base of the window. Now it was a matter of getting his legs in through the opening. One leg went in, then the other was almost..... but not quite..... "Push my foot through." Another crack up. "Stop laughing and push my foot through." "You should see yourself." So I pushed his foot through, it didn't want to go too easily, it was sort of wedged in. Now his head and shoulder and one leg were in. "I'm sorry I'm laughing, but you would too if you could see yourself." "You know we could go get a ladder, but that would be like a guy thing asking for directions, huh?" Luckily I didn't have anything sharp along the wall when he got in. I did say, "be careful." I thought that was nice of me.

I'm sure it's much funnier to me, it's one of those, 'you just had to be there' things. But it still makes me laugh. Don would just say something like, "yea, you laugh now." That makes me crack up more.

So, through bad times, there is usually something to make us smile. But dang it, I wish I would have had my camera. I do have keys to the doors, I think they're still in the kitchen. I didn't think it wise to ask him to re-enact it for photo op purposes. I'll just have my memories.

Left Behind.....

Caution: a bad word at the end... (forgive me, but I didn't write it, it's just a picture)




Left behind....





Many questions have been asked about the whole 3 Strikes ordeal. Mainly, 'what kind of person does this to so many animals?' We certainly don't have the answers, not many people do. I wonder what kind of person does this - continually? Mudna stated often in emails, 'this wasn't his first rodeo' (in talking about dealing with Vicki Freiberger to his former supporters). Seriously. I have the emails-written by Mudna, and by some others: about the Freibergers. Blows me away. It's probably what I've read in the emails, and what I had read throughout on the forums; that keep me hungry to tell the truth - or just tell. Hungry- granted; it's more like throwing cups of gas on a burning fire; every once and awhile - there's a burst of flame.

**

As I sit and ponder what pictures I should, or shouldn't include; the many thoughts circle in my mind of the lies they've told; some just purely stupid, and some a little more on the vicious side. Mudna told different people that my husband forced his dad and mom to move to town, and that he hated his dad. Now Mudna followers: do you think after living 30 years in the same yard, going up to your mom's house (my mother-in-law) for coffee nearly every morning (that's why we called it 'The Coffee Shop' - even our good neighbors new that) and we remodeled my mother-in-law's home - and this has been her family's heritage since she was born - and my husband is 4th generation (which I've probably mentioned) and our 2 sons are 5th generation to continue in this family ranch surroundings - take a breath Vic - and the decision was totally theirs to move in to town. But for Jason to say otherwise, when he didn't know squat.... and to be believed?!!! Yikes. I realize it was his way to get people to believe his lies of how bad we were because......

**

Or... how about the story that Don (my husband) got in a fight with Don (my dad) and kicked him off of the ranch! (Here's another, 'if you don't believe me; call any one of our neighbors'.) Mudna invented lies that I can't even figure out how it would have been a thought process in ones' mind, to even think of the lie to begin with. I could put a huge photo album of pics of my dad coming out here to help us. He loves to come out and help, and we love having him out here. So there's some fuel on the fire.

**

It's like a friend of ours, Pastor Jim, said to Don many, many years ago: "Don, Vic is like a mamma grizzly bear. You stay clear of her, you'll probably be alright; but mess with one of her cubs, she'll tear you up." Now really, I don't write that to sound all 'your mamma - tough stuff'; or to portray that I think I'm tough- but it is how I feel. I might go down swinging, but at least I'll be swinging. I'm really a nice, mild-mannered person!

***

The following is some of what was left behind. Someone told me they saw a moving van in the night. I guess they didn't want to be noticed.

Must have dreamed of being a 'cowboy'.

A cowboy who had saddles on fences, even one on top of the garage.

Of course when I saw this, I thought,

"Dang, that's kinda cool..why would he leave that?"

What ever.

**

This is hanging on the wall. Someone made it.

Seems a shame to leave it behind.

**

Guess since they bought land in Wyoming,

they'll be able to get a new license plate.

**

There's a lot I wanted to write, but-

**

This is my favorite 'left behind' thing.

It is a wonderful 16 x 24 photograph by Pam Nickoles.

***

The 'joke' if you want to call it that; between Dan and I:

"Oh good, at least you saved the picture,

who cares about the basement!"

*

Explanation: when I was going over every day feeding the birds, and checking on the house and trailer (remember how terribly cold it was?) - everything was fine. I removed the photograph so no one could come in and take it, or destroy it. (I'm safe-keeping it for the Greens). I always said "Wow, made it through another cold spell." after I would check all the rooms in the house and trailer for leaks, etc.

*

Nobody told me pipes break when it warms up!!!!!

**

Luckily they were there that weekend.

*

That would be the same Friday of the last day of Meduna's trial. I did make it home in time that evening to talk them into coming over for supper, (Dan didn't want to impose) so we could discuss my saving of the photo! If it would have been warmer, we could have went for a swim in their basement after our meal settled.

*****

And sadly, as everyone knows.....

left behind are the many, many animals - who perished.

***

Last, but not least:

this was in his pickup when the kids were cleaning up the big stuff.

It's probably their favorite find...

DAN (MOORE SUNBAR)

DAN,

Birth Name: MOORE SUNBAR

Born April 15, 1978

to BAR'S BABE AND MARYETTA MOORE

in Cologne, Minnesota

Occasionally, I find myself hashing

over and over in my mind,

the questions asked by Mr. Berry

at both my Deposition,

and the trial of Jason Meduna.

**********

During the Deposition on August 24, 2009,

those present were:

Mr. Berry; County Attorney, Jean Rhodes;

Cynthia Brandt, RPR; and myself.

Mr. Berry asked if one of our

horses was a Palomino.

I felt immediately he was referring to Rayu,

as told to him by Jason Meduna

that we had stolen Rayu.

I replied, "We had a Palomino."

He than asked,

"What happened to that horse?"

I'm surprised I was able

to get through the question with no tears -

"He's dead."

"How did that horse die?" he asked.

"We put him down."

Has Mr. Berry ever owned horses,

or was this just lawyerism coming through?

I'm not saying he was being

a bad man, or mean...

I just don't think he's ever had

the good fortune to have a horse,

that is loved by the family.

My mind was in a whirlpool.

He continued, "And why was that?"

My reply as best I could,

"Because he was so old.

He had ........... just age."

***********

I paused at my last answer.

Trying to find words. There weren't any.

I could have elaborated,

but I knew I would no longer be able

to hold down the lump in my throat.

I could have said that he was almost 30 years old,

had lived a life of adventure,

work - which he loved,

had lots of friends: both humans and horses.

He was an adventure to ride.

He was Don's horse.

As he got older, he was passed down to me.

I had to wait until he was older,

the bugger was hard to hold back.

He wanted to run like the wind,

and he could.

He loved to run, and my only thoughts,

besides exhilaration,

would be that he would not tumble

into a huge gopher hole as we flew!

He never did stumble,

as sure footed as he was.

He was anxious to work cattle;

when a saddle was put upon him,

pleasure riding was the

furthest thing from his mind.

It was time to find cows.

I could have told Mr. Berry all of that.

I should have said the Palomino

you're thinking of, Rayu -

has never been on our place.

I understand what Don means by wishing to have the memory of certain animals locked in his mind, and not on photos. He thinks photos can be too hard. When I found the pics of Dan for this blog, it was as if a small tsunami had suddenly rippled from the top of my head and out my toes. It is hard to see. But it's important to me for all the pictures, to pass on. He was laid to rest deep in the ground, we had a 'service' for him, said our good-byes...... he was a friend.

***

Jason Meduna told many people

that the Freibergers did not own horses.

If we had owned all of his horses,

instead of him.....

they would not have suffered.

***

DAN

April 15, 1978 - April 1, 2008

The Cross

Don and I were driving to town one day, when we noticed a huge cross, just on the left side of entrance to 3 Strikes. I mentioned to Don, "Is that supposed to mean he's religious, or something?" Keep in mind, this was right after he knew I was taking pictures, and we all know he didn't like that.

Don thought different. He noticed the barbed wire and the material tied on the cross, his speculation was that it was put up to keep the 'evil spirits of the Freibergers' away. Got a chuckle out of it anyway. When Meduna first moved here, he talked about the moon, what it all meant; etc. Mother Earth stuff. (Mother Earth is probably not too happy with him)

That was the end of that, until after the land went up for sale, the cross disappeared. I figured the Real Estate place might have suggested he take it down. Later, when I was checking fence lines and cattle, I found the cross on our side of the fence! The cross had been driven up the fence quite a distance, and thrown over. No, I take that back...he probably could not have thrown it over, he would have drug it under the fence and left it there. I told the kids about it, and said, "Throw it back over on his side." They did, that was the end of that. (Yeah, right)

Went to check things out again, and magically...the cross was back on our side! I wasn't thinking at the time; we should have taken it home. We didn't bother moving it for quite some time, until the digging of the autogate episode happened on July 3rd, 2009.

Justin and Josh, there aren't always crazy about me taking their picture, but I convinced them it was all for documentation. (This is a 'hurry up and take the dang picture' look). We decided to put the cross at his entrance (NOT IN THE WAY) the same day they had to re-dig the autogate, July 4.

If you notice the ground is a little trampled here? People like Mudna, R Field, Marlyn, Dena (is there Internet in jail, Dena?), etc. would say how bare the ground is. The 'Look, No Grass' as Field says. (What a joke) How about it's bare because our heifers were walking around it, checking it out? And when they say I don't know what I'm talking about... they have just stated their ignorance.

All this, and NO trespassing! How about that? Except, we noticed again, the cross was gone, to no surprise. Drove up the fence line, dang- he must have found a new place to put it. Do you think it's on our land? Do bears poop in woods?

Don said I better see if I can find it in the meadow without knocking too much grass down. I didn't have to go far to find it. Drove the 4-wheeler along the fence, there it was. And we were going into the meadow in a few days. (haying)

And because we were busy putting up hay, like we do every summer, we hadn't taken the time to get the cross. A couple days later, I went to show the kids where it was. We were just going to bring it home. Dang it. It was gone. My plan was to put it up on our side, with a sign posted on it, pointing to the south that read, "Killing Fields" but it didn't work out. Oh heck, Don would have told me it was a bad idea anyway.



Now Jason groupies, are you going to still tell me he's an angel? ....and he's just being picked on by those nasty, evil, Freibergers?

By the way, wouldn't this qualify for more trespassing, on Mudna's part? Do I seem a little miffed here? I just hope R Field, Mr. Twister radio man, and others see this. But I've been told, it wouldn't matter to them anyway.

After we found the cross in our meadow, and then it was gone....we could not find it again. So I decided to let his lawyer, Mr. Berry be aware of all this. Is this not the way things are done? Did I really care? I have included the fax I sent to Mr. Berry. The fax also included the pictures.

Fax to Mr. Berry:

July 30, 2009
To: Berry Law Firm ATTN: John S. Berry Jr.

From: Vicki Freiberger


This is in regard to your client, Jason Meduna. The pictures I am faxing you, are of the log ‘cross’ that Jason Meduna had at the entrance of his property, to the left side of the road. Soon after the land (3-Strikes Ranch) was listed for sale, the cross was not there. We found the cross up the fence line to the west, thrown onto our land, where we had cows and calves at the time. I told my sons to throw it back over to his side. They did. We found the cross again, thrown over onto our land. When my sons, Justin and Josh, dug out Jason’s auto gate, (because he would not) and our calves were going to walk the auto gate, to lay in the shade of his entrance sign; they also carried the ‘cross’ and set in inside of Jason’s entrance. They did not trespass to do so, as my photos show. The next day, we noticed the ‘cross’ was gone. I looked in our pasture, and did not find it. I drove to the east of Jason’s entrance on our meadow, and up in the corner, I found the ‘cross’ laying in our meadow. Which, please note, he would have had to trespass onto our land, to position it where it lay. We decided to go and get the ‘cross’ and just take it home, so we didn’t have to worry about it anymore. Justin and Josh went to get the ‘cross’ a couple days after that, and could not find it. Which please note; when he came and retrieved the cross from our meadow, he had to trespass again.

We will be moving into this meadow to hay very soon. I do not know where he put the cross now, but I want you to know, that if we hit that ‘cross’ with our swather, (which by the way, it is a new, New Holland swather and this is the first summer we have used it) it will destroy the swather. The grass is tall, and it won’t be seen until it is too late. If we run into it, it will be Jason Meduna’s sole responsibility to replace it. The cost of this swather is $35,000 - $40,000. Jason C. Meduna will be liable for any damage the ‘cross’ causes to our land, our tractor, and our New Holland swather.

For the first time in 30 years of living on this ranch, there was also a gate dropped between our neighbor, Grover Thompson and us. Luckily, no cattle got mixed up. The gate is beside the road that goes to town. After Justin and Josh dug out Jason’s auto gate, it was filled back in, with even more sand than they dug out. There was also the salt and mineral bunk that was drug to the center of our auto gate, which our kids would have run into in the dark. My daughter-in-law is pregnant, what would have happened had they ran into that bunk, and her air-bag deployed? I would appreciate the shenanigans being ended.

Thank you for your time.
Vicki Freiberger

This is also being sent to the Sheriff of Morrill County, and to the Morrill County Attorney.

***

That's why we were watching the ground so close when we came across the Mudna's blair witch project. We have not seen the cross since. Maybe he cut it up.