Thunder In The Clouds

THUNDER IN THE CLOUDS

Remembering the Mustangs of the Sandhills....

Nine months ago, many animals were saved from 3 Strikes Ranch.

Many did not survive.

It was Lonnie Littlehoop's desire, to bring some sort of closure

for the mustangs who did not make it out alive from 3 Strikes.

Through this, they hoped it would also be a healing

and understanding process for the children

that once were involved in a program at the mustang ranch -

a program of love and caring each child

would be able to give to the mustang that was 'assigned' to them.

On January 22, 2010 - Lonnie Littlehoop rode from Alliance to the former

3 Strikes Ranch, once owned and operated by Jason Meduna.

Jen and the kids drove the horse trailer,

Liz Lee and kids followed in her vehichle.

This would be the first Mustang Memorial Ride for the horses.

The ride was open to all,

many were expected to come from neighboring states.

I remember in a planning meeting that Lonnie and Jen had,

Lonnie stated he hoped the weather would be cold, even snowy.

I thought he was crazy!

But his reasoning... was to remember and pay tribute

to what all the horses endured through the winter at 3 Strikes.

Out in the cold, the snow, and the wind.....struggling to survive.

Without food and water at their disposal,

life for the horses would have been hard, painful, and long-suffering.

It was actually fitting that on the first day,

he was the only rider.

I believe for every evil, there is good.

Once upon a time, a person rode his horses

up and down this road to Alliance.

Now, this rider on the horse would bring goodness

to the memory of all the horses that perished -

and bring good memories for the survivors.

Jen, opening the gate for Lonnie...going onto the former 3 Strikes.

Lonnie and Nahpiya











Lonnie said it felt like he was riding through a graveyard.









The journey is over for the day.
Now Nahpiya (which means 'Clouds')
would get to spend the night at
the Nebraska Boys Ranch, with feed, water, and rest.


Tomorrow he would walk back to Alliance from the Boys Ranch,
but with more riders on the 2nd day.
(And the weather was much warmer!)







Jen, Lonnie, and the kids who had 'adopted' horses.









They walked around a now empty corral, where once they came
and worked with their horses. Now they were gone.
Some of the kids do not know if their horse survived.

We are in the process of locating their horses.
Hopefully, they will find that they are now all in loving homes.









We gathered to the center of the corral, forming a circle.
Lonnie led the prayer in his native tongue.
No pictures would be taken.
Being a part of the 'song' for the horses,
was something I will remember forever.
I'm so thankful I was able to be a part of this ceremony.















Thanks to Laura, we all enjoyed yummy hot chocolate afterwards.

Your gift was so thoughtful Laura!!
The day was cold, and the hot chocolate warmed us to the bones.

The painting of the four horses....

was done by Jay Largo

from Jen's vision of the Mustangs in the clouds.

(Jen's brother Jay, is from New Mexico)

The t-shirts are available to purchase. Jen did the screen printing herself.

Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing a t-shirt, I will get you in touch with Jen.

I think they are $15 + shipping.

Watch Out For That Bunk!

On July 3rd, 2009.... before I noticed the filled-back-in auto gate, I found this salt and mineral bunk in the middle of our auto gate...






In the background of the above picture is the entrance to the former 3 Strikes Ranch.
The kids had gone into town after they dug out Meduna's autogate (the 1st time) for the Alliance 4th of July Fireworks Display (on the 3rd). Don and I stayed home, as we were all now accustomed to never leaving the place unattended.





It was towards evening, and with some of our cattle in the bordering pasture to Mudna's, I decided to go check everything out again. As I rounded the corner, there to my surprise was one of our blue plastic tubs we put salt and mineral in for the cattle. We have two pieces of approximately 4'-5' long rebar criss-crossed on the bottom of the tub to prevent cattle from tipping the bunk over. The bunk was about half full, so that means there was around 80 lbs. total of salt and mineral in it. So he drug it from the spot that is about half way between the autogate and his entrance, all the while trespassing. Or should I say, someone drug it.






This picture shows how far the bunk was drug, and was left in the middle of our autogate. What this means is: later that evening, when it was dark...someone probably would have run into the tub on the way back from town. A normal tub, not having rebar sticking out of the sides, may have slid off the autogate, but then stopped when it hit the dirt, and went up under the vehicle. Now this particular bunk, could have very easily got stuck in the pipes of the autogate, and could have done some serious danger when the rebar went up under the vehicle. Driving home that night, in one automobile, were Josh, Josie and my little granddaughter, Cadence....and Justin and Allie (who by the way was very pregnant) - so what could have happened when an air bag went off into Allie?

That is probably why, after I moved the bunk out of the way, I went home and called Mr. Berry (Jason's lawyer) and left a message about it. I was a little upset.

Oh by the way, this is another thing that Jason tried to bring up at my 'harassment case'... was that I was calling HIS lawyer; HARASSING MR. BERRY!!!!

My tape measures, measuring to see just how far he did trespass to do this little job.

Wish I had a dime for every time he's trespassed on us. Or like, a dime a foot....

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

THOSE NAUGHTY BOYS....just trying to get some work done

My Harassment Charge notes from Aug. 5, 09:

with pictures taken July 3rd & 4th, 2009

(1)

On the stand, Meduna questioning me:

Another thing Jason Meduna asked me, "and what about an auto gate, you dug it out and it's not yours". (Right away, I'm thinking, 'wow, you've got to be kidding?!!)

The above picture (1) is the auto gate in question. Meduna's land is where all the old west entrance stuff is. One thing I never understood: when he made his little 'foyer entrance'...you can see that you must drive over the auto gate (cattle gate), then stop to open the wire gate. He told me when he was building it (that was when they first moved in) that his mustangs would jump the auto gates. I'm thinking, not in the last year, they didn't have the energy.

You cannot see the south half of the auto gate, because it is buried in sand.

(Meduna's handy work) Alright, this is an addition to my blog: My kids said they piled the dirt about 18" on Meduna's side. My husband just read this for the first time, not all of it, but saw the picture- he said the dirt was higher than 18". So...I'll be truthful; I don't know how high it was. I don't think it was 3'. As many pictures as Meduna took of trying to prove everything against us, I guess he should have taken a picture of the dirt piled so high that his wife could not drive over it. He took pictures of everything else, so why not the 3' high pile of dirt???? Perhaps because the pile was not 3' high? I do not believe it was 3' high, it was as high as the center of the pile of dirt, if it had been higher, it would show the skim marks from the pickup as they drove over it.

There are no pictures that show the original digging out of the auto gate that my sons did. The picture shown above is what I found that evening, after Mudna had filled it back in with dirt. So ask yourself, if he took the time to throw the dirt back in the auto gate, why didn't he just throw the dirt out farther, and be glad someone at least dug the auto gate out, that he was supposed to; but would not.

Photo taken the evening of July 3rd, around 7 PM.

Terry, "Objection, your Honor."

Judge (to Meduna), "What does this have to do with harassment?"

Mudna, "It's trespassing, the auto gate is mine."

Judge (to me), "Go ahead." .....Actually, I probably had a look on my face to the Judge like, please let me answer this.

(2)

I told the kids to dig the auto gate out, because Meduna wasn't going to. Our calves were walking the auto gate at the sides. With only one post at each side, and if the auto gate is not dug out, the calves look down, see there is no dangerous looking walkway, and maneuver their body around the post to get to the other side. We usually have tractor tires blocking each side, but that's not 'old school' enough for 3 Strikes. And if you think what I just said is a lot of baloney; about the calves figuring out how to get around - watch them sometime.

Me, "Your Honor, that auto gate, I believe, belongs to the county. I'm not sure."

Mudna, "but you trespassed to dig it out."

(3)

The footprints are Meduna's. He must have done a lot of work to shovel the dirt back into the auto gate.

My reply, looking to the Judge, "No, Your Honor, we had to dig it out. The auto gate is in the fence line, so it was not trespassing. When Jason moved here, Justin & Josh told him if he would dig out that auto gate, they would dig all the others out to the main county road. It is the land owner's responsibility to dig out the auto gates. My sons told him that particular auto gate was his to dig out, since he is the only one who uses it. We had cows and calves in our pasture, and in the heat, they would walk across the auto gate to lay in the shade from the 3 Strikes entrance, where the posts are built like western or something."

"The calves know to walk the auto gate and look for shade?" Mudna smugly asked me with his head slightly cocked and a grin-looked face to match.

I answered to the Judge, "Yes actually, they do. In real hot days, calves will find one pig-weed sticking up, and there will be three calves standing under the leaves for shade. So yes, they knew they could find shade there."

(4)

The date was July 3rd of 2009, when I told the kids to just go and dig the auto gate out because Meduna wasn't going to do it, and the calves are getting across. So they went in the mid-afternoon and dug it out. Most of the pictures on this post are taken July 4th, AFTER the kids had dug out the auto gate, and Meduna, in the early evening of July 3rd, threw the dirt BACK IN THE AUTO GATE!! (And I'M HARASSING HIM!? - WOW)

Meduna, "You were trespassing to dig it out." (smug, smug, -grin; tilt of the head)

I turned to the Judge and said, "I told Justin and Josh to dig the auto gate out, I told them they would have to so the calves did not get across the auto gate, because Jason Meduna must not have time to do it. I have pictures of Justin and Josh digging out the auto gate. They did NOT trespass."

Terry, "Objection, Your Honor, where is all this leading?"

Meduna, "It's harassment, how they dug it so my wife couldn't get out."

Judge, "Do you have a question for the witness?"

Meduna, "Are you aware of the gate on my land?"

I was truly puzzled with this question, there's a gate on his side by the auto gate, and there's a gate up the fence where Jim piled the panels that Meduna claimed were his.

(5)

After the kids could get to the latches, the center panel of the auto gate lifts up, then the dirt can be more easily dug out from the underneath. (well, I've never thought of it as REAL easy...)

Me, "I'm not sure which gate you're talking about, there's one.."

Mudna interrupted me and started to say something else, and the Judge authoritively, stopped him, saying, "You asked her about a gate, make it clear what you are talking about so she can understand which gate!"

Meduna, "the one right by the cattle gate."

I replied to him, "yes, I know which one you are talking about."

Oh the desire to add, 'if that's what you call a gate.' But I didn't.

(6)

Justin and Josh just doin' some diggin'......again.

Meduna, "Why did you pile the dirt 3' high? My wife has to drive out the driveway every morning and there was a 3' pile of dirt in front of the auto gate. How is she supposed to get out?"

(By the way, even at 3' high, his wife could have gotten out, it is soft sand, and I'd like to know; was that any reason to drag our salt and mineral bunk to the middle of the auto gate, where my sons and their families would run into it that night on the way home from town-after viewing the fireworks display?????)

(7)

Can you imagine what my sons were saying as they dug this out for the 2nd time in 24 hours?

Turning to the Judge, I said, "Well Your Honor, we have been keeping track of everything, and every detail, it was not a 3' high pile of dirt. My son said it was about 18" high, and like all the other auto gates you dig out, you just drive over the dirt."

I looked at Meduna as I said, "They threw some dirt on our side," then facing the Judge again, "yes, they threw most of the dirt on 3-Strikes side. But that is what we do on all the auto gates that line up east and west, because if you throw all the dirt on the north side, the winds predominately come out of the north, so the auto gate will just fill in again."

Plus, I wish I would have added that Meduna must not be telling the truth, (can you imagine that?) because why would the kids have piled the dirt 3' high, knowing that when Meduna did drive on it, it would push some dirt back in the auto gate. Another 'DUH'.

(8)

Would you believe I stood there the whole time they dug, and took pictures? And yes, I have a lot more than what I'm posting!

I finally realized out that having such detail might come in handy.

(9)

They threw the dirt in a wide area...all over.....so it wouldn't bother the poor Meduna family.

Now, Anissa should be able to drive her pickup over the 4" piled dirt.

(10)

No wait...I don't think there's even 4" piled up. So I think her vehicle should make it OK.

(11)

Closing up the center of the auto gate. Finished digging. Again.

Judge to Mudna, "Do you have another question? I think she answered your question on the auto gate."

So that ended the talk about the auto gate.

(12)

This is the what the auto gate would have looked like after the kids dug it out on July 3rd, around 2:00 PM.

(13)

Once again... this is what Meduna left the kids with....a filled in auto gate...

that I discovered July 3rd, about 7:00 PM.

(14)

By the way, a small calf would walk up to the post,

put his nose down to check out the surroundings, and most likely now...

would not want to get over to the other side.