July

July 2-8 Summer Ranch Week

Tuesday, July 4, 2000
I knew it would be hard to keep up with the writing as the the days grow longer and I more tired. I will try to recap the last few weeks, and what a difference a few weeks makes! I am sitting out on my veranda here at the upper ranch, the rains have come with a refreshing vengeance and the place is so green it hurts my eyes to look at it. All the country is in awesome shape, the 11,000 acres that burned two months ago you would swear was relocated from Switzerland. Covered with lush thick grass and thousands of Elk and cattle, it is truly a sight to see. We have had some great groups over the last few weeks and have gotten a lot of cattle moved and spread. We now have cattle in three pastures spread over 45,000 acres. Though we still have a hundred or so on the lower ranch, most all are up here enjoying the high country. We have not had a day over 80 in weeks, the mornings are sunny and bright with a heavy dew and the afternoon huge clouds scuttle across the sky offering shade and outrageous sunsets.

All the fire restrictions have been lifted so next week we will start branding each week and hopefully we can get caught up before too many calves slip into the mountains not to be seen again till they are 400#. That's when branding is no fun!!!!!

We have bought some pretty nice horses lately and all are working well. One I am real proud of is a 2yo red dun gelding who looks and behaves just like my great cow horse Mangus who died last March. If he just is half the horse Mangus was I will really have something special. I call him Cowboy. I will start riding him during the fall gather. We have a 30 horse consignment headed to a sale the first week of August, so among everything else we are sales prepping those horses. It includes lots of yearlings and twos so thats always fun, they are so eager to learn and you get a tremendous sense of accomplishment working with them everyday. They all are pretty well finished, they all load in trailers, stand tied, lead, and take saddles like little champs. Ground tying is this week's lesson. I know we will have the best turned out horses there.

I am sitting on my veranda at 10:30 am on a Tuesday because I will be sitting here a lot in the weeks to come. Last Tuesday the 27th we were out riding in Burnt Cabin meadow getting some stock moved. I was riding a fresh horse, a big 16.3 hd black and white paint gelding. He is really only good in the arena, there he excels. But out, he has no sense of self preservation. I knew this and should not have had him out, but he can be such a great ride. All my gear had been in my truck from a weekend on the road looking at horses to buy, so that morning I saddled here in front of the house. Maybe one reason I was riding him is that over the weekend I had ridden a lot of tough horses and had gotten along fine with them all and was feeling a bit too confident. Along with the fact it had been 3 or 4 months since I had him out last and as often happens had forgotten my coming home cussing his ignorance and telling Maggie to never ever ride him out by himself. I vaguely remember jigging along on him the couple miles to Burnt Cabin thinking how comfortable and powerful he felt. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital two days later strapped to a hard board hurting like hell. Both the bones in my left arm were were broken and compounded between my elbow and wrist are the worst of the injuries. I also had a concussion and a lump on my head the size of a lemon, along with other various cuts and abrasions. I had surgery on the 30th putting plates on both bones and way too many sutures in. It looks like a heavy gauge railroad running up my arm.

The story as I have heard it is as follows:

All the way to the Meadows the horse was on the muscle. When we got there I told my 3 riders we would split up and see what we could find. The meadow sits in a tree rimmed bowl and as I loped my horse across it he spooked hard at a log. I lost my hat and then caught it but the horse was by that time flat out headed into the trees and I was at an off angle back on his rump. Dave from Mass. was the closest and he said he heard branches breaking and found me dazed at the base off a big tree he assumes I hit. We had traveled close to a quarter mile into the tree line before I came off. They found Alan who headed for the house to call help while two nurses who were here from Pa. got the 1st aid bags and splinted my arm. This happened about 10:00am The ambulance got there about 12:00 noon and they transported me about 7 miles to Negrito Firebase Airstrip. I was pretty out of it, still yelling at cows in my delirium. The helicopter from Albuquerque arrived about 3:00pm it was a long day with no pain meds. till the copter came. I am glad I remember none of it.
So here I sit watching the most beautiful days of summer drift by rather bored and frustrated.

July 15-22 Posse Week

Sunday, July 15, 2000
Well I hate to rub it in but I must. While most of the country is in the midst of a heat wave we have been running a steady 75 to 80 every day, upper 40s to low 50s at night. Every afternoon the thunderheads build up and somewhere it rains. Then it's time for those incredible New Mexico sunsets. Last evening was one of the best, besides the low slanting light and pink and blue clouds we had two double rainbows. The wild flowers are really coming out now, it is as if someone took a palette of every bright colored paint and smeared it on the grassy hillsides.

Last week Alan and the guests rode all over the mountains behind the H.Q. looking for strays getting the whole area cleared of cattle and moved out into the open country. Everyday the guests came in with tales of wild cattle and wild rides with Alan. I tell everyone who rides with him to take a horse you hate, a saddle you care nothing about, wear your hiking boots and carry a chainsaw. He just goes wherever. Over the week they came up with about 65 head of cattle and 5 mavericks. A maverick is an unbranded cattle who has been weaned. Here in the mountains there are lots of mavericks which are wild as deer. The ones they found were 2 to 4 year olds and really put the chase on. But they got them in and branded and at the end of the week they moved a big bunch out to Pitchfork pasture. A push of about 11 miles. Everyone left feeling like they had seen plenty of the rear end of a cow.

Monday, July 17, 2000 POSSE WEEK
This week is posse week and I am soooo disappointed not to be able to ride! We have a great crew, Lyndsey and her boyfriend Gary who is a Royal Navy Seal head up one team with Dana and three guys from Ohio who are all big re-enactors. They go by the names of Doc, Dangerous Dan, and Shorty, all fun guys in their 50's. They are using the Hay Canyon camp. Curtis and Tanya head the other team, along with Fearless Frank, a local fella whose great on Posse. Also on the team are Erin a 21 y.o. gal from CT. and Anna a 24 y.o. from N.C. They are using the 7HL cowcamp that is about 2 miles from the other team.

Wednesday, July 19, 2000
I am my own team. I walk around and harass anyone I can find. Tuesday was fairly inactive, both teams only seeing the other at a distance as they looked for loot bags. This morning Curtis took his team on a raid of the other camp at 6:00 am, catching them at breakfast. They had come in from a ridge behind the camp and had the high ground advantage. Curtis forced the guard, who was Shorty, to surrender by sneaking up on him, and then a fierce gun battle ensued for over an hour. Dangerous Dan was the next to fall with a hit to the chest quickly followed by Doc who took a ball in the belly going down loudly. Fearless Frank was shooting it out with Lyndsey, first shooting her gun out of her hand then hitting her between the eyes. Dana, seeing her partners falling around her, headed to the trees with Frank and Curtis in pursuit. She went up over the ridge then back to camp again leading a 15-min. running gun battle. She finally made it back into the cabin at camp where she held them of for over half an hour till they stormed in and finally dispatched her.

All on Lyndsey's team were killed but Gary who had disappeared when the shooting started. Curtis' team had no losses. As they headed back to the horses Gary dropped out of a tree and killed three of them before Tanya drove him off with some hot fire from her pistol. The score now stood at 5 kills to 3 with each team having 2 loot bags though neither knew the other did. This afternoon was spent with each team riding till early eve, looking for more loot and avoiding each other.

Then, this evening I made a 2 hr. approach on foot to Lyndsey's camp in the rain. As I neared I saw a guard out on the ridge across a little draw from me. I eased in slowly till I was only 50 yds. away and even with him. It was Gary. I could tell by the sounds from the camp below me that dinner was being prepared, I sat and hoped that they would call him in to eat rather than send someone to relieve him. Yes! I heard the call and watched him head into camp and no one came to take his place. I went down Indian style taking 20 min. to cover 70 yds. but got with in 20 ft of them as they sat around the fire eating. When I stepped out from behind the tree the nice meal turned into utter chaos as plates and people went flying. I forced all but Gary to drop their weapons and lay down. As soon as I had stepped out Gary was nothing but heels and elbows sprinting to the trees. I quickly pulled all their life ribbons and skedaddled out not knowing what Gary was up to. The walk back was much shorter not having to creep and having five tags in my pocket. Now the score is Curtis 5, Lyndsey 3 and I had 5.

Thursday, July 20, 2000
Today the two teams maneuvered around the country, Curtis' in pursuit of Lyndsey's who, being so far down on kills, did not want another engagement. They stayed ahead and out of reach all day as they laid back trails and circled and hid in a few canyons, finally heading back to their camp with another bag in tow. They spent the evening holed up there under a 3 person guard and spent a restless night. Had they known, they could have slept well as just after dark I moved in on Curtis' camp. It was pitch dark, as the moon was not rising till after midnight. I took a long time getting in close and finally got to where I could see the fire and silhouettes moving around it. By the sights and sounds I was pretty sure they all were in camp. When I fired off my first round what a hilarious scramble developed. They were tripping over each other trying to get to the weapons. But I must say return fire was quick and close, several rounds whizzing by my head till I changed position. I pumped rounds in as fast as a one armed man could, firing a few then moving. I worked my way around the camp and up onto a rock rim over looking it and fired from there for close to an hour. I was well-protected and just shot at sounds. There was no seeing anything. I knew the chances of hitting anyone were slim but I was having a great time. I put over 200 rounds into the camp, hearing them hit the wagons and canvas, pinging off pans and pots, and hearing a cussing every now and again as I came close to someone.

Finally the moon was starting up and I eased off the rocks and worked my way back around the camp shooting periodically. I stopped in a ditch less than 20 ft from the closet wagon and campfire and sat for a rest. After about 15 min. they relaxed a bit and gathered around the fire assuming I had left. I heard them discussing whether it had been two or three attackers and also heard that I had hit Erin with my second shot in the chin and later had killed Frank with a shot to the head. Both pure luck. I had also wounded all the rest at least once, I guess with that many rounds fired I was bound to hit something. I stayed in the ditch and as the moon was casting the first long shadows I rose and stood where I was, gun leveled as they sat drinking coffee and relaxing. Over ten min. passed before one of the women saw me and screamed. They flushed like a covey of quail as my gun spat round after round into their midst. I heard the unmistakable sound of balls hitting bodies. I stepped in took a cup of coffee and walked off in the dark.

Friday, July 21, 2000
It was a short day, both teams exhausted from miles and miles of riding, sleepless nights and dirty bodies headed home. Both were being careful and cautious, splitting up and heading in by different routes. All were home by 1:00pm. After showers and cold drinks and a steak dinner the stories flowed. It is always fun to hear each teams thoughts and doings, at times we laughed so hard we all had tears. Finally it was asked, "Who won?" Well I did! Curtis' team had five kills and two bags. Lyndsey's had three kills and three bags. So no one got all six bags thus it is decided by number of kills...and I got 7 kills. Everyone got a big chuckle about the one-man team of the one armed bandit. It was a great posse week! Fun had by all!

July 23-30 Summer Ranch Week

Wednesday, July 26, 2000
The weather still is great, partly cloudy days in the upper 70's and low 80's, nights in the low 50's and upper 40's. Just a little bit of spotty thunder activity. This week we only have three guests, it was supposed to be a ranch holiday to Cheyenne frontier days, but alas could not make it so we took a few folks. They are Charlotte and Jim from Co. and another Jim from Fla. all in their 50's all good riders. They spent the first couple days on the mountain gathering strays and mavericks coming out with 6 unbranded. Today they are on a long push with Alan and 60 head out to Fence tank. They will be some kinda tired when they get back. I spent the last couple days driving around looking at horses, and took Tanya to ride for me. We saw a lot but only came home with one a beautiful Palomino gelding, a really nice horse whose just 7.

I have been spending a lot of my time messing with the foals. We have a great crop of babies out of our stud horse St. Brite. I just am rubbing them all over and letting them know people are all right. I don't believe in imprinting, it makes dogs out of horses. They just wander around the H.Q. area...about 160 acres...we just happen to live in their pasture. They are always on the porch and visiting guest's cabins, who get a kick out of it.