April

April 1 - April 4, 2003: No Guests

Tuesday, April 1, 2003
    Don and Jeannie came over and helped us gather 7HL pasture today. Maggie was on Cooleye, I rode Dakota, Lyndsey on Ben and Frank rode Cowboy. We started from the H.Q. about 9:30am. Pushed out some cattle that had been here at the house living off the hay pile. Leaving behind a couple steers for roping practice.

Cowboy was pretty juicy for Frank. Putting on a couple shows. He doesn’t buck, he tries to run off. Frank did a good job of getting and keeping him under control. Frank came back from the clinic he went to all jazzed up. He wasn’t much into riding green horses before but now wants to take them all on. More power to him. He was telling us all about what the clinic guy said and did, pretty impressed. Later Lyndsey rode up and asked me why he doesn’t remember us telling him all that stuff for the last couple years. I told her it was because you listen to instruction better when you’re paying for it.

     The gather went great, Lyndsey and Jeannie covered the Feathery hill area, Frank and Donnie went in the middle through Nedra tank, Maggie and I stayed south along Ewe canyon. Right after we started the wind came up  Earlier we had been talking about how the windy season was late and thus jinxed ourselves. April and May is windy season, a day will start out great but about 10am the wind starts blowing and keeps going till after sunset. Today was a classic wind season day. We had it at our backs all morning, but luckily it wasn’t cold. We all met up at T Bar tank and had just over a hundred adult cattle and about 25 young calves. A lot of the cows are about ready to calve and moved pretty slow. But even with that we made great time; we were at Fence tank by 3pm. We put the cattle through into Pitchfork pasture and called it a day.

     We had left my truck and trailer out at Cowcamp yesterday so we would have a ride home at the end of the day. But the trailer only holds five horses so I rode home the way we had come. I like doing that after a gather, riding back through and seeing what we missed. I was pleased to see no cattle anywhere. But I was not pleased to have the wind in my face for a couple hours. It was really blowing, gusts to 50 and a steady blow of 25. As I came up and crested out on the top of T Bar ridge the wind staggered Dakota for a moment.

     When we came into the North trap there were six pairs, which we had left behind in the morning because the calves were big enough to wean. I gathered them up and headed them to the H.Q. It was easy going till we got to the driveway, then for no reason one big steer took off back the way we had come at warp factor 10. Dakota took off after him and the race was on. Jumping streams and ditches and over rocks and mud we just couldn’t get up with him till almost a mile had passed. Finally he tired and Dakota got around and slid to a stop in front of him. I was a little upset and ran the little S.O.B. all the way back to the others who stood waiting under a tree. We finally got home about 6pm. It was a long day.

Wednesday, April 2, 2003
     Maggie and I spent the day driving around the ranch moving and filling feeders in Pitchfork pasture where most of the cattle are. She hauled the feeders in her truck and I drove the feed truck. First we went to Incognito camp and set a feeder on the canyon rim above the camp. It took us almost two hours to get out there. As we were pulling up to the gate separating Canyon Creek pasture from Pitchfork pasture I saw it was open, as soon as I realized that I saw six heifers come over the hill headed to the opening. It was a race to the gate when they saw me. It seemed they knew exactly what was up. I floored the old dump truck and got there seconds before they did. Last I saw them they were walking the fence looking to go somewhere else. On the way out we saw eight Rockin Arrow cattle at Juniper tank. I had hoped I’d seen the last of those things. No telling how many are still on our range. The elk were everywhere out there; we must have seen 300 in several bunches.

     We got back to the H.Q. had a bite to eat, refilled the feed tank on the truck and headed out to Dead Horse Corral. As we were going up the driveway we met a truck coming down with Texas plates, the driver didn’t give any of the one lane drive at all. I was creeping along in first gear trying to make the hill with 4300 pounds of liquid feed on board. I had to take to the ditch to let them pass. I was pissed. Just who the hell was that any way? I made it out of the ditch and up the hill where Maggie was waiting for me. She went back down to see who the heck it was. I continued on since I didn’t travel fast and the road out there is really rough. Forty-five minuets later she caught up to me and had a young gal with her who she said was looking for work. Ummmm..All right I’ll talk to her when we get to Dead Horse. We both knew we weren’t hiring so she must have been persuasive to get Maggie to bring her along.

     It took almost two hours to get there and when this gal stepped out I knew she would never make it here. A 24-year-old Texas gal who was fashion magazine cowgirl. Supposedly raised on a ranch, she looked like Lindsey’s primpy little sister. Definitely a two shower a day gal, not near tough enough to work here. When we got home I changed her flat tire and sent her on her way.

     Frank and Lyndsey went to town, hauled Belle to the vet. She is a 24-year-old mare who worked five years for us before becoming a brood mare. She always gives us great foals. She has arthritis in her right front foot and pains her a lot especially in the mornings. I wanted to see if a nerve block would help her. The Dr. checked her out and because it’s in her fetlock there was nothing he could do. We will keep her on Bute and set her up with rocker-toed shoes, which may help. They picked up five cows from Johns on their way home leaving about 25 still down there.

     The day was windy and cold; a few snow flurries hit the windshield. Hi was 40 lo 19.

Thursday, April 3, 2003
    The wind just keeps on; we haven’t been able to have a fire in the stove for days now. We are just using the fireplace, which does little to heat the house, 85% of the heat just goes up the chimney.

Lyndsey was under the weather so she didn’t join Frank and I as we saddled up to re-ride 7HL pasture. Maggie announced she was a fair weather cowgirl and had no intention of spending the day out in the wind. I saddled Gambler and Frank did the same to Kitten. We headed out in two trucks, Frank went to 7HL tank and started from there and I hauled the five cows they brought home yesterday out to Fence tank and started from there after unloading the cows. I first went up on T Bar Ridge and rode the length of it east to west. It was some kinda windy up there. I left my cowboy hat at home and wore a winter hat and was glad of it. I only found one Rockin Arrow bull, which I pushed down to the valley, then rode back to the top. Gambler was firing on all twelve cylinders and really covering some ground. From where I was I could see Frank about four miles north pushing a bunch of cattle and could see a few more to his west. That’s the time I wish we had radios so I could tell him. I came off the ridge and went down T Bar canyon al the way to the south fence. The canyon is narrow with a creek running the bottom, cliffs rising several hundred feet. It was like a wind tunnel in there. I had to go all the way to check a gate and I wanted to make some time so I could get back out and help Frank. Gambler sensed my eagerness and strode out in his super fast trot. He jumped every stream crossing of which there are about twenty. With every jump he got more and more aggressive until he was pretending to be a grand Prix jumper, balling himself up then launching across the creek. We found no cattle and when we turned around he had the wind up his butt and got even more fired up. All the way he was galloping and jumping and looking for monsters. One 50 mph gust came a long and flipped my rope, which was tied on the right, up and over his neck. Oh he loved that, blowing off sideways like a colt.

     When I came out of the canyon I could see Frank had gone back up for the rest of the cattle on the mesa so I rode down into a cut bank along the creek and hid from the wind while I watched the cattle he had left on some salt. He showed up about a half hour later and we headed to fence tank. He had a good day; we had two bulls, 36 cows with 16 calves and 13 heifers. I was happy to see those calves, the other day I was a bit concerned just how few we had gathered, but I guess he found the nursery school.

     When we got to Fence tank we had a bad-eyed cow of mine I wanted to haul home for the sale and a pair of Donnie and Jeanie’s to get home as well. The two bulls I wanted out of there too, one was the Rockin Arrow bull. We penned everything and then pretty slick cut out all but those we wanted plus one extra heifer that was in love. We had a bit of trouble getting them loaded, the pen is too big and they have too much room to run around. The cow of Donnie and Jeannie’s went on the fight and started charging us. Fortunately she didn’t have horns, she slammed into Gambler's shoulder once really getting us both mad. I untied my rope and when she came again she got whipped in the face and a bite from Gambler. She was ready to take directions now. She ran up into the trailer with the other cows along behind her. I jumped off and slammed the center gate shut. That just left us the two bulls. Twenty minutes later we finally got my big bull on the trailer but the little Rockin Arrow bull wouldn’t go on. We left him there and hoped he would be more inclined to load after a day or two of being alone. There wasn’t room for the horses so we left them there as well. Frank rode with me to his truck and then went back to get them. He said when he got there it looked like the horses had been chasing the bull all over the corral, good for them!

     I had a heck of a time getting Donnie’s cow cut off from mine when we got home, Frank hadn’t gotten home with my horse so I was afoot, also was aclimb as she sent me up the fence a half dozen times snorting and charging and blowin’ snot. She was a piece of work.

     It was a long day; the wind just seems to suck the energy out of you.

     Hi 40 lo 20 steady 25 mph wind.

Friday, April 4, 2003
     I woke early to the sounds of running horses, and it sounded like a lot. There should only be six around the house and this was definitely a lot more than six. There wasn’t enough moon to see anything but when the sun finally came up I could see that just about every horse we own was in the house lot. Somehow all the Dog Spring horses had gotten through two fences and brought the Bearwallow horses with them. There were over 50 horses in the yard just having a great time. Some hadn’t seen each other in months and others had never met. Every horse was here except my old mustang and two brood mares. It took awhile but we finally got the weanlings separated, then the yearlings, then the two year olds. Then the mares from the geldings and finally got all the geldings back into Bearwallow pasture. That took half the morning. The rest of the day was spent repairing the rail fence separating Bearwallow from the house.

     It blew all day, not as bad as yesterday though.

     Hi 45 lo 12.

April 5 - April 16, 2003: No Guests

Saturday, April 5, 2003
     Another windy day, I know I shouldn’t expect any thing different this time of year. Dakota and I trailered out to Fence tank. The bull we had left there was still in the corral, which kinda surprised me. On the way in I could see cattle way up on T bar ridge so we headed there. The higher we got the windier it got. I was riding with a ball cap today, something I hardly ever do but the wind just wouldn’t let a cowboy hat stick on. When we got to the top there were no cattle to be seen. It’s about a 30-minute ride from the road to the top and in that time they had dropped off into one of the many draws that cut the slope. I took to the peak of the ridge and started riding west along it so I could look down each draw. I got all the way to the end of the ridge where it drops off into T Bar canyon about a mile and a half from where I started but saw no sign of them. I went back the way I had come and found them in a draw about a quarter mile from where I started. That’s always the way in a deal like that, you have a 50/50 chance of heading the right direction. I should never go to Vegas; I don’t even get the 50/50 deals.

     There were five cows and three calves in the bunch. I pushed them down to the valley then up to Fence tank. It was nice having the wind at my back the whole way. That took up about three hours and I was wanting to get home for some office time so I decided to load up the bull. I put some hay in the trailer and eased him to it. He smelled it but was too suspicious to go in for a taste. Dakota and I sat back at the other end of the corral and waited but finally after 15 minuets he didn’t look as though he was going to go in on his own. We tried easing him in but he went on the fight and got underneath Dakota and butted him in the gut. Not a pleasant experience for him, he jumped but never bucked. Next attempt we went in backwards, the bull butted Dakota in the ass. Well that was the wrong thing to do. Dakota started kicking and kicked that bull till he saw it was a lost fight and jumped on the trailer to escape the beating. What a damn great horse and working compadre.  Hi 50 lo 14.

Sunday, April 6, 2003
     I spent the day picking up all the rocks that I had piled up around the arena a couple years ago. I hauled them back to the south end of the H.Q. where we are having some erosion problems. I loaded the dump truck seven times. I knew I had moved a lot of rock but hadn’t figured on seven truckloads. And I didn’t even get the ones along the backside that I had never piled up.

     Sunny, windy, hi 50 lo 18

Monday, April 7, 2003
     Lyndsey and I worked on the guest corrals, putting up rails on the posts we had set a week or so ago. We got two sides of one corral done. At that rate it will take 6 days to finish.

     Frank missed the fun, he was still down in Glenwood, had called Saturday to say his truck was broke down. We found there was a big paintball game there Sunday, which precipitated his truck breaking. He got in late tonight. It was windy all-day but sunny and warm.

     Hi 60 lo 20.

Tuesday, April 8, 2003
           Lyndsey and I were back on the corrals and Frank went to Glenwood to pick up more rails. About noon we ran out of nails so we started to clean and fix up the guest camp. Maggie came up and she and Lyns spent the afternoon painting the outdoor furniture while I sanded and poly coated the counter tops in the the Cookhouse and shower house.

     Wind was a bit less today but it was cooler.   Hi 45 lo 13 sunny

Wednesday, April 9, 2003
      Maggie and I headed to Silver City mid morning. Frank and Lyndsey were left with some sorting and cutting to do with some cattle we have in the H.Q. corrals. We are getting a load ready for the sale. John was bringing a load of hay up and taking the cattle down to his place till sale day next week.

Thursday, April 10, 2003
    We got home late tonight after spending the morning getting my tooth pulled and the afternoon running errands. I’m not sure which was more painful.

     On the way home we stopped by Johns and picked up five momma cows and calves, which we hauled home. My truck has no rear brakes so it was slow going over Salize pass.

     Frank and Lyndsey got the hay unloaded and got one pair in from the Negrito creek area, which accounts for all the ones that we knew were out there.

     It was almost 80 in Silver city, about 20 when we got home at 10pm.

Friday, April 11, 2003
     Maggie and I spent the day up at the guest camp. There’s lots to do but we are getting a good start on it. She spent here day painting the floors in the cookhouse and outhouse. My day was spent putting another coat of poly on all the counters in the cookhouse and the shower house.

     Frank and Lyndsey rode looking for more stuff to sell. They were mostly after paint colored heifers and any steers we missed last fall. It was a nice day, not too windy and warm. They got home with three of each. Pretty good day hunting.

     Hi 60 lo 21 sunny, light 10-15 mph wind.

Saturday, April 12, 2003
     Another day at the guest camp, fixing this and that, putting a final coat on everything we did yesterday. Frank and Lyndsey took the day off and headed to town for a day of bar leaning.

     Hi 60, lo 18 sunny and windier.

Sunday, April 13, 2003
     Another day spent up at the camp, this time not having near as much fun. Spring at the N- means finding broken pipes. I took extra time last fall draining everything but of course I now have breaks where I have never had them. From the Cookhouse hot water heater to the sink is totally shattered. I got as much as I could fixed but ran out of CPVC pipe used for hot water. I usually have a good supply of stuff but came up short there.

     Maggie just keeps working her butt off at the camp, the place hasn’t looked this good in years. The past couple years we have been so rushed moving from the lower range up here in the spring that a lot of things never got tended to properly. It sure makes a difference having a bit of time.

     Hi 55 lo 16 a few clouds in the afternoon.

Monday, April 14, 2003
     Maggie finally took some time and got back to her own work for the day while the rest of us rode.

I trailered out to Incognito with Dakota while Frank and Lyndsey went to Fence tank with Cooleye and Frio.  I rode the fence east from Loco saddle to Incognito gate then went north to white tank and then back west to Doubtful tank where I met up with the other two. I didn’t see a cow till I got there, lots of Elk and Antelope though. Right before I met up with them I found one cow that needed a horn cut so I sent it back with them. They had already penned a big steer and a paint heifer.

     Dakota and I headed back to our rig while they headed to Fence tank with the cattle. They had a hard time loading the bad horned cow; her attitude was bad as well. After a couple foot races and some patience they got her loaded. Frank said Frio worked really well and wanted to eat the old cow up.

As I rode back I was noticing just how green it was getting. This country isn’t known for being spring country but we sure are having one this year. Lots of little flowers I haven’t seen in a long time. Water running everywhere, it sure is something. I suddenly heard and seemed to feel a rush of air and Dakota jumped a bit. A Redtail hawk had come up behind us, he couldn’t have been more than a foot or so above my head when he buzzed us. I now know the last thing a field mouse hears.

     I had left them about 1:30pm and headed down into Pine Canyon where I found six cows, this was in Canyon Creek pasture so I pushed them back into Pitchfork that took about a couple hours. I also saw a couple Rockin Arrow cows busting through the brush like deer.

     Since about noon I had been watching the clouds building up and scuttling fast on a east wind. I commented to myself that they looked like summer clouds as they came over the 10,000 foot peaks in the wilderness area. About 3pm they were really building up and sure enough looking like a summer day. Within moments I saw a flash of lightning and a low rumbling of thunder drifted in. Before I made it the two miles back to my trailer it was lightly raining and smelling great. I crested Canyon Creek Mountain and saw, four different rainbows scattered around, of course no camera. It didn’t amount to much rain but maybe it’s a sign of things to come. I would like to see some rain get that high country snow melting a bit faster than it is. We have a pack trip into the wilderness area starting May 4 and I have a worry about the high water in the Gila River.

     We all got home at about 6pm, just in time to start chores.

     Hi 55 lo 28 moderate wind. Sunny till noon.

Tuesday, April 15, 2003
     I woke about 2am to the sound of gusting wind and rain on the greenhouse roof. It was pretty warm out so I opened the window a crack just to enjoy the sound, which quickly put me back to sleep.

     At 4am I woke to just the sound of gusty wind, it was cold so I got up to close the window. There was no sweet sound of rain because it was now snowing. Shit.

     At 6am when I got up for the last time there was about and inch on the ground and the temp was 30.

     After chores Frank and I saddled up Dakota and Gambler and gathered in from the North trap the cattle we collected over the week to go to the sale. It didn’t take long as they all were under the same tree about a mile out. We cut off a few that were just in for horn cutting and loaded the rest on the trailer and Frank headed off with them. He is just taking them to Johns tonight were we have some other cattle waiting. He and John will leave early to go to Deming for the 10am sale, takes about 3 hours to get there from Johns. I put hay out for the bulls then retreated back into the house for the rest of the day.

     All day the temp dropped and it snowed till about 4pm giving us a total of about 5 inches. The sun came out and in just the couple hours it had left to work it melted half of it. The temperature at chores, was 19 with a steady 20 mph blow.

     It was really pretty seeing the bright green grass with snow on it. Around the H.Q. here it looked like a golf course, the patches of snow resembling the sand traps, the little tanks all brimming with water and the grass bright green and close cropped by the weanlings in the yard.

     I consigned 16 horses to a sale on May 10 th. Almost all of the weanlings and yearlings are going as well as all but three of the broodmares. We just have too many horses right now.

     Hi 30 lo 19 snowy most of the day.

Wednesday, April 16, 2003
     I spent the day filling feeders, they are scattered so far apart that it took 7 hours to get to three of them. Maggie spent time in her studio, Lyndsey worked on saddles and tack.

     Every morning she spends time with the weanlings. Trying to get them all halter broke and being good little kids for the sale next month. A couple of the fillies are still pretty skittish, they are the daughters of Fancy and Lucky who are kinda freaks themselves. She had tried whispering to them, and sweet talking them but they just won’t come to you.

     Well today I found the key, I arrived home with a liberal coating of molasses on my coveralls. It’s hard not to get messy with that stuff on a windy day. I went in the weanling corral and within seconds was mobbed by seven weanling all wanting to lick the clothes off me. I was soon rubbing them all over and they thought I was pretty great.

     So if you ever have a hard to bond with horse, just smear molasses on yourself and see how fast you become a best friend.

     Sunny, windy, hi 50 lo 16.

April 18 - April 19, 2003: No Guests

Friday, April 18, 2003
     I worked on the plumbing problems at the cookhouse most of the day. Ended up being a much bigger job than I first had hoped. I had to take the water heater totally out of the little closet it lives in and replace the floor. Water had leaked out of a bad fitting on the top of the heater. It was in such a place you couldn’t see it unless it was out of the closet. It had been leaking since it was first put in I figure. That took all morning and most of the afternoon was spent putting in new pipes to the sink. But at about 5pm I had water running!

     Frank and Lyndsey worked on the corrals, tearing out old stuff making way for new. This place looks like a bomb hit it. Piles of old rails and boards all over. The lines of posts standing empty, gate holes with no gates, boardwalk looks like a gap toothed old grin. It’s a mess and only two weeks to get it all done.

     After chores I was back in the shower house replacing the wall covering in the showers. The more I got into it the more the old ones didn’t look so bad after all. Wish I’d never started that job and had just painted them again. I got one done and will wait till the next wet day to work inside and finish the rest.

     Wolf people called this evening and said that the wolves were back around our cows again. They chased them off one day but they were back the next. We have so much else to do without having to deal with wolves!

Saturday, April 19, 2003
     I was out at the crack of dawn and drove out into Pitchfork pasture. I had the receiver the wolf folks gave me to locate the radio signal from the wolf collars. I spent most of the morning out there driving from one high spot to another but never picked up any signal. I didn’t really see that many cattle, only about 80, not sure where the rest are. It was pretty cold last night so they were probably all up high avoiding the cold bottoms and valley.

     I got home and headed to the guest camp where I worked on the boardwalks the rest of the day, tearing out soft boards and replacing them with new ones.

     Frank and Lyndsey are making pretty good progress on the guest horse corrals. They totally rebuilt the alley from Bearwallow pasture into the corrals. They are using the jackpots I made during the winter. Jackposts are X shaped and you use them instead of posts in the ground. Well the ones I made were made from 8-foot timbers that I left full length figuring to cut them down to the appropriate size depending on the job, which they were used. I didn’t think to tell them that and they had half the alley done before I saw what was going on. I couldn’t tell them to tear it all apart and start over. So now we have a fence safe for any Giraffes we may pick up sometime in the future.

     Hi 38, lo 17 a few snow flurries late in the day.