February

February 3 - Feb 10, 2003: No Guests

Monday, February 3, 2003
Winter has come back; I got kinda spoiled there the last month. Today was sunny but cold, only got to a hi of 30 after a low of 10.

Maggie went to Silver today to ship a bunch of orders and pick up some supplies. Gambler and I were out early moving more cattle that had wandered in. We moved 11 head back to Ewe canyon and rode fence on the way home trying to find where they are getting through. There are several Elk crossings that are pretty low but that’s all I saw. I really don’t think they are jumping. I need to ride the fence north next time. But it was cold and that’s the direction away from home, so I’ll do it on a warm day.

I saw 22 Antelope at the salt lick in the canyon. They waited till I was about 50 yards away then trotted up on the ridge. They stood there posing like I had a camera. I got home about 3pm and spent the rest of the afternoon pulling nails. Lots of fun there. The other day I had set aside some rails off the old fence that were still good but are full of nails. I hate having to pull nails while I’m building, slows the process I think. So I do it at the tear apart stage.  That pretty much filled my day.

Tuesday, February 4, 2003
I hear there is weather coming in at the end of the week. It’s getting kinda dry, we could use some moisture. In hopeful thinking I spent all morning working the woodpile splitting wood. I got about a cord split and stacked on the porch. After lunch I went to work peeling rails. I peeled and peeled and then peeled some more. Feeling a bit sore tonight.

I have a gripe. What else is new?

It’s about work gloves. I think someone needs to build a better one. I get good leather gloves, and good ones aren’t cheap. They are doubled layered across the palm and triple stitched. Supposed to be the best. Now gloves take awhile to feel good, you have to break them in, get ‘em softened up. And just when they are feeling good the fingers wear through. Every time! I have dozens of gloves that look great till you turn them over and see the finger pads. A pair of gloves lasts just about a month for me. Now why can’t someone put just a thin pad of Kevlar in each finger? I bet that would work. And another thing with gloves, what’s up with the size? For years I bought mine in a Medium, they fit great. Now in the last year or so the medium is too big, the fingers are 1/2 inch too long. The longer I wear them the less a problem that becomes because they get filled with hay till eventually that extra finger space is solid hay. It just makes you feel like you have extra long, numb fingers. I just can’t find small gloves anywhere. I know my hands haven’t shrunk. They must now be made overseas somewhere they think all  Americans are big. If anyone wants some comfortable useless gloves let me know. It was sunny but stayed chilly all day. Hi 30 lo 9

Wednesday, February 5, 2003
After chores I started back to peeling rails picking up where I left off yesterday. Just before lunch I saw a bunch of horses gathering around the water storage tank up on the hill above the main barn. Either the spring or the pump fills the tank and then gravity flows to all the houses and barns. It’s a sunny spot so I didn’t think much of it and went to eat. After lunch I loaded all the rails I had done in a truck and started laying them out along the fence line so they will be set and ready to nail up once the posts are in. The dang horses were still up at the tank and looking very interested in something. After unloading curiosity got the best of me and I waked up there. As I got close my heart fell and stomach turned. The gauge on the tank was showing it was almost empty. I had run the pump 8 hours a day for 5 days to top the tank off while the weather was warm last week. When I got to the tank I saw all the horses were mesmerized by the new N- fountain. Something in the under ground must have broken and water was rushing out a hole it had dug for its self. I turned the main valve shutting water off everywhere and saving maybe a foot of water in the tank. I investigated as best I could and determined an old valve that we left in service when we put the new water line in 10 years ago had failed. I knew I had nothing the right size to replace it and nothing to ranch rig anything together so I quick drove to town. I was back three hours later just as it was getting dark so I couldn’t really do much. It sure was depressing seeing the 6000 gallons of hard earned water out on the ground freezing into a skating rink. Hi 35, lo 7.

Thursday, February 6, 2003
Maggie left for Phoenix after chores. She has a “Trunk Show” at one of her stores on the 8 th so she went to get set up for that. It’s a 7-hour drive over there but doesn’t seem like it should be that far.

     I got right on the water line after she left. The valve is where the new line and old line meet coming out of the tank. I remember debating as to replacing it years ago but oh cheap me left it in. Now armed with a pickaxe I attacked the frozen ground. It had been down to 6 last night and that water had frozen the ground like concrete. The line and valve are 3 feet down, it seemed like it may as well have been 300 feet. I chipped and pecked at the ground till lunch getting a foot or so down. After lunch it suddenly got easier as I passed the frost line at about two feet. Thank goodness for the warm month of January that it wasn’t frozen all the way to three feet. Anyone who has ever dug a hole knows that the deeper you go the wider the top has to be. By the time I hit the pipe the hole was four feet across and it was 5pm, chore time. I moved a heck of a lot of dirt and I sure felt like it. My oh my what I wouldn’t give for a hot bath.

It was cold all day but I didn’t notice, hi 25 lo 6.

Friday, February 7, 2003
I got back on the water line as soon as everyone was fed this morning. Finished the digging and set to getting the old valve out. My plan was to disconnect the line the valve was on all together, it went to the old storage tank that we had by passed. It’s from the 40’s, made of steel, rusted and full of holes. So the simple job was to get a big pipe wrench on the riser to the tank, twist it and the valve along with it right out of the way. Yea, sure. That old steel pipe had been there so long it had become one. I tried a leverage pipe, penetrating oil and all the muscle I have but it wouldn’t budge. So I went and got Little Walter. Little Walter is a battery powered reciprocating saw. It’s called Little Walter after Walter McKinney from Maryland. He comes out for two weeks every fall for the gather, you’ve read about him. He’s a hand. Well we cut a lot of horns in the fall, we have the cows right there in the pens. We are cutting horns that are getting ready to grow into the cow’s heads and it’s a pain in the butt. We always cheated a bit by running them into a squeeze chute rather than roping and throwing. But we always used a handsaw, and I never know of it having been sharpened. It was a lot of work and stressful on the cows. A couple years ago Walter having been in on that sort of deal, pressed a hundred bucks in my hand as he was leaving and told me to not to stand in the way of progress. Thus the name. It’s the best spent hundred bucks ever. It breezes through a cow’s horn before she knows what’s goin’ on. And it sliced through that old rusty pipe like it was plastic. I cut it way down then got some thread cutters and before noon I had it capped and the pump running.

That whole deal kinda changed my plans with this fence I’m working on. As I was taking it apart I left about 50 posts that were ok. They were 8 years old; the newer ones that were put in when I last really worked it over. Well seeing all the aggravation I had just gone through because a decision 10 years ago about that 40 year old valve I decided I would pull all the posts and put new ones in. Back in the store lot I have a hundred nice treated posts I have been saving. I don’t know what for. I’ve had them five years and keep saying I’ll use them later as I go cut posts or reuse some old junk ones. Now I decided I better use them before they rot and do the fence new all the way or I’ll have some posts giving out before others and end up with another crappy fence. So I spent the afternoon getting them out and then took the tractor with a scraper blade and went down the fence line leveling and clearing all the way.

Weather is supposed to be here tonight, a quick wet storm and another due the same time next week. We need the moisture but I hope it melts fast.  It started getting cloudy about noon and after that it was pretty cold. Hi 25 lo 9.

Saturday, February 8, 2003
I woke late this morning, realized it was because it was snowing hard. I had been up at 4am to feed the woodstove and the stars had been out. Now at seven there were 3 inches. It was coming down pretty fast. Someone smiled on me as I pulled my boots on and it let up as I fed horses. But as soon as I was done it forced me back inside. Which wasn’t a bad thing. I have been waiting a month to get a lousy stay inside day doing office stuff, like finish putting away 2002 files and setting up 2003. That really took most of the day. I went out in the afternoon to hot pack Rusty, the little colt we doctored on a few weeks ago. He never got better and today had swollen back up especially along his upper neck. He was raspy sounding and snotty. I got him in the chute and got the hot pack on which he enjoyed. It was still snowing but we were pretty well protected by the barn. I felt a soft spot in the abscess and stuck a needle in it getting a good flow of infection draining. I massaged a lot out but wanted to get it draining more than just a needle hole so I took a scalpel and was going to open the hole a bit more. I knew I had to be careful since there is a pretty good-sized vein that runs long the jaw line. Just as I make the cut he jerks making a half-inch incision, infection flowing everywhere but also lots of blood. I had cut the vein. I could watch the abscess go down but the amount of blood worried me. I tried pressure but all it did was pocket up in his cheek and come spilling out when I let loose. I was wearing exam gloves and noticed that one of the fingers had split through. I thought that was pretty cheap of them and not too useful. It was messy. I then realized that I was adding to the mess. The glove finger had not split; I had cut the end of my finger open when he had jerked. It had been five minutes before I noticed it. Five minutes of mixing his blood and infection with mine. That made me feel a bit ill. I headed to the house to clean it up. It was a pretty deep cut. I cleaned and scrubbed and disinfected, and cleaned some more. Finally wrapped it up and went back to check Rusty. The bleeding had slowed but by no means had stopped. It was getting dark and there really was little I could do. I don’t think, I hope he can’t loose enough blood to die from it. Thank God it wasn’t an artery.

    Maggie is driving home from Phoenix in the storm. Making a long day of it, she should be home about 9pm.   So far at 7pm we have gotten 8 inches. Hi was 22 overnight lo 16

Sunday, February 9, 2003
Rusty was still alive this morning and doing OK, not great. My finger was about the same. We got just over 12 inches yesterday and last night. Back in winter work mode. My oh my am I glad it hasn’t been this way since the first of the year. Bundling up in insulated coveralls, wearing snow pacs that must be 6 pounds each. It just wears ya out walking to the barn. Today was sunny but cold, the wind came up in the early hours dawn. It really blew and took most of the snow with it, piling it up in the trees. The open country should be clear in a day or so. I went out on Dakota to get the loose horses in. They haven’t been in for a couple weeks. I plan on weaning the late foals in the morning so I want these horses in, that way I can take the wet mares and put them with this bunch and drive them out to Negrito pasture. Hopefully with these others the wet ones will stay out there and not do anything stupid trying to get home to the colts. I found them pretty fast and all went fine till we got to the top of the road that drops into the H.Q. valley. That’s where one mare we call Pretty Face decided it was not a good idea to go down and get penned up. Now she is one of my wild mares, never been touched by a human, and she acted it today. She stopped that herd and turned them around so fast she caught me by surprise. Dakota was great and got around them as fast as he could in the snow. Back to the top of the road again and she started it up once more. She was zig-zagging back and forth in front of the others not letting them go by. I was hollering and charging her and she was doing the same right back. It was a battle of wills. We inched our way down the road, she ran some horses one way and when I went to get those she ran some more another way. It’s a dang good thing I didn’t have a gun with me. Finally after over an hour to go less than half a mile I got them in the corrals. I was mad and frustrated and Dakota was plumb worn out running and cutting around in the deep snow. The wind had just about frozen me through so I called it a lousy day and went home. It had just been a cold day in the saddle.

Hi 19, lo –4

Monday, February 10, 2003
A lot better day today that yesterday. Sunny with almost no wind. We weaned the foals at chore time, that’s always exciting but today was pretty smooth. We cut the mares off here at the house corrals, then I went down and got the wild horses and pushed them up the long alley and mixed the two bunches. After they settled awhile I pushed them out the back of the H.Q. and started toward Negrito. I had 16 horses in front of me and Gambler underneath me. He was great. It was something out there, Hollywood should have been around. Snow covered pines, deep blue sky, horses churning through the snow, steamy clouds of breath blowing from flared nostrils. The snow was light and fluffy and filled the air as they went. It was beautiful. And so quiet. Usually there is the thunder of hooves pushing so many horses. Today it was dead quiet except the sound of them breathing.

About two miles out two young mares quit the bunch and broke to the south. I attempted to turn them but saw the whole bunch was going to scatter so I stuck with what I had. I got them all to Dog Spring and left them there in a meadow that was mostly clear of snow. I had trucked some salt and protein blocks out the day before so that made them stick around. I went back for the other two mares and found them right back at the H.Q. gate. I let them back in and penned them in the shipping pens. I’ll trailer them out in the morning.

On my way back I had crossed some fresh cow track, a bunch of them. So I went back and started following them. They headed toward Burnt cabin and when I got to the edge of the meadow I saw a dozen cattle. Cows, heifers, and calves. I eased up, quiet thanks to the snow and got a good look at them. One cow was Alan’s, four where mine each with calves, and there were three Rockin’ Arrow cows. Well as usual as soon as those Rockin Arrow cattle winded me, heads popped up, a twist came to their tails and away they went. Gambler was set for the chase and took off.  We got around them and I tried to stop the whole bunch but they just broke in singles and took to the trees. The snow was too deep in there and the day getting to late for a big cow chase so I let them go. Gambler was pissed. Shaking his head and trying to get back to them as I asked him to turn away. I got home about 3pm and went to doctor Rusty. He wasn’t happy about seeing me I can tell you that. Got hi in the chute and looked him over. The abscess was the size of softball, hard, tight and tender. He wouldn’t let me touch it. Maggie came out to help and with her in front of the chute keeping his attention I was able to poke a needle into the abscess. Got nothing but Rusty hating me more. Again I tried and again nothing but pain for Rusty. I guess I was being a bit to cautious after the other day and not going deep enough. Third time I got the needle in and saw a bit of good sign so I got a scalpel and went deep at the same spot. That was the spot I had wanted all long. That blew it out! What a lot of mess. The pressure it had been causing must have been near unbearable. As soon as it broke and drained I was suddenly Rusty's best friend. Where he had been rearing up in the chute and biting a few moments before he was now leaning against the side as he let me milk it with his eyes rolled up in his head. We flushed it and left him alone with some hay in front of him to keep his jaws working and the pocket draining. Maybe I shouldn’t write about all this gross stuff but it’s life out here. The beautiful, the ugly, some die, some are born. It’s all part of it.

Sunny but stayed cool, hi 25 lo –4 sun factor of 40.

February 11 - Feb 17, 2003: No Guests

Tuesday, February 11 2003
The weather channel is calling for some weather coming in later in the week so I spent the day filling feeders. It took six hours, most were almost empty and it was cold so the molasses flowed slower. It was pretty nice out there tho; very little wind, mostly sunny. And if you like cows it makes it even better. They stand around and watch and wait till the feeders are full, I think they like the fresh stuff. I never spent so much quiet time around my cattle, usually I’m horseback and hollering and cussin’ them. You sure can tell the heifers that we had at the lower ranch last winter, they come walking right up and lick the feeders while the others stand back in awe of their bravery. I saw another newborn calf, that’s three so far.

I got home about 3pm and thought it a good time to haul the two young mares out to join the others. I got everything set up and ready, opened the gate and pushed them to the trailer. Both of these are wild though they are registered horses. So there is no slipping a halter on and leading them on. They are sisters, both 4 year olds named Fancy and Lucky. Well Lucky jumped right on and stood waiting for her sister but fancy would have nothing to do with it. I sweet-talked her, I cussed her, I whispered her, I hollered her. She refused to go on. After an hour I was tired of it and left food on the trailer and a bucket of water and Lucky as happy as could be inside enjoying life in the RV. If Fancy wants to eat or drink she has to get on the trailer. She has always been a bit of a dumbass.

Rusty is feeling lots better. I drained him again and cleaned him up a bit. He walked right in the chute, held his head up as I worked on him, just the perfect patient.

Maggie had gone to Silver City to ship some stuff and do some shopping. She got home after dark with PIZZA!! We don’t see that too often here. She also brought home some young hens. Our chicken flock is nothing but a bunch of geriatrics, there are a few hens there I know are 10 years old. She got a half dozen Plymouth Rocks, the gray and white birds. And two Rhode Island Reds, I never liked those kind since I was a kid and we had a rooster that terrified me. That damn bird would know what time I got home from school and would wait for me between the barn and the house. I wasn’t stupid either and knew he was there somewhere so I would start running 20 yards before the corner and try to get to the back porch. It was a fifty/fifty deal. Finally my folks gave him to a poor family down the road. My mom trying to soften reality told me they needed him for their hens. I was about 7 and muttered something about how they shouldn’t breed him but eat him. My grandpa busted out laughin’ and said that was exactly what they planned to do. I went to bed happy and walked home worry free the next day.

Hi 30 lo 2 mostly sunny.

Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Clouds blew in overnight warming things up; it was 28 when I got up at 6am. As we were doing chores it started raining. Just like last month I have never seen it rain in February, just snow. I hear that California is getting a good soaking.  If  L.A. gets rain we will to.

Everyday something comes up to put a kink in things, today it was the pull cord on one of the generators broke. So had to round up material and tools to fix that which took almost two hours. While I was at it I decided to change oil in the two generators and the air compressor. Then it was a wood splitting day. The rain was just a drizzle so I decided to get the wood in while the getting was good. Got about a cord set up on the porch for this big storm that’s supposed to be coming. We’ll see if it really gets here.

Hi 40 lo 26

Thursday, February 13, 2003
The storm got here, but not snow! Last night I heard rain on the roof and listened to it all night. I got up a few times and checked the temperature, the coldest it got was 35. I have never seen this before. As we were doing chores last night I mentioned to Maggie how nice it would be to have a long soaking rain and no snow. She reminded me it was February and I shouldn’t expect anything like that. But here it was almost an inch of rain at 6am. That would have been about a foot of snow. It was a light rain all day and never got above 38. I drove out to Ewe canyon to get that feeder filled and on the way out I could see that we were just below the snow level. I mean by only about 300 feet. Corner Mtn. And Bearwallow Mtn. were lost in the clouds so I bet they are getting a couple feet up there.

Just as I got to the feeder it really started raining hard with some snow mixed in. The raindrops were thick, cold and heavy, a dozen would be enough to soak you through to the skin. I had a decision to make. I could stay, fill the feeder and probably be stuck in the mud or I could head home. I figured since I was there I may as well fill it. I wasn’t sure when I’d be able to get back out there again. 45 minutes later I started home and sure enough in less than a half-mile I was stuck. I didn’t dig it down; just shut it off when I started spinning. I only had about a two-mile walk but the rain was going to make it no joy. I started along my way and within moments the sun came out. Soon there was steam rising and it made a fog that rose from the ground up about 12 feet. I couldn’t see more than a few yards. I wasn’t worried I knew where I was. It was very cool. Then as I got to the rim of the H.Q. valley a huge low rainbow - well actually it was a snowbow - spread out below me. It was worth the walk. The mud made the walking a bit tiring but it was really pretty nice. When I got home it clouded right up and started a drizzle. I swear someone has really been helping me out the last couple weeks. Not just the weather either, when I went looking for horses there they were. When I went out after my bulls the other day, there they were. When I went to find the two mares, there they were.

I must confess I did something I almost never do. I took a nap this afternoon. The rain on the roof and the knowledge there was nothing I could do outside let me nod right out on the sofa in front of the fire.

Rusty is feeling great; he was running and bucking around this afternoon. The dumbass mare Fancy finally got on the trailer. I hauled her and her sister out to the Dog Spring turn off. I didn’t go down the lane; it was just too muddy but unloaded them pretty close. I’ll bet they’ll be back at the house in the morning.

It seems we have been in a pocket here. All around us heavy rain and snow has come down but right here it really wasn’t that much. A bit over an inch of rain is all we got. In Glenwood they got almost two inches. In Datil to the east they got 22 inches of snow, and they are at a lower elevation. In Quemado they got 20 inches of snow and are 2000 feet lower. I mean it, someone is looking out for me.

Hi 38 lo 36 cloudy.

Friday, February 14, 2003
All night I heard a light rain falling, when I got up at 6am it was 30 and raining. I couldn’t figure that one. Mud, mud, mud, everywhere, it’s a mess around here. A misty rain all day but as I looked around I could tell it was snowing everywhere, everywhere but here. It’s like we have a dome of warmer air over us, or maybe it’s providence, whatever it’s great.

Mid afternoon I drove south towards Snow Lake. Just a mile away, before Burnt cabin I ran into snow falling. Within moments it was heavy snow. Two miles from the house I had to turn around. There was easily over two feet of fresh snow in the road. I turned then drove north. Two miles north it was snowing and four miles later I turned around when there was a foot of snow in the road. It’s kinda spooky.

I drove out into 7HL where the cattle are and they were happy as could be with a nice drizzle coming down and clear ground. I got on the knoll above Cowcamp and looked around. There was snow and thick weather in every direction but right over our place. We have over two inches in the rain gauge. That would have been over two feet of snow.

I helped Margaret a bit in her studio then caught up on correspondence.

Hi 34, lo 30

Monday, February 1 7, 2003
The weather cleared out Valentines night and has been nice since. Here wasn’t much that could be done around here on the 15 th; the mud was just too much to do anything in. But it was a bright sunny day with a bit of a breeze so by evening it had really dried up. After evening chores we went out and got my truck where I had left it when I got stuck. I was able top drive it right out with no digging or chains.

Yesterday we left here early and drove down to the lower H.Q. where we met Frank and spent the day loading up all the stuff in that house. It was a huge job and really sad. That is such a great house. We loaded one horse trailer and two trucks. All kinds of stuff, it’s amazing what we had collected there in just three years.

We got home late and exhausted. Just the drive wears me out. The roads are pretty good. All the snow it seems was on the southwest side of the mountains so there was very little new snow on the road. The usual spots had some, just enough to be too much to get a semi rig to haul the cattle from the farm up here. So we will be spending most of the week next week hauling them with pickups and goosenecks. We can only get eight on a load so it will take at least ten loads for the cattle and three for the horses. My lease was up on the 15 th and I am not going to renew it. So we have to get our livestock off the fields. If I had known how mild the winter was going to be I never would have sent them down there. Wish I had a crystal ball. I hate trucking heavy bred cows; the stress is just no good for them. I think traveling in a gooseneck is less stressful than a semi though.

It was just about hot down there, well relatively. It was about 65.

I saw and chatted with Alan, he and his winter are doing fine.

Today was no fun. We had to unload all the stuff from the lower H.Q. It wasn’t like we could just put it all in one place. Some went to Lindsey’s house, some went to Franks cabin, some to the shop, some to the storage shed, some to the guest camp, some to the barn. Before we did anything we had to clean out the storage shed. That had been needing to be done for a half dozen years. Everything from car engines to portraits, from sofas to crutches. Stuff belonging to people that had been gone for years. We loaded the dump truck twice with useless junk. Then swept it out and brought in a whole new load of junk.

It was so good to finally get the last stuff put away about time to do chores at 6pm.

Tomorrow I’m heading down to the farm and start hauling cattle up. John is going to give me a hand. Frank is taking a day off to help his dad out with some things.

I think the illness in the horses is finally all cleared up. Everyone is bright eyed and squirrelly tailed.

Hi 45 lo 21

February 18 - Feb 24, 2003: No Guests

Tuesday, February 18 2003
After chores I headed to the Farm to start moving cows. While in town getting some fuel I met up with the cattle hauler. After bitching about the price of diesel I mentioned I wished the roads were a bit better as I had a load or two of cattle to get up. He said he had just been up the mountain over the weekend and that it would be no problem to get his rig up. So we made plans for him to haul a load on Thursday and another on Friday.

When I got to the farm and told John the change in plans he seemed pretty pleased. He didn’t want to make all those trips anymore than I did. We spent the rest of the day penning, loading and hauling cattle from the farm to John's house where there is a good ramp to load the cattle up. It’s only about 12 miles between the two places. First trip I was following John as we were coming down a pretty steep hill just before his turn off. I see his trailer and truck start wobbling and weaving back and forth and figure there are some cows fighting. I had just been having them doing the same on mine. But then he goes past his drive. I pull in and see him turn around down the road and head back. He said whenever he touched his brakes it started violently shaking. We unloaded and he decided he’d keep going. He has a manual transmission so he doesn’t have to use the brakes much. He hauled another five loads and never touched them. We got enough for a semi load hauled. It got harder as the day went along. All the smart ones, or stupid ones depending how ya look at it were left for last and they didn’t want to go in the pens, much less on the trailers. The biggest problem was all the horses we have there were getting in the way. Chasing cows and hanging out along the trailers keeping the cows from going on. We finally stopped about 3:30. The new plan being John won’t feed them tonight so they will be good and hungry tomorrow. Then he and Frank will come in the morning and feed the horses on the other side of the two-acre lot they are all in and put the cows hay in the pens before the horses catch on.

I headed home about 4pm after helping John get a load of hay at his place to feed the cows till they leave.

It was a nice sunny day, few clouds puffing by. Hi up top was 40; at the farm it was about 60. Overnight was a balmy 33.

Wednesday, February 19, 2003
I stayed up top while Frank and John hauled cattle from the farm to John's. The plan worked well. The cattle all went right in the pens and the horses stayed out. They got all the cattle off the farm. I worked on fence; it was a good day for it. Sunny with no wind at all till mid afternoon. I set and tamped 96 posts today. Not to exciting but very rewarding. To me there are few efforts more satisfying than looking down a row of fresh set fence posts and have them all look like a single post because they’re so straight. Or if you stand and look down one edge of the posts the optical illusion makes it appear to be a solid wall.

If I had a penny for every post I have tamped in my life I could…

But I must admit today I retired from the forty pound tamping rod. It just got to be too much for me old back and shoulders. I made a new one that some of you who tamp posts may want to try. I had been thinking of it awhile and today finally put it together. I took a 1 inch galvanized pipe 5 feet long, threaded both ends, capped one end, filled it 3/4 full of water and capped the other end. It’s less than half the weight of the old solid steel rod and the momentum of the water up and down I think makes up for it. It sure is a lot easier to use and I get a post tamped in the same amount of time, five minutes.

Other than moving some round bales to the bulls this morning that’s all I did all day.

Hi 42, lo 19. Sunny a few clouds drifted in late in the day along with some wind. We are supposed to get some weather tomorrow. I just hope that it’s rain. If it snows then the semi won’t be able to get up and we will have cattle stuck in the corrals at Johns. I hope I keep getting looked after.

Thursday, February 20, 2003
I woke this morning to three inches of snow and the trucker calling to say he wouldn’t be making the run. That was fine with me I don’t want to take any chances with the cattle. They are all really heavy bred and the less stress and smoother ride the better they will handle it. It snowed off and on all day. The sun would come out for about fifteen minutes every couple hours and melt most of it. It made a lot of mud. Tomorrow is supposed to be clear and sunny so hopefully it will clear any snow left on the roads and the truck can make it up the day after. Hi 35. Lo 28.

Friday, February 21, 2003
Yep, it was sunny all day and cleaned everything right back to the way we were a few days ago. Frank hauled a load of horses up from the farm. On board were Chile, Doolin, T.J. Cimarron, and Cisco. He hauled them right out to Dog Spring which is in Negrito pasture. He said as soon as they were off the trailer they took a run down the little valley that goes to the tank. Bucking and squealing, throwing up clods of dirty snow from their hooves. A moment later Tang and his group of mares shows up and it was hootin’ and hollerin’, rearing and jumping time. Then as one large group they took off at a gallop across the huge meadow there below the tank and disappeared over the rise. That pasture is a mix of meadows and timber, and is cut with some pretty deep canyons. It goes all the way to Snow Lake and borders the Wilderness area about 12,000 acres. I’ve never turned horses loose there before but it’s a great place for them. It hasn’t really been used in a couple years, the grass is belly high in some meadows and there’s plenty of water and shelter. We wont be using those horses till early May so they should enjoy themselves out there. They might be a problem to find.

I fed the bulls after regular chores. There are 14 down there and they are eating about 4,000 pounds of hay a week right now but they all look good. A couple didn’t look too good when I brought them in a few weeks ago.

I then saddled up Gambler and headed out to ride the North Fence, try and find where those cattle were getting through. We rode out through the south trap then up over feathery hill.  All the way the fence looked pretty good. A few places it was low but there were none where a cow was going over. I was about to Cowcamp when I decided to turn around. I was almost to the corner and the day was getting short. As we came down to the gate we spooked a little bunch of elk. They took off out of a stand of aspen and headed right to the corner of the fence. Then they were on the other side. Hummmmm not a one of them did I see jump. I rode over there and sure enough the fence was down. All five wires were broken and beaten right into the ground. Every kind of critter had been going back and forth through there for a long time. I set Gambler to grazing and started to put the fence back together. I had to straighten out the wires and get it all untangled, it was a real mess. Gambler had been nervous about the wire and was eying everything with a lot of suspicion. While I was pulling the wires one snapped tight and sent a small stick flying through the air. I could not have been a better shot as it hit Gambler right in the ass. He spooked and took off down the hill out of sight. Oh well, I thought, not much I could do about it now. I wasn’t going to go chasing him around. I was thinking about which way would be the shortest walk home. This wasn’t the first time Gambler has headed home alone, he did it a lot when he was a kid but it has been years since. About an hour later, just as I was finishing up here he comes back up the hill. He was all perked ears and snorty looking for monsters as he walked right up and stood next to me. He seemed to be telling me it was time to get out of that freaky place. I swung on and as we got to the bottom of the hill I saw by the tracks that was as far as he had gone, just out of sight about 50 yards. We hustled home, he had his fast walk going and he ate up the ground with a few good jogs thrown in. I got home just after dark to a worried wife.

Hi 38, lo 24 a few clouds, a bit breezy in the afternoon.

Saturday, February 22, 2003
Yesterday Frank had told Maggie that the roads were back in good shape so first thing this morning I called the trucker. I told him the roads were ok and we were ready to go again. He allowed as how he wouldn’t be able to make the trip. I asked why, he told me he had sold his rig. I was a bit upset. He said he had it planned but didn’t want to turn down the work in case the sale didn’t go through. Well that’s just dandy. I’ve got 80 head of cattle in the corrals and now no truck. I made a couple calls through the day but could find nothing.

Frank hauled another load of horses up, bringing Chico, Cibique, Zeno, Vaquero, and Rocky.

Hi 39 lo 26, breezy with some good gusts up to 40 mph. I spent a bit of time organizing the shop after so much stuff from the lower ranch got dumped in there. After that was done I moved onto the tack room getting that a bit better situated.

Sunday, February 23, 2003
Tried all evening to find a trucker, with no luck. Called a friend of mine who knows every truck in New Mexico I think, and he’s on a mission to find me one. Those cows are really starting to calve down there now. Since day before yesterday we’ve had 7 calves born in the corrals. John is feeding out 25 bales a day to them and it should really be more.

Supposed to be more weather coming in on Tuesday so that will probably set us back if a truck is found.

I spent the day cutting firewood; our woodpile is really low. Too low for this time of year. I cut up all the old fence posts I had pulled last week. Boy that’s some dry stuff there. Gofer wood. Put one piece in and Gofer another one.

Frank hauled another load of horses up, Jesus, Hondo, Levi, and two more I just can’t remember right now. That leaves just two more down there, the old farts, Belle and Moses.

The hi was 34, sunny, lo 24. Not much wind.

Monday, February 24, 2003
John and I talk every morning a bit before 7am. This morning was a long chat about what to do with the cattle. We made plans to put some on a small field he has planted in wheat, a few more in his big field and then hold the rest for Frank to trailer up. As soon as we were done my truck finding buddy called and said he had a truck and it would be at John's at 10am. So I call him back and change all the plans. The weather channel is calling for a lot of moisture starting tomorrow, so we hope this works. As soon as we hung up it started snowing hard here. It was just the first of many snow showers of the day. I had to get the feeders filled so I left the house hoping everything was set and nothing would come up while I was out. It was a cold blustery day out there, not as bad as a few I have spent recently but enough to really enjoy that heater in the truck driving between feeders. The only problem is there is an old mouse nest somewhere in the heater box and when it gets hot it really stinks. Saw another calf out there; the cattle all still look pretty good. They all look like its winter but only a few jump out at being a bit thin, maybe 4 out of a hundred. I’ll start riding to gather those over the next few weeks. I’ll push them closer to the H.Q. and feed ‘em some hay.

I got home a bit after noon. Maggie said the truck was on its way and John wanted a call. I spoke with him and he suggested that we wait on the second load maybe about a week or ten days. There were calves being born a few a day there right now and the cows that were left were the heaviest bred ones he sorted off the rest. So we are on that plan now.

Maggie gave me a hand for a while after lunch. We went around the place and gathered up a couple old round metal water tanks that were no longer watertight. These we hauled down to the shipping pens and put them in separate corrals. I later set round bales in them for the incoming cows. The old tanks work pretty good, keeps the cows from stomping loose hay into the ground and wasting it. The only thing not as good as a regular round bale feeder ring is the sides are low enough that when the bale gets low they can climb into it.

Frank pulled in about 3pm with the last two horses on board and the cattle truck right behind. Everything went well, but the driver was scared to death. I don’t think we will be seeing him again. The cows will stay in the pens overnight so they all have a chance to relax and understand there is hay and liquid feed there if they want it. I’ll open the gates in the morning and let them drift out. I’m hoping they will drift through the north trap out into 7HL and stay fairly close. They are all due to calve in the next month so I’d like ‘em a little closer in so we can ride them regularly. There were about a dozen calves that came up today that need to be branded. They were all born around Christmas there on the farm. If we wait till spring branding they will be bigger than I want to mess with. Plus the fact I will want to sell them about then and the brand has to be healed before I can.

Hi 39 lo 23 a bit of a breeze. It’s now 4am, I hear the wind picking up and the stars have disappeared.

I need some help from all of you. I am interested in your travel plans and ideas for the next year.

Is the war talk keeping you from going any where? Are you driving instead of flying? Staying closer to home?

E mail me or post it to the message board.

Thanks a bunch!