December 1-12, 2004: No Guests

Wednesday, December 1, 2004

The wind started blowing over night and kept it up most of the day. It was just too bitter out there with that. I would guess the wind chill was –25. So it was an inside till about 3pm when we gathered the sale cattle from the house lot and put them in the corral to load in the morning for a one-way ride to the sale barn. We only had to ride for an hour but it sure was a long hour.

Thursday, December 2, 2004

It was supposed to be an early start to get on the way to Albq. with the sale cows but as usual it didn’t happen. My truck wouldn’t start till almost 10am I sure don’t like a diesel engine when it gets this cold though it was a balmy 2 degrees. It was close to noon when I was finally loaded and on my way. It was a big load with nine cows on board, including the trailer about 14,000#. The roads weren’t too bad, the snow Sunday night made Elk Mtn a bit slick. I just eased along since my truck really doesn’t have much for brakes. I got to the sale barn and unloaded just before 5pm and headed to the Wyndham hotel, the one we use near the airport.

Friday, December 3, 2004

I was out early for a quick run home with a stop at the hay farm to get some horse hay. As I walked to my truck I saw a huge oil puddle under it. This looked no good. I opened the hood and saw it had come out on the upper side of the engine. The dipstick showed it was only half full. I made some phone calls and was told to fill it with oil and I could drive it somewhere to get checked out. I always have a couple gallons with me so I filled it up and took it to a place across town. I was quickly sent away being told to wash it first so I went to a self car wash and spent an hour getting a hundred pounds of mud out from under the truck. The place was great tho it took all day to get a small pump plug located and installed but it only cost about $80.00. A sure lot better than the thoughts I’d had early in the morning.

But by the time I got back on the road it was too late to head home and be able to get a load of hay so I spent another night in Albq.

Saturday, December 4, 2004

I was on the road early and glad to be putting the city behind me. I made a quick stop at the sale barn to get my trailer I had left there when I dropped off the cattle and also picked up a check. My oh my but prices are good. Old junk, poor cows brought over $650.00!

I was at the hay farm by noon and out of there an hour later. The roads were better than when I had come out and I was pulling in the yard just as the sun was going down. It was a long trip to the sale barn!

While I was gone Lyndsey had done a little sorting. One of her jobs had been to cut out a cow with a bad horn and her calf and set them in a pen to be dealt with when I got home. This cow was buddied up with another cow that was to go out in 7HL. They were all in the house lot, which is about 80 acres with all the houses and cabins and barns in it. There is no good way to move cattle out of it other than a few hard to get cattle through gates. She had a pretty good rodeo of it, she told me later it was a challenge but she was glad she did it and was glad she was on Gambler, stating none of the other sixty horses we own could have done what he did for her.

It started snowing right after I got home and by the time I went to bed there was three inches on the ground and then the stars came out.

Sunday, December 5, 2004

We were out early and in the saddle riding the north trap. It was a bit milder, about 17 when we caught our horses. But it was sunny and dead calm. The fresh snow lay flat and smooth from a windless snowfall.

Our plan was to push everything but a few sale cows out into 7HL pasture. We got to the salt and had about 50 head and picked up a dozen more at the tank. A couple didn’t want to leave so they were a bit exasperating, kept trying to turn back and such always watching for when you are farthest away so you have to lope back to turn them. But our horses worked well and it all came together and we got them out the T gates.

We then went up on the mesa and gathered up a couple dozen up there and moved them to the tank and then on out the gates. In all it took about five hours. During both little gathers we had turned a few head back to take to the house, three pairs that need to be weaned and one cow to be sold. When we got the last bunch out the gate we headed home and picked these up on our way. They were real trouble getting down the hill to the shipping pens. One would take off this way and the others that way. We finally got them down and in the pens where we left them for the night.

Hi 23 sunny lo 17

Monday, December 6, 2004

It had started snowing late last night, along with some wind. When I woke there was another nine inches of snow.

I had a meeting with the forest service today, which took all day getting me home after dark. The roads weren’t too bad just deep in the usual spots. Sure was dang pretty.

As I was coming home hunters for a season that starts in the morning were out and they were sure making a mess of the road.

The meeting is all part of the N.E.P.A. statement they are doing. It was a day long going over the same things I do with every new set of people there, telling them my concerns and hearing theirs. The new head ranger I like more than I’m willing to admit. He comes up with some kooky ideas but it tells me he’s at least thinking, hopefully from all angles. He came up with more original ideas than I had heard in the last twelve years. But still I was tired of it all when I walked out. I have to do it again next Monday.

Tuesday, December 7, 2004

We are almost out of cow hay again. So our plan was to get the pairs we brought in weaned and vaccinated then gather and sort the last of the sale cattle, which I will haul tomorrow and get a load of hay on the way home. It will be mixed bunch of bull calves and old or stupid cows.

We got the pairs cut and Lyndsey went to the cook tent to get the vaccine from the refrigerator there. She came back with news I didn’t need. None of us had been in there in a week or so and in that time the refrigerator had frozen everything. Several thousand dollars of vaccine and medicine wasted. So not wanting to put unvaccinated calves with the others they went in the sale pen.

We saddled up and gathered the rest of the sale cattle and we were a couple head over a load. I decided to just figure it out in the morning when I loaded. The next thing I knew the day was late and it was once again time to do chores.

Since the real cold settled in last week we have started our ice-chopping route. Lyndsey has been doing it for the most part. She has to do June tank in Bearwallow pasture, then over to the North Trap tank then cut the water lot tank on her way home. It takes a bit over an hour and she’s cutting about 6 inches every day.

Wednesday, December 8, 2004

We started chores just at light so I could try to get an early start to the sale. It was cold but not as bitter as it has been, about 20. We had more cattle than the trailer would haul and decided just to see what we could get in. We had some calves that we wanted to put on last, back in the smaller section of the trailer so they wouldn’t get mashed by the grown animals. We cut the calves back and started loading the cows. They were stupid about going on and it took half an hour just to get the first one on. Then they all went at a rush piling up at the front of the trailer nice and tight. Everything we had fit except one cow of Lindsey's, which we turned back. With all our effort we got the gate closed and it was time to load the calves. They were even stupider than the adults and it was a frustrating deal getting them on. Finally we had all but the smallest one who was freaked out and running up and down the alley slamming by us or through us as if we weren’t there. His brain was shut down and the fear and flight mode was running in high speed. He got his head under the end gate of the alley and with sheer power and fear he manage to lift the gate enough and slip out. Any other situation I would have let him go for another day. But this was the only calf that wasn’t big enough to wean and his mom would bring a lot more with her calf by her side. There was no getting his mom back off as she was way in the front of the first section and I sure wasn’t going to unload the whole lot. So we grabbed our ropes and took off after it. It had gotten into the corner of the water lot about a hundred yards away, the only good spot to try and catch it, but if it went through the loose fence there the show was all over. Maggie hung back as Lyns and I got around the calf on either side. You couldn’t get close, as it was just too skittish. I eased as near as I could and saw he was about to bolt to the weak fence. He took off at drag racer speed; I knew I’d have just one shot at him. I swung my loop as far as I could on a twenty-foot cast. The deep snow made it hard, I couldn’t see his back feet since the snow was up to his hocks. I sure didn’t want a head catch on this wild thing. I watched the loop sail out and a sinking feeling set in as my rope disappeared in the snow tangled behind the calf. Suddenly my rope snapped tight and I saw I had one back foot. “Thank you Lord” I said to myself. But that calf had such momentum that I couldn’t get a handle on my rope and get set before it whizzed out of my hands and skated away. Lyndsey was cowgirl on the spot and was able to quick grab the rope as it went by and slowed the calf down. I got there and grabbed the rope just as the calf went through the fence, two fences actually, he made it across the alley and into the water lot. We were up against the first barbwire fence and the calf was one the far side of the second. Maggie got there and helped me with the rope as Lyndsey climbed the fences and mugged the calf down. I then climbed over and tied it. We dragged it under the fences then all the way up to the trailer. He weighed in at about 250# and made a better plow than a sled, snowing flowing all over him as we pulled him along. He was a mess, but ya know I felt no sympathy for him, well maybe just a wee bit. We got him to the back of the trailer and with a lot of heaving and humping we got him in while still tied without any of the others getting out. After the gates were shut I reached in with a running iron and was able to get the rope untied.

It was a hell of a load we had on, no worry of them moving too much as I drove, they were so tight nothing could move a midge.

My tires of course were low so I headed to the barn to inflate them a bit, on the way one blew out. I had to call and get a hauling number from the sale barn for the brand inspectors and as I did Lyndsey changed my tire. It was about 10am when I was finally on the move. The roads were terrible, deep snow all rutted up from the hunters. It was a tough pull for my old truck but as I’ve said before it’s a great truck. I only made 10 to 15 MPH but we made it out to the pavement three hours later and had clear sailing from there. With no blow outs or any other trouble I was unloaded at 4 pm, dropped my trailer and headed to the hotel for the night.

Thursday, December 9, 2004

I was on the road early and headed into the hay farm by noon, the road in was terrible, six inches of slush and mud and water. It’s about 12 miles in off the highway and took almost an hour. Along the way my tranny overheated and I lost all but first gear, having no reverse made it hard to get close to the hay pile so we had to carry each bale about twenty feet making it a real pain in the back. By the time we were done loading my tranny had cooled and was working fine. Going home I had to chain up in Collins Park , a lot of melting had gone on and the road was deep mud and water changing to deep snow as I went over Elk Mtn. But I made it home just about dark surprising Maggie who didn’t think I’d make it in.

While I was gone Lyndsey had gotten more cattle out of the north trap and had ridden out in 7HL getting some horses into the north trap from there. We want to fill our molasses feeders for the cattle but since it has urea in it to keep it from freezing the horses can’t have any tho they love it. The weather warmed up for her, getting up to near 40 both days and was sunny. Getting down to the upper teens at night.

Friday, December 10, 2004

Lyndsey and Maggie went to town, Maggie had shipping to do and laundry, Lyndsey went along as far as Glenwood where she picked up the ’69 ford from Wayne and driving it home getting in about dark. I spent the day working on vehicles around here. The dump truck had totally died the other day so I put in a bunch of parts I had gotten in town, new plugs, new wires, new rotor and changed the oil and checked the timing. The old rotor was badly burned so I figured that was the real culprit. I fired it up and it ran like a new truck. The jeep was next; it got the same treatment as well as two new tires. Then it was on to the log splitter, which hadn’t run in a year. I got that cleaned up and an hour later was splitting wood. I went to bed pretty tired, mostly just from walking around in the deep mud and slush. It really is melting fast, all the streams are running and the tanks are getting filled. The tank I cleaned in the horse pasture last month is now full and looking good.

Hi 40 sunny lo 18

Saturday, December 12, 2004

I had been wanting to wean the foals this week, it’s about time, they are seven months old now. I went out after chores to get something from the shop and saw all the colts in one pen sleeping, I figured that was my chance and went and quietly shut some gates and before they knew it they were weaned. Lyndsey pushed the mares down the long alley and out into the north trap.

We then set to installing a new drive through gate I bought to go across the cattle guard. Last week while I was gone a half dozen horses crossed it when it was covered in snow. Young Quentin got cut up pretty bad. That took a couple hours to get set up and it works pretty well.

Then it was to a job I had been dreading. When the dump truck died last week it had a half load of water in the big poly tank we use to haul water and liquid feed. It had frozen solid. The other day I had been able to get the tank out of the truck and upside down in the driveway so the sun could work on it a bit. It helped but there was still several hundred pounds of ice inside in big chunks that had to come out so we could fill our feeders in 7HL. The next couple hours were spent lying on the ground, using a five-pound hammer working through an eight-inch opening busting ice and pulling it out one piece at a time. It was a huge pain in the ass. But just before dark the tank was empty and back in the truck and the truck was all set for an early feed run in the morning.

Hi 40 lo 19

Sunday, December 13, 2004

I was feeding when it was just light enough to see so I could get out with the feed truck before things thawed out. I was on the road at 7am.

I went out to the Intersection feeders and started running the molasses feed, it was as slow as molasses in December. It took an hour to get 100 gallons in each feeder. There were cattle scattered on all the hillsides around there and within minutes they started to come in smelling the feed. Within an hour there was over a hundred head milling around. I saw six calves that we had missed during the fall gather that I really need to get in and get to the sale, I also saw one five year old cow who was partially prolapsed who needs to come in for doctoring. I think I will come out and camp at Fence tank a couple days and work over that whole area gathering into Fence Tank trap till I have a full load.

The day was warming up by the hour and it was dead calm out there. By the time I got done feeding it was up to 50 degrees and the snow was melting fast. It was sure a tough job for the truck getting out of there, but I did make it without putting on chains. I got home about noon, just before Maggie made it back from Silver City and just before Lyndsey left for a few days off.

The rest of the afternoon was spent splitting fire wood in the 58 degree heat wave.