December 13 - December 31, 2004: No Guests

12/13/04 Monday

Just like last week it was another day spent at the Forest Circus. It actually wasn’t as bad as I went into this thing planning on.

For the most part I was dealing with a new Range Officer, a Range Tech. A fella who’s been here about a year and a half, and the District Ranger who is the head guy. Thrown in now and then were a biologist, a couple fire officers and a hydrologist.

For the most part we were all able to come to agreements on most things. Their concern is the environment and resource and mine are the same but with my livelihood and welfare of my livestock thrown in the mix.

They really want to take Bearwallow pasture out of grazing due to E.S.A. [Endangered Species Act] since there are so many Spotted Owl packs and wolves. Losing grazing in Bearwallow pasture really doesn’t bother me. I hate having cattle in there; it’s just tough to get them back out. The pasture is 11,000 acres on the east slope of a 10,000-foot high by eight-mile Long Mountain. Thick timber, steep ridges, it’s just hard to work.

It has beautiful high mountain meadows, streams and Aspen stands, it awesome country. Much of it shouldn’t be grazed; I haven’t used it for five years.

But I am not willing to have it officially taken out of grazing and have my carrying capacity lowered. So I told them that they allow me to rebuild some of the old tanks around the range and they reinstall a five-mile pipeline, which use to water a lot of Loco and Canyon Creek pastures then I would agree with out a fight to give up Bearwallow. At this point they went for it, they were very excited about the trade off and started to write it up.

Whoa! I told them I wouldn’t agree to any thing until I see the paper work approving the tank reconstruction and see the pipeline under way. As I told them, I have been promised too much and have received absolutely nothing come of a wagonload of promises. So it’s in their ballpark now.

Once again it took up the whole day finding me getting home just after chores were done.

Hi 43 sunny lo of 19

12/14/04 Tuesday

Gambler and I were out pretty early with a long day lined out. We rode across the south trap checking yearlings first. We had opened the gate from the water lot a couple days ago and they all finally realized they could go out on grass. They had been in the weaning corrals for a bit over three weeks and were sure ready to get chewing something other than hay.

Over all the weaning went great. Whenever I have a large number of calves being weaned and they are confined I of course always worry about some virus sweeping through. We had 90 some calves there and only one case of bad snots and respiratory problems, we separated the steer from the rest and started it on antibiotics. Now most places would have just as a matter of course put all the calves on antibiotics but were are trying to get our Natural Beef certification on the steers so no medication is allowed. We kept our fingers crossed and lucked out with nothing more coming of it. Just that one steer won’t be able to be natural. Now that the yearlings are out in the south trap for the winter there is much less fear of any problems, they will be much healthier out there on the grass and in open space.

We spent a couple hours checking and counting everything there. All were present and looked fine, they all lost a bit of weight during weaning but that’s to be expected. They won’t gain much over the winter, just sort of maintain themselves but come next summer these yearling should be putting on three to five pounds per day.

Gambler and I had lunch at the Silver gate then started working the west side of 7HL. I want to get all the cattle over into T Bar Valley for the winter so I’m starting with getting everything out of Ewe canyon.

We rode up n the rise above Nedra tank and looked around, there were cattle everywhere. I could see about 150, the job looked a bit daunting. But I just decided I’d do it one bunch at a time and eventually they would all get there, though it might be next spring before I’m done.

Gambler and I rode straight down Ewe canyon to the Nedra feeders and over the obsidian field to Elladeane tank. We picked up cattle all the way. When we got to Elladeane we had about forty head and it was time to get them over the big ridge above T Bar tank and down into the valley.

Every year I write about trying to get cattle up this steep ridge, it’s when I miss our guests the most. Those cattle didn’t want to hike that trail and Gambler worked his ass off getting them going and keeping them going. He rode a mile and a half back and forth and up and down mostly at a trot on that short three hundred yard slope. Finally we got the last of the drags up over the saddle and stopped on top.

Gambler was washed out in sweat on a 35-degree day. I swung down as he took a break and caught his breath; both of us watching the cattle line out down the trail to the valley.

I sat down in front of him and leaned back using his front legs as a backrest. It was dead calm, the only sound was of Gambler breathing and licking his lips after eating the granola bar he begged off me, I only carry them for him. I’d never eat one of those things unless I’d been out with no food for two days.

As we watched a hawk flew by level with us about twenty feet away, I could see his eyes flashing. A few minuets later a coyote trotted down the far side of the canyon headed to the stream for a drink. Then just down canyon six mule deer came out of the rim rock and threaded their way to the canyon floor then disappeared around the bend. Not bad sight seeing for a twenty-minute break.

Gambler started shuffling letting me know it was time to go.

We went home the long way up Feathery valley and through Snake gate just seeing where the cattle were for future reference.

After giving him a good rub down and a bait of grain I had just e enough time for a cup of coffee before doing chores.

Lyndsey who had been in albq. the last couple days got home just after dark.

Hi 43 lo 18 sunny calm.

12/15/04 Wednesday

I spent the morning doing taxes I had as usual been putting off till the very last hour. Then after lunch I had to drive to town to get them in the mail and get some packages of Maggie's sent out. She’s been deep in the Christmas rush trying to get orders filled. She is learning to say no when people call for a rush order this time of year.

I got home in time to spend a couple hours splitting wood.

Hi 35 sunny with some late day clouds and wind. Lo 12

12/16/04 Thursday

As we did chores clouds built up in the north and the smell of snow was in the air.

I got Lyndsey and Rick who is here for a short visit to help me load a feeder that I drove out and set in the south trap. The yearlings are using the one in the corral too heavy so I set this one way out in the trap to try and spread them out some.

Then I loaded feed in the feed truck and filled it just as a light snow was falling.

Everybody headed to Albq. today leaving me with the ranch to myself. Lyndsey went to take Rick back for his flight and took eh trailer to get a load of hay one her way home.

Maggie headed there to catch an early morning flight tomorrow to go get Cassady for the holidays. They will get back here Sunday.

I was home by 1pm and was glad of it. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped all day. I spent the afternoon in the shop cleaning that place up. It was a good day not to be out. Even though the shop has no heat at least I was out of the wind.

I got e-mail the other day asking about how the horses were doing now that it was winter.

We have most of the horses in the north trap now, the working horses, the mares and the renegades. There are about thirty out there. The colts are here at the main barn along with Belle, old Moses and Annie.

The winter workers which include Gambler, Dakota, Cimarron, Chile and Cooleye are at the guest corral and range out into Bearwallow. The only horse who is not enjoying his winter is Rebel. The young grey horse I got from our many time visitor Fred from California. He lost about fifty pounds in just a couple weeks out with the herd. He got foot sore and just didn’t want to graze around. Last week we brought him along with his buddy Villa up to the barn and got him started on some high protein feed and Redcell. We keep hay in front of him all the time. He was a mess and I was really worried about a blood problem or something but just in the last couple days I’ve seen an improvement in him. There is a sparkle in his eye now and his ears are up. I have used the supplement Redcell for about thirty years; I’m a big believer in it. It takes awhile to get them started on it but when they do it really picks them up. I think the Redcell has gotten in his system and he’s turned the corner.

Hi 24 lo was 9 cloudy all day with wind and light snow. One inch.

12/17/04 Friday

We have two bulls living here in the House lot right now; they’re waiting to get a ride to join the other bulls at Snow Lake. They are big red Beefmaster bulls both are six years old and weigh in at about 2,000 pounds. One is really pretty nice, just moseys around the place. The other is not so friendly. He has a mean eye and I have been wary of him. Over the last couple days they have found the trailer of hay outside the barn and have been hanging around that licking up crumbs. This morning I went out to do chores and the mean one was between the house and the barn next to the trailer. I walked towards the trailer and could tell by the look in his eye he’d woken on the wrong side of the bed. He started walking towards me with his head lowered and growling. I yelled at him and he started a trotting charge. The corral that Annie is in is right there, the fence close to the trailer. She had been waiting as she always does there for breakfast. When that bull started to come my way she started trotting the fence tossing her head watching him. When that bull started to charge she hollered and reared up pawing the sky. This bull was on the prod and meant business, I gave ground backing away, I was yelling at him, Annie was still hollering and rearing and all the commotion alerted Jack who was on the other side of the barn doing some important detective work. That dog came flying around the corner and quickly took in the situation then launched himself at the bull. He went right into him and bit him in the face. He’s a Catahoula, a heading dog and it sure came out in him. The first bite surprised the bull and stopped him but Jack wasn’t done. He went back four or five more time biting at the bulls face until the bull turned and ran away giving Jack the opportunity for one last bite on the ass.

The whole time Annie was rearing and hollering.

I guess my animals do love me.

That was the excitement for the day, definitely got my heart check done.

I went and filled the water truck to haul to the winter workers but as I was filling it I found it had a hole worn through the bottom. Just dandy! I spent the next three hours working on that. Going to the dump and finding and old feed tub. Cutting a 6x6 inch piece out then getting a torch and heating the patch and the tank at the same time, melting the patch on. I’d never seen it done but it worked like a charm. The rest of the day was spent in my newly cleaned shop making Maggie’s Christmas present.

Lyndsey got home about 8pm with a load of hay and the report that the roads were pretty good.

Hi 28 lo 8 sunny and a bit of wind.

12/18/04 Saturday

A pretty blustery cold day but sunny for the most part. I spent most of the day in the shop, working on Maggie's gift then working on the dump truck. I just about have all the little things fixed but today I still had the wipers to deal with which haven’t worked since I got the truck. I first had to pull the whole dang dash to get to the wiper motor, that was a real pain in the ass. After checking the voltage I found that there was current but no life so I decided to pull the motor and replace it with one off the 1981 black Chevy. That took another hour to pull the dash on that and get the motor off and then back to the dump truck and take that motor out and replace it. Finally about four hours later I flipped the switch and voila’ they worked perfectly. I then replaced the blades which and felt confident that in the next snow storm I had to drive through I wouldn’t have to hang my head out the window like a hound dog.

Lyndsey took the day off and stayed in out of the wind and cold.

Maggie called late from albq. she and Cassady had made it and were planning on getting an early start in the morning. Yahoooo!

Hi 30 wind chill 15 lo 105

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

12/19/04 Sunday

Maggie and Cassady sure got an early start as they had said they would, got on the road at 4:30 am and even after shopping on the way they were home by 9:30am. It was sure great to see the kid again. This is our longest no see stretch of the year from when school starts till Christmas. Thanksgiving vacation is just too short to get a visit in. The next will be in March when we will have a couple weeks together.

We didn’t really do any work today other than unload some hay. Most of the day was spent hanging with Cassady. He wanted to see all his horse buddies, see the 40 some cats in the barn and just generally have a look around and make sure everything was as it should be.

Sunny hi of 40 low was 9.

12/20/04 Monday

The plan had been for Lyndsey and I to get out riding early in the day and hunt up some of the cattle in 7HL pasture that needed attention, such as a prolapsed cow and unbranded pairs I had seen last week while filling the feeders.

I was out at 6am in the dimmest of light to feed but got to the corral and there was nothing to feed. For the first time in weeks the horses weren’t in for breakfast. I guess they heard the plan too.

We have to start at Fence tank and it’s almost an hour and a half trailer out there so getting going early is crucial to getting something done as short as the days are right now. It wasn’t till almost 10am that they finally came dragging in and expecting breakfast to be waiting. Sorry guys no brunch is served around here.

In the mean time I had decided I’d just about had enough of the two bulls hanging around the house so I tossed some hay in a trailer and in minuets had bull number one in. The second one had no plans of getting in the trailer so I closed the doors on the first bull and hauled him to the shipping pens where I unloaded him and put him in a pen. The second bull not wanting to be alone followed us down and in no time I had him in the pen. I backed the trailer up and with about 20 minuets of patience I had both bulls loaded.

Maggie, Cassady, and I hauled the bulls to Snow Lake where we dropped them off for the winter. We saw about twenty other bulls there and they all looked really good. But we saw that the feeder was already empty so we drove home and while Maggie packed a lunch I changed a tire on the dump truck and filled the tank with molasses feed and we headed back to Snow Lake again.

We goofed around waiting for the molasses to flow, it was during that time I looked up on the west side of T bar canyon way up on the rim and saw about eight head of cattle up there. We didn’t have any binoculars but could tell there were a couple calves among them. Something to do some other day.

We got home just in time to do chores in the light. When we came in the house I checked messages on the phone and found one from the wolf people. Their news is always bad. I returned the call and was told that all three of the wolf packs in New Mexico were within five miles of the house. I had seen tracks of one this morning when I was out back trying to holler in the horses. The tracks were right along the fence behind the corrals. They also said that one pack was in among the cattle at the Intersection feeders in T Bar valley. That’s right were my little pairs are, go figure.

We need to get out there in the morning and have a look around and just make our presence known.

Lyndsey headed to town to do some shipping for Maggie that took up most of her day.

Hi 38 breezy lo 10 sunny.

12/21/04 Tuesday

I didn’t sleep well last night, thought of wolves as I tried to get some and nightmares of them when I did. The wolf guy said he didn’t know why all the packs had converged on our ranch. Hell it doesn’t take a rocket man to figure it out. We are the only cattle around. The elk and deer babies from last spring are way too big and fast to get an easy meal off. So there are some cattle with little stupid calves. We have 17 calves we branded a month or so ago which we turned out with their mommas. Now some of you are thinking why not keep them in close to the house. We tried that last year by keeping them in the south trap. It seemed like we just set them up for slaughter by having them in a smaller area and easier to find. I am hoping that having them in with all the other cattle there will be some safety in numbers and more areas to roam. I didn’t figure on every wolf in the state to come and help with the search.

We had kept the horses in over night and were feeding early. We had all chores done and horses saddled by 8am and got rolling soon after. Lyndsey took Gambler as I decided I had to ride Dakota who hasn’t really worked in months and he’s not one you want to let stand around.

We got to the Intersection feeders and found about 80 head there; just around the corner there was a big wolf. He was in the middle of the valley a 1/4-mile from the feeders and just stood there as we drove along. There must have been another close by, he was looking past us up on the ridge and never moved till finally I honked the horn. It’s so frustrating not being able to do a thing to protect the stock.

We parked and unloaded at Fence tank and planned a big loop hunting up what ever need tending and to take a count on the calves.

I swung up on Dakota and he sure humped up and stayed that way the first half mile. He never busted loose but let it be known he was thinking of it. We headed up to the top of T Bar Ridge. The wind was howling about 25 mph and it was cloudy looking like snow and no solar warmth at all. Lyndsey and I had seen a bunch up there near the top on the drive in but the horses couldn’t see them and were not happy about this steep hike headed into that stiff cold wind. They fought us all the way both looking at cattle below us in the valley they wanted to get. When we finally topped out and there were cattle they both stopped fighting and understood why we had come all the way up there. But they didn’t understand when we just rode through them and then left them there. There was nothing up there we wanted. Dakota had a temper tantrum and I had to direct rein him with a kick to reinforce it, as he kept wanting to turn back to the cattle. We then headed across and down the ridge to T bar Tank where we again found cattle but nothing we needed. From there we bottomed out in the valley and finally found the big unbranded pair with the poor mom I had seen last week. She was in around the feeders with now about a hundred head. I eased them out while Lyndsey found a young bull. We started them away from the feeder and got about a quarter mile when they broke and ran back to the bunch so we went back and got about twenty head to make a real party of it for them and started them along. It went well after that with a couple quick fixes to turn back a few that were reluctant but after a mile they lined out and the rest of the trip went smooth. We got them in the fence tank trap and with no problem we got them in the branding pen from which we would load them in the trailer. We had a bunch of extra cattle so we slick and easy cut out what we didn’t need.

We got the cattle loaded with no real problems, then closed the center gate and loaded our horses behind them and headed home watching the snow begin to fall off to the south in the Wilderness area.

On the way home we decided we needed to spend even more time out here than we have in the past winters. So we plan on fixing up the old camper a bit better since it’s missing some windows and needs a new door. Then Lyndsey and I will take turns spending three day shifts out at Fence tank camp riding and just being around and keep and eye on the cattle there, especially as calving season comes on. That number of wolves could decimate our calf crop this year.

Anyone wanna come experience winter line camp living? Yea, I guessed not.

12/22/04 Wednesday

A fun day around El Ranchero. Cassady and I messed around outside most of the morning. Shooting some paintballs, tossing an old sock around for Jack to tear up then playing tug of war against Jack with an old hank of rope. That dog is so strong it’s just amazing. There is no way Cassady can play one on one with him and even when we double team him it’s all we can do to hang on.

We then did a little work. Cleaned out a couple old trucks that have been sitting around the barn area, aired up tires, put a few on and with Maggie's help later we towed them out back to the store yard. I just got tired of seeing them.

Just before lunch Lyndsey and I weaned the pair we brought in yesterday and loaded the momma cow and another extra we had here in the trailer. Cassady and I hauled them out to 7HL pasture and let them out at the Cowcamp gate.

After lunch we decorated the tree and started making some more ornaments. Every year we make a few, often we will take pictures and them paste them on. It’s fun to see ones from years before. Cassady couldn’t believe a picture of him and Jack was really him. He was about three and was standing next to Jack, both heads the same height, both heads with Santa hats on.

We continued the project after we came back in from chores then watched some Christmas movies till bedtime. Which is 8pm around here for all of us.

It was sunny but cold, high was 22 low of 11 with a half inch dusting last night

12/23/04 Thursday

Another cold dang morning around here. Lyndsey left to go spend the holidays with her mom. That makes chores a bit longer to take care of. The last thing I do in the morning is go and cut the ice in the North trap then swing through the South trap and take a look at the yearlings as I check the spring. As I looked them over one kinda jumped out at me. He was dragging behind the rest a bit with droopy ears, not walking real strong. I went back to the H.Q. and tossed a saddle on Gambler and rode out to try and get the lil’ fella down to the corrals.

When I started pushing him along about 50 other yearlings came along with us all the way to the pens. I was a bit worried about how I would get it penned by its self but it turned out to be no problem. We just eased along through all the others and ended up with just him in the corrals. It couldn’t have gone any easier but the walk took its toll on the calf. I tied up Gam and then got the steer in the squeeze chute, gave him some Nuflor and some hay and water. He’s pretty weak and I really don’t expect him to make it through the night.

Hi 19 lo -9

12/24/04 Friday

It started a cold rain about 1am; I woke to the sound of it pelting the windows. I couldn’t stay in bed knowing that calf was down there in the corrals with no shelter. I got up and drove to the corrals and in the lights of the truck I gathered up a couple pieces of plywood that were around there. Dragging them to the calf’s pen I set up a ranch rigged lean to type shelter around the calf who was curled in a corner. I piled loose hay on top of him and left him hoping it wasn’t all for nothing. It was too late to go back to bed so I stayed up the rest of the morning heading out to do chores just as the icy rain was ending. I fed all the other animals before I went and checked on the calf, I was not looking forward to what I would find.

Being the Christmas season and all I found blessings when I did get to the corral. The calf was up eating and perky eared.

The rest of the day was spent in the house hiding from the cold and enjoying the good company.

Hi 18 lo 2

12/25/04 Christmas Day

Cassady thought chores took half the day this morning, as they had to be done before presents were opened. But he was patient and helpful, tending the chickens, cats and rabbits while Maggie and I took care of the big animals. It was once again bitterly cold and as long as he thought it took we didn’t dally around and got done in record time.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the day.

Hi 20 lo 3 windy all day.

12/26/04 Sunday

Another do nothing day as far as work goes. It was just too cold outside and too much fun inside.

Hi 24 lo 14

12/27/04 Monday

It was back to work today, the weather folks are calling for a big wet storm coming in the morning so Cassady and I were out early getting feeders filled and salt put out. Cass stayed with me till we came in for lunch and to get another load of feed that was when he decided to stay at the house with Maggie. In his words filling feeders is the “boringest” job on the ranch. I didn’t get done till after 7pm. All afternoon I watched the clouds pile up and it looks like the weather people might be right.

Hi 36 lo 22

12/28/04 Tuesday

The clouds kept it warm overnight and in the wee hours I heard rain hitting the windows. It was raining when we got up for chores and rained hard all day long. The temperature stayed at about 32, there was some snow mixed in but mostly just solid steady rain. There was nothing we could do but hang out, build a model rocket and watch an old John Wayne movie.

12/29/04 Wednesday

It rained all night and kept it up all day. The mud is thick, impossible to move a vehicle and tiring walking around doing chores. Again we were inside playing a game Brian from N.H. sent us for Christmas. The only time I went out was for chores. As I was doing evening chores it was coming down cats and dogs, the wind was blowing and I was hurrying through as fast as I could. In my rush I wasn’t taking notice of things, as I should have been. I put feed out for Rebel and then I noticed he wasn’t eating. As I fed the other horses I watched him and soon saw him drop to roll. Perfect! Colic! And as Cassady said later it always happens on the worst night. I gave him some Banamine but it did little to help ease the pain. He was violently trying to roll so I walked him up and down the little area under the cover of the barn. The rain pounded on the metal roof so hard it was deafening. A few more doses of Banamine and one of tranquilizer and miles of walking finally got him settled down. About 1 am I felt he was stable enough to leave to himself and headed to bed.

Hi 34 lo 34

12/30/04 Thursday

The rain stopped over night and the wind came up with a blast of cold air that set everything to ice. We got almost three inches of rain. If it had been a couple degrees colder it would have been over 30 inches of snow.

Again there was nothing we could do outside till late in the day when the wind finally stopped. We took that break in the weather to launch our rocket. It was a successful launch. The rocket went hundreds of feet in the air and way out of sight. The reentry wasn’t so great. Our parachute didn’t deploy and we never saw our rocket again.

Hi 30 lo 28

12/31/04 Friday

Cassady and Maggie headed back to albq. Maggie is flying Cass back to Mass. They left about midday, and will stay over night in albq before flying out in the morning.

I spent most of the afternoon digging drainage ditches off the driveway to try and get some of the standing water off the road. It helped a bit. Then I split wood for the rest of the afternoon.

Hi 38 lo 26 sunny