January 1, 2006: No Guests

1/1/06

The month of December was the mildest we have ever had here. After our cold weather around Thanksgiving things started warming up until it had become down right mild. The first couple weeks of the month were spent getting the last of our strays gathered and put into 7HL pasture.

Nate and Lyndsey were taking turns being sick both suffering from the flu or the I don’t feel like it bug.

As the weather warmed up they got a bit better.

We hauled the last of our calves to the sale and brought home more hay till the barn is fairly well bulging.

On the last trip we broke an axel on one of the trailers. They are torsion axels and everyone says you can’t break them. Wanna bet? If it can’t be done we sure can do it here.

I was out checking the cattle on the 15 th, Gambler and I just getting around seeing what was going on. I saw about a dozen newborn calves and early in the day came across a cow that was close to calving. I decided to push her to the corrals and haul her home at the end of the day but first I wanted to cover a bit more ground and see more cattle.

We rode up to the Mesa feeders and looked over about fifty head there then went down T Bar Canyon and checked some cattle in the bottom and made sure the water was still flowing.

Late in the afternoon I headed back to get the close to calving cow and head home. I was too late.

The cow had calved and the wolves had eaten every single bit of it. All I found was a greasy spot, wolf tracks and a very distraught mother.

Disgusted I headed Gambler down to the creek near the White Banks. Here the creek banks are about ten feet high and home to hundreds of Swallows. We took a cut down to the creek and rode around a bend to find a good pool to drink from. When we came around the bend there along the creek side by side were all four of the Luna pack of wolves washing down their latest kill. They saw us as soon as we saw them but didn’t run away. They stood there 20 feet away and glared at us. I stood in my stirrups and yelled. That made the two yearlings move about 20 feet but the two adults stood their ground. I advanced and yelled and the female ran to join her kids but the male just backed up facing us snarling at us. The banks were head high, I reached out and grabbed a hunk of hard clay from the bank and threw it at the wolf. The clay hit between his front feet and broke apart throwing pieces hitting his underside. He then turned and trotted to where the others waited. I then charged them yelling and screaming and they only scattered and milled around. They were not leaving. I dismounted and started throwing rocks. When they saw me afoot they moved away but not fast. Just trotted off casually, looking back at me over their shoulders.

It is so frustrating. There is just nothing you can do to put any fear into them.

The next day we started gathering all the little pairs and a few close to calving cows and hauling them back to the H.Q. where we will be taking on more expense and feeding them through the winter there.

I went to Albq. on the 17 th to pick up Cassady who came in for the holidays. Nate and Lyndsey continued gathering pairs as well as cows with bad horns that needed to be trimmed.

The morning after I got back I was breaking ice on the tank here in the house lot and saw a calf dead under the ice. Then noticed a second one. Cattle do stupid things when they get thirsty. That’s why we break the ice first thing in the morning and if really cold we will do it late in the day as well. Most older cows will wait around till the ice is broken, they know we will be coming soon. I guess there wasn’t time to break the ice while I was gone.

I laid Nate and Lyndsey off on the 19 th. With the added expense of feeding the pairs and the lack of motivation I decided they needed a break and I did to.

I finished getting all the pairs I could find just before Christmas. We now have a total of 27 pairs here at the house eating hay and liquid feed and being a pain in the ass. They are all around the house, trying to get in the hay barn, trying to get in the horse pasture.

This is something we never had to do or worry about before the wolves. Winter was a time we could kinda relax a bit. Let the cattle fend for them selves and be comfortable in the knowledge that they would be all right.

A few months ago Defenders of Wildlife who are responsible for helping and reimbursing ranchers told me they would be helping out with salary and feed costs. I called and told them I needed help now. They responded a few days later by telling me the wolf folks had told them we weren’t having any problems and so they wouldn’t be helping. I don’t know why I believed them in the first place.

Christmas day was 60 degrees, our first brown Christmas since I’ve been here. We had a great day, able to get out and play with Cassadys toys. His favorite is a fancy target for his BB gun with targets that explode and spin. The next was foam ball shooters with which he terrorized the chickens for hours. We had no eggs that day.

Other than filling feeders and doing the chores the week between Christmas and New years was pretty laid back. The big job of the week was a total barn cleaning. I mean the whole place. We hauled ten years of accumulated stuff out and sorted through it all. Throwing away anything I haven’t touched in years and reorganizing all the rest which opened up two full bays of space in the barn. It was something we had wanted to do a long time. Cassady was a huge help. It’s great he’s old enough to help and even better that he has a work ethic. Some of the work was gross and dirty and he never complained a word.

We hauled three loads of stuff to the dump. Filled the storage building with keeper stuff and now have room to frame up a garage to work on trucks and get some of the piled up tools and supplies out of the shop.

My F350 finally died. The tranny had been bad since smoking it hauling that load of hay a few months ago.

We were taking a load of bed frames and such out to Canyon Creek camp when it really started slipping. We unhooked the trailer at Harleyville and headed home. When we got to Snow Lake the tranny blew with a big bang and a cloud of smoke. It was about 4pm and we knew there was no one who was going to come along and help us so I started walking home. I cut cross -country going up the Ridge trail and across Negrito pasture. I really stepped out and made good time getting home a bit after 8pm. Then went back and picked up Maggie and Cassady and the two dogs. Never a dull moment around here.

One of the funniest things I have ever seen has been going on around here. Every morning and every evening Maggie and Cassady go for a bike ride to try and keep the dogs tired. It works for all involved. I watched them head off while I worked the woodpile carrying the evenings needs into the house.

I then realized that not only were the two dogs running along but our orphan calf Trixie was running along also. She is getting pretty big, probably about three hundred pounds but there she was running along side Tac. They rode to the cattle guard and back and Trixie was right there the whole way. We thought it was a one-time thing but the next morning she was ready to go for her run. She has done it every day since. Townes the Shepard runs ahead of the bikers while Tac and Trixie both being slow lope along together a few hundred yards behind. It's pretty amusing.

I was shocked a few weeks ago to learn that my wife has been having an Internet affair.

It has been going on most of the summer. Granted I wasn’t around much but still I was surprised. It had started just after I bought my 1974 classic Ford F-250 High Boy Pickup truck off E Bay. I guess Maggie had gotten both envious and jealous and started looking for a little excitement. She sprung it on me by showing me a picture of her new love interest. I was even more shocked when she told me he was coming to live with us next month. I had to admit he was about as good looking as I have ever seen. 38 years old and from Detroit.

Yep, she went and bought herself a 1968 F-250 High Boy. It has the same set up as mine. A 390 C.I. V8, 4 speed manual tranny, four wheel drive with Dana 60’s front and back as well as factory Hooker headers and Edlebrock 4Bbl carb along with high rise Eldebrock aluminum intake manifold. It’s all original but has had a complete frame off restoration. It’s Seafoam Green with a black interior and just enough chrome. It has 560 miles since restoration. It makes mine look like just an old truck. How nice it is to be married to a redneck woman.

I took Cassady back to Albq. on the 30 th where his mom met us to fly back to Mass. with him.