February 2006: No Guests 2/1/06 Wednesday I spent most of the day building a new structure for our solar panels to sit on. A few months ago I looked at the one I had built 12 years ago and was shocked at just how bad shape it was in. So today I finally got everything pulled together and started building. It is 4’ wide, 4’ high and 16’ long. The only break I took was an hour to sort a load of cattle I’m taking to the sale in the morning. Three old cows, three steers and a pair, the momma of the pair is only three years old and I wasn’t going to take her until she charged me while I was sorting the other cattle. There was no bluff to her. They got in with a cow we are keeping in the corrals until she calves. I was minding my own business moving the other cow in a pen when she came charging at me blowing snot all over me and snorting and pawing. She made a one minute job into a twenty minute deal, ran me up the fence a few times and just really pissed me off. There’s no place for a cow like that here. Dark found me just finishing up oiling the new panel stand. Something I wished I’d taken the time to do 12 years ago and might not have been rebuilding it today. The weather was fine and dry, high was 40 after a low of 20. The warmer nights have made the morning ice breaking chores a lot easier. 2/2/06 Thursday I hauled cattle to the sale, a long day on the road. I left about 9am after loading 4 cows, 3 steers and one calf. Just outside Magdalena I spun off the tread on one of my trailer tires, which in turn caused the one behind it to blow out. It was a pain in the ass to fix since both the tires on one side were flat. It took me about a half an hour to get back on the road. The rest of the trip went without incident on the way back I stopped and loaded 100 bales in the horse trailer. Judd wasn’t really all that happy to see me pull in for hay at dark but he knows how far I have to come to get it and understands with fuel as high as it is you don’t run an empty trailer. It was warm, up near 60 there in the valley and the wind blew really hard making for slow going and almost a quarter tank more fuel than usual. I got home about 10 pm. 2/3/06 Friday I spent the day filling feeders making two runs filling five feeders. The wind blew hard all day. Wasn’t that romantic. Hi was 40 after a low of 22. 2/4/06 Saturday I was up early and fed the horses in the gray of dawn and then saddled Gambler and was riding at 7:15am. I planned on doing a big loop and checking all the cattle I could find and looking at the water levels in all the tanks in 7HL and Pitchfork pastures. I spent the first half of the day swinging back and forth through 7HL. I really covered that pasture, every draw, and every ridge finding cattle all over the place. I had lunch at Fence tank and headed into Pitchfork when I was done. I rode the tanks looking for strays or any sign of cattle but found nothing. Much to my surprise but extreme pleasure the water situation was much better than I had expected. All the tanks including White tank held good water. There was even water flowing from Point of Rocks all the way down to Pit tank through T Bar Valley. I took a short break at Dead Horse Corral and then rode the north half of the pasture back towards home checking both Hay and Steve tanks along the way. They were the lowest which was also a surprise. I hadn’t taken into account just how out of shape I was in when I set out on such a long day and I sure got tired. I got home about 7pm and was just wiped out. Gambler was pretty tired too. Maggie came out and helped me rub him down and she fed him for me as I staggered into the house, fixed a Bloody Mary and climbed in the tub and soaked. I didn’t see any wolves, no coyotes, just a lot of elk. The day was pretty nice, just a mild breeze, high was about 40 after a low of 23. 2/5/06 Sunday I spent the day doing a few odds and ends. Cleaning the chicken house, swapping batteries from the F 350 to the F 550. Changing two tires on one of the trailers and then headed in to watch the Super Bowl. I watched because it was the best of the best. The Steelers and the Seahawks…naw the ROLLING STONES! Those guys still rock and if you don’t like or at least respect them well… K.M.A. Another sunny day, high was 45 a bit breezy after a low of only 29. 2/9/06 I was out on the trail the last four days with Gambler. I spent two nights at Fence tank and two nights at Canyon Creek. I rode everything out there and saw a lot of cattle, a few over 300. One evening I had a herd of two hundred elk come by camp at Fence tank. I hadn’t seen a herd that big since the summer time. I picked up three close to calving heifers and pushed them all the way home today. I’ll try getting as many of them in to calve close to home as I can find. The weather wasn’t bad at all, one day was pretty windy, I tried to stay in the timber on Loco Mtn. as much as I could that day. The nights were in the teens. That camp trailer at Fence tank really needs some help. I keep planning to get some time to get the windows which are missing covered with plastic but it just never seems to work out. There is no difference between inside and outside temperatures there. But it does keep the wind off you. I don’t even bother having a heater there anymore. I guess I’m getting use to it. Staying at the cabin at Canyon creek is a pleasure, lights, heat, and stove, living like a regular person there. It really takes you back in time being out there. The only sound is the hissing of the camp lantern and the popping of the wood stove, an occasional yip of a coyote. Knowing the closest person is 25 miles away. Gambler as usual was just perfect but I need to start riding some of these other horses I have standing around here. I have eight horses shod for winter work and only use one. The horse I need to really get going is Porque, the one I bought last summer. Nate rode him a few times during fall gather and I saw a lot of potential there but it’s just dang hard to give up riding a horse you know inside and out to start one that needs work. Especially when I’m out needing to get a job done. I don’t want to be schooling a horse all a long day. And of course the thought is always in the back of my mind that if something was to happen and I got seriously hurt I’d more than likely die. Maggie would not know to start looking for me for several days and the chances of being found are slim to none. I completely trust Gambler and tho he spooks and shies a lot I never worry about coming off him. 2/10/06 Some of Maggie's family has arrived for a visit. Her mom, her uncle Mark and aunt Emily, sister Mary and brother Bob and Bobs other half Victoria, they will be here for a week. 2/13/06 A feeder-filling day. Yahoo! 2/14/06 Tuesday The last couple days have been so windy you didn’t want to be out. So most of the time was spent catching up with family. We spent the day getting around the ranch showing the family some sights and some of the country. Also got a few feeders filled as we did it. Nice day hi was about 48 after a low of 5. 2/15/06 Wednesday Gambler and I trailered out to Fence tank to locate and haul home a couple little pairs. A funny thing happened on the way to work today… I was about half way down 7HL canyon driving slow when I saw behind me two of the kids who work for the wolf program riding my bumper in their government truck. I pulled to a stop so they could pass, they stopped and I asked where their dogs were. They said the Luna pack had been picked up from the plane the day before about five miles to the east and they were headed out there to try and spot them. They were excited and in a hurry as they sped off on an important government mission throwing up a cloud of dust. “Good luck” I thought about trying to find a wolf from 24-hour-old locations. I had gone about two hundred yards and as the dust cloud settled I looked to my left and there were all four of the Luna wolves standing in a line just a hundred yards off the road! Those guys never saw them! I unloaded at Fence tank and swung on Gambler setting into a fast trot down the valley. There were about two hundred head scattered through there and way down at the far end near T bar tank I found both little calves and their mommas, which I had been looking for. I started the push back, just weaving them around among the other cattle trying not to stir things up too much and end up with a whole bunch of cows I didn’t want. It went well for the first mile then as we got to the intersection feeders they decided they weren’t going any more. Both moms broke and ran different directions through the rest of the cattle. It was a fast-paced fifteen minuets that followed, running and jumping rabbit brush one way to cut one back and dashing back to turn the other one. Gambler was just amazing putting down some moves that were thrilling. We finally got them both away from the feeders and headed up the valley but they were being wily the whole way just looking for a chance. The wind had blown the whole time often the whole area was obscured by blowing dust. It was like being in a sand blaster. I found out later we had some 70 MPH gusts, a few staggered Gambler. As we got closer to the corrals they spotted the trailer that has a torn up canvas cover which was flapping and snapping. I tried to get the cattle in the corrals but they were having nothing to do with it. I finally went and moved the trailer away but still they were suspicious of the entire area. Finally after some long and patient maneuvering we got them in the main corral. But now they wouldn’t go in the loading corral. I couldn’t get them within thirty yards of the gate. I tried it slow; I tried it fast nothing was working. I dismounted and ground tied Gambler and ate lunch letting them settle down. I had scattered hay near the gate but the wind soon picked it up and blew it to Texas. After an hour break I tried again. Now they were rested and fighting more than ever. At one point they were doing a loop around the tank and both calves went threw the fence. Gambler and I had to go outside and push them around the fence to and then open the gate, two calves went in and one cow out. It just went on and on but finally I had everything back in getting close to the gate when one of the calves broke off at a run. It had been over two hours trying to get them in the smaller corral and Gambler and I were both at the end of being nice. Gambler ran the calf down along the side of the tank and forced it into the water. I dropped my rope, built a loop and tossed it over the calf’s head as it swam by, then we pulled it out and dragged it into the loading corral with the others running along right behind it. I wondered why I hadn’t just roped and drug one of the calves a long time before. From then it was easy and in just a few minuets I had them in the trailer but it had been six hours from when I first gathered them up until I had them loaded. Most of the time was spent in the dust of the herd or the dust of the corrals. I had drunk all my water hours ago; dust filled my mouth and nose. I looked in the truck mirror and a Kentucky coal miner looked back at me. I tried to rinse off a bit with the tank water but it was some kinda cold and with the wind chill near zero I gave up worrying about it. It was already getting late so I headed home, helped with chores and found out the hot water heater had blown out and the winds still so strong it wouldn’t relight. My dreams of a hot shower became a stove-warmed sponge bath. 2/16/06 Maggie's brother Bob and uncle Mark helped me a bunch today, doing things I just couldn’t do alone. We got my backhoe moved off the hill from where it was when the swing chain on the bucket broke last summer. Got it down onto level ground where I can work on it. We also got the posthole digger mounted back on the tractor. It had been brought back from Canyon Creek and just kinda dumped on the ground rather than left standing so you could hitch to it easily. That was definitely a three-man job getting it mounted. 2/18/06 All the family left today so it’s time to get back to work. I worked on fence along the south trap today, it was an all day job and I just got a half assed job done making it some what cow tight. Some of the little pairs I had been putting in there have escaped so I will need to hunt them down, they went out into Negrito pasture. I really need to replace the two miles of fence that enclose that trap. It was pretty windy and a bit cooler high was 35 after a low of 13. 2/19/06 I finally used Porque today in the pens sorting some cattle. He hadn’t been ridden since October and was a regular little knot head. All he wanted to do was get back to his buddies and spent most of his time rearing up and pawing the ground. It made getting the work slow and really frustrating. But we finally got the heifers separate from the pairs and in the corrals. I then left Porque tied up for a few hours at the shipping pens while I worked some of the corral fence. He never stopped pawing or hollering the entire time. Hi was 30 after a low of 5 2/20/06 Gambler and I rode an all day loop up in Bearwallow pasture today. I hadn’t been in that pasture since last summer. Usually this time of year that mountain timber country is so full of snow there is no way to get in there much less travel around but this year it’s no problem. Last year three black cows disappeared in there and I was hoping to pick up some tracks in the little snow there was. I rode about 20 miles and never saw any sign of them. I had heard thru the rumor mill my lousy neighbor had taken them and was hiding them out on his range and branding the calves as his own. I now assume that is true. When I got way up on top of the mountain close to 10,000 feet elevation I got into about a foot of snow, which was nice to see, but I also found two tanks dry that I had never seen dry before. It was a long day for Gambler but as usual he was perfect and I sure couldn’t ask for a better ride. He’s what makes it so hard to go and ride something else. 2/22/06 Another trip for hay, 200 more bales that will be gone in a week or so. 2/27/06 I was back out on the trail for four days. I spent two nights at Fence tank and two at Canyon creek. The second day out I saw eagles flying way up on Canyon Creek Mountain, never a good sign. I rode up there, a tough climb for Gambler. It took a couple hours to get to the spot where I found a dead elk. It was out on some rim rock in a tangle of oak leaves. It was clear that a mountain lion had killed it. Out in Canyon Creek I found four cows that shouldn’t have been there. On my way home I pushed them all the way around into 7HL pasture where they belong. It was a long way and took all the daylight I had. Gambler was more than ready to get home and these cows sure slowed him down. He didn’t let them dally around any tho. If one even seemed like it was slowing down to eat he was right there biting them on the ass. It was dark when we got to the Fence tank gate where I let them drift. I thought about just staying there the night but then I thought about my wife, a warm house, a good meal and a soft bed. I traveled on deciding the extra three hours in the dark would be worth it. But man it was dark out there. Very little moon and there were actually clouds blocking out the stars. I just let Gambler go his own way as I huddled down deeper in my coat and nodded along. I got home at about 9:30pm. Maggie hadn’t been expecting me but by the time I got Gambler unsaddled, rubbed down and fed she had a meal ready for me and the bathroom heated up for a hot shower. A few days on the trail sure makes a man happy to get home. 3/2/06 A couple of days of work around here, Gambler needed a long break after working so hard recently. A former employee Woody came by for a visit, it had been years since we’d seen him and it was nice to catch up. The big news of the month is Lyndsey is leaving the ranch. She’s headed to Sante Fe and getting back to civilization. She’s been here 6 years, that’s a heck of a long time to live this lifestyle out here with no electricity, miles and miles from anything. I will never be able to say enough good about her as a person or an employee. She’s the best and I will always compare everyone else to her. Her next employer will be damn lucky to have her. Sorry to break the hearts and dreams of some of you regular guys who come out here every year, I know you weren’t coming to see me!
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