July 23 - 29, 2006: Summer Ranch Week

7/24/06 Monday

Three on the crew this week. Thomas is here for his second week and we also have Dick from Ma. and Brian from Me, two guys who are old friends.

This morning they drove out to camp and found Dustin still out looking for horses. But finally got saddled up and spent the day gathering cattle that had drifted east and getting them back into the area of the pasture we are trying to use the most.

I headed out to Canyon Creek with Maggie's sister Kathleen who is still visiting to get a truck there we needed. At Snow Lake the power steering unit on the ’68 broke loose so I had to walk home the 11 miles from there and get another truck.

Maggie gave me a ride back and on the way we picked up a father son duo that had also broken down about 6 miles past Canyon Creek camp. We gave them a ride home.

I didn’t get out to camp till close to 6pm and found the crew still out riding. They were out till almost 8pm. Pretty long day for a first day out.

7/25/06 Tuesday

We headed out on a big loop with the plan to get all the cattle off the east side. We rode all over the slopes, took a short break at Incognito and then rode all of T Bar Ridge. We didn’t find a single cow, which was good. It means that they are all over in the area we want them to be in. Like I say half of cowboyin’ is finding out where they aren’t. We spent about 9 hours in the saddle and covered about 25 miles.

The day was hot with scattered clouds, rain around but none on us until we were back at camp. Hi was 81 with a sunfactor of about 95 till mid afternoon when the clouds came in.

It was hot but not as bad as much of the U.S., which I hear, is sweltering in a heat wave.

7/26/06 Wednesday

We headed out hunting up some pairs to brand and also a few head of older poor cows I will sell at the end of the week.

It was a nice casual day as we rode through lots of cattle enjoying the country, which is just about reaching its peak of summer grass.

I rode with Dick and Brian going over to Hay tank, getting a few there then working our way back towards Fence tank. We picked up six pairs as we went. The guys did a great job of moving the cattle in and around all the others we didn’t need ending up at the corral with nothing extra. But just at the gate we had a break and lost it all. It was frustrating after getting them all so far so we let things settle down a bit and then regathered them out of all the others, which were hanging around the water there. It went much better the second time and by about 3pm we had them in where we left them for the night to brand in the morning.

Thomas and Nate went into 7HL to get some horses there which we need out at camp. They found them way back at the silver gate; about six miles away and the horses didn’t want to come along. After trying to push them they finally had to catch and halter one so the others would follow. They got to camp with them late in the day, we know have 27 horses around camp. It’s a pretty western sight having them all loose just grazing around camp.

Rain again at night, we sure have gone from famine to feast here as far as the water goes. It looked like a big storm was really hammering the H.Q. this afternoon.

7/27/06 Thursday

We did a short loop this morning to gather a few more to brand but got skunked and just decided to get branding before the rains came.

Brain and Dick did the sorting and for the first time doing it our way…slow and patient…they did a great job.

We got the guys lined out on roping and stood back as we let them do all the work. They picked up pretty quick and each caught a few. We did 11 calves without much fuss or trouble.

We got done branding and took a lunch break.

Cassady and I headed back to camp while the rest of the crew went on looking for more pairs to get in for tomorrows work.

They got another handful of calves in the corral spending much of the afternoon riding in a gentle rain.

Cassady and I got Dinner lined up and set a fire to welcome them home then wasted the rainy afternoon playing rummy.

The flies are just horrendous in camp right now, the draw back to having all these horses around camp.

7/28/06 Friday

We branded first thing in the morning, I had expected the corrals to be a mess after a night of rain but they weren’t too bad. Cassady and I drove a truck and trailer to the corrals and that was a bit sloppy driving. The crew came in with a few more head they picked up on the way down. It all went well the last three calves we let each of the guys pick one and it was their job to do all the work, roping, throwing, branding, tagging, castrating as needed. Brian was the smart one of the crowd and chose the cute little heifer. It was fun to watch and they sure got a memory out of it.

These guys are all naturals at this stuff and once you tell or show ‘em something they have it down.

After branding Cassady and I drove home the old cows, which had been, gathered along wit some other stuff, one being a yearling steer. None of us had seen him before so either he’d been well hidden all spring and summer or a neighbor had just pushed him in. No matter he was a good find. One of the pairs we carried home was a little newborn calf with an over sized bagged mom. The calf is in pretty poor shape so we will try to get it on a bottle but I fear that we are a day too late finding it.

It was pretty much a mess getting the trailer load of cattle out of there. We almost got stuck a couple times and it took almost three hours to make the trip. When we got home we found the H.Q. kind of a wreak. A big storm had flash flooded all the side canyons and it blew down the valley here. It took out the new board fence across the horse pasture, just laid the whole thing over for a couple hundred yards and piled debris on it. Luckily it all stayed on one piece. It also washed all the old fence boards and rails that had been a pile 100 feet long and 20 feet high in the store yard and scattered it all over the pasture. The drive way was washed out in several places and debris was everywhere, places I’d never seen water get to. I fired up the tractor and spent the rest of the afternoon getting the driveway back to a drivable condition. It is all debris from the fire, burned pine needles, ash, silt and limbs just all sorts of stuff.

The crew went gathering after branding, heading up T Bar Ridge to get all the cattle from up there back over to the north side of the pasture. They were up on top when they got caught in a big thunderwhopper and it really was one they won’t forget.

Brian and Dick were moving a little bunch down the slope when it hit and the horse s taught them what to do. They turned their butts to the rain and hunkered up, the cattle did the same and all stood it out peacefully and then when it had passed they all lined back out and went on their way like nothing had ever stopped them. They had a long last day getting in about 7pm more than ready for a hot shower and a real bed.

They were all great to have here and good help. Brian and Dick are right up there in the front running for best camp help. And these guys put up with some miserable living conditions, cold wet little dome tents that had busted zippers and leaking flies. After seeing their misery I have ordered three big new two room tents for the next crews to enjoy. But these guys sure did muster the grit to deal with all the work, all the rain, and all that it takes to live on the range. A respectful tip of the hat to them.