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December 13, 2006
The month just blew by.
Earlier in the month our time was spent getting all the heifers settled here at the house for the next month or so and getting in some small pairs from the winter range. We are having a lot of ’04 heifer calving. I wish they weren’t at this time of year but a calf at any time is better than none.
Most of the little calves we have brought in have curled up frostbit ears. I mentioned this to my neighbor who has been here for forty years and he reminded me we weren’t selling ears.
We also hauled the last of our calves and a few more cows and old bulls to the sale. We sold right at 200 calves, kept 50 replacement heifers. Sold 57 old cows and 5 bulls.
Cassady got here on the 17th; we just finished our longest stretch of not seeing each other. He will be here till Jan. 4th.
About that time we gathered all the horses we are taking to the good sale in Prescott Az. sale at the end of January. They are going down to the Double H ranch where Nate is living with his new gal Zandra. He will sale prep them there, I figured this way I will get something done and he can stay there where he wants to be. Otherwise he is mooning around trying to come up with a reason to go there. The ones we are taking are:
Rocky, Cimarron, Kit, Whiskey, Tom, Ben, Zeno, Cooleye, Cisco, Quentin and Coral.
If anyone wants to purchase one privately please give me a call. I’d love to have them go to someone we know.
Just after all the horses left we got our first real snow of the season. It was the same one that crippled Denver; we got a bit over 10 inches of thick wet snow. Until then the weather had been great, sunny days in the 40’s and cold nights in the teens.
The night after the snow it was down to –6 and since then we have been in the single digits or a bit below zero every night.
The daily ice chopping is getting really tough. I’d say the tanks have 10 – 15 inches of ice. The holes I have been chopping are at least 4 to 6 inches every morning. Out in the winter pasture the stream is running wide and fast so there is no water worry out there. I have to break the North trap tank, June tank {behind guest cabins} the big tank at the H.Q. and perhaps 8 water troughs. At each tank I cut 6 to ten holes. In my mind I have designed a tool for getting the chunks of ice out of the water without breaking your back or getting soaked hands. I just need some one to make it for me then advertise it on RFD TV and retire. I’m sure a few of you cuss the damn ice every morning too.
The good thing I have down here is the New Mexico sun, tho it may only get up to 25 during the day we only have about a 60% snow cover. Which of course means mud. Cassady and I have been keeping up on the feeder filling and as usual this time of year you have to be out and back before 10am or you will get stuck. So a few mornings it has been oatmeal before sunrise and heading out for a three hour run.
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