Archive for June, 2010
Watergaps – Work or Play
The Rattlesnake Creek finally went down enough this week to fix the watergaps. We all donned our mud boots and trudged down to the bank of the creek. As I peered over the edge and saw the breakaway fence was caught in a huge tree and the water was still deep and swift, I was leary to get in. However, Laramie had already jumped in the water before I got a chance to say that we would wait and let the water receed a bit more. We managed to get the tree out of the wire, untangled the hangers, unwired them and pulled the breakaway fence back into place. The current was still very strong, so it was a good thing there were four of us struggling in the water to put it back in place. I stretched it up, put posts and clips in and worked on the fence while Canyon, Elizabeth and Laramie swam in the chest-deep water. They are under the impression fixing water gaps is recreation. From experience, it is engrained in me that water gaps are work. Notice no one had time to take a photo of me working!
Rain
It is 7:00 a.m. I am deciding if I should go do the chores and get drenched from the soaking rain or wait a while. Judging from the path which leads from the house to the shop, there is a huge mud puddle collecting. Maybe I will wait.
The waiting idea did not work. It is still raining. The chicken house was flooded, so we ran out to save all the fryer chicks and put them in a huge box in the shop. This is the creek which runs right by the house and cabins. It is usually a small, calm stream. Today it is swollen out of its banks and running rapidly. We have had 5 1/2 inches of rain so far. Tomorrow we will be putting in water gaps, which are the part of the fence which runs through the creeks. It is a miserable job, but a small price to pay for the grass which will soon grow
Grrrrr….The Hacker
This is a picture-perfect moment of utter frustration. You may have noticed our blog has been missing some photos and is a little confused. We had a visit from a hacker lately and I am trying to get everything back on-line between all the ranch work. Bear with us!
In the Heat of the Night
I can’t believe you guessed what this photo was without a caption! You must have as much experience ranching as I do! For those of you who just can’t see what is in the photo, let me describe it to you.
If you hold your head just right and focus on the spot about a quarter inch from the left hand side, you will see Joe and I putting black angus cattle back in the pasture. You will notice the time on my watch says about midnight. There I am standing in the middle of a CRP field. The grass is anywhere from 2-3 foot high with an occasional yucca cactus here and there. The landscape is hilly and rough with some steep ridges. You will notice how steep when you recognize that the pickup truck which is high-centered on the top of the ridge is our blue pickup. There I am at the right hand side of the photo, running through the rough grass in the pitch black darkness. The only thing I can see are a few stars and a herd of cow and calves’ eyes staring back at me. Cows are mooing to call their calves. They have been looking for a place to get water. The pickup is stuck and I am making my way around what appears to be most of the herd. As I stand there, I have a funny feeling that there is something behind me. Sure enough, I hear that familiar snuff as a cow as just realized there is a human out and about at midnight. I can hear some more cattle slowly making their way down the county road, their hooves slowly plodding through the sand and picking just a bit of sand up with each step. I can hear the sand fall back to the ground. Now what to do? Joe is no where to be seen. Which way should I push the cows. I dare not yell out to ask what to do. The cows would run off. So I stand.
This is another descriptive photo of that night. Joe has walked to the neighbor’s to ask if we can push the cattle in their pasture. I see headlights and try to imagine what the next plan of action is. Sure enough, they seem to be pushing cattle down the road. I will follow with the 50 or so head that are near me. If you are wondering what you are looking at, that is me after I have run at top speed to get around the cows and turn them. This is exactly what someone looks like after they have straddled a yucca plant in the dark at a dead run.
Unfortunately we didn’t take anymore photos that night, so I will leave the rest to your imagination. We managed to turn all the cattle into the neighbor’s pasture for the night and they found the water tank right off. Actually there was one cow which did not make it into the pasture. She found the cattle guard instead and managed to fall through. All four legs fell through. It was quite a feat to pull her out. The only tools we had were fence cable stretchers and a post, a jug of water and some dishsoap. With Joe’s ingenuity, we were able to get one front leg out. After that it took more ingenuity, prying hooves with the post, pulling with the fence stretcher and lubrication with the water and dishsoap before the miracle happened and she got out.
That was a long ending to a long day. These are the memorable times. Who could forget a night like that?
