Journal Diary
May 1 - May 17, 2001
May Day
Tuesday,
May 1 May Day! Baskets of flowers! Sunshine! Long, warm days!
Lazy evenings! Happiness playing leapfrog! I think not! Great to dream,
though... Actually, violent windstorms have found where we live and
have been incessantly tormenting the countryside for several days,
and the thermometer is still giving us the cold shoulder, and it's
dry as a bone, and everything is normal in Sublette County!
Milkcow Daisy May is happy as heck...grafted the
bum calf today. This "deal on wheels meal plan" just had
to come to an end!
Last heifer (for a while) calved, and before midnight,
at that...Favors abound!
Tornado-speed
winds
Wednesday, May 2 Very cold, tornado-speed winds...blowing
5-gallon water buckets off corral posts...making drifts out of dirt,
manure, and bits of old hay...rattling barn doors...lifting tar paper
from rooftops, raising hair on the dogs backs...and stealing hats
from irritated heads.
Snowstorms
or firestorms?
Thursday, May 3 Oh, wow! Ten inches of snow reported
in Southwest Wyoming with 4-foot drifts! Boss and wife are down that
way to help sister with calf branding project...had to abort and reschedule.
School cancelled...Interstate 80 closed! Oh, Happy Spring!
Now, I realize that technically we're in a drought situation, but
this kind of relief was not ordered. So, let's discuss our options:
Do we want to lose our calf crop to snowstorms or firestorms?
Little
Milkmaids
Sunday, May 6 Rudy started dragging poop in the
Home Meadow. I escaped and drove to 
Pinedale
for supplies; you know...a ton of dog food and a snack for the husband!
My brother-in-law's brother and sister-in-law brought their kids to
try their luck at milkin' the cow. Young Daisy May's first, little
milkmaids (besides me). Thumbs up, smiles, and extra treats, little
Daisy cow! You were so patient with the ambitious squeezing and pulling
of your tender parts!
Babysitting
the drag tractor
Monday, May 7 Over in the Cora Valley, the guys
replaced an irrigation culvert (a flume, we call it), spanning the
width of the Beeline slough. The ditch irrigates some high ground
that's hard to get water across. As for me, I got stuck babysitting
the drag tractor...Usefulness has many definitions...
Angels
in the Outfield
Tuesday, May 8 Turned the water loose on the
Horse Creek meadow. Will try to grow some wild hay on this plot of
ground. Finished dragging "fertilizer" in two of the Home
Place fields. Dogs helped out this afternoon. Huge mistake...Big Dog
Bo, distracted by upset mama cow... Big Mama tractor driver distracted
by tight-bagged cow... Ran up on Big Dog's leg before I even knew
what happened... Big Dog yelped as he was sucked beneath the Massey's
front tire... I ripped the gears into reverse... Very sick, scared
feelings engulf the Big Mama... My poor Bo dog! But, lo and behold...one
of us had "Angels in the Outfield!"...No damage done...only
a slight limp...so very lucky... Like hitting a rhino with a tricycle,
I guess. Finished that patch, called it a day, then crept to house...One
small field left to drag...without the dogs!
Friday,
May 11 Rudy hollered through the darkness, "You gotta get
up and come help me." It was 4 a.m. I mumbled back from far beneath
the feather comforter, "Which heifer is calving?" He replied,
"Just hurry and get out here." I grumbled, "Yep."
In the dining room, the incubator was humming along, and therein,
was the cutest little chickie! Aw right! Now we're doin' something
right! I didn't even mind being called out to witness this birth!
Later in the day (day 20), Chick Number Two needed help
in the hatching. The success rate of the hatch was now in question.
Number two is way too weak and sleepy!
By day's end, I decided to open the rest of the seventeen
eggs. During the "operation," Chick 
Number
Three slowly but surely decided to join the other two. About one-half
of the eggs had been fertile, but the fetuses had died at varying
stages in their development - probably due to the "desert"
conditions in the incubator. Way poor percentage rate! I surely hope
the kindergarten kids will have better luck; they are now "cookin'"
36 eggs in two incubators in their Pinedale classroom. Not one, real,
mother hen volunteered to help out this year, darn it! And meanwhile
back in my living room, beneath a glowing heat lamp, 3 little "Dixie
Chicks" are scratching, scurrying, and bootscooting to the Cajun
music on the tape deck. Dogs guarding chickens growing - and all -
in my house! What'll it be next?
John
graduates!
Saturday, May 12 Yea! After eleven hours on a
big, monumental, round-trip, road event, we "helped" son
John graduate from college! Comes away with a BS degree in Chemical
Engineering (Environmental Option) (the mom simply holds a "BS"
degree!). The world awaits!
Mother's
Day
Sunday,
May 13 Mothers' Special Day! So let's celebrate! We sheared sheep...BIG,
fat, pet sheep...lots of greasy wool...smells bad...a few keds (I
call 'em ticks). Project sure cut a hole in a perfectly beautiful
day. But, I can't think of thing we'd rather be doing! Uh, hummm!
Dixie
Chicks come to town
Monday, May 14 Took the three "Dixie Chicks"
to town for the kindergarten kids to "babysit" 
for
a few days. Individual names for the three, little, feathered poultry
are forthcoming...
Helped the mom-in-law open her summer home.
Great
chicken names
Tuesday, May 15 Willows are blooming and spilling
perfume into the spring air. I just love when they do that!
Received special email from kindergarten kids: Dixie
Chicks get dubbed... "Goldfish, Brad, and Midnight!" Great
chicken names...couldn't have done better myself...
Finished shearing sheep...tromped wool fleeces into a big gunny bag...
Clouds rolled in...Whoa! Evening showers? Bless the Heavens!
Lonesome
Lobo
Wednesday, May 16 Wind blowing again...Rudy helped
our good neighbors with their heifer branding project. Our own is
scheduled for Saturday.
The lonesome lobo, responsible for wild maraudings
and many young livestock deaths in our area, has met his demise. The
wolf was recently found dining on a road killed elk; traps were set
by
Wildlife Services and the predator, subsequently, was euthanized upon
capture. Peace falls over the valley once more, but I have mixed emotions
about his death - none of them happy, though the creature ripped and
tore at our livelihoods. The transplanted beast knew no better, his
bad behavior - but - some folks did...
Horseshoeing &
branding
Thursday, May 17 Horseshoeing happening here
on the homestead...Pro horseshoer, JB Bond, tacked iron all the way
around two of our top cow ponies. JB recently won 3rd place in an
Idaho horseshoeing competition. Very good at what he does!
Did some baking for our branding meal; retrieved
the US Mail; milked the cow; grabbed the eggs; threw cat food at the
barn cats; took a swipe or two at a "mutant" patch of lawn
grass (How in the world is it, that grass can grow so fast in the
front yard, but nowhere else on the ranch?); struck a match to the
evening kindling supply, then I watched a lovely sunset: Oh, yes,
that magical moment...when the darkness chases the daylight through
the willows and over the sage-covered hillsides...when the sleepy
sunshine slips between the cracks of fading gold and evening blue...and
for just a tiny heartbeat...when time is captured breathless and peacefulness
beholds perfection..
My how time flies
Week
of May 18-24 Wow! Time flies...especially when it's (she's) running
from the wind and cold! Picked up the "Dixie Chicks" from
school on Friday. The kindergarten kids had lots of fun feeding the
three chicks worms, breadcrumbs, and grass. Now it was time for them
to return to the ranch...
When I did the evening chores, I discovered that
the first set of lambs had been born down in the willow patch - and
three days earlier than the earliest date of arrival! How does this
happen? The lambs appeared to be full-term and were strapping, big,
buck lambs, and frisky as butterflies. Nephew Joe, Niece Cindi, and
I gathered the twins onto the 4-wheeler, then coaxed their nice mom
toward the corral to spend a couple of nights in the "horse trailer
motel" - safe from the wind, the night chill, and the curious,
big-footed heifers. (You'll recall, last year I lost a lamb after
a cow stepped on its hip and broke it. Danged luck!)
We branded our calves on the 19th and helped my
cousin and the neighbors do theirs on the 20th, 26th, and 28th. On
the 20th, the weather dished out every imaginable option it had up
its 
coat
sleeve...wind, cold, rain, and snow. We managed to get the branding
done by early afternoon, though.... By the time I got home, two more
ewes had lambed. I put them both in the lambing shed, out of the cold
wind...
A friend stopped by to pick up a mare I aim to sell.
She wanted to try the 6-year old mare in her round pen to see how
she moves and works for her. The mare has 
great
potential as a barrel horse and/or brood mare. Her family lineage
has many AAA racing accolades...
The friend decided to buy the young mare. I'm glad,
as I believe they'll make a great team! Friend says she might work
with some of the young high school rodeo team gals to see if the mare
will pan out for one of them to use on barrels, poles, or breakaway
roping...
Late in the week, I watered my neighbor's trees;
we hauled yearling heifers to the Cora Valley; had a load of pig feed
delivered for an upcoming project; had a great time entertaining some
summer friends and their children (rode JJ, the John Deere, and the
4-wheeler; milked Daisy May; captured barn cats; ate Fruit Loops with
the Dixie Chicks; and held the new lambs)...
Between cow wranglings, we're trying to scatter
irrigation water to the freezer-burned fields. 
But,
the weather is so cold and windy that the moisture is being sucked
from the land like a thirsty kid drinking Kool-aid. Yep, we're in
a serious, crossbred situation around here...sort of like Sublette
County being the foster child to Antarctica and the Sahara Desert.
Jokes aside, things are looking grim around here...
Sent all the dull, sheep shearing cutters and combs
back to Ottumwa, Iowa to Steve's Sharpening Service for a "tune-up"
for next year. I'd found Steve's business on the Internet earlier
this spring when we were gearing up for our yearly shearing project,
and I was very glad that I had made this discovery. Steve does excellent
work in the sharpening department for any type of clippers - animal
or human. His turnaround time is quick as a wink and his prices are
especially reasonable. So, if you're dull and rusty, check out Steve's
web site at: http://showcase.netins.net/web/slwddw/
.... or email him at slwddw@netins.net
.
Took
a quick trip to the Cora Valley to snap a few pictures of some of
my cousin Charlotte's classic, antique automobiles. One car in particular,
a Gardner, caught my eye. Pretty snazzy set of wheels! Originally,
it had belonged to a kindly pioneer gentleman from Pinedale, Frank
Korfanta, who used to drive it in all the town parades.
Skinny
times
Week of May 25-31 Although drought and skinny
times are heavy upon us, it looks like we might get a bumper gooseberry
crop. Now, go figure that. Will be nice to make some syrup and jelly
and wine with this sour, little berry. Lots of sugar required!
Moved two bunches of cows and calves to the Horse
Creek summer pasture. Good luck this summer, cattle. On the way back
to the barn, we had to ride across the new highway mat that's being
laid down. No other way to get home! The crew wasn't too happy with
any of us as the shod horses cut deep divots in the warm oil. Had
to run the big roller back and forth to erase our signatures. Sorry
about that, fellas!
Three chicks hatched in the Kindergarten room, so
I delivered chick starter and a heat lamp to the kids. With our low
percentage rate of success, the teacher and I are going to have to
sharpen up our incubation skills for next year...
On May 31, I uninstalled SULFNBK.EXE from my computer
so we wouldn't catch that danged, rampant virus! Got ahead of that
one, by golly!
