Posted on 2007.08.18 at 14:46
I meant to tell all sorts of stories about the riding I've been doing the past few days--working more of Mel's four-year-olds including Subaki and Sangita, going on Ridge Ride with Bayard--neither of which I had done since my week last summer. I've also been working a bit with Athi, the six/seven year old Quattro in need of a friend and gentle handling.
I could tell stories of the last few nights, hanging out with people I won't see for another year, or possibly never again. Promises were made to come back next year--hopefully everyone can fulfill those promises, so we'll all meet up again in the mountains.
As I stood in the waves at the coast of Brigantine yesterday, I looked around me to see a flat horizon--only ocean met my eyes; behind me only houses. No mountains blocked my view of the hazy sky, thick with spray and blowing sand. I realized then that my journey was over--I was back East, standing in the water that had meant my summers for as long as I can remember.
But is the journey really ever over?
Mel asked me back as a wrangler next season--she's told me over and over again how much she thinks of my riding, how glad she is to have me working. She was truly sad to see me go, but so glad to hear I would return. I'll finally be a wrangler next summer--riding high as I had always dreamed.
Now I see that my summers will gradually cease to smell of the salt and the sea, but of the spruce and the sage. I won't hear the beloved cry of the seagull, but the rooster crow and distant, lonely sound of a single hawk circling over the valley of the East Fork. The dry red dust will sink into my skin until Wyoming and I can scarcely be separated. I think I can see what lies ahead, and it's right there in that valley among those horses and people.
So no, I would say the story doesn't end here.
The book merely closes for another winter...but it will open again next summer, and I hope you'll be there to read along with me.
Thank you to whoever has been along with me through this season, and I wish you the best of winters.
Posted on 2007.08.13 at 19:06
Episode One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3WufS4wCV4
Episode Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dc_HsMjtO0
Posted on 2007.08.08 at 17:53
BOREDOM HAS STRUCK THE RANCH!
...because there are a lot of guests on the ranch this week which means most of us can't ride. More on that later, though...our luck is changing.
We've all been watching a lot of Planet Earth recently, so I got inspired to make my own version. For anyone who's ever watched an episode of the real show, you'll note that the introduction is SUPER INTENSE and dramatic with pounding music and crazy footage and stuff. I copied the gist of the videos and then imitated the text as closely as I could...spoofifying it, of course.
So here you are. The public unveiling of Planet Bitterroot. Watch and be amazed. Episodes I (the poultry) and II (plants...Amy is in charge of this one...) will be premiered on Saturday, hopefully on Pete's HD projector in the loft.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P2PllfWDpQ
More on the riding--Mel told Eliza and I that we could ride from now on, though most of the dude horses are being used for guests. We'll be riding the four-year-old horses who were saddle-broken last year and need more mileage. Mel also told us that we ride better than most of the wranglers, and how she wished we were staying for the whole season so that we could lead rides....
Posted on 2007.08.04 at 18:00
What have I been up to?
1. Something just fell off of the shelf above me...that leads me to number 2.
2. Bebe likes to be all creepy. She's the tabby/wildcat cross that stalks around and...stalks things. She likes to bite people for fun, and then purr about it. Basically, she's the real-life incarnate of Bucky from Get Fuzzy. I originally thought it was Bebe who threw something at me just now from the shelf above me. Unfortunately, it was merely gravity pulling something closer to the center of the earth. The other day I heard her purr/growl from the beam that runs through the center of our cabin and looked up to see her beaming down at me. She lies in wait on Louisa's bed for unsuspecting chumps (read: me) to walk by so she can ambush and attack and then roll on her back like she's just being cute. Mel likes to grab her by the face while the cat sinks claws into her wrist and say right into her face "Bebe, you're being such a wretch today!"
3. I bought Becca for $100 last night while playing the Farming Game ("Harvest the fun!") which is essentially Monopoly only more realistic--you start out in debt and your fate is left entirely up to chance. Gracie and Becca had joined Pete's team but watched as his bank-notes piled higher and his money gradually disappeared to places such as "Harvester broken--pay $1000 to fix it or your fruit trees shrivel up and dry" or "The EPA has found that your pesticide contains dangerous carcinogens and shuts down your harvest for this year. Go directly to the fourth week of February, do not collect Christmas bonus." Pete took out his aggressions by calling Gracie and Becca his two lazy wives, so I bought Becca from him in an effort to help him out a bit. The game ended as Walt and Mandy went to bed while Pete told Gracie to shut her mouth and get back in the kitchen where she belonged.
4. Just got back off the hill from a hilarious phone conversation with my brother. Entire transcript follows, unedited and unabridged.
Kr: Hey!
Ky: Hi...who is this? Hello? Who is this?
Kr: Hi...can you hear me?
Ky: Who is this?
Kr: ...your sister.
Ky: Oh!
*pause*
Kr: Happy late birthday!
Ky: Oh, thanks!
*pause*
Ky: Hey Kristen?
Kr: Yes?
Ky: Did you take Empire Records with you to Wyoming?
Kr: Yeah...I did.
Ky: Oh.
*silence*
Ky: Just wondering. Well, thanks for wishing me happy birthday, guess I'll talk to you in two weeks!
Kr: Ah--okay...did you want to talk or anything?
Ky: No, thanks, see you in two weeks!
Kr: Uh, okay...
Ky: Got to go now, I'm entertaining guests.
Kr: Ah...alright, talk to you later!
Ky: Bye!
5. Ridley just left, which is sad :-( But she left her email address and such, and she's hoping to come back next year. I'm wondering if a fall break drive down to Asheville to visit her might just be a good plan...I've always wanted to go back to that area of North Carolina, and now that I'm much more into that sort of music scene, I think I could enjoy the 5 Cent Cotton Cafe at full value...
Fortunately, an entire committee went to take her to Jackson Hole, including Alex, who is finally getting off the ranch to go to some place other than the rodeo for the first time since arriving here. Aleen's truck just rattled off, containing Ridley, Aleen, and Pete in the front, and Emma, Jasmine, and Alex somehow mashed into the back. Should be a fun ride...
Posted on 2007.07.31 at 13:38
On Thursday I borrowed Tracy's truck again and Louisa came along to town so we could pick up a few things, including a new tire for Aleen's truck. It began to rain again on the way home, making sections of the already-washed out East Fork Road a little tricker to manage, but Tracy's truck handled well and we made it back with no problems. I like the little truck...it's still a truck, but I don't feel like such a waste of horsepower driving it as I would had I been behind the wheel of one of the duallys.
On my day off I rode on both the morning and afternoon trips...rode Pemba in the morning on a highly unsuccessful cow hunt for the missing sorting cows, but had a great time talking to the guests. This past week was full of fantastic people whom we all are really missing during this week, which is a big annual trip for Eliza's home barn. We are overrun with small children.
In the afternoon, I finally got to team sort, except that no other staff was riding so Mel kicked a wrangler off of her personal team and brought me along. This meant I got to be an honorary quasi-wrangler for the afternoon and sort of watch over the long line of riders while Orla and Mel ran off to get the cows. The wrangler team didn't do very well, but Aleen and I got to ride a second time with Josh's mom and sister who were teamless. We were the only group to get all 9 cows (we were missing the two, so added the bull to be sorted, but that still only brought us all to nine cows...) with Heather and I sorting and Aleen and Linda blocking. I was riding Kisimu, a five-year-old gray Arab who was transitioning to a curb bit. In the end I wound up direct reining along with a lariat rope...hopefully he got something out of it.
The second round, Mel had Orla and I riding horses who had misbehaved for guests in the first round. I had a big Quarter horse named Tease Me, who was an extremely nice ride despite our antics "above the ground" as they say for the Lipizzaner stallions.
Then a thunderstorm rolled through. And all the yearlings and two-year-olds bolted, which scared some of our horses. Fortunately everyone stayed moderately in control, but Mel hurried the last few groups through their sorting and then sent me to "guard the gate" and direct the guests to block the cows as they moved them back to pasture. I was ambling back on Kisimu towards the gate, keeping an eye on Mel and her group gathering the cattle, when another clap of thunder split the air. I turned around to hear more thunder--the pounding of twenty quartets of hooves as the young horses came charging down the lane towards the gate, which was still wide open. Kisimu turned out to be a good mount for quick thinking as I rode him hard to the gate, leapt off, and slammed it shut while the yearlings milled by Mel's group, confused and frightened. Fortunately the guests were good about me shouting at them to do various things as to not get anyone lost or killed.
Finally, Mel and her group of riders came trotting out of the arena and down the lane driving the cows at a quick jog. As the group moved past the long line of guests spread at the edge of the ravine, each guest would fall into line until there was one mass of trotting animals. I stood at the gate as they rode past...until I saw, between horses, the herd of young ones returning again at a full gallop.
"STOP!" I bellowed, cutting off Hadley's mother who fortunately stopped just in time. I shut the gate again as the panicked two-year-olds came closer and closer. Thankfully, Aleen was still in the back of the line and shooed the running horses off...they turned away and crossed the ravine to watch us from the other side. I opened the gate halfway and directed the remaining guests through one at a time.
Orla and her family left early Sunday morning. Saturday night was a bit surreal, after Anne and I navigated the steak dinner in which we took each guest's order rather than leave out a buffet line. Afterwards, we all sat around the kitchen chatting and listening to music and playing with Meezy and trying to pretend Orla wouldn't be gone in the morning. I think we listened to "Save Tonight" a lot. We were also waiting for Walt, who had ridden out on Skid to try to find the missing cows and hadn't returned by 10:00 in the darkness. Fortunately, three minutes before his cutoff time at which we would have to call Mel at the house for her to form a search party, he rode back in having located the missing ladies.
Gracie and I, as well as Orla, Pete, and Ridley, have sworn to return next summer. Hopefully we'll all be able to actually make it back.
Rode Rain yesterday. She's been a broodmare for the past seven years, after a pack trip incident where she was missing for five days. She's a Perch/Arab cross, and moves beautifully and large. Her stride is enormous...she might be up at Rosie's level on the favorites list. Apparently this was only her fifth ride this year...in seven years.
Posted on 2007.07.26 at 18:05
Drove to town today (borrowed Tracy's truck again) with Louisa and picked up various things for various staff, then went to the Op Shop and bought yet more skirts and random Dubois kid T-shirts. Gave one to Orla, as the shop is not open on Sundays when wranglers have off.
Parts of East Fork had flooded out due to yesterday's rain, but it was still a fun drive in the little truck.
This morning while cleaning up from breakfast, Alex, Amy and I all stood around like maudlin drunks with tears rolling down our cheeks while Amy cut onions for Mexican Day. Even while sweeping the dining room my eyes were burning. Alex had to put her head down on the counter because they were so strong.
Have downloaded much of Alex's Buddha Bar mix. Good stuff.
Posted on 2007.07.25 at 17:05
So there's a guest this week who has been coming for 12 years. Apparently, every year he treats a different staff member to a dinner in town on square dance night and then drinks at the bar afterwards. This year, Anne, Gracie and I volunteered to go.
Fortunately, with three of us we managed to avoid any creepy awkwardness that could arise from a girl being taken out to dinner by a man three times her age. We had a lovely dinner on the porch at the Sundance Cafe over Horse Creek. The square dance was fun as well; none of us had ever gone but we caught on pretty quickly and a lot of other guests were there as well. For the last set we had a square of Anne, Gracie, Josh's sister, and I, as well as two of the college-age male guests, Peter (our 'date') and Qualer from Lazy L&B. (Note: Qualer is hyperactive on the dance floor. Right arm is now longer than left from being spun around twice during every do-si-do.) Somehow we navigated the multiple dance steps and even the grand square.
Rode twice so far this week, only on walk-trot rides but fun nonetheless. On Monday I rode the 5-year-old gray Arab gelding Pemba, who was a fun if sort of quiet ride. He scooted away a few times, which apparently was rather problematic for him...
Today I rode a lovely fleabitten gray Arab mare called Isiola. She was a great ride, and we moved a few cows and then took a fun little ride across the yearling pasture. Rebecca and Alex were also riding, and the three of us hung out at the back and had a nice relaxed ride.
Posted on 2007.07.20 at 16:35
Went on a hike this morning on my day off, and climbed the mountain over the bend in the river. There were lovely views all around from the top where I sat for a few hours just looking. I thought about ways to share what I had seen, and then I remembered a song.
i'm writing you to catch you up on places i've been
and you held this letter,
probably got excited,
but there's nothing else inside it
didn't have a camera by my side this time
hoping i would see the world through both my eyes
maybe i will tell you all about it
when i'm in the mood to lose my way with words
today skies are painted colors of the cowboy cliche
and strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky
are next to mountains anyway
didn't have a camera by my side this time
hoping i would see the world through both my eyes
maybe i will tell you all about it
when i'm in the mood to lose my way
but let me say you should have seen that sunrise
with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
you'll be with me next time i go outside
just no more three by fives
this was all for me, you see
i guess you had to be there
today i finally overcame
trying to fit the world inside a picture frame
maybe i will tell you all about it
when i'm in the mood to lose my way with words
Posted on 2007.07.17 at 17:43
It was suggested to me that I'm not posting enough "adventures"...so here you go. A brief transcript of my last three riding quests.
Went out with one of Mel's rides last week, and she let me ride Rose. I'm starting to think that perhaps it's not a gift she's granting me because she likes me, but a task she's giving me...because she likes me. She says over and over again that "I only let the best riders ride Rose" so it's a gift in the end. I like the crazy mare.
Anyway--rode Buffalo Draw, which I had never seen. It's a dried riverbed canyon, where Bayard's buffalo used to escape (back in the day when they kept buffalo.) Mel took us on an extra loop for some scenery, and at the top of the precipice we could see right down the Wind River all the way to the Thunderhead Ranch, as well as the BLM galloping plains in front of the ranch. It was a lovely view and dramatic climb. Rose did one of her lovely little sideways-run squeal acts again when Mel turned around and said "We're going to have a fast canter here..." which in Mel-speak means "Hold on to your horses because I'm going to gallop crazily up this mountain like a madwoman." Excellent.
The next day, she told me that Arizona needed some riding with "a good rider to set him straight" because he had been "bucking" with guests. In guest-speak this means crow-hopping exuberantly. They're horses. They feel good sometimes.
Nonetheless, he was a well-behaved gentleman--he's a beautiful bay paint with one blue eye and a sweet disposition. He's a good traveler--smooth gaits and a big ground-covering walk. He listened to me quite well and took some lovely slow lopes, letting me give Ruby in front of me plenty of space. Mandy was leading our ride to Lightning Tree, which we reached just as another thunderstorm was rolling in. Since it was quite obvious by our surroundings that lightning did indeed strike this place often, we headed off the mountain rather quickly.
Then we did the Roller Coaster. Arizona got so excited that he put his head down and hopped--nothing too intimidating, but I held his head to keep it from turning into something so exuberant that I would fly over his head. Instead, he braced on the bit that I was holding and sort of leapt up the Coaster in a series of jumps. For a moment I thought we were going to go right over the edge, but fortunately he chose that moment to look up, see where he was going, and make the turn. Other than that, a lovely ride.
On Friday, Mel had a bunch of staff go out together to ride some horses just coming back from lameness to check their soundness. I rode Longonot (a close relative of Astronaut and Cosmonaut...just kidding...) who is a lovely bay Arab gelding with a longstanding trauma to the knee. He was quite clean and sound, and fun to ride (if a little duller than what I like...still a lovely boy.) Kerry also rode, on Longonot's full brother, along with Eliza, Amy (on Geoff, the Icelandic pony), Alex, Emma, Tracy, and Mandy. We basically rode around the Bench for a while, trotted the horses out for Tracy to see, cantered a bit for soundness, and then wandered around aimlessly listening to Tracy tell dirty jokes.
Then it began to thunder and rain. We started back towards the gates to take us down...and then the rain turned into hail. We dismounted to make things a bit safer, and the horses promptly turned tail to the hail as they do to protect their eyes and faces. We essentially sidepassed our way across the Bench to the gate.
Halfway across the field, I pointed across the valley to the road. "Look at that!"
Mel was leading the team-sorters home at a full trot--exciting to see all 25 guests, Mel, and assorted wranglers in a single-file line trotting through the weather like a posse, or Butch Cassidy's gang, or something. Mel, as is typical, was trotting as fast as she could, hell-bent on getting out of the wet and protecting her guests. The last wranglers who were shooing out the cows and closing the gates made up lost ground at a good canter, their ponies' legs churning beneath them.
The weather let up a bit as we walked down the switchbacks, and Tracy told me that Longonot is one of Mel's treasured Arabs and that he only goes out with good riders. While trying to stay humble, I'm starting to see a trend among the horses that Mel is having me ride...she doesn't seem too concerned over it, and will tell guests with whom I'm riding that "Kristen is riding so-and-so, who only goes out with very good riders..."
When we made it to the corral, all the of the guest horses were tied and the guests had fled to the safety of the sun room to watch the storm over the valley. We began to tie our horses, I leading Longonot to a spot between his brother and a gray Arab gelding.
Then the sky let loose again with another round of hail--these stones bigger and faster than the last. Suddenly the corral erupted into chaos--the tacking corral full of horses pulling at their ropes in an effort to about-face to the weather, and the large corral barely containing the other hundred horses stampeding from one end to the other in panic. Longonot reared as the horses on either side of him swung shut like a door, leaving he and I stuck between them and the hitching posts. I saw Mandy's eyes go wide and she mouthed something probably like "Just let go!" to me...instead I shoved the gray gelding out of the way and held on to Longonot--I was not about to let go of one of Mel's treasures with the chaos going on around me. I ended up standing in the middle of the corral speaking to him while he ran about me in little circles. Tracy, leaning against the barn door nonchalantly smoking a cigarette as though nothing were happening, nodded to me and said something which was lost in the sounds of running horses and high-pitched whinnies, not to mention the sound of hailstones bouncing off the roof, saddles, and our helmets.
Eventually he calmed and stood facing away from the onslaught, while I stood next to him and murmured happy words in his ear. Finally the weather ceased, and I found a place to tie him. In the end, Mel was right--the horse is a treasure.
Posted on 2007.07.11 at 18:24
Posted on 2007.07.08 at 22:38
Current Music: Our Lady Peace: Innocent
Yesterday--Experiencing one of those rare moments of clarity and insight...one of those days where no matter who is picking at you for whatever stupid reason, you feel as though you're only vaguely attached to the earth by the slightest of threads and you could dance your way right into the atmosphere.
It makes me remember days of working in the garden in the pleasantly cool mornings when the day is still fresh, the wind still crisp, when the whicker of the horses and light chatter of the wranglers blends with the clatter of dishes from the kitchen window and the sound of the maintenance guys hammering on a fence across the river mixes with the endless chuckle of the river itself.
It makes me remember just this afternoon, five of us in Gracie's car rattling away down East Fork Road towards town, invincible, free.
It makes me remember sitting in the newly-opened staff room in the loft above the barn, waiting for Emma to bring back her computer so we could watch a movie, and in the dim light of the setting sun filtering through the swinging window, Pete turns up a song loud. His surround sound speakers blast the bass so one can feel it in one's chest, and we fall silent to listen to the lyrics and sway to the flow of music.
I wonder, when the time comes, where I'll truly want to be.
Then I remember that I spent the entire afternoon staining a porch and then cleaning the brushes with both gasoline and paint thinner, and it occurs to me that I was quite possibly on an accidental chemically-induced high for the rest of the day. It sure messed Gongke up--he could barely walk in a straight line and had a goofy grin on his face after staining for nearly nine hours straight. Invincible and free...hmmm...ask me again later.
Today--Because Mel loves us (or quite possibly wants to kill us and make it look like an accident) she sent Eliza and I to the farm this afternoon with Rose and Ruby to "wrangle" the Highland bull--the same one that walked through two fences and six more down on the farm. It was actually a fantastic day--driving down with Josh, and then meeting up with Bob on the farm. The bull separated easily from the herd, jumped into the trailer, and was delivered peacefully to the livestock auction grounds in Riverton.
Eliza on the phone with her father, Sunday:
Eliza: So my friend and I are taking horses down to the farm tomorrow to round up the mad Highland bull and take him to a sale.
Mr. Singer: ...Do you know how to do that?
we are, we are all innocent
Posted on 2007.07.06 at 12:29
...there's fire, just on the other side of the gorge. Maybe a twenty-minute ride from the ranch? We had some thunderstorms roll through in the past few days which probably triggered this fire. Hopefully it gets under control before it reaches us...
Posted on 2007.07.05 at 15:19
O Meloena Fox, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways...
1. CATCHING THE GOSLINGS: PART I
On the goslings' first day out, we nearly couldn't find any of them. One gosling was foxholed under the bank of the duck pond, daring someone to try to fetch him. Mel was yelling at us all, as she does, and especially at Josh, who until this moment had been proving himself generally useless. Josh was wearing his waders, so Mel made him walk through the pond to scare up any hiders. With everyone screaming, Josh dives, one hand still clutching his beer, and scoops the protesting gosling into his arms. Richard and Hadley shout while Mel literally jumps up and down and cheers. "Well done, Josh!"
2. HORSE MAFIAS
While untacking Buster and Arizona after a ride last week, I asked Mel across the other side of the tie post what her horse's name was, a fiery little chestnut Arab mare. I mentioned that I thought she looked like a mare who hung out with Rose and Shammy on the bench.
"Oh no," Mel replied, cheerfully aghast, patting her mare's neck. "She's much too discriminating for the likes of them."
3. CATCHING THE GOSLINGS: PART II
This is as told to me by Miss Eliza Singer.
The goslings were being rounded up again at the end of the day, and as usual Mel was shouting to everyone else. Bayard is standing in the middle of the barnyard watching the sun set, his dog Hyena standing beside him as he sips a cup of coffee. The goslings are darting about the yard and are finally rounded into a little flock, which goes pattering along with all eleven goslings peeping away.
"Bayard, hold strong!" shouts Mel, waving her arms at her husband. The flock of goslings marches right around him, splitting and reforming behind him in a chorus of "bebebebebebebebebebe!!!!!!"
Bayard sips his coffee and sniffs. "Madness." He turns and ambles away while the goslings patter their way under the corral gate and towards the river.
4. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY
Mel walks through the staff room as she does each morning, bidding all a good morning. Eliza saunters by. "Happy Fourth, Mel."
Mel stops and blinks at her. "You know, the British don't celebrate that holiday," and she continues on her way without another word.
I could mention her version of the Highland bull story, her retelling of a time when she stomped on the clutch in Archie and accidentally shifted into fourth, thinking it was the brake, while rolling down the Bench with Rachel sitting shotgun, or the real reason we ate a truly terrible mutton in preseason, but those stories will keep, I am sure, until a later time. Mel, after all, is timeless herself.
Posted on 2007.07.03 at 18:05
Rachel, Kerry, Eliza and I rode Claud's horses today.
Claud is a neighbor, of sorts (he lives an hour away by car) and he and his friend ride to the ranch often to have dinner with Bayard (they leave their horses in the hay corral while they eat and then ride home the next day.) Claud is taking pictures for Bayard's book (a work in progress) but had to go to France for six weeks. So he rode his horse here with three more in tow and they're sort of on a free board for a while. They're excellent pack horses so Mel is thrilled, since more pack trips are coming up in the next few weeks.
I rode Edmonton, a tall, rangy chestnut. All four horses are built to ride smooth for miles and look quite hardy. Rachel had the other chestnut, Jessica, while Kerry rode the bay mare Petal and Eliza had the other gelding, black Jim. It was a very smooth ride, though the trail we took was sort of dull and hot, exposed to blowing clouds of dust in the direct 90-degree sunlight. Except for the fact that the four horses are absolutely attached to one another, it was a comfortable ride.
Posted on 2007.06.30 at 22:31
Moved lots of cows today--Mel, Richard, the new British wranglers Emma and Jasmine, chef Alex and me--starting with the Highlands.
Richard hates them, to put it simply. When out of earshot of Mel, he turned to us to say "These f--ing cows are the story of my life. I have over a hundred Angus that I spend maybe half an hour of my day tending to. The rest of my life--the f---ing Highlands."
The drive started well, taking the herd of twenty or so out of the Buffalo Pasture and through the barnyard, over the bridge, and into the hay corral (this last bit took a few minutes to wrangle.) Richard hopped off of Gannet and separated the bull, and then we started the cows and calves down the hill to get them into the middle green pasture.
I turned around at random to look behind me, and there was the bull, standing just outside the corral and looking pleased with himself. "BULL'S OUT!!" I cried, spinning Three Dot in an attempt to keep him away from the cows. No such luck--he merely dodged between me and Jasmine, who was riding the 12-hand pony Brave and was about eye-height with the cows. The bull had basically just walked through the side of the hay corral--straight through the wooden rails, splintering them like toothpicks. He happily lumbered to his herd and planted himself in the middle.
We herded the entire mass into the middle pasture anyway, and then Mel attempted to have us cut the bull and a few cows and take the little group back up to the hay corral. One of her friends was taking the bull on loan to breed some of her Highland cows. Richard basically sat on his horse and laughed while we tried to get him separate, only to watch him run past us and send the entire herd running to the far corner.
Next, we moved them all into the roundpen, which was a comparative fortress to the hay corral. Again, the bull was separated and the cows headed back to the pasture, for the second time. Again, I turned around in time to see the bull half leap/half crash through the steel gate, mangling the entire thing in the process. In the end, we ran the cows to the pasture while Mel and Richard scared him into a corner. Then we abandoned Mel and her horse to hold him down while we went to get the Angus heifers--as though one species simply wasn't enough for one day.
We moved the Angus easily enough down to where Mel had just barely contained the bull--he had destroyed the pins on another gate in the process. We sorted some of the high-number cows in with him and then took the sorting cattle off to put them into the Buffalo Pasture (where the Highlands had started.)
All this went rather well until we tried to get them across the bridge.
One hour, two guests, Bayard, two dogs, most of the extra staff, and lots of swearing later, they finally ended up in the right place. At one point Emma and I had to gallop back up the drive to catch #6 who had ended up nearly back where the Highland bull was being kept. A gloriously entertaining disaster...special thanks to Ian, one of our UK guests who was in the river up to his knees swatting at cows with a branch to keep them from wandering downstream.
Three Dot was absolutely fantastic--what a gem of a horse to have wander into your herd one morning. She jumps quite nicely, as well as works cows. She got quite aggressive, taking good chunks of beef out of the backsides of Angus and Highland alike. It got to the point where the cow would turn and watch 3-D's white-rimmed eye glaring at her with ears pinned to her head, think the better of trying her, and literally turn tail and run away.
Never a dull moment...
Posted on 2007.06.29 at 23:41
Rachel let me sleep in today and I only had to work lunch and dinner, so I could recover from coming home at 1:15 early Thursday morning after Alex's flights got all screwed up.
Rode with Mel this afternoon, and the two most advanced guests Wayne and his sister Rainee. We went on a ride that Mel hadn't taken in two years, and as we were crossing the bridge to begin she turned in the saddle with her typical gleam and said "Kristen, no one else knows where this ride goes, so I might need to call on you to show the wranglers where it is...so tag along."
So now I am the backup wrangler for emergency Friday/Saturday rides when they simply run out of good trails or areas in which to ride. Usually they would do team sorting Friday afternoon, but there were too many beginners this week so Mel took these advanced riders out on the trail.
But since it is a secret, I shall not tell you where it goes. Rather DaVinci Code-esque when she first told me it was not common knowledge.
We went to the rodeo again, where a drunken Walt blatantly attempted to set Gracie and I up with one of his friends Cody. The common ground he attempted to build this relationship upon was the fact that we were all underage and would not be going to the bar after the rodeo. Cody, to his credit, was polite and just as put out by the intense awkwardness of the situation as we were. Were we not all forced together under such circumstances, it would have been nice to actually chat with him--he offered to show us around town a bit and introduce us to some of his friends, and it would be neat to have some acquaintances in town with which to hang out on days off and such. However it was hard to really decide on anything, it being (a) quite late and Gracie having to serve breakfast in the morning, (b) Walt and Mandy leering over Cody's shoulder to see how things were progressing and (c) Alex and Gongke hunched behind us like unfortunate apes. Perhaps next week we will work up the strength and lack of taggers-on to meet some locals. At least I can use the shield of "boyfriend back east" to fend off advances by cowboys...
Sat shotgun and worked the iPod on the way home, watching the full moon illuminate the plains and mountains and deserts and singing along with Gracie to all the songs I chose. The radio turned up all the way to mask the terrible sounds of the muffler Pete broke, dodging through clouds of dust on East Fork and following distant tail lights of the car in front of us--one of our guests--and turning in my seat to watch the distant headlights of the cars behind us--more guests, and Amy and Alex in Tracy's truck--to "Motorcycle Driveby" and "Run" and "Hallelujah" and "I Dare You to Move" and imagining all the days before me and all the new things there are to learn, things to see, words to be said, memories to be made...
Posted on 2007.06.26 at 22:14
What excitement have I had recently?
...attempted to take Three Dot on a ride with Mel's group, but the pad fit her terribly and pressed in all the wrong places. After struggling with it for awhile with me, Mel sent me home. We were a mile or so into the aspen/pine forest behind the ranch, so it was a lovely little walk back through the streams and trees with a mustang walking placidly behind me. Until she decided she was bored and that biting my arm would be a good amusement. I untacked her in the corral and looked up to see Eliza walking down the Bench with her horse as well, who pulled up sore. What a fantastic riding day for cabin staff...
...I set some mousetraps today attempting to capture the bugger who had been eating the tops off of all of my Hershey Kisses from Ben. Found out the hard way that (a) it was more than one bugger--so far, three--and (b) the easy-set traps don't actually always kill. The first casualty hopped up and down for at least twenty minutes before Eliza and I took pity on it and dumped him in the river. I was sitting by the door with my computer watching a trap fling itself into the air again and again. I just heard it snap shut behind me again...and drag around on the floor for a bit...silence. Much better...
...Mel let her ducklings and goslings (ohhh Ryan...never mind...no one at all is going to understand that reference unless Julie Dischell happens to be reading) out today for the first time, and then we all had to come with her to round them up again after dinner. We caught all (or so we thought) of the goslings, but only three of seven ducklings. Hmm...a fantastic catch was made by Josh, who was wading through the duck pond and sort of tackled/scooped one up in the water with a Corona in his other hand. Eliza and I later found another gosling while emptying abovementioned mousetrap and accidentally chased it into a thorn bush. Thanks to Gracie's leather gardening gloves and an old jacket, we herded the youngster out and Eliza scooped him up to return to the back of the henhouse. Still four ducklings (and possibly more goslings) at large...
...There's a large-scale forest fire burning in Teton National Park (south of Jackson...hopefully Alex's plane can still come through, though I don't think it's quite that bad) so there's smoke drifting all about the state. Yesterday Becca and Amy drove through clouds of it over by Lander--Dubois lies between Lander/Riverton and Jackson, so it was odd that the smoke was over there without "passing" us. However, today a sickly haze spread over the sky and the Wind Rivers were nearly hidden. A scent of burning wood hung in the air all day and the birds were strangely quiet, as though they knew something we didn't...
...Ridley and I are to the point where we can actually play a song ("Kiss Me Mother I Am Weary" from O Brother Where Art Thou) without the recording in the background. We've split up the verses (she's gotten me to sing!) and can play along fairly well. The bathrooms in our cabins are adjoined and last night I was playing and singing to myself and was able to hear her through the wall singing along. We drift in and out of each other's music like happy phantoms, catching lines and chords between the walls, throwing in a word or harmony and drifting back away into the night...
Posted on 2007.06.23 at 16:53
...in Wyoming, that refers to the rodeo lights.
Went to the rodeo in the Gracie-mobile (Wisconsin tags!) with Pete, Aline, and Gongke (our new cabin guy...he goes to school in Milwaukee but is from China) and of course Gracie driving. We met Craig (Roz's husband) and his son Ben in town (there are board sidewalks, for any interested parties...) at the Cowboy Cafe for dinner and then headed to the rodeo grounds, where I entertained Craig with a description of goat-tying. Apparently they don't do that out here.
It's high 80s for the next week, with, naturally, no forecast for rain. Thankfully we have the river just behind our cabin, and Eliza went to town to look for inner tubes...
Posted on 2007.06.22 at 18:00
Richard and Hadley officially "announced" their engagement last night...
Hadley (telling the story of when Richard proposed to her in April): So we were pulled off the road to Lander, and Gupta was farting, and then this state trooper came to move us along because I guess we were sitting too long. And Richard says "Well, I just proposed to my girlfriend and she said yes." And he didn't even crack a smile but said "Well don't you two have some celebrating to go do somewhere else?"
Alex (picks up phone): Oh, hello, Bob! No, he's not here, he just set to North Carolina to ask a father for his daughter's hand in marriage.
Walt: Bob said 'Oh, I thought he'd anchor down to 'er.'
Then Ridley took the cheap little 4-wheeler up to the Bench and it broke down, so she ran back down the hill and she and Josh took the beefier model up to fix it. She lead the pair down on the big one, and Josh followed, taking his foot off the gas so we could hear what the engine sounded like. In his words, "Sounds like a bubble machine!"
Posted on 2007.06.20 at 21:44
...R&R being Rose and Ruby, of course. Rest and relaxation? Not on a working dude ranch...
Yesterday Mel and the wranglers were having their lunchtime meeting. Richard looked up and shouted out "Hey Rachel...which of the cabin girls is off tomorrow?"
Rachel checked the schedule, and it was me. Richard nodded to me. "Want to go on a long, dusty ride? We need to drive the cows down at the farm."
So rather than sleep in, take a little hike, a little ride, a little more sleep...I did more work. But it was fun work, so it was okay.
Mel grinned. "Good, you can take Rose and Ruby." Richard's face fell. "Oh." I grinned.
So this morning Richard and I loaded up Rose and Ruby (and Navajo...more about that later...) and drove down to the Riverton farm, where 120 head of cattle were getting through the fence into the neighbor's alfalfa field. We rounded up the herd and pushed them through a series of four fields, up a road, and into another pasture where they wouldn't escape into the neighbor's property.
I rode Rose, who was lovely and fun to work cows with. There was a little sickly calf who kept trying to lay down...Rose finally got frustrated and lunged at it and scared it up again, for a little while. Richard ended up herding her, and she would lie down every ten seconds. He finally had to get off of Ruby and literally pick the calf up...so he sent me on to move all 120 cattle on my own. It wasn't too hard; they found Bob and his trailer of hay and he led them down the road while I pushed them from the back, crossing back and forth from one side to the other to catch the stragglers. Eventually Richard left the calf by a gully and came to meet us.
Then we had to drive the trailer back and wrestle the calf into the back...Richard had to rope it, and then we sort of "pullied" her into the trailer using the rope, a post, and brute force. We dropped her off at the farm where Bob will nurse her (hopefully) back to health.
Navajo had some sort of neurological issue that suddenly popped up over the winter...he would randomly sidepass and drag his hind end behind him. The vets said there was little to do for him, so Richard had to take him down to the farm to put him down. Unfortunately, in the middle of nowhere it's easier to simply put a bullet in their heads rather than put them down with an injection. So I led Rose and Ruby a little ways away across the yard (yes, great idea...lead two half-drafts with me in the middle when there's firearms involved...) and Richard did his job. Navajo is now much better off than the prison of his own body.
Then we drove around Riverton for forever and a half doing all the "shopping" for the ranch, which involved a ridiculous search for a dryer fuse that led us to three different shops. Rose and Ruby trucked along with us, looking rather bored with town. It was 100 degrees...I don't blame them.
So an interesting day...Richard called ahead on our way home and now the entire staff is going "WOW! Way to move the entire herd on your own!" to which I attempt to explain that it really wasn't all me while Richard moved the calf...except that when I end up telling it, I guess it really does sound that way.
So now I'm officially a cowgirl. GIT R DUN.
And then we came home to learn that the one and only ALEJANDRO MIRANDA-BERMUDEZ is now an official employee of the Bitterroot Ranch and will be arriving next Wednesday! Hopefully I'll be able to borrow a ranch truck and pick him up myself. Excitement!
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