We have had some interesting weather. Some seem to think Mother Nature has been off her meds! Seems normal to me, looking back at past things I have written down and saved. 

Many are calving and fighting the cold and enjoying the warmer temps. As I write this we have a cold south east wind blowing. It doesn’t matter which way the wind comes from, it is always cold out of the south east!

Lent is here. It is supposedly 40 days of fasting almsgiving, and prayer to better reunite Christians with the Lord. I always give up some bad habits. One of them is cussing. It is a terrible habit and usually by Easter I have got it under control. Tho’ I seem to slowly go back to it as the year passes.  Seems like I could get over it and just quit, but I am a weak willed person evidently. Sure makes it harder for me when things don’t go as planned! And I am one of those people who likes to burn my bridges before I get to them!

Also in the world news is all the fuss over east, or perhaps west, depending on which way your looking, with the Ukraine and Russia. I have been watching lots of first person videos on the computer with arguments on both sides as to what is going on. I do know I will never ever trust the main stream media again, after all the propaganda they have been putting out for years. It gets worse every year!

I find it interesting all the speculation as to the why’s and what is really going on. Like many things, we probably will never get the 100% real story. I do think we need to keep our nose out of it. And I think the present leaders of this country have a lot of nerve for suggesting that we get involved. Heck, we had tyranny just across the border to the north and nobody suggested we go in and help those who were being mistreated. You got to admit, it would be cheaper. Why we could just cross the northern border. Heck, we could take care of it in a couple days and be back for supper!

And now you know why I am not in politics! Watch the weather and be prepared. Enjoy the good with the bad and I will see you next week.

Slim can get kind of cranky

‘specially when things don’t go just right

Like when a first calf heifer prolapses

And it’s in a blizzard, in the night

Or when cattle fall thru the ice

Into freezing cold icy water

If you don’t get them out and warmed up

They bloat like a new married daughter!

Or maybe he finds his best horse

Cut up by that dang barbed wire

Or lightning strikes some real nice hay

You lose it all to the fire

Calving seems to bring the beast out

His wife can hardly stand him

She and the preachers been working 

“Just look on the bright side, Slim”

So Slim has been really trying

And I seen it’s working, you bet

I asked him how his calving was going

 Said, “Well, they ain’t all died yet!”

RDennis 4/2020

Ain’t been writing in here for a spell.

I do have a good excuse. See, I was on this bronc, trying to gather cattle on hard icy ground. This ol’ jughead I was ridings was pretty bad about stumbling and would break in two with me pretty often. I was trying to gather a bunch of silly snakes who had been ungathered for several years as they was just too crafty at getting away. The pasture they were in was about 2000 acres, rough, nasty, full of cedar breaks and most of it steeper than a cows face!

Several of us were hired to clear and ship them out as after this drought all the feed was gone. Water was about all gone and the nasty ol rips were about to starve to death, When we got to the pasture, turns out a few didn’t show up. The other 3 of us were all old time fellers, when we give our word to do a job, we are gong to do it, come hell or high water!

We all knew the lay of the land, made our battle plan and proceeded to gather the “wild bovine”. The shipping pens were on the south end, in the bottom of a draw where it started to flatten out. So we go to the north and luckily had a strong cold wind from the north help us drift them ol’ hussies to the pens. There weren’t but about 150 head of them. Somehow they had managed to get most of the calves off them last fall, so we had just pretty much cows to gather. What few calves were with them, were bound to flow along good, was our thinking.

We get around them, start whooping and hollering down in the draws and canyons and you would have swore there was 30 of us instead of just three. The cows are tearing thru’ the brush, looking to get away, but one of us was on each side and one in the back and we kept them headed straight down the canyon we wanted. When we got to flat where the pens were, there was a couple of wings on either side that narrowed down to the pens that would funnel them in…it wast just like clock work!

When you get almost to the bottom, there was a side canyon/draw where one side of the wings didn’t quite go to and I am not sure why. That was the spot everybody else who’d tried to gather them would lose them. We all know that and as luck would have it, that was on the side I was winging them on. I am hustling along, not getting to far back to lose any behind me and yet trying to stay as far forward as I can so as to be there and block that exit for them. 

Things is looking great, everything going well and we are almost to the wings when the leaders see what is happening and make a break for that gap between the wing and the end of the canyon. I was having to stay kind of on the side hill and when I see them looking to go that way, I squalled and turned ol’ Puddinfoot loose. Man, we was flying!

Next thing you know the dang horse stumbles, don’t catch himself and down we go, end over end! Last thing I remember was seeing a big rock headed straight for my head!

When I woke up… I realized it was all just a bad dream from similar experiences in my youth! I was so scared I couldn’t talk and darn sure couldn’t write nothing until know!

Those you who know me know that not being able to talk is plumb unnatural!!!

Anyway, now you know why I missed last weeks assignment. Baring any future dreams, I will sure try and stay ahead of this deal!

Until next time, don’t let your horse get you down with your head under you!!!

While at the Stockshow the other day I ran onto a feller I know (seems like there are a lot of them!)  and we got to telling Kenny stories. Kenny was a feller who always had a good story to tell and his wife has made a lot of real good cowboy poems out of many of his adventures. It reminded me of this one, Kenny told me one time.

Kenny worked at the local sale barn and when asked, he could usually get a cheaper critter for someone, say, who wanted something to butcher for chislic or what not. A neighbor had asked him to get a  goat or a sheep, so Kenny had complied, took the goat home he had bought and let the neighbor know he had one for him. Well it was calving season, everyone got busy, and it turns out maybe nobody really had time to butcher a goat. So he got left at Kenny’s house. And Kenny hated him!

The goat was a pain in the keester!  Always bunting Kenny’s weaned calves and in their feed bunk, stealing grain and pooping. One day Kenny had enough! He roped the goat and tied him to the loader tractor so he couldn’t get away as he was going to the sale later on and was going to haul the goat back to the sale. He tied him to the bucket of the loader and decided he better keep him on a tight rope so he couldn’t Houdini out of his loop. So he snugged up said rope. 

Kenny said when he walked away from the tractor to finish chores, the goats hind feet were a couple feet off the ground!

Did I mention Kenny hated the goat?

Kenny finished chores and went to get the now dead goat to dispose of him. Said when he dropped the loader bucket and walked up to take his rope off he heard a very loud breath of air, going into the goats throat! The goat from Hell was still alive!!

So Kenny and his son loaded the goat in the trailer and headed for the sale. Before they got there, they drove by a friends house who also worked at the sale. We will call him Bill Smith. Kenny was a prankster and chuckled to himself and he and his son unloaded the goat and kicked him into one of Bill Smiths pastures.

The next week at the sale a feller approached Kenny and told him he was looking for a goat to butcher for chislic. Kenny told him, “When I drove by Bill Smiths place the other day I noticed he had a goat in his pasture, I bet he’d sell it! He’s working right over in the other alley, lets go ask him!”

  Kenny and the other gentleman walk over to the next alley and find Mr Smith and Kenny introduces the two and tells Mr Smith that this feller wants to buy a goat and “didn’t I see one in your pasture the other day?”

  Mr Smith explodes! “Yeah! Some rotten SOB put one in my pasture and he spooked my calves and they tore down all my fence and he has just been raising hell!  I sure would like to get my hands on the dirty booger who did it! I think it was Mr Jones!” 

Kenny looked him square in the eye and said, “You know, your probably right. Mr Jones is just the dirty rotten sneaky rascal who would do something like that!”

We have a New Year! 365 days to either mess up or improve! Any guess on what I will end up doing? Hahahahaha!

It seems there is a touch of fall in the air. Nippy nippy nippy! Since I been laid up from surgery and then bronchitis, Chance has been doing all the chores. Been fighting a diesel tractor to keep it running. Changed filter and blew out lines.. he is now maybe understanding why I always liked using my team to feed with. They started every morning and just headed on out. And once you dress forehand get used to it, it just isn’t that bad. Probably helps if you are about 20 or 30 years younger than I am now! But once my feet are healed zi have plans of doing part of the feeding with my team. Anxious to get them hooked up. No mater the cold.

Cindy and I play a lot of cribbage during the winter. We started off this early winter by her skunking me and beating me on a regular basis. Then slowly but surely the master came back! Got to where she seldom won a game. So today we had our first game of the new year and she double skunked me! One person said she had bee letting me win so she’d get a nice Christmas present! I sure fooled her! I swear I ordered her some nice jewelry but when I opened the package here was a pretty shiny bit. And heck, she don’t even ride much anymore!!!

As we move into this new year I hope you all do great and and have the best year ever. May we all have plenty of feed and a great cattle market!

Wow! Christmas is almost here! Amazing how time flies. Out here on the prairie we had a little early snow that melted off and other than the date on the calendar you would be hard pressed to prove it is late December. We have short green grass, something we lacked all summer and much of last spring. Tho’ we have had some cooler weather, all in all it has been real nice. Sure is a great time for a drought and a heat wave. And I just saw one prediction today saying it should stay like this until the end of the month. I will take it.

We have been to one Christmas concert with a grandchild with a couple more coming up. I get real tired of the commercialization of this season so am usually pretty bah humbug until Christmas Eve at least. But seeing all those cute little kids all dressed up and playing their instruments and singing Christmas songs got my Christmas spirit fired up.

Most years I write a Christmas poem and after about so many years it is hard to come up with anything original. A buddy who does similar sent his the other day and after reading it, I got inspired. So here is this years.

                                                      It’s that time again

When I write my Christmas poem

Usually I write about a guy 

Who lives not far from Nome

I had started this dang thing

At least a couple of times

But I always seemed to quit

When I couldn’t make good rhymes

Or the subject matter ran away

Got twisted and perverse

I just couldn’t share such balderdash

In a simple rhyme and verse

And just how many different ways 

Are there to send the seasons greeting

And as busy as most people are

My greeting seems kind of fleeting

And so this year I’ve devised a plan

That should really raise a cheer

I ain’t writing a Christmas poem at all

But one about Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

I imagine readers of this blog get tired of my reporting on weather. I apologies, but it has such a huge impact on me and what we do on the ranch.

I am loving this mild fall and beginning or winter weather. Hard to believe Thanksgiving is past and December is here. Or knocking on the door anyway! I remember so many years at this time where we had lots of cold and snow. After a drought like we had we sure need lots of moisture. And I know the Black Hills and the mountains west of us need a big snow pack to keep the water flowing. But I have seen our water flow from spring rains. Granted, not as often as from winter snow fall, but we have lots of time for it to snow. 

The old timers used to talk about the winter of 49 and how tuff it was. What some of us fail to remember was that it started in January. And they didn’t have front wheel assist tractors and loaders and all the equipment we have at our resources now.

I remember back in the 80’s we had a long hard winter. Lots of snow. I read that by the records it was worse than 49. I mentioned that to several old timers and they had a fit! Why, there was no way that could be true. And they were kind of right because in the 80’s , tho’ front wheel assist tractors were not the norm, we did have much better equipment than they had in 49. All a matter of perspective.

For many of those years I fed with a team.  I had access to a tractor with cab and loader, but I preferred to feed with the team. And when we started using round bales, I could actually feed faster, in rougher ground with a team than I could with a tractor with no bale unroller on the back. I remember one day when we had an appointment in town pretty early, so I fed with the tractor.. I was pretty startled to see it took longer than it had with the team.

When I got my first team, Dad had a fit. He always accused me that he had switched all of his fathers equipment over from horses to tractors and I was switching them all back! And I got quite a few of the older guys chewing me out and telling me that if I HAD to feed with a team, like that had, growing up, I wouldn’t enjoy it. They were wrong. It got to be a bet with myself to see how many days I could go without starting a tractor. And the cool thing was, the more I used my team, the better they got. 

We used a team last spring some to feed grain to the calves and cows with our wheel feeder  we made. Hook it on the back of my horse drawn round bale feeder and it worked slick. We buy all of our hay so we take what we can get and afford and most of these bales are 1300 to 1500 hundred plus. My horse drawn equipment is not built to handle that kind of weight. But not to worry, I have plans to build one that will. And as soon as I get healed up from my next surgery on my foot, I plan on at least feeding grain with them every day. I notice when I use a team all winter my clothes seem to stretch and are real loose fitting on me in the spring. That hasn’t happened for quite awhile and I think it is time to make it happen again.

And at the price of fuel and oil (Go Brandon!) that these tractors and pickups use, that looks like a win to me. We never know how long it will last!

Been a sad week around here. A friend from down in Nebraska had a young son injured in a car wreck. He was thrown clear and had injuries, the worse being to his brain. They life flighted him to Omaha and had been having good luck getting him revived and fixed for about a month. He had been up and walking about and was complaining of having to stay in a hospital but yet stayed cheerful as best he could.

He had something still not quite right in his brain, so they put him into a medically induced coma, to go back in and fix it. But when they got the scan back, he had suffered an irreversible stroke. Nothing they can do for this good young cowboy. The family has decided that they are going to donate to help others who have had misfortune. Latest news was they had found a heart and lung recipient that matched.

What a terrible thing for a family to lose a young child. My heart goes out to them and I and many others have been praying for this child and family. If you feel you should, they can use them all. God knows who we are praying for.

Then we had an older cowboy pass away. Knew him most of my life. When I was young he was known as someone who would start bronc, didn’t matter how tough the horse was. After a wife and child came along, his wife made him swear off. But he passed on his knowledge of colts to two sons. 

His funeral was truly a celebration of life. Many great remembrances of him. It helped that one of the pastors had known him for years and was a friend. 

I remember hearing of him working for a local ranch that raised horses. He was breaking colts. He would tie one bronc to another ones tail, ride the one in front and head out. When he came back later in the day, he would be riding the back horse, who he had switched to the front and saddled somewhere out in the big wide open. It wasn’t Ray Hunt style, but I bet he got them sacked out good!

One day we had gathered cattle out of the breaks, up  on top to brand. We penned them in a set of portable corrals. As most cattle people know, cattle tend to sort back the best, out of the same gate they came in. That is normal operating procedure. Evidently no one had explained that to this bunch! 

We tried sorting cows back off from their calves out of the gate they came in, but it wasn’t working at all. So we went to the opposite end and tried sorting that way. It didn’t work any better. 

So in exasperation we opened the pen up on the side and started trying to get them out that way. About then, this cowboy I am talking about showed up to help. Just drove in without a horse. Walked up and went to helping. Pretty soon he was in the gate, afoot, and things started to improve. I had taken off my jacket and passed it to him and he used it like a matador would his cape, so to speak. When a calf was coming for the opening, he could stop it with a slight movement of the jacket, while cows went on by. He slipped and slid from side to side, much like a good dancer. It was wonderful to watch.

In hindsight, now, I realize he really understood cattle and how they worked. He knew when a calf was going to stop and let his mother leave him and when he had to stop it. Beautiful!

Few who do not work around cattle and many who do, have no idea how someone who can read stock like that can make life easier for the cattle and the crew. I often think of that day whenever I am involved with sorting cattle.

So, as I go about this week, I will think fondly of Ronnie and that little cowboy who is giving so much to help other. May God bless him and his family.

I got to remembering the other day. That isn’t always a good thing because it makes me see the changes that have come along in my lifetime. Yeah, I am getting old and not real happy with most of the changes.

My first 5 years of grade school were to the same one room schoolhouse my Dad had attended 44 years before that. I guess they had upgraded the heater from wood/coal to propane.. To tell the truth, I really didn’t pay much attention. I do remember when it we was and snowy out, we would all put our gloves and mittens on it to dry out as much as possible between recesses.

Then about 10:30 or so, some of the kids would put a foil wrapped potato on the stove. By lunch time they would be cooked. And that is what those kids would eat for lunch. Not sure what they put on them, but probably butter, salt and pepper. And that was their lunch. We had a tall metal pail that families took turns hauling water in. One family had a well that the water was pretty hard and when it was their turn, nobody drank much water. Our well had real soft water and the pail was usually empty by the end of the day.

We had two outdoor toilets. One for girls and one for boys. When it was real cold. No one spent much time in them either!

There were about 11 to 13 kids in the school, spread out over 8 grades. Some years there might not be any in one grade. I remember getting to watch as the older kids did their work on the board. We younger ones got lessons when we didn’t even know we were. I couldn’t  wait to get to diagram sentences! Man, that looked like fun. I remember my disappointment when I got old enough to do it and it wasn’t nearly as exciting as I had thought it would be!

Many of our teachers would read aloud to us from books. We all looked forward to that. And we always had a Christmas play. Made a bunch of decorations for every holiday. Made gifts for our Mothers for Mothers day and Christmas. Seemed like much of school was fun! Dang them sneaky teachers! Making learning fun. What a trick they pulled on us.

I am 63 and can think of several teachers I had back then who are still alive today. Looking back, they must have been much younger than I thought. They were all grownups to us. Many would have been barely 20 I suppose.

Dang, now I feel old! See? That’s what happens when you start remembering!

November. How did that happen? Wow! Seems like it was June just a few days ago. Time flies I guess. But flies don’t time!

We got the cows all pegged, dries all hauled off to the sale. Trying to get some winter feed in. Hard to find hay and get it delivered for what I think we can afford. Shoot,I am so cheap, I want it for free! But realize that isn’t going to happen. And it is good for those who raise feed for livestock to have a good year for prices. If everybody doesn’t hit a lick once in awhile, we all go broke. And dry years sure seem to keep the truckers all busy!

Weather has been pretty nice as far as temps. Yeah, we had a little shot of early winter, but I see it has mostly melted off, up in the Hills. Around here it has greened up from the past shot of rain we got. Not growing much, but green is such a pretty color as compared to brown or gray. Especially short brown!

I have been building on a saddle. Finally got the boss to leave me a lone for a bit and seeing as I am lame, he lets me stay and work in the leather shop more. And the weather is always nice in the shop!

Speaking of lame, I went in the other day and they pulled all the stitches out of my foot where she did surgery to fix it. Told me not to come back for about a month. At that time, she will check to see if it is healed enough so she can operate on the other one.

When I was a kid, it seemed I was always at the doctors or in the hospital. Then I kind of got smarter or something and didn’t go as often. At least to the hospital. I do recall some broken bones and casts, but all in all, I kind of had a long dry spell between doctors. Things have sure changed. The cost for sure, but also all the people who work at the clinics. Of course, we didn’t have nearly as many then and those doctors we did have didn’t have the knowledge about so many of the things that doctors now do every day. Heck, if you wanted you could probably have about every bone and joint in your body replaced or fixed now. When I was a kid, if they couldn’t put a plaster cast on it or do surgery to remove something, you were out of luck.

And after going thru some of these operations, I now know what my cattle must feel like when they get shuffled thru’ a chute for all the things we do for them anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I have had good luck having some great people in the medical profession work on me. But I still kind of feel like that ol’ bull who don’t want to go down the chute!

Heres hoping we have a warm, wet winter and an early spring with lots of warm rain!