Cows and calves, Squaw Mountain
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we have lot of new baby calves being born. We’ve had some fresh snow, but the temperatures are decent and the mamas are doing a good job. It warms the heart to see these new babies!
Ames Field
Mamas and babies
Angus cow and calf
Sandhill cranes are here too!
Today, Siobhan and I were on a routine drive, all within a mile of home. when we got very stuck. We were checking the horses and the cats. We followed the tractor’s tracks. Alas, we have had approximately two feet of new snow in the last couple of days, and it was actually warm. It was, by any measure, a bluebird day. This meant that the frozen trail, packed by the tractor, was mushy. Sure enough, we sunk into what I thought was a soft drift, and, ahem, spun out and became inexorably stuck.
Siobhan recalled that when gathering cattle from this meadow in sunnier days, her phone had service. I pointed out that we were close to home and could walk there in probably 15 minutes. She convinced me to walk a few hundred yards, find cell phone service, and call home for a tractor rescue. Soon Wilber, bless him, came with the tractor to pull us out. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it might be, as we got stuck four, count em’, four more times. Finally, with a lot of plowing and pulling, we were on our way to check on Eamon and Megan’s cats, who were very glad to see us.
Bear in mind that it was 44 degrees, and we were within an easy walk of home. It was not comparable to the time that Siobhan and Pat were stuck overnight on the Red Desert, with only gritty M&Ms to sustain them. Siobhan and I did spend three hours of quality time together, and the cats were really happy when we showed up!
Siobhan finding cell phone service
the horses
Wilber to the rescue
plowing out the path
Squaw Mountain from the Lemmon’s Meadow
morning contrail over Sheep Mountain
Winter solstice seeks
Southern-most arc of sunrise,
craving darkness‘ end .
almost solstice sunrise
lambs in the corral
In the fall, we send lambs to the feedlot. These are the lambs that we have nurtured in the womb throughout the cold winter months. These are the lambs that we saw into the world in a cold wet spring. These are the lambs for whom we fended off coyotes and ravens and bears. These are the lambs who followed their mothers and grew on sweet summer grass.
Some of their numbers fell to predators. A few fell to the hundreds other hazards that await the creatures that we care for. Now we sort out the ewe lambs who will stay with us and become mama ewes. The others go to feedlots where others look after them. In a few months, they will go to slaughter and provide sustenance, by-products such as insulin, and pelts for all of us. The income they bring helps us continue the cycle of husbanding livestock and caring for landscape.
sunrise
lambs loading at Cottonwood
Raul with a lamb
onto the truck
Meghan supervixing
Cows and sheep heading in
I’m thinking of Wyoming’s four seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Construction. It seems like Winter is in a hurry. Almost Winter, we hardly knew ye!
Squaw Mountain, Lucky Butte, Flattop
Equinox has come
and gone. Dark creeping closer,
shading dawn and dusk.
Sheep Mountain
Leaf stipled shadow
Ninety-eight percent,
turns out isn’t mostly dim,
but sorta smoky
Like those brush fire days
when blazes light up the range
and wind blows our way,
Dimming the mountains.
I expected more twilight–
maybe a few stars.
Still—through the glasses,
the moon slid over the sun,
leaving a crescent.
It grew chill, and still,
and leaf shadows lay stipled.
Not Totality.
Squaw Mountain at 11:03 a.m.
Squaw Mountain at 11:21 a.m.
11:38 a.m. “Totality”
Siobhan and lamb, ready for the eclipse!
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Ladder Ranch