WordPlay

By Patty Wilber

Tabooli has been a bit unruly, so when it came time to put the cows up in the high country, he was not going unless I rode him. So, I left Penny home and took T.

Part 1.  Putting the cows in in the truck.

Got to the farm around 8:30 am with Alameda, Cinco and Tabooli.  Alameda was T’s first love (back when he was a stallion), and apparently he has not completely forgotten.  He must have been good because Alameda seems to like him, too…

This made him a pain when I had to go round up the cows on my own while Alameda and Cinco hung out at the trailer.

It took me a while because it was like herding amoeba.  They had already had water.  They were spread out and grazing.  The calves felt like nursing and there were three young bulls from the neighbor’s trying their luck in our herd…

T had to go over here and get this group moving then those over there would stop. Then the bulls would start jostling each other.  Then some calves would look for food.  Then T would lose his cool being out there on his own, so I’d have to decide whether to push him through it or get off and let him settle while I moved the cows on foot with him in tow…

A long time later we got them to the pens.

The shipper with his big two-story cattle truck arrived and we began moving cows into the truck–except the ones that refused to herd into the chute…and the calves that snuck under the fence…and finally Yellow 9 that just jumped out and ran off.

T (with me) and Alameda (with T’s Dad) chased her all over the farm for an eternity, while she jumped or went through about 7 or 8 fences.  Eventually, she wore out and started looking for some cow company.  T and I, by keeping a good distance and planning our angles managed to push her back into the pens.  At that point she and the other two loaded right up.

Part 2. Drove 159 miles to the turn off, then 16 miles in on dirt road.

The hauler was told about the dirt road…but he wasn’t really prepared for it.  Went about 5 mph, thus taking nearly three hours to go the last 16 miles.

He had “fire coming out of his eye” by the time he got there and left without really speaking or even collecting his check!  We figured we’d tell him we’d be paying him in the fall after he picked up the cows and delivered them back to the farm…

Part 3. Cattle drive! Eighteen miles to the ranch.

Smoke from the Wallow Fire in AZ made the sun blood red in the morning. My camera didn’t capture it well.

There were four of us moving the cows. This is Jeff. The aspen were much more leafed out than last week. The white trunks never cease to strike me with their beauty!

Me on T with Cinco in tow, pushing the cows past the snow. T was pretty happy if he had Cinco or was near Alameda but got Unruly if he had to do too much all alone...

This vista was really breathtaking. David and Mister are pushing the cows.

Note T's pinning his ears. He got tired of having to follow and starting trying to get the dogies to git along using the force of his personality.

Convincing the cows to cross--I only got a few over, but they acted as magnets and the others came more readily.

Made the Ranch and penned the cows in the horse pasture for the night. The horses stayed in the little pens. T got to be with Alameda AND Cinco. Happiness.

Part 4. Fixed Fence.

We fixed and set up fence after riding in on Sunday and we fixed fence for a couple hours on Monday before we rode out.

This is what fence work does to your gloves. I repaired mine with Duct Tape. Cuz baling wire doesn't do the job in this case!

Steep!

Wet!

After we’d done as much as we could given the time, we saddled up to move the cows out of the horse pen and down to Barlow Creek–in the middle of the ranch, far from the fence that is still laid down.

Part 5. Eighteen miles back out!

T ponied Cinco the whole way!

Back across the river!

T was responsive and complaint all day. Probably because he was tired, he had Cinco, there were no cows, and he is starting to catch on to the idea that the horses all get to stay together.  Except he hates Mister because he is sure Mister is trying to steal Cinco and Alameda.

Made it home at midnight and had to be up at 6 to get to my “real” job.

Haven’t quite recovered yet, but T, Penny and I will be back at it this weekend.

I also got my yearling filly from Kansas this week…she has a leg injury, so vet visit tomorrow to get a diagnosis…She’s super cute, so might be the blog topic for next week…

PS please excuse any typos.

By Patty Wilber

The wind is blowing all the time and there has been no rain.

The farm has 36 cows and 20 something calves, all doing well on last year’s 1200 acres of forage, but there’s no spring green up.  The grass is tanned and the earth is cracked.  Dust boils up where ever I step.

Time to move the cows to the summer range…if the summer range is ready.

I arrived at the farm around 7:30 am, with Penny and T.  Met The Harris Brothers.

Some of the cows were heading to water, but a few were in the western corner, so that’s where Penny (the only horse saddled) and I went.  We picked up Blue 12 and her calf, the bull, another cow and a passel of calves, some of whom had been napping on the sand around a coyote or badger den.

The wind was blowing dust in my eyes and I hung my purple baseball hat on my saddle horn because no way was it staying on my head.

I pushed my recruits to the water, too; easy since they tend to go there in the morning anyway. However, Blue 12 was NOT interested in joining the herd with her two day old baby (Blue 2).  She kept veering off, stopping and turning back.  Blue 2 was still new-born dopey and he kind of staggered along after his momma, panting.

They drank and then we headed to the pens.  Over the winter, we fed them there occasionally, so that is another place they go if you can point them in the general direction…Except Blue 12, who kept trying to sneak her boy off into the four-wing salt bushes to let him lay down.

Penny had to work back and forth to keep them grouped and moving.  She kept flashing back to ranch sorting, thinking she would have to  do something really dramatic any minute, so she felt a little bunchy and tight under me.

At the pens, we separated the cows into two groups;  Group One was cow-calf pairs + the bull, and Group Two included those that have not yet calved + Blue 12 and her newbie.

The livestock inspector gave us the go ahead and we loaded Group Two plus our four horses, and headed for the Cow Way Station in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico, a few hours away.

We arrived and unloaded.

Blue 12

Blue 2 needs a helping hand

They didn't have to go far to find a novelty: GREEN GRASS

Hauling cows is a __________ job! Messy? Dirty?

After we let the cows out on to the 160 acres, we checked and fixed the fences in the few spots where there were problems. I am the novice; have to keep up and learn quick because The Harris Brothers can fix anything, as if they were born knowing how.

The bluffs to the south are horizontally striped in maroon and cream. The mesa to the north has eroded into curtains and caves.

Amazing!

The smell of sage edged up into my nose. AHH…Chooo!

I think the cows might like it here. They will go to the high country ranch in a month or so.

We got up the next morning at 4am (no whining from the novice–besides I had picked a lumpy sleeping spot and and my thermarest leaked, so wasn’t sleeping all that well anyhow), ate, packed up  and drove (and drove, and drove some more) to north of Tres Piedras, near the Colorado border, saddled up and rode around 16 miles in to check conditions at The Ranch.

In the aspens--note they are not leafed out much-too cold. I took this picture by pointing the camera backwards while riding, so I figured it's pretty good(!)

As we climbed up to 10,000 feet, we were blasted by wind whenever we hit open areas (although it was not terribly cold).  The wind and the warmth were melting the remaining snow banks (some were over 6 feet deep) and water was running everywhere.

Mister (the horse) says,"Really? More snow? More mud? More bogs?"

In one spot the snow buried the road in irregular humps that the horses could not plow through,  so we detoured down a creek, over the creek (Mister was not happy), up a very steep slope and across a bog.

I was ponying Alameda.  Penny had dissed Tabooli the night before, so Tabooli switched allegiances to Alameda (“I love her so!”).  Alameda and Penny were bitching at each other.  Penny is used to being the lead horse so she knows that when she is working she needs to put her opinions in check.  Alameda knows this too, but kept trying to take a bite out of Penny whenever my attention was diverted.

Diverted big time in the bog. We got in hock deep and the horses were lunging forward to higher ground.  Alameda got up beside Penny and instead of focusing on the Big Bog Issue, decided this would be the perfect opportunity to take off Penny’s head.

REALLY?! Do we NOT have more important things to do, Alameda? Like not getting mired in MUCK?

We ended up dismounting and leading our sinking mounts, looking for  water on the surface (if it runs on top, it isn’t bogging up underneath) or rocky spots.

It took about three and half hours total to reached the ranch gate, which was stuck closed by snow on either side.  I put my shoulder into the gate and shoved it open.  Penny and I snuck through.  Then I began pulling the gate…right off it’s hinges!

Yep, I ate my spinach!

Heading into ranch headquarters (down in the valley). The wind is trying to take off our head covers!

We made it.

Done riding for the day.

We didn’t have enough corral space. No biggie if you’re Hanging with The Harris Brothers. We built one. (I helped.  Really.) Later, they fixed the hot water heater in the cabin. No problem unsolvable.

It was nice to be out of the wind for the first time in 36 hours!

Next day, up at 6 am, set up and repaired the lay-down fence for the horse pen (in 40 F, 40 mph wind, with spatterings of driving snow for added interest), and some of the ranch perimeter. Lay-down fences (see picture below) are laid down in the winter to prevent damage by snow and wildlife.

Cowboss, fixing the horse fence. Cold, windy, feet are wet and it is spitting snow.

Some fence was still buried.

The snow is still really deep under the trees. You can see the fence on the ground in the forefront of the picture. That will be picked up and attached to the T post I am standing near.

Grabbed a warm lunch, packed up Penny instead of saddling her, as she’d thrown her right front shoe and her foot was chipped (but then it turned out T and Mister had also thrown their right front shoes, but no  chips–probably a bunch of shoes back in one of the bogs…) Everyone made it out fine since the ground was soft.

You can see Penny's mane blowing. I am wearing chaps and my winter coat. I wore that all day and never was too hot!

The cloud cover had blown away and it was sunny.  The wind was still relentless (but at our backs for the ride down).

The wind is whipping my scarf eastward!

Rode out in 4 hours, and the ground was noticeably drier–the moisture wicked away by the wind.

We will bring the cow-calf pairs in on June 5!

By Patty Wilber

So, I bought five Angus-cross cows Mar. 6. Price of cows has been through the roof (due to a decrease in cows in the US–been sold to Japan, and the price of feed…amazing how you can sound like you know what you are talking about if you ask enough questions and then repeat back…)

My cows in March

Three were “three stripers” and two were “late two stripers”, according to the to the preg checker (via the seller). “They”ll all calve within 45 days.”

“Three stripes” means they are in the third trimester and “two stripes” means there are in the, yes, you guessed it, second trimester.  Gestation in cows is 9 months.

Hmmm. There’s a problem right there. The two stripers are gonna take at least 90 days.  Buyer:  PAY ATTENTION!  (Well, in self defense, there is a learning curve.)

Here are two of the three stripers in early March. Neither has calved yet!

A “preg checker” is a person you hire to stick their hand up the nether region (rectum) of the cow to feel if the cow is pregnant, and if so, determine the calf size.  This indicates how far along they are.  If you want details, click here.

This preg checker also does teeth, and according to him (via the seller), I have three three year olds and two four year olds. I haven’t got second opinion on those facts!

Cow Red 4, which is now Blue 11 (more on that later), had her calf immediately.  The rest of them…um NOT!

I have been (not so) patiently waiting.

The cows are heading to the high country to spend the summer, in just a few weeks.  The heavily pregnant cows will not be able to hike in with the rest of the herd.  They are either going to have to go to a cow way station to have their calves and then hitch a ride in, or they are going to have to be trucked in, still pregnant.

Fortunately, my four are not the only hold outs.  There are three or four others.

Once you buy cows, they MUST be branded with your brand within 30 days of purchase. They do not have to be ear tagged, but many are, to make it easier to tell them apart.

To get a brand in New Mexico, you go down to the livestock office, check out the brand book to make sure you are not copying a brand in use, fill out a form, draw  three possible brands, choose a location on the cow (L or R, shoulder, body or hip) and pay money.

In 30 days or less, you get a brand! And a brand certificate (suitable for framing…well not really that nice) AND a plastic card you can keep in your wallet.

The brand is good for three years. Sort of.  Brand fees are due every three years, but ALL the brand fees are due at the exact same time.  I got  a new brand in March 2011 for $75 (the OLD three year fee).  But all brands have to be renewed July 2011, for $100. Pro-rating?  Not a chance.

To view NM brands, click here and then type in a name.

Here is my brand (also good for horses):

Here is my brand on a cow.

Cow Blue 14 (formerly red 19) with her left shoulder "body art". She is one of the two stripers.

My cows were branded, vaccinated, treated with an anti-louse agent, and re-ear-tagged.  The old tags were hand written and fading.  Plus, I liked the blue color!

The bull calves were banded. This will make them steers by cutting off the circulation to their testes.

I went to visit them Wednesday and arrived around 5 pm.  I try to go to the farm 1 or 2 times/week.  I usually take two or three horses with me and today I took T, Buckshot and Penny.

A front was blowing in from the southwest, dropping off the Manzano Mountains and zipping across the plains (where the farm is). The wind was horrendous and it was trying (not very hard) to rain.  I was able to count 24 (three were mine) of 36 cows on my way in and saw another bunch to the south. (There are also around 22 calves, one of which is mine.)

I unloaded (and the trailer door about blew off), tied Penny and Buckshot and got on T.  We had a few words about what he was and was not able to do, on his own, in a gale.

I won. I was somewhat sympathetic as the wind was blowing so hard it seemed to be moving his feet around when he picked them up!

We made it to the southern group and there were 12 cows (2 were mine).  All animals present and accounted for.

Cows are herd animals (duh). What has surprised me is how closely they seem to bond. For the last 2 months, every time I have checked, my 5 have been together.  This was the first time I’ve seen them split up.

I took a picture of my calf, and the weather, worked T a bit to reinforce “who’s the boss” and rather than ride the other two in the miserable conditions, loaded up and drove home (35 miles). Got there around 7 pm.

Cow Blue 11 and bull gonna-be-a-steer-soon Calf Blue 1

Weather on the plains--but the picture didn't capture the wind!

It was calm at my house (nestled behind the Sandia Mountains and NOT on the plains) with only a raindrop or two, so what the heck.

Rode Buckshot!

Here is the first very cool thing for May.

MR LIZARD!

This lizard was snoozing in the cool pile of cheapo wood shreddings we acquired for the desperate purpose of turning our new yard into something that *isn’t* an adobe mud version of quicksand.

(Mainly, we were worried that short-legged little Belle would take one step out there and…slowly…disappear…)

That was 18 months ago; since the initial application, we’ve been slowly whittling away at the pile, applying patch-jobs to the yard as needed.  One day it’ll be an archeological masterpiece, layers and layers of unevenly shredded yard brush, old pallets, and the occasional dismantled house compacted into the clay adobe soil and decomposed into a solid layer.  Pity the fool who ever puts a bulldozer to THAT.

But!

Back to Mr. Lizard. HE IS SO COOL.

And although his shreddings pile is now smaller than it used to be, I bet he’s still got plenty of room to call home.

YAY!  LIZARD!

Oh, but I promised TWO COOL THINGS and I have them. Thing number two is the Backlist eBooks Merry May sale.

There are fantastic sale prices on nearly 200 books by more than 50 traditionally published authors. Books start at 25% off and get better from there–it’s a great way to feed your ereading device!

To grab the sale books, head to BacklisteBooks.com for a list of titles and Smashwords coupon codes, identified by genre.

If you’d like a heads-up on these Backlist eBooks sales, here’s our newsletter sign-up.

YAY!  BIG EBOOK SALE!

I spend a lot of time outside.

Brrr! Now that's outside...

When you add up the bird-watching, the flower-prowling, the agility training, and the horsie back riding…yeah, I spend a lot of time outside, and always have.

I started out working as a park naturalist in Ohio and then headed to the deepest Appalachians (100 acres, log cabin, endless mountain ridges); from there, I had an interlude in the western New York suburbs.  I eventually escaped to the rural southwest–first to the amazing world of Flagstaff’s San Francisco Peaks, then to Albuquerque’s unique South Valley, and most recently through the pass to the Tijeras Canyon foothills.

That’s where I am now, and that’s where, barring significant surprise, I’ll stay.

It’s  a journey that spans a treasury of different ecosystems, different weather patterns, different critters.   It includes the richest riparian forest; chill flat hickory and chokecherry woods; the rarified air of high desert, snow pack, and ponderosa pines; the hot bosque valley of the Rio Grande–and now the windward foothills of another sacred mountain.  Totally different flavors of life, and they’ve all become part of me.

All absorbed right through to my writing.

At first I resisted the lure of using my personal worlds in my writing. And at first the resisting was easier–I was creating worlds for my fantasy novels, so I could use what I knew without being (too) obviously referential about it.

But then I started writing more contemporaries. And while I can and have researched the ecological details of Far Distant Places, my own closer places keep wanting to come out.  (Most recently, this means a book of luxuriating in the complexity of Sedona, Arizona–from the striking red rocks to the deep canyons.  As if I could resist!)

It’s more than just the convenience of it–although the convenience of weaving location through the plot-building process can’t be denied.  But it’s because…you know, writing is about sharing what drives you, and about what means something to you.  And I don’t just live in these places, I live as part of them, soaking them in…wallowing in them, if I can wax just a little bit poetic.  So I love these worlds of mine…and I want readers to love them, too.

Here’s where it gets into nefarious deeper layers. Ulterior motives, even.

Because the things you know and love become things not so easily dismissed. If you know–even vicariously–the scent of the ponderosa pine, the deep green needles, the ridged, red-tinted bark…then when climate change makes them vulnerable to the pine bark beetle, maybe it matters just a little bit.  When fire rages through the mountains due to perfect storm conditions created by man’s intervention with natural cleansing fires, then maybe suddenly allocating resources to forest management matters, too.

And if it matters to enough people, then maybe it makes a difference.

One can hope.

So I guess that makes me an environmental proselytizer.

But you know, mainly…it’s because writing where I am is about writing what I am, and what I know and love–and being able to share that so it changes just a little bit of something in someone else.  It’s what I want to be able to say about my writing…that on some level, it matters.

Isn’t that what we all want?

first appeared in Terry Odell’s Blog

Yes, that’s right.  The days are longer, the days flirt with surprising spring temps, the ground grows achingly dry, and it’s all just a great big TEASE.

Dart is completely convinced.

Dart: SNOOOOOZE

Duncan is completely convinced.

A preliminary offering of spring horse hair

Never mind those singing birdies, the snow could come boiling over the Sandias at any time.  Never mind that balmy sun…the night temps are pretty frigid.

So keep the horse blankets ready, the trough water heater plugged in, and the winter coats to hand. Tease season, you are not fooling ME!

Dart Beagle: Oh yes you are.

Huh.  Guess I’ll just see if I can get under that hay pallet to rescue Duncan’s shedding blade from the resident pack rat.
~~~~

In other matters, it’s not tease season at all–it’s harvest season!  Because it’s Read an eBook Week, and there is a way cool sale going on at Smashwords.  The coupon codes are right there on the individual book pages.  And my books are included, along with some of the short stories!

Here’s my author page at Smashwords, from which you can reach any of the books/stories.

Here are the titles on sale:

Hidden Steel
Making the Rules
A Feral Darkness
Deep River Reckoning
The Scoria
A Bitch in Time

PS: Look what Dart found in the snow

By Patty Wilber

My friend, Elisa, gives riding lessons to kids and she found a horse on Craig’s List, for free.

She thought we should go look at it.

I have a load of school work piling up around me, 5 horses to ride every day after teaching, and when was the last time a free horse turned out to be any good? Like never.

So, naturally, I said YES!

We met in town and drove down to Algodones, which is on I25, north of Albuquerque, near the Rio Grande. 

Gorgeous day!  Over 60F (which, believe me, beats the pants off -27F, barely two weeks ago!).  Sunny, dry, clear blue sky, and not windy.  

We turned right on the dirt road just past Algodones Elementary School and drove through an old stone tunnel under the railroad tracks.  The truck barely fit!

The cottonwoods down here are the big, gnarled, old ones.  They probably sprouted in the 40′s following the last big floods which was also the last time a large cohort of cottonwoods established in the Rio Grande Bosque (Cochiti dam was built as a flood control device and it is effective).  Cottonwoods are not long lived trees (70 years is old), so change is a comin’ as these trees age out and are not replaced.

Flooding puts the river up over its banks.  This disturbs the soil and provides enough moisture for the seeds to sprout and establish in a protected location.  Cottonwoods regularly sprout and grow on the river bars, but then get washed away. 

We arrived at the barn.  Spacious stalls, a generous aisle, airy.  Gorgeous. 

Moo was cross-tied and snoozing in a grooming area and the other horses were hanging their heads over the gates, checking us out.

They were all HUGE. Seventeen or 18 hands. I have a bunch of shrimps at my place, apparently.  15, 15.2, 14.2, maybe Diamond is 16 hands.  (A hand is the unit of horse measure.  It is four inches.   A horse that is 15. 2, is 62 inches tall, at the withers.)

Moo is 15 years old and a thoroughbred.  He was a race horse and won once.  Then he became a jumper and won a lot more than once!  He is currently unemployed and his owner is offering a long-term (and permanent) lease, but only to the right home.

One of Elisa’s students said, “I hope you get him!  I will say a prayer!”

We rode him.  Wow!  Quiet, steady, and his canter was slow legged with a lot of lift in the front end.  He jumped (well he barely even had to change his stride) a small cross rail without even blinking! 

 Completely different feel than my little-uns.  I asked him to stop and he just eased on down whereas mine fold up under me.  He might be fully twice as big as Risa! 

We chatted for a while about him and he really seemed to be listening! J. warned: “Do not, under any circumstances clean his sheath*.” Other than that and a distaste for static electricity, he is steady as a rock!

Elisa got a call later that she  got him!  He will move to her place this weekend and begin his new lesson horse  life on the eastern plains (well, the start of the eastern plains) of New Mexico!                                                                                      

* Sheath. The penis of the male horse retracts into his body.  Male horses build up dead skin in this sheath, which periodically needs to be cleaned off.  Also, at the head of the penis, there are two blind pockets that collect gunk.  The gunk is called a bean.  If a horse “drops” (his weeny is hanging out), you can just reach down there, take hold,  and pop those beans out. Or in Moo’s case, you can reach down there, touch him and he will immediately use his hind leg to send you to kingdom come!  Do not, under any circumstances, clean his sheath! (OK maybe if he is drugged…)

 A few weeks ago I was whining about the weather. Then it turned very nice.  Why, just last Sunday was the Back Country Horsemen Training Ride.  Look people in shirt sleeves! 

People in shirt sleeves!

 Penny ponied Risa, who sported a pack saddle and toted a first aid kit. They worked together fairly well.

 T was on his first big group ride, and did have a few left over testosterone induced “Hey, those are MY girls.  Stay back, or else!” flashes. 

At lunch. After his initial "Where are you taking my girls? I must dig my way free!", T noticed the girls were very close indeed, and settled. He is acting more and more like a gelding!

All three had temporary amnesia regarding the water crossing.  “What?!  Water?  Mud?  We can’t do that. (Never mind that they had all done exactly that last year, a bunch of times.)

Penny remembered.  T remembered. Risa remembered (she doesn’t forget much) but she just didn’t want to.  T’s Dad was on Penny, ponying Risa and I rode T right up on her rear to push her into the water. 

 T  said, “Ooh!  Hmm!  This reminds me of something…FUN!” He gave a little rumble in his throat.  I backed him off and intead tapped her butt with my reins to urge her in.

Then came Monday.  Warm!  Nice!  (“The Storm is Coming”, said The Forecaster.) I hurried home to, quick!, move a bunch of hay,  fill the water tanks and plug in the  heaters, so I could ride before the onslaught.  

 All night the temperature dropped.  32, 23, 8F and it snowed and snowed.

On Tuesday it warmed up…to 12F.  And it snowed.

Wednesday am. -4F.

On Wednesday 2/2/2011 it was -4F.

All this water was collected off the house roof and gravity fed to the barn. (The water collected off the barn water had been used up.). The white PVC holds an air tube coming off a fish tank bubbler and the darker cord is to a sinking tank heater. This tank is on the N side of the barn, and gets no sun, but the combination of the bubbler (thanks Old Otis!) moving the warm water up from heater has worked far better than the heater alone. Still costs an arm and an leg in electricty, though.

The horses were frosty, and they all had big ice balls in their hooves.  Makes it hard to walk. 

But they were dry, their hair was puffed up (insulation) and only Cometa was shivering, a little.  A breakfast of alfalfa flakes (well only one flake in his case)  to stoke the furnace and he was all good.

A flake is section of a hay bale that “flakes off” when you open the bale.  If the bales are baled too wet, the flakes are tightly packed and may mold.  If the hay is baled too dry, the flakes do not hold together well and they fall apart when you try to section the hay.  They need to be just right (as Goldilocks would say!)

Horses can withstand very cold temperatures so long as they are dry and have protection from the wind.  This storm, which many of you probably experienced since it’s reach was NM, N to the border and all the way E, has not been too windy here.

Good thing, because I want that snow to melt off the (NEW) barn roof into the water tanks, not blow away.

Risa helped with the photos.

Cometa with his icy eyebrow and frosted lashes. His blue eye is perfectly normal, in case you were wondering.

Both eyes! Didn't know he'd closed them!

 The horses with the longer hair, sported icicles and they clinked when they walked. Jingle Butts!

Diamond with his ice pedants. He had frosty lashes Wednesday morning, too, but that photo didn't do him justice!

Yes that is my shadow in the picture, but Buckshot and T really wanted to help...

Jingle butt!

Wednesday night it dropped to -15F (balmy compared to some of my friends–  -25 at Donati’s mom’s).  No cloud cover, so no more snow, but cold.  No loss of electricty here.  No frozen pipes in the house (bet the barn pipes froze again…haven’t checked).  Overall, we fared very well. 

By Thursday at noon it was 15 F ABOVE zero–a 30 degree temperature swing in 4 hours!  Friday should even be warmer!

Who knows, by Sunday,  things might even creep up into the 40′s, the snow should be melting and I can get back to what I like best, riding!

Morning in the dog yard…

Dogs: We are full of US!!

We have a routine. Dogs get fed; Belle and Dart go outside.  Connery stays inside to inspect the house until he’s ready to play, at which time he presents himself, and we have a round of fetch.  Then out he goes.

(Why special?  Because he so often hasn’t felt well this past winter, and I need to assess him…and when he doesn’t feel well, being special helps.  And when he feels fine, then I get to enjoy it!)

Connery: I AM SPECIAL!  BAWH!

(I told you he talks in all caps a lot, right?)

Then the horse gets his morning feed and chores, and then it’s off to the dog yard for chores, where the dogs are waiting.

Dogs: It’s our turn!  We rock!

Dart: See my toy!  See my toy!  See my toy!

Connery: Me!  Me!  Me!

Belle: I will help you keep those two boys in line, hee hee!  I bark at you, boy dogs!  You Beagles!  You dogs with legs!  Behave yourselves!

Me: Yes, yes.  You’re all quite wonderful.  But I have a job to do.

You may guess what this is.

Isn’t that special?

Dart: Throw my toy!  Throw it!  I make mooing noises at you because my toy is so special and I want you to throw it!  I throw myself at your feet!  I wiggle uncontrollably!

I have one hand free, so of course I do.

Belle: Bark!  I bark! That boy dog is being rambunctious!  He has long legs!  He’s brown!

Connery lurks. Dart’s toy isn’t one he wants.  Belle is just being noisy.  But he is a working dog and he has things to do.  And he is a tracking dog, so he knows how to do them.

Connery: Over here!  I found poo!

Yes, Connery helps me clean up the yard.

Dart is unmoved by this display of responsibility. He dashes up the hill that borders the yard–quite steep, if short, and it could probably use a retaining wall but at this point is covered with chipper shreddings from the nearby recycle station where they take brush and offer really cheap, crude ground covering in return.  In a land of adobe mud, these shreddings have saved my sanity.

Dart loves the hill. He loves the chipper shreddings.  He LOVES to throw himself on his back and sled downhill head first, upside down, wiggling to scratch his back all the way.  With the favorite toy of the moment in his mouth as he goes.

I am so, SO sorry that I haven’t been able to get a picture…but even if I had the camera, my hands are usually otherwise engaged.

Connery: Over here!  I found poo!

Yard dogs, watching me from the hill

Bonus pic! Because Connery...is about...to...SNEEZE!

By Patty Wilber

Jan 31 is the first Back Country Horsemen ride of the year! Meet at Town and Country Feed Store (Under new management!  Stop in and check out the changes!) down (from here)  by Tramway and Central where I40 begins to climb into Tijeras Canyon at the eastern edge of Albuquerque. 

10 am ready to ride!

This is a training ride.  The idea is to get the horses started on gearing up for the work season. 

The dark of November and December are behind us (lurking in front, too, DON”T LOOK AHEAD!)  It is late January, the sun is up longer each day, and soon soon!, it will be warm!  (In all fairness, the barn pipes have thawed, so that is something, but it was 19F Thurs A.M.–and 52 F Thurs P.M.-that’s New Mexico for you.)

From my house, I can track the lengthening days by where the sun sets.  In the dead of winter it disappears for the night to the southwest of my house right through Tijeras Canyon, seemingly onto I40!  As the minutes add on, the sink point moves north over the arc of the Sandias.   Twilight lingers longer each night!

The sun sets near the left of the picture in the winter and moves right through the summer, then back again in the fall.

The BCH work season is only weeks (ok, about 8-10 weeks) away, and the horses need to get reacquainted with their BCH buddies, saddle saws, pack equipment, water crossings, etc.  The riders need to drag out their work gear and make sure it is all in good shape. 

Town and Country Feed (505.296.6711) sits right on the banks of Tijeras Creek and backs up onto some Albuquerque Open Space  The creek is not big, but it is live and not a dry arroyo; it runs year round.  If you don’t live in an arid area, this may not seem very remarkable, but around here, water is hard to come by, and year round water even more so!

Great place to remind the equines about water crossings.  Let us hope mine remember!

The open space is strewn with pink-toned granite boulders and bedded with decomposed granite for footing.  There are bayonette-tipped yucca, pinons and junipers, but mainly it is quite open.  At about 1500 feet lower than my house, it is usually quite a bit warmer at this time of year.

I am riding Penny and packing Risa.  T is going,  too.  This will be his first trailer ride in a slot right next to a girl!  Since he was gelded, he has definitely mellowed, but he still gets an  interested murmur in his throat now and then!

Since I put in so many back country hours with Penny and Risa last year, I expect few exciting moments.  Am hoping that Risa has improved in her ability to handle horses on her heiny.  If not, I will either ride drag (tricky since I am a ride leader) OR I will let T ride behind her.  She knows him, so should be able to handle that.  Hmm–think I will haul them to the ride in adjacent trailer slots to increase their bonding.

A couple  years ago on this ride, I took a 4 year old gelding (Jack) of mine and a 5 year old gelding I had in training (Miracle Whip).  They were penned together and Jack was the alpha (head honcho).  However, Jack was still pretty green and liked company, so I figured MW would be just the guy…

I started off riding Jack and ponying MW.   MW was a pest.  He kept touching Jack with his nose, and the two of them were just like little kids. 

“He’s touching me!”  Ear pinning.

“I did not!” Tail swishing.

“Did too!” Head tossing.

Me, hissing: “Stop it.”

Small pause. Quickly followed by:

“He’s touching me!”  Eye rolling.

Me: Disgusted sigh.

I made it to lunch.  Figured I’d ride MW back and pony Jack. 

Ha.

MW was petrified that Jack was going to get him and shied every time Jack got too close. 

Switched back. 

But Jack, by this time, was sweaty and it was warm and the sand looked so very inviting….SO, as we were walking along, wth some semblance of control, he flopped right over to roll! Yes, I was on him. 

I let go of MW and stepped off.

Using my Pissed Off Mother Voice “GET UP!” (Unuttered swear words bulging out my forehead.)

He got up, I got back on.  MW poked him. Swish.  Walk walk, slight pause, walk walk walk, hesitation, walk walk….  The sand looked so inviting.  He was so hot and itchy and YEP, before I even felt him go, he flopped down again!

Away went MW.  I stepped off. 

I was mad.  Mad at MW for poking.  Mad at Jack for flopping.  Gotta love it when your trainees behave so badly in public. Mad Mad MAD!

I got MW.  I got Jack.  I put MW on my right and Jack on my left.

YOU!  Stay over there and DO NOT TOUCH Jack!

YOU TOO! Stay over THERE and DO NOT TOUCH MW. 

I gave them my best glare,  marched them straight back to the trailer (0nly about a mile and all down hill), loaded them up, took them home and rode them both  (one at a time) in the arena until they straightened up.

So, really hoping that any Risa Antics pale in comparison to that!

See you Sunday?

PS Jim and Cometa were going to come along–Risa would have stayed home– but Jim is having Lance Armstrong surgery to repair the collar bone he busted last week due to a bike malfunction. The prognosis is good!  And boy do I miss his help at the barn!