"Greetings and salutations"
Its funny how the things people say, stay with us. Little sayings, little phrases that snaps our minds to a particular person.
Well my dad has plenty of them! Greetings and salutations, today junior, and you better move! Yes, they probably seem pretty funny, but anyone who konws my dad will get it. Here is one rare pic of the shy father (the one with the crazy Buckaroo Brand Wildrag in the right corner) I love in honor of Father's Day!!! Can't wait to see him tomorrow <3  Just a little bit of the trouble I've managed to find... Checking emails in a random service spot at the end of the day... Me being a general pain with the Team Sagebrush girls... The rose amoungst the thorns as they called this pic...Of course, there is always more trouble, so keep watching ;) Have fun, take'r easy and ride hard!!! Good memories, good places, good friends...      Until next time...Have fun, take'r easy and ride hard!!! ~Jess~ Letters from Home
As many of you are aware, I have limited technology living in camp. I have found that my only real source of news is an AM talk radio show out of Boise, KIDO. I have a few shows on there that I like to listen to, but this is how I get most of my news and weather during my “dry spells” in camp.
This week they have had a reporter over in Iraq and are doing a program called “Letters from Home.” The program has several parts, but everyday this week they have been interviewing Boise area soldiers serving in Iraq. These men and women talk about their lives during the war, the family they’ve left behind, and the pride they have in the work they are doing. These folks are every day men and women making the ultimate sacrifice for us and our country on a daily basis. I’ve always known this, but it has really opened my eyes listening to these stories. There are individuals behind the uniform. These people have left behind loved ones, day job, hopes, and dreams. They more than realize they may never get back to these things yet have a positive outlook on why they are there. One gal they had on in particular completely blew me away. She is 22 years old and just got married last June. Both her and her new husband are serving in the armed forces. Within a few months of their marriage, they bought a house and they BOTH left on deployment! Now I realize they made choices that put them in this situation, but I am also completely grateful. This young couple joined the military during war time, knowing they could be deployed and they have/are serving with honor. I couldn’t have imagined being separated from Sam most of our first year of marriage… I think the most emotional part for me though is how humbly these people view their roles in Iraq. They feel privileged to be there. They really stress the changes and relationships they’ve made with the locals. They want their friends and families back home to know that the media has painted a not so realistic view of the happenings over there. They recognize the danger, but down play it as “just part of the job.” Now am I naive enough to believe everything that comes out of the “squawk box”? NO! But the soldiers they are interviewing don’t make their livings by giving us the “shock and awe” factor on a daily basis like a media personality does. Yes, what they are saying could still be tainted, but I think it is a lot closer to the truth than the garbage with get from our normal news sources. I don’t normally discuss my political views, but in this instance, it seemed like an insult not to. Regardless on your thoughts on the US’s involvement in the Middle East, it seems like we still have an obligation to those who are willing to put their lives on the line for ours. I want to send out a huge THANK YOU to all of our men and women in the armed forces. More importantly, I want to thank the families of these men and women who share their loved ones with us and recognize the sacrifices they make to do this. Behind each greatness is the support it is receiving out of the lime light. I hope as each of you go through out your day today, you think about those past, present, and future that serve in the armed forces. Folks that have made it possible to read things like my blog and given you your right to post your thoughts on Facebook. As go about your business today, I hope you have fun, take’r easy, and ride hard!!! ~Jess~ Moving cattle is not an emotional activity! (for women at least ;))
Ok, so correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't it seem like men are generally more emotionally involved with moving cattle than women? I haven't ridden with a whole lot of people but this is just what I have observed. Now does this mean women are any less diligent about accomplishing the task in front of them? Heavens no!
The way I see it, women have a tendency to be like the tried and true ranch horse in these situations. They aren't going to expend any more energy than necessary to get the job done. You never know what you'll encounter before you finally get back to the barn so wringing yourself out doesn't do you a lot of good. Men on the other hand want to teach that bovine a lesson! They'll chase a cow into the middle of the bunch. They'll yell obscenities at a calf like it will understand the insult. They'll pick fights with their horses over the littlest thing. You'll even hear some unexpected things like ," Get out of here! There isn't enough grass here to feed a goose anyways!" More than once I've been leaning over my saddle horn watching the Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde change in a man as they move cattle. Sometimes the laughter gives them a reality check to how silly they're being. Sometimes it just ticks them off and makes them do it more. Regardless though, it always seems to be entertaining to watch the guys be the emotional one for once! Anyhoo, take this all with a grain of salt! Its just an epiphany I had while out riding one day. What do you guys think? Any women witnessed this? Any men who want to defend themselves? Well regardless of where your mind takes you today, have fun, take'r easy and ride hard! ~Jess~ Moving horror story- part 2
Ok, so we've all had bad weeks before... Here is part 2 to out Moving Horror Story...
After not near enough sleep, Sam and I get up Monday morning. My hubby, bless his heart, unpacked almost the whole horse trailer by himself! I asked him why he didn't wake me and he said he knew I needed to get some rest. I helped him with the remaining items so he could get his trailer down to the shop to get the back door repaired. I looked at the mess that was our winter house, but figured we were on the down hill now. Once I got our stuff settled, our lives would find their new rhythm here at Flag Creek. This house hadn't been lived in for quite a while and not cleaned out before the last folks had moved out. Well the mice and bugs decided to move in. Not that this was a huge deal, but I definitely had some cleaning to do before much unpacking could be done. So I got some laundry going and started to scrub the kitchen down as it is kind of the central of the house. I was into this project not even an hour when the water stopped working. Being that there was another house at Flag Creek, I walked down there to see if they had the same issue. Come to find out a transformer had caught fire and someone was already coming to fix it. I chatted with the other wife until our situation was under control, or so I thought. Come to find out, we were on a different well, one that needed to be reset. I spent most of the day waiting for Sam or someone who could help me with the man hole cover. This thing was huge and I somehow got it stuck trying to get it off. It was 4 or 5pm when one of the other guys was able to help me and show me how the well was reset. Sam got home not too long after that, and we had to reset that darn thing about 3 times that evening before showers and dinner could be accomplished. So coming on Tuesday I figured this was it, things would start to get back to normal. I was wrong again. I fought with the water most of the day and the maintenance guy was finally able to get it fixed by 2 or 3 that afternoon. I now had a few hours of work done and dinner ready when Sam got home at 5. He walks in the door and the first words out of his mouth were ,"We're headed to Nevada tonight!" At first I thought he was crazy! I then realized he was quite serious. Come to find out we needed to go to Ruby Valley to pick up a round bail feeder. Sam set about getting diesel while I packed us an overnight bag and went to the Main to call Sam's mom. It was 7 or 8pm by the time we left the ranch. It was about 12pm by the time we got to bed because we were catching up with his family and telling them about our moving experience. Things seemed to be on the up and up by morning. We got to pick up Sam's new pup from my folks and visit with them for a bit. I took care of a few errands in Elko and we had lunch with my sister. By early afternoon we had made it to Ruby Valley and we headed back with our load. Things were just peachy until we hit Golcanda Summit between Battle Mountain and Winnemucca on Highway 80. That truck had pulled fine all day, even over the longer, steeper Emigrant Pass. We were loosing power in a hurry and only did 25 mph over the top. Finally we dropped off into Winnemucca and figured we best air the dogs out a bit. The fairgrounds seemed like a convenient enough place so we pulled off. Just as we made the turn in though the truck completely died. We coasted along and were able to get the pickup off the road before it finally quit moving. Sam called the ranch mechanic to find out our next move. Apparently this truck had the same issue in the past. Considering the time it was suggested that we try to get the truck to Sam's family's house and spend the night again. We were told to get some sleep and call back in the morning. We did just that. This was Thursday morning and boy was I glad to finally catch up on a little sleep! Sam called the mechanic back and he said they were sending the sleeper semi down after us. While we waited, I took care of some business, Sam played with his new puppy, and we just hung out. Time had come and gone for us to be picked up and we were beginning to wonder what happened. After a few rounds of phone calls to people who could make calls on the ranch radio, we found out the sleeper semi couldn't be hooked up to the low boy for some reason. A single cab semi was sent up with a pickup loaded on the back. The truck driver and one of the ladies from the ranch had rescued us! Sam got his pickup and round bail feeder loaded. He rode in the semi while the dogs and I rode with one of the ranch wives. Mary and I laughed because we must have looked like the crazy dog ladies as we headed back to the ranch! She had her two dogs in the back seat. I had our puppy in my lap, but he eventually decided that Mary's American Bull Dog was much more fun. Belle and Junior were in the bed of the truck just enjoying the wind in their faces. It was late afternoon by the time we got back. Finally though, this was the end of our Moving Horror Story. By the end of the week I had us most of the way settled and life began to find a normal pace in our Flag Creek home. So regardless of what life may throw your way, have fun, take'r easy, and ride hard! ~Jess~ Moving horror story- part 1
So we've moved the majority of our things out to our cow camp, The Page Place. I've "set up house" for the most part, and life is beginning to take on a simple normalcy. All of this though takes me back to a not so fun move out of here last December...
I found out Sam was given the go ahead to move to Flag Creek(our winter place) about 6pm one snowy Friday night in December. Sam had spent most of the day in a work meeting and I in town. My hubby was having major cabin fever issues with the lack of work in camp, so he wanted to be all moved in and at work on Monday. The 2 1/2 hour drive from Flag Creek to the Page Place took us about 4 hours with the terrible weather. Sam woke up about 3am to realize our generator had gone out, so we had no water or electricity. Luckily our stove was hooked directly to a propane tank, so he got me up after he had made breakfast. We spent most of the day packing and loading. We had to come-a-long a Ranger and a generator on a trailer into the back of a stock trailer. We got all of our personal things loaded into our horse trailer and had it hooked up to our old Ford. It was about 3pm when our little caravan was ready to take off. We weren't 5 miles from the house when we found out the 4-wheel drive in our Ford was out. We discovered this because Sam got stuck. Well I got past him with the other truck, dropped the stock trailer, and pulled Sam's truck and trailer up the hill. The two of us were working on hooking the stock trailer to my truck and that's when we saw it, the broken strap hanging out the door of the trailer. A quick look inside revealed that the generator was gone! The trailer door gave way going up the first hill about a mile from the house. With the white trailer, the white snow, and the white generator, I never saw it. The door had closed its self and I never saw it swing. So, we decided to leave our truck and horse trailer at the house and I'd pull the generator back to be pulled out by a truck later. Finally it was decided to put 2 of the 5 head of horses in the space the generator had occupied. Now normally, Sam would have ridden one and pony'd the other while I drove. The only problem was the fact that the tack was packed. Sam sat on the flat bed and lead the horses, which took forever on iced over road. At about 6:30pm we had the horses loaded and the stock trailer re-hooked. It would be a late night, but by golly, we should be on our way by now! After some discussion we decided to take the long way around due to the weight of our load. Yes, it would take longer, but we at least knew we could make it without sinking into a muddy, snowy mess. It was just after midnight when we hit Highway 20 at Harper. Between the snow, ice, and a stop or two to sleep, it took us quite a while to drive what would normally be 2 hours. Sam offered to drive for a while since I had driven the dirt road out. We unchained the truck with a huge sigh of relief, thinking the worst was over. Sam started down the pavement real slow and easy since there was a good inch of ice on the road. He was going about 15 mph when our next wreck happened. Somehow we ended up jack knifing, sliding in a horseshoe down the road with the pickup facing the wrong direction. There is a stream on one side of us and a drop off on the other. To add to the fun we were on a blind corner. As our sliding came to an end, I told Sam we we're ok, we made it. About then though, he sees sparks coming from the tail end of the trailer. At the same time we realized that Roman, one of our ranch horses, was being drug, still tied in by his halter. Sam jerked his pocket knife and ran for him. I shoved my feet into my snow boots and ran around the other side of the pickup. Of course, I had to have a total cartoon moment as my feet came straight up in the air and I fell flat on my hinny in the middle of the road. By the time I had got to them, Sam had pulled Roman's head out from under the trailer and had most of the lead cut. The horse clamored to his feet despite the ice, obviously confused and freaked out. A quick look over with little light showed no road rash or open gashes much to our relief. Sam wanted to load the horse right there, the truck horseshoe'd in the middle of the road and all. I reminded him that we were on a blind corner at night; he should probably move the truck first. He agreed, and left me with a snorting, vibrating horse to calm that was now on a foot and a hal lead. No sooner had he pulled off the road and Roman and I crossed to the other side, a snow plow came flying by. Phew, that could have been bad! Roman was such a good horse, despite how stiff and scared he was, he knew what he had to do. Getting back in the trailer was the last thing he wanted, but knew he had to. It took a little coaxing but he loaded right up. I honestly belief the reason he faired so well was the heavy ice on the road that allowed him to slide so easily. Lord only knows what could have happened had we taken the normal way out over cattle guards and very few turns to see the back of the trailer. We finally took a breath for the first time since the jack knife started. We checked ourselves, the other horse, and the dogs. Luckily everyone was fine. Determined that this would NEVER happen again, Sam dug around in the dark and found his come-a-long in the tool box. We tightened the door down and checked it every little while. It was now after 1am as we started down the highway again. We had a tense couple of hours, praying we'd make it back in one piece. Finally about 3am we'd made it over the first pass and into a wide spot in the road known as Juntura. Now being almost 10 hours since we tried to leave camp, we decided a break was in order. We jumped the horses out in knee deep snow to move them around and really look at them under the lights of the small arena. We knew Roman had to be stiff after that fall. All he walked away with was a small scrape on the back of his right front leg where he clipped himself with his back shoe. That was it! Sam continued to drive over the second, and last, pass as we turned off Highway 20 towards Crane. I took another turn at driving as he tried to rest along the long straight away of the Crane-Buchanan Road. It was about 6:30 am by the time we pulled into Flag Creek, rattled and tired. We took care of our stock and quickly headed for bed. About 2 hours later we were up and moving again. Sam had called in the generator issue to the maintenance mean the day before, so we were all going to head out to the Page together. We unloaded, fueled, met up, and off we went. This one was less eventful, thank goodness, and we got everything taken care of. It was just shy of midnight when we pulled back into Flag Creek. Again, we took care of the 3 head of horses we had and crashed. Sam and I learned a lot from these couple of days. We learned how much information our parents had instilled in us that we weren't aware of. We learned how quick we could think on our feet and solve problems. We also learned that together there isn't anything we can't get through. This is just the story of the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for that week. Watch for the next blog where I continue on the "fun" of our moving in. Use adversity as an opportunity to appreciate the good things in your world. Have fun, take'r easy, and ride hard! ~Jess~ What's right around the corner... or up on top!
Sam came home about 4pm today asking if I wanted to take a Ranger ride with him to close a few gates. He loaded his rifle and I loaded the dogs and off we went.
The reason this was such a cool little trip for me was because I haven’t been able to explore too much with the weather the way it’s been here at our winter place. We were basically up on a table top today that you don’t climb when the roads are wet. When things get wet out here they get slick and when they get slick you try to hunker down. Long story short, there is a lot of amazing stuff I haven’t seen yet! So my photography disclaimer right now: Sam does not slow down for pictures so most of these are taken on the fly. Add the “little rivers” running down the roads with rocks that are surfacing and it was a bumpy trip! So I got to see some beautiful country like this:  A neat rock jack at a gate we had to go through to get where we were going:  An amazing herd of elk:  My silly dogs, of course:  A few cows:  Oh yeah, and my hubby!!!:  All and all, it was a fun little outing. Sam murdered a few squirrels, we got to hang out, and the dogs got to feel the wind in their faces. While you start exploring with the warming weather, have fun, taker easy, and ride hard! ~Jess~ And so the moving begins! Kind of...
So we got the go head last night to try and get into the Page Place (our summer camp) by pickup. If that works, then we’ll move in soon after to start getting cattle off the winter range. That means, its time to pack!
I’ve spent quite a bit of the day today cleaning on my back room where I store stuff. I’ve been sorting things by which area of the house they go to, what I can pack now and what has to stay unpacked until a specific date, and what Sam needs to sort himself. I’m so excited to get back out to camp!!! It is like the ultimate playground for big kids, I am not even joking. Yes, there is a lot of long days and hard work, but the feel and the pace of things are like nothing you’ve ever experienced. Life is much simpler out there. No phone, no internet, no interruptions by random people. There is plenty of time to work, make good dogs and horses, and spend time with the hubby. I find that I cook more, write more, and work out more, and it isn’t just busy work to fill in the hours. So what are your moving stories? I know we’ve all had at least one crazy one, let’s hear ‘em!!! Have fun, take’r easy, and ride hard! ~Jess~ Old Time Round Corral
Ok, so I am a stickler for anything old looking. It always seems to carry a unique story of history and contains a certain character from its wear. This is an awesome round corral in Crane, OR that we got to go use. Although I don’t know its story, it’s still neat to ponder.
The day was a bit windy, but plenty warm and we were able to get a lot accomplished. Tuscorara got her second ride and Pepe is continuing to progress. Add in getting to see a few friends, and life was good! Hope you enjoy a few random pics from the day!   So amongst holding on to your hats, have fun, take’r easy, and ride hard! ~Jess~ |
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