The confused babblings of someone who’s spent too long in the sun
Tales from Date Creek Ranch – Junior the sadistic sheep
This isn't Junior. Junior had devil's horns. At one time or another, we raised all manner of animals on Date Creek Ranch. Chickens, ducks, geese, wild turkeys, rabbits, goats, sheep, pigs. If Old MacDonald had it on his farm, at one time or another we had it too. This...
Tales from Date Creek Ranch – Roundups – Part 3
Another major part of corral work was separating, or “cutting” the cattle. Yearlings and cows that were not producing were cut out to be shipped off and sold. Sometimes there were cows that were slated to be moved to a different pasture. Some cutting was done in the...
Tales from Date Creek Ranch – Roundups – Part 2
Once we got the cattle into the corrals, then the real fun began. And by fun I mean a couple days of hysterical bellowing. Oh, and I imagine the cattle were frightened too. (For part 1 click here.) A view from the main corrals, looking at the barn The first thing we...
Tales from Date Creek Ranch – Roundups
I want to try and explain what roundups were like on Date Creek Ranch. Everyone’s watched Westerns and so everyone has some idea of what roundups are like. Lots of cowboys dressed in proper cowboy hats and other cowboy-related attire. Chasing down cows and roping...
Tales from Date Creek Ranch – Foxtail and Delbert
Dogs were a big part of daily life at the ranch. We always had two or three, mostly Australian shepherds, though we migrated on to Queensland heelers as I got older. However, like everything and everyone else at Date Creek Ranch, they had a job to do. No freeloaders...
Survival is a good thing
I just returned from a camping trip to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. Nine days. Went up with a couple friends, met a couple more there. Nothing we haven't all done lots of times. But it was the rain that almost made this trip a...