Our Friend Forrest Cioppa and Wilma
Well, I am laid up with a broken leg. On a working ranch, that is a disaster. My not being able to work cuts our workforce in half – but 100% of the work still needs done. Fortunately, friends and neighbors have come to Double Circle Ranch to help. Gene and Bernice Isaac not only let Doug and I rest at their Tucson home, they came to the ranch and checked fences for our next cattle moves. They repaired and closed gates in the holding trap we go into next and got half of our next pasture fence ready for cattle. Then Doug’s nephew Ryan stepped up and finished the next pasture fence checking.
We border the San Carlos Apache reservation. Our neighbor Dale Pike and Steve Billy – both Apache stockmen – came and gathered remnant cattle out of our high country for me. They found all but 35 head before leaving for the big Apache rodeo – putting in four hard days of riding.
Then John and Judy Pence came all the way from California to help gather cattle. So far we are down to 21 strays to locate. The cattle are in a big, rough country with a million hiding places for a steer or two. Plus the Texas longhorns use all the country and are just as likely to be on the side of a bluff impassable on horseback, as lounging under a shade tree on the mesa. When the remnant numbers are low, it is like finding a needle in the haystack locating cattle here. Hope they get some more in today.
Plus our friend Forrest Cioppa is here- also from California. He and Ryan are doing a lot of Doug’s work – putting in waterlines today – while Doug is riding with the Pences. Everyone but me is busy. I wish I could be more help – but it will take a while.
Last but not least is Doug. I always appreciate all Doug does on the ranch. But when you need help with taking a shower, sweeping the floor, and doing the laundry as well as gathering cattle in rough country, you sure learn the worth of a good husband in a hurry. I don’t know how I would get by without him right now.
So – THANKS to everyone who is pitching in on the work here. And thanks to neighbors who bring supper and homemade desserts, check on me during the day, and email regularly. I am a lucky cowgirl with family, friends, and neighbors like these!
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