|
|
 Wide Open Spaces on the Dude Ranch Yesterday I passed a new truck on Eagle Creek Rd. The driver rolled down his window and asked if I lived here. When I said yes and pointed the direction to my cabin, he said I was sure the lucky one – getting to live here. And he is right. He and his buddy come from Tucson and Colorado. Javelina hunting is their excuse, but the real reason they come he said was to ride their horses. They come a long distance every chance they get just to get to ride in this beautiful, wide open place. If they get a hog, it is OK but not that important.
I have to remember that hardly anyone has this much space to ride their horses. It is a vanishing luxury to be able to ride for days in any direction. I can ride from Ponderosa pine high country to open grassland to clear creek bottoms – and never leave the Double Circle Ranch. It might take four days to get from Eagle Creek to high country – but it can be done.
That is one of the many good things about custom ranch vacations at our dude ranch. If one person wants to ride all day, I’ll take him. I never pass up an excuse to be horseback all day. If their spouse would rather swim in the creek or photograph the wildlife, one of us will take him to do that. Doug is the best with a camera – and will be better after Tom Whetten’s ranch photography workshop this spring. But we will all be back together at supper. No one wants to miss a home-cooked meal after being out in the fresh air all day. Evenings are for relaxing and enjoying the night sounds by a good campfire. Roland plays a good cowboy song too.
Darn right I am lucky to live at the Double Circle Ranch. Most people just get to be here a few days. They carry back their memories – I get to stay!
 Northern Cardinal at Feeder I have been keeping bird feeders full at both houses here at the Double Circle Ranch. I enjoy seeing the variety of birds we get here. Some I can’t identify. I am really looking forward to Bob Luce’s birding class so I can learn more. Every morning we have 20-40 birds – except yesterday. There were no birds at the feeder. I went out to see if squirrels or some critter ( javelina raid the seed on the ground) had eaten everything. The problem wasn’t lack of seed – it was hawks. We had a Red Tailed and a Sharp-Shinned Hawk in the trees waiting to catch their breakfast. They flew before I could get a picture. Today the birds are back.
In the past, cowboys, some of them famous like Tom Blassingame and J. Frank Dobie, signed up to work at the Double Circle Ranch because it was tough. It was a badge of cowboy honor to have put in a season at the Circles. You were a pretty darn good hand to make it at this ranch.
 Cowboy on Horse Crossing Flooded Eagle Creek Well, it hasn’t changed much. People who work and live here on Eagle Creek have to be hardy. Roland Davidson took this job when he could have gotten more money at an easier job because he wanted to work at the historic Double Circle. Thank goodness – cause I sure need a hand.
The picture wasn’t taken years ago – it was a couple of weeks ago during the flood. The cowboys work for our neighbors Cash and Crystal Noland who own JR’s Fence Company. They are redoing an old fence line for us and the pack stock was on the wrong side of Eagle Creek when work was to begin. They are swimming the stock across so they can get to building fence. Got to be tough – better swim well too!
 Wet Red Tailed Hawk in the Snow This has been a great week for seeing wildlife at the Double Circle Ranch. Doug and Roland saw the biggest flock of turkey that Doug had ever seen – about 40 birds. Roland saw a family of about 8 coatimundi. We have a bald eagle at the cabin and a golden eagle at Smith Canyon. Montezuma quail coveys are an everyday sight. Three times this week we have ridden up on javelina. Deer seem to be everywhere- mule deer and whitetail. The herd of antelope is still around our driveway. A pair of coyotes trailed me down the road. We have seen several fox and heard a bobcat. All seems to be well with the wildlife – and that is good news.
 Super Bowl Sunday with Friends on Eagle Creek When you live this remote and your neighbors are few and miles away, you really appreciate and enjoy them. Super Bowl Sunday was a good example. We all went to Errol’s house to watch the Super Bowl. Doug and I don’t have TV and neither does Roland, so we always head to the Holders’ or Errol’s for Super Bowl. Errol was the host this year. We had a great time and lots of good food. Errol had fresh salmon from his family in Washington – he always seems to have fresh Alaskan crab right off the boat or something else wonderful. Clarice and I brought goodies – Clarice baked. I rode cattle all day and just grabbed snack food to take to the game. It is impossible to bake cookies and herd cattle both in 1 morning – Clarice bakes better than I do anyway. So it is just as well. To be honest, I would much rather be herding longhorn cattle than cooking anyway!
Isn’t it odd that city people who have neighbors all around them never seem to know their neighbors? Here our closest neighbor is a couple of miles away – and he isn’t always home. Everyone else – all 3 households – is from 3 to 7 miles away. But we know each other well. And we can count on each other for anything and everything. Good neighbors are a blessing. Hey, having TV for the once-a-year Super Bowl is just another plus. Good company and a friend when you need one is the main thing.
 Water Tank Skidder Here is another of Doug’s devices. The problem was how to get two 5000 gallon poly water tanks to the top of a hill where the old road had washed out. A tractor could climb the hill but couldn’t carry the bulky tanks. Doug’s a big fan of the old-time logging railroads, which used log skidders in the backwoods to move logs. Solution – take two 16-inch plastic pipes about 12 feet long left over from who-knows-what project, drill some holes and insert metal pipes between the pipes and anchor them together – instant light weight, slides easily tank skidder. Doug used the Kubota tractor to pull the sled up the hill with 1 tank at a time. Worked like a charm, no tracks or ground disturbance. Plus 2 people can hand load the sled onto a flat bed to go to other parts of the ranch. It is handy and cost nothing – thanks to the junk pile and a creative husband who, like me, tries very hard to avoid having to make a town trip for anything.
 5000 Gallon Poly Water Tank
 Ranch-Made Well Pipe Roller 30 years ago we took a family trip to Alaska. It was beautiful and we had a great time. But I kept wondering why people had so much seemingly junk around their property. Now I understand. In fact we have become a junk collecting family. It all has to do with being so far from town. Anything possible to avoid the dreaded “town day” is fair game. I am getting pretty good at substitutions in menus – if a dish turns out unrecognizable, you just rename it and act like it was planned. Who knows different?
But Doug had become a master of creativity in ranch equipment. We use heavy wall HDPE pipe for all our well pump installations for longevity and ease of installation. If you need a well pump pulled out or installed here on Eagle Creek, a well driller will charge $500.00 or so just to bring a rig up here. So it pays to pull pumps yourself. Doug “built” this apparatus from an old salvaged straight axle with rims, some scrap angle iron and rebar and a motor hoist for extra support. Looks weird – but we pulled not 1, but 3 solar pumps – at 400+ feet depth – from our livestock solar well using this Doug designed contraption and a Kubota 4-wheeler. So, all this scrap metal saved us about $700.00. Plus we have it in the yard with all the other “may come in handy” pieces in case we need to pull more pumps in the future.
 Coati on the Cliff Last week I was talking to a neighbor who is an avid mountain lion hunter. He is running into an unusual number of coatimundi, or cotamundi, while hunting – throws his dogs off lion scent. I have seen a few coatis on our ranch recently, usually a solitary male. On the way to town yesterday a coatimundi posed for us right beside the road. He was totally unconcerned as we took pictures. I have had a lone coati come right down the middle of our driveway and actually make me go off the side as he claimed the road. My sister who lives in Tennessee has never seen a coatimundi – never heard of the critter. So Sis, here is a picture to help you make sense of my description. See – they do look kind of like a raccoon/badger/monkey cross.
 Roland, Our New Cowboy on the Hard Working Dude Ranch Roland , our new cowboy, doesn’t have the luck of the Irish. He sure hired on when things were tough at the Double Circle. He walked right into checking the roughest fence on the place. Then we moved the steers to the rough country right as the storm started. Before we had everything gathered and on the 13-mile trail drive, it rained, sleeted, and snowed on us. But the worst thing was the cattle. They were sensing the storm and almost impossible to drive. We got the bulk into Main Pasture, but we have cattle scattered over at least 15 miles (that we know of). Of course, it is ice and mud everywhere, and we can’t ride after the bunch quitters. No telling where they are by now. A horse can’t stand on the steep slopes when they are icey – much less gather cattle. Roland is sure going to earn his keep gathering steers this week – or whenever the weather breaks.
 Working Dude Ranch Cabin Did you ever see Ma and Pa Kettle at the Farm? I can relate to their situation. I have been moving frying pans and buckets all over the cabin to catch the leaks. Our cabin started as a smokehouse – and hasn’t improved all that much. We do have running water and don’t have to carry it up from Eagle Creek. Now we even have solar – finally – with real lights and a refrigerator. Someone many years ago added another 2 tiny rooms and INDOOR plumbing. What a blessing. But the old roof leaks like a sieve. The porch leaks so badly that I have to keep sweeping water so it doesn’t run in the house. Furniture gets moved around and buckets and pans hold growing pools of rain. I feel like Pa Kettle. When it is raining, you can’t fix the roof. When it is sunny, you don’t need to fix the roof. We even have the new roof material. But putting it up seems to get put behind finishing a fence or hauling hay or moving cattle – you know – the everyday stuff on a ranch. But BEFORE next rain/snow – maybe we will fix the roof – this time.
|
|
