Californian Cowboy

8/15/12

2012-08-15T21:10:00.000-06:00

5/1/12

2012-05-01T09:02:00.001-06:00

Hey there everyone!

I have some great pictures and stories for you in this blog post, and it’s going to be quite a long one, so get pumped.

Spring time is here. I’m so stoked for the weather getting nicer, people in great spirits, animals giving birth to their young, and all the other great things which come along with spring. It is a fun time of the year here on the ranch, lots of things going on, very busy schedules, and lots of people coming and going to and from the ranch.

A couple of weeks ago, my dad came to visit, which was an absolute blast. It was so great to get him out here, and give him a chance to see what I’m doing. It’s tough to describe some aspects of my experiences to people, and experiencing it yourself is really the only way.

He got the full experience. One of the days we rode 22 miles, gathering a pasture, taking them to the carpenter corrals and branding 100 calves. It was a big day for me too, as it was the first branding of the year, and my fist branding ever. What an awesome experience to have my pops there, while I’m riding around the corral with Duke, roping calves, and bringing them to the branding pit. Dad even got in there and wrastled some calves to the ground and restrained them while we did our business. He really got into it, and it was so great to see.

We got a chance to do some fishing, where my dad actually caught some fish! Whoo hoo! Now he cant claim that he has never caught a fish in his life. I witnessed it with my own two eyes. Albert Arthur reeling in multiple fish.

Jonathan was nice enough to lend us on e of his guns so dad and I could go out and do some shooting/hunting. We had a such a laugh going out into the pasture and getting our shoot on.

We had some great cook outs, dinner at the Phillips’ place, and many other great meals. We had fun just hanging out with the crew here, everyone is so awesome, and I think they all had a good time chillin with my dad too.

I’l remember the weekend for the rest of my life, and I’m sure my dad will too. It was so great to have you out here dad, I’m proud to call you my father, and you’re a great role model to me. Not to mention you handled yourself like a true badass out here, not many people can come out here and fit in as well as you did, riding horses, wrastlin calves, shooting weapons, pulling fish, and throwing a mean fast ball. Nicely done pops.

So its branding season. One of the best times of the year here on the ranch. Tons of work to be done, thousands of calves to be branded, ear notched, vaccinated, and castrated. The brandings are full day events and have a ton of cool aspects to them. Unfortunately, I dont have any pictures of one yet, but we have two this week, and ill be sure to take some sweet ones. After that, I’ll do a post about brandings specifically.

I’ll also do a post about my new place were building out at the casita house. I’m gonna have my own little apartment space. I’m super stoked about that. I’ll go take some pictures and post them soon.

Everything is going great here, the lodge design is really coming into its final forms, I’m still loving working on it, and cant wait until construction starts.

Brutus is still kickin ass and taking names, he is doing awesome as my roping horse. We make a great team out there. Roped 15 or so calves last branding. Atta boy.

So I have a bunch of pictures for you, I’ll caption them to let you know what’s going on.

Fish which Connor and I caught this sunday out of head quarters pond. We were bound and determined to have fish tacos that night, and these 11 large mouth bass gave us plenty of meat for them. We were pretty proud of our catch.

Kathleen found a great beer batter recipe, and startes frying up the fish we had filleted. Wow, I've never seen that word in print filleted, what a weird looking word.

Only about half of the fish we fried up that night. It was soooooooo damn good.

Add to the fish some chopped cabbage, and carrots, roasted onions garlic and jalapenos, fish taco sauce made from sour cream, mayo, cayenne pepper, diced cilantro and lime juice, all folded between a soft taco shell. Holy moly, literally the best fish taco I've ever had. No joke. Way to go bunkhouse crew.

It's spring time, and LAMBS ARE HERE! And they're cute as hell.

Here are the telephone poles we set for the foundation of our new porch were building for the bunkhouse. Should be pretty sweet when we have a little nook to hang out in and watch the storms roll in from the west.

Wee were all very intrigued by the lighting that this storm produced, so we all went out to see what it was like outside. It ended up producing some spectacular photos. The western sky (behind us) was clear, and the sun was shining, but as you can see, the eastern sky was very dark and ominous. It was eerie, but very neat.

I like this shot. The bright colors contrasted against the dark sky.

There was about a 15 mph south-north wind, adding to the effect.

For anyone who doesn't know, thats the Colorado state flag.

Look how green it is out here right now! It amazes me every time I see it.

Well, there it is folks. Hope you enjoyed.

I'll be doing another post later this week about our brandings. Should be a good one.

In a while crocodile.

- E

4/2/12

2012-04-02T17:54:00.000-06:00

Hey there everyone.

Just wanted to do a short post to share a funny picture with you.

This happened while I was house sitting for jonathan the other day. I told his dog Oakley to load up into the truck, and she hopped up in. She then proceeded to sit exactly like a human would in the seat. It took me by complete surprise, and made me laugh so hard. Here's what it looked like.

Oh man that made me laugh. She is an awesome dog, and it was a pleasure to take care of her for the week. She rode around with me like this the entire week. Just awesome.

Well, its a big week here on the Chico. Its my birthday tomorrow, which is cool. Were halter breaking our new yearling foals which will be fun. Jonathan and Duke are building their new saddles. Big Al will be in town beginning wednesday night through Sunday, which I'm absolutely stoked for. Its gonna be so much fun having him here, and I cant wait to just chill with him. And to top it all off, we have our first branding on thursday! I'm pumped for that too, time to rope and wrastle some little calveys.

I'll try to keep my camera handy, should come up wth some great pictures this week, so ill post soon.

LATER GATORS.

- E

3/16/12

2012-03-16T08:46:00.002-06:00

IM BACK WORLD!!!!

Hey, so I’ve been on a hiatus from the ranch life, and as a result my blog as well.

I went home for a while. Went home to see the family mainly. My mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and I took a month off to go home and be with the family.

I also had some shit to deal with for school, which I wont get into because its a really long drawn out story, and I’ll just end up ranting.

Back to my mom. She’s just fine, other than being in a pretty serious amount of pain at times. Her cancer is between stage 0 and 1, and hopefully, will be taken care of in just a short period of time. I love you mom, you’re such a trooper.

It feels great to be back on the ranch, I forget how different this place is from a typical urban or semi-urban environment. It’s so peaceful out here. It is also great to see all my friends who I missed while back home. Everyone here has been so great helping me get through this tough time. Thank you everyone, your support means so much to me.

So I’m back, on the grind again, with the hunting lodge in my sights. I’ll be working full time on it from here on out, until it’s construction is complete. It seems to be moving along well, but there is a ton of work to do, as with any large project like this. Unfortunately, this means that my blog posts might be a bit drier for a while, as most of my time will be spent at a desk in front of paper or my computer screen.

However, I’ll still try to get some good shots of interesting subjects while I’m doing desk work like this because even though I’ll be at my desk most of the time, I wont’t be there all the time. With such a beautiful natural environment surrounding me, it would be almost impossible not to go outside at least once during each day. Also, I’ll be participating in some of the cooler cattle moves, some riding, some roping, brandings, concerts, etc. It’s going to be an awesome spring.

Last weekend one of my best friends from life, Trent Cohune, came out from Vail to visit me on the ranch. Although he was only here for one full day, we made the day count by going on a great ride in the morning, hunting in the afternoon, and fishing in the evening. It ended up being an absolute blast, it was so awesome to see a childhood friend which I really haven’t hung out with in years. After visiting, TJ has decided that he would like to apply for our summer internship here on the ranch, which would be awesome if he got. It would be so fun to have him out on the ranch this summer.

Here are some of the pictures we took last Sunday. Unfortunately, the camera didn't make it on our ride in the morning, so we only have pictures from hunting and fishing.

Anyways, they’re great pictures.

We converted the AR-15 to .22 cal so we could shoot a brick of rounds without paying 100s of dollars.

On the hunt

Oh hey look, I caught a fish...

Oh, fish number two!

(one cast later) fish number three!

I think I'll Tebow fish number 4.

I got one. Yea, one.

Keep em comin...

Ok, now you just look bored. Fish number six.

Finally, it's getting dark enough, he can stop embarrassing me at my own pond. Fish seven.

Ended on a beautiful note, what a great day we had.

And some extras from previous days...

The view towards Pikes Peak from the exact location of the new hunting lodge. Pretty awesome.

A cool scene right outside of the bunkhouse.

A beautiful moon we had one night, this photo doesn't do it justice, but it does alright.

Well, life is good out here, It's great to be back and great to see everyone again. I'll start posting regularly again now that I'm back.

Hope you enjoyed this one. Talk to you soon!

- E

1/16/12

2012-01-16T06:12:00.000-07:00

Hey there everyone!

Just wanted to post this video I couldn't post the other day. It is a video of us riding out and wrangling some cattle.

Everything here on the ranch is great, the weather has been beautiful, mid 40's and 50's for the last two weeks.

It's 5 am right now, were saddling up in an hour, so I have to go make lunch and get ready for the cold day ahead.

Hope all is well in the rest of the world.

- E

1/10/12

2012-01-10T19:34:00.003-07:00

Hey there everyone!!!

So we just started our weaning process today. This is where we bring in all of our pairs (mothers and calves) and separate them from each other.

Its time for the little ones to learn how to live on their own.

So today, we ventured out to the far ends of the ranch, looking to gather 4 pastures in one day.

It was a long day of riding, especially since I haven't really rode in about a month. (when I say really ride, i mean from longer than 3 hours)

Today, we started out at around 7:30 and arrived home at 5. About a ten hour ride.

It was a great one. It felt so nice to be back on bruiser, cruising along.

We had an awesome group today too, about 14 of us. Jeff, David and Carla came over from the MZ, we had Mark from Australia, our new interns, Kathleen and Katherine, and the whole chico crew.

It was an all around stellar ride, the weather was superb, the cattle moved as smooth as silk, and the people we were with were just fantastic.

Things are good here at the ranch, although the weather is supposed to turn on us tomorrow, we will be riding all day tomorrow as well.

Here are the pictures and videos from today. Hope you enjoy.

The Boss Man. Leading us out.

Mr. Allen Ferguson. Our Foreman, also looking like a boss.

Jeff, standing majestically on the hilltop.

Some lopers, running away as we ride up. These things are about 500 yds away. This is my camera in super zoom mode. Its legit huh?

Oh Bruzer

Look at his thick sweaty winter coat. He is also fat and out of shape.

Hair justa blowing in the wind.

A nice little landscape pano

Bored, waiting for cettles.

David, hanging out with some cettles

An awesome group shot to wrap up the day.

For some reason, blogger wont let me upload a video right now,

Guess you'll have to wait till tomorrow.

Hope you liked this post!

Gutennacht

1/5/12

2012-01-05T20:26:00.001-07:00

Hey there everyone.

Jonathan and I had our first (at least my first) meeting today with the Landscape architects were working with on the hunting lodge.

It felt like it went really, and I'm really excited about getting rolling on the project. It will be an absolutely awesome experience for me, getting to work on this project, hopefully, seeing it all the way through construction.

I could go on, but I will later when I actually have design content to show.

for now, I have a few cool pictures to show you.

Here they are.

First, a great sunset panorama from last night. The sunsets and sunrises had been unbelievable the last few nights. I believe it's because of the recent heat wave we have had. (60 degree highs)

Mmmmm, a nice sight to rise to in the morning. beautiful.

The animals we slaughtered, which we will eat for the next year. Hanging in the quoncet hut, waiting to get butchered so we can start eating.

Some nice pictures.

I'm in a great place here. I can't wait to get rolling deep into the hinting lodge. very excited.

Goodnight world.

-E

1/3/12

2012-01-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to post up some videos I have taken, as well as some pictures from today. .

Everything here on the ranch is great, it seems like everyone is in very good spirits. It could be the fact that it was 55 degrees today and its supposed to be 60 tomorrow. woo hoo!

Anyways, this first video is of a really funny ram who is penned up all alone in our corrals right now. I'm not really sure why he is there, but he is, and he is quite curious.

Today, I gave him some chips, and he started to follow me around. When I wouldnt give him any more chips he started to charge me and try to ram me. This is probably a good 300 lb ram with some big ol' balls. He is a feisty one. The funny thing is, most of the time he will let you just come up and scratch him on the head. not this time though...

This second video is a short one of Cecilio and I catching Pheasant. It was the first video I ever shot, so it's a bit shaky. And, I only remembered to bring my camera out on the last bird I caught.

I'll make a better video of this because it really is an exciting event. But here it is.

Oh by the way, I cant upload HD videos because the internet here is dog.

There it is folks, just a snipit.

Talk soon!

1/2/12

2012-01-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone.

Just a short post with some pictures from my new camera. Theyre stunning

Everything is going well out here on the ranch. Its cold, but not too bad. Were still really busy, the cold doesnt deter us at all

Work is steady, were going to ramp up here soon as we start our weaning process. lots of riding for sure. I'm excited to get back on a horse more.

We just bought 20 new horses, and apparently there are some big ol ones in the bunch, so ill be giving bruiser a rest and hopping on some new horses

Here are some of my latest pictures. Enjoy.

This is Jet, He is the Phillips's youngest black lab. He was my co-pilot for a coupe of days while the Phillips family was on vacation.

He is such a mellow little guy. Really, an awesome dog

What a boss

This is a little pano of the flight pens. Where the birdies stay.

A little photoshop job I did with a picture from bisonwerks

Another shop job of the photo of the ceefs.

This is what you see when you step out the front door of the bunkhouse. Most of headquarters.

I hope you like those.

The riding action is about to whip up again, so Ill post when things get exciting.

Goodbye, world. And happy new year.

11/29/11

2011-11-29T20:23:00.001-07:00

Arrivederci my friends.

I just received a CD of the pictures that were on my memory card which pooped out on me.

My mom took it home after she visited and had a camera guy get them off. As a result, I have some new ones for ya, as well as some sweet panoramas I just shopped together.

Things here on the ranch are great, life is exciting as always.

For the last week or so I have started my work with Jonathan out at the fight pens. These pens house the pheasant, chucker, and quail which we provide for hunts.

We started by doing a bit of renovations on the pens themselves. We put up some shade screen around the pen to provide the birds some more cover. We cleaned up the trash, tumbleweeds, and excess supplies.

So my main job is to change the birds' water every day and make sure their feeders are full. Pretty basic stuff.

On days which we have a hunt booked however, I get to do much more.

Jonathan and I walk into the pens with big nets in our hands after the amount of birds we need for the hunt.

The hunters pay for a certain amount of birds, and we put them out for the hunt about a half hour before the hunt in a specified spot.

So were catching these birds. Its really, really fun. Birds are flying everywhere, were cracking up, dodging birds while trying to swoop them out of the air with our nets.

Its great fun.

We catch as many as we need. For a hunt of say 3 people... 30 birds or so.

We put them in their crates, and head to the schoolhouse to meet with the hunters, and depending if they hired one, the guide, either rick or bob.

The hunters hang out, shoot practice rounds, stand by the fire, drink coffee, whatever they want.

They hang while Jonathan, and I go out to one of the four hunting fields to set the birds.

We cruise out with the birds in crates in the truck. We grab them out of the crates by the legs, and walk them to some tall grass or brush. The whole time were walking them there were swinging them in circles to disorient them so they wont fly away when we put them down.

So we dizzy them up a bit, put them into cover, and head back to the hunters to let them start.

Its a great time really. However, it probably won’t be as cool when its 10° out. We’ll see.

So I’ve mainly been working with Jonathan since being back from Bisonwerks. It has honestly been great. He’s a great guy to work with, he teaches me so much every day. We also get time to start talking hunting lodge plans. Its a good introduction to his thoughts about the lodge design.

Unfortunately, I still dont have a functional camera, so no pics of the birdies just yet.

I asked santa for a camera though, so hopefully, if I’ve been a good boy, yall will be watching some 1080p HD video of birds hitting my face. Yes.

However, I do have some older pictures off the CD from my old memory card. I think I’ll just caption them...

So enjoy. I think its a bunch of stuff from pouring water tanks and stuff.

And of course, close up shots of bruze cruze...

Hey bruze.

yea?

Did you know you look like a big ol' donkey?

A nicely lit one of the backhoe. Could be a damn John deere ad.

By the way, a lot of these pics are worth clicking on to view bigger, especially the panoramas.

Cooper and Nick using the transect to check the level of the water tank. When completed, the tank has to be level within 1/4". Which took a while.

Our tank pouring foreman, Cooper. What a boss.

Thats right baby. Finshed another one. Stuart and I assembled and leveled most of the tanks together. He's feeling pretty proud right now.

Mr. Leach joined us for the pouring of the tanks. Nice look David. That stash is DERTY.

Uhhhhh, I'm not really sure whats going on right now.

Pouring concrete to set the water tanks in position. This has been a long time coming.

Koda, our mascot, looking unusually sly.

So yea, the tanks are all poured, we did 5 tanks in 3 days. It was really awesome to see them poured and done.

Now, the water lines are charged, the tanks are full, and Cooper is leading the charge to finish the pipeline/tanks project.

Its been a hue undertaking, but really awesome to see it coming together. I know Cooper has been busting his ass on this project. Almost there Coop.

A cool shot of Jonathan, Michael, Allen, and Nick riding off for a day of wrangling.

ATTENTION!!!!! THIS MAN IS OFFICIALLY SINGLE AND ON THE MARKET!!! HIS NAME IS ALLEN FERGUSON, HE WORKS AT CHICO BASIN RANCH, AND IS A DREAMY COWBOY WHO'S SHY AT FIRST, BUT HAS A LOT TO OFFER UNDER THE SURFACE. HE LIKES REDSKINS FOOTBALL, LONG HORSE RIDE PICNICS, AND BEING THE MOST BALLER RANCH FOREMAN EVER. REMEMBER, CHICO BASIN RANCH, LOOK IT UP.

Hey mama, hey ceef.

This should be our new postcard or something. Its a great picture if you ask me. check the heart on the forehead of the mama looking at me.

Now check out these sweet panoramas, the first one, a nice one of a cattle drive over whipple ridge, and the second is just a damn nice sunset one night.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I'm pretty much out for now, but I might try to get a cheap memory card at wally world this weekend so I can get by till Christmas.

I also hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, I'm going to try and get some pictures from the Kenturkey Derby.

Oh man, that story is going have to wait until the next post. Its a funny one though.

I have to go to bed now.

Goodnight world.

11/14/11

2011-11-14T13:09:00.001-07:00

Hello my friends and family!!!

I’m back, and damn, do I have some awesome stories to tell you...

A few days after I posted last, most everyone from Chico Basin Ranch, including myself, took off for our sister ranch, Medano-Zapata Ranch. Check out the link if you have time, Its an amazing place which really strives to integrate sustainable ecological ranching practices into everything they do. They accomplish this while also adhering to a traditional western lifestyle and attitude.

The ranch is approximately 100,000 acres which The Nature Conservancy purchased in an easement agreement. Duke and the Phillips family have a very unique agreement with The Nature Conservancy, to maintain, care for, and harvest the 2,500 head Bison herd which occupies 50,000 acres of the land. The Phillips family also uses the facilities located on the land to run a guest ranch operation. The income from the guest lodge and the sale of bison meat cover the costs of operation.

Every year, around late October, we round’em up.

It’s a week of the most intense action I have ever been apart of.

A week of rounding up herds of wild bison, which are some of the most athletic animals I have ever witnessed.

Its was truly an amazing experience. We begin preparing for the event many weeks prior.

Duke invites his close friends to come join us, who are mostly all phenomenal riders. Tess and the Zapata crew make all the arrangements for food, lodging, and transportation. Jeff and his crew ready the fences for the angry bison, and prepare the bison barn for processing. At the Chico, about a week before, we start gathering our best horses and shipping them over to the MZ (Medano-Zapata), bringing the last load over when we arrive the day before round up begins. We do all this and much more to prepare for this week of madness.

Everyone who was going from the Chico packed up their best cowboy digs and best horses two Thursdays ago, and headed out tame the wild beasts.

The people who came from the Chico were:

Duke

Duke Jr.

Allen

Jonathan

Cooper

Stewart

Nick

Myself

The Zapata crew consisted of:

Tess

David

Jeff

Carla

Asta

Rex

Joe

Mike

Ronna

Nadine

The film crew, who documented the entire experience was:

Alf

Josh

Isa

We had many friends and guests ride with us over the week, most who came for around 3 or 4 days. (I hope I remember them all)

Toby (check out Toby and Jody's ranch)

Jody (check out Toby and Jody's critically acclaimed start-up Top 50 Ranches)

Kate

Atticus

Quattro

Blue

Jeannie

Jay

Karen (our photographer)

Danielle

Jason

Holly

Carlos

And probably more.

Everyone ended up playing a crucial role in the process. It was great to have everyone there, and I feel we all worked really well together and had a shit ton of fun as well. I made some good friends and thank everyone for showing me the time of my life.

So back to Thursday.

We quit work at around noon on Thursday, and loaded up the cars and trucks. We put our last load of horses into the trailer, including my main man, Bruzer.

We arrived at the MZ at around 5, and unloaded all of our gear. We ate an amazing dinner of Bison enchiladas cooked by the lodge’s chef, Mike. We introduced ourselves to each other, got acquainted. We ate and drank and laughed until about 7, the energy in the lodge was fervent.

Every person, even the most experienced, with butterflies fluttering away.

After we were satiated, Duke called us all into the conference room for a pre-game chalk talk. A chat, to go over strategy, announce teams, run through situations, and ask questions.

This just pumped me up that much more. We talked about how this year we are going to break up into three teams of about 6 each. Each team plays a specific role while running the bison in. We talked about how the bison like hang out in herds ranging from 20 animals or less to 200 animals or more.

Our job is to stalk these groups of wild bison, sneak up on them strategically, and when they start fleeing, run with them, steering them in the right direction towards the 1 sq. mile trap. We would do this many times over, venturing out to locate a herd of bison, a sort of reconnaissance mission. We would stand on the rooftops of buildings with binos and scout for groups. We would ride out up to 3 miles, then, as stealthily as possible, creep up on them, spook them, and run them to the trap.

We went through many different scenarios, talked about the roles each team and team member would play in the round up, talked about what would happen if somebody falls, if bison escape, if the shit hits the fan.

All of this is getting me straight pumped up.

I’m jittery after this meeting, anticipating the moment when I see the first Bison take off, in a flight for it’s life, fleeing the rugged cowboys which aim to contain it.

I didn't sleep well that night.

The next morning though, I arose at 5:30 easily.

We all met for breakfast at the stuart house. Everyone is amped. Ready to get to chasin.

We make our way over to the Bison Barn at 7. All of out horses are there, waiting to be fed and then saddled. We feed our steads, saddle them, and gear up.

Almost all have revolvers holstered on their hips. People are in their nicest riding attire, have their best chaps, boots, and spurs on. Blades are sharpened and sheathed. Saddles are polished and cleaned. Its official.

We build a fire and listen to music while our team leaders review some last minute thoughts. Were ready.

We mount up and trot off, in pursuit of our first victims.

We quickly locate a herd of about 60, fairly close, about a mile from the trap. A nice introductory group. A test-run.

We form up into one large group, Duke, Jeff, Duke jr., Jonathan, Cooper and some of the other vets talk about the general strategy for this run. How we will approach, what our team formations will look like and how they will be positioned, which direction we are shooting for, which gate we are putting them into, what the final objective is.

If all is understood, we break into our teams. Team leaders then begin reviewing our teams specific strategy. We talk about riding abilities, positioning of team leaders, communication techniques, and herding formations.

All of this in a whisper. Stealth is the key.

When we get the go ahead from big duke, all three teams break off into their designated positions, beginning their march toward the bison.

We are in tight formation as we make our approach, 3 lines of 6 riders, appearing as cavalry do while marching into battle.

Then, slowly, the Bison lift their heads, with their thick manes and large horns facing at us, letting us know, we see you. Every rider is on point, perfectly positioned to make an advance, all is calm, its almost dead silent.

As the margin between my team of horses and the herd of Bison becomes thinner, it happens.

One takes off.

And I mean takes off.

Its on.

Team leaders start screaming, go go go!!!!

Your horse takes off into a full run.

Your job is to stay on your teammates ass at all times, covering up holes in the formation which bison could possibly slip through. You have no choice but to keep up. Its your job.

Keep up.

At this point, words cannot describe the intense rush of adrenaline I’m feeling. Honestly. I have done some crazy shit in my day, but nothing, and I mean nothing, has come close to this.

We’re hauling ass, right next to this herd of wild animals. People are screaming at the very top of their lungs, trying to intimidate these massive creatures. They aren’t scared.

The crack of bull whips fills the air, sounding like guns firing in a battle of rouge vaqueros.

Dust fills my nostrils and mouth, I can hardly see through the cloud.

Bison are swerving, trying to make a break from the herd, but we jam them back into formation. It seems like were headed in the right direction.

Brutae is panting, but he has too much heart to quit. He continues to jump over 10 foot creek crossings, dodge remnant wire and metal, jump over chico brush, and kick it into gears I never knew he had.

I can see the destination in the distance, a tiny white flag marks the gate that were shooting for. Lets go brutus. Just a half a mile left.

In the last half mile, you begin to regain consciousness, get your wits. You come out of this blur with one final thought in mind. Get these beasts in that gate.

The formations look good, just like we rehearsed.

The bison find the gate. Thank the lord.

The pack of riders erupts. Screams, whistles, whip cracks, and an assortment of hollers fills the crisp air.

It feels so good. I honestly cant describe how good it feels. The adrenaline is flowing. You accomplished your goal.

And your alive.

Your absolutely 100% alive.

What an intense feeling it was.

The run feels like an eternity, but probably only lasts for 5-10 minutes. We do at most 5 in a day. Usually 2 or 3.

After we do one, we rest. For around an hour. We eat, smoke, and drink. We let our horses do the same. Then, its time to go find the next group.

Then we wrap the day up with a talk from Duke and the team leaders about what we did right and what went wrong. How can we improve our skills and teamwork? How can we deliver more bison per run into the trap?

We all untack, take care of some last minute chores, and head to the lodge for a stellar dinner cooked by chef mike.

In the evenings, we sit around a campfire, tell jokes, and drink whiskey. We laugh, into the night, about stories from that day. Who fell off, who almost fell off, who got charged by a heifer defending her calf, who is taking their horse out for round 2 tomorrow.

There are so many things to talk about. I think this is why our group meshed so well together in the beginning. All everyone wanted to do was talk. Talk about how they saw you come thiiiis close to falling off Brutus. Talk about how they couldn't see the buffalo running next to them, until they were 3 feet away from it, because the dust was so thick.

So many stories. So many laughs. Shared with such great people. Its really what made this experience what it is. Life changing.

This went on for a week. I think 8 days exactly. Everyday we would do the same, and everyday we would love it even more, because we were getting better.

We finished with around 1500 bison in the trap.

Now, you might ask, what are we going to do with all of these bison?

That story will have to be saved for another post, as my mind and fingers are exhausted from just writing about the roundup. I’m literally jittery from reliving the experience. What a blast.

The film crew said the documentary should take a couple of months to produce, and I’m not sure when the photographer’s work will be released to us. But I didn't have a camera while there, so I’m relying on outside sources for video and photo content. It will come in chunks.

For now, I have some photos that Toby, one of the riders, took during the roundup. They are really great. Thank you for the photos Toby.

The photos are great start for trying to explain something which cannot be.

Here they are, I hope you enjoy.

Our Leader, Commander, and Instinct.

You're pretty cool too cooper

A great shot of a group of us telling stories from the previous run

Bertha and I checking out the scenery

Scouting for beasts

Pure instinct at work

Bertha and I. Bertha was a great horse, just not for rounding up bison. She is a draft horse meant to pull wagons and plows. Not run top speed chasing bison.

Stuart. Contemplating.

Little Duke drawing us a map. You have no idea how much this helps a visual thinker like me.

Thats my team right there baby!!! The original Gossage's Sausages!!!

Strapped and Stealthy. Thats what we were.

I believe thats the whole group. 21 on our biggest day, 12 on our smallest.

Atticus, just laxin. I believe this was pre-run, while the leaders were strategizing.

Whiskey anyone? It'll take the edge off...

Hey Jody.

One of my team leaders, Jeff, scouting for bison.

Nice one of Dukie.

The Dukes, talking to the film crew about their positioning.

Rolling out.

Plan is set. Lets go that way.

Creeeeping up. Shhhh.

Right before they get pissed. A beautiful shot with the Sante de Cristos in the background and the Great Sand Dunes at their base.

Ready. Set.

Go!!!

A little sip after the run.

How do you manage to do it Jonathan?

I hope I have slightly conveyed to you the intensity of this experience.

I believe the video footage will do it much more justice, but hopefully my words, and these pictures, suffice for now.

Thank you for reading. I appreciate your interest so much.

Keep checking back for more.

Talk soon.

10/22/11

2011-10-22T16:19:00.002-06:00

Hello all!

It’s been a while since I last posted because my camera still isn’t working. I know now though that it’s just the memory card on the camera, not the reader in my computer.

Last weekend though, my mom came and visited me on the ranch. It was a blast and she took some great pictures.

We have been up to some very intensive cattle work these last weeks, and she got tossed right in the thick of it. I think she had a great time, she sure got the entire ranching experience while she visited.

Ill just post the pictures and caption them.

Pulled up on Brutae when mom first arrived. We had just drove in about 800 head into headquarters, which was cool for her first sight of me.

Working a gate while we weaned the calfs from their mothers. It was a bit sad to see the calfs getting separated from their moms, but they got over it. After about 2 days the calf's crying stopped.

A really cute calf with a perfect heart on his forehead.

On Saturday, for our half day, mom and I built electric gates over one of the new watertanks we built. Since a fence bisects the tank, I had to get in and tie the loop.

Mama was an awesome helper while building the gates. She was great about getting in and trying stuff, even building scary electric fences and learning how to use the cutting torch.

A great picture of the outhouse at the schoolhouse. Nice composition mom.

Cowboy up.

Mom at the schoolhouse halfway through our ride.

Running Bruzer around the schoolhouse.

Mom on a horse!!! She did awesome. I pushed her a bit to get her going, and once we adjusted her stirrups, she became much more confident and comfortable.

Riding through an awesome arroyo I know of in the schoolhouse pasture.

Feeding the sheep.

The Vet came to help us pregnancy check the heifers. Thats her using the ultrasound.

You know.

Mama and I. What an awesome weekend.

We really had a great weekend. I love you mom, and I had so much fun with you. Thank you for all you do for me.

And to the ri lo and pops, I can't wait for Christmas to see you. I miss you both very much.

Everything at the ranch is going really great. We have been riding more than ever, doing a lot of sorting of cattle, moving cattle, and spreading them into pastures for the winter.

I've been switching up my horse game a bit because I've been in need of a faster, more agile horse for sorting cattle. Sorry Bruzer, you can haul ass, but it takes you a bit to get there.

Cocaine however, has been a great horse for me. Will take off in a full sprint and catch mostly anything. Sometimes, he will take off when i dont tell him too, but the adrenaline rush is nice.

So the ranch has been hopping, we have been really busy. So much to do before the cold hits.

I'm still loving it here. Seriously. I have so much damn fun here every day. Life is truly great.

Until next time,

Good eve'nin

-Elliot

10/8/11

2011-10-08T16:37:00.002-06:00

Hey there everyone.

We finally finished up all the water tanks. Whew.

We poured the last one yesterday. It put up a fight though. Two of the three cement trucks got stuck on there way out to the tank, the concrete dried really fast, the sand was hard to work with, and some of the drivers were hard to deal with.

But we got it done and thats all that matters. Just have some loose ends to wrap up.

Now, we can start the fun stuff again. (not that building water tanks wasn’t a blast...)

It was a pretty bland week folks. Just building and pouring tanks.

Oh, and no pictures because I can’t get them off my camera. My memory card cant be read by my computer. I dont know if it’s the computer or the card, Ill have to find out.

I have some good ones too...

So until I can get that figured out, Ill be pictureless.

Hope all is well with everyone.

10/2/11

2011-10-02T16:52:00.001-06:00

Well hey there everyone!

Its been the longest gap between entries so far, so I’ve got some catching up to do.

The reason I havent posted in a while is because this week has been literally the most tired I’ve been since being here. I’ll get done with work around 7 each night, and literally only have enough energy to eat some dinner, and maybe get in the shower. Blog entries were on my mind, but I always passed out before I could pick up my computer.

Anyways, Ill give you a recap on the last week. Ill try to keep it brief, Because I could go on and on about all the stuff I’ve been up to.

I’ll start with last weekend. Cooper, Stuart, and I went into Boulder to hit a concert. It was The Wood Brothers, Here is some of their music...

It was absolutely awesome, the venue was the Fox Theatre, a very historic venue in Boulder. Allen, one of the ranchers here at the Chico, saw the Dave Mathews Band there in 1994. Isn’t that awesome?

The concert was fantastic. The music was great, I got to schmooze some ladies for the first time in a long while, and 3 for 2 PBR deals rock.

After the concert we went to Denver to Stuart’s cousin Ben’s house. It was really nice of him to let us crash there, and his house was really nice.

We woke up the next morning for our fly fishing trip we had planned for Sunday. Cooper took off, as he had to go get some work done on the ranch. Ben, Stuart, and I took off for “the magic mile”, a fishing spot up in the rockies. I’m not sure exactly where It was, but it was in this beautiful basin, tucked in between MASSIVE peaks. Unfortunately I forgot my camera on that trip, it would have been great to get pics of the concert and the fishing trip.

I ended up catching 7 very nice sized trout that day, so my first fly fishing experience on a river went exceedingly well. I had a ton of fun with Stuart, Ben, and Stuart’s uncle Grant.

We cruised home after fishing, exhausted, not so much looking forward to work the next day.

I thought I was going to be building water tanks on Monday, like I had been doing for the past week, but Monday ended up being a great day.

Michael, Allen and I saddled up and rode out to the chrome white to gather a herd of around 85 bulls from the pasture. Our mission was to prepare them to be shipped out in the next few days.

We got the bulls and rode them back to our corral here at headquarters. We then proceeded to cut out the old bulls who weren’t getting sold, and then to cut out the smaller, more feminine looking bulls out, which we would turn into steers.

The next job was to take the bulls which we deemed unfit for sale, and band them. Banding is when you use a this ratchet tool with a surgical band loaded into it, and tighten the rubber band around the bulls testicles. You tighten a metal clamp when the band is tight enough, and cut off the excess rubber. This rubber band constricts blood flow to the balls, and they eventually fall off. This transforms the bull into a steer. We will eventually just sell these steers for meat, or eat them ourselves.

This whole process takes place in a series of small corrals, the race and the chute. I dont have pictures of the corrals, but the race and chute look like this. The race is red and the chute is yellow.

They are meant to hold the animal in place to be able to preform any number of jobs.

The next job was to get the rest of the 80 bulls loaded one at a time into the chute, and de-horn them. De-horning is the act of lopping off the tips of the bulls horns, making them blunt, so they don’t maul each other while being transported. Also, so they cant gore people as badly if it does happen.

My job in this whole process was to cut 10-15 bulls out of the herd at a time, and take them from the large corral they were all in, to a smaller corral which feeds into the race which feeds the chute. I did this all on foot, right down there with all the bulls. Talk about intense.

Being in the smallest corral which feeds the chute with ten extremely pissed off animals who weigh a little under a ton is honestly, a bit scary. Not to mention, my job is to smack them on the ass with a stick to get them into the rush which feeds the chute. These animals are all so very reluctant to load into this chute, coaxing them in is no easy task. A couple of them got really pissed off, and gave me a nice charge. To evade them, you do like in the rodeo, run really fast at the fence and hop up on it, trying to get your legs out of the way of their horns. God damn, what an adrenaline rush. It was so much fun.

We got all the bulls fixed up, and put them back in a holding pen, waiting to be shipped out. A very successful day, and a job well done according to Michael.

I didn’t take any pictures of this either, not because I didn’t think to, but because as I was participating in it, I realized its not the most glamourous part of our job. Not really something to showcase. Lots of blood.

So I got one day of really exciting work at the beginning of the week, but the rest of the week consisted mainly of building the water tanks which are at the end points of all the dam pipe we have been laying for the last months. They are about 40 feet in diameter and made of corrugated 1/8” galvanized steel. Heavy sons of bitches.

Tuesday through Friday were filled with building and leveling tanks and float chambers. We use a transect to get everything level to within a quarter of an inch. It takes pretty much an entire day to build and level a tank and float chamber. We built 6 of them.

Not much to talk about there, pretty monotonous stuff. I’ll get some pictures of a completed tank so you can understand what they look like.

Other than that, been checking a fair amount of electric fence, wrangling the horses every morning, and all sorts of general upkeep stuff as well.

Yesterday was a great day though. We typically don’t ride on Saturdays, but yesterday we did. We moved about 2000 yearlings from the homes into the south wolf. The ride went great. Brutae performed exceedingly well, he is really getting used to the spurs, and is still being really responsive to my commands.

We gathered the pasture and got them moving in the right direction, pushed them into the south wolf, and our half day Saturday was done before I knew it. Great day.

Last night we hung out at may camp, with Cooper and Stuart. Stuart cooked bomb enchiladas for all of us, and we just chilled out, read, ate, and shot the shit. At around 9 o’clock, Tullar showed up to hang out. Tullar and I ended up sitting on the porch of may camp talking with one of our guests until midnight. We sat there trading hunting stories (of which I dont have any) and drinkin whiskey, mostly listening to our guest re-live his most glorious hunting moments.

After that, tullar and I went back to his house and hung out tilll about 130. It was real fun just chillen with him, he is an awesome guy, he knows so much about everything, there’s never a dull moment.

Now I’m sitting here in the bunkhouse, with my new roomie. His name is Nick, he is the new apprentice here on the ranch. He actually went to Miramonte high school, one of my biggest rival schools. He grew up in el sobrante, about 20 minutes away from where I grew up. He is a cool kid, seems like he will be really easy to live with too. I really liked living alone, but I do have to say, its nice having someone to chat with.

It’s been a week since I posted last. I knew I couldn’t keep up with it every night. But, I think I am going to start posting every couple of days from now on. Now that I’m in the thick of it, a lot of my time consists of more menial jobs which I have probably already explained to you. So I think ill tell you about the cool things that happen every couple of days.

I have to get better about carrying my camera with me at all times too, I find myself wanting to take pictures of cool stuff all the time, but not having my camera.

Just as a broad statement, I would like to tell everyone that I’m still loving this place even more ever single day I’m here. Every single day is a new adventure. I’m constantly thinking, problem solving, working hard with my friends, laughing, and absolutely loving life. I really cant put into words how much I love being here. Its more than I could have ever expected.

Here are some pictures for yall... Hope you enjoy them

Tullar, working in the leather shop

Michael, doing an education seminar

A nice evening on the Chico.

Cooper, looking like the boss he is.

Saddling up at sunrise. Very peaceful

Hope all is well with everyone,

Talk soon.

9/20/11

2011-09-20T22:10:00.002-06:00

Hello Everyone!

Today was a very solid day.

I spent the day with Cooper, building and fixing electric fence.

Electric fencing plays a huge role in what we do. It can act as both permanent and temporary fence which holds cattle from breaking into pastures they’re not supposed to.

One of the most consistent jobs I will hold here is checking the charge of all sorts of electric fences. Its a very important job, as the cattle need to stay in their designated pastures.

So, Cooper spent the day with me reviewing the basics of electric fence management, both checking it and building it.

It was fun, I like it a lot. I’m sure it will be something which I absolutely master throughout my stay here. Rafa was really good at it, and told me it just takes practice (like everything).

We spent the entire day running through it, and I believe I have a good handle on it. Now, just need to practice.

On Friday, I rode Brutae all day. By mid-day, he was becoming very unresponsive to my commands, and I was having to work really hard to get him to do what I told him. Little Duke recommended I ride him with spurs next time.

So, yesterday I did. What a huge difference. It was like he was a whole new horse. Really though, He had so much more “giddy-up” than before. He was much more responsive to my commands, and much more spry.

The only thing was, the spurs I rode with didnt fit me at all, way too small. There was however, another pair of new ones which Little Duke told me I could use, but they didn’t have any bootstraps.

So, tonight I made some. I think they came out really well.

Take a look at my brand new pair of spurs...

I’m really stoked on them. Cant wait to ride with them.

I just got done making them, and I need to shower and go to bed, but I thought I’d share them with you.

Hope you like them.

Until tomorrow, Goodnight friends.

9/19/11

2011-09-19T20:33:00.000-06:00

Whew, I'm exhausted right now.

We rode from 7 till about 3 today, so it wasn't incredibly long or anything, just a ton of yearlings who really didn't want to move.

It was only Michael, Allen, Jonathan, and myself moving 1341 yearlings. What a massive job it was.

Rounding them up went really smoothly, but moving them three pastures over was the tough part. They kept wanting to just stop and eat.

We did a lot of riding to get them going, and by the end we, and our horses, were absolutely spent.

It was fun though, every day riding is fun.

I forgot my camera, so nada tonight. I'm literally falling asleep writing this, and its only 8:30.

Until tomorrow, Goodnight.

9/18/11

2011-09-18T22:05:00.001-06:00

Hello there!!

I had a great ride on Friday, and a great weekend to follow.

Friday’s ride started really well. We gathered the pasture, and pushed the herd into the corral. It’s the time of year when were separating out the bulls to weigh them and sell them. So, when we got the herd into the corral, about 200 animals, we started cutting the bulls away.

This was something I had never done before, which ended up to be quite a thrill. It takes experience to know how much pressure to put on the animal and where to put it to make it cooperate with your demands. I enjoyed just watching michael, allen, rafa, Jonathan, and duke jr at work. It’s amazing how well coordinated they are, really without saying a word at all.

We successfully got all the bulls separated from the cows. I helped out I think, didnt get in the way, and cut some out myself.

After that we split up, Rafa, Allen, and myself went all the way out to the carpenter to wrangle up 15 more bulls which were wandering somewhere in the massive pasture. Our job was to bring them back to the corral, join them up with the rest of the 85 bulls we had separated,, and drive them to a pasture called the chrome white.

We found the bulls in the carpenter, they were on the far side, laying in the creek bed in the shade.

They were huge. I mean massive. Allen said he estimated the biggest to be about a ton.

They moved so slow. Theres no pushing these guys to go any faster either. They go at their own pace, and theres really nothing you’re gonna do to change that. But finally, around 2 o’clock, we got them into the corral, and joined up with the others.

We started out towards the chrome white. About a quarter of the way there, we rounded a fence corner with exactly 100 bulls. At that fence corner, about 20 heifers were crammed into a group. When we passed, they got really excited. So excited that they decided to break through the fence and join us.

This was the first mishap of the afternoon. We had to stop the move, and cut out the heifers. This is really tough to do while in the middle of an open pasture. With no barriers to keep the herd together, they tend to get all cut up and splayed out.

We cut out 5 heifers and thought we got all of them, later we would find out that we didn’t. Allen went back to put them in and fix the fence while rafa and I continued toward the chrome white with the heard of 102 animals. Allen ended up cutting himself real bad on the fence.

He rejoined with us, and we continued the drive. When we arrived at the gate, we encountered our next obstacle. In the very corner of the pasture, we had trenched, and the trench was blocking our way to the gate. We had basically cut off the corner of the pasture with the trench, and the gate was on the other side. Damn.

About 3/4 of the bulls figured they could jump the trench and got through the gate just fine. The remaining 25 however, just didnt have the balls to jump over. We waited and tried to push them over for about 30 minutes. After that we decided to just cut the fence on our side of the trench and let them in through the opening. Great idea, but one, one, bull decided that he just wasnt going to go through.

He was a huge white and brown bull who was lame, and really really pissed off. He had just been taken on a 5 mile trek with a hurt leg and he just wasnt having any more of it. We tried for a solid hour and a half to get those animals through the fence, and it was apparent this one just wasnt gonna go. I started to patch up the fence we had cut while rafa and allen led him all the way back to may camp where there was a gate we could let him through. They got him in. Yes.

We trotted back to headquarters after that, completing our ride at 5:30. And 11 hour ride.

It was a fun, challenging, sometimes frustrating ride. One of my favorites so far. Brutus rode really well as well. Except when we were cutting the bulls as well as when we were trying to pus them over the trench, he is not as agile as I would like. He cant make quick starts stops and turns too well, and in that situation, it is totally necessary to be able to. The bulls were moving quickly and suddenly, you needed to be able to react to that, countering their moves in split seconds. Brutae is just a bit too big for that. I’m not complaining about him, just the wrong riding situation for him. Its like me trying to be a running back. Its just not gonna work.

Anyways, I went into town that Friday night, got groceries, so I wouldn’t have to do it on Sunday.

Saturday I cleaned up around headquarters until about 1. Thats it.

Kinda just hung out after work until we went over to may camp for rafa’s going away party at 4.

It was great, he had no idea we were throwing it for him. His first hit was seeing the freshly skinned goat that cooper had bought. He was asking all sorts of questions about why we had so much food and beer. We finally broke it to him that everyone was coming over for a going away bash. He was so stoked.

Jonathan arrived, and with him so did his guns. We ended up shooting his frickin awesome AR-15, and his .45. It was so much fun. The holographic site he has on that thing is soooo sick.

We had such a great time at the party. Cooked up the goat which was absolutely delicious, drank, sang songs, danced, and just had a blast. It was so fun, I wish I had taken some pictures.

I woke up to a phone call from Jim letting me know they were at the front gate. I quickly got dressed, and went out to hop on the dirtbike to meet them, but they were already in the parking lot when I came out of the bunkhouse! It was awesome, they just made it out to headquarters all on their own.

It was so awesome to see everyone. Ingrid, Kimo, Kelly, Jim, Brooke, and jim’s too dogs. What an awesome family they are.

I gave them a quick tour of headquarters then we headed over to may camp to shoot some trap.

We shot all sorts of guns. 12 gauges, 20 gauges, a 22, a .45 handgun, and a 270. We were lighting everything up. All of our targets absolutely mangled. Everyone shot too, it was awesome. Great to see little 100 lb kelly blast that big ol 270. What a badass girl she is. Jim’s a badass too, I can see why they really love each other, it seems like they’re prefect for one another.

We headed back to headquarters. I wrangled up the horses and we rode bareback to the lake. It was nice, some of the horses were in a lazy Sunday mood though, didn’t want to go too fast, or even at all.

They took off after we got back, as everyone had a real big day tomorrow.

What an awesome day. It was soo great to see family and get big old loving hugs from the ones you love. It really does a body good. Thank you for coming out to see me you guys, It really meant a lot to me that you did that. I love you all.

After that I just hung out and read for the remainder of the evening. A really relaxing great day.

I have some pictures from the last couple days, and once I get the pics from today, I’ll post’em.

Work tomorrow, I’m tired, so for now, enjoy, and goodnight to all.

9/16/11

2011-09-17T00:30:00.000-06:00

Hello friends.

I had an awesome day today.

I was on horseback for 10 hours, and did some crazy stuff.

However, after riding, went straight into the middle of Rafa's 72 hour perpetual goodbye party. Its been an evening of drinking and music and fun, and I'm too tired to write.

I'll take my half day tomorrow to tell you all about the ride. It was awesommmmme.

Night.

9/15/11

2011-09-15T22:20:00.001-06:00

I got a ton accomplished today.

I know it may not sound like much, but I reorganized the North half of the quonset at headquarters.

It was dirty and disorganized as hell. I made it into “the cleanest I’ve seen it in 10 years” according to Duke jr.

I also helped Rafa a bit, build a new gate for the corral here at headquarters.

It was a rainy dreary day, but I took a few good pictures.

Overall, It was a great day, I felt like I got a ton done, but worked at my own pace. I had an awesome time hanging out with Duke jr, Rafa, and Jonathan.

Check the pics yo.

Grey skies most of the day, It ended up getting sunnier in the afternoon though.

This is the race (the red) and the chute (the yellow), which I power washed yesterday. one might say it was quite a "shitty" job...

The chute is where they temporarily hold the cow to brand it.

And the best for last... Check out the Phillip's family of black labs. Jet, the puppy, Rambo, chillen in the back, and Rocky, all the way to the right. What awesome dogs they are.

Thats all for tonight everyone,

Sorry the posts have been so short lately, been getting to bed too late.

Need sleep...

_Goodnight

9/13/11

2011-09-13T20:16:00.000-06:00

Hey there everyone.

Woke up at 2 this morning, so ill try and give this post all I got.

Just got off work, we finished 5 out of the six tanks that we wanted to. Really good by Duke’s account. It was hard work, but really fun working with such large machines.

The job consisted basically of digging huge pits with the front loader, loading up the dump truck, and dumping the load at the base of the water tanks which had eroded away from water and cow traffic.

Here are some pics I took while on the job.

Tools of the trade baby. What beasts.

From the cockpit of the front loader.

Too many mirrors in there not to take a self pic.

Step 1: Dig a huge pit

Step 2: Pile that shit around the tank.

Pretty simple,

When you have one of these...

We had to return the dozer at noon today, and wanted to get a lot more done than we already had, so we worked through the night last night. Duke worked from 8pm till 3am and I went from 4am till 10 am.

It sounds shitty, but really it was a ton of fun. I woke up, make a big ol thermos of coffee, bundled up, and took off for the north trap, a pasture all the way out on the northern perimeter of the ranch. It takes about 25 minutes to drive out there.

I had to navigate all the way out there with only a full moon guiding my way. It was beautiful. Warm, bright, and somewhat dream like. Very serene.

I relieved Duke of his post, he took off to get some other work done, and I spent about 4 hours in the front loader working away.

We cleaned up and retired at about 4.

Thats about it for today and the last couple of days have been the same as well.

Its all done now though, so hopefully I’ll get to ride sometime soon. Its been a week since I’ve ridden last, and I’m dying to get back in the saddle.

One thing I do have though, are some pictures from a great friend of mine. His name is Steve, he went through the LDA program with me at Davis. He is working for a very high end plant manufacturing company named Monrovia. The nursery he works at is based in Visalia.

He sent me these photos he had shot, and they really struck me as absolutely astonishing.

The sheer scale of this plant production operation is staggering.

This is my medium, plants, most of these will be installed in landscapes all over the country. This is what people buy, what I carefully chose from when designing.

I this is my second dose of very large scale operation, next to the massive one I’m currently receiving, which I have recently experienced. Its amazing to me how much it really takes to supply people with goods, and how hard people honestly work to provide those goods.

So here are the pictures, I wish I could see this place in real life, and truly experience the grandeur of it’s life-filled space.

Some Pretty amazing photographs.

Thanks, Steve.

Now for dessert, I have some beautiful shots I took at headquarters yesterday after work.

Enjoy a snapshot of what I am currently immersed in every day.

Some really nice cloud formations.

Some nice lighting around headquarters. I plan on giving you the full virtual tour soon...

The back of the bunkhouse.

The quonset. Storage and vehicles.

Fuel drums. I really like this shot. The composition is nice.

I think about how lucky I am every day.

Good night everyone.

9/12/11

2011-09-12T21:17:00.000-06:00

Today was a long day.

Tons of mechanical breakdowns on the dump truck.

We have to get these tanks done before noon tomorrow, so Duke is taking a shift right now from 8pm till 2am when I take over.

Its gonna be an early one, so Ill post all the awesome pictures I have tomorrow.

Be excited.

Until then however,

Nighty night.

9/9/11

2011-09-09T21:32:00.000-06:00

Today was epic.

Not so much the day, but the evening was AWESOME.

Little Duke and I finished up our third water tank, everything went well. I drove the front loader most of the day, digging and hauling loads from the pit to the tanks. The work went fast, the day went fast as well.

I asked Duke jr if he wanted to go hunting still, and he was in. So after our group meeting at 4:30, we headed to may camp, grabbed shotguns, and Duke Stuart and I took off to go kill some dove.

We went out to the carpenter which is a couple of pastures east of May Camp. Big Duke told us that the shooting was good out there right now, so we took his word and chose a spot.

Typically, the way you hunt for dove is with a dog, and as everyone walks in a parallel line, the dog goes ahead and scares them out. We didn't have a dog, neither did we have enough people to flush them out, so we just hung out in creek bed and waited for them to come to water.

It was slow for the first hour, I was the first to blast one, it was on my second shot. It felt awesome.

After that, it was like a switch flipped.

Dove everywhere.

We literally couldn’t reload fast enough. We couldn’t call them out fast enough, because one was on top of you when you were trying to spot for another person. It got so hectic. I had soooooo much fun.

I went through 25 rounds with a sawed-off 12 gauge. Killed 6 dove. Not too bad for a first hunt.

Stuart killed 4

Little Duke...... 17.

Can you believe that? Duke shot 17. Thats amazing. He’s a hell of a shot.

So, all together, 27 doves. Not bad for two hours of hunting.

Duke said it was one of his most bountiful dove hunts he has ever had. I guess I got spoiled for my first hunt ever in my life.

Duke showed us how to de-feather, and tear apart the birds, so we did them all out at the car in the pasture. When, we got home, we cleaned them up a bit nicer, and now they’re ready to be wrapped in bacon and BBQ’d.

I cant wait to eat them, they look awesome. Like little finger food sized chickens.

I was too busy shooting to take pictures, so I dont have anything for you tonight.

Just an awesome story of an epic hunt. What a great night.

Oh, and the shiner is coming in nicely. Ill post pics of the front loader, dump truck, and shiner tomorrow. I’m exhausted and hungry right now.

Until tomorrow.

Night folks.

9/8/11

2011-09-08T22:03:00.002-06:00

Pretty standard day today.

Went out to the dump truck with Duke, way the hell out in the mud puppy which is one of the farthest pastures, about an hour to get out there in a car.

It was freezing this morning. The low last night was 41. Fall is upon us. It feels great.

We took out the busted radiator, and swapped it with the one I picked up from the MZ yesterday. All of the hoses and mounts were completely reverse on the new one, so it tok us a while to jerry rig the thing. In about 3 hours we had it swapped out. The dump truck purred like a kitten. It was such a miracle that it worked, I have no idea how it did.

So we continued hauling loads of dirt over to the water tanks, filling in the foundations, making them solid again. Driving the dump truck and front loader is really fun, but a lot more tiring than you would think. Lots of rocking, banging, and no power steering on the dump, so its a nice arm workout. We did this the whole day. Once we got into a groove, it went really fast.

We packed up our stuff and headed home to cook dinner for the guests and shoot some trap.

We got to may camp, the guests were exhausted and hungry, so we got to cookin. While the meat was cooking, we got out the shotguns and clay pigeons.

I was spot on today, only missed a couple out of 15 or so. It was awesome. I love shooting. Were going hunting for dove tomorrow evening, I cant wait.

One thing did happen though, while we were shooting, I taught one of our swiss girl guests (who’s really cute btw) how to shoot, and she blasted a beer can off a fence post. It was awesome. She handed me the gun and said she wanted to see me do it again, so I taught her how to throw a clay pigeon with the hand thrower. She tossed a practice one and it looked great, so I lined up for a shot and hollered “pull” but no pigeon came.

I looked back, and boom, right in the eye, full speed. All I saw was orange.

I suffered a nice little cut above my eye, some good swelling, and probably a nice shiner tomorrow.

She felt so bad, I couldnt tell her enough it was ok, and it dint hurt that bad. She got me a band aid and some beer. It helped :). I should have asked for her to kiss it... Damn.

Anyways, its all good, it feels ok now, Ill take a pic of it if its nice enough.

We wrapped up there took off back to the bunkhouse, I made some chili, and now Im gonna hit the hay.

No pics from today, sorry, but here are some nice ones Kerstein took while she was here...

This is Koda. Coopers new puppy. She is absolutely awesome.

Sunset on the Chico

Goodnight moon.

9/7/11

2011-09-07T21:45:00.000-06:00

Today worked out just awesome.

I got to drive by myself down to Zapata ranch (our sister ranch), and grab a radiator from another truck, for ours. It ended up being a fantastic time.

I left headquarters at around 9, and made it to the MZ (guest lodge) by 11:30. On my way, I stopped to go pee, and ended up walking into the random little store which only sold knock off apparel, snow globes and fireworks (honestly it was the fireworks sign which drew me in initially). Anyways, I ended up buying a roll of firecrackers, and a nice new cowboy hat for myself. It was such a score, only 19 bucks for it all.

So I went from there in a great mood, ready to be introduced to Zapata Ranch. I pulled into the guest quarters, which was beautiful. I wish I had taken some pics, but I always feel like a tourist if I immediately start snapping pictures.

These are all I got. Some very nice scenery, and some massive bison.

Just seriously massive animals.

David and Tess came right out of their office as I was pulling up, and greeted me at the car. It was great to see familiar faces after driving through the mountains and valleys for three hours.

They gave me the full tour. The quarters are absolutely beautiful. Log cabin style buildings, a nice big lodge and eating room, hot tub, kitchen, interns quarters, conference room, office, and more. A big huge grassy lawn and fire pits, it was awesome.

So I hung out with David and Tess for 20 minutes or so, then took of to the 50,000 Acre pasture where the truck was, along with thousands of bison.

I found the truck just fine, and started to work. It took me a good hour to get the radiator out of the truck. I had to take off the grill, the fan and belts, and the fan mount just to ber able to slide it out once I undid all the hardware.

I called Duke and told him the turkey was in the oven and mama bird was flying home.

But I had to stop in at the MZ for a huge piece of lasagna Mike had cooked up. I sat with David outside on a huge deck, and ate lunch while talking about being an intern. It was nice. Absolutely beautiful out. About 55 degrees.

I finished up, we said our goodbyes, [awkward handshake] and I flew on home without a hitch.

Right after I got back, little Duke pulled up, and we took a look at the radiator. He said it was in great condition, and that it should work. We chatted with Michael for a bit about printers, and went out ways.

On the way back into the bunk house I noticed something odd, and took a picture of it.

A bunch of horses all gathered around a couple of cows. Just staring. Not moving

I've never seen this before, I wonder what they were thinking.

I grabbed some food and beer, and went to the leather shop to get started on a leather band for my new hat. I worked on it for about 2 hours.

It looks sweet. Check the style.

You like those stamped initials and that tasseled draw band? AW YEA.

Duke sr cruised in while I was working. He had just got done hunting for dove. It was nice to just sit and chat for a while. He still intimidates the shit outta me. Really really nice guy, just so masculine and powerful seeming. The guy sweats wisdom.

Bedtime for now though, gonna get up early tomorrow and get the radiator installed by 7 with little Duke, so we can get to work on time.

Hope you enjoyed.

Goodnight.

9/6/11

2011-09-06T21:32:00.002-06:00

Today was a really fast day. It seemed like it blew by.

We started with a staff meeting here at headquarters which went from 7 to around 9. I was handed the preliminary plans for the hunting lodges by Duke sr, and told to get acquainted with them, as I would be working a lot on this project. YESSS. It felt soo great.

Not yet though, this week I’m assigned to spend the whole week with little Duke, repairing 6 water troughs out in the dunes. Were reinforcing the troughs with dirt, because the dirt has eroded from beneath the concrete footings of them.

So we loaded up all the gear and fuel we would need for the day, and took off on the long journey out to the dunes. It took me about an hour to get out to the first trough in the dump truck, while little Duke trailed me in the newly rented front loader. I love driving the dump truck, I think it was made in like the 1950's, they bought it in tennessee, and its sweet. Check it out...

Duke started digging a hole with the front loader and loading the dirt into the dump, after four 3-yard scoops, the dump was full, and I would haul it over to the tank and dump it at the base. We did this for a solid three hours, then switched, him in the dump, me in the front loader. Driving the front loader was also really fun. Its a huge machine. Biggest tractor I’ve ever driven before, including the trencher. Ill have pics of it tomorrow, as well as more of the stuff were working on. But for now, Here’s a good one of a nice little road block I hit on the way out.

Around 5 o’clock, the dump started to overheat really badly. We tried to get it to cool down by waiting till 5:30, but it only got a half a mile back to the sawed off which was 5 miles away. From there, headquarters is about 20 miles away. So, we had to ditch the dump and walk the 2.5 miles back to the sawed off truck with huge thunderstorms looming in the distance.

It was awesome just walking and chatting with Duke. We had a great time today, learned a lot about each other. I learned something I thought was crazy. He is only 23. I couldn’t believe that when I heard it. Only a year older than I. We had a solid hour long walk back to the sawed off, so we talked about a ton of stuff. Good bonding time.

On the way home, we stopped into the Phillips’s house to say hey. Its always great to see Janet and grace. Duke was fixing a screen door, so we helped him out with that, and Janet asked if we wanted to stay for dinner, we gladly accepted. Dinner was awesome because the night before, Duke had smoked a bunch of different meats, and the leftovers were tonights dinner. We had and assortment of smoked lamb, dove, bison, salmon, and sausages along with cucumbers, cottage cheese, and potato salad. It was phenomenal.

I had a great time talking with the Phillips family, they’re really awesome people. I can tell we will form a strong relationship while I’m here, I’m excited.

Duke and I left around 8:30, and I got back to headquarters and showered. Its cold tonight, around 45. Its stormy and windy, should only get up to 65 tomorrow. I love it. I’m ready for the cold. Bring it on.

Goodnight everyone. Hope life is great.