New fishing hole!

I have been checking the River and find that it is still quite high. My spot that I drive the Quad to is still under water, so I decided to try a closer spot that is easier to get to. I actually prefer the areas that require some effort because I can be assured that most people will not visit them if there is work involved, therefore there will be more fish. The Dowell Ranch has several miles of the river flowing through it, and there is a spot that showed promise for Channel Catfish. Personally I prefer the Catfish to most of the other available types, probably because they are bigger. The Small Mouth Bass are pretty tasty, but they tend to be small bodied as well as mouthed. Karen likes them, and they make the best Catfish bait as well, so I always try to catch a limit of them for her.

The river is slowly cutting away the bank due to water filtering through the ground. There are springs all along the river and the water is creeping through the ground at about 10 to 15 foot below the surface. While I was fishing, I heard a rumble and a large chunk of the bank crumbled into the river. Of course with a still camera all you can see is the dust clound.

I had to slide down the bank on the other side and then wade the river to get to a place that this hole was suitable to fish.  I loaded every thing I would need into a large frame back pack along with a three legged chair. I first caught my limit of Bass, which strangely enough was not that easy. Apparently the Catfish keep the Bass numbers down here. It was a classic fishing hole with the fast water making a deep pool, and the water current swirls around in a circle, making lots of spots for the big fish to get bigger without much effort.

The Rhyolite cliffs behind were a good backdrop for me as well as nesting spots for the Ravens.

Today was supposed to get pretty hot, and I am still pretty pale, so I decided to take lots of lotion and come back before the heat of the day got too bad. The fish cooperated and I did quite well, catching 5 Bass, and 10 Channel Cats. Enough that we had a nice fish fry and I still put four packages in the freezer for this winter.

Desert Fragrance II

As we were traveling through the Sage to the Rodear area, I was struck by all the different flowers that were growing on that section of the Desert. There were quite a few growing there that were not growing at the house. The ground at the house is either sandy or gravelly type ground.

Most of the people that do not live in the Desert have a tendency to think that it is an empty place. Wasted land that is too poor to have any life. My mother, who had lived her life in the W.Va. hills, remarked after driving across the Oregon Desert, " I can't believe all that wasted space". Granted the secrets of the desert do not draw undue attention to themselves. You have to look at more than the obvious. Of course it helps if it rains a bit every once and a while.

All of the flowers pictured here were observed on the short drive from Hwy 78 to the reservoir that the branding was to take place. Also observed on that three mile trip across the Sage was a Prairie Falcon making repeated stoops at the numerous Doves that were feeding there, a Desert Rattlesnake, four Mallard Ducks, Killdeer, Horned Larks, Western Kingbirds, Turkey Vulture, Ravens and a Northern Harrier. That was just the obvious stuff.

I am afraid that I do not have the names of most of these flowers that I photographed. Karen has lost her Desert Flower book, but they are still nice to look at. We had a short rain this evening and the Primrose is heavy on the breeze.

These are Blue Bells

This one, I believe is Leafy Aster

This one should be a Butter Cup

Golden Yarrow

Red Paint Brush

Sulphur Flower

If any of you have the correct names, I am sure I misnamed several, kindly enlighten me.

Rodear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-Bhx3uz6Pk

Above is a You tube video of an earlier Rodear that took place at Crooked Creek Ranch. It was done in years past, but the video is well worth watching, and will explain a lot about what it is and is intended to do. It is very well done.

Cattle Terms Glossary

Jun 14, 2010 ... Also with reference to riding a bronc or bull in a rodeo, if the animal ... Rodear: To gather and work cattle out of a herd held by riders, ...


The above is the Google definition of the word Rodear. 

 Our neighbors are the Stoddarts featured in the YouTube video. They run cattle on the surrounding BLM land. The area is vast and the Rodear is the best way for them to brand the young stock, since the cattle are scattered over many miles of rough terrain with few roads. This is country that requires many acres of ground to feed just one cow. The neighbors get together and help each other. The visitors mainly supply riders to rope and contain the cattle. The host ranch supplies the grunt and dirty work. There were riders from the Dowell Ranches, Thompson, and Mann Lake. They ranged in age from late 60's to 1 year old.

  Harry Stoddart is the second generation to work the ranch, He has turned much of the current work over to his children, Dave, Rosie and Sam. He's still there when there is work to be done however.

Ranch life by definition is tough work and there are no baby sitters handy, so the kids naturally have to go along. They are there for all the work,  Riding with mom until they are able to sit their own horse. Elsie is just 5, but she rode all morning gathering cattle, spent the day while the hands, branded, vaccinated and castrated the bull calves without a complaint, then got on her horse and rode the 10 or 15 miles back to Cow Camp, a line shack that they use when branding. 

 Dave is the oldest son working the ranch, Rosie, his sister, and Sam, the youngest. These are the third generation working the ranch. Of course Dave's wife Tami, puts in a full day and probably more. The children, Isabel, Grace, Reuben, also work along with their parents. Elsie, and Thayen are a bit young yet, but it won't be long for Elsie. 

Rosie and her Dogs, Desi, and Lucy make a formidable team when it comes to moving cows. Its pretty handy to be able to send your dog out to retrieve a cranky cow that wants to quit the herd. 

Sam, sitting on a cooler to catch his breath, helped mug every calf brought into the fire. Nasty hard work at the best, dodging hoofs and sometimes mothers determined to rescue their bawling calf.

The picture above is of three generations of Stoddart's. Reuben is heeling, Dave and Sam are mugging and Harry has the head. Tami is in the back ground bringing another calf to the fire.

The work area for the day was in the Rye Grass area, and would be the last branding of the year for the ranch. They have been at it now for about a month. The cows were gathered from the surrounding hills and driven to the stock pond for the actual work. The equipment is a bit different. Now a generator supplies power for an electric branding iron.

When they are bunched, the riders form around them with their horses and quietly hold them while the headers slowly work their way into the herd. They rope one of the unbranded calves and pull him out to the open area, where a heeler will rope his heels. The muggers will then tip the calf to the ground, where they will make sure both heels are in the rope, take the rope off the calf's neck and put it on his front feet.

  At that time the calf is branded, vaccinated, ear marked, and castrated if it is a bull calf. Every body helps. Above is Eli Malley. He may not be very old, but he can help and doesn't hesitate to pitch in. His mother, Alexa and younger brother are helping hold the herd while John, his dad is roping the calves.

 The interesting part to me is the way that the children fit into all of this work. Of course ranching isn't just something that you can read about and jump right in and expect to do well. It takes time and the great part to me is the way that these families encourage and teach their children the things necessary to work a ranch. I suppose that one could find whiny, spoiled children somewhere, but they are in short supply here.

After the work was done, and the 71 calves were branded, a fire was built and the food prepared by Rosie's and Dave's mother, Sharon, the night before. It was warmed over the camp fire and served to every one.  

Fragrant Desert

Spring this year has been different to say the least. Our rainfall is normally 4.5 inches per year. I have no clue how much rain we have gotten, but it is surely a lot more than that. It all seems to have arrived at the best possible time. Luckily I hit the runways and the "ranch" yard with some pretty serious weed killer, and those areas are pretty nice. I have had to mow the runways in years past and I can tell you that the trips required to mow a 25 foot wide runway 1/2 mile long is not something that I look forward to. Riding 5 miles in a cloud of dust is not one of my favorite things to do.

It has been pretty cool and even at this late date the temps were in the low 70's. Wed. is supposed to be 89 degrees. Should be fun! Not sure what effect this cool wet spring will have on the game bird populations. I know that the Pack Rat populations are booming. Curly has become a real serious Rat killer. This is of course the time of the year that the juveniles strike out on their own to establish their own territories. For a while he was finding and killing at least one a day.

Mostly they get into the Rock Jacks to hide, although at least two made it into the attic. The most fun however was one that took refuge in an extra piece of the flex hose that one uses to dump the effluent tanks on Motor homes. Curly insisted that there was one under some shelves in the hanger. I picked up the hose and found that was where he was hiding. I took it outside and dropped one end, thinking that he would bolt, but he stayed. Curly stuck his nose in the end, getting a good whiff, and started trying to catch up to him. His nose would only go so far into the hose, but the hose kept moving. Curly was running in short circles with his nose in the pipe and his butt up in the air. When it became too much to stand anymore, I flicked the rat out. After being bit a few time, he has decided that the quicker they die the less he gets bit.

We have had more than our fair share of "Bull Snakes" as well. Those get transplanted across the creek. I would leave them alone if I could, but between the little chicks running around and Karen's screams, its best to move them.

The area across the creek is very sandy, and that makes it a good place for "Birdcage Evening Primrose". They are all over and their fragrance is a light "Bordello" smell, that is quite striking and permeates the entire area. Some are white, others have a slightly pink color to them. They close up in the sunshine and open when the sun starts going down. All that fragrance then starts wafting across the desert.

Unfortunately either I or my camera lens are not quite up to the task of taking a good picture. They are a bit past their prime however, as I have been putting off this entry for too long. Of course all the other desert flowers are blooming as well. The Sage is colored up quite nicely with Mallow and several other flowers that I can't name. (Karen can't find her flower book)

The wind hardly ever quits this year and the flowers were most uncooperative.

Some are quite small, in fact so small that the flowers are hardly visible at all.

Of course with all this abundance comes a price to pay. When all these weeds dry up and the dry lightning starts cracking across the desert it will be most interesting.