Sunday, August 26, 2012

grab a testicle

we branded calves today ... i actually didn't do too much ... there was plenty of  help ... and we had two sizes of chutes ... no roping and holding today ... also, my first time reaching up inside a calf's scrotum to grab a testicle ... hahahah ... i let [the real cowboy] do the cut ... and while we had lunch, a calf was born
 ... now how about that for a day?!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

water equals life

i have come to learn that water is the most precious resource ... just ask the animals ...
i saw a sparrow, dove, hummingbird, and sparrow hawk all sitting in the same tree in the
backyard of the ranch house this morning ... and there was a cat walking underneath it too
... water = trees ... water = animals ... water = life

i have lived in a town where nobody could drink the ground water because the ph was too
high ... so everybody purchased bottled water from walmart ... i always had a 24 pack in
the trunk of my car ... it is an interesting sight to see, every cart with a case of water
... like some disaster just occurred

i have known people who bathed in a five gallon bucket ... you stand in the bucket of
water...bathe...then step out of the bucket and pour it over your head to rinse

i have seen how the ranchers count every tenth of an inch of rain ... mark it on the
calendar ... and pray for the grass to grow

i am aware of the energy it takes to heat water and to cook food ... and i can take a
whore's bath faster than you can take a shower ... like george carlin said ... face,
armpits, crotch, asshole

water ... and sunlight

it is not the dollar that makes the world go round ... the world will still survive without
the u.s. dollar ... but try removing water or sunlight from your environment and see what
happens ...

what if the water stopped flowing from the tap? i noticed that even on this ranch with its
private well ... 35 miles past the end of the trail ... when the electricity goes out ...
the pump goes out .. and even here, the water stops flowing



Friday, August 24, 2012

living in a nature preserve

it's like living in a nature preserve...the only trees on the plains are around the ranch houses...like the one i am at...there must be 10 humming birds buzzing around like F-16s, jousting one another, or maybe like ospreys...they have those here too (military plane) ...now there are also 10 or so sparrow hawks here, i think is what they are...they can maneuver just about as well as the humming birds...swooping, and diving, and hovering...i don't know if the hawks are eating the humming birds or doves...haven't yet seen the hawks catch anything

Sunday, August 19, 2012

careful with the hands

a while back my horoscope warned me to be careful with my hands ... last weekend i passed on
a job ... a buddy of mine ended up doing that part of the job that i would have performed ... and sure enough, he injured his hand ...

it was calf branding ... when branding, a rider will chase a calf, then rope it's back two
legs and drag the animal over to the branding station ... where another guy grabs it's front
left leg at the "wrist" with both hands while kneeling on the calf's neck with his right
knee and then he leans back for leverage ... bend your arm like a "Z" and grab your wrist
with the other hand and you'll see what i mean

well, the rope was only around one back leg ... i am sure there is a term for that, so the
rider was trying somehow to get the rope around both legs, and he managed to release both
back legs, so the damn critter is now kicking with both back legs ... and the calf managed to
beat the shit out of my buddy's hand

i don't know how long it took before he released the front leg ... all i know is that he took
my place

lucky me

i had a bad feeling about that job ... i won't go into details, but it seemed to be a spur of
the moment idea in a hurry to be completed ... and that sounded strange

http://cowboyfrank.net/CowboyTermDictionary.htm