Heads Up

Thought I'd let y'all know that I'll be in Alabama for training in January, then will be stationed there for the next two years.

1 Down, 99 To Go...

In Germany, you're not considered a real rider until you've been thrown from your horse 100 times. Well, I'm 1% of a real rider...

We were out, having a nice ride in the fall air a few weeks ago, when Dixie decided to jump a fallen tree. Dixie's a jumper, so I'm generally well prepared for her leaps, but at the time of her jump, I was complacent because she had been so well behaved. She took a big prep step, throwing me to the back of the saddle, then upon the landing I was thrown to the front, hit the saddlehorn, and flipped over her shoulder. Luckily, I grew up getting thrown around, so I know how to fall without getting hurt too bad. As I rolled out of my flip, Dixie turned and looked at me, as if to say "What are you doing on the ground?" I did better than my brother, who fell (not thrown, fell) off his horse twice that day.

In Other News: Thanks, Video Games

On this ranch, you learn by doing. Well, I needed to clean up some poop, so I hopped in the big (expensive) green tractor and was confronted with this set-up:

I had no idea what to do, but I've had to learn enough games and use enough joysticks that I was able to quickly figure it all out.

That might look like a lot of manure, but it's only one of three piles!

Catch-Up

It's been a while since I've been on. Other than fighting some internet problems, I've been doing a lot of traveling and entertaining. I was in Denver last weekend to drive a float in a High School Homecoming parade and then stayed for an extra couple of days to pick up some friends who flew in from IN. A quick story (in pictures) of what we did while they were here:

We logged the woods (with our bare hands)...

It dumped 3-5 inches of snow...

We did a little skeet shooting (look closely, you can see the pigeon exploding)

And even chopped some wood

Snow!

It's hard to see because there's only a light dusting, but I woke up to the first snow fall of the year. Flakes might have previously fallen, but this is the first time there was any type of accumulation. The snow quickly burned off and fall showed up again.

While I've been here, I've learned that it's a different type of person that resides in rural areas of Colorado...

Out here, they don't bother with fixing roads, they just warn drivers:

And the drivers are warned because apparently they need it. Who made the mistake that necessitated the following sign?

And what do you do when you can't get a license to build a residence? You build a barn and live in it!

Cattle Drive

I still haven't quite figured out how to properly ride a horse, but we needed to get some cattle off the National Forest and into the corrals. Luckily, Dixie is a horse at her best when she's working cattle, so I didn't have to fight her too much. Instead, we were able to work together and even pulled off some fancy moves when a stray calf took off!

Fall has Sprung

I returned to Colorado and found that fall was in full effect. I got to see a lot of great colors on my drive back - luckily none of those colors was white. Snow will come soon enough. For now I'm enjoying the crisp nights and warm days.



As soon as I'm finally over this cold, we'll finish getting the cows out of the Federal Forest and start collecting wood for winter.

San Antonio

As most of you know, I decided to drive down to Texas to help with the hurricane response/recovery.

I left on Tuesday and drove 12 hours to the middle-of-nowhere, Texas. Wednesday morning I drove another 6-ish hours and arrived in San Antonio around 2 pm. I signed-up, got my official volunteer badge, received some "training" and then I was at the shelter for dinner that night. The shelter fed approximately 2000 evacuees ever meal (the number has dropped in the past couple of days, and will continue to as they are opening most of the evacuated areas). My main job is helping to feed the "clients" (as they're called), which is a continuous task. We often receive new arrivals in-between meals, so we're generally scrambling around trying to find food.

The shelter is divided into a day/dining room and three sleeping bays. It's located in an empty warehouse on a closed Air Force base, which accounts for its size. Below is a picture of one of the sleeping bays.

I was able to grab a cot at a shelter across the street from the evacuee's shelter where many of the responders (bus and ambulance drivers, firefighters, Texas Guard) sleep. I had my own FEMA cot, and as the numbers there began to decline, I was able to set-up my own privacy shelter.

If you look closely, you can see that I forgot a pillow, so I've been sleeping on my Peak7 sweatshirt. Unfortunately, operations at that shelter have been declining as well, so different sleeping arrangements have been made. I'm currently holed up in a local hotel until they can figure out if they have enough room for me (the shelter wasn't really for me, but because they had plenty of extra room, I wasn't a factor. I want to make sure I'm not displacing a responder by taking a bed in the new room). I needed the break - I woke up yesterday morning feeling terrible... I caught some sort of bug, so I needed to get away and get some real sleep. Once I beat this, I'll figure out my next move. Until then, I'm glad I no longer have to take a shower in a semi:

This has been quite an eye-opening experience. Because I've never lived through a destructive hurricane, I've always been insulated from the news reports. I felt bad for those whose lives were affected, but didn't have a personal understanding. I think that will be different from now on. The clients generally have no options other than the shelter. And when they return home, what little they had will likely be destroyed; they barely had enough to make do, and now they have to rebuild...

I certainly have been reminded how truly blessed I am - thank you to everyone who has helped me give back.

ho, hum

Today I got to play with a chainsaw - cutting trees into rails for the buck and rail fences and (de)limbing them. There was a hail/sleet/snowstorm that forced us to take cover for a while. Then I drove the tractor around on some errands. Then I found out I passed the bar! Boo-yah!! Break out the bubbly, folks - I'm an attorney-at-law.

Evan The Terrible

Why am I showing you a picture of a big, ugly bull? Because I rode him today. That's right, no playing, I am now an amateur bull rider. Another ranchhand rides in the PRCA and went to practice today. Well, I went with him and rode Evan the Terrible for 8 seconds! He wasn't the most aggressive bull (heck, it was only my first time out), but earlier in the day he bucked off another guy who's ridden saddle broncs before, so I feel like it was a highly successful ride. And don't tell my mom (Ma, stop reading), but I'll be going back sometime to see what the next level ride is like.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any shots of the actual ride because my picture taker was busy teaching, helping, and spotting me. I'll gladly trade a ride with me on the bull without pictures for shots of me flying off the bull...

By the way, this was on my lists of life goals and I'm very happy to check this one off!

I'm No Cowboy

And I can prove it. In the first couple of weeks here I got the tractor stuck twice and I even broke the water pump with a brush hog- we were only out of water for a day or so (I split a couple of wires), and we don't shower that often anyway... (see also)

While becoming a cowboy might take a while, I'm certainly fitting in as a rancher. I'm learning all the jobs, cleaning horse hooves, driving trailers, building fences, and even chainsawing lots of things! And truth be told, no matter how many mistakes I've made, I'm satisfied to know that I never did this:




This is a picture of the other ranchhand's truck. He was out cutting rails and dropped a tree right onto his truck. It's nice to know that this is his livelihood and he can make such a big mistake - allows me, as a rookie, to screw-up as often as I want!

I was finally able to get out and ride a couple of times this week (the hay is finally finished!). The ride was much harder than any other horse ride I'd been on. These guys aren't simple trail horses that follow nose-to-butt. I had to really control my horse, which is hard to do with such strong animals. The boss lady/trainer said I had an amazing seat and that I'm a natural. I'll be sure to let my mare (Dixie) know so she'll stop bossing me around when we're out.


The cowboy hat is not just a fashion statement either (although they do look better than pegged pants). When we were out it started to rain and then hail a little bit, and I was completely protected by that hat. It's no wonder they're a staple out here!

This Ain't My First Rodeo

I made it to a full rodeo in Steamboat a couple of weeks ago and then last night I was invited to a Professional Bull Riding (PBR) event. It was a qualifying event for the Vegas finals so a lot of "big" names were there - both in the riders and the bulls. If you've ever watched a PBR event on Mojo/Versus (I doubt many of you have...) then you've seen some of the guys who were riding last night.

The night was made even better because we were invited to the pre-party and the VIP seating section hosted by Priest Creek Ranch. Priest Creek is a ranch here in Steamboat that actually supplies a lot of the bulls for the PBR. We were kind of celebrities - but a lot less Starbucks and a lot more steers.

Waiting to head out - with the ranch's black lab, Chance

An empty bull - you can see the rider on the left. I got a few good videos, but having too much trouble uploading them...


Here's a picture of the sunset on the ride home

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

Chaps Chafe




Truth be told, they're not really chaps, but they're close - see here to learn more about chaps and specifically what I'm wearing. The set I'm wearing was handmade by the ranch owner who's a bit smaller than I am, so they probably wouldn't chafe, but I'm wearing a size or two too small. The leather is really helpful to protect my pants (I'm currently destroying reinforced Carhartts) when I'm hauling hay and building bucks. The picture is for all those who thought chaps were so funny...

That's a Ton of Hay!

Actually, it's 8 tons of hay. My first day back from Portland and I was back moving hay bales. We've done about 55 tons and by the end of the week we'll have over 100 tons of hay in the barn (for winter feed). We'll be up before the sun on Saturday to head into town for 2 semi-loads and then we should be finished with hay and I'll begin working on my riding skills so we can go round up the cattle.

Party in PDX!

I took a vacation from my vacation last weekend and headed back to Portland for a wedding. I took a ton of pictures, but none on my camera, so I have nothing to show at this point. Suffice to say I enjoyed my time at each step: Phantom, the wedding, the wedding reception, and everything in between - I even have a partially broken nose to prove it!

Thanks to all my wonderful Oregon friends!

Thistle While I Work

No, it's not a speech impediment (I got that fixed years ago - mostly), my life has just been dominated by thistles. I spent 11 hours of hard labor today trying to rid the ranch of this stinking plant. I now officially despise them... It's so bad that I literally (yes, literally) close my eyes and I see the plant. Apparently these things just take over so I'm trying to cut them down before they seed out.

Everything purple you see in the picture is a thistle. Now multiple that by 300 acres - and include the juvenile plants and related thistles that aren't as big (and are hidden in grass that comes up to my waist) and you've got my day and most of my tomorrow.

But I wouldn't trade it! Partly because the hard work is welcome after sitting on my rump for the last four years of my life, and partly because Colorado is just awesome. Take a gander at the rainbow over the property that I enjoyed over dinner:

Who's got two thumbs and loves Colorado?

This guy!

That's right, I'm now sponsored by Hideaway Ranch. I guess I've shoveled enough poop that they gave me an official jacket!

The following picture is of Hideaway - in the grove on the left you can kind of see the house where I'm staying, then the pastures, the horse barn, the shop/barn, and the indoor/outdoor arena. There's a total of 325 acres surrounded by thousands of acres in Routt National Forest! It's just as amazing as you can imagine!

Golf in Ski Town, USA

Steamboat is certainly not known for its golf and I was surely spoiled by the plethora of options in Spokane, but my brother, father, and I decided to venture out to one of the courses in town. Not a hard course, but it was nice to be back out - and you can't beat playing golf at 7000+ feet! I was killing the ball - multiple 300+ yard drives, thanks to the thin air.



With the family in town, I might get some work done tomorrow - more likely it'll just be more lounging, watching the Olympics, and hiking... Life's rough.

Here I am

I spent 5 hours walking the pasture in this picture (from the fence over to the pens) today looking for thistle to cut... While I was there, I kept thinking about all the stuff I want to tell folks, but each time I thought of something to tell someone else, I forgot what I was supposed to say to the other person. So I decided to start this to show everyone how cool I am!

So far, I've been building fences, cutting rails, mucking stalls, feeding horses, and all the other random needs of a ranch... So far, so awesome!

The golden horse (an appaloosa) is named Clyde and is one of 13 currently at the ranch.