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