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| Some of our good looking steers at the river |
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| Gathering the cattle at dusk upriver |
On Friday evening, Mike rode out to gather the cattle, after the heat had passed. We wanted to overnight the herd near the house so we could get them in the corral to sort in the morning. After Mike left, the boys and I made a fire and cooked dinner. We kept an eye out for Gabe and Cammie who were driving down after work.
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| Wes and Dawson making dinner |
An hour past dark, right about the time I thought I'd have to send out a posse, I heard the first mooing and knew Mike was finally coming in. Dirty and tired, he said the cattle took a rogue trail off the bench down through the rocks and prickly pear, just before it got too dark to see. At the barn he used a flashlight to find cactus spines and pull them out of his horse's legs.
Next morning, we had the cattle in and sorted before Dennis arrived early with his truck and trailer. Pretty soon Paul and Molly showed up. After a little coffee, and second breakfast for Dennis, we loaded the four trailers of steers and everyone except me headed to the valley.
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| Gabe and Dennis had to change a flat tire |
I stayed behind and hiked upriver to the fishing hole where Dawson had picked some mulberries that morning. When I got to the tree, a fat rattlesnake buzzed in the grass and slithered under a log beneath the tree. I threw rocks to try and run him off, while keeping a hold of our year old pup, Bell. I don't know how much Bell knows about rattlesnakes yet, but I wouldn't trust her not to be curious. Finally, with one eye on the place I last spotted the snake, I picked mulberries as fast as I could. There were lots of berries already on the ground, and many more ripening on the tree. It took me a long time to pick a quart.
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| Ripening mulberries |
Walking back from mulberry picking, I thought about Sarah and Eliot getting married that very same day in Kentucky. A very nice wedding day, I thought. I stopped in the horse pasture to admire the blossoming milkweed and I wondered why there weren't any butterflies. Right then a beautiful big orange Monarch fluttered up in front of me and flitted away across the milkweed patch.
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| Milkweed patch |
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| Interesting red beetle on this flower |
The milkweed blossoms are so intricate and lovely, it's hard to believe that by the end of summer they'll turn into thick scratchy pods filled with cottony-down. As I admired the fleshy petals and the fat bees lilting among them, I thought, Mulberries, milkweed and monarchs, a very nice wedding day indeed.
Soon, I packed up and headed for the valley. As I bumped down the driveway, I could see pairs of cows and calves dotted along the bar, napping in the lush grass.
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| Pinky naps with her calf |
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| Sleepy cow |
It felt peaceful and restful in a familiar time-of-year kind of way. In a few days, we'll hit the trail with the cows and calves. Headed for the Zumwalt and the summer range.
From Sara at Magpie Ranch, home of Bunchgrass Beef
