The West I Love





The guy singing and playing also happens to be Idaho's

Governor, Butch Otter.



Who needs a bat and ball!



I don't know why, but it always amazes me when we run into people who, regardless of their walk in life, still embody the spirit of the American West. Down-to-earth, genuine, practical, conservative, friendly, and neighborly, with an independent streak. They look you in the eye while giving you a firm handshake. They've got an honest smile, a twinkle in the eye, a sense of humor-- and an unapologetic appetite for beef!
 
We've just spent three wonderful days over the hill on a ranch in Idaho, with a group of people that embodied that very spirit. Some were genuine cowboys. Some were in other occupations, but were weekend cowboys, or just plain cowboys at heart. But every last one of them had a passion for our western lands and cowboy heritage.

 We went over to do a pitchfork fondue. But in addition to our pot setup, we loaded our horses and got in on everything from the practice roping, the main roping, and the conservation tour, to the open range branding on a little bunch of Longhorn/Corrientes.

I took my camera of course. Now I've got about a thousand photos to sort. We also closed on our new place just before we left, so the next couple of weeks are going to be crazy. There's a lot of finish work to be done before we can move. Please be patient if you are in the photos. I'll skim the top so I can at least post some highlights on Flickr, and link a slideshow from this blog.

Thank you Tyler family for your warm and generous western hospitality. We had a hoot!



Karl and Donna



Conservation Enhancement Tour



Moving On

Drifter - We bought him for me 9 years ago. He had his quirks, but he was
a good one. Too good to stand around. Sold him this weekend. It was a

good sale to a good owner. Sold Jet too. We're keeping five horses.

The longer I know my Savior, the more I look back and realize just how gracious and merciful God is towards His children. How He has guided our steps the whole way-- even those times when we thought we were the ones at the steering wheel. There are no coincidences with God, and no surprises. He knows everything about us and our life before we're even a twinkle in Daddy's eye.

Saying goodby to something that has defined a major part of your life for so many years is never easy. It doesn't matter if it's a death, a marriage, a home, a job you've loved, or whatever it is that stirs your passion. It's hard.

But life goes on. It always has. And, quite often, the best is yet to come. The Hebrews wandered 40 years in the wilderness before reaching the promised land. Even at that, the only ones from that generation who got to go in were Caleb and Joshua who believed God was able to conquer it before them. None of the rest, the whiners, complainers, and naysayers, ever got to see it. We've wandered around here for 37 years. If this has been wilderness, I can't wait to see the promised land!

Lot's wife looked back as the angels pulled her and her husband away from her home. She turned into a pillar of salt. Life as we've known it may be over-- but what a privilege to have ever had it in the first place. It's time to move on and trust that God knows exactly what He's doing. It ain't over 'til it's over!

Lord, please don't let me become a cowlick!

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not on thine own understanding.”
 

 

*****

Jet - Ray bought him about 4 years ago with hopes of turning him into a
heading horse. Don't know if he'll ever make a head horse, but he was
making a top-notch ranch horse. We've still got Barney--and a really nice

3-yr. old colt that needs the attention. Happy Trails, boys!

Jaws Hates Cows, part 2

Todd on top of mountain waiting for rest
of herd before making push over ridge
coming off top.

 ...the herd was lined out nicely along the fence. Kyle was ahead of me, near the top of a rise, when I heard, "Oh, sh--!" ... Then Kyle shouted something else. I only caught one word: "Jaws!" I knew we were in trouble. At the top of the rise where there should have been tails, was a sea of faces. The entire lead was coming back on top of us in full stampede with that sorry yellow bird-dog of Todd's romping down the middle like a fox in a pen of chickens... (end part 1)


Nobody wants to be the cause of a wreck, be it himself, his kids, or his dog, and I think Todd, being the boss, was a bit embarrassed. I'll never forget looking over at him gripping that big yellow dog. He sat there for a minute, then this big grin spread across his face. In that characteristic slow drawl of his, he summed it up in typical cowboy fashion: "Jaws hates cows."

It was too soon to be funny, but after awhile I couldn't help giggling to myself as I imagined how the whole scenario would have looked to someone sitting up on the side of the mountain. And though it would have been nice to have Ray's help, it was probably just as well that Ray had missed out on this particular adventure.

As we sat there letting the herd settle, Todd's oldest son drove up, and sheepishly came to retrieve the dog--letting us know that it was little brother who had let him escape in the first place.

I was really dreading the hard part now. Entering the canyon, the narrow road is squeezed between a sharp drop-off on the left, with a boggy pond in the bottom; and on the right, the slope steepens to the point where you have to step off your horse on the wrong side, and leave him tied to a scraggly sage brush while you scramble the last 50 feet or so to the fenceline on foot.

The narrow little gate is open, and right in front of the yearlings on the road. But all they see is that old white toilet placed at the side by the eccentric owner as a tongue-in-cheek "Rest Area". That's all the excuse silly yearlings need to bolt. Usually up that steep slope. I've never seen anyone nimble enough to get them all turned back. The escapees have to be retrieved at a later time.

I don't know why, and I sure never would have believed it. Maybe the earlier excitement had taken off their edge. But we got the heifers through the gate and on up the mountain that day better than I've ever seen it done.

A couple years later Jaws tangled with a wolf when Todd's wife and the dogs were out walking. I can picture Jaws tearing back to Rita with the wolves in hot pursuit. I have a sneaking hunch Jaws wasn't totally innocent.

Todd's got a good cow dog, Max, but for some reason he had a soft spot for that renegade bird dog. I wasn't exactly sympathetic when Jaws died, but I did refrain from any smart remarks. Now Todd's got a new chocolate lab bird-dog puppy.

I hope he calls him Teddy Bear.

S. Marxer, © 2010

Ray, Jake, Jason, and Sandee bringing heifers off top, 2009

Jaws Hates Cows (part 2)

Jaws Hates Cows (part 1)



Todd and his good cowdog, Max



2006 was a tough year. Ray had knee surgery and was wearing a brace. Early in the branding season Todd bucked off and spread his pelvis which effectively sidelined him from branding and any horseback work for the next several months.

As sometimes happens, there was unrest in the troops. We had already lost two of our branding crew, and the day Todd got hurt, his support help gave notice that he was leaving the next day. We lost another good man before branding was over, and we limped by with the help of our part-timers (family) and everyone else picking up the slack.

With Todd laid up and no support help, the entire Blacktail side was left without a rider who was familiar with the new country we had acquired--about 40,000 acres; or a crew to take care of cattle movement. Clayton had worked for the previous owner in that country before we purchased it, and we needed someone who could step in and go to work without training or familiarization. We were able to get the nepotism policy waived to allow Clayton to come back and work for Todd.

Todd, with the help of Rita and his boys, was able to accomplish several ground projects, but the cowboy crew for the Blacktail that summer was Clayton, Ray and I, the assistant manager, and our daughter on her days off from her main job. It was this crew, minus Ray, who would make one of the toughest trails on the ranch. Trailing 600 yearling heifers to the top of Blacktail Ridge normally requires a crew of at least six to eight well-mounted cowboys.

Unable to ride horseback, Todd and Rita helped by using 4-wheelers to make the big circles, while the four of us on horseback--Clayton, Kyle, Kristy, and I--gathered the rest. As the herd came together, Kristy was sent up past the lead near the creek in front of Todd's house to make sure the lead turned up the road to the mountain. We had taken things slow and easy, and the herd was lined out nicely along the fence. Kyle was ahead of me, near the top of a rise, when I heard, "Oh, sh--!" My first fear was that Kristy had ridden out too soon and turned the lead back. 

Then Kyle shouted something else. I only caught one word: "Jaws!" I knew we were in trouble.

At the top of the rise where there should have been tails, was a sea of faces. The entire lead was coming back on top of us in full stampede with that sorry yellow bird-dog of Todd's romping down the middle like a fox in a pen of chickens. From that point, things happened so fast they became a blur.

Those of us on horses kicked into high gear, riding hard trying to keep the herd rolling back into itself so we wouldn't lose it. To make matters worse, I was riding Drifter, who is convinced that motorized vehicles coming at him are going to eat him. Rita, working the side by me on her 4-wheeler, had kicked into high gear too, and it took a couple of passes before Drifter would pay attention to the task at hand.

Jaws was totally oblivious to us. He was in his glory. He'd tear after one terrified heifer, running her in circles, then light out after another one going the opposite direction. Everything else was scattering in every direction trying to get out of the way.

I'd never heard Todd yell before, but he was yelling now. "Jaws! You yellow son-of-a-bitch! Come here! Next thing I saw through the churning dust, was Todd on his 4-wheeler chasing Jaws in circles right smack in the middle of the swirling herd. What a wreck! Todd finally got Jaws captured and hauled off behind the herd. We got the herd stopped and held up against the fence before sitting still to catch our breath...

part 2, next week

Sandee's good cowdoys patiently waiting for us to get the steers through
the gate after bringing them off the mountain in 2009.

Home, Sweet Home

God Bless America,

Land that I love,

Stand beside her,

and guide her,

Through the night

with the light from above.

From the mountains,

to the prairies,

to the oceans,

white with foam;

God Bless America,

my home, sweet, home. 

 *****************************
"Posterity, you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that ever I took half the pains to preserve it."
John Adams

"Can the liberties of a nation be sure when we remove their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people, that these liberties are a gift from God?"  Thomas Jefferson

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."  Patrick Henry - The Trumpet Voice of Freedom: Patrick Henry of Virginia, p. iii.

 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD;  Psalm 33:12



Kite Day on Washington DC mall, March, 2004