This past week, a gentle breeze rolled down the rocky canyon and caressed the newly minted leaves of the aspen trees as I worked in the shade. They shook—trembled as if with fear. Quaking aspen—Populus tremuloides. A long winter had me forgetting the about this telltale behavior, a sort of …
There’s a Storm Coming
It's been an eventful (full?) week with long days (often into the night), tumultuous weather, and a new summer horseback crew learning the ropes. Yesterday, a couple of aspiring range riders inadvertently overloaded the fenced corridor that led to the ranch's livestock scales, causing a cattle surge …
Bringing Them All Back Home
It was a cryptic message, but I knew what it meant immediately. When I read the text, the two-week open window that had been a pesky nuisance in my mind finally slammed shut. I reread the satellite phone message from daughter Linnaea: "Got them loaded and about to drive out." That's it. Out of …
Sutter’s Mill and Salmon River Sediments
The Salmon River is running chocolate milk, and I think it saved us. I had been clattering on the rough cobble of the rocky shore, threading my way through downfall and impenetrable willow brush with my mare, Sunny, tracking a couple of steers in the early morning light as more rainclouds scudded …
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We Are Not Alone
They stealthed upon us suddenly in the silent black of night when we least expected it, as they often do. Ironically, we were just 5 minutes earlier taking about them. And it had been a while. We were all exhausted from a long day astride saddle horses in rough country. For icing on a fatigue …
Ode to Iron
Dear Friends and Partners: We have horseshoes. Lots of them. There are buckets and random piles around the shop, barn, and equipment sheds. And I'm not even counting the countless ones left up in the alpine goat-rocks of the Hat Creek Ranges. Often, we'll find hand-forged ones up there, nearly a …