The Love of the Game

The mid morning sun bore down. Humidity just made the heat sweltering, and there was not enough breeze to move the tree tops. The air just hung motionless. It was the last pasture they had left to work, and the thick South Texas brush made gathering a new adventure every year, since you couldn’t see much past the end of your horse’s nose. The only way to keep up with everyone’s position once inside the brush was to holler once in a while. That way, they could try to keep up with each other and stay in a fairly straight line and also to make sure they kept pretty close. The cowboys took turns locating each other by their whoops and the first ones out to the clearing would wait for all of the other ones to see if any cattle came out ahead of the last guys emerging from the dense brush. Cap and Ely were the first ones out and sat waiting for Jay and Louis to make it.

“Wooooooo!!” Cap hollered to no response. “Wonder what could be takin’ so long? They shoulda beat us out for sure. What we rode through was thicker and shoulda took longer.
“Whoooop!” Was Ely’s signature call. Everyone kinda had their own way. Still no response.
“Listen. You hear anything?” whispered Cap.
“Nope. Not even brush crackling or horses moving through it. Something ain’t right. We shoulda heard from’em by now.” Said Ely.

About that time, came the loudest commotion either one of’em had ever heard. It sounded like someone had fired up a locomotive and decided to drive it right over the top of them. There was hollerin’ just like a train whistle blowing then brush crackling and breaking apart. Their pulse quickened with excitement as anyone’s does when they know something wild is about to happen.

And people wondered why they did this.

Cap and Ely both pulled their ropes from the leather ties to their saddle horns and built loops. They were ready for anything, well they thought.

About that time a crossbred maverick yearling bull came crashing through the brush and out into the clearing. Right on his heels came Jay and Louis each with their hand on top of their head holding their hats on while they looked down at the saddle horn to keep mesquite limbs from slapping them in the face. The race was on and it was just a short distance until the next thicket. Something had to happen fast.

“Rope him Jay!” hollered Louis as they both came barreling across the opening.

Right about that time Cap and Ely caught up and right before the bull made his escape back to the brush Cap managed to get a rope on him. He tried to hook and Cap kept him logged off long enough for someone to get another rope on him. He was sideline tied in the opening in just a short time, and that provided just enough of a break for the mosquitoes to start biting. The cowboys all took a break to take stock of injuries, and scratches, while the ground crew came with the truck and trailer.

“How many of these cattle are we missin’?” asked Jay.
“Well, to tell you the truth we don’t have an exact count on what’s in this pasture. It’s been a while since we cleaned it out. That’s what we have you fellas hired for.” Smiled Cap.
Louis swatted mosquitoes with a mean look on his face and Jay peered at Cap in disbelief.

The cattle trailer could be heard rattling down the brecha (or Sendera which is a long opening usually for a pipeline) on it’s way to pick them and the bull up. When it pulled up several hands bailed out along with a photographer from town who was documenting the work for a book. The city lady with the camera peered at the bull lying on the ground waiting to be loaded into the trailer.

“You mean they don’t all just bunch up together and head down the trail like on TV?” she asked.
All the cowboys looked at each other soaked in sweat, mosquito bitten, scratched and they continued to work getting ready to load the bull.

“Well ma’am, guess it just wouldn’t be any fun that way.” Said Ely.


Here's hoping your a/c is working,
Walker

Just the Way it Went Down

Cap had a pretty strict rule on the ranch. Roping a cow in the pasture was the last resort. He had done his share of pasture roping during his years, but these days he preferred to start early when the cattle would drive easier, and as a general rule buy gentler cattle. Sometimes buying'em gentle was not as easy as starting early.

It was just daylight enough to not turn on the headlights and they were at the Windsor Pens. The Windsor Pens were on the backside of the ranch and that meant that before daylight the boys had all eaten breakfast, fed their horses, saddled up and trailered all the way to the back side of the ranch. They were unloading at the perfect time. It was only 80 degrees this morning before daylight. Pretty cool yet.

The hands all unloaded their horses and mounted up, each taking a few minutes to move their horses around. This morning it didn't take much to warm one up. The warm up was just in case they came upon a bunch of cattle sooner than expected. Most of the time when they started riding from the Windsor, it was an hour or so before they were in the vicinity of cattle...ample time to warm one up.

Cap delivered strict instructions to Ely. Everyone spread out in the brush and make a "drag" through the pasture pushing everything to the clearing along the fence. Then get'em all together and make a drive straight down the fence to the pens. Easy enough. Cap was gonna go wait at the pens in the truck and honk the horn to kind of help call the cattle in.

"All of these cattle are gentle and shouldn't be any trouble, so you boys just leave your ropes on the saddle horn today.", said Cap... those were famous last words as he drove away.

The boys spread out and when everyone had ridden to their spots and exchanged "whoops" to signal location, it was time to go. They each slowly picked their way through the brush moving whatever cattle they saw in the direction of the fence. This was a methodical process since some older cows were smart and would stand still as a statue when a rider rode right by them so they didn't have to leave the shade. Not only did you have to look ahead of you to pick a path through the brush but you had to look to each side trying to notice even the slow switching of a cows tail as she brushed flies away and just watched you ride by.

Ely was in the middle of all the hands in their line and had been having trouble with the same cow and calf all morning long. He would push her toward the fence and then she'd try to veer off and go between him and Woody. He'd cut her off everytime, but she was getting harder and harder to stop. She didn't want to go. Ely took it as a personal challenge from her. After several hours of cat and mouse by the cow and calf, Ely finally got her pushed out to the clearing and in just a few minutes the rest of the boys had theirs out too. They formed one large herd and started them down the fence trying to ease along as it was already getting pretty hot by this time and they still had a pretty good trip ahead.

The boys fanned out along the opposite side of the cows as the fence and kept'em moving. Ely kept his eye on the problem cow. Slowly she worked her way toward the back of the herd just looking for an opening. He was hoping she would go. If she did he would have a decision to make. Obey Cap and let her go back, or follow his instinct and give her the nylon rope treatment. About 300 yards from the pens, she called his bluff. He was ready with his decision.

She had manueverd all the way to the back of the herd and when one cowboy stepped too far ahead of her she dropped back by herself and wheeled the other way, running away down the fence. Ely had his rope down in a flash and was right behind her in as hot of pursuit as him and old Gray could muster. She sensed the chase and veered to the right hitting the brush without slowing down. Ely did the same. That's the last anyone saw of either of them for a while.

The other cowboys penned the cows without incident and then gathered around the truck to get a drink of water before the sorting began. After about 45 minutes Ely came riding up. His shirt was torn in several places, his face scratched from the brush, his horse was lathered up under the breast collar and his hat looked like it had been used as a handle in a bar fight.

Cap was not happy. Ely had disobeyed a direct order. He better have an explanation.

"Well?" Cap asked as he rode up. There was a long pause as Ely wiped his brow and pushed his smashed hat back on his head.

"I roped a cow, broke her leg, didn't mean to do it, and that's all I want to hear about it." Ely turned and rode away toward the pens.

"Meester Cap?", Jaime asked,"is Meester Ely in trouble?" The rest of the hands kinda snickered at the question.

"Jaime, he's just been here too long to fire." said Cap.

"I think I could have roped her." offered Jaime.

"You ain't been here too long." said Cap looking over his glasses and smiling.

Cow Work Pictures

I can't decide what to call this one..."La Gran Corrida" "Los Machos Bravos" or "Woody, Walter, Conly, Wylie and Walker like Shade"

Sometimes cow working is not fun. I have had some "sessions" where nothing goes good and everyone is mad. I have had some sessions where everything was stacked against you from the start, everyone knew it, and it all has to go just right....luck is involved. That is also a stressful situation. When I get to go on my West Texas trip neither of these situations present themselves. There is alot of riding involved, and because of the country, sometimes it's hard to tell where you're going(Fort Stockton), but most of the time it's really good. The cows are easy going and don't "try" you. Here are some of my pictures.
Here's me and a good gray O'Brien bred horse drifting a set to the pens in Fort Stockton. He was a nice ride.

In this photo: Clayton Wood, Walter Donnell

I call this one "Trailer Fender Lunch on Gas Station Sandwiches" I was inside the trailer soaking up whatever shade I could get.

This one is called "Conly talks about Plan B"

The day after Fort Stockton, we worked the New Pasture. It's called that because it was added to the ranch before most of our parents were born...so it's the New Pasture. We had a break for lunch and Lalo was one of the hands helping us that day. I call this one "Lalo's Horse".

This is the New Pasture Pens and view from them.

I decided on "Stories are best in the Shade" as a title for this picture.

On Friday we worked another set. After we penned them and sorted around on them, we had some time to kill before lunch was brought to us. We were spoiled this day and had BBQ brought out to the pens. Alot of the Donnell Family joined us for lunch and is was great food.

This is where most everyone at lunch. Pretty good shade.

Loading from the Lightning Ranch Shipping Pens.

After this we took a break and then starting working calves. There are other ways to do it, but none as fun as roping and dragging them. As Billito explained,"Hell after all the work of penning'em, you gotta have some fun." Well put.

Tomorrow I'm posting the last of the pictures I took and maybe soon I'll get some up that Celeste took (she took the ones with me in them here).

Walker

Desert Beauty is Inspiring

As promised here are some of my favorite pictures from my vacation to Marathon. This might be a long post, but I hope it's worth it. We came through some rain on the way South out of Fort Stockton. Rain over the road is a good thing out there. For the most part things were nice and green.

This the Red House. We stayed here and it was super cool. There are three rooms along each side and some nice showers on the house end. This was home base and also where the Friday night party was.

This is what I saw the first morning. Those mountains are called the "House Tops" and they are just awesome. All you have to do right here is take a sip of coffee and then a deep breath. God did all the rest.

When you are riding along out there, distance is deceiving because you can see for so far. Something might look like it's just over there, but it's farther than you want to ride once you start to figure it. Let me give you an example.

I was riding along through the pasture and noticed this train that was going through the ranch. This is a picture of the train zoomed in as far as my camera would zoom.

This is the same train, same view, just zoomed all the way out to take a regular picture. How's that for distance? Just for those 'eagle eyes' out there, Conly is also in this picture horseback because we were pushing some pairs to the other end of the pasture. Can you find him?

This was our sunset the first evening.

As you can tell, I like to take pictures. I could go on and on though right now I'll spare you because tomorrow I'm posting more, but of the actual cow working we did....and more philosophy too.

Walker

Rancho Chievo Viejo

Last Thursday we said goodbye to Billy Walker. Billy was my Dad's second cousin, and one of the coolest guys I can say I was ever around. He was a rancher, cattleman and all around good man. Like his good friend Robert said about him at the funeral, "If he liked you....he loved you, there was nothing in-between."

I can say this very honestly because I am one. Walker's sometimes don't do things normally or exactly the way everyone else does....it's just not our style. Billy's funeral was no different. It was one of the most unique, and one of a kind experiences I have ever been a witness to. Look at the pictures below and judge for yourself.

Here is the hearse that carried Billy to his resting place.

The buggy driver backed right up to the door of the Funeral Home.

The pallbearers were all asked to ride horseback behind the hearse and it made for one of the most fitting send-offs I've ever seen. There was cowboy singing at the graveside service, and the whole ceremony was just amazing. It was good to see some of our family who we don't see often and catch up with them. This was truly a celebration of Billy's life and a testament to the kind of guy he was. He will be missed.

Here are the pallbearers dismounting and walking toward the hearse buggy.

Vaya Con Dios Amigo.....we're losing more good ones every day...

Walker

Al the Barber

Al had been the town Barber for as long as anyone could remember. He had been cutting Cap’s hair for over 20 years. It wasn’t that hard to do really because it was more of a trim on the sides only. As the years went on Cap was more and more follicle-ly challenged. Cap blamed that on Ely, and ranching in general.

As any small town Barber will attest to, sometimes things get slow. There’s just not a steady stream of men who need their hair cut every day. Al had taken to keeping his shop open only a couple days a week, the other days of the week he used for golf.

It had been the topic of discussion at the last couple of Sunday coffee club meetings that Al had taken to drinking a little more. Even being open a couple days a week, he wasn’t busy all day. When customers weren’t in the shop, he kept a little cot in the back room and would get a nip of bourbon, then take a nap on the cot. When the front door opened, the bells tied to it would jingle and wake him up. He would come from the back room with a broom in his hand, but everyone knew what he was doing.

Cap expressed some concern that maybe someone should have a talk with Al. The coffee club agreed, but Cap came up with a different idea.

Al’s shop was in the old part of downtown. There were display windows out front where you could put shoes, or clothes just like any small town department store, but being a Barber Shop there was nothing to display…not most of the time anyway. Cap enlisted Ely and a couple others to help him on a Thursday afternoon when Al was supposed to be open for business, but had taken to using his cot instead of cutting hair. Afer removing their boots, they slowly opened the front door and Cap reached his hand inside grabbing the bells to keep them from making noise.

They crept into the shop. Al was a light sleeper, as the bells had been waking him up for the last few years. They sneaked, quiet as Commanches, in their socked feet, to the back room of the shop. There, sure enough, they found Al on his cot. Each man took a corner of the cot and gently lifted it off of the ground making sure to keep it even so as not to disturb their sleeping friend. They smoothly carried the cot to the front of the store and placed it, ever so gently in the front window display. Ely took a couple flowers they had picked and put them on Al’s chest. They almost couldn’t contain their excitement! You’ve never seen old men giggle like school girls until it comes to a great prank on a friend! They hurried out the back door and almost all collapsed into laughter.

After regaining control they rushed around to the front of the building to inspect their work. It was a sight! There was Al, passed out on his cot, hands folded on his chest with a couple flowers resting there too. To the eye that didn’t know any better…Al had passed on! The men sat down on the bench across the street, put their boots back on and prepared to be entertained. As people passed by, they stopped and paid their respects to Al. Some men even removed their hats! After a while a crowd had started to gather out in front of Al’s Barber Shop to attend his wake.

Right about that same time is when the fun started. Al’s nip of bourbon had caused him to have a dream of some sort. This dream led to him reach up and scratch his head…two women almost fainted. When this commotion started, their light sleeping friend was awakened to find himself on display in the front of his shop, with admirers all around…some of which had almost fainted. Next he found the flowers on his chest and it was at that point that Al wondered if he had died! When he stood up off of the cot and could see Cap, Ely and two other men leaning on each other to keep from falling because they were laughing so hard on the bench across the street, it all became clear. He jumped down from the display, grabbed his hat and ran out the front door of his shop heading towards the bench across the street. Cap, Ely and the others scrambled for their trucks and sped away before being caught.

The culprits are all looking for new a Barber now…their pony tails are getting long!

All Horses Go To Heaven

Well....we tried as hard as we knew how. It's nobody's fault. Baxter the wonder horse developed an abcess in his neck related to the temporary trach. Basically, the outside of the wound healed before the inside did and trapped bad stuff in the wound that caused complications. I thought we were making progress, then all of the sudden, we went backwards. The Doctors at Clinic at the Crossings, in Longview felt there was no way for him to come back from it. Now I start a new chapter in my roping career. This sport ain't for the weak of heart and like my dad has said a million times, "If this was easy... everybody would do it." Everything happens for a reason, and I know the Good Lord is guiding my path. I'm following wherever he sends me and believing it will be alright. Everything is done according to his plan. I was given that horse for as long as I was supposed to have him and now I am ready for whatever is next. At the end of every story, a new one begins.

Walkin' the Walk, not just talkin' the talk,

Walker