Browsing by Tag: nature

The last two cows and their calves finally came home a month after we first started gathering. The weather continued fairly warm through most of October and missing cows trickled out of the forest. We also tried long horse and 4 wheeler rides outside our permit area and found a few. The end count was…

The combination of cold weather and slow recovery from surgery has got me reminiscing about active moments in warmer weather. One of my favorite such memories involves climbing the legendary Castle Rock this past summer of 2010. Castle Rock is a beautiful landmark near the ranch, an outcropping that earns the name “Castle” even from…

The ranch is quite the haven for wildlife in the winter. Every time you glance over your shoulder you are bound to see mule deer. The prevalence of deer has been a real blessing during my convalescence from knee surgery. I am regularly seeing deer stroll by my bedroom window, one even paused at the…

Any of you who came as guests during  the second half of summer 2010  might remember talk about a wild horse that was patrolling the perimeter of the ranch. When we first noticed the wild horse, there was cause for immediate concern. The horse was right outside of the pasture where all of our young…

One of the most common questions I get from our summer guests is: What do you wear in the winter? It’s a good question, and before I moved to Wyoming and learned the meaning of -40 degrees Fahrenheit, I would have wondered the same thing. The trick is to layer. I am normally wearing five…

More wildlife conflicts here at the ranch, which is sad and a sign of stress, due to the prolonged drought and exceptionally long, cold winter. A grizzly came to the garbage outside our house one night; we were alerted by the dogs barking and could see it in the moonlight, trying to find something edible….

It has been a long, cold winter in Wyoming and we haven’t seen the last of it yet. The good thing about this is that there has been more snow than we have had for years, which will bring back the wild flowers this spring. One heavy snowstorm came with a strong wind which resulted…

It has been very quiet around the ranch over the past few months. There are just the two of us here now, weathering winter with the farm animals, the young horses and some mares. Most of the riding horses and all the cattle are at our lower place near Riverton. We have had very little…