It’s time to take the horses to winter pasture; this is always a time of mixed feelings for me. I love to watch them run loose and free…but I sure miss having them right across the street to hear and see anytime. It’s Tuesday November 25 and this is our third attempt to take them down. We had planned on two weeks earlier, but a friend called and asked if they (the horses) could be part of a “show and tell” for the kids at the elementary school she works at. So plans were made to haul them to Ft. Collins’ Irish Elementary on Thursday. Whoa! Thursday gets here and a winter ice storm has moved into our mountain area. We decided it was not worth risking an accident in the canyon hauling a loaded horse-trailer on icy roads, so we called the school and begged off. Now we finally get another day that is dry and clear, and convenient for Ida to meet us at the pasture.
We should have had a clue this was not going to be an easy task. Bill went to hook up the trailer while I grabbed halters for all three horses. My part was easy. The horses had heard the truck fire up and were all waiting at the feeder, vying for places to see who got haltered first. They really do like to go and they know the sound of our truck! I walked Ranger to the hitch-rail in front of the Lodge as I saw Bill park the truck back in front. I suddenly realized I had parked the smaller truck too close to the trailer; it would have to be moved over. OK, I go to get another horse, Jesse, and come back noticing Bill unlocking the front door of the Lodge. What? Oops. The battery is dead on the PU that needs to be moved; he’s going after the jump box. I head back after the last horse, Washoe, who is very excitedly racing up and down the fence line, thinking he is getting left behind. He races me to the gate with tail in the air.
Finally, after getting the smaller truck started and moved over, Bill gets the trailer hooked up. I have all three horses standing at the rail, very excited about going for a ride. The trailer is pulled around front and our guys load like pros. We are off, headed down the mountain on a beautiful, sunny, calm day.
As we are pulling out of Lyons, I phone Ida so she can meet us at the field and unlock the gate. Less than five minutes later, Bill notices a smell he doesn’t like. I take a whiff, thinking it might be fresh manure being spread on the fields we are passing, then realize it has a rubber odor to it. We quickly check the mirrors for flat tires or stuck brakes on the trailer. Everything looks good, but Bill pulls to the side so we can get out and do a walk around. As soon as he pulls to the side of the road, smoke starts pouring out from under the hood of the truck. The smoke turned out to be steam, but the news wasn’t any better. Instead of finding a broken water hose or leaky radiator, we found gray, frothy stuff spewing from the water reservoir. This can’t be good! There was obviously oil mixed with the water spraying out. Even my limited mechanical expertise knows of no systems in a diesel engine that combines water and oil. Mind you, this is the same truck that died on us a month ago, for no apparent reason, and had gotten a clean bill of health from the shop mechanics. I guess it knew something we didn’t.
I called AAA, again, for a tow. I think they know my voice now because they asked if this was the same truck, or maybe they keep good computer records. Then I called Ida and told her the story. Again, our cowgirl angel came to the rescue. She happened to be driving her truck, so she came over and hooked onto the trailer so we could get the horses to their pasture. Bill was stuck waiting for the tow vehicle while I got to let the horses loose. What a sight. Her mare, Audobon is sharing this particular pasture with our guys for now. She came racing across this huge area when Ida called and she saw company. Ida and I took the halters off our horses and let them go, but they just stood by us watching Audobon coming. Finally our horses took off running to greet her and it was truly a glorious sight to see them all racing loose in a huge field, manes and tails blowing in the breezes. I tried to get my video camera set up so I could get pictures this year, and even it didn’t function. The tape had gotten stuck and then the moment was over. Oh well, I have great mental pictures.
As Ida and I turned to leave, a car pulled into the driveway behind us. I had forgotten that Nelle, our daughter, was going to meet us for lunch. Instead of lunch, she drove me back to the Lodge to pick up our car, so I could meet Bill at the shop. It was another perfectly orchestrated break-down. I hope we don’t push our luck and go for a third one!

January's Recipe: Green Chili Egg Cassarole

Welcome to 2009!

We'll start off the new year with one of our guests' all-time favorite recipes, Green Chili Egg Casserole. What's great about this recipe is that it's perfect for breakfast pot-lucks; it is made the night before and allowed to sit overnight. The next morning, all you have to do is pop it in the oven!

Green Chili Egg Casserole
325 degrees 50 minutes
9" x 13" glass baking dish sprayed with PAM or other non-stick spray.

4 slices of Texas Toast: butter slices, lay butter side down in pan.

4 c. Monterey Jack/Cheddar cheese, shredded. Layer over bread.

Beat eggs, and then beat in spices:
7 eggs
1 t. Mrs. Dash
1 t. salt
½ t. garlic powder (not garlic salt)
1 t. oregano

Mix into egg mixture:
½ c. (7 oz. Can) chopped green chilies
2 c. milk

Pour entire mixture over cheese in pan. Sprinkle with paprika. Cover, refrigerate
over night. Bake until golden brown. Let set 5 min. before cutting.

12 to 15 servings.

Note: recipe can be halved using 4 eggs, bake in 8"x8" pan.

Hunt camp

Juanita keeps giving me grief about not doing any of the blogs... so here goes.

Went to hunt camp as a cook last month. Took Ranger. Froze my tush off for 5 days. Came home. So did Ranger.

Bill

Cattle Drive continued

Day 2. We are loaded up and even the horses seem excited to be working another day. Just before leaving the Lodge, Ida called to say Boulder Animal Control had called her, saying some people had reported cows grazing on their septic field. The number of animals and location made it a pretty sure bet it was the missing-in-action cows we were looking for. We met her at the same spot, loaded our horses into her trailer and headed for the mini division they seemed to have found.

Today, it was only Ida, Bill, Elisa and me. The others had gone to a Halloween party the night before and didn’t want anything to do with collecting cattle. I think it made it easier, because we had meshed into a pretty good team and didn’t have to watch out for the non-riders. Also, the horses seemed much more at ease, now knowing what was expected of them. Audubon seemed to like the company, Washoe had calmed down around the cows and the other two just wanted a job to do.

When we got to the little division up behind Jamestown, there was a young girl waiting for us, maybe 10-12 years old. She had been “keeping an eye on the cows” and told Ida exactly how many and what colors they were. Later, Ida laughed in delight at all the information. Obviously the girl felt she had a very important job to do, and left quite happy. Bill and I rode at the edge of a small lake while Elisa and Ida followed the girl’s directions to locate the cows. They drove them back toward us and we soon met up and headed them homeward. Again, we headed right into the thickest part of the forest, as it was the most direct route back to their pasture, which was between us and the trailer. According to Ida, cows don’t like to follow roads and it’s much too difficult keeping them out of the fencing on either side. After the previous day’s experience, we agreed. As we came to fencing between pastures, the cows would just push through any loose area they came to and we would have to find a way to get the horses through. Ranger won’t go anywhere near a fence that looks like wire, so that meant dismantling one completely! We also had to keep a close eye out for rolled wire on the ground, where old fences had been taken down, but the wire was just left lying around. Again, the cattle didn’t care, but horses don’t like getting tangled.

Once we got the cows back to their regular pasture, they seemed to remember their way on back to the trailer loading area, so all we had to do was follow and keep them moving. They were getting pretty tired by this time and wanted to stop a lot. This day went very smoothly and it only took two hours to get the job done. We were almost sad that it was over; it was such a great ride time. It also ended our riding for the season. The following week I had my shoulder X-rayed due to the fall I had taken while on vacation. No fractures, but the doc said stay off the horses until it was healed, as a safety against re-injury. Bummer! What a great way to end the season, though, with a dream come true.

Cattle Drive!

This is like one of our mini-dreams: moving cattle as a real job, not just in a pen or for practice. Ida, the person we get our hay from, and who winters our horses, had called and asked us if we would like to help her move some of their cattle from the summer pasture. She needed to take them to the main ranch to separate the calves from the mom cows, and her helpers were quickly disappearing because it was Halloween weekend. It was only a week after getting back from our Fall riding vacation and our horses were in good shape and now fully rested from all the travel. We JUMPED at the chance! We were to meet her over on one of the county roads bordering their lease pasture off Hwy 72 on Saturday morning.

Day One. The day was promising to be good weather-wise; a little overcast and cool, but no wind and very comfortable with just a light jacket. We pulled up ahead of Ida and spent a little time getting reacquainted with her horses. We had leased them from her 4 years earlier to operate a small livery, and had let our horses run with hers every winter since then, so it was like greeting old friends. When Ida arrived, she had her younger sister and two of her sister’s friends with her. The two guys were from Norway. One of them said he could ride and one had never really been on a horse before, and Ida’s sister was a rider (grown up around horses, but didn’t spend much time with them lately). Since we were not experienced cattle movers, we were feeling sorry for Ida that she had ended up with such slouches for a crew. We knew she could move the cattle by herself, but she had told us it would be easier if she had people to help keep the odd ones from darting off into the trees. As soon as we started to ride we understood what she meant. We were travelling in very thick aspen groves on mountainous terrain, so just the trees themselves would cause barriers to moving cattle in a bunch.

We all got mounted and headed out to look for the cows. Bill was on Ranger, Elisa (from the Ghost Ranch) had Washoe and I was on Jesse. We stayed at the back of the group so our horses could get accustomed to riding with strange riders. Jesse, in particular, likes to be at the back until she “reads” the other horses in a group. Ida had Audubon, a mare she is training for cattle work; her sister was riding Peanut; the inexperienced guy was on Paint - a marvelous moving paint that we had used as a kid’s horse; and the other guy was on Brownie. Brownie likes to really move out and his rider liked to trot all the time, so they were quite a pair, only Paint and rider had problems trying to keep up. Paint’s rider had a death grip on the reins and saddle horn, and poor Paint could only think to stay with his buddy Brownie. We lost sight of them a lot and I wasn’t sure they were going to stay mounted, but they managed.

After leaving the trail, we covered a lot of varied terrain, weaving in and out of brush, crossing ditches and gullies and navigating the deadfall that accumulates in the forest areas. All of the horses handled the terrain well, as good ranch horses will. I kept wondering how our horses would react when we reached the cattle. Jesse was the only one who had any experience at all, and that had been four years earlier when I had taken her to a Mark Rashid clinic as a 3 year-old and we had spent some time learning a little about the etiquette of moving cattle in ranch work. She hadn’t been near cows since. We were also beginning to wonder if we would see cattle. Where were they?

They were supposed to be in a pasture a couple of miles away. Someone forgot to tell the cows that, because they weren’t there. After riding along several trails and through several fences, we came to some really nice high pasture areas…but no cows. We split into two groups: Bill, Elisa and I checked one direction; Ida and crew took the other area, meeting back in the pasture about ½ hour later. More than two hours of riding and still no sign of cows. By this time, the non-riding guy had enough and had tied his horse to a fence and parked his body on some soft grass. (Later he said that being a cowboy was getting crossed off his list of things to do in life.) We took a short rest to discuss options, and split into groups again. Ida sent us along a fence line and they headed through some trees. We were to meet back at one of the roads leading into this area. When we got there we found Ida but the other three had disappeared. Ida had looked for them and decided they had probably headed back to the truck and trailer, tired of riding. Ida had seen some cow tracks going down one of the roads while she was looking for the other riders, so Ida, Bill, Elisa and I kept together, watching for tracks and getting further and further away from the trailer. We finally came across some promising sign and followed it to the river. Sure enough, there were some of the cow-calf pairs, getting their mid-day drink-in some of the thickest brush I’ve seen on the other side of the river.

We crossed the river and had a devil of a time convincing the cows to get out of the deadfall and re-cross the river! Once we got the cows moving, they took off at a run and we had to slide down the river bank to keep up with them. My right stirrup caught a dead aspen and uprooted it, causing the top of the tree to fall right across Jesse and me. Thankfully my cowboy hat took most of the impact, getting knocked off in the process, but my bulldozer of a horse managed to stomp the tree down and I came away with only a bump in the middle of the forehead as a battle wound. Bill graciously retrieved my hat from the river and we were off after cows again. Ida and Elisa had kept them moving along the river. When we caught up, we got them turned toward the road and headed back. After doing a head count, we discovered we had only found about half, but at least we had complete pairs. I guess sometimes that doesn’t happen. The decision was made to get this bunch loaded and headed for home pastures.

We followed the dirt road for quite a ways then had to turn them into the trees and take them back through the pasture where they were supposed to have been, and back through all the aspen groves and deadfall. By this time Jesse and Ranger had figured out their jobs and were thoroughly enjoying themselves, keeping the cows moving. Jesse took to it like an old hand, remembering her lessons, I guess. We were pushing from the back and I hardly had to give her any guidance. When I did, it was feather light, and just enough to weave into spaces big enough for the both of us. I learned that cows will go through anything! I was sure proud of how she worked the cows. Ranger and Bill covered one side, closer to the road since Ranger prefers to not be in such close territory. Ida was covering the other side and Elisa was chasing down anything that went astray, mostly because Washoe was being a goof when he got too close to the cows. He was soooo excited he wasn’t paying attention to his cues. I was sure glad it was Elisa on him instead of me. Audubon was goofy at times, too, mostly because she’s used to working alone and she would sometimes get excited at the other horses and not pay attention to the trees. Audubon is a large horse and poor Ida was getting hit by more branches than the rest of us. Our shorter Mustangs are handy in the mountains when going cross-country!

When we got to one of the roads to cross, we ran into Hal, Ida’s brother, looking for us to tell us the others were back at the truck. Hal had brought up another trailer to help haul the cows back. While we were talking to Hal, some of the cows had pushed through a barb wire fence and were scattering in the trees. We had to take down part of the fence to get the horses through and the idiot cows had just pushed their way through a loose wire, ignoring the barbs. No wonder they get called stupid. We quickly got them bunched back up and got them back to the trailer in short order. Ida and Hal got them loaded like pros and we called it a day. Ida said we would look for the rest the next day. We had spent 4 ½ hours horseback in very rough stuff and we were all tired, but it was a great day.

December's Recipe: Pumpkin Custard

Each month we will share one of our favorite Lodge recipes. This month's is one of our fall breakfast dishes.

Pumpkin Custard

1 can evaporated milk
3 eggs
3/4 c. sugar (or 3/8 c. brown sugar and 3/8 c. white sugar)
½ t. salt
1 ½ - 2 t. pumpkin pie spice
2 c. cooked pumpkin

Put all ingredients in a blender, blend until smooth. Pour into 9" pie pan or 10 custard bowls.
Bake at 400* F for 10 minutes - reduce to 350* F for 30-35 minutes.

GRV - The Perfect Breakdown

October 22, Day 11
Well, time to head for home. We woke up early and gathered everything up; pulled out at 8:00 am. The weather is fair but we’ve been warned that we are headed into a winter storm in Colorado. Sure enough, shortly after crossing the Colorado border, the temperature dropped to 29 degrees. By the time we crossed over LaVeta pass, halfway between Alamosa and Wallsenberg, we were in snow, but there was only a short portion of the road that was slightly snow covered. The new snow on all the trees is sure pretty. I do like winter when I am inside a nice warm truck.

We made good time getting home, with no more bad weather. In fact, by the time we reached Denver it was sunny and warm. We seem to have missed the storm and gladly head home, leaving I-25. We are on the homestretch, less than ½ hour from home, and happy to be arriving early, in the daylight, when the truck suddenly dies. Just like that! It had balked slightly a couple of times on the trip and we had already decided to send it to the shop to get the fuel jets checked out, but nothing to warn us its computer was going to shut everything down. We happened to be at the base of the St. Vrain Canyon in front of the Hall Ranch Open Space. In fact, this is right across the road from where we usually board our horses for the winter. Bill could get the truck to run for short spells, but it’s obvious we can’t pull the trailer and horses up the steep canyon, so he parked the rig on the road leading to the old homestead of the Hall family.

About that time, one of our neighbors from Allenspark stopped and asked if we need help. He graciously drove me back into Lyons so I have cell phone reception; I leave Ida Hall a message to tell her she has acquired three more horses and call AAA Road Assistance for a tow. He then took me back to our rig and Bill and I got the horses settled in the open corral at the ranch. Only about 10 minutes later the tow truck shows up. Our Ford F350 flatbed is getting towed in by another, older Ford F350 just like it, named “Ole Horse”. The driver had been in the business for over 30 years so he called himself the old driver with his old horse. He suggested a good diesel shop in Longmont and off we went. He then asked us if we could get a ride somewhere and we talked about calling our daughter, Nelle, who teaches in Longmont. We had just mentioned this to the driver when my cell phone rang, and guess who? Nelle was just checking to see if we were near home yet, and even better luck, she was still in Longmont, even though it was well past her usual departure time. To top it off, she was only ½ mile from the shop, because she had made a wrong turn leaving her meeting. She met us at the truck shop and we packed some stuff in her car and headed for home – again. If there is ever such a thing as a perfect breakdown, this was it.

Only it gets better. On our way home, Ida called to say she got the message and she offered her truck the next day to take the horses and our trailer the rest of the way home! The end of the story? We still don’t know what happened to the truck. The shop called the next day to say they couldn’t find anything wrong, we picked it up and have had no more problems. I can only surmise we weren’t supposed to be in the canyon with a loaded horse trailer that night.

GRV - Photo Shoot

October 21, Day 10
We wake up excited, remembering we were going to be part of a “photo shoot” for the upcoming newer version of the Ghost Ranch’s website and brochure. We had been asked to participate in the riding portion and had been told to wear our finest in cowboy duds. OK, by now most of our clothing has seen better days on this trip, but you can hide a lot under chaps and a good hat. We started riding about mid-morning and finally hooked up with the photographer as he finished some of the early morning desert shots. He directed us to a location he had picked out on one of the creeks, and we did lots of riding up and down ditch banks in the Fall foliage and in the water following the creek. The colors of the trees were fantastic; the pictures should be phenomenal. Then he had us just play around trotting and standing in the alfalfa field in the center of the compound of cabins so he could get shots of the red cliffs and mountains in the background. We can hardly wait for the first of the year, when the new website appears.

When the photographer was done with us, we headed out for another long day of exploring. Elisa took us on the longest of the hiking trails, which curled way up above a huge box canyon. We made it to the last camp site and then explored even further on a “lost” trail. This trail was a longer version of our “goat trail” back home. Again, I was thankful we had really great horses under us. Ranger and Bill did have a minor spill on the way down. The trail just gave way under them on one of the steeper portions, but although Ranger went to his knees, he kept his head and climbed his way back onto the trail. Bill managed to stay on top of him. You just can’t beat a Mustang in the wild!

GRV - Return to Ghost Ranch

October 20: Day 8
We went to bed early last night, so we could get an early start on the road today. It’s time to head back towards Colorado. Today we will be back at Ghost Ranch, NM for a couple of nights. We goofed around cleaning up camp and forgot about the hour time change, so it’s 9:00 am NM time when we get started. We were thinking it would take us about 10 hrs. to get there.
Pulled into Ghost Ranch about 8:00 pm; losing one hour going eastward, we did have a 10-hour trip. As we pulled into the gate of the Ranch, Sophie dog sat up and took notice, immediately going to the window to put her nose out for a smell. It was obvious she knew where we were; she got very excited as she really likes to play with her friend, Buford. I wondered if the horses did a sniff and remember also, since it seemed like that from the motion of the horse trailer. They certainly knew where to head when they got out of the trailer this time, and promptly walked to “their” corral. Ranger even softly nickered to the old mare.

GRV - Jumping Cholla and 1st Bucket Baths

October 19: Day 7
It’s a beautiful Sunday morning, maybe around 70 degrees at 7:00 am, no clouds in the sky. We have just finished breakfast (huevos rancheros) and decide to go for a longer ride while it is cool enough for the horses. We get saddled up and decide on a route. We will leave the equine camping area on Ford Canyon trail and connect to a couple others to make about 10 miles, hopefully. Three hours seemed long enough in the desert heat and no prospect of water for the horses. It’s warm but we still opt for full riding gear: long sleeved shirts, gloves, chaps and hats. There are lots of pokey things in the desert!

The trail is rocky, dry and wandering through the different cacti. We could identify most but found a couple we didn’t know. Bill was talking about “jumping cholla” maybe being the fuzzy looking one similar to the walking stick cholla. A little later that question was answered. Jesse and I were leading, Bill and Ranger had Washoe in tow when Bill looked down and saw a hitchhiker on his chaps. He laughed and said, “I just barely touched that bush on the way by,” but he had two furry balls of very prickly cactus attached to the bottom of his leather chaps. Knowing better than to touch it, he also wisely chose not to knock it off with the end of his lead rope. The night before our son had warned us about touching these, so Bill tried slapping it off with the end of his leather rein. Bad idea. One of them promptly jumped from the rein to the back of his glove, a spine actually going through the Velcro strap and into his skin. After a couple of words of power the real tool came out: the Leatherman! Fortunately, all horses stood quietly while Bill painstakingly detached the furry ball, spine by spine, from his wrist, then the other one from his chap. Boy, were we careful the rest of the ride when we crossed fields of those things.

Two miles into the ride we passed a sign that warned of treacherous and steep terrain ahead; not recommended for bicyclists or horses. Since we were riding experienced and agile trail horses, we decided to see how far we could go. Shortly after, the trail indeed did get much steeper and narrower, but not anything our horses couldn’t easily handle. We passed mile marker 3 and then it did get pretty tough. We continued on; the horses were so good. They took everything in stride. Don’t let anyone tell you it is a waste of your time to spend the necessary training time with your horses. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. We were in a steep, tight spot in the trail. Jesse had stepped over a boulder in the trail, but Ranger, being shorter, was having difficulty, so Bill stepped off, but Washoe went around him and got in front, so I stepped off Jesse and left her ground tied to a large rock, walked back and got Washoe, so Ranger had space to move. Got everybody re-mounted and moving again, but when we looked at our watches, we had been gone 1 ½ hrs. We decided it would be better to turn around and take one of the shorter trails than to chance longer time and no water. Our horses were sweating pretty heavily from their warm Colo. weather coats; it’s probably hitting 90 degrees by now. The next slightly wider spot in the trail, we pivoted and headed back. Really nice having horses that can turn on their own radius so you don’t have to leave the trail.

The horses very neatly traversed all the steep, tough stuff we had come up and we picked up the Waddell trail back at mile marker 3, then switched over to the Willow Creek trail to take us back to the equine area. We passed several hikers, and let several hikers pass us on these trails. Took a lot of razzing about the third horse, wondering if he was in training. Bill told them he was the spare tire. That got some laughs. We got back to camp without incident and met a bicyclist from Spokane, WA, who wanted to take a picture of us while still mounted. Ranger would rather have had water, but he stood pretty good in front of the water tank. We did about 9 miles on this ride by combining three trails.

The horses were very hot and sweaty so we decided to cool them with water from the horse tank. At first, they didn’t want buckets of water dumped on them, then they decided it felt pretty good. They certainly looked better without the black sweat marks all over them. They decided a good roll would finish the job, but found that the pea gravel in the parking area was not much fun, so they only rolled over once or twice instead of their customary 4-6 times. We decided everybody deserved a good rest in the shade, so spent the rest of the afternoon napping and reading, waiting on Daniel and crew to show up later. Part way through the afternoon, the horses said something was out and about in the bushes, so we watched and got to see a javalina cross the driveway into the area. They had spotted several deer for us already; apparently we parked pretty close to the game trail they used to get to the water tank. This is what vacation is all about, right?

About 5:00 pm Daniel, Dalena, Taylor and Austin showed up and we heated some chili beans and cooked hot dogs on skewers over the propane stove. Bill found a couple of scorpions at the base of the water tank and showed the kids. Fortunately, they were already dead; probably drowned at the water outlet. Daniel walked a little way into the desert with me to show me some trees I didn’t know. Then we sat around visiting and watching a pretty sunset until time for the park to close at 8:00 pm.