Ut'záh (It Is Done)

I moved up to Gallup on Tuesday. My aunt works out of here during the week and then goes back to Quemado on weekends. I bought my tickets to go back to the east coast on Friday. I ate goat and sheep and hung out with a bunch of Navajo people. The Navajo Nation is about the size of Connecticut and acts in and out of the laws of the United States in that it superseded the States by a while. I think that's why my aunt likes dealing with it so much. It's a really odd case of jurisdiction. I climbed around on some rocks and that was fun. This is Spider Rock. The Spiderwoman lives up there and taught the Navajo how to weave baskets.

There are a lot of Indian casinos nearby. I think I should take advantage of them coupled with the fact that I'm finally 21. Just like I still need to by a drink on an airplane. Those are the coming of age thresholds I've yet to cross.

The only thing to drink in this house is hard lemonade.
I'd still rather be cowboying than exploring and leaving.

I was listening to Tom Waits all morning but this has been stuck in my head.

Diiyá (Leaving)

The other day we went over to my aunt and uncle's old ranch where they still have a couple of cows up in Bingham. They're leasing the land to some neighbors but there was an issue with a water tank so we went to go check it out. It ended up just being a pipe that needed to be welded back together and was pretty simply fixed.My uncle's entire blacksmithing workshop is still up there and is really incredible to see. This is a gate he made a while ago.

And their second house is as entirely filled with Native American and western style art as the other. Tons of baskets and pots and paintings and sculptures; really incredible stuff.

Sunday was the day that I found out if they had a place for me out at the Great Western. After some talking it over and attempted negotiating with the ranch manager it was decided that I cannot stay on this summer. And so my journey ends before it really got started. The money just isn't there to hire on extra help and it's not up to them. God knows they're working hard enough with 14-hour days and no days off. They told me that there'd maybe be a chance for next year's round up and I told them I'd love to come back. I booked a flight for home and still have a week of sight-seeing to do before I pack it in. There're some Indian casinos I've been eying. I talked to mom about it all and she told me just to view it as a vacational learning experience.

I really did learn an incredible amount over such a short period of time. I'm great at all things fences, water lines, driving stick, and I know how to cut a steer's balls off without flinching. But I think the most amazing thing I learned is just what people still do for a living nowadays. The other day my uncle was talking to Jim and said, "how many people out there know that this kind of work still exists?" "Most likely just the people doin' it," was Jim's response.

Yiníł'į́ (Land)

Here's the map of headquarters. This does it no justice to how nice it actually looks but whatever.

Náná'onaáłth (Moving Around)

Here's what the brand looks like:

I think it's been a week since I've had a chance to post something. It's been a week of water issues and disasters. I am now relatively knowledgeable in all things PVC and basic water systems. I think the last time I posted was Friday.

On Saturday Jim and I did all sorts of different jobs. We're getting referred to as the James Gang which Jim appreciates for the outlaw angle (Jesse James' gang) and I like for the musical side. My uncle who so cleverly dubbed us the James Gang confirmed it was for the music. We loaded a few trailers full of hay and got them back to headquarters. We cleaned out one of those 18-wheeler cow pods. It was bullshit, literally bull's shit (jokes and jokes and jokes). We went out into the pasture where the bulls had been kept and rounded up a couple of strays while everyone else was dealing with a clogged pipe that was depriving a few hundred cows of water. When Stephen got back he took us aside and told us how "damn proud" he was of us. Then while we were digging this hole right next to the bunkhouse Jim hit a pipe and water started flowing everywhere. The pipe eventually got fixed, had a little leak the next day, got fixed again, within an hour had a huge leak and left us without water for a night, and then finally got fixed with metal piping so that there could be no holes or cracks.

Sunday was our day off and I took the opportunity to do absolutely nothing. I'm thinking about hiking a nearby mountain and had intended to do so Sunday but I need to get over my cold first.

Monday I was fixing fence all day. It's not a terrible job. They just give you a four-wheeler, a ton of wire, a few posts, and some tools and stuff and you just go out for about 10 hours or so by yourself and check a whole pin for problems. Most of the problems are due to elk and are pretty easily managed. I went into town with Jim, Luke, and Nancy for dinner. Luke has already skyrocketed up the "People I Wish Were My Big Brother List". I think most people have that list whether they know it or not.

Tuesday I went all the way down the draw with my uncle and Juan and learned how to fix to water tanks. They fill up with float system that similar to the back of a toilet. After that we went up to a pasture that was having some issue with a big dirt tank. As it turns out the dam we had built a couple days back and been trampled and because the water had gotten too low it had turned to mud. This meant that 400 cows were without water and had to be moved immediately. We went back to HQ and got some more help and our horses and then moved them into a nearby pitch.

Wednesday and Thursday we moved the same cows down about 8 miles to a pasture with good water. We then built an new gate on one of the pastures. I think that was the hardest dirt on the planet.

Friday was another day fixing fence. I concluded it would be a lot better if I had headphones that had two working earbuds.

Today we had to move those same 400 cows even further to another pasture that has more grass. Afterwards I moved up from the bunkhouse to my aunt and uncle's place. The issue right now is that they don't know if they have the money to hire me on as a full-time hand. We're trying to work it out but it just doesn't look like it's in the numbers. If this does fall through I'll probably stay out here for for a week or so and then come back East in mid-July. Even if I'm not getting paid I'm sure learning a ton and getting a place to stay out of the deal.

Aáh'hotaii' (How It Is)

Here's the really long explanatory post about the ranch. I'd skip reading this one if you don't want tedious details. It might make understanding things easier though.

The manager's name is Jeff. He lives at the main house at headquarters with his wife Sarah and little baby son Ethan. Sarah is constantly pulling Ethan around in a wagon. She does most of the office work. Ethan likes to take the cat, Floyd, by the tail and put him in his swimming pool. Floyd puts up with this 'cause he's a team player.

Sarah's brother is Luke. He lives about five miles from headquarters with his wife Nancy. Luke knows all about mechanics and fixing vehicles on top of being a pretty good cowboy. Nancy works in an office in town but is quitting her job soon so she can spend more time out on the ranch. Luke and Nancy are both in their mid-twenties and are really fun to hang out with. Also, they're completely obsessed with guns and like to go out looking for coyotes and prairie dogs (which are each in abundance).

My Uncle Stephen lives with my Aunt Kate about nine miles from headquarters. Stephen is the cowboss and is in charge of all things cows. Kate is a lawyer for the Navajo currently working on water rights and works out of Albuquerque during the week. Stephen is also a blacksmith by trade but had to go back to work as a cowboy because of the recession. They still have a small ranch with a few cows in Bingham, about two hours from here.

Jim is the only guy living in the bunkhouse and usually works with Stephen. I think he's trying to make a career out of cowboying so he's incredibly helpful and works insanely hard.

Also there's Juan, a mid-forties Mexican cowboy who lives a little off the ranch and knows everything there is to know about water systems. He's probably the most experienced one out here and has been at this particular ranch for 12 years. Considering that Jeff has been here almost one year and he's in second for longest tenure it's a pretty impressive stat. So Juan's really well versed about the ranch. Unfortunately, he's still not too versed in English so we get Spanish lessons from him all the time.

The Great Western Ranch is the fourth largest in New Mexico spanning 450 miles over a pretty high area of the Rockies. It's owned by a large company that really has nothing to do with ranching; I think it's mostly railroads and industry things. The whole thing is kind of shaped like this:

The big draw down the west is for the most part a lateral valley making it incredibly windy all throughout. According to Luke the northern pastures are a lot flatter but I haven't been up there yet.

Headquarters consists of the main house, a bunch of pins, a barn, a shop, the saddle house, the hay barn, some gas tanks, the bunkhouse, and a garage area with a bunch of trailers and trucks.

Right now the two big operations going on are raising cattle and starting a farm. There are 1200 cows out here and since calving takes place in the spring that number is now up to over 2000. Calves are really funny things. They act like puppies. I think I said that before but it's just really odd how their mannerisms are so similar. The whole point of the cow side of it is to get the calves all the way to late fall when they'll be sold to those feed house places so they can eat all day and get fat. This is basically just the breeding center. Some of the heifers are kept every year rather than buying new ones so that the numbers can be higher each year. The farm is still in the works but is nearly up and running. They've leveled two fields and installed irrigation systems and pivots out on them. Pivots are those big watering machines that basically suspended hoses with holes in them. They've been seeding the fields lately but there still aren't fences up around them.

The fences that have to go up are 8 ft. tall to keep out the elk and have to go up soon. No fun will be had there.

Now you'd think that with nearly 500 miles to cover consisting of 2000 cows, thousands of miles of fences, a brand new farm, and all the other issues a ranch has to deal with there'd be more than 6 people working out here. There should be. There's no money. Because it's owned by a big corporation that doesn't ranch everyone gets spread really thin. This makes everyone have to work over 12 hours almost every day while "days off" are spent doing the easier maintenance and going out of town to get supplies.

Also, check out this arrowhead I found the other day.

Beéh'ed déédlid (Brand)

I spent all of Thursday 30 miles away from headquarters rolling up literally miles of wire. What had happened was some of the old managers of the ranch were cheap and opted for these fences that have just two high-tension wires running down them. The problem with this being that these fall over and then there's just wire laying there for horses and cows on which to hurt themselves. So I spent 10 hours rolling that stuff to save some animals or something.

Yesterday was my first branding. You remember that one episode of Scrubs? It's either the first or second one and JD has to drain some woman's stomach fluid and can't? Then Turk comes in and says, "learn by doing." That's what it is out here. I gotta be Chris Turk. At brandings they bring the moms and their calves in and then one person goes out and ropes the back legs of a calf. The calf is dragged down a little bit and secured in this thing called a fork. Once secure each calf gets branded, gets a shot, gets one of its ears notched depending on its sex, and then the steers all get castrated. They can get up and walk away about five seconds after their balls have been cut off and thrown on the ground next to them. We only did about 30 but it was still really amazing to be a part of. The scream a lot when you press hot metal on their sides.

Today I did a bunch of different jobs with Jim, the other ranch hand. It got a little crazy because there were three separate leaks in water systems all at different pins. We had a good time doing it all though.

Yéa'go (With All Your Might)

I think I'm starting to figure this cowboy stuff out. Monday was technically a day off but that doesn't mean that we didn't get up at 7 to do chores. Afterwards, Stephen and I went down the trap to check on all the calves that've been branded recently. The night ended with my Jim, my uncle, and me sitting on the porch and singing Johnny Cash songs. I don't know why Grant isn't here yet.

Yesterday I got introduced to a lot of the grunt work I'd be doing. It's alright.. pretty boring work, but everyone has to do it every once and a while and since I'm the new help it's my turn. Today it consisted of me sitting in a field rolling a ton of wire and singing to myself and then shoveling out a barn and inhaling a bunch of things I shouldn't be inhaling. I think I would've made Mike Rowe look like a chump.

Today we had to load a bunch of bulls and drive them down to all different spots on the trap. I didn't get to help with the part done in the pins since I haven't proven myself on horseback yet but I spent the entire rest of the day driving cattle across seemingly endless countryside. It was awesome. Also, my butt hurts.

I've finished my first few 12 hour days relatively unscathed. I mean blisters and and sores and sunburns aside or whatever.