Mom's Week in Gallup

The next week mom and I hung out around the house a lot and cruised around town. Gallup is located on Historic Route 66 and there are lots of old shops and little museams with the old neon signs and lots and lots of Native american art & jewelry. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day they have Indian Dances in the Town Square every night so we made a point to check that out too. The dancers that night were from the Zuni tribe. Their reservation is about 45 minutes SouthWest of Gallup. The guys are doing the buffalo dance and the lady is doing the pottery dance.

We also drove about an hour away to a wolf rescue and took the tour there. that was awesome. The taught us about the wolves as they walked around and we got to see most of them. There are 4 types of gray wolves: Arctic, Tundra, Timber and Mexican gray. they had the first 3 there at the rescue. the Mexican Gray is local to this area but endangered and trying to be restored. This is a picture of an Arctic Wolf. They live the farthest north and have long thin legs that help them get through the snow.

We went to the Lion's Rodeo at Red Rock State park in Gallup on Saturday, June 20th. Alpine Lumber was a sponsor so we went to check it out. It was really fun. They had two arena's side by side with alternating events happening at the same time. The ropers and barrel races on one side and the bucking broncos and bull riding on the other side. They also had the little kids riding sheep. they were soooooo cute!! The rodeo cowboy was a comedian with little skits and comments during the down time. We checked out the dance after but it was super crowded so we just hung out for a little bit while we were waiting for the parking lot to clear out.

Instead of mom flying home as planned, I decided to driver her home and hang out in LA for a week. But I'll save that for the next post.

Taking mom to the Ranch

My mom came to visit us in Gallup for a week. She flew into Albuquerque on June 11.

We took her to the ranch to visit and help us do some projects. First on the list was to repair some fencing. There were several of us there to help. In our truck was Trace, his mom, my mom, & me. And with us was Trace's uncle Dave, his cousin Brandi, and Brandi's husband and son. I was mostly in charge of re-nailing wire to the posts that had come loose. Trace was re-stretching wire and reattaching sections that had broken from weather or elk. We worked on two sections and it was fun. The weather was good and we got a lot done. We did plenty of sight seeing and wondering around too. The wildflowers were beautiful and everything was green. We had a great time!

Sunday was time to brand the calves. We got then in the corral and separated from the mamas first thing. Then brought them down into the chute one by one. I think the first guy up was bandit. We named him that because of his white face and black patches on his eyes. The process for a boy is the cut the bottom of his "sack" then Trace squeezed out the testicles and pulls the hell out of them. then they put pine tar which really just looks like tar but smells like pine to the cut and that part is done. then we put an ear tag in with what looks like a giant whole punch. I was in charge of giving them the antibiotics. a big-ole shot in the shoulder. Last on the list was to brand them. that part was worse than the castrating... it's a large cast iron branding iron that they heat up with a torch and then press into their sides.... they didn't like that part. But as soon as they were out of the chute and back with mama, they were pretty happy again. it took a day or two for the boys to walk normal but they took it surpisingly well!

Milking a cow

May 30, 2009.

We were at the ranch for the weekend with the intention of branding the calves. But the weather wasn't great and one of the cows had just had a calf that was too young to brand. But we weren't off the hook just yet. The cow that had just had the latest calf had a huge impacted milk bag. She was even having trouble walking because she was in so much pain. We could tell that the new calf was nursing the front two teets but not the back... and we weren't even sure if she was letting the calf at the front because she was kicking dirt and soar.


So we got her in the corral and into the chute. We decided to milk her out to relieve the pressure and hope the calf would begin sucking on all four. Mama cow was not happy to be in there, that's for sure. Casey had her back leg tied up so we could get to her and we rubbed some vasoline on the nipples to soften them and then milked her. Trace and I took turns while Casey watched that we didn't get kicked in the head. Thanks Casey!

By the time we switched sides, she didn't even need to be restrained. she was so happy to have the help. She was practically purring. So I felt like a real country girl that weekend and I was happy to help the mama cow. Turns out the calf did take to all four and mom and baby are happy.

Catching Up!

Wow, it's been forever since I've posted anything. Let me catch up...

El Morro National Monument

Yesterday we took a drive to check out the area and we started by going to the Zuni Pueblo about 30 minutes away. Most of the town was very old brick buildings, I'm sure there were many older buildings, they have been there a long time. we couldn't take any pictures with out getting a permit so we just drove around and checked it out. Then we headed east from there to the town of Ramah. it wasn't Native American at all. Seemed like a very white town with farming and good size homes in the middle of what what we thought was the Navajo Reservation. We wondered around there and found a little lake in the canyon.

Then we continued East another 15 miles or so to El Morro National Monument. http://www.nps.gov/elmo
that was very cool. There is a natural spring that is tucked back into the Sandstone bluff that travelers have been stopping to camp and water their horses for hundreds of years. There are petroglyphs on the sandstone and some time around the early 1600's the travelers began to etch their own names and messages along side the ancient drawings. We did the 1/2 mile walk to the bluff and back to the visitor center or we could have continued walking the full 2 miles up to the top of the bluff where there are Native American ruins. we'll do that next time when we're better prepared. It was awesome though. To think how many people passed by here... The Wild West.

Trace’s Birthday in Albuquerque

I took Trace to see Jeff Foxworthy for his birthday present on Sunday. We got to ALQ around 6 and stopped for dinner at the Texas Cattle & Ranch restaurant for a nice steak and headed to the Sandia Casino and Resort to see the show. It was an outdoor venue and the weather was awesome! It was a sunken bowl kind of amphitheater and all the seats would have been great. We were on the floor about 6 rows back dead center. Perfect. Jeff came out about 8:15 and did a great show for about an hour and a half. He mixed in new material with some classics and ended with a round of …you might be a redneck. He started out by saying how great the casino and that his wife just won $5000! We all cheered and clapped. Then he went on to say in his special twang, she won it at one of the automatic teller machines at the front door! Ha ha, you got us Jeff. We headed back for our room in town. It was a great day!

Monday was Trace’s 39th birthday and we woke up LATE… and had to boogie just to get ready for check out on time. We headed to Olive Garden for a birthday lunch. Guess who picked it?? I miss Olive Garden and it was goooooood! So while we were in ALQ, I took the opportunity to look for a puppy! I have wanted one FOREVER. And now seemed like a good time. We have a yard at the Gallup house. I’m off of work for the move and will have some time at home setting up while I look for a new job. I had been thinking about getting a Yorkie. Most of you know I’ve had 2 before that ended in tragedy. But I was willing to look at several small breeds: cocker spaniel, Westie, mini schnauzer, Brittney, etc. I printed the puppy ads from the ALQ paper the week before and had circled several ads. So after lunch we headed to the one pet store in the area that sold puppies as a starting place and called a few private ads and had to leave messages with them.

At the pet store there were soooo many to look at and play with. They had a French bulldog, I’ve always thought they were cute but I didn’t’ really want a short hair; I wanted something a little fluffier. So we played with a shi-poo, Westie, Cavalier King Charles, cocker spaniel, and cock-a-poo. They had a silkie terrier which is very similar to a Yorkie but he was sick and couldn’t come out. The shi-poo was cute but was just kinda a weird mix and color and shape. The Westie was very cute and playful. The King Charles was a sweet sweet little girl and so soft. The cocker spaniel and Cockapoo where in the same kennel so we could see them at the same time. The spaniel was also very soft and sweet. But both those little ones shed all over me and tinkled as they played. I’ve always heard cocker spaniels were hard to potty train and Trace HATES dog hair. So those two were out. So it was between the king Charles and the Westie at that place. The king Charles was very expensive and the Westie was in our budget. So he was top of the list. We decided to think about it and spend some time in town seeing a few more. None of the Yorkie people called me back and the animal shelters were closed that day. So after a few hours of trying to find other options I decided I wanted the Westie, and we went back to get him and take him home. Meet Maximus!!

Saturday @ the Ranch

Saturday, May 16th we went to visit Trace’s parents. We took our time getting there and Trace took me a new way and we went to Groundhog Reservoir along the way. The trees are leafing out and the grasses are green. We were a little early for the most of the wildflowers but if you slowed down and paid attention, they were everywhere! Trace said Groundhog is an old reservoir and he remembers as a kid that’s where all the good fishing tales took place. That brought us through the head of Disappointment Valley which is beautiful. Very green and lots of trees, it winds around into the actual valley which can get very dry and not nearly so lush. That’s how it got it’s name, the settlers came in from Utah over a pass and they saw the dry dusty valley…Disappointment. But from the head of Disappointment, back where is was green and pretty and the water runs off into the valley, you can see North Mountain. At one time the Griffith’s owned the property on North Mountain and that’s how the family hunting business got it’s name. North Mountain hunting ranch. This will be the first year I get to help with that in October and November.

So we finally made it to the ranch and headed up country on their property to check everything out. There were lots of wild flowers there and I got several pictures.



It was still a little early there and there will be even more when we go back next weekend.

We checked on the cows. He has 3 steers (neutered males) that are going to be butchered in the next month that he’s going to give out the meet to the family. There are 2 little heifers (females) that were born last year; and 5 momma heifers. There are 4 calves so far and we’re waiting for the 5th. Then we got in the truck and drove up and down all the dirt roads and checked on the ponds and saw some other cows.

It was a beautiful drive. Then we headed back to the house for some dinner and headed back to Durango.