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Paregien Ranch
February 14, 2006
Don't tell anybody, but some of our cows have names! Branding at our neighbors up the road today whose cattle graze the long ridge below [February 20th's post] with snow.
Up Canyon, Dry Creek
February 19, 2006
More than forecast or expected, we received over six-tenths of an inch of rain for the weekend, with snow down to 2,000 feet either side of the canyon here at the house. However, three miles up the road it snowed down to 700 feet, a fairly rare occurrence on Dry Creek. With our calves all branded, we can direct our attention towards improvements here at the house and on the ranch.
Dry Creek: .66 Total: 10.01
Greasy Creek: .26 Total: 10.93
Paregien:
A few of our black calves stretched by the branding fire were dotted with snowdrops as we finished the day and before it began to rain in earnest. With the south and west slopes wanting to turn, the two-tenths we received Friday night was as important as getting our calves marked – part of our never-ending dance with the weather that often works out well.
Blue Oak Pair - Paregien Ranch
February 14, 2006
In the process of cutting some dry oak and manzanita for the cooking and branding fires, Robbin and I spent a relaxing Valentine’s Day looking at the calves before we gathered to brand and ran into this pair of Blue Oaks. Such fertile ground for myths and tales!
February 14, 2006
The heifer calf above gets branded today. Snowing in Mendota on the Central San Joaquin Valley floor as I post - dark outside with clouds. We're working @ the 1,800 foot elevation and hope to get our branding done. In any event, it will be cold for California cowboys. More than likely, a day to talk about for awhile.
Cows from Sulphur - Greasy Creek
February 9, 2006
Looking North Towards Sulphur Ridge
February 9, 2006
February 9, 2006
Earl McKee & Scott Erickson - Greasy Creek
February 9, 2006
Allie Fry with the "Dope" (for the first time by herself) - Greasy Creek
Photos by Lesley Fry
February 9, 2006
Mattie Fry - Greasy Creek
February 9, 2006
Horseback: Clarence Holdbrooks, Earl McKee, Frank Ainley, Sr., Frank Ainley,Jr., Garth Maze, Brent Huntington
Front row: John Dofflemyer, Spencer Jensen, Rob Stone, Scott Erickson, Jody Fuller, Allie Fry, Chuck Fry, Katie Fry, Tony Rabb, Virginia McKee, Ken McKee & Tom Magan
February 9, 2006
On the Veranda - Greasy Creek
February 9, 2006
Warm in the mid-seventies. No rain since January 19th.
Since our last post, we’ve been to Elko and back, and branded the rest of our calves in Greasy, yesterday. No less than four digital cameras at work, we ought to have some photos to post. Great day, good people, big calves.
Rob Stone & Brent Huntington - Greasy Creek
Photo by Lesley Fry
February 9, 2006
On the way to Elko, we took I-50 over the Sierras to Carson City to look at a dozen registered Hereford yearling heifers in Jack’s Valley. Though most of our cows are black, we’ve been buying some Hereford bulls from Bill Rossiter and Loren Mrnak for the cross. Perhaps sentimental, I grew-up with Hereford cattle [see Neil Meili’s poem “Herefords” in the “Lost Issue”] – anyway, they’re now in the field next to the house, branded, full and doing well.
Elko is a swirl in my head, mixing with the more pressing realities of ranchwork. One of the highlights of the 22nd Gathering was the Fisher Poets who will have their 9th Gathering in Astoria, patterned after Elko, at the end of this month. Representatives Jon Broderick, Dave and Pat Densmore, Geno Leech and John van Amerongen offered salty stories, poetry and song for three days to the cowboy crowd.
The connection seems obvious to me as another hands-on culture at the mercy of the weather, the marketplace and the government, a dangerous profession full of humor and insight. While at Elko, I perused Grass by Buck Ramsey, a wonderful reprint of and I Rode Out Upon the Morning that includes the original prose version, "The Wagon Incident," and some comment from Buck’s contemporaries. Interestingly, the book concludes with a poem by J.B. Allen utilizing 15-20 nautical terms or metaphors of the sea.
The Vaquero Exhibit at the Pioneer Hotel included Trappings of the Gaucho, some intricate rawhide and amazing silver pieces. Robbin fell in love with the Brazilian musicians, likening Renatto Borghetti’s stage presence to Mick Jagger’s. There is, of course, no way to see all that’s offered at Elko, but arriving early we were able to visit more this year, make many new acquaintances and thoroughly enjoy and exhaust ourselves.
We’re back in the saddle quicker than we would have liked, a week’s worth of work stacked on our desks, and after branding yesterday, just as tired as we were Saturday night in Elko. Clarence and Chuck had the cows gathered when we got home. They gave us today “off,” but I thought I better get something posted early in case they change their minds.
We left Elko with a couple of DVDs that we watched last night for the first time, and though viewed only once, I thought them especially worthy of mention here and for inclusion in Dry Crik Picks. The documentary, Why the Cowboy Sings produced by Hal Cannon and Taki Telonidis in 2002, has not only won a fair number of awards, but has established a lofty threshold for all future productions within the cowboy culture. Preceded only by the Steiger Brother’s hour-long documentary, Ranch Album, incredible footage of cattle ranching in Northern Arizona released nationally as a PBS Special, the availability of new digital tools make video as a medium of expression more accessible to all.
TAPADERO. J & S Productions [(805) 695-0164. www.tapadero.com - 2006.]
DVD $16.
Susan Jennings and Paul Singer brought their information-packed, 82 minute documentary, Tapadero, to screen at the Gathering this year. Backgrounded with amazing facts and interesting historical accounts of the arrival of the horse to North America and the Spanish Mission and Land Grant systems in California wherein the Vaquero was born, the filmmakers revisit many of these old ranches where the tradition has been revitalized by a younger generation of cowboys like Jeff McKee and Will Barnhart of the Santa Marguerita and Reagan Ranches respectively. [Because both young men have brought their long ropes to our brandings over the years, I know their dedication to horsemanship and the early California traditions that define their whole beings, adding special credence to this documentary.] The leap in time would be impossible without a visit to the Dorrance Ranch and the remembered perspectives of Bill and Tom towards understanding horses and life. Music from Ian Tyson, Mike Beck, Dave Stamey and Christina Ortega bring the coastal landscape alive. This is a keeper – one we all can learn something from.
DEEP WEST VIDEOS 2006. By Various Artists. Executive Producer: Taki Telonidis (Deep West Records, Western Folklife Center, 501 Railroad, Elko, NV 89801. 2006. www.westernfolklife.org) DVD $20.
This must-have disc includes nine short collages of mostly still photos with narrative or music backgrounds varying in length from a minute and a half to nearly eight minutes that offer rare insights into the rural West, most all centering on some aspect of the cattle culture. Beginning with two well-edited selections by photographer Linda Dufurrena and writer Carolyn Dufurrena, this experiment, offering predominantly feminine perspectives, blows open the range of art and communicative possibilities heretofore limited to relatively expensive printed publications of photos accompanied by poetry or prose. Each selection is unique and moves the viewer in different and remarkable ways. Linda Hussa’s “Mothering in the West” is especially stark and powerful with Madeline Blake’s photographs and contrasts quite well with Susan Church’s clever, video self-portrait, “Winter Feeding Workout.” Merrily Wright’s “Through a Child’s Eyes” is destined for my daughter’s pre-school classroom as is Cheryl Turner’s “The Annual Christmas Program.” Not to be outdone by wife Susan, Peter Church’s “The Quilt: A Portrait of the Ranch Community” takes in the larger ground of the contemporary West. “Boot Camp” a seven minute video by Kristin Windbigler is a humorous hoot, introducing us to the character of bootmaker Jack Brown. And though Teresa Jordan’s “The Bird Men of Kyrgyzstan” may stray beyond this continent, it offers some amazing photographs and information just not available in the main stream media – a precursor, I suspect, of more to come from the far-reaching sojourns of the Western Folklife Center.
Though each selection may be “home-made,” they’re more like desserts for a discretionary palate. Encased in a brown cardboard envelope, the package feels durable, practical and lasting, but for aging eyes, the print in the DVD menu and on the package needs to be larger.
A far cry from the myth established in Hollywood, I can feel the earth move, for these are but the beginning of how we’ll tell our stories in the future.
Photo by John Dofflemyer
February 11, 2006
The opinions expressed in the Western Folklife Center's Deep West online journals are those of the online journal participants and not the Western Folklife Center. The Western Folklife Center does not moderate these journals and as such does not guarantee the veracity, reliability or completeness of any information provided in the journals or in any hyperlink appearing within them.