Rainbow
Double rainbow over Squaw Mountain
photo by Pat O'Toole
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Double rainbow over Squaw Mountain
photo by Pat O'Toole
Cranes rise
and I wonder.
Noun and verb.
Cranes in flight
Sheep Mountain Pasture
photo by Pat O'Toole
Beetle-killed pines, June 11, 2009
Battle Pass, Carbon County, Wyoming
We have watched the slow march of pines turning from green to red, as pine beetles have devastated our forests. The trees are attacked by the beetles, spend a couple of years dying, then finally lose their needles, leaving a standing dead spire. We hear that it is part of natural cycle in which the trees are killed by these pests every 300 years or so. As someone said to me today, "I just wish it hadn't happened in my lifetime!"
Pine needles on snow
photos by Sharon O'Toole
Rain clouds over Battle Mountain and Sand Man Mountain
Cody and Cindy McKee's pasture with their cows and calves
Incredibly, it keeps raining and raining. We have flirted with, and sometimes downright embraced, drought conditions for eight years. In 2002, we had dry winter, dry spring, dry summer, dry fall, and fires. This year, in the Little Snake River drainage, we had a 120 per cent snowfall, and that was before the rain started. It seems we are living in the tropics, because every afternoon, a monsoon opens up. This means several things. In the big picture, it means healthy plants, an abundant grazing season, and habitat galore, for both livestock and wildlife. In our day to day lives, it meant that we could barely find dry days to brand the calves. Luckily, they were close to home, so we could set up in a high spot. So far, we have not been able to dock any lambs at all. We should have a couple of thousand done by now. We literally cannot get into the lambing grounds with equipment and a crew. Muddy Mountain earned its name, and the roads are impassable. The camp tenders have cell phones, so we can keep in contact. Tomorrow, Eamon will pack food and dog food into the herders by pack horse. We are hoping for dry weather next week, so that we can push hard to get the lambs docked before we start on the trail around June 20th. If we can't, we'll make another plan to dock the lambs along the way. As my Dad likes to say, they are getting "big enough to get ahold of!"
In the meantime, Pat was checking out the Lidstone pasture, and found these migrating elk.
Two cow elk with calf
Lidstone Ranch
Elk calf running
Lidstone Ranch
Approaching Savery from the West
photos by Pat O'Toole
Pat is the President of the Family Farm Alliance, which advocates for farmers who irrigate. Here he is in Washington D.C. in mid-May. Pat and Chris Hurd, who raises almonds in California's San Joaquim Valley, talked to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar about the water shortages facing farms and farmers, and the food security concerns raised by increasing urban demands for water use.
Pat and Chris lobbying Ken Salazar
Washington D.C.
photo by Sharon O'Toole
After years of drought, it is raining and raining. This is wonderful. We are having a hard time getting started on docking lambs, and barely snuck in the last branding of calves. We plan to start docking day after tomorrow. Here is the list of stuff we need to have on hand:
pine tar
creosote
paintbrush
chair
green paint
blue paint
red paint
tailer (hot knife to cut tails)
vaccine for overeating and tetnus
penicillan (just in case)
toolbox
propane
tarp
wire brush
Ladder brand
Banjo brand
old gloves
needles
extra syringes
knives
knife sharpeners (afilas)
fly spray
water
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