The Modern Cattle Drive

Cow dust storm

Truck to the left pushing the cows

Horse in trailer along for the ride

Create dust storm. Push cows with truck pulling horse in trailer. I thought this was funny because the horse was along just in case. It was a small move, only about 100 head of cattle. The local rancher was moving the cows to a different pasture that had more feed and was close by. Most of the move was over dusty ranch roads where a truck could be easily used instead of a horse or ATVs (All Terrain Vehicle), also known as 4-wheelers.

Skeleton in the Desert

On July 5, 2012, we took a day trip with our friends, Kate and Ron, to a remote section of Harney County east of the Steens Mountains. Ron took us to a place called Mickey Basin to the north of Mickey Hot Springs where he spent the night two years ago guarding the site of an apparent suicide scene. A skeleton was found by a BLM patrol officer in a mound of rare green vegetation by an alkaline lake bed. A man from a distant community, apparently upset over the breakup with his girlfriend, drove out into a rocky sagebrush-strewn landscape with no paved road and barely visible gravel lane in January intent upon taking his own life. He was driving a Honda over roads hardly passable in a four-wheel drive truck, let alone a small car. He backed the Honda into a shallow hole he dug out of the mound and covered the car with brush. He hooked up a hose from the exhaust to the inside of the car and left the car running. That didn't seem to work so he used a rifle to shoot himself in the head. The skeleton was found upright in the driver's seat, an empty whiskey bottle on the floor. How the man found the site in a Honda remains a mystery. Even more astounding was that the patrol officer found the site in June of that year because it was so remote and so well hidden. The suicide victim had dug his own grave and hid it, thinking he'd never be found. The coroner declared the death a suicide.

Looking across the alkaline lake, in the far distance are unusual green mounds. We drove across the lake bed coming back.

Tailgating in the middle of nowhere

Ron and John investigate the site where the car was found

Ron, a retired law enforcement officer, with lake in background

the shallow depression where the car was

investigating the unusual greenery

can you find the road in this photo?

the middle of nowhere

Mickey Hot Springs

Main pool looking SE

Main pool with the Steens in the background

hour glass pool

the water was actually rolling coming out of this pool

same pool which looked like a vent

vent pool

more of the vent pool

the water drained from the pools and spread out but was still hot to the touch

new baby pool with photographer

interesting colors

bubbling

On our trip to Mickey Basin on July 5, we stopped at one of the many hot springs in the region. This one is boiling coming out of the ground. Yes, I stuck a finger in and got burned. Hot springs are a fascinating phenomena. Makes you wonder where that water was, it is so hot.

Wheel Lines

First cut of hay off the field. Farmers try for three cuttings a season.

Lupine growing along the road to the hay fields

Wheel lines sprinkling against the backdrop of stacked hay

Unconnecting the line

Coupling to main irrigation line

Irrigation pump that pumps about 680 gallons per minute

Jane walks out to the motor

Wheel line unconnected

Wheel line back in action

Jane lugs the hose

Pretty big hose

Re-connecting

Last week I took a bike ride about six in the morning to beat the heat and found our neighbor, Jane, hard at work changing wheel lines. Ladies, how would you like this job? Wheel lines are straight irrigation lines and have to be moved on a regular basis. (As opposed to center pivots, see post below, which move automatically around in a circle.) Jane moves theirs twice a day:  6 AM and 6 PM.  Her husband, Bill, works a full time job plus helps on the ranch so wheel lines are Jane's job.They also have cattle and sheep. (She also substitute teaches.) They have four wheel lines which are moved in one direction one time and the opposite direction the next time. She uncouples the line, lugs the heavy hose to the next position, goes out into the field, starts the motor on the wheel mover, and the line moves to the next position. She comes back and reconnects everything. Remember Jane the next time you pick up a plastic wrapped package of steaks at the air conditioned super market. Their alfalfa hay goes to feeding cattle and dairy cows.

Center Pivots

Center Pivot with some hay down

What happens when the pivot pumps too much water to the wrong place and floods the ranch road

End of center pivot

Farmer fixing pivot. How would you like his job?

The modern farm homestead in the distance

Hay down on part of the field, our place in the distance

All over the West, one sees big green circles of irrigated ground which can be any one of a variety of grasses. In this area alfalfa is better suited to the type of soil which usually is very alkaline and has to be amended with lots of fertilizer. This type of irrigation uses a tremendous amount of water. Some irrigation wells are one thousand feet deep. Our neighbor has an empire of pivots, one pictured here. He's up on one  in the fourth photo, trying to fix something.  The photo at the bottom shows some of the hay down and our place on the distant horizon. Some of the alfalfa is sold locally, some goes to Idaho to dairy feed lots, some is sold through brokers and goes as far as Japan. The is rural America at work for you.

The Hieroglyphic Staircase is on Amazon

My next book in the series: Mystery-in-Exotic-Places is now available on Amazon for e-readers. 

Elena Palomares’s summer archaeological project in Copan, Honduras turns into a nightmare when she discovers someone has been stealing stones from the Hieroglyphic Staircase, she finds a stranger dead at her work site, and she’s a suspect. She meets Dominic Harte, an ex-priest haunted by his own past, who offers to help clear her good name. In the course of their investigation, they discover that a local homeless boy is key to solving the mystery. But there is a price to pay for disturbing the ghosts of the ancient Mayans, and Elena must decide if she is willing to pay it.

Enjoy! and let me know how you like it.

New Hatch

First meal of Chick Starter

George checks them out

These are the new arrivals, hatched Monday and yesterday. We have six total. One didn't hatch and one Mama smothered. They are toddling around today. Photo is of their first meal with Ma, and Pa comes to check them out.