Rain, Snow, and Canyons

Wow. It has already been three weeks in Wyoming. I am still having a great time. It rained for 9 straight days in an area where they only get 8 inches of rain a year, including snow. Last count I got the 9 day total was 4 inches!

Friday I rode with Katy Jane up the Paint Rock Canyon. Our ride was about 4 hours, it was a pretty neat place and we ended up trotting back in a thunderstorm. Ted, the new manager, decided he would tell me that I shouldn't be trotting the horses back to the barn because it would barn sour them. Luckily, Jeff was there and told him that trotting back to get out of a thunderstorm was perfectly fine with him. In fact he said he would be running back. Just another instance of Ted trying to demand respect from us instead of trying to earn it.

Sunday we got a Snow Day. It snowed all morning and part of the afternoon, and it stuck around until it warmed to the mid 30s in the afternoon. I was moving cattle in the snow and had a calf to doctor, but Jeff let us go after our morning chores. There was a really good cover of snow on the mountains just above the ranch. Pretty neat to see such a thing in June! So we all went to the girls house and had a Disney movie marathon and I cooked, as usual. There was a young calf that had died, so I asked Jeff if I could do a necropsy on it because several of the other interns had never seen one. So we all went out in the snow and I cut it open. I don't know everything about it, but I know enough to point out all the organs and show people what you are looking for in a cause of death. I think the calf had some kind of digestive problems because there was damage to the small and large intestines. Everyone really appreciated me showing them that and were really glad I could show them what I knew. It's a lot of fun sharing what I know about things like that.

I got started on a fencing project, but its moving kind of slow because of all the rain, everything is really muddy. The fences on the place I am working on haven't been touched in years. Neither have the irrigation ditches, but that is a whole nother story. Its hard to set a post in soil that has had no moisture in several months. Even tho we have had all this rain recently, the moisture is not more than 6 inches in the soil.

I am a little aggravated at the cattle management of this ranch. I have been asking for a vehicle to be able to check the cattle daily, but they are not too worried about it. Guess they ain't worried about the cattle getting checked. I have a cow that has a swelled leg. Looks like a bull rode her into a hole or something and her whole leg is swelled. I tried to get Will to bring me some meds for her yesterday and today, but he just puts it off. I went and asked Jeff about it today. He asked what I would do, I told him start with a shot of LA200 and see what it does and he shot me down and told me that was crazy. He wanted to give her some Dex and said the LA200 was just for infections. So he called the vet up and he told to give her Draxxin, also used for infections but a lot more expensive. See I ain't that stupid. I said pretty much the same thing as the vet, just a much cheaper route. Jeff and Will still underestimate my knowledge about cattle and fencing. Neither of them believed me when I told them about the cow with a ruptured bag, till the saw her for themselves. I guess I will just have to keep earning their respect as far as my herdsman skills go.

Well tomorrow is my day off again and this week Katy Jane and I are headed to Cody, Wyoming. We are going to see the Buffalo Bill museum and several other things in town. There is a nightly rodeo in Cody, so the other interns are going to meet us in Cody in time to catch a steak then we are all going to the rodeo. Then Saturday night there is a carnival and street dance in Greybull that we are all going to. I think Will is going to go with us too. Cant wait, its gonna be a great weekend! Till Later!