At Home in the Elk River Valley

Winter Carnival Begins

2012-02-10T09:45:00.003-07:00

Every year residents and visitors alike look forward to the Steamboat Springs annual mid-winter Winter Carnival celebration. With its beginnings in the early 20th century, ski events have always taken center stage. Carl Howelsen, a Norwegian, organized the first Winter Carnival with a ski jumping competition.

In later years, a variety of ski events and games were added. Included in those are the exciting skijoring events which take place on Lincoln Avenue, Steamboat's main thoroughfare. Each weekend morning, snow is imported from stashes the city collects during the winter. After the events take place, it is removed. This year, due to the drought, man-made snow is being prepared to lay down for the events.

For an interesting look into skijoring, go to: http://www.equisearch.com/trail_riding/slide-into-skijoring/

For more information on the Steamboat Winter Carnival, go to: http://www.steamboat-chamber.com/info/events/sbcccalendarevent.winter.carnival.item.asp

Listening to Winter's Rhythmic Refrain

2012-02-07T12:54:00.003-07:00

With a deep winter drought in northwestern Colorado in full swing, I realize how much I love and now miss the rhythm and movement of the normal winter season. That very well may be the reason for the following poem I wrote recently. Perhaps I should have titled it, "Longing for Winter's Rhythmic Refrain."

Listening for winter’s rhythmic refrain
I hear, on lovely snow laden bough,
A magpie flutter, dust, and preen
And with delicate delight beneath a crystalline sky,
A finch flits from aspen perch to bare lilac bush

I look again and see what I cannot hear
Listening for winter’s rhythmic refrain
The sun’s slide to a low horizon
An evening’s soothing, silent adagio
And in the still and dark, I wonder, “Is it sprite, commuter or mime?”

Off the path, an aspen branch, an orchestral baton
Gathers creatures of wood and land
Listening for winter’s rhythmic refrain
Knowing a still peace turns with a breeze,
And tempests trumpet, leaving denizens to burrow and cocoon.

In deep retreat, I long for notes
Of an inner score, in keys of major and minor,
With beats of lento, presto, and allegretto
Listening for winter’s rhythmic refrain
I await a melody of soulful spirit and song.

How I love winter’s solstice sweet sound
The coming, the going, the quiet and the storm
Fluttering, flitting, and singing with delight
The sound and stir of trumpets brings me to life
Listening for winter’s rhythmic refrain

Gruden's Professorial Pigskin-ese

2012-02-03T08:12:00.008-07:00

In the months of December and January, when winter chores are done, Pete and I have always enjoyed an afternoon of football. I developed a love of football early by playing childhood pick-up games, then viewing early professional games in the 60s on a black and white television, and then as the sport grew, on to Monday Night, Thursday Night, and Sunday Night NFL games.

In recent years, when I do watch, I'm most interested in the story line of the game and listening to competent, entertaining commentators. I'll ask my husband, "Who's favored? Who's injured? Who's about ready to be fired?" and so on. And I consistently make it a point to watch when Jon Gruden, the feisty former coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is in the booth.

While watching one of his last Monday Night Football games, I began writing down the many phrases Jon uses to colorfully describe the game and the play, thinking it might make for some poetic fun. The following is what transpired after I put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard.

Gruden's Professorial Pigskin-ese

Jon paints the play with a sure and rapid fire:

You see, “The quarterback checks it down with rhythm
Looks to go vertical with a quick release
The offensive line, a road grader, moves the pile
So out of the shotgun with pocket awareness
The quarterback looks to go to the house
With his go-to-guy and a bullet on the money

But the defense reads the enemy’s mail
Loads the box, blitzes the line, and drops a house
Linebackers encroach, penetrate, and seal the edges
Safeties interrupt their routes and spear man to man
They finish through the whistle, flip the field
And then into space with an outside hitch they go all the way home

While Jon Gruden won't be in the booth on this Superbowl Sunday, I will be watching and hoping the game is a game: that whomever wins, earned it and that whomever loses, loses after playing with all their heart.

Emma's New Outlook

2012-02-01T09:44:00.005-07:00

Two weeks after cataract surgery, Emma seems to have a new outlook. She's obviously happier when she meets and greets, and uncharacteristically relishes a back scratch and words of praise. I told my daughter, "She really seems to be happy again." Cassidy replied, "Maybe it's about her new (clear) quality of life."

On Monday, Dr. Chavkin, a veterinarian ophthalmologist with the VRCC in Denver, examined her left eye and was pleased to find very little inflammation, the incision site healed, eye pressure within normal limits, and a clear, healthy view of the optic nerve. I told him, "I think both you and Emma are champs."

This successful cataract surgery on a Boston Terrier and good post-surgery recovery was a wonderful achievement in my mind. Dr. Chavkin felt Emma's chances for a successful outcome were good even though the risks are a little higher in some Boston Terriers. Knowing Emma, I also believed she was a good candidate: young, physically healthy, and with a record of successful orthopedic surgeries and recoveries.

So, off she and I go. Emma may re-enter the world of dog ability this summer; and I won't worry so much about her running into equipment, trees, and other things on the ranch now that her site has been renewed.

Thank you, Dr. Chavkin, for the gifts of sight and newly found comfort and joy.

For more information on the VRCC, go to: www.vrcc.com

Andy Heads to the Cow Camp Cutting Circuit

2012-01-27T10:47:00.007-07:00

After recently relocating to Tioga, Texas, our son, Andy, took advantage of the many opportunities for cutting competitions in the area by heading out this weekend for the Cow Camp Cutting Circuit in Sulphur Springs, Texas. Riding, Demi, a red roan mare he purchased and trained for owner, Dawn Joyce, Andy was pleased to win the first round of the 4 year old open class on Thursday. Congratulations, Andy!

Storm's A Brewin'

2012-01-19T16:37:00.008-07:00

An acquaintance recently posted the weather forecast for our part of the world on Facebook: “They are calling for 16'' of snow and gusts up to 90 mph... wow... and more coming on the weekend... yahoo... love a good storm.”

I immediately thought, “I understand her feelings.” There’s nothing like a storm to make the comforts of a fire and a hot meal stand out in relief at the end of the daily routine. Then I thought, “I suppose there are others who could do just as well without, those who prefer warm and dry weather climes; or Pete, like other livestock owners, who worry about their stock surviving a 'good storm'.” But, I believe there is a certain draw to winter’s weather drama: the atmospheric world sounding off, blowing in and blowing out, leaving earth bound creatures the gift of powder for recreation and moisture to sustain life as we know it. This winter we are indeed thirsting for that moisture. We are in the midst of record winter drought in northwestern Colorado with snow pack at 43% of a normal winter year.

As sentient creatures of the physical world, I imagine we may long for interaction with weather’s heartbeat, its wildness, its potential to both destroy and nurture the landscape we inhabit. After this winter’s unusual quiet and meager snowfall, perhaps we’re anxious for the next passage, not unlike the audience awaiting the a change in pace and mood of an orchestral symphony. I feel as though the adagio movement of this winter's symphony has overstayed its welcome. I thirst for a new rhythm to inhabit our landscape, perhaps an allegretto or with the hurricane force winds forecasted, a prestissimo, the most rapid of symphonic movements.

So, if the "good storm" arrives and we storm lovers can hole up in front of a fire with a throw and a book, I will, as I always do, look forward to both the excitement of a new movement in winter's symphony as well as the reassurance of the nest - swaddled in creature comforts, warmed by the fire.

Emma Has Cataract Surgery

2012-01-17T15:17:00.011-07:00

As I write, Emma's resting quietly on the bed next to me in a hotel in Denver. She had cataracts removed and a lens implant placed in her left eye this morning with Dr. Chavkin of the Veterinary Referral Clinic of Colorado (VRCC). According to Dr. Chavkin, "The surgery went well. It was as close to textbook as it could have been. The lens implant fit perfectly: just like it was meant for her."

I breathed a sigh of relief. While I was optimistic about the procedure and Emma's ability to withstand the surgery, I know there is a greater risk with cataract surgery in Boston Terriers. There is a 90% success rate with most dog breeds and a 70% success rate in Bostons. As Dr. Chavkin explained, the surgery itself may be highly successful, but there seem to be more post-surgery complications. Emma's eye looks terrific this afternoon and I'll hope with good aftercare, hers will be a success story.

We will see Dr. Chavkin very early in the morning for a brief follow-up and then we'll come back for additional follow-ups at one, two, and four weeks. In the days ahead, Emma will be on numerous medications to reduce inflammation and fight possible infection. She also sports an Elizabethan collar to prevent her from scratching at her eye.

Now the impossible must be accomplished: keeping Emma quiet for two weeks. When I came to pick up Emma, the vet tech, Ann, smiled and said, "Emma's doing very well. She's back there (in recovery) acting as though there's nothing wrong. Like, 'What surgery?' " From my experience with Emma after her luxating patella surgeries, she's so sturdy she does act as though the surgery were a breeze. So, the next two weeks will be a challenge to keep her relatively quiet and her eye safe and trauma-free.

I marvel at what state of the art technology and well-trained fine motor skills can do in such a small space. Emma and I are grateful to Dr. Chavkin for, not only his tremendous expertise, but his thoughtful care. We're pretty excited about Emma's new gift of sight which will gradually become clearer and clearer over the next month.

For those interested in seeing first-hand a cataract removal and lens implant surgery, go to the following You Tube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JFmPU50kZY&feature=related

For more information on the Veterinary Referral Clinic of Colorado, go to: www.vrcc.com

Morning Chores

2012-01-12T10:03:00.008-07:00

After one last sip of coffee, I donned my full Carhart winter gear, Muck boots, hat, gloves, and pulled my fleece quarter-zip up to my chin. The thermometer said nine below zero. Today I followed along as Pete did his morning chores. Whenever he leaves to go out of town, this is our drill. I'm reminded each time how many pounds of grain and, or hay each group of horses and steers get each day. I told Pete, "I've got it covered. You know how good cheap help is." He quipped, "As good as it costs."

The routine today and tomorrow is relatively simple. Grain to the performance horses, brood mares, our stallion, Riggs, and the babies plus Hercules the goat. Every few days Pete does quite a bit more, filling the feeders with round bales for all twenty-five horses, and when needed, snow blowing the ranch driveway, barnyard, and in the deep of winter, feed trails.

So, I get to push the "Easy" button tomorrow morning. That is with one caveat: the roping steers went down river the other day and ended up at the neighbors. I told Pete, "The only thing I worry a little bit about is the roping steers heading out." Reassuringly he said, "Don't worry. Now that it's so cold, I don't think they'll go anywhere."

As I write I like to think he's right. But on a rather consistent basis, when Pete leaves town, something happens at the ranch, whether I'm on watch or not. So, I'll be watching and hoping this still and frigid day remains a quiet one. If there's excitement, I'll keep readers posted.

Hachiko

2012-01-06T10:08:00.004-07:00

If you haven't heard the story about Hachi, a supremely loyal Akita, I'd encourage you to check out the movie this weekend and grab your Kleenex. This poignant drama is based on a true story of the relationship between Hachi and his master, played by Richard Gere. After his master's premature death, Hachi waits unfailingly for more than a decade for his master to return to the train station.

While watching Hachi: A Dog's Tale, I found myself wondering about the emotional connections dogs have to their owners. Would Emma, my Boston Terrier, wait for me at the train station for more than ten years? If lost at a great distance, would she find her way back to me? I looked at both Emma and Griz last night differently--perhaps their emotional attachment is much greater than I ever imagined.

A Champion for Local Writers

2012-01-01T12:50:00.004-07:00

I'd like to thank Sue Leonard for her support of local Steamboat authors. She is consistently cheering on those of us who write through her consulting business, Cornerstone Fullfillment Service, her local work with CIPA (Colorado Independent Publishers), and through the creation of our local Steamboat SHeWrites independent publishers group.

Sue recently offered to write a column about the local writing community for our local newspaper. Her most recent column was written after Karen Gilroy, author of Discovering the Healer Within, and I presented readings of our work to the public at our local library. To read the full column, where she writes about living a fulfilling life, please go to:

http://www.steamboattoday.com/news/2011/dec/23/steamboat-authors-explore-fulfilled-living/

Happy New Year, Everyone!

May 2012 prove to be a fulfilling year for each of you.

Holiday Greetings

2011-12-19T08:00:00.002-07:00

My mailbox began filling up with Christmas cards shortly after Thanksgiving. I’ve even received a number of Christmas email greetings on my computer. In North Routt County where I live, Christmas cards have been delivered by rural delivery drivers since the early 20th century. Today, the mail is delivered from Denver to nearby Steamboat Springs. It’s then brought north to our local post office in Clark, Colorado by our mail delivery employee and then he or she heads out in his or her SUV to deliver the mail to the rural residents of the Elk River Valley.

Years ago, the mail was delivered by a Rural Free Delivery (RFD) driver who drove a team of horses with a box sled in the winter and an early model jeep in the summer months. I recently dropped by to see my neighbor, Jo Semotan, who remembers the days of RFD coming to her mail box in a horse drawn box sled. Her father's family homesteaded in Deep Creek, just west of where I live. Her father, Quentin Semotan, was one of the founding father’s of the quarter horse industry. Her mother, Evelyn, and her family lived in Hahn's Peak, Strawberry Park, Steamboat Springs, and Mt. Harris. As rural residents often have, Jo decorated her mail box for the holiday season. Jo’s mailbox was adorned with pine garlands, red bows, a barb wire wreath, and an original mail bag used from the 1930s until the 1950s hanging over her official mailbox.

The RFD driver for Jo’s family was a Scotsman named, Grover Campbell. He would bring the Semotan’s mail from the Clark Post Office in a canvas bag with her father’s name on it. When Grover draped it over the mail post, he’d retrieve a second empty bag to take with him for the next day’s mail. Jo shared with me that residents along Grover’s route would give him a bottle of his favorite drink during the holidays. They’d share a nip with Grover and then send him on his way with wishes for a Merry Christmas. One year, Jo and her mother, Evelyn, spotted Grover’s box sled stopped on the bridge at the end of his route near his homestead. Knowing it was unusual that he would be parked there in the winter, Jo’s mother quickly gathered 4-year-old Jo and went to check things out. Once there, Evelyn found that Grover had suffered from one too many nips of holiday cheer. She lifted Jo into the box sled and drove the horses with Grover in tow back to the barn. Once there, Jo's father, Quentin, and his hired hand, Buck bundled up Grover and got him back home to his wife, Isabel.

As Jo relives Grover's deliveries, I find myself traveling back to her childhood and easily sense the warmth and pleasure in her reminiscing. Whether delivered by hand, by horse drawn box sled, jeep, or modern day SUV rural delivery, the ritual of the delivery of holiday greetings seems to nudge us to remember, to hold onto, and to value the friends and family members who make up our history, our story. Grover Campbell’s story was not only his, but Jo’s as well. His deliveries by horse drawn box sled made up an important part of the fabric of rural living when Jo was growing up. And the stories of Grover sharing a nip at each stop at Christmas time create a touchstone for Jo of not only a time gone by, but a fond memory of both her dear parents, Evelyn and Quentin.

Reading at the Bud Werner Memorial Library

2011-12-15T07:00:00.002-07:00

I'm looking forward to reading selections from my book tonight, December 15th, at the Bud Memorial Library. In preparing for the evening, I'm wondering which essays attendees would like to hear. I have my favorites, but I know everyone has their own perspective on life and the world. Sharon Carmack, my writing teacher and editor, particularly likes, "A Robin's Nest." An editor with Farm and Ranch Living liked "Gifts of the Harvest" well enough to publish it. Jennifer Lay, the events coordinator at the library likes "The Bull Sale." And one of the first men to read my book after its publication liked reading my essay about my Boston Terrier.

In past readings I've selected "Gifts of the Harvest" not just because of its shorter length, but its illustration of the long-held ranching tradition of hay season. On another occasion I read "Quilting Cattlewomen" at the annual meeting of our Cattlewomen. They were of course interested because they were the focus of the story. Tonight, with an unknown audience, I will have a couple of essays in mind and then check in with my audience to see which one might make a nice fit.

I've appreciated being able to share my essays in this way. I think the reading of the written word, mine or anyone else's, has a way of transforming the story. I wonder if it's not a result of the dearth of live experiences in our modern culture. Our experience today is so confined to a colored monitor, television screen, iPhone, iPad, or gaming screen. Storytelling in person, whether it's around the dinner table, at a Christmas party, or in a library hall, connect us, not only to the story, but to the "teller." And in that connection we come to know something more about ourselves, as well as others and the world in which we live.

I'd like to thank Jenny Lay and all the staff at the library as well as the crew at Off the Beaten Path Bookstore for their support and help in hosting this event.

For more information, visit:

http://www.steamboatlibrary.org/
http://www.otbp-bookstore.com/

Emma's Cataracts Progress

2011-12-12T16:46:00.009-07:00

Last week, Emma and I visited with Dr. Chavkin, a veterinarian opthamologist with the Veterinarian Referral Center of Colorado. Emma has been seen by both Dr. Chavkin and Dr. Nushbaum at VRCC since her cogenital cataracts were diagnosed in 2008.

During this visit Dr. Chavkin continued to assess the progression of the cataracts in both eyes. The cataract in the left eye had matured to 70% and the cataract in right eye had matured to just 20%. While cataract surgery in dogs today has a 90% success rate, the success rate in Boston Terriers is about 70%. Dr. Chavkin said it's not always advisable to go ahead with the surgery. Even if the surgery is succesful, eyes in Boston Terriers have a tendency to develop a variety of conditions including glaucoma, detached retinas, and infection post-surgery.

I told Dr Chavkin I'd always thought if Emma were a lap dog and, or at least ten years old or older, I probably wouldn't commit to the surgery. But I told him my concern was for Emma's safety. She had run into a tree and a manure spreader at full speed this past summer and just about knocked herself out. If her eyesite continues to deteriorate, it may very well put her in more harm's way with her busyness and the coming and goings of large vehicles and livestock on the ranch.

After further evaluations including an ultra-sound of the eye, pressure readings, blood, and urine tests, Dr. Chavkin thought surgery would be advisable for Emma. He also said that the outcome of this surgery will give us a good idea if, when the time comes, it will be necessary to consider surgery on the left eye, too.

I am always impressed with the professionalism of both Dr. Chavkin, Dr. Nushbaum, and the staff at the VRCC. Emma and I will return in early January for her surgery with the hope she will see the world with a wonderful and renewed clarity.
For more information, please visit VRCC at: http://www.vrcc.com/

Holiday in the Rockies

2011-12-09T09:25:00.008-07:00

Tomorrow, December 10th, I'll be participating in the Steamboat Arts Council Holiday in the Rockies Arts and Crafts Show. This annual event has been a tradition in Steamboat Springs for over three decades. I remember making Christmas ornaments with a dear friend when our children were toddlers: planning and toiling away deep into the night finalizing our creations for the well attended community event. Neither my friend nor I made a great deal of money each December, but we obviously relished in participating with other community members in the creating and selling our wares.

As I prepare today for my last holiday show of this season, I feel the same way. Sharing my creations, my book, prints, and note cards, at a community event is not so much a significant money making endeavor, but an opportunity to share with new and old friends tangible evidence of my creative imaginings.

If you're in our beautiful part of the world, please stop by and wander through Library Hall and the Depot Baggage Room from 9-4 PM and enjoy the creative spirit of our community. Live music will be featured throughout the day.

Headed to Market

2011-12-07T08:00:00.002-07:00

Every late fall I mark the season when I pass livestock trucks on our main county road coming in and out of the valley loaded up with cattle or sheep headed to market. Interspersed in traffic are semis filled with grass hay. Northwest Colorado has always been known as good country for both summer livestock grazing land and high quality hay ground. This year hay headed out of our country in abundance. With our late and wet spring, hay production was the best we've ever had here at the ranch.

Cattle also thrive. Cattle producers have summered cattle in this part of the world for over a century because their animals gain so well. Our small group of heifers gained at a rate of over 300 pounds on average. Pete sold a portion of them last week at Centennial Livestock Auction in Fort Collins and his sales figures reflected the current strength of the cattle market.

I'm happy to say it's been a good year for agricultural producers in north Routt County.

Winter Slips In

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Winter’s quiet settles in among the cottonwoods. An evening snowfall gently lays a fleece over the meadows, frosting fence rails, and building crystal caches in bare aspen crooks.

I look out the window as I huddle over my hot oatmeal and think it will feel right to be inside at my desk today. But Pete looks out and says, “I never quite get all the fire wood cut before the snow falls and then I have to bundle up for the snow.” While we’re not surprised as we look out, we fiddle to reset our seasonal logbook to winter. We ask ourselves, “Is this really it?” And when we come to the realization that it is, we know that the hardest part is not being in it, but simply walking out the door. Once outside, we can be quite comfortable, the brisk air and crunch beneath our boots along the trail to the barn, invigorating.

Aside from the firewood and a project to renovate two manure spreaders, the ranch is fairly well buttoned up this year. The chores, now pared down to feeding the horses and cattle, and plowing snow when needed, feels like a relief. However, for Pete, it also feels as though the outside world has closed in: he can no longer ride and train his horses or work with his hands as he does from April to November.

However, the winter season does bring additional challenges to rural living. In our area of northwestern Colorado, we can see 300-500 inches a year fall in the surrounding mountains and three to four feet on the ground here at our ranch. So, driveways, hay sheds, and barn yards need to be kept plowed and every fence gate has to be kept cleared so it can swing freely. If it snows a foot or more, they have to be cleared either by hand or by the blade on a tractor. And sometimes, later in the winter, when there’s been a thaw and a return of freezing temperatures, the chore is made even more difficult by a mix of ice and hard packed snow.

In the depths of winter, when temperatures can go twenty and thirty below zero, keeping a tractor’s engine heated at night is a necessity and if one forgets, feeding time is delayed in the morning. Freezing temperatures also threaten access to water for our livestock. Waterers near the barn and access to river water must be kept open so the horses and cattle can keep well hydrated. If they don’t, their gut can easily become compacted and the risk of death increases. If they lack fresh water and must resort to eating snow, the energy it takes to warm and turn snowflakes into drinking water unnecessarily drains their energy reserves, as well.

Simply driving to town can quite easily be considered adventure travel. The greatest challenge is watching out for oncoming traffic and fearful drivers who hug the center line. Those of us who live here largely take it in stride. But many newcomers struggle their first winter to master winter mountain driving conditions and some, opt to live in town: the adventure traveling commute too much for their idea of the low stress life they’d expected in the country.

As I type, snow falls mute, the smallest of breezes causing motion in the tips of the aspen branches outside my window. The mares remain huddled around the feeder devouring the hay Pete gave them a short time ago. Griz, our Blue Heeler-Border Collie cross, carries on his love affair with winter and all things crisp and cool. He eats the snow, he rolls in the snow, and he jumps and races as though he’s choreographing a routine of joy.

Winter has surely slipped in and we are trying her on today. We will wiggle a bit, but the fit will settle in around us and we will look out the window again and know that it will comfortable once again, whether we are inside by the fire or outside, bundled up, clearing a spot for the comings and goings of the ranch in wintertime.

*This blog was originally posted in November of 2008.

Is Weather a Place?

2011-12-01T10:36:00.004-07:00

A week ago, after reading a number excerpts from my book to the Steamboat Kiwanis Club, one of the members asked me, “How is it that you thought of weather as a place?” I had just read the following paragraph from my essay on Junior Bedell, a long-time resident of the Elk River Valley:

Weather’s always the first point of contact after hello. Once I thought it was silly, superficial, until I heard someone say, “The subject of weather is a safe common denominator. We all experience weather, so it’s a place we can meet quickly.” And for Junior, me, and other farmers and ranchers, weather is an agricultural heartbeat we hear. We understand its power to create and take away: deep snow pack brings timothy and alfalfa grass to the valley come summer, yet late spring snowstorms endanger newborns.

I have to confess that I hadn’t thought about the fact I’d referred to weather as a place until this gentleman asked me. But after thinking about it, I do experience weather as both a place where I engage with others in regular weather commentary as well as an element of the physical place in which I live day to day.

Snowshoeing to the spring on the TV Tower hill yesterday I thought, although we might think of “place” as a static and physical locale, my sense of place at any given moment on that hillside is in part created by the state of the atmosphere: the calm, the breeze, the gray, the sunlight, the heat, and the chill. The dirt or snowpack beneath my feet, the distant horizon, volcanic peaks, and low-lying hillsides are all transformed at any given moment by the mood of the day.

I often think how I love my place on the hillside, whether it’s running in the heat of a summer day or snowshoeing through a winter storm whistling out of the southwest. It is in fact on those days when the weather is the most present, perhaps the most dramatic, that I love the place, the hillside I call the TV Tower even more.

Watch for the 2011 Steamboat Kiwanis Club Christmas Ornament sales. This year's ornament is graced with the artwork of Jean Perry.

Bud Werner Memorial Library Book Club Bash

2011-11-30T11:29:00.007-07:00

Tomorrow night, December 1st at 6:30 PM, the Bud Werner Memorial Library will be hosting a book club bash for all local book clubs and individuals interested in new book ideas.

Along with book club members sharing book notes, library staff will be on hand to make recommendations as well as members of the local SHeWrites group who will be offering books by their members, all local authors.

I look forward to joining other SHeWrites members in sharing our books with local readers. A big thank you to the staff of the library for sponsoring and hosting this event!

North Routt County's Version of Shop Small

2011-11-25T15:55:00.005-07:00

Cassidy and I will be participating in the annual Moonhill Holiday Bazaar tomorrow at the Moonhill Schoolhouse. Cass will be offering her newly designed custom jewelry with Jewels West and I'll have my books, prints, and note cards.

After listening to a spokesperson for the Shop Small initiative on the news this morning, it occurred to me that the Moonhill Holiday Bazaar is really a mini-shop small initiative of its own in North Routt County.

Cassidy and I enjoyed participating last year in the Holiday Bazaar. We look forward to seeing our friends, neighbors, and all others who stop by the historic Moonhill Schoolhouse searching for just the right item on their Christmas lists.

Wherever you are, I hope you'll consider supporting your local small businesses and entrpreneurs in your community as you prepare for the holidays.

The Power of a Dog's Image

2011-11-15T11:15:00.006-07:00

At the recent Northwest Colorado Products Hometown Gala, where I sold my book and note cards to holiday shoppers, I was taken by the response one of my photographic note cards had on those who passed by.

Placed on a carousel rack display, my photo of Brute, my son’s dog, seemingly stopped some individuals in their tracks. Some would step forward and pick the card up to have a closer look: Brute, dressed in an argyle sweater, on a snowy day, stopped still in his tracks. Other shoppers, traveling with a spouse or friend, would say, “Oh, look, look at that. That reminds me of the dog I had as a kid.” At times I thought they were caught by the image but weren’t sure why until they explored it--looking deeper into the photo. Who is that dog? What is he doing? He looks so cute.

As readers will see in the accompanying photo, Brute seems to easily capture one’s heart and attention. As shoppers looked the card over I would share with them the story of Brute’s walk that day. Although Brute looks almost philosophical, he was the furthest from feeling philosophical at that moment as he could have been.

On the back of the card I have recorded the following story about Brute that day, titled “End of a Winter’s Walk.”

“Short-haired dogs in ranch country need protection in the wintertime. One Christmas morning I gave Brute, my son’s Boston Terrier, an argyle sweater. While walking with me down our county road after a lovely winter storm he came to a premature halt. My family speculated that it wasn’t the weather or the walk that displeased Brute but the argyle sweater I thought would suit him so well.”

If Brute could have talked to me that day, I'm sure he would have told me how silly he felt in that sweater.

In some ways it's not surprising that Brute draws this kind of attention. He is probably the most well-liked and famous of all the Kurtz Ranch dogs. No matter where he is he can draw a crowd or find a friend. He was recently, unofficially, declared the mascot of theNational Stock Horse Futurity at Paso Robles simply by traveling through the crowd greeting one and all.

We miss Brute around here but we know he has been enjoying some good weather and good times at the Whitney's Wild Oaks Ranch in Exeter, California where he's been living with Andy.

Headed to the NWCP Holiday Gala

2011-11-10T10:10:00.006-07:00

Many local artisans and food producers will be headed to the Northwest Colorado Products Holiday Gala this weekend at the Bud Werner Memorial Library. All are members of the NWCP non-profit organization here in Routt County, a group created to support and promote producers of locally made and, or locally grown items.

Thankfully, NWCP offers the creative and entreprenurial spirit a platform to share what they have imagine, crafted, and brought to life. Whether one is shopping for Christmas gifts or looking for products that are produced with thought and care, the NWCP Holiday Shopping Gala is an event not to miss.

I'll be joining over twenty-five other producers at the library on Saturday, November 12, 2011 from 9 AM - 3 PM with my book and photographic note cards.

Join us if you can!

An Entrepreneurial Spirit at Work

2011-11-07T08:58:00.007-07:00

We'd like to congratulate Alisha Smith on her recent accomplishments both in and out of the show ring.

A recent APHA News article highlights her journey from junior rider, APHA intern, master's graduate student, to NRHA competitor and small business owner. Quite a list for someone who is just twenty-six years old.

Alisha has been on the road for over two months this fall showing her horse Bullseye in NRHA events qualifying for Rookie of the Year class to be held at the NRHA Futurity in December.

As she travels from show to show Alisha also sets up her Dos Gringas trade booth where she offers "Jewelry, Clothing, and Accessories for the Cowgirl Within."

An ambitious journey, Alisha, and well done. Good luck in December!

For the complete article, go to:

http://oawcs.apha.com/news/2011/11/04/nothing-common-about-this-smith

Bidding Autumn Adieu

2011-11-02T17:27:00.005-06:00

Autumn's Passage

Two small aspen leaves shudder beneath dawn’s breath.
No longer trim, lovely and round.
Alone and dark from autumn’s light
They hang freely, still open to morning’s light.

A yoked twig, young and thin, holds the travelers
One east and one west, as wheat to chaff
Once spring jewels, now dying out
This twig, a mooring for passage on their sojourn.

Alone, the leaves, dark from autumn’s light
Shudder as if the last tickling of summer sun were eternity
And they, mute witness to life’s ebb, autumn’s weeping rain.
Twinkle faithfully, in dawn’s still candlelight.

The Next Futurity Prospect

2011-10-31T09:43:00.004-06:00

Something funny often happens to the Kurtz family at the Snaffle Bit Futurity once the competition begins to wind down and before the finals on Sunday. We find ourselves at the first of several Snaffle Bit prospect horse sales.

So after Andy finished up his Snaffle Bit runs this past September, we all headed for the first yearling sale. Lo and behold, in the catalog were several lots that caught our eye. And before the afternoon was over we became happy owners of a new futurity prospect. Andy has christened her, "J-LO," and will be working with her through Andy Kurtz Performance Horses.

Enjoy watching our new yearling having some fun in the round pen at Whitney's Wild Oaks Ranch.

Women Writing the West Conference: Calling All Readers

2011-10-26T06:00:00.006-06:00

If I were to distill my Women Writing the West Conference weekend in Seattle, Washington, I would say I know now more than ever that the world of authors is broken into two parts. The first part is the disciplined and quiet writing life fueled by an introvert. The second part is the necessary and evolving world of marketing requiring the skills of an extrovert.

Among the many wonderful conference panelists in attendance was Amy Weinstein, a member of Amazon’s Kindle team, who spoke to us about the opportunities of publishing e-books and marketing on Amazon. The ability for an author, particularly one who has published independently, to publish an e-book with relative ease certainly makes it easier to reach national reader audience.

Amy also suggested that writers who have books available through Amazon make effective use of their visibility by inviting readers to write reviews of their book. She said when consumers are shopping for books they depend heavily on reviewer information in deciding whether or not to purchase.

Now home, the introvert is back at the writing desk still wishing I had a marketing maven handling my book. But I don’t. So following Amy's lead, the extrovert would like to ask if any of you who have read my book would have a minute or two to write a review on Amazon I would appreciate your support. And I would encourage you, too, to write for other authors whom you’ve enjoyed.

The direct link to my book on amazon.com is: http://amzn.to/vQrm8y

I'd like to extend a big thank you to the hard-working WWW conference committee members for an outstanding 2011 conference. I appreciated meeting so many supportive and friendly WWW authors and book industry professionals. See you in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2012!

Buck -- Well Worth Watching

2011-10-24T13:45:00.003-06:00

I’d enthusiastically recommend that viewers from any background to be sure and see Buck, the new documentary movie about Buck Brannaman, a long-time horse trainer and clinician from Sheridan, Wyoming. My husband, Pete, and I enjoyed the award winning movie over the weekend and were impressed by both the filming and the storytelling. Awarded the U.S. Documentary Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, the story of Buck’s life is one of a man who transcended his up-bringing to create a compassionate understanding of horses.

For more information on Buck, go to: www.brannaman.com

Women Writing the West Conference - Seattle, Washington

2011-10-14T06:00:00.005-06:00

I'm looking forward to attending the 2011 Women Writing the West Conference in Seattle, Washington this weekend, October 14-16. I will join members from around the United States and Canada whose work includes all genres written with a western theme.

Conference highlights include two evenings of honoring the LAURA and WILLA finalists and winners. The LAURA Award is presented to short fiction writers and is named in the memory of Laura Ingalls Wilder. The WILLA Award is presented to those who write about women's and girls' stories set in the West and is named in memory of Willa Cather, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist.

During the day I'll be attending a number of workshops including one on marketing, the art of telling true stories, and alternative publishing. Each late afternoon I will join other published writers in the conference book store for book sales and signings.

While I have my eye on certain experiences during the conference, I know it's often the unexpected that occurs while attending conferences: whether it might be learning about a creative writing tool from another genre or finding something in common with someone beyond my day to day experience. So, whether I'm in a scheduled session or hearing new ideas, I look forward to taking in a fresh perspective on the art of writing and its role in my life.

For more information on Women Writing the West, go to:
http://www.womenwritingthewest.org/

Pete and Cassidy Compete in the CSU Silver Jubilee

2011-10-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

Over the past weekend, Pete and Cassidy joined competitors from around the region to compete in the CSU Silver Jubilee Celebration at the CSU Equine Events Center. Hosted by the students CSU's Equine Sciences program, the annual event drew over seventy-five horse enthusiasts.

Riders had the option of competing in the American Stock Horse Association events or the American Quarter Horse events. Pete and Cassidy rode Annabelle and Riggs in the AQHA Ranch Horse Versatility events held on Sunday. The day's events included Ranch Cutting, Ranch Trail, Ranch Riding, Working Ranch Horse, and Conformation classes.

Pete and Annabelle had a good outing particularly in the Ranch Cutting class. Cassidy and Riggs rode well in the Ranch Riding and Cassidy threw a wicked loop in the Working Ranch Horse class. They both seemed pleased with their work for the day and the enjoyment of watching others show in the ring.

For more information on the ASHA, go to: www.asha.org
For more information on the AQHA, go to: www.aqha.com
For more information on versatility ranch horse events, go to: www.versatilityranchhorse.com

The Snaffle Bit Futurity 2011

2011-10-10T09:40:00.008-06:00

Every year for two weeks in late September and early October, one of the most challenging horse competitions anywhere takes place in Reno, Nevada. For the uninitiated, the Snaffle Bit Futurity is a three event competition for three-year old horses including herd work, rein work, and cow work. The Futurity also offers competitive classes for hackamore and bridle horses. In the Snaffle Bit competition this year over 200 hundred competitors participated in preliminary open events with just 10% of the competitors qualifying for the finals event on Sunday, October 1, 2011.

This year my son, Andy, competed for the second time in Reno on his horse Jane, owned by Dawn Joyce. Although Andy and Jane’s overall performance was not what he’d hoped for, their run in the cow work ended their competition on a pleasingly good note. Each time Andy, competes he appreciates more than ever the experience itself, the realization that the Snaffle Bit Futurity is truly one of the toughest events in any sport without any guarantees for anyone. The smallest of mistakes can cost a competitor an opportunity to move into the final round or to finish well in the final event itself. As Andy has said, “It’s always humbling, no matter whom you are.” He also enjoys being with and among some of the most talented trainers and horses anywhere.

In addition to participating in and watching some of the best horses and riders in any equine event, there are many industry and retail vendors at the show, plus any number of social events held throughout the competition. The event venue offers attendees and competitors a wonderful opportunity to visit and network with friends, professionals, and other industry leaders.

This year Andy had the opportunity of becoming reacquainted with an old family friend, Vern Greco, owner of The New West Country Store in Kamas, Utah. Vern carries Bob’s Saddles and was the sponsor of all award saddles at the Snaffle Bit. While in Reno Andy and Vern negotiated a sponsorship agreement whereby Andy will be proudly representing Vern’s store and the New West brand.

So, if you have any need for one of the best saddles anywhere, be sure to visit Vern at the New West Country Store.

http://www.newwestcountrystore.com/store/pc/home.asp.

Remembering a Chipmunk's Winter Preparations

2011-10-03T11:25:00.010-06:00

Over the weekend, when I was deep in the dirt with a bulging box of bulbs waiting to be planted, I thought of a story I had read as a child of a small chipmunk who was taught to be prepared and self-sufficient for the coming winter. Alongside his mother and father he was taught and encouraged to gather and store all the nuts his family would need for the long season ahead. He completed his work with a finely tuned and peaceful focus on the task at hand. Looking back I remember feeling reassured in the world the chipmunk and his family had ordered.

Although the task of getting the bulbs in the ground in a timely fashion before the snow falls in our part of country is usually a hectic rush to beat the next season, this year the bulb company sent my order earlier than ever before. This was due in part to my request that it be sent, not according to their planting zones, but to the reality that winter comes to northwestern Colorado as early as the third week of October. I have often planted the last bulb the afternoon before winter settled in.

So, with the chipmunk on my mind, a relaxed planting schedule, my notes indexed for each garden and each bag of bulbs, I entered the gardens. However, as careful as I had been taking notes earlier in the summer, not all my notes matched up with what I found in my Breck’s box. I asked myself more than once, “What are these Triumphant Tulips for?” and “Where are the Tip Toe Tulips I ordered? I want Tip Toe not Triumphant.” Then I read in my notes, “mixed tulips, two feet by two feet around St. Francis and at the back of the old tulips.” “What?” I said to myself in a loud whisper, “What does that mean?”

Despite my best intentions, I felt I was missing, in part, the mark of my memory of the small chipmunk and his family's orderly preparations. Even though by dinnertime I had managed to get several hundred bulbs put to bed, a number of bulbs remained a mystery. I really had no idea where they belonged so I planted them in a random fashion. Perhaps when they emerge next spring they will be colorful surprises worth watching. Who knows, they may very well provide a new creative look in the gardens I had never imagined.

Unlike the nut gathering of the small chipmunk, my bulb planting wasn’t going to help me survive the coming winter. But participating in the annual ritual of planting bulbs in the moist earth with the promise of their bloom come spring provided the same kind of peace I remember from reading the small chipmunk's story. As I dug down three, six, and sometimes eight inches and placed the Sunny Girl Daffodils, Angelique Tulips, and Grape Hyacinths I’m acted on a faith in the surety of the seasons. Planting these small tubers provided a feeling of assurance: that after a long winter’s night they will emerge, just as the natural world intended.

Book Signing at the West Routt Library

2011-10-01T15:46:00.000-06:00

I'd like to thank Ana Lash at the West Routt Library for organizing my book signing on Thursday, September 15th. The library, located in the center of Hayden, Colorado, is wonderful community resource complete with easily accessible technology and two inviting sitting areas: a patio for warm weather and a comfortable living room area complete with fireplace.

Ana and her assistant, Karen, offered coffee, tea, and light pastries for those who came to visit with me and discuss my book. Among those who stopped by were old friends Judy and Jerry Green, whom I write about in my book; Christine Epp, a local teacher and world-wide educational volunteer; and Maureen Zehner, who purchased a beautiful palomino horse from Pete a year ago.

I always appreciate the opportunity to share my writing with others as well as understanding how the writing resonated with the reader. It's as though the act of writing is not complete until it touches those who read it. Thank you all for taking time to come by.

Huntin' Woollybears

2011-09-26T09:04:00.003-06:00

Fall unfolds with a comforting ease and a pace I wish for every September. The aspens scroll from summer’s life-giving greens to autumn's soulful yellows . With the drawing down of late summer and the rise of cooler days, many citizens in the Elk River Valley and Routt County begin to speculate about the coming winter season, and we do so by sizing up weather-predicting folklore traditions.

I and other local residents may stand next to skunk cabbage to check its height. The height of the skunk will be the height of the winter’s snows. The skunk cabbage is easily 6 ½ feet high this year. We may look for beaver damns. The higher number of beaver damns, the harder the winter ahead and this year there are many. We may refer to the Farmer’s Almanac, or check out how deep the chipmunks bury their nuts, or in my case, hunt down woollybear caterpillars.

Woollybears are a very hairy caterpillar appearing on roadways in mid-September and early October. They are found wandering across byways in search of a rock or log in which to spend the winter in their larval state, sustaining themselves in freezing temperatures by producing their own antifreeze. In the spring, they transform into Tiger Moths, a strikingly artistic black and white insect.

I talk to friends and family every year about the woollybears, how I look for them on the road down by the canyon, half-way to town. This year they’ve been hard to find. There seem to be fewer and I wonder why. In my research, the banded woollybear I search for is less common than the more common species,yellow woollybear and saltmarsh woollybear caterpillars found in Colorado. Maybe that's why it's been harder to find them; or I wonder, perhaps the increase in commuter traffic increases the likelihood they'll be crushed: an untimely end to their purposeful journey.

Folklore suggests that the wider the orange band on the black woolly caterpillar, the harsher the winter ahead. There is however, no scientific evidence to indicate there’s any correlation between the two. The band width is actually a record of when the caterpillar was born: the wider the band, the earlier the spring and shorter the winter; the narrower the band, the later the spring and the longer the winter. With that, my search is actually misguided and futile: a wide band width means a shorter previous winter.

So, the band has nothing to do with the winter ahead. But, I hunt woolly caterpillars anyway, as autumn's brilliance slips into the arms of winter’s embrace. I want to imagine a natural world magical enough to believe in. I want to imagine a natural world filled with a wisdom from which I can hear if I slow down enough to listen.

*This blog was originally posted in October of 2008

Colorado Independent Publishers Association Visits Steamboat

2011-09-21T15:02:00.010-06:00

On September 9th, Dan Miller, President of CIPA, and his wife Joyce, provided a day of information on the process of independent and self-publishing for local authors. The day was organized by Sue Leonard of the local SHe Writes Steamboat writer’s group and the first Affiliate Member of CIPA.

In his morning presentation Dan gave attendees an overview of CIPA, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the work of independent Colorado writers and publishers. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, CIPA provides members with on-going educational opportunities, supportive resources such as editorial, legal, and graphic assistance; and a venue for networking with a wide range of individuals, organizations, and companies involved in all aspects of the book and publishing business.

After lunch, attendees participated in two of those educational classes offered through CIPA’s College: the first was “Comparison of Publishing Options” and the second, “The True Costs of Independent Publishing.” Dan came prepared with an abundance of information for authors who are pursuing their dream of becoming published.

Independent publishing and self-publishing are exciting new avenues for authors to consider, but they also come with the need to be educated and astute about the entire process of writing, publishing, and marketing a book. From my recent experience of self-publishing, At Home in the Elk River Valley, it is not for the faint of heart. But with the book and publishing world ever-evolving and searching for a new norm, the business of self-publishing books, much like independent movie-making, is ripe for the creative and entrepreneurial spirit who finds a certain level of comfort in doing it for him or herself.

Thanks to Dan and Joyce for coming to Steamboat and making our local group, hopefully the first of many new Affiliate Members.

For more information on CIPA, go to: http://www.cipacatalog.com/

Andy and Jane Arrive at the Snaffle Bit Futurity

2011-09-21T14:13:00.003-06:00

When my children were young there were a couple of holidays that clearly stood out as favorites: Halloween and Christmas were a close one and two on that list. Today, for my son, Andy, the Snaffle Bit Futurity is probably one of those favorite times in his work year that might possibly equate with one of his favorite childhood holidays.

Last evening, he and his horse Jane (Shy and Sly), owned by Dawn Joyce, competed in the herd work: the first of three events at the National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity in Reno, Nevada. With the help of internet technology, Pete and I were able to watch his run live via a webcast here at the ranch. With a phone call shortly after his run, it was the closest thing to being there.

Andy and Jane have worked hard over the last year in preparation of the Snaffle Bit Futurity and last night they got off to a solid start in their first go. Their next event will be the rein work on Saturday and the cow work on next Wednesday.

We wish Andy and Jane much success in Reno and hope their days of competition and showing at the Snaffle Bit this year are as memorable as any of Andy’s favorite childhood holidays.

For more information on the Snaffle Bit Futurity and the National Reined Cow Horse Association or to watch the live webcast, go to: http://www.nrcha.com

Harvest Dinner

2011-09-15T13:19:00.006-06:00

Cassidy recently joined Pete and me at the ranch for a lazy weekend. On Saturday afternoon, as we solved the problems of all living things, she suggested we harvest the garden and make dinner. I had been procrastinating over gathering the garden for several days: partly out of guilt that I might find more things overly mature than ripe and partly out of wishing the season weren’t coming to an end. This year’s cooler and more humid summer days had help produce one of my more successful gardens in recent memory.

With the movement only a group can make when all members are in agreement, we headed out to the small vegetable patch with containers in hand. First we hit the cherry and roma tomatoes and then the green peas, green and yellow beans, mixed lettuce greens, baby carrots, and finally a few potatoes.

As we admired the harvest, Griz lay to the side of one of the raised beds as if he’d longed to rest in the activity of our collecting. Perhaps he knew he was in fact the reason we had any harvest at all. When family and guests see my unfenced garden they often ask how it is the deer don’t freely feast on it. And I’ve always wondered why the many birds that calls the ranch home don’t eat every single raspberry the patch grows. My answer is Griz.

Every morning when I let Griz out, he jets out across the deck and flies in the direction of one of three routes around the periphery of our home. One path goes south and out to the western meadows where the mares and babies have grazed overnight; the second route goes down the driveway and north around the big cabin; and the third goes directly around the house, north through the aspen grove, and out to the hay shed. He essentially covers our home borders. I am convinced he deters any wildlife from wandering into the garden beds and enjoying the season’s hard-won fruits and vegetables.

Over fried green tomato appetizers, tomato bread salad, and steamed green beans and potatoes we all agreed our dinner could never have been purchased: the deep and sweet flavors and textures were more than satisfying, thanks to our unusual growing season and the garden’s loyal protector, Griz.

Walking the Dogs

2011-08-31T14:07:00.014-06:00

In her book, The Loved Dog, Tamar Geller suggests dogs have seven basic needs. According to her, they include a sense of security, companionship, understanding of the hierarchy, surprises and excitement, food and exercise, mental stimulation, and love and connection.

When I take Emma, Griz, and often Brodie, my daughter’s dog, out for a run or a walk, I have a hunch the outing may meet many of their basic needs; and perhaps that’s why, when I tie up my running shoes, they make such a ruckus.

Emma barks in her bossy, alpha voice; Brodie yips at a high rate of speed while entertaining the idea of actually shepherding me out the door faster than I can go; and Griz, given the opportunity amidst the chaos, will nip at my heels once we round the corner of the garage.

On our way to the pond today, we followed a trail on the north side of the house through a small aspen grove and on out to the county road. In the early few yards of our adventure, Emma always sets the stage with an aggressive style of leadership: growling, attacking, and racing down the road. Brodie attempts to manage the jousting and Griz knows well enough to hang at the back of the pack until she settles down and the journey is underway. I realize I’m already observing their need for and understanding of the hierarchy.

As we entered the trail off the county road I sensed the dogs relax as they joined in comfortable companionship and the security of a beloved routine. Trampling down the trail they turned their attention to exploring recent wildlife activity stopping suddenly to sniff and track new scents. In each discovery I see their need for surprise, excitement, and mental stimulation being satisfied.

Carrying on to the pond we passed through sage brush and oak brush, quite thick at times. Emma ducked under, Brodie and Griz hopped or leaped over depending upon how high the brush. Once there, they welcomed the cool swim in the stock pond. The mom in me cringed at the moss and mud and then Griz sailed by chest deep, swirled around and headed back the other way. I saw bliss in all the dogs and as with my children, I thought to myself, “I’ll just wash them off when we get home.” The dogs obviously reveled in the stimulation, exercise, and camaraderie.

I, too, reveled in the outing, feeling reluctant to turn around and head home. We all, the happy pack, were apparently satisfied with our day when some, if not all, our needs were met and we looked forward to a nice meal once evening drew near.

I believe Geller must have it right.

Kitty's Featured Note Card

2011-08-20T11:41:00.009-06:00

Kitty basks in the warmth of an August afternoon, watching her kingdom from above; perhaps a blade of grass moves, a mouse sneaks below, and the hunt begins.

This card is one of six in my Ranch Animal Series. To view these and my other note card collections, including Ranch Gardens, Ranch Landscapes, and Winterscapes, go to:

http://www.marybkurtz.com/

My Street Smart Homebody

2011-08-20T11:28:00.010-06:00

Last week Pete and I joined fellow Community Agricutural Alliance members for a summer picnic at the Rockin' Bar Ranch, owned by Doc and Marsha Daughenbagh. Sitting with a young family, new to Routt County, the conversation over our picnic dinner turned to whether or not it was safe for cats to be outdoors in rural areas. The young family had just moved from the city and were now deep into country life with gardens and laying hens. Two women who overheard the converstion quickly jumped in to say that it wasn't a good idea to let cats outside, that there were too many predators: from hawks to coyotes to foxes.

I listened quietly all the while thinking for ten years my Kitty has gone out every night in the good weather months and comes back every morning. Somehow she knows when I arrive in the kitchen and she promptly scratches at the door. Like a dance, I let her in and feed her breakfast.

The conversation did remind me, however, of an essay I wrote several years ago titled, "My Street Smart Homebody," published by Cats and Kittens magazine. In the essay I wrote about Kitty disappearing for a few days and wondering if a coyote had gotten her and had I been an irresponsible owner? The story had a good ending: Kitty returned and promptly went to her cat bed and fell asleep as if nothing were amiss. All her life she's been street smart out on the ranch and a creature of comfort when she's in the house.

I often hear the cautionary statements I heard over our summer picnic and wonder if I would give the same advice. I've decided that I really can't. I may very well have a special forces cat that no predator will mess with. I may also have a cat that has superior intelligence. While I don't know the truth of either of these possibilities, I do know for a fact that Kitty takes great, great joy in being outdoors and I could not in good faith keep her indoors away from her travels, hunts, cool shade, and soothing sunshine. In her eleventh summer she remains my "Street Smart Homebody."

Griz Rides Shotgun

2011-08-18T11:34:00.012-06:00

My husband, Pete, often tells me I always write about my dog, Emma, and never about his dog, Griz. He’s right. Although Griz gets a little coverage when I do write about Emma, he’s a little like the good boy who gets overlooked because he’s so darn easy to get along with. But Griz walks through life with as much character as Emma; and we discuss his attributes at length, particularly when Emma or my daughter’s dog, Brodie, test our patience and goodwill.

So, I will share my favorite image of Griz.

Now and then in the evening while I’m fixing dinner, I’ll look out the window and see Pete and Griz headed out to take the mares and geldings to their overnight pastures. As they drive south down the alley-way I see Pete’s head on the left and Griz’s on the right; both appearing to be in equal partnership to the work at hand. While I realize I’m anthropomorphizing Griz, attributing human characteristics to a dog, watching him riding shotgun makes a believer out of me.

When Pete needs Griz’s help moving the horses on these nights or when he needs help with steers in the arena, Griz knows Pete depends upon him for his help and expertise. Griz is ever watchful for Pete’s nod and when it’s given Griz goes to work and is so careful to do it just right. Griz, in my mind, believes he is Pete’s top ranch hand.

I know Griz is not the only ranch dog that has the ability to be such a partner. Stock dogs provide that kind of relationship. And when television commercials advertising medications for our pets say, “They’re more than just pets, they’re family,” they are actually telling the truth. Griz wants nothing more than to love and be loved: he wants to know more than anything else that he is needed and important to Pete and his work. I’ve never been one to romanticize our pets, but I believe Griz feels in his relationship with Pete they are not only working partners but kindred spirits.

Pete's Sale Barn

2011-08-16T10:36:00.003-06:00

Two Rockin Zannie (Zannie) is a pretty dark red roan two year old filly we have just started. She is very gentle and has been easy to train. With her good mind and sweet disposition, she will make an outstanding all around horse and companion.

For more information, contact Pete at: plk@kurtzranch.com

Also visit our new website at: http://www.kurtzranch.com

97th Routt County Fair Begins

2011-08-14T15:22:00.008-06:00

Cassidy packed up the live-in horse trailer this weekend and headed down to the fairgrounds in Hayden, Colorado for the start of the 97th Routt County Fair. With starched pants and hangers of dry cleaning tucked away in the closet she's set for a week of work and celebration of the county 4-H youth program as the 4-H Youth Agent.

The fair officially got underway over the weekend with an open horse show and on Monday the 4-H Horse and Dog shows. Wednesday begins weigh-in for livestock animals, the swine show, and check-in for home arts at the Exhibit Hall. Thursday's a day of sheep, rabbit, and poultry shows, and on Friday the beef projects take center stage. Saturday the 4-H kids get ready for the livestock sale and BBQ, the culmination of the 4-H summer season.

Fair time at the Kurtz Ranch was always a high time. After a summer of working with animals and helping with ranch chores, we looked forward to fair as though it were a mid-summer Christmas celebration. Cassidy and her brother, Andy prepared both livestock and non-livestock projects for fair. Andy often completed a leatherwork project in addition to a beef and, or swine project. Cassidy participated in sewing projects, vet science, and beef and horse projects.

From those summers one of my favorite photos accompanies this posting. Livestock animals need to be exercised. In the summer of 1995, Cassidy and Andy got rather creative. You'll see Cassidy driving and Andy leading their steers from the rear of the old jeep we used to plow with. As hard as some of the work was and at times, the struggle to motivate each of them to do the work, the memories remain both rich and fond.

We wish Cassidy and all the 4-H members good luck this week! We here at the Kurtz Ranch know you'll enjoy all the rewards of a hard year of work.

For more information on the fair, visit:
http://www.routtcountyfair.org/

Andy's Headed to the NSHA Futurity

2011-08-11T09:47:00.005-06:00

Come Sunday, Andy will load up his horses at the Whitney’s Wild Oak Ranch in Exeter, California and head west to Paso Robles, California for the National Stock Horse Association Futurity. (Futurities are horse show events for young horses and in this case, three-year olds). The NSHA Futurity, held August 14-21, 2011, will include the stock horse competition, a derby event, a classic horse show, and the World’s Richest Stock Horseman event. Over a hundred riders will compete in this stock horse event.

Andy will compete in the stock horse event on his futurity horse, Jane, in the cutting, reining, herd work, and fence work events. He and Jane are preparing for the Snaffle Bit Futurity in Reno, Nevada September 19-October 2, 2011. The Paso Robles show gives both horse and rider the opportunity to show in a competitive environment while fine tuning their performance before the futurity in Reno.

Jane and Andy will begin showing on Tuesday with cutting and herd work; then in the reining on Friday and fence work on Sunday. He will also show our horse, Sugar, in the Jr. Cow Horse event. The show will be webcast all week, so for those interested, go to: www.nationalstockhorse.com to watch online.

We’re very excited for Andy, Jane, and Sugar. They’ve been working very hard to be ready to show next week in Paso Robles.

We wish you the best of luck, Andy, Jane, and Sugar!

At Home in the Elk River Valley Kindle Version Now Available

2011-08-10T10:34:00.005-06:00

Although I'll always love the feel of a book in my hand and continue to underline and mark up the pages in my books, I know readers nation-wide are prefering the ease and convenience of ebooks. So, while I'll continue to feel a bit old-fashioned with a traditional book in my hand, I'm pleased to let readers know that my book, At Home in the Elk River Valley, has recently been converted into a Kindle version and is now available on amazon.com.

However it is that we as book lovers continue reading, whether for pleasure, information, or understanding, let us take joy in what a gift they are! For as my ninety-year-old mother often says, "Books are furniture for the mind."

Demand for Hay

2011-08-09T10:28:00.006-06:00

A neighboring rancher recently purchased thirty of last year’s round hay bales from us. When he loaded up the last bale, he turned to Pete and said, “If you’ve got any more hay to sell, let me know. Ya know, hay’s gonna’ go high this year.” It’s estimated that hay could sell for upwards of $200 a ton this year, well above recent hay prices.

While we don’t know where our neighbor will end up selling his hay, we are aware that Oklahoma and Texas are suffering through a historic drought that extends through Georgia and Florida; and these areas will, unfortunately, have significant hay demands. So severe is the crisis that the USDA is offering low interest loans of up to $500,000 for Texas farmers and ranchers who have lost 30 percent of more of their pastures or crops to the drought. These agricultural producers have suffered in a number of ways including the added costs of irrigation water; and failure of crops to mature and livestock to put on added weight gain due to poor grazing.

In contrast to the drought crisis in the south we experienced a deep winter and heavy July rains both of which provided for a tall and thick hay crop. And although a good portion of the hay in northwestern Colorado was rained on in July it will still be adequate for cow hay. The dry and sunny weather this second week of August, on the other hand, bodes well for a hay harvest put up without any rain, and that will most likely cheer up any rancher spending his days in the cab of his tractor.

So, we hope the ability of hay producers in this area of Colorado to grow hay with such abundant water might in some small ways be helpful to all those in the south who have suffered so much from this natural disaster.

We wish all the farmers and ranchers in the south our very best for speedy recovery from this difficult crisis.

For more information on the drought crisis in Texas, got to: www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/Farmers-around-state-canget-aid-1446460.php

Pete's Sale Barn

2011-08-08T08:16:00.008-06:00

Summer Style, "Summer", is a beautiful yearling palomino filly we are proud to offer for sale. She is the last of five full siblings, all of whom have been super good looking with great dispositions. With their good minds, they are easy to start and train. Summer is very athletic and should be a terrific all around horse.

For more information, contact Pete at:
plk@kurtzranch.com
And please visit our new website at
http://www.kurtzranch.com

Local Avian Nurseries

2011-08-04T17:23:00.008-06:00

I rounded the garage to change a garden hose near the back deck. A robin flew quickly from the side of the garage to a nearby fence rail – swoosh. Neither of us expected the other and I began re-thinking my assumption that the old bird nest on the electrical box would ever be used again. The recycled nest has been home to numerous nesting’s over the last ten years, but it has been a few years since a mother robin decided it fit the requirements for a safe haven for her young.

No sooner did I digest this discovery when from above me in an old cottonwood there came the tiniest and busiest of chirpings from a small birdhouse our children hung in the tree years ago with high hopes of attracting a mother bird. I do not recall seeing a mother bird ever nest in this birdhouse but this summer a house wren deemed it suitable for her brood. About the time I made this second discovery the mother house wren discovered my observation. She quickly let me know she’d taken notice.

I was a bit perplexed by the newly filled avian nurseries. In my memory mother robins had nested in the nest above the electrical box in June not late July. And I had similar thoughts about the house wren. These could be second clutches, but I hadn’t seen any evidence of first clutches. This seemingly atypical behavior reminded me that our summer season hasn’t been itself either. Everyone agrees that Mother Nature was slow to get the summer of 2011 underway: seasonal temperatures were late to heat up; June rains came in July; and while wildflower growth in the high country is behind it has begun to erupt all at once. Perhaps, the mother robin and the mother house wren heard a more accurate summer forecast which included postponing plans for breeding and trusting that the time will be right when it comes.

While I wish I were writing a happy ending to this posting, as I walked out into a cool dawn this morning I found the birdhouse in which the mother house wren cared for her brood laying on the ground upside down under the cottonwood. I’ve never seen it unhinged from its branch. My first thought was perhaps a predator had taken out the brood. Likely house wren predators may have included cats, rats, woodpeckers, fox, squirrels, and, or snakes. There looked to be some loose bark in disarray at the foot of the tree. But other than that a ladder and bike leaning up against the tree were still in place. I wondered, did the itty-bitty house wrens fly the coop? Had they matured and in their scramble to take flight they'd knocked the birdhouse to the ground? I’ll never know.

I can report that mother robin has four healthy chicks that appear either eager to eat or are fast asleep.

Editing the Garden

2011-08-01T19:16:00.009-06:00

Deep into an afternoon of weeding and pruning, with a July sweat growing under my visor, I realized that with my shovel, pruners, and hoe I was editing my garden. The physical work of weeding, cutting, and re-defining garden borders was not unlike editing a piece of writing. Where there was excess, I cut back; where there were interlopers I eliminated them; where there were stragglers, like the Sand Cherry shrub struggling to thrive after five years, I had to make a decision about its role in the scheme of the garden as a whole: should it be saved or not?

Whether editing an essay or a blog posting, as a writer I’m encouraged to courageously cut, slash, and burn even the most favored phrasing, scenes, dialogue, narrative, or lovely descriptions if they do not serve a clear purpose.

I believe I’m a ruthless editing warrior. I can easily give up the excess, the interloper, the confusing and unclear. I think. But I do so only when I am able to see the excess, the interloper and the confusing. I confess my guilt. It’s not always easy to see what needs the slash of my pen or my executive decision to terminate that perfect word, phrasing or scene I’ve just set.

I hadn’t seen the excess in my garden as clearly as I did the other afternoon. The spaces in which the eye could relax and find relief in the West Garden were sorely missing. I hadn’t seen it quite that way until the heat of the day seemed to make the decision-making so clear.

Waging a determined battle with the heat of the day the gardening editor in me cut dead lilac branches and low hanging Canadian Cherry branches. I dug up and ripped out old friends, Snow in Summer and Moss Pinks because they had become tangled up with one another and didn't know when one began and the other ended. I uprooted the audacious interlopers: Canadian thistle, dandelions, arrogant meadow grass, and leggy foreign weeds. I saved a clump of Moss Pinks and will transplant it to the foreground of my newly revised West Garden -- it's purpose clear.

As for the Sand Cherry shrub, it survived the edit. Without it the garden becomes unbalanced. Its counterpart, another Sand Cherry, anchors the north end of the garden. In my mind, if I uprooted it from the south end and tossed it aside, my attempts to create a landscape in which the viewer finds a peaceful sight would fail. For in its quiet, unspoken balance there is a peaceful draw into its setting replete with all the characters now appropriately set on stage.

Hay Season Begins at the Kurtz Ranch

2011-07-29T10:19:00.012-06:00

Earlier in the day on Sunday a friend called and asked if she and some visiting guests could come out and say, “Hi.” I said I would have to start raking at 2:30 PM but I could visit with them before I got started. Once at the ranch and standing in my kitchen, one of the visiting guests asked me, “So, why is it that you have to rake at 2:30 PM? Is there some special reason why you rake at 2:30 PM?”

I smiled and said, “We’re waiting for the heat of the day to dry the hay. It needs to be nice and dry before we rake and bale it.” I then went on to tell her that Jr., our friend and previous owner of the ranch, had told us the best way to tell whether or not the hay is perfectly dry. He said to gather up a handful of grass and twist it with your hands. If it breaks after three twists it’s ready to bale.

About 2:30 PM Pete and I went out and picked up a handful of hay and twisted three times. The hay broke away and I climbed into the Challenger tractor to begin my afternoon of raking the hay meadow. Hay season was underway at the Kurtz Ranch.

Our hay this year is tall and thick. The challenge this year, as it seems to be every year, is to negotiate the monsoon rains that arrive mid-summer. Yesterday, while picking up a special nut for the round bale spike, I asked the parts employee at Tri-State Equipment, a John Deere dealer in Craig, Colorado, how he thought hay season was going for local ranchers. “Well, it’s not going too well from what I hear. Sounds like there’s going to be a lot of cow hay,” which meant the majority of hay that’s been cut has been rained on. When hay is rained on it loses a portion of its nutritive value. This is particularly true of grass hay which is used primarily for horse feed.

We felt relieved and satisfied when Pete was able to bale up what hay was down before it rained earlier this week. The bales will likely represent some of the best hay we'll harvest this season and offer a visible sense of satisfaction in the richly colored green bales now stored in the hayshed.

Pete's Sale Barn

2011-07-26T06:36:00.001-06:00

I'd like to introduce a new weekly feature on my blog: Pete's Sale Barn. Each week for the next couple of months I'll be showcasing one of our quarter horses for sale. To kick off this new posting we're pleased to offer one of the ranch's favorite young horses.

"Prince," a super-cute four-year old buckskin gelding is one of the friendliest horses around. He's a very talented prospect with a natural stop and terrific willingness to learn. At fourteen hands, Prince would be great for anyone interested in a youth performance horse, a delightful trail riding horse, or for the gal who would like a smaller handling horse.

If you're interested, please contact Pete at plk@kurtzranch.com
Plesase also visit our website at http://www.kurtzranch.com/

Loving the Land

2011-07-21T15:06:00.013-06:00

During the summer season we often enjoy having more guests to the ranch: from friends and relatives to horse clinic participants. This morning we had the pleasure of greeting a guest of a different kind. Brady Gibbons, a field advisor with Holistic Management International, stopped by to acquaint us with HMI's work. Headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this non-profit organization promotes sustainable land management practices for farmers and ranchers nationwide.

Sitting in the shade of cottonwoods near the arena Brady eloquently shared with us the mission of HMI. In addition to their consulting services to farmers and ranchers, they promote an ethic of caring for the land through four different educational programs. Kids on the Land, a program for children K-6, educates students about how the earth sustains life and ultimately food production. Gen Next is geared toward high school and college students and focuses on integrating Holistic Management principles into secondary and post-secondary school curriculum. Ag Town Turnaround is a new program that assesses the needs of depressed agricultural communities and then assist in the promoting local partnerships and policies based on Holistic Management principles with an emphasis on sustainable agriculture. The fourth program is for beginning farmers and ranchers with an emphasis on female farmers. This program's objective is to educate these farmers and ranchers about sustainable land management so they might be economically successful. Interestingly, 165,000 farms are run by women.

In his soft-spoken delivery, Brady communicated not only HMI's visionary work but also Brady's love and commitment to his work, one that I can only characterize as one of integrity and hope. Working toward sustainability of our land through holistic management and practices is not only vital to nationwide food production but to the life of our economy, our communities, and succeeding generations.

We look forward to Brady's next visit and further discussion on how the Kurtz Ranch might become more sustainable not only agriculturally, but for the next generation.

For more information on HMI, go to http://www.holisticmanagement.org/

Or contact Brady directly at bradyg@holisticmanagement.org

Improving Brood Mare Nutrition

2011-07-19T09:35:00.008-06:00

The sign on the good-looking white Chevrolet pick-up said, “Ranch-Way Feeds.” The young gal that stepped out into our barn-yard looked like a new college graduate wearing Baby Ariat boots, freshly pressed denims, and a black Ranch-Way Feeds company shirt. Kelcey Swyres had been in contact with Pete about a custom specialized feed supplement for our brood mares. Kelcey holds a Ph.D. in Animal Nutrition and serves as a consultant with Ranch-Way Feeds in Fort Collins, Colorado

In this part of northwestern Colorado, our meadow grasses are low in copper and zinc, both of which are important to brood mare and foal health. After sampling and evaluating our hay, Kelcey suggested a trial of a supplement mixed by Ranch-Way that might not only improve our brood mares' overall health, but their foals as well. So, now we'll give the brood mares this custom mix, with supplements of copper and zinc, during their entire gestational period.

Riding shotgun with Kelcey on her sales trip was Jerrod Samber, a territorial representative for Ranch-Way. He specializes in hogs, sheep, goats, and on this stop he was hoping to learn from Kelcey’s expertise as she visited with equine clients. He has served as an extension agent and also has his own show lamb business in Sterling, Colorado.

We appreciate Kelsey’s expertise in first evaluating our hay samples and then scientifically formulating a supplemental grain appropriate for our part of the country and our breeding program. Thank you Kelcey!

For more information, contact Kelcey or Jerrod at the Fort Collins Company Store at: 1-800-333-7929.

Emma Plays Too Hard

2011-07-14T06:30:00.010-06:00

When I walked into the veterinarian's office late yesterday morning, the receptionist said to me, "Oh no, not Emma again." Emma is one of those dogs who, much like an accident prone child, needs medical assistance more often than others. My veterinarian, with a soft smile, said it best, "You know, Emma's just one of those dogs who plays just a little too hard now and then."

"...a little too hard now and then" is actually an understatement. Sometimes I think the terrier in Emma came down multiplied several times over in the Boston Terrier family tree. Emma's terrier predecessors had nothing on her. Whether it's a ball, a stick, her mom, or the ranch, in Emma's mind it all belongs to her and anyone who messes with it messes with Emma.

So, when I threw the red Kong toy for the last time Monday evening and it went behind our renter's car, I don't know what twist or turn Emma made to be sure Brodie, Cassidy's Australian Shepherd, didn't get a chance to have a piece of the Kong toy for himself. I imagined the Kong bounced high and Emma lept to great heights and then landed awkwardly on her foreleg. But Dr. Christina Peters speculated that a twisting motion or effort to evade may have caused a possible tear in Emma's tricep.

Much to Emma's disappointment, she lays near under my desk. The only good thing in the doctor's orders is that we're together. Quiet and inactive are not descriptors of Emma's days. And so, she and I will do our best to take it easy and let the pain medication and anti-inflammtory drugs take their healing affect.

As much as I'd like readers to think that I'm capable of succeeding this morning in following Dr. Christina's orders, I must confess as I opened a door and made a phone call, Emma escaped my supervision. After a few calls for her and no Emma, I hopped on my bike and headed out to the arena. Across the way on the far side was Emma doing what she usually does when Pete's riding. Just joining up with Griz and Brodie: wandering the arena, sniffing the ground, and eventually lying in the shade with her buddies comforted in communion and the routine of her outside world.

New Kurtz Ranch Website

2011-07-13T10:32:00.013-06:00

Pete's been working hard with Alisha Smith of Gringa Creative to build an exciting new Kurtz Ranch website. The site went live late last week and I'd like to invite everyone to visit at: http://bit.ly/re1E9t

We're very happy with the the site and want to thank Alisha for her expertise and great work!

If you have any questions about our sale horses or Pete's cinches, please don't hesitate to contact Pete at: plk@kurtzranch.com. He'd be happy to visit with you.

Common Ground Clinics a Success

2011-07-12T09:38:00.009-06:00

Andy and Regina were delighted to have both Common Ground Riding Clinics and Andy's Cow Work Clinic full this weekend. Despite a few rain showers, the clinic participants worked hard and appeared to walk out of the arena pleased with their progress during the day. At the end of the day they enjoyed visiting with new fellow riders and sharing their love of the sport in the summer shade of nearby aspen trees.

Over the weekend riders also had the opportunity to try out the Balance Rider, a device created to help equine enthusiasts develop their core strength and centered riding skills. Created by Jim and Jo Lauter, the Balance Rider received exciting feedback from both English and Western clinic riders.

For additional information about the weekend, please read the following article printed in The Steamboat Pilot.
http://bit.ly/pA63PN

Other links you might be interested in:

http://www.commongroundclinics.com
http://www.balancerider.com
http://www.reginawendler.com
http://www.andykurtz.com

Cassidy's Headed to China

2011-07-07T10:35:00.009-06:00

Pete and I’ve recently begun to ask Cassidy if we can come along in her suitcase to China. We’re envious!

Recently selected to participate in the inaugural educational program called, Rodeo China, she will spend ten days in Beijing, China in early October with a contingent of five 4-H Youth Agents and approximately sixty Colorado youth representing 4-H, FFA, and Little Britches Rodeo.

The Rodeo China program was created by Richard Tucker and his wife, Carrie. Both from South Carolina, they’ve had a long-term interest in China both through Carrie’s work as head of the Asian Studies Task Force at Furman University and Richard’s support of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s rodeos for the past ten years. Knowing that the Chinese love the West and value cultural history, Carrie and Richard felt they had an exciting concept.

Once the idea began taking shape, Richard contacted a number of individuals to help in organizing, what would become, a very ambitious event. One of those individuals was Jeff Goodwin, the head of CSU’s 4-H Extension program. Jeff was then charged with selecting the representatives from Colorado’s agricultural youth programs.

Cassidy attended her first training this past weekend in Pueblo, Colorado and reported that she would have to work a bit at mastering the pronunciation of not only her name, but, “Hello,” “Please,” and “Thank you.” It didn’t take Cassidy and the others long to figure out there was a translating application on their I-Phones and Smart Phones for Chinese, providing both print and audio translations.

When the Rodeo China contingent arrives in China, Cassidy and the other ambassadors will spend their days teaching 3000 rural Chinese youth, 300-400 each day, the intricacies and fun of roping, mutton busting, pole bending, and calf scrambles. They will also discuss basic livestock and agricultural practices with youth and Chinese representatives. At night the Bird's Nest will come alive with eight nights of professional rodeo in the Bird's Nest in Beijing. The 85,000 seat arena, built for the 2008 Olympics, will showcase the top rodeo talent in each rodeo event competing for a purse of over $8 million dollars. Cowboys and cowgirls from the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, and Canada will participate.

Richard and Carrie hope Rodeo China will launch a five-year program to improve understanding of the American West in China in addition to creating more educational opportunities for both American and Chinese youth.

For more information on Rodeo China, visit: http://www.rodeochina.com/

For more information on Jeff Goodwin & CSU 4-H Extension, visit: http://www.colorado4h.org/

Common Ground Clinics Return to the Ranch

2011-07-05T09:23:00.007-06:00

This weekend, Andy Kurtz and Regina Wendler will take to the arena at the Kurtz Ranch for the next round of summer Common Ground Clinics, July 9 & 10, 2011. The clinics begin at 9 am both days and include instruction, video analysis, and lunch. Cost for the clinics is $500 for new clients and $350 for returning clients.

We will welcome a few lucky riders on Monday for a beginning cow work clinic. If you're interested in joining Andy and Regina on Monday, there are just a couple of openings left. Learning how to do cow work will be some of the best fun you'll ever have on horseback.

For more information, contact Andy at andy@commongroundclinics.com or Regina at regina@commongroundclinics.com

Also, visit their website at http://www.commongroundclinics.com

Hercules

2011-06-30T09:07:00.007-06:00

When Cassidy returned to Colorado to take the position of Routt County 4-H Youth Agent, she brought everything she owned back home including a horse, furniture, and a Boer goat.

After graduate school Cassidy spent the winter in Texas. While there she wanted a companion for her horse so her mare wouldn't have to spend her days alone. Finding a friend for Sweetness wasn't unusual. Goats are often used to keep horses comapny and become very dedicated to their horse friends. At an auction nearby she purchased a baby Boer goat she later christened, Hercules.

Last summer Hercules relished his free range on the ranch. I would often see him in the meadows or lying down next to a horse or foal that had been put in a run to be watched or rested. Next he'd have two front feet in one of the feeders as if he were King of the Mountain. In the accompanying photo, Hercules stands atop a well socializing with the mares. He also brought with him a collection of tricks including fist bumping and head butting.

As winter approached, we wondered if we should send Hercules to a warmer climate. Then as days wore on our good intentions dimmed. We ended up keeping him here on the ranch. We now know Hercules is a survivor. Cuddling up in the hay with the yearlings during winter snowstorms and frigid nights, Hercules survived one of North Routt's longest winters.

With his second summer on the ranch in full swing Hercules has taken up with the new foals and their mothers. He grazes, naps, wanders, and plays with them leading us to believe he very well believes he too, is a horse and not a transplanted Boer goat from north Texas.

We here at the Kurtz Ranch believe he is quite simply the coolest goat ever.

A Ranch Dog's Life

2011-06-28T08:17:00.010-06:00

I've often thought our ranch dogs -- Emma, Griz, and Brody -- have a great life, particularly in the summer and fall. They love their freedom on the ranch, yet they're ready to follow along after someone on horseback, or to hop on the ATV to go fencing or checking on cows; or accompany me while I run on the county road or nearby hillsides.

They especially love it when Pete does cow work in the arena. It's then they have a chance to be real ranch dogs and help Pete move the stock when needed. Brody, a mini-Australian Shepherd puppy, also joins in trying to understand the job he was born to do.

When the day heats up they curl up in the shade: under a porch, in a garden bed, or in the barn entrance where they are often supervising Pete's trimming or cooling down horses on the walker. If they're thirsty, they walk down to the river's edge or sip from the creek that runs through the garden.

I've always thought Emma, Griz, and Brody were lucky to have each other because who best can understand a dog but another dog. But when they tire of one another they usually have a human that will toss a stick and upon their return rub their head and tell them, "You are our very best dog, our very best dog."

Essay Featured on New Book Website

2011-06-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

I'm excited to share with readers my new book website created by Dog Ear Publishing. Included on the site is an excerpt from my book, the spring essay titled, Branding, which I hope you will enjoy.

Additonal features on the site include author and book information, a press release, and ordering and contact information.

To take a tour of the website, visit: http://www.athomeintheelkrivervalley.com/

Thank you Dog Ear Publishing for a great job on this new website!

Colt Starting

2011-06-22T17:43:00.010-06:00

Two days ago, I found Pete in the round pen working with Zannie, a two-year old filly. In the early stages Pete works with her to flex and yield to pressure both off lead and on. In the accompanying photos, Pete ask for flexion and applies side-pressure to Zannie, lightly encouraging her to yield. When she does he gives her a release.

Just as for children the beginning experiences of young horses are impressionable and have long-term consequences. Getting a young horse off to a good start is both essential to a good long-term outcome. If they are forcibly or abusively handled, they will remember the experience long after the event. If they are handled with disciplined guidance and limit setting, they will learn that the world is trustworthy. The way in which their own temperment accepts this kind of training also plays a role in how they develop .

Zannie's calm temperment makes her easy to work with. When Pete saddled her for the first time, Zanny bucked once as she ran around the pen and then just stopped. Then late this afternoon I found Pete riding Zanny in the round pen peacefully on just her second ride.

Upcoming Tri-State Classic Barrel Racing June 24-26, 2011

2011-06-21T09:26:00.007-06:00

Cassidy came out last night to ready Sweetness, her five-year old mare, for a few runs in the Tri-State Classic Barrel Race in Craig, Colorado this coming weekend. Sweetness, a beautiful sorrel mare, is early in her barrel-horse training. Cassidy is working with her to learn to approach the barrel with discipline. Sweetness has a tendency to become quite anxious around the barrel, so Cass will take the barrel events at a high lope this weekend, encouraging her to be comfortable and sure in a new setting and at an event Sweetness is still working toward mastering.

For more information on the Tri-State Classic, go to Racing in the Rockies at: http://bit.ly/ieiKxG

At Home in the Elk River Valley Has Arrived!

2011-06-16T15:00:00.003-06:00

It is a pleasure to announce the arrival of my book, At Home in the Elk River Valley: Reflections on Family, Place, and the West.

Nearly four years in the making, I feel as though I'm celebrating the birth of a child. For readers who have followed my blog and faithfully waited for my book's release, thank you! I hope you'll find my memoir, as Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, author of You Can Write Your Family History, has said, "...best enjoyed by the fireplace or under a shady elm to transport you into the slower pace of rural living."

I'm also pleased to share that At Home in the Elk River Valley was recently received a review in the Steamboat Magazine and two essays included in the book have been previously recognized. The essay, "Gifts of the Harvest" was featured in the Farm and Ranch Living magazine and "My Grandfather's Footsteps" was honored with the 2010 Routt County Fair Reserve Grand Champion Overall Art Award.

I invite you to walk through the Elk River Valley as I share my perspectives on the people, history, rich landscape, and ranching traditions of the place I've called home for over thirty years. I'll introduce you to modern-day pioneers whose stories inspire and entertain. Meet a long-time rancher who hunts mountain lion where “no man…ever walked”; a larger than life grandmother (usually seen wearing a bonnet and baseball hat) who never quite matched anyone’s image of a rancher; and visionary land preservationists who protected the valley they love for generations to come.

I hope any reader who loves family, place, and, or the West will enjoy my reflections on deeper definitions of family, community, and the physical place we call home.

My book is published by Dog Ear Publishing and available online at:

http://www.marybkurtz.com/
http://www.athomeintheelkrivervalley.com/
http://www.amazon.com/

It is available in Steamboat Springs, Colorado at:
Off the Beaten Path Bookstore
Lyon Drug
And soon at other retailers.

The Making of a Ranch Hand

2011-06-13T18:25:00.016-06:00

Every early spring, Pete says to me, "I don't know what I'm going to do for help this year." And every year help comes to the ranch one way or the other. For the last three years we've had the help of Dawn Serafin. She returned again this year to be Pete's right hand and to ride any number of young horses every day.

And shortly after the question was asked this year, Shon Colquitt from Dallas, Texas called Pete one night in April and said he was interested in seeing Colorado. "Did Pete have any work?" Shon is the son of an old college friend of Pete's from his CSU days. After finishing undergraduate school, Shon was looking for an adventure of different kind and a chance to live in Colorado.

Shon was quickly initiated to life on the ranch: the weather was wet and lousy; he helped one Saturday for eight hours in our effort to save a beautiful colt; the Murphy Larson Ranch, where Shon lives, flooded one of the first nights he was in residence; the horses got out the next night; and his first day on the fence line was probably a little like the beginning of a long and tedious journey with no end in sight.

Having never experienced the middle of the spring ranching season, Shon has done a great job of doing whatever he can to help out. We admire his desire and ability to learn about the world of horses, fencing, harrowing, flood control, mucking stalls, fixing things that break at exactly the wrong time, perennial ranch maintenance projects; and the often still and quiet that comes from country living -- a far distance from the metroplex of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

We think Shon's going to be riding on the open range soon. In this accompanying photograph, Shon is loping Dudley for the first time. Both Pete and I saw Shon's natural seat and believe he'll soon be asking to check the heifers on the hillside.

Aunt Allie

2011-06-10T09:21:00.010-06:00

It was with great pleasure I watched Remi, her foal, and "Aunt Allie" graze, chase and wander in the dandelion covered meadow yesterday morning. Pete had just recently put Allie in their paddock after keeping her separated when she lost her foal. Now, she can hopefully enjoy the company of Remi and her baby and not think that Remi's baby is her own.

Daddy's Girl

2011-06-08T16:39:00.003-06:00

With the challenges of a long spring behind us and the recent loss of Allie’s foal we weren’t prepared to watch one of our favorite mares lose her battle to live over the weekend. After a period of a week in which she was treated with a variety of antibiotics, IV fluids, and anti-inflammatory medications, Daddy’s Girl died Sunday afternoon.

It began with an impaction of grain in her esophagus a week or so before. Then, after two days of antibiotics, Daddy’s Girl took a turn for the worse Saturday night with labored breathing and the display of lip phlegming, a sign of pain and distress. So, I called Dr. Diehl to come out and take a look at her. Soon after Dr. Diehl's arrival she treated her with IV fluids for dehydration and continued with her assessment and diagnosis. Daddy’s Girl’s condition was somewhat of a mystery. Dr. Diehl found no signs of internal abnormalities other than some suspicious activity in the trachea. An abdominal abscess was a possibility but could only be confirmed with an abdominal tap which we couldn’t have analyzed until Monday.

So, we continued giving her fluids and Dr. Diehl added two powerful antibiotics in hopes of stemming the tide of an aggressive infection. After twenty-four hours of watching over and treating Daddy’s Girl, I had become increasingly concerned when Cassidy came out to the ranch about four. From her experience conducting equine research at Texas A&M, Cassidy knew that Daddy’s Girl was in critical respiratory distress. Her temperature was 103 degrees, so we knew it was important to do what we could to reduce Daddy’s Girl temperature. We decided to place wet towels over her and turned on a fan to assist in the cooling.

Just a half hour later we returned to the barn to check in on her and we were stunned to find the stall empty. We had left the stall door ajar to encourage air circulation in the stall and Daddy’s Girl had managed to push it open. She made her way out of the south side of the barn and down the alley-way where she found the only space available to her outside. Driven by death’s coming she sought a place to isolate in the only way she could.

Her dead body was a shock to us even though we knew what great pain she suffered before she died. Pete, Cassidy, and I were moved by this act of volition. For her to find a way to escape that stall, making one final decision when everything else was out of her control; and then to go and die in her own way was perhaps driven by one last deep desire to be free.

It was with regret we said goodbye to Daddy’s Girl. She was one of our best all-time producing mares at the Kurtz Ranch. We will continue to cherish and remember her through her offspring. Andy, just recently home, quickly had his eye on one of Daddy’s Girl’s yearling colts as a prospect.

High Water Hits the Ranch

2011-06-07T11:10:00.005-06:00

I heard Andy tell Pete he'd seen flashlights out on the county road and that earlier he had heard heavy equipment running. It was 1 AM. Quickly alert, we all headed out the front door. Down the drive we found a river a half a foot deep running over the driveway, a lake on a nearby lawn, and flooding in the main driveway. The Elk River had obviously overrun its banks to the north and was flooding the meadows above us.

Continuing to explore we found another river running over the county road about six to eight inches deep headed for the ranch. We believe our neighbor, in order to avoid being flooded at his place, lowered the level of the county road enough to allow the water to turn loose and not damn up near his home. As a result, we experienced the highest water we've seen yet this year and continue to comment to one another that we never thought the flooding would come through the meadows and not over the banks of the Elk River.

While we have standing lakes this morning, the high water did recede and weather officials are saying it won't peak again this week. There are still thirty inches of water pack in the high country, however, and we won't be surprised if we experience another night of high rushing water.

Andy Returns for Weekend Common Ground Clinics

2011-06-04T10:24:00.009-06:00

Andy arrived from California last night for a weekend of Common Ground Riding Clinics with Regina Wendler. He and Regina will be working with riding students at The Station as well as the Mesa Riding Stables. We hope everyone gains new ground in their growing partnerships with their horses!

And it's great to have Andy back at the ranch!!!

Visit Andy at http://www.andykurtz.com/

Visit Regina at http://www.reginawendler.com/

Allie's Foal Sadly Succumbs to Septicemia

2011-05-31T13:30:00.006-06:00

The story is often told that for those who live and work or grow-up around animal life, the lessons of life and death come naturally. Late yesterday afternoon I wasn’t sure there was any truth in the sentiment.

Last Saturday, Dr. Courtney Diehl arrived at 8 AM to look in on Allie’s foal. Pete noticed on Friday afternoon the young colt wasn’t able to stand and nurse. Dr. Diehl’s initial assessment indicated the baby was suffering from hypothermia and low blood sugar. After a round of radiographs, she administered a dextrose solution through an IV and later anti-inflammatory, anti-biotic, and sedative medications. We also rushed to get the foal’s body temperature up from 93 degrees. With the help of our ranch hands, Shon and Dawn, we used a combination of hot packs, hot water bottles, a space heater, heat lamp, and blankets to increase his core temperature.

Around 2 PM, after every practical thing could be done for Allie’s foal, Dr. Diehl left the ranch to take blood samples to a lab. Later she called to say the blood work confirmed the colt was suffering from septicemia. Septicemia is an aggressive bacterial infection affecting any and all systems in a foal. In hindsight, we realize for Allie’s baby the infection began in his elbow joint and quickly spread throughout his body.

A primary risk factor in septicemia is a failure of passive transfer, the failure of the foal to get antibodies from the mare while nursing right after birth. We suspect the foal may not have gotten her mother’s colostrum early enough after birth. If he hadn’t and then ingested, inhaled, or was contaminated with bacteria before sufficient nursing, he was a high risk for developing septicemia. Pete did treat the baby’s umbilical stump with betadine after his birth, but the foal apparently picked up contaminating bacteria before he received the immune fighting defenses in his mother’s antibodies. Our cool, wet weather most likely played a part, too. The foal, although housed in a foaling stall, became hypothermic during the night.

At that point, the foal needed a plasma transfusion at a cost of several thousand dollars. We were faced with the difficult decision of considering a long-term treatment cost, transporting the baby to a Glenwood veterinary hospital, not knowing whether or not he would survive the trip, and, or the difficult option of putting him down. While we had decided the most humane decision was to put him down, before we had to euthanize him, Allie’s foal succumbed to the aggressive bacterial infection about 5 PM with Allie watching over him.

This is the first case of equine septicemia we’ve experienced here at the ranch. We found the roller coaster ride of desiring to remain hopeful he would survive and his sudden turns for the worse disheartening. At dinner last night we could only feel a sense of responsibility for his failure to survive. He was a beautiful colt, a great prospect and we could only think, “What if?”

Living with the cycles of life and death particularly the necessities of making life and death decisions concerning our horses never seems to feel comfortable. Petting Allie’s quiet and lifeless foal, only felt peaceful because I no longer had to watch his agony. I don’t think the experience of failing to save a life or facing the death of a ranch animal necessarily ever becomes natural or second nature. It seems our drive is defined by our hope to sustain life and in the end, the failure to do so is simply against our natural instincts.

For more information on equine septicemia, go to: http://bit.ly/lD2TYJ

Barbie and Allie Foal

2011-05-26T10:52:00.007-06:00

Mother Nature often surprises us with her own rhythm, her own drumbeat. Both Allie and Barbie delivered their babies early this year: Barbie nine days early and Allie just a few days early. Although we’ve been putting them in at night in anticipation of their due dates, they foaled early according to their own natural schedule.

Barbie, a Pitzer, Two-Eyed-Jack bred mare and bred to our ranch stallion, Riggs, delivered what we think will be a red roan colt with a strong white blaze. Allie, whose mother was our favorite mare, Mighty, and bred to our ranch stallion, Riggs, also delivered a red roan colt with a large white blaze. The two new babies look as though they could be siblings, with the same coloring and same long, long, legs.

In the middle of a long and dreary spring, Pete’s call this morning to say that Allie had foaled early reminded me that behind the overcast skies, like Barbie and Allie foaling, a season is turning according to, not our normal seasonal calendar, but according to Mother Nature’s own strong rhythm and beat.

A Balanced Ride

2011-05-22T09:00:00.002-06:00

Looking for a comfortable balanced ride on your favorite horse? Try the new Balanced Rider.

Our long-time friends and neighbors, Jim and Jo Lauter, have just launched the “Balanced Rider” training device for riders of all persuasions. Designed by Jim, an exercise scientist, the Balance Rider assists in developing seated balance and increased core strength. The result is increased comfort and confidence for both horse and rider.

In the accompanying photo, my son, Andy, tries out the Balance Rider at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo in Denver, Colorado. The Balance Rider moves in a random fashion requiring the rider to adjust his or her position smoothly and in control in order to stay balanced. This requires healthy core strength and appropriate training of the proprioceptors,

The Balance Rider is user friendly: set it up in the comfort of your home for ease of use and convenient access for exercising. With Jim’s Balance Rider training protocols, you will get a beneficial workout and soon see results in your riding.

See Jim and the Balanced Rider at the Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento June 11-12, 2011.

We wish Jim and Jo all the best!

For more information go to www.balancerider.com

Remi's High Tech Liaison

2011-05-20T09:00:00.005-06:00

Pete, Shon Colquitt, our summer help, and I stood in the cool barn mid-morning. It had snowed lightly during the night and had now turned to a steady rain. We were waiting with Remi, Andy’s mare, for the vet to arrive. She was scheduled to artificially inseminate Remi for next year’s foal to High Rollin Cat, a cutting bred stallion owned by Karey and Jess Franz of Huzza Valley Quarter Horses.

Overnight, half the potential for a new life had been shipped from Steelville, Missouri in a small Equintainer. The small cooler, used to ship and protect live semen for the purposes of artificial insemination, arrived via Fed-Ex. Our reproductive vet, Dr. Racquel Lindroth, had made several visits to the ranch to ultrasound Remi and determine just exactly when she would ovulate and of what quality the follicle would be. This morning she ultra sounded again and found a well-formed forty cm follicle. The timing would be perfect: a mature follicle and live semen, collected within twenty-four to thirty-six hours.
Dr. Lindroth carefully opened the sealed container and reached in to take out a secured pouch of live semen. With care, she retrieved the semen with a syringe and connected it to a pipette which she delicately inserted into Remi’s uterus. At that moment we all acknowledged the wonder of live semen, collected in Missouri yesterday morning, now being inseminated into a brood mare in northwestern Colorado: the stuff of life flown overnight in a cooling vessel and now safely on its way to merge with Remi’s forty cm follicle.

Andy believes this cross: Major Reminic’s Pep and High Rollin Cat will make for a terrific cutting horse prospect. He’s also excited and pleased to work with his old friend, Jess Franz, and his wife Karey of Huzzah Valley Quarter Horses.

Good luck Remi!

For more information on High Rollin Cat and Huzzah Valley Quarter Horses go to: http://www.huzzahvalleyquarterhorses.com/

For more information on Remi and her foal this year, visit my blog posting at
http://marybkurtz.blogspot.com/2011/04/remy-foals.html

Minor Flooding At the Ranch

2011-05-17T10:12:00.012-06:00

Over Mother's Day weekend, about six in the evening, my garden ditch abruptly began to rise. It had been running strong all day with runoff from the northwestern hillsides. When we realized the water flow might flood the driveway, gardens, lawns, and propane tank, Pete thought he should head up and check the main headgate to the Elk River to see if it had inadvertently been left open last fall. So, he hopped on Dudley, his favorite quarter-horse, and rode up to check it out. Once there, he found the gate appropriately shut, but the northern meadows flooded with run-off from our neighbor's draw. There hadn't been this much water since 1984 when flooding silted in a portion of the land owner's eastern meadow.

Last year brought us the highest water we've ever seen here at the ranch. The Elk River came close to the edge of our arena delivering a thirty-foot log to its resting place next to the outside fence. The melt and drainage out of the arena this year has already displaced some arena sand out the south end. Our main concern this year, with record level flooding predicted, is that the Elk River will wash out the arena entirely and that it may come up high enough to damage our main equipment shed. We have neighbors in lower lying areas who are at more risk than we are. They have sandbagged in preparation of both warmer weather and continuous precipitation.

This is a spring unlike any we've ever seen. We know places like eastern Colorado and the desert southwest desperately need moisture and a water supply to grow food crops, but the extreme nature of our weather is concerning. It certainly makes it difficult to begin with spring ranching chores and more importantly, gives rise to questions about the consequences of long-term seasonal climate change.

Legends of Ranching Performance Horse Sale

2011-05-13T10:43:00.007-06:00

Pete recently attended the Legends of Ranching Performance Horse Sale hosted by Colorado State University Equine Science Program in Fort Collins, Colorado. As part of the Equine Sciences program, sixty students were provided with yearling and two-year old horses last fall from some the most well-known Western horse operations in the horse industry today. Among the consignors were the T-Cross Ranches, the Crofoot Ranches, the Haythorn Ranch Company, Wagonhound Land and Livestock, and Singleton Ranches. Each student was then responsible for starting and training their horse over the last six months in preparation for the sale.

The Legends Sale this year brought in more than $250,000 highlighting the economic impact of the equine industry in Colorado. The sale this year averaged $4,052 a horse with the high selling horse going for $14,500 and the high selling young horse going for $8,500. The American Horse Council Foundation confirmed in 2005 that the horse industry in Colorado contributes $1.6 million to the state-wide economy.

Pete hopes one day to consign one our young horses to the Legends Sale. He understands the value of hands-on education for young students and would find satisfaction in providing a young horse as a partner in that education.

Miniature Spring Joy

2011-05-10T08:24:00.005-06:00

Emma, Griz, and I made our across the north meadow, flooded overnight from high water out of our neighbor’s long draw. The winds had picked up early in the day and when they do, I seek shelter in the hillside. So, we carefully negotiated a wet meadow and headed for a trail on the far hillside. As I worked to watch my step, sidestepping gopher holes and rocks, I spotted the first wildflowers of the season: primrose, glacial lilies, and mountain bluebells. I’m in awe every year when these first surface out of an oak and sage brush covered hillside; and particularly this year after they’ve been under winter’s cover for nearly six months.

Oh spring joy!

Featured Note Card

2011-05-09T09:00:00.003-06:00

This week's featured note card is one of my favorites: Sweet Pink Tulips. Although only the crocus have begun to peek out of the cool ground, there are signs that the daffodils are giving thought to erupting in the next few days and I know the tulips won't be far behind.

For more photographic note cards of our life in the Elk River Valley, including Ranch Landscapes, Winterscapes, Ranch Animals, and Ranch Gardens,please visit my store at:

http://www.marybkurtz.com/store.php

Mother's Day

2011-05-07T14:36:00.024-06:00

Mother's Day has often coincided with the first full bloom of tulips in the ranch gardens. This year there is no full bloom. The tulips have been delayed by our enduring winter season. My thoughts about Mother's Day did arrive however, in part, as I looked over my Facebook newsfeed this Mother's Day weekend.

I was drawn by a photo of my grandmother taken in the 1940s that had been posted by my Uncle Jim to honor her on this Mother's Day. It reminded me of a photo I had recently reprinted.

The photo accompanying my blog posting is of my mother, taken in 1944 while she was serving with the Women's Army Corp in the Intelligence Department at the Pentagon. During my childhood and early adulthood I knew my mother had been in the Pentagon during the war but I and my siblings were never told what she had actually done during her military service. She was sworn to secrecy about her activities there until 1972 when she revealed that her service involved decoding the Japanese codes in order to interrupt Japanese supply lines.

I always admired my mother for having served, not only in the WACs, but at the Pentagon. In the 1940s and in her twenties it didn't matter to her that she was a female and the women's movement hadn't yet arrived. To her, anything was possible.

Her adventuresome spirit and a "can do" attitude has followed her throughout her life. While visiting the ranch at seventy-six years old she followed me over an eight foot high livestock fence and thought nothing of it. At eighty-six years old she toured India for two weeks with her younger sister and wondered why she had a cold when she returned home. On her most recent visit to the ranch, at nearly ninety years old, she eagerly accepted an invitation to round up the horses with me in the Gator and then walked out to the arena to watch Andy train some horses. Before lunch we wandered into the garden and she pruned flowers in my garden.

Unfortunately, this spring my mother works at rehabilitating a broken hip and adjusting to a new senior living facility. But to anyone who asks her how she's doing, he or she will hear, "Well, what other choice do I have than to get to work (in physical therapy) and walk again."

On this Mother's Day I feel fortunate to have witmessed her confident spirit in seizing the times of her life, her many lifetime moments of adventure, and now, reclaiming her independence by walking again.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Launching Spring

2011-05-07T14:05:00.001-06:00

I just finished harrowing and fertilizing the ranch lawns. I'd anticipated this day for several weeks. With the winter of 2010-11 overstaying its welcome, I was anxious to hop on the Gator, an all-terrain ranch vehicle, and get to the task of rustling up the thatch, the dead of winter with my small customized harrow Pete had fashioned for me a number of years ago. When the lawns are stirred up I can see through to the new season's growth. At that moment I feel as though I've personally launched the summer season. The following essay was originally posted last spring, but I thought about it again today as I raked troublesome areas of the lawn, ones in which the harrow only scratched the surface of this season's thatch.

Thatch

2011-05-07T14:00:00.000-06:00

As soon as the lawn clears each spring, I grab our four-wheeler and a small customized harrow and rake the ranch lawns. A harrow is made out of ½ inch steel rods fashioned in the shape of diamonds with sharpened ends, called teeth, bent and facing downward toward the ground. Pete cut this one out of an old harrow he’s used on the hay meadows for many years and secured two old tires to give the harrow some downward pressure as I drive over a lawn. This early spring ritual doesn’t take long and if I’ve done a good job the previous fall preparing the lawns, cutting them to the right length and applying some fertilizer, the stage will be set for a wonderful spring growth, the lawns easily leaving winter’s hibernation behind.

This year, Emma and Griz joined me as I set out to harrow: Emma in the front seat shaking from a chilly western breeze and excitement for our chore and Griz, at the ready in the back of the four-wheeler. After just a few turns into my harrowing, I realized the dead growth was greater than usual: the harrow was drawing up a heavy layer of thatch especially from the lawn nearest the house. I knew right away I would have to rake the thatch and remove it so the lawns would have a chance to absorb the warming solstice sun and spring rains.

Using my garden rake, I drew back the dead, leaving open spaces with each passing stroke. At first, I thought, “I’m digging in too deep, I’m taking away too much from the lawn. It may never fully grow in this summer.” And then I thought, “I have no choice, what’s dead is dead.” It won’t do any good to deny the existence of the dead grass and turf." As I raked, it felt freeing to pull back the old and open up the new small and fragile growth. Once committed to removing the thatch, it quickly felt right, like an act of cleansing, making way for the bits of baby grass sprouts to unfold, stretch and fill, the death of winter removed.

In the repetitive reverie of drawing my rake across the thatch, I imagined a similar process of pulling back the thatch in my own life. If I drew a metaphoric rake across my life, I wondered, “What had wintered over in my life? What was no longer useful to me?” A few scenarios come to mind: a number of winter sweaters that are still of use I need to give to a new home; work that I once thought central to my goals and ideals has shifted and I’m finding new work goals emerging; and relationships that have shifted or waned provide a new space in which they are redefined or deepened.

If I think about it, death of this kind comes and goes in my life with a kind of regular rhythm. But I have to be awake to the thatch, to that which has died off in order to let it go. If I hang onto it, push it around, refuse to remove it, I may be preventing the light of day from shining on the change, the dying out and the emergence of new growth.

Once Emma, Griz, and I finish our circuitous route around the lawns, we put the harrow away at the equipment shed and leave the four-wheeler parked and ready for the next chore. I always feel good when I’ve timed the harrowing of the lawns in the spring when the grass is just beginning its season of growth and my chore has given the lawns a good beginning by clearing away the winter-kill. I think I’ll always remember this year’s harrowing and raking chore. The act of cleansing the lawns and making preparations for the spring season subtly underscored the rhythm and existence of life and death in my daily life.

Rose Leaves for Kentucky

2011-05-04T09:28:00.002-06:00

Seven year old Zanberry Rose, a beautiful red roan mare out of Dudley (Zan Bar Freckles) and Candy (out of a foundation Poco Pine mare) was purchased by a veterinarian from Kentucky. While Rose would make a great team roping horse, he plans to use her for trail riding in the hills of Kentucky. Nationwide Equine Transport picked Rose up on a snowy late spring day and headed on down the road to eastern Colorado and then onto the southeastern United States.

Thank you, Dr. Mike Gentry, for purchasing our Rose and many happy trails with your new trail partner!

Find more information on Nationwide Equine Transport at:http://www.nwht.net/

Remi Foals

2011-05-01T10:22:00.003-06:00

Remi (Reminic's Pep), Andy's reined cowhorse mare foaled just before Easter. Sired to Riggs (Hesa Stylish Pepto), our ranch stallion, Andy hoped to tone down Remi's drive a bit for the perfect reined cowhorse prospect. The little red roan filly already shows incredible cutting moves in the stall with her mother. With a unique blaze on her forehead, she stands well-balanced, appears calm, and displays a sweet disposition. The only thing Andy regrets is he can't get his hands on her: he's in California and Remi and her new filly on here on the ranch in northwestern Colorado. I guess pictures will have to do for now. But, we all couldn't be more excited about this little filly and her prospects.

For information on the National Reined Cowhorse Association visit: http://www.nrcha.com/a.com/

Featured Note Card

2011-04-29T11:02:00.002-06:00

As a regular feature on my blog, I am showcasing samples of my photographic notecards. This week's featured card is "Horseshoe Hooks," from my Ranch Landscape series.

When kept as a talisman, a horseshoe is said to bring good luck. Many believe, if one hangs it above a doorway with the ends pointing upwards, it acts as a storage container for any good luck passing by.

Please visit my website store to see all four series of my notecards including Ranch Animals, Ranch Gardens, and Winterscapes at:
http://www.marybkurtz.com/store.php

I think you'll enjoy a rich and colorful peak into our northwest Colorado ranch landscape.

Northwest Colorado Bull Sale

2011-04-22T17:32:00.010-06:00

Each April, the Community Agricultural Alliance, along with the Routt County Cattlewomen, and CSU, organize and host the Northwest Colorado Bull Sale, held at the fairgrounds in Hayden, Colorado. This is an opportunity for local and regional producers to sell their bulls to ranchers who need replacement bulls or bulls with a different genetic profile to add to their cow-calf program.

The sponsors of this annual event are proud of the seed stock offered for sale. Cattle raised in this country are considered hardy and healthy. Born on ranch land that is between 6000 and 8000 feet in elevation and covered in snow for four to six months during the winter, young cattle develop a hardiness not seen in other environments. These high altitude cattle have better pulmonary arterial pressure scores (indicating greater resilience) and suffer from fewer diseases.

This year’s bull sale, April 16th, attracted buyers and sellers from all over northwestern Colorado. Thirty-five bulls and a pen of four heifers sold for an average price of $2700 an increase of $500 from last year’s sale. Talk around the bull sale was one of optimism over the vibrancy of today’s beef market. Prices today for replacement heifers and feeder steer calves are 20-30% above recent historical values.

Each year the best part of the sale is catching up with neighbors after a long, hard winter, and this one was exceptionally hard on everyone and every living thing. Conversation fills the sale barn from start to finish. And once all the bulls are sold, sorted, and claimed, attendees walk out into the muddy parking lot and slip into their trucks for the ride home. Although still unsettled and cool, the busiest season of the ranching year has begun.

Photo courtesy Matt Stensland Steamboat Pilot and Today

The Sandhill Cranes Return

2011-04-21T09:47:00.003-06:00

A sure sign that spring is returning to the ranch is the arrival of the sandhill cranes. These large and delicate birds travel thousands of miles from the banks of the Rio Grande River to a final destination for some, the Salmon River in Idaho. Along the way groups drop off in summer nesting grounds near mudflats, around reservoirs, and moist agricultural areas, finding rich sources of food for survival and safety from human encroachment. And so it is, some groups stop off in the Elk River Valley.

Sandhill cranes, with a wing span of six feet, are a long-necked, long-legged species. Their trumpet is distinctive, sounding much like a French horn. A pair of sandhill cranes always returns to our meadows sometime in April. I usually hear them overhead before I see them. Their coloring acts as a very effective camouflage and makes it difficult to spot them, particularly when they are roaming the meadows.

Those of us who live here always relish this annual return: their arrival reaffirms a still stable rhythm to an increasingly chaotic world.

The Dos Gringas Collection

2011-04-18T09:29:00.008-06:00

If you’re looking for a personalized statement of the western lifestyle or a casual look that reflects a blend of both the latest in urban and western fashion trends, look no further than the Dos Gringas Collection.

My son Andy's girlfriend, Alisha Smith, has brought together an exciting and unique selection of western clothing, jewelry, and accessories. In selecting her clothing lines and accessories, Alisha hopes she encourages all cowgirls to “Embrace the Wild and Reckless Cowgirl Within.”

I think you'll find Alisha's love of fashion design and the western lifestyle contagious. Check out the latest exciting addition to her line, Ferrini boots for men, women, and children.

To peruse and shop for that special item, shop online at http://www.dosgringascollection.com

Or visit The Dos Gringas Collection on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/dosgringas?v=wall

If you'd like to gather all your friends for a fun evening, consider hosting a Dos Gringas home party by contacting Alisha at dosgringasco@gmail.com

Spring Fever

2011-04-10T11:59:00.003-06:00

Each year, sometime in March, Pete takes the matter of spring’s perennial late arrival into his own hands. Over a period of a week, he opens the gate to the arena and drives his tractor and snow blower around the perimeter six or seven times and then slowly back and forth across the pen. The auger on his blower powerfully gathers up a couple of feet of snow and throws it to the four winds. Pete actually strategically shoots the snow over the arena fence. Once the snow in the arena is cleared, the ground more quickly drains and dries out and it’s then the horse training season can begin—a sign spring has truly arrived.

The depth of our spring fever after five long months of winter’s confinement is well justified this year. Local weather record keepers report that we’ve received well over 400 inches of snow this year. This doesn’t mean we have 400 inches stacked up outside our kitchen window, but it does mean we’ve had three to four feet of snow on the level for most of the winter season. It means fence posts were buried, feed trails needed blown out and cleared, and more often than not Pete had to clean out the feeding troughs every day before he gave the yearlings their grain.

So, although we encourage winter’s passing one day in thought and action, we know all too well we can easily meet Mother Nature’s certain rhythm and will the next. As much as Pete and I would like to think he has control over spring’s arrival, we relinquish all wishful thinking today as we watch a winter storm blow across our meadows blurring in the distance what was yesterday a ribbon of dry county road. With my Boston terrier, Emma, curled up on the couch in my office, Pete and I concentrate on the perennial lesson of our spring season in northwestern Colorado: patience.

Emma's Cataracts

2011-04-03T16:00:00.013-06:00

Last Friday, a recent acquaintance inquired, “You drive all the way to Denver to see Emma’s vet?” I replied, “Yes, but its Emma’s ophthalmologist. I take her to see a specialist for her cataracts.”

I discovered Emma’s first cataract (a clouding of the clear lens of the eye) one evening while fixing dinner. I looked down at Emma in the evening light and saw a cloudy look in her left eye. As soon as I saw it I suspected a cataract. So, I made an appointment with our local veterinarian and she concurred. She referred Emma to the Veterinary Referral Center of Colorado (VRCC) to see an ophthalmology specialist. At our first appointment the veterinarian said to me, “I’ll bet you didn’t even know someone like me existed.” I said, “Yes, you’re right.” The world of specialization is apparent at VRCC with veterinarians specializing in oncology, orthopedics, neurology, internal medicine, ophthalmology, dermatology/allergy, dentistry, and cardiology.

The veterinarian diagnosed Emma with inherited cataracts. Over time, the cataract in her left eye now impairs 90% of her sight, meaning she can see an object as a shadow but she doesn’t know what it is. Dr. Nuhsbaum likened it to looking through wax paper. The cataract in her right eye now impairs 30% of her sight. In time, it too, will fully cloud over.

Dr. Nuhsbaum has recommended we wait until the right eye is also fully impaired and then operate on both eyes at the same time. She said it’s easier on Emma to be put her under anesthesia just once; and the surgery, while 90% successful, does have inherent risk and it you operate on her right eye while it still has some remaining sight and something goes wrong, you’ve given up the sight she had.

Until then, I will treat Emma’s left eye, which is almost fully impaired, with drops of anti-inflammatory medications to keep it healthy and inflammation free; and we will return in six to eight months to follow the progression in her right eye.

Although cataract surgery is expensive, I can’t imagine Emma living out the rest of her life without her sight. If she were happy on the couch that would be one thing, but without her sight, she couldn’t chase Griz, find the tennis ball I threw, or go through weave poles. Emma’s world would shrink and I think her spirit would, too.

For more information on VRCC, please visit: http://www.vrcc.com

My New Custom Mohair Cutter's Cinch

2011-03-30T15:14:00.005-06:00

Pete’s been promising to make a custom mohair cinch for me. Yesterday he gave me the final product: a royal blue and tan cutter’s cinch. It’s made of double-stranded mohair yarn, one layer on the bottom interwoven with one layer on the top. You’ll see in the photo that the royal blue from beneath is brought up from the bottom and woven into the tan yarn. In this way, it’s used not only to reinforce the cinch, but to add an accent color to the design.

Pete used silver D cinch rings and later I’ll add a shoo-fly, a horse hair tassel that adds both a decorative flair and a practical tool for fighting flies underneath the horse’s belly in the summer time.

Pete and I think it will suit my quarter horse, Ziggy (Docs Vintage Oak), just fine.

I told him it suits me, too.

For more information on Pete's custom cinches, see my posting at:

http://marybkurtz.blogspot.com/2009/03/art-of-western-cinch-making.html

Daily Life

2011-03-15T09:46:00.006-06:00

While I made mental notes of the things I needed to do today, I was reminded of drying dishes in my grandmother’s kitchen. I often visited my grandparents in Cheyenne, Wyoming, drawn by the warmth I found in their modest 1930s style home. I remember my grandmother turning to me after pulling the plug of the kitchen sink and sponging the counter for the last time, “If only life weren’t so daily?” And with the reflection, she quietly laughed and smiled. My grandmother was like that: she knew it was helpful to use humor in face of life’s dilemmas.

I needed to be reminded of her today. The dailiness of life, the tasks and chores I do every day and then turn around and do again tomorrow, felt wearing. Whether I clean the kitchen floor knowing it will need it again tomorrow morning or finish the laundry and know I will start all over in a few days, the work remains the same: it’s done, it vanishes, and it needs to be done again.

Perhaps, the question at the heart of any routine human activity is, “Does this have meaning? Do I have meaning if what I do simply disappears?” Whether I clean a floor or weed a garden or rake the hay meadow, my efforts are temporary. The floor gets dirty, the garden gets weeds, and the horses will consume the hay this winter and Pete and I will hay all over again next summer.

Several years ago I came across a Buddhist quote that went something like this: “It doesn’t matter what you do, it matters how you do it.” When I remember the thought, I find it helpful to re-focus my efforts. I consciously slow down and begin to feel present to the task at hand: a complete sweep of my broom, a proper fold of the towels, or an extra glance at a weed hidden in foliage of a peony. Giving my full attention to the task helps me deal with its temporal nature. When I’m able to focus in this way, I experience a calming satisfaction and comfort in experiencing the world I’ve put in order.

Even though my grandmother struggled with the dailiness of life she continued to create a quiet ease in her home. Whenever I visited my grandfather and her, I felt a surety about the world. Whether she was in her kitchen washing dishes, making rolls, or layering her crisp sugar cookies in a tin, those simplest and most temporal of moments provided a hearth for anyone who sat at her small kitchen table.

I will continue to have days in which I struggle to find humor in life’s necessary tasks. Bu when I don’t want to grab a broom or sort the laundry or track down errant weeds, I am fortunate to have the memory of my grandmother smiling after having finished the most mundane of life’s chores.

To read more about my grandmother, please click on this link to read an excerpt from my manuscript titled, “Mabe”: http://www.marybkurtz.com/Excerptspage.html

For my grandmother’s cookie recipes, please visit my store at: http://www.marybkurtz.com/store.php
to purchase My Grandmother’s Kitchen: Recipes and Remembrances of Mabel Ide Mortensen.

*This revised essay was first posted in July of 2009.

Common Ground Riding Clinic

2011-03-07T09:46:00.008-07:00

Andy will soon be on his way from Whitney’s Wild Oak Ranch in California to the upcoming Rocky Mountain Horse Expo in Denver, Colorado. He and Regina Wendler, an English riding instructor from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, will be presenting four Common Ground Riding Clinics March 18-20th. at the Equine Event Center at the National Western Complex.

Andy and Regina founded the Common Ground Riding Clinics here in Steamboat a year ago after Regina attended one of Andy’s riding clinics at the Kurtz Ranch. They both realized that, while the disciplines of Western and English riding are quite different, the fundamentals of horsemanship in each are very similar, and an understanding of each approach can improve one’s riding skills. As a result, Andy and Regina have officially and appropriately named their clinics: Common Ground Riding Clinics: Where East Meets West.

Each clinic will include an overview of their approach, hands on instruction with horse and rider on a specific riding skill, and a time for questions and answers. Common Ground will also have a booth at the Equine Event Center so visitors will have an opportunity to meet Andy and Regina and discuss the Common Ground riding philosophy.

Praise from previous clinic participants:

“This is a clinic that any rider can get something from no matter your specific discipline. Regina and Andy did a great job of pulling together the common foundation to sound horsemanship; and put together a fun and informative clinic. You are a dynamic duo. Thank you!”
--Cheril Trousil, Humble Ranch

“Riding with Regina and Andy reinforced the common ground that exists amid many different riding styles. The concepts presented gave my horse and I the support and direction to be the best we can be…no matter what discipline we ride!”
--Joan Ryan

We wish Andy and Regina the very best at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo!

(The Rocky Mountain Horse Expo is sponsored by the Colorado Horse Council. Please visit them at: http://www.coloradohorsecouncil.com/index.cfm?id=C0B1B68B-DDA5-4036-9667ED5D5157DCA4 for more information about the Expo.)

Pete Sells Broodmares in Billings

2011-02-28T11:50:00.006-07:00

With over thirty quarter horses at the Kurtz Ranch, Pete has decided it's time to reduce his breeding program. This winter he looked for the right oppotunity to sell two of our broodmares and found it in Billings, Montana at the Billings Livestock Commission's special "Sons and Daughters" sale, February 25, 26, and 27. The special section in which the mares would sell consisted of offspring of famous sires and dams.

He settled on selling Lena, a dark palomino mare, and Flo, a beautiful buckskin. Lena (Seven S Lena Doc), an own daughter of Genuine Doc, had produced five foals for us and Pete appreciated Lena as a good mother, a sweet horse, and a mare who bred back easily for the next season. The second mare, Flo (Shiners Flo Glo), is a well bred daughter of two World Champion Roping horses. Both mares are in foal to our stallion, Hesa Stylish Pepto, certainly providing potential buyers with a good value in both breeding and a two for one package.

Once back home after the sale, Pete was pleased with how both mares sold. But, he also struggled a bit with fond memories of these two mares. In thinking about it, he felt like he was letting go of trusted partners: the act of sharing their breeding and foaling creates an emotional attachment for any owner . But he hoped they had gone to good homes. He found out later Lena was headed to Manitoba, Cananda and Flo was on her way either to Nebraska or Canada.

It's A Bling Thing

2011-02-22T11:07:00.006-07:00

At a recent Northwest Colorado Products holiday craft show I spotted the right gift for my nephew's daughter. I told the creator, Karen Myers, the decorated levi jacket in size three was just about the cutest thing I'd ever seen. So, I ordered one for my nephew's little girl's upcoming birthday.

Karen owns and operates "Catch All Creations, It's A Bling Thing" here in North Routt County. Her line of clothing includes western embellished cowboy and cowgirl jackets, t-shirts, onesies, hooded sweatshirts, and hats. She is a member of Northwest Colorado Products, a local iniative to support and promote local products of all kinds including arts, crafts, local foods, and more.

Please visit http://www.catchallcreations.com/picture-gallery.php to see her complete line of inventory.

Also visit Northwest Colorado Products at: http://www.nwcproducts.org/

First Foal of the Season

2011-02-19T13:57:00.004-07:00

Andy reports that the foaling season has begun at Whitney’s Wild Oak Ranch. In the quiet of a California evening, a mare by the name of A Red Bell Pepper, owned by Andy’s client, Dawn Joyce, gave birth to a beautiful bay filly. Andy purchased the filly's mother for Dawn at the 2010 Snaffle Bit Futurity in Reno, Nevada. The foal's sire, Smokeelan, was winner of the 2010 World’s Greatest Horseman competition. Hopefully, this little one, with a bold blaze brushed down her forehead, will find her way into the world of reined cow horse events and feel right at home.

Andy will be watching closely the end of March for four more of Dawn's foals, all bred through in vitro insemination to recipient mares.

Watch for more news on recipient mares coming up next month.

Please visit Andy online at: www.andykurtz.com

Winter Mantra

2011-02-05T11:31:00.007-07:00

After snow shoeing to the top of a nearby hillside on the ranch, our dogs Emma and Griz, and I linger. Creatures of habit, we follow our own rituals when we arrive. If the winds are quiet, Griz and Emma hunt for scents among the sage brush, perhaps noting whether or not a coyote or fox or elk had traveled over the ridge. On other days when the winds out of the west rustle my jacket, Emma and Griz stand at my feet: Emma’s eyes settled on the track headed back home and Griz turned away from the snow storm roaring through Long Gulch and onto our private ground of perspective.

Today, I feel Emma and Griz at my feet, and for a few moments I repeat my visual mantra of the terrain below. In between blinks, a kind of snowflake dodge ball, I imagine the rugged edge of the Zirkel Wilderness to the northwest hidden beneath still and low lying clouds. I follow the Elk River as it meanders, crisscrossing meadow lands where our cattle and horses feed before it turns east out of view near Red Dirt Trail. Then to the south, I scan Elk Mountain standing unchallenged, a sentry at the foot of the valley floor. Then Long Gulch patiently draws my eye to the west, its rolling hills inhabited every quarter mile with a neighbor’s home.

Each I time I finish my mantra, I look out to the open valley and believe again in possibility. Recently, it’s the possibility that my sister and I will find solutions to the challenges my aging mother faces after a hospitalization; it’s the possibility that I will one day find relief from the shocking and unforeseen loss of my brother, who upon his death, was the same age I am today; or perhaps it’s just a simple insight of what’s possible for a piece of writing with which I am struggling. Whatever the daily struggles are, I find relief in the expansive view and the terrain I know by heart.

I see Emma shaking beneath her coat as the storm pushes east across the summit. I know it’s time to begin our descent and reluctantly, I set out onto the trail. In those first few steps, I carry a ticker tape filled with images: the Zirkel’s cloudy shroud; a curling band of mother cows feeding in the meadow; a cottonwood-lined Elk River disappearing into the valley’s end; a stalwart Elk Mountain; and my extended neighborhood nestled in the hillsides of Long Gulch. A creature of habit, I tuck away this landscape as if it were my very own possession and follow Emma and Griz on down the trail toward home.

January's Chill*

2011-01-31T09:38:00.003-07:00

A January storm settles in and delicate flakes fall silently hour after hour. I, too, settle in and wait as a dark chocolate pumpernickel bread rises slowly on the stove. After experiencing the sustainable rural way of life in the Andes region (on a recent horseback riding adventure) I couldn’t help but reclaim my old commitment to baking our bread upon my return. I was reminded on that trip how food made from scratch added a certain satisfaction that couldn’t be found any other way. And so, this morning I wait to put the dark loaf in the oven and return to a lost, but familiar rhythm of kneading, rising, and baking.

With bread rising, I watch Lena, Candy, Barbie, Daddy’s Girl, and Allie make their way slowly to the feeder in the meadow, single file, their heads low, their steps deliberate. Lena and Candy, their bellies round and lower than the rest will be the only mothers this spring. By the hay shed, the yearlings, Katie, Snickers, Flirtina, and Hustler repeat the same coming and going, their pace the same along the single track to the feeder. Occasionally, they rattle January’s stillness and kick up their heels when the wind blows in or they trot toward Pete when he feeds in the morning or they greet meet me when I snowshoe through their meadow. But their daily mid-winter rhythm remains simple: eat, walk to water, perhaps nap and then back again.

Each year, when we’re deep into January’s winter chill, Pete and I ask ourselves, “How do they survive, how do they stand the cold?” We know a hand beneath their manes feels comfortable and warm, just like a horse blanket over a passenger’s legs in a horse buggy years ago. But how do they really survive? A search for a scientific answer led me to Paard Naturlijk, a Dutch horseman, who says horses are better acclimated to cool weather than humans. According to Paard, a horse’s energy neutral range is 15-60 degrees. A human’s is 50-85 degrees. Both ranges indicate the temperatures in which humans and horses are able to sustain their core temperatures without additional changes in their basic metabolic rates. He says the horse is created to produce and maintain heat, while humans are built to dissipate heat.

When colder weather does settle in, a horse’s metabolism adapts by increasing. This increase means greater caloric demand. In order to meet this demand, it’s necessary to increase their feed from 20-25 lbs. to 35-40 lbs. of hay a day. Their natural digestive and metabolic processes actually contribute to the total heat generating capability of their bodies. The extremities are an interesting exception. They have less muscle mass, require less blood circulation, lose less heat and therefore have less metabolic demand. The horse’s coat also insulates from the animal from the cold. The horse’s hair coat straightens as the weather chills, creating a pocket of insulation between the skin and the outside air.

So, when the temperatures dip again, the snow falls outside the window, I won’t feel the need to ask Pete this perennial question when overnight temperatures reach 20 degrees below zero. I will watch the girls meander, graze, and water. I will watch the foals keep each other company for a long winter’s night and know that they are in their element. Then I will return to a comfortable mid-winter retreat, sated by the rhythm of baking and January’s seasonal chill.

*First posted 1/31/09

Writing Contest Winners

2011-01-23T11:29:00.006-07:00

Winners of the first At Home in the Elk River Valley writing contest are posted below. Thank you, each of you, for your participation. I know my blog readers will enjoy reading each of your essays.

What I Love About the West

Jean Petersen

http://www.mooseshoes.com/

Purple and pink hues illuminate the clouds as the sunrise creeps over the horizon’s mountains. A hint of amber warms the brisk winter sky. Nothing is better than watching the day raise its weary head from beneath the blanket of our western sky.

I step of our deck and my Muck boots crunch on the snow. “Ah,” I sigh with a fulfilling breath. The cold air consumes my lungs. Then ranch scents fill my nose. Hanging his head over the straight wire fence is my morning pal, Ben. He starts nickering for a rub behind his ears. From his nostrils, steam billows with every hard breath, and small particles of crusted ice hang along whiskers surrounding his mouth. “It was a cold one,” I say to him. His brown eyes look at me as if he understands, but to him it’s a way of life. He doesn’t know any different, especially this time of year. I do, it was bitter cold last night. Although, we’re lucky out here because ten degrees is usually dry, not like those harsh wet temperatures on the seaboards. And as I continue rubbing his head, right behind his ears as he’s so fond of, what I love about living in the west continues to envelop all my senses. It’s the smell of his hairy winter hide, the dander, a lingering scent of hay, leather and manure wrapping their fragrances into one. A mix of dirt and bits of snow rub onto my palm, as my hand slides down from his ears to his cheek. I lean over the wire to kiss his nose. It’s as soft as cotton and as warm as a fleece blanket. It makes me want to drape my arms around his big neck and wrap up in the soft warmth all day. However, the sun is showing it’s time. Rising higher above the mountain tops it lights the day. The rest of the critters are starting to croon. I smile as I walk away to do chores, and look over my shoulder. There he stands waiting patiently for my return. It’s a picturesque to say the least. With the Crazy Mountains painted against the western horizon’s wall, cooleys covered in snow, a few deer peppered along the hillside, and my loyal horse in the center of it all. Many a photographer would seize the splendor, but thankfully I get to have it etched through my memory every morning.

Our barn cats have emerged from their haystack homes, and the lambs are huddled together waiting for their alfalfa mix. “Ah, smell that?” I say to my trustworthy dog. She looks at me softly with her old tired eyes, and wags her tail. A coat of tan is what she wears and white socks cover her feet. Calamity and I have enjoyed the west together for almost fourteen years. Oh, the adventures we’ve had. From trail rides, hikes and snowshoeing across mountain tops, to moving cattle and fishing in quaint hidden lakes, she’s taken every step with me. Her body has aged, but her spirit continues to grow. My heart overflows as she makes morning rounds with me. Calamity doesn’t miss a step. Where she lacks in ability, she out weighs with heart. I think one of the highlights of her day is chasing our cats from underfoot and letting our corgi pups know the true head wrangler of the ranch.

She was once sleek and rich with color. Now her covering is coarse and washed out. I pat her side once we’ve stopped trudging through the pasture hauling the ewes’ bales. She leans against me for her back scratched. “Aw, girl,” I say and kneel down. Looking in her eyes, I see not only an animal but a friend who’s experienced a life most people would envy. From cowboying and daily ranch chores to sitting on the hills feeling the soft summer breezes trailing across and bumpy back road truck rides, she’s experienced the best of the west. Scratching her back suddenly I’m reminiscent of all the things. The memories begin playing through my mind like snippets of a film. These days her hair is rough, however malleable to my fingertips. She too, has a scent combining all the elements of western ranch life. Her fur soaks up the aroma of the fresh air; the dirt, the sweetness of hay, the scent of grain being drawn from a bag reopened, the mountain morning, and even the syrup drenched pancakes I served my boys lingers upon her. All of these flood over me at once, not only into my senses but deep into my soul.

These moments are vivid reminders of why I love living in the west. The significance of the basics, yet essentials, surrounding our lifestyle resonates through me. As strong as the majestic mountains are embedded upon the earth, so is old Calamity’s loyalty. And as my steadfast horse waits, like clock-work, every morning to bid me good day, his dedication is consistent. No photograph could give justice to the images placed upon my heart. The scents laid on my senses and animals’ spirit of faithfulness are symbolic equals to what I value and why we live by the creeds of the west.

The smells float across our pasture and we move along with the daily chores. I look to God and say thank you for all He’s sent my way. The abundant beauty in little things, nestled in our western lands is what I call upon to encircle me. It has created who I’ve become. I’m grateful for the gifts. A package wrapped into one.

We hang our hats on horseshoe hangers, have mud rooms filled with boots, and landscapes covered with treasures we hold dear. I am blessed to live in the west and it’s here I plan to stay.

A Word or Two About My Best Canine Friend

Suzanne Hope

I am finally home after another 12-hour day; ten hours spent working, two spent commuting. On bad snow days, the commute can easily be three hours, so I feel lucky tonight.

It’s dark, but I can see Maggie joyfully awaiting my return. We’ve had enough snow this year that our discard piles are nearly the same height as our 4-foot high chain link fence. Maggie loves this. She can see, unencumbered by wire diamonds, all of her neighborhood. I’ve watched her stand at the top, barking to her friends passing by, “Hey, look at me! I’m the King of the World!” Tonight she uses this same mound to joyfully welcome me home. I reach over the fence and return the greeting.

Maggie came into our lives just a few short months after Shadow, our previous dog, had died. Shadow had been part of our family for 14 years, raising and protecting our children, loving us fully until her last breath. We missed her terribly, but I was determined to hold to the rule of “No More Dogs!” Yet, somehow we found Maggie at the pound. Guess my rule didn’t mean much since I’d allowed the kids to talk me into driving there in the first place.

Someone had just turned Maggie in, proclaiming that she wasn’t their dog. Looking into her deep, liquid black eyes, I knew the truth. For whatever reason, her last family just couldn’t keep her and had let her go. That’s when Maggie first joined our family and our hearts.

She was supposed to be the kids’ dog, but in the back of my mind I knew better. The kids would all be graduating high school and leaving home within a few years. Maggie seemed to sense this and it soon became apparent that she was my dog.

So each night now, we had a ritual. She’d wait patiently until dinner was finished and the kitchen cleaned. Then she’d ask, wagging her body fully and jogging back and forth to the door, “Walk? Walk? Huh? Can we go now? Huh?”

It was much easier to answer this in the summer when days were longer and the weather more inviting. But this winter had brought a lot of snow, winds and incredibly cold temperatures. Most evenings it was well below zero even before I would arrive home. Tonight seemed more promising. So I bundle up, grab the flashlight, and snap on Maggie’s leash.

Maggie is anxious to get going and tugs at me exuberantly. I’m trying to tread carefully so I don’t wrench my knee and so I tug back. Sighing, she settles a bit, but just barely. Returning her sigh, I try to control the pace while calculating in my mind if I’d have time to meditate when we got home. I still have calls to make, a couple of bills to pay, and the laundry. Nope, not happening.

In a perfect world, my daily routine would always include “me time” – time to exercise, and time for meditating and journaling. The reality doesn’t even come close. I do, after all, live in the real world.

Lately, the messages I’d been receiving while meditating were simple: eat healthier, exercise more, remember to laugh and play, rest, love more fully, and express myself more honestly. Again, I live in the real world of schedules, family demands, and bad weather.

Maggie tugs at me, anxious to explore. I know that walking Maggie is a good way to get my exercise and smelling her neighborhood makes her happy. I vow to do better. I thank Maggie by picking up the pace a bit, allowing her to bound over the mounds of snow that lay everywhere. She’s joyous at her new freedom. I allow myself an amused chuckle at her antics, and my heart lightens. Thank you, Maggie.

Maggie has been my quiet, loving companion through a lot of changes in our lives. In the years she and I have been walking, my oldest daughter has completed her Bachelor’s degree, and has recently returned to pursue her Master’s. My other two kids graduated high school and have journeyed into their own lives. On a sadder note, my mom died a few short months after Maggie came to me. Maggie has listened patiently and lovingly while I’ve cried, laughed, sang, and cursed God for the injustice of losing my mom before I was ready. More recently, the ragged rawness of facing my husband’s illness and impending death has brought Maggie back to my side with her loving compassion. I realize that I’m thankful that Maggie allows me to express myself so honestly to her without judging me. Heck, she doesn’t even hold it against me when I resist her pleas for walks. Ah, the true meaning of unconditional love – something I should practice more. Thank you, Maggie.

Turning back for home, I realize that I feel lighter. The next realization hits the side of my head like a 2 x 4. I’ve been doing my own sort of meditating while walking with Maggie tonight. Not sitting in the dark with lit candles and crazy music playing, but honoring myself instead with nature, with Spirit, and with Maggie. My heart lightens more and, again, I vow to do better, walk more and take care of myself. Thank you, Maggie.

Later, in bed, I count the abundance in my life – the love of family and good friends, security, walks with my dog, communing with nature and God’s world, and the ever loving grace of the Divine. I realize there are ways of honoring myself each day without a checklist of things to do. Thank you, Spirit. Thank you, Maggie.

The Most Memorable Resolution I Ever Made

Angela Yender

The most memorable New Year’s resolution I can recall was my 3rd grade year - the year I gave up green beans. I gave them up for Lent every year, much to my parents’ displeasure. It was allowed as long as I also gave up something I loved, along with the green beans. But this idea, this New Year’s resolution, was going to change things. I just knew it.

I despised even having to pick green beans on hot mid-summer's days at our half-acre garden on the east side of town - where every scary, crawling insect was waiting for a run up my bare arms and legs. Knowing they would not be deterred by - maybe even laughed at - the jug of bug spray on my body, made the 5 minute bike ride more grueling.

After quickly picking a brown bag full, I would retreat home, only to touch them once again to snap the stems off, hoping - rather, praying - that my mother would send them to the old ladies in our neighborhood, instead of our dinner table.

Just the smell of them cooking could bring dry heaves.

Even though my hatred for green beans was known in my family, there was no pity -- no getting around the fact that I had to eat what was on my plate. The half-cup mountain that remained in the corner of my otherwise cleaned plate would not disappear by single bean feedings to the dog under the table. She didn’t like them either.

The family often left the kitchen to gather in the family room after dinner. The table cleared, dishes done, but there I would sit, with my enormous pile of green beans. A clean plate was the gateway to desert, and I never missed desert. I would look in the freezer and eye that bowl of ice cream for motivation. I can do this! With a pinch of my nose and tightly closed eyes, I would eat one. Trying not to inhale its scent or taste, my mouth would grind it fast.

By the last bite, my eyes were watery and my gag-reflex was in high gear. I could barely bend over to put my plate in the dishwasher, for fear it would all come up again and I would have to start all over.

Being an eight-year-old, I knew I had all the answers, and giving up green beans for the year was a brilliant one. I, however, was the only one who thought so, as the green beans continued to take up residence on my plate at dinner.

At least, I thought, Lent is only 2 months away.

Winter Reflections

2011-01-22T16:46:00.008-07:00

I have spent very little time trying my hand at poetry. In junior high English class I always felt fearfully awkward trying to write within the parameters of whatever poetic form we were asked to use. But in the stillness of early December and January I was drawn to the simplicity and concise demands of poetry. The first poem was written freely without concern for meter, rhyme, or specific poetic form.

A Season Turns

A breeze, a howl, a silent white night
Snow slips in, an early solstice guest

A wintry blanket erases fall’s marquee
Clouds hover and propose retreat

Crystals, unabashed, chilly and fresh
Stir, wiggle, and awaken

A season’s turn, a new land
Braced and be-stirred

This second poem is called a "Cascade." The first stanza can be any length, but each line of the first stanza must be repeated in order as the last sentence in the following stanzas. In other words, in my poem the first line is the last line in the second stanza, the second line is the last line in the third stanza, and the third line is the last line of the fourth stanza.

Janus

Janus, god of beginnings and endings, motions
To a threshold of contemplation
Of life behind and life yet to unfold

Footsteps dancing through Long Draw’s door
Float through winter’s deep pastoral chill
Janus, god of beginnings and endings, motions

To linen-covered hills and icy still waters
Crystalline air taps spirit and calls mind
To a threshold of contemplation

Land and sky’s quiet breath
Entice reflection, rising to ask what
Of life behind and life yet to unfold

I found working on these a quiet, satisfying challenge. I experienced the thinning, whittling, and search for clarity a kind of contented discipline I couldn't envision as a thirteen-year old.

Oops! Confusing Deadline

2011-01-14T08:17:00.003-07:00

I apologize for the confusing writing contest deadline. January 15th is Saturday. So, those of you who were working furiously to finish up by Friday can breathe easy.

Writing Contest Deadline Just Ahead

2011-01-12T09:27:00.005-07:00

I hope all of you who love to write will be sure to submit your essays by Friday, January 15th!

There's no time like mid-winter to settle into the rhythmical movement of pen and paper or the tapping of keyboard keys. If this is your first attempt at submitting your work, I encourage you to take heart: going public offers you an opportunity to have readers share what resonates or speaks to them in your writing.

I look forward to reading your submissions.

Good luck!

Mighty

2010-12-10T16:05:00.003-07:00

In 1990, Pete purchased a young, racing bred mare. Mighty Threat, a two-year old bay filly had built in spirit and speed. We loved her diminutive but phenomenal athletic build, her spunky spirit and the small half-moon marking on her forehead. Mighty also gave birth to some of our favorite horses, like Jet, Threat, Vegas, and Allie.

Whenever Pete rode Mighty he knew he could count on two things: Mighty would buck at least once and she would consistently ride out with great heart regardless of the terrain, the task, or the speed required for the work. Listening to Pete talk about Mighty it’s as though he speaks of a best friend, a friend that comes along only now and then in a lifetime.

Approaching her late teens, Mighty began to founder, particularly in the spring and early summer months. Foundering or laminitis in horses is a painful infection of the tissue that connects the coffin bone to the hoof wall. Laminitis can be caused by a variety of factors, including consuming too much grain, unlimited grazing on rich pasture, weight issues, or overwork on hard surfaces.

Once foundered, a horse is likely to founder again. Unfortunately, this was the case for Mighty. During the winter months she could tolerate a feed of dry hay, but once the snows thawed and the meadow grass began to grow, she would founder on the season’s new grass. So, Pete would confine her to a run and a feed of dry hay throughout the summer months.

Walking by this past summer, we often saw her with head hanging down, her withers protruding, and her back drooping from age. Now, twenty-one, how depressing it must be for her, a horse that instinctually grazes free, to be kept confined. In the mornings and evenings, when feeding time arrived though, she’d stick her head out over the half-door door of the stall hoping someone would come by and say hello, rub her head, or say something sweet to her.

One late summer night, Pete was awakened by a loud banging as though something were hitting the stall walls. Quickly alert, he dressed and ran downstairs to gather up his coat and gloves. Once he reached the stalls he knew it was Mighty. In the throes of colic, Mighty was thrashing about the stall, rolling from her side to her back and back again, her legs hitting the stall walls. The term colic is a general term for intestinal distress. It can be a simple intestinal upset or it can be what is referred to as a twisted gut where the intestines actually become twisted. Colic is often unforgiving and causes unimaginable pain. Pete knew Mighty was facing a formidable foe.

In order to try and prevent her from hurting herself anymore, Pete managed to get her up and walk her out into the arena, about fifty yards away. There, at one in the morning, he immediately gave her a shot of Banamine, an anti-inflammatory pain reliever, to help ease her distress. Sitting beside her on the ground, he stroked her side and thought about their twenty years together. It seemed so unfair that she had to suffer like this at the end of her life.

Over the years, Pete has had numerous experiences with colicky horses. He soon realized Mighty probably wouldn’t live through this episode and every minute she was alive she would be in agony. Even if he could reach a vet at that time of night, he knew the vet would advise putting Mighty down. So rather than prolong her suffering, Pete reluctantly walked to the house to get his twenty-two. Back out at the arena he loaded his rifle and struggled with knowing what he should do and the reality of ending Mighty’s life.

I hadn’t heard Mighty or Pete go out or even the gunshot. I didn’t realize what the night had brought until Pete came downstairs in the morning. Sitting in the kitchen the next morning, through tearful recounting, he said the worst part was listening to her moan and watching her body writhe in pain.

For over thirty years, we’ve come to know that determining life and death on a ranch is very often both a heart wrenching and a compassionate act. For Pete to raise his rifle and stop Mighty’s suffering in this way would never be his first choice, but when there is no other solution at that moment, he was compelled to act.

Keeper of the Flame

2010-11-18T11:46:00.007-07:00

Late in July, Pete and I hosted the 2010 Mortensen Family Reunion. The ranch filled with Mortensen family members from across the United States, Canada, Panama, and Denmark. Axel Mortensen, who emigrated from Denmark, was my maternal grandfather. Members of my grandfather’s offspring and members of two of his brother’s offspring all made their way to the Elk River Valley for our gathering. In all, there were over eighty including representatives from four generations, eight great-great grandchildren, and nine relatives from Denmark.

Over the course of four days we shared meals, oral history, live acappella, mandolin, and fiddle music, plein air art, croquet tournaments, orienteering, stick horse races, blind-man tractor contests, a fund-raising silent auction, rodeo demonstrations, and a sky lantern memorial for family members whom have passed away. The final event of the long weekend was a traditional family reunion service on Sunday morning conducted by my uncle, Joe Mortensen, a retired First Baptist minister. He began by asking, “…why (do) we go to the trouble of get-togethers like the one we’ve just had…why do we have a reunion?”

Having just returned from Ghana in West Africa, my uncle recalled visiting the Coast Castle, a fortress from which slaves were shipped for labor. A fellow traveler, an African-American woman, was deeply touched by the site of the “door of no return” through which slaves were taken to waiting boats. In response, she said, “You all know where you came from. I never did. But now I know. In reflection, my uncle suggested to our gathering, “Our reunion helps us know where we came from.”

Through great genealogical research efforts by my Aunt Mary and other family members, the history of both my maternal grandfather’s family and my grandmother’s family is known—we are fortunate to know from where we came. For the reunion my aunt created detailed family trees of three of the seven Mortensen siblings represented at the reunion. They were on display all weekend along with photo albums and other related historical items. In the perusing of the family trees, small groups would read and point fingers, and then ask questions about who and whom and where and when. Most often they would refer to my aunt for the answer or others would join in on stories they had heard or had been handed down.

Reflecting on my Aunt Mary’s genealogical work and collection of memorabilia, my uncle said, “Every tribe or clan has one or a few people who are the Keepers of the Flame. They are the ones who know the secret of making a fire. Mary is our Keeper of the Flame, collecting pictures and other memorabilia, making charts of our families so we can see who is connected to whom…” My Aunt Mary does indeed nourish our family tree--the roots, buds, and branches. With detailed connections in the form of a paper tree and her on-going emotional commitment to the clan, she lights, she stirs, and lovingly keeps the Mortensen flame burning.

When my uncle finished his remarks, I looked across the picnic table at my two children. I quietly hoped that they identified and saw more clearly from whom they came and therefore who they are. For in the dark of the night, on days when the winds of life unexpectedly shift, or when a sense of true north bobbles, the needle of the compass undecided, remembering their clan and their branch on the family tree will offer a place of clarity, a point of steadiness.