Branding

Dix and I got out of town. We drove 90 miles to help my favorite landowner brand 250 cows. Our job was to haze the doggies that try to sneak out of the holding pen as their compatriots are drug out behind a roper horse. The job is easy as long as they are huddled together en-masse. But as the remaining get fewer and fewer, they lose their security in the herd and try to bolt for the opening. Dix had trouble with all the bawling at first but eventually got used to it. We were pretty impressed with one roper who suffers from MS but still managed to throw a lasso and drag a doggie. Beer was flowing and talk got louder and coarser as the day wore on. Val's lunch of mutton and casseroles was just wonderful. What an ethnic talent.

Dix and I excused ourselves to check on some claim posts that were staked in the sixties. They were still standing but needed the labels refurbished. We saw meadowlarks and lark buntings, the latter being one species we had yet to mark in our bird manual. Our vehicle got slimed from a fresh application of magnesium chloride on the road for dust control and we got splotches of it on our hands and clothing. It's like greasy mud and corrosive. We were happy to wash up when we got home.