November 1, 2016

HAT TIPS

Hello,
I don’t go to music concerts. Oh, I went to Buck Owens once at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. But I think that was in 64 or 5. And I did hear Kenny Rogers once, but he was playing in a casino lounge in Las Vegas.
But there is a Canadian singer I listen to once in awhile. Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans. I enjoy him because my grandsons can play air guitar and sing many of his songs.
He sings of ranches, oil wells, cows, and trucks getting stuck. Things I know well.
Now what made me think of Corb this morning is one of his songs. It’s called “You Got to Have Cows Around.”
It’s a song that kind of tells what it’s like to have cows. You are late to dates or meetings because the cows are out. He sings of the constant problems that live with a cowboy 24 hours a day.
For instance, lately we have been gathering cows up on Hans Creek. We are better riders than we are fencers so the cows have a pretty good scatter on them. Our motto is “as long as they have grass and water, we don’t care where they are.” Now I don’t know where some are, but I know where many aren’t.
It’s gotten to be kind of a habit I guess, but when we make a successful gather and get a few cows, we stop for dinner in Halliday at O’Brien’s. We grab a quick pizza and beer and talk about how good we did.
A few days ago we gathered two cows. One kind, sensible cow, and one wild, crazy cow. I don’t know how they ever became friends. I guess friendships can be like that.
Will and I stopped for a beer and pizza. And talked about how good we were to get these two cows gathered up in the trailer.
We finished our quick lunch and walked out of the bar. As we turned the corner to the pickup, our congratulatory celebration came to a heart-stopping halt! The last calf was just jumping out of the trailer! Someone had turned our cows out in town! Really! Our morning’s work was walking down a street.
We quickly unloaded our colts and were in hot pursuit. Beings one cow was wild and one was tame exasperated the problem. The wild one crossed the bridge over Spring Creek and headed for Twin Buttes at a lope. The tame one began grazing along the creek and didn’t want to cross the bridge.
By the time we got the tame one across, the wild one was a mile north and covering ground. When I caught up with her she, along with her calf, jumped a fence and headed west. I found a gate and followed her.
But by the time I got through that gate, she had jumped the next fence and headed northwest! And that is what happened for the next hour. She would run though a fence. I would find a gate and she would be through the next fence. Six fences! Five miles! My colt was playing out. As was this old fat man.
Then she made a mistake. She stopped by Cliff’s place. Cliff is an old cowboy that can think like a cow. He was out fencing and spotted our problem. And he had eight armed men from Minnesota helping him. They were camped by his grain bins hunting pheasants.
Between Neal from Minnesota, Cliff the old calf roper, Will the cowboy, and myself, we got the escapee captured. She did beat Will up a little before we got her loaded, but all in all it was a successful hunt.
As my granddaughter Gracy used to say, “I made some new friends!”
And we learned a valuable life lesson. Don’t celebrate too early if you have cows around!

Later,
Dean

WATFORD CITY WEATHER