8/22/11

Howdy partners.


Welcome to the start of my first ever blog. This is a written account of my time at Chico Basin Ranch in Colorado Springs, CO. I'll be posing most every night that i dont pass out due to exhaustion, so check back every once and a while and see what im up to! I'll be writing in my own tone, somewhat lazily, so stick with the iffy grammar, misspellings, and profanity, it's just how I'm running things round here. These positing will include the good the bad, the ups and downs, and the boring in-betweens. My transformation from a boy grown up in the suburbs to a not-so-wanabe cowboy begins... 


I just got done with the first day of my second week here. I can honestly say its been everything I expected and sooo much more. Ive learned so much in this last week, ill try and quickly recap in a few bullet points. (Granted, I've only learned the first things about these skills, and have 6 months of improving and learning to do)


-how to tack, ride, and take care of a horse
-how to drive a stick shift
-how to maintain an internal combustion engine
-how to use a trencher
-how to wrestle sheep
-how to fly fish
-how to build and fix barbed wire and electric fence
-how to make things with leather and maintain leather
-how to wrangle cattle and horses
-how to lay 4" water tank pipe
-how to efficiently swat flies
-how to fit into a crowd that is so beyond different to you


I'm probably missing some stuff, but thats most of it. I might sound ignorant saying i learned how to do all those things, but again, i havent even scratched the surface of things like horsemanship  leatherwork, fly fishing, or even fly swatting ;) But, it's a start, and Im feeling more confident by the day. I guess that's what its all about here, having confidence in yourself, and trying everything, no matter how intimidating, or how many people are standing around watching you about to fail. But, as I have most always been throughout my life, Im ready to immerse myself and try everything, and fail. Hopefully only once, but I understand that failure is how you learn. I have to say, the best thing about Chico basin is that they condone failure. They understand that failure is a part of learning, and a part of life. They only expect that you learn from your mistakes, and really try hard not to make them again. Every single person i've met here is absolutely awesome. I really cant explain how awesome they are. Even though I dont know anything about what they do, and I most likely wont grow up to be a cowboy, they have welcomed me with open arms and a huge smile on their face. They answer ever single question I have with a whole hearted response and such clarity, it makes it easy and fun to learn. I feel like Im settling in, and understanding the basics of how things run around here and what my responsibilities are. As both the experienced interns leave in a month, Ill be the only one here, so i have to be fully capable by then and feel I'll have a full grasp when that time comes. 


I figure the best way to go about this, is to just write about my daily experiences, what happened, what I did, and what i learned from it. I believe reflection is the best way to really solidify knowledge and experiences in my head, and one of the purposes of this blog is to give me a chance to reflect on what I've learned every single day. The other purpose is to let all my family and friends know what im up to, share with them my experiences, and to receive their feed back in the comment section of the blog. So please, I encourage you to write me back, and give me your commentary, questions, and opinions about my writings. 


I do have to say, one thing that I was unexpectedly sad about was my attempt to keep a had written journal. I tried, and failed. Its sad to me that writing by hand is inefficient and tiring. Im too tired and my hands hurt too bad to write at the end of the day. I really didn't want to start a blog. i wanted to have something real, something tangible, as documentation of my time here. I guess technology wins. Im giving in. There are benefits though, I can post pictures videos, and receive comments about it all from the people i love. 


So lets get into it. This being my first post after a week of work, its gonna be a long one, so stick with me. 


Lets start with my favorite part so far, the people. Some introductions. 

From right to left we have Kerstein, Stewart, Cooper, Rafael, and myself at the arkansas county fair last sunday. 




Kerstein is a fine young 29 year old girl from Germany whom I've been living with in the bunkhouse here at headquarters. 

She has been here for almost 3 months now, and has to leave in only a week due to stupid visa laws we have here in the land of the free. she is one of the hardest working women I have ever met. Not afraid of anything, even working on a cattle ranch as a vegetarian. She has done a superb job of showing me the ropes here at headquarters. There is lots to be done here, and us interns are responsible for keeping this place up, which is a huge job in itself, and without her guidance I would be drowning right now. She is so easy to talk to, a great listener, and a great person to live with. even though we will have only spent 2 full weeks together, I will miss her presence dearly. She is responsible for most of the pictures taken within the first couple weeks, and I thank her for documenting my culture shock so brilliantly. 


Next we have Stewart, who is one of Coopers best friends from Montana. he arrived only a week before I did, so Its been great having someone in the same position I am. He is a great guy, sharing with me his experiences of his first week, helping me not make a fool of myself so much. The banter he and cooper share is hilarious, and watching them get at each other has been awesome. you can tell they are best friends just by the way they interact. I feel lucky to have been accepted into their banter, and feel like they like having me around. 


So onto Cooper. 

Cooper is an apprentice here at the ranch, making him the guy who has been looking over me the most, because he is out in the field with me all day, checking on me and answering any questions I may have. He reports to the Dukes and Michael (the ranch manager), and then directs the interns from there. His current job which he is overseeing is the 8 miles of waterline were laying to some of the more remote pastures. Its a huge job, and it seems like he is handling it like a champ. Not too many mishaps aside from the typical breakdowns, mis-communications, and stupid intern mistakes ;) Cooper, along with stewart have magnificent senses of humor, love music, love to dance, and all around just love to have a really great time with anything they do. Work is not when theyre around, which is all the time. Cooper is typically the one i go to with any questions, as he has been here for i believe over a year. He studied Ag business at cal poly slo, and knows a ton about what we do here at Chico. 


Next we have Rafael, or Rafa.

Rafa is to say the least, a character. He is a 26 year old German intern who has been here on and off for a year. prior to that, he worked at a ranch in arizona. He studied geology an soils in germany and is now working on his masters in ag for a school in germany. Through his studies, but mostly through his experience, he knows a ton about ranch operations, and is also a great guy to go to with any questions. He is hilarious as well, and his german accent and demeanor are always entertaining. He takes his work very seriously, and his meticulous ways set a great example for the standard of work which is expected here at Chico. All of these friend play a mean guitar, and have introduced me to some awesome country, bluegrass, and old western music in my time here. I love music, i love being funny (or trying to), and I love hard work. we get along great. The reason I decided to place these friends first is because we spend by far the most time together, an they are who I am closest with at the moment. They have made my introduction to this world close to seamless, and i thank them endlessly for that. Through my posts you will be hearing much, much more about them im sure. 

This is the ranch manager Michael and his wife Dawn. They live with their family at headquarters where I live. He is so helpful, and gives very thorough answers to my questions. I went to a concert my second night here with them and the rest of the interns and had an absolute blast. 

Duke Jr. is quiet when you first meet him, but has an awesome personality and is hilarious at times. I have gotten to spend more time with him than Duke Sr., but still, not too much. I believe we will become good friends, I hope so. 

Duke Sr. with Allen’s youngest son riding on back. Duke is such a nice man, he has been so welcoming. I havent gotten much time with him, and look forward to building a good relationship with him. He is a very accomplished man. 

I'll do more introductions as in later posts, and as i find good pictures of everybody. There are so many people at this ranch I wish you all could meet. 

Now onto some pictures of myself getting into the action. 

First time ever on a horse. I cant believe I came here without ever have ever riding a horse, but brutus treated me very well. 

Brutus and I. Brutus is one of the biggest horses on the ranch, hence, he's my buddy. He's the horse I learned to ride on, and the horse i've been riding on most of the time so far. He handles great, and rides fast. He's awesome around the cattle and rarely does a cow try to pull any fast ones on him.

Brutus and I after a nice swim. He’s not much for swimming, but he did alright. This was my first time ever riding bare back, and when I took him into a trot, it was so violent without a saddle on, that I actually fell off him. I guess you gotta fall off your first time sometime. Not his fault, only the fault of my inexperience.

Getting ready to do a bit of fly fishing. There are a bunch of different lakes on the property, probably close to 6 or 7 if I had to guess. 

Doing a little fly fishing. Stewart was nice enough to let me use his gear, and give me a crash course in lake fly fishing. He caught one on his first cast. It took me about an hour to catch one, but I ended up victorious. 

Showin off the sweet 32’s we got on the trencher. I’ve spent many a hours on this puppy in the hot sun digging trenches for the water line. The pipeline has been one of the main projects I have been working on. I also lay and glue the pipe which fits into the 4’ deep trench.

Coming out of the water after swimming with Brutus. The other horses took to the water much much better, you Should have seen them actually head deep in the water swimming around with riders on their backs. 

This is today while taking a breather after successfully moving over 1500 head of young cattle 3 pastures over. It took us a little under 7 hours. It was my 2nd large cattle wrangling ride. I cant even explain how exciting it is. Well, im sure I will later.

My Introduction to Chico Basin has been everything I imagined and more. I can honestly say, I love it here. I know the next 6 months are going to blow my mind and absolutely fly by. This blog will help me document it, and remember it for the rest of my life. After my first entry, Im finding that its not so bad, I actually really like doing it. Remembering this experience is something that is really important to me, so I will try and post every single day. 

Well, its waay past my bedtime. I usually pass out between 8 and 9, and its almost 11. I have to get up at 5 tomorrow for another wrangle way out in the south pasture.

So this is it for the first post. Forgive the awkward formatting and stuff, im still getting used to this thing. It will get better, I swear.

Thank you for taking time to check it out, and thank you for sticking with such a long first post.