3/16/12

IM BACK WORLD!!!!

Hey, so I’ve been on a hiatus from the ranch life, and as a result my blog as well. 

I went home for a while. Went home to see the family mainly. My mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and I took a month off to go home and be with the family. 

I also had some shit to deal with for school, which I wont get into because its a really long drawn out story, and I’ll just end up ranting. 

Back to my mom. She’s just fine, other than being in a pretty serious amount of pain at times. Her cancer is between stage 0 and 1, and hopefully, will be taken care of in just a short period of time. I love you mom, you’re such a trooper.

It feels great to be back on the ranch, I forget how different this place is from a typical urban or semi-urban environment. It’s so peaceful out here. It is also great to see all my friends who I missed while back home. Everyone here has been so great helping me get through this tough time. Thank you everyone, your support means so much to me. 

So I’m back, on the grind again, with the hunting lodge in my sights. I’ll be working full time on it from here on out, until it’s construction is complete. It seems to be moving along well, but there is a ton of work to do, as with any large project like this. Unfortunately, this means that my blog posts might be a bit drier for a while, as most of my time will be spent at a desk in front of paper or my computer screen. 

However, I’ll still try to get some good shots of interesting subjects while I’m doing desk work like this because even though I’ll be at my desk most of the time, I wont’t be there all the time. With such a beautiful natural environment surrounding me, it would be almost impossible not to go outside at least once during each day. Also, I’ll be participating in some of the cooler cattle moves, some riding, some roping, brandings, concerts, etc. It’s going to be an awesome spring. 

Last weekend one of my best friends from life, Trent Cohune, came out from Vail to visit me on the ranch. Although he was only here for one full day, we made the day count by going on a great ride in the morning, hunting in the afternoon, and fishing in the evening. It ended up being an absolute blast, it was so awesome to see a childhood friend which I really haven’t hung out with in years. After visiting, TJ has decided that he would like to apply for our summer internship here on the ranch, which would be awesome if he got. It would be so fun to have him out on the ranch this summer. 

Here are some of the pictures we took last Sunday. Unfortunately, the camera didn't make it on our ride in the morning, so we only have pictures from hunting and fishing. 


Anyways, they’re great pictures. 

We converted the AR-15 to .22 cal so we could shoot a brick of rounds without paying 100s of dollars. 

On the hunt

Oh hey look, I caught a fish...

Oh, fish number two!

(one cast later) fish number three!

I think I'll Tebow fish number 4.

I got one.  Yea, one. 

Keep em comin...

Ok, now you just look bored. Fish number six. 

Finally, it's getting dark enough, he can stop embarrassing me at my own pond. Fish seven.

Ended on a beautiful note, what a great day we had. 

And some extras from previous days...

The view towards Pikes Peak from the exact location of the new hunting lodge. Pretty awesome. 

A cool scene right outside of the bunkhouse. 

A beautiful moon we had one night, this photo doesn't do it justice, but it does alright. 

Well, life is good out here, It's great to be back and great to see everyone again. I'll start posting regularly again now that I'm back. 

Hope you enjoyed this one. Talk to you soon!

- E

1/16/12

Hey there everyone!


Just wanted to post this video I couldn't post the other day. It is a video of us riding out and wrangling some cattle. 


Everything here on the ranch is great, the weather has been beautiful, mid 40's and 50's for the last two weeks. 


It's 5 am right now, were saddling up in an hour, so I have to go make lunch and get ready for the cold day ahead. 


Hope all is well in the rest of the world. 


- E

1/10/12

Hey there everyone!!!

So we just started our weaning process today. This is where we bring in all of our pairs (mothers and calves) and separate them from each other. 

Its time for the little ones to learn how to live on their own. 

So today, we ventured out to the far ends of the ranch, looking to gather 4 pastures in one day. 

It was a long day of riding, especially since I haven't really rode in about a month. (when I say really ride, i mean from longer than 3 hours) 

Today, we started out at around 7:30 and arrived home at 5. About a ten hour ride. 

It was a great one. It felt so nice to be back on bruiser, cruising along. 

We had an awesome group today too, about 14 of us. Jeff, David and Carla came over from the MZ, we had Mark from Australia, our new interns, Kathleen and Katherine, and the whole chico crew. 

It was an all around stellar ride, the weather was superb, the cattle moved as smooth as silk, and the people we were with were just fantastic. 

Things are good here at the ranch, although the weather is supposed to turn on us tomorrow, we will be riding all day tomorrow as well. 

Here are the pictures and videos from today. Hope you enjoy. 

The Boss Man. Leading us out. 

Mr. Allen Ferguson. Our Foreman, also looking like a boss. 

Jeff, standing majestically on the hilltop.

Some lopers, running away as we ride up. These things are about 500 yds away. This is my camera in super zoom mode. Its legit huh?

Oh Bruzer

Look at his thick sweaty winter coat. He is also fat and out of shape. 

Hair justa blowing in the wind. 

A nice little landscape pano

Bored, waiting for cettles. 

David, hanging out with some cettles

An awesome group shot to wrap up the day. 

For some reason, blogger wont let me upload a video right now, 


Guess you'll have to wait till tomorrow. 


Hope you liked this post!


Gutennacht

1/5/12

Hey there everyone. 


Jonathan and I had our first (at least my first) meeting today with the Landscape architects were working with on the hunting lodge. 


It felt like it went really, and I'm really excited about getting rolling on the project. It will be an absolutely awesome experience for me, getting to work on this project, hopefully, seeing it all the way through construction. 


I could go on, but I will later when I actually have design content to show. 


for now, I have a few cool pictures to show you. 


Here they are. 

First, a great sunset panorama from last night. The sunsets and sunrises had been unbelievable the last few nights. I believe it's because of the recent heat wave we have had. (60 degree highs)

Mmmmm, a nice sight to rise to in the morning. beautiful. 

The animals we slaughtered, which we will eat for the next year. Hanging in the quoncet hut, waiting to get butchered so we can start eating. 

Some nice pictures. 

I'm in a great place here. I can't wait to get rolling deep into the hinting lodge. very excited. 

Goodnight world. 

-E

1/3/12

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to post up some videos I have taken, as well as some pictures from today. .

Everything here on the ranch is great, it seems like everyone is in very good spirits. It could be the fact that it was 55 degrees today and its supposed to be 60 tomorrow. woo hoo!

Anyways, this first video is of a really funny ram who is penned up all alone in our corrals right now. I'm not really sure why he is there, but he is, and he is quite curious. 

Today, I gave him some chips, and he started to follow me around. When I wouldnt give him any more chips he started to charge me and try to ram me. This is probably a good 300 lb ram with some big ol' balls. He is a feisty one. The funny thing is, most of the time he will let you just come up and scratch him on the head. not this time though...

This second video is a short one of Cecilio and I catching Pheasant. It was the first video I ever shot, so it's a bit shaky. And, I only remembered to bring my camera out on the last bird I caught. 

I'll make a better video of this because it really is an exciting event. But here it is. 

Oh by the way, I cant upload HD videos because the internet here is dog. 

There it is folks, just a snipit.

Talk soon!

1/2/12

Hey everyone. 

Just a short post with some pictures from my new camera. Theyre stunning 

Everything is going well out here on the ranch. Its cold, but not too bad. Were still really busy, the cold doesnt deter us at all

Work is steady, were going to ramp up here soon as we start our weaning process. lots of riding for sure. I'm excited to get back on a horse more. 

We just bought 20 new horses, and apparently there are some big ol ones in the bunch, so ill be giving bruiser a rest and hopping on some new horses

Here are some of my latest pictures. Enjoy.

This is Jet, He is the Phillips's youngest black lab. He was my co-pilot for a coupe of days while the Phillips family was on vacation. 

He is such a mellow little guy.  Really, an awesome dog

 

What a boss

This is a little pano of the flight pens.  Where the birdies stay. 

A little photoshop job I did with a picture from bisonwerks

Another shop job of the photo of the ceefs. 

This is what you see when you step out the front door of the bunkhouse. Most of headquarters. 

I hope you like those. 


The riding action is about to whip up again, so Ill post when things get exciting. 


Goodbye, world. And happy new year. 

11/29/11

Arrivederci my friends.

I just received a CD of the pictures that were on my memory card which pooped out on me.


My mom took it home after she visited and had a camera guy get them off. As a result, I have some new ones for ya, as well as some sweet panoramas I just shopped together. 

Things here on the ranch are great, life is exciting as always. 

For the last week or so I have started my work with Jonathan out at the fight pens. These pens house the pheasant, chucker, and quail which we provide for hunts. 

We started by doing a bit of renovations on the pens themselves. We put up some shade screen around the pen to provide the birds some more cover. We cleaned up the trash, tumbleweeds, and excess supplies. 

So my main job is to change the birds' water every day and make sure their feeders are full. Pretty basic stuff. 

On days which we have a hunt booked however, I get to do much more. 

Jonathan and I walk into the pens with big nets in our hands after the amount of birds we need for the hunt. 

The hunters pay for a certain amount of birds, and we put them out for the hunt about a half hour before the hunt in a specified spot. 

So were catching these birds. Its really, really fun. Birds are flying everywhere, were cracking up, dodging birds while trying to swoop them out of the air with our nets. 

Its great fun. 

We catch as many as we need. For a hunt of say 3 people... 30 birds or so. 

We put them in their crates, and head to the schoolhouse to meet with the hunters, and depending if they hired one, the guide, either rick or bob. 

The hunters hang out, shoot practice rounds, stand by the fire, drink coffee, whatever they want. 

They hang while Jonathan, and I go out to one of the four hunting fields to set the birds. 

We cruise out with the birds in crates in the truck. We grab them out of the crates by the legs, and walk them to some tall grass or brush. The whole time were walking them there were swinging them in circles to disorient them so they wont fly away when we put them down. 

So we dizzy them up a bit, put them into cover, and head back to the hunters to let them start. 

Its a great time really. However, it probably won’t be as cool when its 10° out. We’ll see. 

So I’ve mainly been working with Jonathan since being back from Bisonwerks. It has honestly been great. He’s a great guy to work with, he teaches me so much every day. We also get time to start talking hunting lodge plans. Its a good introduction to his thoughts about the lodge design. 

Unfortunately, I still dont have a functional camera, so no pics of the birdies just yet. 

I asked santa for a camera though, so hopefully, if I’ve been a good boy, yall will be watching some 1080p HD video of birds hitting my face. Yes. 

However, I do have some older pictures off the CD from my old memory card. I think I’ll just caption them...

So enjoy. I think its a bunch of stuff from pouring water tanks and stuff. 

And of course, close up shots of bruze cruze...

Hey bruze.

yea?

Did you know you look like a big ol' donkey? 

A nicely lit one of the backhoe. Could be a damn John deere ad.

By the way, a lot of these pics are worth clicking on to view bigger, especially the panoramas. 

Cooper and Nick using the transect to check the level of the water tank. When completed, the tank has to be level within 1/4". Which took a while. 

Our tank pouring foreman, Cooper. What a boss. 

Thats right baby. Finshed another one. Stuart and I assembled and leveled most of the tanks together. He's feeling pretty proud right now. 

Mr. Leach joined us for the pouring of the tanks. Nice look David. That stash is DERTY. 

Uhhhhh, I'm not really sure whats going on right now. 

Pouring concrete to set the water tanks in position. This has been a long time coming. 

Koda, our mascot, looking unusually sly. 

So yea, the tanks are all poured, we did 5 tanks in 3 days. It was really awesome to see them poured and done. 

Now, the water lines are charged, the tanks are full, and Cooper is leading the charge to finish the pipeline/tanks project. 

Its been a hue undertaking, but really awesome to see it coming together. I know Cooper has been busting his ass on this project. Almost there Coop. 

A cool shot of Jonathan, Michael, Allen, and Nick riding off for a day of wrangling. 

ATTENTION!!!!! THIS MAN IS OFFICIALLY SINGLE AND ON THE MARKET!!! HIS NAME IS ALLEN FERGUSON, HE WORKS AT CHICO BASIN RANCH, AND IS A DREAMY COWBOY WHO'S SHY AT FIRST, BUT HAS A LOT TO OFFER UNDER THE SURFACE. HE LIKES REDSKINS FOOTBALL, LONG HORSE RIDE PICNICS, AND BEING THE MOST BALLER RANCH FOREMAN EVER. REMEMBER, CHICO BASIN RANCH, LOOK IT UP.

Hey mama, hey ceef. 

This should be our new postcard or something. Its a great picture if you ask me. check the heart on the forehead of the mama looking at me.

Now check out these sweet panoramas, the first one, a nice one of a cattle drive over whipple ridge, and the second is just a damn nice sunset one night.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I'm pretty much out for now, but I might try to get a cheap memory card at wally world this weekend so I can get by till Christmas. 

I also hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, I'm going to try and get some pictures from the Kenturkey Derby. 

Oh man, that story is going have to wait until the next post. Its a funny one though. 

I have to go to bed now. 

Goodnight world.