Walking the Fenceline

November 19, 2023

Howdy folks,

Well, after all the excitement last week, things have been much more calm out on the ranch.  I still have not heard anything about the tree cutting incident, nor have the police stopped back out here.  The boss hasn't said anything either, and when I walked over that way to see if the activity had indeed stopped, there appeared to be not even a branch or twig disturbed on anything.  But, I did think that it was a good idea to walk the property line again.  Typically, I do this every few months whenever I happen to think about it.  Or, more often than not, something like this happens and it causes me to go for a little walk to check everything out.  Things certainly pop up in certain areas of the ranch, but to check the entire property line means going for a 3 1/2 mile walk.  We're on 275 acres here, with the horses on 220 of it, so I always need to be paying attention to the fencing to make sure that they don't have any areas where they can sneak out.  I'm pretty confident that the horses wouldn't run away, per se, but I do worry that if they did get out, they wouldn't know how to get back in to the water and feeding areas and that that might cause them to wander off in search of sustenance.  Most likely, they'd end up down at the river, which isn't too far away.  But, if you think herding cats is difficult, then you should try rounding up mustangs sometime!  Talk about personalities and moods to contend with!  So far, though, we've never had to deal with that and, other than a time or two when the gate by the barn was left open, they've never wandered off any further than the pond that's right next to our house.  So, in any event, I took the opportunity to walk the property line over a couple of days.  I'd spend the mornings doing all of my chores around the house for the boss: bird feeders; bird baths; pet food; cleaning the patios; garbage; recycling; etc.  After lunch, I'd walk a big section of the Back 40, going up the eastern line on one day and then the western one on the other.  On a third day, I went up to the quarry behind our house and worked my way back out to the ranch road and the frontage road that runs along the interstate.  I drive by most of this section quite often, but it never hurts to actually walk it and make sure that a tree hasn't fallen over the fence in any particular spot.  And, if so, then you need to get back out there with the chainsaw to take care of it.  The older parts of the fence are still barbed wire, and that's probably most of it, but the newer sections have been done with newer wire, without barbs.  And, then, along the boss's house we've even done some of it now in oilfield pipeline fencing!

So, I didn't find any more evidence of anyone cutting any trees down.  I did find a big tree that fell down onto the fence way out in the back.  The fence didn't look too bad and was still standing upright, although certainly under quite a bit of pressure.  In some spots there are T-posts driven into the ground to serve as fence posts, but more often than not, they are just wooden stakes.  Some of these look quite old, and it's not hard to imagine that some of this fencing is still the original fencing from about 150 years ago.  I enjoyed my walk, although once all the way in the back, I do get the feeling that something is always watching me.  There are many big animals out here, like bears and mountain lions, but we seldom see them anywhere down near the house.  In fact, other than the occasional deer or elk, we don't see much of anything down by the house other than coyotes.  Lots and lots of coyotes!  Still, whenever I make it all the way to the back line, I start really slowing down my steps(or, rather, my scrambling...much of this terrain is super rocky and boulder-strewn) and I really strain to hear as much as I possibly can.  The wind is usually blowing quite a bit and that doesn't help at all in the hearing department, but, boy, do I try.  I've never had any issues yet, but am pretty sure that one of these days I'm going to run into some kind of big predator out there, if not just a rowdy pack of dogs!  The horses never seem to have too much trouble, but they are very spooky and the lightest of sleepers.  They also usually leave a sentinel that stays up and standing to watch over the group as the rest sleep lying down.  That being said, I've seen them form a line and charge our dogs to chase them out of the pasture and I'm pretty sure that, together, they could handle just about anything.  So, not much more going on out here this week.  We ranged from the 20s to the 60s in temperature and, as always, made sure that we got ourselves into the hot springs for some rest and relaxation. 

So, up next, a new series of photos for everybody.  First up, two shots of our 20-year-old mill cat, Buckwheat, still going strong and raiding the outside cats' food dish one snowy day.  Then, the mesa all frosted from a wet and frigid overnight.  Next, our weekly foray to the hot springs: our spot this time(there are three spots each with 3-4 pools); and Erin leading the way.  Then, a series of eleven shots from my days spent walking the fence line: my one problem spot that I found; a little man-door way out in the back corner; looking north from the back line; the terrain back there; the northwest corner with a view of the mesa; a little arroyo full of some oak trees; Erin's secret spot(table & chairs) as seen from below; more oaks...a rarity around here; coming back along the western line; here you can clearly see which side the horses are on!; and, last, but not least, problem solved and tree cut off of the fence line!

Take care.