You are currently browsing all posts tagged with 'desert rains'.

Ah, those Indian Cows!

  • August 16, 2010 20:15

You are likely quite sick of hearing about our green grass, but as a final comment on it, let me just say that we had the summer round up a whole month later than we should have had it because of the muddy corrals, and, because of the delay and the rains, the late calves we branded were probably 100 lbs heavier than we had expected. Not a bad problem to have, of course, except that the little bulls were far too developed to be castrated, and so will have to be sold, when the brands dry up, in October, as bulls instead of steers – so generating a lower price. There is always a drawback, it seems! But even as I sit here writing this, the ones we sent off this week are probably being loaded onto the buyers’ trucks in Willcox, and on Tuesday we will get the check and see just exactly what they brought. Continue reading

Rekindle the Sensations of Freedom

  • July 13, 2010 14:52

The great annual happening, the monsoons, are always eagerly anticipated here in the high desert, and the other day Danny launched once again into the annual conversation we all like to have at this time of the year, the discussion of thunder in the distance and the glimpse of faraway lightning, way down in Mexico. This conversation spans the centuries – I bet that the ancient people, who lived here all those years ago, were even more obsessed with weather than we are now – imagine that not only was there no faucet to turn on, but there was no well to get the water from, and, if it didn’t rain and fill the lakes and little water holes, you were pretty well done. Continue reading

Books Sitting There, Waiting For Me

  • July 5, 2010 12:54

So the annual excitement is about to begin, or I should say, has begun already – and I mean the watching for, hoping for, praying for thunderstorms and the monsoon rains.

I have to agree with the often voiced opinion that the weather patterns are changing, and that we are indeed in an ongoing drought. I only hope it’s not like the one that drove the ancient people from here in the 1400s, which apparently lasted for forty years! It was so different in the early 70’s, when I had first arrived in Arizona, and my ex-husband and I were managing a large farm – I remember spending many a time balancing on top of the loaded wheat trucks, trying to cover them with heavy tarpaulins in the face of gusty winds, fighting off the thunderstorms and slanting rain. Continue reading

Masquerading Cheese

  • April 13, 2010 18:29

It seems that every year the dates of the annual round up come earlier and earlier – or is that a sign of age?? Actually, this year the date has come earlier, as we moved our spring gather forward. Consequently we will be branding calves a month sooner than usual, and then, later in the year, selling them a month sooner also, hoping to beat the rush to market by the rest of the ranching community. Continue reading

It Only Does EVERYTHING!

  • March 7, 2010 11:49

I had been listening, for some time now, to countless people extolling the virtues of something called a Smoothie – and, seeing that it’s something to eat, and so is always of interest to me, I investigated further. It appears that one can make this concoction by using frozen fruit and good stuff like yoghurt – but I am Continue reading

What a Show This Will Be!

  • March 2, 2010 20:57

You know that Arizona is on the national map when the New York news channels start talking about the awesome spring flowers that are about to appear! Generally, especially with the weather news, we are, to put it in cow vernacular, sucking on the hind tit. Are there storms in the east? More than well covered. Frost in Florida … heat wave in Chicago …mud slides in California… you bet you hear about it…. global warming, global cooling, long and short summers – we are treated to it all, as long as it doesn’t concern the south west. Perhaps they think we are still a part of Mexico, before the Gadsden Purchase? Continue reading

Fiesta de los Vaqueros

  • February 15, 2010 15:22

I am looking forward to a riot of wildflowers due to the lovely rains in January, and I wonder how many of you know that a seed can live in this desert earth for up to 200 years without germinating – and then, when it gets some rain just at the right moment, it bursts out with a flower you’ve never seen before! I remember one year when almost overnight all the bushes on the mountains became entwined with long, thin tendrils of green covered with the most delicate, tiny mauve bells, so that each manzanita bush looked like it was shrouded in gauzy veils. Continue reading

The Sonoita Cowboy

  • February 6, 2010 11:27

As I am sure all of you know by now from my last two postings, we have had wonderful rains this January, totaling to date an exciting 4.8 inches, which should make for some spectacular spring wildflowers. Some of the moisture came in the form of snow, and, as much as I hate to be cold, I thought that the attached photo of the cattle ranch headquarters under snow is too beautiful not to share with you. Continue reading

The Life of a Vaquero

  • January 30, 2010 12:45

How time flies when you’re having fun!! Our fun at the moment is more rain – following on from last week’s news. So far we have had 3.70 inches for January, which may not seem much to you, but to the high desert it’s bounty indeed. When the first day’s rain was over, I rode up to the South Fork Tank, high up in the Noonan Canyon. Predictably, it was… Continue reading

Indian Days

  • January 24, 2010 12:23

And so, guess what – news, news! As I sit here, it is raining! And you wet land rats, who probably grump at the sight of a cloud in the sky, don’t realize what a blessing it is, to us in the high desert, to get some rain! It has rained for a day and a bit now, and in that time we got over 2.50 inches of rain, and the tanks in the Flats, which were all empty but one, have filled up with just this one bonanza! Just as well, as if they hadn’t, we had every prospect of having to water the cattle out of our domestic well, not a very nice thought at all. Continue reading