CHAPTER TEN... THE SWEEP.....

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Seajay

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CHAPTER TEN. SWEEPING FOR STRAYS.....

'' We are gonna do a sweep to the west today guys''......
''I'm gonna bust you guys up and each will take an area and go look for strays.  I don?t want no body to get lost but we got a lot of ground to cover before we head out for Union Cow Camp soon.''
Art put me back on Booger Red because he knew that the horse was smarter than me and he trusted the horse to bring me home if I got lost.  He also gave me a Colt 44 in a holster....
''Try that on for size cowboy and do not lose it.  It goes back many years and I want you to wear it and if you get lost or hurt, just fire three shots in the air and we will eventually find you.  Don't shoot the horse or yourself''......  He grinned the ''knowing grin'' and handed me the gun....
Art also instructed me to not go over the top of a mountain and, if I got lost to just find a creek and follow it back to the river and then I would be able too get home.  He also said that I could just give Booger his ''head'' and he would find home without a problem.  The only ''problem'' with this method was that the horse would take the shortest route home and sometimes that ain?t good.....
We headed out with me in the middle section.  Jim headed west by north, I headed west toward where the sun set and Art took the south by west section.  You have to understand that the land is BIG out there.  A horse pasture can be several miles wide and several miles long.  The mountains are BIG seemingly holding up the sky in some places.
We headed out across the river.  Whiskey decided to come with me and that was fine with me.  We eased across the horse pasture and up into the timber.  We were watching for ''bald spots'' where the timber thins out and lets the grass grow in profusion.  This is where the cattle would come to and eat their fill. 
We plodded west with the sun to our backs.  I rode in wonderment as I looked at the countryside.  The mountains, the trees and all Gods creatures scampering about the woods.  I rode along and day dreamed about being a real cowboy in the old west.  I heard a elk whistling off in the distance.  The 'rut' was coming on and they were in 'velvet' and really beautiful animals.  Off to my left we jumped a Mule Deer.  He came up like a rocket and blasted thru the timber and out of sight before I could get a good look at him.  No, I did not wet my pants but it did bring me back to reality pretty fast.
Out there you can hear the earth breathe.  You can hear the soft breeze in the pines and the scamper  of the ground animals.  You can hear the trees growing as they sway in the breeze.  It was a most wonderful thing and I am sorry I do not have the talent to tell you in words what I saw and heard as me and Booger and Whiskey rode west.

I was gaining altitude all the time because it was becoming cooler all the time.  The down filled vest started to feel really good and I decided to turn South to look for cows.  I saw a bald spot out ahead of me and an elk standing up to his knees in tall grass.  His head was down and he did not hear me.  He would ''pick'' and then raise his head for a look around and then ''pick'' again.  We stopped and just watched him from probably fifty yards away.  He was magnificent  He sported a ''rack of antlers'' probably six feet wide at the upper tips.  He would called a Trophy buck if you shot him.  I think he finally smelled us.  His head came up and he looked right at us, turned on his heel and dashed thru the timber and away.  I rode along looking and listening and watching Boogers ears.  I think he could ''smell'' the cattle because his ears came up and pointed like radar down the mountain.  I turned and, sure enough, there in a bald spot were two cows lounging in the sun.  Whiskey wrangled them up and we headed south again with our prize in front.  The timber was thinning out and I figured we should find more cows in this area.  From this place I could look down the mountain and see the whisper of smoke from the cabin at Pie Plant.
We found a total of five cows in our section and when we came to another creek we turned East back toward the river and home.  Booger seemed to know we were heading back toward the corral because his ''step'' became quicker and he would stray left at every opportunity because that was the shortest way home.  It is strange how Whiskey seemed to know where we needed to go.  We only had five cows but she kept them in line headed down the mountain toward the main herd in the valley.
We made it down to the river and I knew that the cabin was to our left.  The cattle went over and joined the herd and I headed toward the cabin for food and rest.  Jim and Art were already home and we sat and talked while Letra fixed supper.
''Well boy, I am impressed..''  ''You found cattle, you did not get lost or shoot yourself or the horse and you found the cabin in time for supper and you did not lose that pretty new hat''    ''I am right proud of you''......''You want a job as a wrangler?''  We all laughed at Arts statement.  After supper me and Whiskey went up to the Rock Pile to watch sunset one more time.  As I sat there I burned into my memory a place called Pie Plant Cow Camp.  The smell and the sounds and the wonderment of Gods creation burned into my mines eye and I can close my eyes today and see it as plain as this computer before me now.  We would be moving to Union probably tomorrow and this would be my last chance to sip of the cup from here on the Rock Pile and watch sunset. 

These are the memories of an old man remembering a wonderful time spent up in Taylor Park in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado,  acting like a real cowboy.. ...

Next...........  Moving to Union Cow camp.......  the adventure continues...

 
Seajay... I'm starting to think that when you finish this saga, You should collect it and submit for publication.. You are a very good writer and story teller, and it's a good story.

Though born elsewhere, I grew up in Michigan, on a dairy farm which was on a couple of hills (Very small foothills part of what is geologically called a glacieral mountain range,, If you can call 20 to 40 feet tall a mountain that is).  Some of your descriptions dang near make me homesick.. Very good story telling.
 
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