A Fall Day with Leroy, Cows, a Wild Paint, Bees on the Prod and too Much Candy
All by Marla Bear Bishop – Crawford Country/Fruitland Mesa Corespondent
I’m having a tough time believing that it’s already November. A decidedly spectacular fall in progress has me loving every day before winter hits.
On a recent day, fully golden with aspens, I was blessed to be out with Leroy in the high country moving the cows down.
Jordan Shevene’ had been saying he wanted to film this particular happening for his short film in conjunction with the Heart and Soul project. We paid Leroy an evening visit, couldn’t reach him by phone in advance to set up a time to accompany him while he worked. Jordan and I ate a bag of taffy and acutely red cherry balls before we reached Leroy’s cow camp. Our behavior may have reflected this as we twitched and thrust the rest of what was left into Leroy’s hands upon our arrival. Not wanting to be rude, he also packed away some unnatural colored stuff and skipped his dinner. We were giddy and our digestive tracts were disgusted and swollen with sugar coursing through our veins. We laughed at stupid things. You could see Leroy thinking that maybe it would be hard to work and keep an eye on us if this was our natural behavior. No matter what he thought, he kept it to himself and agreed to take part in the filming. We decided on a date that we’d go on our adventure and looked forward to it. We made a pact not to get stoned on candy before the ride.
As it happened, of course, Leroy had to gather our horses, saddle our horses and in general do all the work. We had nothing to do but show up early. I had always wanted to ride this paint mare of Leroy’s. Be careful what you wish for.
I said, “What’s her name again?”
Leroy said whatever her name was then added “I just call her Wild Paint” $^%*%.”
Leroy doesn’t have wild horses. I have ridden another horse of his alongside of this mare and noticed nothing wild about her. From the get go I had trouble. Didn’t have the sense to check my girth strap. I shall blame the pre-dawn wake-up call for the rest of what I went through that fine day. It took all my strength to sit that saddle straight for about an hour. I said to Leroy, “ Something’s wrong here” to which he replied something about her imperfect conformation. When about all was lost, I checked the strap and found I could cinch her up about nine inches. NO kidding. No exaggeration.
Things felt much better after that. Now I could spend all my time concentrating on this horse’s state of mind. She was agitated when she had to be left behind. She wanted to ride with her nose in the other horse’s butts. She was work to hold back. Leroy said she didn’t have enough get up and go for him, so of course on this day she had to prove him wrong. Now I’ll move along to the bees or yellow jackets. Never has there been a year with so many mean bees. High country bees live in the ground, the early frosts don’t keep them buried. I had some pre-fears about this as we rode so I must have brought one to the stomach of the “Wild Paint.” I was proud of myself as I stuck in the saddle for my three- second buck that felt like eternity to my aging body and neck.
Some great things about the ride were watching Leroy work the dogs, discovering fresh bear claw marks on the aspens, having lunch in the snowy vibrant landscape and not getting swallowed up in the mud along our way. Being in the company of both Jordan, who was a natural on his more trusty steed, and Leroy who did his best to not hear me whining all day, was surely more fun than what most folks were experiencing in offices and work places across the country. Still, at the end of that long day, I got off the “Wild Paint” and kissed the ground. I laughed a few days later, riding the subway in NYC, at how my frame was still out of sorts. I cherished the notion of how it got that way.
Today is the day I need to move donkeys and goats back to the penitentiary from the area where they have eaten every living morsel. Dragging my very own back end on this. Must take nap.
Horses very skittish this morning as hunter’s blast artillery in fields near them. If they don’t come running for treats as the grass wanes, you know they are stressed. My own friends will be here soon to try their luck filling the freezer with excellent North Fork meat for the coming winter. I myself am going to try to eat more taffy, vegetables and fruit.
Take care. Stack the wood, dry the last of the apples and hunker down for the winter that promises to be around the corner.
