After Action Report - Horse Drive

Good trip to “Where the Hell is Maybell, CO” for the Sombrero Horse Drive.

The header photo is some of my cousins talking to a Maybell area rancher they knew growing up in Maybell. He is a real cowboy that passes out taffy to the crowds and keeps a bottle of blackberry brandy in a saddle bag.

 The weather was great but winter came in again Sunday night. The first 150 miles back to the Front Range was a challenge. Sisty had it much worse as she left this morning from Steamboat Springs to investigate a fatally accident in Canon City. Horrible roads all the way there.

Stopped to see old rancher friends in Steamboat Springs. My age, and damned they look old. They are the kind of friends you don’t see for years and when you get together it was like we saw each other last week. As ranchers, wolves were on their minds.

 Their son and daughter-in-law now run the ranch and raise Kargal Sheppard Dogs as a sideline. One is 200 lbs. My friends are grateful for these dogs. One has kept a 400 lb bear away from the ranch. The bear responded by taking a dump in the driveway.

 Banner spent the four days at my sister’s home. He seemed pleased to see me.

 As always, YMMV

So You Want to be a Cowboy?

 Cowboy Up!

This weekend is the Sombrero Horse Drive. 2-500 horses moved from Browns Park to west of Craig, CO. Too late this year but if you have $5,000 or so to spare you can do it next year.

Ride'em

On Sunday the drive goes past Maybell, CO. Our paternal family has a multi-generation history in that corner of Colorado and adjacent parts of Wyoming and Utah. We have a family gathering around that date each year. On Saturday we visit the private family cemetery on land homesteaded around 1913 that is still in the hands of family members, approximately 20 miles west of Maybell.

Side note: Maybell has the distinction as the coldest recorded temperature in the state, -61°F.

(Browns Park          40° 48’ 25.01” N  108° 54’ 27024” W

  Sombrero Ranch  40° 32’ 25.50” W  107° 46’ 13.74” W)

Want a 2^nd Home in Wyoming?

Wretched excess

Wyoming has many isolated, out of the way, places. Bedford may be as isolated as any. Lying in the Star Valley between two mountain ranges and served by one highway, the few Star Valley residents are mainly LDS (Mormon) followers. The Jackson Hole pustule is a hard 69 mile drive away along the Snake River.

Given the financial means, would I buy the place? Hell no! I would rather live in a sheep wagon.

No S**t, Sherlock

Soros Legacy

Colorado 8^th Congressional District

Created after the last census, the Republicans nasty primary fight resulted in an establishment wingnut candidate that independent voters found distasteful. The Democrat winner is a decent person that votes party line and tends “woke”. Polling suggests she might have trouble getting re-elected.

CO 8th

This is the district I live in. The probable Republican candidate is a solid conservative.

MORE

Of interest, but not important, both the current office holder and her presumed opponent are Latino.

Bad Drivers – We are third in the nation, Colorado!

#1 is within reach with just a few more transplants moving here.

Watch out!

The infrastructure isn’t adequate for the amount of traffic.

US 50 Blue Mesa Reservoir Bridge

Closed due to structural cracks. The detour is over 300 miles. My first thought was a temporary float bridge. Seems CDOT has approached the Army for help. No answer yet.

Something for the local residents.

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nCZXZbVWTUwPl7jMSSOio-q9xo_D2liEw

Wolves doing what wolves do, duh!

Emperor Polis to ranchers? “Tough shit”. 

Middle finger

What warms my evil heart is wolves expanding their range and are now appearing along the Front Range. What will happen when a golden doddle gets eaten in Boulder County?

Another sign Biden isn’t running the Executive Branch

The new harebrained scheme is to move the Air National Guard into the Space Force. Biden, with decades of swimming in the swamp, would know this is a sure way to piss of all the Governors. Further, do this in an election year?

I’ve never understood the need for a Space Force in the first place.

Plain Talk

A car selling memory. My sales manager was doing a thirty day alcohol rehab and the corporate trainer ran the store for a month. Honest Art Kinsman (The Working Man’s Friend). A decorated Korean War Marine, he played two seasons as an offensive guard for the Green Bay Packers. He was a foul mouthed hard ass’s hard ass.

 One night I was working a deal with a man with bad credit. After the third pencil (offer), he roared out, “You go up there and tell that banko fag we are the only place that can get him financed and that is the payment!”

Going behind my desk I started, “Jeff, we…” when he cut me off. “I heard”, he said. “Where do I sign”.

Australian Invasion

Many blog posts have to do with Wyoming rare earth deposits. Most are being developed by Australian companies. The latest news involves one of Australia’s wealthiest person. For those interested.

Rare Earth

 There are other players and wannabe players. China is lurking in the background with some of the players. Surprise?

TABOR – The (P)regressive’s never quit

The biggest impediment to the leftist effort to make Colorado California lite is the Taxpayers Bill of rights, a state Constitutional amendment. Their latest effort is to spend more while promising lower taxes. 

Taxes

The Democrats are determined to move Colorado from #13 among state debt at $67 billion toward #1 California $520 billion.

Pesky thing, Constitutions. Lawsuits to follow.

Soylent Green news

Gushing article on advances in better synthetic food,  if you have an interest.

Plant Based "Meat"

Look forward to changes in labeling rules so that the consumer won’t know what they are eating.

Banner’s new tack

What he was using was over four years old and starting to fray. He doesn’t care but the ladies in the building are making a fuss over the new gear and he does enjoy the attention. For me, I went with a new 6’ leash instead of the old 4’.  

 Out of battery 5/4 to 5/7. Will have a laptop but the motel connection is poor. Unless things have changed from last year, little to no cell phone service in Maybell with my carrier.

 As always, YMMV

Sombrero Horse Drive

(credit visitmoffatcounty for the header photo)

Looking forward to next weekend when I plan to drive to Maybell, CO for the annual Sombrero Horse Drive. The Sombrero Ranches are a large dude ranch operation with several CO locations. They winter their large herd in the Browns Park area which has milder (relative) winters and the horses can get by on range forage instead of hay.

Come Spring, the horses are rounded up and trailed to a ranch outside of Craig, CO where they are prepared for the dude season and distributed to the various Sombrero operations (Estes Park being a large one, for instance).

Some time back, the owners found they could charge a big fee ($2,500 this year) to dudes wanting the cowboy experience. 

Maybell is something of an epicenter for the extended clan on my father’s side and the horse drive has evolved into a family reunion of sorts. So we all gather to drink adult beverages, tell lies, and sneer at the dudes. As the years go by, fewer beverages are consumed, more lies are told, but the sneers remain constant. It is also possible to smell some cannabis being smoked. Tsk, tsk!

Here is a video shot by one of my more talented cousins. Best to start at the 2:24 mark.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Yc__Cpvbg

Lots of Sombrero stuff on You Tube for those interested. One cousin has put up several under, “White Family Homestead”.

Browns Park is home to several bands of wild horses. Sombrero keeps wranglers with the herd during the winter to recover the mares the wild stallions steal. Gets interesting, it does.

Should you be interested in the wild ones, this lady has devoted years to photographing them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Y1EbE3gjk

Looking forward to the trip. My coworker and I have swapped days so I have no  pressure to get back. Worked out well as he has a family gathering the next weekend.

Of course, will post a snap or two when I get back. 

Maybell is on US 40 between Craig, CO and Vernal, UT. Most visitors to the Dinosaur National Monument just pass through. The residents work hard to keep the town alive with volunteer work. The one restaurant serves as good country fare as you will find anywhere and you will not find a cleaner establishment. You may not want to visit in the winter as the coldest temperature recorded in Colorado one winter was  in Maybell, minus 61 degrees. Camp sites at the city park are $15 a night, showers $3, and the place is clean. All isn't perfect as the local kids are noted for mischief. On the night before the start of hunting season, air was let out of many tires and the entrances were padlocked. The town response was bolt cutters, every available air compressor brought to the park, and several Wrangler seats warmed.