A Day on the Ranch.

It was four oclock already and we still hadn't seen dad or the guys yet. Mom was starting to worry. It was February and the snow was falling heavy and was thick on the ground from what feels like an extremely long winter.

My dad Rob Higgins and our neighbor Jim McNeal went down to Cricker's pond on horseback with a couple cowhands, Mark and James who were staying with Jim. They came by in Jim's truck to let my dad know they saw some of our cattle down by the pond but they couldn't steer them back.

I wasnt home yet or I would have gone with them. Mom said they saddled up five of our quarter horses and were long gone by the time I got home. "Is the snow mobile not working?" I asked. "Something wrong with the carborator." Mom said.

"Well, If they arent back by five I'll head out there." I said. We were both looking out the kitchen window at the blistery snow falling fast and hard. "Don't worry mom," I added. They wont do any thing foolish!"

"Foolish them chasing those crazy cows in this storm." she said. I wrapped my arm around her. "They will be back soon." I said giving her a squeeze.

"Well I got stew on the stove waiting." mom said stirring the pot of stew and tasting it.

We lived in a large Victorian build in the 1880's. Our family room had stone walls and a large fireplace. I checked on the fire and brought in wood from the porch before heading back to the kitchen to watch out the window with my mom.

The sky was a dark grey but the snow had lightened. The ground was carpeted in white and where the drifts went, there was often four to six feet of snow .

You had to know the land to travel out on horseback. We've had to bail out folks snow mobiling and getting stuck in deep soft snow. When they stop, the snow mobile just sinks in. We would go with our snowmobile and chains and pull them out.

My dad grew up here and spend many a day exploring this land. Today was not the best day to go to the pond, but when you have cattle, you’ve got to protect them. No matter. That's just how my dad was. A man of conviction we would say. And a great man as well. My dad always knew what was important. He taught us kids to have integrity. I love my dad. And my mom. I have to say, they are really great folks!

We stared out the window, having to wipe it once in a while with a towel because of the condensation building up making it hard to see outside. Comming out of the vast greyness we first saw our dogs, Buster and Cowboy, Then we could see the silhouettes of five horses with riders heading to the barn. "They're back!" I said putting on my coat to go meet them. Mom started getting bowls down from the cubbard. I put on my winter hat and gloves and went out to the barn. We unloaded the horses and put the saddles up. No one spoke. There was a small heater in the barn and though it was still cold in there, the ice on their clothes became water. We put blankets on the horses, put them back in their stalls and gave them all a little grain. We shut the barn door and headed to the house.

"Let me take your coats." Mom said as we entered the foyer. I took my coat off and threw it on the rack. Both me and my mom helped get the other's out of their coats. Every thing they wore was wet, and sticking to them as well. "Get down to your long johns". mom said handing each man a towel. "I have fresh long johns for everyone." She handed everybody except me a brand new still in the package set of long johns. "Merry Christmas," she said as she handed them out, "and I wont take no for an answer." "I just happened to buy a bunch at Tractor Supply last Saturday at their sale." "You guys deserve them for what you did for us today." I got a towel and dried off the dogs best I could.

Everyone said thank you to my mom and went into the family room and traded out their cold damp long johns for the dry new ones my mom gave them. We have a place by the fireplace to hang stuff to dry. All the wet clothes, even their socks and hats got hung by the fire. My mom handed each man a hot herbal tea.

"Everybody is having stew before you go" mom said and she headed back into the kitchen.

"How'd it go?" I finally asked my dad.

"We almost lost one!" dad said. "If it wasnt for these guys here we would have!" He looked over at Jim, and his cowhands, Mark and James. I set up the TV dinner trays for everyone while he spoke.

"We found about six cattle sitting on the pond. Stupid beasts." he said. "One was laying down." "We actually had to laso them one by one and pull them over the ice. They couldn't stand up. Lucky that pond is frozen solid."

Mom came in with the beef stew and a Texas size piece of homemade bread. "You guys must be starving." She said handing each man a bowl of stew. They all nodded and thanked her, each saying a private grace before starting to eat. "There's plenty more!" she said. And brought in two more bowls of stew, one for each dog.

"So what happened dad?" I asked again. "Did you get them back?"

" We got them off the pond and to the second pasture. We had to walk the fence line to see where they got out. Finally found where a branch had fallen on the line and tore the barb. They were probably standing right there when it happened and decided the grass is greener on the other side."

"Except there's no grass out there!" I said.

"I think they wanted to go skating." Jim joked between bites.

"It was like lugging a truck with it's emergency brake on." said James shaking his head.

"Over and over again" said Mark laughing.

"That pond is thick." said James. "I cant believe it could hold their weight!"

"Remember last year when that kid, what was his name, Jona or Jonas or something. You know Arger's kid."

"Jaimas" I said.

"Yea, Jaimas,' repeated my dad. "Anyway, he left his truck out there all summer and all fall and decided to get it on New Years day. He snow mobiled out with his buddy and a fresh battery. Cant remember that kid's name. They put the battery in the truck and got it started, put his foot on the gas and rode it right onto the frozen pond. He paniced and slammed it into reverse. It got right to the edge of the pond but couldn't get it up that small ravine. The ice cracked under it and it dropped in!" Everyone stopped eating and was lookin at my dad. “Yep”. he said looking back at everyone. "It sunk just enough to get stuck in the mud. Right there on the edge." They tried to pull it with the snow mobile, but it wouldn't budge and then the snow mobile died and they had to walk home. And they couldn't get either out till spring when his dad brought his truck out with a trailer and they loaded the snow mobile and dragged the truck out." "Started right up!" And they all looked at my dad again. "Yep. Drove that truck home, alright." my dad said.

Everyone shook their head and was laughing.

"That Arger kid sure gets himself into some situations!" Mark said. "I used to go to school with his brother, Riley, and those guys were always up to something."

"That pond sure has seen it's share of excitement!" my mom said.

"Yea, I'm glad you fella's let me know about the cattle. Could have been a a whole different story."

"They were on the pond?" mom asked having missed that part of the story.

"Six of em. Just sitting on the pond. Couldnt get back up. One was laying down. We lassoed them one by one. All five of us. Took us all pulling till they got to the edge and then forcing them to stand. None of us went out too far on the pond honey." he added knowing my mom would want to know. "We figured there was enough weight with all that cattle on it already."

"Each heifer took about an hour to get out of there, wouldn't you say?" asked Jim.

"About that" said my dad.

"Then we herded them back to your second pasture." . said James. “You got some good dogs there!” He said, and both dogs instictively wagged thier tails. "Delicious stew Mrs. H." he added.

Everyone chimed in nodding their heads. "Delicious! Thank you!"

"Well thank you boys for saving our cattle!" she replied. "If you need to call anybody so they know your ok you can use our house phone." she offered.

"Emma's over at her sister's for the night, said Jim, and these guys are staying at our place for the week to run our fence line."

"Thank you for offering," he added, and Mark and James added a "Thank you Mrs. H" as well.

"You should have seen them sliding around. It was nuts." Mark said.

"Hey son," my dad said to me. "We're gonna go to Jim's this Saturday and help on his fence line. Your brother will be back Friday, so the three of us are going over."

"I'll pick up some beer." I said.

"Budwiser." Jim said. "Not any of that hippy stuff."

"Got it" I said. None of those fancy city beers."

"Well, actually, I like Sierra Navada's Pale Ale" Said Mark shrugging his shoulders and looking at Jim.

We all looked at him and laughed.

"You got it buddy." I said. Budwiser and Sierra Navda's"

"And Dos Equis!" added James."Naw, just kidding, Budwiser for me."

"Check." I said.

"Your good neighbors," dad said. Dad and Jim have been friends for around forty years. Went to high school together.

"Were family, Rob," Jim said back to my dad. "Brother’s from another mother." he added.

"And we love you too!" my mom added and gave eveyone in the room a kiss on the cheek. "How about some more stew!"