Welcome to our ranch near Canada's west coast in Beautiful British Columbia's West Chilcotin mountain region. Where calling the vet means hollering back at the house to bring your kit, new friendships are formed from the back of a horse and true fun for a five year old is getting a machete for Christmas. Where 'cutting the dinks off' has a totally different meaning than what first comes to mind, Muck Boots are a household name, a hand shake still means something and the coffee is always on.

Thursday 11 January 2018

Wow folks, I'm a bit flabbergasted at the response to the blog lately.  Thanks everyone, I totally appreciate your support.  Wow.  But now I've absolutely got writers block and have no idea of what to talk about.  I am going to just post a couple of photos for tonight and maybe call it good.  Get my composure back together for the next one, you guys have me all flustered and discombobulated.  :)    

Long ol' line of moo's.  
Too bad it was such a flat grey day.
  But it was WARM!!!  Can't hardly remember the last time I was able to ride for several hours without frozen feet at the end of it.  Delightful treat.  


Oh, also wanted to mention for those of you that have recently joined in, that earlier in my "blogging career", I did do some copying from my Grandma Dorsey's unpublished book, and from other books and articles as well.  I'll just attach a link here (hopefully), which should take you back to where you can read a bit from her amazing life here in the Chilcotin.  Back when things were a whole lot rougher than they are now.  My goodness, she was one tough lady!

A Taste of Grandma Dorsey's Life

Cows trailing from the feed ground to their favorite bedding grounds at Five Mile.  Has turned cold again, but they are looking and feeling sassy still.  So nice to see.  

My Uncle Dave was up at the ranch the other night and I sure enjoyed having a visit with him.  His memory for long ago events is amazing.  I jotted down some notes and will put them together for you one of these days soon.  One of his conversations that we all really enjoyed was about cutting fence rails with an ax.  He cut rails for and built a crazy amount of fence in this area; there is still some standing fence left here on our ranch now.   I am still amazed when I ride by some of the old fences and see that they were ax cut.  Phew, tougher than me and then some!!  They cut logs for fence the same way, and that is just mind blowing.  If you've ever had to handle the weight of a green pine tree, you'd understand instantly and wince in sympathy.

Anyhow, back to the story.  Uncle Dave said that he was decent ax man in his day and could make good money at it too.  "I could swing an ax pretty good, when most guys didn't want to do that any more.  Too much work, but it was good money.  I could usually do over 100 rails a day, cut and piled.  And sometimes they wanted them 21 feet long, that's tough on a man.  Hard work, really hard work.  But they needed the fence so they kinda needed me, so I had them where I wanted them.  I could make good money at 8 cents a rail, way better than normal wages.  That rancher wanted to pay the usual 100 bucks a month, but I made good money by the rail." 

And earned every single penny of it.  

 We are going to have to start charging for room and board to Momma Moose!  She moves about the ranch almost at will (these photos were taken at about 3pm) but is sure fun to watch.  She was with us last winter as well, but nice to see her with a fat healthy calf this year.  I can hear your question already, but we are quite sure it is the same moose as she is blind in the right eye (it is almost completely white....you can almost see it in this photo).    

Cheers to you all folks!
Thanks for keeping in touch, I much appreciate it.
Punky  


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read every page of your blog several months ago and I really enjoy your new posts. Yours is the only blog that I subscribe to. We're getting snow right now where I live in middle Tennessee and neither me nor the dog want to be out in it. I can't imagine caring for a herd in this weather! You're pretty awesome and awfully fun to read about. Thanks for sharing.

~ Angie in Tennessee

Terra Hatch said...

Hi Angie, and thanks for taking the time to write. That's super cool and means a lot. It always totally amazes me to get comments from people I have never met before. Awesome. :)
Weather has warmed up here now, hopefully you are getting the same. Been a balmy -2C but flat grey days so not so good for photos. Much nicer for riding and taking the boys skiing though. (When I say 'skiing', I mean pulling them behind the snowmobile on their downhill skiis. Lots of fun!)
All the best to you and yours!

Irene in Connecticut said...

I love reading your blog, and your pictures, I do believe I have some cowboying and farming in my blood. Love the mountains and all the animals. You are a wonder and hope you keep it up.

Terra Hatch said...

Hi Irene, and thanks for taking the time to comment. So glad you are enjoying the blog and slightly shocked, as always, to get proof that people actually read it! And not just family and close friends. :) All the best, Punky

lea said...

I follow your blog and Chris C.'s because I have a love of the West Chilcotin! My husband and I have a summer home in the West Branch. I've been going there for 51 years but my husband had the property before we were married, so I always say that we know what the first love was. (He was stationed at Puntzi when the USAF was there eons ago.) This last summer was the worst that we ever had, the Colwell fire was way too close to us, we are the first lake in the Mosley Crk chain.
Don't feel that you have to write long blog posts, a few photos, a little news, a little weather. Love seeing all of the animals. It was a treat to see Tatlayoko on that one post.
Lea

Terra Hatch said...

Thank you Lea, for taking the time to comment. I love how many people love our country out here, and how many people feel a powerful connection to it. I also appreciate your advice about not having to write long posts. I'll see if I can find you some more Tatlayoko photos. We don't go down there nearly as often as I'd like anymore, but I do have lots of older photos.
All the best to you and yours,
Punky

Ashlee said...

This is great!! I love the stories from Uncle Dave. How wonderful to get them first hand 💟 Thanks so much for sharing!