Country Gal by Vanita Blundell April 15, 2008

Last week was extremely stressful- but it was not with out a little fun. Jeff and Chelsea took pity on me on Sunday and helped me out. Jeff has been working for a local rancher after work and on weekends. He has been learning some ‘cowboy tricks’. You might be thinking ‘what is a cowboy trick’? A cowboy trick is something that country people do that may only work once but it takes care of the problem at hand. Well--- I have a few ‘cowboy tricks’ of my own. Some of Dads ’tricks’ I thought might be the end of me and so I have decided to see if I can teach Jeff a few death-defying antics. I had a downed heifer that I had helped calved-out in the pasture. I needed to get her to the house. Thinking that I needed some kind of a sled or sling to get her transported to the house. One good thing about never throwing anything away we have numerous items scattered around that might be of some use. We have many odds and ends, that some might call junk, but when the junk becomes useful it, then, it turns out to be valuable and no longer rubbish. I had many items to choose from- old pick-up hoods, assorted pieces of tin, large pieces of plywood, and many other things too numerous to mention. Jeff had told me that he had assisted his cowboy boss moving a cow with the tractor scoop. I will not get into details- as I am not completely sure I understand exactly how they managed it and not real sure, I want to know. After looking at our tractor scoop Jeff did not think that it would have worked the same. I must say that I was slightly relieved. Well, we found a discarded, metal, short bed, pick-up liner. It was lightweight and easy to move. We put two holes in the front of the liner so a chain hook could be used to pull it. We hooked a heavy log chain to the bed liner now a makeshift sled. We loaded it in the back of Jeff’s pick-up and took it out to the heifer. Now we had to figure out how to get her in the sled we had made for her. With the assistance of Jeff and Chelsea-, we ‘simply’ rolled her on to the sled. The little heifer did not seem to be alarmed by the activities, which made me wonder if she was all right. Chelsea rode in the back of the pick-up that was towing the little momma- Jeff was driving the pick-up (this could have been a disastrous as he is Vernie Whites grandson) but he was on his extra good behavior. I rode with the heifer on the newly made sled. We only had to stop a couple of times- we did have to add a rope halter to help her with balance. We got her to the house and got her unloaded and watered and fed. She seemed to be content grazing on the cheat grass. It was incredibly successful. I am not sure that it will work on the next animal that will be needing assistance but it worked this time. And that is how a ‘cowboy trick’ works.