COWBOY UP

Dozens of people gather every year for the sacred ritual of celebrating the new spring season, Idaho style. The Branding of the new calves. This tradition dates back to pioneer times. This year i was able to for the 1st time participate in the wonderment.

My Uncle owns and runs a cattle ranch in Southern Idaho. This ranch had been in our family for decades, it is the same homestead where my mother grew up. About ten years ago they expanded and purchased land in a warmer climate for the cattle in the winter. My friends Ingrid and Mandy and i ventured there this past weekend to witness and assist in the celebration.

The boys who roped were friends of my younger cousin. She asked them to come help. We met them the night before branding at the bonfire that was ablaze when we arrived. These boys friendly, funny, charming, and cowboys were all about 20 years old. We sat around the fire with them talking and laughing and flirting for a few hours. As fun as flirting with inebriated cowboys who spit chew in the fire can be, we soon retired to the barn (our sleeping quarters) for bed. We set up a tent in a stall in the barn, to keep out the mice that we saw running around as we laid down straw. In the stall down from us was a calf and cow who kept us company through the night. It was freezing cold, and the drunk cowboys wouldn't leave us alone once they hit they "i love you" and "what is the meaning of life" phases of drunkenness. They slept in sleeping bags on the straw, worried that the mice would climb in their boots in the night.

There were about 300 calves that needed to be branded, injected with hormones, and medications. They first rounded up the cattle mommies and babies into the corral, we watched from a few yards behind the cattle on a 4 wheeler. Then they separated the calves and put them in a corral. Then the cowboys roped and pulled calves 2 at a time past us, as the men branded and we took turns giving the cows their shots. It was fascinating to watch, a little hard at 1st to give a cow a shot, while it was groaning or yelling or i don't know how to describe the noises these calves were making.

We did this for most of the day Saturday. We stopped for lunch and to reapply sunscreen. Saturday afternoon Ingrid and Mandy and i took a quick trip to town, which consisted of 1 stop sign and 2 blocks of houses, a school and an LDS church. We found rusty old playground equipment at the park and played around for a while before heading back to the ranch. By 5pm we were all finished and settled around the trailer for dinner. The dreamy roping cowboys packed up their horses and left. We gathered around the fire pit, doused it with lighter fluid and burned tumble weeds and old phone polls. My uncle told us scary ghost stories from when he drives truck cross the western states to deliver cattle. Most of you know i am easily afraid of the dark and have an overactive imagination. These haunted highway stories didn't help. We slept on couches warm inside a trailer, with the curtains closed.

This was the most fun i have had in a long time, it was great to see my family, and to get down and dirty with the cattle. As a child i spent most of my summers in Idaho playing on the ranch. Now that i am older, it feels great to go and see and participate in a tradition that has been in my family for generations. It is also a great pleasure to meet new cowboys, and shamelessly flirt with them. This weekend it was my turn to cowboy up.