Lullabies For Jittery Cows

 

After buying a dresser and table lamps and cowboy books and cheap movies at yard sales LC and Jamie and I drove along back roads from Powell, intending to make our way to Belfry Montana and then make a loop back towards Cody.

We first drove by these goats, but as we did I laughed inside at the sight of these sweet creatures sitting comfortably on their high platform.

I had to take a picture of them before we moved on and while standing at the fence line I had their undivided attention...........

It was a truly beautiful day.

Sunshine.  Cold first thing in the morning because it had been freezing cold overnight.  

But even so..........I have Spring fever and needed to travel and see wide open space and mountains.

By mid-morning the cold was gone, the day was warming up very quickly and it was a good day to be alive...........

LC thought that we were taking back roads that would eventually hook up with a paved highway.

Surprisingly that was not the case, and after wandering for a while and enjoying our time outside we found ourselves not on paved highway but suddenly in no-mans-land in the Elk Basin.

I knew nothing about Elk Basin but it became obvious very quickly that we had wandered unexpectedly into oil country.

We flagged down an oncoming truck and asked the driver how to get to Belfry and he pointed us down a paved road that he told us would quickly turn into a 17 mile dirt road.

OK - we were happily traveling for the journey.  The destination would come in time.

We headed out looking forward to seeing what oil country looked like.............

The terrain was desolate.

Welcome back to Afghanistan.

There were signs every few miles warning of gas pipes, and we could smell the gas in the air as we drove with the windows down on this increasingly warm day...........

My Mountain Boy stopped in the middle of the desolate and deserted road and he, me and my sweet mutt drank water, walked briefly, took pictures and relished in the quiet and solitude we had found..........

Oil company buildings the exact same color as the surrounding terrain............

After 17 miles of rutted out, dirty and dusty driving we arrived in Belfry.

This picture was taken just outside of town...........

After drinking A&W Root beers and eating Kit-Kat bars outside the one convenience store in Belfry we headed towards Cody.

It is almost imperceptible but it is there.

When we drove this way on our way to Cody the second week in March everything was beige.

The trees, the ground, the water, the mountains.  Everything was beige.

But now...........now there are pale and various shades of green beginning to show on the ground.

I am waiting (increasingly impatiently) for green. 

There is snow on the mountains.

The sky is more often than not blue.

LC loves it here.

And more and more so do I.............

Halfway between Belfry and Cody LC pulled off the highway.

The pictures above were taken along a side road.

The pictures below of the beautiful trees bent by the strong winds, and the beautiful river were taken directly across the road from that pull off.

We spent a long time at this place.  

By this time it was mid-afternoon.  It was very warm but not hot and not humid.  It was very quiet.  And it was very lovely.............

Lullabies For Jittery Cows

"Many cowboy ballads originated as a means of quieting stampede-prone cattle at night.  Composed impromptu by cowhands riding around the herds, the often atonal songs took their rhythm from a horse's gate.  Some had mournful tunes but no words and were termed "Texas lullabies".  Others had standard verses that, like those excerpted below, became favorites"...........

Little Joe The Wrangler

Little Joe, the wrangler, was called out with the rest;

Though the kid had scarcely reached the herd,

When the cattle they stampeded, like a hailstorm long they fled,

Then we were all a-ridin' for the lead.

The next morning just at daybreak, we found where his horse fell,

Down in a washout twenty feet below;

And beneath the horse, mashed to a pulp, his spur had rung the knell,

Was our little Texas stray, poor Wrangling Joe..........

The Old Chisholm Trail

I'm up in the mornin' afore daylight

And afore I sleep the moon shines bright.

No chaps and no slicker, and it's pouring down rain

And I swear, by God, that I'll never night herd again.

Oh, it's bacon and beans most every day

I'd as soon be a-eatin'  prairie hay.

I went to the boss to draw my roll

He had it figured out I was  nine dollars in the hole.

I'll sell my horse and I'll sell my saddle

You can go to hell with your longhorn cattle..........

 I have been waiting for this ever since we arrived in dusty and brown and beige moonscape Cody Wyoming.

I love this picture.

It is still too very cold at night.  

It still snows occasionally.  

And so there are still no leaves on the trees.

But there is green on the ground.

And on a very very beautiful day I took this very very beautiful picture........... 

I hope that everyone had a very very Happy Easter filled with family and friends and love......

Laugh Often.......Live Well........Love Much