The Way of the Cowboy

The Way of the Cowboy

Chapter 2

The sun kissed my face with it’s early alpenglow rays, the Big Sky state truly living up to its nickname. I take a deep breath of the cool air, the bold smell of the nearby alfalfa fields and the slight trace of flowering sagebrush tickles my nose with their intoxicating aroma. My ears pick up the distant sounds of whinnying horses from out in their pasture, the brood mares and their foals playing from the sounds of it. I can hear the crunch crunch chomp chomp from the dogs partaking in their breakfast from the food bin. It’s truly looking to be a beautiful day indeed.

Fencing, the job that is never truly done, but one a rancher pecks at when they have the time. Today’s to-do list is to plant a few corner posts and a couple H-braces out in the BLM lease ground. Without the H-braces, you can’t keep a 5 wire fence good and tight. The damn bulls got to fighting each other last summer and they ended up destroying a few corner posts and braces. I kinda put it on the back burner to make a plan to repair it, and since we will need to move the main herd of cows to a new pasture, I might as well get to it.

As I walked over to the shop, Shay and Lyra noticed I had finally come out of the house. They started to trail behind me, too worried about getting left behind and not being able to partake in the day's activities. Or maybe it's that they caught a whiff of my breakfast and they just wanted a little sample. “Sorry girls but this is my breakfast.” I told my furry companions. “You should have already eaten your breakfast when I let your two outside, that’s why I bought that big bulk self feeder,” I added. Two rapidly wagging tails was my only reply.

Walking up to the big roll up door of the white tin shop, I reach down to grab the handle and lift it up out of the way. Inside was the green rig we will be driving, it was a 1987 MFWD John Deere 4650, a dueled up 4 wheel drive. On the back were four radial tires, two on each side, with large floatation tires on the front. It had a nearly new, 740 Classic loader with an 8 foot bucket and a 5 tine grapple fork on the front end. It had the good ole Soundguard style cab, complete with an ice cold air conditioner and a warm heater. The tractor overall was in extremely good condition for the age it is, almost showroom quality, and was my personal pride and joy. With only 1330 hours, she’s basically brand new. I bought it once I had attained a certain amount of cows of my own, that was a rule from my father. My brother had to do the same thing.

Walking up to the only door on the left side of the machine, I crack it open to set my portable speaker, breakfast, coffee, and the few water bottles I had, up into the cab. Walking over to the oil shelves to grab the grease gun, I start going over the entire tractor, and start greasing all the zerks. With that done, I checked all the fluid levels, including hydraulic oil and engine oil and antifreeze. Everything seems to be right, I head to the back of the tractor to make sure I have all my fencing tools and supplies that I'll need. On the three point of the 4650, I have a steel tray rack that I built to be able to hold a few bundles of steel T-posts (about 15 posts). I also have room for my hand post pounder that is spray painted orange, a hand post hole digger/clean out tool, a fence stretcher, and a pair of fencing pliers, also painted orange. Also included is an axe, claw hammer, small pull saw, a solar powered electric fence charger, and on the very back side of the rack there are 4 mounted steel spikes that point straight up with an old disk on the base of each so I can conveniently pull and stretch out 4 rolls of barbed wire at a time. Each one had a new ¼ mile roll on currently. I had my bucket of clips, ring nails and staples in a self contained spot on the front of the rack. In the loader bucket I will carry a couple of railroad tie posts along with my hydraulic tamping bar, and a small toolbox full of tools.

Inside the cab was a gun rack built to hold a single rifle horizontal on the right side of the cabin. The rifle , a Model 94 Winchester chambered in .30-30 Win, is protected in a leather scabbard with just the butt stock sticking out. The rifle held 7+1 rounds, 7 in the tube and 1 in the chamber. I also had a partial box of ammunition (roughly 40 shells) in the small space on the console's dash. Other notable things that had made a temporary home in the cab is a very well used hunting knife, used mainly to cut net wrap off of hay bales. Stuffed under the seat was a small emergency kit. I had an obstetrical chain complete with hand hooks, stuffed inside a small Tupperware container along with some iodine and a bar of soap, I usually keep it in the cab during calving season just in case.

After a final check of everything I will need, I climb up into the cab of the 4650 and turn the key, and she starts right up. I press the clutch in and select the range lever into range A, then I grab the gear lever and slide it into slot 1, and let out the clutch slowly, and the tractor lurches forward. Now out of the shop, I pull over to the bulk fuel storage tank to top her off with some diesel fuel.

Just when I was about to load the dogs in the cab, I got a text alert on the ole cellular device. It was my older brother Trace.

(Trace) Morning Ty, think you’ll be able to get that fence fixed by around noon tomorrow? I think I'll be able to round up a few riders to help move the cows.

(ME) ya I think so. Shouldn’t take too long, I'll be able to plant those ties in the holes we dug the other day, that hydraulic pounder makes quick work tamping dirt.

(Trace) Ok sounds like a plan, you gonna ride that bay 3 year old mare? How many rides does she got now?

(Me) She’s around 48 rides so far, it’ll be a good ride for her though, should end up with some wet saddle blankets! I’ll Text ya this afternoon or early in the morning about my progress.

(Trace) ok sounds good, l8er.

With the furry crew and I loaded up in the tractor, I plug my FM transmitter/phone charger into the cigarette lighter port so I can play some tunes. We set off down the two track dirt road at 7:15, it’ll be a bit of a trip to get to where we are going, about an hour's drive. I consumed one of my sandwiches and nursed on my coffee thermos on the way. I decided to save the other for later.

With a few turns here and there, we finally get to our destination. Grabbing the clean out tool from the 3 point rack, I clean out the bottom of all 6 holes, then I start shoving ties in. Hooking up the Hydraulic tamper, I lined the posts up and started shoveling dirt into the holes to tamp. The girls just mostly watch my progress, but Shay always wants to make sure I can still throw the stick, and of course I comply every 10 minutes or so. Lyra on the other hand just likes to pester Shay by trying to be sneaky and steal the stick and then play keep away.

After a few hours of manual labor it was finally time for a lunch break, and by that time it started to get a bit hot outside. The dogs and I loaded into the tractor and into the awaiting air conditioning to sit and cool off a bit. By now I had drunk half of my coffee, and I was contemplating if I should eat my second breakfast sandwich, when suddenly, in a blink of an eye, my surroundings immediatly changed and looked a whole lot different than it did a few seconds ago.

“Why the hell is the sky pink?” I questioned myself, while looking out the windows of the 4650. Shay and Lyra were glancing out as well. Shutting the tractor off, I open the door and take a step outside, I command the girls to stay put in the cab. The air smelled vastly different than what I was accustomed to. I started to walk around the tractor to try and locate the posts I had just planted, but there was nothing. Not even a trace of the trail I drove in on, in-fact the entire landscape looks nothing like northeastern Montana. There was no prickly pear cactus, no crested wheatgrass, no cottonwood trees, no sagebrush, NOTHING looked familiar. “What the fuck is going on?!” I yelled out.

My surroundings confused me to no avail, I was in some sort of forest, in the bottom of some coulee or jorge, with high rising cliffs opposite of eachother. The area that the jorge fed into, looked like some sort of swamp. It smelled like a swamp too. Looking to where the coulee comes from, I can't quite see where it leads to, due to it making a relatively sharp left turn further up the valley. I rub my eyes in case I'm not seeing clearly, but as soon as they come into focus again, nothings changed.

Hearing a low growl from Shay, glancing at her and I notice she has her nose pointed to the pink colored sky. I look up, locking my eyes on…a floating tree… I rub my eyes for the second time… and the floating tree is still there, only it moved slightly to the left. “ Hmm, that's a tad bit odd.” I thought out loud. Suddenly I noticed the sun start to sink out of the sky at an alarming rate, then just as quickly the moon rose up to replace it. I stare at the celestial body, the hair on the back of my neck, couldn't get any more raised. I had goosebumps in places I didn't even know could get goosebumps. Feeling like i had ants in the pants, I promptly decided I had better get the fuck out here. As I start to walk back to the tractor I notice that my moon shadow started to get taller and larger, with an additional three other shadows of the same size accompanying it. I hear both dogs start to growl loudly, I slowly crank my head behind me and stare out into the middle of the boggy swamp. Staring at what I thought was four tall trees jetting up from the murky water, I noticed some slight swaying from all four. With it now being supposedly night time now, I couldn't quite see anything and everything, only the vague outline from the casting moonlight. Then as soon as it disappeared, the sun shot back up to the oddly colored sky. Shay and Lyra ceased their growls, and proceeded to whine, I looked back to odd looking trees out in the swamp, only to not see four trees…but four very long necks with heads. Four very large heads, each with a pair of green eyes, each eye staring directly at little ol me.