The Roundup #7

“And it’s another beautiful day in Fremont County,” startled me awake. More like scared the shit out of me. It seemed to come out of nowhere. And nowhere was where I was at. I had no idea at first.

But then when I got at least one eye opened I knew I was still in the sheep wagon with Robby and apparently he had turned on his radio before he even got his pants on.

Then the next thing that dawned on me was we had apparently slept in. At least it was past dawn and full daylight. Which surprised me a little. Because if you ride for Ted, and especially on a round up day, you are already in the saddle when it’s grey in the east. And Ted is already yelling and cussing.

But that didn’t seem to dawn or Robby or at least didn’t bother him. He was in a full blown mosey it looked like getting the stove lit and starting breakfast. In nothing but his underwear, boots and hat.

I sprang into action. Sort of. Meaning I at least got dressed and said I would check on Rover (Ted’s sheep dog) and get some water. When actually I just wanted to grab a cigarette and some alone time.

But I didn’t even have to check on Rover. He had spent the night curled up in front of the sheep wagon so close I almost stepped on him going out the door. Which was where Rover would be every morning for the rest of the time I had him that summer.

So Rover and I headed off to the spring where I dipped water into one of our buckets while finishing my cigarette. Then when I was done filling the bucket and only then did Rover get his drink of water.

That was the way Rover was. He seemed to be attuned to humans. Understood them and their ways. Made sure he never got in their way or crowded in front of them. And maybe that was the way Ted had trained Rover.

But I wasn’t willing to give Ted credit for that. I think Rover just knew. Which is why even though I knew I wasn’t supposed to I petted Rover and gave him another little hug. And Rover didn’t try to lick me but did wag his tail and shake all over. With his eyes shining.

By the time Rover and I sauntered back to the wagon Robby had breakfast going and it didn’t look too scary. He was cooking pancakes, which I don’t really like and making them with Bisquick which I liked even less. But Robby did have the coffee percolating, and was cooking more of the slab bacon on the side. So breakfast looked good at least.

Except I wouldn’t say necessarily smelled good. The word rancid wasn’t one I had a good grasp of. But something about the smell of that slab bacon made the word come to mind. I wasn’t sure. But then I hoped I wasn’t right either.

I tried a few bites of one piece of that bacon but I wasn’t sure of the taste either. So when Robby wasn’t looking I wrapped my bacon in a napkin and stuffed it in my back pocket. Because rancid or not I figured Rover would like it.

Then after chores I went out and caught Friday in the corral to wrangle the horses again. Which wasn’t really right because we only needed Robby’s horse “Old Baldy.” And Robby’s horse would almost wrangle itself. As soon as Old Baldy saw me coming he’d just head to the corral. But I bet without another horse Old Baldy would never let you catch him.

Robby wasn’t much for laying studies things like Monte was. He just pointed towards the mountain and said the sheep would be up there somewhere.

Robby said he would take the country to the west on the D-Pass side. Very kind of him I thought since I’d ridden in that direction the first morning and didn’t see any sheep in it.

I took the country to the east and started out on what I figured was the trail to Klondike Pass. There were a few sheep scattered around there but while I was trying to get above them I ran out of country.

Meaning all I had was the big rocky mountain on my left, a few sheep on my right, and then I topped a hill and there was nothing but flat country and the fence on the other side. Damn sure nowhere close to hundreds of sheep let alone 500 of them.

I was not at all sure what would be the best way to go about it but decided if I followed the fence line up to the rocks I would at least know I was at the end of the Berger Allotment. So there couldn’t be any sheep past that. Which would make it the best place to start.

And part of that was right. As I rode towards the rocks I was seeing more sheep and lambs. But once I actually got to the rocks there was no place to start.

I couldn’t tell until I actually got to the rocks and steep mountain side but there was few if any places I could ride Friday. It was just too steep, too rocky, and filled with crevices I couldn’t see from below. But what I did see and kept seeing was sheep and lambs. All over the place up there.

My only option was to tie Friday up and climb up the rocks on foot. With Rover tagging along for the exercise I guess. And we were both getting plenty of that.

It was quite the country. I would be crawling over the granite rocks and then hit a little grassy place with sheep in it. And I sure couldn’t blame them. The grass was lush green with lots of flowers as well. And because it had been such a wet spring some of the places had little streams of water running through them of even making little waterfalls over the rocks.

So I would kick those few sheep down towards the Berger house and hayfields and then follow them down. Or at least I wanted to but Rover kept looking back and off to the sides. And I figured out whether he saw more sheep smelled them or heard them he knew where there were more of them.

So instead of just being able to push the sheep I was gathering down the mountain. I also had to keep going back and forth east until I saw the canyon where the creek ran out of D-Pass. And then back to the west until I could see where I tied Friday up which was getting further and further away.

I was also learning why most sheep herders didn’t wear cowboy boots. Instead most of them wore work boots that gave them a lot better footing and didn’t hurt their feet to walk in. Because as I was finding out sheep herding could require a lot of walking.

And my feet were hurting accordingly causing me to want to take lots of breaks. But I really didn’t mind it. Some of the places Rover and I ran into were just absolutely gorgeous.Lush green grass. Sometimes like a manicured lawn. All kinds of wild flowers. Including some I don’t think I had seen before. And a few places that had a little stream of water running through it or even over the rocks making little waterfalls.

And it also looked like I could see the whole world from up there. I could see as far Boysen Lake and Shoshoni. As well as Lysite and Lost Cabin to the east. I could even see Robby wondering around on his horse at the very bottom of the Berger place. But I didn’t see any sheep with them. And couldn’t see any more sheep in the hayfields than what I’d seen the day before.

So Rover and I kept taking breaks and enjoying the view while I rested my feet. But there was another problem with stopping so often. It seemed like I wanted to smoke another cigarette every time we took a break. And I was running really low on the pack of Ted’s Salems I had with me. With the only pack I had left still back in my coat pocket tied to my saddle with Friday.

And there was something else about that view. I could see Robby riding mostly empty country with no sheep. I could see a whole bunch of sheep in the flat country at the bottom of the mountain. And I could see the sheep I was still trying to push down off the rocky mountain.

But also suddenly remembered something in the furious notes Ted had left at the Berger house. “The sheep aren’t in the hayfields like they are supposed to be.”

And I got to thinking about that. What did Ted mean? Did he mean I was supposed to ride in the first day and gather 500 sheep and get them in the old hay fields the next day. If so what the hell was Robby supposed to be doing for the couple weeks or more he was staying up there in a sheep wagon?

I also got to looking at something else again. The lush green native grass growing up on the mountain and all around the hayfields. Because I had learned in AG class that native grass was some of the best feed livestock could get.

That native grass was thin and sparce meaning it grew in little clumps instead of covering the ground. Which is why when the trappers first started coming into Wyoming they didn’t think it was suitable for raising livestock.

Until one winter a bunch of trappers got stranded when the snow hit. They managed to build a shelter to save themselves but decided they couldn’t save their horses and mules and just turned them lose to starve and die.

But the next spring when the stranded trappers started to walk out they found their horses and mules had not only survived. They had thrived and were fat and sassy compared to the trappers.

That was when people figured out that native grass was not only very nutritious it was also adapted to the environment. It would start out green in the spring when there was lots of water. Then because Wyoming was semiarid it would dry out and stop growing. But then every time it rained the grass would grow as much as the moisture allowed. Then dry out again. And the dry brown grass was every bit as nutritious as the green grass.

Then it suddenly made sense to me. Robby was supposed to be the sheep herder. He was up there to keep the sheep in the hayfields and save the native grass for Ted’s cows later in the summer and fall. But instead he was just casing the mountain.

All that became clear to me when Rover and I were taking a break. But there was another problem with taking lots of breaks. Some of the sheep weren’t.

Most of them would just stop and graze when Rover and I stopped. But there were a few that sure didn’t want to leave their little paradise. And they kept trying to double back on me and head up the mountain side again. And while all sheep pretty much looked the same to me the ones trying to double back on me started looking kind of familiar.

Almost like it was the same ones every time. And led by a really old skinny ewe that didn’t have a lamb that I could see. But did have a brown streak on her face because she had something wrong with her right eye and it was watering.

A bunch of other sheep though seemed to have just given up on the mountain and headed down to the flat country. And I guess I hadn’t really noticed but between the sheep I was still pushing down the mountain side and the ones who had gone down to the flatter ground I did have a few hundred sheep at least.

And as far as the sneaky sheep Rover was helping spot them for me. Even if they were sneaking where I couldn’t see them Rover seemed to know where they were and we’d go over and turn them around and head them back down the mountain.

Until finally Rover and I managed to get to the end of the mountain side which was just about to the Berger house. So I did have about 500 sheep but no horse.

And I had to take off walking again to get back to where I tied Friday up. Which was close to about another mile walk in my cowboy boots. And I might add mine were real cowboy boots with two inch underslung heels.

They are made like that to help prevent your boot from slipping through the stirrup so you don’t get hung up and drug to death if you get thrown off your horse. Great for riding. But hell for waking in.

I was a literal tenderfoot by the time I finally got back to Friday. Not as in a new comer to the west. But as in my feet were hurting pretty bad. And it felt really good to get off them and back in the saddle.

Then me Friday and Rover started gathering the sheep on the flat ground and driving them down towards the hayfields. Thinking I would pick the rest I’d drove off the mountain side when I got to them.

And low and behold Robby had shown up on the east side by the fence and was also picking up sheep and throwing them into the main bunch Rover and I were driving. And between the two of us we had a few hundred head of sheep and about that many lambs headed for the hayfields.

And once Robby and I joined up I was tempted to say nice of you to join us. And why in the fuck weren’t you keeping all those sheep in the hayfields like you were supposed to. But so far we had been getting along pretty well and I didn’t want to provoke him.

Then once we were getting closer to the
Berger house I looked over when we were approaching the bottom of the mountain and sure as hell there was a bunch of sheep headed back up into the rocks.

I started cussing a blue streak about that and rode Friday over to a tree to tie him up again so I could start walking up the mountain. And Robby was watching me and asked what I was doing.

I thought it was obvious but told Robby I was headed back into the rocks to get those sheep turned around. And Robby looked very perplexed and asked, “Why don’t you send the dog?”

Then it was my turn to be perplexed and Robby saw I didn’t understand and said, “Get back on your horse.” And just like all day Rover was standing there like on full alert and anticipation. And Robby said, “Rover go,” and just waved his arm in the direction of the sheep.

And Rover took off on a full run going over and around the rocks.He ran up ahead of sheep I couldn’t even see. Rover tuned the sheep around and then started driving them back down the mountain side all by himself. And even chased them into the main bunch of sheep. Then Rover just laid down waiting for the next command.

Now I admit I very often had to learn things the hard way. But when Robby asked me why I didn’t know how to work a sheep dog it pissed me off. Because it was my fourth summer working for Ted and he had never showed me what Rover could really do.

The only time I rode with Ted when we had dogs the sheep were already gathered and all we had to do was drive them. And the only thing I knew was what they said that one dog was worth ten men for driving sheep.

And I knew from personal and biter experience that was true. But Ted had never showed me what else Rover could do and how to work him. It also explained why Rover was looking at me like I was out of my mind all day.

Then we started driving the sheep which were still kind of scattered. And Robby said let’s bunch them. And he waved at Rover again and he took off. First running to the west side pushing those sheep tighter. Then running behind the sheep to the east side and pushing them into the main bunch.

And pretty soon we had about 500 sheep and about that many lambs in a tight bunch with Rover behind them to keep them moving. And also working from side to side to keep the bunch tight.

We had all those sheep in a tight herd and Robby said it would be best to keep driving them past the Berger house and sheep wagon clear down to the lower hayfield.

Which was no problem at all. Then once we had all the sheep in the lower hayfield Robby said, “Let’s watch them for a while.” And we both got off our horses and sat down on the ground.

I wasn’t sure what we were watching for. Once we stopped driving them the sheep just started grazing in the hayfield. But with nothing else to do I lit up the last nasty Salem in the pack and decided to ask Robby about something I had been wondering about ever since it happened.

The last time I saw Robby before I showed up at the sheep wagon was just before he graduated. Robby and a few other seniors were standing out on the platform of the fire escape just outside the library.

They were just standing out there laughing and talking when Robby just sort of stiffened up and went into kind of a convulsion. Enough of a convulsion he jerked himself right over the handrail. And did a flat belly flop on the ground a floor below.

Me and my friends were a little way from there hiding out at the Jewell house smoking cigarettes. But close enough to see Robby go over the rails. And then when he belly flopped on the ground he was twitching and kicking but we thought that might be because he was dead.

We all went running over there and Robby was still twitching but breathing. Of course some teachers came running out because of all the screaming. And by the time they got to Robby he was trying to stand up. Claiming he was fine. But not having the faintest idea of where he was at or what had happened.

We didn’t have an ambulance let alone a doctor. So they called the fire department which loaded Robby up in the back of the band teacher’s station wagon and ran him to the hospital.

But that was the last I heard of it. Robby came back and graduated. But I had always wondered what had happened. And decided to ask Robby about that. Knowing it was a very sensitive question because in that country at that time being physically unfirm was still bad enough but being mentally unfirm was a stain on the whole family.

And so when I gently asked Robby what had happened he just said, “Oh that. It was nothing. I guess I was just a little too excited about graduating. And the only thing the hospital said was I had a little too much sugar in my blood.”

A perfectly logical explanation unless you had seen Robby eat sugar by the spoonfuls and chase it with swigs of Kero syrup. But I decided to just leave it at that.

We talked about a few other things and then I hadn’t noticed but most the sheep were by then laying down. And Robby said it looked like they were bedding down and we could leave them for the night.

Robby and I mounted up and took the short ride back to the wagon. And it wasn’t even evening yet. Way early by Ted’s standards.

And on the way Robby said he wanted to ride his bronc again the next day and asked if I would mind wrangling the horses again. And I said sure thinking why not I had wrangled every morning so far. What would make tomorrow morning any different.

But I did tell Robby I needed to stop by the sheep wagon and get another pack of matches because I wanted a cigarette. So Robby continued riding to the corral to unsaddle his horse. And I got off Fridcay and went into the wagon.

And as soon as I opened the door to walk in I saw three mice take off scurrying across the floor. And that was different. You usually don’t see mice during the day. And it occurred to me we must have a really large population of mice living with us.

But I was in no hurry so once I got another book of matches I took the time to light one of Ted’s nasty Salems. Wondering what I would do next because by then I was down to my last pack.

I took Friday over to the spring and let him get a big drink of water while I was smoking my cigarette. And then met Robby headed back to the wagon while I was riding up to the corral.

Still taking my time because I was kind of enjoying the alone time. Then I unsaddled Friday, put him in the corral and threw him some hay.

By the time I got back to the wagon Robby had a fire going in the stove and was peeling potatoes and slicing them up in a frying pan. So I grabbed the water buckets and headed up to the spring to fetch water.

Then when I got back to the wagon Robby said he needed to finish off the hamburger Ted had left before it “went bad.” And I thought what did he mean “went bad”? That old Brahma cow had never been good. And then to my horror Robby just threw what was left of the hamburger in the frying pan with the potatoes.

And it turned out to be as bad as it looked. The hamburger shrank up leaving mostly grease. With what I swear mush have been mutton tallow by the way it stuck to the roof of my mouth. We did have ketchup but it didn’t help much. And we each made a glass of Tang to drink. But that seemed to make it worse if that was possible.

I decided I would just give what was left of my dinner to Rover. But then when I stood up Robby said, “What happened. Did you shit your pants.”

And I looked behind be to see a stain on the back of my pants and then remembered I was also going to feed Rover the bacon from that morning. But I just wrapped it in a napkin, stuck it in my back pocket. And had been sitting on it all day.

To spare his feelings I told Robby I had saved some bacon for Rover but had forgotten to give it to him. So I would feed it to him all at once.

I got Rover’s bowl and put some dog food in it. Then threw the potatoes, hamburger and bacon in the bowl. And Rover thought he was getting quite the feast.

Then Robby and I did the dishes. And as usual I had to throw the pill bottle with the white powder in it off the silverware to the back of the drawer.

And then Robby and I didn’t know quite what to do with ourselves because it wasn’t even dark yet. Robby had some old magazines to look at. But I decided I would grab one of Zimmo’s encyclopedias and try to read it. With the emphasis on try because I couldn’t read very well. But well enough to pass the time until it was dark enough to go to bed. And it was a little strange because it seemed like it was a long day even though it was actually a short one.