It's definitely Fall...and winter is peeking around the corner!

I'm sitting here working on our annual newsletter, glad for a chance to be in out of the weather.  This morning when I checked the weather, there was a 70% chance of snow...and darn it, I'm just NOT ready for it to be cold yet!  I guess I knew it was coming--we already had a snowstorm here about a week and a half ago, but for some reason, it seems that I am less ready for the changing of the seasons.

From where I sit, I can see out to the aspen trees between the office and the ranch house.  Their brilliantly golden leaves make the light unreal and somehow I can never quite capture their brilliance on camera.  Today, they are being blown off their branches and the ground looks like it's got a yellow carpet on it.  Other than the wind, it is totally silent here--one of the things I simultaneously love and hate about fall.

I (Leslie, and from time to time, perhaps Megan) decided to start writing this to keep you all in touch with this place, to let you know what we are doing from time to time, to keep you in the loop.  Also, some people don't know what happens on the ranch during the fall and winter months--I can't tell you how many times we've gotten the comment, "I bet you guys are glad when winter comes and you're not so busy!"  It makes us smile, because while the summer is busy, the other seasons are hectically busy in their own way.  Here's just a few examples of what's happening at the ranch this month. 

About two weeks ago, we sent a truckload of yearling calves to a sale in Galt, California.  The truck arrived at the ranch at 6:15 in the morning, well before the sun was up.  We loaded the calves by the lights we have set up around the corrals, heavily bundled in winter clothes, our breath showing in the frosty air. We weaned our calves and sent them to Smith Valley to put on a little more weight before we sell them.  Our fall-calving herd got sent to Smith last week so they wouldn't have to calve in the snow in Bridgeport.  The morning we shipped them, two of the cows had just calved. One cow had twins--both alive, both healthy but tiny.  Latte, Jon and Betsy's milk cow who will mother ANYTHING, adopted one, and so everyone has had a happy ending.  It's very difficult for a beef cow to raise twins because they don't generally give enough milk to fully support two calves, which is why we are lucky to have Latte, the milk machine!  Most of the horses have been turned out at the end of the lane here in Bridgeport and are happy to be on vacation.  We'll get them in soon to determine which of them might need a little better feed, which of them are going on our Cattle Drive in November, which of them are fat enough to stay until December. 

Between all the work that we have to do with the livestock, there's also a million other little things that go on here in the fall.  Dwayne and Benny have been putting new roofs on some of the cabins, Megan put on the "Ride to Remember" Alzheimer's benefit at our Smith Valley ranch, Jeff and Blair have been working on sending some cattle to the other side of the Sierras for winter feed, and every member of the family has been preparing for the Cattle Drive and working hard to ensure that next year, the ranch will be better than ever!


Until next time, dream of green meadows, fat cattle, shiny horses, and blue skies!