Everyone Is a 'Want-To-Be' Until The Work Begins!

Jay and I with Lil Buck.

If I had a $100.00 for every person that has came out here to work and then decided that it wasn't their cup of tea, I would be a billionaire by now. If only......

Now this might sound a little harsh or a bit rude, but there is nothing I like better than having some bar stool cowboy come out here to teach us a thing or two. You can pick them out from a mile away by the big shinny belt buckle that must pinch their spare tire every time they bend over and you know darn well that they didn't get it by participating in any rodeo or on a live animal, by their perfectly shaped and spotlessly clean 10 gallon hat, and you really can tell by their boots and the way they are wearing them. Most of them are chewing a wad of tobacco shoved in their lips for the first time and they have their heads spinning so fast that they can barely walk in their bar stool fancy boots and skin tight wranglers - we won't even mention the pinching that is going on there!! There are other types of Want-To-Be's to, and it seems that they all end up out here.

We are cattle ranchers, not cowboys. We ride good horses because we depend on our horses with our lives. We have skinned up boots and our spurs aren't shinny. We have ragged jeans and shirts from being ran through the brush and trees. Not one of us out here have a hat that isn't bent, tore, or dirty. This is no place for a whiner or crybaby, because you will be doing a lot of both if you are....and we will see to it. Since we don't have much entertainment out here, whipping some bar stool cowboy into shape is a real high light for us. We never have to fire anyone, it seems that they all leave at their own will and if we somewhat liked them we might give them a ride to Pelican Lake Cafe, if not then it is a long walk to town.....

Seth helping Burt

I will just detail a few that have came and gone in the past year. Let me see, there was Seth and Dillon. Seth was a good kid and he could ride a horse and he was a good worker, but he was afraid of the dark and it just so happens that we don't have any lights out here so the winter nights were a bit long for him. Seth got a ride to the cafe. Dillon on the other hand did manage to get himself fired, he was lazy and the only skill that he really had was leaning. I guess he thought he was a post leaning up against the fence, because that was all he ever did. Dillon was only here for 4 days, and had to find his own ride to town.

Next came 'The Foreman'. Yep that's what he thought he was and told everyone that he was, even family members. The Foreman could ride a horse-somewhat-as long as you were walking, he always wanted to be in the lead and never knew where he was going, and it was never to hard to find The Foreman because his horse was always eating instead of herding cows. Now with The Foreman, you could never tell him what to do because he would run home and cry about having to work. The Foreman didn't like to shower because there might be a spider in the shower so you never wanted to get down wind from him or have to be in a vehicle without a/c with him. Another amazing skill that The Foreman had was if he lost sight of Clay he would go into this panic state and run in circles until he found him again, we weren't to familiar with this so it was quite amusing for us to watch. It didn't take long for us to pick up on the fact that this was a guy that deserved to be roughed up and toughened up every minute that we had to be around him, you know like the tattle tale in school that you shoved in the lockers and left all day, well this was 'The Foreman'. Another irritating thing about The Foreman was that he would show up sometime on Monday or Tuesday and be out of here by Thursday afternoon, now you might figure out that this didn't set well with the rest of us!

Not a ding on that hat!

All American Cowboy Kent....not much to say here, he had shinny spurs, tight wranglers tucked inside his boots that matched his shinny spurs and a spotless 10 gallon hat. His saddle had a buck roll on it, which didn't help him a bit, he fell off of two horses in two days!! Kent made the claim of being a horse breaker, and couldn't even ride our baby mule!! Kent only lasted a few days....The thing I remember about Kent, was that I had to help him get on and off of the horses and in the process of getting on his 3 inch spur would get stuck in his bright yellow plastic raincoat that was tied on the back of his saddle. Never seen anyone like Kent before and hope to never see another one like him again.

After Kent came Gregorial and Elvarado (guessing at the spelling). They came together and out of the two, Elvarado was the better worker and Gregorial had some abilities but you couldn't get him to apply them. Gregorial was always on the phone and since we don't speak Spanish, we had no idea what he was saying until we woke up one day and they were both gone. Not sure how far they walked but they left with the clothes on their backs and their phones. As we later found out, they needed someone to pay their way up here from Peru and to sign on as their employer so that they could get up here to work, but they had already lined up a job in California and that's where they are now. Right in the middle of gathering season, they up and leave.

Julio was always smiling

Then came Julio, he was a good guy and was a cousin to Gregorial. It seems that Gregorial was feeling a bit guilty about running off so he lined up his cousin and sent him out here. Julio was a city guy 100 percent and didn't adapt well to not having his modern conveniences - tv, phone, electricity, washer and dryer and woman companionship. He called this place 'Stress Canyon' and begged for us to get him out of here! He was here for 2 months and hugged us the day he left for sending him to town. I felt sorry for Julio because he really was a good man and he was going crazy out here, all he wanted was a wife and he wanted one very badly.

Now as you can see, it is hard to get good dependable help out here. If it wasn't for Jay and myself there wouldn't be any help out here. Jay has been here for so long that I don't even remember when he first showed up, but one thing you can count on with Jay is that he don't claim to be anything but will do everything. Jay lives on Willow Creek in an old cabin the only has running water in the summer and he is content with that. Jay does not like to ride and might complain after 6 hours or so, but he will do it as long as you need him to. Jay is a good guy that always has your back covered and all he asks in return is that you cover his. We never say it, but thanks for all you do Jay, this place wouldn't be the same without you here working with us. 

Jay and Tess