Spring, Wandering Animals, St. Patrick’s Dinner and a Birthday for a Very Old Horse
By Marla Bear Bishop
Fruitland Mesa/Crawford Country and beyond correspondent
Spring! I don’t seem to ever say anything new about it because it’s always a lovely time. Although the mud is disgusting, winds terrible, and predictably unpredictable weather brings an assortment of badly needed moisture, including that odd grapple stuff that looks like packing material, everyone welcomes this season whole-heartedly.
Everyone except allergy sufferers. I used to live in a spot that had a beautiful lilac bush outside the window. That, I’m thinking since I am not experiencing the usual stuffy nose, must have been the culprit. There is yet another positive in my life!
Notice the bright colors that show up on our bodies, light bulb white skin and sunburned faces yes, but also I’m referring to the clothes that we don to announce the change of the guard from drab to glorious. My closet is a small compact space; it’s easy to notice that the scene in there is kind of like a dark cloud hovering…so wintery, wooly. Thick fabrics huddled together against the past cold months. It’s the proverbial box under the bed that holds the spring rainbow. Purples, pinks, pastel blue, lime green (even though yellow makes some of our skin that same green,) these are the colors that one puts on in April. I went shopping at the Rose in Hotchkiss and got completely outfitted for spring on twenty dollars. Can’t beat that place with a stick.
Thinking of beating things with a stick, Pamela and I spent the day before spring carrying big sticks out in an endless pasture learning about yaks. Our guide and protector, Carter, was a wealth of information on these beasts that are native to Tibet. Most of the eighteen hairy domestic oxen-like creatures were ladies and gentleman allowing us to groom them. One or two wanted to end our lives. On one occasion our hearts beat very fast and we held our sticks up and maybe we screamed, not sure but I do remember the heart rate. On the second attempt on our life, Pamela thought I pushed her in front of me to soften my departure. I really just sorta slipped in a little ditch and used her for balance. Thank-you Carter for a wonderful day yak-ing it up!
Getting home very late recently my phone that had stayed behind was flashing—telling me that messages I should have received earlier were serious. Turns out that my horses and those mules that are living with them were all running around—greener grass on the other side of the fence. A sure sign of spring, happens every single year without fail.
I couldn’t remedy the situation in the middle of a dark moonless night so I stayed awake and thought about them falling into prairie dog holes. I watched a movie until 3:30 a.m., thought about them cutting legs on downed crappy barbed wire, read a book until 6:00 a.m., drank some coffee until the sun came up and got dressed to go put them in. Feeling pretty raw and fragile by the time I was walking out the door I decided to place a quick call to the owners of the property where those ungrateful equine reside. “Strangely and miraculously,” Claire tells me, “everyone is in and eating breakfast.” Ahhggg. Another lesson in life that is difficult to master. Go to sleep and deal with it in the morning.
Saint Patrick’s Day was fun, Kelly green, delicious and well attended at the Crawford Methodist Church. Lynn, Judy and Shirley served a feast up along with so many helpers this list would go into next month to name everyone. Music provided by a string band was enjoyed throughout the evening, fun for me to see Fran up there, she is one talented lady, who spends her time traveling the world, so it was great to have her in Crawford for a wee time! And a certain young Miss Houseweart played but I missed it so I’m taking a rain check on that performance—everyone raved about it. Fair warning: I’m going to follow up on this.
Taking stock of this season’s richness, elk have been gracing the landscape out my window, grass is popping up overnight in the muddy spots, donkeys have been moved to the penitentiary to allow a future of healthy groundcover and to make sure they don’t founder on the rich stuff over the next month or two. It was a joy to watch the Barney’s and Stormy, the little horse buck, and snort over the hill, free, free at last! Until they realized they were being corralled! Goats are hitting the ground over at the Bad Dog’s, it’s hard not to name the meat and fall in love; I might take on the buck goat for awhile because he needs to leave the girls alone and he really won’t be mine so that will be good until he’s sold sometime down the line. He reminds me of my wether Scotty Jr. whom I miss so much along with Eeyore. Spring is the time to think about upcoming parades. Ah, new life will soften that melancholy, I’m sure.
Happy Birthday to all my friends and family especially my old man horse, Sooner (King Skip’s Pistol), who just turned 27! Whoa! Also a continuing get-well shout out to that indomitable cowgirl still knitting those bones together! Spring is the time to heal all wounds and appreciate our life here in the North Fork Valley! As always, don’t let a day go by without noticing the beauty of it all.
Tags: Colorado, Crawford, Marla Bishop