A Ruff Day on the Fenceline 2

Ruff Day On The fencing Line

    It’s been a hard week of fencing this spring. It has rained off and on the whole week. The snow is melting; the rivers are all at least three feet over their banks. It is so high the water is going over the tops of a lot of the bridges. The fences that are by the roadside are broken about every ten yards, there are four wires that are hooked to the fence and in most places all four wires are broken. The   

snow has been so deep this winter so that puts a lot of weight on the wire. You wouldn’t think that snow would break the wire. But it puts a lot of weight on the wires and breaks them. Most all of the fence has wood poles. Then you nail staples to the wood poles that hold the wire. They put around 200 new treated poles in a year.

The going is very slow and now that I’m getting up in age and have a bad back it’s that much slower for me to get it done. I’m helping the range rider fix fences. There are around sixty miles of fences to work on before the cows come. It is a little bit of fun and it gets me out in the outdoors and helps work off some of the winter fat that always seems to come my way now days. And if I help out I can hunt on the land this fall.

One day this week I got up at 5 o’clock in the morning. I fix breakfast for me; I always cook ham and eggs and hash browns. I have orange juice and milk too.

Then I take off fencing.

 This morning I’m going to the other side of the range. I will go across the river three times. It is running very high like I said at the first. Some other workers come back and said that they couldn’t get across the river but I knew that I could.

 So I take off. I would like to say I jump on my four wheeler and take off. But no, I slowly climb to the seat and take off. My four wheeler is a Honda. It is called a 300 four track and it is in four wheel drive all the time. It not a fast machine but it gets me to where I would like to go. As I slowly go down the trail it bumps me all over the place. And at the end of the day I can hardy move. I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck and been beaten on. But I must like it because the next day I’m on the ATV and going again.

 I arrive at the river and start crossing. The front wheel drops into the water. It is a little muddy so the wheel drops more. As I go forward the water gets higher and higher and colder and colder. It is so high my boots are on the top of the seat. If it gets too much higher the ATV will start to float. That would be the end of getting across the river because I would be floating down the river. By the time I get to the other side I’m standing on my seat. I made it. I knew I could do it and I did it I showed them.

 Off to the next river crossing. I have to stop and open two gates. They are made out of bob wire and three or four wood poles from one end to the other. You staple the wire to the poles about every three feet and tie the wire to one end of the fence line and at the other end you make a loop at the top and a loop at the bottom and hook the pole in the loops.

    I drive down the fence line looking around at the fence to see if the wires are broken. I also have to look in front of me to make sure that I don’t run into a hole or something else. You have to be on your toes at all times. If the front wheels hit a bump or a hole it could send you into the fence line. The barb wire will catch you and cut you up all over. The barb wire has two sharp barbs about ever eight inch along the wire.

 Or you could go the other way and flip the ATV on you and either way it’s not good for your body. There is scenery that always to look at too. You start out looking at grass that’s running south and north. It runs about 14 miles from one end of the ranch to the other end. The grass on west and east run about four miles across. There is a river that runs in the middle of the ranch, with pockets of willows that grow along the river sides. Also there are plenty of creeks that run into the river along the way. Coming out of middle of the grass is rolling knolls. Scattered in the knolls is sagebrush and grass. Coming up out of hill sides is maple trees and aspen. Higher up the mountain you run in to pines.

  The roaring of the motor drowns out every other sound. And in the back of your mind you’re always thinking “I’d like to see a deer or elk or maybe a moose.”

   I come to other river crossing and I drop the front tires into the water just like before and start across. I drop the ATV into first gear and go. Just like before, by the time I get to the other side I have my feet on the top of the seat.

   Two more gates to go through and one creek to cross and then I’ve made it. Then I can start to work on the fence line.

  I approach the creek. It’s not very wide but it is moving very fast and swift. The bank on the other side of the creek is a little steep. But I think I can make it ok with not too much trouble.

 If I could only have seen what was to come, this next mishap wouldn’t have happened to me. And it is bad.

   I start across in first gear. The water is very swift and I hit the bank on the other side with my front tires. Then I start to go up the steep bank but it is too steep and I start to spin out. I’ll just back up and try again. I put the ATV into reverse and I start backing up in the water. It is too swift. It catches the front of the four wheeler and swings it around. I’m in big trouble now. The ATV is a boat now and down the creek I go. You have heard “down the creek without a paddle “or up the creek without a paddle.” Well that is me right now. I start to look for a place to get out of the creek real fast. But over time the creek has made the side too steep and the creek is a lot deeper than it looks from the bank.

   My mind starts saying “keep the motor running.” So I try to keep the four wheeler running and that is going good until the creek gets narrower and the ATV gets stuck on both sides of the creek banks. The ATV is like a dam now. And I’m in dam big trouble. And the water pouring up over the machine and around it on both sides of the bank.

The motor quits. Knowing I’m going to get wet. I take off my backpack my coat gloves and though those on the bank so they will stay dry.  I jump off the machine in the back, thinking maybe I can push it. The water is very cold. It is like ice. But all I can think of is that I’ve got to get the four wheeler out of this creek. So the cold water is the last thing on my mind.

 Getting behind the machine − that is a big mistake. The creek is lot deeper than I think it is. The current tries to take me under the ATV, so I get out from the back of the machine in a hurry. That could have been the end of me. I was just lucky the creek wasn’t a bit swifter.

  I start working on the front of the ATV. Where it is stuck on the sides, in the grass that is growing along the sides of the bank. But I’m in luck. The creek has washed the dirt away under the bank. So I find a good strong stick and start breaking the grass off the side. It works but the sad thing is that I have to do it all long the creek. To get unstuck I goes 20 to 30 yards and get stuck again on the sides. I work at this for a good hundred yards. Just as I get to the fences line there is a place I can get the ATV out of the swift water. It is still in the water and I got to get it on top of the bank. Over time the water and cow have wide the bank sides away. And it has small rocks in the bottom of the creek so the wheels won’t sink. To get it to the top the four wheels has to run. It is too steep to push it up on the bank. When the ATV first starts down the creek I knew that I had to keep the motor running to keep the water out of the motor. The motor stop a long time ago. So it is full of water. There is a tool bag in the back of the four wheeler. I have to get the water out of the air cleaner first. It is under the seat. I start to work. The box the air cleaner is in is full of water. I drain it out. I take the air cleaner off. It is a foam rubber air filter.  The foam has a light coating of oil on it. I shake most of the water off the foam and sit it on the bank to dry. The cylinder is full of water to. I take the sparkplug out and start to pump the water out of the cylinder. The starter still work so I true the motor over and over pumping the water out. It working. It takes a long time to get all the water out. But I did it.

  I start to put it all back to gather. The motor starts. And I ride it to the top of the bank.

  I’m soaking and wet. But to get dry clothes I will have to drive all the way back. And I not go to do that. It took to mush time and effort for me to get here. I’m out in the middle of onward. So I start to take my close off. I took off my coat and glove at the first of my wild ride. I go back and pick them up. I put them on. The boots I have on are rubber. I take my sock off and hung them on the fence with the rest of my closes. So now I have my sock pants shirt hanging on the fence. I’m in my underwear and coat boots and groves. And take off fencing. I’m got to be quite the sight. It is noon. So I take the rest of the day to work on the fences line. And the clothes work on drying.