Over the weekend, I went to work both days to make up for missing Friday. I needed to set the standard, show the others I’m not a slack ass. That I do my part no matter what.
"You good, Tyler?" Jude asks, shovel in hand, scooping out the stall. He typically has his hands deep in motor oil and grease, working on the machinery around here, but there's only so much equipment that needs repairing, and with the expansion of the ranch, he's been dabbling in a little bit of everything. Today he's mucking stalls, tomorrow he's on rotation to work the herd. By the end of the week, he'll be wrangling the horses for the farrier.
Soon, he’ll be a jack of all trades.
All the guys take shifts of cleaning out the barn, including Maddox and me. Della tries to, but none of us will let her, not when she's pregnant. Shadow would have all our asses if he caught us allowing her to shovel horse shit.
"Yeah." I’m as good as I can be. The guys don’t need to know how fucked up my head really is. I have to prove I’m capable of doing my job.
"You know we've got your back. Whatever you need," he says and gets back to work, leaving it at that. “Don’t let this shit with Megan get in your head.”
It wasn’t just Megan who’s screwing with my head. We still don’t know what caused the fire at Delaney’s house. I drove past it on the way home, and there’s no way it can be restored. It would have to be completely rebuilt from the ground up. The houses on either side of it even had some damage to them, but nothing compared to the collapsed mess that once was a home.
“Thanks, Jude, I appreciate it.” He wasn't the first to say those words, but it's good to know the guys are all there for me if I need them. "I'm heading out to meet up with Maddox, Garrett, and Wyatt. Gotta get the calves tagged for the auction.
"Sounds good," Jude grunts, not looking up.
Gathering my saddle and gear, I find Onyx in the paddock and whistle for him. He comes toward me and snorts while stomping the ground.
“Hey, Onyx, are you ready to go to work?”
Onyx gives another of his snorts and nods like he knows exactly what I’m asking. I believe he does at least.
Once I have Onyx ready to roll, I climb up in the saddle and head out to meet Maddox and the others. The calves need preparing for this weekend's stock show auction. We’re used to doing several a year. It’s all part of the process.
Riding out of the pasture, my mind lays out the routine we’ll follow in getting the calves ready. Tagging is simply the first step. Either Thursday or Friday, we’ll get them loaded up and hauled over to the arena. People will come out to inspect all the stock being auctioned off to see what’s worth bidding on.
I know Maddox has plans for us not to use the stock show auctions as a revenue source, but as a bonus. It’s all possible and can be done as long as it’s done right. I’m pretty sure we’ll end up adding even more to the herd to keep up with the supplyand demand of quality beef. With how much land we have, it’s something we can definitely do, but Maddox is going to have to hire on more ranch hands so no one gets burned out or ends up quitting.
However, all of those plans depend on the profit the restaurant brings to the ranch. Della’s been working on marketing both the dude ranch and Fallen Meadows Steakhouse. She’s created social media platforms for both establishments and hyped them up.
I pass by the buck house and grin at the bull grazing behind it. He’s one hell of a beast. His black, sleek fur and his horns make him look intimidating, something he can definitely be when provoked. He’s the ranch’s prized stud, and we protect him at all costs.
Other ranchers have tried to get their hands on him by either offering to buy him or even just his parts. It’s not something Maddox agrees to often.
Clicking my tongue, I tighten my grip on the reins and pick up the pace. The others will already be there. I just hopetoday runs smoothly and according to plan. The last thing we need is to come across any problems. Being as it may, we always have some issue or another, I can pray for the minor side and nothing too big to deal with.
I could use a break from heavy for a while.
Pulling up to the school to pick up Delaney and Dash, I park right out front and scrub a hand over my face while sighing. Today has been one for the books—nothing we couldn't handle. The minor work I prayed for went unheard. Two of the calveswe were planning to tag were injured, while another had been killed. We did a count and found a fourth missing. We couldn’t say for sure what got them, but from the marks on the calves, I want to say it had to be wolves. However, it could have easily been a bear, coyote, or even a cougar. We’ve had them all before on the ranch.
We’re damn lucky that only one calf was lost. Sucks that the other two were injured, but they’ll heal. We’ll get them good as new in no time. The worst part of it all was dealing with the dead calf the wolves left behind. The fourth one we don’t know if it’s dead or if it was just chased off by the predator. My guess is it’d been killed and dragged deeper into the woods.
We’d had to call the Department of Wildlife Conservation office to report it. It’s required for us to report incidents like this. It makes things easier for when we end up coming upon a pack of wolves or even a cougar threatening our cattle. The last thing we need is to get in a world of trouble for not having reports when we kill the threat.
The Wildlife wardens get the pleasure of handling all the joys of things like this and anything else involving wild animals or even fishing. They even get the calls about animals being shot. It’s all their territory.
Maddox and I talked after they left and we tended to the injured calves about what to do about finding the threat to the herd. It’s not the first time, and we know it won’t be the last, it just pisses us all off when it happens. None of us want to go out and hunt the animals down for sport. But it’s our livelihood they threatened. While we talked, Wyatt and Garret dealt with the dead calf.
I agreed with him that we were going to have to rotate two at a time to keep an eye on them at all times. For the time being, we did move the calves closer to the barn. Still doesn’t mean the rest of the herd weren’t in danger of being attacked.
Glancing over to the school doors, I watch as Dash and Delaney walk out hand in hand. The sight of them together causes an ache in my chest that I’ve never felt before. That is until I get a good look at Delaney's face. She seems to be trying to mask her feelings, though she isn't doing a good job.
I get out from behind the wheel and round the front as they make it to me. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Everything is fine," Delaney says, and I know it's an outright lie when she keeps her gaze diverted from mine. It’s a tell of hers. She can’t lie worth a damn.
"Daddy, we learned about writing sentences and counting to one hundred today,” Dash says, jumping in place. "We even went outside for story time. Miss Delaney readBiscuit Goes to School. It was great. I want a doggie just like Biscuit!"
