No Big Deal

"This'll be no big deal," he told me. "Head down to the mile line and you'll be able to see us moving them across the road."

One heifer and calf broke to the left, thinking they would go their own way, but they were quickly rounded up and rejoined the herd.

Sure enough, the three men made it look simple, driving 80 head of heifers and calves across open pasture and dirt road.

Moving Them Through

Calves ready to be worked

Mitchell Farms

Near Frederick, Oklahoma

Shrinking Towns

Davidson, Oklahoma

Too many buildings on the plains these days have reached this sad sort of end. Owners have become unable to or uninterested in upkeep and have let homes and business buildings go to ruin. As farming has changed and manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas, rural towns have shrunk, leaving them unable to support the types of economies they once did. My hometown, to my understanding, has shrunk about 25% over the past 20 years. Still I'm convinced better people can't be found anywhere.

Kildeer

Kildeer

In cow pasture

Southwest Oklahoma

This is one of my favorite birds. I remember following them, as a child, as they walked along the once muddy, hardened ground around the pond behind my grandparents' house, listening to their distinctive call and wondering why in the world they didn't fly away.

Tagging Calves

Readying an ear tag

Mitchell Farms

Near Frederick, Oklahoma

Tagging a calf

Mitchell Farms

Near Frederick, Oklahoma

Fish Tank Horse Tank

Enhanced Image of

Goldfish Added to Horse Tank

Southwest Oklahoma

Working Calves

The crew of five saddled their horses by tractor light and had them trailered and rolling by 5:30 a.m. In the early morning light, they made easy work of rounding up the beautiful Red Angus, penned and sorted them. Then worked the calves quickly and calmly, sending them through the chute one by one, tagging, worming, and branding.

Bobby and Jake

Ranch horses, Bobby and Jake

Southwest Oklahoma

Ranch horses, Bobby and Jake, take a day off from working cattle and graze under a cloudy Oklahoma sky. Bobby, the big guy in front, kept an eye on me, seeming concerned I might lure a new black mare away from his herd.

Have iPhone Will Photo

With the computer gone (R.I.P. HP), I didn't have the luxury of downloading photos from my "real" camera. But with iPhone in hand, I couldn't resist the urge to keep taking photos.

Above: Clouds roll in

Southwest Oklahoma

Above: Cattle graze as clouds gather overhead

Near the Oklahoma Texas border

Above: Waiting for rain 

Tillman County, Oklahoma

Above: "Busy Corner"

Hollis, Oklahoma

Above: Ladybug eggs

Southwest Oklahoma

Above: Hay bales and house

Near Hollister, Oklahoma

Above: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

The State Bird of Oklahoma

Near Frederick, Oklahoma

(Really wishing I had the "real" camera and zoom lens here)

Above: Wheat ready for harvest

Tillman County, Oklahoma

Above: Glad for muddy boots!

Thankful for the rain.

Tillman County, Oklahoma

Above: Wind sweeping down the plains

Near Oklaunion, Texas

R.I.P. HP

A few months ago, my computer, abruptly and unceremoniously, died. Not the sort of lingering demise most computers suffer these days, starting and stopping, offering up error messages for months, it happened quickly, simply flashing an error message three or four times, then the black screen of death. It went all at once, "both feet in the grave" as a mournful computer tech described it, leaving nothing of itself behind, no pictures of the kids, no expensive software, no operating system. Its lasting memorial, the bitter sting of images lost forever and a good round of kicking myself for not backing up more often. R.I.P. HP.

Beautiful Bovine