Post-It: The Little Things It’s winter in Wyoming, that period after the holidays when the cold seems to stretch out like a long road and the sign for spring is nowhere in sight. I like it, but my wife says I’m strange, that all those years mountaineering and working out of doors has broken my internal thermostat and I don’t even know when it’s cold. But I do. It hurts to breathe and the coyotes howl in three-part harmony at those glittering, frozen stars like lost souls—and things die. It was on one of those nights when I was at the barn and was waffling over whether it would be best to put the horses in out of the wind, when I noticed a movement in the hay stall--a young deer, maybe six months old. Trying to keep a warm, low profile, she was nestled down in the hay, but I could still see that her front right leg appeared to be damaged. When I moved toward the tack shed, she tried to bolt but just crashed into the bale and stood there with her back to me, probably just hoping I’d go away and not add to her misery. I’ve had small deer in the barn before at this time of year; it just gets so cold they look for anywhere to get warm, even a man-made structure. Usually they’re the wounded or sick and like some Carhartt-wearing pallbearer, I end up carrying their small, frozen bodies out in the mornings. At least this one had plenty to eat. “Kills ‘em.” “The hay?” “Yeah, impacts ‘em.” I was sitting with Tom Koltiska, my font of all ranching knowledge, at the Pony Bar & Grill in Sheridan. Tom’s spread is in Sheridan County, out on Fifth Street towards Cat Creek, which, since he is of Polish descent and therefore allowed to make fun, he refers to as The Polish Reservation. He stuck his tongue out, rolled his eyes, and cocked his head. “They can’t get enough water and it clogs up their guts; they start stumbling around and then they die.” “What about the horse trough?” He looked at me quizzically. “What, you’re running a deer ranch out there in Ucross?” “Just one.” He laughed. “Bum in the barn?” I nodded. “Yep.” “It’ll probably die--they don’t know to get water out of a trough.” I stopped at the ranch supply store and got a heated dog dish. We’d gotten to know each other pretty well, and she’d gotten used to my patterns in haying and graining the horses. She drank the water and the amount of hay she ate was negligible, but she never came out of the stall. Like an idiot, I’d talk to her, like I do to the horses, imparting hard-fought knowledge as she stared at me with those black eyes. “They say that once you make up your mind to die, you’ll just hunker down in there and go to sleep, but I’m hoping you won’t do that.” I’d gotten pretty used to her company, but when I went down to the barn last night, she wasn’t there. I searched in the hay shed just to make sure her stiff little body wasn’t crammed in there between the bales—but there was nothing. I came out after feeding the horses and looked up at the stars the way I always do before heading back to the house; I find comfort in the light that’s taken millions of years to get here, just so we can admire it. There was some motion out by the feeder and there she was, munching hay and looking at me with those black eyes. The leg was a little wobbly, but she was standing on it and walking. We stared at each other for a while and had another one-sided conversation, and then I crunched in the deep snow back toward the house and another armload of firewood to carry in and stack by the wood-burning stove before heading for bed. Those singing coyotes might get her… But maybe she’ll be smart and stick around; after all, she’s always got a safe place to go. See you on the trail, Craig PS: Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and for all you cowboys and cowgirls, we are running a special on the cuffs, were $49.95, now $10 off at $39.95 while supplies last. TOUR OF DUTY February 6, 7 Murder In The Magic City, Birmingham, AL 9 Murder On The Menu, Wetumpka, AL 11 La Manufacture, Romans-sur-Isere 12 Librairie Le Lezard Amoureux Cavaillon 18h30 13 Librairie Lettres Vives, Tarascon 18h30 14 Librairie LAttrape-Mots, Marseille 18h30 16 Librairie Goulard, Aix-en-Provence 18h 17 Librairie Charlemagne, Toulon 19h 18 Pole Culturel Chabran, Draguignan 14:30h 18 Librairie Papiers Colles, Draguignan 18h30 19 Librairie Jean Jaures, Nice 18h30 March 13,14,15 Tucson Book Festival, Tucson, AZ (With special guests...) 21 Day of the Author, Fullerton, CA 29 Anaheim Foundation Authors Luncheon, Anaheim, CA April 1 One Book One Valley, Vail, CO 2 Author Event, Steamboat Springs Library 6:30PM 8 Alabama Library Association Convention, Mobile, AL July 17, 18, 19 LONGMIRE DAYS, BUFFALO WY
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 14:21:17 +0000
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