Wyoming Week 1 Roundup

I tend to be a bit of a statistics junkie, sometimes. So I’ve collected some through this transition from Houston to Hyattville, Wyoming:
Distance: 1706 miles.
Mileage: averaged 18 mph, pulling a loaded 4 x 8 U-Haul.
Consumption: 97 gallons of gas, or just over 6 tanks full, or about $360.
Duration: Drive time spanned 5 days, largely due to daily fatigue. We would stop every 2 hours on the drive up for doggie potty breaks (and sometimes human ones, too!). The cat did fine – he even used the litter box in the vehicle while we were on the road.

Monday: I arrived about 2 in the afternoon and promptly power-napped. Once that was done, I unloaded the U-haul, put everything away, fed and comforted the cat and dog, and returned the U-haul…to Worland, about 30 miles away.


Tuesday: I did a little helping out at the ranch. To clarify, I should say that the ranch itself is about 6 miles from the house itself. The house is in town – Hyattville – population 75. Well, now, that’s 76! I learned that Verizon lied to me - I have zero cell coverage here, so while I love my smart phone and can hop onto the wireless network and use it for everything I use my computer for, I can’t use it for calls. This is a little frustrating. I’ll need to work on a solution for that.


Wednesday: we prepped cattle for auction. That meant separating the DL brand calves from the ZA brand calves, and doing a little math to determine how many trips it would take to move 63 head using 3 trailers containing 17 head each. We ended up having Jared, the ranch hand who lives on site there, making the second run. In the afternoon, I came back to ‘town’ to take the dog on a little exploring trip and started on tilling the garden to prep it for winter/spring.


Thursday: a real workout day. I helped out on the ranch with Jared on one of the bridges over the creek replacing planks. Later back at the house, I finished the battle of the weeds and fixed wooden steps that lead up to the house.


Today, Friday, I have the luxury of time to write this as the cable guy is doing his thing to bring cable into the house for TV. I learned that Hyattville is a pilot community for fiber optic lines – they’ve had them in place for a few years now.


Saturday - probably more work at the ranch. Basically, there is some late season hay to be harvested - so we have to wait until the afternoon when the morning dew dries, otherwise the cattle and horses won't be able to eat it. This was a drought year, so the hay crops are very depleted - and hay costs twice as much as normal if you have to buy it. Mr G has to buy some - a couple of TONS – because of the drought. There is much to do while Mr G, with all his expertise is here in town.


Another farming note: there are several apple trees here at the house and at the ranch, but there are no apples this season! Apparently there was a cold snap in late spring that froze and killed the apple blossoms when they were still flowers. The impact of this is that the elk and deer also feed on fallen apples - so there are lots of hoof prints in the yard from them trying to find apples. I don't think they're too bad off - I haven't seen a skinny one yet. Hunting season starts Monday so there are lots of hunters arriving here now, setting up their camps. I have been told I should wear a hunters' orange jersey to wear when I'm out walking Djinni for the rest of October.


Dog info: Late afternoons I've made a point to walk with Djinni, my dog, throughout the whole town without a leash - she has done great off leash. She is also in paradise, and runs and jumps and plays and barks and play-howls and on and on. Djinni has discovered coyote poop, elk poop, deer poop, cow, horse, and beaver poop and I don't know how many other new types of poop. This is why I keep the leash on her when we walk (even if I don't hold onto it) so I can grab it and stop her from rolling in something that smells "interesting". There is a meat processing place here in town, and they get busy this time of year with all the hunting. I plan to pick up some morsels from them for Djinni.

Last night, we walked by a property with a bunch of horses. Djinni could hear them but not see them, so I clucked my tongue, and sure enough, about 20 horses came sauntering up to the fence to see us. They were wary, but curious - wanting to sniff my hand, but keeping a few inches out of reach. They were curious about Djinni too, and I think she was taking it all in. I hope she thinks I'm some sort of super person because I made all the horses come to me! So, with that calm presence, she didn't bark at the horses, but tried to sniff them nose-to-nose. She bumped noses with one horse and that startled them both, so the horses trotted off into the darkness again. One of them was HUGE. I'm going to have to get some photos of him during the day. On the way back to the house (about 200 feet), we saw not one, but TWO shooting stars!

Cat info: Yesterday, I also let Kathman out into the yard, and he literally got super high by rolling in the bushel of cat mint. (It's a mouse deterrent so it grows around the house perimeter). Then, he slinked his way around the house 3 or 4 times - running back to me anytime he heard something unusual, like a car. Then, he slinked around the perimeter of the yard a few times. It's partially fenced, but it's horse fence, with the big square holes that he could walk through if he wanted. He has not yet discovered the warren of rabbits living at the base of the evergreen tree. I have realized that I can successfully herd him – it’s not unlike herding cows, actually.


Weather: it has been beautiful – chilly evenings and mornings lend way to stunning afternoons bathed in that seemingly polarized fall afternoon light. I start the day with about 6 layers on (plus jeans and cowboy boots). By noon, I'm down to 3 layers, and by 2, I'm in a t-shirt. Such is a warm-ish October in Wyoming!


Not a bad first week – not bad at all! I’ll post a collection of photos this evening – pulled from the Canon, so they should make for better viewing than those taken with the smart phone that doesn’t do any phone activities.