Tuesday 8/26/08

We have reached our "Friday" today even though it is only Tuesday. R & I work Sunday, Monday & Tuesday and have four days off, that's why. Yesterday, Monday was a wierd one. It dawned clear and calm. The radio station said 30% chance of rain and I thought , " Yah right." Well about Noon the wind came up and it blew steadily and hard from the south. About 1:30, it switched to a west wind and it really got going. It had to be a steady forty mph with gusts higher yet. Several of the doors at the ranch were being blown open so we decided to lock up a half-hour early and head back to headquarters where, because of the hill to the west, it was not as bad. However, the wind blew until the middle of the night. (No rain though, so they were wrong.)
This morning it was clear and cool ( in the 40's) when I got up to walk the girls. It had warmed somewhat when we drove to the ranch but we wore jackets until about Noon. Saw a three-point buck near the gravel road into the ranch. He was a beauty! We will see more as the season progresses. There are a lot of does and fawns that hang around the headquarters area. We had 13 vistors at the ranch today. R & I are really enjoying being docents. We have found that we are learning something from everyone that comes to the ranch. For instance, a gentleman today had worked as a buckaroo at a ranch near Riley in the 80's. He explained to us how several of the horse powered machines worked. We had reasd some information, but it really became clear when he explained it. Another visitor was a photographer and while we were looking at some of the old pictures, I commented on how stern everyone looked. He said that the film back then was so slow that people had to sit immobile for quite some time. There were braces that would be put behind the person to help him stay steady for the several minutes needed to the picture to "take". Modern film has an ASA of 200 or 400 and even faster. Early film from the times of the ranch (late 1890 - 1900) had a ASA of 2 , so that explains a lot.