The Vilisar Times

Rancho el Nogal, near Yepachic, Chihuahua, Mexico, 04Sep05

This will be my first post on The Vilisar Times.

We arrived at Rancho el Nogal after an 8 hour bus ride through the Sierras (only double lines on the highways, which however did not prevent the driver of the very comfortable and air conditioned bus to overtake everything he came up behind!) The owner of the ranch met us when the bus let us down in a tiny village and drove us in her 4-wheel drive pickup truck to the ranch - 90 minutes on the worst and most washed out gravel road I have seen and, being from Canada, I have seen some really bad ones. My kidneys are still aching. But this 17,000 acre ranch is located in a very large and currently very lush valley. The ranch buildings are sited above a bend in the Tutuaca River. Everything is very primitive but pretty original. Even the help are called cowboys and actually do their work on horseback for much of the time. This morning we helped in the main corral to cull cattle for weaning, selling, branding, fattening and selling as rodeo-roping calves. Imagine me slipping around in cows shit and chasing longhorns through a gate. Kathleen wisely acted as tallyman only occasionally and genteelly shooing the unwanted away from the gate where she stood with her pen and pad. A Kodak moment.

This is the rainy season and it generally clouds up in the afternoon and pours. It is supposed normally to stop at dusk but somebody forgot to tell the weather gods today and it is really coming down. The owners left today with their two little boys for various travels on business. WE are the caretakers, we and Simon, a Pima Indian who is the hired hand. Our only job is to be around to keep an eye on the house and buildings, to feed the 6 dogs, two cats, two pigs, 18 chickens and a guinea fowl, milk the goat and keep an eye on the solar-charging system (no grid electricity out here). Two hours after they left, the two pigs got out, got into the feed room and made a mess. I coaxed one back into the pen with a bucket of kitchen slops. The other one, the white one, disappeared into the long grass to be seen no more. Simon thinks he might come back in the night if a mountain lion or coyote doesn't get him. One chicken and the guinea fowl got up in a tree and refused to come down. They can stay there all night too as far as I am concerned. The culled cows are bawling from the pasture on the far side of the river for their weaned calves. Hope they shut up when we go to bed. This morning we were wakened by a cock just outside our window. There will be chicken stew around here before the owners come back in three weeks.

posted by rjb,
2:53 pm

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		News From Ron and Kathy Bird__
For more pictures of Ron and Kathy Bird and the Vilisar, see these beautiful photos by Albert Pang Click here to e-mail Ron Click here to e-mail Kathy Archives January 2004 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 February 2007 March 2007 Vilisar Translation Expert German-English translation available; business and finance our specialty. SachverstÃ¤ndige Deutsch-Englische Ãbersetzung; GeschÃ¤ft und Finanz unser Spezialgebiet.	Wednesday, September 07, 2005 Rancho el Nogal, near Yepachic, Chihuahua, Mexico, 04Sep05 This will be my first post on The Vilisar Times. We arrived at Rancho el Nogal after an 8 hour bus ride through the Sierras (only double lines on the highways, which however did not prevent the driver of the very comfortable and air conditioned bus to overtake everything he came up behind!) The owner of the ranch met us when the bus let us down in a tiny village and drove us in her 4-wheel drive pickup truck to the ranch - 90 minutes on the worst and most washed out gravel road I have seen and, being from Canada, I have seen some really bad ones. My kidneys are still aching. But this 17,000 acre ranch is located in a very large and currently very lush valley. The ranch buildings are sited above a bend in the Tutuaca River. Everything is very primitive but pretty original. Even the help are called cowboys and actually do their work on horseback for much of the time. This morning we helped in the main corral to cull cattle for weaning, selling, branding, fattening and selling as rodeo-roping calves. Imagine me slipping around in cows shit and chasing longhorns through a gate. Kathleen wisely acted as tallyman only occasionally and genteelly shooing the unwanted away from the gate where she stood with her pen and pad. A Kodak moment. This is the rainy season and it generally clouds up in the afternoon and pours. It is supposed normally to stop at dusk but somebody forgot to tell the weather gods today and it is really coming down. The owners left today with their two little boys for various travels on business. WE are the caretakers, we and Simon, a Pima Indian who is the hired hand. Our only job is to be around to keep an eye on the house and buildings, to feed the 6 dogs, two cats, two pigs, 18 chickens and a guinea fowl, milk the goat and keep an eye on the solar-charging system (no grid electricity out here). Two hours after they left, the two pigs got out, got into the feed room and made a mess. I coaxed one back into the pen with a bucket of kitchen slops. The other one, the white one, disappeared into the long grass to be seen no more. Simon thinks he might come back in the night if a mountain lion or coyote doesn't get him. One chicken and the guinea fowl got up in a tree and refused to come down. They can stay there all night too as far as I am concerned. The culled cows are bawling from the pasture on the far side of the river for their weaned calves. Hope they shut up when we go to bed. This morning we were wakened by a cock just outside our window. There will be chicken stew around here before the owners come back in three weeks. posted by *rjb,* *2:53 pm* Comments: Post a Comment
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