I hope you have been staying warm through the recent cold weather. The weatherman says a polar vortex is to blame. In other words, the constant mass of cold air circling above the North Pole has strengthened with the onset of winter. Then this large mass of frigid air sinks south where the jet stream holds the frigid mass to the north not allowing it to dissipate by blending with warmer air. All this to explain what my grandfather used to explain by saying, “We are having a bad cold spell of Arctic air that is locked in on top of us and the jet stream is going to have to move before this can blow out of here.”  Cold weather creates stories to be retold.

There was a time my grandfather was walking home from Mills, N.M., to the east. It was snowing and the wind picked up into a blizzard. He was watching for his east fence, but the driving snow caused him to drift south more than he realized. He missed the southeast corner by a little bit which headed him toward the canyons with no way of knowing really where he was heading. To be walking toward the canyons blindly in a blizzard is a bad situation on many levels to say the least. 

Above the storms’ roar he thought he heard a dog barking off to his right. He pondered that a few minutes and decided to head toward where he thought he heard the barking. In a short distance he stumbled into a fence. He quickly realized that had to be his south fence and he was not where he thought he was. He followed the fence a short distance and came to a gate across the ditch at the corner of the lower garden which he recognized, and followed the ditch a short distance to the house. Safe at last. That was one day he certainly did not get after the dog for barking.

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Another story was related to me of an old-time cowboy born in the 1890s and in the 1940s there came a 30-inch snow. He had about 100 head of cows that drifted with the storm somewhere. He shoveled his way to the saddle shed and got saddled up and mounted when a young kid there with him asked “Do you think you can find them? All he said was “I hope so” and he headed out slowly looking for any sign downwind of where he knew they were before the storm began. The going was slow fighting drifts, hidden washes, and uneven ground, but he finally found some sign and came upon a few of the old girls and then the others. He went to work opening a trail to water and then he worked getting them a little bit of feed, barely enough but he saved them and always claimed he saved 100 head on about 100 pounds of feed. About a pound for each cow. There was no clock with a quitting time, just a deadline of how long the cattle could last without his help. Times were tough, so he did not have more feed to put out, and with the deep snow things were rough. He fought the weather and did the best he could for the cows.

Come ride along with me as we do essential chores on a wintery morning during a bad cold spell.

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Winter Work

Winter blast cold of heart,

With your frozen world of woes.

Bring haughty brags of drifts and ice,

As bitter thy north wind blows.

In early morn I groan and greet thee,

Peering through frosted windowpane.

I fondly recall a scant few months back,

The heat of August and sweet summer rain.

I trudge forth to complete my workday,

weighted down by winter clothes.

Even then within a short time,

 I’m plagued with numbing fingers face and toes.

It’s no small task to mount my pony,

 Straightjacketed in winter gear.

 But the job is there waiting to be done,

Regardless of the weather or time of year.

I break the ice so stock can water,

The axe sends ice shards flying about.

Yet the axe work is not the worst of it,

Bare hands fish the broken ice chunks out.

I feed the hay with club-like hands,

But I am finally done at last.

It takes me so much longer,

Stumbling around in this Arctic blast.

Back to the house and warmth,

Fingers too numb to remove frozen gear.

As warmth flows in, they burn and throb,

Hot coffee brings a smile from ear to ear.

A Cowman’s work in wintertime,

Will test character, vigor, and vim.

Yet he’ll do what’s needing done,

For his cattle are depending upon him.