Monthly Archives: February 2019

Quote

Posted on February 18, 2019 by John | 1 comment

Low snow up canyon, cold
rain at dawn, vernal pools
in the pasture stand full
waiting for Wood Ducks,
waiting for spring.

Sycamores stripped naked,
their white limbs wave
from across the creek
upon these ponds of water
in the evening sun.

Headlights slash the darkness,
a caravan of jeeps
and 4-wheel drives
whine down canyon—
weary songs back home.

1 Comment

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2019, Ranch Journal

Tagged photography, poetry, snow, Sulphur Peak

RIGHT OR WRONG

Posted on February 17, 2019 by John | 5 comments

Red, white and blue remind
of the friends who went
and never came home,
and those that did
that can’t forget
who they had to be—

of my father
and those before him
who believed
my Country, right or wrong.
How can I not be proud
of them, yet disagree?

I submit my flag
has been stolen from me,
waved to obfuscate debate
and silence truth.
But I submit my flag
as the genius to create

                    a more prefect Union,
                    establish Justice,
                    insure domestic Tranquility,
                    provide for the common Defense,
                    promote the general Welfare,
                    and secure the blessings of Liberty,
                    to ourselves and our Posterity

in the face of future
charlatans and Kings.
I submit my flag
as the backdrop
for partisan stage plays
where heroes become outlaws.

My Country, right or wrong?

5 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2019

Tagged poetry, political poetry

GOOD BAD WEATHER

Posted on February 16, 2019 by John | 4 comments

Dry cordwood stacked, I crave
unpredictable clouds of change,
the cold and ice, the hail and rain

and the look of snow-capped green,
black cattle grazing an angry gray—
fancy whiskey in a glass with you

inside, woodstove sucking air to flame.
No matter what the pundits say,
it doesn’t change a thing.

4 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2019

Tagged photography, poetry, rain, snow, weather

Dry Creek

Posted on February 15, 2019 by John | 2 comments

The Dry Creek is up this morning with a 691 cfs flow @ 5:00 a.m. Midway through our 4-day forecast of 2″ of rain, we have received about a half-inch, with another inch promised. For those interested, current atmospheric conditions make forecasting difficult as explained at weather west.com

2 Comments

Posted in Photographs

ADDENDUM

Posted on February 14, 2019 by John | 5 comments

Dim light above the kitchen table,
wet wedding rings beneath ceramic coffee cups,
shod horses fidget in the aluminum gooseneck
outside before daylight.

“Are Bud and Monte comin’?”
“Nope, just you and me, Babe,” he grins
showing teeth beneath his moustache.

“Any stars?” she asks. “It’s s’posed to rain,
you know, sometime today.”

“A few holes in the clouds is all,”
as he looks up at the ceiling.

“With a little luck
we ought to make it up the hill
before it gets slick,
get the cattle down
and be home by the fire
before it gets too wet.”

After a pause and long swallow, she asks,
“You know what day it is?”

“Thursday, I think”

“Is that all?” she lets trail on her way to the sink.
“Oh, I’ll be goddamned.

Happy Valentine’s Day!”

5 Comments

Posted in Photographs, Poems 2019

Tagged photography, poetry, Valentine's Day

Ramblin Jack Elliott

Posted on February 11, 2019 by John | 5 comments

One of a kind! By my reckoning, it was over fifty years ago when I first heard Jack at the Ashgrove. Amazing!

5 Comments

Posted in Photographs

Tagged Elko, National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, NCPG, photography

Snow on Dry Creek

Posted on February 10, 2019 by John | 3 comments

Light dusting this afternoon down to 2,500′ on Dry Creek. Exceeding the forecast, just shy of an inch of rain overnight and this morning. It’s wet out there.