Category Archives: Ranch Journal

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STRAWBERRY MOON

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Posted on July 1, 2026 by in Photographs, Ranch Journal

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROBBIN

Posted on June 29, 2026 by | 2 comments

Quiet and still, nothing on the narrow road
before dawn, the birds are sleeping in
on your birthday, hills genuflecting

where heifers graze the dry creek bed,
a moment frozen from our beginning
before the barns, fences and a herd of cows

to be proud of. How we howled in the dark
through the open window, challenged the coyotes,
let the empty canyon know we were here to stay.

All these years on your birthday, too busy
to count them, too busy to care,
too happy to have it any other way.

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Posted in Photographs, Poems 2026, poetry, Ranch Journal

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BARN AS A BANK

Posted on June 26, 2026 by | Leave a comment

Winter’s bank against
cold dry fronts,
almost certain.

An account
to draw from
when it doesn’t rain.

Price up or down,
we put cash in
glad when it’s full.

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Posted in Poems 2026, poetry, Ranch Journal

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PREG CHECKING

Posted on March 30, 2026 by | Leave a comment

The black heifers gather to me
thinking hay, early training
if they make the cut today.

Ultrasound, much less invasive
than palpation, long arm searching
for an embryo to make the cowherd—

replacements for the old girls who
will head to town with their empty sisters.
They crowd around me as if I’m God.

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Posted in poetry, Ranch Journal

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GAMBLING

Posted on March 23, 2026 by | 1 comment

Rain nine days away, they say—those prognosticators.
95 degrees third week in March after a month of dry
as the grass on south and west sloping faces
goes to seed next year’s grazing—or so we hope.

Lifetime wagers on the weather,
and gambles on the market for hay and cattle,
we pray that politicians don’t impede our subsistence
to garner more attention—control and votes like always.

We are the pawns in this equation, farmers, shepherds
of this world, tracing dawns along the ridgelines
chasing seasons for generations—filling empty plates
with much more than what most people see.

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Posted in Photographs, Poems 2026, poetry, Ranch Journal

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BABY BLUE EYES

Posted on March 7, 2026 by | 1 comment

My mother’s favorite,
first of the season,
a family in the same bed

across the creek all these years,
she mentioned fondly
when I was a boy.

Photo: March 24, 2009

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Posted in Photographs, Poems 2026, poetry, Ranch Journal

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SPRINGING

Posted on February 23, 2026 by | Leave a comment

The sycamores are pushing leaves
against green hillsides along the creek—
thin clouds smeared upon blue seas
above fresh snow upstream, and we

old timers wait for the wildflowers
we remember, their names and faces
begging for a moment in the sun
far from the news in Washington.

Thank God it finally rained after months
of fog, the only moisture to keep the grass
alive, and only now does it start to grow
after the frost and freezing mornings

that make strong feed. You can see it piled
behind the heifers, instead of puddles,
licking themselves as if their coats
were combed with gobs of Brylcreem.

It’s the little things that tell the story
I’m looking for—Baby Blue Eyes,
Mariposa Lillies and Pretty Faces
to greet me spring mornings.

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Posted in Photographs, Poems 2026, poetry, Ranch Journal

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STAR STRUCK

Posted on February 22, 2026 by | Leave a comment

Sunday morning’s horoscope suggests
why not write some poetry
planets aligned for me to be
feeling especially inspired or artistic
and I try, despite the broken tooth
too short to extract with vice grips,
crumbling, throbbing with coffee.

Devastation at the distant feral cat’s
food down at the shop, a raccoon,
I suspect, stuck in the small door
cut in its thirty-gallon cover.
I envision the coon panicked, flipping over—
kibble scattered like gravel,
empty dishes upside down, secret
humor as I reclaim the mess.

And the weeds we sprayed yesterday
from the welcome rains that washed-out
all the fences across the creek
between neighbors, their cattle
headed south, tentatively exploring
our empty pasture across from the house.

Dark shadows shrink upon the green,
a picturesque pre-spring day
in-the-making. I sip cold coffee and wait.

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Posted in Poems 2026, poetry, Ranch Journal

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VALENTINE’S DAY 1995

Posted on February 14, 2026 by | Leave a comment

Wild, rough and rocky,
Chemise and Manzanita pulling at my jacket’s sleeve,
we followed a few cows and calves off the hill
towards the corrals below before a branding

people scurrying to set the gates
as we drew closer, you among them
dashing with athletic grace
that captured my attention—

young bull, thirty-seven years ago,
six years friends, before asking
in a poem
would you be my Valentine?

https://drycrikjournal.com/2016/02/14/from-the-heart/

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Posted in Poems 2026, poetry, Ranch Journal

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Iron Roper

Posted on January 18, 2026 by | 1 comment

We branded another bunch on the calf table yesterday, labeled by longtime neighbor Earl McKee as the “Iron Roper”.


The transition from heading and heeling our calves has been smooth, giving us the advantage of branding on short notice as opposed to inviting ropers days in advance during a busy branding season. Though not as much fun, we can get the job done quicker and with less people. We also think it’s easier on the calves not being drug across the corral waiting to be heeled, and keeping the bull calves off the ground while being castrated is also more sanitary.

In any event, it’s also easier on us and our close neighbors, but each to his own, we’ve been there.

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Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal

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