Wyoming Catholic Cowboys

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Conscience

CCC 1776: His conscience is a man's most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose vice echoes in his depths.

https://youtu.be/xOQ_9IyPoCs

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Reap

We reap what we sow, for good or ill.

https://youtu.be/M3Qi7A-mJuA

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Charity

Be perfect in charity.

https://youtu.be/zh2rl4zw-Xs

Monday, June 19, 2023

Killing with Kindness

There's method to our Lord's madness.

https://youtu.be/IWEJPIVwJFA

Sunday, June 18, 2023

Ranchin' Around

It's been a prolific spring on the Durham Ranch. Calves and grass abound. Having a buddy in town who has a love for buffalo, we set up a tour with my friend and ranch head honcho John Flocchini.

There's pushing 800 calves on the ground on this 55k acre ranch north of Wright.

Fr. Alan Bower is a priest for the Diocese of St. Augustine in Florida and is currently working with Cross Catholic Outreach, an international charitable organization. He celebrated the morning Masses in Gillette and then ran down to Wright with me in the afternoon.

John is always a gracious tour guide.

The buffalo are neat, but John's always interested in the terrain. Their grazing program mirrors the days when the Bison ran free. They're only in this pasture for 3-4 days before moving on, and won't be back here for another 400 days or so.

Part of this intensive grazing is the Buff's hooves stirring up the dirt, so when a bit of rain comes it soaks right in.

The calves are a good month old by now and all the adults are shedding their winter coats.

Their wool rolls around the prairie and gets picked up by mice and birds for nests.

With a wet spring, the cactus is in good bloom.

The Lupine is looking good too.

To top it off, John sent us home with some homegrown top sirloin Bison steaks. Fr. Alan sure enjoyed it. I stuck to the beef.

It's always fun to get to know brother priests. Fr. Alan has a good heart and a joyful disposition, two fine characteristics in a man of the cloth. Keep up the good work, Padre. The world needs more holy priests!

Authority

True fatherly authority only comes from being in relationship with God the Father as His beloved sons.

https://youtu.be/kFIl8YYtB7U

Saturday, June 17, 2023

Immaculate Mary

Mary keeps us in our Father's house.

https://youtu.be/tyyioCxUxlI

Friday, June 16, 2023

Cattlemen

The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus reveals that God loves us with a human heart. With that in mind, Kelly and I set off to glorify the Lord with our lives. No better way to do that than by chasing cows.

Kelly's my right hand man. Whether it's on the Altar or in the pasture, he's always one step ahead of me.

Today was redemption day. The last horse Kelly was on broke four of his ribs. The only way to heal after something like that is to saddle back up.

It was time to pull our critters out of John's place. He has some other cows coming in so we decided to get while the getting was good. Of course we found the girls hiding in the trees.

Getting them all going in the right direction was a bit of a chore.

As well as finding a place to bring them down that's not rim-rocked.

Giddy up.

Well done.

A good fence is worth 10 cowboys.

https://youtu.be/Z_V1jqEt_b8

Good ride cowboy.

Once in the corral we loaded them up in Paddy Wagon. I always wondered if you could fit five cows in the back half of her. Guess so.

We weren't done though. I wanted to put some fly tags in their ears. John didn't have a squeeze chute so we borrowed the neighbor's.

Got er' done.

It was a trick loading them back up again. And to top it off, we had to chain up to get out of there. Any time I can put iron on my tires I'm a happy camper.

Then we unloaded them at Joe's place where they'll spend the rest of the summer.

But before we kicked them loose we rode the fence.

This was a cute little find. You can almost step right over these fawns without them moving. Pretty obedient to mom, I'd say.

Good luck girls. Don't eat it all in one day.

Muy Bien.

I love chasing cows. And when it's with a good buddy, all the better. I've been around a lot of cowboys, but not as many cattlemen. A good cattleman thinks like a cow. He makes going where he wants them to go their idea. Kelly and I are cattlemen in progress. But what fun is it to be a finished product? Life's about the journey as much as the destination. Jesus not only leads us home to Heaven, He also teaches us how to enjoy life in the process. Thanks Lord for a good day. We're on to the next one!