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Gallina Canyon Ranch's Blog; News From The Canyon. -new- The new loading chute in the lower corral is nearly finished, though we still need a ramp. It was built out of oil well pipe, cut with a torch and welded piece by piece, with iron posts sunk into the Earth with concrete. The amount of work was much greater than it actually looks, and after ten hours of hard relentless work it was disappointing and a bit crushing to the spirit to see so little progress. But it sure beats a desk job. David, April 2. Andrew has dragged the road with a massive iron rail, smoothing out the rough spots and making the road much nicer to drive on. The next day I walked the road, packing a shovel and drinking water, and moved a few trillion rocks off the road; enough to build a sixth continent, with a few coastal islands. When I returned, Heifer 49 had her baby which I have named "Equinox." There is an astounding amount of work left to do before spring round-up on May Fourteenth. Fences need to be examined and repaired; horses need to be combed to get their winter coats thinned (which they appreciate); the spring where our water comes from needs to be opened up and cleaned; Casita and Jacal need to be cleaned. And yet all I feel like doing is reading books, eating cheese, and playing with the dogs. David, March 24. Elizabeth has been slaving away in the garden, making it ready for the flowers that will be transplanted from their germinating bins in the sun room, maybe in April, perhaps in May. Some of the perennials have already bloomed. Mrs. Davis' irises, transplanted from the old homestead five miles west of here, have reappeared. The heifers have been in the upper corral waiting to have their babies. They seem in no hurry to have them, and then join the main herd. It still astonishes me how much hay a heifer can eat. David, March 12. The project to build a tall fence around the big garden is 3/4ths finished; the goal is to keep the elk out of the tomatoes, summer squash, onions, beets, and green chili. Last summer an industrial-sized elk, sporting massive antlers and a surly attitude, visited the garden every night and did what he pleased to the plants--- despite my best efforts to keep him out. This year the fence is over ten feet tall, with massive cedar and oak fence posts. Last fall's harvest of beans and chilies was utterly miserable: barely enough to be worth harvesting. Elk are pretty to watch, but not when they're standing hip deep in the beans, trampling my lunch. The solution, of course, is to eat the elk. David, February 22.