That spurred another round of laughter which took a while to settle down. Nicole and I made breakfast and put it on the table. Spike said the prayer and we all dug in and ate a hearty breakfast. While we ate, spike laid out the plan for all of us to pitch in and get the morning chores done. He said, "Britt, you and Nicole can fix up some sandwiches while we go down to the barn to do the chores because with the four of us working, we can have them done long before noon. By the time we get dressed and the horses saddled, we can be on our way. We'll stop somewhere along the trail and eat before we start moving some beef."
We finished up breakfast and the guys left to put on their boots while Nicole and I did up the dishes and made some sandwiches for lunch. I pulled out the canvas bag I had used for the picnics and put the sandwiches and some chips in the bag. I told Nicole I folded her colored clothes and they were on the washer. She thanked me for folding them up for her and said she'd take them to the bunk house when she went.
I looked at the clock and said, "The guys will be finished shortly so I might as well go and get dressed. Oh, Nicole, I think I'll start out with my shirt in the lunch bag, I'm not going to put one on unless I have to. You can do the same if you want."
"I love that idea Britt. I'll toss my shirt in there too. I'm going down to the bunk house and start getting dressed. See ya in a bit, Britt." Both of us laughed and I went upstairs while Nicole headed for the bunk house.
As much as I hated to do it, I was almost finished dressing by the time grandpa came upstairs to get dressed. I told him I was going to take a shirt but not wear it and he told me that was ok as long as I had one with me if I needed to keep the sun off my shoulders. I told him Nicole wasn't going to wear a shirt either. He smiled at me and said, "Britt, I don't know what to say other than, thank you ... thank you for all you have done in such a short time."
We got dressed and I said, "Grandpa will you cinch my saddle up tight. I'll put it on, but I'll need you to tighten it until I get used to doing it myself."
He looked at me lovingly and said, "You know I will honey. But just be careful with that grandpa stuff, I don't want these new hands to know about us."
"I've been careful to only call you that when we are together. When I think someone else might be around, I'll call you spike. But grandpa, I only want to show you my love and respect with acknowledging you as my grandfather. You have become the man of my dreams and there won't be any man who walks this earth going to replace you as my number one guy. Sorta like you are with grandma. I love you that much."
The last thing I put on was my new hat, well that is, before we got to the barn and I strapped on my chaps and fastened them down each leg. Nicole came over to me and opened the bag with my shirt and the sandwiches and deposited her shirt. Spike fixed up a canteen for both of us and when I had my saddle on my horse, he hung the canteen on the saddle horn and cinched my saddle strap all at the same time. We walked our horses outside, and I noticed that both snake and spike had their rifles in their scabbard.
Spike came over to me and without anyone really noticing, he hoisted my ass up into the saddle and then went back to his horse and popped up into his saddle. We started off with spike and snake leading the way, Nicole and me next in line followed up by Mark and Steve. We were only out a little ways when spike held up and snake got down and fixed some gates. He closed a couple and opened one. Spike said, "This is the lot where we are going to run a couple hundred head into. I want to get them closer so if the beef market is up, I'll have some ready to sell."
We rode for more than an hour until spike called a halt beside a stream. We got off our horses and spike said, "Might as well eat here cause we'll start moving the cattle in another little bit. I don't want to stop and eat once we start them moving."
I got down the bag of sandwiches and with our canteen of water along with some chips, we munched out while our horses drank water from the stream. Nicole said, "Spike, I want to thank you for the opportunity to ride without my shirt on. The breeze feels so much cooler."
Spike said, "Thank Britt not me, she's the one who started all this nude stuff. I used to sit on the porch in the evening, in the nude but this is a first for me too, working in the barn while I'm nude."
While we were sitting, I noticed spike had his shirt open but both Mark and Steve took their shirts off. Before we got back on our horses, both spike and snake took off their shirt and tied them behind their saddle where I tied the canvas bag. Again, spike nonchalantly boosted my ass up into my saddle without any fanfare and no one else seemed to notice.
On our way again all of us rode closer to spike so he could tell everyone what he wanted us to do. He designated snake and Steve to do all the cutting of the beef. He told Steve to follow snake's lead because he was familiar with the size of the beef, he would want to bring in.
He told Mark to take the left side of the herd and he would take the right side and they needed to get the beef headed in the direction we had come. He told Nicole to handle the left front of the herd and for me to ride the right front of the herd. It was our job to keep the beef in line and to head them back to the open gate.
Snake and Steve started cutting out the beef and both Mark and spike stayed to either side of them. The cattle started moving forward with Mark and spike maneuvering their horses back and forth to keep them in a line. They pushed any strays back into the herd. It was no easy task especially at first but once we got them moving, there were always a few strays that had to be pushed back to the main herd. Obviously, it took us longer to get back to the open gate than it took us to ride out where the beef were pastured.
I realized quick enough that Nicole and I had the easier job to move the herd ahead but not too far until snake and Steve finished cutting out the beef they wanted, and we all worked together to keep them in line.
We did what I considered an excellent job with the six of us working together. Since I'd never done a round up before, I was impressed. My horse (Dustin) had been trained so I let him do what he was supposed to do, and he made me look good. For any strays on my side, I pointed Dustin towards the stray, and he moved them right back in line. I followed spike's advice and used the reins very little but kept my knees in towards Dustin and my heels outward unless needed. We had the cattle moving forward and Nicole gave me the thumbs up and I returned it to her.
I looked beside me and behind me and saw we had a hell of a lot of cattle moving in the same direction and I swelled up with pride then thought back to my mom saying, "You don't want to be out on that dusty old ranch."
It made me wonder how many times did she sit on a powerful horse and see the cattle moving beside and behind her. Spike caught up to me and asked how I was doing, and I looked at him and said, "I am feeling fucking marvelous. I'm going to fuck you tonight until you can't walk."
He laughed and pulled his horse and headed back behind me somewhere. I looked over at Nicole and she was smiling and gave me the thumbs up again, which I returned. We rode on and a few times Dustin moved one way or the other to keep a beef in check, but I thought it was a fairly decent ride. A couple hours later I saw the gate that snake had opened coming up, so I looked around to see where everyone was, but Nicole was the only one I saw.
The gate was open and when I got near the fence, I turned Dustin and headed him back so we could watch the herd move forward. Nicole on the other side had to catch a couple of beef to keep them moving forward but we did alright getting them through the gate. I saw spike coming along and then in all the dust I saw snake and Steve and realized this was the end of my first round up. We worked together with the remaining beef moving through the gate before snake got off his horse and closed the gate. The beef were happy because the grass in the fenced area was tall and there was plenty of water for them.
We came together by the gate and spike said, I want three of you to ride the fence that way and three ride the fence this way over here. If you see any major holes, we'll have to come out and fix it unless you can patch it together for tonight. I looked at spike and said, "If you don't mind, I'll stick with you."
Snake said, "Nicole you and Mark ride with me and Steve can ride with spike."
Spike took the longer side of the fence and we parted ways. We rode the fence and found a couple of places that needed fixing right away. Spike said, "Steve you and me can fix that, Britt, stay on your horse."
I watched them fix the fence by grabbing a hold of the barbed wire and twisting it. It was a good thing we all had leather gloves on. As we rode on, we found a few more small places that needed fixing but each time it was spike and Steve who did the fixing. I saw the barn off in the distance, but we had run out of fence to look at. About a few hundred yards from the barn, spike said, "Let's walk them to the barn and give them a chance to cool down."
I didn't know what he meant until I saw both of them get off their horse and I immediately did the same. Spike took the reins of his horse and led him towards the barn. We walked the rest of the way to the barn and saw snake, Mark and Nicole were already at the barn.