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by Dennis Bright What a difference a day makes! Today dawned sunny and warm after a week of storms and high winds. Who would of thought that these first weeks of March could have rivaled the floods of January? But they sure have. On Friday afternoon I was working at my desk in our ranch office, when a terrific blast of wind hit the house causing it to shudder violently. Outside 50-foot pine trees were bending over so far, I thought they were going to snap in half like matchsticks. Right then, at the height of the gust, my two dogs started barking at the back door. I started to assure "Starr" and "Skeeter" that it was only the wind, when I happened to look outside at the horses. They were obviously startled by something back over by the barn. I quickly put on my hat and rain slicker and headed out into the storm. As I rounded the corner of the driveway, I couldn't believe my eyes; an entire section of tin roofing had landed on top of my truck. I'm not talking about a few sheets of tin , I'm talking a 20x30 piece of roof with rafters still attached. The first thing I thought was that a portion of the barn roof had blown off. To my great relief, it wasn't from either of the two main barns but from a covered paddock that we used for storage. My next concern were the live electrical wires that were arcing on the ground. They had been knocked down by the roof as it was lifted like a kite up and over the two-story cow barn. I went back into the house and asked Kristin to call PG&E. She told me to check first and make sure there wasn't a witch under the truck. I had to remind her this wasn't Kansas. After switching off the main breaker to the barn, I went to work on getting my truck out from under the wreckage. I was finally able to back it out from under the heap by propping up the tin with 4x4 posts. The truck survived with a cracked windshield and some minor dents and scratches. I called my Farmers Insurance agent, Mike Dunne and told him what had happened. He said this was the first time he'd ever heard of a roof landing on a truck and would check into the coverage for me. The next morning we started the cleanup efforts with help from a friend of ours, Dave Calvello, who is an electrician. He was able to repair the electrical damage and assured me that the wiring was not going to short out and burn down the barn! Just another exciting day at the Bright Ranch. This winter storm did bring us a long-awaited new addition to the Bright Ranch. About three and a half weeks ago I brought a pregnant mare "Vanna" back to the ranch. We had our vet Dr. Bruce give her a check-up just to make sure everything was going as planned. He said she was doing fine and would probably be due to foal within a week. So the count down began! Remember the lovely warm weather we had back in February? I couldn't help feeling a little smug in the timing as I had planned on having "Vanna" deliver her foal in the fresh green pasture at the front of the ranch. As her due date drew closer, Kristin and I began taking turns checking on her throughout the night. This was Kristin's first experience with foaling and I really wanted to make sure everything went just right. Her due date came and went and still no baby. By this time, I was really starting to miss my sleep. I should also mention one of our youth students and good friends, Mollie Clampitt (13), who helps us with everything on the ranch including our eighteen month-old daughter Katharine. Mollie took a very personal interest in the upcoming big event . After about a week of daily phone calls to check on "Vanna's" condition, she convinced her parents to let her spend the weekend with us so she wouldn't miss it. Unfortunately for Mollie, the foal was not in a hurry. After waiting almost two weeks, the weather took a bad turn and we made the decision to bring the mare up into the barn. Our neighbor Leora Silva came by to visit and see how the mare was doing. After hearing about all of our sleepless nights, I guess she felt sorry for us and offered to bring over her barn camera and monitor for us to borrow. What a great piece of equipment! After installing the camera inside "Vanna's" stall, I ran the cable into the house which enabled us to observe the mare from the couch. This was a big improvement, thank goodness for neighbors! On Wednesday, March 8th "Vanna" finally began to show signs that she was in labor. At about 8:30pm I got a phone call from Mollie asking if she could come over again to help. While Mollie was on her way over, I put Katharine down to sleep. (Kristin was at a meeting so I had babysitting duty!) I came back downstairs, sat on the couch, glanced over at the monitor and to my surprise, she was beginning to deliver the foal! I was running out the door as Mollie arrived just in time for me to yell, "Come on! She's having her baby!" We rushed over to the barn through the mud and pelting rain and entered very quietly. We stood by the stall door and watched as the foal was born. As he struggled to his feet, I carefully entered the stall to dry him off. Watching the mare and her new baby together was a very rewarding experience, especially for Mollie. As the wind howled and the rain continued to pour down, I thought to myself, "You sure picked one heck of a night to be born ." So we named him "Stormy." The beginning of life, no matter how many times I've seen it, never ceases to amaze me. Last modified: Sunday, July 28, 2002 |
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