Working for Thulesens

I was released from the Army in March, 1959. I worked around town, Miles City, for several months in various jobs. After working several months in these less than memorable jobs, I went to work for Jim and Bettylou Thulesen on their ranch out by Powderville. I think that I went to work for them just after Christmas in 1960.

Jim had a project that he wanted my help on. He had a hay stacker called a Farmhand. To use it you had to tie up a tractor. So he bought a truck frame, turned the gears around and mounted this hay stacker on it. We worked on it for a couple of months besides doing the usual chores and feeding cows. It turned out real fine and worked real good.

I don't remember everything that happened while working for them, but I will hit a few highlights. One time I was riding in the back of a pickup holding up a motor that we were taking down to the shop. We hit a bump and the motor tipped over on my leg and cut a big gash in it, I think clear to the bone in front. We bandaged it up and kept on with our work. That took a long time to heal up, but it finally did. Jim got almost hurt one time; we were unloading a load of grain with an augur and it grabbed his pants and went all the way to the top. We managed to get it stopped in time.

As a 20 or 21 year old I don't remember their kids very well. I do remember Karen who would go, go, go, and then all of a sudden fall asleep. I thought that was kind of funny. My sister Bertha later came to know them real well and has told me about their kids.

While there, I slept in a nice little room next to the front porch. In my free time I was able to read, especially the Bible as I had come back to the Lord at the Foursquare Church in Miles City and attended whenever I was able. It was my birthday, May 31, and no one had said much to me about it all day. That evening we were sitting at supper, I was feeling kind of sorry for myself. I saw cars coming unexpectedly down the road and it was people from my church and family giving me a surprise birthday party. It was wonderful.

One of my favorite things around there was the wildlife, especially the antelope. While driving to the main road, antelope would often go across the path of your vehicle and try to cross in front of you. If you sped up they would straighten up on the road ahead of you. One day this happened and I thought, this is my chance to see how fast an antelope can run. At 60 MPH he pulled away from me, at 70 MPH, I gained on him. Now he was kind of an old antelope so maybe others could run faster. This is a big argument in Montana, how fast an antelope can run.

I had another adventure with a mama antelope. I was plowing a field and every time I came around I saw an antelope up a kind of draw. She was fidgeting around and acting kind of strange. After a while I saw a baby antelope there beside her. I got off the tractor and walked up toward her, stupid I know. She stamped her foot and warned me back and I didn't push it, I went back. She kept doing this strange behavior and after a while I saw another baby antelope.

I also saw a very interesting strutting session with prairie chickens. They were in a big group with hens all over the place. The males would fluff up their front and strut around trying to impress females. Since then I have seen wild turkeys do that but this was the only time I saw prairie chickens do it. You could drive around them and they paid no attention.

In the summer, Jim took his cows to the summer pasture. Then we had to go out there and check on them once in a while. We would usually take along a little cake (for cows) and treat whatever cows came up to us. One time a young heifer came up to us with three porcupine quills in her lip and into her tongue. We got a rope around her and then just didn't dare let go. We finally got her choked down enough to control her and get the quills out. Another time we found an adult cow that had suffered a prolapse. Jim left me there to keep an eye on her while he went back to the house and returned with a trailer and a horse. Then he roped the cow and after a battle we controlled her and cleaned up and sewed up her prolapse. We also took the bulls out to the summer pasture to be with the cows at the appropriate time and then had to stay and watch to see how some of the young bulls performed or didn’t perform.

I had another incident with a prolapse back at the house once. One young heifer had got shut in a corral with a bunch of yearling bulls and they kept riding her until she strained and prolapsed. Then she got all stuffed up and we couldn't get it out. We actually hung her up by her hind legs to keep her from straining and then used a baby syringe to put some mineral oil up into her. She really spouted from the rear end when that happened. Then we sewed her up. Ranchers usually ship them the next time when they prolapse.

One time I helped fight a grass fire on the prairie. Ranchers watch very carefully for fires and really jump on it when it happens. It was on a fairly distant neighbors place but every one from far and wide went there to fight it with wet gunny sacks. We got it out pretty quick.

One time Jim and Bettylou went to town. I was plowing a field at the farthest point on the ranch from home, about 4 ½ miles. After lunch they took me back to the field, I only had a few turns to go and then they told me to bring the tractor and plow back home. They had just disappeared over the hill toward home and I had made one turn when the front tire popped. I couldn’t go anywhere. I was tough in those days so I set off for home. When I got there I laid almost full length in a stock trough to cool off before taking a drink of water. Then I looked at the thermometer, it was 114.

I had planned to go to Los Angeles to LIFE Bible college the last part of August so had to leave a little earlier than they really wanted me too. I really loved Jim and Bettylou Thulesen and their kids. My sister Bertha tells me that they are both still going strong at 91 and I forget what town they are living in now. I really treasure my memories of my time spent with them.