W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A . C O M
23
Arriving at the Carpenter's, we immediately sad-
dled up for a ranch tour. In anticipation of the trip,
the group had read Judy Blunt's account of growing
up in eastern Montana, Breaking Clean. Her book
includes a gripping description of the horrific winter
storm of 1964 in which thousands of cattle died, and
many survivors lost their ears to frost bite. And, there
before us, the book sprang to life in the form of Ears
— the big, charming, and healthy, cow favored by the
Carpenter family, so named because she had lost her
ears to winter frost bite.
Soon Brandon had everyone talking cow talk,
reading bovine body language, and partnering with
each their horses to sort and separate out the cattle.
Pearl, the undeniable and unabashed ringleader of
the Giddy-Up Girls got her comeuppance when
Brandon sent her on Whiskey to sort out cow num-
bered 27, which, of course, didn't exist. Meanwhile,
Shari, Brandon's mom, made sure that the only way
we didn't gain weight from her marvelous food was
to keep us laughing ourselves silly over her stories
and jokes. In fact, we lost weight. Big chunks of
hearts remained behind when we departed.
SUE FISH
CONTINUED
