The Cowboy Way

Tehachapi-My hometown and a quiet way of life.

Many of you have never been to Tehachapi and hear me talking about how small and quiet it is. Lot's of trees and cattle and 4 different street lights. It has a town square where all the action of shopping at Albertons and meeting up at a fast food place is the place to be. You can tell it's on the up and up because it just got a Starbucks of all things and Home Depot opened up on the edge of town. It's a little sad to see how much it's grown in the last 10 years with big chains now coming in. Growing up there you craved more action and more stores but now that I'm older with my own family I see the charm and luxury of such a small town. I think it's a different way of life. Much more slow paced.

My dad lives on a ranch with a lot of cattle and in the last 3 years he's started a new tradition. Every spring about 4-6 calves are born. When they are old enough they need to be branded because they roam the land and every now and then one will get out. And also that's apparently what you do when you have cattle. The branding has now turned into a full day event with several families coming together. After the branding is all done we barbeque, usually with Mark doing most of the cooking. The kids have a blast playing in the dirt and running up and down the hills. Mark has a blast fulfilling his childhood dreams of being a cowboy. As you can see above the cows are all okay afterwards and continue their lives of grazing in the field. The other pictures are of Peyton and a boy named Drew, which got a little confusing at times, my Drew with my dad, and the guys participating in the Branding. I'm trying to figure out how to caption them but so in the meantime you'll just have to enjoy the messy layout.