Broken water pipes ugh !!!

May 17th, 2008


When we came back from Burns with Bob, I ran out to feed the horses and noticed a wet spot about 3 feet in diameter out in front of the wooden horse barn… I thought to myself, oh darn it's probably a leaking water pipe. After dinner I went out and looked at it again, this time two hours later it was like 12ft in diameter, drats!!! I could see where the water was bubbling up. So I placed a large rock on the bubbling up spot so I’d know where to start digging and shut the water line to the barn off. The next morning I started digging… oh man what a job, there was a foot deep of cinders and rock that had been put on top of where the waterline is. At some point they had buried a drain field pipe and covered it with rock hoping to get the water away from the barn during the spring rains.The digging took a couple of days, but finally got it dug up… the cinders had worked their way down and worn holes in the steel water line. It actually is amazing that the water line hasn’t froze during winter… it’s barely 14” below the surface…

I replaced the steel with PVC where it's exposed and I also put a frost free hydrant in the barn while we were at… my Dad was a plumber, I always picture him brimming from ear to ear when I shoulder into a plumbing project.

Smuggled out of the hospital

Another favorite Terry and Bob Meck story that he loves to tell is the time that they smuggled him out of the hospital.

It looked like Ansel was going to miss Terry and Bob’s graduation festivities from Burns Union High School. Ansel was had been hospitalized in Harney District Hospital for __________ (I can’t remember, I’ll ask in the morning J) When graduation day came he had told every one (Dr.s and nurses) that come hell or high water he was going to go to Terry’s graduation. They told him that was out of the question, that they would not release him. There was one drill sergeant sort of nurse that took it upon herself, to let everyone know that Ansel was not going to leave the hospital, he was far too ill and the Dr was not going to sign the papers for him to go, there fore he couldn’t.

The afternoon of graduation, in paper bags, the boys brought him his dress clothes and Stetson hat to wear, and then they closed his hospital room door. While Ansel got dressed, they stuffed a bunch of pillows and blankets under the bedcovers, and then they walked Ansel right out the front door and drove him straight to the high school for graduation.

When the graduation was over… Ansel returned to the hospital… and boy was he in trouble with that nurse… she didn’t like one bit that they pulled one over on her… Ansel showed her that he didn’t need a piece of paper with a Dr. signature to go to graduation.

Terry's first deer rifle

May 16, 2008
One of the things that we decided to do while in Harney County, was to have Ansel show us where Terry and Martina’s ashes were scattered. Bob was glad for the opportunity to pay his respects to the final resting place of their earthly bodies.

Ansel and Martina used to own some property up the Silvies River NW of Five Mile Dam, above the Baker place. It was purchased from the Ilda May Hayes family and was known during their ownership as the Cottonwood field and it was bordered to the south and west by their BLM permit.

Ansel loves to tell the story of when Terry was 12 years old and he gave him a 257 Roberts deer rifle. It was Terry’s official first year of hunting. There is a certain point of rocks on the south fence of the Cottonwood field about ½ mile from the SW corner of the property. It’s not very far off the Skull Creek road. A draw comes from south and the Silvies drainage runs east to west in front of it. Ansel said that he left Terry there on point with his new rifle and with all the formal instructions a father would give a son. A bit later after hearing several rounds fired from the area he had left Terry… Ansel hurried back to find Terry with his first buck deer and his second buck deer and his first bob cat.

Ansel said that this serene vista was Terry’s favorite spot on the whole ranch and he had come back to it often in his adult-life. Combined with it’s beauty and the special memories of Terry’s first deer hunt, it was a natural choice to scatter Terry and Martina’s ashes.

So we set out to find the spot. The BLM has done a significant juniper cutting project on the south side of the fence and that made it a little difficult to get to the fence line, but we did. Once we made it to the fence line at the top of the saddle, that separates the BLM and private, it was fairly easy to find to find the rocky point. It was just as Ansel described. (Ansel had waited at the PU) We took several photos and Bob’s GPS Navigator with us to record the coordinates. Then we boaged around a bit looking for arrowheads. That was unsuccessful, but the wild flowers that were out were breath taking.

Ansel points the way

The Rocky Point (from below)

Looking north from the point, the Silvies River is in the canyon running east and west.

Bob checking the GPS coordinates

Bob Meck Visits

May 14, 2008 The 2nd week of May we were blessed to have a visit from Bob Meck of Bethesda, MD. Bob went to high school in Burns and was a classmate and friend of Terry’s. They graduated from BUHS in 1959. Bob ended up living with Ansel and Martina at their Lawen house his senior year of high school. Bob has kept in touch with the Marshall's over the years.

It worked out perfect that I had a meeting in Burns the 15th while Bob was here, so it was a good excuse for all of us to load up and head across the desert to spend a couple of days in Harney County. The weather was wonderful. The two hour drive each way gave us plenty of time for visiting.
While at Burns, we camped at Will and Toni's, and are just about to enjoy yummy sour dough pancakes :o)

Remembering Katie

I have mentioned in earlier posts, that Will and Laurie Brown used to neighbor Ansel and Martina's ranch north of the Indian reservation towards 5 mile dam. Their house was a mile beyond the gate in the picture above and then around to the left up the draw. Below is Ansel's barn. The County Rd ran between the house and the barn. The lane to Will and Laurie's home was just around the corner beyond the barn.

Ansel was reminiscing about the girls this morning. Martina was gone a lot and spent most of her time in Bend. Ansel enjoyed seeing the girls, Jesse and Katie most school days. Jesse and Katie, Will and Laurie’s youngest two girls used to ride their bikes down to Ansel and Martina’s and leave their bikes there to catch the school bus. They’d lean their bikes up against the yard fence. It was a good mile up a gravel road from the county to get to their house. Will and Laurie both had day jobs in town. Ansel said he might not see them in the morning, but most afternoons they'd hunt him up, if only to say Hi. He was usually around there someplace close, either in the barn or the house… If the weather was bad one way or the other, too hot, too cold, too windy or rainy… Ansel remembers distinctly that it was Katie who would come and find him and with her big round eyes look up with a gleam in her eyes and sheepish little grin and ask him, “Ansull [sic], do you think you could take us home” and Ansel would say "why sure, I think I might be able to take you home". Then he'd load up their bikes in the back of his old forest green pickup and drive them home. Sometimes they would come in for cookies or a piece of candy, he and Martina always had candy around.

Ansel remembers the girls helping him move cattle and that Katie could ride like the wind and was fearless. She sometimes rode a speckled pony, and he remembers worrying about her when she rode Shorty… "cause Shorty was un-predictable"… Katie had big round eyes, round cheeks and was always laughing and smiling. Both girls were very sweet, and very very polite and were a big help when we moved cattle.

Katie was Will and Laurie's youngest, she died May 14, 1994 after falling from her horse at the Harney County fairgrounds following a 4-H event. She is loved and remembered, as are Will and Laurie... ((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))

Willy Molter

Ansel said Bill Molter was the leading race horse trainer in Canada, he trained the great horse Round Table. Got him to be the leading money earner of the world. Round Table himself would make a book on his own.

When Bill was still riding he was called Willy. He had (owned) a gray horse by Iron Crown II, and one time he ran him at Calgary at the Stampede Park, and they were all in the Jock's room just before the riders went out to get on their horses. He gave his valet $10.00 and told him to go bet on the gray horse to win. So Ansel saw this and said, well if thats what he thought, then that was worth his money too, and gave the valet $10.00 to bid on the gray horse for him too, and then the horse finished third. When Bill came back to the Jock's room, he patted himself on the back and said to himself laughing, “well Pally you got him beat today, but I’ll let you ride him back the next time I run him”.

Addendum taken from: TexasEscapes.com by Bill Bradfield

Willie No. 2 is William Molter Jr. who outgrew his first occupation -- jockey -- and became one of the nation's greatest racehorse trainers. A native of Fredericksburg, he was born in 1910 and launched his training career in 1935. He trained Determine, the 1954 Kentucky Derby winner, and 1958's horse of the year, Round Table.

For four consecutive years, 1946 through 1949, he led America in the number of winners saddled. In his career, Molter saddled 2,160 winners collecting $11.9 million in purses.

Johnny Longden

Johnny Longden is in the first row wearing polka dots, Ansel is in the third row far right (with the ears ;o) Willy Molter is first in the third row with the box pattern on his right sleeve. Ansel isn't sure where the picture was taken.

1st row- Bobby Warren, Charlie Scott, Johnny Longden, Stan Balcom
2nd row- __________, ___________, __________.
3rd row- Willy Molter, Lyle Brown, _____Brown, Ansel Marshall
4th row- Johnny Coclan, Jimmy Coclan, Jimmy Collins, _______, Jay Cowan, Lyman Logan, ________, Larry Arnold.

1932 at Whittier Park, Winnipeg, Canada Ansel was running with Johnny Longden and they shared the same valet. Ansel said it rained like really hard all night and it was still raining the next morning, and the track was a real sloppy mess. They were in the jocks room and it was still 45 minutes before the race.

Looking out the window at all the rain and slop, Longden said, “Well Ansel, I just saw a mouse run across the track being chased by four cats and when they hit the turn they all four cats fell down, but we’re going to out there an run anyway…”

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Johnny Longden hardly ever whipped his race horses, he would hand ride, (run his hands up the horses neck) He said, that he figured if he was a horse, out there running hard and he was doin his best and you started pounding on him with a whip, why then he would stop, well he’d sure quit running hard anyway.








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