"The Triangle Y Outfit"

I apologize for the long wait between my last post & now. It is summer, my most favorite time of year & these days you can find me out pushing a mower or working in the garden, two of my most favorite things to do.

The branding of the cattle after the summer round up is a long standing tradition in the Hansen family & I took it upon myself, after realizing that all these years no one has ever taken a single photograph or written anything about it, to photograph & write about it. I'm sure no Hansen ever thought it was worth documenting, after all it's just what they do, year after year, generation after generation, nothing special. That right there is another "Hansen" trait. They don't ever think that anything they do is especially unique & they never think they are any better than the next person. They are all very humble. My dad calls them the "salt of the earth kinda people". Being the outsider looking in & coming from a family whose tradition is to have no traditions, I can't express how much I appreciate the many "Hansen" ways of life & traditions that have been around for generations. It is a rich family life that I can't express in words the gratitude I have for it. Did that make sense? Well , in my head it does. Basically, I Love It!

After taking these photos of the branding, I asked Uncle Doyle if he would write down some of the history of the ranch that is now known as "Hansen Brothers", or as Uncle Floyd calls it, the "Triangle Y Outfit" because of the brand. If you concentrate you can hear Uncle Doyle's voice in your head. Anyways....

"The family patriarch, Joseph Christian Hansen, came to Allen's Camp in 1877. Here he was best known as a farmer and gardener. He was very industrious and enterprising, as well as frugal. One characteristic which he seemed to employ more than most was his desire to increase his holdings, more particularly in land. When he obtained enough land, he began ranching. By the time his sons, James, Delbert & Harvey, were mature enough to start carreers of their own the Hansens had farm & range land sufficient to support what was left of the original family and the families of the three sons. When Jim decided to retire, Delbert & Harvery bought him out. Delbert bought Uncle Harvery's share from his widow after he passed away. The spread was downsized somewhat when he turned it over to Gene & Floyd so that it is not as large as when J.C. hansen built it up. However, Gene & Floyd still have their hands full. One significant portion that has been discontinued is the dairy enterprise. No one wanted to be tied down with a declining profit margin." Dr. Doyle comes out of retirement every once in awhile. On this day he went from long toothed rabbits to earmarking of the cows. I love his chin strap.
Uncle Floyd, cleaning off the branding iron after having branded a calf. Until recently they still did the branding the old fashioned way, with an iron in the fire. But these modern cowboys have got themselves a generator & an iron they can plug in.

The "surgery" as Grandpa Gene calls it.
Grandpa Gene, the surgeon, with all the surgical tools. If there is a castration your needing, he's the one to call. Being a musician, he has more than way to get you to sing soprano!
Gale Hansen, oldest son of Gene & Eleanor Hansen. I guess he could be considered the anesthesiologists. He straps 'em down so they don't move. He's lookin' pretty tough.
Pumpa's truck is a fixture at Manila. He's no longer sitting in it, but when I see it there I'm reminded of him & in my minds I eye I can see him sitting there with the door propped open watching the next generation carrying on the tradition of his father, and in his mind I'm sure he doesn't see anything especially unique, just a job that needs to be done. And so it is with Hansens, if there's a job to be done they just do it with very little talk at all. And that ain't no bull.