Ranch hands Sam and Samuel, at Meling Ranch...

Meling Ranch employs two ranch hands, Samuel and Sam. Like the women who work at the ranch, these guys are experts at multi-tasking, and they work very hard to keep the ranch going.

Photo: After a hard day at the ranch, Samuel relaxes on the porch of his cottage, and pets his dog, "Blackie."

Samuel is the ranch foreman. He's in charge of the horses, the cattle, and the other livestock, such as the chickens and the lone hog, who's main function is the organic garbage disposal of the ranch. You'll find Samuel very busily shoveling hay to the cattle or horses, fixing something in the blacksmith shop, or riding on a tractor. Besides running the outside operations of the working cattle ranch, he's also "Mr. Fix-it" for the ranch vehicles and equipment, and he keeps the generator running and filled with diesel. Samuel resides in a comfortable cottage on the ranch directly behind the dining room, and after the days work is finished, or during the afternoon break, you can catch him relaxing in an easy chair in front of his cottage, playing with one of his dogs. Samuel is friendly, but a little reserved, but he's a great guy to strike up a conversation with.

Photo: Samuel, relaxing after work, and waiting for the dinner bell to ring. Note the Coulter, a.k.a., "digger" pine tree to the right of the photo, which is a common tree found in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California.

Photo: Sam checks the fuel level in the tank the provides diesel to run the generator. Meling Ranch generates its own electricity, and the generator runs about 8 hours per day.

Sam, not to be confused with Samuel, is the junior ranch hand, and he answers to Samuel, the ranch foreman. Sam, being junior, has a tendency to perform the more menial chores at the ranch, such as taking out the trash, splitting logs, keeping the log box in the kitchen full, feeding the animals, cutting the grass, keeping the pool clean, painting woodwork, sweeping sidewalks, and anything else that needs to be taken care of. I also watched him cut the grass, pull weeks, tend to the garden, and maintain the pool.

Photo: Sam takes a hike across the grass, by the dining room.

Photo: Sam, in the foreground, repairs a broken sprinkler head, as Antonia, in the background, cleans a patio set.

Meling Ranch, all 10,000 acres of it, is a working cattle ranch, and both Sam and Samuel are cowboys, and experts at all of the many tasks it takes to keep a ranch going. If you make prior arrangements with Meling Ranch, you can arrange for one of the ranch hands to take you on a pack trip, into the nearby Sierra San Pedro Martir mountains, or act as a guide so you don't get lost while exploring one of the numerous four wheel drive trails in the area. If you visit the ranch in the spring, you can watch them rope and brand cattle. These guys are truly versitile!

Photo: Sam and Samuel eat breakfast at the table in the kitchen reserved for staff, as Julie does dishes.

Both of these cowboys are as rugged as the remote Baja California landscape where Meling Ranch is located. Like the women who work at Meling Ranch, these guys enjoy what they do, and the're good at what they do, and it really shows. Rancho Meling is fortunate to have a couple of versitile guys like Samuel and Sam working as ranch hands.