Branding - The Idaho Rancher's Wife

Following the Roads Across the Range

May 26, 2017 by Allison

90% of the time I head out on the range to brand, I drive out myself after the crew of cowboys has left. I don’t believe in waking babies if I can help it. Well rested babies are happy babies and happy babies make for happy mommas. And everyone knows that if momma aint happy, nobody is happy. So to make this momma happy, we go branding but AFTER the babies wake up. You get it…

But as I was saying, I get the privilege of finding my way all on my own. I get to follow the over simplified yet confusing directions to try and find hundreds of cows corralled in the some remote area of the range. I’m actually getting pretty good at finding my way around, but that is only from trial and error from the last few years.

Sometimes I think that my husband forgets that my knowledge of the area (read hundreds of miles and thousands of acres) isn’t the same as his. He tells me directions that would be totally relevant to someone that has lived here for decades and knows everyone. Like when he tells me to turn left at the Taylor Lane. Of course there is no road officially named Taylor Lane but there is a road that Charlie Taylor has property along so of course, that is Taylor Lane. Too bad I didn’t know that. Fortunately, The Rancher told me that across from the road are several, very large hay sheds. Unfortunately, there are hay sheds all along the road like that. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

I swear that some of the roads that I get to drive across the range aren’t “roads” at all but are more like goat trails. They are rough and bumpy and winding and seem to take you nowhere. Eventually you see the cloud of dust from the cows after you have bruised your sacrum from bouncing along the goat trail and you let out a partial sigh of relief. I say only partial because you still have to finish driving the nearly debilitating road to get where you are going and if you breathe too deeply, you feel it in your sacrum…

If the roads aren’t yucky and bumpy, they are probably washed out with craters that are waiting to take out the underside of your truck. Or they are slick and muddy with a special kind of gooey stickiness that has the potential of stopping you in your tracks. I once was explicitly following The Rancher’s instructions that nearly stranded me in the middle of the range’s biggest mud pit. He had forgotten that there was a small road that followed the fence line before his road that followed the fence so when he said take the first road to the right just after the fence it got me into big trouble. My “road just after the fence” was a small road that took me to the end of a bunch of wheel lines and was subsequently a nightmare to drive down.

You are probably laughing at me and thinking, why didn’t I recognize that I was heading down the wrong road? Here is my defense- the road was good when I got started, much better than many of the roads I had driven on before. And secondly, I could see the cows and they were absolutely, straight ahead of me. It was nearly infuriating how I knew it was going badly but I could see where I needed to be. But by good luck and my rancher’s wife skills, I made it alive. Barely…

Despite the roads criss-crossing the range, they all take me where I want to go. And there is probably a lesson to be learned in there. In life, we all have a destination in mind and the road to where we want to go isn’t always easy. It can be frustrating how slow and painful and painfully slow the going may be, but there is so much to learn along the way. And if we don’t learn anything along the way, at least we got a great laugh at how terrible things can get!

Pausing for Perspective

May 24, 2017 by Allison

I love my life. I really do. Its amazing how much joy and satisfaction I find in what we do. I get to watch my kids learn and grow and fail and succeed. They get to watch their dad work and see what it means to have responsibilities and carry them out. It is exhausting and amazing and inspiring… and exhausting.

I love our life but it is exhausting. Most of the time when life gets busy and exhausting, you pause, give yourself some space, do something new to recharge yourself, and then jump back in.

We don’t do that.

Not that we don’t believe it taking a break, but its kinda difficult. With cows, irrigating, haying, feeding, checking water, and all the other things on the never ending check list, we don’t have the time to just up and leave. Not to mention the fact that we live in the middle of nowhere and going anywhere requires plenty of travel time.

But that’s ok.

We may to be able to be world travelers or we might not have the opportunities to visit exotic places. Its all ok, because we have an entire world to explore in our back yard. We have horses and 4wheelers and mountains and trails. We really have everything we need.

What we do, everyday, is what we love. Yes, we get tired of the daily grind, but that is when we load up in the gator and go for a ride. And we take a moment to refocus on what our priorities are and then we get back to it.

I’m in desperate need for such a pause. I am feeling the weight of the work that needs to be done on our home, for our community, in the fields… There is always more work to be done than there is time and energy. Think I can talk The Rancher into taking me on a romantic motorcycle ride tonight?

For the Love of Branding

May 8, 2017 by Allison

I have literally thousands of pictures of branding this spring. THOUSANDS! 5 different days of branding and taking so many pictures of busy cowboys (I might have less if they stopped and posed, but I take what I can get…) has made for so many photos to go through and edit.

I’m certainly not running out of photos, but I feel like I am running out of rocking stories to tell you. Its not that cool things didn’t happen, but I’m just afraid that those details of the day might bore you. Especially since we do about the same thing every year- we gather the herd, sort out the cows, brand the calves, eat lunch and start over.

It really is an exciting day that the crew looks forward to every year. I’d say its their drug of choice that they are going through some seriously withdrawals of roping and riding after a long winter. They take off across the range, adrenaline flowing, and they can’t get enough of it. They rope all day long until they are so sore they can’t keep going. Then they wake up and do it again.

The photos are going to keep coming and hopefully the stories come too! But sometimes, the photos speak for themselves. As they say, “A photo is worth a thousand words!”

Going Nuts Over Branding

April 28, 2017 by Allison

With all of my years of ranching and branding there is something that I have never done. Ok, there are plenty of ranchy-branding things that I haven’t done… But there is one that I took pride in not doing until just a few weeks ago. I don’t know if I should be proud for what I did, but I did it.

Here is what I did- I ate a nut. Not like a nut nut, but like a calf nut. A lemon peppered, battered, deep fried calf testicle.

Gross, I know.

Like I said, I don’t know if I’m proud of myself for doing it, but I did.

My brother-in-law, Cowboy Pete, had some buddies that thought it would be a great idea to fry up some nuts and have a party about it. So all day long, we were collecting nuts as we were branding. He even had his mom bring a tupperware with water that he had in the cooler with the vaccines to keep the nuts clean and cool. He went to some pretty extensive lengths to make sure that everything would be just right for their dinner that night.

So Cowboy Pete gets home, pulls out the nuts and made up his own little recipe for some gourmet fried nuts. All day he kept telling me that he was going to bring them over for me to try and I just laughed him off, so sure that he wasn’t going to do it and even if he did cook some, he wouldn’t bring them over.

But he did.

He comes over with his buddies and his plate of fried testicles and wafted them in front of my face as if its tantalizing aroma would be something I couldn’t resist. He grinned from ear to ear as he was trying to convince me just how good it was and that I HAD to try them.

I waffled back and forth on what I should do. Because really, one bite wouldn’t kill me. And if it was nasty, I could just spit it out. But I didn’t want to give in to him and justify his claim that his deep fried calf testes were good.

Just then, my husband reached over grabbed one and took a bite. I was super surprised because no one had been goading him to eat one and he JUST DID IT! And he liked it! Or at least I think he did. He at least didn’t spit it out, although he didn’t have another bite so maybe he didn’t like it so much.

After that, I knew I had to do it. If I didn’t, I would be the weak one. The one that wasn’t brave enough to even eat a little nut. So I took a bite.

I still shudder to think about what I did. I stooped to eating genitalia… Gross. Except, it was good. Or at least not bad. They seasoned them enough that it just tasted like a lemon pepper beef nugget (like chicken nugget, but beef… get it?).

Now I have done it all. And I will likely never do it again. Cowboy Pete did say that no self respecting ranch blogger couldn’t call themselves legit without trying a nut at least once. I tried it once, now I’m legit and have great credibility with my people, right?

Let me know if you want Cowboy Pete’s Deep Fried Calf Nut recipe ;).

Branding Chased out by the Thunderstorm

January 14, 2017 by Allison

Dare I share branding pictures? Soon enough I will be filled up with branding photos again, so I was half tempted to not but since they were already edited and ready to put up I decided to go for it. I’m not one to waste effort after all….
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Click “Read More” for the rest of the story!

When I look at these photos I have lots of memories of this day. Like how…

1. The Rancher’s Sidekick begged us not to brand this day because he still had to go to school. He didn’t want to skip school that day to help, but he didn’t want to miss branding so his solution was to just ask us to brand a different day!

2. I took my new car out on the range for the first time. With my growing family and so many bags and car seats, my truck just didn’t cut it… Such a sad day…

3. The cowboys had a unique problem- there was grass. And apparently roping in the grass makes for rough catching because your rope gets caught on the grass long before it scoops up a pair of heels.

There were a few other thoughts that came to mind but the big memory was the thunder storm that followed. I bet nobody else remembers that the rain and thunder chased us out, but I do. I bet they wouldn’t even say that it chased us out. But I remember.

I remember those blasted rain clouds rolling in. They are the ones that pretty much spell thunderstorm and always head right for us. And that is when I run for cover, usually for my bed covers and under the pillows.

You see, friends… I don’t like thunderstorms. More specifically I don’t like thunder. I don’t like the spine tingling feeling you get when your can feel the thunder has much as you can hear it. The lightning I can handle so long as it is far, FAR away (which usually means I can’t hear the thunder… which is probably why its ok..). The Rancher laughs at me and how I freak out when a storm rolls in but it just happens.

I’m scared of thunderstorms.

I know cowgirls are supposed to be tough and resourceful and brave and can handle anything. And for the most part I would say that I am tough and brave, until it comes to the storms. Once upon a time there was a big storm as I was driving the few miles to get home. And as I pulled up to my parents driveway, my gutless bald-tire little car decided it couldn’t make it up the super slick driveway. I figured that since there was no way my car was going to make it up to the house anytime soon, I probably had two option: either sit in the car and wait for the rain to stop or just suck it up and run through the rain to the house. Not wanting to sit in the car and die a young death from the scary rain and thunder, I decided to run for it. I bravely slipped off my flip flops (I just knew that running in my flips flops would end badly), opened the door and jumped put. And just as I closed the door, there was a flash and a boom-crash and I ran the fastest 40 yd dash up to the house. It probably wasn’t that far to run but it felt like it…

And that, my friends, is why I hate thunderstorms…

I wish I liked them. In all reality I know I am safe and the likelihood of getting zapped is pretty slim. And they are the coolest light show ever, but instead of enjoying them my heart just beats fast and I close my eyes.

Don’t think any less of me because I’m not the bravest cowgirl all the time… Just applaud my honesty and enjoy a few pictures of branding that stormy day!

Come Gusting Wind and Ghastly Dust and Aching Strep, We Get the Job Done

May 17, 2016 by Allison

Have you ever been at a loss for words? Me either. I always have something to say. Ask The Rancher… I can talk his ear off. Like, he has learned to not even turn the radio on in the car because I will chatter enough to keep him busy. And I bounce around all over asking him about this and that and then I remember this one thing that I wanted to tell him and then… Well, you get the point.

Thus far, I haven’t really done that to you. I’ve been able to stay pretty well on point.

But I think the day has come that I have so many things to say that they are all going to just get all wrapped together in this post. There is just so many things that need mentioning. I promise they are relate because they all happened on this same day of branding. And I’ll do my best to tie them together but just be warned… It was just really full of ups and downs and sideways-ness…

Here we go-

Every year this day of branding is a big deal. All the other weekends of branding, we are branding with the association which means that not every calf coming in is ours. And there is ooodles of help. But the day that we brand on our private ground and all 300+ calves are ours. Friends… that is a lot. A LOT. At least for this girl.

So we call everyone and their dog, scratch that… everyone and their horse to come and help us. Normally we have big group, like 30 or more. And we had all those fine helpers lined up to come this year, until the rains came. And came and came and finally rained us out of our originally planned day (but we didn’t complain!). We postponed to the next week and ended up losing a lot of the help. But don’t worry, we managed… It was all a little slower than normal, but we made it.

There were parts to the day that were, well… miserable. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it all but it was still miserable. I mean, there is nothing nice about working on a hot, EXTREMELY windy and equally TERRIBLE dusty day when you have strep. The night before I started getting a sore and swollen throat and I knew it was strep. This was my third bout of strep in almost as many weeks so I knew how it went down. Seriously… It wasn’t enough that I was still recovering from giving birth and waking up multiple times in the night for said baby, I had to develop strep that would equally keep me from sleeping (it just isn’t as cute as my baby)…

Part of me contemplated heading to the doctor before heading south to brand, but I knew that just wouldn’t work. It would take too long to get in, checked out, a prescription filled and out to the range. With so few cowboys coming to help, they actually really needed me! So I pulled up my cowgirl pants and just dealt with it (and thank you tylenol and ibuprofen for making that possible!).

I did occasionally get a break when baby requested me or rather was saying it was time to eat. It was great for an excuse to rest my tired aching body, but I felt bad to leave the guys because that meant someone else had double duty giving shots too. And not meaning to toot my own horn, but I have gotten a pretty good system down to keep the shots flowing fast. So I just kept bouncing back and forth between the corral and the baby, going where ever I was needed most… although what I really wanted to do was go to sleep. On the bright side, I’m pretty sure I earned myself some substantial Rancher’s Wife Stripes!

Normally, this day of branding is one that I can quick jump on a horse and help gather. But being the momma bear that I am, I hate leaving my baby. Not wanting to be left behind, I convinced The Rancher to bring the gator down with us so I could load up all the babies, the dogs, my camera, my pal, The Montana girl, and the kitchen sink and still come help (I don’t know if I really convinced him to bring it or if they were already planning on it, but I’d like to think it as me…). And I was so grateful and had a fun, bright spot in the day getting out there. There fresh air was just as good for this girl as any medicine!

We gather the herd in and then sort all the mommas out, making its lots easier and faster to rope the calves. Its certainly noisier, but who needs their hearing? This few minutes of sorting is a highlight for the cowboys. Ya see, whoever is running the gate has the responsibility to risk life and limb to make sure that not a SINGLE calf gets through. If they do, they owe the whole group. What do they owe- I dunno… Some say beer, some say steak, some say a candy bar… I don’t think anyone has ever actually paid up, but the potential is always there for a good time. They can get away without paying up because a calf out means that those cowboys get a good chase and roping that is better than any beer, steak or candy bar! Unfortunately there weren’t any missed on the first round of sorting. But someone must have paid off the gate-man because there was a good handful for the roping come round two!

Oh, hey… Lets talk about that wind. So the day started off beautiful. Sunny, warm but not hot with a teensy breeze to keep the smoke from hanging around. But the rude weatherman forecasted gusting winds in the afternoon, about the only weather prediction they can ever get right (says The Rancher). As we were gathering in the second herd, true to the forecast those winds picked up and it was near impossible to see. Aside from not being able to see, like, anything, it made it super hard to keep your hat on. You might not think that’s a big deal, but all the sudden we find ourselves with a bunch of awkward, naked topped cowboys finding it hard to rope. It was really probably do to the wind, but I’m sure the thought of losing and being hatless just threw them off their groove.

Despite the extra juggling because of less help, having a sweet, hungry baby, terrible winds and dust, strep throat and everything else crazy going on, the work got done. We may have had a pound of dirt in our eyes and ears and I lost my voice for the nest 4 days, but as cowboys do we faced the work and got it done!

Click Read More below for dozens more photos!

The Family That Brands Together, Stays Together

May 16, 2016 by Allison

I’ve been feeling somewhat emotional about family this week. It could be leftover mushy feelings from Mother’s Day extra stirred up from all those post-partum hormones flowing through my veins and totally exaggerated from looking at all these photos of my favorite people.. but I dunno. Regardless of the why, I have a mega-sized dose of love for family and all I keep thinking is, “I love my life!”

Seriously, how often do families get days like these? How many times do you have a chance to take your kids to work? It happens pretty much daily around here. How often do you see three generations of men working together? Yep, every day. We are pretty lucky that even the brothers come around the ranch often. And when I say often I mean, like, weekly! I know guys that would give anything to be able to work with their dad and brothers like these boys get to. Of course, the fun doesn’t stop there- we have sisters-in-law that love this life too and that, my friends, is no easy feat. Honestly, its hard enough for brothers to marry wives that like each other, but then to find wives that love ranching and cowboying too?! Good work boys… Good work!

We all have varying jobs at what we do to help or entertain, but no one is sitting around. Some come packing the camera and some bring the cinnamon rolls (thanks to The Cattlewoman, for sure!). The kids are always elbow deep in the work (sometimes making more work for the rest of us, but at least they are out there wanting and willing to work!) Some live the dream life on the back of the horse and some do the dirty grunt work. Even if you think that you are just going to spectate, crazy things happen to get you moving.

Check this out. Quick story time- The Buckarette… This girl was 39 weeks pregnant on this fine day of branding (which is why there isn’t a SINGLE picture of her… hmmm…) She came out planning to just sit on the back of the truck and, ya know, just take it easy. Then she starts holding the calves back and helping sort out the already branded calves. Then she starts helping with shots (which is admirable in itself because that meant bending over and if you know pregnant ladies, that gets a little difficult when you are growing a human being in your middle!). And then she suddenly swings her way up on the horse to get out and rope! We teased her that she had better be careful where she dallied because her belly was a little close to the horn. She got up there, turned her horse to the calves and before you knew it, she was back dragging one in. She gets extra kuddos in my book because it had been a good long while since she had roped and she was as smooth as ever. Honestly, we should have had her out roping lots earlier because she caught every calf she swung at! She told us that she as only going to rope one, but once she got started, we couldn’t stop her. Ok, not really… but she did have her good handful of them.

Anyone can tell you, working as families can be rough. One person wants something done one way and someone another, and some crazy fight ensues. One person feels like they are doing all the work while the others get the benefits. One suddenly thinks they are the boss and the others stop working dead in their tracks. It can really happen… But I don’t think feelings like these have ever come up around here (I’m crossing my fingers that even though I am saying it out loud, nothing changes…). Sure we have our moments of frustration or disagreement but I have never seen an operation run so smoothly. Family comes first and with that, everyone works together towards a common goal that brings us together. At the end of the day, we are all apart of making Eliason Livestock successful and sustainable. More importantly we are apart of a family legacy, building from our heritage something for the future that we can all be proud of.

2U Branding… Doing it Carter Style

June 11, 2015 by Allison

I love branding season! I love to help, I love to take pictures, I love the company, I love the food… I love it all! When we ran out of branding days for our ranch and the association, I invited myself down the road to our friend’s branding.

The Carters have a small herd that they run mostly because they love the life. They have other work but at the end of the day they always come back to ranching. Its important to them to raise their 4 boys learning how to work and connecting with the heritage that runs deep in this valley.

Its been great to become better friends with this family. The Rancher went to high with Cowboy Cody Carter and has some great (maybe not entirely always appropriate) memories with him. They have moved on from high school rodeo to real ranch cowboys, making a living to provide with their families.

…. That all sounds kinda mushy… Maybe it is when you think about it, but really its awesome and fun. And that is exactly the kind of day we had out with the Carter crew to their branding. They had cowboys that could rope and… some that weren’t so great. They had cowboys that didn’t hardly say a word and others that didn’t ever stop (seriously, the guy never closed his mouth- the proof is in the pictures!). There were a few injuries throughout the day but all in all, a successful day branding!

More Branding….

June 9, 2015 by Allison

I lied… I told you a while ago that it was the last of the association branding…

Oooops!

Found some more! They are from the LONG weekend we had at Locomotive, so no wonder I lost them. I mean, there is so much to keep track of and I’m such a blonde that its totally possible that I would make a mistake and forget to post pictures.

So here you go!

The Last of the Association Branding

May 28, 2015 by Allison

How about a little different post? Still lots of pictures but instead of a wind up with some sort of an interesting story, lets do a commentary. A running commentary to let you know what I was seeing when I took each picture.

Ready?

Riding in the herd…

Brothers… The little brother was pestering the older brother, the older brother took down the younger brother and commenced the Chinese torcher tap. Nothing but true love there!

The Ranch Boss just had his 87th birthday and refuses to stop. He may slow a little, but he is determined to never quit.

I just thought this blaze was funny… Like, bummer birth mark or something…

You find cowboy style and personality everywhere. Some cowboys go simple and some like bling everywhere, even by their horses slobbery mouth.

When I got up close I realized that he had his name on his spurs- AWESOME! And he has some cool red top boots peeking out. That’s like cowboy lingerie, right there!

Horses on the range- its a beautiful site.

There isn’t a better place for kids to be than out in the middle of nowhere branding.

The Rancher’s Sidekick always has to be in the middle of it all. At the point in the day he had proclaimed it his job to stand on the leg so it wouldn’t move. Don’t know that we needed it but I’m glad that he found a job he could rock.

The saddle- a cowboy spends many long hours in this seat… It better be just to his liking!

Just a boy giving shots, but once again… its a great place for a growing boy to be.

Dragging calves in…

Sure glad he has a cap on that… Sometimes people get unintentional vaccinations

Thank goodness for back pockets because when your hands get full there is always a place to hang your tagger and your clips.

We always load up toy for the kids. In fact I think there ends up being a whole sand pile worth of toys out there!

And then sometimes they end up hauling more than just dirt. The Rancher’s Sidekick started gathering up discarded nuts and taking them to the dogs. I’m glad that was all he was doing with them…

The Rancher’s uncle… I’ve known him for quite a while and he has ALWAYS had the mustache. The length of the handle bars has varied over the years but it is truly his signature!

I know he wasn’t really posing, but I tease that everyone is so used to striking a pose for me that it is just second nature to stand picture ready!

How many boys does it take get a calf down? Lots… and still the calf will give ’em a run for their money!

It got dusty… no surprise. And it looked cool.

Gathering the herd in for the after lunch branding. Taking a pit stop at the watering hole…

Rancher Sr. doing what he does best. He has become such a great friend. I love having him for a father-in-law.

When you ride next to me you are going to have your picture taken. And I love them even if you aren’t looking at the camera!

Cowboys make beautiful photographs… I love my job!

Cows scattered across the range- this is why we bring so many cowboys. And this was only one small corner of our beautiful world. I love having wide open spaces for an office!

Boys in the dirt… need I say more?

We could see a storm moving over the mountains and it was a stunning backdrop.

Love the dramatics of the sky. Having a non dusty windy day was incredible!

A look at the scene from herd side…

One of my favorite cowboys.

Every week there are a few new faces around to help and enjoy the cowboy lifestyle.

A different perspective… But appropriately, looking up to a cowboy

Cute. I love cute calves! Especially the baldy calves.

Drug by the heels. If only he knew what was going to happen to him.

Sisters make the best friends.

Her parents had better be ready for this beauty to grow up. Check out those eyes!

A little saddle bling with your brand on it can never be a bad thing.

Just taking a minute to visit with a friend. Kids and horses were meant to be together.

Any guesses what this coffee can is for? Oh, just to gather nuts in… Calf nuts…

Should we be concerned that there are no adults in this picture?

J4… When the ropers bring in a calf they shout out what brand to put on it- Rocking-A, AE, J4 , Bar over the hip, K+… and many more

When you pester the big boys they just might decide to hog tie you. While I was taking this picture I could hear them saying (in more colorful language) that they unfortunately didn’t have enough rope to finish the job on this growing boy… It was his lucky day, that’s for sure!