The Idaho Rancher's Wife

The Ranch From the Wife's Perspective

5 March Highlights We Missed

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I can’t believe that its April.  March just started, how can it be over?!  The saddest part about this month flying by so fast is that there was so much I wanted to share that I didn’t.  So here are 5 ranch highlights we missed!

1.  We got a new silencer chute!  This chute is so quiet, so smooth, and so much safer.  No one will get conked on the head or hands pinched.  We won’t be bruising shoulders on the calves that we are selling.  We won’t choke down the cows and they won’t come crawling through.  Ya, we are really excited!  Its like Christmas for these cowboys!

 

2.  With spring upon us, we are gearing up for planting.  I batted my eyes just right and convinced The Rancher to take us with him to by the new seed.  Getting seed is pretty uneventful really, (unless you are a little boy and then its awesome!) but it was a great way to have a day on the town.  It was still a ranch day on the town, not like a fun-shopping-at-the-mall day on the town.  But I think I would rather hit up CAL Ranch than the mall anyway… So on top of getting the seed, we grabbed a few parts, terrorized a few tractor stores and had a shopping spree at the vet clinic.  Still not terribly exciting, but I got a cool picture I wanted to share!

3.  We bought a new little mare!  The Rancher’s Sidekick has started to call my old horse his.  I find myself horseless… So we bought me a new one.  She ten and hasn’t hardly been ridden… but she is gentle.  I don’t think she even knows how to buck.  The Rancher commented that she has no gas, no steering and no manners, but other than that its all good.  Slowly we are learning things and I’m excited!  We’ll see what summer brings!

4.  While we were in Leadore for the bull sale, we spent some time at the ranch that my brother runs.  Its fun to go back there because that’s where The Rancher and I met.  And where we worked when we were first married.  We jumped in the new side-by-side and took a spin around the ranch, guided by my nieces (ages 9 and 7…).  And by guided I mean they gave us the low down on EVERYTHING on the ranch.  Gotta love cute little ranch girls!

5.  Our neighbor needed help branding and of course, being the good neighbors we are, we jumped in to help.  There weren’t too many calves to do, so at the end of the day I took a chance to rope!  I got on The Rancher’s trusty mare and roped myself a few calves.  I’m a real cowgirl now!  One of the calves I roped was already branded… but it still counts as a catch, right?  I have a whole new appreciation for ropers- its so much harder to do than it looks!

There are still hundreds of pictures and stories to go along that I haven’t shared.  Maybe we will have a slow day (ya right!) and we can do a throwback day!  Until then, this will have to suffice!

Dusted Out

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 We tried to brand on a windy day.. and I don’t recommend it.  Ok, lets start over, I really shouldn’t see “we” tried to brand because when I looked out the window… and what did I see? popcorn popping I saw crazy wind and opted out of being on the branding crew.  We showed up in time for lunch and stayed just long enough to know I made the right choice to be the rancher’s wife (take care of The Rancher’s kids… and laundry) and not the rancher wife (eating dust with the rest of ’em).

 In fact, when I did venture out of the truck I spent most of the time watching from the horse trailer.

 It ended up being so dusty that they had to quit early.  The cowboys couldn’t catch anything, and when they did it was a hard knowing which brand to put on.  Even once they figured that out they had to be careful to make sure it was just the calf that got branded and not the crew!  On top of that the cows trashed the fence- its pretty hard to brand when the cattle don’t show up…

 There were some blue skies, so long as you weren’t trying to find them through the dust…

Check out The Rancher!  He was so covered in dirt!  All of the sudden he was tanner and had a thicker goatee… And are those flowers growing from the dirt in his ears?!  Maybe not, but we sure went through the Q-tips that night when The Rancher was cleaning up…  Actually, you wanna hear something terrible and funny at the same time?  Just when The Rancher got home, the power went out because of the CRAZY wind!  When he needed a shower most, he couldn’t.  But then our fabulous neighbors offered their shower to us.  You may be asking why they had power and we didn’t… Well, not only are they fabulous, but also brilliant because they have a generator hooked up to their house.  Lesson learned- we need a generator! 

April = Branding

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April is SUCH a busy month for us and it mostly surrounds itself around branding.  I have learned not to schedule anything on the weekends because The Rancher already has them booked full.  Our cows calve out on the desert north of the Salt Lake which means that rather than branding on the ranch we brand on the range.  We load up the truck with food, toys for The Rancher’s Boy and coats and blankets enough for all of Mother Nature’s mood swings and then hit the road.  Most of the time I am in the thick of it helping however I can, but since The Rancher’s Girl is still so little (5 months!) I get to spend more time on the sidelines this year (that just means more pictures!).

About Me

Hello! I'm Allison, The Rancher's Wife! There's nothing I love more than being out on the ranch with my husband and kids. Join me for a look at what goes on here at the ranch and the life being a rancher's wife!

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