Horsin' Around - The Idaho Rancher's Wife

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!”

Live a LIfe of Passion

April 17, 2017 by Allison

Over the last few years since I bought my “fancy” camera and started to learn more about photography, I’ve had a few people ask me to do pictures for them. I’ve done family pictures for my best friend, engagements for my brother-in-law and his (now) sweet wife, and even graduation pictures for another brother-in-law. There are lots of others, but you get the picture (haha..)…

I love getting a chance to take pictures of families, couples and individuals and help capture their personality so that they can share and preserve them. Its not my niche (yet) but I am learning. I do have to admit, its a little weird to get to be in control of what’s happening in front of the camera instead of making photos out of what is happening around me. Does that make sense?

A few weeks ago I got a chance to kinda do both- a posed and directed photo session but still out on the range with the horses and cows. Could it get any cooler? I don’t think so. Our neighbor (about 30 miles down the road), Mackenzie, was selected to be a National Collegiate Beef Advocate with the American National Cattle Women organization and one of the first things she needed to do was to send in some photos of her working cattle or with horses or whatever she does as a ranching girl. She had a few snap shots, but they weren’t exactly what she wanted to put out there in a press release.

So that’s when she called me.

We went out on our range land and got to work (tough work, huh?). It was such a different experience for me because the purpose was for me to take pictures. I didn’t have to worry at all about being in the way or anything like that. It was a little refreshing actually… Do you think I can convince my cowboys out here to let me just have free rein? Probably not…

That’s ok. I’ll take what I can get.

Back to Mackenzie. In between photos we would visit and she told me a little bit about what she gets to do as an advocate. I don’t remember everything she said, but I definitely remember how her face would light up as she talked about what the opportunity meant to her. It didn’t take long to realize how proud she was of her life in agriculture and how rich her passion was for sharing it with people.

I don’t know who said it but somebody smart said, “Follow your passion, and success will follow you!” I have no doubt that whatever Mackenzie does with her passion, she will be successful. Passion can conquer fear, make you bold, and push you to take those leaps we might never have risked. I think all to often we get busy and bogged down with all of the must-do’s of life. We get so focused on the have-to’s, we don’t do the want-to’s and our passion for life slowly sizzles out. The excuses of not having the time or energy or money just get in the way. We become complacent, and stay right inside our comfort bubble and suddenly we don’t do anything exciting or adventurous. Nothing we do gets adrenaline flowing or our hearts pumping.

Who wants to live that kind of a life? A life with no passion?

So today, do something your WANT to do, especially if you don’t have time to. Let the list wait. Be crazy and creative. Go out on a limb. Fail terribly. But, call it a success because you tried. Let your passion drive you, if only for a moment!

Who knows how you will succeed!

A Good Winter Day Sorting Cows

February 27, 2017 by Allison

Last week sorted cows in Locomotive. Scratch that… It was actually like SEVERAL weeks ago that we sorted. In fact, its been long enough ago that we sorted, that the snow has melted and we have mixed the cows back up. I had a twinge of hurt when they mixed up the cows again. Because I feel that we just did the work of getting them unmixed up… Oh the work we do…

That day of sorting had a lot of emotions running through it. There were those overwhelming feelings of just being totally exhausted from the added work with dealing with the snow. There was the tension of not knowing how the day was going to go, if it was going to go at all. Then there was the final relief and thankfulness of finally getting the work done.

You can imagine we slept well that night.

I’ll admit, I had my own doubts about how the day was going to go down. They had never had to sort all those cows there. They never had so much snow to work the cows in. I was afraid for the worst- cows not cooperating, horses slipping on the ice, and cowboys coming home hurt and discouraged.

That is always my fear. Because I have seen it.

When I was a little girl, I saw the hard days that my dad had. There was the day that he couldn’t take his own boots off because of the 4wheeler accident. There were the days that he came in exhausted from no sleep trying to keep calves alive in the cold. There were the days he couldn’t keep the equipment running to get the hay done before the storms rolled through.

But there is one day that comes to mind above all the rest as being hard for my ranching dad.

It had been a long winter. The calving was over and breeding season was in full swing. Doing the spring work in the still winter conditions was getting long and tiresome. Eventually there was a break and the thaw finally came. It only took a few days for things to change. The frost thawed, the ground dried and suddenly it was hard again.

He was bringing in a heifer to AI. He saddled up his horse and headed out as he did every time. Now let me tell you a little about his horse. She had a long, long ugly nose. And that was about the only bad thing about her. Ok, not really… everyone horse has her issues. But this girl was good. She could cut a cow as good as any other. Once she knew what cow she was bringing in, you just let her do the work. She could drop her back end and change directions in a second. If you didn’t hang on she would move right out from under you (and I know that from personal experience!). She loved the work and worked hard.

The heifer my dad and his partner were bringing in was a little feisty. No surprise and really, no big deal. And for my dad, it was even a little fun. Like most cowboys, he enjoyed the rush of the ride. But then the heifer cut back and Whitney, his horse, went to spin. And then she went down.

In those couple of days that the weather changed, my dad was busy. Are you surprised? He is a rancher, they are always busy. Busy enough that he hadn’t had a chance to take of the cleats on his horse.

When she turned back, those cleats dug into the ground, and she spun, but her leg didn’t. And it broke.

My dad knew instantly that it was bad. So bad. He was right.

He called the vet and he was able to come in and help Whitney. They were able to set and cast the broken leg. But she would never chase a cow again. It was devastating.

My dad says that every cowboy gets one good horse and one good dog. She was his.

Ya know, despite the great days we have on the ranch and in this life, there are some really hard days. We take risks. We work in sometimes dangerous conditions. We work with animals that can do a lot of damage. And when those bad days come we just have to take it in stride.

My dad couldn’t put his partner down that day. He just couldn’t lose her. She meant to much for him. So he decided to turn her into a brood mare. Now her babies are on the ranch, doing the same work their momma did.

Thankfully, our day sorting on the range had a good ending. A great ending. The work went well and the cowboys came home safe. Not everyday turns out so well and we are grateful for the good days. Its the good days that keep us going when we have those hard days.

Not Lost, But Certainly Not Sure Where we Are

September 19, 2016 by Allison

Hey, friends. Do you feel abandoned…. again? Summer just gets so darn busy (I think I’ve told you that the last 3 years!) that some things just have to go and since I can’t stand to go without clean underwear or cleaning my house it is, unfortunately, my blog that gets neglected. But lucky for you I still take lots of pictures and remember the good stories so I can still keep you caught up.

Like this one day that we were almost lost.

I say almost because I don’t want to ever admit I was lost, but if there ever was a day, it was this one.

Let me set the stage. It was a beautiful and lovely fall day when the guys were gathering the cattle from Cow Hollow (the summer range pasture) to take into Black Pine to wean the following week. It takes about three days to get everything gathered and moved to the corrals (not to mention the week that it takes for the lost stragglers to make it down!) where they can work them and we were on the last day. The herd goes right past another set of corrals that conveniently works great to stop and sort off any extra pairs that don’t belong or castrate any bulls or that sort of thing.

Normally the cowboys are on their own for an exciting sack lunch, but on this lucky day, one good ranch wife suggested we meet up at the corrals with the cowboys to grill some burgers. We jumped on that idea, because the cowboys were tired of eating sandwiches, we were tired of making sandwiches and we were really tired of seeing some of those sandwiches come back home. Ya know, we ranch wives end up in a terrible conundrum- we have to make sure that we make send enough food and enough sandwiches to keep the cowboys full and happy. But at the same time, too many sandwiches are a bad thing. They come home all warm and soggy and no one wants a leftover sticky, soggy sandwich so they end up in the garbage. So you can see why we jumped on the burger idea.

We, The Montana Girl, The Cattlewoman, and I, loaded up in the truck with 4 babies, a load of buns, patties, and sheet cake and headed out to find the boys. I had never been to the corrals we were headed to but The Rancher had given me some sketchy directions where we headed. I knew the general area we were looking for hope that the landmarks I did know were enough to help us get. Luckily, Rancher Sr. gave his sweet heart even better directions than I had, so I just opted to leave the navigating to her.

Our instructions were pretty simple- after the road goes straight, take the only road headed to the right shortly before the road goes under the freeway. Pretty simple, right? We thought so. We got to the straight part of the road and started looking for a road that headed off to the right. And we found one, but it looked more like a goat trail, so we figured it didn’t count. We kept going and saw ourselves another road and this was a real road. It had to be a real road because it actually had a road sign. And we were sure we should take it because the sign said “Cow Hollow” and that’s where the cows were coming from. So we took it.

We knew that once we got on the road, all we had to do was drive a half mile and then take the fork to the right and we would see the corrals. Well, we didn’t see the corrals…. buuuut we could see some cows so we kept going. We got to the cows and they weren’t ours and our cowboys were NOWHERE to be found. So what’s a girl to do in such a situation?

Just keep driving, of course. I have to tell you at this point we just kept laughing (laughing seemed a better option than crying) because we knew that something was up. Either we didn’t follow what seemed to be simple directions or our directions were bad. And to make our situation seem worse, we were out of cell phone service so we couldn’t even call anyone to let us know where to go or what to do! Typical, right?

So we kept driving. And driving. We figured they had to be this way because they were bringing cows from Cow Hollow… and the road we were on was Cow Hollow so logically we were headed in the right direction, right? So we kept driving. Through one gate… and then another. The farther up the road we got, the more we laughed and slowly conceded that we didn’t really know where we were going. But despite our dire circumstances there was a bright spot in it all- we had the cake and chocolate cake makes anything better!

We were steadfastly watching our phones and Tada- finally we got service! The Rancher picked up and just laughed when I explained our exciting predicament. We were way, WAY off! So we found the least scary place to turn around at (because there aren’t too many places for a U-turn out in the hills) and headed back to the road. It turns out that it was really simple to get there, we just hadn’t gone far enough down the road to take the right right! All we needed was for someone to have said, turn JUST BEFORE the highway, or AT the turn. Nevertheless, we made it.

Now if there is a lesson in all this, its this: a man should know to give detailed directions to his wife. Sure the directions we were given were accurate and simple, but without the details we had to fill in the blanks ourselves and that didn’t turn out good! But we know that DETAILS just aren’t a part of a man’s brain so the reality is that detailed directions will never happen. Which means the real lesson in all this is that every ranch wife needs to know EVERY inch of land, EVERY road, EVERY corral… EVERY blasted sage brush so that when they say “meet me here,” you actually know where to go and don’t take an hour long scenic route.

Despite the craziness and somewhat stressfulness, it was a lot of fun. Not any fun I want to repeat anytime soon, but we certainly made some memories.

A Family Cattledrive

November 11, 2015 by Allison

Oh boy was this a crazy summer! With all the ropings, family events, community activities, and building a house we were running in every direction. To help things out, the cows decided they didn’t need much moving for the summer. For real… Between the field rotation we were on and the rains it seemed we hardly had to move the cows. The unfortunate thing about that was that I didn’t have many opportunities to ride with the guys or take any photos.

On the one chance I had to saddle up, the whole family got to tag along. We really weren’t even moving to new field, just pushing the cows to a different trough. So even though it wasn’t too much of a ride, it was perfectly short enough that we knew they would last and have a great time. We have my old horse from when I was a kid that The Rancher’s Sidekick has claimed. And the Ranch Princess bounced around between me, Rancher Sr., Cowboy E, and The Rancher. It might not have been much, but we made a few good memories.

First of TP&B

June 16, 2015 by Allison

Summer time means play time! At least some of the time. A side job we have to raise and provide heifers for sorting and roping events. We have several throughout the summer- some with fairs, others with the Team Penning and Branding Association. The best part about taking them out there is that we get to join in the fun.

There are always a handful of regulars that go to these things. You have your older generations that are still trying to live the dream and the hobby cowboys that don’t do it full time but jump in where they can on the weekends. At the end of the day, the cowboys that eat, sleep, and dream EVERYTHING cowboy come out for the roping. I love watching those cowboys and horses that know what they are doing. They move effortlessly. They don’t make a lot of noise and don’t draw a lot of attention. They move together with their horses, already knowing what to do.

It was a party for the Eliason family in Blackfoot for the first TP&B. Everyone came down to do a little cowboying and enjoy the company. This is the kind of fun our family has on a day off!

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!

Chaps- a functional and fashionable part of the cowboy wardrobe…

Checking out the herd…

This girl will show you how its done!

Following the rope back to the cowboy- my cowboy in this shot…

Looking for the unbranded babies…

A little war paint for a tough day of work!

Camping out on the Range to Catching Horses

May 20, 2015 by Allison

We brand nearly every weekend of April, and sometimes that even runs into May. With so many cattle spread so far across the range it takes several different days to gather up the cattle to get the work done. The weekend we did so many calves at the ranch and then again at our private ground in Locomotive we still had the association branding to do the following day (Saturday). Instead of driving back and forth so much we decided to just camp out.

We were full of adventurous expectations of shooting guns, riding bikes, and other exciting stuff (ok… so I can’t remember all of the ideas we had but I know they were awesome!) but after two full days of branding we were pooped out. That really meant all we had energy for was to sit and do nothing. Everyone was pretty ok with that… Except there was one thing we all HAD to do. Because although we were camping and roughing it, we did have one admit request of The Cattlewoman- we had to shower! I don’t blame her for not wanting a bunch of stinky cowboys and cowgirls in her trailer so we obliged. And with so many to shower that pretty well filled our day. We showered. We ate. We slept. We talked. It was great fun!

There was a teensy bit of excitement when some of the guys thought they should go hunting for the big rat in old shack. Doesn’t shooting at a rat in a dark shack in the dark of the night sound exciting to you. Mind you that the shack would have fallen down at any time if they hit it in just the right spot… Boys…

The following morning we woke to a wonderful surprise- no wind! That might not sound like such a big deal, but we had been hammered with the wind for days. For just a moment we were able to enjoy a beautiful sunrise without any wind.

The Rancher Princess and I followed The Rancher out to catch horses for the days work. The horses weren’t really cooperating… they ran and ran and RAN! Not the way The Rancher wanted to start his day but it made for a fun little photo shoot for me.