Off the Ranch - The Idaho Rancher's Wife

Cowboy Engagements: The Buckaroo’s Engagement Photos

July 16, 2014 by Allison

So did I tell you my brother-in-law is getting married? The Buckaroo has found himself a fine little filly and they’ve decided to get hitched! We are so stinking excited! Partly… nope mostly because we are finally getting the gender scale balanced. These boys have lived too long with too little estrogen in the air!

I’vve told these boys that I must approve before get all romantic and thus far they have done well getting me some good sisters. I especially love it when they bring home girls that will get out on the ranch with us. There isn’t much sweeter than a girl out roping the cowboys!!

But back to The Buckaroo and his almost Mrs. Buckaroo… When it came time for their engagement pictures they really wanted pictures done on the ranch, cowboy style. So they called me! We took an evening out through our private range land (the place that actually has a few trees!) and took ourselves some cowboy engagement pictures.

5 Ways How Being a Rancher’s Wife Makes me an Awesome Camper

July 14, 2014 by Allison

Are you wondering where I’ve gone? A whole week of nothing from The Rancher’s Wife… That’s, like, unheard of. I’m probably the chattiest girl in the valley!

But I have been gone this last week. To Girls Camp. We camped out near Soda Springs with about 150 other girls and leaders. And not to pat myself on the back, but I have to tell you that I rocked it. It wasn’t long after getting up there that I realized we had a bunch of city girls in our midst! Boy, was I grateful to be a rancher’s wife and new a little bit about surviving in the wild. Now I don’t know if I learned these things from life on the ranch or life living in the country. Either way, they are certainly worthy of sharing with you today. Here are my “5 Ways How Being a Rancher’s Wife Makes me an Awesome Camper!”

1. I know how to set up a tent. Seriously, you would think that such a basic camping essential would be high on the list of knowing BEFORE you go camping, but for some it wasn’t. For as long as I can remember, I have known how to set up a tent. Growing up we would throw the tent up in the yard ALL the time. Or we would load up the camping gear and campout somewhere on the ranch. Since being married, The Rancher and I have even had the awesome opportunity to do overnight cattle drives where we camped along the way. Yep, this girl doesn’t need anyone setting a tent up for her!

2. I’m not afraid of bugs. I wish I had a dollar for every time I had to squash a bug or save some helpless girl from her impending doom. I’ll admit, I’m not a bug person. Especially the extra buzzy ones, but these girls were something else. It was almost like they had never been told there would be bugs!

3. I know how to tie knots and to use knives. Last minute I was asked to help teach some basic skills with knots and knives. It only took a quick look at the manual to know just what I was supposed to be teaching and we were on our way. I do have to give credit to my father-in-law, Rancher Sr., for being willing to help (he was there to cook all week). There were a few knots that I was sure everyone would know. Ya know, the ones we use almost daily to tie something together or up to the trailer. But no. A lot of them didn’t even know what a square knot was. But I guess that’s why they were there…

4. I took my cowgirl boots to camp in. Everyone has their favorite pair of shoes or hiking boots to camp in. For some crazy it is their flip flops…. Mine are my boots. They have kept me clean and dry all over the ranch and did the same camping. I didn’t suffer from stubbed-toe-itis, nasty-dirty-toenail-itis, or soaked-foot-itis. I love my cowgirl boots, especially when they can be functional and fashionable!

5. I can cook over a fire. And when I say I can cook over a fire I don’t mean a hot dog on a stick. Don’ get me wrong, I love a good tube steak. But camping should be more than just a weiny roast or tinfoil dinners. We enjoyed BBQ ribs, cheesy bacon potatoes, corn on the cob, and dutch oven cobbler. That’s pretty close to the same menu we had branding this spring. Cooking on the desert for the cowboys is all too similar to cooking at camp. But wherever we eat camping out, it’s in style!

Ok, I have to share a bonus. The last bit to share about how my ranch life has helped me be an awesome camper is dealing with the dirtiness of camping. From the dusty sock line to the greasy hair I was totally ok that I hadn’t showered all week. Don’t be grossed out. Please. I pride myself in being ok with doing my hair once and leaving it up for the week, having spraying on tan of dirt, and wearing no makeup. Working on the ranch has taught me to appreciate crazy hair, dustiness, and make-up-less face!

My list isn’t anything crazy… No secret tips on how to camp rancher style. But it’s crazy how many skills I use for camping I have learned from the ranch!

Montana Mule Days

June 19, 2014 by Allison

Every town has their funny/crazy things that they do. In the little town where I grew up in they celebrate Mule Days. Seriously. Three days of mule games, events, parades… you name it they do it. I’m not really sure why though. I can only think of a handful of people in our valley that has mules so I don’t know why Drummond is the place for it. Actually, there was a time when they tried moving it somewhere else, but apparently that didn’t go over so well because it is back in Drummond!

We were visiting my parents over Mule Days and took a spin around. We missed the parade… but we did get to watch a little of the wagon events and some penning. For the life of my I don’t know why people prefer mules to horses (unless your packing… those animals can HAUL) but these folks do. We found mules in all colors, shapes, and sizes. And I must admit that some of the teams hooked up were beautiful!

Growing up we always said the best thing about Mule Days is the rain that comes with it. Not kidding. It seems that it rains this weekend every year. Boy we sure do love Mule Days!

A Day at the Blackfoot Team Penning & Branding

June 17, 2014 by Allison

I already told you how our day ended when we took the heifers to the team penning and branding, and as promised I have pictures of the day. I have to tell you that I LOVED having my new camera! Its amazing to be able to stop a rope mid-air or to get the dirt flying. Mmmm…

When I was telling a friend what we on the summer weekends he couldn’t believe that when we have time off to play, all we do is sort and brand heifers. Yep, we love being cowboys so much that its pretty much all we do!

Now if you’re wondering what a team penning and branding is, I’ll tell you. The first event is the team sort. They throw out 10 heifers (numbered 0-9) and the cowboys are given a number for the first heifer that they sort out first. Once they find her, they find the rest in the sequence until the time runs out.

The penning is really similar. Instead of finding the heifers in a sequence they have to find 3 heifers, all with the same number. Then they push them to the other end where a pen is set up (hence the reason it is called penning…).

And the late (and probably my favorite to watch) is the team branding. The teams have 4 heifers to head, heel, and brand (with pancake mix, of course). There are 4 guys to a team, 2 to rope and 2 to do the branding. They switch in the middle, so that everyone gets a turn to rope… It wouldn’t be fair if they didn’t, now would it!

I’ll admit that sometimes it can get a little long, but there are some dang good horses that can make an awesome cut. There are a few little bloopers along the way that always make it exciting. They did a youth penning team that was so fun to watch. These kids are on the way too be some stinking’ good cowboys (sadly I had my camera put away at this point…). Then we end the day with some dang good ropers! That certainly includes my cowboy, The Rancher… he got 2nd place! Enough winnings to pay for supper, what more could a wife ask for!

The Midnight Rescue

June 14, 2014 by Allison

It was a week ago that I was sitting at the Blackfoot team penning and branding. I had been looking forward to that day for so long because I planned to absolutely nothing. Just sit. And take pictures.

It didn’t start so simple since The Rancher and I were doing it solo. Normally the whole family comes out and we have more than enough help. But The Buckaroo is madly in love and decided to go branding with his girl instead (but really, who could blame him? A weekend of branding is always a great time!). What really took away the help was the fact that Cowboy E was in the hospital in Salt Lake, so he wasn’t around and neither was Rancher Sr. That left the babies and I to be the help that day.

Of course we are the best help he’s ever had, but only so much can make up for missing water troughs, a screwy chute set up, and wound up heifers. It took some time, but we got the heifers ready and out for the sorting.

Once we got things running it was a pretty typical hot, sunny day at the fair grounds. The Rancher’s Sidekick had to check everything out and The Rancher Princess could barely keep up. We fit in a few naps and lunch in between switching cattle and cheering for dad. Everyone had to take a turn sitting on the horse and we roped everything in sight. And I did have a few minutes to take some fun pictures (forthcoming, I PROMISE).

The day ended up long, and just when we thought we were to the end of our busy day things got a little crazy. We left for home about 9:30pm, later than we had anticipated because we had such a great turnout. Things were going good until just before Rockland, about 45 minutes from home. All of the sudden there was a weird knocking sound in the motor of the semi. I figured something must being going really wrong if it was loud enough for me to notice (I could never double as a mechanic…), especially in my tired, worn out state. I looked at The Rancher to confirm my suspicions that we were in trouble and yep… he had that oh-crap-don’t-let-this-be-happening look on his face. Of course we were part way up the hill and it took all the power the broken down semi had to make it to the top. I might have been saying, “I think I can, I think I can…” all the way up…

The Rancher jumped out to look under the hood to see what was happening (and borrowed my phone for a flashlight since it was dark at the point) and saw that oil was shooting out one side (if he was telling you the story he would tell you where, but you already know that I can’t tell you those details of the story!). The final diagnosis was that something had broken and that semi wasn’t going to make it home.

Hmmm… what is a rancher, wife and kids supposed to do with a dead semi and a bull wagon full of tired, sore, hungry, thirsty heifers. I dunno either… Call the calvary, I guess. So we did.

First we called The Buckaroo (who had managed to make it to the tail end of the branding earlier in the night) to turn around and come get myself and our tired kids. To make it a little more tricky, his phone was dead so we had to call his girl (she was following him home for the weekend) to get him to stop and turn around. Then we made a call to some of our dearest friends and neighbors, who farm and have their own semi. We interrupted their night to beg them to come and save us.

It ended up that they needed a little saving (thank goodness for brothers that live close by!) of their own because their semi was dead and had to jump it to get it started. Not a very good way to start a midnight rescue. But the pair of them got it running and headed out.

The Ranch Boss must have had a moment of inspiration because he called us just as we pulled off the road to see how things were going. When we explained what was going on, he jumped in the ranch truck and had the sense to throw in some blocks in the back, just in case.

Once everyone arrived the fun began. They had to unhook and jack up the trailer, still full of heifers. And that wasn’t as simple as it sounds. These jacks aren’t ones that you can adjust. Its a one time guess to have them up to the right length. Being on the road they had to add in the blocks The Ranch Boss brought to make sure they didn’t break through the asphalt. You can imagine that 30,000 pounds of pressure on two small jacks could present some real issues. Once the trailer and jacks were set, they were able to limp our dying semi off the road and out of the way.

The next step was to hook up the rescue semi. Again, not as simple as it sounds. this semi wasn’t as tall as ours (apparently we have big tires- once again I can’t tell you the details…). The guys had to rig up a sort of ramp to get the back end high enough that they could hook on to the trailer and get the jacks off. That only took like 4 tries…

Finally the rescue crew headed home and made it to back up and unload in the dark. I quick jumped in my mom-mobile to help shine a little light on the unloading chute to hopefully make it a little easier for The Rancher to back up to. And here I have to throw in how awesome of a backer-upper (is that even a word? I just made it up…) The Rancher is. He backed that semi up in dark and hit it right on the first time. Amazing! Who knew such a skill existed! All that was left was to convince the worn down heifers to unload.

What began as a long fun, long, hot day turned into an even longer, exhausting day. But we made it, thanks to some incredible friends and neighbors. I’m pretty sure that I owe those boys some brownies!

High School Rodeo with Cowboy E

May 28, 2014 by Allison

Weekends in April and May are chuck full of high school rodeo. They rodeo Friday night and Saturday morning. Of course they coincide with so many branding and cattle drives which means we don’t get to watch Cowboy E as much as we would like. Last weekend we were able to finally make it to his District Rodeo, the last of the season before the state rodeo.

We definitely were not disappointed. The boy won the team roping that night! He is the header of his team, partly because his partner ropes left handed. Its so crazy to watch them! And super interesting to the things they do to adapt to a lefty.

Besides going to watch our boy, Cowboy E, I love to watch the rough stock. I don’t cheer for the bulls, but I love watching them when they are rank!

Happy Memorial Day: Celebrating Their Memory

May 26, 2014 by Allison

Happy Memorial Day!

It’s terrible to admit, but I don’t remember ever really doing too much to celebrate this day when I grew up. We would do a little family cook out and do some fun-ness at home. I’m sure that my dad just wanted to have a stay-cation rather than do anything big. And we lived on a ranch- there is always work to be done!

In fact, it seemed that every Memorial Day was the day to move cows. Of course we moved them down that one road that led to the cemetery. Happy Memorial day- have fun dodging the cow pies on your way!

Memorial Day is a day to remember and celebrate the memory of folks that have passed and the life they made for us. So often, and appropriately so, we celebrate our passed loved ones and we remember the brave military men, women, and their courageous families. Those in the military literally put everything on the line, making a stand for what they know to be right. I am so thankful for their choice to serve!

But I’m also thankful and wish to celebrate the memory of those that had the courage to leave everything to come and settle the west. The pioneer spirit of those cowboys brought so much more than what they could have ever expected. They were willing to pay whatever cost for the ranch life with open ranges and big sky.

I can’t imagine life being anything but hard for them. They didn’t have the luxuries we have like farm equipment, wheel lines, bull wagons, or 4 wheelers. Instead they had a horse and plow… and themselves. They worked every day just to survive another year. Men would leave their families for months at a time to take the cows to the sale. Families worked long hard hours to keep their meager farms afloat. What’s amazing is that despite how hard it was, they didn’t give up!

Imagine what our world would be like if the rough west would have beaten the cowboys and farmers. Those men, those families changed our history, changed my history. What a memorable legacy they left behind. And what a great day to celebrate their memory!

Who’s memory are you celebrating today?

A LESS Than Picture Perfect Cattle Drive

May 23, 2014 by Allison

Today we moved cows. It was so far from picture perfect. I mean it. I took my camera but just left it in the truck because there was no time to snap a picture in the midst of our near disaster cattle drive.

There are two things that make a drive go smooth that we didn’t have- a LOT of cowboys and good fences. Here’s the low down of how this day went.

Let’s talk about a little about fence etiquette. In Idaho, the “fencing law” is a fence out law (not to be confused with a fence outlaw that probably steals fences or something). That means that if you are, let’s say a farmer, you’re responsible to fence animals out of your farm ground. Particularily if it borders public ground.

The cattle we were moving were out on a Forest Service pasture with cows from two other ranches. The area has Forest Service ground, but a lot of private farm ground. In fact most of the way to the field we were heading to (6 miles) was bordered by farm ground except the last bit. And, yep, you guessed it… those farmers hadn’t put much stock in the fencing law.

There were places that the fence was up… but the wires were so loose calves just crawled right through them. It kept the in a little better than no fence at all because they could at least see something in the way. But so much of the fence was taken down, left in a mess on the ground. The darn thing didn’t even look scary enough to keep them from trying to get out. And with it being dropped to the ground we had another issue to deal with, getting the horses caught in the fence!

For hours we fought cows trying to cut back into the tempting green wheat fields. And we lost. The cows won. It seemed that they were crawling through the fences everywhere, when there was actually a fence, I mean. Cutting across the fields had its own extra setbacks. There were so many places that was loose dirt that as the herd crossed over it made a cloud of dust so bad you could hardly see the cowboy next to you. The cows don’t like dustiness like that (not that I blame them… actually I do, because if they would have stayed on the road we could have avoided the dust!) A couple of times they got so lost in the dust (or just annoyed by it) they tried to turn back on us. Just what we needed- crazy cows not being able to see where they are going so they turn and go… anywhere else!

The cows in the front were on a mission. They knew they were literally heading to greener pasture, so they walked out. Fast. But then there was the slow babies in the back. Their little tired legs just couldn’t keep up. Before we knew it, we were stretched out for miles moving along a non-existing fence with cows breaking into the first green thing they could see. Every time we would lose a group of cows through the fence a cowboy would follow to get them back out. Before we knew it, there were more cows and cowboys out on the wheat fields than on the road! Actually there was a point I was the lone rider moving down the road.

It might have not all been so bad if we could have had all the cowboys we needed. We needed to have guys at the front with the lead cows, guys doing the gates, guys pushing over the cows that were crawling through, and guys pushing the cows the length of the herd. But we didn’t.

At one point The Rancher switched from his horse to his steel horse which helped him buzz around which saved us. He was able to get ahead of the herd to close gates, get around the lead cows in the wheat field and head them back. It’s just too bad we didn’t have like three more guys helping do all that work…

We made it eventually and really no worse for the wear. We found all of the strays and after a while the bull in the trees decided to come out. But, heaven willing, we will NEVER have to do that again!

Happy Mudders Day from The Rancher’s Wife

May 11, 2014 by Allison

There are too many good mothers (and mothering women) out there to not say Happy Mother’s Day to!

You are amazing, you know! There are so many things that you do- manage your home, chase your kids, help your husband, work in the community, serve your friends and neighbors and somehow you manage to still be you.

AMAZING!

So here is a little note from The Rancher’s Wife.

A Roundup- Ranches Branding From Montana to Kansas (and some in between)

April 30, 2014 by Allison

We aren’t the only ones busy branding this time of year. And I’m not the only one blogging about it (although with my number of posts over the last few weeks you might think I own the corner on it!). Its always fun for me to see how others ranches do it and the pictures that they put up. And I love reading the histories of branding that they write. Do you check them out?

Its ok if you don’t, because I grabbed a healthy handful of the ones I found lately. You should read them!

Some of these have great photos, others have great descriptions of how they brand. Two are posts from people that don’t normally brand, and its interesting to hear their take on it all!