Rancher's Wife Stripes - The Idaho Rancher's Wife

Doing Scary Things- Ranch Wife Style

February 18, 2025 by admin Leave a Comment

The comfort zone- a place of ease, perceived control, and little stress. Let’s be honest, we all want to operate inside our comfort zone where we can keep anxiety at bay, feel confident, and know what we are doing. We fear failure so we ensure success by only doing those things we have already done. But experience teaches that the most growth and learning happens when we step outside that comfort zone. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do something everyday that scares you. These small things that make us uncomfortable help us build courage to do the work we do.”

Life on the ranch tends to give us all plenty of moments outside our comfort zone that we can either embrace and learn through or shy away from and stay stagnant. I’ll admit that embracing those moments feels especially hard when my failures are out on display for so many others to see. It’s ok for my growing children to learn from failure, but as a grown adult, I too often feel like I should just know, well… everything.

Just last week I took the opportunity to do something new and outside my comfort zone. For some, this might seem like a simple daily chore but for me, it was a whole new experience- feeding cows solo. Now I go out and help feed often, sometimes daily. I know the routine, what to feed, how much, but I’ve always been the crew that opens the gates, cuts the net wrap off and such.

What I haven’t ever done is be the guy in the tractor behind the wheel. If we had to choose between my very capable husband and myself in the seat, we choose him because we want to get the job done and move on. And, really, why should I do it when he is there?

Eventually the day rolled around when all of the usual feeding crew were gone. The roping that was supposed to get done with plenty of time for the ranchers to get home and feed, went long, lending to one of two possibilities. Either they would have to feed late after getting home or I could jump in and try to do it myself. I pulled on my big girl coveralls and jumped in the tractor seat, sure that I could feed three bales of hay without disaster striking.

There were a few things I knew I had on my side as I set out- first I had the basics of tractor mechanics down so that I could drive faster than at a snail pace and move the loader in all the necessary directions. Second, if I had questions, FaceTime put me just one phone call away from help. And third, cows don’t care how pretty the feeding is, they just want the hay out.

Getting to the stackyard I found the right hay, and through a little trial and error, managed to get a bale on the forks and grab one with the three point bale squeeze on the back. It wasn’t as smooth and easy as when the guys do it, but I was doing it. I headed up the hill to the hungry heifers, planning in my mind how I was going to go about feeding. I would set the first bale down, cut the wrap off, tip it over, send it rolling down the hill and that would keep the cows out of the way while I put the other two in bale feeders around the pasture. Easy enough.

Everything started off according to plan until it was time to send that bale rolling down the hill. What seemed like a simple little push with the forks was hardly so and because it was taking longer than usual, the cows were now starting to get in the way. To complicate things even more, it was suddenly dark outside.

I was definitely outside my comfort zone, but also so in the thick of what I was doing that there was no quitting.

Scooping up the bale I had intended to roll down the hill, I put it in the first feeder and opted to try again with the second bale, learning from my earlier mistakes. It took a little trial and error but bale number two was finally rolled out and the cows were content to leave me alone while I fed the last bale.

Heading to the feeder, I saw that it was on a hill and while I might be in a tractor, I had better be smart about how I went about getting there. Between the snow and mud, the hill was slick and in that moment, a distinct memory of a teenage girl failing to turn a tractor up a muddy hill came rushing back to me.

Putting the tractor in the low, snail pace gear, I carefully headed down the hill, making sure I had a clear plan out of there after dropping my load. All seemed well as I made my way to the feeder until I stopped the tractor to pull off the net wrap and noticed the tractor continued to slide. I quickly turned the wheels and that was enough to keep it still. I knew I could dump the bale but I wasn’t sure how I would get out of my predicament once I straightened out again.

Four wheel drive. That was the solution. I really should have thought of that before heading down the slippery hill but at least I was thinking of it now. The only problem was that of the millions of buttons, levers and switches, I had no idea which to toggle. And I was sure that the wrong one would probably make the whole tractor implode.

Mustering the courage to make that phone call that admitted a bit of failure, I called my husband and asked for help. Without laughing at my mistakes or making me feel even more dumb than I already felt, my rancher easily helped me get out of my sticky situation. I dropped the last bale, skirted around the feeder, and headed for home quite proud of what I had finally accomplished that night.

For some, this was a simple chore, something they could probably do with their eyes closed, although I don’t recommend it. They made it seem easy but as I went through the very steps they did, it seemed so complicated and almost dauntin. I hope you chuckle about this little ranch wife willing to help even when the job is outside her comfort zone. But more importantly I hope you learn a few lessons from her.

Learn that you can accomplish far more than you think you can. You just have to try. New things are hard and scary- they are supposed to be! But, trying, jumping in with both feet is the only way to grow. Learn that people are here to help you. Asking for help isn’t admitting failure, even though it feels like it. Learn that the only real confidence in life comes from conquering those moments of fear, big or small. I might not be on the “A team” when it comes to the feeding crew, but if the job needs doing, I know I can do it. Next time, I just might have to start a little earlier and find the four wheel drive a little sooner.

Trailing the Cows Home: If Only We Can Find the Gate…

January 12, 2018 by Allison

Its definitely winter here on the ranch. Not because it is cold and snowy, because it has actually been warm (relatively) and rainy. I’m saying its winter time on the ranch because the cows are here and The Rancher is officially feeding every morning. Slowly over the last 2 weeks we have trailed and hauled cows home, starting with the group up in Quaken Asp.

Quaken Asp is some of private ground in the mountains past our home where we pasture the cows in the fall. Its a favorite of our family’s- a place where we go up for a 4 wheeler rides, hunting, an evening drive… you name it, we do it up there. In fact, The Rancher proposed to me up there. Yep, I love it up there. When The Rancher announced that it was the day to bring the cows home from there, I immediately asked if I could come along too. I would say it was 50% me wanting to go for a ride, 30% that I needed get out of the house and do something, and a strong 20% that needed some quality time in a place that I loved.

Luckily for me, I managed to upgrade my ride from the gator, which I always plan to take because it lets me take all my little people and manage to take photos off the trail, to my horse! The Ranch Boss, my father-in-law, had shoulder surgery a few months ago and the thought of something going wrong and him coming off his horse was enough to make him call dibs on the gator. At first I thought that meant I was destined to stay home or to sit in the truck and wait. But, because I am his favorite daughter-in-law, The Ranch Boss volunteered to take my kids with him and I was free to saddle up and go.

Once we got up the mountain, it didn’t take long for us to realize that the cows were going to be difficult to bring home. We rode to the very edges and corners of the field and only gathered up a small portion of the herd. As cows do, they had managed to tear the fence down in a few places and meander far, FAR away. And not only they were few and far between, but they were also belligerent and stubborn and wouldn’t move. They would sit in the trees, head up the mountain, and no matter what we did, turn tail and run.

Ya wanna here just how stupid and ignorant and frustrating these cows were? Ok, it wasn’t the worst move we have ever done, but still frustrating.

There were four cows that I found in the bottoms, stopped in a groves of trees. Calling them trees is kinda pushing it… It was more like a bunch of overgrown bushes that left no room for a horse to move around but apparently enough for a cow to wiggle under. And there was no amount of whooping and whistling that was moving these cows. I tried coming at them from every direction and something worked because eventually they started moving (I guess I am scary… BOOM!) Of course they don’t take the easy way down and jump in with the rest of the herd but they decide to go further up the mountain, through even more brush. About this time The Rancher rides in and he followed them up and over while I kept looking for others in the rest of the brush.

Things were going pretty ok, but we could see handfuls of cows that still needed gathered in. The Rancher and Cowboy E headed out to gather in whatever they could find, while I grabbed those four cows and kept pushing them. I actually didn’t have to push all that much because they were moving plenty fast on their own. Unfortunately they kept going further and further up the mountain and away from the herd. I would get the leader stopped and headed back down just to see one take off another way. This happened over and over again. Where was a good ranch dog when I needed him?

We were headed in the same general direction as the herd and I knew that we would come out just fine, so I opted to stop fighting those old girls and just see where they were taking us. I knew that other cowboys were on the same side of the mountain as we were and that in reality, if I needed help, I could leave the cows and things would be ok. But, being the good cowgirl that I am (or at least pretend to be), I just kept going. One of the best pieces of advice I ever learned when I first trailed cows was to let them take the lead. They knew the range better than I did so it was likely that they knew the best way out. I was hoping that this little bit of advice wasn’t about to fail me. After moving for a long for a while, I start to see more and more cows. Apparently this group all had the same idea to head for the same corner of field, not realizing that they had passed up the better route of going through the bottoms. About that same time, I see Cowboy Pete push a few more cows in my direction and turn around to head for more so I figured I would just take this group and move on down. We started following the fence, assuming that it would take us to the road and out. But I started to look where the fence headed and all I see are corners.

Who builds a fence with 12 hundred corners in it?! Ok… I know that the where and how the fence goes depends on a lot of different things, but still… I mean, if I kept following the fence, where was I gonna end up. I didn’t bring my map of the range so… I called The Rancher instead. He informed me that occasionally they just take the fence down and make their own gate… Oh. Make my own gate. I can do that. I rode up ahead of the cows and took the wires down. Just then The Ranch Boss called me to explain that I needed to turn the cows around, that there is a gate at the corner already opened. Ya know, the gate that we had passed already. He said it was an easier ride out so, I turned those cows around. And went back to where we had started.

No gates to be found… I might have grumbled a little.

And then we turned around again and headed for the place I knew I could get out, make-shift gate I had torn down. And that is when I saw it. A gate. Hidden in a sort-of corner (as opposed to a nice square corner) that we had passed. Over and over again… These blasted cows, that have been on this mountain year after year, head straight for the gate that THEY want to go out, and then MISS it altogether! Gah! If I was a cursing woman, I would have used all sorts of obscenities but… I held my tongue. And those crazy girls redeemed themselves by sticking to trail for the rest of the ride home.

Mostly…

Until the next ride!

The 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!

Growing Some Thick Skin

April 26, 2017 by Allison

One of my favorite rancher wives once told me that she chooses NOT to work beside her husband a lot of times because she doesn’t have thick enough skin. Its not that her husband is grouchy and it isn’t ever her husband that is the problem, but to keep things happy in all corners, she just stays out of it.

From her words of wisdom and my own experiences over the last few years, I have learned two things. First, if I can’t handle what the cowboys say, I’d better stay out of the work. And second, I if I’m determined to work with them, I better grow some thick skin to be able to handle it all.

You know me… although the best way to go would be to go with the first little lesson I learned, I’m taking the harder way and following the second.

There are a few reasons a person might need some thicker skin when working with the cowboys, especially if its your husband. At home, he calls you honey and sweetheart and any other pet name I might not want to know. But those lovy names are totally forgotten once the two of you are out the door to work. All of the sudden, he sounds a little cold or distant and pretty soon, you begin to wonder if you did something wrong. Really, what has happened is that he has his rancher hat on and that is all that is on his mind. Don’t worry, he will warm back up to you when the work is done!

Now, unfortunately, ranch work can be noisy. Really, REALLY noisy. Loud tractors or pumps, noisy, bellaring cows and so much more. Hearing anybody talking to you over any of this noise is nearly impossible. So the easiest solution to this problem is just to talk louder than the noise. Most commonly known as YELLING. Yep, I just admitted it, my husband yells at me. At least that is what I used to think. That quick, “CLOSE THE GATE!” without any tender love or affection can cut a wife right to the heart if she doesn’t have some thick skin to protect her. But once ya learn that he is yelling TO you, not AT you, its not so bad. In reality, anything he might be yelling to you is probably to help you do your job better or to keep you safe. Just read it as his way of saying “I love you.”

Eventually, any ranch wife that decides to help the guys get the work done, is going to make a mistake. Its hard to admit, but we wives aren’t perfect. We try hard to be perfect because there are some pretty intense expectations of the level of work that needs to be done and inevitably we might miss the mark. And without any warning or intention, some words might slip out of somebody’s mouth and somebody’s feelings are hurt. I’ve been there thinking, “I am here helping you get YOUR work done and I am doing MY BEST and you are mad at me?!”

But in all honesty, I had made a mistake.

And I hate to admit it.

But in admitting my mistake, it actually made things better.

I’m sure that there are a lot of other wives out there that have their own stories and lessons they have learned about how to make it working with their husbands on the ranch. But ultimately, if you’re going to work with the guys, you gotta handle whatever they might say. Some of it they mean, some of it they don’t. But some thick skin can go a long way to keep things happy at home.

Because really, it can’t get more true than the t-shirt that says, “Sorry for what I said when we were working cattle!”

Dinner For a Rancher

April 12, 2017 by Allison

The other night I made dinner and, as our life goes about now, The Rancher had to head out just as I was putting it on the table. I fed the kids and myself a tasty dinner of grilled steaks, fresh pineapple, salad, and green beans. Everything I love and my kids too! It went over with flying colors and any dinner that I don’t have to coax my kids to eat every bite is considered a win.

But with The Rancher it was a whole different situation.

He came home sat down ready to eat. I was pumped for the steak and the pineapple was a fun treat. But he looked at me and we had this conversation:

Him: “So where is the rest of the food?”

Me: “The rest of it? I think you got it all out.”

Him: “But, like… where is the filling stuff?”

Me: “The filling stuff? What does that even mean?”

Him: “Like potatoes or something. I’ll eat this, but I’m still gonna be hungry if I eat JUST this!”

I couldn’t help but just laugh and laugh! Heaven forbid he had some fruit and veggies in his diet. He thinks that he is going to shrivel up and die if he doesn’t have meat and potatoes for every meal. Actually, I did hear him say once (and I’m sure it will be the only time in his life!) that he was a little tired of potatoes… But that only lasted a few days.

But seriously, cooking for a rancher can be tough. With such a physically demanding job, he needs some serious calories to help him make it through the day. Over the years I have learned a few things about cooking for a rancher.

Things like how a salad will never cut it for him. It may be yummy and it may be nutritious, but it will only last about an hour before he is back in the house looking for a snack to help him make it to the end of the day. Only once has a salad been ok and that was on a hot summer night when the idea of a hot meal was just more than he could handle. Lesson here is, a salad can only be a side, not the entree!

It may be because we raise beef, but I’ve learned that EVERY meal needs to have meat in it. I didn’t even have to attempt a meatless meal to learn this lesson! I think it came with the wedding proposal, something like, “Honey, will you marry me and not EVER make dinner without some meat in it?” I can’t blame him though. Protein is essential part of a healthy diet and it is even more essential for a physically demanding job like his.

Making sure the menu meets his criteria isn’t the only thing I had to learn when I started cooking for The Rancher. His daily schedule is anything BUT predictable, which means that his dinner schedule is also anything but predictable. So what I do is ask him what time he thinks he will be home, add at least 45 minutes to that, but make sure that the table is set if he manages to make it in early so it looks like I believed him. Ok, not really… I think we have had a few reheated meals or overcooked and mushy noodles or the kids and I eat without The Rancher. Its what happens when dinner is on schedule and a calf needs pulled, a cow gets out or something breaks down. Its what happens when you are married to a rancher!

Dinner for a rancher isn’t typical or predictable. Usually I don’t even know what is for dinner until it was time to get fixing and all to often I have to ask The Rancher what he wants for dinner (and his usual reply is “I dunno…”). But dinner at our house is delicious, nutritious, never meatless, and full of love, because every dinner is a chance I have to take care of my rancher so he can do a little bit better at his job.

What is dinner look like at your house?

Its All About a Bunch of Bull

April 1, 2017 by Allison

Bull sale season is coming to a close. It ends just as fast as it comes. I kind of have a love hate relationship with Bull Sale season. I love it when I get a chance to go, but I hate it when I get left behind. And unfortunately, with all of my other OTHER responsibilities, it happens more than I’d like. But I usually try to send a child or two if that’s the case (hahaha… hehehe…). My mother-in-law and I were having a great conversation the other night, talking about all the pros and woes of being a rancher’s wife during Bull Sale Season. I’m sure that we aren’t the only ones that have noticed the ups and downs that come Bull Sale Season. In fact, I’m sure that we have it easy compared the wives of the ranchers PUTTING ON the sale.

I’ve actually had the pleasure of both sides of the sale- the selling and the buying. Growing up I loved the prep work of a sale. Trimming everything, photographing them all, sprucing up the sale barn, staying home from school on sale day… Yep, it was a kids dream. But I’m sure as the wife to a rancher, my mom didn’t think it was quite so awesome. When I imagine her at that time of the year, one word comes to mind- STRESSED!

Even though I am on the buying side of the bull sale now, I still love it. There is such an energy at a cattle auction! The combination of the noisy crowd, the feisty bulls, the auctioneer’s ramble, and the anticipation of when to put in your bid gives the air a little extra zing. You can’t help but love it, right?!

While the debate of whether Bull Sale Season is an actual thing is still being decided, I have unofficially dubbed March, plus or minus a few weeks, as such. If you were to come look at our bull-sale-calendar, you might mistake it for a bingo card for as many days as have been scribbled on. In fact you might even think we were going for Black Out! And while there may be so many to go to, you can be sure that every one will be different and every one will be good.

The obvious upside to having so many days out to a bull sale is that I get a free pass on fixing lunch for those days. While we can always expect the sale to be great, we KNOW the meal will be even greater! In fact, it may be so good and we come home so full, that I might not even have to make dinner (actually that’s never happened, but every time I’m hopeful!). Is it bad to admit that I have even asked for a recipe or two after watching my family down their lunch? I figure its a great compliment!

Once you get to the sale and have a chance to look around, you realize that ranchers can actually dress up and they are a pretty darn good looking crowd. You spend so much time seeing them in shirts torn up from the barbed wire or pants covered in what looks like tractor oil and grease (and maybe even something else you can’t even recognize!), or boots smeared in mud and manure and stinking even worse than they look, that you forget how good looking a rancher can be. And I think they will take any chance to get out of their grubby clothes too! Maybe that’s why we hit up so many sales…. Hmmm….

I’ve decided that there is an art to bidding. You don’t want to jump in too soon, because that just might take the price right out of your budget. But you don’t want to get in the action too late because then you might be out altogether before you even got in. Unless you can manage the sneak attack and steal the show with a last second bid. Then there is the whole other ballgame of bidding online. That one really makes me nervous… What if the connection goes out all of the sudden or what if it takes a second longer to register the bid or what if …. something else could go wrong, I’m sure!
Whatever way you bid, you gotta have a game plan!

Usually we go to a sale with a budget in mind and a number of how many bulls we need to buy. I always figure that once we spend the money or we get all the bulls we need, we will head home. But the truth of the matter is, a bull sale is a rancher’s social hour. Believe it or not, ranchers to like to gab! They all hurry up to buy their bulls and then hustle over to the cookie table to chat away the rest of the sale.

At the heart of every bull sale is their bull magazine. You can ALWAYS know it is Bull Sale Season by the stack of magazines on the desk. I wonder if the mail man gets tired of filling the mail box up with them? We’ve seen a few ranches that REALLY want you to come, so they send 2 or 3 magazines to be sure you get a good look at what they’ve got. It makes things easier for The Rancher when there are more, though. He can leave one on the kitchen table to read while he eats, one on the night stand to have his final look before he goes to sleep, and one in the bathroom where he does his best thinking. For some ranches, they send out the whole sale lineup. They figure then you can come to the sale knowing exactly what you want to go home with. For other ranches it is more like a ranch-and-family-year book. They try pulling at your heart strings a bit with those sweet smiling grandbabies. Then there are the ranches that just send their own type of save-the-date card and figure its gonna save them a lot of work if you just grab the magazine as you walk through the bulls.

But without those magazines, a rancher would be lost keeping everyone and everything straight. Besides the fancy names and photos, they are full of the info any rancher needs to get a good buy. Its those EPDs. If anyone ever thought that rancher wasn’t an educated guy, he should try his hand at EPDs… I’m slowing starting to gather what scores are good birth weights, weaning weights, milking and futures. I have no idea how they figured them, but I believe them.

Well, Bull Sale Season… its been real, its been fun, and no we are done. Its just a little more than a month away until the real fun starts and we see just how good of a buy we made! Until next year… (Maybe the season will be official then and we can have an opening day celebration!)

PS- I think the life of a bull is rough… Seriously, who else has a job of pleasure that only has to work a few months of the year and then is literally put out to pasture for the rest of the year?! And to have pasture like we did last spring… Yum…

Favorite Winter Weather Gear

March 28, 2017 by Allison

If you had to have super-hot weather or super cold weather, which would you choose? I go for the cold. My theory (along with probably thousands of others!) is that you can always add layers in the cold but in the hot, eventually, you can’t take anymore off. Thankfully, I don’t have to choose one of the other and I get to have both the hot and the cold. And I’m even more thankful I get mostly warm….

I’d say that I can (usually) handle whatever kind of cold comes our way if I have enough of the right kind of layers. It probably isn’t gear for Antarctic kind of cold, but since I’m not going there any time soon (or ever), I think I’m set. I’m that kind of girl that so long as I’m not freezing, I can do whatever needs to be done. So we pull out our cold weather gear and get to work.

So without any further interruptions, distractions, or whatever else, here is, from one rancher’s wife to another (or anyone else that is interested to know), my top 5 things that helped us survive the cold of winter.

1. Our Muck Boots… These boots are a serious staple at our house, year round. But they are an absolute necessity during the winter. Let me give you the highlights of this boot: water tight, insulated, great tread, and NO LACES! I love these boots for myself but I really love these for the kids because they can put them on and tucked into their snow pants without momma’s help. And they are great for those long weeks when the snow is melting and we are sloshing through the mud.

2. A good wool hat WITH ear flaps… When I was a kid, I always laughed about the look of a wool cap. All I ever saw was Elmer Fudd. But with my cute Stormy Kromer hat, function has totally met fashion. And although looking good out on the ranch for those cows that are really into that is top priority, more importantly, I now have an awesome hat for a super warm noggin to make it through the cold winter days! The Rancher isn’t so concerned about looking good as he heads out (because looking good comes so naturally to him) but he totally agrees with me that a wool cap is the way to make it through the winter. His only stipulation is that it has to have some good long flaps to pull down over his ears.

3. Our Carhartt… everything! We wear so much Carhartt because it is good stuff. We have coats, jackets, and even wool socks! They definitely win first place. A blue ribbon. A gold star. But seriously, they do an amazing job for keeping the cold at bay. Then they last all season long, and the next and the next! I have been wearing some of my favorite winter weather pieces for years! (Not that I have had the same pair of socks on for years, just that I have been using them for years. You know what I mean, right?) I’m all about a product that can do its job well, not once, but for a good, long haul.

4. Good ol’ long johns… The old time cowboys had it right when they wore their long underwear all winter long. They are like a snugly winter coat. It’s that all our critters need, so it sounds like a good plan to me! I don’t have a favorite brand. I’m simple like that. They just need to fit in my jeans and keep me moving!

5. Insulated leather gloves… Every year we pull out the insulated leather gloves I am always amazed at how well they can keep ya warm. When winter hits I’m ready to put on the heavy-duty, snowman building, all-day-sledding, hill-climbing-snowmobiling, sort of gloves. Then The Rancher grabs his trusty insulated leather gloves and I know we are already good to go. Now if only they make them for teeny tiny hands…

There are lots of other winter favorites like our wild rags, vests, snow pants and many more cluttering my mudroom. But when it really comes down to it, this handful was our everyday-go-to winter gear and so long as we had them, we were good to go. What helped you make it through the winter? Anything that isn’t found in the mud room?

Battling the Winter Blues One Blessing at a Time

March 6, 2017 by Allison

I love winter. I really do. I think I’ve told you that… lots of times. You are probably tired of me talking about it.

But its been sorta hard.

I love it, but its hard.

With so much snow all at once, that meant there were days and days of dealing with it. Pushing snow in the stack yard to get to the hay, pushing snow in the field to feed the hay, pushing snow around the ranch just to get around… and then pushing snow for our neighbors that really couldn’t handle it without a tractor.

God bless that rancher of mine and his tough, sweet heart because he spent nearly a whole day plowing snow for everyone in the valley just because he could when there were so many other things that needed to get done! He’s good man.

Back to the snow… You get my point that there has been lot of work because of the snow. Aside for the physical fatigue of dealing with it, I feel like we have been emotionally fatigued as well. Maybe its just me, but I feel drained. Super drained.

I think I have the winter blues…

And I don’t like it.

I’m a happy person. I’m the glass half full kind of girl.

So to battle my bit of winter blues, I’m going to count my blessings. Ready?

Actually, I have to tell you something else first… When I came home from my first year of college I thought I had died. I was happy to be home and happy to be back working on the ranch, but in some ways my life was over. None of my friends were around, our little town of 300 people had nothing going on and I was sure that I wasn’t going to survive the summer. Dramatics of a 19 year old girl, I’m sure… So I decided that the only thing I could change was my attitude. And I decided that the best way to change my attitude was to be thankful. From then on, everyday I was determined to find one thing to be thankful for and I was going to write it down and make a collage out of it.

It worked, friends. By the end of the summer, I had this huge piece of paper with so many things that I was thankful for and it was beautiful and inspiring. And I was happy.

So when I’m starting to feel down, I try to be thankful. Because when I’m feeling down, epecially about myself, I start making a different list. Something like an I-suck list… You know, the ones of “I can’t keep up with the laundry” and “the house is always a mess and I can’t keep up with it” and “I’m so behind on this project” and “I just burnt the 12th piece of toast this morning”… Those kind of lists can happen without us even knowing it and they can really beat us up.

So here goes!

1. Messes… Yep. It means that my kids have been busy playing and growing and being creative. And that is a mom-win.

2. Snuggles, especially from my older babies that are not babies anymore.

3. Propane. We ran out last week so I couldn’t have a hot shower before bed. Now it is full again and I’m thankful!

4. Snow… rain… MOISTURE! Our livelihood depends on it and although it makes life hard sometimes, we need it.

5. Cows. They make me laugh. They are cute. They are tasty.

6. My bed. My warm, snuggly bed. Its like a magic reset button.

7. Exercising. Its almost as magical as my bed for a good reset, but it takes a lot more work. But really, exercising keeps my body strong and healthy so I can enjoy so much more of life!

8. My home. Its still not finished. I have tape over the stairs that has been there for 18 months. But it is mine and I LOVE it.

9. Snow clothes. We couldn’t have made it the last few months without them. They have kept us warm and dry and saved my washer a lot of dirty clothes!

10. Hot chocolate. This is almost its own food group at my house. My kids drink it every morning. And I almost love it as much as them.

11. MY CAMERA! I love photography and the different perspective it has helped me look at life. Especially when I have had to stay on the sidelines- something I don’t do well!

12. My kids. Of course! They are messy and crazy and busy, but they are also sweet and helpful and kind. I watch them and in so many ways I wish I was more like them.

13. School. I know that everyone has there own opinions about school for their kids but I am so thankful for the little school I get to send my son to. He has learned so much that I couldn’t have taught him from home. No, its not perfect. There are issues. But when I see his growth, I’m so thankful that I can send my little boy to school.

14. The gator… Silly, I know, but its the best way our family of 5 plus 5 dogs can get around the ranch together. And it is a much smoother ride than any 4 wheeler.

15. Soup. Nothing is better than a warm bowl of soup at the end of the day. Or in the middle of the day. I think I could even handle soup to start the day.

16. Me. I am thankful for me. My determination, my endurance, my emotional side… (it keeps things in perspective, right?), my body and how it can nurture my family. I’m hard on myself a lot, but that’s because I have high expectations of myself.

17. Me bed. Oh… I already said that… Still thankful! Do-over… My boots! I have worn the tread off of my favorite boots. There are holes and cracks but they are my favorites. They have walked a lot of miles and gotten a lot of work done.

18. Music. I turn on tunes everyday. And all sorts of kinds. It has a way to drive and inspire me.

19. Books. I don’t have a lot of time to read these days. But it is an escape to adventure and excitement without ever having to pack my bags or leave my cozy bed.

20. My husband… My good, hard working, giving husband. He does so much for so many. And he loves me for being me. That right there is something so worth being thankful for.

21. Home made bread… it goes great with soup (haha). The smell of bread baking in the oven in the smell of comfort and home.

22. God. I’m a religious person. I believe in a higher power and that without it, I don’t know where I’d be today. He inspires me, He comforts me, He guides me and He loves me.

23. Good friends. Everyone needs a support system and I am so thankful for mine. Especially when you live so far from civilization, each other is all you have. And having friends that have farming/ranching husbands is an added blessing because they get it. They know what I’m going through.

24. Technology. Its actually a curse and a blessing. But today I’m going call it a blessing. It helps me pursue my passions. It helps me stay connected with old friends and far away family.

25. Winter…. Yes, I’m so thankful for winter. It is beautiful. There is a sort of renewal and cleansing that comes from the snow and cold.

I could go on. There are a lot of things to be thankful for! We take for granted so many of the luxuries we have and taking the time to remember them is good for the soul. What are you thankful for today?

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.