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

Revisiting 2015

January 5, 2016 by Allison

Our New Year’s Eve was pretty uneventful. We had an early dinner, watched a movie and just relaxed at home, which in reality was the best way to end our crazy, stressful, busy 2015. With the new year well under way, I’ve finally taken a minute to look back over the last year and realize that it was a HUGE year for us. And before you contest my observation (because I didn’t blog hardly anything that eventful and if it didn’t happen on the blog, it didn’t really happen, right?!), I’m gonna list it all out for you!

Lets just start at the top, shall we?

We started the first of last year with a bang, literally, as we began demolishing the old ranch house to build our new home. When the walls came crashing down we knew we had committed ourselves to this adventure! Although it was oddly satisfying to take a sledge hammer to the old house, it did get tiresome and the work seemed long but after 3 months we got it down!

In January we realized that there was nowhere near enough feed to calve out all of cows in Locomotive so we kept back an additional 250 cows at the ranch. Luckily we had an easy winter that helped things go more smoothly, but calving was a lot more intense. And because there was such little feed in Locomotive, we ended up hauling a lot of hay down south, putting a lot of extra miles on the feed truck.

When we weren’t busy on the ranch or demo-ing the old house, we were busy studying to be EMRs (aka first responders). The Rancher and I took a class to test and certify to run on the ambulance in our little valley. The long weeks and late nights of studying took me back to my college days and I was so glad when we tested and PASSED the beginning of May. Don’t worry, if you get hurt out here in Holbrook and need assistance, you have a ready, willing, and terrified crew to put you back together!

The spring was its normal craziness of branding, turning out, and praying for rain. Luckily, we were blessed on all fronts with a successful branding season, fast turnouts and a lot of rain!

The busyness of spring only got busier with summer as we were full swing into building a house, haying, hauling heifers to rodeos and ropings, and summer fun. I worked on my bucket list and scratched off hiking Mount Timpanogous with my siblings (it might have been a few days before I could walk normal…). Being the cool people that we are (and humble, I promise…) we volunteered in our community at every chance we could! A few highlights included our 4th of July where we cooked breakfast with Farm Bureau as the Young Farmer and Rancher’s chairman, had a fire truck in the parade to represent the Holbrook/Stone fire crew, cooked dinner with the Search and Rescue and put on a fire work show with the Malad fire department. I planned and took (with help!) the 12-18 year old girls on a week long camp trip (that had its own ups and downs with beautiful sunny mornings and snowy afternoons!). And we ended the summer with a week long of fair fun where I helped organize rodeos, a hypnotist show, vendor booths, and horse races all while doubling as EMS after a huge meth cookhouse was found (don’t worry, it hadn’t been running in years, but still scary to have in our little valley!). And if that doesn’t sound like a crazy summer, lets add in a little morning sickness! Let me just tell you that one of the highlights for our summer was NOT our garden… I don’t know that I have ever neglected it so bad as this summer.

As the summer came to a close, we hit a new milestone when we sent The Rancher’s Sidekick to school for Kindergarten! I didn’t cry, but the house certainly felt empty without him. While we was at school, The Ranch Princess and I spent a lot of quality time at the new house painting… and painting… and painting… Don’t ask me to come paint anything… I’m all painted out…

Even though we were solely focused on getting the house done in the fall, we took time to go on school field trips to the zoo and pumpkin walk and our annual family fishing trip. Of course we had calves to wean, cows to preg check and fall pasture to be moved to. And before we knew it, the calves were sold (so glad that we contracted in the spring!!) We also learned that my dad’s cancer had returned but we are hopeful with a quick catch and aggressive treatment he will beat it again! With appropriate timing, we gratefully moved into our new home the day before Thanksgiving. In fact, we moved our crap in and then jumped in the truck to head to Montana for Thanksgiving all in the same day!

We closed the year out by watching The Rancher’s Sidekick first Christmas program, Christmas shopping, The Rancher breaking a few ribs, a week long trip to Tijuana and strep throat. We were delighted to stay home for Christmas to celebrate the season and enjoy our new house!

Yep, looking back we had a crazy year, but I don’t think that I would have changed anything about it. OK, I could have done without camping in snow in July or the morning sickness or The Rancher breaking a few ribs (I mean, did you have to do it right when we were finishing moving in?!) but we learned and lived and laughed so much! I love and appreciate my family more this year than ever and truly look forward to the coming year. In some regards I’m a little afraid, because I have learned that times can be tough. But I have also learned that together we can get through it all!

10 Lessons Learned as a Rancher’s Wife… Part 2

October 3, 2015 by Allison

Last year I gave you a handful (ok 2 handfuls) of things that I’ve learned as my time as a rancher’s wife. Let me tell ya, that was not an all included list. There are so many gems out there. If people really only knew all the truths of making it married to a cowboy they would say we live such a bizarre life! So as weird as you may think I am, I have another 10 lessons I’ve learned.

There gonna be dirt. And manure. And mud. And dust and grit and weeds and anything else dirty you can think of. Ok so that isn’t too much of a stretch to imagine all that until you start to think of all the places this dirtiness goes. If it’s on your boots it’s on your floor. If it’s on your pants it’s on the couch. If it’s on your hands it’s on every blasted light switch, door handle, counter, key, or button you touch! So this is my advice: DON’T EVER CLEAN!! It’s all going to be messy all the time, so don’t worry about putting any effort to it… Ok that’s not how I roll. I do clean. The barn dirt and germs can stay in the barn but you have to pace yourself. Or hire a maid. I’d really love a maid…
Learn your 1st aid and always keep band aids on hand. It’s one if those Murphy proof things. If your prepared it’s not gonna happen, right?! Actually no… Cowboys think that they are either invincible and nothing will happen to them or they are can handle any type of wound or pain. And that leads to another lesson- know how to MAKE them stop and get real help. My rancher is pro at washing it in the ditch and calling it good. It’s only after I make him go to the doctor that he realizes that a pretty intense infection has set in and I was right.
You can hope for a set dinner time but don’t be heart broken when he’s late. In fact, that is more of the rule than the exception. Some machinery will brake down or a pipe will break or he might just forget what time dinner is on. That gives you two options- you either start eating without him or slap a smile on your face and wait. Its as simple as that.
Ranching and cowboying can be tough work but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. They really are just little boys playing with bigger toys. Having to saddle the horse to go rope a bull or load up the motorbike to bring in a few strays might be their job but that doesn’t mean they don’t get any thrills out of it. You might think then, that since they play all day on horses and tractors and bikes that when they can really go play, they will head out to do something else. But likely not… With any free time they will head to some team roping or start working a new colt or take the bike up in the mountains. Some days its hard to know what is work and what is play! We just roll with it and jump in no matter what he’s doing.
There will be so many hats. So many!! And I’m not talking figuratively. Sure, there is that too- he is the vet, the mechanic, the feeder, the farmer, the business man, the irrigator, and the milker. But right now I mean to tell you that ranchers have so many hats. They buy a new swather and they give him a new hat. He gets a load of feed in an he given another couple of hats. The vet comes around and has a handful of hats to give away. But he still needs a good cowboy hat to the keep the sun off of him so every few months its time for a new one of those. And not to mention that that he needs felt hats and wool hats in the winter. And heaven forbid it when a new hat comes in, we throw an old one out. You’ll get some sort of response like, “But it has a lot of good life in it!” or “I just got it to fit me just right!”. It may be greasy, grimy, poopy, and sporting a nice sweat ring but it MUST stay. Just call him a hat collector and move on… (and sneak a few out to the garbage during spring cleaning!)
Just because you don’t get a paycheck from the ranch doesn’t mean you don’t get called into work. In fact, you are on call… 24/7… no weekends, holidays, or even birthdays off. You have to have a really good excuse like in the hospital having a baby or on the couch with a broken leg to get off the hook. You never know quite what to expect when it is time to drop everything and go help. It could be something quick like stand on the road to turn the cows or come help moves the trucks to the next field ready to farm. But it could be in the middle of the night because you have to help with the calving. Or it could be an all day thing and you are sent on a parts run. I guess that’s what you sign up for when you marry a rancher, but you could always try to guilt him into a nice foot rub at the end of your long day!
Have you ever seen a cowboy in a tux? I mean, aside from a wedding, where the groom was threatened within an inch of his life that if he didn’t where his tux on the MOST important day of his life his bride would throw out his favorite rope, slash the tires on his truck and smash his best cowboy hat. His formal attire looks a lot like his work attire except that its clean. He will still have his boots, belt and buckle, jeans and a good western shirt topped off by his favorite hat. If its super fancy he might throw on a tie, but you can guarantee that it won’t last the night. I’ve been told that I can get all fancied up and it will work for the two of us. Naturally, If I’m dressed up appropriately for whatever event we are at, he is too simply by association. Honestly, I stopped caring… So long as he is clean and doesn’t stink, jeans and boots suit me just fine!
You will find that no matter the experience you are trying to help him relate to, he will find a way to compare it to ranching. You want him to understand that you are trying to eat nutritiously and he starts talking about feed supplements and offers you a salt block. You are trying to help him understand that he has to move the furniture when he vacuums and he realizes its much like how he has to move the wheel lines to cut all the hay. The best is when it comes to having babies, nursing babies, and raising babies. He is the expert in this field since every year he helps hundreds of mothers and babies. I guess that means that he is trying to get it if he is making the effort to make the comparisons.
This next little lesson was a hard one to take… A rancher isn’t always that sympathetic. There is no room for weakness in cowboying. It doesn’t matter the reason you need a little pat on the back… If you want to be out with the guys you had better suck it up and tough it out. After enough days of trying to get a “thanks, honey” for the late nights checking cows, early mornings haying, painfully cold days calving, or sweltering afternoons of hot fencing I’ve just decided its not gonna happen. I guess when your job demands that you show up no matter the conditions, you just expect it out of everyone else. And wives are no exception… Darn it…
When its movie night, just go for the western. You will never go wrong with a little gun play, a few pretty ponies and the handsome cowboy saving the day. When in doubt go with John Wayne or Tom Selleck. Or if you have the time you could even go with Lonesome Dove (although I have to admit, I have only done that once… and I think that’s plenty). Fortunately, there is a plethera of great old westerns that will make your cowboy proud to ride and a little more manly at the end of the night.

Here’s one last bonus thought… Crap runs downhill, therefore stay upriver, upwind and out of the spray zone!

Becoming a Real Cowgirl

May 1, 2015 by Allison

Ever since I married my cowboy I have wanted to rope. I grew up riding and working cattle, but we never got into roping. We were more on the cutting end of the cowboying. In fact, I still get cranky when I see a cowboy miss a good cut or turn because he was looking for a better shot to throw his rope. However, I do want to be a real cowgirl and learn to rope.

Over the last couple of years I’ve taken a swing or two with a rope at a dummy- some really intesnse cowgirl stuff. But more recently my husband and his brothers have taken it upon themselves to finally get this roping thing down. They have taken me out on some of their less intense branding days, where there wasn’t too much to get down that I could either slow down or get in the way. Actually that’s not true… I know not to try roping on the busy crazy days because I want to get home before dark or we run out of fire!

It was all good and fun but I wasn’t really figuring it out… Until just a few weeks ago!

I was honestly ready to give up and say that I just didn’t have it in me to be a roper. But The Rancher brought me along to one more branding. He gave me the experienced horse that would take his time (maybe he is slightly lazy…), put on my brand new saddle and I strapped on my new spurs. I had everything I needed to rock this branding. Oh wait- I didn’t have a rope!

We show up to our good friends where we were roping. There were 160 calves to brand and we were ready to get going. The Rancher just grabbed some old rope out of the trailer and we headed out. And I was terrible. I couldn’t hardly even keep my coils straight, couldn’t swing the rope to save my life, and missed every calf I tried for. For as many times I threw that rope I should have caught one by accident, even snagged one as it walked over my loop… but I didn’t.

I was ready to turn in and promote myself to the ground crew when one of the cowboys rode up to me, took my rope and traded it for his. He said there was no way in … that I could catch with that thing! He rode off and I figured I oughtta give it one more go, just to humor him. And guess what happened- I caught!

The very first loop I threw caught a calf! I just about forgot to dally because I was so surprised and so elated. I got my horse turned to the fire and drug my first calf in, get congrats and hoorays from everyone along the way- you would have thought I had just won the lottery for as excited as we were! They slid off my rope and I was out for another calf. I had to try again to make sure it wasn’t just luck, although I was sure that my friend must have rubbed a bit of luck on it. But as I kept going at it I kept catching. It was like I was really figuring it out! There was one time I had my arm up just right, rolling my wrist just right, and threw my rope just right. The rope landed right in front of those back feet just like it was supposed to. I was so excited that I totally forgot to pull my slack and actually catch the calf before he stepped back out…

I went home that day floating on clouds. I wasn’t a perfect roper or the best roper, but that day I finally became a roper. Now that I have my own saddle (because one day The Rancher said, “We need to get you your own saddle” and no good cowgirl says no to that!) some sweet new spurs and my own new rope (full of calf catching luck) I am on my way to being a real cowgirl.

*** I don’t have any picture roping that day, but I do have a few from a few weeks later taken by my sister in law, The Montana Girl.***

Feeding as a Family

February 18, 2015 by Allison

Feeding- the pass time of winter. If there is one thing you can guarantee we will be doing this time of year it is putting the hay out. The tedious redundancy gets to The Rancher. He just feels like it eats up his time, doing the same thing over and over. Hmmm… He wouldn’t make a good house wife (I’m pretty sure I have said that one before). Having to cook and clean up after people over and over… I’d love it if feeding only took two hours of my whole day.

Despite the fact that feed isn’t The Rancher’s favorite ranch chore, it may be one of mine. Lately Rancher Sr. has been gone on the weekends quite a bit while he supports Cowboy E in his last season of wrestling. That means that The Rancher either gets to feed on his own or I jump into help. I LOVE any opportunity to prove to my cowboy that he needs me, so of course I head out to help him. Really its more than that- I love to get out on the ranch, love to drive through the cows to see how they are doing, and I love the photography moments I get. But more than that I love being able to take the kids out with us and work together as a family.

Living and working on the ranch is so much more than a job to us. There is no separation between home life and work. Sometimes that has its problems, but there are way more blessings that come that makes it worth it. The best take home of all this for this ranch momma is the memories we are making every day. I love looking into the tractor seeing The Ranch Princess jabbering to her daddy. I see her getting excited at the cows, the horses, and the few baby calves. I can just hear her saying, at the top of her lungs, “Look daddy! COWS!!” (actually its more like wook daddy, tows… so cute!) While we drive between fields The Rancher’s Sidekick has picked up battling thumbs in an intense game of thumb war. I’m pretty sure that he is cheating more and more each time, so maybe we should stop with that one… He pals around with me on the 4 wheeler as we cut bale strings, begging to drive. Even stomping the mice as they come out of the bales has become a fun memory!

Sure life on the ranch can be redudant. Every year has the same seasons of calves, seasons of changing sprinklers, seasons of moving cows and seasons of working cows. But the best part about life on the ranch is that we get to do it as a family and spice up the redudant moments by making memories. We feed cows and enrich our souls. That’s what we did today!

A Muddy Morning on the Ranch

February 12, 2015 by Allison

Are you tired of hearing about the weather? Everything we do goes back to the weather. Too hot, too cold, too windy … Always something. Not that I’m complaining, it’s just interesting what Mother Nature throws out there for us.

What’s our current weather issue? If you can believe it, it’s the mud. We are having splendidly warm temperatures and beautiful blue skies. It’s so warm the ground isn’t really freezing. Good or bad? I dunno it just means that we sink down, down, down… Deep down. The warm weather in iteself isn’t too bad. But the warm temps means that instead of getting snow we get rain. Its been fabulous to have the rain. We have loved the moisture… it’s the after math of the wonderful rain that is causing the problems. The ground has become so saturated (awesome!) that the rain doesn’t soak right in. The puddles are lasting longer, the mud is soupier, and its actually running down the sides of the road.

Because I am the awesome wife that I am, I help feed cows whenever Rancher Sr. is gone (which has been more lately with Cowboy E’s crazy wrestling schedule). With what has become the typical division of labor, I’m the one that gets to be out in the mud. I open the gates, I cut the strings, I get to hang off the tractor and flipped in the mud. Needless to say, I’m the one that goes home a complete mess. What I do because I rock (just kidding)…

But really its ok, I’m over it. We can handle the mud, the heaping stinking piles of poopy mud and the endless supply of mud following us where ever we go. We can handle it because having the mud means that we do have rain and we do have warm weather. Although its tough to deal with nows, we feel so blessed and watched over. The rain is what we have been praying for for so long and its inspiring to see it finally come. What better way to start the new year than to be in a muddy mess, blessed with rain?!

A Midnight Bust

January 30, 2015 by Allison

I was looking back over the posts from last year. Sort of reminiscing about what was happening this time last year and then just kept scrolling. As I was going through, I realized that there are some stories that I never shared. These are the stories that are worth telling. You know that because they are the stories that I can still remember after so much time having past…

I live by the theory of better late than never (you know that already for all of the times I’ve taken you back!). Looking back this was a crazy, comical night but at the time it was frustrating, nerve racking and … I guess any issue that begins after dark at the end of a long day is doomed to be a hair puller

We had just gotten out of the shower (I say we because we everyone had to go through my shower that night… Why do we have 2 bathroom when we only use mom’s?) when I heard the 4 wheeler buzzing around. People usually don’t go for a moonlight ride so I knew something was up. The Rancher slipped into something more fitting for the ranch then his jammies while I put the babies to bed. Finally when I made it out to see what was happening (because The Rancher had been gone long enough for me to know that it was bad news- whatever it was) I learned that the most recent batch of weaned calves had escaped the corral and were heading in all sorts of directions. They went up the highway, down the highway, to the shop, to the haystack and to the alfalfa… awesome…

The Rancher and Rancher Sr. were buzzing around bringing in what calves they could find. You see, finding black calves in the dark of a moonless night is tough to do. You hear them before you ever see them and unless you have GREAT hearing you just might think you are getting around them but really you are heading straight out them. When I first showed up I just waited for orders from the cowboys. It was a long wait… So long I gave up waiting for their instruction and took it upon myself to guard the gate. It didn’t take long for me to see that as many calves got brought in would wander out. Not very productive…

So I guarded the gate. And it seemed to work. The boys would whoop and holler and bring the calves and I would keep them from escaping. Every so often there would be a handful that made their way to the gate and I was able to get them in (so proud of myself! Earning so many rancher’s wife stripes!). But the handfuls started getting bigger and more frequent and I began to realize that the blasted calves were hopping the fence and walking back to the gate. I had been putting the same calves in over and over! GREAT… Rancher Sr. came in and as soon as I could I explained that we weren’t keeping them in… Making no progress. So we got what calves we had and pushed them in the corral. Finally safe. Locked in. j

We did this dance of getting the calves in the back pen, running to open the small man gate to the corral, pushing the calves to the gate avoiding the holes in the fence, and trying not to pee my pants every time they scare me as they come around the hay stack.

Eventually the calves stopped coming and we figured we could call it a night. All was left to do was lock the gates up good and PRAY that nothing spent the night in the alfalfa to bloat or on the road to get hit. Come morning we found we were blessed to keep the calves in for the remainder of the night and the couple of strays that spent the night roaming didn’t die.

Looking back on this Thursday night I remember what an exciting eventful fall night we shared when the calves had their midnight jail break. You could almost say we had a romantic night with the only lights of the starry sky (and the few flashlights and 4 wheeler headlights) but I’m sure that’s not how The Rancher looks back on it. A little anxiety and a lot of relief. Maybe he won’t want to relive this Throwback Thursday memory!

Throw Back Thursday: Cattle Drive From May

September 11, 2014 by Allison

Remember that terrible cattle drive? That one where there were more cows out in the fields than on the road… I wish I didn’t… That adventurous day was day one of two of our cattle drive. I know what you are thinking (ok maybe you’re not thinking this…) that if day was so bad, day two must have been horendous and that is why I have to do a little “throw back Thursday” to catch you up on it.

Nope, on all accounts. Day two went as smooth as… it was GREAT! Granted, we did have a good road to follow, fences on all sides, lots of cowboys, and a shorter drive. But hey, it was good! We will take it any way that we can!

And lets say we learned a little from day one. The Rancher just started the day with a motor bike. We called up The Buckaroo who brought along his sweetheart and a bull whip. Both highly useful, just one more so than the other (just to be clear, his girl really is quite the cowgirl!) And I opted to not try a photo shoot on the run. I went with the 4 wheeler, kids and camera- its a lot less pressure!

A Big Ride for a Little Cowboy

June 27, 2014 by Allison

Being only four years old doesn’t stop this little boy from believing that he can do ANYTHING he wants to do, or more importantly- what his dad is doing. He is called The Rancher’s Sidekick for a reason- he goes everywhere and does everything with his dad. The first thing he says in the morning (after his request for hot cocoa!) is “where is dad?” And no matter what dad is doing, he is distraught that he was left behind.

Until last week.

The cowboys were moving the heifer pairs to new pasture not far from the ranch. Being the awesome mom that I am (and with The Rancher giving the idea) I loaded up The Rancher’s Sidekick’s horse and headed out after herd.

We caught up to the bunch and before I could park the truck, my little cowboy was scrambling out of the truck to get his horse out. He had one request- I want to ride by myself, and nobody pull me! Can you say independent? As nervous as I was (because I’m still a mom and the ground is pretty far down…) we handed him the reigns and let him go!

It was somewhat of a moment for me to watch him ride off following his dad. Here is my firstborn showing his momma that he is growing up. And as much as I’m not read for that, there is no other way that I would rather him do it than as a cowboy!

I just kept thinking, how many boys have this chance? Go to work with dad, everyday? How many little boys get to ride with his dad, grandpa, and great grandpa? How many little boys get to live their dreams of being a cowboy before they have ever gone to school?

Of course he is a crazy four year old that spent more time picking his nose than watching the cows. But the great thing was that he was there, in the middle of all of it. We don’t live on the sidelines out here. We live in the thick of it all!

DIY Pallet Shelf

June 20, 2014 by Allison

Pallet crafts. You see them all over Pinterest. Everyone is coming up with crazy creative ideas to use the only-good-for-fire-wood pallets for something so beautiful and useful. At first I though they were crazy and weird. Sorry, sista… I have seen way too many of these to want to put one in my house, thank you very much.

But then I gave in.

When I saw the PILES of pallets around the ranch I started thinking of ways I could make something awesome out of them too. The need for one came as The Ranch Princess emptied out my purse for the umpteenth time. Please can I just have a little shelf that I can hang my purse and camera and mom-bag from that looks cute!

Light. Bulb.

I should make one… from a pallet! So I went to Pinterest, and really didn’t find what I wanted. But… that didn’t stop me. I went to the pile, found the best pallet of the bunch and headed to the shop where the power tools were (oh, and The Rancher…). I explained to him what I wanted and he said, “…ok.” Very enthusiastic. All I really needed from him was to tell me where the saws-all was and to let me have at it.

I cut off the first section of pallet and then the a second board to go across the top for my shelf. With the pieces cut out (and the rest cleaned up- I do my part to keep the shop clean!) I headed for a sander. Now I know the fun of a pallet craft is that it is from a pallet and therefore has some character. But my OCD-ness wouldn’t let me NOT sand the darn thing… just a little.

Sanding really was the most time consuming thing, not because it took super long, but because the rest of it went so fast. I didn’t sand it off terribly smooth, just enough that when I would be taking my hand across it I wouldn’t get any slivers. We try to avoid pain like that if we can…

Next step- stain. With so many options it was almost hard to know how to go with this part of my project. I ended up taking a cherry brown stain and loved the results. On the first coat the grain started to come to life and I LOVED it. In fact, I only put the one coat on because it was exactly what I was looking for. It had a little dark color to it without being overwhelming or distracting. Awesome! I did do a quick sealant coat to help keep it’s awesome-ness.

After letting the stain dry I dug through The Rancher’s toolbox to find myself a hammer (maybe I should get my own tools!!) and nails. Since the shelf was from a pallet it wasn’t too square, which means I can blame any unlevel/unsquare issues on it, right? Actually it was a little tough to keep it square while I was putting it together just because it was a little awkward to try and hold together on my own. But never fear, I got it together!

And a shelf is born!

The last bits to add were my dollar drawer pulls from Home Depot (LOVE that store!). For Father’s Day I was the awesome wife that got her husband a new drill set and I finally had a chance to use it. I drilled myself a few little holes, put the screws in and I was done.

The coolest part of this project was when The Rancher saw it in the room. He was seriously impressed and is even thinking of places to put for his hat and gloves… Yes, earned myself more rancher’s wife stripes! Now, honey, could you please help me hang this up?

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!