The Rancher - The Idaho Rancher's Wife

Bringing the Party Home- Team Branding in Malad

August 20, 2014 by Allison

Team branding. By this time of the summer we are counting down how many are left. If the heifers could count, I’m pretty sure that they, too, would be on the count down. The team branding for our fair has to be one of the favorites for me.

Part of it is because we don’t have to travel a long ways. Phew… For once the stock contractor doesn’t out drive the cowboys. But the best part that since it is local we see so many of our great friends and neighbors! Normally at the end I am just praying for these things to get over because we are all tired, cranky, bored, and someone has most likely gotten hurt. But not in Malad. I’m so stinking busy doing fair board stuff, helping with the heifers, taking pictures, visiting with friends and watching my own kids. Scratch that last one… with so many friends around, everyone else is playing with my babies that it seems like I hardly see them!

Prepare yourselves for a lot of pictures. Not all are that fantastic… I blame the light and the timing. If only I could be in charge of the timing of this shin-dig… But alas, I’m not. So deal with it. I would rather share these photos that might not be my best than not show them at all! 🙂

Click “Read more” for the other pictures…

2014 Stone Rodeo

August 6, 2014 by Allison

Raise your hand if you have heard of the Stone rodeo. Ok, don’t really. Someone is going to think you are crazy… but good for you if you have! If you haven’t, now you are!

The Stone rodeo, practically a Holy Day in this area. Stone, Idaho is the tiny gathering of homes and ranches near Snowville, Utah and good ol’ Holbrook. The community is so small that there isn’t a single church, bar, post office, or gas station. But any good town full of cowboys will have some rodeo grounds! But don’t let the small town setting make you think that this isn’t a quality rodeo. Or the fact that the square arena is closer to an egg shaped! Amateur rodeo or not, they ride hard, rope hard, and sometimes fall hard!

These rodeo grounds are used just the two nights of the Stone rodeo. Now days the bleachers are all permanent, but back in the day they had to haul in seating. Except for those that bring their own, and I don’t mean a camp or lawn chair. Days before the rodeo, the arena is lined with pick-ups reserving their spot and getting them front row seats!

The events at the rodeo are entertaining for everyone to watch or participate. We have roping for all the hometown cowboys, rough stock for the crazies and dreamers (aka The Buckaroo), milk calves for the kids, and wild horse riding for the brave (or drunk…)! Every year I can guarantee two nights of hand-clapping-side-ache-laughing-country-good-time-fun!

Team Branding at Bancroft

July 25, 2014 by Allison

Our weekends have been busy- like something every weekend. Family reunions, parties, and of course, team brandings. One of The Rancher’s favorite team brandings is at small town Bancroft, Idaho.

Being in such a remote area with nothing around it but farms and ranches, you can see why he likes it. Only the real cowboys come out, and even though it’s competitive roping, those cowboys make it a good time.

I might have mentioned before that I’m working in my roping. I want to be a REAL cowgirl, so I figure I better get this roping thing down. The Rancher thought that this would be a great time to give it a try. “I’ll put her right in your loop, babe. It’ll be easy!” Ya… I said no… I got a little stage fright. I better practice up a little more before I put some money down. And if your gonna lose (which I most likely would) you better look good doing it, and I’m pretty sure I would have just looked like a fool! Turns out it was a good choice to not rope because a big ol’ storm came through with some crazy wind. I could just see me roping myself with that kind of wind…

But next year… I’ll get all practiced up and next year I’ll do it!

Summertime on the Ranch

July 1, 2014 by Allison

Oh what do you do in the summertime? That’s the line to one of my kids’ favorite songs. Our answers aren’t like the song… We don’t have a stream to sit lazily by, or trees to swing on… Instead we have a ranch with hundreds of opportunities for fun. But when the votes were in, everyone around the ranch agrees that these are the summertime favorites!

1. Roping at the arena- We have an arena, we have the roping steers, and obviously we have the horses and ropes. What do they all mean? Roping. Lots of roping. The Rancher is all over it… You say roping and he will beat you there. The rest of us tag along of course! The Rancher’s Sidekick floats. He spends some playing in the dirt, some time riding his horse, and some time working the chute. The baby hangs out with me. Somehow we manage… We love every bit of those nights. There’s nothing better than playing out in the arena as the sun goes down!

2. 4 Wheeling- Hands down, this has to be The Ranch Princess’s favorite. The first place I go to check when I can’t find her playing outside is on the 4 wheeler. I’m terrified for the day that she can actually start it. There are so many trails and roads to just head out for a drive. You can get a little crazy with some off-roading or you can take it easy. Either way we have a great time!

3. Cookout, or “roast out” as The Rancher’s Sidekick calls them- When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When life gives you massive tractor tires, you make a fire ring and have a cook out. Tin foil dinners, weenies on a stick, mallows… its ALL SO GOOD! There is no shortage of scrap wood here at the ranch, so bring on the bon fires!

4. Hanging’ out at the reservoir- Ok so its not AT the ranch but its where we head when the work is done. We have a few old jet skis that occasionally work to make it a really good time. Once I asked if they were sick of fixing the darn things but they told me that was half the fun of them! Actually, they have been working GREAT lately. I’m working on my 360 when I get pulled on the knee board… we’ll see if I can conquer it this summer!

5. Bunny hunting- Don’t be weirded out, but we love to bunny hunt. And I feel a little justified because they are terrible out here. There isn’t too much more fun that loaded up the truck in the dark to spot bunnies. After a good bunny hunt, I start seeing them all over the road!

Summertime means fun family time. We work hard during the day to play hard at night. Cool off in the reservoir, take little drive, have dinner around the fire, and have a little excitement with the hunting or at the arena. That’s how we summer at the ranch!

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!

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!

What Does Father Mean to You?

June 15, 2014 by Allison

If you ever you look up the definition of father, you’ll find that most of them refer to having a child. Some talk about being a parent or having responsibility for their children, but they don’t got to far into what a father is.

I found a little quote that said becoming a father is easy, being a father is rough. I think that might come the closest to telling it how it really is. Because being a father isn’t always fun or easy. It means late nights and up all nights. It means taking the time to teach how to do rather than just jump in and do it yourself It means watching them get a few scrapes as they try so hard to learn to ride a bike.

There is a price to pay and sacrifices to be made with being a dad. But the returns on such an investment is totally worth it. Because believing in someone and helping them know who they are is greatest gift anyone could give.

So what does a father mean to you? To me it is sacrifice, time, compassion, understanding and believing. Its forgetting yourself and putting them first. it shaping someone into being everything their potential will allow them to be.

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!

Ranching Memories: Magic, Mishaps, and Mischief

May 26, 2014 by Allison

With it being a long weekend, most of the crew (except for Cowboy Pete- he is in Bulgaria!) came back to the ranch to play. The best part about everyone coming home is the times where sit around and visit. We always end up talking about days on the ranch. Those crazy branding days that The Buckaroo’s horse would always buck. Or the days of near tragedy that were too scary to laugh at. There is a theme running through them- somebody did something a little crazy! We were laughing so hard my sides hurt… I wish you could have been there. Some of the stories were just too perfect to NOT share!

Three Boys Means no Boys

Any smart ranch dad takes advantage of the free labor that comes with raising kids on the ranch. One day Rancher Sr. and The Ranch Boss went out to Locomotive to work some cattle and took along a few of the boys for some help. It was a typical dusty and windy day, which meant that these kids couldn’t hear or hardly hear what they were being told to do. That’s kind of a must when you are the gate man on a sorting day. Even when they figured out some hand signals, the cowboys would forget to use them! The Ranch Boss just told them, “When you have one boy, there is one boy… two boys there is a half a boy… three boys means no boys!”

Magical Ranch Mornings

Mornings on the ranch really can be magical. The fields smell incredible, the sun streams over the hills, and the birds are singing. Those moments just make you want to stand still to soak up every bit of the promise of a new day. Some mornings are a little magical than other, like when The Ranch Boss headed out for morning chores to find the old farm hand tractor running in the stack yard. What’s so magical about that? No one was there and no one had been there. The tractor started up by itself! They actually figure that a few mice got chewing on the wires, crossed them, and started the old tractor up.

The Beginning of Crop Circles and BE Farms

Being observant and industrious ranch kids, The Rancher, The Cowpoke, and a few fellow farming friends started their own farms- The BE Farms. They had their own patch of dirt to plant their hay and grain in and despite their clever schemes and earnest efforts their crops didn’t produce well. Buts really no problem when your little field neighbors dad’s big hay field. Just grab your best pair of kindergarten scissors and cut some yourself a supplemental hay crop! Don’t be surprised if the carefully cut pivot circes are mistaken for deer getting in the hay! The Rancher Boss was sure there was a herd of deer… nope- just a herd of little boys!

The Rooster Story

We love having chicken for fresh eggs, but once upon a time the ranch raised their own chickens for the meat. This meant that they had a rooster. And not any ol’ rooster. He was the nastiest, meanest old thing. So mean that the boys wouldn’t go gather the eggs for fear of that rooster chasing after them with his lethal beak. Rancher Sr., tired of the boys not getting the eggs, decided he was going to do something about it. His solution- a 2×4. He left the rooster for dead in the field, sure that the problem was solved. Weeks later, The Rancher was crouched down working on his snow mobile in the shop when all of the sudden, this rooster jumps up on his leg. He perched up there, ruffled his feathers a bit and just stood like he was some sort of pet! Rancher Sr. must have knocked something loose on that rooster, because ever since then he was pleasant as ever! But they tell me he did walk with his head cocked to one side…

It’s just ON FIRE!

The Cowpoke came back to help on the ranch between semesters a few times. It’s the sort of thing these boys live for- dad telling them that he needs them to stay to work on the ranch with them. What they don’t live for is the tractor catching fire on them! While The Cowpoke was doing some farm work he started smelling a little smoke. Being a good farmer he stopped to check under the hood only to see a bird’s nest on fire and shooting flames out the side! Lucky enough he was parked right next to the ditch. Unfortunately he didn’t have a thing to haul water in! He was clever (and probably calm) enough to notice the 4 wheeler there that he was able to jump on to find a 5 gallon bucket at the stack yard. Rancher Sr. was there too, curious as to why The Cowpoke would leave his post on the tractor a bucket. Um, ya… it’s only ON FIRE! Maybe that was the beginning of the Eliason Fire Brigade…

The Buckaroo’s First Catch

The Buckaroo has a knack for twirling a rope. Will Rogers has nothing on him! Well, I’m sure that he will be that good someday, soon! This roping craze started young, like 2 years old. The beginning of his roping career was marked with his first tie down. He had been outside playing with the dog, typical boy thing. But after a bit he randomly ran in the house. A minute later he ran back out… with his rope. Then not too much longer he can back inside… without his rope. When mom asked where the roped was he simply replied, “I tied the dog to the tree…” True enough, that little cowboy had roped and hog-tied the dog to the tree!

A Needle Stick

One fine branding day, I was in charge of giving the shots. I was double fisting even. Before we would get to work on the calves we had to have them rolled on the right side. If there wasn’t a free man to do it I would jump in and try to help. Easy, not a problem. Except the time that as I rolled the calf and bent down so did The Rancher’s uncle behind me. It was like two magnets coming together- his bum and my needle. AH! If there was ever a terrible place for a needle stick it had to be there!

Boys and Hot Shots

Little boys and hot shots are always a scary combination, but give them to a little boy that wants to zap his neighbor. There was a little cousin that loved the hot shot and would just come up to whoever and give them a little zap. The boys got so sick of it that occasionally they would give him a taste of his own medicine. And then came the day that he accidentally got The Buckaroo. He was so sick of this kid doing it and not knowing it wasn’t on purpose, he turned around and got him back so bad! Needless to say, he didn’t get anyone with the hot shot again!

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!