The Idaho Rancher's Wife

The Ranch From the Wife's Perspective

REAL Taco a.k.a. Carne Asada

by

Tomorrow is Tuesday, so dinner calls for TACOS!  Taco Tuesday is something my family can always get behind.  It satisfies my husbands Mexican craving and it is such an easy meal to adapt for the kiddos.  This recipe has a lot of names- Street Tacos, Carne Asada, Steak tacos, Taco bus tacos, but at our house there is only one name I need to say and everyone knows what I am talking about- REAL Tacos.

The Rancher lived in Mexico, near Tijuana, for a couple of years and fell in love with ALL Mexican food and all the things that makes Mexican food so good.  Things like freshly squeezed lime juice, avocado, pico de gallo, and cilantro.  These are some of the critical things that make these tacos REAL tacos.  But the kicker is the beef.  A flank steak, thinly sliced and marinated with lime juice, cilantro, and jalapeno with a little seasoning, flame grilled for just a few minutes on each side and it is SO GOOD! Its so good that you don’t even have to have it on a Tuesday.

Just a few tips when you make this delish dish.  I have seen some grocery stores that carry a cut of meat called carne asada that is made just for sort a thing.  It is thinly sliced and ready for the marinade.  But you could also grab a flank steak and do the cutting yourself.  If this is the case, when I say thin, I mean super thin.  Like 1/8″ thin.  Between the thin slices and the great grain, you have tender bites perfect for a taco!  It will be a little easier to cut thin if it is a little frozen and if you start in the center of your steak and cut towards the ends.

When it comes time to grill your carne asada, you are going to want a hot grill.  The idea is that you are only going to grill it for a few minutes on each side so you want a good sear on the outside without losing the juices in the middle.  Salting the meat, even just a little, will help keep the juices from dripping out as it cooks.  Let the meat rest for a few minutes and then cut it up across the grain for the best tacos your Tuesday has ever seen!

Print

Carne Asada

The best tacos your Tuesday will ever see!  These tacos start as thinly sliced steak marinated in spices, cilantro, freshly squeezed lime juice, and jalapeno, grilled hot and end up as taco perfection! 

Ingredients

  • 1/4 Cup olive oil
  • 2 limes, juiced
  • 1/2 Cup cilantro, chopped
  • 1 jalapeno, diced
  • 1-1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 lb flank or skirt steak

Instructions

  • Cut steak into 1/8" thin slices and place in glass baking dish.  In a separate bowl. mix together all other ingredients.  Pour over steak and make sure that all sides are well coated.  Let marinate for at least 30 minutes.
  • Heat grill up to high heat.  Place steak on the grill and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove from the grill, wrap in tinfoil and let rest 10 minutes.  Cut into thin slices against the grain.
  • Serve tacos on your favorite tortillas- corn, white, or homemade!  Top with pico de gallo, sour cream, avocado, cilantro, lime juice, queso or your favorite taco Tuesday fixins!

French Dip Sandwiches

by

**Before you start reading this…. I need to say something up front.  I am no food photographer. HAHA… If the pictures don’t look too appetizing, I apologize.  But I do make a promise that every recipe is delicious, easy and family friendly!

Dinner time can be a fight, yes?  It can be hard come up with something easy and fast and something that everyone likes.  When we find something we like we hang on to it for dear life.

Over the last few years our little family has collected a good handful of beef recipes that we come back to time and time again.  One of the first recipes that I loved as a new wife and head chef in my home was these French Dip Sandwiches.  It was easy, it called for ingredients I already had on hand, and it was so GOOD.  It was something that worked well for just me and The Rancher but it was also a great option to feed a crowd.  And it works for feeding the little people in my life too.  If they aren’t interested in a sandwich, the roast makes for a great supper.

This is a pretty ideal recipe when you need something to through in the crock pot early in the day and you want it ready for dinner when you come home.  Come time to eat, all you will have to do is slice up the roast, load up your buns (ha…ha…) and pour a little broth in a bowl.  Then dinner is on.

We dress up this sandwich in all different ways.  I like it with some fancy cheese when I can but The Rancher just puts on good ol’ American cheese (we affectionately call it “slimey cheese”).  Sometimes we cook up some onions and peppers and add them to the mix.  Most times The Rancher puts a little steak sauce on with it.  And every time, we have the yummiest sandwiches ever!

Just a few tips when it comes to making these French Dip Sandwiches. 

-Toasting the buns will help keep your sandwich from getting too soggy.

-If you want the cheese melted, pile it on your meat and put ONLY the meat and cheese in the microwave.  This will keep the bun from getting soggy.

-To change up your sandwich, add peppers, onions, cheese, or mushrooms.

Print

French Dip Sandwiches

A simple recipe for a delicious and easy dinner that the whole family will love.  A beef roast sandwich dipped in savory broth that will hit the spot every time!

Ingredients

  • 3 pound chuck roast
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1/3 cup soil sauce
  • 1 tbsp onion flakes
  • 1 tsp italian seasonings
  • 1/8 tsp garlic powder
  • 3-4 peppercorns
  • 6 buns

Instructions

  • Place the roast in the crock pot.  Salt and pepper the roast.  Mix together the water, soy sauce, onion flakes, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and peppercorns.  Pour over the roast.  Cover and cook the roast 7-8 hours on low.  When getting ready to serve, ladle off the fat from the broth.  Remove the beef and cut into thin slices.  To serve, fill buns with roast beef and serve with broth for dipping.

Notes

*Toast the buns to keep the bread from getting too soggy.
*Add cheese, cooked onions or peppers to spice things up. 

Running Cows on the Range for You

by

Our ranch couldn’t operate without running on public lands.  We would love to run our cows totally on private land but that just isn’t doable right now.  Don’t get me wrong, the range land that we graze on is really, REALLY great.  Our cows come home fat and healthy.  But it would be nice to not have someone to dictate where and when we can run our cows.

Remember the days when we didn’t have to answer to anybody about our cows out on the range?  Ya me neither… Mostly because I haven’t been around this operation very long.  But also because even if I had been around here my whole life, the range has been regulated for longer than I was alive. 

When the first cows were grazing out on this range, nobody owned it.  It was just leftover land from when the railroad had been built.  Cattlemen would take their cows to Curlew Valley to graze through the summer months and then head south to Locomotive springs to winter.  It ended up being a conglomeration of all sorts of cattle and brands, which may seem crazy but it worked out well.  Between all of the cowboys there was always enough help to get all of the work done- water kept up, the cattle checked, and all the ground covered.  In the spring they would help brand each other’s cattle and in the fall they would all gather in and wean the calves.

Over time and from experience, they established good patterns of grazing, making sure that they wouldn’t over graze the land and have something available when it was time to come back.  They let the seasons and weather dictate how and where the cattle would be, flowing with range and its needs.

These days we still run our cattle the same, just with a LOT more direction from the higher ups.  We still run in an association, with most of the original brands that we began with so many years ago.  We still help move cattle, brand, wean, and check water just like they did in the past.  But now we are on somebody else’s schedule.  They tell when to turn out, how long we can stay, and where we go next.  The dates are rigid and there is no flexibility to work with what the range is giving.

I really have mixed feelings about this.  I think it is smart to have organization to it.  We want to ensure that the range is healthy for our cattle to feed on so it is important to make sure that we don’t have too many cattle or spend too much time in one area.  But at the same time, having someone from behind a desk telling us what we can and can’t do, especially when they don’t understand cattle or the work it takes to run them, is frustrating.

The job gets even harder when there are special interest group trying to keep you from your range land.  There are all sorts of reasons that they don’t want us on the public lands.  They think that we are harming the land.  They figure it needs to be left for the public to use for recreation.  They want it preserved for wild life.  Or some just don’t want it used at all for any purposes. 

Right now, we aren’t in a position where we are being troubled by anyone directly, but we aren’t excused from the fight to get cattle off of public lands either. 

I’m the kind of girl that is all about being efficient with what we have.  I’m pretty sure that it’s in my genes.  I hate to see things go to waste when there is so much value to be had.  But I also don’t want to use it all up at once.  That’s being wasteful too.  There’s that sweet middle ground that should keep from wasting by keeping things from totally unused but also keeping it from being over used and ruined.

But how can we apply that to the range?

It’s all a balancing act, friends.  Its working to keep too many cattle off too little ground with too little feed for too long.  But it is also having cattle out there to disturb the ground to help new seeds to grow, to cultivate the ground, to carry seeds in their poop and fertilize them to grow.  Its having cows out there to eat the grasses and keep the fuels down so fires don’t devastate the range.  Using it for cows keeps it as usable, profitable range land and not the next development area for a new subdivision.

Balance.  That’s how we do it.

A few years ago, I saw a book that was talking about public lands and it was obviously against ranchers using it for their cattle.  In fact, there was a caption in big bold letters that said something to the point of “keep ranchers from turning your land into a feed lot!”  And right next to it was a picture of an area that had been overgrazed (most likely it was right next to the water trough, right?!). 

It was a little like a punch to the gut.

Is this what people really think ranchers do?  Do they assume that we use public range land to feed our cattle so that we can make some money by fattening our cattle while we ruin someone else’s land?  I just wanted to shake someone, anyone, EVERYONE and say, “WE DO THIS FOR YOU!”

We run and raise cattle for people to eat.  It’s plain and simple.  Yes it is our jobs and we are trying to make money doing it (enough to survive at least… ha… ha…).  But at the heart of it all, we care about making a good, affordable product for families to put on the table using the resources available.

For years and years, nothing has changed how ranchers use the range.  But what has changed, is the public’s perception of how and why use the land.  Their land.  The bigger picture is that we use their land to raise cattle to feed their families.  And we have before it was really anyone’s land.  The cattle were there long before any interest groups even existed, let alone had an agenda. 

We are going to keep running cattle out on the rangeland for as long as we are able.  We are going to keep using that land to keep our cows healthy and we are going to keep using our cows to keep the land healthy.  And in the end, you, that eat our beef, will stay healthy too.

 

Why a Rancher Goes to College

by

We just got done with an awesome weekend with the whole family. Nothing big. Just some good food, some game time, and our favorite people. Three of The Rancher’s brothers are in college right now and coming home to the ranch is their quick breath of fresh air and their means for rejuvenation before the next week of school. I totally get the need to take a break and come up for air after so many deadlines nagging at you over and over again. Over the weekend we heard all sorts of “I gotta study for this big test…” or “I have this huge assignment coming up…” and it almost sorta, kinda took me back to the days that The Rancher and I were in school.

I had two different college experiences in the quest for my degree. The first was when I was single and living my own dream and all that was on my schedule was a little bit of school, a little bit of work, a little bit of homework, and a lot of sports games. That was my life. Oh, and trying to get into nursing school… Then I got married, moved and started a new university experience. I didn’t have an apartment of girls that I had to share the bathroom space with anymore, but I had a man that needed real food, that I had to negotiate who got the car with and that I was building a life and sharing a dream with.

It was awesome.

It was hard.

The Rancher is not a sit-down-read-the-text-book-to-learn kind of kid. There might have even been some classes that he didn’t even open his book up, let alone learn from it. He is hands on, learn as you go, trial and error kind of learning guy. He learns fast and can see so quickly how to get from A to B. But sitting in a classroom just drained the life out of him.

There were a lot of times that I heard people say, “Why is he going to school if he is just going back to the ranch? He isn’t even going to use his degree anyway. Its just a piece of paper.” And when I hear those words, my blood starts to boil.

Yes, my husband was very VERY lucky that he had a job waiting for him the day he finished college. The job he had dreamed of having his whole life. He didn’t have to do scores of applications and interviews. He was qualified for the job by his experience long before ever finishing his degree. But that doesn’t mean that his college experience wasn’t a valuable asset for him as he returned to the ranch.

Here’s why.

When a grad walks away from college, we like to think it was only worthwhile if they got a job in their field or if they are able to make money using the skills and knowledge that they gained. If not then their experience was a total waste. In The Rancher’s case, it would seem that he already knew everything he would need to know to cowboy, so what was the sense in spending all that time and money on math classes and literature classes that he would never use anyway? And of course everything they would teach him in his ag classes were things that he should already know or he wouldn’t need to use. Right? It was just as wasteful as someone that went to a trade school or did an apprenticeship but changed course after getting done. Its wasted money and time if the girl that went to beauty school doesn’t open up a salon the week after she is certified or if the boy that went for diesel mechanics doesn’t end up working on trucks. Right?

Wrong!

I get that getting degrees and certificates and those kind of things cost money. I also get that we feel that there needs to be a return on that investment that is deemed worth such an investment. But the future potential income ISN’T the only returns from going to college.

There are so many life skills learned while going to college from the little things of doing laundry to learning how to problem solve from some crazy math (I will NEVER forgot the ah-ha moment I had mid-math class when I figured out the most complex problem… Never…) . Not to mention learning how to meet deadlines and pushing through to the end when you don’t want to.

You also gain an amazing network of friends and professionals in your area of study. They are the people you can work with, lean on and learn from. They push you to be better, help pick you up when you fall, and encourage you to try again. These people are so invaluable!

Taking time to step back from the ranch to learn from other people, their experiences and knowledge widens what can be a narrow view. You learn different ways, other ways, possibly better ways to work in the same industry.
If you ask The Rancher, a boy that spent all of his growing up time on the ranch, he will immediately tell you that he uses things that he learned from his classes. Especially his ag classes. Could he still ranch and cowboy without what he learned? Probably. Is he better at doing what he loves because of it? Absolutely.

The Rancher pushed through school because we both felt it was important to him. Not just for the things he learned, but for him to accomplish something that was hard, something that he thought he wasn’t made to do. We also thought it was important for the day that he may ever have to look for a job. Our dream was always to come back to the ranch, but what if that didn’t happen? What if it took years for that? What if at some point he had to look for other work? Having a degree made him marketable. It was a safety net that we needed for our family.

I am a big proponent of getting an education, ANY education you can. Because it is there that people gain valuable experience and confidence, gain life skills, net work, and find what they do and don’t want to do with their lives. You might think that this is an expensive cost to learn what they don’t want, but gaining an education is priceless. No matter what you are learning. It can be simply that you don’t ever want to be the prescribing rations of feed supplements. It could be that you learn how interested you are in genetics.

Not everyone is made for college or trade school or an apprenticeship. But everyone is made for learning. There is a whole world out there waiting to teach us is only we are ready to learn. So don’t ever think that because you or someone you know wants to cowboy or be a rancher that they don’t need to go to college or that they shouldn’t waste their time on college. Because it isn’t wasted time. Its invested time. Support them and their want to learn, their want to do something hard. They are probably going to complain or even regret it while in the thick of it all. But when it is all over, they will tell you it was worth it!

Cows on the Move

by

All the cows are home.  Well, all the cows that are coming home at home.  I’m like a momma hen with all chicks tucked under her wings.  Ha!  No… I don’t feel the need to have them all close under wing and my watchful eye.  They are probably going to get out and make for more work for me.  Hey honey, lets get them kicked back out ASAP, ok!

We brought the last of the girls home a week ago.  On our anniversary, in fact.  What better way could we have spent our anniversary than chasing cows?!  They actually moved super well, which was kinda surprising.  Remember a few years ago when it was kinda a disaster? I was busy reading stories to The Ranch Princess when The Rancher walked in and said my favorite words, “Are ya busy?  Can you come help?”  Even if I am busy, YES, of course I am going to help!

My job was simple- wait and turn the cattle onto the road and then follow in the truck and trailer.  I was more than willing for that job because it was a very cold very foggy and rainy day.

You may be surprised to see the guys heading out on 4 wheelers when I mentioned that we had the truck and trailer.  This is how we cowboys in Holbrook roll.. Haha!  Actually, the debate of taking horses or 4 wheelers or motorcycles can get pretty hot between the brothers.  All in good fun of course!  Right?  I guess a lot of that has to do with perspective.  The Rancher, whose every day job is to get the work done, is all about efficiency.  If there is a lot of cows to move or gather over a lot of ground, he may pull out the motorbike.  Then there is the opinion that what’s the point in moving cows if you don’t ride a horse… That’s half of the greatness of ranching- work that REQUIRES you to ride a horse.  Which is pretty much the best kind of work.  Because it isn’t work.  It’s play.  Both opinions have valid points…

I’ll admit, that while I love any chance to get on a horse, there are those times that 4wheelers are just more convenient.  Especially when that may be the only way that I can come along.  A whole other OTHER perspective on this intense debate.

I cornered The Rancher and had him spell it out for me on how he decides if he loads up the horses or the 4wheelers.

The guys like to take horses as often as possible.  They can get anywhere a cow goes, especially those rangy places.  It means that we can rope and doctor anything we see, rather than having to come back to take care of it later.  And of course, it satisfies a cowboy’s soul to sit up in the saddle in harmony with his horse.

So when do we take 4wheelers?  We usually pull them out when its a quick push down the road and it would take almost as much time to get the horses in and saddled as it would to move the cows.  (ok, it doesn’t really take that long to get the horses out, but you get the idea…)  But you can see how it might not be worth getting them ready for just a little jaunt down the road.

It seems that the times The Rancher rides the 4 wheeler or motorbike the most is when there is a lot of territory to cover and not a lot of man power.  I see this mostly the days where they are bringing the cows in off the range than just trailing them down the road.  Or if he is out checking the herd during calving season.

A few years ago we had a really hard winter.  Really hard.  Acutally, we have had several hard winters over the last few years.  But the year I’m thinking of was hard in the midst of calving.  It was so important for us to be able to get around the cattle quickly so that if there were any calves that needed help, mostly helping get warm, we could get to them before it was too late.  We didn’t hardly lose a calf to the cold and I think the biggest deal was getting around fast.

Where do you stand on this issue?  Because it is super important…  I know some guys that at more on the rancher end than the cowboy end and they do 4wheelers only.  I know another guy that likes to use horses because they will do less damage to grasses and feed.  And I even know another ranch that they don’t use horses or 4wheelers… They walk.  As much as they can they like to do it all on foot.  They aren’t too horse savvy to use horses but they are also concerned on the impact of 4wheelers.

Do you have an opinion?  I want to know what you do at your ranch!  Because… I’m a curious creature, and even though we all do the same thing- ranching, we all do it differently.  But however you do it, keep doing it.   4Wheelers or horses, it doesn’t really matter.  What matters is that we all find our own BEST way to get the work done.  Be your best and rock on!  

Until next time!
The Rancher’s Wife

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

by

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

Holiday Recap

by

Can you believe Christmas has come and gone?!  Seriously, it has blown past and here we are in a new year full of potential and promise.  I get all giddy inside with the idea of a clean slate and new beginnings.  But before I jump full swing into 2018, I want to take a moment to give 2017 a proper send off. 

I had full intentions of using the holiday down time to get ahead on the space.  I dreamed of a handful of stories and photos written and edited all ready and set to post.  But there came a point that I realized I didn’t really want that.  Or at least there was something else that I wanted more. 

I love you guys and want to give you my time, but there are some people that I love even more and they are my family.  I decided that more than anything I wanted to REALLY be present over the Christmas break to make memories.  I had made a mental Holiday Bucket-List and was ready to give it my all to do them all.  There were a few things that I didn’t get in, but I can’t complain because there was so much that we DID do.

My husband probably hates it, but I like to plan things out.  When I say that I like to plan things out, that doesn’t mean that I have every minute planned, but I like to plan out what I want to do and a good idea of when.  I get scared that if we fly by the seat of our pants too much we may miss out on opportunities of fun that we could have done had we been ready for it.  Hence the reason I make a bucket-list.

What was on my bucket-list?  I’m so glad that you asked!  Sledding.  I love to sled, especially with my kids so that was high on the list and, thankfully, we were blessed with enough snow to have a great time.  In fact, it was so good we went out sledding a couple of times and managed to pull the sleds behind the 4-wheeler and do a little down-hill sledding. 

Also high on the list was our Christmas movie and hot cocoa and donut party.  The Montana Girl and I like to party… a lot… so we come up with whatever we can to have some sort of a gathering and our cozy Christmas night was just right.  I may have been super sick with a head cold so I slept through a fair amount of the movie (that we didn’t even finish), but apparently the sickness and the medicine led to a magical night… at least that is how I remember it.

 On the list is always some sort of Christmas production and for the first year in a long time I was actually about to cross this one off!  I guess I could always consider my kids Christmas program for that one… hmm…  I missed out on White Christmas so this one is going back on for next year!

 Of course it isn’t the holidays without lots of baking.  The hard thing about his item is that if I bake, then I eat them and that just causes its own problems.  I found a solution to it this year- do the baking for our Church Christmas party!  I baked about 17 dozen cookies and I loved every minute of it and I think they did too since there was only a handful of cookies left at the end of the night!

 My mother-in-law started a new tradition years ago that always adds a splash of holiday cheer to our Christmas break- building gingerbread houses!  I went for a graham cracker house this year and I have to admit that it may now be my favorite!  It’s simple and small but when that’s all I had time for it was just PERFECT! 

The Rancher’s favorite tradition I always try to include is a little skeet shooting.  This year it was even more fun because I had my very own, brand new shot gun that The Rancher had given me for Christmas!  He knows the way to this girl’s heart… 

Of course it all wouldn’t be any fun without the people to spend it with.  The family nights of games, movies, and yummy food are always my favorite.  Nothing crazy or fancy, just all of us putting aside the things that are always demanding our attention and coming together to create memories.  We are a pretty lucky family.  Right now we all live close enough together that we have a lot of opportunities to get together and I love that! 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, friends!  I truly hope that you had a great time so slow down and take the time to love the ones that are close to you.  There is no greater gift at the Holidays than the memories that will last a lifetime!

The Rancher’s Wife

PS- So I was all ready to post this when I realized that I forgot some pretty awesome stuff.  Cowboy Pete had a terrific idea to take a day to go skiing and of course we jumped at that idea.  Although… first ride up the mountain and The Ranch Princess says to me, “Too bad we can’t just ride the lift back down and not have to ski..”  WHAT!!? She didn’t even last one run before she wanted to be done.  She said that she loved skiing.  Really, I think she just loved the lodge.  Maybe next year.

Also… We hiked up the mountain and chopped down the lovliest trees over Thanksgiving in Montana.  And they have dried up and lost ALL their needles!  The saddest little Christmas tree I have ever seen.  Haha… Can you say fire hazard?

Fix up After Fire Season

by

As you probably know, things on the cow front are pretty slow right now.  Super slow.  Which is good.  Good because I get to enjoy my husband a little bit more.  But also good for The Rancher to get some of the maintenance work done.  After the summer we had, Locomotive really needs a lot of maintenance.

Our summer was riddled with thunderstorms rolling through our private and allotted BLM ground.  The storms were popping with lightning and too many times that lightning turned to fires that swept across the range.  I got pretty good and recognizing when those moments were upon us.  The Rancher would get a call and you would hear things like, “Where did it hit?” and “Is there any wind?  Which direction is it moving?”  and “Who is there?”.  Then of course there was the, “We will be down there right away!”  At that point I just got some snacks and water and told him to be safe as he headed out the door.

The worst timing was when he got a call on the night of July 3.  We had been gone for the weekend to a family reunion.  We were tired from too much fun and too many miles sitting.  And to top off the terrible timing, my brother and his family were there visiting for the upcoming holiday.  So here comes a fire RIGHT on our land and The Rancher HAS to go.  By brother and his daughter had been hoping for some awesome ranch action so they pile in with all the cowboys and go along with them.  Not quite the action I was hoping to give them but you gotta roll with what ya got.  They loved watching them work the fire, even if they got home in the wee hours of the morning.  That sorta killed my plans for an early morning 4th of July 5K but it was still a great day!

We can only directly fight the fires if it is on our own land.  When that’s the case the boys load up the tractor and disc and head down.  We go around the fire itself and make a line to stop it from spreading any further.  By discing up the grass that fuels the fire we are able to make a barrier to keep it from moving on and eating up anymore of our feed.  But so many of the fires neighbored our land or were moving to our land that it was still prudent that we take the time to go down there and protect our land.  Instead of going around the fire itself, they disc around our land.  Doing this can totally head off the fire from causing any damage on our land.    Its amazing what a rancher in a tractor can do to stop a fire.

Sometimes there can be tension between ranchers and those responsible for putting the fire out on BLM ground.  We have the experience and know-how to get the fire out but we aren’t authorized to do it.  But we are motivated a little more than others to get moving and get the job done because its our livelihood.  Every bit of grass burnt up is feed we lose.  We can supplement the feed with hay either in Locomotive or by bringing the cows home.  But the greater loss is the time we lose feeding down there or not being able to keep the cows in Locomotive to calve out when we have to bring them home.  So you can see how things can be a little tense…

But that stuff is all in the past. Now is the clean up.  Those fires ripped right across the range taking out fences in any direction.  And of course it ate up all the feed, so there was work to be done planting seed for some spring grass.  The Rancher and Cowboy E spent a long week and then some getting things settled and back to the norm for the winter.  It was long and hard but its so satisfying to put the effort in to do a good job to put things right again.

I haven’t been down there myself since all the fires have happened so I asked The Rancher to get some snaps of what the land looks like now.  It is bare and black, but now we have new fences and new seeds planted and ready for a new season of growth.

From The Idaho Rancher's Wife From The Idaho Rancher's Wife From The Idaho Rancher's Wife From The Rancher's Wife From The Idaho Rancher's Wife From The Idaho Rancher's Wife

2018 Cowboy Calendar

by

Ah!!  Oh my heavens friends… I’m in big trouble.  I haven’t told any of you here that my calendars are up for sale.  They arrived yesterday and I am so excited to ship them off to their new homes for the upcoming year.  I can’t believe I haven’t shared them with you.  You could have seen them on Facebook or Instagram because I posted them there but apparently I didn’t get my crap together and finish things up.  I’m gonna blame it on the fact that I was doing all of that after just getting my tonsils removed, so I was drugged up and not doing much except watching Christmas movies and sleeping.  Lots of sleeping.

But they are ready to go to your homes!  Because of my surgery and a few other things piling up at the end of this year, I cut back on how many I ordered, so if you want one, claim it QUICK!  As usual you can order by commenting on this post or emailing me directly.  The calendars are $12.50  ($15 with shipping) and if you are local, feel free to make arrangements for pickup to cut out on the shipping.

Here is a peek at a few of the pages!

Christmas for a Rancher

by

I am a big fan of Christmas!  BIG FAN!  I love everything about it- the tree and ALL decorations, the gift wrapping, the baking, the music, the snow, the hot chocolate… ALL of it!  Except all the crazy shopping.  I do admit that my anxiety reaches an all time high when I am shopping and there are 12 other people looking over my shoulder trying to find tooth brushes too.  Ok, it was only 5, but still… CRAZY!

Shopping is especially stressful if I don’t know even what to get someone, especially The Rancher.  I can pick out Barbie’s and tractors with the best of the best.  I know my toys.  But I have those moments of total blank-ness (yep, made that word up… Merry Christmas!) when my blonde hair sinks deep in the midst of a brain fart and nothing comes to mind to put under the tree for my cowboy.  That’s when I wander the isles aimlessly hoping something will jump out at me to give him.

Obviously the smart thing to do is to ask him what he wants for Christmas.  I do.  And he doesn’t answer me.  Or he says, “I don’t need anything.  Spend it all on the kids.”  So sweet and noble, right?  But I know deep down inside that there is still a little boy inside that wants something exciting for Christmas too!  Should I resort to filling his stocking with tractors too?  I mean, there should be something besides socks in there, right?  Anyone else in this boat with me?

Actually, this year… I got a list.  Well, sort of a list.  It was a list of all things that he likes.  Not quite what I was hoping for but its definitely a start.  Ya know, for those moments that nothing comes to mind as I’m staring at the shelves with an empty cart.  (More likely when I am searching amazon with an empty cart and nothing coming to mind…) I thought I would share The List for any others that sometimes need a jump start for a cowboy.  This list is certainly not totally encompassing and lets be honest, shopping from this list could really empty out the penny jar.  But, in the case where a girl just doesn’t know what to get her cowboy, this might just get you through.

A cowboy hat– They can never have enough.  Ever.  Just when I think he is good, its time for a new one.  And there are so many kinds you can have and they need to have them ALL.

Horse tack-  Sometimes I feel bad getting him tack because that seems like work stuff.  I try to be a little more original than that.  So that’s when I get maybe a little fancier bit.  Make it seem like more than just ‘work stuff.’

Clothes-  The Rancher can go through work shirts and jeans like candy.  Barbed wire, pocket knives, oil stains, poop… It is all hard on his clothes and a wardrobe upgrade is always welcome.

Boots- He teases me about how many shoes I have, but does he really need so many boots?  Yes, he really does and there is always room for more!

Tools-  Whether it is a new Leatherman or knife or wrenches or whatever, more is certainly merrier.  Because tools get lost all. the. time!

Cowboy gear-  What cowboy doesn’t want a new pair of chaps or a new work coat or wild rag or gloves?  It may seem like a boring gift but they will put a smile on their face for sure!

Gun-  Guns and ammo are always good.  Yep.

Then there is always the list like- a new custom saddle, a new truck, a new trailer, a new horse…. the dreamer list.  If you can shop the dreamer list you have made their Christmas for sure!  I haven’t made that yep but someday… maybe…

Now that I have shared a few ideas to get you through some cowboy Christmas shopping, what are you getting your cowboys?  What do you want for Christmas? Merry Christmas, Friends!

About Me

Hello! I'm Allison, The Rancher's Wife! There's nothing I love more than being out on the ranch with my husband and kids. Join me for a look at what goes on here at the ranch and the life being a rancher's wife!

instagram

Recent post