Ridin’ Shotgun

Posted on May 21, 2013 by ranchwifeslant

Most farm and ranch outfits have a dog around the place. Our dog Pepper, gets to go along to help feed cows in the winter and check water and cows in the summer.

It’s all fine and dandy if there are no other passengers because then Pepper has the whole passenger’s seat to herself and that’s the way she prefers it. She’s not overly fond of having to share “her spot” with another passenger.

When someone else rides along, we can’t get her to move over to the middle seat with just a vocal command. She just looks at us, half annoyed and we have to physically push on her hind end to get her to move over.

If we’re in the little ranch pickup it’s even worse for her because she has to ride on the floor or on the flatbed on back of the pickup. She doesn’t mind riding on the flatbed in the summer, but in the winter she enjoys the heater just as much as we do.

If the passenger gets out of the pickup for more than 30 seconds, Pepper will quickly try to reclaim her passenger side seat next to the window. When that happens, we have to start the process of moving her over all over again.

When it’s just one person driving and Pepper riding along, it’s nice having Pepper for company. The only time we regret taking her along is when she’s found a deer carcass or a cow cleanin’ to munch on. I can attest that a diet of such findings can make the air in the pickup cab unbearable as a result of Pepper’s gassiness.

Every morning when we walk towards the shop Pepper is close behind us because she knows we’re going to get in the pickup and she wants to ready to jump in when we give her the sign. While feeding cows there have been times when a cow will sniff the side window and Pepper will bark at them through the glass. Pepper can put on a bluff but sometimes a cow will call her bluff and then Pepper is a scared dog.

There are instances when she can’t come along and when we tell her, “Stay here, Pep,” her ears and head droop and she looks up at us in the saddest sad-sack look of any dog. She’ll stand in the middle of the drive way with her head partially lowered and will watch us leave before she walks back to the porch. When we tell her from the front porch to stay, she’ll lay her head on her paws and watch us, hoping her appearance will make us change our minds.

Even though our pickups end up with a lot of dog hair, it’s fun to have our pickup riding partner with us. Even if we can’t talk our kids into coming with us sometimes, Pepper’s always willing to ride shotgun.

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There’s More Than One Way to Pack A Calf

Posted on March 20, 2013 by ranchwifeslant

When a new calf seems chilled or a little slow finding its grub, we sometimes opt to intervene and move the cow-calf pair to the barn and out of the elements so we can assist them better.

Packing a new calf even 100 yards to the barn can wear a person’s arms out quickly (and unnecessarily, I might add), so over the years we’ve relied on different calf-packing systems to make the task of getting a baby calf to the barn quickly as well as safely. A mother cow’s instinct is to be protective of her new calf and in so doing, it can make helping a cow and her new calf dangerous sometimes.

What we’ve found safest, easiest, and quickest, is to put the calf between us and the cow by placing the calf in some form of transportation behind us. It allows the cow to smell her baby and she is more likely to follow when there’s nothing to distract her from focusing on her baby. Most of the time a cow will follow us right into the barn. Doing it this way gets the pair to the barn faster and we’re a lot safer should the cow get aggressive.

I’m kind of dating ourselves here, but I took this photo back in 1995.

Notice we were still using a three-wheeler! This is a little cart my husband and father-in-law used to use to get a calf to the barn.  

We currently have three different options for hauling a calf. The calf “sled,” (the first photo) which my husband welded and we covered with old denim jeans. It hooks onto a 4-wheeler ball hitch by a cable, giving us a little distance from the pair. We use bungee cords to “seatbelt” the baby calf in, should it decide to get squirly and try to climb out or tip the sled over.

 Another option is my husband’s slide-out calf-packer which kind of looks like a luggage rack. He welded a pull-out rack and attached old car seatbelting to plop the calf into so it holds the critter above the ground.  This works really good when we feel timing is critical.

 

There have been times when we had several pairs to turn out of the barn and didn’t the headache of taking each pair out individually because calves act kind of resistant and don’t always head in the direction we want them to. A lot of times we end up pushing  them to get them out the gate and it can be wearisome if there are several pairs to let out, so we bought an ice fisherman’s sled to haul several calves at once. This has a limited success rate, as we have more trouble keeping the spunkier calves to lay in the sled even with bungee cord seatbelts over them. Before we get to the gate we usually have at least one calf that’s managed to stand up and/or crawl out.

 

Every outfit has their own system of getting a calf packed to the barn and I always enjoy exchanging ideas with others so I’m sharing some of the different ways we’ve done it.

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Inventions That Make Chores Easier

Posted on March 15, 2013 by ranchwifeslant

Every time my husband creates an easier way to do chores I fall in love with him all over again. Feeding our heifers is a TON easier now as a result of my husband’s handiwork with his welder.

Over the years we had talked about coming up with a better, safer way to fill and pack buckets to the heifers’ feed bunk because using the barn steps was somewhat of a safety hazard. The creep feed we give the girls is stored upstairs in our barn and for a long time, it had to be packed downstairs a bucket at a time (for me anyway; otherwise I would for sure break an ankle) in order to get it to the heifers’ feed bunks located just outside a small, side barn door down below.

Filling feed buckets and packing them down the barn steps was my least favorite part of the job because it was a real pain to have to pack buckets down the narrow steps without much for hand railings and it hindered my chore style of working fast. I felt safer having at least one hand free to hang onto ledges along the steps as I went down and to catch my fall if I stumbled on the steps. I could only pack one bucket at a time because the narrow walls at the top of the steps required packing more than one bucket sideways and I’m not tall enough to hold up two buckets high enough to clear the steps, so packing buckets always took me longer because it slowed me down.

Last year, my husband reused some old scrap from our junkyard to rig up a bucket filling system located down below and closer to the feed bunks. It’s not manufacture-pretty, but it works really slick. He made a horizontal sliding door with a handle that runs through some channel iron and when pulled open, will stop when it hits the two bolts welded on each side.

 Feeding is so stinkin’ easy now because all we have to do is pull open the lever,

let the bucket fill,

shut it,

and viola! Pack the buckets a  short distance to the feed bunk. Occasionally we have to go upstairs and pile more creep feed over the hole but that is the extent of the labor now.

My husband has made this part of our chore routine safer, easier, and for me, much faster! When he and I go up to do the heifers’ chores together, I don’t cringe anymore when he asks me to take care of feeding and filling the buckets now (I used to always prefer to push up the hay instead).

You gotta a love a man with welding rod.

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Bootjacks: A Boot-Wearer Must

Posted on December 31, 2012 by ranchwifeslant

Essential to every ranch outfit are bootjacks; not just one but a collection of them. Bootjacks aren’t limited to one style. They come in a variety of styles and are made from metal or wood. Many bootjacks are made by the cowboy boot wearer. All of ours were made by a family member.

A few of ours were my husband’s and brother’s high school shop class projects and one was my son’s 4-H welding project. In addition to sometimes being adorned with mud, a ranch’s brand is sometimes also embellished on bootjacks. My husband has had this one since before we were married and he made it himself in high school wood shop class.

He had a puppy that chewed on the forks.

 

Bootjacks are very simple but extremely important equipment for boot-wearing cowboys, ranchers, ranch wives, and cow kids. Usually bootjack owners are the people who wear cowboy boots daily and take them on and off regularly.  I guarantee you’ll see at least one bootjack on a ranch’s porch, mudroom, or entryway where boots lay when unworn.

Boots come off a lot quicker and easier when a bootjack is used. We use ours so much that they aren’t just limited to taking off cowboy boots but also snow boots and tennis shoes.

These great gadgets save having to bend over and pull boots off or having to find a seat to sit down and pull boots off. Believe it or not, pulling boots off by hand is a safety hazard. There have been a couple occasions I’ve hit myself in the chin from prying a boot off by hand when I was someplace where a bootjack wasn’t available.

I have mastered a way to take boots off without ever having to touch my boots if a bootjack isn’t around but it only works if I’m wearing well-worn boots that slide on and off easily. I really love having a bootjack on our porch the most when it’s rainy, muddy, or snowy out or my boots are extremely manure covered. We have two on the porch so two people can de-boot at the same time. I hate having to handle my boots when they’re wet and dirty and avoid doing so at all costs. Another reason I love using bootjacks is because I hate getting one boot off and then I am faced with either pulling the second boot off by hand or using my sock-clad foot to hold the boot heel down to slip my foot out. I don’t like dirtying up my socks either.

Bootjacks are used so much on ranches that ranch families don’t have boots unless there’s a bootjack to take them off. They are a real sanity saver during the spring when the ground starts to thaw.

 We have a few bootjacks on our porch for outside, dirty work boots and have clean ones in our closet for dress cowboy boots. Even our kids have bootjacks in their room. My son made this one out of old horseshoes for his 4-H welding project one year.

 

My brother made this one for me in his high school shop class one year as a Christmas gift. the “V” is covered in rawhide and grips the boots better.

 

There really isn’t much to the mechanics of a bootjack. Many old ones have been crudely made from a forked tree branch and a piece of wood for the “step” underneath to raise the wishbone shaped end off the ground.

I love having bootjacks for a number of reasons but mostly because they are a ranch wife’s best friend—they keep dirt and mud from getting tracked in the house.

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Bringing the Story of Christ’s Birth to Life

Posted on December 24, 2012 by ranchwifeslant

Many times during the winter months when we have chores to do at the barn for our heifer calves, my mind is full of wonderment about our barn.

 

It was built by my husband’s great grandfather in 1914 and is three stories tall. I love admiring the markings left from the tools that made the timbers square-shaped.

Especially during this time of year the Kirk barn makes me think about Jesus, Joseph, Mary, Bethlehem and the barn where Our Savior was born. I get sentimental about this place anyway because it’s also where my husband and I got married

and the cross placed on the barn for our ceremony is still there; greeting us every day when we show up to do chores.

Prior to Christmas, my time spent at the barn taking care of the chores for our animals always brings the story of Jesus to life for me. It’s the one time of day I feel most peaceful during the busy Christmas season and is a time of reflection for me.

While scooping buckets of feed and carrying them down the rickety steps to be ready for the next day, I can’t help but think about the similar conditions with which Mary and Joseph had no other choice but to take. I notice the little details of our barn and imagine the little details of the story of Jesus’ birth and the stable of his birth: the temperature, weather, the conversations between Mary and Joseph, their weariness, the smell of hay and livestock, the stillness of the night, the humidity in the barn, all the improvising they had to do; just all the little details. Downstairs our barn has a wooden manger

and stalls and dirt floors

which I imagine was a very similar environment for the infant Jesus and his parents.

I hope you have a special place you can go to, even if it’s just in your mind, where you can slow down and absorb all the little details of what it was like the day Jesus was born. Blessings from my family to yours for a Merry Christmas.

The cross for our wedding

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The Supper Table: Nourishing A Family Tradition

Posted on October 19, 2012 by ranchwifeslant

The one thing I have fought hard to keep as a tradition in my household is having meals together as a family; most especially supper.

In today’s busy world, I am shocked that sitting down together as a family is not a priority with a lot of families. Many allow busy schedules to infringe on time that could be spent together. Even in my own rural community, I know of several families who don’t all sit down at the same time and same place to eat a meal.

After witnessing, hearing about, and even joining different families who didn’t eat their supper together, I made a personal commitment when my kids were small, that I would do whatever it took to ensure my family at least had supper together. It seemed like a small sacrifice on my part to instill such an important time for us.

Like every other active family with kids involved in extra-curricular activities, school work, chores, sporting events, and wanting to spend time with friends, outside demands have all contributed to the difficulty in finding a time when my whole family can sit down at the dinner table. Instead of allowing the outside world be in charge of our family life and keep us from sitting down together, I have had to plan ahead to make sure everyone could eat together. It mostly means timing meal preparation so supper can be ready to eat at a specific time.

I have also made a staunch effort to make meals from scratch as much as possible in order to make our mealtime a moment each day that we all look forward to: sitting down to food that smells and tastes good, and is meaningful and memorable to everyone.

It’s not always been easy but once I got in a routine of thinking ahead, I’ve been able to meet my own standards most of the time. Many nights we eat the same meal twice but it’s usually something I’ve made that I know we all really like anyway.

Family’s who don’t share their meals together are missing out on some easily attainable and valuable time together. Suppertime has been the most convenient time of day for my family to be together. It’s not only a time for nourishing our bodies but for nourishing time spent together. In a half hour’s time, we are able to find out how everyone’s day went, what each person’s schedule is like for the next day, share any news, and get in any pertinent family discussions taken care of that need to be addressed. Many of our family inside jokes have also been established at the supper table. Mealtime has proven to be the easiest way to find out what’s going on with each of our family members.

Giving up other things that want my time in order to eat a meal with my family has been the best sacrifice I’ve ever made. It’s become a tradition well worth the effort.

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Discovering My Mitchell, SD Coffee Shop Fans

Posted on September 25, 2012 by ranchwifeslant

There are days as a columnist when I feel like words just won’t bind together for me on the topic I’m trying to write about. When I look at what I’ve written and feel like a 5th grader could do a better job, I sometimes wonder if anybody “out there” actually read my stuff. Then there are days like just recently, when I meet readers who stroke my ego.

I had a gentleman from Mitchell, SD who was vacationing with his wife in Custer State Park contact me yesterday because he had a group picture he wanted to give me of his coffee shop buddies. Every morning around 8 a.m. a group of guys, mostly retired farmers, meet at Cubby’s Gas Station and Convenience store in Mitchell for coffee, cookies, and conversation. I was told that the men in the picture were only about half of the group who normally show up but that they are all fans of my column and they oftentimes discuss my column when it comes out on Mondays in The Daily Republic.

It’s learning about readers like these guys that make my day, boost my morale, and re-energize my enthusiasm and inspiration for writing columns that readers will enjoy. The two things I love most about being a columnist is writing about stuff that strikes a chord with readers, and getting to meet them. I am a people person and embrace any opportunity to meet people and make new friends.

Each guy in the photo signed his name on the back for me and I got to keep it. It now sets in a very special place near where I spend a lot of time writing my column. I know that on days when I feel frustrated in trying to make my column interesting or wonder if there are any readers out there who will read my column, I can look at these guys and instantly feel encouraged. Reader response is a HUGE deal for me, because it’s the only way I can monitor my material and find out if I’m meeting my goal of making a connection with my readers.

 

My husband and I had a wonderful time talking to our Mitchell visitors and giving them a brief tour of the Kirk barn. You can be sure that the next time I am in Mitchell, I will be making an effort to show up for coffee at 8:00 a.m. at Cubby’s on the west side of Mitchell to meet my fans in person. Thanks guys!

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Roast Beef Colby-Jack Biscuits

Posted on September 15, 2012 by ranchwifeslant

After our branding a couple of weeks ago, I had some leftover roast beef that I decided to make the next night’s supper out of instead of freezing like I do with a lot of the leftover meat and potatoes from our branding day dinner.

I am always on the hunt for unique and new ways to incorporate leftovers and especially roast beef. This recipe turned out to be a huge hit with the fam (even with my finicky eater) and I decided it was share-worthy since it’s so dang easy.

Mix the following in a medium-sized bowl:

  • 4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
  • 1 ¾ Tbs. baking powder
  • 2 Tbs. sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • ½ c. cold butter or margarine
  • 1 ¼ c. shredded cheese (I use Colby-jack but cheddar’s good too)
  • 1 ½ c. fork-tender roast beef cut in bite size chunks (tossed w/seasoning salt, optional)

  • 1 ½ c. milk

Mix dry ingredients, then cut in butter/margarine with a pastry blender till crumbly. Add shredded cheese

and roast beef

and mix well. Blend in milk just till moistened. Knead 3-4 times so all flour is mixed in. Roll out 1” thick and cut with large biscuit cutter.

Place on baking sheet

and bake at 450 degrees until golden brown or 12-15 minutes.

Serve with chunked potatoes (with skins on) coated in olive oil, seasoned and broiled or cream corn or green beans, tossed salad or coleslaw is great also. 

If there are any left, these make great lunchtime solutions that can be microwaved and eaten easily and quickly for busy ranchers. It’s quick. It’s easy. You just gotta try it.

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Family Reading

Posted on September 10, 2012 by ranchwifeslant

Reading to my kids is something that I still haven’t outgrown, even though they have. As my kids got older and started school, I couldn’t give up the reading time I shared with them.

When they were small, I read a lot of illustrated children’s books to them. Once they learned to read and began reading books on their own, I graduated to reading them age-appropriate chapter books that interested them like the Laura Ingalls Wilder book series. I did a lot of family reading in the evenings when time allowed or Sunday nights but I also read to them in the mornings while they ate breakfast and got ready for school. Even though they could easily read the books themselves, I still enjoyed the excuse to have family time and reading to them.

I recently finished the book The Wild Country (formerly published as Little Britches) by Ralph Moody. Walt Disney made a movie in the 70’s based on the book also. The rest of my family had already read it on their own and I was the last one to read it and kept thinking what an ideal family reading book it was. The book is similar to the Laura Ingalls Wilder stories and takes place in that era but it’s about an 8 year old boy and his family trying to make a go of it on a Colorado ranch and all of the adventures he has.

If you enjoy reading to your kids or grandkids, I highly recommend this book for family reading but it’s also just a great feel-good book for one’s own reading pleasure about ranch life in the early days. If you have never read chapter books to your kids or grandkids, I recommend starting this wonderful family tradition. A good book like this one draws the whole family together and once you start reading, everyone looks forward to hearing what’s going to happen next. I generally read a chapter a sitting to them. Once when I was gone for a week, I even tape recorded reading a chapter because my daughter liked our reading routine.

Some other books I’ve read to my family and recommend for family reading in addition to the Laura Ingalls Wilder books are:

  • Any of the Illustrated Classics books—they’re a condensed and revised editions of classic stories with pictures and are suited for elementary-aged kids’ reading interest. I’ve read many of these to my kids and they’ve also read many of them on their own for their school reading programs.
  • The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
  • Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  • Baker’s Hawk by Jack M. Bickham
  • White Fang by Jack London
  • Hank the Cowdog series by John R. Erickson
  • The Golden Children’s Bible A Golden book of illustrated Bible stories. Written by Golden Books; edited by Joseph A. Grispino (it has wonderful illustrations).
  • The Story of Jesus retold by Lloyd Edwin Smith (our copy was published in 1941 by WHITMAN PUBLISHING CO. Racine, Wisconson.) I read this one during Lenten season up to Easter).

These are just a few suggestions but there are hundreds of other great stories that make excellent family reading. Electronic books are becoming hugely popular but I still find reading a good book to the family a worthwhile family tradition of quality family time.

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Guest Speaking at DakotaFest’s Women’s Brunch

Posted on August 27, 2012 by ranchwifeslant

 

This past Wednesday I spoke at my largest audience to date. I was the DakotaFest Women’s Brunch guest speaker at theHighlandsConferenceCenter. The theme was “Growing Up Country,” and my talk was a spinoff of that called, “There’s A Little Country in All of Us.”

I knew in advance I was going to be speaking to 450 women, but a person doesn’t realize how many people that is until he or she is up on a podium, facing them in a room.

Part of the Women’s Brunch crowd
Being introduced by the emcee

I wasn’t overly nervous and felt confident in my abilities but it was a teeny bit intimidating at first. I knew I just had to be myself up there and to speak slowly and clearly and I feel I did just that.

 

Once I got into my introduction I relaxed even further and whenever I stumbled for my next words, I checked my cue cards and just took it slow. I used a clip on mic for my first time and was amazed at how much my voice carried in that big room.

 

I felt my talk was well received and after the brunch, several ladies came up and talked to me about my column and my talk. Meeting readers and brunch attendees was the highlight of my day and well-worth the trip to guest speak.

Later, Janelle Thiesse, the Mitchell Area Chamber of Commerce  event planner who asked me to speak, gave me the VIP treatment of DakotaFest, where I got to ride in her golf cart for a tour of the grounds.

It was hot and dusty but nonetheless an enjoyable experience for me. I also spent a few hours sitting in the Tri-State Neighbor booth where I got to meet more readers and visit with TSN staff. I was also treated to a pass to watch the Bull Bash Rodeo with Janelle’s family, where I got to watch her kids compete in the mutton bustin’.

Another perk to guest speaking was getting a tour of an east river farm north of Mitchell. One of the Women’s Brunch committee members invited me to her family’s farm for a tour of their crops, cattle, and farm operation.

Even though guest speaking is a fairly new endeavor for me, I love getting to meet new people through these opportunities. My favorite part of guest speaking is returning home having made several new friends.

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