Ranch Wife's Slant

Cowboys, kids, and ranch life

Month: November 2010

  • Man’s Best Soap

    My most recent column is about Lava soap. I give a humorous perspective on Lava, or man soap as I refer to it in my column. I had originally planned to do a blog post about Lava soap but came up with enough material that I decided to use it for a column. It should…

  • Krafting Food for Family

    Many of my best meal ideas, desserts and appetizers come from Kraft Food & Family magazine.  It comes out four times a year but all of Kraft Food & Family’s recipes are online. It’s one of my favorite recipe sources. I subscribe to this cooking magazine mostly because I’m really immature and like finding stuff in…

  • Work Mess Code

    At different times in the past, I held short-lived jobs requiring dress clothes.  Picking out different outfits for inside work was by far, the toughest part of those jobs. Making a decision on slacks and tops everyday was no Sunday picnic for me, and I developed withdrawals from jeans and sweatshirt comfort. That’s why the…

  • Cowboy Shirts That Fit

    I can still remember the shirt my husband wore on our first date like it was yesterday. That’s because he was wearing it yesterday. Upon close examination of the long-sleeved western shirts that hang in a cowboy’s closet, one might see how ranching cowboys’ (different from PRCA rodeo cowboys in my opinion) loyalty to things…

  • Garbage Day

    I found the perfect man for me when I met my husband. He agreed to be my garbage man. This was a deciding factor in accepting his marriage proposal. Taking the garbage out has never been my thing. Before we got married we established an unwritten pre-nup: I would do the dishes and he would…

  • Stress-Free Environments

    I’ve read several articles recently, suggesting ideas for reducing stress and shrinkage in calves but none address the stress-related concerns I have. Some articles mention minimal handling, eliminating hot shots, whips, and sorting sticks while others suggest trying plastic nose clips (on the calves) or fence line weaning. What I want to know is how…

  • Power Trip

    Most guys like muscle cars, but cowboys like muscle pickups four-wheel drives with Cummins, Duramax, or Powerstroke engines. I just like throwing around power. It’s seldom that I get to drive our souped-up pickup; a black Dodge diesel dually. The rare times I do drive it, the trailer’s hooked on to haul kids to rodeos…

  • Medicating with Humor

    I’ve always known about the two cartoon characters Calvin and Hobbes but never took the time to get to know them well until my kids checked out a couple Calvin and Hobbes books from the library. The Calvin and Hobbes comic strip is the work of American cartoonist, Bill Watterson. Calvin’s a typical first grader…

  • Working Cows

    Working cows in t-shirts is not normal around here. For years we’ve had to dress in long johns, warm clothes, coveralls, hats and gloves to keep warm. We worked cows October 22 this year and the weather was warm enough that most of the crew peeled off their jackets and worked in t-shirts. Since the vet was…

  • On The Road Again

    Being on the road again makes me weary. I might enjoy it if it were to go somewhere fun, but driving errant cows on back roads at a resistant cow’s pace is tiresome. Our cows have been through enough routine pasture moves that they’re trained to know which back roads, shortcuts, and trails we use…