Ranch Wife's Slant

Cowboys, kids, and ranch life

Month: December 2010

  • Dry Off Organically and Exfoliate The Frugal Way

    Wednesdays are blogging days I’ve dedicated to sharing tidbits about myself to give my column readers a little insight regarding my weirdness. Today it’s about my bathroom towel preferences. First off as you can see, none of my towels are color coordinated. My towels don’t match my bathroom decor either (there’s not enough room). Just one…

  • My Little Heathens’ Cow Herd

    Our kids’ cow herd got started with this cow:  She’s our only Hereford cow in the herd. I’ve blogged about Annabelle before and wrote a column about her too. She was a twin and was our kids’ first bottle calf way back in 2003. When the kids started bottle feeding her, they named Annabelle, after…

  • What I Gave Friends for Christmas This Year

    When it comes to Christmas gifts for my friends I like to make them extra special. I do this by giving them used and dried up stuff and they all dig it. Being the thrifty ranch wife that I am, I like being as frugal as possible without looking cheap since I have several people…

  • Married to the Tin Man

    It’s actually metal siding but we keep calling it tin. Since May, my husband’s been working on building a pole barn. It’s been a work in progress, especially when the project took a hiatus during haying season. He and our son worked on it until he felt like he was at a good stopping point before…

  • Imperfect Christmas Trees

    A big part of our Christmas traditions is getting the tree, which always creates unique memories. We’re fortunate enough to harvest our own in the woods of the Black Hills. Most years we’ve gathered a pine tree right off our property. A few times I insisted on a spruce, which entailed getting a tree permit…

  • Go With An Easy Gate

    Trying to reason with a difficult gate is like talking to a post. Every gate has a different personality and when I have to get a gate, I find myself talking to it.   I don’t always talk nice to them either; many try my patience. I get along with some gates better than others, like…

  • Ranch Life Suits A Gemini

    Horoscopes seems hokey to me, but I find ranching and my Gemini characteristics perfectly suited for each other. Both are chock full of the unexpected, and our unpredictable lifestyle is well-matched to my mercurial nature and penchant for adventure. Work on a ranch takes place outside and requires a lot of physical activity a Gemini’s…

  • My Blogging Schedule

     In case you’re unaware of my blogging schedule, I’ve picked different topics for each day of the week to focus on. My blogging goal has been to entertain and inform readers about agriculture, the beef industry, South Dakota and rural life. If you can’t remember, it’s posted on my “About Amy” page . I don’t…

  • The Hand That Feeds U.S.

    The Hand That Feeds U.S. is an agricultural resource that provides accurate information about agriculture for urban media and strives to clarify misinformation regarding U.S. agriculture, farming practices, farm policy, and biofuels. Farmers and ranchers have the heavy burden of feeding people around the globe while the world’s population continues to increase. The Hand That…

  • Shopping the Old Fashioned Way at Motive Parts

    Motive Parts is a store especially designed for the rancher. It’s the perfect place for a man to do his shopping because he can pick up his ranch supplies and buy Christmas presents for his family; provided his wife likes Carhartt clothing and he does any Christmas shopping. There is no other place where a…