Ranch Wife's Slant

Cowboys, kids, and ranch life

Author: Amy

  • AgriTalk: The Voice of Rural America

    While out feeding cows with the bale bed pickup, I like to listen to AgriTalk on the radio at 9:06 a.m. (10:06 CT). AgriTalk is a live radio show that discusses current events and hot topics in the news regarding agriculture and hosted by Mike Adams.  I find it enjoyable to listen to, and it’s not even a…

  • I’m A Cruel Girl

    Actually, being a cruel girl is not my thing, but it is the brand of jeans I like to wear.   The first pair of Cruel Girl jeans I bought didn’t impress me. The denim failed to hold up after a year and I didn’t plan to buy another pair. It wasn’t until I started…

  • 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…