Category: Home Sweet Home
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New Neighbors
Recently, I’ve been watching a couple that’s been considering moving into the area. They’ve been house shopping and have looked at the same two houses several times. One is an older red home and the other is a newer unpainted one. Near as I can tell, they seem like a nice couple from my…
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Branding Day 2010
If you want to find out who your real neighbors and friends are, just put on a branding when the weather is at its worst and see who shows up. Our neighbors were put to the test when we branded this past weekend despite 25 mph wind with gusts up to 40 mph and an…
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Setting Out the Celebrate Plate
It’s been an eventful week at our house; one of big celebrations. For starters, our fourteen year old son is driving legally now. He’s been driving since he was seven and learned on a stick shift. We let him drive around our place and in the summer, we would let him drive my husband or…
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Motherland
Towns are a lot like mothers. Some towns insist on a neat, tidy, and uncluttered environment with well-groomed yards. Some have stipulations for businesses wanting to remodel or rebuild for the town’s appearance sake. Some communities regularly have buildings getting updated or renovated to restore a town’s original vintage look or a new addition of…
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Eyesore, My Eye!
I can’t imagine life without a clothesline, but evidently some people can’t imagine life with one. I wrongly assumed once that everybody has experienced line-dried clothes and loves the smell of fresh air in their laundry like I do. When I pluck sun-dried laundry off the line, I burry my nose in them; inhaling a…
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Not Amused
Theme parks and carnivals don’t amuse me at all. A lot of new kids to our ranch think it’s an entertainment mecca, making me the head of amusement park security. Kids that have never seen a stack yard are in awe of our two-story, neatly stacked round bales. I know what they’re thinking before they…
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Eat Like an Animal
There are days when I would rather feed our heifer calves than my family. For me, cooking is oftentimes more trying than parenting or ranching. I strive to have supper ready at a time when we can all sit down together and I try to make wholesome, home-cooked meals that nourish and satisfy, but I…
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How I Survive December
I used to feel like the time between Thanksgiving and December 25th was a month-long winter storm. I anticipated the Christmas season with dread. The last few years I’ve adopted strategies to lessen my worry, stress, and pressures associated with the season. Now I give up, cheat, and put off. This lazy attitude makes me…
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Storm Mountain Christmas
Merry Christmas! For the past five years my siblings, their kids and spouses, our mom and my family, have celebrated Christmas at Storm Mountain Center. Storm Mountain is a Methodist church camp for youth and reunions in the summer, but hosts retreats, meetings and gatherings of all sorts in the wintertime. SMC is situated…