Category: My Columns
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Getting In Touch with Your Inner Cowgirl
When any of you ladies out there get to feeling out of control, in a rut, downtrodden, or run over in the rat race, take the time to restore your soul and get back on your feet. The best way to do this is to get in touch with your inner cowgirl; here’s how: Take…
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A Space of Our Own
A kitchen is a woman’s domain. A shop is a man’s shop. These places are designed to fix stuff; preferably supper or equipment depending on whose space we’re talking about but stranger things have been fixed in my husband’s shop and my kitchen. Over time, these work spaces get furnished with the necessary and sometimes…
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Learning in Style
How stylish one wants to look while doing ranch work is totally up to the individual. Correctly understanding what’s expected is far more important on our ranch. Learning through one’s style to comprehend instructions and process information is helpful in fulfilling job expectations but our ranch utilizes all three learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile…
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Cowboy and Rancher Christmas Gift Guide Part II
I have 16 years of experience in agonizing over what to get a cowboy/rancher for Christmas and consider myself a seasoned gift giver to the cowman. More of my gift suggestions continue as follows. A milk replacer kit that includes a sturdy bucket, whisk, funnel, feeding bag and tube, and powdered electrolytes or colostrum packets…
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Mom, Record This
My husband looks forward to getting the same thing for Christmas; a new calf record book/calendar. He gets anxious until he’s able to transfer his important information into it before the New Year starts. A number of years ago, I started keeping a pocket calendar to write down ranch information in that I thought might…
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Lonesome Dove Logic
Whenever I want to enlighten my husband and kids, I use a little Loneseome Dove Logic to trigger their attention and diminish the immunity they’ve developed to the sound of my voice. My scheme involves recalling lines from Lonesome Dove that pique my family’s attention. I compiled my picks for those interested in this attention-getting…
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Sleepless in September
September has arrived in the Black Hills. The morning air has gathered up a sharp edge, frost has been knocking on our windows, and leaves want to change. My husband and I know what’s coming next insomnia. For much of September, I get shorted on sleep due to bull elk bugling every night until the…
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Setting the Record Straight
Reading about the Pringle Compound, or the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) compound disgusts me. Pringle does not have a compound! We have excellent food, a pool table, and beer at the popular Hitchrail (of which owner/award-winning Chef Dennis Boitnott, recommends making reservations), a sand plant, the Pringle Poacher Car on…
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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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What I’ve Learned About My Husband
My husband and I recently celebrated our wedding anniversary. After sixteen years, I’ve discovered a few things about him and marriage in general. Namely, that I started out married to a perfect stranger. The following are ten things I’ve learned about my spouse in sixteen years. Do not, under any circumstances, wake him up even…