Category: My Husband
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Bootism Disease
Bootism Diseasolumn for Oct 11-17 My family has a genetic disease called bootism. It’s a rare disease that affects only ranch families, but knowing that there are other families like ours all over the country with too many boots is reassuring. The disease can infect a person at infancy, as it did with both of my…
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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…
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What Really Counts
People who spend any amount of time around a rancher should expect to be asked to count something sooner or later. My rancher counts things like money, days, years, bales, elk and cattle. After selling culled cows at a sale barn, he counts each day that the expectant check hasn’t come in the mail. Once…
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Pringle’s PPA Monument
The southern Black Hills town of Pringle, which is out-populated by the area’s elk, knows how to laugh in the face of adversity. The proof is at the top of the hill and overlooks the town. The community’s unofficial monument isn’t obvious, well advertised, or the most photo-worthy site in the Black Hills, nor…
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A Horseshoe Takes the Cake
In honor of our wedding anniversary this week, I decided to share a wedding story. When I tell people about the custom-made wedding cake top we had, they have to follow me to the gun cabinet to see it because that’s where it stays now. I wanted something western looking instead of the standard wedding…
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Our Marriage Rulebook
There’s a reason why it’s been said that marriage is a lot of work. It’s because there’s so many stinking rules! Take my husband and me for example. We both assumed sharing everything was a perk to getting married. He’d get to use all of my guns and I’d get to drive his pickup. Neither…
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Rekindling Branding Day Romance
The romance between my husband and me began in springtime. We’d only been dating a couple of months by branding season and he introduced me to his family on their branding day. We spent that day, and the rest of those May weekends helping neighbors gather cows to corrals horseback, and wrestling calves together. Our…
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Branding Day 2009
Monday lived up to it’s reputable name last week when neighbors stopped by to tell my husband and me that the girls had gone wild and were seen a mile or so away from where they were supposed to be. About thirteen head of those sassy heifer calves found a weak spot in a gate…
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Tis the Season to be Hairy
Biting wind and freezing temperatures forewarn me it’s going to happen, but when my husband decides to grow a beard, it takes me a while to warm up to the idea. I’m often resistant to the changes of his facial hair even though I like the end result. By the time I get used to…
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Men with Pens
A pen is a terrible thing to lose. Or so it seems for guys who are particular about their writing instruments. Most women I know including me, either have a handful of miscellaneous pens in their purse or none at all. Since I usually carry hoards of pens around, I normally don’t notice if one’s…