Ranch Wife's Slant

Cowboys, kids, and ranch life

  • Our Summer Tradition

    For most of the summer, my kids have slept outside. It’s become a tradition my son started a loooong time ago. Once the nighttime temperatures in the Black Hills hovers around 50Ëš or higher that’d generally be around the end of June I join my kids. Luckily, the mosquitoes haven’t been a major problem this…

  • Amy’s South Dakota/Life in the West Recommended Reads

    I’m open to reading a variety of different books, but am most drawn to non-fiction. I’ve read some excellent fiction, but if it’s a really good story, it’s disappointing to me in the end if I have to remind myself that it’s not true. I enjoy history, especially about women, but overall, I just enjoy…

  • A Working Ranch/Marriage

    The column “What I’ve Learned,”  about my sixteenth wedding anniversary evolved while trying to come up with material based on an idea I had to write about things I’ve learned since my husband and I got married. During my  free-writing session, I created two lists; one that went into my column and another that was a list…

  • What I’ve Learned

    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. 1. Do not, under any circumstances, wake him up…

  • My Dad Taught Me A Lesson

    My dad taught me all of the things a girl needs to know about things girls aren’t supposed to know because they’re not boys. It didn’t matter that I was a girl; my dad wanted to share his interests with me and taught me things that were typically of interest to boys. He spent one-on-one…

  • Sporty at Forty

    For twenty-some years, something’s been missing in my life; a void that needed to be fulfilled. Getting married and having children didn’t satisfy the void, although both have been very fulfilling. Getting married gave me a husband who knows how to fix the problems I create or encounter and with whom I can kiss every…

  • The Mother of All Branding Day Stain Removers

    The mere sight of my son’s Wranglers would’ve killed a normal mom. To most mothers, the mixture of boy, mud, and calf wrestling would’ve rendered his jeans laundry mission impossible. Mud wants company and has a hard time being left alone. It likes a clean car, but loves a pair of boys’ good clean Wranglers…

  • The Deal on Wheels

    Early in my marriage, I started getting phone calls from strange men asking me questions I didn’t like answering. The calls began to cause marital problems between my husband and me. One day I finally told my husband I didn’t want to be his phone girl anymore. Back when cell phones were still considered a…

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