Ranch Wife's Slant

Tag: rural life

  • A New Purpose For A Plain Old Rock

     Every ranch kid (and ranch wife) has picked his or her share of rocks out of a hayfield and I’m guessing most of those kids probably have no interest in picking up any rock for the fun of it, doing any rock hunting, or collecting rocks. We still drive past the rock piles where our…

  • The .25 Room

    I’m going to talk about a topic that may make some of you uncomfortable. It’s a subject that’s not normally discussed in public but is a fact of life. The bathroom. We ranch, therefore my family and I live in an old house with old updates, and is the reason why our home is paid…

  • Disadvantaged Ranch Family

    Life can be tough out on a ranch. Some think we’re disadvantaged because we miss out on so much due to our lifestyle. Some people act apologetic when I tell them how far I am from the conveniences of the nearest town (Custer—Pringle’s conveniences are few) or city (Rapid City). Living so far away and…

  • The Face of Terror

    Last Tuesday, the family spent the day moving our cows to a different pasture.   We loaded up our horses and drove to our starting point to gather cows, which was a twenty minute drive from home. Our son followed in his pickup because he and my husband planned to gather up and move salt…

  • Sticking with the Tradition of Neighbors

    A calf table is modern ranch equipment that’s safer, easier, and a more convenient way to brand calves without the need for extra people. That’s why they’re really boring too. We still brand the hard way—with the use of neighbors. Eliminating the need for people eliminates getting together with neighbors to drink beer and eat…

  • Seein’ Stars

    The story I’ve been putting together for next week is about sodium yard lights, er, the absence thereof. I thought it was such a co-inkydink (our slang term for coincidence) that I wrote about that particular topic the same time my family and I all slept outside and watched for shooting stars “organically,” as in…

  • Play Dirt

    Dirt and boys—they just go together. When our son was a toddler, his idea of hitting pay dirt was getting to play with it. His fascination for fine dry soil started a dirt-kicking phase. It all began when he followed me under the slat-covered porch one day to clean out all the debris that had…