Country Wife, Country Life

Glasscocks in Action

2012-02-02T11:08:00.000-08:00

So we've been busy. Here's what we've been up to:

Adam played football this year... Washington Middle School Broncos. He's a very tall 7th grader!

Alli playing dress-up... something she does on a regular basis. She also turned 5! on November 10th.

Haley, beautiful, with her dad at Winter Formal. Did I say beautiful?

Ben in the Cohagen School Christmas play. He's having a great year with a great new teacher. He's been lucky to have two great teachers whom he adores!

The family on a little jaunt up to Scott and Vonnie's playhouse on Christmas Eve. Little did I know I needed my mountain climbing gear for our outing! Then we played on some sandrocks. The wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour that day.

Adam's birthday... he turned 14 on December 31st.

Haley's playing basketball for the Miles City Cowgirls JV team this year. She's improved a whole lot, and we are all learning things in bball this year, parents included!

Adam is also busy playing bbal at the middle school. He's having a great season too. We've been spending lots of time in the gym...Ben and Alli have been bringing Lego guys and Littlest Pet Shop pets to keep themselves entertained. They get along pretty well, even though I'm sure they are bored sometimes. They have been troopers!

Once again on the 28th of January, we celebrated at the Caledonian Robert Burns Celebration. Fun was had by all and the pipers did an outstanding job!

Early Summer Travels

2011-09-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

I am waayyyyy behind here, but I thought I'd include some pictures of our trip in mid- June to the dam at Fort Peck and then on to Malta for my nephew Titus's 1st birthday.

First the spillway and pictures of the lake:

Then on to the party! Titus is the son of my younger brother Frank and wife Alex. We joined the family in Malta at the park for his party, complete with bounce house, pinata all the way from his great-grandma in San Antonio, and a tractor birthday cake with lots of presents to follow!

Titus with Grandma W.

The pinata was as big as Titus!

This cracked me up! These guys are either sons of farmers or sons of farmers daughters. Do they know cool machinery when they see it or what?

Titus and Dad checking out the new slide!

Ben and Alli having fun in the bounce house with their cousins!

Dozer Does the Fair

2011-09-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

Adam has been in 4-H for the last two years, and for the most part it's been a really positive experience. Both Scott and I did 4-H, but my projects usually included sewing something, baking lots of things, and riding my horse for hours and hours. Scott was more of a lamb guy, so this year, the steer project was a learning experience for all of us. While we were out gathering cattle last fall before pre-conditioning and shipping, we kept our eyes open for a steer that appealed to the eye, and may have potential for being a good project. We found two, one named Dodge, and one named Dozer.

Here are a couple of photos of the day in October when we brought Dozer and his mom in to the corral. Adam, Scott and I were out on 4-wheelers in the rain.

We basically started the halter-breaking process in November. We figured the sooner we worked on that, the better. Then we turned them out for a couple of months with the replacement heifers, where they received corn, hay and cubes made from alfalfa, peas and other various ingredients.

These pictures I took on Easter Sunday. Adam and Haley were out for the weekend so we all went to the corrall and watched while they led the two steers around. They were both really gentle and well-mannered.

Sometimes it was tough this summer to spend a lot of time with Dozer, especially during harvest, but Adam did a great job of squeezing it in when he could. Here's a picture of Dozer right before the fair, the night the Green guys (Mike and Kendall) came over to help us trim him up. They were really helpful to us rookies... they even let us use their portable grooming stall and blow dryer... and yes, they make them specifically for show-cattle. Maybe I ought to try it... might be able to calm my crazy curls down... ya think?

Then it was fair time, before we even knew it! Here are Adam and Scott working to get Dozer all prettied up and ready for the ring.

Waiting in line, making sure Dozer doesn't sit in a pile of manure. Again.

Being the "organized" 4-H mom that I am, I had taken my camera battery out of my camera so I could be sure to get it completely charged before the big day. Unfortunately, the charged battery never made it's way from the charger to the camera, so my friend Jody snapped a couple of pictures with her camera during the show.

Adam was more than a little nervous during the showmanship round, and then settled down really well during the market beef round. We didn't win either class, but Adam got blue ribbons in both.

Then came Saturday and time for the sale. It was a little tough to know we were going to have to say good-bye to the big lug. He was such a good-natured animal! Here's Adam, waiting for his turn in the sale ring.

I guess it pays to have 4 kids who have all their teeth, because our dentist bought the steer, and Adam got a really good price for him. The dentist was all smiles (no pun intended) and was excited about the prospect of having a fully stocked freezer for the winter.

Scott and Adam went in to the carcass judging last night and learned lots about what the inside of the animal looks like, under all that hide. Adam's steer was given a steer of merit award, and as of last night was in the top ten of the class on how well the carcass graded. Really, that's what means something to a beef producer.

While we were out checking wells, we spotted Dozer's mom and his half brother, so I thought I'd include some photos of them as well. She appears to be a darned good mama!

As we were out moving the cows to fresh pasture, I caught myself sizing up all the steer calves as they came my way. Adam is gung-ho to do another steer project, so it will be fun to go through the process of choosing another couple of steers. The judge told me we just need to find one that's long, and wide, and deep, and balanced, and pretty. Ought to be easy to find.... Right?

Girl's Day Out

2011-08-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

When most people hear the term "Girl's Day Out" it usually includes thinking about shopping, lunch at a fancy bistro or cafe, a mani and pedi, or a complete spa day. Well, it's a little different out here in our neighborhood.

Yesterday, Scott asked me to head over to his parents' ranch to check on our cows that are spending the summer there. I was willing, but a little hesitant, because I'd only been back to the pastures once a few years ago, when we went to check on Karen and Gus's cattle when they were out of town. So in order to do an effective job of finding the actual cattle, instead of getting lost or wandering off a cut-bank, Karen graciously acted as tour guide.

We loaded a couple of bags of mineral on her four-wheeler, fueled up, aired up a tire (after we had to take the compressor reset button apart and wiggle things until it sparked--literally--to life) and headed out. While I knew that Karen and Gus's country was much different and rougher than here at the Rock Springs place, it was quite a lot rougher than I thought. It really reminded me of where I grew up, down near the Missouri River Breaks, with its juniper plants, occasional cedar trees, deep draws, and gumbo side-hills. We spent about 3 hours out and about looking for cows who were hidden in deep draws all throughout the pasture in bunches of 3-5 pairs. We did see a couple of bunches with 10-15 pair, but the rest were all spread out. They are really doing well! There is grass-a-plenty, with some western wheat grass we saw that was 6 inches taller than the front of my four wheeler. Apparently blue-joint tastes better than your pasture-variety-grass, because in the few places we found that in the bottom of the creeks, the girls had eaten it down to the ground. We hit a couple of neat springs that Gus and Karen developed and saw a pretty nice sized white-tail buck, which I didn't quite get a picture of because my camera battery was having issues.

I really enjoyed my morning "out". Thanks Karen!

See those cattle to the left in that draw?

Some Really BIG country!

They look pretty happy don't they?

This is where we saw the deer, just below me at the top of the draw, right near a cedar tree.

All the different rocks and other geographical features make me wish I would have paid more attention during physical science class when I was a freshman!

Karen, heading down a big hill, on our way back toward the house.

It's that time again....

2011-08-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

The Crew

The Junior Crew

Checking out the load

Dumping

My little pea-picker

A picture that shows the 'bigness' of the country out here.

This year's corn...hopefully the weather holds so we can cut in late October.

Peas planted at the end of June... remarkably good for being so late!

Chaf!

First night we tried to cut... and we've been at it a week now. 2/3 done with the Winter Wheat tonight.

Mid-Summer Travels

2011-08-04T17:28:00.000-07:00

For the first time in married life, our harvest hasn't even started yet, as of August 4th. And due to the rush rush rushing of plantingsprayinghayingspraying, we didn't get a chance to go on much of a vacation jaunt in June. So when it looked like maybe we'd have a few free days at the end of July, we booked a couple of nights in Red Lodge at the Rock Creek Resort. For some reason, the pictures ended up almost in reverse order, so I'll narrate them that way.

Saturday morning, we saw a few mountain goats near the top of Bear Tooth Highway.

Looking down to the bottom at a lake from the top.

Looking up from my bottom as I slipped heading back to the vehicle (smooth move huh?)

One of the lakes on the flat as we headed down the other side.

Ben, heading back from a pit stop.

A picture of the falls.

Scott and the 3 youngers heading up to the top of the falls.

Haley and I stayed down and watched the water come crashing down. It was beautiful!

Allison making meatballs out of mud on the banks of the Clarks Fork River.

Haley and Adam, snacking, waiting for our picnic lunch.

This is back a day, on Friday. Our first stop in Red Lodge was at the Box Car that makes a mean Hot Fudge Sunday. Ben and Alli opted for a twister cone, and Scott, Haley and Adam opted for milkshakes. Haley raves about the huckleberry milkshakes from the red caboose!

Dad and Haley

Adam (aka Mr. Smooth)

Usually everyone is waving me and my camera away, but for some reason this year, I didn't get quite as many pictures as I usually do. We headed on over to Cody to see Scott's Uncle Don and Aunt Peggy on Saturday over the Chief Joseph Highway. It was fun to see that country and their beautiful new home. Then we headed back through Belfry and the location of the Smith Mine Disaster. It was interesting as none of us had taken that trek before. On Sunday after an awesome breakfast at the Red Lodge Cafe, and a trip to the famous candy store in down town Red Lodge, we headed to Billings via Roscoe, Fishtail, Absarokee, and Columbus, also a new trip for most of us. We ended the day in Billings with a trip to Old Navy for our resident teenage daughter and mom, and a trip to Coldstone Creamery for Dad and the three youngers.

We arrived home just in time to unpack, and head to the pasture to gather the heifers for the date with the veterinarian and his ultrasound machine bright and early on Monday morning. The guys are out bunching hay bales, repairing headers, and charging truck air conditioners in hopes to start harvest at the very latest by Monday. Praying for a smooth harvest season. We are so blessed to have a crop to harvest (providing we make it through tonight and tomorrow's forecast) some of the farmers north of Jordan and near Miles City have been obliterated by hail storms. Lord willing, the winter wheat will be in the bin in a couple of weeks, and then we'll have to wait a couple of more weeks to start on peas, lentils and spring wheat.

Stuck

2011-05-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

You'd think with all the rain we've had, I would be stuck in the house and bored to tears, with all kinds of time to write blog posts and such, and I have been. I just haven't really felt like writing much. Actually that stuck word kind of typifies what it's been like around here these days, in more ways than one! Since my last post on March 31st, we've had 12 inches of rain, give or take. That's as much precipitation as we get total on an average year. So while I've been stuck in the house with the laundry, cooking, and dishes, Scott and the guys have been stuck in the field more times than we'd like to count. I'll just add some pictures so you can see what I mean!

Stuck with the drill

Look at the water in the track. Crazy!

Stuck in the sprayer.

This is the benefit of all that moisture. Beautiful shades of green and water in a reservoir for the first time in the 10 years I've been around here!

Water going over the spillway in a stock reservoir.

Think maybe we need to get out more?

These are pictures of Haley and Adam last weekend in "If you can't beat it, join it" mode. They were sick of the house, so they chose basketball in the rain instead.

Davy Crockett--I mean Ben--out exploring in the rain.

Coon-skin hat is pretty good shelter from the rain though!

We've had our share of busy-ness too though. For the first time ever we are done with all the cattle work before we are done planting. We took a trip to see my parents and grandmother in Malta the Saturday before Easter, and as a last minute surprise, all the cousins and aunts and uncles showed up for an Easter Egg hunt in the back yard. We finished AI-ing , and had a great weekend of weather before it all got nasty. We are done branding all the calves except 15 head of the calves that were born late. My mom came down to watch Alli so I could help and we did the bulk of them in three days. The four of us (Scott, Ryan, Zane and I) got pretty darned efficient, averaging about 80 calves in an hour.

In addition to all of that, we squeezed in District Music Festival, State Music Festival, (where my Haley recieved a superior rating!!! Yay!!) a wedding in Billings, a Young Ladies High Tea at church (Haley attended, and I was the guest speaker) as well as a Salad Supper in the fabulous town of Plevna, where I had the opportunity to share the story of my breast cancer and pregnancy. The ladies in the churches down there get together and share fabulous food, some singing, music and a speaker. It was my first real speaking gig, and it was fun to share how my faith grew through such a tough set of circumstances. Throw in the end of school, a going away party for our teachers, and you can see what we've been up to around here.

Things should settle in to a dull routine as the rain is supposed to diminish later on this week, so maybe the guys can get the crop in. No real big plans for the summer except lots of haying and hopefully a big crop to harvest (in October at this rate!!).

Sorry for such a long and rambling post! Just thought I'd get caught up!

Growing

2011-03-31T07:55:00.000-07:00

April is almost here, and after such a looonnngggg winter, I’m getting a little antsy to do some yard work. I’m pretty sure that the urge will be long gone in June, when it actually warms up enough for the weeds to start growing faster than I can pick them….

I have one bed outside my living room window that needs some serious work. I had a couple of ideas about how to fix it, and then my husband decided we needed to do a little more landscaping to encourage the water to flow away from the house so as to limit the amount in the basement each spring. Great idea! It hasn’t really been an issue up to now, but like I said, it’s been some winter! I was thinking maybe just some amending of the soil and adding some more peat moss would do the trick, but he’s talking a complete dismantling of the whole bed.

So in turn, I’ve been doing some planning, and some plotting, trying to figure out where to transplant some of the things that are actually growing there. (Exciting, I know...).

I’m always excited when the greenhouses begin to display their spring offerings. I usually have to check out all four stores in our little town to see who has what, at the best price, before I make any purchases. I peruse my seed catalogues starting in late January and ooohhh and aaaaahhh over different plants, wishing that I could grow Zone 8s here in my little Zone 4 that’s closer to a Zone 3. Then one day in May, I bite the bullet, get out the checkbook and come home with little short boxes full of six-packs, sporting six plants, each showing off one big blossom. Unfortunately, one of the things that plants have to do in order to grow and flourish, is endure a little ill-treatment. And that big blossom just absolutely has to go. Yep. I just pinch off the whole purple petunia, or the petite yellow pansy.

It’s heartbreaking really. Those fervent little plants that cheerfully stood up and said “Pick me! I will look beautiful in your whiskey-barrel planters beside the climbing purple clematis!” have to go through some trouble in order to do what they were designed to do. Yes, they are colorful, and my beds and pots won’t look nearly so pretty with just the greenery, but the plants need the opportunity to focus on developing their root system, instead of putting their energy toward keeping the big blossom open and at attention. Then they will be able to produce more abundant and healthier blooms down the road.

The perennials also get a little shaken up each spring. The plants that have grown and flourished often times need to be divided. Which is great for me, because I get more plants for more beds, and I don't have to spend any money on them. So I dig them up, pry apart their roots as gently as I can, and plunk them down in a new location, careful to make sure the plant and the new home are suited for each other. The delicate plants have a really tough time on the south side of the house on the deck, and likewise, the moss roses and other succulents don't do as well in my clay bed that doesn't drain very well.

Looking at the plants in their new locations directly after the transplant is always a little discouraging. They always look a little droopy and uncomfortable due to the stress on their root system. The colorful blooms that once identified that plant are gone. Given the right soil, the right fertilizer, enough water, things begin to turn around. Perennials are my favorite because a year later, you’d never know the plants were uncomfortable or struggling. New shoots of the plant are poking up through a snow bank, fighting through the dead growth of last summer that someone neglected to cut away. Once their roots are firmly planted and anchored, there’s almost nothing to stop them, and they even multiply!!

In my study time this week I've been reading some in James:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4 ESV)

As I was looking at James 1:2, the trouble that will come our way as believers reminded me of the work that takes place in my little garden beds and various pots each spring. Anyone who has been a follower of Christ long enough to take it pretty seriously, understands the part about the inevitability of ill-treatment, of trials, of troubles. But the “consider it all joy” part is a little harder to swallow. I mean I can understand the trouble, but I’m supposed to appreciate it? Huh?

Just like a plant, we will be healthier and hardier, if our "root system" is well-established. Verses three and four say that we know "testing of our faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." As we are going through the difficulties, we learn to lean more and more upon the Lord. We talk to Him and our relationship develops and strengthens as we pray, seek scripture that comforts and encourages, and learn to rest in the quiet with Him. After so much testing and trials, we will be able to handle anything that comes our way in Christ-like fashion. That's our end goal: to be like Christ. We won't reach that point here on earth, but we are in the process of becoming more like Christ as we live out our lives. Trials help us to develop a stronger faith so that we can produce Christ-like fruit.

As we look back over the process of growing, we learn through our trials that the Master Gardener has been right there, pruning here, pinching there, adding mulch, and fertilizer, sheltering us from some of the wind and hail, in order for us to be strong and vibrant. That's where the joy part comes in. Just like those beautiful flowers, we can hold our heads up high pointing in the direction of the Son, reflecting his glory.

Now I'm fully aware that this is a little different type of post than I typically post on this blog. Bear with me! I discovered a contest for a scholarship to a speaking/writing contest for Christian women. Recently I have been presented with a couple of opportunities to speak. One event is a tea for high school and junior high young ladies, and the other is for a luncheon for some ladies in another community. I have been prompted and encouraged, by some women in my church, and other ladies that I know, to explore the option ofserving God in this capacity. I don't know if this will even go anywhere, but I thought if I was given some opportunities, the least I could do is work to do a better job at both skills.

The link to the contest is here: http://www.holyexperience.com/2011/03/how-christians-create-art-she-speaks-scholarship/. The conference is a part of Proverbs 31 Ministries and its purpose is "connecting the hearts of women to the heart of our Father God."

February--Coaching, Calving---CHAOS!!

2011-02-15T10:44:00.000-08:00

I promised more posts this year, and I'm trying, but here lately, it's been a little crazy around these here parts.

When I first moved to Miles City back in 1999, I taught and spent a large amount of my time at the gym as an assistant girl's basketball coach. I made a couple of great friends, Coach Veis and Coach Wambolt who were the varsity coach and freshman coach, respectively. After I got married and had a 40 mile commute every day, I opted out of working in town, and that included the coaching. Cary and Fred remained good friends and it was really fun this year, when Haley started playing Cowgirl basketball. I would get to see them pretty regularly at her games and then I'd stay and watch the JV and Varsity games.

On Friday night, The 14th of January, I got a phone call from Coach V. telling me that Fred had been in an accident while removing snow from his roof, and that he was enroute to Billings on a helicopter flight. He assured me Fred would be okay, but that he might need me to help out some. Monday morning came, and he had arranged with another coach in town to help out with some of the practices, but wondered if I could help with some practice and coach the games. So of course Scott and I talked about it and decided we could help out.

For the first time since I met Scott, I missed out on the Robert Burns celebration, because I had to coach a game, and have had about 7 since then. Scott has been calving out the heifers, save a few nights when I checked them when I got home from a late bus trip. Plus he's been watching kiddos. Ben and Alli have been troopers too, as they usually come in to MC for Haley's freshman games and then jump in with Dad and head home to help watch heifers.

We have only two games left, one tonight against Dickinson, ND in Miles City, and then one on Friday in Glendive. Then, my JV coaching duties will be over. I will continue to help Cary out until Fred comes back, if at all or until we lose at tournaments. Our divisional is in Glendive next weekend and then State is in Bozeman the 1st weekend of March. Calving is slowing down too, with only 3 left in this 1st cycle and a little bit of a break until the 2nd cycle comes along.

It's really been enjoyable... funny how the sights and sounds of the gym haven't changed these past 5 years...there are just different girls on the floor. The Cowgirl basketball program has had much success over the years, and it's a lot of fun to be a part of! Ironically it also makes me thankful that I have the opportunity to be home full-time with my kids and my husband, and able to help with the day-to-day parts of our operation. It also makes me really admire all those moms out there who work full time and be a mom full time too. It sure makes me tired!!

A Wee Bit O Piping

2011-02-01T10:31:00.000-08:00

For those of you who missed out on the Bobby Burns celebration last Saturday night, here's a taste of it. Scott and Joel Woods put together a new piece which incorporated an old favorite with a new tune at the end. I might be a little partial, but I sure think it's great! I didn't get to see it live either, as I have been called out of retirement to help coach the JV team at the high school in Miles City. More on that later. Haley graciously recorded this, so the whooping you hear is her... considering this is her rookie recording, I think she did pretty darn good!

Anyway, enjoy it! We missed all of you snowbound folks!

It's not delivery.....

2011-01-18T14:25:00.000-08:00

One of the disadvantages of living in the middle of nowhere is that no matter how tired you are, no matter how busy you are, no matter how lazy you are, there's just no pizza places around that are willing to deliver 40 miles north or 45 miles south. I can't imagine why! After doing some rummaging around in recipes boxes, cookbooks and on-line sites, I found a recipe for homemade pizza that's almost as easy as delivery, and way better than DiGiorno!! In fact, it's become a bit of a Friday night staple at our house.

One of the things I like best about it is that the crust is made in my bread-maker, so I just have to throw the ingredients in and walk away for an hour. So here is that part of the recipe which I found on cdkitchen.com:

(makes 2 crusts)

1 cup water PLUS
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons oil
3 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast+

I use warm water, to speed up the rising time, olive oil instead of vegetable, and about 2 tsp. of sugar. Be sure to add the ingredients to the mixing bowl of your machine in the order given. You could also add any herbs you wanted at the end of this list too. Then turn on your machine to the "dough" feature and let it go to work.

After about 55 minutes, my dough is ready to go.

I learned a little secret from my friend the Farmer's Wife, and that is to use vegetable shortening to grease the pizza pans. It works really slick because it is sticky enough to help keep the dough where you want it while you're stretching it and it makes a really crisp bottom crust too. I like to make a bit of a rim around the pizza pan with the dough to make a more pronounced crust.

Now, I will let you in on my pizza sauce. I discovered it purely by accident. I was mixing up pizzas one night, only to discover that I had only one can of tomato paste--no sauce either, but lots of tomato soup. One of the things I dislike about some pizza sauce is that it is so acidic due to the tomato, so one usually needs to add a little sugar to counter act. But this time I pulled out a can of condensed tomato soup, so I could stretch the paste a little further. I was kind of expecting it to be a one-time deal, because I didn't think it would taste very good. But I added some Italian seasoning and some garlic salt, spread it around and then added our toppings (sausage and mushroom, cheese, ham and pineapple, and tomato and bacon are the favorites around here). I gotta say, it's a pretty darn good sauce, and I haven't gone back to jarred pizza sauce since! What is it that they say? Necessity is the mother of invention right?

After the toppings are good to go, you bake it in a preheated 400 degree oven for 18-20 minutes.

All four of my kids, plus my husband (and really, even me) are pretty much pizza hounds. We like it a lot. Now, they actually prefer MY pizza to any we can get in town except at the Airport Inn. That's a pretty good compliment, I think. Ben even likes me to make extra so he can take it to school in his lunch as a leftover... and he hates leftovers.

If you're ever craving good pizza, but can't have it delivered for some reason or another, give this a try. It's not fancy or gourmet, but it passes the kid and husband test!

Christmas, New Years and Such...

2011-01-08T10:55:00.000-08:00

I decided it was time to add my pictures from the holidays. We were at my parents' in Malta with my brother Frank, his wife Alex, their son Titus, and my grandmother Sylvia on Christmas Eve, and then my sister Cindi, her husband Travis, and their kids Taylor, Rylie, and Trevor joined us on Christmas day. We had a great time, and the kids had so much fun playing together!! We resolved that we need to do a better job of getting them all together more often, but since we are all farmers with cows and live 200 miles away from each other makes that pretty tough sometimes!

Nephew Titus... cute little guy!!

Aunt Alex and Allison with the new castle and princesses.... do I see another niece in my future?

Alli, giving Titus a little cousinly advice about toys and presents.

Mr. Ben and his new Star Wars Legos guys

Titus taking a much needed break from the action!

Brother-in-law Travis with my Gram Sylvia, who turned 98 on January 7th. She's quite the lady and can put gardeners half her age to shame!

Adam always seems to get the shaft on his birthday as it is on New Year's eve. The past few years we've had his celebration on a different day so we could help with the all-night New Year's eve party at church, but this year we took a break and had a party, complete with party hats, noise-makers, presents, friends, sisters, brothers, moms and dad... oh yeah, and pizza, cake and ice cream. Adam was trying hard to be cool, and not enjoy himself too much in front of his friends....

Haley, Alli, and MacKenzie... with their tiaras. Beautiful aren't they?

Birthday Boy Adam... the big 1-3... Now we have TWO, count-em, TWO teenagers in the house!

Ben, enjoying his ice-cream.....

Adam and his buddies

On NewYear's day, we did something a little different this year too... usually Scott's sleeping from his over-nighter with 200+ teenagers from southeastern Montana. This year we were all rested, so we had some friends over for more appetizers than a body needs all day long let alone before a prime rib-potatoes-salad-rolls dinner...and cheesecake for dessert. What a way to roll in the new year....Russ and Susie Milam with baby Hannah, and the W. Pluhar clan came over. Unfortunately, for one moment I allowed my children to be unsupervised with a Tech fan, and she did her best to indoctrinate them. Luckily, you can't really see Alli's horns behind Angus's head, so really it looks like she only got to one of them. We have been in an intensive Horns reprogramming mode, so I think we will be ready to go next year when they again win the Big 12, or whatever the name of the conference will be by then.

As you can see, we are off to a great start for the year... throw in a little more snow and some sub-zero weather, and it is obvious we are still in the midst of January... we keep looking forward though, and the mad rush that is calving, planting and spring will be upon us!

A New Year, A New Post

2011-01-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

Yes. It's true. I'm putting up a blog post. Life has been busy, and I've been spending too much time on Facebook. I am, like most of you, trying to turn over a new leaf. I'm trying to limit my total computer time on a daily basis, so I can tackle three big goals.

One is to get back in shape. I've been really slacking on the exercise and diet front. And my clothes are beginning to show it... the way they fit anyway. I'm sick of it, so I'm determined to do better, and that means more time for exercise, and less time for eating junk. I'm hoping the Wii we got for Christmas will help. I'm finding Wii Fit really fun, and even funny, when I try a skill or exercise that I'm not very good at. Turns out my balance is a little off. (Yeah, you knew that didn't you?) I also found a copy of EA Sports Active 2 on sale. It works with the balance board, an arm band with a heart rate monitor, and a leg band, to count moves and trace movements. So far I've done that one pretty seriously twice. Ouch. Seriously. Tomorrow I think the trips down the stairs may be a little difficult. I think I did like 3 sets of 16 lunges. But I was sweating and my heart rate went up. I figure between that and some time on the treadmill, I may be in shape by next year! Plus I decided to start eating a little better, so my fridge is stocked with celery, oranges, and apples. I need to pick up some carrots, bananas, and greens next time I'm in town. I also decided to quit soda. And I wasn't even drinking the real stuff... just Diet Coke, and I'm quitting that too. It's hard today. I haven't had much trouble up until today.

Another big "project" is to do better in the spiritual arena. Specifically I'm aiming to get in and read my Bible and have some quiet time alone with God 5 out of 7 days a week. Some neighbor ladies and I are working on Kelly Minter's No Other Gods study which has 5 daily lessons, and I have a book by Beth Moore on Jesus on which I'm going to work during the off days. I am also doing the Siesta Scripture Memory Challenge from the Living Proof Ministries blog which is to memorize two scriptures per month. I'm going to make an effort to post each scripture before I start on the 1st and the 15th of each month. Here's the first: Romans 15:13: May the God of hope fill you with peace and joy as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The last big project has to do with bookkeeping. I have gotten so I feel pretty confident and competent in my abilities to do our books, especially with Quickbooks, but I want to do a little better job of getting things up-to-date beyond just once a month when I do my reconciliation. It's not a hard thing, just a self-disciplined thing, and a quit-procrastinating thing.

So there you have it. I will be updating photos soon as we have some great ones from Christmas and New Year's. Hope all are well out there, and surviving all the cold, wind and snow! The sun is shining today and it's beautiful!!

I should really be mowing my lawn,

2010-10-05T11:44:00.000-07:00

or balancing the checkbook, or cleaning my kids' rooms.... It seems like there are lots of times I think about putting up a post, but then I get distracted, or decide I should do some real work instead of playing on the computer!! But I have a few minutes while Ben's at school and Alli's with her dad delivering seed to the field, so I thought I'd at least share a few photos of what we've been up to in the last 3 months or so. Here goes... in chronological order starting sometime in July:

Flowers in my back bed

Scott in the corn.

Ben and Alli enjoying the Rosebud County Fair (the rides anyway)

Harvest in full swing (I think Haley is unloading with Scott assisting here...)

All four machines going round and round....

Ben making roads on his "farm". Actually he's keeping busy while I'm feeding the crew in the field.

A Star Wars shirt and a cowboy hat. What a kid.

Harvest dust + summer sunset = beautiful

Ben's 1st day of 1st grade

Alli's 1st day of Ben's 1st grade

The enigma of Montana weather: sunshine and blue skies just north

of a ferocious thunderstorm and beautiful rainbow!

Alli packing her "wunch" to go with Dad

Adam really is pretty coordinated, he's putting his mouthguard in while running and.....

Makes a GREAT tackle!

Haley at the net...blocking it for a point.

Up and ready to block!

As usual, it's been pretty busy around here. We are in the throes of planting winter wheat and then get ready to ship calves on Sunday. One thing about our place: there's job security!

What We've been up to....

2010-05-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

Haley's Track Meets

Star Wars and Light "Saver" battles

AI-ing Heifers

Watching the weather, snow on May 7th

Visiting Great-Grandma Sylvia (97) for Mother's Day

Grandma and Great Gram

Retirement Party for Dad in Helena, with all the siblings

Bucking Horse Parade with the Piper and two Dancers

A Play Day with friends Princess Maggie and Pirate Angus (incognito)

Is it any wonder we're all tuckered out?

A Restless Reader

2010-04-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

So here I am. I love to read. Mostly fiction, but I'll read almost anything, and have recently found I enjoy non-fiction more than I would have thought (strange but true for a former English teacher). But truly, my favorite is a good fiction story with strong characters, a strong plot, and a logical, but not predictable conclusion. I'm not asking for too much, am I?

I recently picked up a couple of books at the book store, and one had SUCH potential. But half way through, the language and R-rated scenes were a little much for me, that I had to put it down. I mean I've got a lot that I should be doing around here, and I have a hard enough time taking time out to read, but when it's garbage, I just can't do it, no matter how compelling the character. And in my book, compelling characters lose that label when their clothes come off whenever the author can't think of any other way to develop a relationship between characters, be it familial or friendly, if you get my drift!

I think of all the books I read when I was a kid (from about 8 to about 16) and there were all kinds of books that fit that bill: Mrs. Mike, Tisha, Anne of Green Gables, Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Black Stallion, and those are just the ones off the top of my head. Not to mention the classics: Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, even The Bard could tell quite a story while the characters had their clothes on, if not their morality.... but at least he left it to suggestion. Whatever happened to the power of suggestion? Has it been over taken by obvious overtures?

I've tried all matter of "Christian" fiction... and I've found a couple of authors who can scratch the itch... Charles Martin and Lisa Samson are a couple that I've recently read that are authors who can develop good stories with great characters, while being stories about real people, not the "shiny, happy people" that I have found a little too sickly sweet for my taste.

My good friend The Farmer's Wife gave me a whole bagful of new books to try today, and she has pretty good taste in books for the most part (except that one C.S. Lewis books... what was that?????). So maybe I'll find somebody new that I like. My husband told me that maybe I needed to find another hobby. I hate to think that I'll have to give up one of my oldest and dearest interests.

If there's anyone out there who knows of some good, wholesome fiction, I'm all eyes!!!

Calving in the Snow

2010-02-17T09:58:00.000-08:00

If you live anywhere within about 150 miles of Rock Springs, Montana, these images are probably pretty familiar to you. We have had quite the winter here in the middle of Eastern Montana. We've had days upon days of overcast skies and thick fog that makes the tree limbs look like sparkling arms and the branches look like fingers encrusted with diamonds.

I couldn't resist taking this picture of the wheel barrows, right near the garden. Looks like it will be a while before it's time to plant huh? At least there should be lots of good moisture to help the plants get sprouted when we actually get them in the ground. .

Here are some mule deer that are grazing near the stubble on a field across the creek. I was driving to Miles City the other day and I could see trails where the bucks had grouped together, and were plowing with their hooves and muzzles to get some sort of grass to eat under the cover of the 8-10 inches of snow. If I had to work like that to get something to eat, I'm guessing I wouldn't still have this spare 15 lbs

And so here we are. The middle of February and it's time to start calving. Our heifers are synchronized and AI-ed every Mother's Day weekend in May. That makes the due date somewhere around the 10th of February, and sometimes we have early arrivals around the 1st. This year was no exception. We had one calf arrive on January 30th. We get funny looks from people when we tell them we're busy calving, but when late March and early April hit, it's about time for us to get into the fields to start the spring planting. It usually works out pretty well. Many years we are running around in sweatshirts and jackets, slogging through mud to get to the corral in February. This year is a little different

I took these two pictures during the first week of calving, when it was in the teens and snowing. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy getting ready to calve with a below zero wind chill and snow hitting me in the face.

After spending the first hour in the warmer, and the next 23-48 hours in the barn, the mommies and their newborns are shuffled outside to the small pen, where there's a shed for shelter, and lots of warm straw. We only put 5-6 at a time in this pen so the new moms can practice their matching skills. It's a little easier to keep track of their new calf when there are only 4-5 others to sort through. Then they get turned into what we call the "Triangle" pen. This pen is a little bigger with a calf-shelter and water tank and is next to the big pasture where they get turned out when they finally have the whole "mothering" thing figured out.

A calf checking out a salt block. It's a whole new world!

This mama wasn't really liking me wandering around snapping pictures of the fresh calves. She looks a little like one of the Hollywood moms coming after the paparazzi! Snorting, blowing snot, and pawing up the straw. Good thing there was a fence between us!

And here they are, out in the big, cold world.

On this particular day the sun was shining at it was about 17 degrees.

Today it's closer to 25, but it's overcast with snow that comes down for a while and then changes its mind. We are nearly done with the 1st cycle heifers, and then we will have about a week's break before the 2nd cyclers are due. We sold the heifers that were 3rd cyclers... getting up in the middle of the night for 2 solid months gets pretty old, and I only have to do it when Scott gets completely worn out. We have an extra hand this spring, so he takes the checks until midnight, and then Scott has the early morning shift. I'm the "on-call" checker, when everyone else is busy or elsewhere. We've been really fortunate and have only had a couple of tough pulls. Birth weights have been just about right, but it remains to be seen how they'll grow up by weaning time. We used a couple of new sires this year.

We were talking this morning about how we're going to handle the cows (3 year olds and up). Lots of times we bring the younger ones (3s and 4s) in and calve them through the corral when the weather gets bad. But we are not really set up to do the whole herd when we are getting 25 in a day. With the weather cold and snowy like this, the calves are in danger for respiratory damage due to the cold. And if it's really wet and miserable, even calves that are a couple of weeks old can get frozen down and die. I just checked the 8-14 day outlook and it says "Below normal temperatures and below normal precipitation". That means it' won't be 30-40 degrees, like we usually have this time of the year. Good thing our Iowan hired hand brought his snowmobile out... we might be using that to tag calves instead of the Ranger!

Book Club--February Installment

2010-02-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

Ahh, yes. The long awaited evening of bookclub was tonight. Problem is, everyone is BUSY! We are in the middle of calving and colds, Scott with both and the kids and I with the latter. Rumor has it a couple of ladies were heading off to ski for the weekend, another was calving, and still another, home with a sick kiddo (which mostly came from my sick kiddo--sorry for that by the way!!).

So, it was a rather small-ish group tonight, gathered at Celestia's cozy home for a lovely chicken divan and book discussion. Clara and Marisa journeyed South together with Everett, crackers and veggie dip, along with some tasty bread and the strawberry limeade which were the missing skiiers' contributions. I journeyed North, with a green salad, complete with green apples, bleu cheese, purple onion, craisins, sunflower seeds and spring greens with dressing of choice, and 3 bottles of wine: a chardonnay, white merlot, and moscato--because the calver hadn't been to town and didn't think she'd be going. Thelma went North and then came back South before going home, West, and brought a lovely raspberry-cream cheese pie for dessert. MMMMmmmm good! We actually discussed the book first, before diving into any food besides the appetizer.

Only two of the six gathered had actually had a chance to read the book, The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West, in its completion; the rest of us were between a quarter to half of the way done. I told you we were busy! But we all agreed that the characters were a lot of fun, and we all identified in one way or another with one of the children--most of us with Cordelia who really had no talent at anything, but at least she looked cute! We decided the mother was brave and resourceful, the dad kind of a putz, and the younger two sisters, kind of brats. No one knew quite what to make of the poltergeist, but the two who finished said it kind of worked itself out by the end of the story. Celestia described it as a "dense" book, meaning tough to get through because it was so full of rich description. It certainly wasn't a fast read! There was definitely a different pulse to our gathering this time. The crowd tonight was made up more of the quiet and wise ones, rather than the loud and animated ones (and we're smart too!). It was relaxing and enjoyable to be around a group of ladies who make a girl feel comfortable enough she can show up in sweats and no make-up, because it was one of those kind of days....

I had to leave a little early so I could get home and tend to the kiddos so the husband could get some rest, so it was kind of a short meeting for me. Next month is my pick for book club, and so I've been wrestling over my choice since September. Finding a book for book club is one of the most challenging processes I go through in a year. It has to be a good book. And by good, I mean not too deep, but not too light, not too sad, but not too happy, not too classic, but not too contemporary, not too secular, but not too spiritual.... you get my drift. It's a tough thing to do! On top of that, it goes without saying you have to find one that not everyone has already read... especially Mary!

I did get a chance to unveil the new read for next month:

Last year, Mary lent me another book by this same author called The Passion of Mary Margaret. It was one of those books that left you thinking, "Hmmmmmm". But like I said, a person has to pick something that not everyone has read, and so I picked one this time, that not even I have read. I bought this up some months back with the intention to read it, in case it might be a good choice for book club. But not having time, and not having read anything else that really struck me that other people hadn't read, I decided to roll the dice. Hopefully, it will be worth our time and effort!

Now I'm excited to plan the menu! See you at my house next month, 2nd Thursday!

Burns Night 2010

2010-01-25T08:46:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Hook 'Em Horns!

2010-01-07T09:13:00.000-08:00

National Championship game is on tonight. Go Texas!

Plays, Programs and Pageants Galore!

2010-01-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

When a person has kids, Christmas becomes a whole new season. And when they get old enough to go to school, another dimension is added, yet again....

Haley is our resident band and choir geek so she had a band and a choral concert before the Christmas break. She is a very talented musician, both vocally and instrumentally. She sings 2nd Soprano and is in the audition group Chanteurs which sang several times around town for the season. She also plays the flute and got to accompany the 7th grade choir at their vocal concert. Haley used her Glasscock charm to convince her very reluctant band instructor that their song "Carol of the Bells" was in pretty serious need of some actual bells to make it authentic. She found her way to the percussion section and composed a harmony part on the chimes, that added quite an effect at the Christmas band concert. She even got credit and accolades from her instructor... talk about a confidence builder! Haley's thinking she's ready to try her hand at a special number in church, so we need to see about that!

Adam too, got in the swing of things as he did his Christmas program for school and sang with the 5th grade chorus... he's not quite as excited about it as Haley is, but he too has a great ear and could be pretty talented if he'd give it a try. He did demonstrate his flair for the dramatic in his role as one of the 3 kings in the Sunday

School program at church. He looked very handsome in his jewel-toned red and blue costume and was quite the ham, especially when it came to the 3 wise guys sleeping out under the stars with their stuffed animals! It was a lot of fun to get to watch him perform. He really enjoyed it and told me he wished he'd have had more speaking parts (maybe because they kind of lip-synced to a sound-track)....

Benjamin was one of the Rascals in the play "Angels and Rascals" that the teacher at Cohagen and all of the students had a hand in writing. It was essentially about 2 rascals who tried to steal everything in sight from a grouchy woodsman (who smiled all the time), two neighborly young ladies who had cool horses, and 3 angels who saved Christmas just in the nick of time! It was a great story and the kids all did a great job and took their roles extremely seriously. Ben cracked me up, because he can be a bit of a clown, but for this play, he was ALL business, and was quite solemn and focused in order to get his entrances and lines down just so. The play was complete with the real Christmas story from the book of Luke and a visit from "Santa" and some old fashioned candy later in the evening. The whole community turned out for the play, or maybe all the finger foods following, I'm not sure which was the bigger draw.

Uno and Dos up to no good

Oh, No!

Angels here to save the day!

Contrite little fellows aren't they?

Check out that horse!

Cohagen Carolers!

Ben also participated in the church Sunday School program, as a sheep, but apparently he's getting to be a little old for ears and tails, as cute as they were! He did a great job with Away in a Manger, but wanted to get out of there, quick!!

Cute little critters aren't they?

And last, but not least was Miss Allison. She also got to participate in the Sunday School program. They let all the 2s and 3s get dressed up and bring the title of the play in, pose for oooohs, aaaahs, and pictures before they turn them loose into the audience. She, unlike her brother, relished the attention, surprise, surprise....

We were pretty proud parents as we watched our kids in their respective performances. I stayed home from the big kids' concerts because it was soo cold that week, and Benjamin had to be up early to get on the bus for school. That's one of the drawbacks about having the big kids in town and the small kids in the country... it's tough to get to everything. Scott is doing a great job, though and he got to take in all of it! It's been nice to have some down-time over Christmas break. Hard to believe kids go back to school on Monday!

Looking Back at Thanksgiving

2010-01-01T18:29:00.000-08:00

I've been more than absent from my writer's post this last month. It seems the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was more of a blur this year than it is usually. Part of it may have been that I hosted Thanksgiving this year, so there was more of a flurry leading up to Thanksgiving than usual. I did some ripping of wall paper and painting and serious cleaning, including shampooing carpets before everyone came. My mom and dad, sister Terri and her family, brother Frank and wife Alex (her first big family event as family) all drove over, and sister Cindi and her pilot husband flew down in their Cessna.

This year was quite a treat because my 96-soon-to-be 97 year young grandma joined the rest of my immediate family. She and I had a serious pie-making tutorial on Thanksgiving morning. She's the master at making pie crust by feel! She cracked me up, because I had asked her to help me make the pies (which tickled her to no end to feel useful) so she came with the flour, salt and shortening already mixed up. She followed the recipe to a "T" because she wanted to show me how it's supposed to feel. Pie crust is one thing that kind of eludes me. Anyway, she was just flat disgusted with our dough... she determined that the recipe she used had way too much fat in it... based on how the crust was coming together. She usually just mixes it together by how it feels! She did give me some good hints about how a crust would feel if there were too much flour, or lard, or even water and how to fix it. I haven't really attempted a pie on my own, because there's no one here to eat it except Scott and me, and I'd end up eating more of it than he would, so I'm waiting for an event to try my hand at it again.

We did a traditional meal, with Mom close by to assist any turkey and dressing disasters! There was a big bird, homemade bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, 7 layer salad, frog-eye salad, a huge relish tray, and buns---followed by pumpkin, apple and peach pie.

It was a beautiful day and the kiddos all went outside after lunch. It was great fun to watch from a distance all the pink and purple (5 girl cousins under 6) chasing the two boys wearing blue and red. All too soon it was time for everyone to hit the road or the air... We watched a little football before hitting the hay in preparation for the big shopping trip.

Yes, I know. I'm one of those people who have always looked at those crazy early morning shoppers with a certain amount of disdain... What on earth could be that important! But, my new sister-in-law, Alex, has always done the early morning thing with her family, and really wanted to go, so I agreed. And as it turns out, we had a good time, and I found some GREAT deals that turned into great Christmas gifts. But that's for another post. All in good time my friends....

Mom and Gram

Gathered Around the Table

Getting Ready for Take Off

And AWAY!! (the little speck... heading toward Canada--almost)

Merry CHRISTmas!

2009-12-18T08:13:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

I'm Thankful For...

2009-11-25T21:14:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that bloggers all over the country are using their spot for exactly this. It's probably a good thing... our pastor was talking about this on Sunday that part of the reason we are discontent with our lives is because we don't spend enough time being thankful for what we do have. So, while I was bustling around the house, cleaning, cooking and caring for kiddos today, I went through my list of top 10 things that I'm thankful for.... Drumroll please:

10. My computer. Yeah, I know. That's maybe a little shallow. But I love my computer because it enables me to keep in touch with people I haven't talked to in years, it gives me a place to be creative via my blog, and my Photoshop program, it is an endless source of information for things like finding the perfect chocolate cheesecake recipe, determining who won the game I was too tired to stay up for, who wrote that one book... stuff like that. It makes living in the country easier to be in touch with the world around me.

9. My house. I know it's just wood and nails, glass and fiberglass. But I like my house. It's warm, comfortable, big enough that I never run out of things to clean. It expresses my family's personality. It's a place where we have had a lot of good food with a lot of fun people.

8. My Books. I kind of stole that one from my dear friend the wife of the farmer (Farmer's Wife). I love being able to pick up a book on any subject and either relax, learn or be entertained.... Currently I'm reading "The Smart Step-Mom", and "The Bottom of the Sky".

7. My Music. Love it... pretty much any kind, any place. I love to turn on whatever music I'm in the mood for and reading, cleaning, visiitng, cooking etc. while the music plays. Also love to sing it! I'm thankful for the opportunity I have to sing on the worship team at church. Nothing like singing together praising God.

6. My health. January will be 4 years of being cancer free. I still get tired sometimes, but for the most part I'm feeling more and more like my old self, pre-kids and pre-pregnancy. Thank you Lord!

5. My friends. I have quite a little group of friends out here in no-mans land. I can always count on one of my country girls to totally relate to my day or my week, or make me feel better, because I know their week has been busier or more stressful than mine. I always have someone who stays home with her kids like me who can commiserate or celebrate depending on the situation. They pray with me and for me. They are quite the ladies!

4. My life. I mean it.... I love being married to a farmer/rancher and living in the country helping him grow crops, care for cattle and keep the books. It's rewarding and fulfilling. It's stressful and busy. I can't think of a better place to live or a better place to raise a family.

3. My kiddos... all four of them. I love to watch them grow up, laugh together, learn things, give hugs and kisses. I love to hear the way they think and some of the ways they express themselves. I love the way they look at the world through 4 unique perspectives and act in 4 unique ways. They are challenging and rewarding and big-time blessings.

2. My husband. He's great. Without getting too sappy, I just have to say that I am blessed. He cares about me and encourages me in the talents and abilities I have. He provides for us financially, but more than that he provides great leadership for our family in a spiritual sense. He's a great dad who does a great job with our kiddos. He's my best friend who knows all my secrets.

1. My Lord. He sent His Son to save because He loved me that much. He provides wisdom, strength, and power. He blesses us with so much that we forget all good things come from Him. He listens when I'm excited, nervous, tired or angry. He continually surprises me with how much He cares about the details in my life. Without Him, there would be no 2-10. There would be no meaning or hope to this life. And I just can't imagine it.

What do you think? Do we need to be more thankful, more of the time? I know I do.
Happy Thanksgiving friends!

I'm the woman I was sure I'd never be....

2009-11-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

This a quick one, because I have quite a few projects to do today while my kiddos are out of the house.

It occured to me last night, as I was sitting at the country school board meeting, that I'm in a place I would never have guessed. I was sure I'd never live in the country when I was growing up. I used to count the hours when I was at the ranch until I got to go back to town and be with all my friends. I'm quite a social person normally, which is no surprise to those of you who know me. I was also pretty sure I'd never have kids. I didn't 'love' little kids, like many of my friends, I didn't enjoy baby-sitting when I was younger, and plus when I wasn't married by 30, I was pretty sure that wouldn't happen. Heck, I didn't even think I'd get married! I was a teacher, and never in my wildest imagination would I ever have thought I'd be on the other side of the table of a contract negotiation as a sitting board member! And as I looked at my black coat last night, I saw evidence of cat hair.

So now, here I sit, a happily married, stay-at-home mom with four kids who make me laugh, pull my hair out, and make me feel essential. Our place is 40 miles from the nearest town, (30+from my nearest friend). I'm on the Cohagen School board. I live with a black cat named Sweetie who has made me quite fond of him!

And the best part is that I like it! I crave being able to stay home for an entire day and evening, away from the hustle and bustle of "town", with my husband and kids, having a big evening meal around the old supper table as we hash over the events of the kids' days.

I've even come to terms with picking a few stray cat hairs off of my clothing. Life is good at the place I never thought I'd be, even better than I ever thought!

Allison Lee turns Three

2009-11-14T20:58:00.000-08:00

She came as a bit of a surprise. We had planned to have another child after Benjamin, but due to a few health issues, figured we could wait a little while. And then, out of the blue, we found out we were expecting another child after Thanksgiving, close to the first part of December. We had a few stressful months as we took care of all the health issues, and then got to have some down-time from September to November.

I remember going in to my appointment at the end of October, and my doc told me that he would be gone for three weeks, and that I could see his partner in two weeks. When he got back we'd talk about the time frame, and whether we'd need to induce or just wait for things to happen. He assured me he'd be back in plenty of time, with time to spare even. No sweat. Scott's hernia surgery was scheduled for the week of the 7th, on Tuesday so he'd have plenty of time to get healed up before the baby came. Right.

Well sure enough, two weeks came and so did my trip to see the other doctor. She casually asked how far along I had been in October.

Oh. Umm, I don't know. We didn't really check things out. I'm not due until after Thanksgiving.

As it turned out, I had already been making some significant progress in the process. She looked at me and said, "Traci, it's not a matter of if you have a baby this weekend, it's when you'll have this baby this weekend. How far from town do you live?"

Only 40 miles. It takes like, a half an hour. Tops.

She looked at me like I'd lost my mind. "You really shouldn't be that far from a hospital."

Did I mention my husband had hernia surgery on Tuesday? He can't really drive, let alone lift the 2 year old. I haven't even felt any contractions. I'll be fine. I'm not due until after Thanksgiving.

"You shouldn't be lifing the 2 year old in your condition. You should probably stay in town."

I finally convinced her that I could go home, but a trip to Jordan that evening for book club was out of the question. That really bummed me out! That's like the highlight of the month! I promised her I'd walk around Wal-Mart (it's the closest thing to a mall we have around here, and it was chilly that night) for an hour before I went home, promising I'd call the minute things started happening.

About 12 hours later, we determined we'd better head to town. Scott drove us to town, quickly but gingerly. We dropped Ben off at Aunt Vonnie's and a mere 8 hours, later Allison Lee arrived. She weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20.25 inches long. And she was perfect. We were all relieved and ecstatic! And the best part is that Scott got to stay at the hospital with me and recuperate right along with both of us

And now, we can't really imagine life without her. She brings frou-frou and sparklies, babies and hair-ties. She's a girlie girl who can hold her own with her two brothers. She's going to be one mean girl under the basket someday. She loves to sing, play with her "People" princesses, and mother her babies. She can fry a mean plastic egg and serve it with the best-tasting "tea" I've ever tasted. She already wants to wear lipstick and fix her hair. She loves frosting and says "Thank-you Mama" for anything I give her, even if it's just a bowl of cereal. She named her male kittie "Sweetie" and she thinks a skunk is a "stunk". She's unique an unexpected but wonderful addition to our family.

Happy 3rd Birthday Allison Lee!

Mom's version of a Princess Cake

Taking of the floral jewels (couldn't eat them)

6 Layer Raspberry Vanilla Lace Cake

YUMMY!

Tu Tu, courtesy the Farmer's Wife and family

Opening Gifts with the Tu Tu on

The Cinderella Ensemble complete with

Wand and Earrings

Necklace and Crown

And the Glass (well, plastic) slippers

Daddy kissing his princess

Guest Blogger: Dryland Corn

2009-11-04T05:58:00.000-08:00

I know this is my wife's blog, but I asked her if I could write about our new experiment on the ranch, dryland corn. Corn has been grown for many years out here, most of it was just grazed and never got harvested. I decided to try corn because I am a believer in the power of a good crop rotation. I think a good crop rotation will benefit your soil with organic matter which makes better water holding capacity.

We all know how precious water is out in Eastern Montana. Rain and snow is our irragation system. This first picture is yellow peas planted into last year's standing corn stubble. When it came time to harvest the peas this field out yielded the other fields by 7-13 bushels to the acre. Next spring we will plant spring wheat into this field and see what it does. Typically in Eastern Montana people fallow one year and plant wheat the next, 50-50 rotation. We are currently planting wheat, peas, wheat, fallow. So a little more intense. Seven out of ten years the wheat the third year will yield as good as summerfallow wheat. At the most 7 bushels to the acre less in those other three years. Peas are good for nitrogen fixation, this is where the corn comes in. It will break up that hardpan in the soil which limits how much moisture our soil can hold. I think corn following peas, then going back to spring wheat will do very well. We noticed how wet the soil is near the surface while the corn is growing in the field. There should ample moisture near the top of the surface to get a good start on our spring wheat. We planted some spring wheat into our corn stubble this last year and it came up very quick and looked good until yours truly accidently sprayed it with some roundup. So we will have to wait until next year to see how the wheat responds following corn. I still believe that wheat is the most profitable crop in Eastern Montana, but if you can add some rotational crops like peas, corn, or whatever. I think your wheat will even be more profitable.
           Back to the corn. We planted it May 20-May 23. A little later than I would have liked, but it was very wet this spring. We first spread 100 lbs of urea, then planted at a population of 13,000 seeds/acre with a John Deere 8 row 7100 planter. We sprayed it with 24 ounces of roundup two times and also mixed in some liquid zinc and phosphate. Next year I would like to put down some phosphate with the planter. I think it will help the pop up. The corn grew very well, started to tassle the first week in August. We got nearly three inches of rain in August. Not good for wheat harvest, but great for corn. The grasshopppers got into it a little bit and trimmed the leaves on the edges, so we lost some yield there. Of course the deer took their share on one field down by the creek. Neat to see all the wildlife that corn attracts.
The corn started denting the first part of September, and by October 15 it was 20-24 moisture. I decided we would start harvesting it to get it done and we would stick it in some dryer bins. One field of corn was following peas and yielded 51 bushel to the acre. Not bad considering it had 5.5" of rain on it during the growing season. It was very consistent all throughout the field.  This field was the fastest emerging one. The next two fields were following wheat and they only made 30 bushel to the acre. We didn't get a good stand on those fields. The last field averaged 54 bushel to the acre, and it followed chemfallow. It was very inconsistent, as most of the corn came from half the field. I think that ground was so wet and cold when we planted it, that the emergence was erratic. To think that the corn came from half the field is scary, because that would mean some of that corn was making 100 bushels to the acre. I think we can raise that kind of corn out here with some help from mother nature and tweaking of the planting and fertilization.
          We also baled up the stalks on 3 of the 4 fields. We left the last field for winter grazing for some cows. Not only did we cut some good corn, but we also made two tons to the acre of corn stalks. There is still some stuff left for cows on, even after we baled those 3 fields. We used a flail mower on the stalks, then raked it and baled it. Kind of labor intense, but well worth the time when you are getting two tons to the acre.
           I think corn has great potential out here. One negative is harvesting with the high moisture and dealing with weather in late October. By the way the corn dried to 15-18%. The neighbors came in by the droves and got some for their calves. We are feeding it to our calves as well. No problem with getting rid of it though. This kind of stuff keeps me excited about farming and ranching. I like trying things to see if they are ecomically feasible.

peas following corn

Corn in mid-July Corn tassling in August

Corn standing ready to be cut

Combine in the field

Agronomists, checking out the stand

Corn feeding into the header

Corn in the Grain tank

Out of the Auger

Into the truck

Neighbor Chuck watching the corn

Stubble standing after the combine

Playing in Leaves

2009-10-31T14:45:00.000-07:00

In our part of the world, trees are kind of like calm days: few and far between. For some reason, the country north of the Yellowstone River is pretty sparsely populated with both people and trees. When we decided where to place our new house, my husband and father-in-law decided that the area where the most trees are located was the best spot. And I have to say, that 11 out of 12 months of the year I agree. But when it comes time to rake all the leaves off of our beautiful trees, I think I would trade yards with any body else who lives in our neighborhood! This year because of all the fall moisture, our trees stayed green and then the cold frost is what encouraged the leaves to turn brown and fall. this morning, we decided we should do some work on the leaf lawn the trees created. I think the kids and I hauled about 14 wheel barrows full over to the compost pile, and then the wind picked up, so we decided we'd wait for the rest of them to fall before we finished the job. I did get some great pictures of the kids in the pile though! Looks like there will be plenty of leaves to work on another day.

They're Outta Here

2009-10-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Every year, after the winter wheat is in the ground and the weather starts to cool off, the time comes to ship the calves. We usually contract the sale sometime in the summer, and it's usually anyone's guess whether June, July, August, or September will be the top of the market or the bottom. Most people in the general population don't understand the commodities markets that determine the prices for things like beef, wheat, and corn. But unfortunately, a rancher doesn't get to put his top dollar on his cattle and wait for the buyer to come to him. Many times, a rancher will have built a relationship with a buyer over a period of time and can usually count on the buyer to find a good price, but occasionally the buyer can't find any interested feeders and the rancher has to resort to other means to market his product.

We contracted our cattle in July, preconditioned and sex-sorted in September, so all that was left was to gather and trail the steers and their moms to the house, and then gather and trail the heifers and their moms to the "on-deck" pasture.

Last Saturday, we bundled up all the kids (after quite a few protests and insistence that pants and underarmour with a long-sleeved shirt was plenty warm enough in 20 degree weather) and headed up to the pasture on 4-wheelers, in the ranger, and in the feed pick-up. It was a COLD ride up there for everyone but Mom and Alli, who got to be in the pick-up with the heater. Once we arrived, the kids jumped in the pick-up to warm up, so I got on Haley's four-wheeler and helped with some of the gathering. Let me just say that riding a 4-wheeler in the snow is pretty fun, and man can a person spin a cookie with ease!! I think Adam was a little surprised when he arrived and saw me doing a 360 degree turn, just for fun. We got about 3/4 of the herd gathered with little effort as they were all clustered together in the bottom of the creek to ward of the cold wind, so the kids and I trailed them to the next pasture while Scott and Alex scoured the corners for the remaining cows. Once the kids were just trailing along the cows, they warmed up and seemed to enjoy the day.

Morning came pretty early on Shipping Day, Monday. We were up at 4:45 in time to get some coffee brewing, the cinnamon rolls into the oven and the kitchen ready for Karen to make her famous biscuits and gravy (at least famous in Scott's eyes). We added some eggs and juice and had a great-tasting hearty breakfast after the crew arrived between 6 and 6:30. They were out gathering by a little after 7 and had the cows sorted from the calves and everything weighed and loaded by 10:30. The calves were all settled in the cattle pods for a trip out to a feeder in a town near Green Bay, Wisconsin. Talk about a long road trip!

Everyone enjoyed coffee and cinnamon rolls before they jumped back on the four-wheelers to gather and trail the heifer calves to the house to sort and wean. We were completely finished by 2 p.m. and finished the day with lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and peach pie. All in all a good day. The calves weighed up pretty well, the crew worked together seamlessly and we didn't have any major wrecks. Now we just have to wait another day or two for the cows to stop their complaining (although, I can see why they get a little irritated since their calves have just been weaned and their bags are getting pretty tight!) Nothing like the soothing sound of a couple hundred cows to lull a person to sleep.

Adventures in Babysitting

2009-10-12T15:40:00.000-07:00

Last week, our family had the dubious honor of "watching" our friends little girl, the recently-turned-one, Baby Gwennie (that's what the kids at our house call her anyway). Anne had a doctor appointment in Miles City, and Eric had work to do since he was going to be taking over child care duties later in the week, so Anne called to see if we were free. It worked pretty well, since Anne lives about hour from here, and we live about 45 minutes from MC, so leaving Gwen here where Anne could drop her off and pick her up en route, made it a little shorter day for both the sitters and the sittee.

Ben and Alli were both pretty excited about the fact that they got to "help" watch Baby Gwennie. They were so excited in fact, that they ferreted through their closets (under Ben's direction) to find the "baby" toys, you know, the ones they were just way too big to play with. Ben found a couple of tractors and some blocks; Alli found some rings and a pig that never quite made it into Gwennie's hands and didn't find it's way back to the toy box either, remaining in a place of honor on the living room window sill.

Gwen came right in and was pretty excited to see all the different toys all over the floor in the living room. She was so interested in the big kids that she didn't even fuss when it was time for her mom to leave. You know, sometimes there are jobs and sometimes there are JOBS, but having Baby Gwennie here didn't really qualify in either category. The only time she even fussed was when I laid her down for a nap, and she finished her bottle and realized she was in a strange place. She didn't seem too tired, so I got her up and she played with Benjamin while Alli was napping. she finally starting rubbing her ear about an hour before I expected Anne's return, so I laid her back down and after emptying her bottle all over her hair and clothing, she slept for about 45 minutes. When she woke up, we changed her duds, entertained her with the kittens, and she was a smiling, happy kid when Mommy arrived.

I don't remember either of my kids being quite that amiable and easy to get along with. I can guarantee they're not that way now! Thanks Anne and Eric, for entrusting your girl to us for an afternoon. We'd love to have her back again for a visit sometime (and I guess you guys can come too....)

Running into Fall

2009-10-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

I've been in the process of putting this post up for about a week, but for some reason, I couldn't get any pictures to upload. I did a little fiddling and finally adjusted some of my settings and made things work again.

We have been pretty busy, running around being spectators at Haley and Adam's activities. Haley is playing volleyball at the junior high and Adam has been playing little guy football.

Haley's team has been fun to watch over the course of the past 6 weeks because they have been improving a little every game. The first game, honestly, was kind of painful to watch as they could barely get a serve over the net. But now, they are serving with quite a lot of confidence. Haley's serve has improved to the point she has to step about 8 feet back from the court boundary, just so the serve will stay in bounds. She's awfully strong, and as long as she gets her toss up, her serve is pretty tough to return. She's also been getting some confidence playing at the net, spiking and blocking.

Adam was drafted by and plays for the Steelers in the Little Guy League. They had a tough couple of games to begin with, but the last two games have shown quite a lot of improvement, and won last week. Adam plays on the line and is finding he especially likes playing defense where he gets to try to get the opposing quarterback on the ground.

Haley finishes up today with her final game in Hysham, and Adam plays one game tonight and finishes up next weekend with a game on Friday night and one on Saturday.

Having two kids in activities in Miles City and one in kindergarten in Cohagen has definitely made our schedule a little busier, but it's been a lot of fun!

Back in the Classroom Again

2009-09-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today I was a teacher again. I've been out of the classroom now for 6 years, which doesn't seem possible. And honestly, in some ways, I felt like I never really left. Same age of students, same school, mostly the same faculty, same literature books, same stories. The only things that were different were the students themselves, and the life experiences I've had in the meantime.

Tonight, when Benjamin was "found out" doing something he was told not to do, even though I didn't see him do it, he said to me, "Hmph. Mom how'd you get so smart?" It took all I had not to laugh out loud, but then what he said made me think.

I'm pretty sure I'm no more intelligent than I was 6 years ago when I stood in front of the classroom every day for 180 days out of the year. In fact, in some ways, I feel a great deal LESS intelligent (mommy brain does that to a person). Then, I was "up" on all the educational theories of the moment, knew what the "best" young adult fiction was, understood the methods and modalities for presenting information the best way possible for different learning styles.

Now I'm smart in different ways. I know, for example, what a contraction is and how an epidural works; how to change diapers; negotiate with a 2 year old, to get her to eat her meat, what's a real "I-need-you-this-second-mommy cry" from a "Ha-Ha-made-you-jump cry". I know how to call the doctor when a child has a fever without crying to the nurse; how to cook Thanksgiving dinner for 15 in-laws. I know what ductal carcinoma in-situ is. And that a pregnant lady can undergo radiation treatment for breast cancer during her second trimester. I also know how to operate a combine and unload wheat into a grain cart. I also know how to determine what time the peach pie will be done in order to be just the right temperature when I get it out to the field to feed the crew.

So, I guess you could say that while out was out of education for a while, I was actually getting an education. Some of the things I've learned have been a pleasure and a joy to learn. And pretty easy. Many of the things I've had to learn have been excruciatingly difficult and very painful on both the physical and emotional levels.

But the one thing and probably the most important thing is about God's faithfulness. It doesn't matter if things are bright, sunny and going along at a pleasant pace or cloudy, stormy and recklessly pursuing, God is right here and He cares about the details in my life. It's pretty easy to just picture God as this undefinable quantity that seeps around the atmosphere, uninvolved, and uninterested in the goings-on here on earth. But through my experiences, I've learned that because I'm His child, He is deeply involved in my life, and would be more so if I'd yield my will and my "stuff" to Him. It's kind of an interesting idea really. Because He loves me so much, He will take care of the details of my life, if I focus on Him. Most of the time I get that all wrong. I'm so concerned about what I want, and where I want to be, that God kind of gets the gratuitous nod at the beginning of the day. Then I go on, planning, scheming, working toward my own end and looking to see what I'm going to get for me out of the deal. But when I focus on God and on others, my "stuff" is miraculously taken care of, most likely because I realize Who and what are important and it makes my plans look pretty puny in comparison.

I was telling one of my former colleagues yesterday that I think I'm probably a better parent because I was a teacher for a while, and that I'd DEFINITELY be a better teacher because I've been a parent. And it's true in other areas of my life too. I'm becoming a better person, and hopefully growing to be more like Christ, because of my life experiences and what God's been teaching me through them.

Just like students in the classroom though, I'm better off if I pay attention, study my Textbook, talk to the Teacher, and learn things the first time around.

'Cow'cophony

2009-09-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

Late summer, after the grain is in the bin and before the tractors and drills are tuned up to start planting winter wheat, it's time for a few days of cattle work. Each fall we gather the three bunches of cows for two purposes: to sort the calves by sex, and to give them their shots prior to weaning and shipping. Each fall we sell the steer calves to a feeder and retain the heifer calves to wean, feed and eventually use as replacement heifers for our herd.

This year, we gathered the first bunch on Tuesday morning and corralled them with only two attempted escapees. One cow and one calf, not necessarily a pair, decided they weren't in the mood to be worked and so they ran around the gate and after a bit of a chase by the hired hand and Alli and I in the Ranger, everyone was sealed up in the corrals.

Then the work began. Actually some of the work began the night before in Excel as Scott and I took the previously entered cow tag numbers and added their calf's birthday and sex. Then we sorted those into two lists, steers and heifers. Then after some cutting and pasting, we ended up with the list of cows who had heifer calves in numerical order.

The first job we do in the corral is to sort off the calves from the cows and separate them by gender--known around here as sex-sorting. Scott really makes that pretty easy as when the calves are born in the spring, we tag them with a tag that corresponds with their mama's tag, with all the steers receiving blue tags and the heifers receiving pink tags. Maybe a little "cute", but helpful come fall sorting! Occasionally there's a mix-up, say if we run out of pink tags in the process of going around the pasture, or if there's a particularly mean mama cow who makes you do your tagging job in a bit of a rush. So sometimes a guy actually has to get their head upside down to check on what's really going on.

As usual, Scott's the man with the most pressure as he has to stand in the middle of the alley with nothing but a sorting paddle to funnel the cows down the alley into their pen. Then we send the calves down the alley with the steers going "in" the gate to their pen and the heifers going "by" the gate to their pen. I usually run the gates into the pens, so I mostly have to just listen to what Scott tells me. Occasionally a cow or calf gets by and I have to try to do a little jumping around, waving of arms, and swinging of gate, not necessarily in that order, to try to get everyone in the right place. Occasionally it works, but usually it doesn't and we have to go into the pen and fish the wrong animal out and resort.

The last part of the sorting, and the hardest part, is to try to get the cows separated by the gender of their calves. Remember that list? Well Scott stands in the alley this round, with only a clipboard in his hand while Ryan or Alex brings him one cow at a time (hopefully), in the process hollering out the tag number so Scott can see if it is on the list and go "in" (steer mamas), or "by" (heifer mamas). Again it usually goes pretty smoothly, unless two or three cows get through and Scott has to make a determination on the fly. Sometimes I can get distracted by my own thoughts and forget which way is which and end up doing a quick switch at the end, which makes Scott a little edgy. Can't say as I blame him. Usually my distraction has something to do with one of the kids who are camped out in the back of the Suburban in the next pen, and instead of focusing on cows, I'm focused on which kid has smeared doughnut frosting all over the window or his sister, depending on the day. I'm sure I'll get much better at my job when my mommy brain isn't working over-time.

Once everything is in the right pen, we send the steer calves up the through the chute for new tags, fly pour-on and vaccines. Most buyers request the owners "pre-condition" the calves before shipping so that the calves are healthier when they arrive in their new digs with a new feed ration, environment and climate, which can create a lot of stress on the animal and a little sickness in the process. It's a relatively new requirement that has been met with a little resistance on the part of the seller due to the cost, time, and hassle. But I guess that's just how the business goes.

It's busy couple of days and it's a good chance for me to see what full-time working moms deal with... trying to get to the bus on time, figuring out what to make for supper, rifling through the stack of dirty clothes trying to find something that's mostly clean to wear during an especially busy week. I really enjoy getting to be outside and in the corral with the "guys" plus it's where I feel most comfortable when we're working outside since my family raises cattle too. It also gives us a chance to look at our animals close-up and check their soundness and get a feel for how the calves are doing before they go down the road.

As for the title of the post: well, just imagine a hundred or so cows all mooing for their calves, and the calves all mooing for their mamas. It's enough to give a girl a headache!

Gathering the pasture

Stopping for a drink

Windmill and water tank

Gathering the trap

Down the Alley

Heading for the gate

She's In

Waiting for a new bunch

Time for a meeting of the minds

Steer Calves

Hard to see, but the near pen is full of steers (blue tag)

and the far pen is full of heifers (pink tags)

Off To School

2009-09-14T14:22:00.001-07:00

Last Tuesday morning, September 8 2009, Benjamin was off to school for the first time. He is beginning kindergarten up the road at our little country schoolhouse with two other children in his class (both of whom he's played with since diapers!--funny that doesn't seem to be so long ago, now that I think about it!) It seems a little surreal that my first baby is ready to go off to school all ready, but there it is. He was pretty excited when we took him off to Billings to do some clothes shopping for school, and then we bought school supplies and he thought it was REALLY exciting: his own markers and scissors!

He asked me to take him to school his first day because he was feeling "a little nervous" and so I obliged. Normally he will ride the bus that comes up to our turn-off and picks him up first and then 4 other kids on the way to school. We went into the little school to find a desk and bookshelf in a corner for the 3 Ks, complete with mini chairs and room for their little cubby of supplies. Once a teacher, always a teacher, so our dear teacher allowed me to check out the lessons for the day, thumb through the math and language workbooks, and even showed me the cool "letter people" 45s and curriculum she found at a 2nd hand store. Ben discovered the magic of an electric pencil sharpener so the teacher took me on a tour downstairs to find the area where the centers will be assembled, 2 computers for the little ones, and the big rug for the "resting" while reading area. (I told her the word "rest" would work better with the Ben than "nap" he's a big kid you know, who doesn't take "naps"!)

After the rest of the students arrived, Ben and his classmates paused, reluctantly from unloading all their treasures from their back-packs, and posed for me. Everyone asked me how it was and if I handled it. And you know, I did. Benjamin is clearly ready to learn some things from someone besides his mother, and I couldn't have hand-picked a teacher for him any better than the one we have. She understands how differently kids learn, and that they are not perfect. She loves them all individually and I've always thought kids could really sense when it was that someone truly cared for them. She holds the same values that I have for my kids--in fact she's been such a great friend that she's given me great parenting advice, as she had a child much like Benjamin. She's of another generation who really values hard work, truth, and the importance of building kids up based on their accomplishments rather than false praise. Benjamin is a 4th generation rural school kid on both sides of the family. From my observation and experience, I think it is one of THE best ways for a kid to be educated. Small class size, excellent student-teacher ratio, all kinds of opportunities for reinforcement as the kids listen to each other learn on all skill levels, and good families who are our neighbors.

It WAS hard, knowing that our season of being home together all the time is over. But that's part of life and it's time for a new season. He's loving it so far--he told me he thought he should really be going more than two days a week and he's really excited to learn to read. I'm so proud of the boy the Benjamin is now (even if there's few rough spots now and then) and I'm really excited to see the boy he'll become.

Billy, Benjamin, and Maggie

Labor Day Fun!

2009-09-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

Last week was a crazy week! As you all know we live about 40 miles from Miles City. On a normal week, we go to town on Sundays and usually one other day, at the very most we are in town 3 days in a given week. Last week was a little different.

Scott's oldest two, Haley and Adam, have moved back to Miles City with their mom, who is now an ICU nurse at Holy Rosary. We are excited and glad to have them so close so we can be a bigger part of their lives. And because of this, there were going to be some changes, including a few more trips to town for things that were happening with them and their schools. We were in town every single day! Last week was probably an extreme example of the change that will take place.

We journeyed to church on Sunday morning and came home for Sundy dinner of roast beef, potatoes and gravy. By that time, everyone was ready to just stay put. Scott decided to cancel band practice so then the fun began. We relaxed...played games, took naps, played tractors... and then I made a peach pie and homemade ice cream to be ready in time for supper--BLTs with tomatoes from our garden and bbq chips, everyone's favorite.

While I was cleaning up, Scott and the kids decided to play some hoops, and then football. Scott and Ben were one team, Adam, Haley and Alli the other team. I went out and decided to capture a few pictures.

Haley catching a pass from QB Adam

Adam, ready to air it out.

Shaking hands.... Haley and Adam won.

Finishing up with a prayer huddle, just like the big guys!

Full Moon... a beautiful end to a great day!

Fun at the Fair

2009-09-04T06:42:00.000-07:00

Have a Face-lift!

2009-09-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

The kids are at Grandma's for the day, and I slept in a little and then decided to go for a walk. It's been way too long since I've gotten any exercise and I've been feeling a little blah, both physically and in general. So I laced up my tennis shoes, found my visor, strapped on my ipod and started out. I was on my way back and this song came up in the rotation. Talk about just what a blah spirit needs for a little face-lift! Literally! Maybe even some hands!

Most of the time when I'm feeling a little down, all I need to do is look up and then out and get the focus off of myself and my perspective changes. Thanks Lord. I needed that!

Harvest Hoopla

2009-08-23T20:00:00.001-07:00

After going strong for about a month, we are starting to wrap up our harvest. We started with a couple of different varieties of field peas, then lentils, winter wheat, and finally spring wheat. All in all, a pretty good crop for our country. We had plentiful rains in early spring and late summer which brought up lots of plants and then caused a little lower protein in the wheat than we're used to. One particular field, which was the bane of my dear farmer husband's existence in late May due to the boggy planting conditions, is causing a little bit of headache for him now as it is taking it's sweet time to get ripe. We were really hoping to finish up the entire crop on Saturday, but the crew ran into green wheat on Saturday evening about 6 p.m. I don't think it hurt the crew's feelings, as Terri Clark was making an appearance at the Southeast Montana Fair in Miles city, and most of them were hoping to go. More about that in a different post.

I love to watch the combines eating up the acres, especially as they work in their group of four. It's amazing how much they accomplish in a day, as long as they stay in working condition. We had pretty good luck with that this year too, except on Friday and Saturday as one machine decided to give us some fits, losing power especially going up hills. Turns out it was a bad wiring harness that was giving bad signals to the rest of the machine. Technology!

I really enjoy running the combine. At the beginning of harvest when I'm in the "cockpit" for the 1st time, everything seems to be running at lightning speed and I feel really overwhelmed, especially when it's time to unload the grain tank moving at 5 mph, next to a grain cart that is also moving about 5 mph. Doesn't seem that fast until you're trying to make sure you don't leave any grain outside the header, don't hit the tractor with your unloading auger, or hit the tractor tire with the side of your header! Last year I got to run the combine enough that I felt pretty confident. This year, I got to run for almost a day, but we had such a great crew, that I was more useful in the kitchen! That may change in the next week.

I'm finding benefits from being a teacher that I am realizing now, 6 years after being out of the field. Three of the guys in the crew were students of mine when I taught junior high English, and another is a friend from college, who moved here to teach the same year I did. It's fun to see them all again, and especially fun to see what great guys my students have grown into. They were good workers, great with the kids, fun to be around, and mainly full of it. We've had worse crews for sure! Now most of them are getting ready to head back to college for fall semester. With any luck, we'll be able to finish up the last little bit, as the weather has decided to heat up, at least into the upper 80s and low 90s, which feels like a real heat wave compared to what we've seen for most of the summer. Then all we have left is the dry land corn that we are trying for the 2nd year. It really is making the most of these late summer rains.

Enjoy the pictures!

Scott and his corn

Scott and Zane checking the hydraulics

Cutting Peas

Unloading into the truck

Alli in the truck with Daddy

Load Em Up, Feed Em Out

2009-08-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

Ben and "The Crew" Liam, Marshall and Zane

Alli eating Angel food Cake and Strawberries

Ben, showing off

So, it's been a little quiet lately from this corner of the blog-o-sphere, so I thought I'd give you a little insight in to what we've been up to. We are in the midst of harvesting, and we've been at it for about a month. We started combining peas and lentils, and then moved on to winter wheat. We have started on the spring wheat, but the weather hasn't exactly been cooperating. With any luck we'll finish sometime tomorrow, but it has to warm up and the wind has to blow. Normally, I'd say that I LOVE THE WEATHER. It's been cool and damp the whole month of August, which, as most of you know is usually hot and dry.

Anyway, while Scott and the crew are out in the field, I've been in the house, planning and preparing the evening meal, which I then pack up in coolers, tubs, and boxes and take out to the field. Truthfully, this year has been a little easier than past years, because on the days when the guys are starting late due to the damp grain, I have been given a reprieve. Eating is important, but at this stage in the game, getting the wheat in the bin is the MOST important.

Usually the routine goes something like this: First thing in the morning, get the jug of sun tea ready and set it on the deck. Then, I look through my list of probable meals and decide what I'm in the mood to cook. I usually try to get most of the baking done in the morning. This year I've made chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting, creamy lemon raspberry bars, chocolate- peanut-butter gooey butter cake, peach crisp, peach coffee cake, blueberry coffee cake, angel food cake with strawberries, no-bake cherry cheese cake, and a few others that I can't remember.

Then I try to do a few household chores like laundry and dishes.... some things like mopping and dusting are an exercise in futility due to the dusty dirty boys (big and little) that come in at the end of the day. (I guess I'll have to have a full-out house cleaning week when we finally get done!)

Usually the kiddos and I have something kind of simple for lunch, like pbj sandwiches or corn dogs, and then while they nap, I get the rest of the meal ready. Some years, we have a two pan crew, but this year, it was about a 1.5 pan crew, so I've just been making a little bit extra and putting it in a bigger dish. I used to get a little crazy, but recently I've decided to maintain a little sanity and stick to things like sloppy joes, shredded beef, stuff like that. I also like a few stand-by casseroles: Mexican lasagna, spaghetti pizza, lasagna, wild rice and chicken, etc. When they were cutting really close to the house I BBQed burgers and they came to the house and ate on the deck. EASY CLEAN-UP! I also make some kind of a salad almost every day. Most of the time it is just a green salad with cukes and tomatoes and whatever I can find in the cupboard.... bacon bits, seeds or nuts, or pita bread chips.... Ranch dressing goes like it's on it's last breath, so I usually take about a quart of that along too. Sometimes I take fruit, which is always a big hit, but I don't always get to the store to get the fresh stuff, so fruit salad only makes a showing about twice/week. I always have to make a pistachio/pineapple/cool-whip salad, because that's a favorite too. I also usually have some kind of bread or buns. They really like garlic bread I'm finding.

Then, about 4:30, I start the loading process. I keep whatever is cooking in the oven until the last minute, to keep it hot and work on making lemonade and putting it and the sun tea into insulated beverage dispensers. I count cups, plates and cutlery to make sure I have enough, bring the ice up from the freezer and pack the cube cooler with all the cold stuff: butter, salad dressings, salads, etc. Then I wrap the hot stuff in tin-foil, put it in the pyrex "to-go" insulated carriers, and then load the whole mess into the back of the Suburban. Then I grab the two kids, and head for the field. Sometimes it's a 15 minute trip, sometimes it's a 45 minute trip depending on the location and how many trucks have been on the road that day!

My M-I-L (short for mother-in-law) has filled in a couple of times when I've been doctoring in Billings, doing Bible study in town, or running off to my brother's wedding. That's great because it gives me a little bit of a break. I really enjoy cooking, especially for an appreciative crowd, which our crew always is. They always are free with the compliments and thank-yous, and when it's been a really long day of cutting, I know they appreciate the opportunity to get out of their machine or truck, stretch, and listen to somebody besides Rush, KATL or Sirius radio.

The pictures are just to show you a little of the atmosphere of the feed in the field. Thank goodness we can see the end of this year's harvest!

Catching UP

2009-08-05T14:04:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone or anyone who reads the blog occasionally. I've been really behind with this thing. You'll be able to see why as you scroll through the posts I have put up today. Some I started a month ago and a couple I just put up today. I posted one about our trip to Big Fork, our camping trip to the tree, some pictures, and upcoming is the 4th of July post complete with some piping and dancing.

We're in the midst of cutting wheat, and due to a shower last night and the late start today, I don't have to cook a big meal for the crew, so instead I thought I'd catch my blog up to date... It sounded more fun than cleaning the bathrooms or vacuuming. I can't imagine why. But I always feel a little guilty when I'm entertaining myself as opposed to being productive, so I suppose I better shut it down for a little while. Maybe I'll have time for more later. Anyway, enjoy the updates and the photos!

4th of July Weekend

2009-08-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

The 4th of July always signifies a travel weekend here at the Glasscock house. Scott's bagpipe band always plays in the Livingston Roundup Parade on the 2nd, and has played in various parades from Lander, WY to Ennis, MT. This year was no exception. Haley had been at basketball camp in Helena all week, so after the parade in Livingston and a night at Chico Hot Springs (which I highly recommend by the way) we headed to Helena to fetch Haley. After a long month! of work, Auntie Liz and Uncle Tim and Cousin Shawn arranged a picnic out on the Little Blackfoot river. After some good cooking by Uncle Tim and Safeway's deli, we had some chicken, rolls, salad and chocolate!!! Then the kids tried their hands at fishing in the river and Liz took a little alone time to do some fishing too. Then Scott pulled out the pipes and the kiddos had to try their hand at the fling as well. It was a riot! Haley's really good, but the other three.... let's just say they tried hard and had a good time. Thanks Moores for a great evening!

The next day we traveled to Ennis, MT for the big parade they have there. Scott performed with the band and Haley danced, and the rest of us were a little disappointed at the amount of candy we didn't get! Then we headed home to finish up haying. Great weekend!

Random Photos

2009-08-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of someday getting a Digital SLR camera, I borrowed a film SLR camera from The Farmer's Wife and have been fun taking pictures and experimenting. I still have lots to learn, but here are some of my attempts.

The Tree

2009-08-05T10:21:00.001-07:00

Every year, we take a little camping trip about 3/4 mile up the creek to the one tree that hides there. We pack the hot dogs, the s'mores, the soda, the sleeping bags and the tent, and set out in the pick-up and two four-wheelers. We build a fire, set up a tent, and go exploring on the sand cliffs. It is just a great time for all of us, at least until it's time to sleep in the tent. Mommy has opted out, what with being pregnant and having a baby in the house. This year, she just chickened out and ended up back at the house. This year, Alli decided she was big enough to stay with the kids and Dad, so she did, but nobody except the boys slept much. I think that next year, I'll be a good sport and sleep out with the rest of them, but only if I get an air mattress!

What I Learned on my Summer Vacation

2009-07-23T07:58:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I know. Sounds like some crazy topic your English teacher made you write about to keep you quiet after she’d gone through her expectations on the 1st day of school. But as you can see from my previous postings, it’s been kind of a crazy summer around here. We’ve been to Cooke City, Wyoming, Billings, Malta, Helena, Livingston, Pray, Ennis and back. But I figured I better let you know how the latest and greatest road trip went.

Sometime in the spring, April or May, Celestia proposed a trip West for the book club girls. She and Jasper have a home near Bigfork and wanted us to all have a chance to come and see them this summer. Western Montana holds lots of great memories for me from my growing up years. I went to Big Sky Bible Camp almost every summer from the time I was about 8 until I was in high school. Sometimes my mom and dad would stay an extra day or two and we’d go boating with some friends on Flathead Lake, or hit the waterslides in Columbia Falls, or take extra time going through Glacier Park and the Going to the Sun Highway. When I was in college I worked for a summer on a fancy schmancy dude ranch, right outside of Big Fork on Flathead Lake and had an extremely good time, once I got over being homesick. More fun than I can even remember!

So when Celestia proposed a trip west, I was all over it.

But that was in May. Before I had taken two 6+hour car trips with 4 children.

I even told the Farmer the Sunday before we left, that I was seriously questioning our sanity. He nodded in agreement, which didn't really help my resolve.

At all.

One of my pet peeves, though, is when people say they will do something and then they don't carry through so I was bound and determined to go. Plus I got a call from Celestia telling me how much they were looking forward to our visit so that made it a little easier. Mary and I compared lists on how we had successfully traveled with our kids before and designated who would get what, contacted our friend Beth to borrow an extra set of DVD screens (to make the total 4), packed our bags and tried to get a good night sleep before the drive. We had a great trip and lots of fun, but too much to go through all the details.

So I decided to post a list of things I learned while traveling with a friend and our four beloved children.

1) Diapers are a good thing. Two of the kids are potty trained, two are not. Care to guess for whom we made pit stops?

2) McDonald's is a great bribery tool. We told the kids they could eat at Micky D's in Lewistown if they behaved.

3) Feed the kids before you leave. Poor Maggie whimpered about needing something to eat and thinking she was just kind of "snacky" (Ben's word), we asked her to wait until Lewistown. Turns out she really was hungry and got an upset tummy outside of town.

4) Travel DVD players are a parent's best friends for long road trips. We had the kids do their thing for about the 1st half of the trip over and back. When they were really bored and started to ask "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" we stopped and plugged in the movies with headphones. Traveling Bliss!

5) To heck with good restaurants. Find a drive through and a park with a kid-friendly playground. We did this in Great Falls on the way over and in Lincoln on the way back. The kids ran, climbed, chased, ate, and were hot, tired and ready to travel.

6) Arrange for a bottle of wine and cheese and crackers at your destination. After being cooped up in the car for those 8+ hours, we were as tense as a newly-strung barbed wire fence! Celestia met us with wine, crackers, cheese and fruit and in 10 minutes we had relaxed to the point of drowsiness!

7) Kids just want to have fun, with or without toys. After we arrived at the Jaspers, the kids were out of sight and playing with the fun stuff Celestia had saved from when her boys were little. There was a sand pile, kiddie pool, sprinkler, and a yard for running. We didn't really do much that real tourists do, because the kids were enjoying just playing together.

8) It really is o.k. to have ice cream for supper. Who knew? But we had the okay from Celestia, Bill and Mary, so who was I to argue? Especially when it is homemade ice cream, churned on the back porch with real ice and rock salt! Good stuff!

9) Mountain lakes are beautiful, but not so good for swimming. Swan Lake ranks right up there as far as beautiful, but I wouldn't say it is exactly balmy for bathing. I guess there's no concern of swimmer's itch or other such bugs when the water is oh-so-cold!

10) Artichokes, garlic, and cheese make bread taste divine! Mary and I took a few hours Friday morning to walk downtown Big Fork. We did buy t-shirts and some coffee, and enjoyed a little adult time, but the best purchase we made all weekend was the bread from a bakery in Big Fork. We got a loaf of the above, and a loaf of cinnamon-raisin-pecan bread. All I can say is WOW! I'm going to have to try my hand at some here in my kitchen. If you know of a recipe, send it my way!

11) There's no place better than the back-porch of a mountain cabin tucked into the trees, in the morning for a little quiet time with our Creator. Something about the majesty of the mountains makes God's presence seem a little closer. And it's even better when you hear the 5 year olds in the back seat talking about and being thankful for all the beautiful mountains, lakes, and trees.

12) Our kids are AMAZING! Let's just say that no one, especially the moms who are with our kids 24-7-365, expected such great behavior. I don't think we had more than about 8 minutes of fits or fussing total between the 4 kids in the car all the way up or back. They were kind to each other, and for the most part used their "company manners" on the whole trip. We even survived a meal at Chili's in Great Falls without any eruptions! What an answer to prayer and what an encouragement to see how good our kids really are!

We stayed in Great Falls on our way home Sunday evening, which broke the trip up nicely, especially since there was a great pool at the motel. All four kids swam until they were exhausted. A bag of popcorn and some chocolate milk, and all four of them slept soundly and were ready for the last leg of the journey Monday morning. We arrived safely, but exhausted early in the afternoon, with enough time to unload, unpack, and unwind before bed. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and I think our hosts enjoyed having us there too. Thanks Celestia and Jasper for a great break from our daily routine!

Have you hugged your hot water heater lately?

2009-06-30T07:47:00.001-07:00

Update: Yeah! Scott to the rescue! Scott came in at about 11:00 and said he had gotten a message from the hot water heater guys. So he decided to try their suggestion and sand off the edges of the gas valve that leads to the igniter. Problem is, we have no sandpaper, but we found an old fingernail file. He worked for a bit, and then gave it a test drive. Wah lah! a viable flame that responds to the thermostat! I was able to make some lunch that didn't include grilling and took a hot shower. Thanks hubby!

If you haven't, you might want to. Ours has been on the fritz for about a week now. Another joy of living in the country: no one wants to come and fix things when they break down. It's not so bad, I guess. The dishwasher has a cycle that heats the water on its own, and I got some cold-water Tide for the wash machine. The kids have been soaking in the kiddie pool in the back yard, so they're relatively clean. But if you start to smell a particular funk when you're around the Glasscocks, that would be why. I guess I'd rather have no hot water, than no water at all.

Vacation Report Day #3

2009-06-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning of vacation, we woke up to a breakfast of eggs, bacon, freshly grated hash browns, fruit and coffee. Man am I glad we opted for eating breakfast and dinner at the lodge! We decided to hike on Crandall Trail to Crandall Creek, which is where Scott's family used to have land and a couple of cabins. We hiked in, just over a mile, fished in a very fast stream, had lunch and then hiked back out. The kids did great: Haley and Adam were the pack-horses, carrying the backpacks with lunch and Ben and Alli were troopers! Alli walked most of the way in, and Daddy packed her most of the way out. She never would let go of her Barbie pole!

That afternoon, Allison was due for a nap, and I had some homework to do for my Esther Bible study, so we headed back to the cabin for a little quiet time. Dad and the three oldest kids headed back for more fishing at Lily Lake. They again slayed the fish! And if you guessed that the Lightning McQueen pole, caught the most fish, you guessed right. In two days of lake fishing, we caught 16 fish and all but four of them were caught with old Hot Rod, Lightning McQueen! Alli took quite a nap, and so did Mom and we were all refreshed for a great dinner of roasted chicken, roasted root vegetables, salad and strawberry crisp with ice cream for dessert. We strolled along the Clark's Fork after dinner and had a rock-throwing competition, which Dad won, going away.

After a great night's sleep, biscuits and gravy for breakfast, and good-byes, we packed up the Suburban and headed north toward Billings and the water slides. We enjoyed a drive up the Beartooth pass again, and descended down the hill to Red Lodge. A person can't travel through Red Lodge without a stop at the Candy Emporium, so we had a detour there and watched Ben and Allison's eyes widen in amazement at all the candy! Especially the salt water taffy which is a favorite of Ben's. We traveled on to Billings and lunch at McKenzie River pizza. We had to stop at the Mall (YES!) to get some football gear for Adam's camp in Helena the following week and then we took a visit to Action Farm toys which all the boys thoroughly enjoyed.

We finished up our trip with a stop at the indoor water park where everyone got into the action. I forgot my camera in the car, so I don't have any photos of that particular event, but suffice it to say, even I got into my suit and went down on the inner tube with Scott, something I haven't done since I was in college. Fun stuff. Benjamin was a little intimidated by all the activity and noise, but by the end of our time, I convinced him to go down the kiddie slides. Alli couldn't get enough, and Haley and Adam had a great time too, until there were no more double tubes available. By that time, we were all pretty water logged and ready to get home.

It was a great vacation! Something we need to do every year.

The pictures are kind of random because I can't get them to float here on the blogger screen, but here are some last day photos:

A water fall on the way up Beartooth pass.

Ben, fishing on Crandall Creek

Haley and the "Hot" Rod

Dad and the kids on Crandall Creek

A view into the valley from Crandall trail where Glasscock's cabins used to be.

Alli making mud pies.

Ben making mud pies.

MMmmm good lunch!

Mom and the little kiddos enjoying lunch.

Daddy packing Allison out of Crandall Creek. She was almost asleep, and still wouldn't let of of the pole.

Well that's about all the photos from the vacation trip. Thanks for taking a look back with us!

Vacation Report Day #2

2009-06-18T17:47:00.000-07:00

Scott and I woke early Wednesday morning, trying to make a game plan for the day as we walked to the lodge for a delicious breakfast featuring sausage and eggs in a breakfast burrito! The kiddos all slept in, so we were in for a quiet breakfast with another couple from Missouri who were touring Yellowstone Park. It had showered in the night, so the grass was wet and the air smelled damp and musky, like the mountains do, only intensified. We decided we check on possibly horseback riding, but because of the rain, the guide was a little tentative, so we decided on plan B: a trip to the top of Beartooth Pass to maybe find a lake to fish in.

After taking some breakfast back to the lodge for the kids, we readied for the day, loaded the lunch supplies, cameras, coolers, and fishing poles and headed out on the Beartooth Highway. The sun was starting to peak through the clouds, by this time, so the sun would shine through onto the trees, making shadows and then hide behind the clouds again. About 3 miles up the road, we started to see a little snow here and there and we saw a young cow elk, heading down the mountain looking around curiously at the sparse traffic. The longer we were in the car, the more snow we saw, and pretty soon the boys, who were bent on fishing, were starting to get a little antsy, especially when we saw the lakes that looked like this:

We made it to the top of the mountain, just in time to see two skiers, strapping on their skis and heading down the mountain making s patterns all the way down. (The light was bad, so I couldn't get a good picture). Part of the trip down the mountain was spent trying to determine how in the heck those guys were going to get back up to the top where their vehicle was parked.

We headed back down the mountain and turned off onto a road that led to two lakes tucked up on the side of the mountains. We first headed back west, to a lake Scott vaguely remembered going to with his dad when he was a kid, but the gigantic boulders and narrow road between trees eventually got too rugged for our Suburban, and we turned around carefully and headed back to the north and east to a place called Lily Lake, complete with gravel road, restrooms, a boat ramp, and picnic tables. There was only one other vehicle there, and they took off shortly after we arrived so we had the place to ourselves. There is some advantage to going to the mountains when everyone else thinks there's too much snow and cold!! It turned out to be a pretty nice day with temps in the mid-50s, and the sun feels quite a lot warmer at that elevation.

We stayed near the ramp for a while, as everyone got familiar with their new fishing poles. Alli with her Barbie pole, Ben with his Lightning McQueen rod, and Adam with his new Cabelas pole, complete with a slick mini-tackle box. Any guesses on which rod caught the most fish?

Ben proved to have quite a knack for casting, and the rubber tire lure that came with his pole sailed way out 15-20 feet. Adam's reel was a little tricky, but he started to get the hang of it. Haley practiced on whichever rod happened to be idle for the moment.Alli's butterfly got snagged in the trees, so Haley volunteered to carefully balance on the log to retrieve it.

We decided we'd pull up to a camp site and make some sandwiches for lunch and then find a little better place to fish, away from the logs, and branches and tall grass. Maybe it would give Dad a little break from untangling line and attaching fresh lures!

We find a spot about a mile to the north east that had a big rock that was anchored into the water. It was perfect!

Even though there was no wind, beautiful sunshine, a quiet still mountain lake, and beauty all around, Adam was not quite satisfied. There were no fish biting! I explained to him that catching fish was usually the just the side-benefit of all the above mentioned things. When fishing, it was best just to enjoy the day, the people, the surroundings and then if we caught fish, that was just an added bonus. He didn't really seem to agree with that, but we adjusted our expectations, and set about casting and reeling, casting and reeling. Eventually the knot came loose on the wheel-lure on Lightning McQueen, and Ben was pretty upset. I wasn't about to shed my clothes and make a dive for it, so we decided to put a hook on his rod, bait it with a worm, and see what happened. While Scott was untangling Ben's line and getting it ready, I decided to help Adam with his, and after getting everything untangled, I half-heartedly cast the line and got my finger caught in the process. I kind of laughed and tried to reel in the line, when it got snug, and Scott made a comment about catching some kind of a log. I tried again and it came, but it was no log: I had a fish on!! I reeled it in and made everyone else kind of disgusted. After all, they had been casting and reeling, casting and reeling to no avail. I snagged a fish on my first try!

After that, we started to pay a little more attention and then put a bobber on Adam's line so he could tell when he got a bite. After a little practice, everyone was catching fish...even Ben caught one but didn't want to reel it in, so Haley did it for him.

Dad even got to try his hand at a little fly-fishing, while everyone else took a bit of a break. He got several to rise and try his fly. It's a little tough to get much quality time in fishing, when you're busy fixing and baiting hooks, so we really appreciate Daddy sacrificing what he really likes to do so his kids could learn to enjoy fishing too. I think he enjoyed having the opportunity to teach his kids and watch them have some success.

By about 4:30, everyone was ready to head back to the lodge to get cleaned up in time for dinner and get in out of the sun and fresh air. We took a group photo with the camera perched on top of the rock; and I even managed to get down off the rock in time for the picture without breaking my ankle, something we were sure would happened. They don't call me Grace for nothin'!

Then we hiked through all the trees, across the creek hopping on rocks, back to the camp ground and got loaded for the drive back to the Lodge.

At the top of the hill heading out of the lake, there's a beautiful view of Pilot and Index Peaks. We got on the highway and by that time, 2 of the 4 children had fallen asleep, so we decided to drive toward Cooke City and back, to give them a much-needed nap. Then it was time for dinner. Wednesday night, Shelley made spaghetti and meatballs, salad, corn on the cob, and German chocolate cake and coconut-walnut frosting topped with ice cream. Yummmy! We all headed back to the cabin for a game of Monopoly, which Dad won and Adam a close second, and kettle-popped popcorn. What a great day!

P.S. We'll have the answer to the fishing pole question on Day 3's post.

Finally: The Vacation Report Day #1

2009-06-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

We headed out, Tuesday, June 9th, for our trip to the Beartooth Mountains of Wyoming. Everyone and everything was loaded and we were on the road.

Here are Ben and Adam in the WAY back

The Girls, sharing the ipod

We got to Billings in time to check out the new Cabelas and find some new fishing poles for Adam and the little ones. Then it was off to Fuddruckers for lunch and 3 more hours of drive time before we arrived at Hunter Peak Ranch, west of Cody, Wyoming. We ended up going south at Fort Rockvale and took the Chief Joseph scenic highway because the Beartooth Pass was closed due to snow. It really is a "scenic highway". We saw lots of cattle, mountains, trees, snow!, and a beautiful view of the river from a rest stop. It was pretty chilly, but a well needed break from driving.

Bridge over the Clark's Fork on the Chief Joseph Highway

The sun was really shining when we arrived at our destination, so we took advantage of the beautiful surroundings and played a little volleyball to stretch and get some exercise after the trip. Allison and Mommy stretched out on a blanket with some books and the cameras.

Haley and Adam, challenging Dad and Ben

Ben trying to get it over the net!

Looks like Dad's on his own.

Allison, reading and watching the game.

After a wonderful dinner of rice, roast beef, broccoli salad, and apple pie ala mode, served by Shelley in the dining room (no cooking or dishes for Mom woohooo), and a walk down by the river, we headed back to our lodge for a little relaxing after the long trip. We stayed in the Pilot Peak Lodge, where the boys slept in the loft, the girls on the fold-out couch, and Mom and Dad in the bedroom. The lodge was complete with a kitchenette, so we unpacked our lunch supplies and hit the hay to be ready for the rest of the week.

What? There are SIX?

2009-06-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

Our vacation was about to begin. We were all excited about our planned time in the Beartooth Mountains, south of the Beartooth Pass. We hurried and scurried to get everything organized (mostly me) and packed (everyone) for our 4 day trip.

But we were all a little concerned about Phoebes. You remember Phoebe, our newly--well, in December--acquired pet? Well, we were correct when we surmised she had matured when she was acting crazy here a few weeks back. Karen had spotted her in the barn while we were AI-ing heifers, hanging out with a certain surly Tom-cat. We tried to shoe her away, but no, the fuzzy, long-haired, bad-boy-of-the-barn had charmed his way into Phoebe's heart (or something like that).

Anyway, we all knew that Phoebe was getting close to her delivery date, and we hmmmed and hawed about what we should do with her while we were gone. No one really JUMPED at the chance to host the traveling OB ward in our absence, and we even considered boarding her in town with the local vet, "just-in-case". But we decided (mostly we forgot to call) to keep her home and Ryan (our right-hand man) and Zane (our left-hand man) said they'd check on her, and Mary said she would too, if she happened to be by on her way to town.

On Monday afternoon, I found the perfect box with high sides and a cut-out front and put a rug in it so she had a little nest, just in case she couldn't wait until we got home. We figured we'd give her plenty of food and water, a clean litter-box and keep her in the downstairs bathroom.
Tuesday morning as Scott and I were loading the Suburban with our plunder, Adam came upstairs, excited. Phoebe had spent the night on his extra comforter at the foot of his bed and he was sitting with her, just petting her, when all of a sudden, he saw a little foot come out. It kind of freaked him out, but he realized what was going on, and hurried upstairs to share the news. Scott and I both just laughed, but we secretly wondered how long this whole process was going to take, because we really didn't want to get way-laid from our schedule. We were leaving for vacation after-all.

Finally we got all of our things loaded, went on garbage and light patrol, started the dishwasher, and then Scott went to check on the progress. He moved her from the bedroom to the box in the bathroom and after inspecting, he decided that three kittens were all that would be born. We figured all would be well with Ryan checking in on them, and we were off. We made the obligatory calls, to Karen, and Mary, reporting about the new arrivals. Mary was surprised there were only three kittens as big around as Phoebe was: "They must be awfully big babies!"
Fast forward four days.

We arrived home with the new kittens the topic of conversation for a good bit of the last 40 miles home. As soon as the Suburban stopped, all four kids piled out and sailed downstairs to see how everyone was doing. Scott and I filled up our arms and hands with as much plunder as we could and stumbled through the door. As I was taking an armload of stuff into the bedroom I heard excited voices coming up the stairs. "No way!" "You've got to see this!" and from Alli :"I just can't believe it!" "Mom," Ben shouted. "There are six kittens!" We joined the kids down stairs, and sure enough, there they were, six brand new babies. I just laughed and said to Scott, "Apparently cow placenta and cat placenta look quite a bit different, huh?"

Phoebe is doing a great job of mothering; she just sits there and purrs while her babies claw and clutch and root around her. And the best part is she has a great helper in her brother Fluffer-nutter. Uncle Fluff, as we like to call him, likes to sit in the box with the babies, while Phoebe takes a little "alone time" outside. He snuggles right up to them and kitten-sits. Isn't that funny? And I don't think he charges much either. It will be a bit of a struggle to keep the hands of the youngest two kids off of them until they get a little bigger, I'm afraid. They both are quite fascinated with the new additions to the family.

If you hear of anyone looking for a new kitty, we'd be happy to oblige in a few weeks. By the way Mary, one frequent visitor to this site suggested that maybe you would be the first to volunteer. She said there was some unwritten rule about the giver of the original cat was promised the first born kitten? She's quite a cat expert, so I'm sure she probably knows all about that right-of-possession business when it comes to cats. I think there's even a Biblical law about that whole sowing and reaping thing that might apply here....

P.S. A special thanks to Aunt Vonnie and Cousin Katie for bringing out some "Fancy Feast" in a can for the nursing mother, and changing bedding for the new mama and baby. You're quite a hand in the maternity ward, there Vonnie!

They're Baaack

2009-06-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

Each May we here at the Glasscock house wait (some of us patiently, some of us not so patiently) for the arrival of our other two kids. Haley and Adam live in southern Colorado with their mom Dena, and we get the pleasure of their company through the summer months.

It's always a little crazy the first week or so while everyone adjusts to everyone else (you know--Ben, not being the boss, learning to eat my cooking, establishing the pecking order, sleeping in the boonies as opposed to the city, putting up with obnoxious younger siblings, Ben not being the boss) stuff like that.

But we love having them here and we're looking forward to the fun things we get to do: backyard games of basketball and catch with the football, vacation Bible School, camping in the creek at the "tree"--yes just the one..., vacationing in the mountains on the Clark's fork, the Livingston Round-up parade, basketball and football camp, moving cows, feeding the crew at harvest, learning to drive, learning to cook, learning to operate the fork-lift.... all kinds of fun stuff!

Here's looking forward to a fun-filled, busy, running every-where summer? Could it be any different? Really?

P-I-G

2009-06-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

So it's official. At least until the next game. (Because we all know you're only as good as your last game....) On Tuesday, after a long day of VBS in Jordan (43 miles north) and basketball camp in Miles City (38 miles south), we were all ready to let off a little steam. The kids and Dad were gathered on the patio slab behind the house, and once I had the dishes done I joined them. Even Alli and Ben were getting into the action.

Truthfully, it's been a few years since I really felt like going out and shooting hoops with the crew. Getting back into shape after a pregnancy and then breast cancer and a pregnancy rolled into one has taken me a little longer than I would have anticipated. But gratefully after 3 years, my energy level seems to be quite a bit better (if not my respiratory system!?!). So out I went. Dad and Haley and Adam were engaged in shooting and passing around the perimeter, and then declared it was time for a game of P-I-G. I was game!

Scott, being the jock that he is, chose to go last, thinking he could just clean up after the rest of us. I gladly said, "Sure, whatever" (along with a friendly shove and a dirty look). The game proceeded pretty normally with Adam leading the way, sticking his sister with a P-I. I was able to put a P-I on Scott. Adam had a P, and I had a P. Finally it was time to get down to business. After 12 years, give or take, of coaching high school girls basketball, a person naturally learns a few trick shots with which to shock and amaze her young protege'. First, it was a backwards shot, over head, one-handed--swish-nuttin but net. See ya Scott!! Then Adam went to work on Haley and knocked her out.

So there we were. Adam and I. Just the two of us. Ready for a showdown. Have I mentioned that since he arrived, Adam has spent a minimum of two hours out at the hoop, shooting and dribbling and getting all warmed up? On the other hand, I had just picked up the ball and gave it one good test shot before the game of PIG commenced. So I thought I better just play straight up for a bit, just to see how it was all going to shake out. He nailed a 10 foot jump shot, which I missed, and earned a P-I. I was down by one letter. So I tried the left-to-right baby hook shot. Got im! Then another shot, a little more straight forward... just behind the backboard about 10 feet out on the baseline. BONK. A miss. Then Adam missed a jumper, putting me in control again.

Once again, I decided to get down to business, and end it once and for all. The game winner was the backwards, over-the-head, one handed swish.

YES! SHE'S BACK!

DIY: Yard Makeover

2009-05-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

We've had some exciting times here at the homestead. Last week, the trucks started hauling gravel in for our mile and a half long road from the highway to the ranch. Friday, they arrived to the yard and brought 2 and a half loads for our driveway. Now to some of you that doesn't seem like much excitement. But when we're used to this:
This is a great alternative!!!

While grandpa, Dallas and Daddy were hauling and spreading gravel, Mommy, Ben and Alli decided a little yard work was in order. We worked on the bed on the south-west side of the house, removing leaves, moving rocks, trimming perennials, and clipping grass. It's amazing how helpful a 5 year old and a two year old can be when you give them tasks. I think they love to feel useful and better yet, be with Mom and Dad where the action is!

They also had to try out the sprinkler, to make sure that the water was still wet and that they would get cold if they got soaked in 70 degree weather. It was and they did!

Then it was time to move on to the whiskey barrel planters and the bed to the west of the house aka "the sauna". We puttered around planting petunias, spikes, moss roses, osteopermum, and a few other varieties that can handle the hot and hotter. Alli was my faithful assistant, dropping the plants into the holes I dug, and then "carefully" pressing the dirt all around.

I have to say that all the rain we've had this spring make any of the superficial additions pale in comparison to the beautiful natural green color that is all around us!

Of course there is still a lot to do. The north bed needs some serious work (I still have a mini-lilac bush to place there too!) and I'm going to have to re-seed a couple of patches of lawn, again. And there are always weeds to pull. Thankfully, I'll never be out of something to do! We've received a little over a quarter of an inch of rain today so that's going to help all of the seeds in the ground: garden, flower and crop!

Bucking Horse Sale Parade '09

2009-05-21T06:32:00.000-07:00

Every year, the 3rd weekend of May, you'll find members of the Glasscock house getting ready for the Bucking Horse Sale Parade. Scott and the Caledonian band are one of the favored entries each year, along with the Caledonian dancers who march and then dance the Highland Fling at various intersections along the parade route. Then afterwards, Scott and the band do a little pub crawl, ending up at the Montana Bar's back room for a private concert with their groupies.

No seriously.

I could never figure out why it would take Scott soooo long to get home after the parade. Usually the kids and I return home about noon, and then Scott would get home around 3. Finally 3 years ago, I found a sitter and went down to see what all the fuss was about. It kind of made me laugh. Here was a group of about 30 20-somethings (and I imagine some of them are getting on toward their 30s) who all wear a "special" t-shirt designed just for BHS weekend. They all have some beers and cheer on their favorite pipers and dancers who play the back room just for fun. There are guys snapping photos with their cell-phones, cheering, clapping, and some even dancing themselves, or trying to dance. You haven't seen anything until you've seen an uncoordinated white man, dressed in an over-sized kilt, and a wilted cowboy hat, trying to dance the Irish Jig and the Highland Fling in a dance off with the likes of Catherine Woods and Lindsay Faber, or Brittany Bartholomew. Truthfully, this year was a little sad for everyone without Catherine, but of course they all raised a toast in her memory.

Then...Here comes the Cavalry.... The Cavalry Band from Sheridan, Wyoming, complete with an imitation G.A. Custer, Native ladies (or a sad representation thereof), and bugles, cymbals, and drums. Usually 2 or 3 of the pipers end up standing on the actual bar, since there is no other room in the place and the two bands get together for a rousing medley. The drums are so loud, the place trembles, and then the pipes play and the whole house cheers. It's really quite the event.

This year also marked the first official year of my being a parade mommy. Benjamin decided he wanted to march with Dad, and since he couldn't be the rock star he wanted to be, he settled for an altered kilt (by his mother--I wouldn't recommend trying to hem and press a kilt unless you're desperate. TOO MANY PLEATS!) of Adam's and away he went. Here are a few pictures of the preparation, and the parade....

Out and About

2009-05-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

Ben and Ali on the cooler while Dad, Mom, Ryan and Zane are branding. They look like they like each other!

Ali wandered out in boots that will fit her when she's 8 and then she got cold so she ended up in my sweatshirt. She looks like a little pygmy!

Nothing like hanging out with a refreshing drink while the work is being done. I remember doing the very same thing with about 5 different partially-finished pops when I was a kid--in between rounds with the nut bucket.

Ben and Dad going out to check for the one missing heifer who was playing hooky (we actually miscounted) before trailing them back to the house. Mom got 3 whole hours of solitude while leading the herd in the feed pick-up. Ben and Ali rode with Dad in the ranger. Love that thing!!

A Quick One

2009-05-07T07:16:00.001-07:00

Just a note to all parents out there: hide the peppermint gum and the Doritos. Not a good combination when the 2 year old is given the gum, by the 5 year old brother, and then eats Doritos with her burger at the bbq, unbenownst to the mother, I might add. Then either due to the junk, or to an unknown bug, the 2 year old managed to lose her supper, not once but 5 times between 12:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. The smell of Doritos and peppermint gum, is not a real appealing smell, puke or no. Needless to say, Mommy is cleaning up today. Not one set of sheets, three. On about 3 hours of sleep broken into 30 minute intervals.

What a glamorous job I have!

Some Candid Thoughts About a Camera

2009-05-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

So that's it. That's the camera that I have my heart set on. Truthfully, I've always wanted a fancy-schmancy camera. I've always loved to take pictures. I can remember taking pictures with my mom and dad's fancy Polaroid camera when we were little. We loved to watch Mom wind the picture out and then wait, blowing on it occasionally to see if it would come out. Then we advanced and had one of those point and shoot cameras with the place to wind it on the bottom. We were always good at taking lots of pictures and then throwing them in the cupboard and forgetting to develop them. I also remember when we moved up to the Kodak Disk camera. Remember those?

I was getting closer to my "dream" camera when my parents finally got me a point a shoot 35 mm for my birthday when I was in college. I took pictures of all kinds of memories (some I probably need to burn before my kids find them!) I kept that camera until Scott and I got married, and then we bought our first digital camera before Benjamin was born. It was a Fuji and it was a pretty good little camera for one that only had 3.2 mp. Most of his first 2 years were documented using the FinePix. Then I was yearning for a little fancier one, which in my mind was a digital single-lens reflex camera. I let my husband know what was on my mind and he came up with a really nice camera, a Canon PowerShot, an A720 with 8 mp and a zoom lens. It had a wheel for setting aperture and priority, or a manual mode and is the nicest camera I have ever owned. It takes nice pictures and it has done a great job of chronicling Allison's 1st two years and more of Benjamin's antics.

And then she did it. The Farmer's Wife, who swore she'd never go digital, bought a Canon Rebel XTi. Not the top of the line. But a great camera for a DSLR. She has a Tamron lens to go with it. And she takes phenomenal pictures with it. Some of that is due to the camera, but much of that is due to her artistic eye for what makes a good picture.

So I decided that I needed to have one too. I was going to save my money, bit by bit, until I had enough to buy a camera on my own, with my own money that I scrimped, saved, and sacrificed for. I even had my very own envelope with the cash tucked away into a safe place. Anytime I got money as a gift, or had an extra ten dollar bill left over from a trip it would go into my little "camera" envelope. I even took a catering job to earn $100 toward my camera. I was getting close to my goal. I had even gone in to the camera shop in town and discussed my future purchase with the camera guy. And I was really excited.

But then I got the "nudge". I don't even really know how to explain it, except that I was reading on one particular blog about a scholarship fund set up for women and churches who couldn't afford to purchase Bible study material on their own and I thought, "Wow, that's really a neat thing." And in the back of my mind, I thought about my stash. But I left that stash in the back of the cupboard, and in the back of my mind, the little nudge stayed, but it didn't stay quiet. But I ignored it for a while. Until I got another "nudge". I was listening to one of my favorite Bible teachers on the radio, one I have listened to since I was little and my mom listened to him. I have most of his books, because I appreciate his perspective and his style (he has lots of joy, and seasons his truth-filled message with lots of laughter). He was on the radio appealing to his listeners for support. In all the years I've listened, I've never heard him personally ask for financial support, so I knew things must be pretty serious.

At that point, I knew what I needed to do, and I wasn't happy about it. I kept thinking "Oh, I'd love to give, but I don't really have a lot of extra money." But deep down, I knew I had some. It wasn't alot, and it won't financially rescue either ministry, however, I felt like I needed to do what God was asking me to do. But I didn't like it!!!

Now let me be clear. There's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting a Digital SLR camera, even one that's expensive and takes great pictures. There's nothing wrong with saving money, and even earning money specifically to save to buy something. In fact, that's a great practice. And if I'd gone ahead and continued to save money until I had enough to buy my camera, that would have been okay.

But I really felt like the Lord was asking me to be willing to give up something I wanted for something somebody else needed.

As I examine my life, I have been extremely blessed. I have a wonderful Mom and Dad who taught and demonstrated for me the importance of a walk with Christ. I have two sisters and a brother who I enjoy immensely, brothers-in-law and a soon-to-be sister-in-law who are great. I have 2 nephews and 4 nieces who are some of my favorite humans on the planet. It gets better. I have a husband who leads our family spiritually, financially, and emotionally in a special way. He is kind, generous, and supportive of me, in whatever I want to do. I have two beautiful, healthy, active children who challenge me and charm me, and help me grow and mature. I have two step-children who are kind, thoughtful, and so much fun to have around. I have a mother-in-law and father-in-law who treat me just like one of their own, and are generous and helpful. I have wonderful siblings-in-law, 3 sisters and 1 brother, who have been an added blessing. I have wonderful, fun, creative, silly, friends who encourage and inspire me on a daily basis. I have a beautiful home, on a beautiful ranch in the middle of all of God's creation. I am healthy, 3 and a half years after a breast cancer diagnosis. I have plenty of clothing in my closet, shoes for my feet, and more than enough food for my belly.

After a couple of weeks of thinking about it, and sharing it with a few people, I decided that I not only needed to be obedient, I needed to be happy about it. God used a couple of different people who shared some of their giving opportunities with me and it encouraged me. So yesterday, I sat down and figured out exactly where I needed to send the money, made the on-line transactions, and when it was all said and done, I enjoyed it. It was fun to be able to have a little extra money to give to people who needed it more than I needed my camera. Looking back, I'm a little sad that I'm not going to get my camera as soon as I wanted to get it. But the envelope is still on the shelf, the camera is still at the store, and I'm still capable of saving the money to purchase the camera.

Unless of course I get another "nudge". I'm finding God's elbows are always sharp, and ready.

Keeping Short Accounts

2009-04-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

I recently read a book called Higher Hope by Robert Whitlow. He writes Christian fiction books about southern lawyers, sort of in the style of John Grisham, but usually with a bit of the supernatural involved. I'm not a fan of all Christian fiction because it is sometimes a little bit too shiny on the surface without enough real-life grit. This particular author seems to do a pretty good job most of the time.

Anyway, the main character's mother in this latest book tells her legal assistant daughter to "keep short accounts".

And it really got me thinking. I've been thinking about it since I finished the book on Sunday afternoon and it's just kind of been there, stewing. Most of the time, I've heard that phrase in the context of our Christian faith but as I've considered it, I think it's a pretty good practice in most other areas of my life. I even sat down today and did a google search that turned up mostly confession/repentance issues, but almost as many hits about marriage.

When my hubby and I first got married, he would always talk about the importance of not letting a "wedge" get in between us. By that he meant we should talk about things that get stuck in our craw in regard to the other, before they fester and become major issues for one, but are nonexistent to their partner. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and while I try really hard to communicate with Scott when I'm mad/frustrated/irritated/concerned it doesn't always happen due to busy schedules and demanding children. But when we make the effort to communicate about what's bothering us, we can always solve the conflict without a knock-down drag out. Keeping short accounts is also a good practice in relationships with children, friends, parents, siblings--all people as a matter of fact. It really minimizes the misunderstandings and the episodes of conflict (and when you hate conflict as much as I do....anything that lessens the risk, is a GOOD thing.)

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this could spill over into other areas of my life that I allow to get out of control that then cause serious stress and effort getting them back under wraps.

Like my house. True confession: I would rather read a book, hang out with my kids, cruise the Internet, or watch FOX news than do housework (okay except cook). Almost always. And there's nothing innately bad with any of those things when the work is done. But lately, I've been making more of an effort to get the dishes all done and put away at the end of each day, pick-up the basement and living room before bed, and put all the laundry away when it's folded, not after it's been in the laundry basket for a week. I'm trying to make things work better too, like wiping down the sink, cleaning the toilet and sweeping the bathroom floor when the kids are in the tub, or folding laundry while I'm talking on the phone--speaker on, to diminish the crink in my neck. Another issue is always the fridge. I've been trying to do a better job of assessing whether or not we will actually eat what's left over, rather than just throwing it in the fridge to get pushed way into the back and become a fertile surface for green fuzz. I'm not a perfect house keeper, by any means, but by doing a little bit every day, it has made it a lot easier when it's time for friends to come over, and it's a lot less stressful to live in a place that's not just a mess everywhere I look.

My bookkeeping, both home and ranch, has also been the target of my "short accounting". I have been downloading and balancing statements monthly, rather than quarterly, and it has cut the process down to about a 10 minute job per account. I'm not a natural when it comes to bookwork, so less time tied to the Quickbooks software and checking account is a bonus!

Last fall, I made myself go out on a blustery day before a cold front hit in October to clean out my flour beds, till my garden and rake leaves. I wasn't thinking about it at the time, but it has made my spring work load considerably lighter! It's never fun to clip off the dead branches of once-beautiful flowers and throw the pricey petunias and other annual plants away. But now the beds are looking at me expectantly waiting for their new occupants, and I'm excited to get everything situated.

Now before you think I've just stated a lot of really obvious ideas, just keep in mind that I'm a 1st rate procrastinator, and I have been for 38 years, at least the ones I can remember. As I've grown up and now that I have kids of my own, I've decided that I want them to live in an organized world (at least an organized house) and that I want to be a good example of a doer, not a procrastinator.

I still have a long way to go. I don't get everything done as soon as it should be. I still have areas of my life that are seriously over-procrastinated and under-accomplished. I can think of 3 off the top of my head: the last 20-ish lbs I want to see disappear from my 5'11 frame, my daily time reading the Bible and journaling, and exercising. Those seem to be the 3 areas that I know are the most crucial for my spiritual and physical health, yet those are the areas that I always leave until last, or never. I'm hoping that the efforts in the other areas will spillover and that I'll become the organized, self-disciplined individual I have always aspired to be. Or maybe not.

But I'm working on it.

S-mallish Pirates

2009-04-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

We had a big event here this last week: Benjamin turned 5 years old. To be born in April on a ranch is somewhat of a misfortune. Usually everyone is pretty busy with calving, spraying pre-plant chemical, or planting crop. When he was born, it was the Monday after Easter, and Daddy had to take a little time off from rolling pea fields to come in and hang with Mommy during labor and delivery. Other years, Benjamin shares his birthday with Easter, which is a great privilege, but that also complicatrs matters somewhat. We try to really make Easter a significant celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, and sometimes Ben's big day gets lost in the shuffle. Not that he really suffers, for crying out loud between big brothers and cousins hand me downs and the loot he rakes in on his own, he has more toys than most kids!

Lately, Ben has been really interested in pirates, boats, and the like, especially after Adam got a Mega-Blocks pirate ship for Christmas. So, a pirate party we planned. The Farmer 's Wife helped with the design of the party hats that we made out of that rubbery-type craft paper. When I was in Billings last week, I found all kinds of cool pirate plunder at Party America:beads, "gold", treasure maps, bags, and chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil. I jumped on-line to find some kind of a pirate cake and found lots treasure chest cakes, so I tried my hand at that.

I took Benjamin in for preschool on Wednesday, dashed home to put some food in the crock-pot for the crew working bulls to eat later on in the afternoon, then drove back in for the PARTY! We had bags of treasure, pirate hats, bandanas, and swords. After a meal of chicken fingers and fries, (taco salads for the moms) we had treasure chest cake and ice cream. It took a bit but after the little ones warmed up to each other, the kids had a rousing game of "pirate". As near as I could figure Pirate Ben and Pirate Billy had a pile of "treasure" that they were trying to keep safe from the Raiders Lacey, Laney and Alli--sounds like a tough gang huh? Between the high pitched pirate whistles (you'd think it was my first time around as a mom or something. I mean what was I thinking???) and the screeching pirates, I'm not sure the rest of the diners at the cafe' had a very peaceful lunch, but the party goers had a great time.

Happy Easter, Country Style

2009-04-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

This year we had the pleasure of having some old friends and new friends over for our Easter holiday. The Pluhars (old friends) and the Jaspers (new friends) came over in the afternoon about 4:30 p.m. to help celebrate the Easter holiday and Benjamin's 5th birthday. The menu included prime rib, McNeely potatoes (Karen Gs recipe), 7 Layer Salad courtesy of Naomi P., Peach/Pretzel Salad by the Farmer's Wife, homemade rolls, Au Jus and marinated mushrooms. We also shared a bottle of Chenin Blanc and some Fat Tire. It was quite a feed!

Flowers and wine, courtesy of Mrs. C.

Benjamin was lucky enough to be born in the spring of the year, along with the baby calves and the baby chicks, but sometimes he has to share his special day with Easter. This year we had lots of fun with Maggie and Angus to help us celebrate. After a great supper, the dads and kids headed out to do an Easter Egg hunt while the moms cleaned up and did dishes. The wind made the hunt a little shorter than expected, but the kids got lots of loot via the stuffed eggs, and they found all but one of the "real" eggs. It won't be an unexpected surprise after 100 degree August heat though. Luckily Benjamin found it on Monday while we worked in the yard.

He Is Risen

2009-04-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of singing with members of the praise team on Easter Sunday at our church, Grace Bible Church in Miles City. I occasionally sing on the praise team, and truthfully it is one of the neatest things to sing praise songs to our God with all the other church-goers.

This song has something about it that makes a person just sing and sing and sing it. I have had it running through my brain non-stop (with occasional "MOMMY" breaks) since Easter morning. It's always interesting to me to hear about the background of a song and the inspiration for the writing of a song. I'm including a link to a video of Chris Tomlin exploring that as well.

I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BLY5rr24mM

P.S. Thanks Field Lily--I saw you do this in some of your posts and thought I'd give it a try...

So about those cats...

2009-04-03T13:40:00.001-07:00

I'm sure you all remember the wonderful gift we got from our dear friends at Christmas: Phoebe and Fluffernutter. Yes them. Well, we are discovering all kinds of things about the feline members of our family. First of all, Phoebe is most definitely a female. And Fluffernutter is most definitely a male. So I would imagine there will be Phoebe-Nutters around here unless drastic measures are taken.

Secondly, I am remembering why I was not such a big fan of cats in the house.

1) Cat hair. I was putting my sweatshirt on this morning, and roamed around to do the morning tasks. When I finally started cooking lunch, I was done with the cornbread and well into the taco soup when I realized that I had enough white hair on my shirt to fully fur a month-old kitten. Not cool. Especially when you consider that 90% of my wardrobe is either navy blue, black, or brown. Plus for some reason there is apparently some attraction at the molecular level between the cat hair and the couch. It doesn't just hang out on the top of the fabric waiting to be vacuumed, it must be taken out with tweezers, much like plucking one's eyebrows, but I guess it doesn't hurt quite as bad.
2) Cat cuddling. Now don't get me wrong. There's nothing like having a
warm body to sleep near, especially when one tends to be a bit cold-blooded to start with. But when said body purrs to no end, and insists on nuzzling one's face (Yes it has to be the face. Not the neck, or back, or leg, or arm. The face.) sleeping with Phoebe can be especially challenging.

3) Cat on counter. Fluffer is probably more of a nuisance in this
particular category, but Phoebe has had her share of counter time too. They can have a perfectly full container of cat chow or fancy feast, or whatever the meal of the moment is, and they still insist on hopping up on the counter to lick, paw, and smell whatever it is that we ate, are eating or will eat. Cat-lick-marks in the butter is my absolute limit. I guess it has made me be certain everything is either covered, or put in the refrigerator remove the temptation.

4) And last, but not least, cat pee. Cat waste is probably the one thing
about indoor cats that make me the most crazy. Cleaning out the cat box,
isn't exactly my idea of a favored hobby. Although, I must say the clumping and deodorizing properties of kitty litter have come a long, long way since my last house cat in the late '80s. My dislike of cat pee probably stems from the fact that one time, my family bought a house in which no amount of shampooing could remove the smell of cats, so we ended up ripping up the carpet and replacing part of the sub-floor due to the seepage. Now if that doesn't give you a real mental picture.... So you can imagine my surprise and disgust when I walked into the bathroom last night to find...Phoebe. The 'good' cat. Peeing. On. My New Rugs. AAAaaarrrggghhh. I'm not sure what was going on there. She's the one I usually don't have to worry about. She's neat and clean. Her paws and fur are always meticulous. Why oh why was Phoebe peeing on my rugs?
Maybe because they're brown? Or because they had straw all over them from the inside of Ben's socks, pants and shirt? Or because Scott had dropped some dirt/manure on them from his spring-time dirty clothing? Who knows. All I know is that Phoebe got a healthy thunk on the head with my thumb and forefinger and a quick trip outside. Maybe she'll learn. Or maybe she'll learn to be an outside cat with occasional inside privileges....

We'll just have to wait and see.