Tribute to My Daddy

On this day seven years ago I lost my dad to cancer.  It was a day a lot like this one, gray and cool, and I'll remember it forever.  No one asked if I was ready to let him go, but I definitely wasn't.  I'm too much like him, not a talker, and I'm sorry that he and I didn't have more time to do more connecting.  I've been thinking lately, though, about how many things are ingrained in me from my childhood that I never thought about or realized before.  Like not driving in a field.  We do it a lot around here for various reasons, but it always bothers me and my family thinks it's funny.  And not driving over a gate, always pulling it out of the way.  Other people might not understand, but I find it so interesting to think about how the lessons learned as a child stick with you.  Makes me hopeful that maybe something I tried to teach my children actually stuck with them.

As we were having a glass of wine to toast my dad's life, M said he didn't think my siblings really appreciate how much our son is like my father.  I often say that I have a whole new appreciation for my grandmother after raising J who is the spitting image of my dad in so many ways.  If I ever wonder what my dad would say about something, I just have to ask J.  He looks like him, he thinks like him, he acts like him in so many ways.  He can make things and fix things, works hard, is loyal and stubborn, just like my dad.

My dad was smart and taught me a lot.  He would make me do math problems in my head all the time.  He was tough but I eventually realized that he was a softie underneath and his bark was worse than his bite.  Some of my favorite memories are of him carrying me up to bed when I was little and would fall asleep curled up in a chair and the way he held my hand and told me not to cry on my last visit to him.  He loved us fiercely but had definite ideas about how we should behave.  We all grew into strong people who call a spade a spade just like he did.  Someone I once worked with said my "bullshit meter" was too acute, meaning I just didn't deal well with the frivolous.  I inherited that from my dad.  Several of my siblings and I also inherited the "Buster look."  Many times he didn't have to say anything to us, just give us the look, and we knew we were in trouble.  I think we all probably inherited his heavy foot on the accelerator.

We used to joke that no man was ever good enough for his daughters.  He was a worrier, always wanting us to be happy and successful.  I was lucky because he and M had a great relationship and respect for each other eventhough he didn't want me to marry a farmer.  They had a lot in common and would talk for hours.  When M and I were dating I would meet him at the door or outside because if he came in he and my dad would talk and talk and we'd never go out!  I used to say that my dad liked M better than me, but I was his little girl so that couldn't have been true.

My dad, to me, was always a bit larger than life, and I was in awe of him.  He'd be gruff and tough one minute and the next he was buying something from a guy on the street because that guy needed some cash.  He liked adventure and fun and had lots of stories to tell.  I tried to get him to record some stories so we'd always have them, but he never did do it. 

Sometimes it seems like he just left us, and sometimes it feels like he's been gone so long.  I think of him every day and wish he was here because I still have so much to learn from him.  I just wasn't done with him yet.  Rest in peace, Daddy, I love you.

Cow Days

The past few days have been dominated by cows.  On Friday we continued to work on making sure the barn and corrals were ready.  R and M's sister (Pam) arrived from Rapid City to help with the calf shipping.  M put everyone to work.  R and I worked on repairing the windbreak that was broken by snow, Pam helped with digging post holes, J and Jared finished cleaning manure out of the corral and set up the new chute.  P supervised all the work.  M finally put in the short alley way from a back pen to the barn--he'd been thinking about it for awhile, just hadn't had time to do it.  We put in a new post and hung a gate that had to swing two ways and it turned out just perfect.  He was pretty impressed with himself that it worked just like he had envisioned it.  When R saw what he was doing he wondered why he hadn't done it sooner as it would have made his life a lot easier during the winter.  We decided that it would a good time to get everyone together for our annual post-harvest family dinner so off we went to Dutch Henry's Club in Peerless.

Saturday was spent rounding up cows, one group from the west and one group from the east, into holding pens at the barn.  J brought out his new toy, a Can-Am Commander side-by-side.  We weren't sure he'd use it to chase cows but he did and took Pam along for the ride.  R and Jared were on 4-wheelers and M and I were in the pickup.  When we finished we went to the neighbor's to get their stock trailer.  They had gotten their cows rounded up, too, so we had a couple of drinks with them.  Holly brought wine for me but didn't have a corkscrew.  We ended up opening the bottle with a big screw and a vise-grip.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of that.

Sunday was show time to get the calves cut off from the cows, separated as to steers and heifers (boys and girls) and shipped out.  We had a lot of good help--C, his stepson, Neill, J, Jared, R, Pam, M and me--and it went pretty smoothly.  We sold our calves with the neighbor's and he purchased a portable scale this year so we trailered our calves to his place to be weighed and viewed by the buyer.  He didn't cut any back so must have liked the looks of them.  Our weights were down this year probably because of the slow start the calves had after the rough winter and wet spring.  The steers go to a feedlot in South Dakota and the heifers are staying in Montana to be bred.  Our neighbor's wife, Holly, is like a walking grocery store and had donuts, sandwiches, chips, cookies, pop, apples and candy available for everyone who helped.  There were over 20 people there at times.  The beer came out once all the trucks were loaded and all the work was done.  It occurred to me that it was like harvest in one day instead of six weeks.

Last year we shipped on Talladega race day.  All I asked for this year was that that not happen again.  It did, however.  C and Pam sat in the pickup and listened to it on the radio so the rest of us got periodic updates.

We went back to our place to brand R's heifers since we didn't get it done in the spring.  He had 13 and one was supposed to be mine because he didn't want the white one.  We kept her because she has a good mother so she's got potential.  We saved her for last.  I am in the process of getting my dad's brand transferred to me, but it's not done yet so we couldn't put my brand on her.  I told M he could put his brand on her, but he said we could wait and then proceeded to put R's brand on her--oops!  I told R that's what I always do, sacrifice for my children.

M branding R's heifer

Why is R smiling?  Because my heifer just got his brand on it!

Yesterday was another busy day with pregnancy testing.  We started at the neighbor's and worked about 300 head, had Holly's chili for lunch and then tested our 150 head.  R was hoping he could stay long enough to see his heifers checked, but he and Pam had to take off to head back to South Dakota before we got to his animals.  He was joking that he half hoped one of them was open so he could sell it and have some ready cash rather than waiting another year to have calves to sell.  When one of his heifers turned out to be open (not pregnant) the vet thought he'd be funny and paint a dollar sign on her back.  We got photos to send to R.

The "money heifer".  Yes, it was snowing this morning!

We had a friend come help us since we knew R had to leave right after lunch.  Everyone was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and there was a lot of joking and laughing going on.  The friend commented later that he didn't know working cows could be so much fun--we had a great group of helpers.

This morning I had orders to check on the cows and the heifer calves we're keeping to make sure they were all where they were supposed to be.  A lot of the cows weren't too concerned about their babies being gone but some were still hanging around the corral.  Since it was snowing (ugh) I put the 4-wheelers inside and did a few other chores. We were so lucky that the weather was good and the snow held off while we had so much going on.  This afternoon after M got back from hauling a load of calves I went to help him sort out the open cows that he will take to Glasgow to sell.

It's a good thing my husband loves me in Carhartts and Muck boots since that's all I've been in for the past week.  And yes, diamond earrings go with that.

The To-Do List

We are busy working on the fall to-do list.  At the top of the list right now is getting the barn and corrals ready for shipping calves on Sunday.  Yesterday M was cleaning the corral while I did some mowing in front of the barn.  There was grass up to our necks in places around the farm, and it looked so nice mowed that I did a little more and a little more.  I could still do more but that may have to wait.  It was like a little treasure hunt, too.  I was very careful trying to get through the tall grass and didn't hit anything but found a tiling spade, a steel fence post, a wooden handle, and several pieces of wood.  I also did some mowing around our gate at the main road.  We are remembering last winter and don't want to have anything for the snow to build up in.

Today we worked on the barn and corrals.  We had a cow do some damage inside the barn this spring and the snow do some damage to some of the other shelter.  We had to put a new support pole in the barn, we put a quick latch on one of the gates that gets a lot of use when we're sorting, repaired some shelters by replacing some wood that was broken by the snow and wind, and hung a new gate.  Of course, M did the heavy lifting and hole digging.  I was more the finder, runner and holder.  He needs someone with more muscle than me for a lot of what we did today.

Of course, on our last little project just before we were ready to head home M smashed a finger.  We're not sure there's enough Aleve in the house for the both of us tonight!

Hauling Hay

We managed to take a few days off and head to South Dakota to see R and stay with M's sister.  That is always a good time.  It was so good to hug R and see that he's doing well.  We did some wine tasting in the Black Hills and got in on a Miranda Lambert concert.  While we were gone J had swathed and baled the grass and weeds that were on some of the acres that were too wet to plant or spray this year.  M wanted to get them moved and stacked so that he could get the loader tractor to Opheim where he needs to haul hay.  He had me come along with the bale pickup so that we could both move bales and get done in half the time.  I'm not sure I speeded things up too much.  I had never used the bale bed before and that was a lot of backing up and using the mirrors for this female!  Actually, I did okay.  Before we got started M assured me that he had a chain in the tractor in case I got the pickup stuck.  That was reassuring.  Neither of us got stuck but we did find some soft spots--driving along just fine and then having a sinking feeling.

When we finished there I took the loader tractor and M took the truck and hay trailer to Opheim.  I had never driven the loader tractor either so it was quite an educational day.  M says he can cross a couple more things off the list and pretty soon I won't be able to plead ignorance anymore.

It was getting close to dark by the time he got the truck loaded with hay bales so we took back roads back to Richland and then had to go back to Glentana to get the bale pickup.  It was about 8:00 when we finally made it home.  M rewarded me by cooking supper--burgers on the new grill.  He's off hauling hay today, and I get a day to get caught up at home--after I go check on some cows.

Fire Scare

Yesterday was a pretty scary day in the neighborhood.  I'm kind of glad that I was at my job in town.  Sometime after 1:00 the fire whistle blew in town, but I didn't think anything of it.  Then a couple of people came into the store and said they heard the fire was near Richland.  I still wasn't concerned.Then my brother called and asked how close the fire was to my house.  I got a bit concerned at that time!  Shortly after that M called while he had a minute as he was refilling our water truck to let me know the situation.  The county crew was out mowing the sides of the road and started two fires.  J saw one which went through one of our fields and was headed for the neighbor's yard and our stack of bales.  By the time they got that one out they noticed the other one which was headed north into some rough pasture land.  Volunteer fire crews from two counties as well as airplanes converged to battle the blaze.  If unchecked, it could have burned for miles and miles, acres and acres.  As it was, it probably burned 2000 acres.  M said it was such a helpless feeling to watch the fire burn through coulees and not be able to get to it.  In many instances, they would have to wait for the fire to come to them and then try to put it out.  It got within about a half mile or less of four farmsteads, ours being one of them.  They tried to keep it away from fields full of hay bales but one neighbor lost theirs.  The bales can smolder for days and then start burning again, especially if the wind comes up like did last night and today.  There was a flare up last night so a couple of the neighbors and M were out again about 11:00 pm.  He told me I had to wake him up if the wind came up, but it was "up" when he went to bed.  I sure didn't sleep well.

These are some photos that I borrowed from the neighbors.

Our neighbor's pasture looking from south to north.

They kept the fire from getting to this field of bales which is about a half mile south and est of our house.

There was some fence repair going on today along with rounding up of cattle gone astray, and smoke is still hanging in the air.  We are so thankful that no homes were lost and no one was hurt.

What I Learned This Harvest

Yay, harvest is over!  Except for the moving home, cleaning up equipment and putting everything away for the winter.  We left J on Saturday evening to work on the hailed out piece while we began moving equipment back home.  So fun to move the swather at 12.2 mph.  I managed to stay awake but just barely.  We made it through without coming to blows (just barely), no major breakdowns (mental or equipment), only a couple of days with extra help, and a lot of grain in bins so I guess we'd have to call it a success.

Anyway, I sure learned a lot. Like:
*  My husband is a bit of a control freak.  I think I already knew that, but he reinforced it a few times.  (I probably shouldn't have put that in since he reads this).

*  My son is very scary looking when he hasn't had a haircut for a couple of months and hasn't shaved for a couple of weeks.  I already knew that, too, but he reminded me lately.

*  I learned what R must have felt like having three people telling him what to do.  Of course, I get a little more respect (as befitting the queen) than he did.  And, I will tell them to shut up and leave me alone, something I don't think R ever did.

*  I found out that you can't fill those grain trailers up.  Why do they make them so big if you can't fill them up?  I got into trouble twice loading two different trailers too heavy.  The first time I didn't really know better, but the second time was just a lapse in judgement.  Oops!

 *  I covered some of our property that I'd never been on before.  Unlike the guys, I don't cover every acre two or three times a year.  Learned a lot about washouts and coulee crossings.

*  I learned that I can do more than I thought I could and I'm not too old to learn.

*  I realized that I'm very grateful that we can still do the hard work.  None of us are sick, injured or disabled.

*  And, I learned that I love being with my family in all things.  (Actually, I already knew that, too, but sometimes need to take the time to acknowledge it.)

Yesterday we had planned a lazy Sunday but it didn't happen.  We were back to cowboying, moving some cows closer to home and today I have to go to my other job.  Looking forward to the weekend when we can really relax.