Snow Day

I had many important things to do in town today; first of all, go to work, then see my accountant and most importantly, get my nails done.  We woke up to snow and wind so I am staying warm at home instead.  We were up early to try to decide what we were going to do and I started packing an overnight bag. I was pretty sure that if I made it to town I wouldn't get home tonight.  M and J were going to head out in the trucks to haul grain so M said he'd let me know how the roads were.  Before that happened, C called and asked if I was going to work because there was already 6" of new snow on the highway, and he thought M was crazy to try to get to Wolf Point in the truck.  By that time, I had pretty much decided to just stay at home.  M called later to say that they made it to Scobey but couldn't go to Wolf Point because the snowplow went into the ditch three times because he couldn't find the road.  He thought I made a wise decision to stay home.  I am meeting with my accountant via fax and phone.  Too bad I can't meet with my nail technician that way!


Last night we had the boys and K over for an early Christmas since we won't all be together on Christmas day.  M, R and I are going to South Dakota to be with M's parents and sister while J and K look after things at home.  After we ate and exchanged gifts, M and I went to the church for the annual carol service.  I just love the service because it's all music, congregational carols and special numbers by members of the comunity including lots of kids.  I usually sing with a couple of friends, but we didn't get it together this year because of a lack of accompanists--they were all out of town at the same time, how inconsiderate!  I was very disappointed that we didn't get something prepared.

M gave me a Canon PowerShot pocket-sized camera for Christmas.  I love my Sony, but it's too big to take everywhere so I've been wanting a small one that can go along everywhere.  It was a great gift, and I'm so excited to try it out.

I have to say it's kind of nice having the day off so I can get ready to leave home again.  A good day to pack for Arizona!

Loving Winter

When winter hits, it seems like every snowstorm or arctic blast just reinforces how unprepared we are.  It was pretty cold here when we got back from Hawaii, and my car hadn't been started for two weeks.  I went to go to work and my battery was dead, M was already gone, the pickup needed fuel, and I didn't have a fuel card.  Luckily, M was still in Richland so he could fuel up the pickup.  He was headed out with the cattle trailers and had to beat the brakes which were frozen so he wasn't too happy either.

We had a snowy, blowy day on Friday and I thought about shoveling the little bank of snow in front of the garage.  I'm glad I didn't waste my time because we had more snow on Sunday and by Monday morning there was a much bigger snowbank in front of the garage.  I spent an hour shoveling that off.  When I was done there was a big pile of snow beside the deck, and I kept thinking that it would be fun to jump off the deck into it......maybe if I was a kid.  At my age, I'd probably hurt myself.

M and I had to do a little surgery to three bull calves on Sunday.  They were late calves born out in the pasture so didn't get rubbered at birth.  M and R banded them earlier in the week so we ran them into the chute to cut the sac off.  It was amazing how gentle they were after what had been done to them.  M thought I should make a coin purse out of the sac.  If I knew how to tan the hide, that would be a good idea.  An interesting conversation piece at the very least.

Poor R is feeling a bit like Schleprock these days.  He was moving our loader tractor to his place to load some hay that we had sold when the windshield exploded.  He's not sure if he kicked up a rock or what happened.  It was snowing and blowing so he went the last five miles backwards.  Then the next day he got stuck in the new snow with the 4-wheel drive pickup while trying to feed, and I had to take our other 4-wheel drive pickup to pull him out.  Then he went to Canada to get a new windshield, got home and discovered it was broken and was broken when he picked it up.  We always say that if any freak thing is going to happen it's going to happen to him.  Someone will be making a trip to Canada again tomorrow to get another one.  Thank goodness they HAVE another one.  M was freaking out about being able to find one, but it wasn't as hard as he thought.  We're kind of lost without that tractor, and R loaded three loads of hay with it yesterday.  Thank goodness it was a nice day.

M spent the weekend at his sister's in South Dakota where his parents are.  His dad had four stents and a pacemaker in the past two weeks.  My mom had hip replacement surgery today, her 85th birthday.  We're concerned that the old people are falling apart!

Kauai

It's a cold and windy, snowy day here in northeastern Montana and I am wishing I was where I was last week at this time--Kauai, Hawaii.  I wonder if people there have any idea what it's like to live where we are.  We had a wonderful time on the beautiful island.  Perfect temps, highs in the 80s, lows in the 70s.  We did have quite a bit of wind and some rain showers.  Our room was right on the water.  There was a rocky shoreline and the waves would crash, and at times it was too loud for me to sleep, especially in the early morning when the wind seemed to come up.  One morning I swore we were in a hurricane.  There was a beach not far from our condo so we wandered there a few times.  We explored the whole island, driving west as far as the road went one day and up Waimea Canyon--kind of like the Grand Canyon of Kauai.  The next day we drove to the northern part of the island as far as the road went and explored some beaches up there.  We found a little inexpensive golf course and golfed there twice.  The first time we were paired up with a couple from British Columbia and the second time we golfed with an older Hawaiian gentleman.  We enjoyed him a lot.  He was very interested in where we lived and what we did and gave us some good information about the island. We spent a day on the east side at Kapa'a where a lot of surfers hang out.  It was kind of a rainy day so we were in and out of shops and restaurants to stay dry.  There was also a local craft fair so we bought some gifts there for friends at home.  Our goal was some rest and relaxation for M so we were pretty lazy and unadventurous.  He said he found a slower gear.  I was a bit concerned about getting him geared up again once we got home!

We booked the whole trip on Expedia and were very happy that it all turned out just great.  We loved the location of our condo and think we picked the right area of the island to stay.  We were amazed everyday to walk outside in the morning and have it the same temperature outside as it was inside.  We ate breakfast out on the patio every day--loved it!

The trip back is such a killer with flying all night and getting to Billings in the morning, made worse by the cold and snow on our return.  Our pickup had a foot of ice and snow on it, and we just about froze trying to get it cleaned off.  We had a couple of things to do in Billings and then headed home.  We ran into icy roads and freezing fog on the way--UGH!

The boys took good care of things while we were gone.  R stayed at our house to take care of the dogs and the cows.  J and C even took some loads of cattle for neighbors even though that's not their favorite thing.  It's taken a few days for M and I to get back into the swing of things at home, but we'll survive, and I'll be gone again in a couple of weeks so I think I can tough it out.

View from our room

Right in front of our room

Wailua Falls--from Fantasy Island fame

Waimea Canyon

At the top of Waimea Canyon.  Drove all the way up and saw nothing because of clouds and fog.

Ready for Vacation

We have had very wintry weather lately with snow, wind and very cold temperatures.  It's WAY too early to be having below zero temps!  One day last week I left work early because it was snowing so heavily and I wanted to get home before dark.  That 35-mile drive can get mighty long sometimes!  I have driven more than enough miles on ice and snow and through blizzards.  I'm really losing interest in doing it anymore.

R went to Missoula last weekend for the Cat-Griz football game and fought bad roads all the way there and back.  He also froze his toes at the football game.  We were happy to watch the game indoors on TV and super happy that our Cats won.  One of the players that isn't a Montana native called it the greatest rivalry in the nation. 

We babysat Trip while R was gone, and he was a very good doggy.  He seems to be healing well from his broken pelvis.  We were pretty worried about him for awhile, but he's bounced back well.  He and Pete actually played together so that's a good thing.  It's taken awhile for Pete to warm up to Trip.

Yesterday we had to be in Scobey (35 miles east) by 9:00 am and in Glasgow (100 miles south and west from Scobey) by 1:00 pm.  Our morning meeting on our CSP projects lasted until 11:00 so we had just enough time to get to Glasgow, get a quick bite to eat and get to our 1:00 meeting.  That lasted about 5 minutes.  I had a medical appointment at 2:00, we got groceries and headed back home.  It was snowing and blowing the whole way but the roads were clear.

M's parents have been stuck in Rapid City, SD with his sister for the past month while his dad has been doctoring.  He was hospitalized last week and released yesterday.  He was supposed to have a stress test the other day.  M suggested that we just pull out the co-op bill from July or the quote we just got on a new combine and see how he handled that stress!  Always a comedian.  Hopefully, they will get on their way to Arizona soon.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Billings and then on Saturday we'll be going to the lovely island of Kauai where we will be for a week.  Hopefully, the roads to Billings aren't too awful.  After this year from hell, M deserves a good vacation, and I guess I have been nice enough to him that he decided to take me along.  So, our Thanksgiving dinner is nothing fancy and just us and R.  We have to pack and get our ducks in a row.

We have so much to be thankful for, a healthy, loving family, a roof over our head and food on the table.  God has truly blessed us, and we will be eternally grateful for all He has done in our lives.

Okay, I'm Cold Already!

There hasn't been too much excitement around here lately, and we actually had a fairly quiet weekend.  I did have five here for lunch on Friday--our banker, M, C, R and our neighbor, John.  It was pretty much a business lunch.  We were finalizing the paperwork with our banker for the loan for the land we bought recently.  John was here to finish up his state reports and settle up on the custom farming we do for him.  Kind of a relief to have all that stuff behind us.

Saturday M and I moved combines and a header over to Opheim to store in the hangar.  The hangar had been full of wheat, but the boys cleaned it out earlier in the week so we could get machinery put away.  We had a late lunch in Opheim on the way and our niece was waiting tables.  The boys both took the weekend off and did some hunting but weren't successful.

M and the boys finished putting machinery inside for the winter on Monday since the forecast was calling for a change in the weather.  They were predicting 6" of snow yesterday preceded by freezing rain.  Thank goodness we didn't get that.  We did get some snow and wind but not much accumulation.  It has been snowing lightly most of the day today, and the temperature is only in the teens.  I saw some below zero readings in the forecast for next week--NO!!!!

M has been busy hauling calves the past two days and has another load tomorrow.  Then it looks like the cattle hauling should be over for this season.  And then, we're off on vacation!!!!

Beautiful Fall Days

We've had a stretch of gorgeous fall weather.  Warm, sunny, no wind, just wonderful.  I've been thinking it feels more like spring than fall and that maybe those two days of wintry weather are all we're going to get.  People tell me I'm crazy, but a girl can dream......

M has been super busy hauling cows and calves and comes home every night smelling like cow manure (he thinks it turns me on--NOT!).  I've been having a hard time remembering where he is and where he's going.  I hope he knows!  When I complain about all his time away he reminds me that this craziness only lasts a few weeks and then we're going on vacation.  I'm pretty sure he's taking on all this extra work so that he doesn't have to go near his "honey-do" list.  Sad.  He went a fall without a cattle trailer and had all kinds of people calling him so he had to get another one.  Then he had to get a better one.  The deal was he was supposed to sell the first one once he got the second one, but that hasn't happened yet.  I'm ready for him to sell them both!  I guess I shouldn't complain about him working so hard--better than living with a dead beat!

I have been trying to take advantage of the nice weather.  I finally got my fall bulbs planted and did some other work in the flower beds and watered trees.  I have a few more things I need to get stored away for winter and then my fall to-do list will be taken care of.

R finished hauling hay in the dark last night.  I guess he wanted a day off today!  It's a relief to have that job done.  It was CRP hay that had to be off the CRP by Nov. 15 so they were working on a deadline.  Now whatever else gets done this fall is gravy.

I think I'll go out and soak up some more of the sun while I can.

Cows and More Cows

It has been a super busy four days of cowboying around here.  On Friday, we had an auditor from Verified Beef so we could get our NHTC (non-hormone treated cattle) certification.  We were kind of under the gun to get it done because of some confusion and miscommunication and the guy was very helpful.  That went off without a hitch, thank goodness.  Saturday we rounded up our cows and calves and got everything ready for the next morning at our place and at the neighbor's.  We were at the neighbor's until about 7:00 when M remembered that he needed to weld a piece on his stock trailer so we had to run to Richland to the shop and do that.

Sunday morning we were up and at it before sunrise getting the cows sorted from the calves and then the calves sorted by sex and sorting out the heifers we were planning to keep for replacements.  R and C were helping us and J was over helping the neighbor's.  We had to haul them into Scobey to the scale.  Most years I get to help sort and load and then I can go home, but now we have more paperwork to keep track of so I had to go to the scale.  We didn't get there until almost 11:00 and were there until almost 3:00.  The buyer and feeders invited us out for supper so we decided not to go have lunch.  We had a few calves to haul back home so we did that and had snacks and drinks at the neighbor's and then we all went back for supper.  I told M's sister that we were going to supper with the cattle buyer and she said "order chicken."  Shipping is always stressful no matter how good it goes so we all slept well that night!

Today we pregnancy tested the neighbor's cows and ours.  J and R went to help them right away this morning while M, C and I got things ready here.  We had to get the cows in again and round up the heifers.  We then went to the neighbor's and got in on the last 100 of their 300 head.  We had lunch there and then moved back here to do our 150 head.  The vet and his helper are quite the characters and make it interesting and fun.  The vet is from Canada and I always want to make fun of his Canadian accent, eh, but wouldn't want to offend him.  His best comment today was "look at the sun go down over the shit pile."  He usually palpates by hand to check the cows but this time he used an intravaginal ultrasound.  I told him he looked like Iron Man with the battery pack on his back and the goggles.  He let me look through the goggles and see a calf heartbeat.  Very cool!

We've had gorgeous fall weather to get our cow work done, and I've been loving being outdoors.  I bet M never thought he'd see the day when I would rather be out pregnancy testing the cows than go to work, but I was so happy that it was a Monday and I didn't have to go to my job.  The bad news is I'll be cooped up indoors at work for the next three days.  With the shipping and pregnancy testing done, we feel like we can catch our breath for a minute.....before we're off to something else!