This is January?!?

My mom informed me that I'd been slacking on my blogging so here I am again (she didn't really use those words, but I got the drift).  Nothing terribly fun or exciting has been happening here.  R has gone back to school (sad face) and we are just back to the grind.  We have our routine of cow chores in the morning.  M, J and C have been hauling grain but it's very hit and miss when the elevator can take it.  They were closed for several weeks due to railroad track repairs, then the holidays, so the guys are trying to get as much hauled in as they can before they get shut down again while the elevator is loading a train.

M made a road trip to Conrad and back on Friday (700 miles roundtrip) to pick up a header he had bought months ago online.  He thought he'd better go get it while the roads and weather were good.  I think he spends too much time at online equipment sites because he and J also purchased a telehandler.  I'll post pictures when that arrives.  J has been wanting one for years and finally convinced his dad it would be a good thing.

All anyone can talk about around here is the unusual January weather.  We had temps in the 40's several days and last week the temperature hit 50 degrees.  It felt like spring, and we had water running like crazy.  It cooled off a bit the next day, though. so now we have lots of ice.  Not good for the cows...or me.  I'm constantly afraid that I'm going to fall and bust my butt!  Not sure that would help my back problem.  Our relatives in Florida are wanting their weather back and think that they got ours.  It was actually colder there than it was here last week.
 

We have a busy week ahead.  They are still trying to haul grain and M has to take two cows to the butcher tomorrow--one is R's open heifer that we are selling to friends and one is a cow that was open last year, got a reprieve and was open again.  You can imagine that she is nice and fat and should keep us in hamburger for quite awhile.  Then on Tuesday we head to Billings for an appointment with my back doctor.  Really hoping I won't have to have surgery again, but I'm betting that I will.  C sees the doctor on Thursday to schedule surgery on his shoulder, and J and K head to the Bahamas for a two-week honeymoon.  Sounds like it's going to be hard to get any work out of anyone for awhile.

Water running in January

M's new trailer--he's never had a new one before so he deserved it

Weird Christmas

This has been a bit of  weird Christmas holiday for me.  When we built our house in 1995 my mother-in-law told me I had to have every holiday for the next 20 years.  I don't think my 20 years are up yet, but this year she told me everything would happen at her new (to her) house in town.  Since I was gone for the first 18 days of the month that was really okay with me, but it meant that I didn't put up one decoration (I didn't have time even if I had wanted to), had no visitors at my house, and didn't even have to cook.  I did make my famous broccoli casserole to contribute to Christmas day dinner and did make sugar cookies and gingerbread men at my mother-in-law's house so my great niece could help me (she lost interest pretty quickly as a 4-year-old will do).  Add to that the beautiful weather we've been having with warm temperatures and no snow and it all compounded into a very odd Christmas.  I didn't even have time to get close to my piano during the festive season.  That NEVER happens. 

M's sister and family and R were here for the week before Christmas so we were in town to see them every day.  That was almost more exhausting than getting my house ready for company and cooking.  Too much food, too much drink and irregular hours sure wiped me out.  Maybe I will perk up by next year and have a more normal holiday.

Where Ya Been?

Wow, it's been a month since I've blogged.  I did try a couple of times but couldn't do it on my husband's or my mom's laptops.  I have to say, it's been a crazy month and I have been BUSY!

We went to Rapid City to spend Thanksgiving with R and M's sister and her family.  My in-laws were also there.  We even ventured out a little on Black Friday, and it wasn't so bad.  I thought we were probably the only people shopping for livestock trailers on Black Friday.  We came home on Saturday and arrived in Scobey just in time for the parade of lights.  We were home for four days and then headed out for our vacation to the big island of Hawaii.  We spent a week there and had a wonderful, relaxing time.  M rented a Jeep and had way too much fun with it.  He went quickly from wanting to buy me a Cadillac to wanting to buy me a Jeep.  It would be an ideal cow-checking, run-to-the-field vehicle.  He's been shopping for one since he's been home.  We put 900 miles on our rental and saw just about the whole island.  I think we only missed the southeast corner.  We didn't do a few things we wanted to do like go up Mauna Kea and go parasailing.  Maybe next time.  I haven't had time to go through my photos yet.  I didn't think I took very many but when I downloaded them to my computer I had 116!

We arrived back in Billings at about 11:30 pm on Dec. 10.  M headed home on the 11th while I flew to Arizona to spend time with my mom during her recovery from hip replacement surgery.  She didn't really need me except that she wasn't supposed to drive yet.  We had to make sure she could drive before I left and she did and did just fine.  She's on her own again now.  She continues to amaze us with how well she recovers after surgery.  I had some bonding time with my sister as well.  We went out to finish her Christmas shopping, went to a movie and spent some time at her house singing Christmas carols and hymns at the piano.  We have spent many hours singing together, one of our very favorite things to do.  I can't believe her husband said he was glad he wasn't home.  Mine said "I'm sorry I missed that."  I'm sure he meant that very sincerely--haha!

I flew back into Billings on the 18th.  I didn't want M to have to make another trip to Billings to pick me up and have that 5-hour drive (if the roads are good) home so I decided to take the flight from Billings to Glasgow.  Bad idea!  This was my 7th flight in two weeks so I shouldn't have been surprised that there would be a problem.  The flight was supposed to leave at 5:30 pm.  We boarded, were informed the plane had a problem with a generator, deplaned and waited and waited and waited.  That plane was a no go so they had to get a plane out of the hangar after they finished maintenance on it.  By that time it had started to snow so we had to be de-iced before we left--at 10:30 pm.  I called M as soon as I knew we weren't flying on schedule and told him I'd call him back when I knew more.  He made the mistake of heading to Glasgow before I called him back.  He went to get a pizza and have a few beers--I was really afraid he'd be sloshed by the time I got there.  He was okay when I finally arrived at midnight.  Fell into bed about 1:30 but was up at 7:00 to go to work Monday morning.  We had a very busy day at work, but I have to say it was good to be back.

M's family and R from South Dakota arrived Sunday night as well.  C and his wife were heading to Hawaii for Christmas with her family on Tuesday so we all had supper together Monday night so that was another late night.  I spent Tuesday doing laundry, paying bills and balancing the checkbooks.  It was dart night and R was going to fill in for C so I went along.  Another late night.  Then today we Bang's vaccinated and branded our heifer calves.  We like to keep the family busy when they come to visit!  We had some hot drinks and then I mixed up cookie dough so it will be ready for tomorrow when I plan to make cut-out cookies with my 4-year-old great niece.  It's been a few years since I had a kid to help me make cookies.

Maybe one of these days life will get back to normal and I will get caught up, hopefully on my sleep at least!  So, that's where I've been lately.

From Bad to Worse

Today was our first real cold day of the winter, about -10 this morning, and it did not go well.  M went out to start his bale pickup and the battery was dead.  So, he started another pickup so he could use it to jump start the bale pickup.  It started but wouldn't come out of park.  He let it run awhile thinking that maybe if it warmed up it would go into gear--not!  Then he started our good pickup which was in the garage, backed it out and jump started the bale pickup.  I was watching out the window and told him I didn't think the hood on our good pickup was latched.  It wasn't, and it won't latch.  Something is wrong with the cable that runs from the cab.  Not sure how we're going to fix that.  By that time M was a bit upset and cursing the weather.

We went to do cow chores and found all the cows at home crowded around the wind break.  M finally felt sorry for them and rolled out a couple of bales of hay.  The pickup died, and we had a moment of panic that it wouldn't start again, but it did.  A friend showed up to look at some pasture so he and M took off to do that.  I was really hoping they wouldn't get stuck somewhere.  I didn't want to go rescue them.

They came back for lunch and to watch the Cat-Griz game.  The Cats (our team from Montana State) were leading the conference (undefeated in conference play) and ranked #1 in the nation.  The Griz are from the University of Montana and if they won would share the conference championship with the Cats.  It is a HUGE rivalry in the state, and we Bobcat fans are a bit outnumbered (but a lot nicer).  Anyway, the game went from bad to worse and the Cats lost--at home to the rotten Grizzlies.  Ruined our whole day!

After the game we put a light fixture in our kitchen that we had gotten in Rapid City a month ago.  We are trying to find something to replace our fluorescent fixtures and are not having much luck.  We don't think these are going to give enough light so we may be back to square one.  I think it's time for wine......

First Winter Rescue

Just before dark on Friday I got a call from M and heard the dreaded words, "I'm stuck.  Come get me."  He had been out and about checking on some hunters and got stuck in a coulee where the snow had blown in.  He had been across it the day before, even pulling an auger, but it had warmed up enough that the snow was soft and slick.  As he tried to come up the other side he spun and was sucked sideways into the deep stuff.  So deep that he could barely get the door open.  When I came upon him I wasn't sure where he wanted me to go so tried to stop and also slid sideways.  I was dangerously close to also being stuck (and walking home in the dark), but with much cursing he managed to get the second pickup out, and we went back to the farm to get a tractor.  M plowed a track through the snow with the tractor and then pulled the pickup out backwards.

I tried to lighten the mood by commenting that we do such fun things together, but I'm afraid if it's starting already it could be a really long winter!  I think about how many times R rescued M last winter and with him gone that leaves me.  I don't think that's a comforting thought for either of us.  M had better be more careful!

Snow!

We had a drastic change in the weather over the weekend with our first snow--and not just a skiff but several inches along with enough wind to create some drifts.  We were not impressed.  We were up early on Sunday morning with the phone ringing.  M had loads of cows and calves to haul and the owners were calling to discuss the roads and weather.  We did our cow chores and discovered one of the waterers was starting to freeze up so M had to get that figured out (which he did) before he took off in the truck.  Since I was dressed for the weather I decided I might as well shovel the drift off the driveway.  As it turned out, I did it way too soon since it continued to snow lightly most of the day.

The snow made for an interesting drive to work on Monday morning.  First I had to get out of the yard with my car.  I made the mistake of stopping to close our gate and couldn't get going again with the slight hill.  I had to back up and take another run at it before I made it out.  The highway was icy in spots--very icy, in fact.  I felt like I didn't have my winter legs under me so it was a nervous drive to town.  Thankfullly, the sun was out and the road had cleared off by the time I headed home.

They looked pretty good for November.....

What a difference a day makes.

Monday was the first day in many months that M didn't have a plan for his day.  He almost begged me to tell him what to do (not really, but it sounded good).  He actually worked on some paperwork without me having to drag him to his desk.  We did more of that on Tuesday morning.  I wondered aloud about when farming got so complicated between crop insurance reports, state land reports and government program documentation.

Tuesday afternoon we hauled some old couches out of our basement to the dumpster and headed to R's house to get it winterized and bring his couch (that he made me buy from him when he left) home.  It made me sad all over again going to his empty house.  M was a bit frustrated that I was not good help with the heavy lifting, but we managed to get everything loaded and unloaded.

Today M was back in the truck so I was on cow chore duty.  It was a beautiful day to be out.  I like to stand at the gate and wait for the heifer calves to come check me out.  I've already picked out my favorites. They are a bit curious, and sometimes they'll come up and lick my hands.  It's also fascinating to watch them stick their tongues up their noses.  Makes me laugh anyway.  Yeah, it's the little things.

Taking Advantage of a Nice Day

We have a feeling that our nice days are dwindling down so we're trying to take advantage while we can.  I spent the day cleaning out some of the outbuildings.  I hauled sacks of aluminum cans to town along with empty feed sacks and boxes that had just gotten thrown in the quonset.  Then I tackled our garage.  I've been waiting for help but realized that wasn't going to happen so I dug in.  I threw away some boxes and other junk, moved things around and swept it all out.  It'll probably look good for a week or so.

M has been super busy hauling cows and calves and seeding grass in some CRP for the neighbor.  He attempted to seed some grass near our place, got 6 acres in and got stuck so I guess that project is on hold for awhile.  He's been a bit panicked about getting the seeding done before it gets really cold but should be able to finish tomorrow.  I often ask him if the words "over-extended" mean anything to him.  I did actually hear him tell someone "no" on the phone this morning and was surprised.  Trust me, that doesn't often happen (only when I ask for something).

There are plenty of items still on the fall to-do list so we're really hoping the weather holds out a little longer.