Road Trip

Yesterday we took a fun little trip to Grass Range, Montana, just a 250 mile (one way) jaunt.  We bought a pickup just before Christmas and needed a bale bed put on it.  There was a guy there that handles the beds and put it on for us.  He had picked the pickup up in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago so we had to go get it.

We had originally thought we'd make a weekend of it and spend the night in Billings, but we had too much going on to do that so yesterday was the only day we could do it for awhile.  We were up at 4:30 am, left the house a little before 5:00 and left Richland before 5:30 after hooking up the trailer (to bring the pickup box home) and fueling up.  I had a moment of panic when M plugged in the lights for the trailer and they didn't work.  Been there before--spending hours trying to get trailer lights working.  He jiggled connections and got them to work--sort of.

We ran through a bit of freezing rain but not much, and it was bright and sunny by the time we came back.  In fact, it was about 50 degrees in Grass Range at 9:00 am when we got there.  A beautiful day for a drive. 

We needed to pick up an auger in Malta but the co-op we were buying it from was only open until noon.  M didn't think there was any way we would get back there in time, but when we left Grass Range about 30 minutes after we arrived there he thought we could make it.  I was hoping we wouldn't because I didn't want to have to pull an auger home.  We pulled in at 11:50, picked up the auger (after the guy tried to charge me almost $1000 more than he had quoted M on the phone--thank goodness I had a clue that it was too much), had lunch and were back on the road at 1:30.  M pulled the auger and I pulled the trailer with the pickup box on it.

We were back to Opheim by 3:30 and stopped to have a beer and were back in Richland before dark.

I got to haul bales in style this morning with the new pickup.  It's a different bed than we had so it'll take some getting used to.  I just don't want to be the first one to dent or break something!

I don't think it will look this nice for long!

Back on Duty

I have finally started going to help with the cow chores again.  I think M was getting a bit impatient with me, but I'm really not much help.  I bet he was thrilled the day I just watched him fill and haul a bunch of feed buckets.  I specifically asked my doctor about hauling feed buckets, and he said I couldn't do it.  My main job is as the gatekeeper.  It saves M a lot of in and out of the tractor.  I also have been taking bales to him with the bale pickup so he doesn't have to come back to the hay yard with the tractor and processor.  That saves him time.  I can also chop the ice in the water tanks and feed the barn cats.

The first day I went along the temperature was in the high 20s with no wind so it was really nice.  The next day was a bit windy.  Yesterday it was 10 degrees below zero.  He fed close to the yard so I sat in the pickup most of the time to stay warm.  Today was a little warmer, about 0, so I was okay.

I'm enjoying getting out and getting some fresh air, and I try to make lots of steps to get my exercise.  I'm still wearing my brace part of each day and being careful.  We had a few warm days (above freezing) so things got a little slick.  I came close to falling once, but so far, so good.

I'm still working on getting some of the heifer calves to the point where I can pet them, and I think they'll get used to me soon.  I have a favorite one, but somehow it has R's brand on it!

The days seem to be flying by.  Winter rears it's ugly head once in awhile, but we really can't complain about the weather.  Throw in an almost-two-week vacation to the sunny south and spring will be here before we know it.  Hopefully, by then I will be back to normal.

Out With the Old

There was nasty weather in our forecast last week and M suggested that if we got the blizzard they were calling for we should tackle cleaning out our storage room.  It had gotten to the point that there was just a path through to get to the water softener, and we really didn't even know what was in there.  Big job, but it really needed to be done.

Sure enough, we had our first blizzard day of the winter on Friday.  M made it safely to the cows and back, and we gathered up garbage bags and set to work. We eventually had a pickup load of garbage in the middle of our family room in the basement.  We didn't quite finish before we were tired and hungry so gave up for that day.

Saturday was bright and sunny but really cold, like below zero cold.  M did his cow chores and then loaded up the pile in the basement (after shoveling through the drift in front of the basement door) and hauled it to the dumpster in town.  While he was gone I worked in the storage room a little bit, mostly sorting nails.  We should never, ever have to buy another nail with all we have left from when we built the house.  He had some plowing of snow to do so he could get to the shop so it was lunch time before he got home.  Then he rested...and then the football games were on, so, nothing more was accomplished on our project. 

On Sunday, I laid down the law that we were going to finish our project because I know how things go around here, and I wasn't going to have that mess for two years!  After chores he went to the shop to get the trucks in so they'd be ready to haul on Monday.  I thought maybe I had scared him off and he was never coming home!  He did and we finished the job.  Now he has a small workbench, all his tools are arranged and in sight so he remembers what he has, we again remember what we have down there, and we can walk all the way through the room.  There are a few more things that can probably go, but I hate throwing out things that are perfectly good and could be useful to someone.....like TV's. 

I'm kind of an anti-waste person, but who needs so much crap?!?  Around here, it's hard to find a place to take stuff.  I'm tired of having every drawer, cupboard and closet full to bursting so there may (should) be a lot more cleaning projects going on.  I told K that my next step may be the closet in J's old room.  She's pretty sure that he doesn't need any of it which translates to mean she doesn't want any more stuff moved to their house.

I have quite a list of projects I want to start on:  organizing my recipes that are ripped out of magazines and newspapers and stuffed in a cupboard, rearranging the extra bedrooms now that I have a new bed and moved the old one downstairs, finding pictures to make a photo book of his childhood for J now that he's going to be a daddy, the never-ending attempt at making more sense of my office, plus working on year-end book work (mandatory) and starting baby projects (fabric is arriving daily!).

Today I went with K to her doctor appointment and heard my grandbaby's heartbeat.  Such a cool sound, almost made me cry.  The baby projects may move to the top of my to-do list.

And We're Off.....

Happy New Year!  I seriously think it is going to take awhile to get used to it being January already, let alone getting used to 2013.  I worked on New Year's Eve day, and we stayed home and watched a movie that night and were in bed by 11.  Not much ringing in of the new year for us!  We did spend some time with my brother's family on New Year's Day so it sort of seemed like a holiday.

I had my checkup with my back doctor on the 4th.  He said my x-rays looked good and that I could start weaning out of the brace which I had already started, but no, I can't haul feed buckets yet. Yes, I asked that specific question.  No heavy lifting for six months.  By then I will be so wimpy that I won't be able to lift even if I want to!  I need to start some exercises to get some strength back, and I need to get out of that brace by the time we go on our trip in February.

Today we vaccinated, branded and re-tagged our heifer calves.  We had 119 to do (59 of ours and 60 of the neighbor's).  Thank goodness we had our A-team to help; R and our friend and bovine expert, Roger.  The process went relatively smoothly. but I find I'm not as much help as I used to be...sigh.  The local vet and her team are pretty efficient and a good bunch of people to work with.  They have a young Brazilian man working with them.  He thought it was too cold to be working cattle.  We politely informed him that it was a nice day and at least 15 degrees warmer than when we did it last year.  R and I each got five heifers.  He thinks he picked the best five after running them all through the chute.  Only time will tell.

I hope the new year is good for all of you.....and for us!

Where Did the Year Go?!?

It's hard to believe that 2012 will be over in a few hours.  It seems like it just flew by, and I keep thinking that spring will be here before we know it--yay!  If only we could make the time go a bit slower during spring and summer.  So far, we've had pretty mild winter temperatures, not much wind and not too much snow so that makes the winter more bearable.

We had a busy Christmas week.  M's sister and her family were here for almost a week, and it was just a party every day!  Throw in M's mom's birthday on the 22nd and our nephew's birthday on Christmas day just to add more reasons to celebrate.  We used to always have Christmas Eve supper at the in-laws and Christmas Day dinner at my house.  Now that the in-laws have moved to town in the winters everything happens in town.  That might make it easier for everyone else, but we don't like it.  I have no reason to get my house cleaned and decorated since no one comes to see it, and I really had a hard time getting into the spirit this year.  There were 18 in the house on Christmas Day--that's too many for me although I don't know who I would have kicked out!

R is camping out in the house at the farm enjoying the quietness.  He has two roommates at school and says there are usually 5 or 6 people there all the time so he's happy to have his own space for awhile.  He's been helping with cow feeding chores, and Marty is taking advantage of that and getting some other things done.

J took off today for his annual snowmobile trip to Cooke City.  I always breathe a sigh of relief when he comes home safe and sound.  I remember that the first year he went I cried.  I kept thinking of the fun we had going on family snowmobile trips and now he was all grown up and going without us.  He didn't even check in with me before he left this time--bad boy!

We are looking forward to the new year as we always do--hoping for a healthy family, good crops and maybe a bit more fun and a little less work.  So, I'm off to my couch with a glass of wine hoping I can make it until midnight.......or ten o'clock.  Happy New Year everyone!

We've had a bit of fog...and frost!

Piper dressed up for Christmas

Surprise!

One of my brothers and I had the best idea to surprise our other brother on his 60th birthday.  So, bright and early on Sunday morning we start out on a 400+ mile jaunt across the state for supper.  We were blessed with decent roads and weather and the smiles, hugs and "what are you doing here" made it worth the trip.  We had a nice visit and good food (of course) and beautiful scenery with the snow-covered mountains and trees.  He's on his way to the state legislature so we had a lot to talk about.

Some may think it crazy to make that trip for just an overnight stay, but we don't get together often enough and you never know how many more of those moments you'll get.  My brother is one of the most wonderful people I know, and I'm not just saying that because he's my brother.  He's smart, kind, sensible, and a no-nonsense kind of person (it's genetical), and I love spending time with him and his family.

The bonus was spending time on the road with another brother and helping him Christmas shop for his wife.  We think we travel well together so may have to be planning another road trip!  Love you guys!!

Back To Work

I finally went back to my "real" job this week.  Up until the middle of last week I really wasn't feeling up to it since I have to be on my feet all day.  I was pretty tired by the end of the day but didn't have much pain so that's a good sign.  My boss accused me of throwing things on the floor so he'd have to pick them up, but I swear that wasn't the case!  I also had to have a coworker pull open the door of the safe for me--that sucker is heavy--and get some things off the bottom shelf of of a cabinet.  I'll be so glad when I get out of this stupid, uncomfortable brace and get some mobility back.  It was payday the day that I was there, but there was no paycheck for me since I took the whole month of November off.  I felt a bit left out.

We have had crazy weather with rain (never good in December) and then ice.  M fell the other day and whacked his elbow and worries about me falling.  I'm pretty nervous about that, too, so am super careful and really, sadly, don't get out much.  I do most of my walking on the treadmill which I don't enjoy too much but have found that I can read at the same time and the time goes by much faster.  Something has gone haywire though since it says I'm walking 180 mph and I do about 75 miles at a time.  Yeah, I'm a super woman!

I have been going crazy over my dirty house since I can't vacuum or sweep.  Actually, I do sweep (slowly and carefully) but then I have to leave piles of dirt (and dog hair) for M to scoop up when he gets home.  I finally got him to vacuum the other day, but he needs to do it again.  I don't think I will get much Christmas decorating done without his help, and I don't see that happening, so I may be off the hook for that, too.

M has been busy working on his cow water project and hauling cows and calves around the area.  He's out on his last scheduled load today so the fall run may be over and maybe things will slow down for him a bit.  We're usually in Hawaii this time of year, and I'm sure there are days he really wishes we were there this year.

We've been busy the past few days planning our trip to Florida for the Daytona 500 in February.  M wouldn't make any plans until he was sure I was going to be healed up and ready to go.  I should be back to normal by then, I hope.  Merry Christmas to us!