Butchering cows, butchering hair

Kind of a gruesome sounding title. But I would like my family to know that I will be participating in the butchering of the cow. I actually hope to be involved as little as possible... so far my only job has been to buy the ziploc baggies to store it in. Anyway... we had a cow pass.... or break her leg.... so this was apparently reason to make her into hamburger. Which I didn't really know that we would actually be making the hamburger. How organic is that? Grow your own meat, butcher it yourself. Good times. Am wondering if any of my other cowgirl friends have had to participate in this? I doubt it.

In other news.... I have dyed my hair back to its original color.... well that is what I told her to do.... but it is super dark. She and I were going for a Lauren Graham (gilmore girls) kind of look... not so sure we achieved it. My husband said it was kind of goth.... he is not known for his sensitivity. He said it in a nice way, but still..... I taught clay at least to tell me it was pretty. This is part of the fun of having children... programming them to say nice things at appropriate times. Tell mommy she is pretty dear... tell me... TELL ME. Kind of freaky actually. Actually I just told him when girls get their haircut, you always have to say it looks nice... I think this is just good manners.... like opening doors and such, part of the things a mom teaches her son. I think maybe my mil dropped the ball on this one. Although after much staring he did say he liked it....

Train up a child....

Train up a child in the way he should go.... and when he is old he will not poop in the yard. I do realize this is not an exact quote of the proverb.... but it was fitting for today. My little 3.5 yr old has decided it is much funner to go in the yard as opposed to the potty. Today.... again I saw him squatting in the yard.... actually he doesn't go in the actual yard... he goes out in the "tall grass" with the dogs no less... a fact which he is proud of. So I head out to the yard to AGAIN tell him to go in the house and he is like mommy, I don't always go in the yard... I mostly go behind the tree. The thanks for this wise teaching can go to Ken.... who directs him to go number one behind a tree because for awhile there he was just busting it all out in the driveway, yard, parking lot etc. Anyway.... if you get grossed out you may want to quit reading... but in the spirit of being honest I shall continue with life with a 3 yr old boy.... so we get to behind the tree and it is clear that perhaps my dear son has not used a potty all week. Maybe 2 weeks. The evidense is right there. He thinks this is very clever and hilarious. I wonder.... how long will he do this? They say no one wears diapers to kindergarten.... but is this because they all freely go in the playground? On the upside he hasn't had an accident in a long time..... But I woundn't recommend a stoll through my yard in bare feet :)

A glass of Wine.... or 3

Good Evening! We just came back from dinner with my BFF and her mom..... and me and my mom. So fun. It did involve 3 bottles of wine.... and that is no joke. And the thing is.... we are totally a strait lace kind of people. But we laughed.... ate.... and laughed some more. Those are the best times.

We are having a cattle drive tomorrow. My hubby and 8 of his closest friends.... actually it will an aunt, uncle, 2 cousins....a friend or two all on horses driving cattle about 10 miles. The only problem is it is currently snowing. To which my husband says.... I'm not going to let a little cold weather stop us.... the cattle will move better. Whatever. Sometimes I wonder how he and I hooked up.... it is below 40 degrees and I think that I shouldn't have to go to work. Or really even get out of bed. My job will be.... fixing lunch for everyone.... and watching our cattle that are already calving. This will involve going out in the pickup every 3 hours... with my little ones and making sure that if anyone is trying to push out a baby.... that everything is going well. I am not sure that I am the best candidate for this job... but if all I have to do is make sure the hooves sticking out are going the right way.... well..... maybe I can handle it. Problem is.... what am I supposed to do if something does look wrong? I can just see me and my mom out there.... like hmmmm.... now what are we supposed to do? Get the calf puller ma.... lets get er done. Yeah right! If anyone feels like chili on cold snowy day with some single cowboys..... stop on by. Yes linz... this means you.

Riding Horse

Lets see..... We moved some cows yesterday..... which involved me driving a pickup carrying a bale of hay to tempt them.... and my mom, mother in law, and husband riding horses to drive them in. Quite fun. The only problem was when said husband asked me to the ride his horse "red" back in. So I did.... and it was fine.... till the next day. When now I am totally stiff. This is pathetic on a number of levels. The main problem being I really only rode him for like 5 min. This is the equilvalent of being sore for 2 days after walking one city block. So sad. If I want to be Mrs. Rodeo Nebraska.... I am going to have to do better than that. For real.

Calf Pulling

Thanks to the 3 people who commented on my blog. Its nice to know that someone has read it.... even if it was actually only 2 people because my sister said 2 things and the other was my brother. Its cool.... we are nothing without our family.

To continue with adventures on the ranch.... I recently experienced my first calf pull. This may require some defining. It is actually helping a cow give birth to a calf who was stuck. Very fun. Kdoll rode out on a horse.... and got the cow into the corral. Now the reason that we knew she was having a calf in the first place, was because there were 2 little hooves sticking out of her.... ummmm..... booty. It was super cool...... but she was really ticked off. This is kind of typical of new momma cows.... they are like what the heck is happening to my body.... I don't like it. Frankly.... I've been there. So cowboy Joe and I get this calf into the shoot.... this is done by waving sticks and yelling on my husband's part.... and some singing on my part. I called her Bessie (not too original) and there was some singing involved. I think my husband was actually embarrassed and probably glad our nearest neighbor is a few miles away. My job was to distract her while K shut the gate to lock her into place. Try distracting a pissed off cow with a baby hanging out. Not easy. But I did get to climb some fences and I was wearing cute cowgirl boots.... so that part was fun. Once we got her place.....K got in the shoot with her.... and had to put these chains around the calfs hooves. My job was to hold the chains. Of course.... not having done this before.... I did it wrong... and he was like.... if the cow gets mad and sucks the calf back in her... your hand will go with her. Ummmm whhhaaat??? I quickly altered my chain holding technique. So then.... he attaches the chain to a calf pulling apparatus and yanks that sucker out. Beautiful. A new little life. I welcomed it to the world.... it was all wet and covered just like a baby.... although not like my babies because mine had no hair.... and obviously a calf has hair.... and weighed like 90 lbs. No wonder that cow was mad. But now the baby is doing well and the momma is doing well.... so there is a happy ending after all. Ahhhhhhh.