I've been away from home again, back in Texas going through my folks' house, getting ready for the estate sale, but I thought I'd pop in with a quick post because I promised I wouldn't disappear again.
I've spent hours upon hours going through dozens of albums and boxes of photos:
It was hard tossing thousands of pictures, but I felt like I needed to at least flip through every one. So many fun memories and these aren't even MY pictures. Still, many of them were photos I shared with my folks or photos they took while visiting us. I found photos of us when I introduced DH to my folks when we were dating:
And photos of us at my college graduation:
The first place we lived after college was Simplot, Idaho. We both worked at Simplot Feedlot. I was on the phone with DH when I came across these photos and I laughed when I told him I found a photo of the old trailer house we lived in. Looking at it now, it's awful, but we were in love. He laughed and said it was nice compared to the one they first showed him.
He said, "All we had was a bedroll ( a cowboy sleeping bag) and each other." I told him that was all we needed then.
We're expecting a houseful this weekend and I'm so excited to have everyone home! It's been too long! The kids are coming and DH's folks will be here as well so after the sale on Monday I made another big grocery run to the tune of $300.
The men will be manning the smokers: Brisket - Pork Loin - Chicken - Jalapeno Poppers. My Dirt Road Granola Bars and Pea Pickin' Cake have been requested. Pound Cake. Corn on the Cob. Deviled Eggs. Spicy Pickles. Brats for over the Fire Pit one night. Chicken Quesadillas one night. Guacamole - Queso. Watermelon - and lots of different salads: Fruit Salad-Asian Salad - Potato Salad - Pasta Salad - Catalina Salad - Broccoli Salad - Cherry Salad - Chicken Salad. Hmmm...I think they're going to have to stay longer to eat everything. 😄
In between ranch life and cooking, lawn mowing and house sprucing are in full swing as well! So I had better scoot! I'm overjoyed!
God is good all the time, whether it rains or not, but on Saturday He blessed us with rain. I can hear ya'll now: "Here we go again, another post about the weather!" LOL.
I'm sorry, but as ranchers, our life pretty much really does revolve around the weather.
After a Sunday morning breakfast omelet, DH and I headed out on a rain run. The rain gauge here at the house just had 0.2" in it, but around here, we are grateful for every drop. And as we drove east and then north, we began to run into water and DH laughed when I told him I needed a photo of a puddle:
I told him it was for historical documentation purposes. 😄
This rain gauge at North Camp made us dance a little jig:
Seems as if the rain ran across us diagonally and covered about 25% of the ranch.
We are desperate for it everywhere (as is everyone in the state), but the most amazing thing is, that we got the best rain right where the cattle are. I know that's not a coincidence. I don't believe in those. I know, without a doubt, that God's hand was in it. And I am a firm believer in prayer so to all of you who have sent prayers, THANK YOU! Know too that I am keeping those who are dealing with TOO MUCH rain in prayer as well. Our girl said she didn't think they were ever gonna dry out in OK. She was raised a desert rat so this has been a big change for her. It's rained so much there that she said she thinks she's beginning to mold. 😳
Skeet came along for the celebration too:
We drove up Sardine Mountain to get a bird's eye view of the dirt tanks without tearing up the roads:
These tanks were previously empty. Adobe Tank, that falls off into Adobe Lake was full. They're a couple of miles away:
Spotted Tank was full! This is a picture from 6 years ago. The one I took didn't turn out:
And Silman Lake was full!
any green you see, is mesquite, not grass. We also have a tank called Madison Square Garden (don't know who in the world came up with that one!) and it was full, but it is silted in and needs to being cleaned out and it can't be cleaned out until it's dry, but right now we need the rain more than we need the tank cleaned.
No more feed runs! No more hauling hay!
Although we are very grateful that we were able to buy hay or we would have had to sell the 300 hd we have left:
Skeet will miss hay runs too - the calves come running when he hits the ground:
DH has been needing to visit with his brother and we've been praying for God to make a way for DH to be able to get away for a few days so they could spend some time together. Without this rain, he wouldn't be able to do so. Thank you, Jesus!
Cool, crisp, rain-scented desert air. The smell of coffee wafting from DH's cup. A happy pup:
Muddy roads:
This man by my side:
And when this song came on the radio as we ran across Sardine Mountain, I got a little misty-eyed:
We had a busy week and I don't know if it's really busy or if we're just getting old, but either way, it wore us out.
Monday was sale barn day, as usual, and the sales are slowing down a little, as they tend to do in the summer, but we still sold almost 1200 hd. We finished at 4:30 and I headed to the grocery store with a long list because I was cooking for a branding crew. 2 hours later, I was headed home.
DH helped the neighbors brand on Tuesday.
We branded on Wednesday.
Back to help the neighbors on Thursday.
And we closed out the week, branding here again on Friday.
Lots of early mornings.
DH had to leave at 3 a.m. as the neighbors are an hour away and yes, they really are that far. We share a fence with them on the east side.
Yes, I really ought to go back to bed after he saddles up and leaves, but I get up, make coffee for him and I brush my teeth because minty fresh 'see you later, have a good day, be safe, have fun, tell everyone hi, I love you' kisses are a nice way to begin the day...even at 3 a.m. And then I am awake. And since I didn't have to cook on Tuesday and Thursday, I caught up on some reading:
Tended to computer correspondence:
Added a few stitches to my current binding project:
After 14 years, I got a spiffy, new lawn mower...for Mother's Day. 😂. It's just a basic, push mower, but I am thrilled! I don't need bells and whistles and with this drought, the yard is the only thing to mow. It takes me about about an hour to mow the yard and maybe 20 minutes to mow the bunkhouse yard. In years past, when it has rained, I have spent a lot of time (about 15 hours a week) mowing all over headquarters and I told DH that I was requesting a riding mower when that happened again.
I enjoy mowing the yard in the cool of the morning. It looks lush this year- maybe because it's the only green to be seen anywhere in this part of the world. A few years ago, we had someone come out and trim the trees. We've done it ourselves in the past:
We were so sad to lose one of the Elm trees (out here, trees are treasured) and then I was thrilled to see it coming back and now we have more future shade. It's already about 10' tall:
Hmmm...might be a good place for a nap. Heaven knows this old girl could use one.
