Friday Update

Perhaps you've noticed a few changes around here. It's been so nice to finally update my blog with my new computer! I'm sure I will continue to tweek and change things in upcoming weeks. If you have any suggestions, advice, or even things you don't like, I would love to hear from you!
I've also noticed a few new followers in recent weeks, and want to say welcome! Thank you for following my blog, and I'm excited you're here.
From time to time I like to provide a little background information about myself and where I live. Here is a link to the post where I give a tour of my hometown.
I actually live 25 miles north of the bustling metropolis of Lance Creek, and our closest neighbors live five miles away if you take a road. It's closer to 2.5 miles cross country. Cattle outnumber people around here by a huge margin.
We are two and a half hours (one way) from a Walmart, Starbucks (that's the most painful one for me), Red Lobster, mall, airport, college, and any number of other "common" modern shopping, eating and transportation amenities.
To purchase a gallon of milk or any other groceries, check out a library book, find a k-12 school or a coffee shop of any kind (yay!), it's a one hour drive, one way. So, every trip to get groceries is a minimum of 112 miles, round trip.
We are isolated. We like it that way.
Our ranch is located in the "banana belt" of Wyoming. It's a semi-arid climate that has exceptionally mild winters. We originally purchased this ranch as a winter place, and our cattle lived here during the winter months on grass a cake every year. We never fed hay. Today it has changed in that we run cattle on this ranch year-round, so we feed a little more during the winter months. But, it's still a very nice to be located here in the winter compared to just about everywhere else in the state. Ironically enough, just one hour south of us, the area around Lusk is famous for it's terrible winter weather.
Being semi-arid also means we get a minimal amount of moisture; under 12 inches annually. We grow hard grasses that cattle do very well on. Hard refers to the grass not containing a lot of moisture, so each bite packs in a lot of nutrients as opposed to water. But, there isn't always a lot of it.
Hope you love where you live too, and enjoy the unique features of the area!

P.S., we're linking up with the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop too this week-

Where I'm From

I spent the first 4 years of my life in this old farmhouse, located smack dab between Sundance and Upton, on the edge of the Black Hills.
I turned in across the highway from this landmark in my life on the way to conduct interviews yesterday, and couldn't help but stop and admire it for a couple seconds.
The upstairs window you can see was my parent's bedroom, and my brother and I shared the other bedroom located on the opposite side of the upstairs floor.


My family leased the place, and that's how we came to live there. We hayed the meadows, and would trail our cows to and from the home place, located a few miles beyond the pine trees in the left of the photo, two times a year.
Wasps would burrow into the carpet to stay warm in the winter, and would regularly sting Kyle on his way to bed (how I missed being stung is something I do not understand, but am nonetheless grateful for)
We learned to ride here, took toboggan rides in the winter and played in the creek in the summer. I burnt my hand really bad on the lawnmower exhaust pipe once, and more than a couple cows got out on the highway.


My uncle still leases part of if, and based on my best driving by and snapping a photo guess, these are his heifers.
It was a great place to live as a little kid.

Winter house tour, Part 2

Here is part of the rest of my house. The bathroom hasn't changed much over the months, and the third bedroom is currently being used to store all my Christmas boxes and paraphernalia, so those two rooms aren't included in this tour...sorry...they are the two doors on the left if you're wondering.

Love the floors in my house, and the fact that it has no carpet!




The other way.




Finally got some pictures up in the hallway, and everyone who stops by enjoys looking at them. More are in the works, and will hopefully be up early next year!





My room really hasn't changed much either. I have one print I am looking everywhere for that I want to get framed for in here. Otherwise it and the spare bedroom are sadly lacking in wall decor.




The closet is still small...and practically bursting at the seems these days : ) Nothing new there either.




This saying is one of my favorite things in my room! The plan is to add the perfect wrought iron headboard in white or the natural metal color....just as soon as I find and procure one!




The guest room is still in progress too. Hopefully if you come to visit the brass lamp my mom loaned me will be gone, and the other lamp will have a shade. I recently bought a shade without paying much attention, and it was way too big for the lamp.
My aunt made me the quilt when I graduated high school, and I've always wanted a place I could use it, but it wouldn't get ruined. This has been the perfect solution, as it doesn't get used all the time, but is out where it can be seen.
Again, I know about the walls, and I have some ideas that include my own photographs for this room, but so far haven't had, or taken, the time to actually get it done.
So there is the house, in case you missed it the first time around.

Winter house tour, Part 1

I love my little house, especially the inside! The past year has been spent furnishing it, and I thought I would provide a little update on it. This is partially because I'm running a little low on new ranch pictures, and partially to document how it looks over time.

Right now things are a little cramped in the living room due to my Christmas tree. This tree will not be living in my house next year, I plan to upgrade to a real tree that's more than 2' in diameter.
The windows on the wall are a work in progress. I personally think they would have looked better if I had gone all out and hung ribbon, or lights...or something around them. But I wanted to try filling the panes with wrapping paper for the holidays, so I can check that off the list now.


I bought my Charles Russell prints at the Charles Russell museum in MT, and had them custom framed at Hobby Lobby. I forgot to take a close-up, but love how they turned out. I would like to get a third one framed the same way to add to these two.
My leather rocking/reclining chair was a huge find for me too! I should mention I'm a big thrift store shopper, especially with furniture. A lot of my items came from such shops in Casper and Rapid City, including the black leather chair, windows, coffee tables, all the lamps and white shelf by couch.


This shelf came from Target.


Those are actually bright red Christmas balls hanging from my candle holders. I was using my little hand-held camera for this photo project. I also chose this one to give you an idea of what really goes on at my house (imagine fierce growling and a general ruckus to accompany the fighting dogs). Getting them in the picture was a complete accident.
Anyway, the black shelf was from another re-purposing shop in Casper, and my mom found the bench the TV is sitting on. All the wall hangings and the cross tree came from Hobby Lobby (there is reasoning behind asking for a Hobby Lobby gift card for Christmas)
I typically decorate under the bench for the season at hand, and had it filled with fall leaf garlands earlier in the year. I was a little late on my Christmas decor shopping this year, and will hopefully find something I like more to put under there next year. I like to not see any cords or the outlet when I'm done!

The desk is perfect for holding sunscreen, gloves and other odds and ends that you need as you head out the door. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not very happy with my tree, and am planning an upgrade for next year!
Should you ever visit, you will likely be greeted by a growling Pearl, standing right where she is here.



Those wire circle things came from Ross, surprisingly. The chair and ottoman I found at Big Lots, and I bought the couch in Rapid City.
When decorating, I'm the sort that waits until I find just what I want, then rarely move it once I've found the perfect spot for it. So it's this mentality that has resulted in random pieces of furniture and decor being picked up at so many different shops, towns and states.




My parents are not fans of the windows hanging on the wall, even without the wrapping paper.



The kitchen is one of my least favorite parts of the house. I still like it, but compared to everything else it ranks pretty low. While it has plenty of cupboard space, it is seriously lacking in counter space, and I like to cook and bake.



The door in the back leads to the garage, and is also the laundry/dog food area.




The table was found at a furniture store in Casper. The idea is to eventually put a glass door where the window is on the left, and build a deck in the back yard. Right now I have to go through the garage to get to my yard, and I'm pretty excited about the idea of having a deck off the eating area!





I thought about cleaning it off, but this gives a more realistic view of things, especially in recent weeks. There are two computers because my work laptop (the Mac) won't read CD's, so if I'm doing anything that involves a CD I have to resort to my personal Dell. I also usually have my personal computer on because it's where a lot of my pictures are stored, and I always seem to need something off it when I'm doing anything photo-related.
I love the picture, and found it in an ugly frame at a...you guessed it...thrift store. I had it re-framed at Hobby Lobby, and am still looking for the perfect accompanying pieces for either side of it.

Deep Breathes

This is the last big hill before home. Nestled far away from most people's definition of hustle bustle it is a place people either love or hate. I love it. At the far left edge of the photo you might be able to see a couple buildings and that is my parent's house.
I've noticed that upon topping this hill (usually cruising right along) it's as if a breathe I've been holding whooshes out and I take another deep breathe and everything in me settles back into place. I rarely even notice I've been holding my breathe (figuratively, of course) until this point. It's both invigorating and relaxing to top this hill and be home.

Back where I come from

Welcome to the closest thing I have to a hometown-Lance Creek. I actually grew up 25 miles north of this bustling metropolis, but it is the closest town of any kind. There is a gas station, post office, bar, elementary school, church and some oil industry stuff-basically everything necessary for life.

(Photos courtesy of my mom)

To get to the school you actually need to turn and go past the Lance Creek sign about 5 miles. What you can see in the photo is the gas station on the right with the red roof. The building further back on the right is the bar. Between the two and out of site is a post office.
There ya go, you can get a tank of fuel, mail a letter and grab a beer on your way through town (not that we act like we're from the middle of nowhere or anything)
I much prefer being affiliated with Lance Creek than the larger town (population a whopping 2,000 or so) and country seat, Lusk. There is something unique about Lusk, and after spending so much time there I still can't decide if that is a good, or a bad thing.

Now, before you start thinking Lance Creek has nothing to offer, let me make my case.
First, we have celebrities. This billboard is sitting literally on the side of the road where no one can read it without stopping. In addition to Jason Miller, we have his family, which consists of a Justen Miller, Jeff Miller and about 15 other J names.
Second, we have traffic issues. Right across from this sign is where Rex lives, along with several dozen wild turkeys, some geese, chickens, dogs and additional random bits of wildlife and domestic livestock. Once our bus ran right over one of Rex's geese. It came out the back flapping its feathers and little dirtier, but otherwise fine. The turkeys are the greatest hazard, you need good breaks if you're going to speed around Rex's corner, which most people do.
We don't have a lot of cops this far out, so the speeding thing I mentioned is fairly common. When you live over 50 miles from school you have to be innovative. What takes the non-speeder an hour to cover my brother and I could do in just over 40 minutes. So could the neighbor kids, and their parents.
We have entertainment. No-actually we don't- forget that
We do have excitement. There are floods, prairie fires, theft, people driving through that don't know how to speed properly and wreck or have issues at Rex's corner.
Perhaps topping the list is Moses (not that one, this wasn't during a flood) Moses was little off his rocker and killed a farmer in Nebraska and stole his pickup before arriving in Lusk and driving right through town with every cop in the place on high alert.
He ended up out by Lance Creek on a ranch. A father and son caught him that night. They called the cops, invited him into their home and fed him supper while waiting for the police to arrive.
Another guy (we get a lot of odd folks passing through) went missing clear out north of where I was raised. His van was found on the side a desolate road literally in the middle of nowhere. A search was conducted and he wasn't found. The following spring a rancher found him while riding.
We also have wide-open spaces, livestock, wildlife, bar fights, friendly neighbors and a great church. The school consists of a two-room building and while my brother and I attended there was an average of about 8 students total, grades k-8th.
Definitely a small, agriculture oriented community. But for being so small, the meat, wool, horse and oil products produced in northern Niobrara County are used all over the world in a variety of ways.