They grow so fast

 Growing fast is part of the plan with cattle, and my husband's (and mine too now I suppose) calves have really put on the pounds this summer, making us both very happy. Here are a few photos from last week, after we moved them to fresh pasture.

Much as it pains me to say this out loud, Simmental/Angus crosses may not be that bad : )

It was a little brisk when this guy arrived in early spring!

 Here's the difference between a high percentage Simmental heifer ( on the left), and a high percentage Angus heifer (on the right). My husband just loves the one on the left, while my dad immediately commented on how much he liked the nice head on the one on the right.

 This is most likely an AI calf. My husband AI's his heifers and some of his cows each year.

As you can see, it turned out to be a great grass year in western S.D.

 

 

 

 Which also means an excellent milk year!

 These cows are mostly our first calf heifers and coming three's, in other words the young mothers. They're going to make a positive impact on the cowherd based on the number raising calves like this one. That's baby on the left and momma on the right. Oh, and one of my Wyoming transplants sporting a pink ear tag.

Here are the mothers, or "The Beef Council" as one lady commented on my Double H Facebook page. Hope you've enjoyed a good grass year in your area as well!

Challenges

I have started this post numerous times the last couple weeks. I am determined to press "publish" when finished typing this time, overcome my writer's block and get back to blogging.
The first two months of married life have flown by, and have been crazy. No one really told me about the crash landing that occurs when your honeymoon is over. How, about three days after being home, you're exhausted from sharing a bed the size of one you comfortably occupied alone prior to being married. How you have both been able to go to bathroom, start your car, run errands and accomplish countless other everyday tasks just fine for years, even decades, without this new spouse unceasingly telling you how to do every little thing. I naïvely believed we would float on bliss for a couple months at least until we started to deal with this sort of thing. Not so!
Then there are dealing with all the life events that don't stop, slow down, or have any consideration at all to the fact that you have been slammed into a whole new world, feel permanently separated from anything resembling a comfort zone, and are not finding anything lie is throwing at you the least bit amusing.
When your life involves being responsible for hundreds of other living things, all the feed to keep them full and happy during the upcoming winter and a return on investment ratio that would make a "real" businessman run for the hills, and when you're both use to being in charge of the day to day operations of such a place, it adds a whole new level to the adjustment period and the stress included in building the foundation of a strong marriage.
This has been our life for the last two months. We are incredibly happy one moment, and ready to attack the other with the closest blunt object the next (I mean that figuratively for the most part). We're completely worn out, very much still in love, determined to make this work in a way that includes us both getting some sleep, and actually starting to make a little headway some days.
We've discussed all this, and both believed, again naïvely, that seeing as how we are both responsible adults who maintain super busy schedules and multiple businesses, that blending our lives together would go fairly well. Oh I'm sure God got a good chuckle out of that thought.
Truth is, he has presented us with challenges right out of the gate that would be incredibly difficult at any point in life for one or the other, or both, of us to deal with right. For example, we had pinkeye sweep through our cows not once, but twice this summer. Every one of my cows but one has had it so far, and that was devastating to me. Seeing an animal, my animal especially, hurting or otherwise unhealthy or unhappy will put me in the worst mood, and has been very hard at times.
There have been other serious animal and crop issues. Our house was a complete disaster for well over a month after moving my stuff here, and you really did not want to attempt a trip through to the bathroom in the dark if you valued your toes. We have had multiple vehicle issues and breakdowns, I missed recording a couple checks in my register at one point (you can imagine the rest) and a raccoon pooped on the roof of my car!
But, through it all we have been working steadily on building the cornerstone of our relationship with Christ, as the man who married us explained was so important prior to and during our wedding. We feel stronger as a couple, are getting much better at running full-tilt with little to no sleep and have worked some things into our routine to make it easier for both of us. We've started to learned how to compromise, to enjoy the fact that we both love our lifestyle and have all these ideas on how things should be done, and to realize how much the other is trying to make this go as well as possible.
We're to the point where we very cautiously say "bring it on" with tired determination and a sincere hope it won't be brought on right away.
I can't wait to share it with you, as soon as I get my camera repaired and the memory card with everything from the last few weeks and our honeymoon on it to a tech person so they can hopefully recover all the images. I wasn't kidding when I said we were hit with challenges from every direction.
Here's to starting month three of marriage, farming, ranching and writing in Western South Dakota.

One Month Down

 Today is the one month mark for my husband and I. We are happy, completely exhausted, busy and did I mention worn out? Our wedding day was beyond perfect, and we loved and enjoyed every minute. Our honeymoon consisted of more than 1,500 miles in 6 days and we had a blast. Upon our return home, the honeymoon immediately ended, and we've been scrambling ever since. We also snapped a few photos along the way...

Flaming Gorge Reservoir. One of three reservoirs we checked out on the first two days of our honeymoon. This one offers tours every 30 minutes too! But, alas, no sooner did we make it through security for our tour than a lightning strike was spotted, which puts a halt to tours for half an hour. Considering that we had a lot of miles to cover and it looked like a storm was brewing, we sadly left without seeing things up close.

Jackson Hole. We spent a day and a half walking around Jackson, enjoying dinner and a live show at the Jackson Theater, eating at the Two Merry Piglets, and loving a 13 miles scenic float down the Snake River. I wanted to do a white water rafting trip, but my husband turned green at the mere mention, so this was our compromise. Considering I got this picture on the scenic float, it was worth it!

 Yellowstone National Park. This is actually two miles south of Yellowstone, where we stayed in a cabin with a back porch, complete with two rocking chairs and this view. While in Yellowstone, we checked out Yellowstone Lake, the famous Yellowstone Falls, Old Faithful and various other sites. Wildlife count included buffalo, a grizzly bear, elk and deer.

Montana. From Yellowstone we stayed in Cooke City, then went over 11,000 feet up, up, up over a pass on our way to Red Lodge. It was a gorgeous drive. From there we drove along the Yellowstone River and checked out the crops (I did marry a farmer/rancher). This hay picture was taken just north of Alzada, where it appears they are having an excellent hay year.

From Montana we came home, excited to dive into married life together.



 

 Our first task was dealing with the pinkeye epidemic that swept through our pairs in the week we were gone. Almost all of my cows, several of his and over half the calves were infected. And, for those that don't believe in antibiotic use in livestock, treating problems like pinkeye with antibiotics is not the easy, lazy way out, it's the more time consuming, right thing to do for the animal. We spent an entire day setting up corrals, gathering and trailing in a herd half blind, running each infected animal through the chute, and treating them with a combination of penicillin (to treat the issue) and dexamethasone (to speed up the penicillin's efficacy). We gave the shot in the vein running through the eyelid, because that location ensures the treatment is right where it needs to be (the eye). My sister-in-law, who works for two vets, and her husband were kind enough to help us figure out the best treatment, and help us administer the shots. We also poured everyone for flies, since they are the main carriers of the disease. I am happy to report our treatment was highly effective, and the last two times we've checked, everyone is doing much better and well on the way to recovery. If we hadn't treated with antibiotics, most of my cows and over half our calf crop would be blind for life, which would severely limit their ability to eat, drink, maintain a healthy weight and survive in the large pastures they call home.

Then there were the crops, which ripened in our absence. We checked everything and my husband kept a close eye on them until it was determined the time had come to harvest.

 

 

 So, much like spring and fall cattle work, the entire family converged on our fields, making sure the harvest happened in a timely fashion. Here is my father-in-law, racing against a rain storm to finish the first wheat field. A couple crops did get rained on in the truck, and now we are shuffling hot, moist grain back and forth in an effort to dry it.

 Then there was the hog trip. We had to make an overnight trip to get a few extra hogs to fill all our orders because our wonderful customer's orders exceeded our supply. I was driving down the interstate at 80 mph with an empty trailer on our way to Southeastern South Dakota, a 6 hour drive one-way, when the transmission went out of my husband's pickup. I got pulled over to the side of the interstate and slowed down to about 20 mph before everything locked up and lurched us to a stop, barely over the white line.
We called one sister-in-law and she headed our way to help tow us off the road and make a plan. Then, about an hour into waiting and after taking the driveline off, and managing to get the rig a little further off the road with me holding in the clutch and steering while my husband pushed (we were stopped on a hill), my second sister-in-law and her family drove by on their way to a ranch rodeo and helped get us towed off the interstate.
Not to be deterred, we eventually got another pickup hooked to our rig and continued on, arriving at our destination three hours later than planned. We loaded and were home at 3 a.m., then were up and back on the same stretch of road the following morning by 8 a.m. to retrieve our pickup and one sister-in-law that loaned us hers.
But, we did get the hogs, and a new boar. So, it was successful.
There has also been a trip to Wyoming to move me to South Dakota, and as I type this my house is a complete disaster of piles you could lose a small child in. But, thanks to lots of help from both sides of the family in between all these other events, the house is much cleaner and more organized than it was a few days ago.
Did I mention my husband is also the President of the Fair Board, and I am now judging the livestock show and the 4-H photography show next week in addition to starting back up with my writing?
I'm sure you get the point that we have been a little bombarded in our first month of marriage. But there have also been a plethora of blessings mixed in with the trials. For example, my husband has an unlimited miles powertrain warranty on his pickup until January 2014, so everything should be fixed for $100, which is his deductible. We also managed to purchase a very affordable, high quality boar that we hadn't planned on being able to swing right now, and need to keep up with our growing number of sows.
We are very blessed, and keep reminding ourselves and each other that without all our blessings we wouldn't have had to face any of the trials of the last month. Here's to one month down and hundreds more to come!



Wedding planning, lessons learned

My wedding is fast approaching in 9 days, and I feel both ready and as if there are still a million things to do. This will likely be my last post for a while, so please bear with me until late July or August, when I will be moved, finished writing thank-you's, sleeping regular hours, caught up editing pictures and back to a schedule of some sorts.
In the meantime, and before the wedding day arrives and this all fades into the past, I want to share some of the things I learned during this process. The nitty gritty, drove me crazy or went especially well things. Maybe they'll help you keep your sanity when planning a wedding or other large event some day.
1. Register, even if you don't need anything. Register at a store where you do need a few things, so that you can return unnecessary gifts and put the difference toward something you will use. We did not register because my groom lives in a house previously occupied by his grandparents, and I also lived alone before returning to the ranch. This means we have duplicates or triplicates of just about every kitchen item and about 65 towels. What we do not have between the two of us are new (or even close to new) appliances. Plus, his house is an older home, which means it could use some updating in places. So, we said gifts weren't expected, but if anyone wanted to purchase something for us, gift cards to home improvement stores would be greatly appreciated.
Then, to add to the fire that the no gift announcement sparked with certain invitees, I had a coffee themed shower. Instead of the traditional kitchenware gifts, we asked for recipes and something coffee related, because again, I already have three sets of measuring cups, a stack of pot holders, and so on.
Some people were thrilled with the idea of something different. Some were not. The standard response of the not thrilled folks was they were buying us towels because it was ridiculous to buy someone something like coffee for a shower gift, and we never let them know what we really needed.
So, I reiterate, unless you want to have multiple conversations with the people sporting this attitude, and an even bigger pile of towels, just register. I finally did register prior to the shower and let all the people who were asking know, and not one item has been purchased off the registry, so I'm not sure if it's a solution to these people, but at least it allows you to nicely say you have a registry with a variety of options on it.
2. Everyone doesn't need an answer immediately. While I am very blessed to have a lot of willing and talented people helping me with my wedding, they all have questions, concerns, ideas and thoughts they want to run by me, the bride. There are about a dozen of them, and one of me. My computer literally receives messages almost non-stop, and this is probably due in part to there being no cell phone service where I live. But, whenever I get into service, I usually have a slew of texts and calls about wedding related stuff as well. While it's great that so many people want to help, it can be overwhelming too. To keep up, with both my daily tasks and the questions, I finally stopped replying to everyone immediately, realizing it was the only thing I was going to get done. Now I try to sit down a couple mornings a week and answer wedding related stuff for an hour or so, then get back to my other tasks. Giving everyone the time and attention they need is important when they're helping make your big day perfect, but it can't be at the expense of everything else you have to get done.
3. Try on dresses at more than one store if that store doesn't come highly recommended. I tried on, and subsequently purchased, my dress at a newer David's Bridal store. I just walked in to make an appointment and the store was empty so they let me try on dresses for 2 hours. I came back for a second visit and found my dress. The sales people were fantastic. But, from that point on it has not exactly been smooth sailing. The people have all remained friendly, professional and easy to work with, but I deal with a new person every time I go in. Their suggestion for making my slip fit under my dress was to fold it over, as in they would not alter it. Then, when I went in for my final dress fitting and pickup in mid-June, they had messed up my alterations - alterations that ended up costing double what they quoted me. Fortunately it was just too long and consequently the bustle also didn't work. Again, the guy, yes guy, I dealt with that time was great, but the result is I have to drive 3 hours one way the Wednesday before my wedding for a second final dress fitting.
4. People will come and people will go. There will be people you like and that mean a lot to you and/or the groom that simply will not come, with no good reason for missing your big event. There will be other people who mean a lot to you who will not be able to come for good reason, and who will let you know. There will be people who will rearrange their entire year, drive hundreds of miles, and show up early just to help and be there for you. It's a series of highs and lows as you realize who you mean a lot to and who you don't, and you will be able to tell the difference. Be prepared for a few stings and a few elated moments as folks call to let you know why they won't be able to attend, or that they wouldn't miss it for the world.

Those are some of the biggies we've encountered while planning our big day. At this point we're both really excited to wrap up the planning, be married, enjoy our reception, and leave for a week on our honeymoon.