Many things have changed since my last blog post. We had our beautiful baby boy, Rhett James, on April 14, 2016 at 4:33 pm. He is full of life, loves dancing, and is obsessed with cows, horses, and TRACTORS! He just turned 1 and we are loving life with him. He keeps us moving and he is ALL BOY!
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| Birthday! |
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| First birthday party |
Since having our Rhett boy, more than a few things have changed in our life. I made the very difficult decision to stay home with him and no longer "work in town". It has been challenging, fun, exhausting, and very different for this girl. I miss my work as a physical therapist but I am so grateful to have this opportunity to stay home with Rhett as he grows and learns. That being said, today would not have happened for us if I did "work in town" (again, very thankful). A typical Monday for me includes picking food off of my dog (Rhett likes to "share"), playing with tractors in the floor, and cleaning up a million messes made my a 1 year old boy and 15 year old dog. BUT today, today was a bit different!
It's always an "exciting" time on the ranch when it is time for spring cattle works. Matt is home for 2-3 weeks, we get to see him before 7 pm, and usually have lunch with him too! Oh ya, lots of productive and much needed work gets done around the ranch, too. Rhett was too young to be up at the pens last year, he was only 3 weeks old, but this year we just couldn't miss out.
Rhett and I had planned on going up to the house pens (My husband's parents house) to see Daddy and cows/horses mid-morning, but what we hadn't planned turned out to be the better part of the day. You see anytime my husband says "I would love for y'all to go with me but it may be a long day"; I know I could be getting into a mess of things but I love a good adventure, I didn't want to clean house, and when driving around the pasture I usually find a treasure or two for myself. (Treasure = junk and/or trash that most people drive past but I load in a truck and bring home to craft or decorate my yard.)
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| House pens with Daddy |
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| 1st nap of the day riding the Kubota |
For the first time that any of us can remember, Mike (Matt's dad) wasn't around for working the first bunch of cows. He and Debbie (Matt's momma) had to run some cattle to our cattle buyer. I call this time a date....you see, hauling cattle to a buyer or to a packing plant is sometimes the only time you get with your rancher husband for hours to just talk and laugh together. It's never a romantic date in the world's eyes but most of us ranchers' wives wouldn't miss the time with our husbands. With Matt's parents being on a "date" today, they left the "kids" in charge back at home. Mike & Debbie started this place back in 1977 and just recently Matt and I built and moved to the ranch to be more help. It worked out great for today. Matt and his help had the cows worked and put back out to pasture all before lunch, so Matt planned to head out and pen the cows that needed to be worked for the next day. The dreaded "down South trip", I so often hear about. I have been "down South" several times and helped mark calves a time or two but not since having Rhett.
After lunch, Rhett and I loaded up with Matt to head South. Snacks, diapers, and a horse/trailer all loaded and ready to go in the feed truck (Mike's usual mode of transportation). It takes about 30 minutes to get to the pens/gate down there and Rhett "drove" the whole way. I, of course, was on gate duty (most likely the reason I was asked to go). The beginning of the afternoon was pretty smooth, cows followed, Rhett "mooed", I watched the pasture counting cows (looking for treasures). Along the way Matt decided it would be quicker if he unloaded Pete, our horse, and I drove the feed truck to get the first set of cows into the pens. Luckily, Mike's new feed truck is an automatic, which means I can drive it....maybe this isn't so lucky for me!? Did I mention I have NEVER pulled a trailer? Once, Matt had me back a trailer for 30 feet at our first home in Mertzon....never again. So here I was in the driver's seat of the feed truck, pulling a trailer with a toddler in my lap.....let that sink in for a minute. I am instructed to just pull forward through two gates, honk the horn, and pop the feeder.....all with Rhett "driving". Rhett's driving includes turning up the radio as loud as he can, dancing, and sometimes turning the steering wheel back and forth. Sure, Matt I can handle this! Well, I did. We got the first set penned all before 2 PM!
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| Counting cows/calves (pairs) to make sure we have everything. |
Any good rancher can't quit at 2 and Matt apparently thought I was a pro at this point. We now were heading to get another bunch of cattle in the trap closest to the pens to make for quicker work in the morning. Well, as anyone that has EVER worked around cattle knows.....this one didn't go as smoothly as before. Matt had to unload Pete much earlier in this pasture and I was behind the wheel for more than half a mile. This is when things became interesting....it was getting close to 3 PM (Rhett's nap time) so as I pulled the trailer through a pasture while nursing my child, I was giggling to myself thinking; "This is my life now, nursing while pulling a trailer and trying to navigate a pasture without wrecking my father-in-law's pickup!" But we pressed on, Rhett nursing while I checked the mirrors for Matt horseback and cows still following. Life was progressing along smoothly until I passed the wire gate. See, these are guys tricky.....they look like a fence but they actually are gates, AHHHHH! So this girl who has never backed a trailer and certainly hasn't with a nursing toddler in a pasture, has to back a trailer, while keeping the cows interested in the feed truck and NOT running over a tree or a fence. I only have one hand. I'm still nursing and had to switch hands so that I can pull the feeder switch, but I'm trying my best to remember how to back a trailer and keep cows from spilling. As with any high intensity situation, my son decides he's done nursing and wants to dance in the passenger seat. I stop, let him climb to the passenger seat, grab one arm so he won't crawl out the window to get to the "tractors" (all tires are tractors) and proceed to attempting to back a trailer...in a pasture....with cows all around me.
Backstory: My son has constipation issues and it's quite the process to go #2.....he cries, I almost cry and this happens only every 2-3 days despite my best homeopathic efforts to combat it.
Well, low and behold if Rhett doesn't decide he is going to poo right while I am trying to back the trailer, not spill the cows, pop the feeder, and honk the horn!!!!!! Let's just say I am ready for my husband to holler at any point (He didn't.....that must have been the Lord intervening). Rhett's crying and my attempt to assist him with his potty troubles caused me to get the trailer off course! It was all downhill from there....I had to pull forward several times to attempt to straighten out the trailer and change a dirty diaper at the same time. I see Matt closing in horseback. I am sure he is getting a kick out of me pulling forward and back, forward and back (several mesquite trees perished with my backing) attempting to realign this stupid short trailer. All while he has NO CLUE that I am dealing with poo troubles, changing diapers, and nursing. I finally got backed up, no doubt to my multiple prayers and deep breaths, and climb out of the truck with a toddler on my hip to open a wire gate. Anyone that has opened a wire gate knows that a one handed opening is almost impossible....again, the Lord intervened here! Gate is open, truck and trailer and are through, diaper is changed, feeder is popped and cows are a following wahoooooo!!!!! I can finally take a deep breath and turn the music up and dance with Rhett-man! Ha, it can't be that easy! I look up and see that Matt is having trouble getting about 6 head through the gate. I have to admit, I sat drooling for a bit watching him ride at a dead run to cut off some run away cattle, then realized I better get back to work. Dancing time was over, I put the truck back in gear drove back to the gate, popped the feeder, and just like that the last bit of cows were through. One final count and a few laughs explaining the last 45 minutes to my husband and the horse was loaded, Hubby was behind the wheel, Rhett was napping and a slow and peaceful ride back to the house has begun.
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| Waving at Daddy on Pete |
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| My husband, the photographer! |
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| End of the day....just a white tee and diaper! |
Just how ranching goes, a little excitement, something going wrong, lots of counting and recounting, and finishing with beautiful views of red cows and God's landscapes to remind you why you go through long, slow drives through pastures, wire gates, deal with flies, trailers, and bumpy roads to lead you to that wonderful realization that raising your babies on a cattle ranch might be the most wonderful thing for them. Working hard for all you do, the freedom of God's open country, and lots of laughs along the way to remind you that life is short and you should always go along for the ride, even if it "might be long".
Until next time......praying for those who laugh with their husbands, have to back trailers without any practice, have toddlers with potty troubles, and all of you that take the time to step into my life for a little while!
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