ranching – As Far As The Eye Can See

Boil the kettle……

If you were coming over for a visit we would sit down with our mugs and tell each other a few of our stories. Here are a few stories arising from the pictures I have.

Since Christmas I have been obsessed with mugs more than I already was. I have realized what makes a mug perfect for me and I am on the hunt. This one is not perfect but close.

One day this week Ron was in the house briefly, after leaving he popped right back in and said, “there’s a house going down the road!!!” Morgan and Russ were near. We were all enthused. I rushed to the west door to get this picture. It stirred up the incredible excitement we felt when it was our house coming down the road and prompted a little reminiscing. I do not envy the homeowners the myriad details that now unfold before they can move in but its really special to remember how it was for us.

That same day Morgan and I were enroute to town when we saw our neighbor putting some miles on this young horse getting it ready for a big event. It struck me as such a beautiful sight. It made me think of older times. We got ahead of him then stopped and did a little video. Curt stopped when he caught up to us and we had a quick chat.

It was not my idea to apply my glasses to Coffee’s face. However, she does look fetching (pun intended.) Russ and I have had alot of conversations about my glasses this week.

We started a new St. Patrick’s tradition this year, we had pub night in our own house. It was alot of fun. I love an excuse to make nachos.

Morgan got his proof sheet back from his grad photos. I also found this picture of my Dad while working on a project. I am very fascinated by genetics. I find it comforting to see traits being passed down. I put these side by side to see what I could see. I think there is a similarity.

I came across this cowboy rabbit picture earlier this year. Its so cute. We have a room in our house named after a rabbit, thats a bit of a long story, but it meant this picture had to come home with me. Our travels have led us to find a couple others. While in Regina this week I found the crocheted dancing rabbit wearing Bar MW yellow. I brought it home. Her name is Laci.

Bingo’s death has been a hard pill to swallow but we are doing okay, mostly, some of us. Our house is alot quieter. I am not sure I realized what a big presence Bingo dog had. There is way less fighting now, really almost none and honestly thats nice. However I think we all believe her crazy passionate cowdog spirit was worth the noise. Anyways…..we have been comforted this week. A condolence card in the mail, a homemade key fob, and what I call “condolence cookies” have all come our way. People have been so kind with so many words of understanding and concern for us. It seems pet loss is something many of us really understand deeply.

Saturday morning Russell’s whole life plan got turned upside down when a calf was discovered in the calving herd. That first calf arrived about three weeks early. Everything about this was tricky except for the fact that the calf was strong and therefore it made it. When Russ and I went back to check on it a few hours after birth Russ thought he spotted it from a distance, then corrected himself, “that calf is a mineral tub.” A few seconds later, “that mineral tub is moving!”, we had in fact not found the calf we were looking for, we had found a second one. Here it is.

We kept looking for our cow “Pray” and her calf and we found them. Pray was agitated, as she had been when first discovered, there was not much we could do for that calf on the open prairie, its a great thing that it was strong. Why do calves come three weeks early you ask? Because of a rogue bull that must have slipped into our cow pasture for a little fun. We had no idea of this visitor and to expect early calves. We are hoping this doesn’t continue. Just how busy was that bull? It remains to be seen but there were no further calves born today.

Russ spent the rest of yesterday moving snow out of the calving yard so that it could be usable for the herd, hauling a load of bedding and a load of feed and cleaning off the dugout. As a result he missed an old friends’ funeral. As the day wound down a little help from our neighbor Ty allowed us to get the herd gathered up and moved across the road into the pasture around the calving yard. My job was to park sideways across the road and then be a presence in the ditch. I was so relieved when that first cow out the gate didn’t think the best plan was to challenge me and head west to home. She saw the open gate across the road and led the way. Thank you cow!

The job is completed.

I took this next picture for my sister who I was texting with when the guys came in for supper tonight. You might notice that Morgan has had a haircut since the last counter picture. Also, Russ looks relaxed and happy. I believe this is in part because he and Morgan had a pretty outrageously fun time working together today. I was part of it for a while. These two are really something. The bigger picture is that last week Russ got rammed into the end of a gate that our horse “Mickey” abruptly forced his way through. With his hood up and peripheral vision blocked Russ didn’t see it coming. He has been in terrible pain all week, with medicine giving little relief. He finally went to the doctor. Xrays revealed no obvious concerns, he had become convinced he had a broken rib, but apparently not. You would never guess there is anything amiss in this photo. Its the healing power of humor.

Once calving starts in earnest it can be a real whirlwind around here. I have some serious goals around being organized and ready for that. There is a fair bit to do. Hopefully we end up getting a few more weeks before its go time.

Day 8 – THIS WAS A FEAT (for the feet)

The Bar MW Herd is all home thanks to the endurance and teamwork of our crew. What a relief. It’s Tuesday now and we are sure glad that in the whiteout blizzard conditions yesterday and deep windchill of last night we could picture our cows where they have winter type shelter options. They are sure hardy creatures.

Right now Bingo, Maddie and I are hanging loose in the truck while Russ loads bales onto the flat deck. He drove the tractor over and I the truck. What do you think? Should we eat our picnic lunch out there or stay in the truck?🥶

I am not sure if you readers are getting bored of somewhat similiar scenery from blog to blog if you catch each one, but for us who live these days, each chase has its own color and a memory that goes with it. As you will see from the following pictures, the color of this “Sun”day chase was gloom. However, the theme was youthful energy, our crew was 3/4 teenagers on this day. They endured and smiled at the end of it all. Maybe partly because it was finally done! The gloomy conditions arose from getting little sun and more wind developing than we were expecting, most of the crew stayed warm or almost warm, but the feet, cold feet were a problem, even with the help of hotpocket type boot warmers.

Our job on Sunday was to bring the herd that had been summering in the Souris River Valley home to the ranch. This meant about 12 miles of trail heading north east. The pictures I have here are ones that Russ, Sharon, Teanna and Patrick took. I love getting a broader perspective and thank them for their contributions.

The first thing to share is a video Russ took. The distant perspective at the start allows you to see the cowboys moving swiftly up the herd. Close up you see the snow falling.

Teanna and Dani in the early part of gathering the cows from the pasture.

I think you could say these cows are ready to hit the road.

This next video shows moments of getting out the pasture gate and onto the road. Russ couldn’t get over how dark it was at this point. The sun had already been up for 1.5 hours.

Once on the road the trail work is a bit more predictable and the shenanigans start. That is Jen in the center, Rhett and Dani at her sides. Jen has a knack for connecting with people and especially teenagers. Its cool to see.

A new rider on the trail this year, a brave one to join us for this frosty ride, this is Charity.

Mercy! Teanna this is impressive balance!

There was no lunch break on this chase, Vicki made coffee that we sent out with the crew at daybreak. Sharon brought homemade muffins. At the right spot they stopped for a coffee break. Things got goofy it seems, with no sick calves to rope this day Morgan practiced on Teanna and Emerson. Beyond that I really can’t explain this picture.

In very good time the cows were at the gate. Here they are, heading into their home pasture. I said we had 10″ of snow last week. It doesn’t look like it here….I don’t know.

This is a momentous picture. All the cows are tucked in for the winter. Here is the boss cowboy (Russ) and Morgan, whom he shares so much of the burden of ranching with. We all benefit from their shared energy, their skills and their humor.

A screenshot of the texts I got from Patrick. A feeling of satisfaction comes through, don’t you think?

Back at the house we were tossing salad at about 2:10, grace by 2:13pm. Great timing! By this point Vicki had helped move trucks, washed every dish I could dirty, helped me form buns, and prepped the salad, in addition to the 6am pots of coffee and hot chocolate she sent out. She also initiated some great conversation, for instance she asked me “what has surprised you most about each of your kids?” That’s Sharon in the background.

At church in the morning Carol Vanstone hosted a delicious coffee time and sent me home with leftover cream puffs and cupcakes. They were very much enjoyed. Sharon and Russ are pictured here.

Russell took alot of delight in calling Lynn “the ambassador of Switzerland 🇨🇭 .” She was great company! Here she is trying her first ever homemade butter tart, a staple Canadian dessert. Thumbs up!

On Monday Russ was part of a conversation on Facebook that had him singing my praises. Returning to the overall theme of our blog, “I see you, you see me,” I screenshot his comment when I saw it because I felt very seen. It’s pretty great when people sing your praises when they don’t have to, just want to, and you get the message that they saw you sweating and it meant something. Our crew has been great about saying thank you.

Well that marks the end of the Bar MW 2023 chase season. We have more work with the cows in the next month and then things settle down a little bit. I am currently working on a blog that explores why we do this fall work like we do, knowing that others look at us and think we’re kindv’e crazy. I have really been enjoying working on this upcoming post. There is a reason for all this!

Love & Coffee served…this week at the Bar MW

We had a good week here at the Bar MW. This first picture does a good job of capturing some of what happened at our place lately. The sign nestled into this book shelf in our kitchen was a gift that arrived this week from Nova Scotia. We love what our friends celebrate about our kitchen!

Monday could have gone two ways. Either Russ and Morgan were helping friends with their pasture work or we were doing our own. The deciding factor was whether our friends birthed a baby that day. As it turned out, they were working on that! I didn’t realize that and thought when I awoke to a quiet house that I could put on my shirt that said, “People, Ew!” I was going to be home alone all day. Nope. I was wrong. That baby meant we would be working in our own pastures and our friends from Estevan were joining us. Then we got the chance to add other friends visiting the area from Regina to our lunch time experience. So, what was going to be toast for lunch for Kathy turned out more exciting. The Ross family brought dessert. This bountiful tray of donuts which Danika arranged with care and Merrick is bringing to the table, was as much of a treat as the platter of watermelon Treasure was creating in the kitchen at this moment. We don’t often have either!

Steven, Danika and Merrick on their horses to check pastures.

Tuesday meant back to school. This is Morgan before heading off. Coffee Dog might have been distracted by a bird but it looks like she is saying, “I can’t believe it has come to this, I am not even going to look at you.”

After school Morg asked me to come out to the back pen and keep an eye on him while he was working on training a horse. I enjoyed watching his process and even managed to be video taping at the part where he was able to get on this two year old.

This is a video capture, Morg was in the midst of getting on Skywalker, our Andalusian gelding, for its first time. We bought Skywalker a year ago from a friend near Saskatoon. Morg sat quietly for a bit and bent him softly both ways, he got off without incident. It made for a boring video by todays standards, but I was relieved and it made Russell happy.

A treat for me this week was having our friend Lindsay contact me saying she had a cancellation in her schedule and would I like her to come for a deep clean at our place. How long did it take me to decide “YES”…..not very long. Lindsay is great at what she does but also a wonderful person to spend time with. We used to see her regularly but circumstances changed for her and I and we had not seen her magic for a very long time.

Another thing that enriched my week was time with Dawn. She helped me out earlier in the summer and I said let me help you in the garden when its harvest time. We went to the garden to collect some fresh herbs for an amazing looking spaghetti sauce we were working on. Dawn definitely gave me the easy jobs.

Meanwhile in Toronto, Gina was going full tilt and had a week that seems to have created positive momentum going forward. She had a few extremely positive phone calls with us.

Jordanna sent me this picture. She was the biggest sport this day. She came over thinking we were all going out for supper at Chopper K . She got roped into helping with a few ranch jobs before having a very late supper at our table. At this point she grabbed a moment for us, when she and Morgan pulled into the drop off chute at the auction mart. This was the first time that Morgan delivered cows to the mart without Russ. We had cull cows and bulls to sell.

By Wednesday night we had all given up on time and dug-outs making the faint smell of skunk go away from this dog. Morg decided to give a scrubbing with pretty smelling human shampoo a priority. It worked.

When he had the chance Russ kept puttering away at the fencing job he has been working on.

A super exciting part of the week for me was getting to go out for lunch with Liz Griffin. I asked for her to meet with me to discuss a shift in the vision I have for our book we are creating with her ranch photographs. The result: full steam ahead! I have several days ahead booked off for writing and I am feeling so excited!

While all of us having been going several directions for several weeks our hired man Ron has been working on preparing fields for new grass seed. His behind the scenes work has meant I have not seen much of him for a few weeks. I don’t have a picture of his work. So I tucked in this Liz Griffin picture from two years ago. Ron spends so much time in tractors.

Friday meant Steven was back to help the guys with some cowboy work. He helped me too. I was gone over the lunch hour, he brought enough lunch to share that I had buns for Morgan’s school lunch today and lunch for Russ and I today (helpful since I blogged way too long this morning!)

This picture says 6:03am in the stats. Morg rose a little late, had just sat down with some coffee near to where I was doing my morning routine and Russ said, “we gotta go Morg!” I felt for him. However, the crew was due in the yard in a few minutes and Russ hates not being the first one in the barn.

The crew included our friend Medhi, I love the big smile on his face in this moment. He was on call this morning, but our work this day was brief and he figured out a way to be free to come for a few hours. The cows were flushed out of one river pasture and brought back over to another where due to rain the grass was good again. (“For the first time in 5 f’in years,” Russ adds upon review of this.)

The move went smoothly, for the most part, the crew arrived back at the house at 9:28am. They were two minutes ahead of schedule. I on the other hand was a bit late getting brunch on the table. There were some very light hearted moments to enjoy this morning.

This is a Liz Griffin picture from 2021. It illumines what Russ got back to this week…..more baling. He worked on straw earlier in the week and Saturday afternoon went to a field of green feed oats Morgan cut a bit ago. Russ was relieved to find they were finally ready to bale.

I led worship Sunday morning in Carnduff. It was a morning that felt pretty rich in several ways. This picture Russ took has me looking a little odd, but I guess this is me.

I am in charge of the lawn at our place. I have avoided it like crazy this summer. Several weeks without rain made that kindv’e possible. Recent moisture meant I had to conquer whatever was holding me back and get at it. I have wondered if I might be dealing with fear about fire. After the haybine hitting a rock in the hayfield threw a spark that started a fire last summer, with our shop fire this winter on top of that, I am not okay with any risks. I told myself yesterday, “you just need to do 15 minutes.” I know myself well enough to know that momentum kicks in easily for me and there is no way I would quit when the progress was so rewarding. So I tricked myself into getting going and almost 3 hours later I was almost done. (I am amused by the burr on my shoulder and Knightwing’s paw on my chest…..business as usual?)

A hard moment happened when in the midst of mowing I spotted this dark grey plume of smoke. I called Russ who was baling 20 miles away to tell him what I was seeing and took this picture to send him. He asked me to drive down and check it out. If it was a machinery fire in the field there was nothing we could do, but if livestock needed to be moved he wanted to do what he could to help. I drove close enough to discern it was in a field being harvested. I couldn’t slow down my thoughts enough to describe the location to Russ in a way that he could picture whose field it was, the firetrucks were arriving. It was an interesting thing to encounter in the midst of my own fears.

About Jill…..our Jill was quite sick this week and made us all laugh with a video of her Covid testing herself. It was negative. She is better now and has begun rehearsals as part of the vocal section for the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which will be staged in Regina at Halloween. Meanwhile at the ranch, Russ caught Jill the cow on video, she is looking great and her steer calf is gorgeous.

For sheer amusement I reccomend you look at this video. Morgan had the job of picking rocks from our new hayfield yesterday. He got quite creative and Bingo and Maddie get to show how cool they really are.

That was the week we had here at the ranch. We know that some of our circle had a pretty tough one. We hope that whatever your week held you have frequent reminders telling you clearly just how loved you are.

Reporting in ….

Our days at the Bar MW this week have been a mixture of many things. The picture round-up starts with a cartoon that Russell posted on his social media. He related to it so strongly and he shared it with some definite emotion. Our corner of the province had some soaking rains this week. The timing is poor for the grain farmers trying to harvest but it means alot for pasture conditions and taking down the fire risks. Around here we are all feeling very grateful.

Another answer to our needs was the chance for Russ to get in very quickly to have a root canal done. On Tuesday he sent me this selfie from the dental chair while I waited for him at the Estevan library. He started to feel relief very quickly.

Jenn came down to pick up her dog Paisley whom we had been dogsitting and while she was with us she cut Morgan’s hair. She is doing alot to keep him comfortable this summer!

The next day my sister in law Tammy and I went to Regina. While Tammy was in her appointment I whipped over to Jill’s apartment for a visit. As I pulled away from there afterward I felt I had just had the best part of my day, just being with Jill was good for my soul. Later Tammy and I dropped into Starbucks and I caught this picture of Jill listening to a customer. This is very true to who Jill is.

While I was in Regina Russell hosted new friends we became connected to through one of our family in Nova Scotia. Charles, a strawberry and sweet potato farmer, had come to Saskatchewan with his wife to visit their family in Estevan. Before heading to Halifax on Thursday Charles squeezed in a visit to the ranch to meet us and see what we do. He brought his son-in-law and grandson. They helped Russ check pastures. Charles told Russell it was a very good day.

Meanwhile Morgan was doing something he loves. He spends a few days in the summer helping at the government community pasture. He took this picture from on top of his horse in his role as heeler while Francis treated a cow for footrot.

This is a screenshot from our family chat, not a live video link. Those of us who watched it know that the fun fact Gina shared in this part of the audition intro is that she can hotwire a Case 2390 tractor.

Sterling productions released this promo shot this week. Jill’s play is coming up and we are really looking forward to seeing it!

Russ is working on a fairly large fencing project. While dealing with posts he came across this survey stake, marking the boundary line of the pasture. He says that is good evidence he is building at the right spot! The stake is dated 1959. How very cool eh?!

My sister in law Tammy organized a really nice family gathering in Estevan for Valarie, (Russell and Tammy’s sister), who celebrated her 60th birthday on Friday. We really enjoyed being with our extended family circle and friends of the family to mark this milestone with Val.

After the party and some back to school shopping we headed up to Arcola for the rodeo. We had a very important rodeo act to see, the kick-off, which was the Truco Trick Riders. Morgan’s girl-friend Jordanna is seen here, I must give Russ credit for the cool framing of the picture.

Here is Russ and I at the rodeo. It was a bit of a painful night for me. I am an absolute chicken, I am so uncomfortable watching the roughstock events, I mostly look away. I do all the running for food, beverages, garbage disposal, anything to give me an excuse to leave my seat and miss some of those moments when humans hit the ground near the mighty hooves of powerful animals. If I could go to the bathroom on others behalf I would. Why even attend you might ask? Well this evening, the answer started with Jordanna and ended with Tenley.

This is Tenley. She has been a part of our family for several years now in her official role as one of Gina’s besties. We have the hugest soft spot for her in our hearts. Tenley was one of four women doing bronc riding at the rodeo. We needed to stay and watch her give it her all.

Tenley shared this picture with me. It gives me goosebumps. She is brave and so strong in everyday life, this picture makes that extra clear. Tenley had to wait a long time in the chute before they opened that gate. The announcer said she must have ice water in her veins. Noting her presence as she waited through a long delay he said she was “cool as a cucumber, she’s the coolest cucumber in the fridge, nothings bothering her at all.” She had a good ride and stayed safe. We were very thankful. When she sent me this picture she said, “sitting in that chute is a feeling I can’t explain. You truly feel as though you have ice water running through your veins!”

Saturday things came to a bit of a standstill for me personally. I was struggling. I simply cannot write a blog about this life and only tell a partial tale, it feels dishonest. I live with humans and sometimes things get really hard. I feel my feelings very hugely at times. We are working through stuff. The wisdom below sits right with me.

A little comic relief. Russell asked me to take this picture to commemorate an important day. He had decided that this was his last day wearing this work shirt. He has had it a long time and its special to him. My sister gave it to him. At one point he outgrew it and gave it to a friend, then Russ slimmed down and the friend outgrew it and gave it back to him. Its travelled many roads with these guys. Only one of six tears is visible in this picture.

The job of the day at the ranch on Saturday was to trim horses hooves. Our friend Layne has a hydraulic tipping table he hauls here and he sets up shop. Friends with horses and donkeys come over and get their animals done too. Its a big day with lots of work and lots of visiting. In the chute at this point is our donkey, you might remember we named him “Elton John.” He is as cool as his name suggests.

Today the guys were up early with a fun plan in their minds. We had friends coming over to bring the last calves of 2023 home to be tagged, needled, branded, and castrated. We usually do that in the pole shed with a small crew and a tipping table for the calves. Morgan requested that we do this last small group like an old fashioned branding, Russell agreed. It was indeed fun. It seemed less gentle on the animals in one sense, that was iffy for me. But there were perks to this other way too. The calves were not separated from their Mamas as long and they were soothed to see them nearby it seemed.

Morgan and Carter Ewart were on horseback and doing all the roping. Russ, Emerson, Laurie and Tyce saw that all the jobs were done for each calf. Coffee dog is seen here, she was not terrifically helpful, Maddie got dog of the day today.

Carter is seen here dragging a calf down to the guys. Tyce is ready with a piece of equipment that will temporarily and painlessly keep the calf immobilized, its called a “deadman”. Tyce is very experienced with how to do this work and was invaluable today. He is Jordanna’s Dad.

Emerson was the runner, bringing needles and tags to the team.

Jen was the operating room nurse, filling taggers, needles and the de-nutter. In the background is Laurie’s son and his family. We had a good visit.

It was a very diverse week at the Bar MW. I think in everything that transpired, from parties to appointments, to time with our kids, and big jobs getting tackled, hurt feelings, rodeo feelings, much animal action and everything in between, those five words can apply powerfully, “we believe in each other.”

Moo-sic

Roy Ayers said “the true beauty of music is that it connects people.” At the Bar MW Ranch we have our own version of that today. Our version is that moo-sic connected people.

We spent a good amount of time this weekend working with our heifer calves. Yesterday Russell, Morgan, Jordanna and Laurie worked together to critically assess these calves and decide which we would keep back to add to our breeding herd.

Russ insisted that I take this picture to mark the work day yesterday. The first time this winter he got to wear his cowboy hat to work and ditch his winter wear. Russ made his own personal declaration, ignoring the ground hogs, for him it was the official first day of spring.

The work involved sorting the total group two different ways, potential keepers and those sent to be sold. The potential keepers were then sorted again and then again to ensure we had our best 70 to add to the cow herd. Those keepers were then put through the chute today, their calf tag was removed and their cow tag was installed.

My job in all of this was fairly easy. I have been laid up with a bad leg, which the doctor believes is the result of a bakers cyst. It has been painful and has meant that I was best suited to creating the tags we needed and prepping food for the crew.

Friday at lunch Russell sat and made a list of the names I should put on the tags. His list was based on some family brainstorming. Gina and Jill were a good part of this. We all love this years theme and have had something to add. Our 2023 breeding heifers are named after our favorite musicians and music groups.

The work of getting them installed was slow to start as we continue to figure out how to function without Jill here to run the cow computer. It turns out Morgan was the guy with the right answers to get us into business.

The highlight of the day was exactly what the opening quote suggested. Working with our moo-sic cows connected us to others. It meant we were blessed by Jordanna’s sunny spirit yesterday. It meant we had the chance to spend more time with cousin Laurie, we all value that. A few times over the weekend Russ has said to me, “aren’t we lucky to have cousin Laurie in our lives?” I couldn’t agree more. But the clincher today was that Laurie’s grandson Lennox joined us and was an enthusiastic worker from start to finish. It is always a joy to have kids join us. We gave him the jobs he could handle, he took them seriously and it made meal times more fun having him.

I am now sitting at the kitchen counter, Russ is sitting beside me making a playlist on Youtube music, it will comprise one song from each of the artists we added to our herd today. Its just for fun but maybe will keep their names in front of us. We have been texting a few friends to get reccomendations for which song to include and so a little more connecting has arisen from these heifers.

In fact as I write this Russ is trying to find a Milli Vanilli song to add to the list. It turns out we don’t know Milli’s work very well. Not sure we like much of what he has. If any reader has a suggestion for a Milli Vanilli song send it our way. I just asked Russ why he added it to our name list, he said he enjoyed hear Stompin’ Tom say at a concert, “no Milli Vanilli here boys!” at the point that he forgot words and had no track to cover up for him. Russ liked the way the Milli Vanilli name sounds. Its catchy? Well, by now, Russ has found Milli’s “Blame it on the Rain” song. Might work. I will add a link to the playlist in a future blog once Russ has it finished.

Coffee was the dog on duty at the chute today. She worked well but had a distraction in carrying things in her mouth. She found the glove I left at the chute last time. Russ says, “she was giving us a hand.”

We are looking forward to calving season in 2024 when these heifers will deliver their first calves. The phone calls from the pasture will include news that The Beatles have calved, or maybe that Zach Bryan looks to be looking for a spot to calve, or maybe we will be congratulating Bonnie Tyler for delivering a backwards calf. There is bound to be hard stuff too but for years to come the names of musicians we know well and not so well will be rolling off our tongues and keeping life a little more interesting.

Weekend Aftershocks

We try not to plan much for the day after a weekend of cow chasing. Today was that kind of day.

Events last week meant we were short one of our trucks for hauling our 2nd trailer for the cow chases. Fortunately for us the Powells lent us a truck for the weekend. This morning we wanted to get that returned. We made it our planned reward to go out for a late breakfast between that drop off and our next thing. A reward for doing the work of the two chase days. I have to say it felt pretty fine to sit at the diner, and it was noticeably great when Christine slid a delicious omelette in front of me. I was being served, after almost a hundred thousand calories passed through my hands enroute to others this weekend, (105 meals at a 1,000 calories per?). After breakfast was over we got a tractor picked up from one field and headed to another to get a load of bales. While Russ loaded the flat deck full of bales I sat in the truck and returned messages. I made him pose with his load when it was done.

Bingo was itchy I guess and is not showing her most dignified self in this picture.

I got a message late last night with a couple more pictures from yesterday.

Maja took this shot. It’s another one with beautiful colors but also records the presence of Judith (on the left), an agriculture worker from Germany, and Jenna on the right. She is David’s daughter and has not been with us on the trail recently. It was great to have her.

As Russ and I had breakfast we talked over how things went on the weekend. Two things might be of interest to readers….

1. Why do we start so early?

Saturday we had a very long ride and needed every hour of daylight to ensure we got the herd to pasture before dark. They made it with 90 minutes to spare. Several years ago complications meant that same ride took til well after dark. That wasn’t the first time we ended in dark but it was the most extreme. It was dangerous and very worrisome. We had riders that day that never ever have come back.

The risk of a dark arrival was not high on Sunday with a shorter distance to cover and moving heifers versus cow calf pairs. Indeed, the crew was back at the ranch and eating lunch by 1:30. I thought to myself “Russ must really live in fear of a complicated chase to get everyone up so early that no sunlight is wasted.” When we talked it over Russ said it wasn’t that. Early October days can get hot, an early start means avoiding the heat of afternoon. Last year this same chase started after we had lunch at the ranch. It got hot. The heat tuckered the cows out. Russ called the Patons to ask permission to break into their pasture and water our cows from their dug-out. They gave their permission. No small thing in a drought year. They had to rest the heifers for about an hour then. Russ didn’t want a repeat of that. So there are a few variables in how things get timed out.

2. Why so many riders?

We actually had a pretty searching conversation about this with the kids at supper. That many people around shapes the experiences of all of us. To my surprise it was Morgan who questioned the practice of a welcome extended to all. He is tired, not the easiest time to draw forth one’s welcoming instinct. The bottom line is we invite the people who show an interest and whoever shows up shows up, although we mostly know in advance who that is for trailer, horse and food planning purposes. We don’t enjoy everyone, we are not angels and none of our crew is perfect. It can get tricky. Every single person on the trail gets stretched in one way or another almost every day.

Yesterday our numbers were pretty extreme, we had almost 1 horse and rider for every 2 heifers on the trail. It turned out to be helpful twice. First when rounding up the herd in the heavy fog we dealt with yesterday. Russ organized the cowboys and cowgirls very strategically to advance across the pasture almost in a formation, allowing them to sweep forward all the heifers that emerged from the fog before them. The second time was when they needed to cross railroad tracks and these young animals were skittish and very hesitant. Russ got the crew to completely surround the herd and contained like that, fenced in so to speak, they gave the heifers time to think about it, settle down a bit and decide it was their own idea to go across. Russ likes this method of dealing with cattle, slow and easy, non aggressive unless neccesary, he feels it’s safer and easier on the animals. I heard some riders talking about it later a little amazed at how Russ made that crew coordinate in those moments without raising his voice much at all. That is not always the case. Russ yells on the trail when neccesary, it’s hard for those of us who are used to his more cuddly demeanor.

As Russ and I sat and talked over these questions he was reminded of past times when he moved animals home. He said this weekend we had one extreme, he has lived the other. Back in the PMU days he moved a herd of horses home from the Manor pasture all by himself. He had seven horses loaded in the trailer that Walter his Dad drove down the road. Russ had played them all out by the time it was done. He had a couple other stories that if you didn’t know Russ or his family you might not believe. These stories should be a blog all on their own. Russell’s summary of it all, “I have done this with both extremes of help, zero and lots, with help is way more fun.”

Maja’s 2nd picture…. a worn out “Coffee” dog. She got kicked on Saturday, she was fortunate to have no lasting effects. She was so goofy on the trail yesterday there was some brief wondering if she was more affected than first thought. She apparently couldn’t decide whether to clean up the ditches or chase cows and often tried to do both.

Post chase days almost always include an episode of lost and found. Today that includes this mug and a pair of Polarized brand sunglasses. Any takers? We also found a strange half grown black and white kitten in the barn. It’s possible it was a stowaway on one of the trailers in the yard this weekend. Anyone know anything about that?

There were lots of readers from Canada, the U S. and Europe that had a look at the weekend blogs. That was fun and encouraging. Thanks to you readers! Feel free to share any blog if you think someone in your circle would enjoy it.

We have a little bit of a break from cow chasing now. Ranch activity over the next bit involves alot of effort to bring hay and straw bales home. I am hoping to get some things off the to do list and get writing. There is alot to be said.

Cow Chase ’22 – Day 1 – Pictures of the Day

A big ranching Day here. We moved 140 cow calf pairs about 18 miles, from their summer to autumn pasture. We had 19 riders and the support team. It was a seamless work day, nice when that happens.

I invited the riders to send me their pic of the day. I got several in some cases. I am posting them all with minimal captions. The alarm went off at 4:25am so the pillow is looking very inviting!

Thanks to a great crew of cowboys and cowgirls!

Russell’s pic of the day of Liz Griffin, sporting a hoodie we got her. We were happy to have her back to record a few of our 2022 moments.

Liz’s picture of the day of Russell, this was a sneak peek she posted.

Russell’s pic of Sharon, she has this jacket, identical to our family ones, because we can’t do these days without her. She drives the truck and trailer all the way.

Russell’s pic of Laurie and our friend Maja, a Norwegian agricultural worker in our area.

Sharon’s picture…is there a rider or not?

Sharon’s capture of a moment to get things adjusted. 3 of the 5 dogs on the trail are seen here.

Teanna’s pic of the day. She and Patrick.

Jill’s record of a little visitor we didn’t disturb.

My pic of Sharon getting out of the wind.

My pic of Russ holding the last bite of the dessert he determined was the best of the day. Their was a semi final round after his first try of everything. This was a new recipe for me, Faye Simpson’s Cornflake Cookies. Num.

I took this action shot of Morgan and Gina.

My pic of Morgan’s height serving him well.

My pic of some of my lunchtime customers getting a break.

Jill sent this pic from the truck she was driving as she helped get vehicles moved from the start of the move to the pasture where they were headed.

My pic at days end….All done and back at the house for supper.

Jill sent me this pic of the action in the basement after supper. There was lots of noise.

Jen grabbed this bonus picture yesterday while Gina was pressure washing the horse trailer in prep for today.

Sunday Morning Cinnamon

Hospitality is a super important part of our life. Sometimes I think I am a fraud as a ranch wife, I couldn’t saddle a horse if my life depended on it, like I can’t quite get my head around all those straps and bits that are part of the bridle and bit part. To be fair, I haven’t actually tried to get my head around, but I watch from a distance and don’t know what I am seeing. The fact that I have no sense of urgency to learn this is definitely a part of the feeling I have that I am an imposter. But there is more to the story, of course, I mean we have been married for almost 22 years so clearly I am a ranch wife. I guess Russ and I have our own recipe for a ranch marriage, a big part of that is hospitality. With Russell’s big and warm personality he attracts people who want to experience ranching. When all is said and done, we gather at our table. That’s where I fit in. I serve up food and drink and hopefully an atmosphere of welcome. I get to utilize all the tricks and traditions that my Mom and my mother in law imparted to me, I work alongside my kids and with the willing hands of friends many days we pull off some minor miracles. At some point I slide into my spot at the table and soak up the reality of all the different people gathered with us. I don’t know if I am just in a good mood or what, but today, after the morning we had, I do feel like one of the luckier women in the world.

This morning the alarm went off at 4:50am. We needed to be out of bed so that Russ could get going and get to the barn before Laurie got there. That is Russell’s personal challenge to himself. I was getting up extra early so that I could tidy. Our house was showing some neglect. We had a new friend joining us and for some dumb reason, at the age of 54, I am still trying so hard to make good impressions. The cowboy crew was heading down to our river pasture to move a herd of cows from one pasture to another. Last year when we did this work we had Liz Griffin on hand and she grabbed these beautiful pictures.

We had a great crew this morning, everything went smoothly, we are always grateful for that. Here is a video Russ took of the crew getting the herd from one pasture into the gate at the next.

Patrick in red in the foreground, both of his sons tucked into the back of the picture.

Beautiful morning sun. We got the job done before it got too hot.

The team was back for breakfast right when Russell hoped they would be, about 9:40am. That is when I got to meet the newest rider at the Bar MW Ranch. Our new local doctor Mehdi Shadmani connected with Russell recently and this led to Russ knowing that we needed to invite Mehdi out to ride with us. I have never hosted one of our local doctors before! Mehdi did great in the saddle and Russ said he made a fine cowboy. He was gracious about giving me permission to post about his visit on the blog.

Medhi in front, Morgan, David and Laurie behind.

At breakfast having a new guy there gave us a chance to tell and to hear some of the good ol stories that always make us laugh, with David at the table the ice cream tattoo and the cinnamon bun story both got told. We never tire of them.

There are two things I personally want to highlight after the morning.

I was gifted this morning. David’s wife Linda joined us, she had already had breakfast but shared a coffee and the conversation. She arrived before the cowboys which gave her a chance to offer a gift to me. It was one of those, “I saw this and it made me think of you” gifts.

If you read a recent blog of mine about Ava’s gift, you will know I love these kinds of gifts. Linda said she was in our local thrift shop and found this dove stained glass. She said that one of her worries was that I had been the one that donated it to the thrift shop. I wasn’t! Maybe the person who did is reading this. Anyways, she showed it to David and said, “who do you think I bought this for?” He said, “Kathy.” I love being known. Linda and I found an initial spot for it and got it hung up. Then I got back to cutting up fruit. Thank you Linda!

Sometimes I stand in awe about the fact that so much has changed in my life. One of my truths as a young woman was that I was surrounded by women. I was blessed by grandmas, aunts, sisters and of course my Mom, who frequently sat at our table. My Dad and my brother were the only men for the longest time. Cancer and dementia took them from us early. Linda’s husband Stu joined us, but for so very long the women greatly outnumbered the men.

Thats me in the suspenders, the picture includes my Nanny, my great Gram, my great Aunt Doris and my sisters Janet and Margie.

My life has changed. This morning found me surrounded by kind men and greatly outnumbered. I have noted this exact thing several times over the years on facebook, but it seems I am just not done. Jill, Linda and I were a minority. I found this to be an impacting part of my morning.

I do a lot of thinking about what makes life good. For me time at the table is a huge part of the recipe. There we experience good flavors, like cinnamon. We experience stories, they make us feel alive and connected. We are invited to know worlds beyond our own. Hopefully, safe space is created to simply be human. It has been a while since I had to extend our table out to its maximum length, today we did, it was a good morning!

Still Here

It has been a long time since I wrote anything on the blog. I have no way of explaining that except maybe I am a little more private than I thought I was.

Without a doubt life has been ticking along here at the ranch. Our crew and our cows have persevered through some devastatingly cold conditions. Having called them devastating conditions it seems important to affirm that in fact we had no losses from the cold, except that our cows had trouble keeping weight on. We believed that we were giving them good quality feed but still they were dropping pounds. We tested for worms. That wasn’t the problem. It was just the cold and as soon as the weather shifted upwards the cows started to bounce back. There is a significant amount of stress that goes with this. One of the worries is whether feed supplies will hold out. We budgeted our bale supply for a typical winter but this winter has required more food than average due to the cold. When its cold the cows eat more to keep their inner furnace producing heat.

We got into something new this week, in response to this worry about feed lasting through the winter. We got the chance to do a little alchemy. That is a word I connect to the Muppets. When the kids were little we had a VHS tape of the Muppets recreating classic fairytales. It was really memorable when Gonzo did his thing as Rumpelstiltskin and turned straw into gold to rescue Miss Piggy, for a fee. I really loved that VHS tape back when being Gina and Jill’s Mom gave me permission to be a kid again. Anyways, the alchemy we were a part of was turning straw bales into nourishing food. If you have not had time on a farm you might not know that straw is usually used for bedding and hay is used for food. Straw is the stalks that grain grows on and hay may be comprised of a variety of grasses. Straw has bulk and roughage but not much nutrition. However, we had the chance to have a man come with a fancy machine and inject a nutritious mixture into 100 straw bales. The mixture was mostly molasses and offers 14% protein content, making them edible and somewhat nourishing. We have started introducing these bales into our feed rotation. At this point they are not a favorite item on the menu but are getting eaten and allowing the feed to last just a little longer. Surprisingly this process was not that expensive, as farm expenses go. There are years when having feed for cows is like possessing gold, this year with our severe drought its one of them, so making straw viable as a food source is a little like the fairytale alchemy I remember.

Russ had the bales all set out ready for the injection. They lined the driveway north making quite a tidy road.

The injection paddle with nozzles to deliver the solution.

Some of the molasses mix spilled on the snow. Russ tried it. He decided it was kindv’e salty and he was glad he didn’t have to live on it. It definitely wasn’t the maple syrup on snow we know about.

Another way we have extended our feed supply is by purchasing grain pellets for the cows. We were able to find a source for these, which was not straightforward. The place that was reccomended to us flat out refused to talk to us because we are not already customers. We did get lined up with a good option though and the price was better than we thought it might be. A load cost us $12,500 and Monday a 2nd load is being delivered. Those kinds of figures amaze me. How does a ranch sustain these kinds of extra costs? Well……part of it is strategic decision making. Like this……..We usually buy oats for our calves and get them ready for market by supplementing their feed this way. This year the price per bushel of oats has about tripled. We made a strategic decision not to feed them oats, to do some leftover grain and some barley for supplemental feed and see how they would fare on that with hay. They were not as bulked up as usual but did okay. The term that goes with this is that it didn’t “pencil out” to feed them 9$/bushel oats. So perhaps we saved a bit there. The true saving grace when having extra feed expenses is that our provincial government offered ranchers drought relief. There is lots of talk about how terrible government is. I don’t negate anyone’s position, there is a reason for everything everyone says. However our experience is that in this terribly scary and hard time of maintaining a herd of cows we have felt seen by our government. Our work creating food feels valued and our need to have sustainability affirmed. There is support that will make it possible to carry on. We are incredibly grateful.

Russ took this picture of that first load of grain pellets being delivered.

We use a trip feeder to dispense the pellets. Small piles get dropped, Russ makes a big loop with the truck and trip feeder and everyone gets access to a pile.

One other big part of this season of ranch life is snow. Wow we have had snow and our entire province seems to have been blanketed with it. It has meant so much extra work but it has also translated to hope. The extra work comes from managing the snow, moving it to create paths to get feed to animals and keep yards clear. Then moving it again when the wind rearranges it. We seem to have had lots of wind. The hope comes from the knowledge that this spring there should be some run-off, we begin to envision dugouts with some water in them. This is so major. We need the hope as much as we need the water.

Russ has created lots of piles like this as he has worked to keep the yard clear and fully usable.

Russ has a secret weapon. It is his snow bucket. After the tremendous snow of 16-17 he commissioned a welder to create this 10 foot wide bucket. It makes him more efficient.

Nothing exciting here but gives a feel for the snow and dog action of Russell’s days.

Bingo oversees movement through the snow road that she and Russ created to get feed to the main herd. I say it like this because Russ rarely spends time in the skidsteer without Bingo, she insists on it, she witnessed most every bucket of this snow being moved.

A good old fashioned shovel is still our best option when getting close to the house. This day Jill was the boss of it.

The deep snow and deep cold have made life hard on the nature that surrounds us. We have found ourselves hosting some species that are having a hard time getting by. Prairie Chickens, partridges and pheasants are birds that have been taking food and shelter with us. Deer are everywhere. The picture below is typical lately, I counted 35 deer in this picture, Russ says there are 160 within a mile of home, all grazing where any food source remains accessible. The coyotes have been bedding down with the cows, using their bedding and eating their manure as a food source. It seems there are many species including our own that are doing their best to survive in trying times.

When the air is deadly cold, the worries real and big and we are surrounded by snow and tricky roads what sustains us? What sustains you?

I answer my question with the word love. I think about it, in one way or another, all the time. My experiences with it help me live these days. Here are some pictures.

Some of my extended family recently visited. The result was playtime. I am thankful for that.

Our dogs are basically like having more kids and we love them almost as much.

In late January the market was better than we thought it would be and we got to market our heifer calves. I was super thankful for that. Those are our girls in the auction pen.

Gina is busy and challenged and getting to indulge her interest in stage combat this term. She is currently getting through a week with Covid. I am proud of her resilience, she has stayed up amid total isolation and feeling tough. Our chats with her keep our world bigger than the ranch and we love hearing what is perking in her days. She is really growing.

Family team means many things…..like giving dogs that roll in stinky stuff on melty days a bath, all hands on deck!

Friendship is helping us get through the hard stuff. Miles was over to help with the heifers. We had just made hats to celebrate our ranches working closely together for five years. Our hats have both ranch brands on them.

Morgan keeps the joy bubbling in this house when times are hard. He is really enjoying being on the basketball team at school. That’s him with arms raised.

Appointments in Regina and Estevan this week meant visits with family that warmed my whole heart and a trip to Costco. Russ is very proud of my ability to load a Costco cart so well that the staff have to get us an extra one to get us past the checkout. It happened again this week. The good news….Bingo has a new bed, and as we speak there are chocolate covered Almonds heading to Victoria for Gina.

A completely unnecessary picture, illustrates nothing, but I couldn’t leave it out. Oh Coffee dog…..you are beautiful.

That’s our check in. We are still here!

Inside the Head – Nov 19/21

Thursday afternoon, once we were home from selling our steers and Russ had his outside chores done we found ourselves settling into a couple of very comfy chairs in our living room. We each had a mug of tea and a blanket. It was about 4pm. There were a couple things going on. Most immediately, Russ was fighting cold symptoms and was feeling chilled. He wanted this warm up time and invited me to join him. Also we are beginning our transition into winter schedules. This means more down time to catch our breath and do stuff that isn’t urgent. We are both so ready for this. It was interesting for me to note that I was fighting a little fight, or maybe doing a little dance, with the reality of guilt. It was four pm and most of my friends were still at work. But not me. My hubby and I were having precious moments to be still and cozy and to breathe a bit deeper. Its kind’ve weird to catch oneself waging this war with guilt. Where does it come from? Was it justified at all? Did I need to feel guilty? No I don’t think so. So why did I? The answer to that requires some reflection and maybe it is a bit too personal for the blog. But here is where my thinking went next, almost in an effort to defend myself I think, “this is our trade off for the long work days that are part of our summer.” I was referring to the weeks where there are no weekends (all of them), the times when you open facebook to see that it appears that everyone else is having a ball and you are staring at your ringing phone willing it not to be a problem that needs your action or sympathy. The evenings that never seem to end as the haying machines run til the grass gets tough, and I find myself cooking the last meal of the day closer to midnight than the supper hour. As I write this a lot of feeling goes with it, a sense of just how unpredictable and trying a ranching summer is and what a feeling of victory goes with just getting through it. If I am to report back to you who live beyond the ranching community, relaying what it is to be a rancher, what it is to be a ranchers wife, than part of that is to say that we have some different seasons around here. While the darkness and the cold of winter is hard, hard on our animals and hard to work in, when the darkness falls the days work is usuallly mostly done. Meals happen at good times, the light over top of the dining room table sheds a cozy glow against the darkness, time is available for a little bit of our hobbies, maybe a movie together. Its nice. Its really really nice. Its pretty easy. And for some dumb reason, when things are easy, I feel a little bit guilty.

I sense that I am not the only one.

Isn’t it weird to talk about things being so easy that guilt should arise? Life is not easy for anyone right now. Perhaps the feeling of guilt is a flag of sorts, alerting me to the things that feel really good amid the trials of these days. Maybe, just maybe, Russ and I should, with a deep sense of gratitude, bundle up in blankets, with mugs of tea, every day, knowing this is the good stuff, the stuff that translates to ease for our weary bodies and minds.

Thats what lives in the head of this ranch wife this week.

As I wondered if there was a picture to post these summer pictures came to mind. They give a glimpse of the machinery and people power Russ is managing and remind me of the weather worries and pressure we felt to make the feed that will keep our bovine girls going all winter.