To Soon. To Sudden.

We lost a great man today. Our friends lost a great dad and husband today. The Ag Community lost a great rancher today. My grandpa lost a wonderful neighbor today. It was all to soon. It was all to sudden.
When I called to tell my dad he was quiet and said "He was only 3 years older than me."
My prayers and hugs and thoughts go out to this man's family. We lost alot today, but God gained a wonderful Guardian Angel today.


A COWBOYS LAST REQUEST"
By Terry Ike Clanton
6-15-00 copyright 2000

Let me tell you folks
Who have gathered here today
That I'm a proud and thankful cowboy
Who has just passed away

I know it's hard
But, please don't cry
Fer I'm now ridin' Gods trails
High up in the sky

The hoss I'm ridin' now
Don't spook, buck or kick
Fer God stables perfect horses
And now I have my pick

Lord, please forgive me of all my sins
Fer I haven't been perfect
But I know that he who believes in You
Forever wins!

I have lived a good life
A cowboys dream come true
Thank You Lord,
Fer I'm now ready to ride into eternity
Me, my horse, and You

The Old Mares Birthday

This is T. My very imaginative, funny little 3 year old.

This is my little mare Dingy.

She is a sorrel.

This is also a picture of Dingy.


Last night on our way home from town, my little 3 year old spoke up.

I heard "Mama, today is Dingy's birthday. And she needs a new necklace"

So of course I asked the most logical thing.

"Does Dingy want Diamond? Or Pearls"

From the back seat came her honest and straight forward answer;

"umm, Maybe just a white one cuz white looks pretty with red"

Well, I ask you, who could argue with that??

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving. I am starting this late, but when you really think about it, is really ever to too late to be thankful for anything? I am sure if I was making a list of wishes and wants, it would be pretty simple to do. But I am thankful for alot of things. Though sometimes I know it I don't seem or act like I am. So here goes, in no particular order.




1. I am thankful for my little miracle baby, Tally. My life would be so boring and empty without her smiles and questions and her personality.





2. I am thankful for my Dad. Thankful for teaching me to ride, to ranch, to rope, and to 'go for broke' and be happy.



3. I am thankful for my Mom. I am thankful she has baffled the doctors and is still with us. I am thankful that she is around to enjoy life and her granddaughters.



4. My sisters. Good, Bad or otherwise I am thankful for them! :) No, Really. I am truly thankful for them.







5. My Friends. Far and Near. Old and New.






6. Thankful I get to teach my daughter what my dad taught me.






7. I have a roof over my head. It maybe small. It may lack storage. But we have a roof over our head, and it's great.


8. I have a freezer full of beef.

9. I am thankful for my horses.

10. I am thankful for my nieces, Timber & Hailey. It's great being an Auntie.

11. I am thankful I have a job. I may hate it and wish something else would come along, but I am thankful I have a job.

12. I am thankful Tally has grandparents and great parents on both sides of her family, that she gets to know and learn from.

13. I am thankful Tally loves riding horse.

14. I am thankful for my health.

15. I am very thankful for those fighting and those that fought for my freedom.

16. I am thankful that I can walk down the street to the grocery store and buy groceries to feed my family.


17. I am thankful I have a family to feed.

18. The country. I am so thankful to not be living in town! I love the coyotes calling, the cows bellering, the dogs barking.


19. Tally's new puppy, Scott! He is so good, and is teaching Tally responsibility.


20. I am thankful our little town still has a clinic/hosptial/nursing home/ambulance crew.

21. I am thankful when I go back to my hometown, I still have good close friends and it feels like I haven't left.

22. I am thankful I can enjoy a cold beer after a long day of branding, or working outside. Or for that manner, whenever I choose.

23. I am thankful for all the opportunities my parents gave me and allowed me to participate in growing up. 4-H. Rodeo. Swimming Lessons. Band. FFA. Luther League. Junior Leaders. Livestock Judging. Basketball.

24. I am thankful Tally is teaching me to have patience. I used to have all kinds of patience in me, until I started working in town. I lost all patience. She is now teaching me again, and I love that.


25. I am thankful I got to know my Great Grandparents and that I have a Grandpa and a Grandma still with me today.

26. I am thankful for my spurs. They were my dads. Everytime I put them on I think of my dad. And that the fact that when he gave them to me, he told me if I ever lost them that I shouldn't bother coming home!

27. I am thankful my mom taught me to sew.

28. I am thankful my parents are such a good cooks, and taught me and my sisters to cook. Though I can't make dumplings or pancakes nowhere as good as dad!

29. I am thankful to still be a part of ranching and agriculutre.

30. I am thankful for pictures. Because without pictures I would have a heck of a time remembering all the fun I have had in my life with my friends and family.

Strange things a'happen'...

I had the day off yesterday from my town job in observance of Veteran's Day. Which was nice. In my head I had the day planned. Do some laundry (ugh), play with T, finish pickin up the yard, get horses in. But plans changed. For the better. Big D surprised me by asking if I wanted to run to town to check out that washer and dryer he had found on sale.



umm...what was that?

Did I hear him right?

I do believe I was in shock.



Here Big D was, throwing an idea out to spend some money. Yes it was something we really needed, and had but looking....BUT it was something for the house. It wasn't a tool. It had nothing to do with tractors. It wasn't a toy for him. I mean, it was actually something for the house! So of course I jumped on the bandwagon. So we loaded up T and headed to town. Ahhah! I knew there was a catch. The washer and dryer, were the same brand. Same color. But not a set match. But I didn't really care, and they were too good of price to pass up. woohoo! So Big D wrote the check, we loaded them up and headed home. And not only did we buy a washer and dryer, they actually got hooked up and are useable. All the same day. I need to go take Big D's temp, make sure he is feeling alright. ORrrrrr, he is playing nice cuz he did something or wants something. C'mon, you know what I mean. Either way, I am thankful. Which comes to the question I was discussing with my friend J, yesterday:



"When did we become old?"

"When did the flip switch so we got excited about washers & dryers & furniture?"

Ragged Old Flag

My computer was has been on the fritz, so I am just not getting this posted. Below is a song that every time I hear it, my tears get all waterty, and goose bumps cover my arms. Just picture a mid summer night at the rodeo, the local little boys and girls come thundering in horseback for the grand entry. Whoopin' and a'hollerin'. And then the announcer asks you to stand tall and remove cover. He starts the music. In comes that pickup man or rodeo queen or local kid that won the coin toss and was chosen to carry the American Flag. The only sounds are Johnny Cash's voice a crackin'; A baby crying; Roping cattle bawling; Bareback horses bangin' in the chute; and that semi roarin' down the highway next to the arena, oblivious as to what is going on. I'm telling you it gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.

Ragged Old Flag

By John R. Cash, © 1974 House of Cash, Inc.



I walked through a county courthouse square,

On a park bench an old man was sitting there.

I said, "Your old courthouse is kinda run down."

He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town."

I said, "Your old flagpole has leaned a little bit,

And that's a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging on it."



He said, "Have a seat," and I sat down.

"Is this the first time you've been to our little town?"

I said, "I think it is." He said, "I don't like to brag,

But we're kinda proud of that Ragged Old Flag.



"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there when

Washington took it across the Delaware.

And it got powder-burned the night Francis Scott Key

Sat watching it writing Say Can You See.

And it got a bad rip in New Orleans

With Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at its seems.



"And it almost fell at the Alamo

Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though.

She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville

And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.

There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard, and Bragg,

And the south wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag.



"On Flanders Field in World War I

She got a big hole from a Bertha gun.

She turned blood red in World War II.

She hung limp and low by the time it was through.

She was in Korea and Vietnam.

She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.



"She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,

And now they've about quit waving her back here at home.

In her own good land here she's been abused --

She's been burned, dishonored, denied, and refused.



"And the government for which she stands

Is scandalized throughout the land.

And she's getting threadbare and wearing thin,

But she's in good shape for the shape she's in.'

Cause she's been through the fire before

And I believe she can take a whole lot more.



"So we raise her up every morning, take her

down every night.

We don't let her touch the ground and we fold

her up right.

On second thought, I do like to brag,

'Cause I'm mighty proud of the Ragged Old Flag."

It's No Different In November than July

It's no different in November than it is in July. Hayin' that is. Big D came trudging home and was makin himself a sandwich at about 2:30 this morning. He had spent all night baling. Just like the hayin' crew does in July. But this years weather has been so willy-nilly, its crazy. I guess that's why we are haying in November. I heard the neighbors calves a'bawling this morning. They must have been getting ready to ship the calves or at least just wean. It was a comforting sound. A nostalgic sound. A 'life doesn't get any better than this' sound on a cool crisp morning. But like the last few years I didn't get to enjoy any of it. I was running late for work and I hadn't even gotten T loaded into the pickup. So I strapped her in, and myself and off we were. Me, feeling sorry for myself because I have to go to town and work and not help the neighbors, and T singing Old McDonald.

Picture Of Dad's Calves at Branding Time

Haying in November?

I checked the calender. I know for a fact last weekend was Halloween. And I still am in shock. We are haying. In November. Or should I say the Big D is haying in November. Down on the river bottom. The Big Green Tractor is a rollin'. It's just crazy. I realize in some parts haying in November is common. But in Montana? Crazy. We have hayed through September. And there has definetly been haying in October. But this is November. The 8th of November. We are talking 18 days from Thanksgiving. I have Halloween decorations all packed up. It's crazy. I am starting to believe when I ask Big D when he thinks we will get to combine all the corn that is still standing, and he answers back "I am thinkin' Christmas Day." that he may just be right. Last night we were supposed to attend a friends 30th birthday party. I am sure they thought I was telling a big fat lie when I said we couldn't make it 'cuz we were a'hayin! It's just plum crazy!