30 Days of Thanksgiving

Cow Camp Crazy's 30 Days of Thanksgiving

Day 1:  So thankful that I am living my dream job; ranching, farming, being a mama, and being a part of Agriculture.  It's not always easy, but it's the perfect fit for me.

Day 2:  It may sound silly, but I am thankful for cell phones and texting, and the ability to send pictures from my cell phone.  My family and close friends are scattered across Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.  Cell phones allow us to keep in touch so easily.  It's easy to send pictures of my girls to my sisters, and their grandparents.  It makes the miles just fade away, and my kids keep in touch.  And it makes me feel like we, as a family, aren't missing out on little things in the others' life as we can keep in touch.

Day 3:  I am thankful for toilet paper.

Day 4:  I am thankful for the communities that I grew up in.  They hold a special spot in my heart and then helped make me who I am today.

Day 5:  I am thankful for my network of friends.  Each one of them adds something to my life.  Many miles may separate most of us, but the miles don't take away the memories!

Day 6:  I am thankful for my children.  They are my little miracle babies.  I think when the doctors told me the impossible, God just laughed and said "watch this!"!

Day 7:  I am thankful for father.  I hope I can remember everything dad has taught and told me over the years, but am afraid I won't.  I love his old wives tales, his stories that are lessons, and his ability to throw you into a situation you would have been scared to jump into, and them him saying 'See it wasn't that bad!'.  I thank him for sharing his love of ranching, horses and that if you love what you do, work isn't work.  I thank him for teaching me that you take care of them first and your livestock will take care of you.  I am thankful he made me work and taught me how to work.  And I am thankful that he is able to share some of these things with my daughters.  My babies first word was 'papa'.

Day 8:  I am thankful for my husband.  Granted he frustrates me, ticks me off and I sometimes don't understand they way he does things BUT he's a hard work, and a great father, and he puts up with me!

Day 9:  I am thankful  muck boots and Carhartt.  Yes, that my sound trivial, but its not.  I have spent the last several days shoveling snow, chopping ice and feeding livestock in a snow storm.  Those of you that share my life, you get me.  For those that don't, I'm telling you Muck boots and Carhartt are wonderful.  Great improvement from when I was a kid and had to put grocery sacks around my feet before putting them in my snow boots.

Day 10:  I am thankful for my nieces and nephew, and for cousins.  They just make my life fuller, funner and crazy.  Plus I love hearing stories from their mothers, as then I realize I am not the only one with crazy kids!

Day 11:  I am thankful for a good dog.  A good dog is next to a good horse, its just right for the soul.  A good dog lets you rant and rave and throw temper tantrums and then snuggles in and makes things better.  A good dog is there to help get that last ol' rip up the alley or through the gate.  A good dog makes you smile, and smiling is great.

Day 12: I am thankful for my horses.  They make my world right.  Nothing helps me get my head on straight like a horse.  When riding that good one thats close to your heart, and you get the cow stopped or pulling calves or hes firing on all engines and cutting like a champ, that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  And I love how my daughters are falling in love with horses and how they seem to have the same effect on them.

Day 13:  I am thankful for my freezer full of meat and my pantry full of food.

Day 14:  I am thankful that as we come upon the holiday season my mother is around to spend it with her family, her grand kids and anyone else she chooses too.  She has outlived the doctors predictions and keeps rocking on!

Day 15:  I am thankful for neighbors and friends that are always willing to lend a hand.  Being neighborly makes hard work and long days go by fast and with a little commraderie and social contact.  It also is allowing us to sneak away to my folks' place over Thanksgiving.  Thank goodness for good neighbors.

Day 16:  I am thankful I am a very awesome grandma and truly awesome, if not stubborn, grandpa still in my life.  They both rock.

Day 17:  I am thankful that when I married D, I gained an awesome family.  We have so much fun and we've got each others back.

Day 18:  I am thankful for this blog.  Not many people see it or read it, but I like that I have a place to jot something down, share something, or not.  It's all up to me. It's mine.

Day 19:  I am thankful that D and I have gotten the opportunity to farm and ranch.  I can't imagine either one of us being as truly happy doing anything else.

Let It Snow!

This past weekend we got our first snow storm of the winter. It was a gentle storm that dropped about 15 inches of snow along with snow rain to make roads miserable. I call it a gentle storm as there was no wind, no fuss. Snow just fell from the sky and kept piling up. There was ice on the trees but we didn't lose any branches. The highways were treacherous for a few days but they are all clear now. And we've been plowing snow and yard is all clear. Next we have to work on shoveling out loading chute and alley way so we can get cows home.

Have you Thanked a Veteran lately?

Back in the forties, my grandmother Phyllis was in the Marine Corp, stationed in San Fransisco.  She tells the story of how she spent her 21st birthday scrubbing floors with a toothbrush because her and her friend had got in trouble.  I don't remember exactly what they got reprimanded for but it seemed like it was for something real silly.  

Below is my absolute favorite picture of my Grandma.  It was taken in 1945.  Stunning, beautiful, inspiring, and magical are a few words use to describe it.  

To all our Veterans across this nation, Thank You.  

I Like Cows

I like cows.  

They are beautiful.

They are survivors.

They are stubborn.

They are good for one's soul.

I just really like cows.

Wordless Wednesday

Spring 2012

Flower Girl

My cousin got married a few weekends ago, on a gorgeous October Saturday.  The day started out cloudy and spitting rain, but the skies cleared and turned into a beautiful day.  My cousin and his bride to be asked T to be their flower girl!  She was so excited!  But who wouldn't be, beautiful princess dress, sparkly new boots and center of attention!

My niece, who's rocking the zebra skirt and zebra boots, was helping out with the guestbook and gifts.  2 beautiful (not so) little girls!

And of course we had the stagecoach out to give the wedding party a ride.  Cuz, ya know, that's how we roll!!

My little (i.e. younger than me) sister was an out rider for the stagecoach.

After the wedding party was dropped at the reception, T and a few of us hitched a ride in the stagecoach.  In other words, we climbed in and (those old enough) enjoyed an adult beverage as they took the stagecoach back across the parking to the horse trailer and then we helped unharness, and load the stagecoach.  And possibly another adult beverage.

Getting Crafty

From window frame to picture frame.  What do you think?  I thought I had a 'before' picture, but I don't.  Pictures aren't the best as they are just from my iphone.  

Wordless Wednesday

My Prize

Here a few posts ago I wrote that I had won a giveaway from The South Dakota Cowgirls blog. Well I received my prize in the mail the other day and its awesome. 

 I received the journal that she published that is full of her wonderful photography and lots of pages for me to write down my thoughts, dreams, prayers, and lists.

The South Dakota Cowgirl also has a 2013 calendar, collection of note cards and Christmas cards for that feature her photography from around the ranch.   I've been following her blog for a long time now, and enjoy her writing, her photography and her jewelry.

I apologize for the photos below and they are just taken with my phone and don't do the journal justice.  My internet is down, again.  The day I have reliable internet service I am going to dance like noone is watching!

Defoliating Beets

We have only been growing sugar beets for 3 years.  I have learned alot in those 3 years, and have plenty more to learn.  One question that is asked quite frequently is 'What is defoliating beets?'.  Well, I happen to get some close up pictures of the defoliater last week as the guys were opening up a new field.  

Basically, the defoliator has a bunch of paddles inside and whips the tops of the beets off.  This is the first step.  After the beets have been defoliated, the diggers come and and scoop those suckers up and load them into the trucks. 

Sugerbeet Snap Shots

Yes, I know we are done with sugarbeet harvest, but I actually got some pictures taken this year and I want to share them with you.  So bear with me!

Digging beets and loading trucks

We got some rain during harvest so we had to use a pull tractor on some fields

Pull tractor at work

Digger waiting on a truck

This sugarbeet harvest is hard on everyone!

Waiting to get loaded back up.  

That's a wrap boys!

2012's sugarbeet harvest for us is in the books! We finished last night. And as soon as the last truck was home, and the last tractor was parked everyone let out a big sigh of relief.

All in all harvest went pretty well. We only had 2 major breakdowns. First major breakdown put one of our semis out of commission. Thankfully a friend of ours let us borrow one of his so we could keep our moving along. Second breakdown was this past Sunday when our 12 row defoliator broke down. It slowed digging down tremendously. The 6 row defoliator couldn't keep up with 3 diggers, so we had to shut down 2 diggers as repairs were being made.

The biggest thing that effects how, when and where we dig beets is the weather. And Mother Nature threw everything at us this year. First it was too hot, then it was too cold. Then we got rain and it was too muddy. It was 19 days from our first day of digging til we got the last beet dug. Of those 19 days we only dug about 9 1/2 days. But we got it done!

So it's a wrap on sugarbeet harvest for 2012. Now on to combining corn, fixing corrals, fall cow work, weaning calves and getting hay hauled home. The fun never stops at this cow camp!!

I did it!

With a little research and a little luck I figured it out!  Yep, I designed my blog header for this little old blog!  It may not be the best blog header ever, but for me its a big step!  And I am kind of proud of myself!

Hopefully I can keep stumbling across tips and tricks to make this blog a little bit better and easier to read!

This is where I found the instructions on hot to use Picasa to build your own header blog:  http://www.migonishome.com/2012/03/designing-blog-header.html#

In Need Of Blogger Help

To Whomever May Actually Be Reading This,

Help!!

I have some blogger questions and need some help!  On one hand I know my way around the computer quite well.  On the other hand, I don't.   I would like to customize/design my blog background.  Is that even possible?  And if it's possible, am I capable of doing it.

I just want something simple.  Arrange the header differently.  Different color background.  Just simple things.  No, I don't want to leave blogger for a different host.  I like blogger, good, bad or otherwise.  It's what I am used to.  Just want some creativity freedom.

So, can you help me?  Do you have any suggestions.  Or am I just stuck?

Sincerely,

In Need Of Your Help

Picking Sugar Beets with Daddy