The Girly Guide to the Country Life.

I've decided that if I were to write a book (don't get nervous, this is only pretend) I would title it:

The Girly Guide to the Country Life

It would include ranch fashion tips, quick dinner recipes for your rancher, de-stress tactics and overall lifestyle tips.

Chapter 1: Ranch Fashion Yes, there is such a thing.

1. Do not wear long, flowy dresses while outside especially when near barbed wire fences.

2. Do wear nail polish as often as possible so people know you are a girl and

3. Let your hair grow long so when you are 'working' and have a cap on, people will not say, "Excuse me, young man." as they drive up behind you.

4. Wear shiny earrings all.the.time again, so people know you are a girl and make sure they have backs on them otherwise you will find your earring months later scratched, bent and unwearable.

5. NEVER throw a good pair of jeans on when you think it will be a quick and easy chore. Nothing is ever quick or easy on the ranch. You WILL rip them.

6. Don't pay attention when Judgy McJudgerson asks you if you put on make up to do chores. Nothing is better than feeling pretty and badass at the same time. Layer on that mascara, girl!

Chapter 2: Evenings with your Rancher

1. Leftovers are quick and easy for dinner, who cares if you eat the same thing two nights in a row! He's hungry and tired and happy to have something ready for him. Give yourself a break every now and then and take advantage of this.

2. Leave the dishes in the sink every now and then and catch a movie on Netflix with the hubs.

Chapter 3: De-Stress Exercises

1. Get outside. We can all waste hours staring off into the interwebz, but fresh air is truly the best medicine. Go for a walk or sit outside and read a book.

2. Talk to the animals. They are great listeners and hardly ever judge.

3. When all else fails ask your rancher if any demo needs to be done around the ranch.

 Chapter 4: Lifestyle

1. Never start a shower when your husband recently told you he thinks there is a crack in a pipe somewhere. Ask for permission or else your shower will be unexpectedly cut short and it will most likely happen in the middle of soaping your hair.

2. Spiders are everywhere and not every one is a brown recluse. Say that with me one more time...Spiders are everywhere and not every one is a brown recluse.

The moment you accept this is the moment your life will improve and your anxiety will lessen. Know that because you are the one in the household with a small case of arachnophobia, you will be the one to find every spider. You will be the one with the spiders on your side of the bed. You will be the one with the spider in your shoe which leads me to my next two tips...

3. Always check your shoes before you put your feet in them.

4. Remember to check under the sheets before you crawl into bed along with your pet's bedding.

y'all remember Jigs' spider bite, don't you?? In case you missed that one, click here.

5. Shake out your clothes before you put them on. Did I ever share the story about the (very large) spider that crawled down my face because I didn't shake out my shirt? I'll spare you, but just know it wasn't pretty.

6. Shake out your towel before you use it. I don't think I ever told you about the spider I dried my face with once. Yeah, that wasn't pretty either.

Okay, enough about spiders. Let's move on to water.

7. Do not freak out when you go to use the restroom and the person before you didn't flush. It's a country thing and you won't understand until you've experienced your well running dry. Oh, and my fellow Californians - puhlease stop rinsing down your concrete driveway. That water you are wasting was a gift from the Colorado mountains, water that we really could use right about now.

8. When you have animals do not make solid plans with your friends. The second you do there will be a sheepergency and you'll have to cancel, then you just look like an ass. I have a standard sheep disclaimer that I include every time I RSVP.

9. Y'all already know not to pick up stray "dogs" at night. If you haven't heard that story, click here.

10. Do not. I repeat DO NOT lift up anything old and rusty looking at the ranch. If it looks like it's been there for a while chances are there is something dead and decomposing underneath. True story.

11. When you hear heavy breathing outside your window, always assume it's the neighbors cows not a bear or a peeping Tom.

12. God gave us two hands for a reason. One hand is to hold a glass of wine and the other to open and close the ranch gates.

 

Country girls, what have you learned the hard way?

Share your tips and stories in the comment section below! 

Fancy clothes.

The last few days I've been trying to figure out the Metro system of Washington, DC and it's definitely proving to be something similar to a very hard math problem. (I hate math.)

Why? Well, this gal is going to our nation's capitol.

Am I excited? Heck yes!

A little nervous? Naturally.

I was one of five people chosen by the Colorado Farm Bureau to attend the annual Washington, DC trip. I feel so grateful for this opportunity but, feel I have this huge responsibility to represent my corner of the state while speaking to our representatives and committees on issues as they relate to the agriculture industry.

I'd say I'm pretty good with public speaking however, when it comes to talking about heavy topics, I get a little flustered, sweaty and really insecure.

A very long time ago, I thought I would work in DC doing something in politics. Big dreams, folks. I am beyond excited to finally visit Washington, DC but I have high (and possibly unreasonable) expectations for myself which is causing a few nerves. I want to do this trip justice - speak my mind, represent my county, run for office. Totally kidding on the last one. Obviously.



www.capitalregionusa.org

I'll take lots of notes, lots of pictures and I'm sure I'll get lost, say something ridiculously stupid in front of our state representative or set off a metal detector and therefore, I'm sure I'll bring back a story or two for you!

Wish me luck! And let me know your Must-Sees of Washington!

A Four-Legged Frenzy = Lesson Learned.

The other day I was driving to work and noticed the first country-life sign of spring. Calves. Fellow cattle blogger friends - how do you stand the cuteness? Lambs are cute, but there is something about calves that makes me want to knit one a sweater, clip on a leash and take it for walks then follow that up with a bunch of snuggling.

My drive to work is ten minutes, 2 stop signs and country on both sides of me. Beautiful? Yes. Easy? No. This does have something to do with the cute calves I just mentioned, I promise. You see, the road I take to work isn't nicknamed the "Buck Highway" for no reason. So, I should know better than to take in the scenes of calving season rather than be on high alert looking right and left, left and right for deer. 365 days of the year.

I still don't know what I was thinking as I took my eyes off the road for 5 seconds to stare at the calves. Well actually, I do know what I was thinking. They are so cute. Cuddly. Cozy, fuzzy, a little wobbly and just every bit of precious. I started imagining having one as a pet. Where it would live? Would I be able to hide it from J? I'd have to steal hay from our own barn to feed it. Could I go to jail for that like these barn thieves might? Would Jigs get along with him or her? Maybe they would play together.

We'd name him/her "Banjo".

It was right in the middle of my vivid visualizations that I remembered there was a large vehicle I was (supposed to be) operating and that I should probably pay attention when a deer jumped out from the shoulder of the road. I swear it was hiding in a hole in the ground because it came from nowhere. The local deer gang had plotted this out, I'm sure of it.


All I can say is something truly electric happens to the human body when you go from such a peaceful state of mind to one of fear, surprise and shock. I haven't put my finger on what it is, but if I had to imagine what a heart attack feels like, this would probably be a similar feeling.

After I screamed loud enough to hurt my own ears, I realized we were all okay. The bouncy four-legged deer went on his merry way to scare the crap outta some other poor soul. The calves in the field continued on with their cuteness and I vowed never to take my eyes off the road again. Ever again.

You know you are a rancher's wife when...

this conversation happens weekly.


                        me:     I'm going to jump in the shower.

                        hubby: O.K.

                        me:     Are you going to shower tonight?

                        hubby: No.   Didn't sweat today.

I can tell you that he did shower the day this photo was taken.
Thank God.

Mutton Mondays - DO try this at home!

I'll be the first to admit that lamb can be a bit intimidating in the kitchen. I think the main reason for this is that it's pricey and well, you don't want to screw it up. I also think a lot of people think all lamb recipes are something extravagent when, in reality it's just like any other piece of meat.

We get our lamb for free and we really have no reason why we aren't eating lamb at least 3x's a week. We've made a conscience effort to be better about this and have been trying new recipes.

I've shared our go-to lamb recipe from the American Lamb website with you before, but I wanted to share a new recipe we've found. 

This Lamb Roast recipe is from the Crocking Girls website, we added a few ingredients and made a few changes to the original recipe which I indicate below with asteriks and parenthesis.

Here it is!

 

1 leg of (Colorado) lamb* the CG recipe uses Lamb Roast
Trim away excess fat*

Leg can be frozen*

1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh or dried rosemary
1 teaspoon garlic powder or 3-4 garlic cloves*

Mix spices together and rub vigorously on leg of lamb.

Place lamb in crock pot (yep, I said crock pot!) and add:

1 teaspoon Lime Juice*
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1/2 cup of water

 

Cook on low for 8 hours.

This is a delicious and easy meal! We were a little nervous to cook lamb for 8 hours, seems a bit long, but it was mouthwatering.

I hope you'll give this a try! If you do, let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

An Update on the Sheep

I haven't had any sheep related posts the last few weeks so I thought I would give ya'll an update.

The sheep are currently up in the high country and will be there until early October.
You know...when I help trail them down aka my unintentional half marathon last year!

I was able to take my family up there a few weeks ago. It just so happened J needed to move camp while mi familia were in town and I jumped at the opportunity. We also took an unplanned trip up there the next week to pick up one of our herders. More on that in a sec.

The sheep look good. Really good. They are grazing away, loving their lives.

It's beautiful up there.

 Here comes Gringo to say hello!

Let me give you an idea of what it is like for our herders up on the mountain. They have no running water and the water they use is freezing cold. They sleep in tents in the middle of the forest and are  frequented by bear and coyotes (thank goodness for our awesome guard dogs!).

Now while they do have cell phones, the service is spotty and their battery has to last until the next "move". This is when J will bring their cell phone home and charge it. He takes it back to them the next move.

Their job up in the high country is to keep the sheep in a certain area (we'll go over this in a bit) and tend to them as needed.

Our Forest Service permits allow us to be at certain places on the mountain for a certain amount of time.

When our time is up (or there isn't enough feed) we move camp to the next location. "Camp" consists of our herder's supplies and sleeping quarters (tents). J goes up every week, takes our herders supplies and moves everything to the next spot. It's really a tedious process.

For instance, today J moved camp. He left at 7:00 this morning and spends hours on the 4 wheeler taking in supplies (since obviously we can't drive right to the "campsite"). It was a long day for him.

It's 11pm and he literally just walked in the door.

Some trips he'll trade out dogs. Today he took Nell to the mountain and brought Sage home. Duke and Nell, our newest pups are spending their first summer up on the mountain. Hopefully they learn the ropes!

J also brings me an update on how things are going. He is sure to tell me how all the dogs are doing - Wito, Embre and Gringo are the guard dogs currently up there. They are doing a good job keeping the bear and coyote away. Daniel says we've had bear and coyote almost every night. Yikes!

I am proud to say that I've gotten him in the habit of putting some treats in his pocket for the dogs on "Camp Moving" days.

If only I can get him in the habit of packing a lunch and a Nalgeen. He came home super dehydrated and starving.

Happy One Year Blogiversary to Me! {and a giveaway!}

I can't believe one week from today is my one year blogiversary!

..I'm still here..

Back when I wrote my first entry I wasn't sure how this was going to go. I definitely knew there was a chance I would hate it here at the ranch and I'd just delete this blog, but I didn't hate it, I didn't delete and I'm still here.

This blog isn't just a blog, for me it's kind of like my therapy. It's my happy place. You see, not everything is peachy perfect on the ranch. We (like many other families) have our financial worries, we have the stress of caring for a furry family that is quite dependent on us and we have the pressure of succeeding. We have the stress of the unknown aka Mother Nature and I have really bad days when I miss my family.

For these reasons and because I do enjoy it, I blog.

Coming here, to my little itty bitty corner of the blogosphere,  I feel at home and always excited to share with you what is going on in our lives. Because of this I am always challenging myself and taking in each moment I have here on the ranch. I owe that to you.

Thank you!  

This next year I have set a few goals for my blog that will force me to step out of my comfort zone and put even more of myself out there in the world. eeek! There will be more agvocation, creativity and a little more honesty.

Sooo, we are celebrating a few things this month.

1. My 100+ followers (yes, I am still celebrating.)

2. My August 8th blogiversary 

3. My one year anniversary (August 28th) of being a sheep rancher’s wife and…

4. The recent completion of my father-in-law’s treatment!

In honor of all these things and THANKS to a few awesome ETSY shops I have a week of giveaways for you, my friends!

How awesome is that?!

Here is a list of the ETSY Shops participating. Go and check out the goods!

Stay Gold Media

Tragedies Cheesecake

JuJu Bees And Co.

Susan Alison Art

Heidzz

Cedar Tree Farm Soap

Switch Designs NYC

Outside Peg

Lather and Lace

Let's get it started in her'! 

Ya'll know how much I love my Jigs

so the first giveaway item should come as no surprise.

This pack of greeting cards comes from the ever so artistic and talented, Susan of Susan Alison Art.

Are you seeing the adorable sheep slippers. LOVE this.

The winner of this giveaway will win a pack of these Well... Um... Because it's bedtime... greeting cards set. My only request is that you mail one to me.  No, I'm not serious... 

Well, kinda.


Here is how you enter.

Please leave one comment for each entry for multiple chances to win. 

Mandatory Entry – head on over to Susan Alison Art and come back and tell me what item is your favorite. There are so many things Border Collie that I love in her shop! This entry is mandatory and no others will count if this is not completed. Sorry...rules is rules.

Additional Entries –
1. Be a follower of this blog.
2.  Add Susan Alison Art to your Etsy Favorites. 
3.  Follow Monty and Rosie, Alison's blog.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.

July 4th Fun in the Country.

How was your weekend?

My weekend began with food, fun and good company. The weekend ended with our town’s July 4th celebratory parade, Cornhole and fireworks. It was marvelous.

There were so many wonderful things about this past weekend, but one moment that I am particularly grateful for was hearing our national anthem at the parade. It’s so easy to get lost in the excitement of having friends in town, a three day weekend, food and fun, and to be reminded of what the holiday is really about can never be a bad thing. Our town honored our active military and those that have lost their lives fighting for our country and I’ll tell you…The Star Spangled Banner gets me every time and this weekend was no exception.

Throughout the weekend there was lots of girl time along with a little houseboat action on Saturday.

We barbecued, played Cornhole (game made by the ever so talented, Kennie).

Lisa and I had a morning filled with mimosas and SATC episodes while the boys were out shooting guns.

The boys were looking forward to this weekend for months. They planned out every minute and stocked up on ammo. They went out shooting every single day and came back having had lots of good laughs.

They also came back with an animal that is sitting in my freezer waiting for its date with the taxidermist.

Oh, I do not kid.

Monday, we partook in the local town pet parade. Jigs and her friends, Annie and Schrader were stars of the pet parade.

At least in my book they were.

Jigs was very festive in her red, white and blue skirt and American flag vest. I’d like to believe that she loved every minute of it.

The weekend winded down with a relaxing evening of yes, more Cornhole and of course fireworks. It was a lovely weekend with friends and a lot of memories were made.

Now, J and I get to unwind for 24 hours (and clean!) before we head to Mexico! He deserves a little vacation and well, I do too.

It’s hard work being a rancher’s wife. ;)

Oh, and before I go I want to show you more of J’s beard. You remember my Evolution of a Beard post? Well, I’ve added a picture because it got worse longer. You can see my addition here.

This weekend he sported a little Joe Dirt action,

but tonight in preparation for our trip - I finally got my husband back!
I'll post pics soon. Right now, I gotta finish packing and Jigs is not making this easy.

Goodbye Goats. Goodbye Garden.

The Goats are gone!
The Goats are gone!

Yes, these goats.

Well, not all of them are gone, but most of them. Enough of them. Let me tell you - goats reproduce as fast as weeds grow. Seriously.

Don't worry, they've been sold to a very nice woman who intends to let them live long, happy lives.

This woman came minutes after I saw this!!

I told her she was just in time for the Two for One sale!

It's bad enough that 5 plants died a week after I planted, now this? I don't need help failing and killing things in my garden, I am doing perfectly fine on my own. thankyouverymuch.

So long and farewell you pesty goats!

At least I have something to blame if everything dies in my garden.

Always looking on the bright side...

If you have goats you'll understand this post. Goats are like furry houdinis. There are seriously everywhere they aren't supposed to be.

::I'm excited to tell you that I'm going to be getting a face-lift soon! No, not me, my blog. Stay tuned for the design by the fabulous Jillian at Cornflake Dreams.::

Evolution of a Beard.

THIS is what my husband used to look like...

Handsome, right?!
I have hope that someday, this shaved hottie will come back to me.

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It started as "just for fun!"

There was a short period of time I thought we were headed in the right direction. 
Very short.

Then winter came and I lost all hope.

Winter stayed.

It continued to get colder. 

 

It began to grow like weeds and at that point (I think) laziness took over.

 

Then lambing began and there was no time for him to leave the ranch, let alone make time for a haircut! 

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So, here we are almost 10 months later...

and my husband now has the nickname of 'Dude'. 

Dude - The Big Lebowski. Image from IMBD.com 

Just this week he decided it was time for some more fun and is now rocking a mullet. I don't think I can bring myself to post a picture of that. At least not yet.  

No one told me this is what ranchin' would do to him!  

::Edited to add - July 5th, 2011::
It just kept getting better...

Trailing with the babies.

We moved some babies and mamas to the "Windmill" where they will stay for a few weeks.

J, Morgan and I worked on that water tank a few weeks back.

We patched it up and got it ready for the sheep!

This trailing adventure was physically demanding.
I vlogged a bit for you too.

When we were done my in-laws said that compared to past years, this move actually went smoothly. I do NOT want to be around when things go badly.