Yes I am still out here, only some days I'm not sure just where "here" is!
Since I became the hubby's only help for our livestock contract business my days and weeks have been turned on their ear. What would be days spent around the house working on school work, laundry, housework, my garden and cooking are now spent in the saddle chasing cows and horse from where they are not to be and still trying to fit in laundry, cooking, cleaning, shopping and school work.
Don't get me wrong I am happy that I have been able to be a help to the hubby, but there are days that I just don't want to leave the house anymore. I did manage to get some apple butter, stewed apples and apple pie filling put up a few weeks ago and I have my eye on some tomato sauce in the next few weeks as my tomato plants are getting ready to turn out some nice tomatoes.
This week has been a strange one since the girls are at Grandma's house for two weeks. The house is too quiet at times for my taste. I say that now, but give it a few days after they are back and I'll be wondering what happened to my quiet house!
Calving season is almost a close here finally. Only three or four cows left to calve and then we can brand our short-agers and then just watch them grow until time to ship in the fall. We have been blessed these last few weeks with some fairly regular rain. Most of the rain has been grass rain, the slow steady kind that lets the grass grow tall and green. A few have been what the hubby calls "toad floaters" and they have floated the frogs in the tanks. Which is good since that means that there is water back in our tanks. Water in tanks means that we are not having to haul as much water which takes up so much time that we just can't seem to find anymore.
I have missed writing and posting on my blog and even just having enough time to read the blogs that I follow has been hard to find. I am hoping that will change and I have finally found a new rhythm to follow that will allow for me to get back in the blogging grove.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
The darkness
Okay now most of you know that I am not one to complain or let on when things are wrong...but today is just not one of those days.
Our oh so lovely hired help decided to up an quit two weeks ago with no notice, just here are your keys and I'm packed and leaving. When you only have the one help and they leave it puts even more pressure on us as a family. So that leaves me to try and step up to the plate and take on the role of hired help. Spent three days last week in safety training to be able to go with the hubby monitor and remove any trespass livestock on the coal mine just north of our ranch. Besides having the ranch we do contract work with the mine three days a week. So I'm all trained up on how not to get hurt working on a mine site and have been going out with the hubby three days a week. That presents the next problem, what to do with the girls while we are gone... can't just drop them off for a neighbor to watch! My dad had been here for part of the time and was able to watch the girls, but he is gone back home now so we are stuck trying to figure this one out.
Then I'm struggling to take two classes right now to speed up finishing my teaching degree, which at the rate we are going I'm not going to get to use any time soon. Can't take the time to teach if I'm the only help the hubby has on the ranch and off.
Stupid cow got stuck in the mud on Tuesday, got her out. Wednesday she was back in the mud on the other side of the tank, got her out again. Thursday, you guessed it back in the mud and she did not make it after that time. So that means that we are now feeding three calves down at the barn. Finally got the water storage tank in that we ordered 3 weeks ago and were promised would only take 1 week to get in. Got that set up and a line installed to a drinker so that the cows don't have to drink out of the dirt tanks that are drying up because we can't seem to get any rain in a good amount.
I guess I should not complain about that because at least it has rained enough here over the last few months that we have grass growing and the cows have food to eat, but with no water in the tanks there is just only so many places we can put them that has access to water at all. That means hauling water and longer days for the hubby since he is the only one that can drive the water truck. Not sure how much longer our days can get, worked until midnight on Tuesday to get the storage tank set and filled.
The last straw for me was yesterday when I went to go water my tomato plants to find one of them cleaned out of the 20+ tomatoes that had been growing on it by the squirrels. I hate them things, they have eaten my entire garden this year, down to even digging up the seeds before they can sprout! It just seems that everything is pushing down on me and that every time I look up it is to just stare into the darkness. I hate feeling this way and I hate that I'm sitting here complaining about these things when it could be so much worse, but I'm worn and I need to share with someone even if it through this post. I know that everything we are handed there is a way through, but I just can't see the way right now.
Well I am off to go run water for the cows. Then going to try and get some grocery shopping done so that I have food to cook for dinners. Hoping that everything is going good for you and yours. Enjoy the 4th of July weekend.
Our oh so lovely hired help decided to up an quit two weeks ago with no notice, just here are your keys and I'm packed and leaving. When you only have the one help and they leave it puts even more pressure on us as a family. So that leaves me to try and step up to the plate and take on the role of hired help. Spent three days last week in safety training to be able to go with the hubby monitor and remove any trespass livestock on the coal mine just north of our ranch. Besides having the ranch we do contract work with the mine three days a week. So I'm all trained up on how not to get hurt working on a mine site and have been going out with the hubby three days a week. That presents the next problem, what to do with the girls while we are gone... can't just drop them off for a neighbor to watch! My dad had been here for part of the time and was able to watch the girls, but he is gone back home now so we are stuck trying to figure this one out.
Then I'm struggling to take two classes right now to speed up finishing my teaching degree, which at the rate we are going I'm not going to get to use any time soon. Can't take the time to teach if I'm the only help the hubby has on the ranch and off.
Stupid cow got stuck in the mud on Tuesday, got her out. Wednesday she was back in the mud on the other side of the tank, got her out again. Thursday, you guessed it back in the mud and she did not make it after that time. So that means that we are now feeding three calves down at the barn. Finally got the water storage tank in that we ordered 3 weeks ago and were promised would only take 1 week to get in. Got that set up and a line installed to a drinker so that the cows don't have to drink out of the dirt tanks that are drying up because we can't seem to get any rain in a good amount.
I guess I should not complain about that because at least it has rained enough here over the last few months that we have grass growing and the cows have food to eat, but with no water in the tanks there is just only so many places we can put them that has access to water at all. That means hauling water and longer days for the hubby since he is the only one that can drive the water truck. Not sure how much longer our days can get, worked until midnight on Tuesday to get the storage tank set and filled.
The last straw for me was yesterday when I went to go water my tomato plants to find one of them cleaned out of the 20+ tomatoes that had been growing on it by the squirrels. I hate them things, they have eaten my entire garden this year, down to even digging up the seeds before they can sprout! It just seems that everything is pushing down on me and that every time I look up it is to just stare into the darkness. I hate feeling this way and I hate that I'm sitting here complaining about these things when it could be so much worse, but I'm worn and I need to share with someone even if it through this post. I know that everything we are handed there is a way through, but I just can't see the way right now.
Well I am off to go run water for the cows. Then going to try and get some grocery shopping done so that I have food to cook for dinners. Hoping that everything is going good for you and yours. Enjoy the 4th of July weekend.
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