The Cowboy Way

Last weekend I experienced my first branding for our neighbors up the creek.  For my first branding I believe things went pretty well!  Friday evening when I got home it was raining (thank GOD, although it didn’t last long) so Wesley fed my babies for me and we headed home to make supper and relax since we had to get up really early the next morning for the branding.

Saturday we got up at 5 am, I made breakfast, and we headed to the ranch to catch & saddle horses for the branding.  We got to the neighbors ranch about 7:00, and headed out to round up the cattle about 7:30.  It was a cool morning on Saturday, but ended up being a beautiful day in the end.  We gathered the first bunch of cattle, and then it was on to the good stuff!  Everyone is on horseback and split up to bring the cattle to the branding grounds.  Wesley and I went one way to gather some, and the others another way…you get the picture.  We sort off some (but not all) of the mother cows, then we start roping one by one the calves so they can be branded.  There are 2 people who rope the baby calves, a couple who are in charge of the branding irons & branding, one in charge of cutting the bull calves (to make them steers for anyone that needed a bit more clarification on that subject – ask my sister about this.  Wesley gave her a good description of what goes on when she asked him.  I think she got more than she asked for.  Haha!), two people are in charge of vaccinations, then you have about 4 people who are the calf wranglers (the people who will actually keep the calves still in order for them to be branded, vaccinated, & cut if necessary).  The process of branding a couple hundred head of calves is quite amazing and works like a well-oiled machine.  The way we do things up here, the Cowboy way, is the last of a dying breed it seems and the heritage behind the brandings dates back all the way to when the first Texans brought cattle from Texas up to Montana to settle the land up here.  Ok, enough history lessons.  Wesley was in charge of roping on the first pen we branded, then he was in charge of cutting the second pen.  I didn’t do much this time because it was my first branding, so I just helped gather cattle & watched so I’d know what to do next time.  This particular branding took a lot longer than “normal” brandings take, because we had to gather 2 sets of cattle in 2 different pastures, and ended up missing about 30 head that we had to go back & look for, and then brand once we found them.  After the branding is over, everyone heads back to the house (of the ranch that you just got done branding for) and has lunch together before heading back home.  Since we had to go back & find that 30 head, we didn’t get home until about 4:30 pm on Saturday.  Normally you get home about 1:00 but that’s the way it goes sometimes.  Wesley and I also had some cattle delivered that we needed to brand & cut before turning them out with our others, so we took care of them right quick, then loaded them in the trailer & took them up to the pasture to be turned out with the others.  After doing all of this it was about 6:30 when we finally got home that afternoon.  Needless to say, we did not go to the bucking horse sale on Saturday!  We were exhausted!

Sunday we got up and worked on our house some more.  We finished scraping the house, and got most of the caulking done on the outside.  After that we decided we’d go to Miles City to check out the Bucking Horse Sale, and we had to get a few things from Wal Mart anyway.  We got to town about 12:45 and it was packed!  So, we decided we’d just go to the trade show, and not into the Bucking Horse Sale, then run our errands & come home.  We found some good stuff at the trade show!  I got this beautiful sign that says our last name (or my soon to be last name) spelled out in picture letters for our home…we love it!  It is framed nicely & everything.  Then we went to Wal-Mart, and had a nice (early) supper at Rib & Chop.  We were able to get home about 6:30 so I could feed the babies, then we turned in for an early evening.  We were still recuperating from being on the go all day Saturday, so it was nice to come in & rest Sunday evening!

We continued to work on our house this week, and are going to paint it this weekend (or early next week).  We have our ranch branding this Saturday, but there is a good chance of rain this weekend, so if we get rained out we surely won’t mind!  We need the moisture badly!!  Then we have another neighbors branding next Thursday.   And next Saturday, his sister Christi gets married here on the ranch!  We have another busy week/weekend ahead of us!! 

We hope everyone has a great week & pray for rain for us!!

Home Improvements & More

The weather has been gorgeous (although a bit windy at times), so we have been soaking up the sun outside in the afternoons.  We planted about 90 trees around our property and it takes quite a while to get them all watered, so we have been doing that every couple days during the week.  Friday when I got off work I went and fed my little ones, then filmed Wesley practicing roping.  I’m still learning all about my new camera and play with the settings all the time.  Saturday we got up and went to Miles City to pick up a few more things that we needed for the house, went to lunch, and came home to work around the house that afternoon.  I also got a new comforter set when I was in town and we really like it!  We watered the trees Saturday evening, and replaced some boards around the house so that we can start painting soon. 

Sunday we got up and had a nice breakfast together, then got dressed and headed off to Miles City to go watch the horses races they have every year for Mother’s Day.  We had a blast with each other at the horse races!  We bet on every race, and won some and lost some, so we broke even.  It was a lot of fun and we can’t wait to go again this coming weekend.  Sunday evening we took Moo Moo out to dinner at the Longhorn in Rosebud for Mother’s day.  Her and David met us there after we were done at the races.  We had a nice Mother’s Day dinner with them, and gave Moo Moo her Mother’s day gift (a new purse).  We sent my Mom her Mother’s day gift earlier in the week so she could enjoy it on her special day.  We sent her a really pretty “bling” Montana Silversmith’s bracelet.  Both Mom’s loved their gifts so we were very happy about that!! 

Wesley has a few brandings this week to go to, then we will both go to one on Saturday morning for one of our neighbors.  Then after the branding we are heading to Miles City to go to the Bucking Horse Sale.  This is a World Famous bucking horse sale where stock contractors come in & buy these bucking horses to buck at rodeos.  They have horse races, wild horse races, the bucking horse sale, vendors, and a street dance after the sale.  I’m really looking forward to going to this with Wesley…he said it’s a lot of fun; and if it is anything like last weekend was we are going to have a great time!  Sunday we’ll go back to Miles City again for the horse races and the match bronc riding.  It’s a pretty big deal around these parts.  Its equivalent to the Washington County Fair for all of my Texas readers!  Ok ok...maybe the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo...but we in Washington County think they are about on the same scale :)  We’ve got a pretty busy next few weekends so we are definitely going to be ready for the second weekend in June where we can actually have a break from the non-stop go & go weekends.  But, we have so much fun together that it really doesn’t matter what we are doing so long as we are together.

I’ve still been practicing my roping, and trying to get better & better at it!  Hopefully (maybe) I’ll be able to share some pictures of me in the act soon.  I still owe y’all pictures of my babies too!  More home improvements are being done throughout the week, and after we've replaced the boards & such we are going to paint!  Pretty soon our house will not even look like the same house we started with.  We'll definitely be glad to have the improvements done though...and we'll be proud of ourselves when we've finished them.

Have a fantastic week!!

A busy few weeks!

We have had a pretty busy last few weeks.  Two weekends ago it rained all weekend long…and boy did we need it!  We were very thankful to have the rain.  We needed to go to Billings to get a few things, and had some horses to put in a sale they had going on there, so Wesley & I loaded up the truck & trailer & headed to Billings for the day on the last Saturday in April.  We were literally in Billings all day long!  We took the horses to the auction barn, headed to the mall, went to Home Depot, Old Navy, ate lunch, and finally started to head home.  Sunday we spent most of the day indoors since it rained the whole day, but did go out to check on the last of the heifers that needed to calve.  I’m happy to say that we are now done calving, and branding season here we come!    The next weekend was devoted to doing home improvement projects around the house.  We had to go to Miles City Saturday to get some lumber, and what do you know…it rained again!  Oh well…we were thankful for the moisture.  So last Sunday we spent the entire day working outside on the house.  We had to replace a few trim boards, put flooring in our porch, measure the windows so we can frame them, and we still have to paint the house.  Oh and don’t forget we have to seal all the windows first before painting…YAY!  Oh well…we are looking forward to the house being fixed up and finished.  We have to scrape the paint first, then paint it with a new color.  This fall we are going to put new flooring in the house, then I believe we will be done fixing it up!  We’re excited…but know we have a lot of work ahead of us.  Wesley has a few “man caves” out on our place as well, and we are also working on fixing those up.  We are painting them the same color of the house, then going to put new doors on them.  Then his man caves will be complete!  The tool set that Clint & Sarah gave us for Christmas/house warming is really coming in handy with all these home improvements!!   Today is my baby sister’s 24th birthday.  I’m sad we aren’t there to celebrate with her, but know she will have a great birthday with our family & the Jacob’s.  Happy Birthday Sissy!!   This weekend we are going to go to a roping in Billings.  Wesley is roping, I’m just watching this one & going to be the “official” photographer.  I’m excited to use my camera at a roping, and more excited to see Wesley get out there & kick some butt!!  We’re practicing all week this week to prepare for Saturday’s roping.  Sunday, if we aren’t in the short go (and by “we” I mean Wesley…haha) we will be going to Miles City with his parents to watch the horse races & celebrate Mother’s Day.    My babies are still doing well.  We started them on milk replacement pellets and I’m surprised (and proud) to say that they have actually been trying to eat them…YAY!  So proud of them!  But they still love their milk bottles too.  I’m starting to notice that they are really starting to grow so that is a great sign as well!   We’d like to also recognize the two wonderful Mother’s that we have in our lives – my Mom Kim, and his Mom Jewel.  They are both amazing women and we are so blessed & lucky to have both of them in our lives.  They truly are the “World’s Greatest Mom’s”.  We love you both and we hope you both have the Mother’s Day you both deserve!!!   Love,   Tiffany & Wesley