On the verge of another busy weekend of ours, catching up from the last one will be the first thing I update you on! Last weekend we had to help our neighbors brand their herd. They had about 185 head to brand, and we had to go thru our pastures to get to their back branding pasture. Wesley and I got up at 4 AM so we could go saddle horses & get to the branding sight by 5:30. We were there on time, and soon after 5:30 AM we all dispersed so we could gather the herd. Wesley’s friends Ab (from high school) and his wife Sarah were at the branding, because we were helping Ab’s parents out. Sarah doesn’t ride horses much, but wants to learn, so she stuck with me and we took the (semi) easy route while the guys went way back in the hills. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Sarah. She’s a great person, both her & Ab are. They live in Wyoming (about 5 hours from us) but we are already trying to plan a weekend to go stay with them and spend time with them. Wesley and Ab grew up together not only thru school, but because they were next door neighbors. And, when you’re on ranches as big as the ones up here, neighbors, especially kids your own age, are hard to come by! Sarah rode a horse named Blue, and she did great! We talked and laughed and talked of stories the guys told us of them growing up. She’s a pure delight to be around and we can’t wait to get together with the two of them again soon!
It took quite a long time to brand this herd because there was a lot of sorting of the cows going on, and a lot of disorganization. We didn’t get done branding until 3:00 PM, and then had to turn around, change clothes, and head to Billings to get a new TV for our living room. Side note – our TV went out (it was older anyway) so we planned on going to Billings after the branding, we just thought we’d be done a LOT earlier than we were. We were able to find the winner at Best Buy, grab a bite to eat, and got home about 10:30 that evening. We were EXHAUSTED by the time we got home, but we didn’t want to ruin our Sunday by having to spend all day in Billings, which is why we choose to go that Saturday afternoon. Sunday we slept in before putting our new TV stand together and mounting our TV on to it. I must say, it looks great!! We’re pretty happy with it. It was a windy & cooler day on Sunday, so we stayed indoors most of the day. We actually got a little shower on Sunday evening, but it wasn’t much, and it didn’t last long. However, any little bit is better than nothing at all!
Monday & Tuesday evenings we roped in the evenings. I’m doing a little better, slowly but surely! Wesley does awesome, but that’s nothing new! I’m going to start my horse, Reno, on barrels this week. He’s definitely got the speed, but he is SO big that we weren’t sure if he’d be able to get himself around the barrels good enough. So Tuesday I spent working with him on turning and we found out that he can! I’m so very excited about the new discovery! He’ll be my heading horse roping, and my barrel horse when I want to play around at the house and run some barrels!
This weekend, on Saturday, we are sorting off some of our yearling heifers to be A.I.’ed, then Sunday we have a roping in Forsyth to go to. We have another busy weekend but that’s the norm around Diamond Ranch these days. This weekend is also Father’s Day and I’d like to say Happy Father’s day to my two grandfather’s – Papa and Popo, and to my Dad, Tommie, and Wesley’s dad David. My Dad as always been there for me; to protect me when I needed protection, a disciplinarian when I was getting out of hand, a friend when no one else was there, setting a great example of what a real man should be like, and loving me thru it all. It is because of his love and examples growing up that I found the man of my dreams in Wesley. Thanks, Daddy, for always showing me that family is the most important thing in one’s life, that love is something to be cherished, that good husbands treat their wives as if today was the day they married, and that a Father’s love never, ever dies. You’re the best and I love you!! Can’t wait to see you soon!
And thank you David for showing us the way when it comes to ranching, cattle, and everything in between. We are so lucky to have two very special father figures in our lives and are so blessed to be a part of their families!
Tiffany and Wesley
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