Our Great Escape...to Relaxation

What an amazingly fun time we had in Deadwood, SD last weekend!   We had originally planned to leave the ranch early Friday morning, but I got home Thursday from work, and we decided what the heck – we’d go that night!!  So we called the hotel, booked a room, and headed out for Deadwood a day early.  We got there about 10:30 Thursday night, unloaded our bags, and went to do a little gambling.  Neither of us had much luck Thursday night so we called it a night and decided we’d try our luck the next day.  Friday we gambled almost  all day and had a great time doing so!  We would be up, then down, then back up again.  We enjoyed just being with each other, and being able to relax and have a good time.  We ate a nice prime rib steak for supper that evening, then went back for more gambling. 

Saturday was the big concert day…Merle Haggard!  We gambled a little that Saturday, then went to supper and prepared to go see the man himself!  What a legend…that’s all I can say about Merle!  It was one of the best concerts (besides King George Strait) that I’ve ever been to, and Wesley said the same thing.  He sounded just as he ever did, and of course, sang all his greatest hits.   He sang, played the guitar, played the fiddle, carried on a conversation, and still was able to drink beer all in one night.  Now that’s pretty fantastic for a guy as young as he is!  We will forever remember that concert and are so lucky that we got to see him perform!

Sunday we got up and had breakfast on Main street in Deadwood, hit up a few slot machines (and lost), then made the drive back to the ranch.  By the time we got home Sunday afternoon, we were glad to be back.  We picked up our beloved puppy (by puppy I mean Jiggs) from his grandparents’ house, and watched junk TV shows for the rest of the evening. 

We had such a great time in Deadwood, and have already planned to go back in a couple weeks when my parents come to visit!!!  That’s right…my parents are coming to visit us!  We’re all counting down the days until they get here.  There are so many fun things we’re going to do when they come up here…we can’t wait!  And Deadwood, of course, is one of them!  Hopefully the next time, though, Wesley & I will have a little bit better luck than we did last weekend.  OH well…that’s why its called gambling! 

Surprisingly, our week has went by pretty fast this week.  I’ve been doing things around the house in the evenings after work, with Wesley’s help, and we’re getting things prepared for when my Mom & Dad come.  We’re getting ready to start weaning our babies from their moms in the next few weeks.  I can’t believe it’s already that time of year, but it is.  We’re pregnancy testing our heifers the week my parents are here, so we’re excited that they’ll get a good “ranch” experience when they’re up here.  It’ll be a fun day!  We have a roping in Forsyth this Saturday, and we aren’t sure what we’re going to do on Sunday yet.  But, we’re hoping it doesn’t get too hot out there.  The highs are in the upper 90’s so we’ll see if they stay there, or climb into the 100’s like they have been doing.  We still need rain badly, and keep praying that we’ll get some soon.

Have a great weekend!!

Weekend Get-a-way

Our weekend last weekend was eventful and relaxing all at the same time (can it be possible??).  It started off with a call just after midnight about a fire burning in our back pasture.  It turns out that it wasn’t on ours, but on our neighbors pasture that backs up to ours.  Wesley went up to help fight the fire, but thank God it was raining that morning (lightning is what started the blaze) because the rain helped put the fire out.  The county fire truck & CAT bulldozer came out to put a fire line around the fire, so Wesley and I led him thru the pastures up to the best place for him to put up the fire line.  David got the tractor & disk & started disking another fire line just in case it got out of hand.  Luckily for everyone, it didn’t.  We got home early that morning about 4 AM, and tried our best to get some sleep. 

Saturday we went up on the divide at the ranch & checked our pastures to make sure there were no little “hot spots” brewing from all the cloud to ground lightning strikes we had the night before.  Then that afternoon Wesley & I loaded up the horses & steers & headed to town for a roping.  Wesley got 3^rd in the draw pot, and yes, I was very proud again!!  I never get tired of watching him rope and it never gets old being so proud of him!

Sunday we did just as we had planned…N-O-T-H-I-N-G!!  We got up & ate breakfast together, painted a little on the outside of our house, then I came in & cleaned the house and we sat on the couch, took a nap, and watched a movie for the rest of the day.  We roped that evening at the ranch, then called it a night!

We have a 3 day weekend ahead of us as we are going to Deadwood, South Dakota to do a little gambling and see Merle Haggard in concert!  We can’t wait to get out of town & have a weekend to rest up from all the crazy busy weekends we’ve had these past couple months!  And, we’re pretty darn excited to see Merle Haggard too.  I hope we have some luck gambling, but more importantly, we are very excited to have some Wesley-Tiffany time!

On a side note – I live in Montana.  That’s right, Montana.  It has been averaging 100 degrees every day for the past two weeks…we need a break!  And we need some rain!  I left Texas in a drought, and it seems to have followed me to Montana.  Attention DROUGHT - you may go home at any time now.  Normally, this time of year, we are averaging high’s in the upper 80’s-lower 90’s.  Where are those temperatures??!!  Oh well…at least it feels like home (my Texas home), right? 

Have a great weekend!!!

Heat Wave

Its been quite hot here in Southeastern Montana this past week.  We’ve had high’s in the upper 90’s-lower 100’s, which is about 15 degrees above normal for us.  The evenings aren’t cooling off that much, but when they do it is very pleasant outside.  Last Saturday we attended the wedding of one of Wesley’s friends Cole.  It was a long day for us since Wesley was a groomsman in the wedding, but its ok!  We had a fun time dancing and talking to our friends Clint & Sarah.  Sunday we had another round robin roping in Miles City, and it was so hot & windy again.  On the way home we had a blowout on the trailer (with 3 horses & 6 steers loaded in there) so it took us a little bit to get the trailer jacked up to change the tire.  We made it home fine, but were exhausted by that evening.  This week we didn’t do much since its been so hot in the evenings.  We roped Tuesday night at the house, and will probably rope tonight  some as well.  I'm excited to get Reno back out in the arena and work on barrels with him.  He's been doing so good, and I know he'll become excellent at it.  He's my little partner in crime, besides Wesley, of course :)

Yesterday (the 12^th) was Moo Moo’s birthday so we grilled hamburgers & hot dogs and all had supper together.  It was an enjoyable time talking and eating together since we haven’t done that in quite some time. 

This Saturday we have a roping in Forsyth, and then NOTHING to do on Sunday!!  We are so excited about our Sunday filled with nothing.  I think we’ll go fishing in our fishing hole again, or maybe do a little swimming.  Nonetheless, we will have a relaxing Sunday…and we both need it!

I’ve gotten a few more engagement pictures in so I thought I’d share them!  Hope you enjoy & have a fantastic weekend!!

Fires & the 4th

Sorry it has taken me this long to update the blog, again, but we've been dealing with Fires, fires, fires…that’s what’s been going on for the past week in our lives, and that’s why there’s been a delay in updating on the blog (I apologize for that).  First, let me start where I left off from the last blog post.  June 24^th there was a Wrangler Team Roping in Miles City that David and Wesley entered. Wesley did very well heading, but could not get any of the heelers he drew to catch for him.  That’s the way it goes sometimes, but I was so proud of him & Reno…they did amazing.  David ended up winning the #3 incentive roping (and got a nice new buckle!!) and came back as 3^rd in the finals!  We were so pumped to see him and his partner rope in the finals, and I think I was more nervous than him!  His partner ended up missing the head (David was heeling) so they  didn’t win anything in the finals, but they did win their roping so that was fantastic for him!

Monday afternoon when I came home from work we had to finish the last of our A.I. cows & heifers, and off in the distance about 15-20 miles we could see a small fire burning on the Cheyenne Indian Reservation.  Let me preface this story by saying that there tend to be a few fires on the reservation, and they are all managed & under control.  So, we didn’t really think too much of it.  Tuesday afternoon, after work, I went to get my hair cut in town and in the beauty shop a few of our neighbors (way) up the creek were asking me if I knew where the fire was & if it was close to the ranch (our ranch).  I told them that I didn’t think I was anywhere near us & that all was fine.  At this point I hadn’t been home, nor heard the news about the fire.  As I exited the interstate and turned the corner onto Rosebud Creek I saw the biggest plume of smoke I’d ever seen.  It was then I realized just what they were talking about, and just how severe this fire had become.  I got home as fast as I could so I could talk to Wesley & figure out what was going on.  At this point we had no idea what was happening, but we knew the fire was close, and getting closer to us.  Moo Moo called our house at about 7 that evening to tell us that our neighbors Scott & Audrey had been evacuated from their home (they live about 7 miles from us).  At 8:30 Tuesday evening we lost electricity, and were without it for 5+ hours.  It was at this point that we packed a bag in case we had to be evacuated too.  Since we had no electricity, we decided to take a drive to the closest, highest point on the ranch to get a better view of the fire & to see how close it was.  Wesley and I went high up on a ridge to look down at the fires and started to realize how big it was becoming.  At the time we thought we were about 4 miles from the fire (our far south pasture is where we were overlooking the fire).   Going back to the same spot a few days later we realized that we were really on about a mile and a half from the flames that evening.  One good gust of south wind and our back pasture would have been on fire.   Tuesday evening Wesley and I talked about our fire plan, just in case we needed to have one – move the cattle as far away as we could & open all the gates, load the horses & dogs in the trailers, get his parents, and get the hell out.  Thank God we did not need to have one. 

Wednesday you could see the smoke from miles away again, and you could see the land burned & black from the ranch.  Wesley and his Dad went up the road to our neighbors house that was evacuated, and although the firefighters were able to save their house, they lost every piece of grass they had.  Their cattle have nothing left to eat.  It’s a blessing and a curse…you have your home but the hundreds of cattle you have on the ranch have nothing to eat anymore.  It burned about 15,000 acres of their ranch.  Then our other neighbors on the opposite side of the road also lost about 10,000 acres as well, and a few head of cattle. 

Thursday evening when I got home Wesley and I took a tour of the torched land (we actually cut straight thru where it burned) and it took us 2 hours to get around it.  At that time the fire had burned 100,000 acres.  I have some really good pictures of the burned land.  It is unimaginable to think that much land burned.  You really don’t have a grasp on exactly how big that is until you see it in person, and even then it is very hard to imagine. 

As of today, the fire was up to 245,000 acres burned, and about 55% contained.  This thing is a raging monster and taking everything in its path.  If anyone is interested in reading about it you can go to www.ktvq.com or www.kulr8.com.  Both of those are news stations in Billings, Montana.  I believe its made national news, although it took a while to do so. 

On a lighter note – the 4^th was yesterday!!!  Wesley and I started our 4^th of July by going to a roping in Forsyth on the 3^rd.  Wesley took 1^st place in the draw pot, and 3^rd in the pick & draw!  I was so proud of him!!!  He and Champ did amazing Tuesday night!  Wednesday we went to Miles City to Rib & Chop for lunch, then headed to Wal-Mart to pick up some fishing tackle and bait and we raced home to go fishing in the creek.  We had the best time!  We took Jiggs with us, and him & Wesley went swimming in the creek for a bit.  We didn’t catch anything, and I lost a lure, but we sure had fun trying.  We are going to try our best to make that a Sunday afternoon ritual because we had so much fun together.

Last Friday, the 29^th, Wesley and I got our engagement pictures taken.  Our photographer did a phenomenal job, and we are SO excited for her to photograph our wedding.  You should check her out – www.brittanyputnamphotography.com.  She is so great to work with and made things so fun for Wesley & me!!  I don’t have all of the pictures back yet, but here’s a preview!  I hope you like them…we sure did!!!  I should have a few more to share soon!  Let us know what you think! 

We hope everyone had a safe & Happy 4^th of July!!!