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!!! 

The Story of the Electric Fence

Last weekend we started Saturday by fixing an electric fence that we put up around a section of the meadow for the cows & heifers that we are going to A.I.  It took Wesley and me about 2 hours to fix the fence and get it in working order, and then we turned it on and trailed the heifers & cows out to the meadow.  David had just gotten back to the ranch from turning some cows out into a different pasture on the ranch, so we all sat down together and had hamburgers for lunch.  After lunch we went to trail our cows out of one pasture and into another to get ready and turn the bulls in with them.  It took a little longer than we thought it was going to take, but it ended up being alright.  That afternoon we came home and roped the dummy steer for a while, then ran the steers thru the chute one time before calling it an evening.

We started to head home about 6:30 or so that evening, only to find that all the cows & heifers we turned out in the meadows had busted thru our electric fence and were everywhere!  So we grabbed the 4-wheeler, David grabbed a horse, and we took off to round them back up.  They tore thru that fence as if it wasn’t there.  And of course, it only takes 1 cow to knock it down & ground it out and then pretty soon all of them are across the electric fence!  After we rounded them up, Wesley and I locked them in another pasture, and went about fixing the electric fence…again.  We basically had to start all over.  We had to re-string, tie, and tighten the entire fence.  It took us about 2 ½ hours to finally finish the fence, and by the time we were done that evening, we were pretty tired and ready to sit down on the couch, have a drink, and eat supper.

Sunday morning Wesley looked out our back window only to find the damn cows out yet again (although this time, they got locked up after they broke out)!  So he went to fix the fence, and I got things ready to go to town to rope that afternoon.  We headed to Forsyth about 11:15 that Sunday morning and got home about 7:00 that evening.  Wesley had a good time roping, and did an awesome job once again.  However, none of his partners caught their end of the steer, so he got some no-times.  It comes with roping, but I was so proud of him and how well he did!  He’s been practicing at home, well we all have, and we have a great time roping together!

This coming weekend, on Saturday, we are bringing in all the cows and heifers we are going to A.I. so we can make sure they are going to be cycling when we A.I. them, then Saturday evening we are going to go to Colstrip to a festival they call “Colstrip Days”.  They have a good band there with a street dance so we are going to enjoy the band and dancing in the street as well!  Sunday we are heading to Miles City for the afternoon so Wesley and his Dad can rope in the Wrangler Team Roping Championship series they have here in Montana.  I wish them LOTS of luck in this roping and can’t wait to see how they do!!

We have our engagement portraits next Friday afternoon and we are so excited about them!  We are going to be taking them at the ranch surrounded by the beautiful mountains, and of course all of our animals.  I’ll definitely share some of them when we get them back!  

Happy Father's Day!

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

The Wedding Week

It seems like it’s been FOR-EV-ER since I’ve posted something on the blog!  We were so busy running around like chickens without heads this last week that I literally didn’t have any time to think!  We had a good Memorial Day weekend.  It was pretty yucky outside on Saturday & Sunday, so we stayed indoors most of those days.  Saturday we went down to Sheridan, Wyoming to go get some new ropes, and do a little shopping and eating out.  We had a great time together.  We got some new ropes from Kings in Sheridan, then went around their downtown in and out of shops, and finished the afternoon with some great food down there as well!  We also got a new game for our Wii (Wipeout…highly recommended by my best friend Katy & her husband Jason), and let me tell you that game is a lot of fun!  We had a great time Saturday evening playing that when we got back from Wyoming.  Sunday was more of the same, except we started to get things together so that we could brand our cattle on Memorial Day Monday.

Of course Monday turned out to be a cold, windy, somewhat wet sort of day…but branding had to get done!  I don’t think the high temperature for that Monday reached 50 degrees…it was cold!!  We started about 6:45 AM, and got done around 12:45.  I was in charge of vaccinating.  Wesley was in charge of cutting.  And David was branding.  Of course we had all the neighbors out helping us so that we could get the herd in and out of there in a reasonable amount of time, and without any disasters!  We all came back to the ranch for a nice lunch that Moo Moo had prepared for us, and then spent that afternoon back in the house because it was just too darn cold to do much else!

Tuesday his sisters flew in to start the wedding festivities, and then Wednesday the groom flew in.  Wedding stuff was in full swing by Thursday, from mowing and staking out the wedding site, to making crosses and candles, everyone was pitching in to pull this wedding off.  Friday the bride wanted for us to brand some cattle so we could show all the people from Iowa (the grooms family) how its done up here.  So we took about 60 head and branded them that afternoon.   It was quite disorganized, and took longer to do those than it did to brand the 350 or so head earlier in the week, but it made her happy and since this was her weekend she got whatever she wished!  Friday evening we all came back and had a nice dinner at the ranch, then sat around until about midnight talking and such.

Saturday started our really early with helping Moe start roasting the hog he was preparing for the wedding.  It was DELICIOUS by the way!  We all toasted that morning to Christi and Clint, then ran around like crazy trying to finish up last minute wedding stuff for Christi and Clint.  Clouds started rolling in later that afternoon, but no rain ever fell on their day…so that was great.  The ceremony started about 4:45 down in the meadows of the ranch, and then the band cranked up about 8:45 PM under the tent!  Wesley and I had a great time catching up with some of his family that lives in Northern Montana that we don’t get to see very often.  And of course we had fun dancing…we danced quite a bit that evening!  Most all of the neighbors that live up & down the road from us came as well, and it was nice to visit with them too.  Even though you might live right up the road from each other, its often you don’t get to sit down & visit since everyone is generally busy this time of year!  So we really enjoyed the evening and the wedding was a success!

Sunday we had dinner with his family, as that was the last day that his sisters would be in town.  Both of them flew out Monday back home.  I was off on Monday also, and it was nice to be able to recuperate from the weekend wedding festivities!  Wesley and I moved some cows together that morning after getting up, then we worked around the house and around the ranch that afternoon.  And now its back to work!

Oh I must add…Sunday we went to a local roping here in Forsyth for our Rodeo club we are a part of (Wesley roped, I handled the books & entries for the club) and I was so proud of Wesley!!!  He pulled a check (placed) in every single roping, and even got a check for 1^st place fast go in the first roping!  I couldn’t have been more excited to see him out there doing so well!  He’s an amazing roper, and he’s a great teacher for me as well!

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