Coming out of the Darkness

Anyone surviving ND winter 2014 knows that this has not been an easy one. NO major snow events of apocalyptic nature but the cold just never stopped. Starting in December a below zero cold zone covered the state. We got used to words like arctic, frigid, and polar vortex. Each day we seemed to be greeted with a new factor. Frost levels reaching unheard of depths and freezing water lines, cattle coming off of pasture thin from flooded grasslands and dying because they couldn't eat enough to keep their bodies alive, or calves dying in minutes of hitting the arctic air. Propane prices soaring and or not even being available. There were many days there just didn't seem to be an end in sight. We couldn't really pity ourselves because to the south - earlier this year our fellow brothers in ranching lost whole herds and in other parts of the country whole cities were shut down. And in its bleakest hours we found each other. We came together out of the cold to commiserate, to complain, to greet each other with humor. And humor saw us through. And love saw us through. And sheer strength of will saw us through. We pulled from the legacy of our fathers who blazed trails in this land and held on. It's mid-March and

the weather has turned. Ground is thawing, the sun is shining, and we're still here. We're still fighting. We still believe that we live in God's country - the most beautiful place on earth. We wake up under the North Dakota sky and thank God for letting us survive. Like the crocus we'll break through the ground and face the sun and we'll be here another day.

Snakes....snakes....snakes :S - I wrote this back in September but but decided to post today.

Sit back my friends and let me tell you a story. To begin with I am afraid of snakes. This is a SERIOUSLY irrational fear. As we were finishing up with the horses today we drove by our water hole which is dwindling and noticed some minnows that were trapped. Being the ice fishermen we are we determined that these needed to be saved, however, an 18 inch snake was down there and that meant I was NOT going to help. Kent in his chivalrous best handed me his 9mm to take care of the problem. Three carefully executed shots later and the snake was no longer an issue, still moving but with assurances from Kent that they do that and I had in fact killed it, I felt like I had taken a step toward conquering my fear. Donning our barn boots and equipped with a bucket and net we headed toward the hole. As I got to the edge where I would have to get on my hands and knees and scootch under the fence another one showed up. A BIG one. Probably the momma to the other one or definitely a very big brother. This is where it gets good. I jumped back, did my best 3 year old middle of the toy aisle at Walmart tantrum dance and ran away, screeching for Kent. Mind you just prior to this I had asked if he brought the 9mm (which he hadn’t) and he promised he’d step on anymore snakes should they appear. The tears started, Kent laughing grabbed a branch and headed toward it asking me to come over and show him where it was. You know that voice a toddler uses when it doesn’t want to go to bed...the crying, whining, voice. Yep I adopted that. “Nooooo, it might come get me.” “I can’t find it, it probably went down a hole,” Kent chuckled amused at my antics. Now understand that I KNEW how dumb I sounded and looked, but COULD NOT control it, which made me laugh. So at this point I am laughing, crying, and whining like a small child. Kent forced me to look around the spot to show him where it was since I had REFUSED to come near the fence until he killed it. I tried, I really did. I wiped my tears, took a deep breath, looked…and dry heaved, and dry heaved, and drooled, and laughed, and cried, and dry heaved, and drooled. “Come on, you can hold the branch,” encouraged my husband trying his best not to completely break down in tears of laughter. I mean he had his lips pinched so tightly together I feared he’d push his own teeth out. “Nooooo, (insert dry heaving sound of choice) it might (heave) crawl up it and get me (heave)” escapes my mouth as my mind says, “Angel, this is ridiculous!” After some serious coaching from my husband, I made Kent stand directly in front of me and made my way under the fence, MUCH farther down. We walked to the minnow hole and saved the minnows (Insert heroic cheering and applause). I am now recovering, this was seriously traumatic. I’m wrung out – more than at the end of a good showing of Titanic on a PMS night. Through all of this though, Kent has suggested that maybe I really have made progress….even though I regressed to my former 3 year old sleep deprived self, I did not pee myself….this time.

I'm back

It's been a while since I've been on here but last night I had the privilege to listen to Jessie Veeder (veederranch.com) an artist who inspired me to come back. Thanks Jessie!