Hi I’m Mike, Well, today turned to crap on me.
We got rained out at farmers market this morning, I cant bale the hay that I have down because
its wet and now what I had planned for today has kinda gone down the tubes.
Luckily, we cant let that ruin our day as we adapt and overcome on our Wyoming life.
Welcome back, I’m cold and wet so I’m going to try to make this short and sweet.
Yesterday, when planning todays episode of Our Wyoming Life, I had a whole different
plan.
I wont bore you with the details, mostly because I can reuse the idea down the road, but it
did depend on nice weather and thanks to more rain today, that’s not going to happen.
I also hoped to finish baling this field, where hay is in windrows and ready to go,
that’s not going to happen either, cant bale wet hay for fear of mold which can be
detrimental to a cow and a her calf.
What would be nice, would be to go and sit back with a nice tall glass of milk, some
of Erins carrot cake that is left, because we got rained out and read a book, but that’s
not going happen either.
Weather is one thing on the ranch that we have no control over, would I rather have
had this rain back when it would have made a difference in our hay crop, back in April
and May, heck ya I would but that didn’t happen and in reality any rain is good rain.
Normally this time of year we would be deep into our fire season, pastures all over the
county would be burning up, flames shooting into the air as volunteer firefighters fought
to save grazing and hay ground.
They get a little break this year, but for us, even with the rain, there is still plenty
to be done.
But listen, it’s the weekend, Erin’s birthday, and maybe this is a sign to slow down a bit
and enjoy the little things.
When it comes to little thing around here that means the 3 little ones that live here,
And Lincoln who is 3.
Its time for him to take a nap, and with Erin’s birthday on Sunday, its time to head out with
Mackenzie and Grace and go to the store to search for birthday presents for Mom
I have a theory, anytime kids out number adults the
chances for trouble multiply by five, but hey, I handle hundred of cows at once, this
cant be that hard, so full of confidence we head into the store.
Cards come first and already I am wondering if I might be a bit overconfident but as the
kids get older they are easier to deal with by myself.
Then its on to find Mackenzie’s new vase for her mom.
Grace chooses a new coffee cup.
While we are here I am also tasked with finding the first day of school outfits for both the
girls, School starts on Tuesday but when it comes to clothes, they are much better shoppers
than I am.
Grace is just getting over being sick and now Mackenzie drops her bombshell in the middle
of the store.
You don’t have to tell me twice, and with that we are out the register and back to the
car, down the road and the kids head in the house to Erin, where she can deal with whoever
may or may not be sick.
I hope they all feel better because we have a special surprise planned later, but first
we have to take advantage of a break in the weather and deal with a small project that
I have also been avoiding for a few days.
As you may or may not know we are going to buying hay again this year, for the 3rd year
in row.
We will be buying around 300 tons of hay this year at a delivered price of around 170$ per
ton.
I’ll let you do the math because I have already done it every which way but sideways
and to be honest I am tired of thinking about it, but I have to.
Our first load of purchased hay will be arriving here on Monday, and that means we are going
to begin paying for hay on Monday.
To help pay for all that hay, we are going to be selling some equipment around the ranch
and the first to go is our horse trailer.
We have stock trailers that we can use for horses in a pinch so the best place to start
trying to make the money to fill in the hay gap is by eliminated redundancies.
I remember when we got this trailer in 2012, I was so proud of it, and that’s probably
why I have been putting off getting it up for sale, but I cant wait any longer.
There is a lot of traffic on the highway, so along with posting it for sale online we
are going to park it next to the road, slap a for sale sign on it and hope for the best.
Then its down to the cows to check on them, where it quickly becomes obvious we have a
little problem.
This small group of cows are trespassing.
They are not supposed to be in this recently hayed pasture and they need to be redirected
to the pasture they are suppose to be in.
Luckily, with haying still going on, although not at the moment, I have both of our four
wheelers scattered around the ranch and one happens to be right here in this hay field.
They know they are in trouble, they head straight back toward the pasture they are supposed
to be in.
Gates are opened.
And cows are ushered back home.
Then gates are closed.
With that is time for our surprise, On goes a nice shirt, and a good hat and its out the
door, back into the car and back to town.
This time to our events center called the camplex.
The complex is pretty much the only place anything of any size happens in our town of
about 30,000 people.
The fair is here, concerts are held here and tonight it’s a show I have never seen, the
dancing horses.
Officially called the The Gala of the Royal Horses, this show promises to spotlight some
of the greatest horses in the world, Lipizzaner Stallions, the Spanish Andalusian and Arabians.
Favored for centuries by royalty, the riders and this performance celebrates the tradition,
athleticism and grace of these revered creatures.
At least that is what the brochure says, We really have no idea what to expect.
It doesn’t take long until we are all amazed by what these horses can do, but I cant just
tell you.
I have to show you.
After a long day, the kids are now in bed and its time to head out and finish up a few
chores before heading that way myself.
Still have to feed pigs one last time tonight and fill up the calves water.
Both things that could have been done a lot early in the day, but taking the time today
to hang out with the kids is something that will carry me though for days to come.
Sometimes it is the little things, and in reality, most of the time it is just that,
the little things.
The reasons we work our tails off, or try our hardest every single day to succeed.
Why we sell of something we worked hard for and were really proud of, just to be prouder
that we did what had to be done to ensure the future of the ranch for one more year.
Their future, we can hope.
Thanks go to the kids who still love hanging out with me, even Mackenzie, who hates shopping
so bad that she fakes being sick to get out of it and knows that if she threatens to puke,
I will get her out of public and to a safe place.
Shopping has made me feel sick too, but I have never thought of just saying it to get
out of it.
That’s one smart kid.
Thanks to you as well for hanging out with us today, please subscribe as we continue
to explore the ranch life and escape the ordinary and meet us here on YouTube 3 days a week.
With everything from every corner of the ranch, you never know what you are going to get.
Until I see you again, have a great week and thanks for joining us in our Wyoming life.