Lilac fragrance fills the air............

I love Lilacs.  They are so beautiful and fragrant.  When I step outside my house right now, the aroma from my lilac bushes is magnificent.  I'm blessed to live in a house that is surrounded by lots of big lilac bushes.  My Farmers grandparents moved into this house in the late 1930's and through their years here, they planted lots all around the yard, which I am very thankful for.  I want to share with you my morning trip around the yard looking at the different lilac's we have.

                                  

Don't they make a beautiful bouquet

 

Hope you enjoyed the walk around my yard today.  Now I need to go take an allergy pill, cuz I'm actually allergic to them.
 

Farmer or Rancher..........What's The Difference?

How to tell the difference between a Farmer and a Rancher.......

The Rope........A farmer's rope will not be coiled up properly and will have more than 2 knots in it. He uses his rope for everything from pulling a piece of machinery to tying up a cow.  A rancher only uses his rope for catching livestock and he actually knows how to throw a loop. 

The Repair Kit........A ranchers emergency repair kit consists of a roll of wire and fencing pliers.   A farmers emergency repair kit consists of snap ties, duct tape, and vise grips.

The Hat........A farmer wears a cap usually advertising a seed or equipment company.  A rancher wears his western hat.  Except when they dress up, the farmer will wear his western hat, and the rancher will wear his new western hat.

Choice of Ride........A farmer herds his cows with a 4-wheeler, snowmobile, motorcycle, pickup, tractor, or most anything with a motor.  A rancher uses his horse. 


Why I know I am married to a farmer........He wears a cap, (the cowboy hat goes on when we go out), he always has duct tape handy, he rides a 4-wheeler (and has herded cattle with a snowmobile, but that's another blog in itself), and his rope is not coiled, definitely can't be coiled properly, and for sure has more than 2 knots in it.

(My Farmer is quick to inform me that he does have a rope coiled up hanging in the barn, but that is just because a friend (whom actually ropes critters) just gave it to him and he hasn't had the need to use it yet.) 

I hope this helps you out when it comes to knowing the difference between a farmer and a rancher.  Pretty much, ya just asked about his rope.  That will tell ya.  

I would love to know your view on how you tell the difference between a farmer and a rancher, so please leave me a comment below.   Well, I'd better get going and help my Farmer, since the sun is still shining and there's farming to do...........         .

After the wedding..............

Well, we made it back from the wedding and it was fantastic!  A long week but well worth it.  So, as I promised, here are pictures of the cakes.

the Groom's cake

the Wedding cake

The grooms cake represents his love for 4-wheeling and his farming background.  I think the cakes turned out pretty darn good, and this is after they were hauled 300 miles!  My mother-in-law is great.  And hauling the Nova up there for the get away car was totally worth it.  There was a huge car show going on in the town were they got married, so it fit right in.  (plus it was cool just hauling t and having everyone look and comment on it everyplace we stopped)  My son was a little worried about it not starting when they went to leave, but the good ole Nova came through and started right up.  Then he did a burn out as they drove away.  It was fantastic!!  The happy couple are now on their honeymoon in Hawaii, and the rest of the family is recuperating. hahaha.   Now that the fun is all over, I guess it is time to get back to farming.  It rained while we were gone, but now the sun is shining and my Farmer is ready to get to work.  During this last week, we were asked a few times if we farmed or ranched.  I guess it confuses everyone because we talk about farming, yet we run cattle.  And I'm thinking I need to blog about this!  So make sure you check back in at the end of the week and (hopefully) I will explain the difference between a farmer and a rancher (my view anyways). 

Wedding Prep

We are still getting rained on here, and at least one day a week we wake up to fresh snow.  It is slowly warming up, but not quite fast enough for my Farmer.  We still have a field of new alfalfa to plant, but it's way to wet to plant, so he is a little testy right now.  But on the other hand since it is to wet to farm, and mother nature is doing our irrigating for us, it gives us time to do other things.  Any other year we would probably have taken this opportunity to run away and go camping.  However, we have a special event coming up and are focusing on that.  My youngest son is getting married!!  So exciting!  We have been assigned a few jobs, so this last weekend, we went into "get ready for the wedding" mode.  1st job:  Make wedding cake.    My mother-in-law has been decorating cakes for over 50 years, and lately has been helping me learn the art.  I am really loving it, however, my Farmer tells me that he highly recommends that I DO NOT do it has a new job.  Evidently I get pretty worked up and nervous when I am doing a cake, and I guess I am hard to live with.  But hey, I deal with him when he is that way, so he might just have to learn to deal with it.  HA!  Anyways, the wedding cake and the grooms cake are done and they are in the freezer. I would love to show a picture, but I had better wait until after the wedding, since it is a surprise for the new couple.   2nd job:  Bring the Nova.  For my son's senior project, he restored a 1974 Chevy Nova, and they have decided to use it as the "get away" car. It's been sitting in our garage for 5 years and only makes an outing maybe once a year.  My Farmer has been tuning it up and I spent yesterday cleaning out the inside.  This I can show you a picture. 

Now we just have to find a trailer to haul it on up to the wedding.  And hopefully it gets to go home with the new couple, cuz I really like having that extra space in my garage.   3rd job:  Rehearsal dinner.   Normally just for the wedding party, we are including all family members (both sides) since a lot are from out of town.  This is no big deal, (yet).  We plan parties and feed lots of people all the time, a benefit of having lots of family around.  But it might be a challenge doing it in a different town, at a rented house.  However, we have a wonderful family, and they all have graciously offered to help out, (since they are all invited to the dinner). 
It's going to be a busy, exciting, emotional, crazy, fun week, and I am totally looking forward to it.  Since I know I won't have time to blog again this week, check back in with me next week and see how we survived!   I'll share pictures of the cake! 

We all gather at the branding

Time flies when your having fun.......I'm sure that's the way the saying goes.  I'm not real sure how much fun I'm really having right now, but the time is flying.  Last weekend we branded, vaccinated, and castrated our calves.  The rain clouds parted and the sun shined through, making it a wonderful day to work the calves.

Besides the gathering of the livestock, working the calves also is a gathering of family and friends.  It's really great to have extra hands willing to take a day out of their already busy lives, to come and help us with the cattle.  And we always have a great time.  We had enough people to help this year that I didn't have to do much at all.  Which worked out for the best, since I learned my body was not ready for the heat and I ended up getting heat stroke.  After we were done with the calves, everyone ended the day sitting around our fire pit with their favorite beverage, eating BBQ ribs my Farmer cooked, roasting marshmallows, and telling lies, I mean stories.  I, however, was lying in the house on the couch, really mad that I felt so yucking and was missing out on all the fun.  Oh well, there's always next year...........

Fencing thru pictures......

 Once again, farm life is interfering with my blogging time, so I'm just sharing a day from my camera.