Deep Freeze

It’s cold. We’ve had such mild winters lately, that it shocks a body. Still, I keep thinking how familiar it is.  This is more like it. The snow is piling up and that’s good for the snowpack in the mountains which, in turn, means only good things for summer.

It only got to zero by noon today. I walked home from ranch headquarters and had to hold my gloves up to shield my cheeks from a biting breeze. I baked spaghetti squash and potatoes served with ground beef stroganoff for lunch.  All products of Pratt ranch, all “real food.” Then Mark went to a water meeting and I took some firewood up to my Dad’s. My sis had fresh chocolate chip cookies. I ate three, and, no, they’re not real food, but they’re soul food.

Some of our neighbors are calving and I’m feeling sorry for them. Our babies are safe and warm inside their moms for now. Thank goodness.

We went to the annual meeting of our grazing association this weekend. It was a milestone year. We lost 4 good cattlemen, lifetime members of our co-op, during 2012. It’s sobering and makes you look at the folks who gather to discuss business with new appreciation. After we had gone over the range report, elected new directors, argued over bull testing, visited about endangered species concerns and discussed finances, my 97-year-old aunt spoke up. She told us about her honeymoon in 1936. She and her sweetheart camped in a tent in a grazing allotment along Horse Creek, managed then as now in conjunction with other co-op lands. They stayed a week and had a wonderful time; had the world to themselves except for a bull or two.

My aunt Gwen is a role model to us all. She attends the grazing meeting each year when wives half her age can’t seem to make it. She cooks every day, stays engaged with life, finds positivity in the simplest of activities and shares her enthusiasm for life every chance she gets. When I grow up I want to be just like her.  

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