Winter Happens

I guess it’s pretty. . . . but by mid-February I’m ready for mild weather. It’s snowing and blowing and is supposed to continue throughout the afternoon. The baby calves are safe inside their mothers for now, but the dam is filling.   

Mark put a bale of hay behind the house where the horses could get out of the wind. Yesterday he rode by the front window on Sly, bareback, with no bridle. The others were following behind as if they knew they were heading to better quarters.

We have a window of time during the winter to do something besides taking care of the land and cows. We had two aging gift cards for the theater, so we went to the movies twice in one week! It’s great to splurge on popcorn, sit in the dark and be swept away by the screen.

We’ve been playing with ranch finance figures for a month. It’s time to renew the operating line at the bank, create a budget for 2019, and figure out how to tighten our belts to fit in new expenses we’ve forecasted for the coming year. Mark doesn’t need to see it all on paper, but I do. He says I’m “literal.” Ok, but he learns too when it’s all down in black and white.  

I’ve been trying to declutter the house and various ranch out-buildings this winter. It’s very fun for me, but it makes Mark nervous. He’s just sure I’m going to recycle (or God forbid throw away) something that still has some use. Yesterday I found a 5-gallon bucket full of old nails sitting on the ground in the snow. The nails had been pulled from old poles that were replaced during a recent repair job. I took the bucket home to thaw, planning to sort the good from the bad. Mark was immediately suspicious and said to me, “Have you priced nails lately?” He assumed I was going to throw it in the recycle bin. I responded that if I was going to do that I would have already chucked it, snow and all!

He needn’t worry. I’ve collected containers, and into them sorted every size and shape of fastener: washers, nails, bolts, screws, fencing staples, etc. - many rusty, some bent. I still think when a project comes along he'll go to CAL Store.