Our First Branding

This week started out slow and just got jam packed by the end. Only 3 lessons to prepare and 2 talks (one for each of us). So glad the talks are done. They always seem so much harder to prepare. Usually a person only speaks every couple of years in a ward for Sacrament meeting. This is our 2nd talk since we’ve been here. Walt informed me that in this ward, speaking every 4 months is the norm. I have a feeling we will definitely get that. Our talks did turn out well. We both spoke on the temple. The funniest story of the day, was my talk. When Walt and I were hiking about on Friday (our P-day), he saw some little brown eggs nestled in the rocky soil. He pointed them out and said they might be rattlesnake eggs. In my talk, I was comparing aspects of our hiking in nature to attending the temple. I mentioned all the small things we noticed, like tiny wild flowers, rattlesnake eggs, etc. During Walt’s talk, he mentions how very few times he gets to correct me, and doesn’t want to miss an opportunity when he finds one. There are no such things as rattlesnake eggs - snakes don’t lay eggs. The best part was how almost everyone in the congregation knew that. After church, there was lots of chiding about my comment. I took it all in stride and agreed how funny that was. See if I listen to Walt anymore about eggs in the wild.

Not - Rattlesnake eggs! :)

Thursday was our usual crazy day - running from 9 am to 9 pm. Thank goodness I had made a large batch of Brunswick stew. It came in handy for dinner that night - with only having 20 minutes to gulp something down. We were able to get our schedule re-arranged to be able to help serve lunch at the Senior Center on Wednesday. Then we only ended up having 30 people come instead of the usual 80+.

The weather most of the week was just plain yucky. It was dreary and chilly or cold. A couple of mornings we woke up to an inch of snow. Everyone here keeps saying how unusual this is for the area. It’s really messing up planting for most people. Finally on Friday, we had a break. One of the things to remember in Wyoming is that the weather forecast changes hourly. It makes it quite tricky for planning. Thursday, Richard Smith invited us to coming fishing with him the following day. We only had plans to do something fun - so that worked. Walt has been wanting to go fishing with him for months - just waiting on the weather.

Fishing with the Smiths (Richard and Richard)

We didn’t meet him at 7 am. He said we could show up whenever we wanted. We got there about 8:30. When we left our place, it was sunny and kind of warm. We met him in Osage (15 miles away), and the sun was not shining and the wind was blowing well. Sitting out on a dock exposed us to even more wind. At least he warned us about the mud ahead of time. We both have mud boots. (Mine started out as rain boots, but really are more for the mud). I was grateful I had a heavy coat with me and gloves. I used my hood and even got my blanket out of the car for my legs. Everyone enjoyed the muffins I brought, and Richard caught enough fish for a meal. Pretty impressive. We were done by 10:30 - just fine with us. Of course, about 10 minutes before we packed up, the sun came out.

The rest of the day was sunny and pretty breezy. Super windy when we were on a higher elevation. We went to the LAK (ranch with a lake opened to the public) and Elk Mountain (SD). We really enjoyed hiking around, being in the sun, Walt finding rocks and me getting inspiration for my talk. I took lots of pictures of tiny wild flowers growing in the rocky terrain and the amazing scenery. Elk mountain was quite an adventure. We took the road (dirt one of course) all the way to the very top; where there was a Fire Watch Station. We stopped a few times along the way to check out the view. It was crazy - almost hurricane force winds. I feel like we could have stayed there all day, just enjoying the views. We just love the beauty of Wyoming (and South Dakota).

Lake at the LAK

Road up Elk Mountain

Top of Elk Mountain - very, very windy

Lake and great view

Saturday was a pretty exciting day as well. It was our first Calf Branding. It’s the season. The Bishop had asked us to help out with the Harshberger’s. They are his friends that we did service for and left them with a Book of Mormon and showed them a video. Their grandson runs the ranch right now - they are elderly. I’ll try to give the not extremely long version. We started at 10:30 a.m. because they were trying to give the ground more time to dry out. They had already put off finishing their 600 calves by a week. They did manage to get a little over a half done the previous week. Everyone gathered and brought their horses. Branding is a neighborly thing - everyone takes turns branding and they all help each other out. They do the rounding up on horseback. Someone even had an extra horse, and Walt got to ride. I was a bit worried about him, since he hasn’t ridden a horse in 30 years. He’s really been wanting to ride. I rode with one of the Bishop’s daughters to the coral in a truck pulling a horse trailer.

Walt rounding up cattle on horseback

Cattle and Cowboys

About 30 minutes later, we heard the cows coming. It was quite a sight to see, this big herd of cattle coming over the ridge - moo ing like crazy. It got pretty loud during the branding. They separate the mamas from the calves. Once they’re all in their correct pen, everything begins. This family uses a branding table instead of roping them and dragging the calves over. There were 4 young boys (10-14 yrs old) that would maneuver the calves into the smaller pen and then into the area for the branding table. They had quite the job. The calves weigh between 100-300 lbs and don’t want to go in the direction they are lead. The table is hydraulic and turns horizontal, while two iron things come over the calf to hold them still - sort of. If it’s a bull - the back feet are roped and held down - because they get castrated. Four different vaccines are given. One person to administer it, per vaccine. They are branded and then set free. The heifers take less time. It goes pretty fast, if there are no problems.

Walt ended up helping rope the feet of the bulls. It sure wore him out. When I went over to see how he was doing, I realized when they brand the calf, the calf poops. Sometimes just a little and sometimes a lot, and sometimes straight out. Walt had a bit of cow poop on his clothes. One guy got totally covered. We weren’t prepared with extra clothes. Thank goodness he had a long sleeve shirt over his T-shirt. We didn’t get finished until 6:30 pm. There were a few glitches here and there, and no one got hurt. The weather was really nice. There were two rain clouds that passed over and showered us for about 10 minutes or so and they the sun came back.

Separating the calves and mamas

Branded calves

I mostly helped give out hotdogs (small lunch) and water and chatted with people. Right after the round up, the Bishop brought me his horse and asked me to walk him for about 15-20 minutes. He had ridden him hard trying to track down two calves and a mom that had gotten away. He said to just walk him around the pasture right there. I start to leave with the horse, and he says, “Oh yeah - watch out for rattlesnakes.” What?! Ok! So I did what he asked and kept an eye out. One of the girls had told me how horses can sense them better and will let you know if there is one nearby. So I let that horse know I was counting on his help. We did well - lots of walking, munching on dandelions and no rattlesnakes. Not sure how I would have reacted if I had seen one. When I got back, one of the ladies said I had about given her a heart attack. She couldn’t believe I was out there walking a horse in “Rattlesnake pasture.” That’s the name. She said she saw three the last time she was out there. Guess Heavenly Father was really looking out for me and that horse.

At the end of the branding, there is always a big meal. We had lasagna, spaghetti, salad, cheesy bread, and lots of dessert options. It was quite a day. We really enjoyed it; especially for Walt. He really enjoyed it all. He says I was just spent the day talking, but I did anything I was asked and even offered to help with the meal prep. I kept an 84 year cowboy company. I even shared how much Heavenly Father has blessed me. I learned a lot about being a cowboy. He reminded me of my dad - has the same nice blue eyes. I think he appreciated the company. It’s difficult to get older and not be able to help as much, but want to still be part of things. He still rode his horse and helped a bit with getting the cattle into the fenced area.

We are looking forward to next Saturday at the Bishop’s ranch. I’ve already volunteered to help Becky (wife) with the cooking after getting things started with the Branding. Their girls are the 3 oldest of their children and as good a cowgirl as any cowboy out there, and manage to do it with long nails. That’s impressive.

There was one thought that came to me as we were out hiking. I kept seeing these beautiful tiny wild flowers growing in basically rocks and dry soil. They were so pretty. I thought about the phrase - Bloom where you are planted. These flowers were doing just that - blooming despite the conditions. All of us are in different conditions - some more ideal than others. We would have never guessed we would be serving a mission in Wyoming in a very small town in the middle of no - where. (Kate and Drake will testify of that fact). But we are here and blooming. We have moved around quite a bit in our lives, but have tried to make the best of wherever we were and did all we could to make it great. I have seen so many wonderful examples of this from other people in my life. The Lord will always bless us when we ask for His help. He will help each one of us “Bloom.”