Hello again

I think Spring is my favorite time on the ranch. Actually, right now I think that Spring is my favorite time anywhere, but I know when Fall comes I will think differently. The boys are definitely enjoying more time outside (and I am enjoying their time outside even more). They provide live updates! every 10 minutes! on the status of my tulips. "One is big! Two are little." "Two are big! There is a red one!" "Five are big! Come look now!" Little lettuce leaves are coming up in my garden and my strawberries are blooming. Everything is so green and hopeful, I am just soaking it in.

We have been calving for a month now and are about two-thirds done. I love the baby calves so much. They run and play together, and their mamas take such good care of them. The cows kinda make me feel like a loser, though- I mean, they can give birth in the middle of a pasture and I couldn't even manage it in the luxury (har) of the Ainsworth Community Hospital. Oh well, I'm happy for them. We branded yesterday. The little calves were troopers- even the new steers were up and running around moments after we finished working them. I am sure I would not be as resilient. (See above, loser.)

The agency I had been working for is closing and I am unemployed. For a little while, unemployed felt a lot different than stay-at-home mom, even though I spent approximately 19835 times more hours with the boys than I did at work these past 9 months of employment(which, as Matt helpfully pointed out, is almost a record for me to stay at a job) and was constantly on the verge of quitting. I have been embracing my inner housewife in a big way lately- I even made mozzarella cheese last week and have been baking bread like a crazy, carb-obsessed woman. I have also been (forced into) embracing my inner ranch-hand, and have been spending lots of quality time with Matt and the boys clearing cedar trees, caring for the cows, and building miles of fence.

And maybe one of these days I'll re-embrace my inner blogger.