Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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Finding the right spot for your garden, laying out your beds and preparing your soil can be grand adventures. As I have mentioned before, I do not care for weeding my garden, so using weed proofer has saved me hours and hours of labor. It also keeps the soil warmer and moisture locked in. For my row crops I simply cut a slit in the weed proofer and plant my little seeds down those rows. For my starters, I cut a four-inch hole in the weed proofer, place them in their little home and cover the...
After you have determined the placement and layout of your garden spot, the next thing to get ready is your soil. This is my favorite part of the whole season. There is something about digging in the dirt that is soothing for the soul. There are some amazingly cool resources to help determine if your soil is too acidic or too basic, but I keep my life much more simple than that… I add the same amendment every year and it has never sent me astray. Never! My beds remain uncovered in the off s...
5 marks the fifteenth year I will plant a garden, which certainly does not qualify me as an expert, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve I thought I could share with you over the next few articles. My gardening adventures began when my cowboy and I were living in northern Wyoming. The first year I began gardening I spent hours and hours researching and studying before I ever moved a bit of dirt. The first step in any garden is finding the right spot and determining the layout that works best...
There are three primary questions I ask myself before I write a column: 1) If I were ever to run for a government office, will these words be held against me? (Answer: probably) 2) Is so-and-so going to feel like I threw them under the bus after writing this article? (Answer: possibly) AND 3) Is my cowboy actually going to read this or can I hope this one slips by without him knowing? (Answer: he always finds them.) I should ask more honorable questions like: 4) Is this going to glorify the...
Let’s just cut to the chase. I ran the pick-up off of a bridge. I may or may not have continued to go straight when I needed to turn. This is very far from my normal, but the Lord worked so hard on my humility the other day that I didn’t just eat a small piece of humble pie – I ate the whole pie. It started out as a simple request, “Babe, I think you could help me move some cows from one pasture to the processing pens, by using the feed pick-up to lure them with a bale of hay.” Little did he kn...
I have recently discovered why a majority of ranch women work offsite. I used to think it was about finances, retirement, career goals, etc. I don’t think any of these are the MAIN reason. Simply, it is safer. Safer to not know the craziness that happens when we are not around on the ranch. As my cowboy and I were discussing preparation for the coming March blizzard we brought up the idea of putting the dozer attachment on the tractor. It was put on the to-do list and that seemed to be the e...
When a person chooses to live a life of agriculture it really is more than a livelihood, but truly a way of life. This means that when we drop into the arctic tundra temperatures, we must still get out of our warm houses, put on as many layers as we can, and venture outside. There are lives that depend on it – actually hundreds of them. As we watched the weather forecast and saw the impending storms headed our way, it really didn’t matter what else had recently gone on in our lives. It did...
I am no stranger to grief and the many stages of it. Maybe I’m just staying stuck in the really, REALLY mad phase, but my father-in-law was recently locked away from us for 19 days, without a single family member being allowed to see him, before dying and I have a few things to say about this experience. The effects of the pandemic of fear and bureaucracy has knocked on my front door and I am now going to battle. The indoctrination program has succeeded. Evil is being called good and broken s...
As my cowboy and I have been spending time together outside working calves, I have pondered the amazing lessons that can be learned at the gate. On our particular outfit, there are too many gates to count and a variety of them at that. Why don’t these cowboys buy the same type of gate for every hole and just change the dimensions? But nooooo…. This gate has a flip latch. This gate needs tugged to the right. This gate needs lifted up A LOT before you can even open it. This one won’t open unles...
My cowpokes and I have been reading a book called For You They Signed: The Spiritual Heritage of Those Who Shaped Our Nation by Marilyn Boyer for our character study. The day after the electoral college votes were cast we read these incredibly thought-provoking words and questions: “Does God really use individual people to effect the course of nations? God wants to use YOU to help bring America back to her godly foundation.” We were specifically studying Samuel Adams and the book continued to as...
I absolutely love making homemade Christmas gifts. I enjoy praying over the person who will receive the gift. This year I jumped on the crazy train and decided I was going to give my family a present from the past. Genealogical study has always ranked high on my list of fairly nostalgic (albeit kind of nerdy) endeavors, but it has always fascinated me to see where I came from and the rich history of men and women coming together to produce my ancestors. I bought one of these huge fan charts...
As much as I would love to write about the tyrannical measures of the lockdowns, the overreach of government, the uselessness of masks, the election fraud and the absolute absurd idea that a vaccine is going to do one iota of good for our current state of affairs, I am reminded of what my greatest task actually is. My paramount sphere of influence is within the four walls of my home. I will have the greatest impact right here and I need to be reminded of that right now…. because my heart and min...
I grew up in the country – we were nestled deep in the woods. My grandparents lived 13 hours away and made the trip to see us maybe twice in all of my growing up years. My dad had a shotgun above the door and any fella that was brave enough to venture out to our home rarely made a second trip. As a result, I didn’t really get to watch my mom ever entertain or serve anyone other than our family unit. I love hosting events in our home and serving others, but honestly, I learned much of the art mys...
When I was a young girl and my dad didn’t like what we were doing he would say, “I’d rather slam my hand in a car door.” I think that happened this week. As we’ve all been awaiting the 2020 election results I feel like I kept slamming my hand in a car door. It began when the heating element in our hot water heater went out. In our attempts to repair it ourselves, we had to mobilize some of our paint and stain we keep in our store room so we would have room to work. After completing the proje...
There is no doubt that the 2020 election is upon us. It has reared its ugly head and I don’t think November 4th is going to calm anything down. Francis Shaeffer warned, “I believe the majority of the silent majority, young and old, will sustain the loss of liberties without raising their voices as long as their own lifestyles are not threatened.” Isn’t this the truth right now? I’m not quite sure who is the silent majority, but for Pete’s sake get off your couch. It is imperative that we retain...
With a houseful of cowpokes it feels like there is always a civil war erupting – there are guns going off, military pursuits, friendly fire and an array of combat situations. "Mama, he hit me on the head!" "Mooooom, he just whacked my nose." "Moooooaaaahhhhhm, he just ________." Fill in the blank. It doesn't really matter what you put there because they have all happened in my home. These are the same brothers that can pick up the baby and snuggle him and give him peace. These are the same b...
There is something about my cowboy that I will never understand. The way our minds are hard-wired so differently truly amazes me. We have lived in the same house for over eleven years and very few things have moved locations since we first put them in their place. The special whisk goes in a particular drawer, and the green platter has a spot in a specific cupboard, and the griddle stands on end to the right of the stove. Despite these kitchen items remaining in the same place for over a...
It is generally easier and wiser to avoid hot topic issues. At the same time, my summer has been completely consumed by working with parents who are trying to decide what route of education they will utilize for their children given the pandemic. One of the encouragements I would give parents was, “The decision of if you are going to home educate your kids is 20 times harder than the actual process of home education. Once you make the decision, one way or the other, you will feel much better.” Y...
As a child my family and I would make an annual trek to Las Vegas to visit my grandparents. My Grandma Dorothy was a really, really tough woman. Her husband died at the young age of 45 of a heart attack, leaving her to raise five children by herself. )She smoked, drank, ate with her feet on the table, ran a daycare out of her home (clearly there were less regulations at this time) and was one of my very favorite people in the whole world. A couple of the boys in the daycare were actually my...
My cowboy and I are about to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary. In the scheme of anniversaries it seems somewhat insignificant. We seem to get excited about those divisors of 5 – 15th, 20th, 25th, 50th, etc., but 17 is a prime number with no great value. Or at least it seems like that should be true. The reality is that I have enjoyed my cowboy for 17 years of marriage. As we were discussing anniversary plans I looked at him and said, “I still like you.” A smile spread across his face...
Life on the ranch continues to have its fill of spills and adventures. The baby ‘poke has been eating moths and splashing in the toilet. The toddler ‘poke bosses everyone around and can command a room with his vibrant voice. The two older ‘pokes are enjoying boy adventures of playing in the pond and return to the house with a new pet turtle (who was removed after three days because he/she stunk to high heaven.) Despite the laughter, joy, work, chores, and everything in between the weight of th...
“Come and sit with me a moment, grandson, I want to tell you of how it used to be, When America was a republic and the people around here were free. The year was 2020 when everything started to shift, In March of that year on the news there was a drift. There was a new coronavirus that began across the ocean. It became a worldwide pandemic that caused chaos and commotion. We all quickly obeyed and stayed within our home. We didn’t know what to believe and fear began to roam. She came like a mig...
What is hope? According to good 'ol Webster, the definition of the word hope as a verb is "to expect with confidence; trust," and the definition of the word hope as a noun is "desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment." I love that the word hope is both a verb, an action word, and a noun, the subject doing the action. We are called to be both! We must be living as verbs and nouns. For me and my family our hope comes from the Lord. ""But now, Lord, what do I look for?" My hope...
If you have not read Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty” speech in the last week, look it up right now and give it some time. Mr. Henry gave this speech in 1775 to reluctant members of the Second Virginia Convention to develop a military response to British aggression. He was calling out men to rise to action in the face of government oppression. This idea sounds strangely familiar right now. I have been a red-blooded, white, blue-collared American my entire life. It is time to stand up and be bold for our American freedoms. As I quote Mr. Henry...
My cowboy had some horses consigned at a sale in Laramie recently. We always arrive the day beforehand to get stalls set up, horses put away, chores done and marketing material out. Driving long distances is always an adventure anymore with 4 cowpokes in the vehicle. My cowboy took one of the cowpokes and the 8 horses in one rig and I took three cowpokes in my vehicle. Although the littlest poke is by far the easiest he still has some needs that require mom’s attention including his meal planning. He naps well, but the drive while the t...
