Life on a Ranch

Considering we’re already halfway through December, that means this is the final column of 2024. And while the year is wrapping itself right up, personally, I still have a lot of Christmas wrapping to do! The birthday wrapping on the other hand, is complete. December is a birthday-heavy month for us with my mom on the 13th, my mother-in-law on the 14th, and Lucy on the 15th. Lucy turned 18 this year, something she’s really been looking forward to. She was nearly as excited for this one as she was for her 5th one. When she was little, turning 5 seemed like "true arrival" to her and she looked forward to it for well over a year. That year she requested berry pie instead of cake- a very grownup choice. This year, and for the last several years, she’s requested her favorite, “confetti cake”. I’m not sure what maturity level that sugary concoction represents, but it is colorful and easy to make! This year, the cake followed her requested dinner of elk and deer steaks, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts and salad. It’s hard for me to believe she’s 18 already and just a few days shy of being halfway through her senior year. I did some quick math and calculated that Lucy was only 8 when I started writing this column. I realize a lot has changed since those days on Grouse Flat, but just for fun, I went back and found the column where I first documented Lucy’s birthday, her 9th. After reading what I wrote, a lot has changed, but so much has stayed the same…. “In addition to Christmas this month, the 15th is also Lucy’s birthday. She is turning nine this year which we keep reminding ourselves is halfway to eighteen?! Everyone says this child-rearing stage goes by quickly. I’m starting to think they’re right! Appropriate for our Lucy girl’s love of bright colors and high energy level, we bought her a neon green bike with black lettering. This will be her first bike with gears and shocks. She’s worn out 2 bikes in the last couple of years just from riding her little heart out, so we’re confident she’ll put this one to good use. A birthday is a good time to reflect on our kids and in so doing, I can tell you it’s a real privilege to be Lucy’s mom. She's capable and has been determined right from the get-go. She’s a hard worker— regularly makes breakfast for the family, can start a fire in the wood stove, has been driving the feed truck since she had to stand on the seat to see over the steering wheel and is, overall, a huge help to all of us. She’s self-motivated and, like a true ranch kid, has learned to be observant. On a proudness scale of 0-10, I’m a rock solid 10 when it comes to Lucy.” I still use many of the same descriptive words for Lucy. Instead of a new bike this year, she got a new hunting rifle. And instead of riding her heart out on a bike, she now prefers to drive her pickup. Otherwise, much is the same. In addition to using the same descriptive words for Lucy at 18 as I did when she was 9, I also still use the 0-10 pain scale to ask my family members to rank various life activities as well as their attitudes. Our teenagers aren’t quite as receptive to the system as they were when they were little. I’ve heard responses like, “I’m not playing your game right now, mom.” Or just, “No” when I ask them to rank their attitude or excitement over something they don’t feel like doing. They might not realize it, but saying "no" is actually very indicative of where they are on the attitude scale! When I make a dinner I’m especially proud of, I like to ask them to rank it on the 0-10 scale, but with the clear expectation that it’s ranked far above the scale as the “best they’ve ever had”. When it comes to ranking things on a 0-10 scale, we’re in the shortest days of the year and I give these short days a pretty low ranking. But I do think winter comes with some tradeoffs that aren’t all bad. I can appreciate the changes in the laundry- Buck’s clothes have more hay and sawdust (from running the mill to make feeders) than they have diesel, oil and grease on them. I also don’t mind feeding cows and doing the morning chores. I don’t do the feeding chores every day during the week, but I do like to jump in on the weekends when I can and I enjoy it. We also eat dinner a lot earlier in the winter than we do in the summer and I like that change. I try to have dinner ready when the girls get home from basketball practice (or before, if they have late practice) as they usually walk in the door hungry and ready to eat. In case you didn’t catch it, I did use a plural description there. Both girls are back on the court for basketball season. This is the first time Lucy has been able to play in a year and a half since her knee injury. It’s been good, albeit a little stressful for me, to see her back. I didn’t expect to feel nervous watching her, but I guess I can’t help myself, especially when the game gets physical under the basket. It is pretty fun when Katelyn and Lucy are on the court together; that’s something I wasn’t sure I was going to get to see, so I’m especially thankful it’s working out. Besides still having basketball on the schedule, we’re looking forward to the kids having a couple weeks of