Life on a Ranch

 Back in August, when this school year started, I knew it was going to go by fast. Every season since has been full, and now that the first two months of 2025 have already been checked off, I’m seriously trying to pump the brakes. Which, of course, is of no use because slowing down time isn’t in my skill set. We finished up February and put a wrap on our 2024 books and taxes. It always feels good to have that done and all of it filed away. We also wrapped up basketball not only for the girls, but for Cooper, too. His season was back in November and December, but the Jr. high has been practicing the last few weeks for the Huntington Tournament that took place this past weekend. A long-standing tradition, the Huntington Tournament includes several small teams from Eastern Oregon, most of whom aren’t in the same league for regular season games: Jordan Valley, Powder Valley, Harper, Willow Creek, Prairie City, Four Rivers, Huntington and Cove. As a sixth grader, this was Cooper’s first year getting to be a part of the tournament as opposed to being there as a spectator for an older sister. Each team gets a classroom in the school and it serves as their locker room. The parents all pitch in food and snacks to keep in the room so they can eat and take a break between games. Having only been a younger sibling, Cooper was never allowed to hang out in the team room… until this year. This was his time—not only to play in the games, but to be a part of the team throughout the weekend. Over the course of the weekend, we watched a lot of fun and intense games. Being one of the younger guys and also the smallest on the team, Cooper didn’t anticipate getting to play a lot. But on Saturday morning they played a game against a less experienced team and he got to play nearly the whole time. As the game progressed, he was working hard to get a shot in. He made a lot of attempts with several that were really close, but they just weren’t falling for him. A few of the other boys were finding their groove and making points. Well, the score was already lopsided, and the three-dad coaching crew called a timeout. Even from across the gym, we could tell the plan was made clear to get the ball to Cooper and another boy, Charlie, who both needed to score a basket. The older boys on the team knew the priority and the point-guard, Brock Beverage, skill fully directed the efforts. Charlie had a chance for a lay-up and got it right in. Cooper tried several times; he got fouled on one and had a chance to make a couple of free throws. Even the refs were smiling at each other during the free throws, hopeful one would fall. No such luck. The clock was wearing down and there was less than a minute left in the game. Buck and I glanced at each other, both knowing how bummed Cooper would be if he couldn’t get a basket in—our boy shoots baskets in our driveway for hours in the evenings, practicing relentlessly. Finally, he caught a pass from Brock, took a dribble, and made a nice lay-up. I could see him make a little fist and he nodded his head, “Yes!” The crowd cheered and, when the final buzzer rang, his team rushed in to congratulate him and even try to lift him up—he was red-cheeked and exhausted, but mostly just thrilled. Our boys team went on to win the consolation bracket, having lost their first game to Powder, but winning the rest. Powder played in the finals against Jordan Valley and they won the boys side of the tournament this year. On the girls’ side, Jordan Valley won, beating Willow Creek in the finals. It was a nice chance to get away for a couple of days and the weather couldn’t have been better- we sat outside in the sunshine and even made it down to the river for a couple of hours. My parents, as well as Buck’s mom, came over to watch some of the games and they all got to see the game Cooper played in, making it extra fun. The girls stayed home to take care of chores and they both had homework to finish. There’s an ironic thing that hap pens in our life and it happened again this weekend. Somehow when Buck heads out and crosses over the county line, our cows hear about it. We haven’t had cows get out all winter long, but Saturday morning Buck’s phone started buzzing because our  yearlings were out. No one likes to get a call that cows are out, and our girls were no exception. Regardless, while we pulled into the ol’ Huntington gym for a full day of basketball, they headed right over, got them in, and got the fence fixed, too. All of that simple news to say… sometimes I wonder, as I sit down to Cooper, shooting a free throw write this, if, given the current condition of the world, I could be writing something more influential. I’ve spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks reading and learning as much as I can about world events; I stayed up much later than I should have both nights this weekend watching and thinking through the role of the United States in the current world conflicts. So, when I sat down to write, I stared at this blank white page on my computer. It was the slowest start I’ve ever had to writing a column. But as I started writing, I thought of a quote I heard in a silly movie we watched a few weeks ago, “I write to find out what I think.” That’s always been true for me—even as a little kid, I wrote. And writing this today, now I know what I think. I think we have to keep seeing the good stuff. This weekend was full of good stuff. So many really good kids filled up that gym this weekend. And so many good families packed that place, creating memories and supporting each other. We have to keep doing that- showing up in real life and being a community. Someone recently called social media the “new public square”. And we cannot let that be true. The public square is where you show up face to face and, while conversations might get heated or we might disagree, we care about one another more than we care about the is sues. We have to keep hearing each other’s stories. And so…. I’ll keep telling ours, right here in Union County. ~Chelsea