Life on a Ranch

With the kitchen windows open and the screen door letting in a cool morning breeze, I’m reminded that right now is the sweet spot, the time of year when we don’t have to worry about the house being neither too hot nor too cold.  The temperature is just right and besides the music I have playing in the background and the endless spin of the dryer- complete with snap shirts making their noisy rounds this morning, the house is quiet.   Buck and Cooper, along with the pickup and trailer, pulled out of the driveway awhile ago- they’re off doing “cowboy things” today.  The girls are both gone for a few days, off on their own fun adventures.  Come Monday, we’ll be back to normal life for a couple days before the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show kicks off with weigh in on Wednesday. The last couple weeks have been full, to say the least.  I recently read a quote that said, “If reading is an inhale, writing is an exhale.”  So… here I go, my big exhale....

The week of graduation included a flurry of activity and family and friends.  But before we started to celebrate graduation, first we celebrated district track.  Katelyn ran the 400 and the 800, making the top 10 in the 800, placing 9th. But it was super fun to see her neck-and-neck at the finish line for the 400, earning herself a spot on the podium and a PR for the season. 

Following track, before Buck and I could work together on all things graduation party-prep, we had yearlings to ship.  There is a certain kind of sweet relief that comes with shipping the calves we’ve raised as well as calves we purchased. They've all been worked, doctored, fed and otherwise cared for and then sent off to greener pastures. Whenever we buy or sell cattle, it always makes me proud to be a part of the beef industry.  Relatively speaking, we have a really small part, but that’s what makes the bulk of the industry so great- there are so many players.  If you consider each step along the way- from cow-calf producers, to sale-yards and the people who make the sale happen every week: sorters, brand inspectors, veterinarians, auctioneers, buyers, sellers, and truck drivers, just to name a few.  From ag lenders to backgrounding lots to grass owners and grass leasers, to finishing lots and processing plants, and finally, consumers.  If you consider each person involved through every step and if you take into account all of the moving parts it takes to produce a high quality finished product- well, it makes me really proud of the collective work we do.

Speaking of a great high quality product, our friend Zane Anderson from Wallowa County smoked the beef for Lucy’s graduation party and it was delicious.  Having Zane take care of the meat made the sides and desserts “pretty easy”.  The truth is, they were only easy because I had a sous-chef for the week: my mom.  She chopped and peeled and sliced and diced and baked and helped me so much.  I stayed busy working on other things (with Buck and my dad who were working on outside set up and projects), but I’d come through the kitchen every now and then only to find all of the ingredients I needed prepped- all I had to do was put the ingredients together.  We had potato salad, Mediterranean salad, fruit salad, cheesecake and Texas sheet cake complete with one of my favorite things- fresh whipped cream.  My mother-in-law, Jackie, made sourdough rolls the night before for a family dinner.  That dinner was hosted by my sister-in-law, Mona, and the entirety of the Matthews side of the family including Buck’s aunt and uncles who traveled from Roseburg, Springfield and Coquille to be with us, his parents Bill and Jackie as well as my folks.  We included the leftover sourdough roles in our graduation dinner, too (for those lucky enough to snag one, they’re the absolute best!). 

It was really fun to feed our friends and family and enjoy celebrating Lucy’s graduation with all of them.  Her actual graduation was great. Held on the football field at Cove High School, it was a very personal and sweet ceremony for her small graduating class.  I only choked up a few times and Buck only did once.  You’ll be glad to know Grandma Janie made it over for the ceremony and the party, too.  She brought her sisters Kathryn and Caroline along and it was really special to see all three of them. 

The whole day was one of those rare occasions where so many of the people we love were all in the same place at the same time.  By the time the party died down and young adults were the only ones left to enjoy a freshly lit bonfire, I was exhausted, but filled with so much gratitude for the day.  In fact, it was enough gratitude to propel me into the next week of work as well as Katelyn and Cooper’s last week of school. 

Now here we are: summer is upon us.  And I’m going to end this column a little shorter than usual with the intention of leaving room for extra pictures because I have no idea how to narrow down the ones I want to share.  So I’ll do my best and leave you with as many as we can squeeze in from a fun celebration over here in Union County! -Chelsea