Life on a Ranch

 I’ve been enjoying a quiet morning at home. I al most started this by saying I’ve been enjoying a “lazy morning” at home, but that wouldn’t be true. I got up early with Katelyn who was headed to FFA Leadership camp. She hasn’t needed Official Dress since spring and we were scrambling to get the right white shirt and the black shoes and then, once we got the whole outfit together, she managed to drive away without any of it! Eventually, she had everything she needed and she headed out with the rest of the Cove FFA officers. After she left, I didn’t rush through a single thing, but I did clean out the fridge, filled it with fresh groceries, and prepped a bunch of food for the week. I browned some beef, baked some chicken, hard-boiled some eggs, boiled some noodles and even boiled some quinoa (that’s special just for me- I can’t quite get my family on board). And now I feel extra accomplished. I guess I’m at the age now where I get a lot of enjoyment out of something like a clean, full and prepped fridge. I’m also at the age where I enjoy a pretty drive. Which makes me wonder when that happens. When do you go from enduring a long drive to enjoying it? Growing up, I recall my parents and grandparents driving to and from McCall and talking about the “beautiful drive up the canyon”. I remember hearing them talk and giving no thought whatsoever to the beauty of Highway 55, winding its way along the Payette River in and out of Valley County. At some point, my mind changed and on days like this past Friday, when I was en route to a football game in Prairie City, I was blown away by the beauty of the drive. It was so pretty that I wanted to stop and take pictures of the Tamarack’s changing color. They aren’t quite changed to yellow and the majority of them were a really cool mossy green color. It was so pretty that I would have stopped to get a picture, but I was already running late. I was late because Buck had a slow start to the morning. He had been sick most of the night before, but was still headed out to work, just a little slower than usual. Given his unfortunate stomach situation, I decided to be extra helpful and in turn, hit the road a little later than I planned. Once I got to Prairie City, I was glad to be there to watch Cooper play in his Junior High football game. He played defense for the “A Team” and he got to quarterback for the “B Team”. It was a really close game and with one play and one second left on the clock, Cooper got to run the ball in, scoring a touch down to tie the game. After tying up the score, another teammate ran in the two-point conversion and Cove won by 2. It was very exciting and all five of us Cove fans- including four parents and one big sister- were doing a lot of cheering. Cooper rode home with me and we had a lot of fun hashing out every play and every detail we could possibly remember from the game. Speaking of Cove fans, we have a couple of new regular attendees for home games. In a big turn of events…. something we’ve been hoping for quite a while now….insert drum roll please…. Buck’s parents moved here! After close to 25 years in Challis, Idaho, Bill retired from pastoring and they’re back in Oregon, one county away from Jackie’s roots and family in Wallowa County. It’s been just over a week since they arrived, but having them just a few miles down the road is already proving to be a really fun addition to our life. They’ve been to foot ball games and a cross-country meet. In fact, last weekend we were lucky enough to have my parents here visiting too, so all four grandparents were here to enjoy a full weekend of sporting events. We’ve been invited to their place for dinner and enjoyed a couple meals together. Jackie is a prolific sourdough bread maker, and we feel thoroughly spoiled as we enjoy every bite of sourdough. In addition to sports, and Bill and Jackie moving here, we’ve been getting all the fall work done- we shipped and sold our calves last week. We also moved cows to the last of our fall pasture and today, Buck and Cooper are going around fence so we can get them moved this week and settled in for the winter. There, they’ll have some fall grass and that should hold them for a few more weeks before we have to start feeding hay. I don’t know if I can go so far to say I’m ready for feeding cows and winter weather, but I’ve never been as ready for fall as I am this year. The cooler temperatures feel like sweet relief, as do the shorter days and more time together in the evenings. With the shorter days comes a slower pace, a pace that provides time for a pile of books I’m looking forward to reading. I also have a small house project I’m working on- I’m making Cooper’s old bedroom into an office. (That way our kitchen table will have one less job to carry!) Besides all of that, I’ve loved fall sports, but I’m not sad about moving into the gym for basketball season. I’m really looking forward to enjoying the camaraderie that comes with watching games with our community. And to top it all off, the real icing on the fall cake… every day that goes by is one day closer to Lucy coming home for Christmas break, something I’m really looking forward to. And so… maybe the shift from enduring to enjoying and from rushing-through to staying-steady grows through appreciation of the steady rhythm of normal days, through valuing the ebb and flow of our seasons as each one brings something to look forward to and a wide variety of things to be grateful for. Right now, I’m grateful for a lovely October in Union County! -Chelsea