Flip Off Sunday?

Well, I didn't really get around to doing my flip off Friday edition, because I have been CRAZY busy the last several days!

For work I did a HUGE fundraiser on Friday where we auction off decorate Christmas trees, wreaths, and centerpieces to help support the local Boys & Girls Club. We had a big social beforehand with local businesses, and I had to bake LOTS of cookies. So between helping cook for Thanksgiving, bake cookies, pack for a week of vacation starting Saturday morning, I really had about zero time to blog!

P.S. I am on vacation this week, so while I can't guarantee my blogs will have to do too much with Eastern MT, they will focus on my family and my time in Western MT, which I will be spending here all week.

So alas, here is my Flip Off Sunday edition:

To the 10 hour drive across the state of Montana, FLIP OFF! While seeing my family is SO worth it, the drive to get here is SOOOOO long!

To the deer that I had to slam on my brakes for, FLIP OFF! Because of this stupid deer, our subwoofer flew forward in the back seat of our truck and ripped all of the wires out of the amp...may have to get a new amp....grrrrr.

To my expanding waistline on vacation, FLIP OFF! My parents always make sure to feed us well when we come to visit, but I'll try to exercise on their elliptical machine while I'm here. That should help!

To Sundays filled with football, flip off! While I enjoy watching football, I can usually only watch so much of it. My husband however, yells at the TV, does the dances that the big ol' linemen do when they get a sack, watches the replays, and about 3 hours of Sportscenter afterwards. It's like I'm not married on Sundays!

To my 18 year-old brother's crappy beard, FLIP OFF! He decided to participate in a thing called "No Shave November." He has blonde hair, and he's still pretty young, so his "beard" is very, very sad looking. I'll be glad when December 1 gets here so he can shave that shit off of his face.

To my wallet that will most likely be empty after I go Christmas shopping this week, FLIP OFF! Curse you, Christmas sales!!!

Happy weekend peeps! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving with your families!!

Thankful

This time of year I notice that a lot of my bloggy friends are posting what they're thankful for, and I realize that each and every one of us have MANY, MANY things to be thankful for.

One of the things I am thankful for each and every day of the year is our members in the armed services. Those who don't get to spend holidays with their families, go out to lunch with their friends, or go shopping cause they feel like it. They are the most selfless people, giving their all to protect/serve/fight for every day people like me.

I'll have to admit, I was saving this one for awhile.....I have a dear college friend who joined the Army Reserves several years ago. When I first met this lovely lass, she was in the sorority (Pi Phi! Woop Woop!) I joined in college. We had MANY a good time out on the town, doing girly things, being overly excited to sing songs, snap our fingers, and generally being bad asses.


So the day she called me to tell me that she was joining the reserves, and was trying to get me to join with her, I thought she was crazy!!! But she knew it was something that she really wanted to do. While I did not join with her, I fully supported her, and we wrote back and forth to each other a little bit while she was away at her training camps. I still have those letters :) I finally got her to send me some info and a picture.

THIS GIRL, and her hubby who serves with her, are who I'm thankful for this year. They were mobilized September 11, 2010, serving in Kandahar, Afghanistan. This little blondie is a Sergeant, who gets to yell at people and tell them to do push ups.



I couldn't be more proud of her, and am thankful every day for the heart and soul she puts in to serving our country. This one's for you Ashbag!!! SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!

She also sent me the NCO's Creed, which the good NCO's live by and strive to live up to.

"No one is more professional than I. I am a Noncommissioned Officer, a leader of soldiers. As a Noncommissioned Officer, I realize that I am a member of a time honored corps, which is known as "The Backbone of the Army". I am proud of the Corps of Noncommissioned Officers and will at all times conduct myself so as to bring credit upon the Corps, the Military Service and my country regardless of the situation in which I find myself. I will not use my grade or position to attain pleasure, profit, or personal safety.

Competence is my watchword. My two basic responsibilities will always be uppermost in my mind -- accomplishment of my mission and the welfare of my soldiers. I will strive to remain technically and tactically proficient. I am aware of my role as a Noncommissioned Officer. I will fulfill my responsibilities inherent in that role. All soldiers are entitled to outstanding leadership; I will provide that leadership. I know my soldiers and I will always place their needs above my own. I will communicate consistently with my soldiers and never leave them uninformed. I will be fair and impartial when recommending both rewards and punishment.

Officers of my unit will have maximum time to accomplish their duties; they will not have to accomplish mine. I will earn their respect and confidence as well as that of my soldiers. I will be loyal to those with whom I serve; seniors, peers, and subordinates alike. I will exercise initiative by taking appropriate action in the absence of orders. I will not compromise my integrity, nor my moral courage. I will not forget, nor will I allow my comrades to forget that we are professionals, Noncommissioned Officers, leaders!"

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Ewwww, GROSS!!

So, as promised, I took pictures of the butchering process. The steer we shot was HUMONGOUS. It's hindquarter was as tall as me!


Yes, that is its hoof still attached to the leg. We do the cutting up in the basement of my husband's grandparent's house, because it has a concrete floor with a drain in it, which makes it easier to clean up at the end. If you ask me, this is a scary basement room that looks like it belongs in a horror movie where an axe murderer kills people and cuts them up. EW.

Soooo, moving on. First, we have to bring the beef inside:


There are a total of 6 pieces. They first cut it in half, then each half into thirds. There's the front shoulder, which mostly gets made into hamburger and roasts, the ribs, and the hindquarters that are mostly made into steaks. The following picture gives you and glimpse into the scary basement. The big saw in the back is where we cut the large chunks of beef down unto 2 inch slices so we can cut the meat away from the bones.


Next, you start cutting the beef. Below are the tools we use to cut the beef into more manageable sizes, then use the knives to get the beef off of the bones. The stack of beef on the left are roasts waiting to be packaged.


Here, my cousin Jenni and I are cutting up chunks to go through the hamburger machine. P.S. Don't judge my hair...you wouldn't get dressed up for raw beef either.


Ahhh, nothing brings the family together like raw beef does....good times, good times.

Aaaand, just a little something to gross you out....

No, I didn't actually eat it! The pile of beef in front of me is waiting to be cut up for hamburger. And Jenni is pretending that she's not in the picture. Hey Jenni, nice hat! haha

So, after we get it all cut up into steaks, roasts, hamburger, etc., we wrap them in celophane, then in white freezer paper. We tape them shut, label what's inside, and stick them in the freezer. Voila! BEEF-IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER.

On A More Funny Note....

Today's Inspirational Lesson

Never irritate a woman who can operate a backhoe:

Women are Angels...and when someone takes our wings, we simply continue to fly... on a broomstick.

We're flexible that way.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Flip Off Friday

To my CaRaZaY busy week, flip off! I have anxiety as it is and this crazy work stuff has got it going pretty good!

To the 5 whole degrees it was this morning when I got in my car, FLIP OFF! I DO NOT like single-digit weather :(

To all the haters who do not enjoy my Christmas decorations I already put up in my house AND office, Flip Off you stinkin' scrooges!!!

To the lady who was nice to my face on Monday, but told a COMPLETELY opposite story to some of my colleagues that made me look like a bad person, FLIP FLIP FLIP FLIP FLIP OFF. You continue doing this, and you're not fooling anyone. Just cause you can't do your job, doesn't mean you should be hatin' on me! It'll catch up to you in the end. PROMISE.

To my stooooopid insurance that always seems to go up every time I pay the bill, Flip off!!! For the record, I hope something does catch fire so I can maybe feel like I get my money's worth...ok maybe not. But it's still frustrating!

Ok, enough bitching....Happy Weekend People! A little something for you to look forward to: We're cutting up my dead cow tomorrow, so be ready for some gross pictures on Monday! HA!

I Need Your Input

I am preparing WAY ahead of time for my office's Christmas party. It's going to be on December 17th, and it's going to be an UGLY SWEATER PARTY. Thanks to my mother in law, who hasn't cleaned out the sweaters in her closet since 1989, I have some pretty awesome clothes to pick from. This ugly sweater party is going to be a contest, and the winner gets prizes! The ugliest sweater is voted on by each person in my office, so I thought I would do a test run with you all to see which was your favorite, in hopes that my coworkers would pick the same way! Sooo....here are the lovely gems...

1.

2.
3.
4.

5.

6.
7.

So please, please, please vote on your favorite one and let me know!

No pictures this time.

Ok, I have another gross story for those of you who liked my last story about my husband and dad's deer they shot (cough, cough, EMILY). This one does not involve any pictures though, because I think most people probably couldn't stomach it. So here goes....

Since we raise beef, it is only natural that we use our own beef to fill our freezers as well. Usually at least once a year in November our family butchers beef, and cuts it up so we can have meat the rest of the year. Here is a detailed account of the process. I warn you again in advance that if you have a weak stomach, you shouldn't read this.

1. Pick out the cow.
2. Isolate the cow from the rest of the herd and bring it into a small pen all by itself.
3. Shoot the cow in the head. If you miss, shoot again.
4. As soon as you shoot it and it falls down you run up to the cow and slit its throat with a GIANT knife. This helps the blood drain faster so it doesn't spoil the meat.
5. Let the cow bleed for a bit and die.
6. Cut open the belly from the ribs down to the poop chute and watch the guts spill out. This is gross, yet oddly fascinating.
7. Detach the guts from the inside of the cow and scoop them out.
8. Skin the cow. This year my in-laws are going to get the hide tanned to hang somewhere in their house. Usually we just get rid of it.
9. Cut off the head.
10. Hang it in the shop. It has to sit for a week so the meat can settle properly and so the body temp cools down. We are able to hang it in our shop right now because it is cold enough...colder than freezing temperature, so the meat won't spoil. If the weather is too warm, we keep the carcass in our neighbor's walk-in refrigerator.
11. Wait for a week.

So, this gives you a picture of how the whole process of butchering works. Next week, I'll go over how the cutting up process works. And I will include pictures with that.

Sorry if this grossed you out. But one of the whole reasons I started this blog was because my family in the cities (LA and NY) were oh-so-curious about my life on the farm. So, I'm just pleasing my readers, people :)

Hunting Success

I warn you in advance, if you don't like looking at dead animals, don't read any further! Just click that little red x up in the right-hand corner of your screen.


My dad and his buddy were visiting my hubby and I last week to go hunting. Our family owns approximately 10,000 acres here in Eastern MT, and there are a lot of deere, antelope and pheasants out here. The boys went out every day on their 4-wheelers and had quite the successful trip.

My handsome hubby's trophy mule deer.


And my dad's trophy mule deer.


They do hunting for the sport, but for the meat as well. We will be processing ours into steak and jerky, and my dad's will be made into steak, roasts, sausage, hamburger and jerky as well. If you haven't ever tried venison, I highly recommend it! It's super tasty!!!

Loud Cows

So, as promised, here's my follow-up to Saturday's post about my cows. We did what's called "weaning and vaccinating." We vaccinate for things called "Black Leg," "Foot Rot," and "Lump Jaw." All pretty self-explanatory as you read them....

First you have to go out to the fields and get the cows. For some reason, our cows were OUT OF CONTROL on Saturday and were running all over the frickin countryside. In the end, I ended up herding most of them while my husband, father in law, and grandpa chased ONE cow. Score: Nicole-200 cows, Men-1 cow. Yes, I'm awesome. Here's a picture of the bulls I had to chase in. Side note: What a beautiful day!!! And my Blackberry takes AWESOME pictures!



We split the baby calves from their mothers. Don't think this is a sad thing, cause by this time the cute little 100 pound babes are now 400 pound monsters. They starting to get big and ugly and VERY smelly. We put them into a pen by themselves.


Then we line them up in the chutes to get vaccinated. Below is grandpa poking the calves while they're in the chute.

Then, we have to separate the heifers and steers to see how many we have. My mother in law keeps track of our numbers. There's my hubby on the left...cute butt, huh? :)


Then we have to separate out the ones that we want to keep, and the ones that we want to sell. Here, my father in law is deciding which ones he wants to keep. This stick he has is plastic and the end has beads in it that make it sound like a rattle. It helps us control the cows.


The ones we do keep, just get sent out to pasture. The ones we sell have to stay in the lot. And they are LOUD because they miss their mothers. Here's another group of cows we took to market. The big bull in the front just looks MEAN...he's not, they all look that way. The big one in the back is the one we'll be butchering soon....and more on THAT to come!

My Life in One Day

Soooo, when I write stories on my blog, I try to show myself and what my life is all about. Well, you all should find this kinda funny. Or at least I did.

7:00 a.m.: Wake up, get dressed up in my farm duds and start setting up stock panels in our new cow shed because we have to vaccinate our new calves. Includes poo-covered shoes, and mis-matchy clothing. But it doesn't matter what you look like as long as you stay warm.

7:30 a.m.: Riding my 4-wheeler through the fields and herding 200+ cattle.

9:30 a.m.: My husband and I leave the farm, drive into town and get a couple's massage. Yes, a massage.

11:30 a.m.: Back with the cows. Weaning the calves off of their mothers, and separating out the ones that will go to auction.

12:30 p.m.: Back herding cows in the neighbors field because some of ours escaped and ended up with his.

5:30 p.m.: Shower and getting ready for the evening.

7:30 p.m.: Annual Wine and Food Festival. I get dressed up in a fancy cocktail dress, high heels, flashy jewelry. Drink lots of wine and eat fancy gourmet foods (well, as gourmet as Sidney, MT can get!).

11:30 p.m.: Get home and have to pause in the road on the way home for 3 deer to pass in front of us.

I just thought it was a funny day, because it goes to show that I do farm stuff, yet I still manage to do things like get massages and go to fancy cocktail parties, all in the same day! Usually it's a little more spread out, but on Saturday I had it all!

More to come on the cows later.....

Quote from Captain Ron

No, not Kurt Russell in the movie "Captain Ron." My dad. People call him Captain Ron. The other day he called my husband as he often does, to ask a question about his upcoming hunting trip on our farm. I don't know what they were talking about, but my dad said,

"I know who's in charge. But I want to talk to the boss."

Awww, tender. He knows that the woman is in charge of the relationship :) What I like even more is that he relays this to my husband. Good job dad :) Appreciate it!

Here's my dad and my two sisters, Danielle (left-sorry Boone, not the greatest picture of you! haha) and Michelle (right).

F-F-F-Friday!

I had one of those days this week that made me look forward to today, Flip Off Friday, because I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to write!

To people who do not respect my time, or ignore the fact that I have something else going on and demand that I be somewhere at a certain time, FLIP OFF!!! I have a life. Just because yours is boring and much less interesting, doesn't mean you can suck me into your little black hole of lame-ness.

WHEW, that took a lot out of me. But I feel better :)

To the grocery store that is remodeling, FLIP OFF! It takes me about half hour longer than it needs to, because they moved everything around and I have to push my cart around piles of old flooring and construction stuff. It will be nice when it's done.

To my hair that is growing out too fast and you can now see my roots, flip off! Guess it's time to make another appointment.

To my brother, who has decided that "No-Shave November" is a good idea, flip off! I still love ya, but you're doing something that is absolutely disgusting, and it WILL be gone by the time I see you at the end of this month.

To my workplace administration who changed our insurance company again, flip off! This will make the THIRD time in a year I have to fill out a waiver form for insurance since I have it through my husband's job. It's kinda getting to be a pain in the you-know-what.

Ok, that's all :)

Happy Weekend, People!

The Christmas Itch

One thing that is particularly convenient having my birthday on October 25th, is that it begins my countdown to Christmas! It's exactly 2 months after my birthday! I start decorating my home for fall in the beginning of September, and if it was up to me, we could skip Halloween altogether and just jump straight into Christmas decorating! Which I do, by the way. All of my fall decorations are still up, but not for long! Even my husband knows that it's almost time for Christmas decorations. And it's good that the weather is still nice for when he puts up the Christmas lights :)

I don't know where my love, again let me emphasize LOVE of Christmas season came from. There's just something about it that gets me all giddy inside, like a kid. I used to BEG my mom to let us put up decorations the day after Thanksgiving. She always said that if we cleaned the whole house, we could put stuff up.

When I went away to college, I would come home on weekends in December and write out my mom's Christmas cards to everyone, and decorate the house. We always used to go hunting for our perfect Christmas tree in the mountains. And when I say "hunting" I'm not joking either. Our chainsaw broke one year and so we had to shoot our Christmas tree down. No joke. And since my parents have a huge vaulted ceiling in their house, we used to get GIGANTIC trees! Like 17-20 feet tall. It was AWESOME. I about cried my little heart out last year when my parents said they were going to buy a FAKE tree. I told them they couldn't, or else I wasn't coming home for Christmas. So, they went and bought one from a tree lot. Not the same as getting your own, but at least it's real!

Living in Eastern MT where there are not many trees, hunting for our own is out of the question. I am left waiting for the ONE tree lot that brings trees in. Unfortunately they don't share my enthusiasm for Christmas, so I only get to have my tree up for 3 weeks. Sad.

BUT, I estimate my decorations will start going up in about a week and a half :) Meanwhile, I've already started playing Christmas music!! Happy Holidays!!!

Guest Room

I have been working on creating a new guest room in our house. It's the only finished room in our unfinished basement, and I decided I needed to furnish and decorate it so we can sleep more people! My dad and his hunting buddy are coming this weekend to go hunting for a whole week on our property. I had to have it all done by Saturday, so I finally got it finished yesterday.

It seems that if you live here in Eastern MT, you have to have a "country theme" to your house. Well, I can only do so much of that, so I decided to give our guest room a slight country feel to it. I'm not really in love with the carpet, but I figure I can add a large rug anytime.

Here goes:

I started off by painting the walls a tan color. They were all completely white to begin with. You can see my headboards and one of my pictures.


My hubby and I successfully put together these two twin beds...there was only minimal cursing and yelling involved :)


Next, I made up the beds. I got all of the bedding from JC Penney catalog!


Here's a closeup of the pillow sham:

Then, I visited my FAVORITE store EVER, Hobby Lobby, and picked up a few decorative items. The table belongs to the people who own our house, and they just wanted to put it into storage for right now. I thought, why not! It helps out with the whole country theme.


And another view, with my other hanging picture:

And one last decorative thing I added near the door:


Ta-da! A country-ish room! I still have to add some other small furniture, a lamp, and some sort of window treatment, but I'd say it's a great start!