Veater Ranch in spring

“Dear old world', she murmured, 'you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.”
-Anne, Anne of Green Gables

Spring on the ranch makes me feel just like that.
I was married here in the spring, and there's just something about it.
The smell of the grass, the flowers, the trees.
And even though it came and ended earlier than anticipated this year,
we sure are grateful for what we got.

ups and downs and bugs and dirt.

If you don't like bugs or dirt or animals,
our home would not be the place for you.
Last night, just before bed, I went downstairs to change over the laundry.
I smashed at least five potato bugs [which are a nastier form of a cricket] and a spider.
And those are just the ones I caught.

Lots of nights we go on drives,
and if you went with us you'd realize why cowboys wear boots.
Dirt and stickers. Everywhere...
and boots cover your feet and don't have laces for those pesky stickers.

You have to get used to animals- dead and alive.
Being in the middle of nature you see it all.
The barn cat, Maude, has been known to catch and eat lots of squirrels.
On the flipside, last week we saw baby deer who still had their spots.
And there is nothing more adorable than that.

But if you can handle [preferably embrace] the bugs and dirt and animals,
you really are left with the most magical place.
The sunsets are something to behold,
and little gems of nature are all over if you look.
And the quiet. Oh, the quiet.
I think all the prophets had it right.
There's nothing more peaceful,
and almost nothing that make you feel
the majesty of God as much as being on a mountaintop.

Veater Ranch

A lot of my acquaintances at college are aware that I live on a cattle ranch, 

but when I show them pictures they are almost always in shock. 

It is never what they had pictured. 

Let me explain... first, we ranch cattle, but we live in the mountains. 

That means that we don't exactly have open, rolling fields of grass. 

In fact, what we were given was something more like steep draws and thick brush.

And if you know anything about cattle (or can picture having to ride a horse through brush while gathering...) you know that's not ideal.

But my dad had a vision that it could all be something better, something more useful. 

So he went and bought a bulldozer, and started clearing the brush and leaving trees. 

The government loves him for it (hello useable land!), the fire station loves him for it (less brush=less fire hazard), we all love him for it (brush isn't exactly a piece of cake to gather cattle in), and the cows love him (when there is less brush, the land can grow more grass).

So this is what he does. 

He takes his bull dozer, and pushes brush down these steep mountains into brush piles.  

(which will be burned when it's not so hot)

My little brother (who isn't so little anymore), comes behind him and sprays the regrowth to make sure it doesn't look the same again in 5 years.

[clearing in the mountains really takes a toll on this guy]

[brushpiles]

[Look at the difference between the cleared mountain in front and the brush in the back!]

The end result is really something beautiful. 

In the winter, we are surrounded in breathtaking green, 

and in the summer we find magic in acres and acres of golden oats.

At least that's my take on it :)

That middle Veater daughter