Our CHI-cago Friend Visits Kansas

I love entertaining friends and family.

I’m not sure if it’s my nature, or if it’s the never-ending longing for my close friends and family in Florida to visit the gorgeous Kansas Flint Hills.

I just love it.

Kansas Flint Hills at their finest.

So when Kelly messaged me and told me she was up for a trip to Manhattan, I jumped on the opportunity.

You see, Kelly is not only a really cool gal, she is also a friend I met via social media. We had spent very little time hanging out outside the confines of business meetings until a couple weeks ago. I really wanted to get to know her better and get in a little #agnerd talk.

For those of you not familiar with #agnerd talk, don’t sweat it. It just means we talk about things like Facebook statistics, search engine optimization, YouTube videos, etc. 

Her visit was so much fun. I had a blast.

In true Oleen style, we put Kelly to work upon her arrival. She was up to the task and she couldn’t have been more of a trooper.

She helped catch a calf, rode around in the truck during chores, helped with feed chores, watched as Brandon and I argued about opening and closing gates….um. Oops, I got carried away.

But she sure did hang in there like a champ!

We also squeezed in a little fun at The Little Apple Brewery with Brandi and Sheridan.

Image borrowed from kellyrivard.com.

Side note: Why don’t I spend more time with these super-fabulous gals?

Anyway, I think the trip was a success from our end. Brandon and I couldn’t have had more fun and we can’t wait for Kelly’s next trip to see us.

On that note, the next time you are in the Flint Hills and want to bottle feed a calf, spend a good 4 hours in winds up to 30 mph, listen as newlyweds have minor disagreements about things that don’t matter, or talk about Facebook statistics- send me a note on Facebook. We’re always up for a visitor

My Marlboro Man

Note: I wrote this during my flight home earlier today. For the record, Brandon had most of Nacho’s accident cleaned up by the time I arrived to the house this evening.

I had to stop what I’m doing. I just had to. I have to tell you something.

I’m reading The Pioneer Woman’s book Black Heals to Tractor Wheels.

It’s amazing.

As weird as it might sound, I’ve laughed {out loud} on the plane home from Vegas about 20 times. I’m only on page 70.

Warning: If you have not read the book, do not read this blog post. Quickly go back to Facebook, Pinterest or tune into your favorite TV show. I’m telling you now. I don’t want to ruin the best book ever for you.

So what did I have to tell you?

A story.

A piece of Brandon’s story.

I couldn’t help but think of Brandon while reading Ree’s book. As I read about the comfort she felt in Marboro Man’s company, I began to wonder.

Could it really be? I wonder if it is?

Yep.

It must be a cowboy thing.

Not just any cowboy thing. I’m not talking bronco busting, bull riding, and extreme sports type of cowboy. And I’m definitely not talking about beer drinking, bar going people who wear their jeans too tight and belt buckles too big.

I’m talking generations deep of everyday care and stewardship, patience, calmness, confidence and persistence all wrapped up in one man- a cowboy.

Pioneer Woman and Marlboro Man...yeah well...I got one of those too.

Believe it or not, they still make those kinds of guys.

I mean, it makes since. Day in and day out these men work to care for things. Yes, I just said things. Stick with me here.

Here’s what I got on Brandon:

• He’s rarely worked a day under 11 hours since I have met him.
• He’s the first to worry when cattle are sick and the first to make an extra trip to check sick pens.
• He’s up at 3 a.m. so young cattle don’t have to go through the chute during the heat of the day in the summer and he’s the one checking water tanks and scooping snow in the dead of winter.
• He burns pastures until 3 or 4 in the morning to renew pasture growth, care for the grasslands and continue the legacy his ancestors began 4 generations ago, so he can feed cattle on schedule during the day.
• He’ll be the first to take an extra minute or two to stop and watch new heifers or calves in the pen, just to make sure they’re looking okay.
• He’s always the first to point out, and check on, a newborn baby calf in the pasture.
• It doesn’t matter to him if it’s 2 minutes or 2 hours, if that horse, cow, heifer, bull {or I} need a few more minutes to calm down, he’ll find the time.
• He’s never is in a hurry, and always has a few thousand things going on.

All I can come up with is it must be bred in them, those cowboys I speak of.

Have you ever heard of the cowboy gene? Maybe we need to invest in some good old fashioned research to identify what could be a cowboy genetic marker?

We need to let others know, these men really do exist.

A man strong enough to wrestle the elements, tractors, and bales of hay- not to mention wildly temperamental, brunette women miles away from family and close friends. Yet gentle enough to deal with a newly born calf needing a warm bed of straw.

On that note, Brandon fed the dogs bacon for dinner last night. He just loves spoiling our little pups when I’m gone. Nacho, our red heeler, messed on the carpet sometime last night. He probably got an upset stomach from the bacon. When I get home from Vegas there’ll be a discolored spot on the carpet and I’ll need to get the stain out. Isn’t that a good jolt back to reality?

Household Truce and Happy Heifers

Why, hello again friends. I hope my long absence hasn’t upset you. As always, I appreciate the encouragement to blog from my good friends — especially you, Chris. I truly needed it.

So what type of monkey-business have I been up to you ask?

Well, the norm.

Brandon and I have come to a household truce. I have continued the use of strategic note placement to encourage good housekeeping. Brandon has continued to make fun of me.

Certain things have come along in the last month that I have found to be very amusing. Like everything else, you can find most of them on Pinterest.

In an effort simplify your life; I decided to make a list here.

Chickasaw Country- A sassy new travel site designed by my friend, Brooke. Don’t forget to check out her super cool blog too.

Dirt Road Daughters Magazine- A new fashion and lifestyle publication for today’s daring generation of country girls. It’s got some great cowgirl attire and sassy home decorating tips.

The Food Effect-  An interactive site designed by my friends at the North Carolina Pork Producers Council to encourage people to give their voice, money or time to help feed a kid in need. Isn’t that cool?

Whew, that got a little deep. Back to the fun stuff.

A new addition to our little family are a few heifers we’re keeping north of town. I continue to learn more about these 4 legged bovine creatures. They make me giggle. Caring for them also makes me do two times the laundry every week because I’m covered with dirt and dust after chores. Not fun, but we must take the good with the bad.

Below is a video from the pens earlier this week.

So what do you think about my amateur video work? How about that cute little cowboy? And who thinks we should enter that one heifer into the Kentucky Derby?

WBG’s and Other Acronyms I Don’t Understand

My love for the outdoors and BEO’s natural tendency to be a cowboy have come together lately for an exciting new adventure.

We decided to buy a few head of calves and we’re keep them a few miles north of town.

Cute right?

The new little adventure comes with lots learning on my end and I’ve taken quite a bit of interest in helping out.

Here’s what I see when I go out to the pasture.

Yep, they want something to eat.

Since BEO does this everyday -and is a pro at this cowboy stuff- he suggested we feed them wet brewers grain (WBG) from a local brewery. This peaked my interest because- well, it just does.

So I looked up a bit about using WBG’s as cattle feed and found out that BEO’s not only super good looking- he also knows a bit about feeding calves.

Here is what the the WBG’s look like.

As you can see, we tote them up to the pasture in clean trash cans. More on that later.

Here is what WBG’s look like up close.

If you read the article that I linked to above about WBG’s it states “ A well-balanced mineral supplement should be supplied when using WBG in cattle diets to avoid the negative effects of decreased growth performance experienced when this ratio is not properly balanced.” So we also feed this pelleted supplement to make sure the calves get the right amount of vitamins and minerals.

It seems to be a hit. I think it’s pretty cool we can make use of the WBG’s and help out our local brewery.

Remember those trash cans from above? BEO named me the “CEO of Trash Can Cleaning.” It’s an honor I take very seriously. This is my realm.

It’s a tough job but somebody has to do it.

As mentioned, I’m not the expert in all this cattle stuff. If you find yourself interested in or looking for some fine folks that post stuff about feeding cattle or cattle in general, check out these blogs.

http://feedyardfoodie.wordpress.com/

http://crystalcattle.blogspot.com/

http://kansascattleranch.blogspot.com/

http://thesouthdakotacowgirl.com/

For the record, I am an expert trash can cleaner.