Continuity

Jesus picks us up where we are at and starts fresh.

           https://youtu.be/2BpnSlQAI9E         

Behold

Behold the Lamb of God! Behold, Him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.

           https://youtu.be/7t5BDtRVugA         

Mom and Dad

January 14th marked the 50th wedding anniversary for Mom and Dad. They were married in 1973 on Mom’s parents’ 25th anniversary. This has always been a special day for all of us and this year was no exception.

And the two shall become one flesh.

Dad always said that he was related to half the town and then married the other half. 

We threw them a nice party. We started off with Mass where there was a special blessing for them. Followed by a reception down stairs. Lungren Brothers provided the beef. 

Mom baked her own cake. 

One big happy family.

Special thanks to all who helped make this celebration go so well. Aunt Tuni on the organ, Uncle Scott as lead vocals, Uncle Chris and Aunt Fran as readers, Lynn Murdoch for cooking the briskets, and everyone who showed up! Congratulations Mom and Dad. Your fidelity has meant the world to all of us. 

Off the Hook

Well, the season is finally over. We started with 15 cows and ended up with 13 in the freezer. That should be enough to hold us over until summer. 

As much as I love hanging beef, seeing an empty rail is a pleasant sight. 

This last cow put 50 notches on our scabbard.   

Chad lent a hand for the final push. 

That should last us a while. 

God bless America!

On to the next one! This freezer of meat should get us till July. Hopefully we’ll have 12 more critters on grass by then. We’ll worry about that later though. There’s snowmobiling to be done!

Harden not your Hearts

Be open in faith to listening to the voice of God.

           https://youtu.be/gxFOFyxY3YA         

Suffering

Christ has suffered in all ways so that we can relate our suffering to Him.

           https://youtu.be/ELPnWccvko4         

 

Discipleship

My bad: B XVI is not canonized. 

           https://youtu.be/0o3xAbnyUF4         

Seek the Truth

Truth is when our minds correspond with reality. 

           https://youtu.be/FleRnoLsMTY         

Gooseneck

Gooseneck trailers are the way to go, especially if you've got a big load to haul. I put this bad boy together back in my Helena Montana days. Since then, she's served the ranch well.

From the ground up she is homemade. I picked her up from a buddy outside of town. She was longer and all sorts of bent up. She was also set up for a fifth wheel which meant she was probably pulled by a semi, hence the over loading. After straightening, reenforcing, and shortening the trailer, we then put a gooseneck on her for pulling with a pickup. 

My main objective back then was to haul my little bulldozer around. The trailer actually hauled it well, but that is just a heck of a load for a pickup. 

With tandem duals, she is rated for 20k gvw. The problem with that is keeping the tires aired up and ready for work. Since Dad mainly just uses her around the place to haul hay anymore, the eight tires are not necessary. So we set out to just put singles on her. 

She is old school. The axles were once drivers off a military truck of sorts. The guys before us rigged them up to just be dollies. They have the old mac nuts which require their own tire iron. 

Underneath her defines contraption. When I first took off with a load years ago, the axles would shift side to side when you turned and rub the tires on the frame. It took a lot of sunflower seeds to come up with this cross-chain idea. Not sure it'd pass a DOT inspection, but it sure solved the problem. 

There she be. The mac set up allows you to run singles too. So we put together some solid 14 ply tires and flipped the inside rims around. Less rubber on the ground means less friction to drag. It also means four less tires to try to maintain. 

Ranch ready. 

Every ranch needs a good gooseneck around to haul whatever whenever. This 26' homemade beast serves that purpose well. I like character. What fun would it be to have a manufactured trailer that never needs maintenance? This black beauty keeps us on our toes. It's never too early to be thinking about spring. 

B XVI

Thanks to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI we have the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. 

           https://youtu.be/k8xHVnVEdR0         

Hamburger Helper

One of God's greatest gifts to a bachelor's household is Hamburger Helper. So simple yet so good. Plus, you can stretch one dish into three meals. Perfect for a Catholic Cowboy priest. 

There's many varieties ranging from Stroganoff to Cheesy Hash Browns. I like the old standard Cheeseburger Macaroni. 

The cool thing is that it comes with instructions right on the back of the box. Though I do have the process down by now, I still need the specific measurements of milk and water to get the dish just right. 

The key to a good Hamburger Helper meal is the hamburger. LBCC.LLC grass fattened. 

A cowboy doesn't plan his meal until he's hungry. Therefore, he usually has to thaw things out before he can get started. Defrosting frozen hamburger in a sink full of room temp water is quick and effective. 

Now it's time to get to work. 

Browning is an art. I know you're hungry, but not everything has to be cooked on high. 

Muy Bien. 

Here's some tricks I've learned over the years: Add the milk, then the sauce mix, then pour the water over them both. This allows you to better integrate the sauce mix. 

After you stir those ingredients together, then add the macaroni. This way the sauce mix powder doesn't cling to the mac. 

Bring it to a boil then let it simmer for 10 min or so. 

In that down time I like to have a little cowboy appetizer. 

Knowing when to kill the heat and serve is crucial. Some of this takes trial and error, but I like to shoot for my macaroni to be al dente. 

Bon appetit.

There's been more than one cowboy out there who has kept his belly fueled by Hamburger Helper. I dig it. Any meal that only requires one tool to handle, I'm down with. The beauty of this kind of cooking is now I have two more meals awaiting me that only require reheating. Life is good. Thank God for Hamburger Helper! 

 

Christian

There is no such thing as a lone Christian. To be Christian means to be part of the Body of Christ, the Church. We need each other.

           https://youtu.be/86mFFMy-Tb0