Detach

Ranch with open hands. 

           https://youtu.be/7x68ckuKWMM         

 

St. Agnes

Virginity, and chastity in general, requires a martyrdom. 

           https://youtu.be/BmwgGtN4CmM         

 

Snowmobiling

The day finally arrived to get the sleds out. We didn't have a lot of time, but it was still worth meeting up with Kurt and heading into the north Big Horns. It was a bit of a drive for a couple hour ride, but he fresh smell of 2-stroke in the air made it all worth while. 

If nothing else, it was worth loading up just to turn heads around town. 

White Horse's lift arms make light work of loading and unloading. 

Kurt just outfitted his new dirt bike with his snow-bike kit. It did pretty good for the first time out.

Ranchin.

The snow was pretty light, but we found enough to keep our sleds cool. It's always good to get into the mountains even if its only for an hour or two. Now that we know the sleds are going to preform, we'll be ready to hit it hard when the late winter snows hit. On to the next one. 

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.