Archive: March 2010

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Grandma Janie


Buck’s Grandma Janie and Papa Doug are gone for the week, so we get to take care of chores out at their place while they’re away.  Since we’re there everyday this week, I thought it would be an ideal time to introduce you to Grandma Janie.  First, I’ll show you one of my all time favorite pictures of her, then I’ll tell you more about this delightful woman.

This was taken while Janie was shooting some engagement pictures for Buck and me, almost exactly 6 years ago.

*Janie is a real photographer… the pictures she took this day were taken before the digital picture revolution.  She has taken literally 1000′s of beautiful pictures over the years.

* She is a real writer… she’s a columnist for “Agri-Times” where she writes “Janie’s Journal” every week.  She writes about life on their ranch and journals her very busy life.  She also writes for the local newspaper and is an intrigal part of the local writing club.  I’ll try to coerce her into guest writing for Cowgirl Clippings sometime in the near future!

*She has 23 great-grandchildren! And she remembers not only each of their birthdays, but each of their parent’s and grandparent’s birthdays as well.  There’s hardly a day on her calender without a birthday to remember.

*Speaking of grandchildren….today is a significant day for two of Grandma Janie’s grandson’s and all of us who love them.  Josh, who is in the Navy, returns today after a tour in Afghanistan.  He gets to see his wife and two babies today after 9 long months.  And another grandson, Josh’s brother, James, graduates from Officer Training today for the Marines.   Janie is a proud grandma to say the least.

* Janie can do anything… she can cook like it’s nobody’s business; she still hikes in the Wallowa Mountains- mountains she knows better than just about anyone; she plays in the snow on snow shoes and cross-country skis, and more than anything, she makes the most of each and everyday.

*She is AMAZING!

I’m so glad I had the chance to introduce you to Janie today. 

If you were here, I’d drag you right along with me to do chores, but since you’re not and I can’t, you can look forward to some pictures and commentary headed your way!

–Chelsea

Works of Art


Lucy has the attention span of  ummm…. a three year old.   My friend, Kelsie, says her three year old has the attention span of a mosquito.  I am in total agreement.  Lucy works on most projects for approximately two minutes and she’s off to something else.   She rarely wants to sit and work on anything, including meals.  She eats a bite and is done.  The one place where Lucy will sit and work, undistracted, is at the table with a set of paints.   She loves to paint and has made it a part of her daily routine.  Here she is hard at work…

We’ve been at this for months now; it isn’t even a one week phenomenon!  She is so proud of each and every painting, and each painting she dedicates to someone special in her life.  I haven’t been able to throw them away, nor have I delivered them to each special person in her life, so I have a plethora of paintings on my hutch and I’m not sure what in the world to do with them. 

See hutch below…

…….the picture on the left is Buck and his Grandpa when Buck was about the same age as Lucy.  I didn’t even stage that, nor did I stage the “LOVE” album.  All very symbolic, don’t ya think?

Since I don’t know what to do with this abundance of watercolor masterpieces in our lives,  I started by taking pictures of each unique “canvas”.  And now I’m posting them for you to see.  Like I said, I can’t throw them away, but now that I’m writing this, I’ve decided I will take money for them.  Scan through the pictures and make me an offer.  I’ll even laminate it for free! ;-)

Lines… a rainbow?  Oh! They’re roads, she just informed me.  I’ll have her commentate for a minute.  Wait! Lucy! Don’t run off! 

She’s back… lets be quick about this commentating business…”That one says my dad’s- it’s all the colors mixed in.”

“That one is a pig- for daddy.”  Personally, I think it looks like a fish. Buck says it’s a turkey.  They’re abstract- it can be whatever you want it to be. 

Finally this one, my friends, is not for sale… Lucy’s first family portrait.  I’m saving this one forever. 

–Chelsea

Flowers!


If your planted pots still look like this, you’ll be encouraged by the tutorial below.  Winter will end.  Life will return… maybe not to this particular plant, but new life can be found!  I’m sure of it. 

So…. I promised you I’d show you plenty of spring this week.  When Ella-Mae said we were going to make a flower pot that was “spring-y”, I laughed.  Spring-y around here doesn’t have much to do with the weather.  The hind end of a cow who looks ready to calve is said to be “spring-y”.  Rest assured, I’m not going to show you pictures of that, althought “spring-y” cows are still in abundance around here.  I just thought since this is Cowgirl Clippings, it’s only appropriate to share that little bit of cattle terminology with you. 

Now, by all means, lets talk about flowers, please!  To make a nice Spring-y flower pot, first you need a good looking pot…

…. here is the before picture.

Next you need to fill the pot with aluminum cans so you don’t have 500 lbs of dirt loading the thing down.  Those cans will make it semi-possible to move this big pot when it’s full.

….and the cans will provide a nice drainage system for your potted plants, too.

Now fill the rest of the pot with soil.

Find yourself a cute little blonde helper and ask her to give you her cheesiest smile.

Find yourself another helper… a very maternal preteen who likes holding babies.  Finding a helper with gorgeous red hair is an added bonus.

Once those logistics are taken care of, it’s time to plan your planting…

… set the flowers where you think they’ll look most appealing.  (For this particular pot, we chose to have some height in the back, then tapered the flowers by height towards the front.) Ask the three year old gardener what she thinks of the arrangement and make your final decision.

Take flowers out of plastic containers…. 

… plant flowers….

…the more color the better. When you’re done planting each flower you’ve chosen to use…

… stand back and admire the beauty.

You’ll want to give the flowers a trickle of water…

… nah… give ‘em a good drink!

You’ll probably have a little cleanup after your efforts.

And finally….

… an essential philosophy in gardening and life…

Stop. And smell the flowers!

Trust


My mother-in-law, Jackie, has been here visiting for a few days.  She had a chance to zip away from Eastern Idaho for a long weekend, so she came to see us.


She’s crazy about her grandaughters… and we’re all crazy about her.

On Saturday afternoon Jackie, the girls, and I, went out to visit Buck, who was working on building a new bridge across Prairie Creek. 

Here he is measuring… which I completely trust him to do… (not that my opinion would alter any of the bridge building process).

Here he is chain sawing… which I also trust him to do (again my opinion is pretty much void in the whole thing).
 

Here he is holding my our baby.  Not shocking to you, I also trust him to do this. 

What I didn’t realize was that my trust would be tested when we went out to the bridge on Saturday.  I didn’t know ahead of time that we were going to have to get to the other side of the unfinished piece of work.  

First, Buck carried Lucy across, with the waters of Prairie Creek “raging” below…

Wild man that he is, he wasn’t worried in the least.  I kissed Lucy goodbye and asked all sorts of questions about the safety of this endeavor.  Buck, calm, and with assurance, took her from me and said he’d be right back for Katelyn.  Lucy, my little worrier, wasn’t worried in the least.  She trusts her daddy.  I kind of do, too… with measuring and chainsaws…

I decided I better walk across to be with Lucy while Buck got Katelyn.  I handed Kate to Grandma Jackie, kissing my baby goodbye.  Then I had to walk the plank.  It was really scary,  and that’s putting it mildly.  The water is probably 15 feet below the 4″ wide steel planks and the water isn’t exactly enticing.  My legs shook and Buck had to coach me with nearly every step.  Being the independent gal that I am (or thought I was!), it was really pretty embarrassing. 

After Buck carried Kate to safety (me!), Jackie had to cross.  I had all kinds of visions of my mother-in-law falling into the water below, but with only the slightest bit of hesitation…

across she came with the utmost confidence and determination.

After safely getting the crew to the other side of the bridge, I started to drive away in my mini-van and then managed to get it high centered on a rock.  I wanted to take pictures of the event so I could share them with you, but as my beloved husband was jacking the car up off the rock, he said things (with calm clarity) to me like, “you probably shouldn’t be hot-rodding around in this thing” and “umm… yeah, you say you weren’t reckless, but the rock that could’ve ripped out your oil pan (??) makes me think you were being reckless…”

When Buck makes comments like that and is helping me out of a mess I’ve made, I choose to leave the camera in the car.  It’s better for our marriage.  I will admit that I did well up with a little bit of youthful pride knowing that, while my husband completely trusts me to drive tractors and pick-ups with horsetrailers, he might even consider me a reckless mini-van driver ;-)

Jesus Calling: March 23rd



I really want to share today’s devotional with you out of “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young.  If you’ve read “Equals One Tired Mama” you know that my heart is wrapped up in thoughts and prayers for my high school teacher, Linda Rickard.  After a phone call from her husband this morning, I feel even more overwhelmed by the whole thing as we wait to see how Linda will come out of anesthesia today.  This devotional was just so appropriate this morning that I had to share it with you….

I am a God of both intricate detail and overflowing abundance.  When you entrust the details of your life to Me, you are surprised by how thoroughly I answer your petitions.  I take pleasure in hearing your prayers, so feel free to bring me your requests.  The more you pray, the more answers you receive.  Best of all, your faith is strengthened as you see how precisely I respond to your specific prayers.

Because I am infinite in all My ways, you need not fear that I will run out of resources.  Abundance is at the very heart of who I AM.  Come to Me in joyful expectation of receiving all you need– and sometimes much more!  I delight in showering blessings on My beloved children. Come to Me with open hands and heart, ready to receive all I have for you.

Psalm 36:7-9; Psalm 132:15; John 6:12-13

–Chelsea

Equals One Tired Mama


It all caught up with me last night… all the fun this past week….

* 2 trips to Lewiston and back

* 2 wonderful friend visits

* 1 delightful mother-in-law visit

* taking care of chores at Buck’s grandparents while they’re out of town for the week (fun pics coming your way on that!)

* working half a night shift at the hospital

* 1 very sick Katelyn Claire

* 1 very energetic Lucy Bear

* 1 new Young Mom’s Bible Study ~ “A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place”

* continued work on a house- buying adventure (more details forthcoming)

* feeding lots of cows on Saturday
 
The not fun part happened yesterday afternoon when I found out my beloved high school teacher, Linda Rickard, had a brain aneurism Sunday morning and is in an ICU in Idaho in critical condition.  Between the tears and prayers going out for her, it all caught up with me…
 
While Buck played with the girls on the living room floor, I sat down on the couch and leaned into the heaping laundry pile… and that, my friends, is where I fell asleep.
 
Tomorrow I’ll share the flower potting session with you.  As for today, do me a favor and pray for Rickard.  I really love that woman.

–Chelsea

Out of His Element


This morning began with a visit to the local clinic to see our FNP, Kathy.  Our little Katelyn has been sick with a cold for awhile now and she started getting progressively worse over the last couple of days.  Baby Kate just hasn’t been her happy little self…

Long story short, she has a double ear infection, croup, and cold sores in her mouth.   It’s no wonder the poor baby hasn’t been sleeping well. Poor kid!!

Anyway, as we drove out I looked over at the corrals and I saw this….

…with this on top of it….

Neither of which fit in too well with this….

….or this….

I continued to drive and as I headed down the lane, I saw Buck feeding cows…. and there was a man on the bale wagon with him….

Do you see the man in the black wheel?  He is not a new ranch hand, nor is he a friend who came to visit.  That man, in the black wheel, is a photographer.   He was riding on the bale wagon keeping his camera steady on the bale in front of him while he snapped pics of Buck.  I’m surprised he wasn’t talked into driving the pick-up, as it was driverless this morning.  At any rate, I really wish I could’ve gotten a shot of the photographer with his big zoom lens right in my cowboy’s face.  But it was starting to do this….

(which I refuse to acknowledge since it’s SPRING week here at Cowgirl Clippings ;-) and I was in a hurry to get my babe to the clinic.  I did feel paparazzi-ish not only taking their picture, but doing the whole black wheel thing with it on my computer. 

What, you ask, is that photographer doing with Buck??  He is from “The Oregonian” and is following a writer who came last week to do a story about cowboys.  Now, Buck  is used to me occassionally taking pictures… with Mt.Joseph towering behind him…

But when I saw that enormous zoom lens (one I wouldn’t mind having!) just inches from my cattle-feeding cowboy this morning, I couldn’t help but wonder who was more out of their element… my Buckaroo or the photographer from “The Oregonian”….

…or maybe it was a tie…??

–Chelsea

Vitamin D



As you might remember, the girls and I drove up to Lewiston this past week and visited the daffodils, our friend, Ella-Mae, and her daughters. 

Here’s E-M with one of her cute girls, McKenzie.

While we were in the big city we enjoyed a quick visit, soaked up some Vitamin D, made a Costco run, and we picked up a college friend of mine, Alicia, and brought her home with us for a few days.  Alicia is a sixth grade school teacher in Montana and was on her Spring Break, so it was a good time to come for a visit. 

Lewiston was full of spring glory.  Ella-Mae taught Lucy to say “Look mom! There’s God’s glory!” whenever she saw the pink Dogwoods that were in full bloom….

…. here, my friends, is “God’s gwory”.

Thankfully, the sun did follow us home when we left Lewiston.  Unfortunately, the green grass and “God’s gwory” didn’t come, too.   We’re probably still a month away from those heavenly delights.  At any rate, we were able to get out and enjoy the sunshine while Alicia was here. 

Alicia and Katelyn bent down to be even with Lucy who was standing up.  Lucy thought she’d go ahead and bend down, too.  Funny kid.

Isn’t it great to have friends who love your kids?  I had such a fun week.  First with Ella-Mae, then with Alicia.  So nice to have old friends.  Thanks to Alicia’s Spring Break, I took in a healthy dose of Vitamin D, exercise, flank steak, spiritual encouragement, and chai.  What more could a girl ask for in the middle of March?!

 I took lots of spring pictures in Lewiston so you can look forward to more sure signs of spring this week at Cowgirl Clippings.  A flower potting session is headed your way tomorrow… hang on to your hats!

–Chelsea

Honesty About Cream Sauce


I have been trying to make a good cream sauce for quite some time now.  I’ve tried several different combos of milk, butter, flour, and seasonings.  It has never been right… until last night.  I was headed to the movies with a girlfriend and Buck requested noodles with cream sauce before I left.  Being the husband pleasing wife that I am, I went to work on a full fat flavor cream sauce.  It finally came together for me and I will be honest, the ingredients weren’t healthy.  The end product is low on the healthy side, but HIGH on the tasty side.  I’ve discovered that cream & butter both need to be used in high volume and this, my friends, is what makes a DELICIOUS cream sauce.  You can pour the yummy goodness over noodles or potatoes.  You can eat it with a spoon.  Whatever you need to do with a cream sauce, I have found your ticket.

Ingredients:

8 Tbsp butter (sounds better than 1 stick)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (you can add more garlic if you like)
3/4  cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 cup milk

My first suggestion is to have everything measured out and ready to go before you start cooking.

Melt butter in medium sauce pan on medium heat…. saute garlic in butter until soft.  Add cream and mix with wire whisk until well blended.  Add flour, a little bit at a time, whisking all the while… and add the milk as the mixture starts to thicken. You can add more or less milk depending on how thick or thin you want your sauce. 

Add salt and garlic salt.  

I like to let the sauce simmer for a few minutes to let it thicken.  This is not a requirement.  You can pour it over the “starch” of choice whenever you’re ready to enjoy the yummy goodness.

Bon appetit, cowgirls!     

–Chelsea

A Good Read


“There are some potholes on the road less traveled. Some deep, some not so deep, some you dig yourself. Most are filled with mud. Many contain rocks. Once in a while you’ll be walking along and step in one a bit more accommodating…shabby, green, and pulsing with life.  It’ll tickle your feet like clover.” ~Ray Blackston, “Flabbergasted”

I, like Chelsea, like LOVE to read.  I read all four sides of cereal boxes just to amuse myself while eating breakfast.  I read billboards while driving (not always the best idea).  I read all of the mail just to occupy myself; but mostly, I devour books. I’m always on the lookout for a “good read.” Not always a deep book, but a book that has heart, character, wit, and charm. Some authors that I have really enjoyed in the past (and continue to) are: Karen Kingsbury, Beverly Lewis, Gilbert Morris, Brock and Bodie Thoene, just to name a few. I love Beth Moore Bible studies, and Max Lucado’s word pictures. Oswald Chambers gives me a daily uplift, and reading the articles on this website make me smile.

A book that I read recently, inspired me. It was fiction and it was written from a male perspective–not the type of book that I typically choose for myself. The book is entitled Flabbergasted by Ray Blackston. It was indeed witty, and I enjoyed the friendly banter and humor that permeated the book. Most of all though, I loved the message. Let me give you a sample without giving away the whole story:

“…I really just wanted to stay tight–tight to the south of God, right there in His shadow. Because outside of God’s shadow I was just a guady plastic float filled with stubborn air, drifting off blind like Jonah in search of Plan B, manipulating circumstances and wondering why I kept waking up in my very own Tarshish. But in God’s shadow I had been dazzled by the detour, amazed at the fraternity, and flabbergasted by the depth that comes from simplicity, from serving in a village that was shabby, green, and pulsing with life.”

That, my friends, is the epoch of the Christian life–becoming content in our lives simply because we know that God is directing them, and we trust that He is God. The questions I must ask myself remain: “Will I allow myself to proceed on the “road less traveled”? Will I cherish the journey, and be ‘dazzled’ by what I consider a ‘detour’? And finally, will I find ‘depth in the simplicity’ that comes so candidly from our Creator?”

–Laci

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