Tuesday 28 October 2014

"Where are we going? And why are we in a hand basket?"

So Partner #1 left again and the whole ranch went to heck! Figures. He was down south again, this time for a gun course and to go chucker hunting.... If you don't know what this is, don't ask me because I don't really know either. I know it involves birds and a lot of hiking.

He laid out hay ahead of time so all of the animals would be content (yeah right) and took a dog so we would have less dogs to take care of, so basically all we had to do was make sure nothing died. And we managed that, nothing died. Although that llama is close.

So problem #1 arises in the form of escaped cows and downed fence at some land we lease up the road. Partner #2 has to head up there by herself to take care of this because baby is sleeping and one of us needs to stay home. The funny thing about livestock is they will cross an electric fence that is laying on the ground to get to the perceived "grass is greener" other side of said fence, but when you try to chase them back over the way they came, it all of a sudden becomes the scariest damn downed fence they ever saw!! So how does 1 person force a 1500 lb stubborn piece of beef over the fence again? Luckily for us, Partner #2 is smart. The remaining cows, who we will refer to as "The Good Ones", figured that Partner #2 was there to give them something awesome, so they followed her around like gigantic puppies. So she led them to the far side of the field, away from the renegade cow, who very quickly got lonely, or thought she was missing out on something great, and led herself back over the scariest damn downed fence it ever saw!. Brilliant.

Fence repaired. Crises averted.

Problem #2. I kind of took over feeding and walking dogs while Partner #1 is gone. Amazingly everything was going great this time. I developed a system that worked well, and no one ran away on me! It was like a Christmas miracle! At one point, I went out to go feed our new sheep dog, the one we picked up on our trip to Edmonton (Read it here The Impromptu Edmonton Trip), and I noticed that his face was a little beat up. Since everything had been going so well with the other dogs, I knew it wasn't one of them who snuck in there to be a jerk. So my only conclusion was the llama. If you saw his face you would understand that this conclusion is sound! At one point while I was crouched down pouring the food, he just waltz up behind me and stuck his face in the dish and started eating it! So I'm pretty sure the poor dog got hurt just trying to defend his food. And in some ways, that's an unfortunate sign of a good sheep dog. You don't want him hurting his flock in any way. The sheep will steal his food too, given the chance! Complete vegetarians, but they will scarf a bowl full of dog food with lamb chunks in it! I guess they are herbivores until they are cannibals.

Side note, did you know chickens will do that? If you throw too many meat-based scraps in to them they will eventually start to kill and eat each other?! Same with egg shells. If you don't crush the shells up to be unrecognizable, they will start to eat their own eggs! It's messed up. I guess that could be expected from dinosaur descendants....

Problem #3 is a fun one! I actually wish I had my camera for it. All the horses got out. Again it was a downed fence scenario. This time at least there was two of us to try to herd them back over the ultra scary fence. It didn't work, however. We managed to get them all in a group and started to push them toward the fence, but they panicked and turned around and ran back. We did this twice and gave up. The second time we even rolled up a section of the fence so they wouldn't even have to step over it, but nope. They were not going back for nothing. In any case, a herd of possibly panicked, galloping horses is really pretty.

Problem #4, the cows got out again. This time 3 cows and a calf and they were out on the road, which in itself isn't such a big deal around here, since people graze their animals on the roadside, but still, it was a problem that needed to be fixed. This time we loaded all the kids up and both of us went to try to get these cows back. Half way there (its at least a 20 minute drive) we get a text saying that the land owners chased 2 back in for us and the other 2 were in a neighbor's field and were welcome to stay there until the next day when Partner #1 would be home and could go get them. Still we had to go check things out, check fences, and make sure everything was kosher. Everything was fine, the good ones seemed happy and content, so we loaded up again and went home.

Partner #1 came home a couple hours after problem #4 was resolved and that was it. His problem now. In some ways it's exciting, having all this new stuff to do. But mostly it's just a pain in the butt.

Sometimes I find it so hard to believe that this is my life now...



More things I have learned since moving to the ranch:
12) A llama will make a hilarious face if you hit him with a pot. Also, they are creepier than heck and the threat of being spit on is terrifying.
13) All your efforts to keep a nice, clean, presentable front yard will be completely undone when you let a couple of cows roam free.
14) Snow in October is apparently perfectly normal, and I should just get used to it.



Monday 20 October 2014

Fall on the Ranch

Oh my gosh it's Fall! 

I think this is one of the first times in my adult life where I have been in a position to actually enjoy fall. Fall is the "precursor to winter and winter is the devil" (a wise woman said that one... recently). Winter is the worst thing that ever recurrently happens to me.Usually I'm stressing about heating bills, and winter tires I can't afford, and driving in the snow, and vitamin D deprivation, and seasonal depression, and having to wear more clothes then I'm comfortable with, and going to work and coming home in the dark, and Christmas concerts I might have to miss, and out-grown snowsuits I can't afford to replace, etc. You get the point. This is what Fall used to mean to me.  

But this year!! THIS year I still have those things to think about, but not to worry about! Why? Because I'm no longer a single mom, I no longer have to bear the brunt of ALL expenses, and any stresses I have are counteracted by cuddles, which I get lots of now. Yay me! 

However, on the ranch, Fall is like crunch time. All projects wrap up. This is the time of year that all ranchers work for. It's pay day! Well pay... month? Anyways, this is the time when everyone is getting all their ducks in a row, stock piling hay for the winter, bringing the cows in from range, sorting off the cattle (ones you keep from the ones you sell), getting trucks in order to take your sale cows to auction, all that fun stuff. Except in our world, its multiplied because we also have sheep, and to a lesser extent horses. PLUS we have our 200+ herd divided in two locations some 436 km apart. It's so much fun. 

My partners to do list over the next 3-4 weeks includes: Go to Merritt, get cows organized to ship back to Quesnel.  Get back home. Go back to Merritt, get cows loaded on truck. Drive home, immediately sort sale-cows from keep-cows. Load sale-cows on truck. Go to sale. Somewhere in there, load up and take wool to Edmonton. Explore possibility of making this a family affair. Sort sale horses, get them to Alberta.  Sort sheep, get them to Calgary. Also, explore the possibility of making this a family trip. Toss in a birthday party, Remembrance Day, Halloween, and a gun course 3 hours from home.

Don't forget to breathe. I wonder is we're going to see him at any point over the next weeks?

For Partner #2 and I, and the kids, Fall will be much the same as any other time of the year. Except that we may have to assist in some sorting shenanigans. It is Isabella's birthday on Friday! I am so excited for her. Everyone else in this house has had a birthday and she has had to watch and wait 10 months for hers to come. Isabella decided that for her birthday she wanted a "girls day", so her, Partner #2, and I are all going to the salon to get our hair done. Its going to be great! I love an excuse to spend money on vanity!

Anyways, this year I am looking forward to being able to relax and enjoy the season. I have decided to become a chai tea junky as the weather gets colder, and Partner #2 will start baking almost weekly! It's the perfect combination. Plus I've really been enjoying taking pictures. So I'm just going to leave you off with some pictures of what we've been up to this fall. 


 Fog across the river.

Baking season! 

Crazy hair day!








Our turkey veggie tray

Our Thanksgiving thankful tree


Gringo doing his best Blue Steel impression



Saturday 18 October 2014

Suffering the Fools (The Rant Edition)

"I won't suffer anyone who can't at least attempt to be open minded. The world isn't black and white, and everyone experiences a different reality. Who are we to say what is right or wrong for someone else?"

You know, I loved my life in the city. We were just talking about how Canada Post is going to end door-to-door mail service starting next month, and I was sad, because I remember how awesome and convenient that was! You don't realize the things you take for granted until they are no longer available. Want to know what else I took for granted? Having a damn good sushi restaurant just blocks from my door. Starbucks!! Chapters book stores (Can you believe there is no Chapters near me for hundreds of kilometers?!). Pizza delivery, or ANY food delivery. Reliable internet service.

Is it sad that 3 out of the things I listed were about food?

Moving here was a huge decision, in so many ways. I would say it was one of the biggest decisions of my life. I planned, I debated, I agonized over it. Do I give up a job I enjoy? Do I give up a life I fought hard to build? Do I begin again in a lifestyle in which I am so incredibly clueless? What about my daughter? Pull her out of public school? Move her away from the city? Will she be happier in a new setting?

No one can say that I made my decision on a whim.

Since moving here, since becoming more or less open about our family structure, the negativity we have had to endure has been astronomical. It is absurd how anyone can think that their personal (often misguided) opinions should be considered, much less be a contributing factor, in someone else's decisions for their life!

On the flip-side, we have had so many wonderful affirmations from so many unexpected sources. And to those who supported me in my decision, I am eternally grateful.

I asked a particularly nasty naysayer to give me one reason that my decision was somehow wrong, one reason that was 100% original thought, not influenced by culture, society, or religion, etc. And you know, the only one he could give me was that I was being "selfish".

Yes, I did give up a job I enjoyed. Also my career path in that job was practically laid out and paved in gold for me. However, I was still making peanuts, and struggling daily to make my bills.

Yes, I was uprooting from a life I had worked hard to build. I worked really goddamn hard to get where I was. But I was still struggling. And Isabella was suffering.

Yes, Isabella was enrolled in a good school, french immersion, conveniently just around the corner from our house. But she hated it. She asked me almost every morning if she really had to go to school that day. Her teachers were starting to whisper about dyslexia, and she didn't get along with any of her class mates. She hated it, and I hated sending her there because of it.

Not to mention that single parenting is really, really, really, really, really hard. Especially when you are thrown into it at a very young age. Even more so when you have an ex who seems to thrive off watching you struggle. I was breaking. Isabella was out of control. This life that I had fought so hard for was crumbling at the foundation.

Reading that list above, it almost seems like a no-brainer to have started over, but I am prideful, I am stubborn, and I am fiercely independent. Giving up my life meant that I would have to concede, to trust, and to rely on someone else, and oh boy! did it rankle. Completely goes against the grain of the tough exterior I carefully constructed over the years.

Ultimately, I chose to start again. I chose to give my daughter a fresh start in a place where she could express her self, be crazy, and be nurtured. Where she could run around, and be a kid, and benefit from having multiple parents who care for her well being.

I chose to exchange my struggles and stresses for a new and different set of struggles and stresses! The difference is, now I have the support of people who love and care deeply for me. The stuff that seemed insurmountable before has suddenly become manageable.

Through all of this though, we really discovered who was there for us. So many surprises. Family I have hardly talked to, much less seen, in decades came forward in support. High school friends, strangers on the internet.

So yes, I do miss my old life. But I miss it like I miss a good dream. I miss not having to hike over a kilometer to get my mail, I miss lattes, and pizza someone else cooked for me. But I love that I get to spend time with my daughter throughout the day, I love that I get to be there when she is having a hard time. I love that she is getting a quality education, with a teacher who is in tune with her, and that she is actually enjoying learning! I love that I get to explore the woods and the rivers without having to drive out of town first. I love that I get to watch the horses goof around out my office window. I love that I get to stay at home and take care of my family while also being able to work and contribute to the family unit. I may not be autonomous any longer, but I haven't felt trapped the way I have in the past. I love that I get to curl up on the couch at night, surrounded by the love and support of both my partners.

Perhaps it was selfish. Perhaps I should have stayed in the city, in our little 4-plex, scraping by, struggling to pay our bills, struggling with a daughter who had no one consistent person in her life.

But I don't think so.

I wouldn't chose for a second to go back to the way things were. And one day I hope the people who have chosen to remove themselves from our  life will recognize that.




Thursday 16 October 2014

The Impromptu Edmonton Trip

I was going insane. Cabin fever. Very The Shining-esque, except without the murder. So Partner #1 very (very) graciously offered to stay home with all 4 kids, while Partner #2 and I went on a mini vacation to Edmonton, AB.

It was glorious.

When you are not thinking about the fact that its a 10 hour drive and you just spend the time engulfed in deep conversation, enjoying the quiet, while taking in the beautiful fall scenery, it's like heaven. If ever you get a chance to travel through Jasper National Park in the fall, I highly recommend it. It's absolutely gorgeous. And I'm not much of a fall person. To me, fall is just the precursor to winter. And winter is the Devil. But check out this amazing picture of Mount Robson!



So we got up on day 1 even before the kids were up, which is a sure sign that it is way too early. We had only just told the kids that we were leaving as they were headed to bed the night before, so getting out the door was a gauntlet of "Don't go!" and iron grip hugs. First stop - Tim Hortons! As we were leaving the coffee shop, pipping hot cup of salvation in hand, I reached into my purse to get the keys and realized that I also had the only set of van keys.... The van being the vehicle we left with Partner #1 in case of emergency trips to the hospital. Awesome.

After an unnecessarily long phone conversation riddled with guilt and apologies, we're on our way! After this point it got rather pleasant. It was a beautiful clear fall day and we were driving through the "Wildlife Corridor". I know this because there were signs every couple of kilometers warning me about all of the animals I would see and most likely hit with my car along this stretch of highway. I saw no animals. Still the scenery was spectacular.

Partner #2 had read a book last year called The Mighty Fraser which recounted the history of the Fraser starting from its source in the Rocky Mountains. So as we were driving along she was regaling me with history of the river we were following. As well as educating me in geology (what the kids are studying in school right now), and explaining the mountain formations as we drove through Mount Robson and Jasper park. I can't even make fun of her for being such a nerd because I found it quite interesting too. Then we tried to envision what a similar trip with the kids would look like... It caused me so much anxiety I had to change the subject.

Getting to the hotel was fun. When I had booked our room, the guy on the phone had told me it was a 6 minute walk to the world's biggest mall.... We drove about 15 minutes past the world's biggest mall. So that was nice.

When we checked in, I misunderstood the directions the front desk lady gave me and thought we were in the North tower. The elevators are covered in signs that say they are on the fritz, so we try the button and low and behold they open, but we don't really want to step foot in there. The walls were chipped, the carpets stained, and it just reeked of smoke. But whatever, it was a cheap room, what did I expect? We get up to our floor and have this surreal moment where it feels like we have stepped on to the set of a CSI episode.... I felt like I should be using a UV light on all the stains that were everywhere. How about we don't touch the walls, or the buttons, or the door knobs, maybe just hold your breath while your at it.

Luckily we didn't find out room and concluded we must be in the wrong tower. Please Jesus, let us be in the wrong tower. Proceed back to the elevator. When I pushed the lobby button, the elevator wouldn't respond. At all. So we decided to go down to the 2nd floor and take the stairs the rest of the way (our bags were very heavy, don't judge!). So we head down the stairs, there is no way to the lobby via the stairs!! Are you kidding me?! I am so frustrated at this point. I did not drive 10 hours to put up with this crap.

We finally make it to our actual floor in the right tower, and sigh in relief. Its so much better and not whiff of smoke anywhere. I actually felt kind of bad. We figured the North tower must be the smoking tower and it seemed mean, like the hotel was punishing the smokers with the threat of communicable disease by putting them in that tower. Not that I'm condoning smoking, it's disgusting, but I don't know if biological warfare is the best way to convince people to quit....

We spent the entire next day at the mall. I mean all day. I think we got back to our hotel room at 8:30 p.m. Everyone we wanted to visit while we were in Edmonton, we made them meet us at the mall. It was pretty great. Partner #2's good friend just happened to be taking a course in town, so we got to see her, as well as my little bro who lives there. We didn't exactly have a lot of extra cash to spend, so we didn't buy ourselves anything, we just hung out. Like the much classier, and better looking, version of Mall Rats. We did however purchase all the kids new "town coats". We have winter coats that are only to be worn on the ranch and coats that are only to be worn in town, and since the kids had out grown last years, we decided to take the opportunity to get them some nice ones while taking advantage of the lower taxation Alberta has.

The next day we had a little bit of a slow start, but we got up and met my lovely cousin, who was coincidentally also visiting, for coffee. And then we headed home. That was it. We did make a little detour to pick up a sheep dog closer to the border, but that is hardly worth mentioning. He simply laid down in the back and didn't make a single sound the entire way home... it was like he wasn't even there.

We got home around 10:30- 11:00 that night, and it was such a relief. The drive home always seems longer than the drive there.

I was so grateful for this trip, so grateful to Partner #1 who suggested and facilitated it. Grateful for Partner #2 for joining me. I came home feeling almost refreshed. More like I wasn't going to go all Alfred Hitchcock, anyways. But you know what the best part of this whole trip was? Caesars. I l-o-v-e a good caesar, and without kids around, I was able to have at least 1 with every meal. It was glorious. My little brother, who is a bartender, even took us to his place of work and taught me how to make a proper one. Problem is now that I'm home, I realize that I need the ingredients to make a caesar.... And now I'm broke.




Monday 6 October 2014

When Roosters Attack!

That rooster is a dead man!!

As I have mentioned before, we accidentally acquired a rooster, who is, to say it kindly, and a--hole! Not only does he have a warped sense of time, and crows at all hours, he now apparently fancies himself a fighting cock. That's right, the bastard attacked me! (I resolved when I started this blog not to swear, but gosh darn it, its getting hard!)

I went outside with the baby, as is my normal routine around lunch time, and we decided to check on the chickens, see if there were any new eggs. I noticed an egg and also that they didn't have any food or water so I reached in to grab the egg and water thing, and the damn rooster jumped up and latched himself onto my finger! I've got the marks to prove it! To make it worse, I had the new egg in the hand he bit, and I reflexively clenched my hand, and crushed the egg all over me! I retaliated by throwing his crushed offspring embryo back at him, but the damage was done! I was mad.

As you can tell, I am still in shock. How many people can say they were attacked by a rooster?!

Do roosters have a musk period, you know like elephants? Or is he just growing up and into his new role as chief a--hole? Is he going to be like this always now? Or is this a phase? Poultry PMS?

I suppose with everything that has gone on with the poor chickens, multiple dog attacks, plus child-related "mishaps", he has legitimate reason to try to protect his harem. But you know what buddy!? If you don't let me in there, your harems going to Die! Then who you going to protect?! Huh?!

After The Great Chicken Fiasco (read it here http://monogamyisformanhattan.blogspot.ca/2014/09/the-great-chicken-fiasco.html), the kids are going to likely be hesitant to "off" another chicken. Even if he is a jerk. But it's their responsibility to feed and water the chickens everyday, so not that I'm hoping they will get hurt, but I'm hoping they will get fed up with trying to avoid an territorial chicken mcnugget with an inflated ego, enough that they will concede (hopefully soon) to introducing the rooster to our kitchen table. 

Revenge is best served cold? Revenge is best served roasted and seasoned to perfection, with a side of potatoes.

Bastard.

Thursday 2 October 2014

A day in the life of

I've had a recent request for a "Day in the life of" post. It's quite long, I apologize. Also, I wrote this early this last summer and then never posted it, so some things seem a little skewed.

5:30am - Partner #2 gets up before the kids so she can get some quiet wake up time sans kids and their demands, and noise, and smells, and questionable eating habits. Plus she's a totally geek and studies Latin in the morning.

6:30am - Kids are allowed up. Commence chaos.

8:00am - Partner #1 and I are supposed to be up at this point... Neither of us are morning people. The fact that coffee is usually ready and waiting for us helps immensely. At this point the kids are kicked downstairs to the playroom or outside for Coffee Break! The first half is devoted to Facebook, emails, and other online activities, but 8:30 is when all devices are shut down and we have actual adult conversation.

9:00am - Work time.... supposedly. I go to my office and usually continue Facebooking where I left off for another half hour or so. Partner #2 answers children's demands that have built up over the last hour, or goes outside for some gardening, sometimes a combination of both. Partner #1 also reopens his ipad and watches youtube videos for another couple hours... I'm not even kidding. (Although to his credit, its most often work related)

11:00am - At this point in the school year, I would take the baby and entertain her until lunch time, however it's summer. I may come out for some breakfast. Partner #1 will come into the office to say bye for the day and maybe fill me in on all the youtube he watched.

12:00pm - 1:00pm - Baby usually goes down for a nap at some point in here. The kids are kicked outside threatened on pain of death! if they come in and wake the baby! Partner #2 and I sometimes get some r&r at this point. She is studying Don Quixote, so she may read that while I read one of the maybe 10 books I've got going on at one time. Or I walk my moronic (I love him so much!) dog, Jackson.

1:00pm - 4:00pm - Within this time a variety of things could take place. Often for me this is usually project, or fall asleep on the couch time. This is when I have time to work on a small project, like installing the hooks for those hanging baskets I bought several months ago.... Or chip away at the mountain of laundry that never ever goes down, or work on this blog! Partner #2 may do some summer school with the kids or she works on and researches plans for the upcoming year. Occasionally we'll go for a walk to the mailboxes, because snail mail around here is a big deal!

Also during this time, we have "quiet time". Being a home school family, our kids are around each other 24 freaking 7, and we are around the kids all the time. Especially Partner #2. So we have quiet time. This is when all members of the family, adults included, go to their own separate areas of the house and do our own thing. We have a special closet chock-full of toys specifically for quiet time, to keep things exciting. We also just want to encourage the ability to play by themselves. We want them to realize that they don't always have to be together, that they can have fun using their own imaginations. It's a magical time.

Partner #1 is usually in and out of the house in this time, eating, making phone calls, etc.

4:00pm - This is when I do dishes. When I first moved in, the everyday mess our family of 7 made was more than I could handle, so I was cleaning constantly and doing the dishes 3 - 4 times a day, just to keep myself sane. I finally had to say enough. I made the one side of the kitchen counter for dirty dishes only. No where else are dishes allowed. And the kids have to clear their own dishes off the table.

ALSO (parents take note!) we started packing lunches. Crazy, I know, to do this in the summer, but oh lord, it has been like a miracle. The kids typically get snack, lunch, and then another snack everyday. And before it was almost every hour "Mom, is it snack time? When is lunch time? Whats are we eating? Oh I don't like that". Plus the dishes! God and the mess and time preparing 5 bloody meals everyday! Now, we pack a couple of lunch containers for each kid the night before and that is their food for the day. They eat whenever they want, but that's it. No more dishes, SO much less mess, no more harassing! Its glorious!

5:00pm - This is magic time for the kids. It's screen time, the kids are allowed to watch T.V. We have so much around us outside, plus a giant playroom that we think the kids shouldn't be sitting in front of the T.V all day. So they get this hour or so to watch T.V while one of us makes dinner. The problem with this, is that we've totally put television up on a pedestal accidentally. Screens almost have this mystical quality now. But, it gives whoever is making dinner some measure of calm. While one parent is doing that, one of the others is bathing the baby. Its really quite nice.

6:00pm - 7:00pm - Dinner, dinner, dinner!

7:00pm - The kids start getting ready for bed. We alternate bath nights, boys and girls. So the kids get a bath at least every second day. With the amount they play outside often they need a quick hose down on their off nights anyways. The whole getting-kids-to-bed process tends to take a long time. While Partner #2 puts the baby to sleep, the other 3 are left to take care of their teeth (floss THEN brush!), put on their jam-jams, and get into bed to await story time. With 3 kids packed into one bathroom, not a lot seems to get done.

7:30pm - Moms are off duty. That means if you arn't done and in bed, there is no story time. There is usually at least one kid straggling behind. Partner #1, if he is home from work yet, goes in after us to snuggle and catch up on everyone's day. Often he falls asleep with them.

8:00pm - Decompress. Breathe. Our life is just go, go, go. There is always something to do, always something pressing. Often there are activities that throw a wrench in all the best laid plans, typically ranch business. This 8pm time is our time to destress. More then often we all sit together on the couch and talk, talk about our day, talk about the future, talk about us. Often we multitask and use this time to pursue our hobbies, while we catch up with each other. I've taken to visiting the horses at night or hanging out with my dog. Sometimes we all go walk dogs together, which sometimes leads to a stroll through the sheep pen, or up to the ponds. Or if we get at it early enough we'll rent a movie or a show.

10:00pm - Bedtime usually. For Partner #2 and I, anyways. We've all come to terms with the fact that if I don't get 8 - 10 hours of sleep each night, I'm a terrible person. Partner #2 gets up at 5:30 so it makes sense that she goes to bed at this time. Partner #1 often stays up till midnight or later watching T.V or whatever. His responsibilities with the ranch and whatnot are weighty and he tends to need more time to decompress than we do.

Alternate Endings!
1. It's not the summer, it's the school year. Things look a lot different. This year they will look a lot different from last year as well. For starters, coffee break ends promptly at 9:00am, and school starts. Snack and lunch time are scheduled and have a loose time limit. Last year at 11:00, was my time to take the baby during that last hour before lunch. Once lunch was over, school was more or less over for the day, the kids get kicked outside, baby naps, and quiet time is daily, without fail. Often there is a little science or history in the afternoon.

2. Town days, this all goes to heck. On town days you can disregard everything from 9:00am to 6:00pm. Living so far out of town, you can't just whip in if you forgot coffee cream, or if the garbage needs emptying, so town days are a full-day, activity packed event. Usually the morning before we leave is spent loading up the van with recycling, garbage, library books, and whatever else we may need to get accomplished that day. Somewhere in the chaos, someone will pack snacks, water bottles, and the diaper bag. Loading up the kids is a gong-show. They are allowed 1 toy per hand. When they grow a 3rd hand, they can have a 3rd toy. I suppose this rule would have to be tweaked if one of our kids lost a hand....

If we don't get home by 5:00pm, there is usually some bemoaning about missing screen time. It's usually chaos by the time we get home, trying to get dinner started, while unloading a van full or groceries and treasures, cajoling kids into cleaning up their spaces in the van, as well as enlisting their help unloading while listening to them whine about missing screen time, all while trying to get the baby bathed and fed, so she can get to bed, and we can get the groceries put away.

3. Sundays! During the school year, Sunday is the day off. Very minimal school, if any, ended off with family movie night and a popcorn and veggie tray dinner. Its really quite nice.

4. Ranch business. If something comes up on the ranch that requires the efforts of more than just Partner #1, Partner #2 and I are automatically enlisted. Often it has to do with sorting cattle in a tight, sh** filled pen. (The first time I did this by the way, I unwittingly wore runners. I had to throw them out). Recently, I helped sheer sheep. That was an education. Or simply the whole family, kids and all, act as a human wall while directing cows or sheep from one field to another.

And that's it. Totally normal.... Right? Completely like everyone else's life.