All good things come to an end . . .

After 11 days and 2408 calves, we are finished branding for this year. The pens are silent. The mamas and their babies have been all been moved to grassy pastures where they'll stay until fall. To celebrate, I "slept in" about five minutes, and because I was so happy to finally have a "stay home" day, I made ginger snaps, lemon meringue pie, and butter tarts. A change is as good as a rest, they say, and it was.

Three days later, we drove an hour and a half to help friends brand 250 (or so) of their calves. I ask, are we suckers for punishment? Our arms and hands were still sore, I'd finally got the jeans and shirts fairly clean, and the (finally) dried manure had been scraped off our boots.

As we neared our destination, we needed to stop for directions. Did I mention the ranch we were looking for was remote? With no cell signal? The lady who lived in the log house where we asked directions had these in her yard and I couldn't resist a picture or two.

Wood cookstove used on nearby farm.

     

Propane-powered wringer washer.

We arrived at the ranch and the fun began!

Organized Chaos -- Everyone has a job to do and a place to be. Notice the two little cowboys in the background! They didn't want to stay in their "playpen." They were just itchin' to get in on the action.

In spite of how it looks, no lariats got crossed or tangled.

Just you wait and see, I'm gonna be big enough to help one of these days.

Finally, the mamas and babies are paired up again and taken to a new pasture for the summer.

At the end of the day, we had a lovely supper with the rancher and his family, including newborn twin girls, plus a pile of friends and neighbours. Although everyone is relieved that branding is finished, it's a sad-and-glad feeling. The fellowship and times of working together with a common goal is a sweet time, for sure, in spite of how much our bodies ache and complain.

But then, there's always next year, when we'll get to do it all over again.