My Enabler

I realized recently -  my husband is my enabler. He feeds my habit.
"Hi, my name is Lyndee, and I have an addiction to baby calves."
It started with two calf hutches. Then, this past spring Taylor got me a 3-pen calf shed.  And rarely do any of these pens sit empty because Taylor brings me baby calves from the feedlot. In the past two years I've taken care of 37 different calves.
And, just last evening Taylor brought me number 38 - a sweet little black brockle-face heifer I named "Alice" off of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (or for my grandma) :)

Sunday afternoon was absolutely beautiful, so after church Taylor and I decided to work on a few projects that needing doing outside.  As we were working, I realized nearly all of our projects were created by/for my calves:
- Taylor getting the loader to move hay bales that helped block the wind from my calf shed when it was really cold earlier this winter
- Using the loader to pile up the old straw and manure I cleaned out of my calf pens
- Digging dirt out from my calf hutches to limit any bad bacteria
- Leveling off the dirt from the line that was dug to get electricity and a water line out to my calf shed

"The first step is admitting you have a problem" - well, this theory doesn't apply in this situation. I may have an addiction (and I know it), but I have no intention of trying to overcome it. :) I love taking care of little baby calves that would otherwise not have a chance. And I couldn't do it without Taylor. He gets me hay and straw, helps me doctor and work them, and on those sad occasions when a calf gets really sick and is suffering because it isn't responding to the medicine, Taylor puts them down for me. I'm so blessed to have a husband who gives of his time and effort simply to make me happy because he knows how much I enjoy my hobby of caring for baby calves.

Now the trick will be to always recognize all these gifts Taylor gives me, and make sure that I'm giving back to him as well. I want to put him above myself, the way he has for me.

Bently cuddling up with new baby, Alice

I'm also extremely grateful for friends like Jim and TJ, both of whom work at the feedyard. Jim frequently takes care of my calves for me if we're gone, and TJ, along with many other things, helped us build my calf hutch  pens and put in a water line to my shed. (It's a good thing they like cookies, pies, and quick breads and will work for food, or we'd be broke from how much I'd owe them for their help.)

Besides messing with calves, Taylor and I recently went skiing with his family at Crested Butte. It was such a blast! It was really cold while we were there, but we bundled up and had a great time. Because of when we went, there was hardly anybody else on the mountain. It was awesome not to have a ton of other people on the slopes at the same time. I like doing a few nice runs, but my favorite thing to do is to try and follow Taylor down some blacks. I'm about as skilled at doing the moguls as a house cat is at swimming, but I like to try. I'm sure I'm horrible to watch, but at least I skied down those parts more than I fell this year. :)

These are what moguls look like - (until I started skiing with Taylor I had no idea what they were)

Western Kansas Fact: We need moisture, VERY BADLY - please pray we would get some. But if you're going to pray, please be specific - ask for snow that would come without wind.  Blizzards kill cattle in a hurry.

 I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. Matthew 25:35
I needed to be reminded of the lesson that went with this scripture. A lot of times when I think of working or doing things for God, I feel like I need to accomplish something big for it to count. But this lesson reminded me that this scripture doesn't say "I was thirsty and you dug me a well." God doesn't ask us to perform miracles. That's His job. All He needs is for us to show up and offer our lives for Him to use. God can use the simplest acts that are done in His name - like offering the thirsty a drink - to make a difference for His kingdom.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Lyndee

The Magic of Christmas

There's nothing more special than the magic of Christmas. When I was little that magic woke me and my siblings up on Christmas morning about two hours earlier than normal. Then we'd go downstairs and traipse into Mom and Dad's room to wake them up so we could go see what Santa had brought (at this point Mom and Dad would inform us it was entirely too early to open presents, and they'd make us lay down next to them and rest until it was a reasonable hour - like 6 a.m.  It was torture). :)

Now the magic comes from different things - like shutting off all the other lights and enjoying the beauty of our own Christmas tree, or picking out the perfect gift for someone, and even though you know they'll love it, you're more excited to give it to them than they could ever possibly be to receive it. One of my personal favorites this year was sitting in the living room lit by soft Christmas lights, wrapping presents, drinking hot chocolate and watching the Polar Express. It doesn't get any better than that.

We did Christmas a little differently this year. Instead of spending Christmas Eve with one side of the family and Christmas day with the other, we spent both with Taylor's family, and then we spent a long weekend with my family. It was nice not to have to rush around trying to get from one place to the other and really get to spend time with each side of the family.

My favorite ladies in the world!

I think one of the best parts of my time back home was on Friday me and my sisters took my niece and nephew to their first movie at the movie theater. We watched the new Disney movie, Frozen. Oh my goodness, folks, it was ADORABLE!  I absolutely loved it! (I'm pretty sure the kids did too). :) I would recommend it for anyone to go see, especially those people who are lucky enough to have their sisters be their best friends.

We were beyond blessed this Christmas. I got a lot of wonderful gifts I know I'll really enjoy. Yet sometimes I think it might be better if we didn't worry so much about buying gifts for each other. What if we just spent the time together or offered ourselves and our time as a gift to someone else? One of Taylor's gifts to me this year was something along those lines, and it meant more to me than anything else I received. How great would it be if we brought more of that back into Christmas?

Taylor was very excited to wear the Santa hat. :)

I think this December went by more quickly than any other has for some reason. At the beginning of the month Taylor and I went to Vegas for the NFR with his parents and brother, one of our friends, as well as my sister and her husband and my cousin and his wife. It was the biggest group we've ever had go, but it was a great time. For me one of the most memorable moments was one evening after we'd gone to the rodeo, we were walking around the casino floor. As I walked by the roulette table, I saw a guy turn around and look at me. Then he stuck his hand out to me and said, "You're freakin' cute. I'm Rodney Carrington." You never know what will happen in Vegas. :)

A random picture with Rodney Carrington

From there the rest of the month flew by in a haze of Christmas preparations and trying to stay caught up on my articles for the Kansas Livestock Association.

Western Kansas Fact: When people in far western Kansas say "river." They probably don't actually mean "water."  The Arkansas river is just south of Lakin, but it almost never has any water in it. When anybody in Lakin says "the river," generally they really mean "the river bed" or "the place where the river used to be."

I want nothing on earth besides you. Psalm 73:25. 
I think this is a beautiful Scripture. It is true in my life, but sometimes I let that desire become covered up by earthly wants. I pray that each day God will help me grow in my faith so this phrase can be the most important desire of my heart.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and I pray 2014 will be a wonderful year for each of you!

Love,
Lyndee

The Same Thought

They say great minds think alike.   True or not, I don't know, but my whole life I've pretty much felt that the only other mind that had a thought process similar to mine, was the mind of my little sister, Annie.

We'd get ready for school together in the bathroom and have great conversations. At some point we made up a game where when one of us had mouthwash in our mouth, we would try to continue our conversation through a mixture of sign language and vocal tone inflection. The crazy thing was we could nearly always figure out what the other person was saying (I've tried this with Taylor without success).
Annie and I have also practically been banned from being on the same team when our family plays Taboo. We can always get each other to quickly guess the word on the card.

Apparently, Annie is not the only person I've shared a common thought with. In college I lived in a house with three other girls. One of these girls also married a boy from western Kansas and they live in the next town north of Taylor and I.  Recently I saw a blog post she had put on Facebook telling that they are expecting a baby.  The crazy thing to me was that her blog was also titled "Life in Western Kansas" and after I looked, I realized that she had started her blog 4 months before I had started mine. I had no idea; I didn't even know she had a blog. But after thinking about it, I decided to change the name and website address of my blog. In case you didn't notice, it's now called "Home on the High Plains" and the address is www.highplainsofkansas.blogspot.com

Lately Taylor and I and his family have been busy with one thing - milo. Pretty much the whole month of October was spent in the fields cutting milo. Yesterday we finished up the last field. Honestly I love harvest. I love being out in the fields, working with family, and seeing the results of our labor. Even so, we all were ready to finish cutting and get back to the normal routine.
We still had about a third of the field left when we started yesterday morning, and we figured we might be able to finish it up by mid afternoon. At about 12:30 the guy we were cutting for had finished the fields he was on, so his three combines came to help us. About 45 minutes later we were done. With five combines running, you can really cover some ground!

Western Kansas Fact: A handkerchief is an essential part of a wardrobe. 
We get some windy days out here (kind of in the same way Death Valley has some hot days). :) So maybe it's not quite that bad, but all together, there are probably a couple of weeks worth of days that are super windy. On these days if you're outside you may find that if you clench your jaw you're going hear/feel a lot of "crunch"-ing because of the dirt that has gotten in your mouth. A handkerchief tied around your nose and mouth is the way to go.

This is a video I took on one of the windiest days we had this year. We had gusts around 70 mph. No, it wasn't cloudy - that's dirt blowing around

Don't praise yourself. Let someone else do it. Proverbs 27:2
I really like this Scripture. It is simple and true. We need to be humble, and if we have to tell others about the "good work" we're doing, it probably isn't that good.

Hope you all have a great week!
Lyndee

New Eyeballs

"Lyndee" and "risky" are not synonymous. I don't like to push limits. I tend to be more of a "better safe than sorry" type of person.

That's why last Monday was kind of a big step for me.
Since about 2nd grade, I've had glasses. I can remember sitting at the kitchen table before school one morning trying to make the oh-so-important decision of what glasses frames I would wear for the next several years of my life.

When I started playing sports, I got contacts, and it was awesome not to have to wear glasses.  I thought that was about as good as it was going to get, but for the past year I've been thinking about LASIK eye surgery.  The risk-averse side of me said to just stick with the contacts. They allowed me to see without glasses with practically zero risk to my eyes. But the thought of not needing anything to see was just too enticing.

So after going through some tests to make sure I could have the procedure, I was scheduled to have surgery on Monday, October 14. My mother-in-law came with me to be my moral support and chauffeur.

When they took me back, one of the first things they did was give me a couple of Valium to help me relax. Then when they took me into the procedure room, the first step was to put me under a machine that went down onto one eye. Mostly it just felt like a lot of pressure on my eye, but if I remember correctly it kind of created a suction to my eye and then a laser was used to cut a flap on the top of my eye. Then I was shifted under a second machine. Under this machine, they just told me that I had to hold still and focus on the orange light above me. Then a laser would be used to correct my vision.
Even with the Valium in my system I was still very tense during this part of the process.  When they moved the flap to make the correction, it made it very difficult to see much of anything, so I was focusing every part of my being on that orange light and not moving underneath that laser (no worries, if I had moved too much the laser would have automatically shut off).
Thankfully this process only took about 20-25 seconds, and then the whole process was repeated for the second eye.

One of the things that I think stood out the most to me was the smell similar to that of branding cattle (although slightly less pungent) as the laser corrected my vision. :)

In less than 10 minutes I was out of procedure room.  From there Roshel took me home and put me to bed. They tell you to go home and go to sleep afterward to help your eyes heal more quickly, so I spent the majority of the afternoon in bed asleep.  And when I woke up later that afternoon, I was able to open my eyes and see clearly without glasses or contacts.  It was a pretty awesome feeling!

Before the procedure I was kind of nervous and felt like it was a bit of a risk to have LASIK eye surgery, but now that I've had it done, I would do it again in a heartbeat. And I would absolutely recommend Fry Eye in Garden City, Kansas. They did a fantastic job! Their patient care was superb, and they are very good at what they do.

By my follow up appointment the next day, the flap on my eye was already half-way healed and yesterday at my weekly follow up today, it had completely healed, and I now have 20/20 vision!
Now the only thing left to do is to delete the bi-weekly reminder in my phone to put in new contacts and take my glasses to the eye doctor to be donated to someone who actually needs them. :)

You were good to me glasses, but I have to say, I won't miss you!

These were the goggles I had to sleep in for the first week so I didn't accidentally rub my eyes without knowing it. Attractive, I know!

Earlier this month Taylor and I went back home for a nice, relaxing weekend with my family. On Saturday night, we had a weenie roast in front of my dad's machine shed. There's nothing better than simple family time around a campfire together.

Mmmm.... Chili dogs!

We've been looking for a used 4 wheeler to check our cows, build fence, etc. Taylor went to a consignment sale while we were at my parents and was able to find one.  Kolden had fun trying it out with Taylor that night while checking Dad's cows.

Annie taught us how to make a cinnamon fire bread that she had while in Austria this summer.

On a rather random note, while I was at Mom and Dad's, we drove by one of Dad's fields and a car was stuck in the ditch right next to the gate.

No one was in the car, but as we got to looking closer we could see that they had run off the road several hundred yards earlier, drove across my dad's fence, taken out a fence post, drove through the corn field, ramped a steep incline into the bean field, finally drove out of the field along the fence and as they went to get back onto the road, they missed the turn and ended up stuck in the drainage ditch. We were pretty ticked about the amount of crops that they ran over. But thinking about it now, I just would have really liked to have seen the whole thing happen. It must have been a heck of a ride.

Western Kansas Fact: Who knew there'd be a great place to have LASIK eye surgery done in Garden City, Kansas. I sure wouldn't have guessed that a lot of people travel to Garden City just to have this procedure done.

"Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest."  Matthew 11:28
When I'm feeling stressed this Scripture always brings me peace.  I love knowing that God doesn't want to watch us stumble and stagger beneath the weight of our lives. He wants to carry it for us.  He wants to give us peace in this life even when things are hard.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Lyndee

Imagination and Amazement

As I get older there are a lot of things I miss about being a kid, like nap time and eating cookies without ever worrying how my pants would fit the next day... (ahhh, the good old days). But I think the things I miss most are a strong imagination and the joy and amazement at the simple things in life. I remember one time when I was little, Mom was washing windows and she took the screen off the screen door to clean it. That simple act provided Annie and I with an afternoon's worth of entertainment. All of a sudden our front screen door was transformed into a drive through window we could ride up to on our bikes and order from. :)

On labor day weekend my older sister, Katie, her husband, their two kids, and my younger sister and her fiancé came to visit us. Being around my 5 year-old nephew and my 2 year-old niece all weekend definitely showed me how little imagination and amazement I have in my daily life anymore.

On Saturday while the boys worked cows, Katie, Annie and I took the kids to the zoo in Garden City. They loved looking at the animals, especially the spider monkeys and the otters, but I had to laugh because out of all the animals they got to see, the things Kolden and Kallan were most excited about were the little bronze, animal-shaped benches. Every single one of these they would run up to and climb on. Later that day we came back to the house and got out the $5 sprinkler I'd bought off the clearance rack at Wal-Mart.  It was pretty fun to watch how excited they were to run through a little stream of water on a hot day.

They also loved helping me do my chores.  Kolden was so excited to see how many times he could pet my calf, Thatch, through the fence, and it was a pretty darn big deal to put the feed in the bucket. :) They reminded me to consciously enjoy getting to take care of my animals. (They also taught me that I needed to give them lots of little jobs to help me so they could feel like they were doing something thus avoiding any meltdowns because they weren't able to help enough.) :)
 

Kallan's 2nd birthday was later during the week, but we celebrated while she was at our house too.

It was so wonderful to have my family with me and to get to share my home and daily life with them.

The other weekend some friends of ours asked Taylor and I if we wanted to play in a golf tournament with them.  When Taylor told me this, the first thing I said was, do they know I'm terrible...do they know I've never even played golf?  Taylor assured me they knew what they were getting into. :)

Well he's not Happy Gilmore, but Taylor's definitely better than I am :)

So for the first time in my life, I played golf.  All I have to say is they sure make it look easy to swing a golf club well on TV. Sometimes I think I looked more like I was chopping wood.  At least I could have been worse, although maybe not much :) There were several times when I took more "practice" swings than I intended (well maybe I just missed the ball when I swung at it, but oh well.) :) Either way we had a lot of fun, although I was pretty amazed at how tired I was by the end of 18 holes.  I'm hoping before we play again, I'll have a chance to practice up a bit.

Annie jokingly gave me a hard time about playing golf and told me to take a video. Well here you go Annie! Luckily this was one of my decent swings :)

Western Kansas Fact: We don't have much in the way of hills here, so we build our own.  During silage harvest, corn silage is stacked and packed in big piles. I rode with Taylor in the silage packing tractor and driving down the steep incline can be a little scary to start with.

This is a picture I found that shows what type of an incline they make and have to drive up and down.

Each of you has received a gift to use to serve others.  1 Peter 4:10 The lesson that went with this Scripture reminded me that God gave each of us talents. But that doesn't mean we should use them only as we please. He gave them to us for a specific purpose. The gifts He gave us should glorify Him, not ourselves.

Have a wonderful week everybody!
Lyndee

Without Regrets

Regrets are kind of like pimples.  Nobody wants them.  Almost everyone gets them at some point or another, and some people have more than others.  Thankfully when I look back at my life so far, any regrets I have are fairly insubstantial and they're pretty few and far between. I think this comes from being surrounded with good family and friends to help keep me going down the best paths.

A few weeks ago I was able to avoid an opportunity for regret. Taylor and I were in Oklahoma for a wedding. While we were there I spent a lot of time talking with my family because my Grandpa Joe wasn't doing very well. Taylor and I talked about it and had decided that after the wedding we would drive home so I could get my vehicle and drive up to see Grandpa. As the weekend went on, it became apparent that Grandpa wasn't going to be around for long, maybe not even long enough for me to make it up to see him after driving up from the wedding.
Since we only had one vehicle, and Taylor couldn't leave because he was standing up in the wedding, it would have been pretty easy for me to say that I'd just have to wait until after the wedding and hope that Grandpa would still be around.

It's amazes me how long it can take for things to sink in sometimes and to truly understand the gravity of a situation.  Finally it hit me that if I truly wanted to find a way home, I could. And if I didn't, I could very well miss out on the chance to see my grandpa one last time and tell him I loved him.
I left before the wedding, took a shuttle to the airport, rented a car and made really good time back home. By that evening I was sitting, holding my grandpa's hand.  Katie and I sang to him a little and I got to hear him say, "I love you." By the next afternoon he was gone.
I thank God I didn't miss that opportunity and for my husband who spent a lot of time on the phone finding me a rental car so I could drive home.

I pray this experience will always remind me to live without regrets.

Grandma and Grandpa Joe at their 70th wedding anniversary 

We buried Grandpa on Wednesday.
On Friday Taylor and I were driving to Denver to catch our flight to go to Playa del Carmen for vacation. It's about an hour south of Cancun, and we stayed at an all inclusive resort.  We were there for a week.  On Sunday we went to an ecopark called XCaret.  There we floated down an extremely clear underground river. (the water in the river was pretty chilly, but Taylor "helped" me adjust to it quickly... by shoving me in!)  This place also has a sort of zoo and aquarium.  We spent some time snorkeling and got some drinks at a bar. Then that night we watched a show telling about the history and culture of Mexico. I didn't understand a word they were saying but it was still neat to watch.

Taylor and I celebrated our two year anniversary while on our trip.  It's been the best two years of my life :)  A lot of people said we looked like we were on our honeymoon; I told them that's because he still makes me happy

Monday we went deep sea fishing. We didn't catch any big fish, but we did catch a few reef fish. The seas were pretty rough that day, and I was doing fine, but in the middle of the trip I did bait the fish by depositing my breakfast into the ocean.  But after that I was good to go and went back to fishing.  Taylor didn't get sea sick, but I still ended up with the better end of the deal.  Where we were fishing at, if you catch fish and want to eat it, there's a restaurant on the beach that will cook it for you. So we had them cook a red snapper and a "Trigger" fish we'd caught.  It was some of the most amazing fish I'd ever had! Unfortunately about an hour or two after we got back to the hotel, Taylor started feeling a little under the weather.  For the rest of the night he had what he referred to as "the Mexican cleanse."  I started to get worried about him, but after about 12 hours, he finally started to feel better and quit having to rush to the bathroom every few minutes.
We rearranged our schedule and spent the next couple days just hanging on the beach, resting, relaxing and in Taylor's case, recuperating. We're still not sure what made Taylor sick, since I ate the same fish he did.  The only thing I can figure is that he ate rice and tortillas and I didn't.

My "Trigger Fish" I caught

Taylor caught the big red snapper in the middle

On Thursday we toured some Mayan ruins.  It rained all day, but we were still glad to be out looking at things rather than stuck in our hotel because of the rain especially since there wasn't much to do there if you aren't able to go out on the beach. We left on Friday, but we were both ready to come home, especially since it was still raining the next morning.

The Mayan ruins at Coba

All in all it was a fun trip, the only thing Taylor and I missed was American food.  They had really good restaurants at our hotel, but you can't beat American quality, especially when it comes to beef.  We both were really craving a good steak. :)

A few things we found interesting while in Mexico

• A lot of Spanish people vacation here
• This means a lot of men in speedos (many of whom shouldn't be - I took some photos but I just to show what it was like but I won't subject you to that)
• A lot of women in thongs or topless 
• These conditions make for some very good people-watching opportunities :)

Western Kansas Fact: You quickly get accustomed to not having a lot of trees around when you live out here.  When we went to Mexico, it was a pretty forest-y area. By the time we got home, I was glad to drive through eastern Colorado and see the openness (this was kind of amazing to me, I used to think eastern Colorado was a waste land) :)

When I kept things to myself, I felt weak deep inside me.  Psalm 32:3
I really like this Scripture. When I first began developing my relationship with God, at times it was hard for me to admit my sin.  But this Scripture and lesson reminded me that God sees everything I do. He already knows my sins, but when I admit them to him, I free myself. Those sins no longer hold me hostage and make me guilty.  


Have a wonderful week!
Lyndee

Fine, You Can "Help"

I'm not always the best at accepting help.  Instead of being grateful, I tend to be more concerned that the person helping me isn't doing that particular job "right." ("right" and "exactly the way I would do it" are the same things, aren't they?)
But I realize now that I need to change my way of thinking. I'm certainly glad I've had people in my life who didn't take this same attitude with me.

For example when I was in high school, our neighbor, Mike Day, had me help him get his cattle ready for artificial insemination (AI) [Side note - Using AI allows cattlemen to economically use the best genetics possible to raise better beef using fewer natural resources].  To AI cattle you need to synchronize their cycles, and the first step of this process is to put in CIDRs. Instead of being a control freak (like me), Mike showed me how to do it, and then he gave me the chance to try.  For the next three years, when breeding season came around Mike let me put in CIDRs for him.  Mike was willing to let me "help" and his trust and confidence in my ability to learn helped build my own self confidence. I truly loved getting to help him each year and learn a new skill.
That skill meant even more to me this year. Taylor and I decided to AI our cows, and because of Mike, I was able to put in CIDRs for our own herd.

Getting ready to put in CIDRs

Besides messing with our cattle, Taylor and I have had plenty of other things to keep us busy.

We recently finished wheat harvest.  This year it was much more relaxed than normal because the wheat wasn't very good and we didn't have to cut late into the night.  I also had more free time as the grain cart driver because it took a long time for the combines to get full and need me to come get their grain.

Storm clouds rolling in

Taylor and I have also been working to put in a flower bed around our garage/shed. It's taken us a while but we've been really pleased with the results. I don't feel like I'm someone who visualizes things very well, so I was really happy with the way the flower bed I designed and planted turned out.

For 4th of July weekend Taylor and I went to my family's. My brother had a big cookout and volleyball game for family and friends.  We had a blast!

Last week I also got two new little kitties. I'm having a hard time figuring out the perfect names for them, but they're really fun to have around.

Western Kansas Fact: If you're driving during wheat harvest season, it's best not to be in a big hurry. You will encounter combines and other large equipment moving from field to field. You will have to slow down for them. But please be patient. They will move over so you can go around as soon as they can.

Wait for the Lord, and he will make things right. Proverbs 20:22
When someone hurts us or wrongs us, it can be easy to want to pay them back.  But it is not our place to do so. "Vengeance is mine. I will repay," Hebrews 10:30. God is the only one who is perfect and sinless, and He is the only one who can rightly settle a score. Who are we to judge the sins of others? Instead God calls us to forgive others because He forgave us through Christ's sacrifice. When we try to take revenge, we are telling God that we don't trust Him to do what is right.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!
Lyndee

I'm not an expert on AI, but if anyone has any questions about it, feel free to send them my way. I'll answer what I know or talk to someone with more experience.