Quiet and Free

Since the late 1800's my family has lived at the base of the mountains in a quiet little valley along the river.  Five generations later, things(life) is very different, but everyday we fight to keep the old ways alive.  The ranch was split between my grandpa and my great uncle, but both of our families are still running cows in the same country as our great-great grandpa James and will continue to do so until our rights are taken away.  

Tonight my mama and I drove to the top of the mountain in search of my papa(who was already home).  I love my mountain home, love where I come from, and I feel an unexplained peace when I'm up there.  It's so easy to picture myself 100 years ago living in the line shack on top of the ridge with just my horse, my dog, my gun and cows to look after.  No loud vehicles humming by, no motorcycles scaring my colts, no one who doesn't belong.  Just the sound of the wind in the pines, the birds and chipmunks, bawling cows, the clear ring of their bells.  I'm in love with the simplicity of the past, and wish that I could have experienced it as tough a life as it was.  A time where the women were tough and the men were tougher.  You lived or you died, simple as dirt...

As the sun slipped behind the mountains in the distance I couldn't help but think about the family that came before.  About how many such sunsets they experienced in the same place(there were no roads back then). What was happening in their lives?  Were they happy?  Did they miss the old country?  What had they gone through to get to that point?  Did they simply marvel in the beauty of the orange light, or were they too rushed to make it back to camp to notice? 

Even a family who seems to know everything about their ancestors it's these minute details that are forever lost in history.  It's a shame that the simple things in life are not the ones that are handed down through generations.  I'm fiercely proud of my family and since I didn't get a chance to know them all, I'm extremely thankful to be experiencing much of the same things in life as they did.

XO Loves,

Me

 

Beautiful Women From Our Past...

Women in the old days flat had class.  They were amazing!  There were a lot of new opportunities for women at the turn of the century.  By 1928 women were earning 39% of the college degrees given in the US.  In 1933 Frances Perkins became the first woman cabinet member.  In 1943 the All-American Women's Baseball League was founded.  In 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, starting the Montgomery bus boycott.

I'm really into history, and while I'm not a feminist I do think the women that fought for our rights were strong and unbelievably courageous! So here are some pictures I Googled that I thought were fun.

You may recognize some of these women, but for the most part it was just a random selection :)




XO Loves,


Me

Thanksgiving.... Last Year

I've spent a lot of holidays alone, some completely alone, others with other families.  The price I've paid for being a little gypsy ;)  It was hard at first, but got easier as I got older.  

I moved back home in 2011.  It was wonderful, I got to celebrate my mama and papas birthday, my sister and brothers, and mine with family.  Last Thanksgiving was a truly special event, and probably one of the most memorable.  My sister is the only one of us that's married, so they split Thanksgiving and Christmas up between each family.  Last year it was our year for Christmas, but not Thanksgiving.  So it was just my parents, my brother and I. 

A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, my parents were off visiting my sister, leaving my brother and I in charge of calving.  I got home from work one night late, and noticed some calves in the pole barn.  I drove up to the house, and got my brother, and we went back down to fix fence.  It was raining, pretty late and I'm so surprised my brother and I got along so well.  What I didn't know was that he had left a pot of hot dogs boiling on the stove.  He didn't go back to the house, and I wasn't living there.  The next morning what he found was a disastrous mess, but thankfully the house was still standing.  The end result was some serious smoke damage of everything in our parents house.  My parents were outraged, my brother felt awful, but we were all So thankful that the house survived.  The smell was atrocious.  My mom spent the first couple nights in a motel, my dad toughed it out, but shouldn't have been breathing that stuff in.  For a week, every window in the house was open, and it was bitter cold inside there.  I took the bird, the cat and my mom.  Finally the insurance sent in a team, and my dad moved out. 

I was living in my grandparents old house, and my mom and dad were staying in my dads old room.  It was so nice!  My brother would come down during the day and start a fire for us all.  We had family dinners every night.  Problem was, I didn't have a dining room table.  Or really any chairs, or anywhere to sit.  But it was so special to see my papas reaction.  He hadn't slept in that house in almost 40 years.  A lot of memories came back.  He only came in the back door, because his mom would get mad if they drudged their dirty boots through the house. 

Thanksgiving rolled around.  Mom brought down a card table, my cousin brought over some fold up chairs, we were set!  My oven wasn't very big, so we just cooked a breast, made some stuffing, mashed potatoes and biscuits.  It was a fairly sparse spread, but I didn't have anything to cook with.  So we did the best we could with what we had.  And it was very nice!  Even though my sister wasn't able to be there, it was special.  It was my dads first Thanksgiving dinner in his old house since the mid 70's.  It meant so much to him, and it warmed my heart to see how happy he was.  He told us stories of his childhood, him and his brother fighting, playing army under the house, milking cows and cream separating...  I didn't know my grandparents very well, so spending a holiday in the home they built together meant more to me than I can express.  There was a lot of laughing, a lot of whiskey and wine and a few tears.  It was a day for the books!

There's only ever been one other Thanksgiving that was as special.  So as I prepare to spend yet again another T-Day without my family I remember the truly happy and amazing holidays I have gotten to spend with them.  And look even more forward to going home for Christmas!


So Happy Thanksgiving everyone and don't ever take your family and friends for granted, no matter how crazy they make you!!!!!




Xo Loves,



Me

Great-great Grandpa Bratt and A Bear Den

This isn't the actual location of the story I'm about to tell.  It actually took place about a mile further up the creek, but this gives you a general idea of the scenery ;)

We've heard this story before, as kids, but you know how that goes, you always forget.  The TV was on, and a show preview was playing, something about a bear in a den.  As my mamas finishing up breakfast I say to my papa, "Who would dive in a den after a bear anyways?!" He replies, "Well Great-Grandpa Bratt did!"  I laughed at even the thought, but knowing in my heart that the crazy Scot would definitely do just such a thing! I apparently had been too young to remember the story, or had just forgotten over the years...

My great-great grandparents lived at the base of the mountain on the other side of the creek, the house is long gone now, with the streambed now in its place.  Grandpa Bratt used to randomly go bear hunting, he had hounds, and he'd just take off for days.  No one knowing if he was alive or dead.  They had 4 girls, which just devastated my grandpa, he of course, wanted boys.  So, each girl also had a mans name :) My great-grandma was Grace, or Bob to her papa. Then there was Winifred or Bill, Vivian or Josh and Gladys or Jim. You can't blame a guy for wishing! 

He'd been out for a couple days, had seen some sign, but no bears.  He knew there was a den up on the hill, but hadn't been able to tree its inhabitants. He needed help.  Home he goes to fetch Bill (Winifred), who was somewhere around 11 years old.  Off they go up the creek, lantern in hand.  It was early morning, and they sat and watched all day.  Bills job was to watch for the bear to go in the den, which was more of a cave under an old tree stump, find and tell her papa it was home.  Poor little Bill had just about had enough of this hurry up and wait stuff, when sure enough, the bear comes trundling down the hill.  She scampers off to tell her papa that it's back.  So grandpa(Sam) hands her his rifle, and with nothing but a pistol heads in after it!  This is sort of what Bill heard after he crawled in the den: lots of cussing, growling and snarling, and a gun-shot.  Then! More growling, more cussing, and another shot!   Out comes grandpa....   Who began cussing at Bill.  He accused her of lying, she told him no, papa, it went in there, I saw it.  Yea he said, but you didn't tell me there was two of em!

AHAHAHAA!!!!   What a story.  He was a stubborn, onery old Scotsmen who wished for boys and got all girls.  He did some pretty crazy things, but thats what history's made of! I can't even imagine doing such a thing these days, nor have I heard of anyone crawling in a bears den, after the bear.

XOXO Loves

Me