Its a Cowboy thing...

I am still trying to catch up from all the fun we had this summer. Most of the Reece family had a first this summer.  It was our first time to help with a branding....  Buck has helped with brandings before, but it was all new to me and the kids.  (Branding is required for all livestock that may be sold to establish ownership).

I am not really what one would call experienced around farm animals, so this was truly a new adventure to me.  As a matter of fact, I am pretty ignorant about these bovine beasts.  For example.... One morning this summer Lilla and I were our for a run and had a little "encounter" with a mama cow.  There is a great place in Bozeman that a family opens up for public use, but they also have their cattle out to pasture there.  We have run there often and not had any problems.  We run with our dogs, which is often a blessing (bear alarm - seriously), but can also be a curse. On this particular day we were running back down to the car on our second lap, so we were at about mile 8.... For whatever reason, a couple of our dogs became very interested in a calf that was in the road.  I can attest that all mamas are protective... That mama cow was not happy.  The biggest problem being that when she decided to do something about the situation is right when Lilla and I were running past. We got charged by a cow! She was snorting and stampeding right for us and I realized I had absolutely no idea what to do!  Bear, moose, mountain lion or any other wild animal, I now the appropriate response, but for a cow I was clueless!  So we did what we were there to do RUN! Fortunately for us, as soon as we put some distance between us and her calf she lost interest. But clearly, I do not know how to manage bovine!

On that note, off the branding we went... I learned a lot about cows and I won't have to worry should I ever have a protective mama cow chase me down again.  As usual, the pictures tell the story best!

See I was there!

Inoculations by the beautiful Karley Paul

Buck doing something important, I am sure!

Hyat was an amazing helper.  He has this cowboy gig pretty well figured out!

Hyat helping move the cows.
Did you know that a white plastic bag on a stick is all it takes to convince some cows to move around?

Working the cows down the shoot.

The cutest cowboy there... 

My sweet husband!

Father and son!

I am not sure if this is worse for the cow or Weston...

Checking the branding irons...

Branding iron...

The many faces of Embrie Jean...

Go away..

Silly face....

Not gonna smile!

Being cute...

Almost smile!

Unknown talent... Buck can castrate. 

Love this girl! 

Cowboy sweet cheeks!

And the main event: branding!

I am truly thankful for our friends Karley and Weston.  We were able to help them with this event, but I am thankful they invited us to be present (since only one Reece was a true contributing member).  Weston is in the process of starting his own business, Promont Outdoors  and the mantra is: Be There.  It is simple, yet so true.  We have to be there.  As parents, husbands, wives, friends... We have to take advantage of the opportunities given to us to be there and be present, with nature, with our families, our friends.  This was one opportunity we had to Be There.