December 23, 200
Happy Holidays from the Lazy EL!
Winter has come with a roar. We’ve had weeks of subzero weather (http://lazyel.blogspot.com/) and snow to go with it. Over the weekend, it warmed up to five below zero and the entire ranch community was outside enjoying the warm weather! Gerald and I went to cut wood. Helen, Julia, and Debbie visited our fat and fuzzy horses. Duane worked (played) on the skid steer moving snow. It is amazing how quickly you adjust to the frigid temperatures.
Thad is having a quiet winter this season with no ski-joring on the horizon. Unloading hay bales, he gave himself a bulged disk. If you saw him walking around you wouldn’t recognize our invincible 23-year old ropin’, ridin’, and wrestlin’ cowboy. He’s moving slowly and is likely to be out of commission for several months. He and I have reached an understanding though. We’ll have none of this non-sense come summer.
Luke continues to grow both in size and independence. With his summer money plus two calves, he bought himself a ’78 flatbed Dodge truck complete with cool lights and a jazzed up muffler. No, he doesn’t have a driver’s license yet. But when he does get one, he’ll be ready. Somehow, I think his days of enjoying a quiet season on the Lazy EL far from girls and trouble may be coming to an end sooner than I like to admit. He continues to be passionate about hunting (one cow elk, one white tail buck, and one doe with his bow) and trapping. It is an interest that I will gladly foster. Keep him in the hills and out of town life for as long as possible!
Horses are wintering beautifully. We put them in Wiggins this fall and with some late fall new growth combined with the old hay grass they put the winter weight on. I don’t know if they’ve ever gone into winter looking better. Debbie is still around and has been feeding Payday supplement and even skinny Payday is now fat and happy.
Thad and I are playing with cattle markets and buying trailer loads of cheap cattle to fatten and turn around and sell back. Originally it was to be Thad’s winter project. As it turns out, with Thad’s bad back, Gerald, Luke, and I are feeding and chopping ice for the calves. It’s fun to have cattle around but when the weather is 35 degrees below zero, it’s a bit less fun.
On a sad note, Gerald and I lost our nephew, Dacotah, due to complications from a seizure in November. Some of you may have known him when he lived with me in Red Lodge or with Gerald and I in our early marriage. Later, his younger sister, Bridgett came to live with us. If you saw him at the ranch, he would only ride bareback and spent most of his time teasing the rest of us for not being good enough to get rid of that cumbersome saddle. His spirit made the world a better place.
In terms of closeness, he was our fourth son. He has left behind his dear wife, Charlene, their two kids, ages 3 and 6, and two foster children, ages 7 and 8. As for Gerald and I, we seem to be going through our days more slowly. I find myself rethinking priorities and checking in with Charlene and the kids daily. But I also have a deep gratitude. In 1998, Cota called and needed another chance at life, a new home, and I said, "yes." It was the next step of an incredible journey. I am so grateful that Spirit gave me the opportunity to receive so deeply. May I always remember to say "yes" and may my understanding of family be large.
Deep, deep love to all of you and all the remarkable ways you all have given to our lives. There is nothing more sacred than these relationships. May your holiday season be filled with joy, laughter and friendship.
Jael
"Each of us is born into this world for a purpose and we each need to find what that purpose is. And when we do, we will find that we each have a purpose, but we also have a collective purpose and that collective purpose is to take care of each other as each of us is precious. Life is so fragile and we must live each day as if it is our last, because we do not know what will happen. We must really think about what it is that we hold dear, I think that if we really think about what it is that we hold dear, it would be the way of life that our ancestors lived. And I don't mean physically, but the way they lived spiritually. The way that we live physically has changed but the transforming power of who we were as people is still available to us. We have access to it every day and yet we don't go there. The power is still here, four legged and two legged. The most important thing is to be a good relative and no matter what we do in life and no matter what we say, if we are not good relatives, then nothing matters. We must be good to one another and we must hold on to each other as if each day would be our last."
- August, 2008, Dacotah Hollow Horn Bear speaking at a gathering.
