Just Your Average Morning

I was asked recently, "What do you do when you are just a ranch wife?"  Completely ignoring the 'just' portion of their comment, I had to stop for a moment to really ponder what Kenyon and I do to occupy our time.  (Thank you pregnancy brain.)  We stay busy, but by the end of each day I am usually at a complete loss of where the time has gone.

I decided to take my camera phone with me and document a little bit of our 'average' morning.  And by 'average' I mean that no two days are exactly alike and completely unscripted.  

Our morning constitutional.  (This is our version of a selfie.)
The odd bump in my chest area would be my hand holding a cell phone, the bump below that being my baby belly, and the odd contraption in front of me is our jogging stroller.

Corn fields near our house.

The creek below our house is one of Kenyon's favorite spots, as well as mine.
Not to be too rude, but I bet my morning walk is prettier than your morning walk.  

Our daily tomato picking.  My kid gets his fashion sense from his mother, obviously.

Although he didn't want the peppers to touch his tomatoes, he finally took pity on his mother and carried them to the house.

The weather was beautiful and we worked in the shop for quite a while.  This is a board that will be used in my industrial shelving project.  Stay tuned - I think it might actually turn out kind of neat.
Also during this time we ran a load of snap tests on the top of my high-tech lab (aka washing machine).  I'll spare you that picture. 

Nothing to see here, folks.  Just a kid in a diaper, hanging out with some calves.
Totally normal.  Well, for us it's normal.

This last photo really doesn't tell the entire story.  No more than five feet to Kenyon's right was a dead calf that the vet was posting (as in performing a necropsy).  It was more difficult than I anticipated to keep Kenyon away from the calf.  He told me at least a dozen times that 'I go pet the cow' and then Wes or I would lunge at him before he got too close to the calf.  We were finally able to distract him for a brief period of time while he hung out at the water trough with some other calves.  

As odd as it sounds, it was great to be able to discuss things with the vets while they took blood, tissue and rumen samples from the previously sick (now deceased) calf.  Sometimes I thoroughly enjoy using my scientific, grad school brain again instead of constantly having conversations that revolve around asking if someone needs to go potty.  

Sidenote:  I wish someone could explain to me exactly how my pregnant brain works.  I experience pregnancy sickness several times per week and there does not seem to be any sort of cause.  I can be resting peacefully, breathing in pristine prairie air and instantly be overcome with sickness that renders me absolutely useless for hours.  On this particular morning I was not only able to watch the vet work away, but I was even downwind of her once when she punctured the rumen in order to take a feed sample for the lab.  (Just imagine what sort of wonderfulness that entailed.)  I didn't feel even the slightest bit queasy the entire time.  My body is such a walking conundrum.  

And there you have it, folks.  This is an 'average' morning when you're just a ranch wife.