Mountains Beyond The Cows: The Deck Party

Sunset at Three Circle Ranch

Having a pile of people living in a small area with the reasonably intense and constant pressure of calving can be tough. Tempers can get short and the nights long. This year has been one of the nicest I can remember, for a variety of reasons. Great weather, good quality feed, not too much cold with an early spring, a good cattle health program and certainly an amazing crew has all contributed to a great season. We are not quite done, but getting to the dregs. There is one heifer left to calve now! Yay! Eli and I and the boys have moved home and it truly is wonderful to be back. Not that there is any less work here to be done, but it is always great to be able to stretch your arms out in the morning without smacking someone in the mouth.
There have been a few 'laugh until you cry' moments through the season and I think I need to share one tonight.

Photo Credit to Diana P.

Laura and Eve helping a calf find breakfast.

When we told Laura (the Aussie) that we had a Kiwi hired for calving season her first reaction was "that sounds like the start of a bad joke." At my questioning look she said "A Kiwi, an Aussie and a Canadian walk in to a barn......"

In New Zealand, apparently, words that have an 'e' (like pen) are slurred and pronounced like an "i", so it comes out more or less like "pin".
Eve told me the other day a nickname that her dad used to call her.
"FRICK?" I said. "He called you "FRICK"?
She laughed and told me again.
"Who calls a little kid 'Frick'" I said.
"NO, no" she said, "Frick, like the frickles on your face."
Oh, FRECK!! As in "freckles".
So now the story begin.
Over Easter, we've sometimes had amazingly good weather and been able to sit out on the veranda.
Eve got wind of this possibility and suddenly was very excited about the upcoming "deck party" she would be part of. (Insert accent here.)
As she went on and on about how great this 'deck' party was going to be, we all sat in shocked silence. Suddenly someone realized that she meant a PATIO/VERANDA party, rather than something considerably more x-rated, and we've been laughing ever since. There has been many miles gotten out of Eve's "deck party".
Possibly the best is wee young Benjamin, sharp as always. Although we've cautioned Eve to please say 'patio or veranda' around the kids, somehow the 'deck party' innocently came up again and of course someone ran with it.
A bit later that morning, Grandpa was in the bathroom brushing his teeth when Benjamin wandered in with a question, serious as can be.

"What's a dick party Grandpa?"

Striving not to inhale his toothpaste, or blow it all over the mirror, Grandpa managed to answer in a reasonably calm voice that "Eve meant a DECK party Ben. She's from New Zealand and is still learning how to talk properly."
Ben thought for a moment, shook his head at the inexpiable behavior of adults and went about his day.

:)

That's all for tonight, my bed is calling!

Oh, but one cool thing to report.... Between two of our hay meadows this evening, we saw 14 moose! Pretty darn awesome. They are really enjoying the new green shoots growing up. Nice to see.

Cheers all,
Punky