Airing Out the Dirty Laundry

Alright, friend, I'm gonna be really real with you today about my dirty laundry.

Literally.

This life is messy. And dirty. So I'm being real here. Because the laundry stains from life on the ranch are real.

Do those pretty lifestyle blogs on the internet offer me tips to get the runny, green cow poop stains out of Ian's pants during breeding season when we're AI'ing cows? What about the hydraulic fluid grease stains & smell from his shirt after he was up all night trying to repair a broken hydraulic line in the feed truck so we can put out feed to the cows in the morning? 

Nay. They do not.

There are jeans caked with mud up to the knees if we have an especially wet winter, or with blood & afterbirth after assisting a heifer give birth. 

(Yep, I'm not afraid to go there. Lot's of bodily fluids to contend with around here)

This life is messy. Legit messy. And gross. And sometimes, not for the faint of heart. 

The true cost of ranching is revealed in the laundry room where I pre-treat using a hand-held, pump-up lawn sprayer with Shout. The tears come out in the first wash, but the blood & sweat are more stubborn.

Some seasons the laundry is easy. Not much to pre-treat or re-wash. The ranch is quiet.  

Other seasons come with a steady stream of ripped & stained clothes that never really come all the way clean or get folded before Ian grabs them at the beginning of another day. 

Who's to blame for the daily trials? Maybe it's Mother Nature, the calving season, a machinery malfunction. Or maybe it's self-inflicted, not every decision we make with the cattle or in the business is the right one. Sometimes we have to dig ourselves out.

But, that's life, wouldn't you say? 

Ours might look different from each other, but we each experience trials and seasons of abundance. I am grateful for this life, no matter how messy it is.