From the Home Place

February 19, 2026

Well it’s winter out there. At 4 a.m. the temp is 6 degrees, climbing clear up to 12 for a high. The snow will continue most of the morning. With close to six inches on the ground right now, this will be our biggest snow fall so far this winter. It looks like the wind will come up with the sun and the low tonight will be in the negative category. By this time next week, it should all be in the ground as moisture!

It seems the best way to bring some snow to Wyoming is for ranchers to start calving. Boy, I remember many sleepless nights and days with these spring storms. When the wind gets to screaming and moving piles of snow, it is really tough on baby cows. Yet, without the snow, we would likely not have green grass for those babies to grow on. As with most difficulties, God will use it for good.

I think the year was 1968. I was a sophomore in high school at the time. The ground had been white all winter long and we were in the second day of snowing and blowing. It must have been about this time of the year; we were lambing heavily, with the heifers just starting to calve. We had a couple of brood mares looking like they were getting close as well.

The ranch I grew up on sat on what one would call level ground. There weren’t any big hills close to our home place, and the blowing snow could travel for miles to end up around our barns. Speaking of barns, we had one for sheep, a small one for cattle and one for horses. We definitely didn’t have enough barn space for the “storm” that was about to hit us!

Like I mentioned earlier, the ewes were dropping babies right and left. The lambing shed was crammed full of babies and their mommas, so we were now filling the horse barn with ewes and new lambs. As soon as the lambs were two days old, they were big enough to stand outside in the shelter of the barn, we hoped.

Maybe, I should mention that the county road south of our house had been blown full of snow for most of the winter. With the storm that was upon us, there was no way that any of us were going anywhere, not even to school.

After lambing all night, I went into the house to get some dry clothes on. Dad asked, “What’s it look like?” I responded, “It’s crazy out there!” A little warmth, dry clothes, wet ones hung by the wood stove that dad had going full bore, and back outside we went to do the usual morning chores. The heifers were hugged up next to the barn where we milked. As I walked through them, sure enough, one of them was starting to calve.

We put the milk cows in the barn; dad and mom started milking, while I walked the calving heifer into the opposite end of that barn. Some straw on the frozen ground and leave her be for a bit. I joined the milking crew. After separating the cream, I fed the bucket calves, and the folks took the cream to the house before it froze.

The temperature was well below freezing, with a 30ish mph wind, it was really cold outside. I went and checked on the heifer, she was now a momma and attempting to get her new arrival up for some warm milk.

A quick walk through the ewes, two new sets of twins. Dad and I gathered the cold babies and their mothers, walked them to the horse barn and got them separated and settled. I took some hay to the mares piled up around the outside of the barn. The old buckskin mare was starting to foal. When a mare is foaling, it is best to leave her alone, so I threw some extra hay around her and dad and I headed for the house, we were in serious need of some warm!

More dry pants and socks, a quick breakfast and back outside. Patty, the mare, had her baby on the ground, so we scooped him up and led her into the barn that was half full of sheep. Now when most mares have a baby, they become extremely defensive of that little one, Patty was no exception. We knew that if she got out of her stall, she would kill every sheep in sight, so we double tied the gate that would hopefully keep her away for the intruders in her barn.

Back to the lambing lot, more lambs. Looked at the heifers, more calving. And by the way, another brood mare was getting started with bringing her baby into the frozen tundra! Now this was way before the day of having corral panels around a place, so we had to use ropes and tarps to build pens for the ewes and their new babies. The heifer went in where we had just milked and the mare was led to the same barn where we had put a plank partition across the middle. Hopefully the calf wouldn’t get too close to the mare after she foaled???

This pattern of kayos would continue throughout the day. We even had ewes and their lambs in the chicken house before the day was done. Yet, at the end of the day, we had two new beautiful foals, four calves and a couple dozen new lambs. Needless to say, dad and I didn’t sleep much that night as the blizzard continued throughout the night.

Though I did not recognize it at that stage of my life, I now look back and say, “Thank You Lord!” Though it was very difficult, we weathered the storm. The same can be said for our lives today. No matter how difficult things get, God will help us weather any storm He allows to come into our lives. You see, even if we had lost every new lamb, calf and colt, we would have still survived by His amazing grace.

This life is full of difficulties, often one upon another. Yet God’s grace is always sufficient for whatever He allows to come our way. So, for today in Lusk, Wyoming, travel will be restricted, and there will be plenty of snow to move, but by His grace, we will weather this storm as well.

2 Corinthians 12:9a, “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’”

Enjoying God’s amazing grace with you, Neal