June Family Work Party

For those who are unaware of what a "Family Work Party" is, I will give you a little history. Several years ago someone came up with the idea that if we worked together we could get a lot more accomplished as a group than trying to do it indivudually. It was then decided that each family would take a turn and host the family work party at their house and we would rotate doing that once a month. Whoever's house it was at would decide ahead of time what they needed done, request tools or supplies that needed to be brought by others and would also provide lunch for everyone that day. It was kind of like raising barns in the old days.

Through this process we have painted a whole house in a day, put up and painted fences, installed patios, cut up trees into firewood that had fallen in a storm, poured tons of concrete pads, built barns and corrals, planted landscaping and did tons of other general maintenance. It has really helped getting those big projects done around your house not to mention the bonding that comes with working beside family. I know that my boys have enjoyed working with their uncles and this is also where they have developed many of the skills they have today. If this idea kind of tickles your fancy, I highly recommend it. You could also do this with friends as well as family.

Okay now on to the recap of June's work party. This month it was at Grandma and Grandpa's. This is usually a great place to have a work party because Grandma is a good cook and serves great lunches (think steak sandwiches).

The project was to install some fencing, move the corral and prep the area for a squeeze shoot to be installed (it needs a cement pad poured under it). The whole idea is to run the cows up the field into a smaller corral and then into a squeeze shoot which holds a cow while he/she gets doctored. Doctoring involves many things which I won't go into for the squeamish of heart, but know that it is for their own good. Much like us taking our vitamins. Here are the boys working on the fence.


This project also involved some tractor work. We teach them young at the TSR (ask Grandpa what that stands for :)


Here the guys are doing something really important and clever (I am not sure what but I know when they get that serious look it is important). I have also noticed that when I start taking pictures I get some scowly looks. I even heard mentioned by one character on the workteam that if he would have known there would be pictures, he would have worn a better shirt. Someone needs to inform them that even though they are all married, women like a working man. In fact, it is proven that when the pioneer woman puts cowboys from their ranch on her website wearing chaps, hits to her blog go up 100 percent. So if someone would volunteer to wear chaps next time it would help improve readership to our blog.


I love this picture. Here is Jack helping Grandpa move a section of the corral. This reminds me of my boys helping out and how they feel they were an important part of the "man team". Jack is a good worker!


Sidney was also a big help in the short time her attention span would allow her to scrape fences. She loves being outside with her dad, and of course when there are cousins to play with it just adds to the fun.

Well those are the highlights from this month. Check in next month as I believe we are tackling the cabin at the annual cabin cleanup.