Many of you are probably aware of the “Real Housewives” reality TV shows. These show depict spoiled, out-of-touch women across the nation and they call it entertainment. Well, a great post on Fox News by Patrick Dorinson, The Cowboy Libertarian, has a very interesting take on who American women should look to as good examples. Here is an excerpt from his post:
Recently I was in Idaho visiting with my good friends who are cowboys and ranchers. This time of year is for gathering their herds of cattle off the range in preparation for the hard winter that is to come.Work on the ranch is a family affair and everybody works—men, women and children.
But no disrespect or offense to the men, the hardest-working folks are the women. I call them the “Real Housewives of Idaho.” Their names are Jenn, Jayme, Kassy, D.J. and Janis.
I knew these women before I even met them, since I was raised by someone just like them.
They don’t have their own TV show although it would be a helluva lot more interesting than watching the other “real” housewives and definitely better than watching Maher’s weekly ego fest.
They don’t wildly spend money on frivolous things at high-tone stores. They shop at Costco to feed the family and during gathering feed the crew. They are partners with their husbands. Their children are taught the lessons of work, faith and family from the time they can walk and as soon as they can walk they are in the saddle working right alongside their parents.
You don’t hear a lot of whining about how tough their lives are. They know life is tough but they wouldn’t have it any other way.
They don’t have weekends. Saturday and Sunday are just two more days to get the work done.
They don’t stab their female friends in the back when they aren’t around. They pitch-in to help each other and treat each other’s children as if they were their own.
They don’t hang out at Starbucks because they aren’t dumb enough to pay $5 for a cup of coffee and don’t have the time or the inclination to sit around and be neurotic and catty.
And they face adversity everyday and meet it head-on.
Last year we hadn’t been out gathering cows more than an hour when someone spotted a bull used for breeding stuck in mud wallow. It had died struggling to get out. I was riding with my friend Jenn whose bull it was.
As we sat there on our horses she calmly said, “Well, there goes $5,000.” When the young cowboy who had found it asked, “Should we pull it out?,” she said, “Nope. No time. We’ll come back later to see what happened. We’ve got to keep going and gather the rest.”
No crying. No whining. No pointing fingers of blame. It happened and the only thing to do was keep going. And that pretty well sums up their lives—keep going.
Click here to read the entire article. Thank you to Patrick for his great perspective on ranching women. Let’s follow his lead and continue to tell the story of real, hardworking American ranchers and farmers.
From RealPartner Liz LeSatz, Wyoming Stock Growers Association
RealRanchers.com 