I know a lot of you that read my blog don’t come from an agricultural background to understand that magnitude of the storm and loss in South Dakota. For those of you that have not heard about it, unfortunately the media hasn’t given it a lot of exposure, there was a blizzard that unexpectedly hit South Dakota the 3rd-5th of October. I’ve read a lot of articles about the storm and its devastation and my heart breaks every time. I’ve heard it’s predicted from 20,000 – 75,000 head of cattle have been lost and anywhere from 5%-20% of the cattle in the state.

Let me start from the beginning to give you some background.

Beef cattle spends its time out to pasture (grassy fields), even in winter storms. A rancher will have acres and acres of pasture for the cattle to graze – typically a summer pasture and a winter pasture. The winter pasture will be closer to their farmstead and normally has a shelter, natural or man-made. The summer pasture can be miles and miles away as they just let the cattle graze and “beef up”. Because the Midwest doesn’t normally see winter storms, especially blizzards, in early October, most ranchers had their cattle in a summer pasture, far away.

Some people have questioned “Why, when there was talk of a winter storm, did they not move the cattle or bring them indoors?” The first thing to know is the sheer amount of cattle in South Dakota. It’s said there are 5 animals per person on average in SD and per Wikipedia (US Census Bureau is down with the shutdown) there are 833,354 people in the state. Rough math skills would make that over 4 million head of cattle. And, with only 15,000 cattle producers, that’s about 266 head of cattle per rancher as a general idea for you. The logistics to get that many animals moved in a very short amount of time is very difficult. And, how would you fit 266 head of cattle into a barn? And, would the barn be able to withstand the storm? What happens if the animals get scared and stampede in a small enclosed space?

Also, the storm was predicted to be 10″ – 24″. Cattle have a chance withstand that. However, that’s not all the storm delivered. Instead they got 12 hours of rain and hurricane force winds, to make the animals super wet and cold. Then the temperatures dropped even more and produced 48 hours of snow with continual winds up to 60 mph. Anyone that has lived in a place that gets snow knows that even if it’s 6″ of snow, but with strong winds, it’s terrible conditions. Well, they got averages of 30″ of snow and up to almost 5′ in some areas. And, this is without the cattle’s winter hair, since it’s only early October.

Are you getting an idea of the devastation?

In addition the loss of animals, the other things to wrap your head around are the emotional and financial loss to the ranchers. The thing most people don’t understand is that it’s your business in addition to your livelihood. Generations are spent working on the genetics of the cattle to get them to the quality they want. (Unless you’ve worked in the genetics or agriculture industry I don’t think you can fathom the time and money that is spent to grow your herd through genetics.) You work from sun up to sun down to make your cattle the best they can be and to work on your ranch or farm. It’s difficult to think about anything besides your cattle.

Also, a lot of the cattle that were lost were to be sold in the coming weeks/months. Typically in that area a calf is born in the spring, eats its way through summer, and is sold in the fall to feed yards. A calf would normally sell for $1,000, while a mature cow would bring $1,500 or more. Not only did they lose those calves, but also any of the cows that were pregnant with the calves for next year. Could you imagine getting out after the storm to see your cattle dead and scattered throughout the pastures, knowing that you just lost your livelihood and something your family has probably been working at generations to create? This is why it’s heartbreaking to me.

Another unfortunate part to point out is what the ranchers are able to do to regain their financial losses. Many don’t have insurance on their herds because of the sheer amount it costs to insure them. They used to have a government disaster program to kick in when these issues arise, but that program has expired. This would require congress to pass a new farm bill, which unfortunately is probably not at the top of their list right now.

My heart breaks for South Dakota. Let’s pray the numbers won’t be as high as predicted.

Because my mama is a sweetheart, she gave me her sewing machine. Granted she doesn’t really sew. In fact, I’m not sure she knows how to. So, when I was back in Wisconsin last week she let me take her sewing machine back with me. It seemed like a great idea as she also gave me the plastic transport case. Until our layover in Chicago. And our connecting flight was on the total opposite side of the airport. And I had to haul it all the way through the airport. And now my hands are calloused. But, I can sew again!!

Here’s what I bought to make my Halloween costume. Any guesses what I’m going as…?

I got this shirt:

months ago with a gift card from Banana Republic that my generous old coworkers gave me as a going away gift. I wore the shirt once or twice before realizing that the buttons were silver…and I usually wear gold. I didn’t like how much they stood out and decided to buy new black buttons to replace all 13 buttons.

Necklace: Banana Republic Factory (this season); Shirt: Banana Republic; Belt: J. Crew Factory; Jeans: Gap; Shoes: Kenneth Cole (this season)

People tease me about how I’m always prepared for anything, mostly because I make up things in my own head. Ok, so I’m super proactive and maybe have a little too much time on my hands, but I don’t see that as a bad thing.

FGH planned to live to be 117 so that she could see a third century with the love of her life, RS. (It was his idea to live to be that old, not hers.) While she didn’t make it to 117, she lived life fully and had a lot of life in her years.

FGH is preceded in death by three grandparents she got to know well until her adult life. Her late paternal grandmother, MR, taught her how to sew, how to fix any mistake that was worth fixing, and that dessert was a necessary component to every meal. Her late maternal grandfather, JY, shared her love for cheese and funded her childhood arcade games by purposely losing quarters in his recliner for her to find. And, FGH inherited her love for travel and adventure from her late paternal great-grandmother, LR.

FGH is outlived by her parents, LR and RR. Her mother, LR, was an inspiration to her and always made time, even if it was just for an evening chat to catch up, regardless of how busy she was or how many things she had committed to. Her father, RR, gave her the stubbornness to accomplish anything in life she set her mind to, which she exercised often. FGH was equally her mother and father’s child and was blessed to possess good and bad parts of them both.

FGH’s soul mate and best friend was RS. He found all the good in her and made sure that FGH could see it as well. He taught her self-love and true love, and supported her in her many adventures. You can bet she’s waiting impatiently in heaven for him to arrive as she enjoyed every moment she spent with him.

BMR was FGH’s older brother. They grew to be close friends in adulthood and would share many secrets, trusting in each other for support and advice. BMR gave FGH a nephew, GR, that would be the spitting image of him.

FGH’s younger brother was BJR and was her closest friend as a child. He had a sensitive side to him that FGH always felt the unnecessary need to protect and took on that duty until he married his wife, SR. SR became like a sister to FGH and blessed her with three little nieces, ER, AR, and LR, which she cherished.

FGH’s youngest sibling and only sister was KS. KS was the tormented younger sister during childhood, but never let that affect their relationship in adulthood, and proved to be a solid friend. KS met her husband, JS, and had two beautiful children. KS gave FGH the gift of experiencing human life with the birth of her son and FGH’s Godson, BJS, followed a couple years later with her niece, BAS.

Also surviving are FGH’s maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather. Her grandmother, MY, kept herself young by annually taking all her grandchildren skiing and camping, keeping up with them along the way, while instilling the value of family. Her grandfather, RR, always had a patient smile and compassion and took on both the traditional grandmother and grandfather duties too soon in life, baking desserts and sending birthday cards.

FGH’s greatest passions were: spending time with friends and family, laughing, exploring, traveling, writing, challenging her mind and body, baking, reading, and cuddling with her KISA.

In lieu of gifts, it is asked that you take your entire family on a trip to the ocean or mountains to treasure the sacred gift of life, family, and love…and make sure to mix in a little adventure.

I’m bouncing off the walls today! Why, you ask (in my head)? Because I got my KISA and I tickets to the Packers game on Sunday!! Whoop, whoop! They play the 49’ers, so we have no choice but to go. I made the mistake when I left this morning of not wearing my Packers t-shirt. To be honest, it never even crossed my mind. I got into the office and found most of the guys were wearing 49’ers apparel, so I had to improvise and sew a Green Bay Packers logo onto my shirt. Shortly after that I realized that I wasn’t sure how I was going to sit with it on my stomach, and not wrinkle it. Then I remember that I have a new stand-up desk! Check it out, folks! (Aaron Rodgers would be proud of my devotion. Since I’ve changed my phone number since last season he doesn’t know my new number to contact me and congratulate me.)

I wanted you all to be the first to know that we’ve FINALLY received the information on our air date for House Hunters.

Before: Living Room

To back up a little, for those of you that are new friends, my KISA and I bought a house in Madison a couple years ago. It was 3 months and a few weeks after we met, so nothing like jumping in feet first. (If you know either of us very well, it’s what we do. We worry about the details or learning how to swim later.) The house was a steal financially, but needed a lot of work. For starters, the couple smoked in the house for 16 years, so not only did the house reek like cigarettes, but we have to rip up 100% of the carpeting. It was no small feat. Neither of us were very handy at the time, but we quickly learned the value of YouTube videos and the helpful staff at Home Depot. We proceed to spend the next 16 months fixing up the house, with the enormous help of my mother and siblings. In the end we both fell more in love with the house than we’d expected, but since we bought it as an investment we knew the time would come to get our return. Our grand plan the entire time was to buy the house, fix it up, and rent it out to make an income after we left Wisconsin. We learned that the housing market actually softened during those 16 months and we were able to cash in sooner than expected and sell the house. We then used the money from the house to fund our big cross-country move to San Francisco and have some additional money to start on the next chapter of our lives.

After: Living Room

Shortly after we accepted an offer on the house we were approached about having our house on House Hunters. Confused, since we’d obviously just accepted an offer, they explained that the show’s essentially a scam and the people had already accepted an offer on another home; they just wanted houses comparable for them to pretend to view as well. I was already out in San Francisco when they did the airing, so my KISA was in charge of both packing up the house, but also keeping it tidy for them to do their recording. I’m hoping that since they didn’t pick our house they were easy on some of our handy work.

House Hunters will be showing the episode on September 17th at 10:00 pm EDT/PDT and 1:00 am EDT/PDT. Feel free to tune in and take a look at our work! For all the before and after pictures, you can view my Facebook album, entitled “Work in Progress…”

My KISA has a friend from grade-school that lives in San Francisco. I’ve gotten to know her well and have since stolen her from him and proclaimed her as MY friend. She’s an absolute sweetheart and a few weeks ago generously invited me to join a book club she belongs to in order to meet new people.

The book assigned was “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg, so I purchased it, never expecting it to change my life. When I first started reading it I felt like it was a feminist book, ranting about equal rights. I was right, but I surprised myself to learn that I too am a feminist. After a couple chapters I gave up on trying to remember all the solid points and just started highlighting in it. I’d then read it at night to my KISA and he’d laugh and shake his head at me, pleased I was finally realizing these points. (He’s pretty wise and was a feminist long before I realized I was.)

I’m going to raise some of my favorite points for those of you that don’t have the luxury of time to read it. And for those that do want to read it, don’t worry – just like many books you’ll pick up on the parts that resonate with you, so I won’t be ruining it.

1. You should think of your career as a jungle gym, not a ladder. As she explains in the book, “There’s only one way to get to the top of a ladder, but there are many ways to get to the top of a jungle gym.” I feel like people (aka me) become so consumed in thinking you need to stay on one narrow career path to move up in an organization (which is typically moving into a management position). Making a lateral move isn’t a bad thing because it means you are broadening your skills and therefore making yourself more marketable. And, maybe there’s another path that will get you to where you want to go faster.
2. She addresses how to effectively communicate with people. The way she explains is to understand that you have your truth and another person has their truth. “Rarely is there one absolute truth, so people who believe they speak the truth are very silencing of others.” You can become a better communicator when you realize that you only know your perspective and therefore half the “truth”. Since I like to pretend sometimes that I’m an investigator this excites me to think that my job is now to learn both truths. Imagine how much farther that will get me in life to understand other people’s perspectives or truths. I guess this means I can never again declare myself “right.” (My KISA is probably cheering as he reads this.)
3. Another point she makes is that “As women must be more empowered at work, men must be more empowered at home.” She encourages women to not be reluctant to hand over housework or nurturing of the children. She also points out the controlling perfectionist in a lot of women (ME!) that make it so that if a guy isn’t doing things exactly how we want it to be done that we just take over, rather than allowing them to learn how to do things. And, if we continue doing that the guys will slowly stop helping. If we think we want it all we definitely can’t do it all. Even though I still try to. Her motto is “Done is better than perfect.” Very wise advice.
4. One of my favorite points she made was the misconception that only a certain amount of women can be in management or executive positions, therefore making it so that we compete with each other. Instead of competing we have to start uniting to make more women succeed and therefore making women in those positions more prevalent. Amen, sister!

Ok, so this is great stuff, but you’re probably assuming I’m exaggerating when I say that it changed my life. (My KISA often accuses me of exaggerating a lot of points.) So, maybe it’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it has definitely changed my perspective on how I look at things. First, it made me realize how insanely lucky I am to be marrying a man that believes in equal rights, shares the workload at home, encourages me to be successful at my job, and is never threatened by me making more money than him (in fact, he encourages me to do it while I still have the motivation to do so…it may not be the case when there’s the pitter patter of little feet. Plus, let’s be honest – he too reaps the benefits of a fruitful income.)

Second, it gives me an overwhelming NEED to help women by offering constructive feedback. I feel like I’ve always been afraid of hurting people’s feelings by pointing things out to them or telling them things they may not want to hear. But, by keeping silent I haven’t helped them in any way – I’ve only hurt them. I’ve now vowed that if there is constructive feedback I can offer to anyone, but most specifically women, I’m going to address it with them. Granted, it will take a little courage and tact, that I sometimes lack, but with practice I think I can become better at it.

I had my first practice at work. Because I work in training I have the unique opportunity to work with lots of people in various roles and departments throughout my company. There is a woman in a leadership position that I sat down with privately and gave constructive feedback in recognizing that she joked about herself and her abilities and therefore allowed others to do the same…which they did. In speaking with her about it she cried. Yep. Thankfully it wasn’t because I did a bad job or hurt her feelings – it was because she recognized an insecurity within her when I pointed it out that made her act in the way she did. She was really appreciative of me talking to her about it and I feel like it has now created a special bond between us.

So, I’ve now decided that I’m going to save women from their worst enemies – themselves. And, I encourage everyone to do the same. With our powers combined…!