Ree Drummond has dealt with plenty of ranch problems through the years: snowstorms, stray cats, power outages, stubborn horses, broken pipes, tornado warnings, and probably hundreds of mysterious sounds in the night that Ladd insists are “nothing.” But now she’s facing a new and very specific issue involving Bessie Lou.
Her toenail is in the cattle pen. Yes, you read that right.
For anyone who needs a quick Bessie Lou refresher, she’s the little bottle calf Ladd found during that big winter storm earlier this year. She had been born in the snow, was too weak to stand, and wound up warming up on the floorboard of Ladd’s feed truck before moving into the Drummonds’ garage, then the barn, then her very own pen outside the house. It was quite a journey for a calf who, at first, Ree thought was a boy. “To me, all calves are default ‘him’ unless we verify!” Ree wrote at the time. Don’t ask her why.
Anyway, Bessie Lou is doing much better now. Ree’s toenail, apparently, is not.
Ree shared the update on Instagram stories, showing her bandaged toe and explaining how this situation came to be after Bessie Lou stepped on her foot, taking the toenail clean off. “I can live with the discomfort,” she wrote. “I was a ballet dancer after all. I mean, toenail pain? It’s what we do.”
So far, so brave! So dignified! So full of former ballerina grit! But then came the real problem.
“But I’m somewhat struggling with the fact that my toenail is currently lying in the cattle pen,” Ree wrote.
Oh dear.
Then came the question no one wants to ask themselves, and yet here we are. “Do I go get it?” she continued. “I think I’ll go get it. Or is it time to let it go?”
These are the ranch decisions no one prepares you for. Some days you’re bottle-feeding a calf named Bessie Lou. Some days you’re wondering whether a missing toenail should be retrieved from her pen for sentimental, medical, or deeply unexplainable reasons.
Ree may be The Pioneer Woman, but even pioneers have limits.
