Pioneer Ree Drummond wanted her husband Ladd to quit working on the ranch after a “hard summer”

Ree questioned Ladd’s work after he “saw him coming into the house limping, covered in dust and blood, after a particularly long day.”

This summer was not easy for Ree Drummond and her family.

In an article about her Pioneer woman In her blog, the Food Network star said her husband Ladd had a very stressful few months on the family ranch in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.

“Ladd had … a busy, somewhat rough summer. I think I say this every year, but the work, the early mornings, the relentless grind, the exhaustion … it was a bit much,” she said.

(Ree specifically pointed out that these were her words and not his, as Ladd would simply put it down to: “That’s what he does, and that’s part of life.”)

The work demanded so much of her husband this season that Ree even wondered if he should continue.

“A few weeks ago, when I saw him limping after a particularly long day, covered in dust and blood, I actually said, ‘I don’t think we can do this anymore.’ I was partly joking, but maybe a little bit not,” she said.

Related: Ree Drummond reveals her daughter Paige doesn’t live at home because she works on the ranch: She’s “one of the cowboys”

Ree added: “How much harder can you work, how long can you keep doing this, are you OK, that’s what I was really thinking.”

In Ree’s blog post, which was actually a recap of her daughter Paige’s surprise engagement, she recalled how the joyful moments in the Drummond family’s life make the difficult ones all the more bearable.

“So, seeing him smiling and walking around and enjoying the celebration of his second child and the man she’s going to marry… well, that made me feel a little better. 😂” she continued. “And summer is almost over!”

On August 4, 24-year-old Paige got engaged to her boyfriend of one year, David Andersen. The last time wedding bells rang at the Drummond Ranch, at the wedding of her older daughter Alex, Ladd had a health scare.

Ree’s husband was in a truck collision with his nephew Caleb as they rushed to a fire near the family farm. He broke his neck in two places and had to wear braces at Alex’s wedding.

Ladd is currently getting help on the ranch from Paige – she returned there in January to work there full-time.

Related: Ree Drummond jokes that pulling off her daughter Paige’s surprise engagement was like ‘cops and robbers’

In an interview with PEOPLE in June, Ree said, “It’s really great to have her home.”

“She actually lives in town,” Ree clarified, “in what was my in-laws’ house. So it’s nice that we still have the house, didn’t sell it, and now she’s moved in and made it her own.”

Ladd’s father Chuck, also known as Pa-Pa, died in 2022, while his mother Nan died in 2018.

For Paige, this isn’t necessarily a permanent situation, Ree added. “How long she’ll stay or whether it’ll just be a season of her life or forever, we don’t really try to predict or think too far ahead about it,” Ree said. “I’m excited that she’s here. She’s the first of our children to really come back and work full time on the ranch.”

In a May Pioneer woman In her blog post, Ree wrote that Paige “gets knocked, scratched, bruised and beaten” on the job. Despite the grueling work on the ranch, Paige is able to hold her own, Ree told PEOPLE.

“She’s very strong, not just physically, but she’s got a pretty strong heart and personality, so it’s fun to watch her dig in and learn the ropes – not as Ladd’s kid, but basically as one of the cowboys. Cowgirls, I would say,” she laughed.

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