Equipment

Ranch Hand made this box to go on the back of the four wheeler.

It's really useful when you're hauling branding supplies,

barbed wire, sprinkler parts, rocks, you name it.

Livestock Update, Part Two

CG came home with more livestock yesterday. With a plethora of cows, horses, sheeps, dogs, cats, lizards and a salamander in residence, What could it possibly be?


A little pair of breeding goats. H-Bomb claimed the girl as his own, which means Sawed Off gets the boy. Theoretically, these goats will be tame and follow the boys around like dogs. We'll see about that.


For now, this cowgirl is going to learn about Cheese Making. And perhaps Goat Stew. They eat my garden, and the word "perhaps" will go away...

That Ain't Fish.

So Wifey came home with some fish recently. A huge slab of fish. She was gonna cook it up for Ranch Hand and Farmer. It was really inexpensive--only $2.00! She had it up on the counter, thawing, when Ranch Hand came home and asked her not to cook it, "please don't make me eat that!"

Wifey said something like "it's some kind of fish, called Tripe."

I offered to give her a recipe for menudo, but she said no...

Memorial Day

Today we went to the cemetery with Number One's dad. H-Bomb and Sawed Off each took a lilac sprig to place on the headstone of Number One's grandparents, his dad's parents, and I took a lilac bouquet tied with a blade of grass.

Livestock Update

I've been meaning to write about the additions to our little family for quite a while now.

It all started with a salamander. I don't mean a little salamander. He is about six inches long, and he has been living on my kitchen counter, in one of those huge plastic Costco Ginger Snaps containers, for several months. Number One found him in a screen on a sprinkler line, and amazingly he was still alive. He was young, so he still had gills. Since moving to our kitchen counter, he has lost his gills. He subsists on a steady diet of elm beetles, grasshoppers, worms (his favorite!) and the occasional freeze-dried cricket.

According to the Division of Wildlife website, he is a Tiger Salamander. He has yet to be named. He usually has a nice habitat with rocks and sticks in addition to the water, but Salamander has a tendency to get quite stinky, and every once in a while we need to change the rocks in addition to the water. We just haven't gotten around to getting him some new rocks yet. Don't worry, it's on the list.

A month or two later, we acquired an Eastern Collared Lizard. He had previously been caught in one of our desert corrals, and adopted by Ranch Hand's grandson. The boy took the lizard home to the Big City, put him in the aquarium with his other lizards, and the Collared Lizard ATE all the boy's other (store-bought) lizards. Shame on you, Collared Lizard. So Ranch Hand brought the lizard home to the ranch to an ecstatic H-Bomb.


CG bought the Collared Lizard a "reptile box" which is a glorified plastic shoe box, with holes in it and a lid with a trap door. Some day Collared Lizard will get a bigger home all his own. But for now, he resides in the box, high out of reach of Sawed Off. We asked CG to bring home some live crickets, but she could only find freeze-dried. Collared Lizard will not eat freeze-dried anything. He scooped all the freeze-dried crickets, as well as a piece of bread H-Bomb gave him, into a pile in the middle of his box, as if to say "won't someone take out this garbage?"

Every couple nights, we all go outside and catch live grasshoppers for the spoiled thing. And then we watch him eat them. It is quality entertainment. I don't know what we will do for him when grasshopper season is over.

During our camping trip, H-Bomb wanted to catch another lizard, and after the larger lizard Number One had caught inadvertently escaped his temporary coffee can home, we were determined to catch another one to appease H-Bomb, distraught that his new pet was gone! After much effort, and a Corona or two, we managed to catch a little baby lizard. Who for obvious reasons cannot possibly live with Collared Lizard. So Baby Lizard also has a home of His Own, in a huge plastic Costco Animal Crackers container. (what the world did before huge plastic Costco containers, I will never understand). Baby Lizard eats...what else?...baby grasshoppers. (as you can see, he does not eat ladybugs, or grasshoppers that are too big).


I'm not sure what species Baby Lizard is...and please understand that none of these beasts have been named, I am just capitalizing them because I have nothing better to do.

Cowgirl Makes A Quilt!

This might not be news to you, but it is to me! This cowgirl doesn't really know how to make quilts. I was inspired by this cute and soft camouflage flannel fabric, and the fact that my cousin Abbey is having a little boy. I decided to make a quilt for her and the little baby. I am also continuously inspired by Aunt Becky and cousin Sarah, both of whom I am in awe...they are amazing quilt makers, and I have no idea how they get so much done so beautifully. (you can see a few of Sarah's quilts here, and the apron Becky made me here)

I have dabbled in quilts in the past, I have started a few, but haven't yet finished them. So I am very excited to announce that I have actually finished this quilt! And it turned out quite good, I think. There are a few things an accomplished quilter might notice: all the tie stitches aren't the same size on the back, for instance. But, I think they will do the job. It didn't take me as long as I thought it would, either, so that is encouraging. No long hours into the night, trying to finish the darn thing in time for the baby shower...The last thing I need to do is trim up the ties (after deciding how long I want them!) and it will be sent off to New Mama Abbey! I do hope she likes it...

Timmmm-berrrrrrr!!!!

If a tree falls in the cove, does anyone hear it? Apparently not. This is what CG woke up to in her backyard one morning last week. The Cove is usually a grassy green meadowy place, where a couple weddings have been celebrated. It typically isn't crossed with fallen trees.


However, if you combine "flood" irrigating (we don't practice this, but CG does) with a day or two of high winds, this is what happens, according to both RanchHand and Number One.


See the tree above, that is leaning precariously on the branch near the right top corner? That was the one that held the tree swing...you can see the tree swing's rope wrapped around the trunk to prevent kids from swinging on it because we were concerned about some limbs that had fallen to rest right above where the swing was.



These are huge old cottonwood trees. I would have put something in the pictures for scale, but I didn't want to endanger any animals or boys in the making of this post. Remember the tree that is leaning precariously against the other tree above? Well, in the picture below, you can see that it is ready to topple over--the base is cracked too. It won't take much for that one to come down as well, so there goes the tree swing!

It sure will be fun cleaning this up! Not. That's the thing about ranching, you can never ever be caught up on your work. Because the minute you think you might be getting close, several trees fall down that need moving and cleaned up. Or a bull breaks through a fence. Or a flood comes. Or something else happens. Never fails.

Snow in May

As I was driving H-Bomb in to school on Thursday, his last day of preschool before "summer" vacation, this is what greeted us as we rose out of the canyon:


You've got to be kidding. Snow??? It was only raining at our house on the ranch, elevation 5,300, but it was pretty cold. Not cold enough to worry about my tomato plants, but cold enough to require a jacket. Cold enough to annoy me, when it should be at least 70 outside and only four days ago I was hot in a tank top.




It wasn't sticking to the road, which is good, because I was also running a few minutes behind. Finding the jackets and wrangling boys into them. We hadn't needed to wear jackets in a while, so they were, shall we say, misplaced.

H-Bomb asked, "Mommy, is it CHRISTMAS??" The kid can't wait for Christmas.

"Um, no, actually it's close to summer. Your summer vacation starts tomorrow in fact."


This picture above was taken on our way back from town, elevation about 7,000 feet. Notice there is no snow in the foreground. There wasn't much snow in town either, which is fortunate because our fruit trees were in full bloom.


And this picture, where in the morning the ground had been white with snow? Three hours later it was all melted off, except for in the mountains. Freaky weather. H-Bomb was disappointed that there wasn't enough snow to make a snowman, or even a snowball. I wasn't disappointed one bit. And my tomatoes are still fine.

The Basin

When Ranch Hands Get Drunk

A Cautionary Tale

It started so innocently. Okay, somewhat innocently.

This weekend, we went into the Basin to gather and brand the calves. The Basin is a rough, 40 mile drive from ranch headquarters, takes about 2 hours in a jeep, about an hour more if you're pulling a trailer full of horses. Along with Number One, CowGirl and Ranch Hand, we took the new young Farmer. H-Bomb, Sawed Off and I went for the camping, hiking, and let's be honest, s'mores.

Number One.

Farmer.

The Basin branding was finished, with 126 calves branded the first day, and the remaining 20 or so branded the second day. The second day was obviously much easier than the first, and the work was finished earlier.

A few other guys came down to the ranch to help us too. Let me introduce you.

Whit used to work here on the ranch, and we miss having him around. He is an excellent hand, polite, responsible and funny. And single, ladies, FYI. Whit raises and sells horses.

CowGirl (CG) and Whit.

Whit brought his brother, whom we call Little Joe. He is also very polite, and an excellent cowboy. Seriously, Whit and Little Joe's parents need congratulating, because they did one hell of a job with their boys. I can only hope our boys will turn out so well.


And then there's Jed. He's relatively young and fearless, and man, can he stay on a horse. He worked down on the ranch one summer when he was still a teenager, and we could tell you some stories...Jed is also single, near as we can tell.



So at the end of the second day, someone got out the beer. Someone else got out the Jack Daniels. We loaded all the beer we had left into the last remaining cooler with ice. We put all the Coca-Cola we had in there too. Someone thought it would be a good idea to mix Jack with beer until the Coke was cold. That someone? RanchHand, of course. Here he is in all his Jack & beer-induced glory:


It all just went downhill from here. Whit, Jed and Little Joe decided to leave their horses saddled, "In case we need to rope somethin'!"


We were also joined by RanchHand's nephew, Stevie, and Stevie's friend Kyle. Theoretically they were going to help with the branding, but they took off all day on their mountain bikes. Funny, they did come back in time for the beer...

Despite the fact that Steve and Kyle were wearing shorts and tennis shoes, they hopped on Jed and Whit's horses and took off.



Here, Jed and Whit are watching the boys riding off. And all is well...for about two seconds.


It quickly turned into a bad scene when Stevie galloped back into the corral on Jed's horse and almost had a wreck with another horse. This is all we saw of him:

Jed was quickly reduced to this: a heart attack victim at the tender age of 25.

Those boys took off again, riding into the sunset. After they had been gone for a while, Whit said, "Jeez, I hope they're okay, my horse has only been ridden about 20 times." Come to find out, Kyle did get bucked off once, but he's fine.

Meanwhile, CG and Little Joe got on his horse, and CG got friendly with Little Joe...although it's my theory she just didn't want to fall off the horse!

CG told everyone "Min's a Spanish person!" To clarify, I said, "yes! I am Hispanic! No! I do have a degree in Spanish though, that's what she meant to say..."

Ironically, it was the old folks who got the worst of the Jack. You know, the incoherent mumbling, the stumbling, the, how can I say this nicely, "cleansing of the stomach," that comes with having too much to drink. All us "kids" were fine.

CG was escorted to her camper by two strapping young boys (she couldn't have made it there alone)...and I will spare you the rest of the details. Let's just say it wasn't pretty, and the two boys were (unfortunately or thankfully, take your pick) NOT involved.

But RanchHand was actually the first to go down for the count. He could hardly stay in his chair, and finally Whit helped him over to the hitching post to, um, cleanse his stomach.

Ranch Hand stayed in this position for about three hours. I'm not kidding.

Here is some classic video of Ranch Hand, who will NEVER EVER live this moment down. It is hilarious. And a good example of the reason you should never drink too much Jack Daniels. Know your limits!! Don't just take my word for it, watch and learn:

Right, RanchHand, right. You're "fine." That's why Farmer had to help you to the cabin to bed before the sun went down!

I just love the background commentary on this video too.

Good times.

ID, please???!!!

Just a quick post...in the past couple weeks, I have purchased beer in two states. In both, I have been carded! I have been legal to drink beer for YEARS, (I'm not going to tell you how many years, but LOTS!) Honestly I never thought a day would come when I would be happy to show my ID. I always assumed I would always roll my eyes and sigh and act (read: BE) perturbed and annoyed, making a big production out of retrieving my ID: see? I'm 23, sheesh!

But, this made me happy. The first time, I even laughed out loud! I saw an old friend at the checkout and exclaimed, "Look! I'm getting carded!"

I truly believe my wrinkles are going away, and being carded TWICE in two separate stores in two separate states reinforces this belief. I need to personally thank Cindy Crawford for her miracle cleansing/moisturizing system. I have also received several comments from other people (who weren't selling me alcohol) about how young I look. No one ever believes I am the age I actually am. I'm going to drink a beer to celebrate!

And seriously, from one cowgirl to another, check out Cindy's skin care line. You won't be disappointed if you use it religiously!

A Trip to Washington!

Number One and the boys and I were excited to be invited to attend the wedding of our friends, Clare and Atis, at a lodge in Ariel/Yale, Washington this past weekend. Luckily, we were able to break away from the ranch. (it IS springtime, one of the busiest times here!) We decided to drive the 17 hours out there in order to see the country--Idaho, Oregon, Washington. And it was beautiful!!

We stayed at a very nice hotel in Boise, ID the first night (after a long drive!) It was called the Ameritel Inn, and it was clean and comfortable, with a great pool and hot tub that were open 24 hours! And we thought, that makes sense--why "close" a pool if you don't hire a lifeguard anyway, and it's removed from the guest rooms? H-Bomb and Sawed Off LOVE a nice pool, and they stayed up past their bedtime swimming!

We headed West from Boise through the beautiful farmlands of Eastern Oregon. I have a feeling the rolling farmlands of this region may call our names some day...


We were fortunate to stay the night at the bride's mom's lovely house in Portland, with Clare's brothers Matt and Ian. Matt cooked dinner, we brought beer, and we had a great time visiting with the boys, whom we had not seen since Matt's wedding last October. Irene has lots of authentic Aboriginal art, a comfortable home, excellent decorating taste and gardening skills!


We left Portland the next day and headed north to our weekend destination: Anderson Lodge. Clare and Atis had rented out the lodge for the weekend, so all the wedding party and wedding guests were able to stay there and socialize, worry-free, from Friday night until Sunday afternoon! It is a beautiful place, tucked away in the wooded mountains near Mt. St. Helens, with Scandinavian-style bunk beds hand-built by the lodge owners. We shared a cozy room with Matt and his wife, Meghann.


The drive there is gorgeous, and we even stopped at an estate sale where I scored a bunch of vintage cookbooks! Everything is so green and lush there! There is moss growing on everything! It smells green and fresh...I miss that smell living here in the desert.


We met many interesting people from all over the world, and really had a great time all weekend long. It was honestly (and refreshingly!) the most multi-cultural wedding we have ever attended. Clare's mom is from Northern Ireland, and her dad from Australia, and Atis' Latvian family lives in Canada. There were folks from as far away as Kenya, India, the UK, and literally from coast to coast all over the U.S. I'm happy that the boys were able to experience so many different people, and there were several kids close in age to our boys so they were able to make some new friends and play!


Friday was a delicious BBQ and most everyone arriving, then on Saturday we had a scrumptious brunch, the kids picked flowers and people helped prepare for the wedding, I ran around taking pictures, (all the food prep was taking place in the lodge in which we were staying, so I got some great photos!)


There was a country dancing lesson, and then it was time for the wedding! The weather was perfect, so the ceremony was outdoors in an old orchard. To their delight, H-Bomb and Sawed Off had the oppportunity to be flower children during the ceremony. The ceremony was beautiful and just the right length. I borrowed Matt's camera and took pictures during the ceremony. When it was over, everyone feasted on fabulous hors d'oeuvres and wine until it was time for dinner.


Dinner was extravagant and fabulous, with several courses including lamb chops, salad, beans, and of course more wine! The reception hall had been transformed into a twinkling, elegant candlelit room, with pictures of the bride and groom's families throughout. We toasted with a special glass of thimbleberry liqueur, handmade by Clare herself. There were several unique touches that incorporated nature (and wild mushrooms!) into the weekend, and it was obvious how much thought and care and love went into all the planning and details.

After dinner there was a country-western band, Knut Bell & The Blue Collars, who were so much fun and very talented! They played lots of Johnny Cash, classic country and many of their own original songs. They are a great band whose sense of humor comes through in their lyrics. So everyone drank more wine and danced into the night.

On Sunday morning, there was another brunch, and then packing up and leaving. H-Bomb was sad to go, he declaring, "I want to stay here for eighteen more days!" He had a great time finding bugs and discussing them with Atis, and playing with his new friends.

We were so happy to be included in this special event.

Congratulations, Clare & Atis!