Christmas Tree Picnic, 2011

This year, our schedules didn't allow us to get up on the mountain when the roads were relatively clear, so we had to go up the back way. We drove as far as we could, sliding around, until we saw a decent place to look for Christmas trees. Luckily we didn't slide off the road OR get stuck!

Snowshoes really helped us navigate the snow, even though it wasn't too deep, it was light and fluffy and would have been hard going without the snowshoes.

The sun was shining; it was a warm and beautiful day. Perfect for Christmas tree hunting!

Snowshoes take a bit of getting used to.

And of course the boys ate plenty of snow along the way.
Sawed Off's cheeks got cold and red.
H-Bomb said it tasted like sugar if you ate enough of it.

This tree will do for this year.
It's shorter than we've had in the past, but that's okay. It's a pretty one.

Number One cut it down. We need to remember to get a new saw blade before next year.

H-Bomb and Sawed Off found their tree too. I made them pose for some pictures. It was a beautiful sunny day!

Sawed Off's crazy eyes.

And here's their tree!

The Best Brothers Ever!

It was fairly heavy, but they drug it a little way.

Look, it's a picture of Mommy!

Hot Chocolate time! We also had cheese, crackers, sausage, cookies, the works.

A toast to a quick and successful Christmas tree hunt!

Happy Christmas, Everyone!

Au Revoir...

Just a note to let you all know that I'll be gone for a few weeks...can you guess where? The whole family, me, Number One, H-Bomb, Sawed Off, even Grandpa & Mary are heading to France to visit our dear friend Jean-Claude. We are beyond excited.

We'll be in Paris for about a week (the picture above is NOT from our hotel), then we'll travel by train into the country in the South of France, where we'll stay in Jean-Claude's country house, walk to the village, play with the neighbor's goats and eat some of the neighbor's cheese (I hope).

While I won't be blogging, I will be eating fabulous food and drinking fabulous wine and taking lots of hopefully fabulous pictures! I'll tell you all about it when we return.

My Husband, The Falconer

Number One studied and studied and tested and jumped through hoops for both the state and federal governments, and he got his Apprentice Falconer's License.

But, by the time he got all the licensing stuff back from the state and the feds last year, he didn't really have time to catch a hawk before the season ended, and he was bummed about that.

He made traps during summer and fall last year, and this winter, he started trying to trap a red tail hawk. He bought a small, friendly rat from Pet Smart, and we named her Remy. (after the rat in Ratatouille) She was cute, and even endured an encounter with some "Just For Men" to darken the white spots on her coat and make her more visible to the hawks. After her dye job, she helped lure in and catch a couple hawks. The trap worked! But the hawks were too old for Number One to keep, there are some age requirements that I don't really pay attention to so that's all I can say about that.

Remy

Then Remy had an unfortunate injury. One of the hawks must have gotten her with a talon, right in the ear. She was having trouble walking, but the bleeding stopped and she didn't die. We really thought she would die, but she started drinking and eating again, so then we thought maybe she just had a ruptured eardrum or something that was messing with her balance and making her walk sort of crooked, rather than a serious brain injury.

Number One gave Remy some time off, and she really seemed to improve, then he started taking her out again. In her trap, in the snow one day, she keeled over. Number One went in to town and got a little mouse from the pet store, it was a wild little thing that I didn't like. (I think the pet store just breeds feeder mice, and doesn't handle any of them).

It was getting down to the wire, the trapping season was ending and Number One was calling his falconry sponsor for advice. His sponsor told him that another apprentice had seen some hawks of the appropriate age up north, so Number One took a road trip.

He borrowed a couple traps and some rats from the other apprentice, although he liked his trap better. He put the little wild mouse in one trap, and put it out where the hawks were. At some point, he saw a hawk swoop down toward the trap, but couldn't see what happened. Then he saw the hawk fly off, obviously not trapped, but it looked like he was eating something. That darn wild mouse had escaped from the trap, and the hawk ate it! Feeder mouse, indeed.

Being up in the City, Number One went to Pet Smart and bought a much tamer mouse.

On the last day of the season, after a day and a half straight of throwing out his traps, just as he was about to pack it in, he saw a hawk and decided to try one last time. He used his trap this time with one of the other guys' rats, put it out there, and he caught his hawk!


The hawk really is beautiful. He doesn't have a name yet, but Number One has been having success training him. Now he will jump onto Number One's fist almost every time Number One wants him to! It is amazing. I don't know how long it will be before Number One can actually start training him to fly and return, but I will keep you posted.


Number One made the leg things, called "anklets" and he also made the "jesses", sort of rope-like things that are attached to the anklets, and he borrowed the hood from the other apprentice. The hood helps to keep the bird calm, and Number One is also training him to get into the hood. So much to learn for both of them!

At some point I'll take pictures of Number One's trap, and will definitely keep you posted about the whole process.

Christmas Tree Success!

Taking two boys into the mountains to chop down a Christmas tree is a fun family tradition, right? We picked H-Bomb up from school at 1:00pm on Friday, ran a couple (from a list of never-ending) errands, and we were off. We drove up the mountain road from the town side, which is only plowed for a few miles up. We only passed one other truck, and they were headed down. We had forgotten to bring hot chocolate, but fortunately I remembered to grab the rest of the cookies! Sawed Off had fallen asleep on the way to town, so I stayed in the truck with him, crocheting a scarf, while H-Bomb and Number One took off into the forest.

The only tree they found was at least 20 feet tall, which is most definitely too big for the house, not to mention quite against the rules of Christmas Tree harvesting permits.

Number One decided he and H-Bomb would sled down the road. He suggested I call and order a pizza, which would be ready by the time we got back to town. Check. I was starving.

Incidentally, and this is pretty funny, I remember when I first moved here, driving up into the mountains in my little Festiva and encountering some kids on a sled. Their whole family was up there sledding, and I thought is was stupid and dangerous: sledding on the road??? we could have run over them! (not even close)

So now, my husband and my two young boys (because Sawed Off had just woken up at the critical sled-loading moment and did NOT want to be left behind) took off sledding down the mountain road. Despite what one might think, the sled did not go fast at all. There was absolutely no traffic, and we could have heard them coming for miles. So don't judge me. I followed behind, in the truck, inching forward so slowly that I was able to crochet AND keep moving. Indeed, sometimes Number One had to pull the sled, so I just parked and crocheted a few rows, then caught up again.

I had eaten more than my share of the cookies, and was still hungry. Thank goodness we had a pizza waiting for us down the mountain. When Number One and the boys had more than enough of the "sledding" and played in the snow for a while and threw some snowballs, we loaded up in the truck and went to the pizza place.

Over nice warm pizza, we decided that there was only one place to go for a Christmas tree. That is up the mountain road from our side, where we always go, but which is never plowed. We had seen some tire tracks on the road, and honestly we are usually the ones making the tracks.

It was getting to be late afternoon, so I was a little nervous about going too far on the road (especially knowing how slow our little sled travels) So we stopped when we saw some trees. We didn't find the tree for our house, but we did find a tree for the boys.

Now I have to tell you about this little tradition we have, that my dad started. When I was in college, he suggested that I take a little tree to school for my dorm room. I did, and it was so fun. My roommate said it put her little fake tree to shame. We even decorated our mini fridge to look like a fireplace and hung stockings on it. So much fun!

So anyway, when H-Bomb was little, we were in Michigan for Christmas, and Grandpa took him out to chop down his very own little tree, to put in his room (which is still decorated with the Super Sweet Semi-Truck wallpaper). We put lights on it, and a few ornaments, and H-Bomb was in heaven. Santa even left a present under his little tree! So special!

So every year, we let the boys choose a small tree and put it in their room. They love it. And sometimes Santa still remembers to leave a little present!


This year, H-Bomb hauled the tree over to the sled, and then the two boys pulled it to the truck together. Precious.


Hopefully in their selective memories, they will forget their crying about the sled not going "all the way" down the hill that occurred just after we loaded their tree on the truck. Number One said it wasn't a Christmas tree hunt until someone was crying about something.

We loaded everyone in the truck and headed up the mountain. The thing you need to realize about Number One is that he will just keep driving and driving if you don't say something like, "Ooh, there's one!" So we drove 8 miles up the mountain, to the turnoff to the lake, which is only 10 miles from town. In other words, we were just a few miles from the place we had started on the town side of the mountain. The tracks we were following kept going, but we didn't want to follow them all the way. Besides, Number One said we'd probably find the truck that made them, stuck up there.

The pickings were slim where we stopped, but everyone got out of the truck anyway so there was no turning back. I found a cute tree that was really too short, just over 6 feet tall. We figured it would look like a dwarf under our new 9 foot ceilings, but believe me, that tree was my backup plan!

Sawed Off was having a hard time walking through the snow. H-Bomb was getting frustrated because I had told the boys to stay together, but Sawed Off couldn't keep up. Number One was getting frustrated because he couldn't find a tree and it was getting late. This is the stuff of holiday memories!

I took a deep breath and this picture of the sun setting over the canyons below us.


I found a tree that I thought would work. We were putting it in the corner of our dining room, so I figured we could hide the hole in the back. It was about the right height, although Number One thought it was too tall. I said we could make it work. We all just wanted to go home for hot chocolate.

Number One chopped it down too quickly for me to take many pictures.

Let me tell you this: a 9-foot tall Christmas tree is a heavy mother.

And as we both were dragging this tree UP a damn hill to the truck, the screaming began in earnest. H-Bomb had snow in his boots, yet refused to walk to the truck OR sit down so I could dump out his boots. Sawed Off got stuck, or got snow in his mittens, or what I honestly don't remember. The decibels out in the middle of nowhere are exaggerated, so the deafening screams replaced the deafening sounds of silence. Number One and I wrangled the tree to the side of the road. I laid down in the snow, ears bleeding.

H-Bomb made it to the truck, still screaming. Number One carried Sawed Off through the snow to the truck. At least he wasn't screaming any more.

Somehow we managed to get that tree UP onto the truck bed. H-Bomb took off his boots, I gave him my heavy gloves to put on his feet, which of course he refused. I can't remember how I convinced him to stop screaming and crying. Oh my. I know this is the start of Seasonal Selective Memory (SSM), which will cause us to attempt the very same thing next year.

Let's just hope I remember the hot chocolate.

We got the tree into the house and up in the stand amazingly without incident. It is even fairly straight. Number One put the lights on, and we set up our new Christmas train! We should have gotten C batteries in bulk from Costco, because we are going to need them.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Tree Hunt

We had big plans today to find our Christmas tree. After school, of course. What we didn't count on was the time adding up for all our errands:

• a bag of spinach for dinner (and snacks for the ride home)
  
• a new pressure switch for the well
• a saw for cutting down the tree
• a Christmas Tree Permit (and a forest ranger wanting to chat for 15 minutes +)
• a sled to take to school and a new tube sled for pulling behind the four wheeler
• H-Bomb having to go potty Right Now.

And then it was 4:00 and the sun was already sinking behind the mountains. And it was cold. But, we really want a tree!!, so we went anyway.

We heard about a place to get a tree~close to town! trees close to the road! they got a fabulous one!~ from two different people, so we decided to go there.

It's a little slice of National Forest, sandwiched between two sections of private property. The road was plowed, but we didn't see much "close to the road." There was a road heading off the main road, but it wasn't plowed, and although there was a set of tracks, there's really just too much snow to try it in the truck.


We stopped the truck anyway, got the boys out, piled them on the new sled and took off. Slowly. The snow was a good 12" deep, we hadn't brought snow shoes, and the sled just sank into the snow with two boys on it. They got frustrated when they got snow in their faces. We got frustrated trudging through the foot of snow pulling a heavy sled.

We didn't see any good trees.

Sawed Off fell off the sled, landing on his face. We decided to head back to the truck and eat cookies and wait for Daddy.

Daddy came back empty-handed, so we'll try again tomorrow. (school is out at 1:00 tomorrow! plenty of time!)

At least we were rewarded with this glorious sunset all the way home.

Ranch Cookin'

I've been making food most of the week for the cowboys and crew, Tuesday was Shipping Day, and for lunch I made my Rustic Chili, several loaves of Artisan Bread, and the traditional Chocolate Sheet Cake to rave reviews all around.

Thursday and Friday, ABEG was here branding and sorting and preg-checking cows. On Thursday, I served lunch in the corral: Beef Brisket Sandwiches with our family's Famous Barbecue Sauce, chips, and Neiman Marcus Cookies. On Friday, I served another corral lunch of Cashew Chicken Sandwiches, chips, and Classic Peanut Butter Cookies. Friday was a very long day, so I also ended up serving everyone dinner: Sue's Pesto, pasta, a salad, wine, and some leftover cookies.

Last night, one of our old cowboys showed up with his son and a friend, and we also had another three cowboys show up to help move the cattle, which along with our regular crew and families adds up to 14 people. Now that the cattle are all branded, we have to move three large groups of them to three separate winter ranges. I'm not sure how we ended up with so much help this year, but that's the way it happened.

So this morning, CG asked me if I wouldn't mind making dinner for everyone--all 14 of us! I told her I'd think of something...

Stay Tuned!

Legacy

I showed H-Bomb and Sawed Off a picture of their grandpa, on a horse pushing cattle in the 1960’s. I asked them if they knew who it was, and they shrugged their shoulders.

“That’s your Grandpa, when he used to live here and be a cowboy and run this place, even before your Grammy did” I said.

“Awesome!” said H-Bomb. He asked why I moved here, and I told him because I fell in love with his Daddy.

Number One asked H-Bomb why he lives here, and H-Bomb said, “Because I came out of Mommy’s tummy! And Sawed Off too!”

We asked them if they like living here on the ranch, and they both said they do. We asked them if the ranch is their favorite place to live, and they said “YES.”

And then H-Bomb said, “Maybe when I’m older, I’ll live here with my wife and Sawed Off will live here with his wife and when me and my wife have babies and Sawed Off and his wife have babies they will just stay here and play on the playset, because I want the playset to stay here.”

What a lovely plan.

Dust

On Friday, Number One and the Irrigator sanded the dining room and kitchen floors all day long. When the boys and I got home from school, they were still at it. We couldn't go in those rooms at all. The boys and I retreated to the master suite, and I occasionally went around the outside to retrieve apples from the kitchen for H-Bomb while Sawed Off continued his nap.


Nearly everything in the kitchen had been covered with tarps, and Number One turned off the refrigerator for the day. Now I know why we haven't moved many of our dishes and utensils and appliances back yet.

This morning, despite much shop-vac-ing by Number One, everything, and I mean Ev.Ry.Thing, was covered in dust. I wish I had bought more plastic tarps. I wish we had been able to finish the floors before the entire kitchen went it. Even though I know that wouldn't have been the best solution, given the months of builder/plumber/electrician comings-and-goings that followed the kitchen installation. Still.


The few cookbooks we brought over, which incidentally were under a tarp, were covered in dust. This clean up is going to be huge.


I pulled the coffee maker out of its pantry retreat, and cleaned the dust off of it. Yes, dust infiltrated the pantry. Thank goodness I hadn't moved very much in there yet! I wiped a spot of the counter top free of dust, just big enough for the coffee maker and a couple of mugs.

I didn't clean off the entire counter, because today is another sanding day. Hopefully we'll get a coat or two of varnish on the floors today too.

Number One and I stood there, admiring the floors. He says they shine when the sun hits them. I'm so proud. What a multi-talented cowboy I have!


And as you can see, someone has been having fun with this dusty situation. I guess it's not all bad! Those footprints look H-Bomb-sized to me.

Pine Floors

I know this will all be worth it in the end. I just have to admit, I'm tired.

Finishing the pine floors is the largest task on our diminishing list, but not the last. We rented a disc sander from a place in town, and after I tried to use it, unsuccessfully with the thing just winging around in wide, dangerous circles (no wonder the cord has so many electrical tape "repairs"), I gave up.


Number One came home, and somehow he mastered the machine. In his underwear. He wouldn't let me take a picture. I really wanted a video, it made me laugh. He worked on the floor for several hours last night, and it is looking great. It still needs another couple of hours of attention, but we'll get there.

In the meantime, we are using a belt sander around the edges of the kitchen and dining room, and by "we" I mean our helper, the second irrigator of the season who has been helping us in the house and doing random tasks around the ranch since the irrigation water dried up.

We'll get some wood putty to fill in the imperfect gaps we've noticed while I (yes, I) vacuumed the entire room(s). I don't know why we don't have any around, but I can't seem to find any.

For the beautiful knots, I will wait until the floors are finished, then go around and fill them with a clear, high-gloss resin so they will still be visible, just not susceptible to filling up with dirt.

That is the plan anyway. I'll keep you posted.

More Photo Shoot Pics!

Here are my favorites, so far:
(thanks Susan!!)

me

Number One

H-Bomb & Sawed Off

C.G.


All photos © Jim Krantz,
CG and I are wearing Adam Kimmel