Yard Work

The front yard of our house is like an oasis in this desert of ours. When we moved in, we nurtured green grass, planted a little tree, and surrounded the yard with our boxed garden. As H-Bomb began to crawl around and explore on his own, we decided to erect a fence. Just to give an idea of enclosure, and it worked well for a long time. He knew his boundaries, and stayed within them for the most part. At least he never crawled out into the road!


Huge shade trees encircle our yard, providing relief from the summer sun. We've had many fabulous parties in our little space.


Now that H-Bomb and Sawed Off are older and uncontainable, and our house is bigger, our little oasis seems smaller, and out of proportion to the house. And the weeds on the outside of the fence seem more uncontrollable than the boys. Frankly I'm tired of pulling them.


Number One suggested we move the fence out, farther into the driveway, which widens in front of our house anyway. We decided to stake our claim and do it. We took the rails off the fence, and Number One dug post holes with the tractor. He knew, it being a driveway, it would be too difficult to dig by hand. We decided where to put the poles, and Number One dug the holes.


The boys are always tempted by holes and dirt. They practically filled one hole in before we made them stop. Luckily it wasn't too hard to dig back out with a shovel.


In the midst of our project, something on the tractor tire started leaking, and the tire went flat. We'll be able to finish with the backhoe, but we didn't get it done last night.


I can't wait to show you our new and improved yard. Now I just hope there'll be enough water in the reservoir to grow grass!

We have lots of other big yard projects in the works, planting our garden, more perennial flowers, bulbs, adding some rocks, etc. Soon I'll be able to show you!

Two Down, One To Go!

*For all the "Before" pictures in one place, go here.


After the first wall came down, it was time for the second wall to come down. In this remodel/addition, we are taking down a total of three walls. The second wall was a previous exterior wall in the kitchen and dining room, with a sliding glass door and a minuscule kitchen window. We also decided to lop off a corner, taking a bit of space from the old pantry out in the garage, to form a 45 degree angled wall for better flow from the living space into the new dining room.


First, all the kitchen cabinets had to be removed. We had the contractor salvage the flooring that had been attached to the underside of the bar, that will come in handy for patching some of the holes in the flooring where the wall, cabinets and woodstove slate will be taken out.

Underneath the beautiful wood was not-so-beautiful paneling. Man, am I glad that was covered up! We also asked the contractor to salvage the cabinets. We will use the bar section in our new pantry, countertop and all for an extra workspace. I'm thinking the pantry would be the perfect place for Number One's meat slicer, the bread machine (if I ever use it again), those kind of appliances. As for the rest, you just never know when somebody will need a kitchen cabinet for one of the mountain cabins or what-have-you, and we have lots of storage space for things like that, so why not?


Because I wanted the contractor to salvage those cabinets, and I got the feeling he was just a couple seconds away from grabbing a sledgehammer to demolish them when I walked in, I feel like whatever I said made him a bit hesitant about tearing off the paneling. At any rate, I decided to help him.

I was fairly certain the cabinet under the sink, which extended out to the bar area, had just been covered with this crappy paneling. I tried to get under the sink and kick it out with my foot (the fun method), but it didn't budge. I tried to hit it from under the sink with a crowbar, but that also didn't work. It was just too far back there. I came around to the front of the bar and started prying off the paneling from the upper left corner, and what do you know, it WAS open under there! Paneling was the only thing covering that section, so we tore it off. It was fun!


It didn't take long before the three cabinets that had comprised the bar were completely gone.


Then we left for a long weekend, and when we came the entire kitchen (except for the range and the refrigerator) was out! So was all the drywall, the sliding glass door, the tiny kitchen window, just leaving the exposed log walls.

And before we knew it, the exposed log walls were gone too!

It is all happening so fast, it's incredible. Look at all that space!

I can't wait to show you my brand new kitchen. I'm already making lists (I'm a list maker) of all the parties we will have and guests we will entertain...

P.S. I created a new label, "log house interior," below, on which you can click and see all the progress that has been and will be made in Phase II of the remodel.

Winter Projects

The thing I like about winter around the ranch, is that Number One doesn't have to work so hard. Once all the cattle are in their various winter ranges where they belong, and once they finally decide they ought to stay in their various winter ranges, the work slows down and we're free to work on other projects. It also gives us more family time, and the boys and I love having their dad around more!

For me, I still have to take H-Bomb to school, but I do get some relief since Number One is able to keep Sawed Off home with him sometimes, or takes both boys to school and I get to stay home sometimes. So I get to catch up on projects too!

I thought it would be fun to show you what we're all working on. I always have a list of projects that I'm "working" on, but this winter I have actually made some progress!

Back in June, our dear friends in Wyoming had their first baby, a sweet little girl. I decided to make a quilt for her, among other things. Once I sat down to it, I got the quilt top finished:


I will show you a picture when the entire quilt is completed, which should be this week. If I buckle down. When it's done, it will be the same style as this quilt I made last spring, but more girly, of course! It's hard to see in the picture, but the floral squares have gorgeous sage green leaves, so the back and the yarn will be a matching sage green. It is going to be very sweet. I have to check and see if I really bought the batting and yarn already, since last time I was at the store they were OUT of crib batting. I hope I already have some, it would make things much more convenient.

I have also been working on a pet project, just for me. The thrift store in town receives TONS of blue jeans, and many of those are not fit for wearing, in the store owner's opinion. So she collects the castoffs in garbage bags, then gives them away for FREE. I have gotten several bags from her, and have also been saving all Number One's raggedy old jeans, with the plan to someday make a denim rag rug.

But in the meantime, I sorted the thrift store bags out in various shades of denim. (I also found several pairs for me and the boys to wear...on a ranch, it takes a lot of damage before jeans are considered "not fit for wearing.")

For this project, I chose the lightest jeans, and cut them into squares. I used pockets, seams, belt loops, etc. I found a sweet little floral fabric by Moda, and alternated it with the jean squares. I decided that even if the belt loops overlapped onto the floral, I would just leave them on and tack them down, to make it unique (and kind of quirky). After several sewing machine needles, I finally have the quilt top for this completed. (the picture below shows a few more rows that aren't attached, but trust me, it's all together now!)


Below is a detail of one of the functioning pockets, and an overlapping belt loop!


There are many pockets, from the backs and fronts of jeans, skirts, shorts, etc. The seams and detailing (rivets, stitching, etc) add so much interest. I am in love! I am going to back it with a cozy red flannel, and I cannot wait to snuggle up in this cute quilt! I think it will even be large enough for our double bed in town, if I choose to use it there.

I can't wait to work on more of these jean quilts, with different fabrics, but I think I will stay with the quirky pockets and belt loops style! I think this style would even be cute for a crib blanket, don't you?

I am also on an organizing mission this New Year. There are rumors of work on our addition, in which case we'll have to Move and Downsize to fit into the bunkhouse for an unknown length of time.

I got so tired of hunting down cords and chargers for this phone or that camera, sometimes having no idea where they were and no idea where else to look. I finally got this shoe organizer, and hung it on the back of the laundry room door. I can't remember where I saw this idea, probably Real Simple Magazine or somewhere, but it is a good one that stuck with me!


I sorted everything out, and labeled each pocket that has something in it. I do need to come up with a nicer and more permanent, more attractive, yet still flexible labeling system, but for now the paper-clipped sticky notes are doing just fine. And there are plenty more pockets to be filled! I'm very happy with this strategy. I just wish other things were so easily organized!


Do you have any ingenious organizing systems that are inexpensive, that have worked for you? Please share!

Also, I decided I will elaborate on the cool projects Number One is working on, in between fixing our water situation every day, and also Ranch Hand's projects in another upcoming post.

Stay Tuned!

Ranch Chores

The alternate title for this post: We Do Things Differently Around Here.

As we continue on our winter's adventure on the ranch, I thought I would share a few things that make our daily life somewhat...different.

Nearly every morning, we wake up to no water in our house. Not a drop. We make a pot of coffee using water from a gallon jug we stash every night. Then Number One goes out to the well and turns on the heater to thaw the frozen water pipes and/or jostle the water pressure switch. Anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour after that, we can resume our usual watery activities like flushing the toilet and doing dishes.

Every day, sometimes more than once, I am tasked with feeding the lizard. The lizard has a fancy wooden cage/home that RanchHand and Number One made, complete with a big rock and sunlamp, a large branch for climbing, and his own water dish. This, however, is a wild lizard, and a very particular one. He only eats live food, and his food of choice is grasshoppers. There is a shortage of live grasshoppers in these snowy and frozen parts, and the occasional live cricket we find isn't enough to sustain the lizard. We have a remote-controlled feeding dish that would theoretically make the freeze-dried insects "jump" but it doesn't fit in the lizard's home. So I had to come up with a way to feed the poor creature.

Every day, I loop a strand of nylon thread around the head of a freeze-dried cricket. (the dried grasshoppers needed to be refrigerated--who knew?--and I had to throw them away). I dangle the cricket into the cage, and make it jump, crawl and hop around to attract the lizard's attention. Sometimes I just dangle it in the cage and he comes and grabs it. (Today he ate three in a row this way). Sometimes he's just not interested, and I suspend it so it hangs through the wire screen of the cage, and later I come back to find he's eaten it while I wasn't looking. Thank goodness. Sometimes I worry about that poor guy's eating habits.

Our oven no longer just "turns on." We can't just turn the knob, set the temperature, and start baking. There is something wrong with it (thank god it happened after our Thanksgiving feast!). Now, every time I want to bake something, I turn on the knob, and nothing happens. Number One has to come in with some sort of flame and light the oven burner thingie. I don't know exactly, but sometimes there is banging and cursing involved that seems to help with the process. And then the oven heats up and I can commence with my muffins or what-have-you.

We have been looking at these ovens...but are a bit frightened that prices aren't listed on the website! Perhaps someday I'll have you all help me choose a color...we'll start saving our pennies.

Taking care of Woody and Jessie used to be on our list of daily chores. Sadly, they are no longer on our list. It pains me to throw away banana peels (their favorite), crackers and miscellaneous vegetable scraps. It feels wasteful. As does the brand-new stake they received for Christmas.

It feels like there are more weird daily chores around here. When they come to mind, I'll add them. Until then, I've got to go find Number One so I can make some more muffins.

We Have The Power!

Okay, I just couldn't resist. Sorry. If you're anywhere near my age, you remember exactly how He-Man used to say this, back in the 80's.

Anyway, our favorite electrician (who happens to share the name of an 80's pop singer! How fun! Exact same spelling, even!) came down to the ranch on Saturday. And found the problem with the electric line in about 10 minutes. Can you imagine. We've been without power in half of our house for Almost Eight (8) WEEKS. That is almost two months, people, of living with an extension cord trailing down the hall to a lamp in the bathroom, then moving the lamp-with-extension-cord into H-Bomb's room for story time, and unplugging lamp from same extension cord in order to attach it to the microwave oven. (and hoping no one has to go to the bathroom in the two minutes it takes to nuke a burrito or what-have-you). No lights whatsoever in the bathroom, living room or playroom. Almost TWO MONTHS.

>>>Here is an aside. Why did we only have the one extension cord? Well, I did try to buy one for the microwave, but I got it home and it wasn't a three-prong cord, so it wouldn't work. We didn't want to overload the circuits we still had with a bunch of extension cords. We needed the long cord to reach from the kitchen to the bathroom, so we just made do--we just dragged it back over to the microwave when we needed it, fairly infrequently. When you live down here for an extended period of time, you just learn to make do with things for a while, until they can get fixed. It seems like it is always something. Some people don't understand this.<<<

So the electrician, whom I suggested we call, oh about two months ago, located the problem in ten minutes: evidently one of the electrical wires running from the generator had gotten nicked, who knows when or how. But likely Wifey's obsessive over-watering this summer (there is still standing water, less than a foot underground, and we live in the freaking desert. Obsessive, I say firmly. Too much!) exacerbated the problem, said the electrician. Likely sped up the corrosion process. The wire completely corroded until it no longer made the connection, which is why we lost half our power. Here is part of the offending wire:


The electrician had the problem completely fixed in less than two hours. It would have saved so much if we had been allowed to call him in the first place. Now there are holes everywhere along the electrical line, dug by CG's brothers, that Number One must fill. Luckily we lost only one lamp when someone tripped over the extension cord, and no one cut their little foot on light bulb fragments.

So anyway. We have power now, everywhere we need it. Just in time for Thanksgiving. Wahoo!

And incidentally, the electrician commented that the contractor (small town!) had given him the plans for our addition, but he didn't realize it was for our addition. So electrician said he would get on the bid for the electrical portion, since the job is for us! Power and Progress too!

Shipping Day

Number One and the rest have been gathering cattle for weeks, bringing them all down from the mountain, getting ready for shipping day. This year, my mom and dad were here for shipping day, for the first time ever. My mom took H-Bomb and Sawed Off to school, while my dad and I stayed to help with shipping.

This year, since my mom was helping with the boys, I got to go watch the early morning roundup. I'm sure Number One would have let me ride and help round up the cattle, but honestly it was before dawn and I was exhausted. So I just ran around taking pictures.


They loaded up the truck with hay in an effort to lure the cows into the corrals. Sometimes it works. My dad drove the hay truck through the fields, and there were four or five cowboys pushing the cows toward the hay truck. My dad drove the truck right into the corrals, cows bellowing and following behind him. With this many cattle, it takes more than one pass with the hay truck, and some fast riding to round up the stragglers who by now are trying to escape.


Essentially, one shipping day is the same as the last. You have the buyer, the broker, the ranch hands, moving and sorting all the cattle. You have the semi truck drivers. You have the folks working the scale and keeping records of weights and numbers. You have the dust and the dirt and the fussy cattle.

The cattle are sorted into separate corrals, heifers (girls) and steers (boys) and then the buyer and the broker go through them all and decide which ones they want. My job, again this year, was to keep the cattle from busting back through the gates, and to help my dad fill the alley and the waiting corrals with cattle. It moves pretty quickly when the cows cooperate. The cattle the buyer wants are sent to the scales to be weighed, then to a corral to await loading into the trucks.


The cattle the buyer doesn't want are sent to a separate corral and ultimately released back into the fields.

After the trucks are loaded, three semi truck loads today, the cows that are left need to be let out into the fields and then they all need to be fed.

And at the end of the day, whenever that may be, you have lunch. Whether it be 2:00pm or 8:00pm, it is still called Shipping Day Lunch. This year, I prepared a huge pot of my Rustic Chili, a humongous salad, and the now-traditional Chocolate Sheet Cake. Because I volunteered to be in charge of lunch, I got to leave the corrals about an hour early so I missed the loading of the trucks and the feeding. I had made the chili and the cake the day and night before, and tossed the salad while the chili was reheating. Everyone loved it, it was the perfect end to a hard day's work.

I was chased by a bull or two, and/or some cows in the past week, but I will post those stories another day because I honestly can't remember if any of it happened on shipping day or not...

Plumbing Problems

The reason I was able to spend the day cleaning the barn loft? Number One just returned from the mountain yesterday, and the boys and I got back from spending the night in town. And for some unknown reason there was no water coming out of the kitchen faucet. And I had left a sink full of dishes when I left Thursday morning. I got some hot water out of the bathtub and washed a few pots and knives to feel better about the sad state of my kitchen.

Today, he spent the morning fixing the faucet, but then the pea trap broke as well. He was going to run in and get a new one, but CG just happened to have one lying around. She was headed to town, and said to send a text message if he needed anything else.

The pea trap she gave him didn't work. We immediately sent a very simple text message:
"Plumbing.
- metal pea trap
- flexible pipe 1-1/2" (about 1 foot long)
- teflon tape
- thread-sealing paste stuff"

And then we waited and waited and waited for her to return. I decided to clean the loft, and Number One took care of the boys. They've been missing him anyway, so they needed a day with Daddy.

CG got back from town and drove right on by. "How much do you want to bet she didn't get the parts?" I asked Number One. "A whole lot of money," he replied. We both knew it: she hadn't gotten the parts. "Didn't get the message." Although we sent it well before she got home, we had no parts. And it was too late for us to drive to town to get any.

So anyway. She went home and dug around, scrounging all the plumbing parts she could find. Including a Master lock. Who knows. Unfortunately, none of them worked. Now we have to wait until Monday before we will be able to use our kitchen sink...

But this means that Number One can time his trip to town to coincide with taking H-Bomb to Kindergarten, so we can all go! It'll be fun to ride our bikes together and drop him off. Maybe he'll even pull the bike trailer uphill all the way to school!

Open Range

The horses got out yesterday. One of GBNP's rangers came driving in, and told me they were on the road. Perfect. Of course Number One is up on the mountain. Wifey came to watch the boys, and I grabbed a halter, and took off to try to get them in.

The only problem with this scenario? I didn't know where to put them. I wasn't sure where they had gotten out, and I was not entirely sure where they had been. I had seen them earlier in the field by CG's house, but none of those gates to the road were open.

I parked the van in the road by a curve, with the hazard lights going, and took off on foot. Of course none of them wanted to come near me. I finally got a halter around one, and he followed me all the way to the gate, into the field. I put him in, closed one gate, but left the other gate open and went back for more. It was hot walking on that pavement!

This is a busy season, traffic-wise, lots of tourons (tourist + moron = touron!) driving too fast in a rush to "See It All--Now!" So I wondered not only if the horses might get hit, but if my van would. Luckily nothing got hit. I got behind our miniature horse, Bilbo, and he started running. I ran behind the others, encouraging them by slapping my legs and yelling, and they all headed right in the gate. I still didn't know where they belonged, but there were off the road.

I cruised the fence line, found a gate that looked like it may have been cut (not much wire to fasten it) and managed to fasten it with the only tool I had: my fingers. Good thing I have pretty strong fingers. No other gates were open.

I was headed out on foot to check a couple other gates through the fields when I realized: I have to go through some tall brush. There might be snakes in there. I am wearing my sparkly sandals. I hopped in Number One's jeep and maneuvered it through the fields. I didn't know which gates were supposed to be open, which gates closed, but I figured if the horses could get to water, they'd be fine.

I sent Number One, up on the mountain, several text messages asking what to do, where the horses should be, etc. (In case you're wondering...no, we still don't have phone service of any kind down here. There is spotty cell service on the mountain, so I can email Number One from the computer, he receives it as a text, and then texts me back, which I receive as an email. It's basically emailing between cell phone and computer. It confuses some people. I'm honestly not sure why...)

This morning. A couple more park rangers drive in. The horses are on the road! First I said "Again?" And then I asked "Where?" Because the gate was open to the "Open Range" section--I knew the horses could get water at the creek, so when I found it open I left it open.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, "Open Range," it basically means an unfenced area through which a road runs, which isn't fenced so the animals are free to "range" back and forth on both sides of the road. This allows sections of land with no water (on one side of the road) to be connected to sections of land with water (on the other side of the road) so the land can be put to better use. It is well-marked with signs, so people have been warned. If they drive too fast, they are putting their own vehicles at risk--you don't want to hit a cow or a horse unless you want your car totaled.

The ladies said the horses were in the open range section. I said, "Okay, good, that's fine." But they wouldn't let it go. "People drive so fast! That little one is going to get hit! The chances! Oh, I just know one of them is going to get hit!"

"Yeah, yeah, I don't know what you want me to do about it. It's clearly marked open range, people need to slow down, cows get hit all the time because people drive too fast" I said.

They wouldn't stop. I kept repeating, "well, people need to slow down and look out" and finally they sort of threw up their hands and left. Honestly. They're our horses, right? It would be sad if one got hit, but of what concern is it to you? I'm not going to sit and argue with you when our horses and cows have a legal right to be where they are, when there are signs clearly stating Open Range. (Except for one time, someone put "W" stickers over all the R's on the signs, so the sign actually said, "Open Wange." Number One and I thought it was hilarious!)

I went inside, where I then got a text message/email from Number One. He said the horses were supposed to be in the pastures near the houses. Not in the open range. So I had to go get them in. I tried to find Wifey but she wasn't around. I packed up the boys in the minivan, grabbed a hat and took off. The halter from yesterday was still in the van.

I figured the horses would be right there, near the gate so I could just push them in. But NO. Where did I find them?


THREE MILES down the road. And guess where the four wheeler is? On the mountain. And I'm in a minivan, with two boys in the back. No off-road horse chasing with that thing.


I got behind the horses, parked the van and got out. There was a ton of traffic to watch the show. I whooped and hollered and ran after them, got them all herded up and headed in the right direction. I ran after them for a little while, then ran back to the van and drove ahead, yelling and honking from inside the van. I'm sure it was a sight.


I had to stop the van and get out and run behind them three or four times, but finally, in their own meandering, roundabout way, the horses just kept running in the right direction. Thank goodness, because the road veered away from their path at one point and they were a good half-mile or so away from me. No way I'm running through the desert that far in my sparkly sandals. (Yes, I wear them everyday. No, I didn't think to change my shoes before I left. I honestly thought it would be a piece of cake. I didn't envision I would be running through the desert and down the road so far in my sparkly sandals)


So, the horses kept running, me following beside them now, 1/2 mile away, still yelling and honking, waving cars past me. And I see Wifey, driving her truck down the trail, about right where the horses are headed! I really hoped she would see the horses running toward her, and park out of their path. Thankfully, she did.


The horses stopped at the irrigation ditch for a drink, and I drove down there, got out of the van again and herded them out of the ditch. They knew right where they were supposed to go, and ran right through the gate into the field. I ran after them and attempted to close the gate behind them.


I don't know what is up with this gate, but I couldn't close it correctly. I tried for a long time, but finally I just had to use my fingers again, and wrap a loop of wire around the bottom. At least it gives the horses and cows an "idea" of a gate. They could get through it if they wanted to, but I bet they won't.


Wifey had been picking flowers for her and I, some kind of lovely weeds. And she saw all of these hummingbird moths on the flowers, so I took some pictures.



The horses were right where they were supposed to be when I got home. And I got enough exercise for the week!