Housewarming Extravaganza...the photos.

*Exactly how long can a post languish in "draft" status before it's published? Way too long, apparently! Here's a short post I started MONTHS ago and I suppose I got distracted or something.

Anyway, our party was fabulous, we have amazing friends and family who were there to support us and celebrate our new home, and it goes without saying the food was out of this world. Thank you to everyone!*

It's been three weeks since our fantastic housewarming party, and I realized I hadn't even written about it!

We had such a great turnout, lots of family and good friends showed up to celebrate with us. Everyone loved the house, the food was fabulous and it was just so much fun.

I'll share some pictures, but honestly we were having too much fun at the party to take very many pictures. If you'd like to see the menu and the recipes and pictures of the food, please visit The Bad Girl's Kitchen.

I will still take you on a virtual tour of the house, don't you worry! We're getting the rest of our living room furniture on November 18th, and after that the tour will begin.

Here are some of our guests, and you can see some of the house too...

Cowgirl Min, Fashion Model!

You may remember that this cowgirl was hired to model designer clothing for Adam Kimmel's 2010 Spring/Summer Collection. The photo shoot took place at our ranch, with photographer Jim Krantz. (you can see more of Jim's pictures of the shoot, but sadly not one of me, here)

Here is the first picture of myself that I have seen on the WWW, and likely the only actual picture of me that you may ever see on this blog:

photo © Jim Krantz for Adam Kimmel

The funny thing is, the only piece of Adam Kimmel clothing I am wearing in this picture is a sweater, which Sabina the wardrobe lady told me was "probably cashmere." I believe her, and I really don't want to know how much it would cost in a store. Plus, it wouldn't last one hour in a real cowboy workday. Anyway, the jeans, the chinks, the boots are mine; the hat is Jean-Claude's. And the red dirt is on our ranch. (If you go to Jim's website, you can see the spectacular ranch scenery BEHIND the white muslin sheet!)

So much fun! I will keep searching for pictures of myself (obsessively) and let you know if I find any more. In the meantime, you can check out the rest of Adam's collection, including a couple pictures of CG, here.

German Film Crew

Today, we had a German film crew on the ranch, filming cowboy and ranching activities for a German television program for kids. They filmed Number One, catching the horses; Number One, CG, and Ranch Hand riding their horses. Number One and Ranch Hand, shoeing their horses. Things like that. They said Number One was the best rider on the ranch.

H-Bomb decided he wanted to be in the television show too, so after a big production I got both boys into jeans and shirts and boots and hats.

They filmed H-Bomb and Sawed Off, watching Daddy shoe horses and then the boys practicing their roping skills with Grammy. The camera guy loved them. It was really fun for them, and I'm excited to see the DVD of the program they will send us.

Ranch Hand was going up on the mountain to do some fencing, and the film crew was going to tag along to film him working and get a time-lapse of the sunset up there.

This is the conversation I overheard:

Ranch Hand: Do you like this shirt? I don't really like this shirt. What do you think?


Crew: It's fine.


RH: Do you want me to change my shirt? Should I wear something cowboy-ish? I'm going to change my shirt.


Crew: Ok.


RH: What about this cowboy hat? Should I wear this hat? You probably want me in a cowboy hat...


Crew: Yes, please, a cowboy hat.


RH: Okay, I'll go change my shirt and then we can go.



As Ranch Hand walked to his house, I called over and asked if they needed any help with wardrobe.

The camera guy replied, "Yes! And makeup too!"

And then I told CG she had a Prima Donna on her hands.

These models are so high maintenance.

Cowgirl Fashion Photo Shoot: Adam Kimmel

Last week, I was photographed by our friend Larry, to try out for a modeling job at a fashion photo shoot that was coming to the ranch. I expected them to just pass me by and show up with two blonds, but they decided to hire me! I was very excited! I checked out the designer's website ahead of time, and found some great outfits. I couldn't wait to see what designer fashions I would get to wear!

On Monday, Larry brought part of the crew down to scout the locations. I met Adam Kimmel, the designer; Jim Krantz, the photographer, and his wife Susan; Lynn, the producer; and a couple other crew members. They told me they had changed my schedule to Wednesday instead of Tuesday. We had a very nice visit. I asked Adam if I should wear my glasses or contacts, and he said, "Whatever you feel most comfortable in. Whenever I wear glasses with a cowboy hat it looks silly." I said, "I guess I should start looking in the mirror."

On Tuesday, I went out to the photo shoot site to see how it was going and talked to the producer, Lynn, about what time I should be there, etc. I asked her if there would be a makeup person, and she said, "No, they just want you au naturale." It really is a good thing Jenny taught me how to do natural-looking makeup!

Lynn told me to bring my cowboy "hats." Well, my dad commandeered my black Stetson a number of years ago and stretched it out. Number One took my brown cowboy hat and shrunk it, and I wasn't sure I could stretch it by 5AM the following morning. I haven't been anywhere to get a new hat yet. So I panicked a bit. Then I remembered that our dear friend Jean-Claude left his hat at CG's house, to ensure that he'll come back someday. I went up and tried it on, and if fit perfectly! Problem solved. I gathered the rest of my gear, my chinks, my two pairs of boots, contacts & saline solution, etc.

On the morning of the shoot, I woke up at 3:30am. I tried to sleep again until 4, but wasn't very successful.

At 4:00AM, I kicked Number One out of bed to go turn on the generator. We made coffee, and I got ready for my very first modeling job! We were scheduled to meet around 5:15AM, down at the Marlboro Corral. When you're the first person at the shoot, you have to open the gate. The moon was still out, but my little point and shoot doesn't take very good night pictures.


It's called the Marlboro Corral because it was built by some guys from Marlboro. It's quite rickety, so it's not very useful, but it is picturesque. Incidentally, it's not in any of the pictures that I saw being taken. And I didn't take any pictures of it either.

Below you can see the first car coming down the road to the photo shoot site.


Number One brought over some horses for us to use.


After everyone arrived, it was getting to be daylight. There was coffee (thank goodness) and breakfast sandwiches, fruit, etc.

They decided that they didn't want to shoot me (the girl) on a horse. So I just had to wait some more, but it was fun.


The male "cowboy/model" took off on a horse named Pete so they could take photos of him riding on a ridge. He was having trouble with the horse, getting more and more agitated (during which time the photographer, Jim Krantz, got some awesome shots of the horse rearing). The producer asked me to take the "cowboy/model" a different horse. I put a bridle on Zack, hopped on and rode while leading another horse over and up to where Pete and the "cowboy/model" were having their tiff. (and I didn't have my camera with me)

The "cowboy/model" saddled the second horse, hopped on and attempted to take off. I stayed up on the ridge, but out of the camera shot, just in case he needed anything else. The horse, having not yet been ridden, did not take kindly to the "cowboy/model's" spurs. He really should have warmed up the horse a bit before trying to gallop towards a cliff edge, but he didn't.

The horses could feel his anxiety and his anger. This "cowboy/model" was nervous about being bucked off, saying things like "I'm too old to fall on these rocks" and he started to make comments about our horses, and he was just plain angry. He also cussed in my presence. Not that I've never heard it before, but still he should have been more professional. I was trying to settle the horses down, calm them down, and here he was just being a jerk to them and then getting pissed and wondering why they weren't responding to him.

He even made a comment about the care of the horses, even though HE was the last person to ride them the day before and didn't brush them down after. I was not impressed with this man at all, which is why he doesn't deserve to be named here and the term "cowboy" is in quotes along with "model" because in my opinion, this jerk is neither.

So after the second horse (surprise!) didn't respond to him after 30 seconds, he wanted Zack, the horse with my saddle on. The photographer and entire crew were down there waiting, and he wanted to switch saddles. AGAIN. So we did. Larry walked all the way up the ridge to see what was going on.

With Larry, I led the horses down the rocky slope and out of the camera shot. I told Larry that guy should have brought his own horses. I pet the horses and apologized to them for that guy's behavior, and led them to a bunch of delicious grass.

Then Lynn, the producer, came to get me and take me to wardrobe to get dressed. I put on a luxuriously soft black sweater with embroidered steer heads on the front of the shoulders, along with my own Levi's, chinks, and boots. I asked the wardrobe ladies, Sabine (I think) and Natasha what it was made of, and Sabine said, "I don't know, probably cashmere." It was very warm and comfortable. We drove back over to the other ridge where they were shooting.

They decided that they wanted to get some pictures of me walking down a ridge, leading a horse. I walked UP the road and back down the ridge at least 6 times. Let me just tell you, it's not that easy walking down a ridge in the desert and avoiding cactus, rocks, sagebrush while "keeping your head up and looking around." I'm not sure how many pictures Jim took, but there were some really great ones.

In the meantime, the crew was setting up this muslin screen for "LookBook" shots.


I did some modeling for the LookBook photos, similar to the guy above. Just sort of walking in front of the screen, moving around in front of the screen. It was pretty fun. First I modeled the black steer head sweater. They told me they were just going to have me model the one outfit.

But then, they decided to put me in another outfit! Woohoo, time for wardrobe change. I do have to say it's a little strange to change clothes in front of a bunch of other people, but whatever, it was still fun. I wore a blue striped shirt, another probably cashmere cardigan, and tried on some unbelievably soft suspender pants in a gray sweatpant (but much softer) material. The gray pants didn't fit well, so back into my Levi's, chinks and boots. And of course the hat.

During the second outfit, it was really windy, but this made some nice effects with my hair flying around. There are some excellent shots of this outfit as well. Unfortunately, I don't have any to show you right now. But Jim and Susan are going to send me some, or eventually some might make it into Adam's 2010 LookBook!

When the crew broke for lunch and headed back to town, I went home. They were coming back around 4:30pm for another session. Number One had to take the horses back to the location, and he said they had invited us to have dinner with them at the corral. I got H-Bomb and Sawed Off dressed (in pants, even!) and headed over there.


The boys had a great time exploring in the desert, and Jim took some awesome family photos. He said he's going to send us some prints.

They took more LookBook photos of different models, including CG, and then took photos of Adam Kimmel himself. (center, facing the camera)


We had a dinner catered by a local restaurant, and everyone commented how cute H-Bomb and Sawed Off were in their cowboy hats and boots. And they tormented Natasha with a huge flying beetle they caught.

As the sun was starting to set, they got four male "cowboy/models" on horses, and started up the smoke machines. There will be some amazing photos from this shoot. I got a couple decent shots with my little digital.


It was a fantastic day, out of the ordinary, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I met some great people, and I wish them all the best. I'm so happy I was able to be a part of Adam Kimmel's LookBook 2010. The photos are on their way to Italy and/or Paris for a show in about a week, and I can't wait to see myself on his website!

Thanksgiving.

homemade chandelier

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. I wanted to have it at our house this year, where the only space we have for 10 or more people is in our unfinished addition...no insulation, only exterior walls, roof and windows. When we started clearing it out, it was full of sawdust, nails and extra wood. There is no electricity out there and thus are no light fixtures, so I decided I would haul out our Christmas lights. I strung them around the perimeter of the room.

I collected every clear glass jar I could find, washed them and made candle holders. I wrapped them with steel wire, and suspended them from the rafters with steel chain from the mercantile. I think they turned out beautifully. I am in love with them. A few strategically-placed space heaters and our room was transformed...a hint of what's to come when this dining room is finally completed!

before we lit the candles

the wine bar

We raided the bunk house and our barn loft storage for dining room tables and chairs, as well as a lovely antique dresser to serve as our wine bar. I drug Number One's homemade wine bottle holder (above, left) out of the garage, dusted off the cobwebs and loaded it with several bottles of wine.

I borrowed clear glasses from CG for water glasses for the table, and raided my unused canning jars for our centerpiece. A gorgeous last-minute table runner (thank you,amazon, for free two-day shipping!) and our table was complete.

I also realized we needed some wine glasses, so I used an amazon coupon for this lovely set. (of 12, but we only needed 8 for dinner) It's difficult to see in the picture, but I also used some memory wire and beads that Marlow had given me to fashion wine glass markers. The table runner on the wine bar is one my grandma gave me several years ago.

This is our scrumptious spread of appetizers.
For our complete Thanksgiving menu (pictures and recipes!) please follow this link.
We had contributions from everyone, and everyone was so helpful! (especially my two friends--you know who you are!) Honestly, I couldn't have done it without you both.

Doesn't this look lovely when the candles are lit and the cranberry sauce is illuminated?
Everyone was so busy eating and drinking wine and raving over the food that I neglected to get a picture of all of us eating...let's just say dinner was a success!
(and besides, I don't post many pictures of people here anyway)
Everything was delicious and was finished on time.
It's always nice when it all comes together.

The whole effect was truly magical.

After we had finished our dinner,
three of the kids found out there would be pie,
and came back to finish their turkey!

And I just couldn't stop taking pictures.
I let the candles burn well after everyone had left.
I am still so thankful for our good friends and family
who were able to be with us and share our lovely meal.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Visitor Profile: Jean-Claude Mezieres

We are so excited that Jean-Claude has been here for the last three weeks or so! He is a dear friend of the family, who also happens to be a famous French cartoonist! It is so fun to have him here. Let me tell you his story…(you can also find him on wikipedia, although I haven't asked him to verify the contents)

Jean-Claude was here for the first time in the mid 1960’s. He had a work visa for Houston, Texas, but didn’t work there. He traveled around, and he ended up working on the ranch. This was back when Number One’s Dad was running the place, not long after Number One’s grandfather had purchased the ranch. CG wasn’t even living down here back then.

Jean-Claude worked here, on the ranch, for about a month and a half. From what we can gather, he got stuck with a lot of the crappy jobs that no one else wanted to do. But, it was always his dream to be a Cowboy. He was raised on the adventures of Lucky Luke (a famous French cartoon cowboy) and I think Europeans have fantasized about the “Wild West” all along. And they did let him do some work on horseback too! (He filmed some video when he was here the first time; we are dying to get our hands on a copy of that! Number One’s Dad is in charge of transferring the old format to DVD and making copies since he lives in the City and we obviously do not)

After Jean-Claude’s initial time here, he came back circa 1969, but couldn’t stay as long. (by then CG was living here too) And after that, he lost touch with Number One’s parents and the ranch.

Until the 1990’s, when a friend of his daughter’s returned from a visit to the States, with pictures of certain rock formations. Familiar rock formations, which brought the ranch to mind, along with a sense of ownership to which anyone who visits can attest: I know those rocks! Those are MY rocks! By god, I have BEEN there! I love that place! I need to go back there!

And since then, he tries to come back and visit every few years or so. He was here in the summer, two years ago, around H-Bomb’s third birthday. We have an awesome sketch he did for us as a gift. We also have the sketches and drawings and paintings that he and H-Bomb did together, which we have documented with photographs. It is very exciting. Not many kids can claim they have sketched with a famous French cartoonist!

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Shameless Promotion:

If you'd like to read one of Jean-Claude's graphic novels, but don't read French, there is a new English compilation of several of the Valerian comics available. He collaborates on the novels with his childhood friend, Pierre Christin. Also, four of Jean-Claude's books were published in English, mostly in the 1980's I believe (let me know if you'd like the titles). We found some copies for the boys on ebay. Try your luck, they are very fun.

Incidentally, if you've ever seen a small, little-known movie series called Star Wars, you will see many similarities and inspirations drawn from Jean-Claude's work. (sadly, this inspiration has gone unacknowledged all these years. Tsk, tsk, Mr. Lucas.)

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Jean-Claude is delightful to have around, so funny and a gracious guest. He is staying in our camper for his month-long visit, when he isn’t on the mountain playing cowboy with Number One. His main objective was to ride and help Number One with the fall gather. His secondary objective is to drink wine with me and play and draw and paint with the boys and snip occasional parsley for dinner. I am also trying to expand my French vocabulary to include more than “la toilette.”

We went hiking together and carved pumpkins. H-Bomb drew and/or painted Jean-Claude several spooky Halloween pictures because they don't have Halloween in France--H-Bomb didn't want Jean-Claude to miss out!

He has repeatedly invited us to visit him in France. He has a studio in Paris, and a country house in the South of France. We all want to go, so we are planning our trip. As soon as Sawed Off gets out of diapers. I have invited my mom to come and help with the boys. I absolutely cannot wait.

Jean-Claude leaves tomorrow, and we will all miss him. We have treasured our time together.

We'll see you again soon, Jean-Claude.

The State of the Ranch: Good and Bad

If I sat down and listed every single thing that is currently wrong with our house, I believe I would lose my mind, so I’ll just list a few. To give you an idea. I haven’t blogged in a while, so please bear with me. Or skim through, whatever. There a couple good things in here too. (Trust me, there really are!)

We are still, apparently, waiting on a bid from the contractor to complete our addition. We were prepared to wait, but MONTHS AGO when ABEG said to “Go Ahead” we got excited. For nothing. So now we are somewhat frustrated about the lack of progress.

The new front door the contractor installed during Phase I, but did not finish on the inside, you remember, the one that fell off the hinges a couple days later? Or maybe I was so mad about that one I didn’t even tell you. Anyway, now it doesn’t close unless you lift up on the handle. Hard. And if you want to lock the deadbolt? Forgetaboutit. You have to not only lift up the door but align the deadbolt with the hole, and then the doorknob thingie doesn’t line up. Whee. Also, even if the door is closed, you can kick it open. I tried it the other day when Sawed Off accidentally locked me out. It’s good for relieving aggression, but not so good when you’re thinking about being home by yourself. Deadbolt it is. I’ll have to add it to Number One’s list.

Our siding is not yet completed. We were waiting for the satellite internet dude to make it over here, and he finally did over the weekend. Now we can have someone finish installing the siding and seal it all before the snow flies! I am so glad I pushed to have the old chinking removed and the logs resealed before the siding went on—there was a significant, noticeable reduction in the number of elm beetles in our house!

Also, we currently have only half of our electricity. Meaning, half of the breakers in our breaker box don’t work. Luckily it is the inconsequential half, if you don’t count the bathroom light fixture. The theory is that there is a break in the line, somewhere underground, and we have yet to find it. Some of the wires from the generator may be shorted out underground, which would theoretically explain why we only have partial power. It’s just a theory.

Right now we have no power/lights in our bathroom, no power in the hall outlets (but thankfully at least one light in the hallway), no power/lights in H-Bomb’s room, no power/lights in the playroom, only half power (no lights) in the living room (thank goodness it didn’t affect the television!) I haven’t checked all the outlets, or the lights in the garage, but thankfully none of our appliances (2 fridges + 1 freezer) were affected.

Many of the other buildings are affected as well, the bunkhouse has untold fixtures/outlets that aren’t working; RanchHand and Wifey were running extension cords to their fridge and microwave; there is power out in the barn and some outbuildings. CG’s house seems to be unaffected, but she is on a different underground line from the rest of us.

CG’s brothers were here, trying to fix the electrical line, but they didn’t have the right equipment or couldn’t find the problem or possibly both. Who knows how long this will go on before CG breaks down and hires an electrician?

Her brothers did temporarily fix RanchHand and Wifey’s electricity by rewiring their breakers. When I found out about this, quite by accident, I was upset that the same service was not offered to us. We are running an extension cord from the kitchen (nearest working outlet) to the bathroom for a small lamp on the counter, near the sink—not exactly a kid-friendly setup! I spoke my mind this past weekend, and when I overheard one of the brothers discussing the situation with CG, “it could be another two weeks…” and she said “Oh, that’s FINE” without a second thought, I could not contain myself. I explained our bathroom situation, and asked that our breakers be rewired also. Brother was supposed to come down in the morning to address it.

The next morning, Brother did come down. And when he suggested re-wiring the entire breaker box, so we’d have all our power back, I asked what the risks might be. He said the box could get “hot” or the breakers could trip. I spoke with Number One, and we decided to just live with it. Brother said rewiring wouldn’t be too difficult, and we’d put the wires back in place it when the whole line is fixed, but with us not being here, we just said forget it.

I think I was just upset on principal, anyway. It’s not like we aren’t managing, and by now we’re so used to having things going wrong in our house On A Daily Basis that, a lamp in the bathroom? An extension cord running down the hall? Not a big deal. But the fact that someone else got their power “fixed” and we weren’t even offered or considered for the same deal? That’s enough to make this cowgirl fume.

It doesn't help much that Number One is constantly on the mountain these days, and we miss him. The other day when Sawed Off said, “Wan go moun wit you, Dada” (translation: Want to go to the mountain with you, Dada). Number One was getting choked up. He misses us too. Soon the fall gather will be complete and he will be here with us, and maybe even be able to come to town with us too.

H-Bomb has been playing and loving soccer, he has even kicked the ball a few times in the games. That’s all he needs to get excited! “Mommy! I kicked the ball THREE TIMES tonight!” Number One has only missed one game (he’s been doing a lot of driving to come down for the games: a two- or three-hour drive from the mountain plus almost an hour to town, and back).

H-Bomb is so proud whenever anyone comes to see his games. A couple weeks ago, he had even more spectators: his Grandpa and our famous cartoonist friend from France, Jean-Claude Mezieres. Grandpa drove Jean-Claude down from the airport, and Grandpa stayed the night at the town house. Jean-Claude is staying at the ranch, in our camper, for a month, I will post more about him next. We love Jean-Claude. We are going to visit him in Paris and at his country house. Very soon.

I have been canning pear and apple jams and butters (in my spare time!) and am getting ready to move on to salsa. It is almost time to harvest all the tomatoes—green and all—before the frost comes. I need to get busy. I made just one pear pie (…sniff…) before the pears got too ripe…I wanted to try freezing the pies, but I just didn’t have time.

I also have a list a mile long of things to do in and around the house, which may or may not get done. The leaves have mostly turned on the mountain, making our drive home spectacular. Except for when a deer ran out and struck our van in the side the other day. I’m not even kidding. We need to get the van fixed now too!

Some days H-Bomb says he wants to be a skeleton for Halloween, which would make my job a heck of a lot easier, because that’s what he was last year. I think we’ll turn it into a Pirate Skeleton, just accessorize the skeleton costume to make it more exciting. I think he’ll go for it. Because I sure don’t want to have to throw together a Tyrannosaurus Rex costume (his first request) at the last minute!

Oh, and Woody, the male goat, STINKS. He literally exudes some kind of male goat stench. It makes a person gag. Jessie does not seem to stink at all. It’s hard to tell for sure with Woody clamoring for attention TOO!! Not only do you have to wash your hands after touching him, you also have to change your clothes. It doesn’t exactly help with my laundry situation.

And Coffee, sweet little Coffee, is pregnant. Again. We really need to do something about this. But the puppies will be very good cattle dogs, a Kelpie/Catahoula mix.

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A Canyonful of Balloons

On Monday night, Wifey said some guy was going to park his RV out in the field where Marlboro usually sets up. She said some folks were going to travel down the canyon in a hot air balloon the next morning. I didn't know anything about it.

Tuesday morning, we woke up and I decided we all needed to go out in the field and watch. And wait. The balloon was supposed to float by around 7:30am, so we took some lawn chairs and coffee and dry granola for H-Bomb and Sawed Off out to the field. Then we waited. At around 7:40am, Wifey ran back to get some blankets and waffles.

I don't know how much longer we waited, until we saw this:


And we thought, man, he's flying kind of low. It was cool and all, but sort of anticlimactic, since he didn't crash land in the reservoir or anything.

Until we saw another balloon.

And another.

And they just kept coming.

There were about 8 balloons in all. I didn't get digital pictures of all of them because of course my camera battery died. I was also taking pictures with my 35mm (so you have something to look forward to). At some point I had to run back to the lawn chairs and get more film.


We watched the balloons for a very long time, much longer than I had intended since it was a school day for H-Bomb and no one was even dressed yet.



As we watched the balloons drift by, I also couldn't help but think of Stephanie and Christian Nielson. I don't think I have mentioned them on this blog before, but they have been constantly in my thoughts and in my heart since August, when they became survivors of a small plane crash in which the pilot died. Both Stephanie and Christian suffered severe burns, hers much worse than his, and both remain in critical condition in an Arizona burn unit. You may have heard about their accident, or about Stephanie's lovely blog, the NieNie Dialogues, both of which were covered nationally as well as by The New York Times and the Today Show.

The Nielsons have a family tradition of releasing balloons with hopes attached to them, to celebrate occasions in the lives of themselves and their four young children. Of course I thought of them. How could I not. And all my hopes for them were attached to these balloons that passed right over the ranch. Great Big Hopes, with Great Big Balloons.

If you would like to learn more about Stephanie and Christian's recovery, or contribute to their exponentially growing medical bills, you may read C Jane Enjoy It (written by Stephanie's loving sister, Courtney), where there are several ways to contribute. Fundraising efforts are also in full swing on the Nie Recovery website. Please at the very least keep good thoughts for them in your heart, they are very powerful things.


A couple of the balloons flew right over our heads, down the middle of the canyon. The horses and cows noticed the balloons too. They started running around the fields, confused.

The horses galloped over to us, "Are you guys SEEING this?"

And then they stood quietly and watched the balloons float away.

A balloon team (do you call them teams? a pilot and the crew?) drove in, testing the wind, watching their friends fly by. A couple of the balloons (including the first one) flew very low, over the reservoir. One guy touched down in the reservoir, in the water, and the balloon team suggested he had done a "Splash & Dash." But one of them said it may not have been on purpose. Then the possible splash & dasher touched down in the field, very close to a dead tree, and took off again. We don't know if he was playing around or having problems.

The balloon team decided to try to launch, right from the drive! It was exciting to watch them set up the basket, unpack the balloon, try to inflate it. And then they ultimately decided that it was too windy to launch. They were trying to gently deflate the balloon and set it back down on the tarp, but they asked for more weight. I ran over and tried to help them hold the basket down, control its location, while they were working on getting the balloon set down. It was really cool. A whole new world.

H-Bomb got to learn about what makes the fire (propane, like our heaters) and he and Sawed Off got to watch the whole thing up close.

Back in Michigan, we used to see occasional hot air balloons, but not like this. Not this close. Or this many. When my pictures are developed, I will post more from the set-up at the ranch headquarters entrance, and more of the balloons in flight.

At some point I ran back to the house to get the van, and we drove the van back when I decided we couldn't possibly stay any longer and still make it to school on time. We usually leave around 10:am, but because of all the balloon excitement and running around, I decided I needed a quick shower at 10:am. We still made it to school on time, with stories for H-Bomb to tell.