Short N Sweet

Not a lot has been going on. SushiMoo should calve sometime in August and I am hoping I will be up to milking her twice a day and put her calf on a bottle for the most part as I need the milk. EmmaLouMoo will likely go up for sale at that time as I just cannot afford to feed two cows through the winter and I can't budget feeding the copious amounts of supplements Em needs to maintain her weight. We just don't need 7 gallons of milk a day… I'm gonna miss her sweet face though.

There are several fires going again this summer, not terribly unusual as there are often lightening strikes in the summer that start the sagebrush aflame. Most of the ranch is gone fighting fire, with the heavy equipment from here. One night a drunk driver took the boss' semi truck head on. I heard the driver was going close to 100 mph while trying to pass another car. It destroyed the boss' truck but fortunately, the boss was not injured. That's not the case for the driver who hit him however. Please let this be a reminder to all of you, there is no excuse for drinking and driving and nothing is important enough to make risky passings on the road. Life is fragile and can be gone in a second. We are grateful the boss is ok, and that no other innocent person was injured in the wreck. We are very sorry for the driver and his family, for what they must be going through.

TheMan is home, running the pivots and fixing equipment. I'm hoping against hope that he will be able to help me finish the mile of dog fencing as I really need to get the Maremmas back out with the sheep where they belong.

He bought the rest of the cavvy in from across the road...

The ducks are nearly fully feathered now and having a good time playing outside in the grass and water and are slowly getting used to us and the dogs. Bruno has opted to stay outside and keep an eye on them, as something got one of the guineas the other night when the dogs were inside.

Potamus, on the other hand, is an aspiring couch potato and slyly stretches his feet out towards me to let me know he is here and no one is petting him…he thinks that little issue should be amended.

My time has been spent pulling weeds, putting down mulch in the garden, feeding critters when I can, and filling orders. I also made a 'by request' soap. It is a beer soap scrub with Lemongrass&Poppyseed and ground luffa. It should be really nice and will be for sale in the shop in another week or so. Look for it there. Ranch Rustics Handcrafted Soaps

Wild Wild Weekend

We had esteemed visitors last weekend. My brother, who has never been here before came up to see us. He is the only one of my childhood family that will ever be here, so it was pretty exciting. We’ve had many losses over the past couple of years and I don’t see either of my citybred sisters wanting to experience ranch life. He brought his nifty little Ranger ATV that carries 4 people easily so it was pretty fun because I got to go everywhere with him. My niece and nephew came up the day after his arrival so it was exponentially more fun. Usually I pretty much stay at the house while everyone does there thing and get to enjoy their company at meal times. Feeding them good, at least, is something I can do most of the time. We still managed to eat pretty well, even though I was gone most of the day.  The night he got here we had some lambchops, brown rice and Arkansas green beans, along with a salad and homemade bleu cheese dressing. It was a good start.

The first morning I got up early for me, as I knew he is a very early riser, waking about 4:30 each day. The cowboys were sorting and shipping cattle on the other side of our rock wall in the big corral and I thought he might like to watch. I ran over to the cabin he stayed in and knocked, but no answer. I tried the door and was surprised to find it locked...not so much that I found it odd he would lock a front door, as living in the city, it would be a natural habit, but surprised that one of the buildings on the ranch HAD a locking door! I took some pics of the cowboys working for him. 

Eventually he staggered out of bed 5 hours later than usual surprised he could sleep so long. I think the lack of sounds had something to do with it. Just another one of the perks living so far from civilization...plus he was situated in probably the ONLY place on the ranch one doesn’t hear my rooster.

We ran up the mountain to the weir, which is always an amazing view. After bouncing off of the rocks on the way up and the way back we went to see the pivots going in across the ranch. It took most of the day with TheMan driving and answering all the technical Y-chromosome questions while I sat in the back seat enjoying the scenery. We drove out to the processing corrals and passed a pair of pheasants, which are always beautiful to see.

We brought the sheeple in, locked up the calves so I could milk EmmaLouMoo in the morning, gathered eggs, picked some strawberries and raspberries and BBq’d steak for dinner. My niece and nephew arrived that evening.

The next day, the kids wanted to ride their dirt bikes so we went North of the ranch headquarters back into the canyon. Just after we passed a natural hotspring we looked back to see a cloud of dust moving along the edge of the mountain. We stopped and as the breeze changed and the dust reorganized we saw a herd of wild mustangs that passed us up. They stopped after awhile and we pulled ahead of them so we wouldn’t be pushing them as it is a drought year and we were afraid they might be searching for water and it was a very warm day. They began running again, catching up to us once more. We stopped again and they continued on, crossing the dirt road right behind us, then pulling up ahead to charge into the valley for which we’d been heading. We could hear their hoofbeats and almost feel the thundering in the ground, even though it was a small herd of only 13 horses. We decided to turn around so as not to excite them, but not before we got a few pictures. I think it was probably the highlight of the trip as it’s not something you see everyday.

The last day we went out on the dry lakebed. There is no way to describe how vast it is in size, except to say they set the women's land speed record there in the 60's in excess of 500 mph. The views are astonishing and camera shots cannot do them justice. All in all, I think it was a pretty good first trip.

We made Boule Bread and 4 loaves of Sourdough so the kids know how that is done. I had the bathrooms stocked with Ranch Rustics Soaps and Whipped Tallow which came in handy after being out in the dust and dirt all day.  They all purchased a dozen or so soaps to take with them. 

I fattened them up with Sourdough/Buttermilk Waffles made with homemilled wheat flour and some BIG dinners, and the "Coup de Grace" was  Beef Kebabs followed by Bananas Flambé on homemade crepes with homemade vanilla ice cream on top. Ahhhhh….Sorry, we were in too big of a hurry to eat them to take any pictures for you.

 I suspect they will all be back. I'll be looking forward to it.