#GoodBoyHeath !!!

I’ve been keeping busy trying to get jewelry made for the store and soap and stuff to fill orders. Heath is used to me either being strong enough to go out and do stuff or debilitated enough to remain on the couch for a week at a time, while he remains on constant watch and has my undivided attention. This is something quite new to him and he’s just not sure he likes it much at all.

While I sequester myself in my little work corner, he goes out and patrols the back yard, making sure the cats and raccoons stay out of it. I appreciate it more than you might imagine as I am deathly allergic to cats and until I got Heath, I couldn’t even sit outside as they got dander all over my outdoor furniture where they constantly slept. They also sat in the windowsills and it would blow in the house. But he does his job well and there’s been no more wheezing or itchy eyes.

I hear the back door slam, which means he just came inside. He sighs audibly and settles into one of his sleeping areas (he has several. The N end of the couch, the papasan chair, and the giant dog bed that the Maremmas don’t like.

I continue at my task until he says something. Heath doesn’t bark much, but he does vocalize a LOT. In his talky voice, he complains and lets me know he isn’t happy. He gets up and takes it out on the giant exercise ball and sends it smashing into me. Then he roots his nose into my leg a couple of times until he is satisfied has my attention. Then he smiles. Yes, he really does smile. I take a break and spend some time with him. I can count on him to keep my priorities straight.

Last night Heath was running through the house, collecting all his toys and putting them in the toy basket. He thought he was done and looked at me for confirmation. There was still a disc behind him. I asked him to back up, which he did, still looking at me. Then I thought for a minute, checked my hands and turned to the side, then told him to look left. He immediately did, and saw the disc. He picked it right up and put it away. TheMan was laughing at me, because it took me so long to figure out which was right and which was left. Heath had no such problem. Sometimes it’s tough having a dog smarter than me.

I've got Lemongrass, This Suds' for You (beer soap), Honeysuckle and HoneyMoo soaps currently curing, waiting to go in the store. A few jewelry pieces are done and this week I plan to work on some new jewelry techniques as well as some liquid soaps.

 Lemongrass colored with turmeric which has anti-inflammatory properties.

Beer soap with cocoa butter is a super good cleaning soap, that also conditions your skin.

The Honeysuckle has added turmeric and paprika.

 Heath continues to aid and entertain me each day, with his antics. He daily brings me his empty bowl to let me know he is likely to starve if I don't give him a snackie... and has also brought me his bowl FULL of dogfood that he didn't particularly like!

"halp me..."

"dis stuff is yuk"

"Need snackie plez"

Here's hoping you all have a good February. It's leap year, so there's no excuse not to get everything done, cuz we get an extra day :)

'Til next time,

Me N Heath

About Traveling...

Most definitely spring has arrived. Weeds are trying to dominate my landscaping and I am determined to make sure my flowers have a fighting chance. I made a purchase a few years ago from a nursery in Colorado. It was the only place I could find an Austrian Copper rose for sale. I am so glad I did. It gives me enormous pleasure to look at it.

My brother in law was here for the first time. I did a bit of cooking, but not much else as it was a rough week. Not much has changed in that department, although I am having a great day today and hope to have another and another...

I’ve got lots of soap cured for summer sales. CucumberMelon, Lemongrass, KiwiLemon and Jasmine, just to name a few. Check out the sales page at RanchRusticSoaps at etsy.com , or go the ranchrustics.com store.

Because of the cheatgrass seed heading out, I can’t let the dogs in the sheep’s night pasture until I can get rid of it as they keep getting into it. The horse corral is even worse so they are guarding at night from the yard. Daytime, the sheep are on their own as I have yet to get the radio fence finished. We are having to string almost a mile of wire and I have been incapacitated and TheMan won’t take time to do it so it’s going to be a problem for awhile, I’m afraid. I hope I don’t lose any lambs before I get things straightened out. I had to haul the dogs in to the vet because Mr Potamus got a cheatgrass seed caught in his throat. He doesn't like leaving home anymore than I do. He likes even less getting in a pickup truck. So, we had to take the Potamus Limo.

They didn't like it much. 

We have had to make a couple of trips into Burns this year. The last one, we stopped at Dairy Queen for a to-go bite. Upon leaving town, we discovered they left out half of the order. We turned around, drove all the way back and waited for the second half. Part of that was a large side of onion rings. For this kind of service, some folks think they are worth $15 an hour. I don't think so, Sherlock.

This is the smallest 'large' I ever saw.

But, once again, the good news is that if you have to drive for hours into town, you might as well have views like this along the way. This is heading for the small town West of the ranch, which is really only 2 hours, but it has very few stores so we don't go there often, choosing instead to make it a day and head to Idaho where there is everything we might need in one trip.

It hard to see them in the picture above, but we passed some of the wild horses on the way out. We also passed a herd of antelope, several cows (as it is open range) and 13 snakes on the dirt road!

Yeah. I can do this.

And Another Week Goes By

Mr Potamus is still suffering from being trapped, so he has been confined to the sheep pasture by himself…well…by himself with the sheep and goats that is, with his leg wrapped to keep him as quiet as possible hopefully allowing it to heal. I brought him in to check on it. He was being a pitifully pathetic Potamus, hiding in the bushes when I wanted him to come inside. I called him again to come in the house so I could unwrap his leg.

He made it three or four steps and then….

I think this was his way of saying his foot was killing him. Not that he is a drama queen or anything…

 Bruno relentlessly teases, chases and wrestles with him, so Bru is usually confined to the house or yard. He’s been climbing over the fence at night to patrol alone, which causes me more than a little stress and apprehension…and I guess, technically, it also means he isn't confined at all…but I digress. There really needs to be at least 1 other LGD with him, to back him up against the predators we have here, so having one dog down and injured really concerns me. It’s already tough enough for Potamus when he ISN’T injured, because he has to somehow keep close to protect the stock and still back up Bruno, if he needs help. I am praying for an answer to this dilemma. Stress just messes me up on all sorts of levels.

Because of a 'Potamus hug' deficiency, I sometimes switch dogs and put Bru in with the sheeple while Potamus comes to sit with me on the couch for awhile. Bru comes in to visit, but he isn't as needy as Potamus, therefore isn't quite as much into the touchy-feely thing. He'll come and ask for a belly rub, and of course to pay attention to his ears, but then he is satisfied to go outside on his loveseat for the rest of the day.

There are days you just need to be able to squeeze someone big and fluffy in order to get through it.

We had some pretty nice weather for awhile, then the inversion layer made it here. I think it caught Cowboy the rooster by surprise.

We really need snow on the mountain and rain down here in the basin. The county has been declared a disaster area because of the drought. I can only imagine what it must be like down in California.

I took a little road trip last week. I haven’t seen my brother or his family for several years and they only live about 5 hours away so I have been anxious to go visit. After mentioning this to TheMan, I found out that he couldn’t get away until sometime this month but the sheep are due to lamb soon, so that wasn’t going to work at all. I decided my best option was for him to feed the critters for me, while I went on to make the drive alone. Now, this may not seem like a big deal to MOST of you, but consider the fact that we own ONE vehicle and we always do everything together...this means I myself, have not driven for over 8 years. I used to pull a big gooseneck trailer full of show horses all over through traffic, with no problem but now, 8 years is a long time, especially when we have been living where there is NO traffic at all. So, it was a pretty huge undertaking for me just to drive our little old truck.

I packed my bag and carried it out to the truck. As soon as I opened the door, Cider tried to stow away. This was not a trip he could come on and I had to use a lot of cheese to get him back OUT of the truck, because even warning him about my deteriorated driving skills wasn't enough to scare him out of the back seat. He's either very brave, or very foolish. Perhaps both.

The boss passed by on his way to somewhere and said he'd go get TheMan so he could say goodbye. I waved goodbye to the Maremmas, who were devastated that I would even consider leaving the house, and headed to Reno. I turned an audiobook on the iPod and tooled on down the road. Three hours later, I was slapping myself in the face, trying to stay awake on the way into Winnemucca, NV. I wondered how on earth I was ever going to make another 2 hours to Reno without falling asleep. I stopped to top off the tank with diesel. My credit card got declined. I had no cash. So I called the company to find out what was wrong. As we usually use our card in Idaho, not Nevada, they flagged it as possibly stolen. I assured them that it really was me trying to use it. After that was straightened out, I found a cappucino machine that said “French Vanilla ALERT”. Sounded like just what I needed. I also had a revelation. Everytime we go to town, we turn on an audio book, I go back to sleep and TheMan drives...I realized I am like Pavlov’s dog. The book was putting me to sleep, even though I was enthralled by it. So off with the book, on with the music and I rocked out for the next two hours, wide awake, with a death grip on the steering wheel as traffic moved at 85 mph. I was sooo happy to see my brother when I finally made it there.

We had a good time. We were hoping to go out and play in his ‘gator’ but it rained all day the next day. My niece and her family came for dinner both nights. I brought down lamb and some homemade applesauce so we had a lamb roast one night and laughed at u-tube videos. It was great to see my family, but the next morning brought heavy snow and the forecast said snow at our house later, so I figured I had better hit the road and try to beat the storm home. There was no way I was gonna be able to make that drive in a storm. 5 hours later, as I came up the road to the house, a bunch of deer stood up to welcome me home. Well…probably not intentionally, but it was nice to see them anyway.

 When I finally arrived, there were two big white fluffy dogs bouncing up and down, ready to have a full on puppy party with me. It feels good to be loved.

Being the only cook in the kitchen again, it is time to restock the pantry. I got some meatballs canned and chili is on the stove today. We’ll probably have that for dinner and I will can the rest tomorrow for future dinners. No one in MY crew seems to be wanting to help out much…

UPS brought me packages today. Some new fragrances for soaping, more Himalayan Salt for Salt Bars and the meatgrinder finally got here from Japan so I can get the rest of the tallow rendered for Body Butter.  Spring will be here before long and I need to have the spring scents ready to ship.

One of the guys walked in the house today and asked “What scent do you have in that thing there, now?” (Pointing at my tart warmer)  I told him what it was and he said “I like your choices”  Who knew guys were fragrance fans?? At least when it smells like food, they are.

The Ranch Rustics webstore is still evolving. I think it is going to be a long process to figure this all out, but there is a ‘gallery’ showing photos of most of the products ( I still have pictures to take) and there is a ‘forum’ for customers to leave their ratings and feedback. If any of you who have used  Ranch Rustics products have a minute to take the time and leave a review, it would be much appreciated, and helpful for those who have not yet tried them. That’s http://ranchrustics.com.

Hope you all have a great week!

...And So Forth...

The heaters are plugged in on the water troughs, the shelters are up the hay has arrived and we are pretty much ready for winter. I was worried about Madge, the last of my original original Dorper ewes. It has been a year since she lambed and I thought maybe she wasn’t able to have anymore as she has had trouble lambing every time and I have had to intervene. I was glad to notice her little lopsided udder suddenly evened out. In less than two weeks time she went from looking not bred at all to absolutely enormous. She is currently in the lambing shed, lonely and uncomfortable. She’s taking her sweet time too, but I am glad because she is a sweet thing and I didn’t want to cull her.  In fact, night after night I have been watching her, although she doesn’t have the classical signs I usually am able to pick up on, such as hollow flank, tight, shiny bag and going ‘slab sided’. No, instead, her Madge-esty simply enjoys eating copious amounts of hay day and night and rocking back and forth in her attempts to get up and get down. She backs up to the wire grill door, with her ever so itchy derrier just out of sight of the camera and does the mambo, as I sit on my perch in the warm living room rocking with laughter at the sight.

The cougar still haunts the houses up above us, walking around the ranch compound without fear. He is still spotted in broad daylight, often not far from where the guys are loudly working in the shop. He avoids capture or destruction time after time. The cowdogs sound off at him as they back their way to safety, one reason I think he is so bold. The LGD’s would not be so easily intimidated, but as they cover much ground on their perimeter patrols, they still risk being caught in one of the traps the cougar has NOT stepped in. I’ve heard some of them could be lethal. At least one trapper will be here until January. It’s going to be a long, long 6 weeks, regardless of how very much we like him and enjoy his company.

EmmaLouMoo is about 4 1/2 months pregnant now and should calve in March. I was hoping to have SushiMoo bred but there wasn’t a bull in at the right time. Then they brought a bull up with some calves for some reason and had them in the back pasture. I asked the boss if I could put her out with him and he said “sure, but he leaves in 10 days.”  I watched everyday to see if she was in heat. She was coming in the morning they came for the bull. I just hope she got far enough along to be bred before they moved him. I hate having to wait over another year to see what kind of milk cow she is going to be for me.

Meanwhile, I’ve been making lots of soap. In addition to my normal inventory I have added Jasmine, which is fast becoming one of my new favorites. I have also made a couple of batches of Salt Soap which is exceedingly nice. It has incredible lather and I love the way my skin feels after using it. It gets things really clean without drying my skin out and the Himalayan Sea Salt in it does its work detoxifying and nurturing. I think it’s going to be a pretty popular soap. There are tons of different varieties cured and ready to go for Christmas gifts. They make great stocking stuffers! If anyone cares to order, please remember our pony express here is a little slow, so get your orders in soon if you are wanting them in time for Xmas. Soap is currently 3 bars for $12 but prices will be going up after the 1st of the year due to the rise in shipping and supplies. Salt soap is currently $5.50 a bar. They are very large and very heavy bars.

Health issues have kept me indoors much more than I would like lately, so I went out into the small sheep pasture  to visit with the Maremmas. Bruno is getting stir crazy and REAL crabby. He was complaining at the ram so badly I had to yell at him to stop. I had just fed everyone, and as usual, when I went to toss the hay over the fence, the sheep made sure to all be right in the landing zone. I watched as Annie-goat’s baby “Shugar” grazed all the leaf off the backs of her lamby companions. The dogs left their food bowls to visit with me and to keep the neighbor dogs at bay, as one Border Collie was taunting them with the famous BC ‘evil eye’. Next thing I knew, one of the young wethers had snuk over to their dogbowls and was helping himself. Now the Maremmas work hard at disciplining the sheep to leave their food alone. They roar and charge and run them off, which is okay, as they would otherwise starve. They never injure the animals so I see no reason to put a stop to it. The sheep know better...even this guy. I was curious to watch, as instead of running along the fence to run him off, they instead circled around at top speed through the middle of the flock. Instead of scattering in terror (because none of them are afraid of the Maremmas, instead they run TO them when frightened) they all watched as the dogs ran between them with the look on their faces of “Oh boy, Joey is REALLY gonna get it!” And he did.

The dogs clown around, wrestling and knocking each other down until someone gets mad...

Then, of course, Potamus wants to kiss and make up, much to Bruno's humiliation.

Next up on the entertainment list was Cowboy the rooster. He has adopted the sheep as his ‘flock’, grazing and foraging with them by day and sleeping with, or in many cases on them by night. He particularly enjoys riding around on Thyme’s back. She was waltzing across the pasture to the water trough when he hitched a ride and apparently he’s due for a pedicure because she took to pitching and bucking until she unseated him. He landed gracefully behind her and picked someone else to sit on. It’s funny to actually watch as the sheep stretch out their necks and sniff his face while he stands and allows it.

This evening, as usual, I fed the horses, captured my recalcitrant milk cows, fed them, fed the sheep, then in turn, fed the dogs. Once again, they had to run sheep away from their bowls. As I was heading for the house I noticed them return and with confused and forlorn looks on their faces, they looked at one another then just sat down, staring in the direction of their dog bowls without eating. Curious, I walked back to find the rooster and a friend had decided to help themselves, and gobbled up kibble unimpeded while the Maremmas looked on sadly. The LGD’s sense of honor is beyond fault.

Almost Winter

Dark clouds, pregnant with a coming storm roll over the ranch early this morning when I go out to milk EmmaLouMoo.

I saddle Wimpy and we wait by the horse trailer while they fix two flat tires, from the sharp rocks on the 50 miles of dirt road leading to the ranch.

Every fall, all the cows get processed and counted and at the end of it all, about 1500-2000 of them are pushed out to the desert to spend the winter. The rest of the cows will stay at the ranch. The cowboys bring a calf who had gotten separated, back to its mother.

The second rainbow of the day shimmers over the ranch as we unload horses to gather cows out of the field to take out to the desert.

We ride through willows and brush in one of the large pastures, in heavy winds, gathering the 1400 cows we will begin pushing to the desert. Today, we plan to take them to a large basin just past one of the hot springs before heading back. The wind howls and I feel raindrops randomly spattering on my oilskin duster.

One of the cowboys was crossing a bog. His horse lunged, in an effort to avoid sinking, but missed the bank and fell back, rolling over on his rider in the mud. Neither were injured, but both were mud soaked . Its all in a day's work for them.

The dust obscures our vision as we continue to drive the cows across the range, through sagebrush and greasewood.

The cows finally line out in a ribbon  nearly two miles long. One rider is at the head of the procession, ensuring the lead cows don't head in the wrong direction. The other 3 of us space out down the line to keep them all moving and tucked in. Some of these cows have been this way before and it makes our job easy, as they deliberately travel towards the respite they know they will find in the the little valley basin tonight.

A storm is rolling in off the Steens, hiding the 10,000 ft. peaks. You can barely see the line of cattle to the right with a rider barely visible in the back ground. Tonight it is supposed to snow as low as the ranch. So far, its been fairly nice. Clad in long johns, "wild rags" and layers of clothing, wearing gloves and jackets or dusters, we remain fairly comfortable even, at times too warm, after heading off errant cows in the brush and pushing them back into line.

The sky has been decorated with rainbows all day.

Only a few more miles to go. The boss had someone follow him and he brought the truck and horse trailer out and left it at our destination so we don't have to ride the several miles back. We are all relieved to reach it. We watch the cows spread out to graze and the 4 of us cram into the front seat of the old ranch truck and head back home to unsaddle before dark.

Its been another great day.

I'd love to be spending the next day taking them the rest of the way, but I know my physical condition won't allow it, so I will stay with Cider, making cheese and butter with the 12 gallons of milk Emma has already graced our refrigerator with. She is giving me 3 gallons a day with a ton of heavy cream, on once a day milking. She is proving to be a really great little cow. She's always waiting at the gate at milk time and goes through her routine with rarely a hitch. Cows are like that, little order freaks. It makes life easier.

Today I'll make parmesan, mozzarella and ricotta cheeses and more butter pats for the freezer. I have found it easier to use them in this form than in the log I used to make. To measure it, I put a cup of water in a 2 cup measure and just drop butter pats in until the water mark reaches the necessary mark. The pats are a perfect size for putting on the table for pancakes, waffles and toast and they store nicely. I just take a few out of the freezer every week to soften and meet our needs. It's a nice way to put butter on the table for company too. I purchased the mold for the pats through an old timey catalogue. Just soak the wooden mold in cold water prior to using and the softened butter (not too soft) pops right out onto the baking sheet, then I freeze them to put into ziplocs later.

I will rise some bread in the extra room and bake it. I can't rise bread and make cheese in the same room, as the wild yeast from the bread will inoculate the cheese and give it an off-flavor. They go great together at the END of the process though. If all goes well, I can get some soap wrapped and another batch curing by tonight. That will have me almost caught up on the things I need to get done. I'll start some Christmas sewing next week.

Cheese, butter, bread, soap, laundry and chores, then maybe I can ride again on Saturday.

What a great way to live.