More Appreciation

Well, following that last blog post I received some lovely e-mails just full of appreciation. Thank you to all of you! 

My brother, "Uncle Scott" sent some old photos of us. I seem to be terrible about keeping old photos, or maybe just finding them. It might be hereditary. I know my mother seemed to believe that evidence of our entire childhood was lost by the movers. So, when I stumble upon old photos, they are that much more precious. I visualize a lost moving van somewhere just chock full of old photos.

Thanks for sharing, Scott! And, may I say, you were adorable!

Appreciation

I confess to sitting down yesterday and lamenting that I felt unappreciated. Michael was getting ready to go out of town on a series of jobs that will have him out and about from now through most of October while I had just spent the day jumping through hoops to get paperwork turned in for kids and organizing rides to here and there and listened to complaints from cranky teenagers. Upon my return home the kids went through the kitchen leaving a mess in their wake that needed to be cleaned up before dinner could be prepared and I reached the end of my rope.

Amira heard me complaining to Michael and came over and said, "It sounds like you need a hug." Michael explained that hugs are always nice, but sometimes people just need to be told they are appreciated for the things they do.

Later, Amira came to me with her camera and showed me some images. She said, "You should put these on the blog. They show the hard work you do. And you should title the blog, Appreciation."

Well, this went miles to making me feel better. Amira and Michael definitely bucked me up a bit. And it is nice to see photos through the eyes of someone else too. Below are images taken by Amira that she titles, "Appreciation":

September Activities

It being September and all, the kids are back in their assorted schools and in the thick of their assorted activities. Amira is continuing with the horse lessons she started last January.

Last week I had the opportunity to join the lesson. Wow! I got quite a few pointers from both Amira and her instructor. I learned so much and had such a great time that I hope to go back for another lesson tomorrow.


The day that I got to tag along for lessons it was a cloudy and rainy-ish day. It was so thrilling to be out of the heat and smoke for a change. Also, everything seems to slow down and look better from the top of a horse.


Amira is the leader here. I love the way she sits up tall with her shoulders square and looks straight ahead with confidence. My posture needs a little bit of work, but I hope to get there some day.


Valerie attended her FFA Greenhand event last week. Here are some other newbies from her school. They all seemed to have a great time. Valerie is working hard to save money to buy market sheep to take to the fair this year for her FFA project. She's doing loads of pet sitting, baby sitting and yard work around the neighborhood to pull in some cash. She also has daily chores of taking care of the chickens and turkeys at our house. For her side project, non-FFA, she plans to breed her ewe at home to lamb in the spring. And she still looks forward to working with her former 4-H project leader on fiber sheep events.


In the meantime Rex is very into paintball. He is on a team and has a numbered jersey with his name on it and everything. Also, he got a job as a paintball referee on Saturdays. He is super into it and really enjoys it.



Here is a team photo from a tournament in Sacramento last week. I think they got 4th place. What fun!

Now, back at the ranch ... I have finally pulled out my tomato plants. They told me they were done for the season. So, I picked the last few 'maters and pulled up the plants. I put few pansies in as place holders until my seedlings of lettuces and kales get big enough to transplant. You can see some of the early starts of cabbages and broccoli in front of the token corn in our front garden. And I expect we will still get some peppers, basil, chives and other herbs and flowers out of this patch for a bit. 

Our front yard is just busting out with bumble bees, honey bees, humming birds and other gorgeous pollinators. My profusion zinnias are really at their peak. They will be removed later this month and I'll have to put the pansies back in for the winter. But we will enjoy all the blooms here and the salvias in the main front yard until the cold weather sets in. I can hear this path to the front door hum as I walk up it each day. This is really my happy place.

Michael and I made a serious attempt to reclaim the back garden this year. Michael and Rex cut a boarder around the perimeter and then cut and soaked the interior and tented it with plastic for a good part of the summer. The idea was that the weed seeds would germinate and then incinerate in the heat. Yes, many did. But the bermuda really thrived. Bermuda!!!

So, then we took a pick axe through the area and removed as much as we could and brought in some clean compost and made rows. Michael set up the watering and I had some starts ready to go in. Already I'm pulling out bind weed starts. And it's just a matter of time before the Bermuda comes back. But I figure I might just get the winter garden head start. Bermuda might have to wait until next year to start the next round with me.

Right now we have assorted lettuces, kale, chard, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cilantro and parsley started. And I have some more seed trays with additional starts ready to come in behind these guys. I'll probably throw some garlic in here too. Not sure about onions. Maybe a few.

 Speaking of preparation for the next season, Michael built a wood shed. And he has been busily chopping and stacking. It's the "home gym". Notice the blue skies in the background? It's true, it has been really smoky lately. But today was clear as a bell. What a gorgeous blue!

Also, we have some cornish cross birds here that will be harvested next week. This is not our favorite breed to raise. They don't behave much like real chickens. They mostly sit down and eat and scooch across the yard to the water as they are too chunky and grow too fast to walk like normal chickens. Even the turkeys look smart in comparison to this lot. Speaking of turkeys, you can see two in the foreground. I'm rather enjoying the turkeys.

We also have some new layers mixed in here. We have 3 rhode island reds and 3 barred rocks. Hopefully they will start laying next spring to make up for the old slackers we have taken up space on the other side of the fence.

Location:September Activities

Day at the Beach

It was a gorgeous day at Donner Lake! I actually had to sit in the sun as I was too chilly in the shade. But this view looking east over the lake is always magnificent!

Photo by Amira:



We wound up commandeering a ping pong table and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.



Thanks, Susan & John! The cabin is so enjoyable and the deck looks fantastic.

Location:S Shore Dr,Truckee,United States

Hiking at Donner

It's Labor Day weekend. True to our schedule of getting up to Donner, it seems that we can only make it up on those nutty holiday weekends that everyone else does. But once we get past the boat launches and crowds headed to the beach, we find the solace of the cabin quite enchanting.

This weekend Rex stayed home to attend his paintball duties. He's on a team, so he really shouldn't miss a practice. (Thanks, Alligator, for driving him!)

Valerie felt the need to stay at home too so she could catch up on the vast quantities of homework as well as earn some money doing chores for the neighbors.

As a bonus, Rex & Valerie will take care of all the critters back at the Rancho. Thanks!

So, we packed Amira in the car and scooted her up to the cabin. We've had some nice hikes and lots of card games (Hearts, Cribbage & Black Jack. Amira and I lost some money at Black Jack ... So no more of that!)

Today we went up to the PCT by Boreal. That is always such a nice hike.

We saw some catfish in this lake.



There was some bouldering to make it all interesting.





Look at Amira & Michael go!




Mountain goats, I say!




This selfie brought to you by Cabellas.




If you look way up to the tippy top of that rock, you can kind of make us out. Michael put his phone on a rock down below on time lapse to get this one, clever guy!




Well, off to the beach to gawk at the crowds and see who is brave enough to get into the frigid lake! (Not me. I plan to bring a book and a chair. If the mood strikes, I might check out some ping pong paddles & a ball).

Tomorrow it sounds like we will join the throngs of traffic on the interstate returning from Burning Man. Big fun!

Back To School 2015

It has been a while since I've made time to update the blog. What a flake! We went on that awesome family road trip this summer and it seems like we've been trying to catch up with some free time ever since we came home! 

Valerie and I attended the California State Fair in Sacramento again. She showed sheep, ate potato tornadoes and got mobbed at the petting zoo. It was awesome.

We came home for a few days and packed and took off with the rest of the family for a little R&R in San Clemente with our friends. Love the beach time! Thanks, Kelley & Steve!

Michael got to jam with Bogie & some friends.

Kelley is my Zumba buddy! I will bring my shoes next time!

Once we got home from that adventure, it has been non-stop dentist, hair cuts, back to school shopping, orthodontist, school meetings and poultry herding. All this kept us so busy, but slightly mundane and not really noteworthy. Well, I would note that Amira's haircut looked fantastic.

Michael and I had decided that we were not going to raise any chickens or turkeys this year. We were just going to stick with our flock of layers and then start over next year. Well, that was all well and good until the chickens decided it was too hot and they were too old to lay.

And then the fantastic Mr. Fox showed up and started picking off the hens that were actually productive. We were a little resentful that we had to buy eggs from the store. So we decided to pick up a few layers. And since we had layers, we decided to try and get our hands on a couple of turkeys. And, what the heck, since we had all that other poultry, let's just add a bunch of meat birds too. We went from "let's not not raise any poultry this fall" to "Hey! Let's get a bunch of everything!" You can see below two little turkeys. They are both toms. One is giving us the fan already. Cute!

Well, now the kids are all back at school and assorted activities. Amira is in her last year of elementary school. She will go off to junior high next year. Can you believe it? She is still taking riding lessons one day a week after school. 

Rex is now a sophomore. He is still taking engineering, French and English. This year he is also taking world history, sculpture, Algebra II and independent study P.E. (That means he has to write paper for P.E. and show up at 7am once a week to run the equivalent of a mile). He is none too happy about that. His main activity outside of school is paintball. He is very good at it and is on a team now. He spends most weekends at the paintball park.

Valerie just began her freshman year "home schooling". The good news is that most of her classes are at the school. She is taking Math I, Health, Intro to Ag (science), American Sign Language I and Computer Literacy at the school. She has independent study P.E. and English. She is also taking orchestra out at Butte College again (this time earning high school and college credits simultaneously) and continuing with her piano and cello lessons. She is also in FFA this year (instead of 4-H). This may work out really well for her. She is the kid with too many activities. But, the plus side is that if you home school, you credit for all these activities you are doing anyway instead of just trying to squeeze them in after school. She loves her sign language class and her Ag class. The sign language program is great. By the third year the students get to work in a local school for the deaf and hard of hearing and can earn a certificate as a translator. That's a marketable skill! And this counts as her foreign language for college. Bonus.

Long Road Home

We left Minnesota early Friday morning and traveled through North Dakota, South Dakota & Wyoming. Rolling green hills, windy plains, cattle country & no mans land.






Lots of this through Wyoming. After 13 hours in the road we pulled over in Casper for a load of laundry & a few winks.





We stopped in Rock Springs, WY at a 50's burger joint for lunch. The kids were stoked to get shakes.






Here is a view from inside Rock Springs.




Wyoming seems to be the energy state. We saw refineries, oil pumping, coal mining, fracking and wind farming.






When we reached Utah we were elated to see less arid land and some mountains.




Here is the view from our hotel in downtown SLC. You cannot see it clearly, but this is the LDS business college in front of BYU.




After a LONG couple days in the car, Michael & I needed to stretch our legs. We went sight seeing downtown. It's a very nice urban center. The light rail is free for travelers within the downtown.

We stopped by the big Temple downtown. It was beautifully landscaped.











Later we stumbled upon a business called BTG. It was a wine bar that served small plates and flights of wine. It was PHENOMENAL! We started with the bone marrow served with a bacon jam and a smoked fennel with baby greens, apples and blue cheese salad.






The decor was fun. Lights over the bar hung in old wine bottles.




Chandeliers were made from wine glasses.


Love a good Napoleon quote.




They modified their chicken to be gluten free. Served with kale, bacon, roasted garlic, mashed potatoes & a Demi glacé made from Madeira and honey.





Here is Michael in front of the windmill display in front of the convention center.




We found the space alien missionaries in the spaceship on my Roadside America App. They are right in front of the Salt Lake Brewing Company. Awesome!








Note their ties!



Michael in front of the Utah Jazz arena.




Tomorrow we start the last leg of our drive through the Salt Flats, Nevada, over the Sierras and home to the valley. We are ready to come home. What a great trip.