It's HOT! The early mornings are a bit cool but it gets hot so fast. There is not much to do about it but do our work and sweat. We tend to eat light and take an afternoon siesta. Cold watermelon is a wonderful treat for a mid-afternoon snack. So refreshing. then back to work until dark.
But I want to share our delightful secret for cooling off to get a good night's sleep. First, I take a good shower in our wonderful outdoor shower. Then I walk across the yard and climb into our old galvanized stock tank full of really cold well water. It is so cold it takes my breath away and I let out a scream when I get brave enough to sit down in it. But I force myself to stay under the water and oh, it is so wonderful, and cools my body down to the core. It is just so serene and peaceful out there in the dark with the stars twinkling above and the night sounds all around me. Just such a special, almost magical time. I stay in about 5-10 minutes and just enjoy the coolness, then get out and dress for bed. It is amazing how cool you stay all night long after doing that. Makes for such a good night's sleep.
This ranch is just such a blessing to me. I just love the closeness to the outdoors--even if it is hot. There is almost always a good breeze blowing, and we are so blessed to have so much shade on the cabin and yard from our big Pecan trees. And the creek is just so pretty--I never tire of just sitting beside it and gazing at it and all the little critters who live there. I love all the little birds who come to my feeders and watching the hummers squabble with each other, and just watching the sheep and goats graze. I love hanging our wash on the clothesline and seeing it blow in the wind and sun--and that fresh, clean smell the clothes have. I love early morning walks all around the ranch--seeing the deer run before us. I love this cabin filled with items from my childhood home--it is just filled with memories. It is just neat to sit at the dinner table I grew up eating on as far back as I remember. And cooking with the same pots and pans and utensils that my mother used. I just love it. I love hearing the sounds of Don working not too far away and fixing a good supper for him to look forward to. God just blessed me immensely when He gave us this ranch. I am so blessed.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Girl's Weekend at the ranch
This past weekend was so much fun! Alisa and Tammie arrived at the ranch on Friday afternoon for a girl’s weekend. I had the upper cabin all ready for us to stay up there so we would not “bug” Don and so he could watch his ball games and we could watch our “chick flics”.
We headed into town about 4:30 to go to the rummage sale at St. Mary’s church. It is an annual event that we love to go to----lots of good stuff and really cheap prices. Last year Alisa and I got some great quilts for $3 each. There were not near as many treasure this year but we had fun looking and found a few things. Then we headed for Mamacita’s for the best Mexican food around. Boy, was it good. We were thoughtful and brought Don a nice fajita plate home so he wouldn’t feel too left out. He was thrilled with the food but rather glad to be left alone to eat it and watch his Ranger’s game. So we headed up to our cabin, got settled in and watched “Nanny Diaries” and then off to bed early as we were getting up at 6:30 because there were 20 garage sales to hit the next morning and the first one opened at 7.
We got up , ate a quick breakfast, made some sandwiches for lunch to take with us, packed some cold drinks and off we went. We were all over the city of Fredericksburg and down pretty country roads we had never seen before. Lots of fun, a few good treasures, just a great day. Also, spend some time at Dooley’s old time 5 and dime store and walking around main street. Ran a couple of errands for Don and headed back to the ranch. It had just been a fun day. We ate the Monterrey Spaghetti I had made for our supper and talked and talked--you know, solved all the world’s problems, then watched “27 dresses” and fell asleep.
Sunday morning, all to early, my friends had to go back home. But it was such a nice weekend. It had been so long since we had done that. We all needed it!
We headed into town about 4:30 to go to the rummage sale at St. Mary’s church. It is an annual event that we love to go to----lots of good stuff and really cheap prices. Last year Alisa and I got some great quilts for $3 each. There were not near as many treasure this year but we had fun looking and found a few things. Then we headed for Mamacita’s for the best Mexican food around. Boy, was it good. We were thoughtful and brought Don a nice fajita plate home so he wouldn’t feel too left out. He was thrilled with the food but rather glad to be left alone to eat it and watch his Ranger’s game. So we headed up to our cabin, got settled in and watched “Nanny Diaries” and then off to bed early as we were getting up at 6:30 because there were 20 garage sales to hit the next morning and the first one opened at 7.
We got up , ate a quick breakfast, made some sandwiches for lunch to take with us, packed some cold drinks and off we went. We were all over the city of Fredericksburg and down pretty country roads we had never seen before. Lots of fun, a few good treasures, just a great day. Also, spend some time at Dooley’s old time 5 and dime store and walking around main street. Ran a couple of errands for Don and headed back to the ranch. It had just been a fun day. We ate the Monterrey Spaghetti I had made for our supper and talked and talked--you know, solved all the world’s problems, then watched “27 dresses” and fell asleep.
Sunday morning, all to early, my friends had to go back home. But it was such a nice weekend. It had been so long since we had done that. We all needed it!
Just Stuff
WARNING: a really long blog (but it has been a really long time since I wrote.......)
I miss blogging something awful. Have tried several times but give up as the words just won’t come but tonight I’m determined so here goes.
I am sitting out on the porch of the ranch cabin--only place it is cool enough to tolerate. Nice breeze, lots of little birdies above me enjoying their feeders totally unafraid of my presence; sunflower seeds scattered all over the porch from the squirrel who raids the feeders; sheep and goats grazing along the creek….I put a collar with a bell on Bucky, the lead goat. Just something about the tinkling of that bell I like….plus it makes us easier to locate the goats when we are looking for them. It is just a pleasant evening--nicest part of the day is when that hot sun finally sets. Let me tell you, it is HOT down here these days. Much cooler to be outside in the shade in mid-day than in the cabin even with tons of fans running.
Today I took on the tasks of washing all the bedding in the cabin….couldn’t remember when I did it last. Sure did not take long for it to dry on the line---even the quilts flapping in the wind with the hot sun on them were dry in a jiffy. While I was doing that chore I also was tending to defrosting the old frig in the store-room. Another task I cannot remember when I did it last. This is the frig I grew up with as a child--way over 50 years old and just keeps on going. BUT….we left here in a rush last fall when we were called out to the San Diego wildfires with Red Cross and I had left a watermelon and several other items that I could not distinguish in there. Needless to say, it was NOT a fun mess to clean up. And there was a ton of ice build-up so I was glad I did the job. It is all sparkly clean now and just humming a nice tune it is so happy.
We have been at the ranch for about 10 days now--a very eventful 10 days. We came suddenly after a phone call from a neighbor telling us our goats had gotten out of the fence, jumped the cattle guard, and were headed up the road. Thankfully, they were able to get them back in our fences before we got here. Mind you, Don had just left here the day before after fixing several holes in fences and thinking he had the problems solved. But unfortunately, the grass is indeed greener on the other side of the fence so the goats were very motivated to break out. Don found another hole and repaired it but the next day the goats were out again--but they were still on our land and not causing problems so we just let them stay out and sure enough they came back in at dusk and we fed them. It was hard to blame them for wanting the taller grass in the unfenced portion of our ranch. We put the cows out on that side, too. That left only the sheep in here. A neighbor told us of a trick you could do to your cattle guard that would keep the goats from crossing it. So on Sunday afternoon Don and I worked for hours in the hot sun repairing the sides of the cattle guard and putting this little “trick” up. What it is is bungies with a rope tied between them that stretch across the cattle guard about 4 inched above the road, where a car can just run over it, but for whatever reason, goats are afraid to cross over it. We were pretty pleased with ourselves. A little later we were sitting in the yard relaxing and the cows were bellowing at us, which we ignored, and a little bit later we heard a loud crashing and it was the cows breaking through the cattle guard on the side of it and there they went running up the road. So we hopped in the truck and went to round them up. They were rather wild and not at all inclined to go back home. We finally had to tear down the side of the cattle guard we had just repaired so we could herd them back in. Don was so mad I think he could have shot them. We got them back in our fences and called it a day.
We had already made the decision to sell some of the goats and now were seriously thinking of selling the cows. There just is not enough grass here to support them. It is so hot and dry. And cows are a pain--and more expensive to feed and care for, etc. etc. But we didn’t even have a trailer to haul them to auction in. My neighbor suggested calling the auction house and asking them for names of some livestock haulers--that they would come to your ranch, load them and take them to auction. Sounded wonderful to me so I got a name and called one who was real nice and agreed to be here Wednesday to get them.
This was great news but now we had to fortify our pens so we could contain the cows and have them penned when he came. Remember my blog from last summer when the vet came and we had quite a rodeo in the pens whenthe stupid cow jumped the fence twice and escaped…….Well, on Tuesday, we rounded up all the goats and selected the ones we wanted to sell and got them easily loaded in the goat trailer and took them to the auction. We stayed at the auction for most of the day just to see what things were going for. Sheep and goats are sold on Tuesday and cattle on Wednesday. Don and I both love the auction but just wish we understood it all better. How we would love to just be mentored by one of the buyers. They just don’t miss a thing. Livestock auctions are just a great piece of Americana that we love--it is like stepping back in time. There were LOTS of sheep and goats being sold that day. The prices were down as due to the dry conditions and high costs of feed ranchers are having to sell off lots of their stock. We got an ok price for ours but not as good as in times past. But it was a relief to have less animals to feed.
We now have just 10 goats and 21 sheep. The sheep are the easiest and bring the most money. We will wait until September to thin some of them out as we have heard the best time to sell is around the Jewish holidays.
Back to the cows---after we got home from the auction we took on the task of fortifying the pens to hold the cows and be able to get them down the shute and into the trailer. We put up cattle panels and tied ratchet straps around the posts to give them extra support. We were up at the crack of dawn and out trying to find the cows to get them in the pens and our hauler was supposed to be here at 8. We got them all in and fed them a little bit of cubes at a time to keep them happy. We have two cows and two bull calves. We were toying with the idea of keeping our longhorn calf and raising him for beef for ourselves as he sure was pretty and we were kinda sorry to see him go. The hauler arrived and did an excellent job--very smooth and trouble free--of loading the cows. No crazy shenanigans from our crazy cow. We discussed our thoughts of keeping the calf and he pretty much discouraged us from doing so. We really liked him and he had lots of experience so we loaded all four of them up and sold all of them. I have to say that it was such a big relief to us both to see them go. It is so nice to be able to leave the yard gates open and not to have to fight off cows every time we go to do something. The goats seem happier and are staying in the fences.
All is well---well, we sure could use a good long rain and a decrease in temperature. We got a half inch of rain from “Dolly” for which we were grateful but sure do need more. Red Cross asked for us to go out on Dolly but we just had to take care of our livestock problems here on the ranch so we said no. We’ll catch the next hurricane.
So we will be at the ranch for awhile as Don wants to get back to work on the fence he began last fall. We do love it out here in spite of the heat.
I miss blogging something awful. Have tried several times but give up as the words just won’t come but tonight I’m determined so here goes.
I am sitting out on the porch of the ranch cabin--only place it is cool enough to tolerate. Nice breeze, lots of little birdies above me enjoying their feeders totally unafraid of my presence; sunflower seeds scattered all over the porch from the squirrel who raids the feeders; sheep and goats grazing along the creek….I put a collar with a bell on Bucky, the lead goat. Just something about the tinkling of that bell I like….plus it makes us easier to locate the goats when we are looking for them. It is just a pleasant evening--nicest part of the day is when that hot sun finally sets. Let me tell you, it is HOT down here these days. Much cooler to be outside in the shade in mid-day than in the cabin even with tons of fans running.
Today I took on the tasks of washing all the bedding in the cabin….couldn’t remember when I did it last. Sure did not take long for it to dry on the line---even the quilts flapping in the wind with the hot sun on them were dry in a jiffy. While I was doing that chore I also was tending to defrosting the old frig in the store-room. Another task I cannot remember when I did it last. This is the frig I grew up with as a child--way over 50 years old and just keeps on going. BUT….we left here in a rush last fall when we were called out to the San Diego wildfires with Red Cross and I had left a watermelon and several other items that I could not distinguish in there. Needless to say, it was NOT a fun mess to clean up. And there was a ton of ice build-up so I was glad I did the job. It is all sparkly clean now and just humming a nice tune it is so happy.
We have been at the ranch for about 10 days now--a very eventful 10 days. We came suddenly after a phone call from a neighbor telling us our goats had gotten out of the fence, jumped the cattle guard, and were headed up the road. Thankfully, they were able to get them back in our fences before we got here. Mind you, Don had just left here the day before after fixing several holes in fences and thinking he had the problems solved. But unfortunately, the grass is indeed greener on the other side of the fence so the goats were very motivated to break out. Don found another hole and repaired it but the next day the goats were out again--but they were still on our land and not causing problems so we just let them stay out and sure enough they came back in at dusk and we fed them. It was hard to blame them for wanting the taller grass in the unfenced portion of our ranch. We put the cows out on that side, too. That left only the sheep in here. A neighbor told us of a trick you could do to your cattle guard that would keep the goats from crossing it. So on Sunday afternoon Don and I worked for hours in the hot sun repairing the sides of the cattle guard and putting this little “trick” up. What it is is bungies with a rope tied between them that stretch across the cattle guard about 4 inched above the road, where a car can just run over it, but for whatever reason, goats are afraid to cross over it. We were pretty pleased with ourselves. A little later we were sitting in the yard relaxing and the cows were bellowing at us, which we ignored, and a little bit later we heard a loud crashing and it was the cows breaking through the cattle guard on the side of it and there they went running up the road. So we hopped in the truck and went to round them up. They were rather wild and not at all inclined to go back home. We finally had to tear down the side of the cattle guard we had just repaired so we could herd them back in. Don was so mad I think he could have shot them. We got them back in our fences and called it a day.
We had already made the decision to sell some of the goats and now were seriously thinking of selling the cows. There just is not enough grass here to support them. It is so hot and dry. And cows are a pain--and more expensive to feed and care for, etc. etc. But we didn’t even have a trailer to haul them to auction in. My neighbor suggested calling the auction house and asking them for names of some livestock haulers--that they would come to your ranch, load them and take them to auction. Sounded wonderful to me so I got a name and called one who was real nice and agreed to be here Wednesday to get them.
This was great news but now we had to fortify our pens so we could contain the cows and have them penned when he came. Remember my blog from last summer when the vet came and we had quite a rodeo in the pens whenthe stupid cow jumped the fence twice and escaped…….Well, on Tuesday, we rounded up all the goats and selected the ones we wanted to sell and got them easily loaded in the goat trailer and took them to the auction. We stayed at the auction for most of the day just to see what things were going for. Sheep and goats are sold on Tuesday and cattle on Wednesday. Don and I both love the auction but just wish we understood it all better. How we would love to just be mentored by one of the buyers. They just don’t miss a thing. Livestock auctions are just a great piece of Americana that we love--it is like stepping back in time. There were LOTS of sheep and goats being sold that day. The prices were down as due to the dry conditions and high costs of feed ranchers are having to sell off lots of their stock. We got an ok price for ours but not as good as in times past. But it was a relief to have less animals to feed.
We now have just 10 goats and 21 sheep. The sheep are the easiest and bring the most money. We will wait until September to thin some of them out as we have heard the best time to sell is around the Jewish holidays.
Back to the cows---after we got home from the auction we took on the task of fortifying the pens to hold the cows and be able to get them down the shute and into the trailer. We put up cattle panels and tied ratchet straps around the posts to give them extra support. We were up at the crack of dawn and out trying to find the cows to get them in the pens and our hauler was supposed to be here at 8. We got them all in and fed them a little bit of cubes at a time to keep them happy. We have two cows and two bull calves. We were toying with the idea of keeping our longhorn calf and raising him for beef for ourselves as he sure was pretty and we were kinda sorry to see him go. The hauler arrived and did an excellent job--very smooth and trouble free--of loading the cows. No crazy shenanigans from our crazy cow. We discussed our thoughts of keeping the calf and he pretty much discouraged us from doing so. We really liked him and he had lots of experience so we loaded all four of them up and sold all of them. I have to say that it was such a big relief to us both to see them go. It is so nice to be able to leave the yard gates open and not to have to fight off cows every time we go to do something. The goats seem happier and are staying in the fences.
All is well---well, we sure could use a good long rain and a decrease in temperature. We got a half inch of rain from “Dolly” for which we were grateful but sure do need more. Red Cross asked for us to go out on Dolly but we just had to take care of our livestock problems here on the ranch so we said no. We’ll catch the next hurricane.
So we will be at the ranch for awhile as Don wants to get back to work on the fence he began last fall. We do love it out here in spite of the heat.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Good Mornin' from New York
Just some rambling thoughts on my mind this morning:
- Coffee is just the greatest thing to greet me in the mornings. It is just sooo good. I only have one cup but it sure is something I look forward to daily.
- I have been sick most of the time I have been here---just a nasty upper respiratory infection--just feel lousy--sore throat, that awful tickly feeling on the back of your throat that makes you cough constantly--can't sleep good and just don't feel myself. I think I am at the end of it though as each day gets better.
- This is our last day in New York. Has been a nice, long leisurely visit. We managed to help Barb get some projects done around her house: built an outdoor shed from a kit; Don cut down two huge dead trees; Don installed the icemaker in her new frig; and he built and installed new hand rails for her back door. So we feel we have somewhat earned our keep.
- Barb, Carol, Don and I went to the Yankee game on the 30th and watched the Rangers beat them. It was just fun being at Yankee stadium--had great seats--what a fun evening. I love baseball! And for us it was a win/win situation since we are Ranger fans as well as Yankee fans.
- Last night Barb and Don went again to the Yankee vs Red Sox game (Barb has season Sunday home game seats). This time instead of driving into the city they took the train and subway since the end-of-holiday-weekend-traffic was so awful. They are still asleep after getting home really late that I do not know who won or how it all went. Carol and I stayed home, rented "Little Miss Sunshine", and watched that. What a hilarious movie!
- We celebrated Barb's 60th birthday on Saturday with a big family party in the back yard at their house. Wally's son and family from Texas were here also so we enjoyed the visit with them--had not seen them since they came to our wedding. Then after all the guests had left Barb pulled out the patio fireplace from the shed and we sat outside around the fire just talking and laughing until late. How nice that the weather is cool enough to enjoy doing that. We even made s'mores.
- Weather has been in the 80's for highs--windows open in house--so nice--so DIFFERENT from our furnace blower intense heat back home. And it is so pretty and green and lush here. It isn't brown like home.
- Barb and Carol have two friends who have a beautiful old house on about 3 acres with grounds and gardens that are out of this world. They are in Georgia on vacation so I went with Barb to help water things and was just in awe. I mean this place should be on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens or Country Living of should be a place that hosts wedding receptions or something. It is just breathtakingly beautiful and decorated all country like with old antique farm implements, etc. I took about a jillion photos and will post them when I get home. I loved their home--inside and out--exactly my kind of decorating and tastes. Just so comfy cute and cozy. I absolutely loved it. I cannot begin to imagine how much time it must take to keep these gardens so gorgeous. I never saw one single weed. I just can't wait to post the pictures and share the beauty with you.
- I am actually looking forward to getting home tomorrow. I miss my dogs and cats and my baby chickens and my goats and my gardens and all. I hear we got a little rain, too.
- It feels weird to be in New York and not go spend a day in New York City like we always do but neither of us had the desire to do it this time. Though I did see that Taylor Hicks is playing in Grease on Broadway and I would have loved to see that. Another time. We like the city best in the fall.
- So that is all the news I have for now. Hopefully, we will be home tomorrow.
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