Where's Jessa?

In preparation for our annual creek fishing trip on Saturday, Kate and I prepared a picnic in a basket. Kate always spreads out the blanket to have a barley breakfast picnic, but it has nearly been a year since we had done the real thing. Thus, she was SO excited about it, and couldn't wait to show it to daddy. Meanwhile, I go hunting for Jessa, who had disappeared as we packed the basket to our heart's desire. Jessa? Jessa? Wheeerrreee arrreee youuuuu? Can you find her? In all the excitment, her mother had forgotten it was nap time, so apparenty she took matters into her own little baby hands--ALL the stuffed animals from the plastic tub had been tossed out to create a lumpy, but tremedously snuggly spot, and my dear sweet baby girl was camoflaged in with the animals, sleeping as peacefully as only little ones do. Simply precious; my heart melted.

A Melting Pot

Thursday the 22nd, I was the recipient of a great kindness, which allowed me to finally have the FOUDUE experience. I have taken a dip in fondue fountains at parties, but had never been to a fondue restaurant. At a church service auction this year, I saved up all my "money" to bid on a fondue dinner. Unfortunately, it was one of the last items auctioned, so by the time I was outbid, there was not much left to bid on, and I was left empty-handed at the end of the night, which was only slightly disappointing. The giver of the dinner, however, is a friend of mine and she took notice; she was not willing to allow me to give a great service (wich she had been the recipient of the year before), only to have me not join in on the fun. So, to my surprise and ultimate pleasure, she treated to an evening of fondue at The Melting Pot with a handful of others (whom she was not treating). It was not until I saw the menu that I realized what a pricey gift it was--Fondue is expensive! The group was a true "Melting Pot" in-and-of itself, and with all the ruckus we were making, the owner of the restaurant came to sit in at our table. A small, charming and dramatic woman, Helen entertained us for an hour with stories of her family and religion. She was so animated; she would often get up, look all around to make sure no one else was watching, and act out someone's manerisims or other feature of the story she was animating. It was completely hilarious. I was laughing the whole time, though I can see why she was a bit self-conscious--any customers passing by might think her downright crazy! She remind me of some of the river guides I know...here is Helen, as dramatic as possible, kicking up a boot for the camera. She is not one to be forgotten!

World Champion Jockey in Training

One day last week, Doug brought home a surprise for the girls at lunchtime--the first horny toad find of the year! In case you are not aware, the World Championship Horny Toad Race is held at Murphy Outpost Days every summer. Over the years, we have built up quite a reputation, with an accompanying trophy case. Needless to say, we look forward to the race all year long, and Doug is even encouraging me to learn to sew Kate up some racing silks like all proper jockeys exhibit. I am thinking some silks like Big Brown's jockey would be just fine--the stars and stripes are just so patriotic! It is a good thing Chewy (yes, that is the toad) stayed for a few days, because jockey Kate, in her time off, had forgotten how harmless the toads are. She was happy to kiss it, but didn't want to hold it or have it climb on her for the first day (check out that expression!). Luckily, it didn't take long for her to get right back into racing shape. This year, she is going to have some really tough competition though because Jessa is going to be old enough for a toad of her own, and Jessa is quite the corker! Racing hint: Come join us in the fun, but if you want to win, your racing toad has to be caught the day before or the day of the race. Tame toads don't run fast! Also, you have to come up with a creative, local history-inspired name for your toad. No, our racing toad will not be named Chewy!

The Trophy Case.

History Mystery

On Saturday the 17th, I had a lot of fun joining in on the county historical society field trip, which is something I have been wanting to do for years. I finally got around to it because the tour included coming here to the ranch! The day started at the old train depot in town, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover one of my college students from a few years ago also on his first historical society field trip. The day included visits to the three ranches on the creek, with the attractions here being the old barn and the white house. It was so much fun to share the history we knew, and to also learn some of the stories of the past. History holds so many mysteries! After a fun-filled day, I guess I had not had enough, because I soon found myself cleaning a house on one of the other ranches on the creek (cashing in a Christmas coupon). It turned out the biggest mystery of the day was how much history had been made since anyone had vacuumed behind the television set! :)

The man holding these railroad date nails ended up giving me one at the end of the day because I was so interested in them! He said he already has quite a collection. What a nice guy!

A Spring Break

As much fun as the trip was, it was still a roadtrip involving being cooped up in the pickup for hours on end....yah right. Actually, that is not how it was at all; I wish that had been the case! When we stopped to fuel up for the first time, we discovered the horrible reality of our situation--the rear tank on the pickup would not fuel up at all, and the front tank would only fill at a snails pace (we timed 1 gal/minute or longer)! Oh drat. This meant that we had to stop and fuel up often--sometimes as often as every 100 miles due to long stretches of roadway without fuel stops or in the passes that guzzzled the diesel. This made the trip much longer, and you can guarantee that is was always bitter cold with a wind to boot. The pump had to be constantly nursed along because the fuel went in too slowly for even the slowest automatic setting. Lloyd improvised a bolt or swiss army knife setup at the pumps that were slow enough, but most of the time it was click--click--click--click. By the last day of the trip and following a horrible lunch in Montpelier, we were ready for the trip to be LONG over. Not even singing all the cheesy songs we could think of kept our spirits up for long. Lava Hot Springs was coming up, and it was a genuine gift. I had never been there before (once again Lloyd had been) and when I told him that we all had swimsuits, it became a mandatory Hot Springs Break. After 3 days on the road, it was time to do something for ourselves. Lava was amazing! There are 2 big pools and 2 jacuzzi pools. It was in a beautiful grassy area with flowers, and the bottom of the pools were gravel which was genius because it felt like a massage on your feet. Kate had fun, but the water was "too hot". By the time we left, she had worked her way in up to her waist though. Jessa on the other hand was a regular water baby and when I tried to take her out because I worried about her getting too warm, she threw a fit and wanted to swim around again. Even though it would put us home at nearly 2am the next morning, it was BEYOND worth it. We drove westward home, toward the most beautiful sunset I have seen in a long time. It went on and on and on for nearly 2 hours with a colorful display playing off the clouds. Not even having to stop and get some click-click-click fuel could spoil the high of the hot springs break and sunset. Doug was waiting up when we pulled in during the wee hours. There's no place like home!

Favorite Sights

Surprisingly, some decent shots are possible while speeding down the roadway.

At the end of the Rainbow...

The end of the rainbow was in Flagler, Colorado. We made it to Flagler without clear directions to where we were going, but a guy riding a lawnmower down the highway pointed us the right way. We met Bob, who retired last year, which is why he was selling his Dammer-Diker. I meant to take a picture of it on the trailer, but never got around to it. Bob asked us if we were in a hurry, or if we had time to see his "hobby". Lloyd and I both said sure, and looked at each other, our interest and curiosity soaring. Various "hobbies" ran through my head (and later, I learned Lloyd's as well), but none prepared us for what we were about to see. The pure irony would simply be icing on the cake. Lloyd was in front of me and he turns, with excitment and disbelief , "A Ranchero!" Anyone that knows Lloyd knows that he loves Rancheros. He has three of them, and they are all he ever drives, and has had for as long as I have known him and even long before. Now I wouldn't consider a ranchero a very collectable item, and suddenly knew that what I was witnessing was clearly more than coincidence...Lloyd was meant for this roadtrip, and there was a reason we couldn't find another Dammer-Diker for the right price less than 900 miles from home. Immediately after the shock of the ranchero, I was able to soak in the magnitude of what lay before my eyes: over 30 beautiful, beautiful cars. Now, as the owner of a soon-to-be Hemi '65 Belvedere and the daughter of a NHRA racecar driver, I thought I had seen a lot of cars in my time. I have seen a lot of muscle cars and racecars, but I have always loved the OLD, old cars the most, and I had NEVER, in all my life, seen anything like this. There were at least 3 model A's and at least 3 Model T's. Wow. There were 3-4 mustangs, a thunderbird, a camaro, an Oldsmobile REO (very rare), and too many other vehicles to mention. Oh, and he had 3 rancheros of course; rancheros are not my personal favorite, but there was a blue one in a container out back that was just gorgeous. Bob also had a nice selection of tractors, including one that he was very proud of, and was so uncommon I couldn't fully appreciate it since I had never even heard of it. There is supposed to be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but I think the pot of gold is just symbolic, because what you find at the end of the rainbow is clearly much more amazing that just a lousy pot of gold.

The Good Life

Instead of driving down through Denver and hitting the city and toll roads, we took the high road and were able to visit NEBRASKA. Oh beautiful, beautiful Nebraska--pine bluffs, golden cornfields...Oh how I love Nebraska!

Snow Day!

I thought the weather was crazy in Idaho...well it is nothing like the weather in Laramie, Wyoming. Late Monday night when I was driving I asked Lloyd if that was a skiff of light snow on the side of the road. He asked me if he needed to drive since I was "seeing things". Needless to say, the skiff turned into a regular snowstorm. Tuesday morning, this was the view outside the hotel room window:

Little America, BIG Disappointment

In the afternoon of Day 1, I started seeing a lot of signs for a place called "Little America". It sounded vaguely familiar, and as more and more signs appeared, I decided I had to stop and see what all the advertisment was about. Lloyd had me going (he had been there before) even saying I could easily live there. As we traveled closer, and the billboards got closer together, we had a good laugh at the one that advertised "SHOW TIME! 31" TV in EVERY ROOM!" It was shortly after that Lloyd admited it was really just a glorified truck stop. Neverthless, after all the lead-up, I had to see it anyway. Of course, it was a huge disappointment. The main building smelled horribly of smoke, and it was a bit weird....the gifts shops weren't even open, and people were just here and there, doing nothing but eating those 50 cent ice cream cones. It was quite odd, and reminded me of some crazy thing you would only see in the movies. Weird--very very weird. On the road again!

Colorado Road Trip

Monday morning, Lloyd, the girls, and I left for Flagler, Colorado in the red pickup with the flatbed trailer to pick up a new cultivator (a Dammer-Diker for all you farmers) for Doug. It was a chore, but I knew there was certainly lots of fun to be had traveling with Lloyd, one of my all-time favorite traveling partners. True to tradition, the trip had ups and downs, but more ups than downs, and we all made it home safe and happy!

We were a bit stumped by all the Idaho windmills were not turning, despite a very good wind. In Wyoming, they all seemed to be spinning away just fine.

Mom, This blogs for you!

Happy Mother's Day!!!! I never know what to do for Mother's Day, since the things that make you happy aren't THINGS. Well, this year I came up with a THING that could make you happy--this BLOG. I hope you enjoy it!

Also, in the spirit of home-made craft gifts like we always gave you when we were little, I made you a little art project too... I hope you enjoy it!

Stink for Pink...in a good way.

I finally did it! I actually ran a race, instead of just "wanting to". It has always been a goal to run a 5k, but for various reasons I have never actually done it (only one of which is that I don't actually enjoy running). Well, I am here to say, that is no longer the case: I ran in the Boise Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I know, Dr. KaLynne, that means I didn't follow medical instructions (and trust me, I feel it), but I just couldn't let another year pass by wishing.... It is true, what they say--the first step certainly is the hardest. It was a great experience and, while running, I was able to reflect on memories of some wonderful women that have touched my life that are no longer living (though none were lost from breast cancer). I think it is no coincidence that they have the race the day before Mother's Day. In the meantime, I enjoyed getting better acquainted with these three beautiful women.

I knew the Race for the Cure had to be my first race when I was watching a slideshow of Sam Puc's (one of my favorite photographers) a few months ago when she was talking about some of the things she does in her Colorado community, encouraging us to do the same. She had two slideshows that I will never forget: NILMDTS and Komen. I was deeply moved, and though it doesn't seem like I can do very much, I know that out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

TWO-tus

Last week, one of our favorite people, Lloyd, came over for a little Sunday steak. His parents were able to come with him, and his mom is a ballerina (or at least used to be). Kate was so excited, she came out of her room dressed like this:

In case you can't quite make it out, she is wearing her pink tutu as a TOP, in addition to her black tutu. Before we sent her back into her room to put on some "real clothes", Selma taught her a few beautiful ballet moves, one of which you see being demonstrated (though I can't remember what it is called. It gives a whole new meaning to tutu.

Butterfly Caller

While working in the house, I hear Kate yelling outside at the top of her lungs. Worried, I quickly ran out the door to see what horrible thing awaited. Instead of blood and/or tears, I was greeted by this sight: a purple butterfly caller belting out while running around "BUTTERFLY?....HERE BUTTERFLY....BUTTERFLY COME HERE!"

Track Scholarship?

Apparently, Jessa wants to go from barely walking straight to running! The amazing thing is, she could actually keep her balance walking around! This was what appears to have been the onset of a shoe obsession. Ever since Thursday, shoes have been her #1 toy....on and off...on and off. She prefers them off, but if she can't get one on when she wants it, she gets frustrated very quickly and starts screeching....uh-oh, it looks like she has the patience of her father!

Going Whole Hog

Normally, the night before the branding I am up late cooking what seems like TONS of our beef for the branding crew. It is always delicious BBQ beef, but it is pretty labor-intensive to prepare alone. So, when Chad presented the idea of barbecuing a whole hog, and that he would do it...well, lets just say I wasn't going to try to talk him out of it. Of course, as the branding drew near, I realized this was risky business. First, the whole process was going to be even MORE labor-intensive (getting the pig, butchering, cleaning and cutting, storing overnight, hours in front of the grill). I felt pretty guilty about it actually, just passing off my responsibility to Chad, only the responsibility suddently was exponentially larger--not to mention the fact that it was a busy time without the pig project, and he had a million other things he needed to get done anyway. Then, I started to get scared when he asked me about the "backup". Hunh? Backup? Why would we need a backup? Are you going to totally ruin a whole pig? Worried you won't make it at the last minute?... Well, it turns out, he actually never had bbq'd a whole hog himself before. What better way to test Murphy's law? I got worried, and we had a couple of discussions about how to cook it (I wanted to pit cook it in the ground, he wanted to grill it on the Q). Well, obviously he was the boss and got his way, and I did an excellent job of trying not to micro-manage. There were certainly moments of panic, and for a short while we thought the "backup" (sloppy joes) was going to be the sole source of protein, but in the end he pulled it off, and going whole hog completely surpassed all my expectations. It was fun, and funny, and a ton of work, but it was well worth it and absolutely delicious....well, at least it was the first 5 days. Do you realize how much pork is on a whole Hog? We fed nearly 40 people and STILL have most the pig left. Five stars reviews for Chad; everyone loved it. Errr...maybe only 4.5 stars because, well, I don't have a clue why he wanted a "backup". I mean, what am I supposed to do now with all this sloppy joe meat?