The Garden

Our fall garden is going really good so far!  These are even super outdated pictures.  The Radishes are coming along the best.  The carrots are probably the least.  But we are really hopeful that we will see some veggies soon!

A big Loss

I'm really sad to announce that my Daughter's beautiful tabby cat, Beauty, has died.  :-(  

I've had the cats living outside exclusively since I found out I was pregnant back in January.  They took to it really well.  Mostly they would prowl around the property and hunt up a few insects here and there.  It's only been recently that Beauty has become somewhat of an explorer.

She often times will cross the fence to the neighbor's place shortly after breakfast and not return until shortly before dinner.  But she's always within ear shot of my voice.

The other day, I found her hiding out under the front rose bushes.  A big fat rabbit was in her clutches.  She had somehow caught and killed the poor thing.  She spent a great deal of that morning dining on her kill.  Ick.  I remember thinking at the time that this could cause problems and bring her to hunt more and further away.

Well, she went missing over the weekend just as October was starting.  We didn't see her for 3 days.  I'd call to her each night at dinner time, but she was no where to be seen.  Our other cat, Shooter, rarely will ever leave the yard.  Occasionally if he tags along with Beauty, he'll cross the fence for a short time, but he always comes back.  Most of the time, you can find him laying on our patio chairs.  But Beaut - she's always enjoyed her outings.

Unfortunately, something happened to her on this most recent adventure.  She did return home, but she was in bad shape when we finally saw her again.  Last Tuesday morning I decided to walk the fence line calling for her just in case she was close but couldn't remember how to get home.  About 2 hours later (while we were planting the garden) she showed up by the chicken coops!  She was covered in burs and we could tell she'd been without food or water for days.

I picked her up and brought her right over to the house.  Gave her some fresh water, some milk and a fresh dish of food.  She'd have none of it.  She was very lethargic and wouldn't hardly open her eyes.  My dear sweet Isabel was there, worrying about her and offering her sweet suggestions to help Beauty feel better.  And yet, she knew just like I did, that Beauty was probably not going to make it.  And you know, when Beauty died just a day later, Isabel took the news way better than I did!

Seeing these pictures and remembering how much Izzy loved that cat - my heart breaks.  Up until Shooter and Beauty I'd never had a cat.  I'm not sure if they are all like this - but our two were exceptional!  Both of them tolerated the abundant love my kids would dish out to them.  Heck, Beauty use to meow outside of Isabel's door at night just so we'd open it up and allow her to sleep on the bed with her girl.

We will miss you Beauty.  You were a great cat.

Fall Garden

Over the past 2 weeks, JL had been prepping our garden for fall planting.  About 5 days ago, he and Wyatt and Izzy and Grammy planted our seedlings!

James helping Dad prep

Pretty soon, the whole gang got in on the work.

An updated picture of our ducks!  They are growing like crazy!

Planting day

Izzy putting in some carrot seed

Wyatt doing the same.

We've got Carrots, Raddish, Spinach, and Beet seeds.  Already today - just a few days later, we have a beautiful row of Raddish sprouts.  And the Beets aren't far behind!

This little guy LOVES to help Dad!  He's Daddy's little shadow right now.

Cooler Weather

I know it is too early to say that fall has arrived on the ranch - but we have certainly been enjoying this brief relief of cooler weather!

Yesterday, we thought it would be a great time to bring out Ol' Junie and put her to work!

New Fowl

About a month ago, we decided to harvest most of our remaining chickens.  If you remember, we lost all but one of our producing, baby chickens during this summer heatwave.  So we were down to one egg a day.  The older chickens that survived the heat had decided to stop producing.  They'd been slowing down, but with the heat they just decided to stop all together.

So we decided, rather than let them stick around, eat up all our food and basically have a free ride, we'd harvest them and start over with some pullets (juvenile chickens near laying age.)

Well, this past Friday we re-stocked.  Not only did we bring home a few new chickens, but we also got more ducks!  I know, you're thinking to yourself - didn't Fergus the dog kill your last chickens?  Yes, yes he did.  But we have a new plan.  These ones are going to live in the coop until they are big enough to move in the corral with the pigs.  That way, they can be free range - but not free enough that Fergus can hunt them down again.  :-)

JL loading up the new cargo

The kids are so excited!

Isabel was set on getting a Golden Chicken.  By the luck of the draw - that's exactly what she got!

Wyatt with Chuck the Duck

James holding Grammy's Ol' Gray Duck

Scoping out the new arrivals.

Chores

One of James' new chores on the ranch is tractor driving.  He's great at it!  A couple of Saturdays' ago he was out helping JL trim up a tree.  After the trimming, he loaded all the branches into the back of the tractor and then drove them (and JL) over to the brush pile.  I hadn't witnessed just how good he'd gotten at driving that thing!  I was amazed - and so proud!

James hauling off a giant branch

And off he goes!

He's great at driving that thing around!

Storm

August 18 - started out as a typical Saturday.  JL had a bunch of ranch chores lined up.  We all started outside early in the morning to work on the garden.  Me and Quatro supervising while the kids helped JL move and haul stuff in the tractor.

Towards the middle of the day it started to get really dark.  The sky was full of beautiful gray clouds.  This was a sight that we haven't seen in a very long time.  True, this summer hasn't been near as awful as the last one, but we still aren't exactly swimming in rain around here.  Not to mention THESE kind of dark clouds.

Manny checking things out while I admire the sky

Woo hoo!  Could that be rain?

Beautiful E posing for me

The boys coming back in with a load of mulch.  

Quickly spreading out the mulch before the sky opened up.

About 10 minutes after the boys wrapped up the mulch spreading the rain started to pour down.  We were over joyed to see buckets of rain start to fall.  About two hours later we were over the moon when it was still going!  By Sunday, we were in disbelief that the rain hadn't quit yet!  We ended up with over 4 inches of rain from that storm!  It was fantastic!

One Day Resident

Last week the kids and I went on a rescue mission.  

There was a strange, rattle like noise coming from the rose bushes.  It almost sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.  I forgot about it for a little while, but later that day I took Manny out and saw the culprit.....

It was a baby Roadrunner!

I zipped inside and grabbed the camera.  I didn't want to disturb it or anything, but I wanted to get a few pictures before his mamma came and got him.

But, when I looked closer at him, I noticed that his left foot was broken.  I assume the cats got to him sometime in the morning.  They were looming in the distance even as I took these pictures.

Well, I couldn't let this cute little guy become a kitty snack, so I zipped back inside - updated the kids and we all headed out on a rescue mission.

Cute little guy!  He was making his little muffled "meep meep" sound.

Isabel named him Louey.

James ran to the mini barn and snagged our net.  Isabel chased off the kitties.  Wyatt talked softly to Louey and tried to keep him calm.  He was easy to net, and I knew he'd been left alone for quite some time.  He was very weak and tired.  :(

We walked him over to the little chicken coop (which is currently empty) and gave him a safe place to live.  We filled up a water pan for him and spread out a heaping amount of chicken scratch/food.  He seemed super uninterested, but we decided to give him a little while to get use to the place.

Sadly, he didn't make it but a few more hours.  He really just needed his momma.  Although, I was prepared to hand feed him grasshoppers and squished up bug parts, I really do think he was too far gone when we stumbled across him.  But at least I can find solace in the fact that he didn't become cat food!

We call her Tow Pig!

There's yet another new addition to the ranch.  This one comes in the large, 4-wheeled variety.  Yes, JL has traded in his city truck for a ranch truck.  And what a ranch truck it is!  This sucker could pull the house off the foundation if we ever wanted to move!  It's awesome!

Height Difference between old and new

Thar she be!

Me behind the wheel.  I'd say I'm 3rd in line with huge love for the truck.

Big Wy tops the list!  He is the #1 fan of "Dad's Big Truck."  

Intimidation

Length Difference....

JL on the night we bought her.  

James favorite feature - the automatic rear, sliding window.

Hello up there!

Rets Rock!

Bonfire

Remember all that pruning JL did a while back?  Well, last weekend, the time had come to dispose of the clippings.  How does a person go about doing that when you have a pile as big as your pickup and no where to put it?

Start a fire of course.  You may be saying: but I thought you were in a drought and isn't burning wood the LAST thing you should be doing?  Nope.  Turns out, since January, we've had 15 inches of rain.  Almost 3 of those inches coming in this month alone.  More specifically, during the week that JL selected to start his small fire.

The ground was super wet.  The day was overcast and very humid with a 60% chance of more rain.  Conditions were perfect.

I must admit when I first stepped outside and saw the little fire, I was alarmed.....

Heat.  This sucker was so hot I had to sit WAY back from it.

And LARGE.  I got use to it after a while and my concern faded.  That and JL had a live hose running, a big pile of manure within easy reach of his shovel, and the air was very wet.

Still, it was impressive!

Whole trees were being added at one point!

After a bit, the huge looming pile of brush was gone!  The fire died down to ashes and embers and then about an hour later it rained a half inch!  Perfect.