Vet Making Ranch visit

Doctor Mike making a ranch call...This man is the only reason our dog is still here with us...
 

Sheeping

Shadow
Lucky Lucy and Jazmine
Jezzy
Okay now we all know that the cat and dog sleep together...But we also have a single sheep, Lucky Lucy who was rescued off the freeway and one pygmy goat ( Jazmine) who loves Lucy....They eat together, sleep together and chase each other around the pasture. Jazmine also is cleaning the face and the ears of this sheep...Could it get any stranger around here? The other goat likes the horses and Alpacas but would rather be with people...She thinks she is a dog and would be happier inside with Buluga and Thomas..Slinky the other cat would like it if no one was here at all. I imagine one day I will find Shadow, the fat black goat sleeping with Jezzy...

Finally Friday

Well the big chill is more like a big frost...23degrees is far more bearable then the -14 degrees my poor husband has to deal with. At least all the outdoor chores will be warmer than I feared.. And I have decided to share the crazy rubber boots.... Everyone who knows me roars with laughter as these are so not me..... Now for this morning I GOT TO SLEEP FOR ALMOST 8 1/2 HOURS!!!! My husband left 3 phone calls last night wondering if the ranch had swallowed me into some abyss. I called him at 5am knowing he would be worried, I having some guilt for turning off the phone assured him I was safe and just NEEDED the sleep...We spoke of this when he realized that I have not slept this much since we have been married...

Other news of the week...My husband made the back page of the local news paper were he is working...A half page about the damn and all the work going on. Mind you this paper is a whopping 12 pages total and over half of that is just full of ads...He is on knees welding and have a good time doing it.... So much for the Artic freeze....

Sisterhood

Okay one of my very best friends came to visit...Twice in the same week..Today she had her grown daughter with her...J works at the post office and a tanning salon...She is very sweet and very pretty and usually very smart...We both joke about how God likes the dumb ones...Anyway she is her with Linda and we go out to visit the horses first J has camera and apples...And I open up the round pen that is not yet had it's daily cleaning yet and look down to notice J has on open toed summer sandals..She KNOWS this is a ranch....She too KNOWS that the 3 horses weigh at least a 1000# Playboy comes in at 1200#......I offer one of the many pairs of boots including my new polka dots....A stern warning goes out to her and I allow city chickie who will kiss any living creature on the planet earth go on in....Now we all know that horses are motivated by FOOD...And she has 5#'s of rosy red apples....Horses crowd her and she remains unaware of the hoof's that are just a few inches from her granola cruncher leather sandals... Somehow no one has told J that it is well below40 degrees and at the very moment that the sun goes behind a tree it will be far colder..We finally go out to pasture containing goats, sheep and all the Alpacas...She allows Shadow to climb and kiss on her..I still can not believe she is in those damn shoes...No strike that I know she is in them and all because they " go with the cute sweats she is wearing" now mind you I am bundledup one pair polka dot boots, stipped hand made socks ( gift from Liz) my husbands plaid flannel shirt, long braids with red ties and the famous leopard print headband and black and white rubber gloves oh and the fatigue pants....It does not occur to me what I look like ( CLEARLY) and I only realize this when my parents pull up and my mother rolls her eyes at which time I show her my cool socks!!!None of the animals seem to care as long as I have grain or goodies...I just stopped long enough to get lunch, yes I do know what time it is but I had to repair several things as well as entertain the masses with the farm life that they all envy...I can not but giggle that most of my friends who love to come and snuggle up would not last a week as a ranch hand/wife... There are several friends that are farmers and they are the exception...Most care not for fador fastion none of us would be able to keep anything clean for long to begin with let alone know how to care for sandals....I can only imagine Liz in a pair with one of her crazy cute mini horses trying to nibble at any exposed body part...Goats love toes and I can tell you that our two goods will investigate just about anything...Linda's dog Cody is in a full tizzie as this is the first real farm she has gone to were she can run wild the Alpacas pace her like a school of fish from the otherside of the fence....The poor goats just want to make a new friend of the dog. Goat there of mine at least here is the more the merrier...Out to give beet pulp to the beloved Jezzy....My mom laughted at how huge one small cup will expand too at least 3 quarts...Off to the chores that I have put off...Yes, I'm going out there in the same clothes heck they are not wet or dirty yet...I spent the better part of the morning drilling hole in the 110 gal water tank as Playboy decided to PLAY with the water heater...I resorted to taking the canning jar holder zip stepped it around the floating heater and then zip stripped it all to the edge so goof ball would not pull it out at midnight .... I do not want to sledge hammer ice again, the last time the hammer flew across ice and I was lucky enough not to have it hit one of the horses or myself..Metal and ice meeting one another does not work out well for the most part..My husband should have informed me of this prior to my BIG IDEA!!!

Alpaca House

I spent the last two days building the Alpaca house, it is an Army tent that would take four recruits to put up...But I was out there alone, what does a stubborn Irish, Russian, German Gemini do? She digs in and gets it done. The bitter cold was a help more than I can say. It kept the now ping pong ball knot on my head cold and made the motivation to get it all done as soon as possible. I had to keep a check on the water lines and pipe stands as well as the well and other lines on and to the house...Record cold is on our heels and the news is warning of all kinds of problems we are to expect. Anyway back to the Alpaca tent, this is not a small one 10x13 and the canopy is one solid piece...Liz was kind enough to help with it as the damn thing was huge and weighed past my strength. We manage to shove and pull, me on the wood ladder and Liz below shoving the end up and over the front. The frost on the ladder and my lack of any grace what so ever made a challenging time as well as the snickers that Liz was unable to restrain. We are two peas in a pod and we just bucked up and got it done. We put 4 bags of barn dry down and the 3 bags of fir shavings in the Alpaca house. We decided that the they would be now okay in the cold. All the trees are snapping branches off and I think that a hard hat would be a good idea....The photo yesterday is just off the driveway looking to the back of the ranch. Time to feed and check on the water and face the fridgid day....I have just come back from feeding and was thrilled to see all the Alpacas in their new digs.....They are all covered with frost but seem to be happy...And going in and out of the new house like little kids back and forth....Worth the last two days of none stop back breaking work...My body is wounded with battle scares that would make an Army proud. I am still afraid to to take a shower as the searing pain of water and soap hitting on the open cuts makes me cringe....But at last three cups of coffee and I shall brave the shower...

The Big Freeze

Now then the Pacific Northwest is not known to be all that cold, wet yes, cold rarely. I have spent the last few days on the farm getting ready for the Big Freeze. Warnings that we will fall below the 2 degrees....here? yes and the Artic winds will make it yet colder. So I have been building a shelter for the Alpacas...I know that they are use to the very cold...But all the Alpacas we have have been born and raised here...hence my guilt that they have no shelter in the new pasture. So I spent the whole day yesterday in the freezing cold far past dark trying to get it finished.I was so tired that my dinner choice was a bowl of cheerios. Spoke with Liz and she will be out to help me with the final touch ups and to fill the shelter with fir chips...Liz had a good laugh when I told her that when I was 9 years old I hauled my favorite 300# pig into the house and into my bed because I was certain that she ( Judy, the pig) would freeze to death and die in the blizzard...Now being 9 years old you think that 10 inches of snow is a blizzard.....oh the trouble I was in... it is now 30 + years later and I sit here at well below zero wondering if the pigmy goats will be okay..at least they are less than 40# each...John would kill me if I even thought of bringing them in...this is of course the same man who informed me upon our first week of being married that cats are to live in the barn. Period....we now have two cats inside fat boy Thomas is the one who gets UNDER the blankets and snores right next to husband.... I can only laught about it....well it is about to be one of the coldest days in the past 20 some years. I was clocked in the eye yesterday and woke with the knot still on my head right above my left eye...it was freezing at the time so I felt little until this morning...I suppose within a few moments outside it will feel as it I have an ice pack on it, yet another reason to spend the day outside...As you can tell I'm trying to talk myself into it with a smile...I have a list a mile long including running the water heaters out to the watertanks that are now at risk of freezing solid. The full moon and stars let me just how cold it will be, Thursday and Friday are to be the worst. The folks that live here have no idea how to drive here when it is like this so I plan on not leaving. Other than going to the hardware and feed store I plan on staying put. The pale blue sky is warning me sunrise is here and I must get a move on if I am too finish by dark. Have a good day and stay warm.

A wonderfully Sunny Weekend

Well the full day of homecoming all went as good as a day of chaos could....The three new Alpacas and the pair of goats come to our ranch, their new home is a new and strange place.... The other Alpacas had not been around goats and all was a like new playground...John came in late Friday night and we decided to let the new guys settle in prior to putting the whole herd out in one pasture. So we finished up hog wire and hot wire on Saturday and planned to move our whole herd together on Sunday morning. Well, I being me decided that I would wave the magic grain and all four Alpacas would, like good little boys, follow the momma to the huge pasture that awaited all with new buddies.....I opened up the small gate and NO ONE would venture out...I got behind them , no luck. We left the new pasture gate open and the next thing we knew is all has gone horribly wrong.... We have 7 Alpacas, 2 goats and a huge 200 pound sheep racing out into the fully enclosed property. Now we are faced with a bigger problem. We are but two, old and out of shape and very tired 40+ year olds trying to chase and herd very young Alpacas and the three strays into the now empty pasture. The cats see the free for all and by God if that sheep does not head straight for Jezzy...Who is trying to eat his grain. Jezzy has lost a few pounds and we feed him outside of the paddocks so the two other pigs ( horses) do not run him off the extra rations he is getting...The sheep's best friend ( Jazmine the pygmy goat) are now trying to challenge a 1000 pound horse. Jessy snorts and the 25 pound little goat head butts the huge towering horse as if he an equal. Jessy allows me to run off the annoyances and I then proceed to try and round up the group while my husband chats on his cell phone as if I alone will mange this chaos. Somehow I know he is giving a blow by blow account of the humorous wife now sweating and wondering how he could see my anguish as he continues on with said call... The other pygmy goat, shadow is dutifully on John's heel waiting for attention. I now have the herd close to the gate I scream at John and we have the Alpacas in but not the massive masked sheep ( Lucky Lucy) I inform her she is lucky she wont be dinner if she does not get in there. I am now at wits end and the husband, thank God has lost reception. HAH! He is fed up and heads to the house for his rope...I fear for the very welfare of Lucy.....John swirls rope over head like an old pro I see his eyes glissen as he lets the rope loose, misses head but manages to get the left rear leg...They both struggle for control she wants freedom he wants her to follow by force to the pasture. She goes down and refuses to budge in any way. I am now given the rope and she is very strong we try our own control...We are now both laying on the ground, one girl and one sheep. John tries to lift, push and pull...No way.. All the while Jazmine is nipping and licking Lucy I start to laugh all to John's irritation. I get behind her and now goose her in the rear until she moves...A few feet and we do this for at least 50 feet...She finally heads to gate, I'm hoping that the buddy goat follows..... I am now rewarded with a new ranch wound from the rope and blood is now running down my little finger. Everyone is now in the right place and Jezzy peacefully finishes his food while we decide if it is now our turn to get our breakfast. John is cranky that we have wasted an hour playing rodeo clowns..I can only snicker inside knowing that each car that passed must have been rolling by slowly enjoying a good laugh at our expense. Breakfast goes well and we return to the outdoors to finish moving the goat house about 200 feet. This is a huge box made well and we mount it on a wheel barrow and struggle to keep it balanced over the driveway and over the soggy grass. We lay in the warm pasture and enjoy the antics and the sun for awhile...It is all too soon before he has to leave....The house is a whirlwind train wreck and I am left to clean the debris of our visit and the now pouting Buluga dog....The full moon hangs just above the Cascade Mountains and all is well at the Halleyville Ranch.