That’s Entertainment

The snow from last week’s storm  is still on the ground here.  We got about 24 inches total and still have 10 inches or so hanging on.  Now that it has rained and thawed a little it is pretty much a slushy mess.  It was truly beautiful though.

During our “snow event” (doesn’t that sound official? That’s what the local weatherman called it)  one of our calves um . . . shall we say “fouled” the water trough.  Why that calf had his or her hind end aimed at the trough I don’t know; they are supposed to be drinking at the trough with their backsides pointed away so that shouldn’t be a problem.  Apparently not. Anyway, the cattle would not drink the water in the trough (with good reason).  You remember the water trough that is filled by the rain off the shed roof?

The water trough holds approximately 425 gallons and it had to be drained, cleaned and refilled.  You may also remember we have no water line out to that pasture yet, so if the rain doesn’t fill the trough we have to haul water in a 55 gallon barrel on the tractor bucket.

Since it was snowing and not raining we had to haul all of the water to clean and refill the trough.  I’m sure some of you math whizzes will figure out exactly how many trips this took.  To tell you the truth, I kind of lost count – but it was a lot of trips and a long time.

While all this back and forth and cleaning and refilling was going on, a couple of the calves made a discovery.   Though it wasn’t raining, a bit of the  snow on the roof had melted and a little trickle of water was dripping down out of the rain spout.

And these two calves were determined to make the most of that little trickle of water.

At first the two of them enjoyed the water, but then one got bored and wandered off.  The second calf, #46, stayed and played for a long time.  He started by just holding his head up to the stream of water and letting it run all over his chin.

Then he progressed to catching it on his tongue.

And soon he was trying his best to get his whole tongue up the spout. Lucky for the rest of the herd he couldn’t quite reach it.

Calf #46 quite enjoyed his trickle of water; it was really pretty entertaining to watch him.  It takes a long time for all the water to drain out of the barrel, and standing in the cold with snow up to your knees is not really my favorite way to spend my time so I appreciated the distraction.  Obviously it doesn’t take much to entertain some people.

Let It Snow!

When our daughter was here at Christmas she kept hoping it would snow, but alas she got only sunshine.  NOW we have the snow she wished for – and lots of it.

Well, maybe not quite as much snow as the picture above would indicate.

Our TV and Internet connections are both satellite – we do live in the sticks you know – and they both stopped working Tuesday evening. When we went out to check the dishes we understood why.

So Rick got out the ladder and climbed up to clear them both off.

We spend a lot of our time taking care of the animals.  The cattle water troughs  freeze over and we have to break up the ice so they can drink.

The animals really don’t seem too concerned about the snowy weather. The younger calves are running around playing in the snow and the dogs have joined them.

Mildred decided the dead-standing tree would make a great scratching post.

Everyone needs a good scratch – even in a snow storm.

Grizzly is enjoying his romps through the snow too.

The roads and travel are terrible up and down the valley.  Schools and most businesses have been closed for the past few days. So, we are staying home, taking care of our animals and glad we have a warm, cozy little house with a good woodstove.

Snow Day

We had over six inches of fresh powder on the ground this morning.  As we were outside feeding the animals, enjoying the beautiful scenery and diligently taking pictures to share with you folks, this is what I see in my viewfinder.

The husband of my youth (and his) has just launched a snowball at me when I was defenseless behind my camera.  Unlike me, he can actually hit what he is aiming at so of course he was right on target.  I just wanted you all to know the things I have to deal with around here to bring you these pictures.  It’s a tough job!  I posted more snow pictures here on our beef sales website if you want to see.

Barrel in the Bucket

The Christmas Gift our ranch received this year is a shiny new tractor.

I may have mentioned 10 or 20 times before that our very generous favorite neighbors, Roger and Melanie, have allowed us to use their tractor for the past couple of years.

It has saved us (and our backs) countless hours of labor and we truly appreciate it.  We’ve used it for lots of things, including some which probably aren’t in the tractor manual.

Though it seemed to be quite to her liking.

You can’t take advantage of your neighbor’s generosity forever though, and the time has come to turn our rocky ground into lush, green pastures with straight, strong fences for our cattle.  To do that you need implements, lots of implements.  To use implements you need a tractor.

It is kind of funny to me that when we first bought this ranch five years ago Rick said “We will need lots of equipment.”  I said “What would be possibly need equipment for?”  What was I thinking?  You need lots of equipment.

So, we got a tractor and implements to do the jobs we need to turn our ground into pasture.  An added bonus is you can use the tractor for other things too.

Remember our watering system for the cattle?

It works great as long as it rains – which it does pretty often here.  We’ve had a few weeks of unseasonably dry weather though, so then we have to use our backup plan.

We load a 55 gallon barrel into the bucket and fill it with water.

Drive the tractor down the pasture, raise the bucket and open the valve to fill the cattle trough.

The gravity feed works pretty well.

It’s not the best system ever, we do plan to put in a water line this summer, but in the meantime it works.

A Year in Review – Part ll

In June the days were warm and sunny under the snow-capped peaks. Here Alex is taking a water break after working on fencing with our 1961 Scout. 

It was also time for outdoor cooking and dining.  We had some memorable meals cooked over the open fire grill under the Gazebo that included this one of our own grass fed beef hamburgers, potatoes in foil and Rick’s favorite (NOT) asparagus.

July brought our first crop of raspberries from our very own bushes. MMM good!

July also had some very cool cloud formations and sunsets.  We may have  had some great looking sunrises as well, but I wouldn’t know as I don’t do mornings.

August was one of the driest months we’ve had here.  For us dry weather means more fencing and I did my share. And yes, folks – the fences we build are level and straight!

Our first crop of apples from our own trees were ripening in the August sun. I made an apple pie from them and it was delicious!

September was time to make sure that we had plenty of dry firewood split and stacked for the coming winter.

Also in September it was time to start building a cattle shed so the bovines  would have protection from the wet winter weather.

October brought beautiful fall foliage to the ranch. The vine maple colors  are vibrant in the sun.

The fall sunshine was perfect for our cranky cat Patches to groom herself on the shelf overlooking the chicken yard.  She loves to lay up there and look down on the chickens.

Also in October there were some beautiful fall days with the mountains peaking out from the clouds.

November had another critter in the spotlight.  Our little calf Millie was expecting a treat – she loves alfalfa cubes – and all I did was take her picture.

Just before Thanksgiving the sunshine gave way to snow.  The snow didn’t keep Rick from taking the dogs on their daily walk.

December was filled with visitors and sunshine. The heifers wanted Megan to hand over the treats.

And finally, December brought the arrival of our much anticipated new tractor.

So there you have it folks – a photo journey through the year here at the ranch.

2011: A Year in Review – Part 1

As I put away my tattered 2011 calendar, I looked back over the entries from this past year. It was a busy one for us! Last year was a time of personal milestones and change for our family.  Our daughter graduated from college in May.

And also in May our son completed his enlistment in the Marine Reserves. Here he is with his mom in his dress blues just after he completed boot camp in 2007.

After his service was complete, he moved to Washington.  He stayed with us here on the ranch for a couple months before he got his own place.  It was nice to have him here and it gave him time to soak up some of the ranch ambiance and culture – like driving vehicles the same age as his parents.

Then in August our daughter married Brandon, her college sweetheart.

 It still is a little hard to believe our baby is old enough to be a married woman.

As I looked back over my journal entries I realized a lot of other things had gone on here at the ranch this past year as well.  So, I’ve decided to show you a year in pictures – two for each month which was really hard to narrow down.

January brought snow to our little town and this caboose that in the summer months is a BBQ restaurant.

After the snow melted in January a crew arrived to install some fencing.  I believe those could become my favorite words – a crew installed fencing – someone besides us building a fence!

In February we got two Tamworth pigs to round out our menagerie. Those pigs are in the freezer now and boy are they delicious!

Our cattle found a little grass for grazing under the snow-capped peaks in February though they were still mostly on hay.

March brought more snow to our neck of the woods.

And it was really nice to have our favorite neighbor’s (Roger and Melanie) tractor to deal with the snow.  Some of the critters looked like they had had enough of the snow and winter in general by this time, and most people around  here agreed; it was a long, cold, wet spring.

By April it seemed spring had finally arrived. After our long winter the daffodils were a welcome sight.

Weather dry enough to work in brought . . . you guessed it – more fencing! Where is that crew when we need them?

May was time for a new batch of chicks. The old girls were not laying as much anymore and we love our fresh eggs. These little gold chicks are now lively laying hens producing eight to ten eggs a day.

The warm May weather was perfect for Rick and Alex to get all the big rocks out of the orchard.  Then we smoothed it up and planted clover and it looks great.

And that is the first part of 2011.  To be continued.

Happy New Year!

Here’s wishing all our friends and family a very happy and healthy 2012.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Cutting Our Own Tree

Merry Christmas to All!  We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones.

I’m a little behind (OK maybe a lot) in posting activities here at the ranch this Christmas. Our daughter Megan and her husband Brandon arrived from Texas a few days ago and we have enjoyed spending time with them.

One activity we were looking forward to was cutting our very own Christmas Tree from our very own woods. We really did get it done before Christmas, but I am just now getting the pictures posted.  Before you can cut a tree of course you must all agree on which tree to cut.  Brandon and Alex picked out this little Charlie Brown tree – which we didn’t cut.

 After much careful deliberation and tramping around in the woods for a while, we did settle on a tree. Rick cut it with his chain saw.

Alex hauled it back out to the clearing.

We loaded it in the bucket of our favorite neighbor’s tractor and Megan – after driving instructions from her dad – took it back up to the house.

It was a beautiful day with glorious sunshine; the mountains around us were glistening with snow.

In spite of our careful calculations, when we got the tree in Alex’s house it was a bit too tall.

But that was easily remedied. We decorated our first home-cut Christmas Tree with some traditional and some not-so-traditional ornaments. And it turned out nice.

Oh and one last thing.  Remember the Quiz?  How much rain does it take to fill the water trough?

Our answer is about two inches. We don’t have a digital rain gauge, so we pretty much just eyeball it and guesstimate.  At two and a half inches it was running over.  Thanks to all who participated and Merry Christmas!

Quiz – Full Disclosure

Well folks, as usual you have impressed me.  Clearly many of you are much more mathematical and engineering savvy than I am, which honestly should be no surprise to any of us.  There is a reason I write the blog and take pictures.

Anyway,  your very pertinent questions and comments (see below on The Quiz) have caused some further research on my part so I can provide you with the precise, accurate information I should have given you to begin with.

For those of you who have just joined us, the question is: How much rain will it take to fill up the water trough?

Here is some corrected and additional information you will need to answer the quiz question (unless you are in the wild guess category with me and then it doesn’t really matter):  1.  The shed is 12 feet deep x 20 feet wide;  however the roof hangs over by a foot on each side so the roof is actually 14′ x 22′ – I’m pretty sure that is important to know for your calculations.  2.  The water trough is sloped at the standard 1/4″ per foot fall and is as stated previously 10′ long x 3′ wide x 2′ tall.  3. The bulge in the trough is pretty much solved by the strap Rick put across the middle.  4.  The picture below is the official AAR rain gauge and the answer to the quiz question was calculated using this gauge.

 As you can see it is not a digital gauge; it is more the “I think the water is about up to the line” model.  Just want you all to have accurate information.  I do hope that will help with calculating the correct answer!

Since we have this additional information and need to re-calculate, I feel it is only fair to extend the answer period by a couple of days. We will now reveal the correct answer and the winner of our quiz on December 22nd.

Now, on to the best part of the quiz – the prize! I thought something hand-made from our own ranch would be nice.  Spiced plum jam is something I make every year and it is delicious if I must say so myself. Unfortunately, though our apple crop was good, our plum-tree died this summer.

So the  plums for this year’s jam were ones I bought during my Quilt Shop Hop trip to the eastside (of Washington) in September.

And you thought all we did was visit every quilt shop in Central Washington.

The spiced plum jam recipe is one I got from Mary Lou – Rick’s mom. Delicious, fragrant plums, with just a hint of cinnamon.

I had enough plums to make a double batch of jam. Every time I make jam or jelly I have a little bit left over,  not enough to fill another jar. I put that little bit of left over jam in a bowl and . . .

. . . it disappears in about ten minutes.  Rick assures me this is because he takes his job as Quality Control Officer  very seriously.  Hmmm. Anyway, he does say it is a good batch of jam.

So, get your revised quiz answers in and we will reveal the correct answer and the winner on the 22nd of December.

A Quiz

Today friends we are having a pop quiz.  Didn’t those words strike terror in your heart when you were in school?  No – maybe you all were better prepared for such things than I was.  Anyway, our quiz is easy – I promise – and guessing is allowed, perhaps even encouraged.  See the large object below that Rick and Alex are moving?

That object is a 425 gallon water trough – or in some parts of the country it is called a water tank – which is the water source for our cattle.  The trough is filled from rainwater coming off the cattle shed roof.  This system works really well as long as there is regular rain; in November we got over 14 inches of rain and it was overflowing.

So, here is our quiz question:  How many inches of rain does it take to fill the water trough?

I know you mathematical and engineering types are going to need precise information to make your calculations.  The shed is 12 deep  x 20 feet wide and the roof hangs over the edge about 2 inches on each side.  The rain gutter is a standard size that we got at Lowe’s.  The water trough is 10 feet long x 3 feet wide x 2 feet high. When we originally installed this system in November we had the rain spout running all the way down to the tank.

A couple of things didn’t work too well that way.  First, the cattle used it as a rubbing post – they seem to use anything they can reach as a rubbing post.  Second, and entirely unrelated, the first water tank was defective and when  filled with water it bulged out at the seam.  As you can see above, Rick put a strap on it to keep it together until the replacement tank came in.

I believe I have provided all the pertinent information necessary to answer the question – again: How many inches of rain does it take to fill the trough?   If I have left out some necessary part of the equation  (entirely possible) please let me know.  The quiz will be open to carefully calculated predictions and wild guesses until the 20th of December when the answer and winner will be revealed.  Please post your answers as a comment and let the games begin!  The answer closest to the correct answer without going over will be the winner.  There is an actual lovely prize for this quiz – which will be revealed in a day or two.  So, get out your slide ruler (do they will make / use those?) and get to work on your winning answer!