And yet more...

I took a look at the web stats for our website. I hadn't looked at them before, because quite frankly, I didn't think it was that important. Well, as they say, live and learn. Today I learned that in the last week our website was viewed over 3000 times.

We have a lot of interested folks out there. And more than that, we have a lot of friends.

This is a great time to speak of all our friends. Especially when you see how busy we've been. You can bet that we haven't done that work all by ourselves. Especially since all of us but Willa work full time off of the ranch.

So, here's a partial list of friends and the credit they so richly deserve:

Philip: who built most of my apartment, helps around the ranch, and recently built the new shade on our tack shed.

Patty: who was kind enough to come and stay with me on the ranch last winter when Willa and Joseph were traveling. Who is kind enough to cook for us during the last camp, and who always brings us chocolate.

Vanessa: who really thinks she's coming out just because she loves horses and wants to be around them, but who really helps out every time she comes.

Sarah: who loves our kids, and likes to help do whatever is needed. She and Vanessa have done a lot of work to make our jump poles pretty.

James: who brought us 40 syrah grape plants--he is totally responsible for us getting our own vineyard.

Sophie: who is very young, loves horses and is the best tack cleaner we have ever met, and who would move in with us if her parents (Mark and Pam) allowed it.

Bill: who for next to nothing has spent most of the summer living in "the beast" and working like anything. If I made a list of everything he's done this summer, I wouldn't have room for the rest of the folks.

Time would fail me if I told about everyone else, but Lisa, Jim, Sheryl, David, Jenny, and everyone else, who I am probably forgetting. THANK YOU!!!

Without all of you Dream River Ranch wouldn't be the place that it is today. You all help to make our community such a special place to live.

VIVAT!!!

So Many Things to Say, Such Little Time

It has been a couple of months since my last post. Spring and summer are very busy on the Ranch as you can imagine.

Here are some of the highlights.

We've had one overnight camp and 3 morning camps so far. This weekend is our Horseback Archery weekend long clinic. Yipee! This is going to be a lot of fun.

We had a very green spring this year, as you can see from the picture. Lots of rain, lots of weeds, lots of mowing.

Our automatic sprinkler system in the garden has been installed. Our first plants were roses--a whole border of them along the front of the garden. We were also given 40 Syrah grape vines this year. We planted them and all but two survived! We have the start of our very own vineyard. In three years, we hope to experiment with our very first batch of Syrah Wine.

The round pen is no longer a future project. It is a current reality. It's been sooo nice to have a good working area to train in. We used "Dream River" sand for the footing and it is excellent.

We got our first "peep" this year. Yes indeed one of our chickens hatched her very own egg. Only one so far. However, we went down and got five more Arucana pullet chicks to join our flock. Yesterday we were able to obtain our very own Arucana rooster--Gandalf. Our current Banty Brahmin rooster "Pretty Boy" has decided not to push his luck too far. Pictures will come soon--they are such beautiful birds! Interesting to note that the flock is reestablishing their pecking order. They are such fun to watch.

Our water pump went out and we had to replace it. The bad news: it cost a lot! The good news, we now have better water pressure than we have ever had at the ranch. This means we don't have to replace the sprinklers in our lawn because the old ones work just fine now. We also have water at the arena so we can keep the dust down.

This week, we are adding a "porch" to our Tack Shed. This is so that folks can have some shade to sit in while we are having horse shows. We are also getting another shed built next door. It's going to be very cute, and very useful.

We had over 10 goslings this year. They were such fun to watch, and they grew up very fast. Currently we have a couple of duck families swimming around the pond. It is so great to have the two ponds. We also had a nest of meadow larks in the pole barn. It was such fun to watch the chicks peeking over the nest whenever we went in to do chores. I love listening to them sing every morning outside my window.

We were recently accepted for the Equip Program (Agriculture), and so will have the ability to further divide the horse pastures. We are now also able to irrigate. Someday, we will be able to grow our own hay for the horses. This will be a lot cheaper than buying.

There's more to say, but I'm out of time.... Hope to catch up with this blog soon.

Thinking Dreams

When I was a little girl, if a fairy had come down and granted me one wish, it would have been to live on a horse ranch.  I realized this as I was mucking out stalls the other day.  I'm living my girl hood dream.  The sad fact is, growing up I buried this dream because I thought it was so impossible. Yet here I am, living my dream.

At this point I could make several moral observances, but I'm not going go.  I'm going to be grateful.  I'm going to try and apprecitate this dream just as though I was that little girl wishing to live with horses. Every morning when I get up, I'm going to thank the Lord and smile. I want to enjoy this dream to the fullest.

When I pet the dogs, take care of the chickens, and the cats, and the horses...I'm going to revel in the fact that once upon a time when I was young, this was my highest wish and it has come true. 

Cinderella?  Ya got nothin on me!

Thinking Green

We've had rain the past few days. Not like you get in the east where it pours buckets for hours on end, but we have had rain on and off. Enough to turn everything green.

This is the time of year when we like to see things turning green. The garden plot has been rototilled and is awaiting the installation of automatic drip system. No more losing plants because they don't get watered often enough. The back pasture which we seeded with Idaho Bunching Blue grass is looking pretty fine. The east pasture where the alfalfa is growing, is also turning a very nice shade of green.

I was thinking about this yesterday. Most of the time, our mountains and prairies are all different shades of brown (and purple--yes really purple). Even when we get lots of water, the natural plants turn on their own by July. So we really have a short window in which to look out our windows and see...green.

It's a very special time of year this "green" time. The old things have been blown away, the new green plants are fresh to look at (and smell). Even though the wind blows a lot it isn't that cold wind that blows through you and chills your bones. It is the frisky wind that blows around you and invites you out to play.

The horses love this time of year. They kick up their heals and gallop around the pastures at full speed. They show off by bucking and kicking, and leaping high (I saw Mercedes do a real live capriole the other day). The chickens are laying more eggs, their feathers are sleek as they cluck contentedly and dig for bugs in the fresh unfrozen soil.

The dogs are out chasing coyotes again--because the coyotes are active again. I've seen lots of bunnies, and the prairie dogs are thick this year.

All this rain, this beautiful rain, this beautiful "not snow", is bringing us more than May flowers, it's bringing us spring in all her green.

Storm's Story

Last Sunday, Willa and I went on a cattle drive! My very first one. Because my Autumn was lame, I rode Storm. She is pictured above, a retired ranch horse once upon a time called Mouse. She is a Mouse no more.

When we first got her, she was depressed. She had lived on a ranch with her herd and had always been a hard working ranch horse. When she was young, she did some barrel racing and some roping. As she got older, her owners, who knew Willa, gave her up because she was getting kind of stiff, and ranch work was too hard for her anymore.

It took a long time for her to forgive us all for that. Now, however, she loves the ranch and the herd in the Western Pasture where she lives. Last summer, when we were doing kids camps, she really got her groove back. We have put special shoes on her front feet so she isn't stiff or sore anymore. So when we got our invitation to join in a real live cattle drive, she was the natural choice to ride.

When we arrived and unloaded her from the trailer, her ears pricked up, her head went up and her nostrils flared out. She heard those cows and she knew what this was about! She was very excited (at least as excited as she gets). I saddled her up and boy was she ready to go! Storm is too mature to prance around and waste energy, but she did have a hard time just standing around to wait.

At last the cattle were pushed out of their pen, and they started on the move. Storm started along with them. She knew just what to do and when to do it. Mostly, I just tried to be a good rider. We eased the cattle along pretty gently because there were many small calves in this herd.

Cattle on the trail are very noisy! I can't imagine having to listen to that noise for a few hundred miles like the cowboys used to do. Maybe after a day or so the cattle learn to be quiet. But this herd sure wasn't! Storm chose to stay upwind of the herd so we didn't get a lot of dust, which was nice. We went about 4 miles, which doesn't seem very long, but was pretty far for the small calves to go. In fact, a couple of them plain wore out--so they were separated from the herd and put into a stock trailer to make the rest of the journey.

We went down a long hill which had a small gulley at the bottom. It was very interesting to watch as the cattle herd went through that gulley. Storm stationed herself at the top and her presence seem to forestall any escape attempts. We also took the herd safely across a highway.

Willa was on Dillon and this was his first time around cows, but he did very well. Didn't even spook once. In fact, it took him about ten minutes to figure out how to herd cows, and he really enjoyed himself after that! I guess he's just a natural born boss. And at one point, we were taking the herd through a large pasture that contained other cows that the cowboys didn't want to get mixed into with our herd, so Dillon was chosen to be one of the horses who cantered out to chase those cows away. Boy he really went for that!

Storm, however, stayed on point doing her job like the pro she truly is. She was rock solid during the whole trip. After we arrived and the cattle were into the corral where the calves could get their tags--we rode back to where we had parked out trailers. Storm practically troted back the whole way (mostly up hill). She was so full of vigour! We could tell that she really enjoyed herself.

Storm is one of the horses we use for beginning riders. She is a patient horse, and knows just how to handle beginners. She builds confidence, because she is a professional and is competent herself. This was the first time I ever rode her, but I sure am glad I had the opportunity. She made my first cattle drive an excellent experience. And I was really glad she enjoyed herself so much.

Hal the Pal (a story of love)

Once upon a time a young Great Pyrenees dog lived with several others in a dark small shed. They were cold when it was cold and hot when it was hot. There was very little food, so he was always hungry and thin.

Sometimes, when he was allowed outside, he was beaten and yelled at for reasons he didn't understand. Sometimes his other pack mates didn't survive.

Then some folks showed up to rescue him and his pack mates from the dark shed. While they were there, they also rescued the horses and cats who lived in that place. There were TV cameras and strange people. But they had kind voices, so even though the Great Pyr was scared, he went along quietly. He was taken to a strange place with many dogs. It was full of light and he got lots of food. One of his pack mates was in the kennel next to him, and he was treated with kindness by the people who cared for him there.

What he didn't know was that the mother of one of the Dream River Ranch folks had seen the TV reports about this Great Pyr and his pack mates. The mother had told her daughter, and she went to the Humane Shelter and put in a request for the Great Pyr, because Dream River Ranch had the heart, room and space. We needed someone to help Rusty and Sam guard the ranch. We needed someone else to love.

A month went by and the week before Christmas, Dream River Ranch got a call. Do you still want another Great Pyre? Boy did we! Plans were made to meet him and see if he would like a new home.

At the first meeting, he was walked out with one of his pack mates. She was small and delicate and lovely, but the person from the ranch had a knowing that the he was one we needed at the ranch. He was the one who could help Rusty and Sam. They needed him, and he needed us. So the person from the ranch spoke with the person at the Humane Shelter and it was decided to bring Rusty and Sam to meet this Great Pyre and see if they would accept each other as pack mates.

It was a match! The folks at the Humane Shelter were surprised, but Willa and Dree weren't. They both had a knowing that this Great Pyre was the one for Dream River Ranch. He needed a good home with lots of space, love, and kindness, after his home in the dark shed. Rusty, Sam and the Great Pyre liked each other right away. There would still be some issues of pack placement to decide, but that could be decided later. We paid for him that night and said that we would be back the Saturday after Christmas--because we needed to get his dog house into order before we could bring him home.

That Saturday was one of the snowiest days we had all winter. The weather was blowing snow, the road was snowy, icy and there were several slide offs on our way to get our new friend. Joseph was driving, so we weren't one of the slide offs! We got our new Great Pyre who was very shy and scared to leave the one kind place he had ever known. He didn't know it then, but he had just been granted the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

We drove slowly home--it took over an hour. When we got home, we took him off the leash and he took off. We were scared for a few minutes that he would run away, but he ran to the end of the driveway and stopped and came back. Then he ran the other way, but stopped when he got inside the South Pasture. He came back. We took him for a walk, but couldn't walk far, as the snow was deep in places and we didn't have snow shoes. But he quickly understood that this was his home. When he saw the large garbage can where we store our dog food, he thought he'd died and gone to heaven. He'd never seen so much food in one place in his life!

It took only a few hours for Rusty to teach him that an empty hand is a hand that could be petting a dog. And that all you have to do is put your nose in the empty hand in order to get petted. Sam was a little bit put off at first--was this new dog here to take his place? It took a few days for him to realize that this newcomer was there to be a help to him. Even if he was a little young and would need some training up.

This dog came to us without a name, and without much of a past. What could we name him? We discussed the fact that we wanted a good plain western sounding name. So we tried on Jake, and Shep (my personal favorite), and Bear, but none of them seemed right. We tried Hal, and then Willa found herself laughing when she would say Hal No! So the name stuck.

Soon we discovered that we were calling him Hal "y" Pal. Because he became the Pal that Rusty had always wanted and the helper that Sam needed. So the name Hal the Pal has stuck. He is still growing, and if he grows into his feet, he will be bigger than Sam when he is full grown.

So once upon a time Hal the Pal lived in a dark shed, but now he is living happily ever after, indeed.

Back Again

Well, I hibernated all winter, long enough to forget what the login to the blog was . Finally remembered today. I promise that I won't forget again.

Winter for the ranch has been kind of laid back, long and cold. Joseph is currently working on the pellet stove (which is our main source of heat). The horses are very fuzzy and have enjoyed not working much.

And over Christmas, we got Sam and Rusty a new pal. We call him Hal. He is another Great Pyrenees. He is young and came to us through the Idaho Humane Shelter. We are so glad to get him. And he's really glad to be here on the ranch. He and Rusty have become great friends. I will try to post a picture of him later today.

Our chickens have done very well. They are all feathered up and glossy. They did quit laying for awhile, but have started laying again with the longer days.

We are looking forward to spring. We have been filling our calendar up with dates for the spring and summer, and we have the link to our new Google Calendar on our website. Really cool!

I have been told to mention the fact that we had to dig our cars out of the snow drifts back in January. Maybe next year we'll post a sign at the entrance "Have snowshoes all who enter here--because your car isn't going to get very far." It shows real community spirit when your friends will help you to dig out of the snow.