Preparing for winter

We have been preparing for our first winter here at The Ranch.  We're stocking up on groceries, adding straw to the gardens and chicken run, and bringing in herbs.  Most importantly, though, is our need for wood to heat our home.  We are totally off grid and have a generator for back-up, so we are not worried about power outages.  However, our only source for heat is two wood stoves.  Since we have not lived here through a winter, we have no idea how much wood will be needed to keep us 

and the critters comfortable. 

We started out with this...

Our neighbors up the hill cut down a tree and offered us the wood since they don't live here full-time.  It took Neal about three trips back and forth with the trailer and three-wheeler

to get this stash.

Now, we're former city folk and don't have a lot of experience with country living, but one thing we  knew was that this little stash was not going to see us through the winter.  So, we contacted a local wood guy and ordered three cords of aspen.  He delivered it in two truckloads and dumped it right on our property.  Have you ever seen three cords of wood?  

 

When Mr. Wood Guy delivered the wood, he threw it off the truck in a big, unorganized pile, which was the fastest way for him to get it done.  After three days, off and on, of touching each piece and stacking it by hand, Neal made a nice, neat arch of wonderfully seasoned aspen.  I really hope this is enough to see us through a Colorado mountain winter, but if it's not...

We know where to get more!

Chicken Trivia

Why did the chickens peck at the car bumper?

To clean off the squished bug guts, of course!  They are such good helpers.

CHICKENS ROCK!

My Sweet Baby Girl

 

Our lives have been a bit of a roller coaster since April.  That's when Captain had his major knee surgery; then we closed our business that we had tried to sell for over a year; then we moved to The Ranch; then Nadia had to have double cataract surgery due to the effects of diabetes.  As if both surgeries weren't costly and time-consuming enough, Nadia's surgery has not resulted in success, as we had hoped it would.  We were advised that there was a 10% chance that cataract surgery would result in glaucoma, and even more of a chance due to her shar-pei mix breed.  So, guess what? Nadia now has full-blown glaucoma in her left eye, which means she has virtually no sight in that eye, and if the pressure continues to rise, she might have to have that eye removed.  Can you say, "oh crap"!

The encouraging news is that she seems to have good pressure and good sight in the right eye and the long-term prognosis for that eye is positive.  The downside is that after all we've been through with the surgery and aftercare, she will probably never see out of her left eye again.  We know it is quite possible for her to live a good quality life with the sight from just one eye (just ask our love sponge Otis), but we want to make sure she is pain-free, if possible.  She is actually getting around a lot better than she was before surgery...she was quite the pitiful blind patient and it was depressing for all of us!  So, we take things day by day, continue with the daily meds and weekly vet visits and hope and pray for some sort of normality for all us us soon. Just another day in paradise!

Snake Wranglin'

OK, OK, so I know I've been lax with blogging lately (thanks for reminding me, Nellie!)  We are really enjoying living at The Ranch full-time.  So much so that I've had little desire to sit down and blog.  That's not to say there hasn't been a lot going on out here, however.  For example, we've had the stranded bird in the chimney that required a complete tear-down from the inside and a successful extraction of a grateful bird; mice hockey in the house in the middle of the night courtesy of the cat door (twice) before we wised up and closed the door at night; the neighbor losing ten of his chickens to a hungry bear; and, the wildfire started by lightening that was just over the mountain from us in our neighbors' backyard.  Yes, indeed, there has been a lot going on in the country lately.  And we have loved every minute of it!

Call us crazy, but even seeing this guy/gal didn't spoil our country high...

Neither of us are afraid of snakes, and we appreciate them for their place in the ecosystem, but when they get too close to the house or the chickens, we (translated "Neal") must intervene.

Unfortunately, we do not have a proper snake catch-pole like Linda at 7MSN, so Neal had to improvise with a paint roller pole that was lacking in the "catch" part.

Several attempts to wrangle the rattler ended up with one pissed off snake curled around the many branches of a currant bush and one frustrated Neal.  I, of course, was standing on the sidelines, taking pictures and giggling at the comical side of it all.  So many people we know would have either done nothing or immediately disposed of the snake in a not-very-nice fashion.  Here we were trying to save the dang snake's life by relocating him to a spot far enough away that he didn't cause harm to us or our critters.

Trying to get an angry, writhing rattlesnake to cooperate by attaching his body just-so to the catch pole is no easy task, I tell ya.  Neal had done this a time or two before on our property, but he swore the preceding rattlers were more cooperative.  This one, apparently, had a bone to pick and refused to be moved for what seemed like an eternity.  Then, finally, the dance between man and beast ended...

Neal and the rattler took a little walk far, far away from our house, the rattler claimed a new piece of real estate, and all was right with the world again.  Now, you understand why I've had little time to dedicate to blogging lately.  Too much activity going on at The Ranch.  Livin' the dream.

The End.

Dinner time at The Ranch

We are enjoying sharing our lives with the various wildlife here at The Ranch, even with the most recent bear attack that took ten of my neighbor's chickens.  Fortunately, Neal built our girls a Chicken Fort Knox, equipped with electric wire, and we have had no issues with predators.  Unfortunately for our neighbors, they didn't properly lock up their chickens one night and a bear was able to raid the chicken coop through an opened door.  The Department of Wildlife set a trap for the bear and he/she was caught a couple of days later, and hopefully relocated to an area far, far away. 

Not long after we moved here, we put out feeders for the birds....one for the hummingbirds, one for the finches, and one multi-species feeder for larger birds.  After purchasing one package of the ready-made hummingbird food, I realized I could make my own sugar water for much less.  And, in no time, the hummers realized they had found a "sweet deal" indeed.  We have decided we need to put out a second hummingbird feeder, to give the lesser aggressive ones a chance to eat.  For such little things, they sure can get territorial!

The finches, on the other hand, are pretty ticked off at me.  I ran out of the $12 per 3 lbs bag of thistle seed and decided to order in bulk online.  You can see the empty thistle feeder to the left of the hummingbird feeder.  I got a really good deal, but they were back-ordered, so it's been over a week since the finches had any food from our buffet.  Somehow, I think they will forgive me when the bulk seed is delivered later this week!

Update from The Ranch

 

Day by  day, we are getting settled in at The Ranch.  And we are loving it here.

Neal took some time off to go back to Louisiana for his 30-year high school reunion and to visit his family. He deserved the time off after all the work he has done lately.

Unfortunately, there are still some housekeeping and repair things to be done at the city house before we put it on the market.  Because Neal is the Mr. Fix-it in the family, most of those tasks will fall to him.  We hope and pray the house will sell quickly.  If it doesn't, we will rent it out until the market improves, but that is not something we are looking forward to doing.

Our sweet Nadia is going blind due to diabetes.  I will take her for testing this week to make sure she is a candidate for cataract surgery.  If she is, we will proceed with surgery on both eyes.  It will be expensive and the aftercare will be intense, but we cannot stand to see her struggling to maneuver what used to be basic routines and routes. Other than the diabetes and vision loss, she seems to be in perfect health.  Neal and I both feel we owe it to her to restore her vision, if possible, especially since we went to the effort and expense to repair Captain's torn ACL.  Captain, by the way, is doing fantastic post surgery.  If only his hair would grow back!

All the critters are doing well, for the most part.  George needs a daily reminder that chasing deer is not allowed.  He has, however, mastered the art of high-tailing it when he hears a rattlesnake.  Guess that snake aversion class paid off after all!  

We have been welcomed into the "neighborhood" by some greats folks willing to share a beer, give dish towels as a house-warming gift, and troubleshoot our land line when we were having issues.  It's nice to have the local telephone repair guy living right across the road!

La Belle Vie (the good life)!!!

We're Here!

 

We have finally  made the move to The Ranch and we couldn't be happier!

We still have some things yet to move from the city house, and some repairs and such to be done, but for the most part....we've moved!

 

The dogs, cats and chickens are all settling in remarkably well.  Even though we have multiple beds scattered about, Captain has decided to claim one that was originally for Nadia, and a bit too small for him.

It is a bit surreal to actually be living here permanently, after planning and anticipating for three years.  It just goes to show that dreams really can come true!