The Homestead

Looking East from the highway

Time for another update on the buildings. 

First of all, we are calling the place The Homestead.  Originally, there was a homestead on the land, just West of the buildings.  It included the normal homestead/farm structures like a dugout, windmill, shelter for pigs, and much more that time and wear has deteriorated.   
 

In amongst Thanksgiving, boarding pets, and keeping up with the ranch, we've been doing a bunch of work at The Homestead. 

1.  We have electricity!  The first time I got to see the classrooms and bathrooms with lights was the best.  And, since we have lights now, I've been able to vacuum and sweep and clean up a bit.
2.  We have water!  It's hooked up to both buildings and most of the lines are in the ground and covered/or mostly ready to be covered.  We still need to install the hydrants.
3.  The septic system is on the way!
4.  The propane tank is set, as of today. 

Since the last post, we got the ramps and decks moved.  (Both buildings came with a deck and ramp.)  Because I'll have dogs coming and going in the front and back of the boarding building, we put both ramps and one deck on it.  Eventually, we'll put in a back door.

Back of the boarding building

Front of the boarding building

The concrete men finished closing off the ends of the foundation. 

 

Front of the house

Back and side of the house

Back of boarding building

A kind neighbor is letting us borrow his ditcher and it has been a blessing considering how much we have to dig and as hard as the ground is.   

Water line going in

 

In the picture below, the water line goes under the foundation, up, and into the house.  Like I said, the ground there is super hard, so Dad was running through ideas on how to get the water line in.  One night, it came to him. 

When we kids were little, he'd show us how hydraulic pressure works with a water hose.  He'd press the hose to the ground and the pressure from the water would make way for the hose to go deep into the ground and make a hole.  That concept made it possible to get the water line into the house, under the foundation.  He attached a garden hose to a pvc pipe and pushed it through, making the hole we needed.  It worked like a charm!     

 



 

 

 
Until next time, here's a beautiful sunset at the Homestead. 

 

 

 

The Day We Bought a School Building

Big things are happening here and it's so exciting! 
 
Recently, some friends told us about their new house plan.  They have a place out in the country on which they've been wanting to build a home, but after one thing or another kept arising, they weren't able to and were forced to move into town for a while.  Until they bought a school building.  This school building is quite nice though.  With two large, open classrooms on both ends, a bathroom and an office in between them, they make for a great open floor plan for a house.  It sounded interesting when we heard about the building and it turned out that there were more for sale.
 
After much thought and prayer, we bought two of them. 
 
One will be my house and the other will be my pet boarding building, with better facilities for the business.  For example, the "boarding building" has the two classrooms and two bathrooms, instead of an office.  That leaves plenty of room to expand my services.  I'm not sure what all I'll end up doing, but I am toying with the idea and considering baths and nail trims.
 
We have a piece of pasture land right by the highway and set both buildings there.  Now clients won't have to drive so far into the middle of nowhere to leave their pet(s) in my care, it'll be easier to see, and all around better for my growing business.
 
There is still a ton to do, like hook up water and electricity, setup a septic system, cleaning, remodeling, etc. before I can get moved in and settled, but it'll be an amazing adventure full of learning new things and expanding.
 

 

     


The pink layer is Sill Seal, a thin foam that keeps out bugs, dirt, etc.

 

 

 

Summer Update

 

My graduation party was a success to say the least.  Friends and family from all over showed up and just made my day!  It was so, so good to see and talk to everybody.  The weather played a huge part in making the party a good one.  (You know it's nice in this part of the country when people actually sit/stand, talk, and play outside.)   

Dad made pulled pork from my very own Minnie and Pearl and there were makings for either sandwiches or tacos, along with all of the sides and sweets.

I had no cap and gown (at my request) and didn't want to be the center of attention; however, because I went to check on some of the 10 dogs, 1 cat, and 1 lizard I was watching, I ended up right smack dab in that spot.  Everybody was gathered to pray and start eating until someone realized I wasn't even in the house.  Needless to say, I had to walk through all of those clapping and cheering people before we would continue on with the evening.

I do believe it was one of the best get-togethers we've had here and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I was blessed with money, gifts, and true friendships that continue on with many people of all ages. 

~

Since then, life has been what I could call a whirlwind.  People have been asking me if I plan to go to college this fall and what I plan to do with my life, but in truth, I haven't had time to think about all of that or decide in favor of going to college.  I have been focused on pets nonstop since graduation. 

I housesat for 9 days in July.  Then I had my new record of boardies at one time, which was 18 dogs and a guinea pig.  I've been getting up at 5:40 every morning since the 19th to give a dog her medicine shot and knowing us, haven't gotten to bed until late in the evenings. And I housesat again in August.

Besides that, I've managed to help do a bit of cattle work (like moving, branding, and riding the horses), watch the last few baseball games of the season, and work in the garden.  

I have some post ideas for the near future, so keep checking in!

Have a good one, my blog readers!

 

2017 Grad.

This is the week, the week I've been waiting for since I was a little girl.  This week I graduate from high school.

I successfully finished the last of my school work last week and since then we've been working on getting things ready for a party this Saturday, the 24th.

People ask me if I'm excited to be done.  They ask me what I want, what I'm going to do next.

To these questions, I seem to give different answers each time, though they're still very similar.  It's a lot to think about, it's the whole future, and I'm free to do what I want.

I'm excited to be finished, though it's still settling in.  I was pretty much not doing any school a couple of months ago because I was busy and most of it was finished.  Then I had to really get at it and finish last week.  So in a way, it feels like I've been done for a while now, even though I haven't been.

In truth, this year hasn't been one of the best.  Things are changing, other things aren't.  I've been very active with cattle work, taking care of pets, and my own fun things that for a while, I was overwhelmed and tired.  So to have school finished and behind me, makes me really happy and it's one less thing I have to do.

There are so many choices, thoughts, desires, goals, and dreams floating around my head that I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  I've been praying about it and for now, I'm going to try to simply enjoy living my life.

Anyway, we have quite a bit of cleaning, planning, and things to do before the celebration on Saturday, so I might get. 

 

The Sunday Evening Post

Since my last post, we've had a blizzard.  This time, the hardest part of the flying snow, cold rain, and wind were west of us and, again, we didn't lose any livestock.  However, thousands of cattle lost their lives to the snow fall.  With muddy conditions and cold temps, they just couldn't survive.

Other areas of Oklahoma in the last month have gotten thunderstorms, earthquakes, flooding, and tornados. 

Here, last Thursday, it was so hot!  We were sweating, wilting in humid, still air as the sun bore down on us.  But two days later (yesterday) shoot, it was freezing!  Not literally, but we were bundled in coats, gloves, handkerchiefs, and craved the out-of-wind spots near horse trailers as we branded at a friend's.
Now, it's raining.  (Sunday evening) 

We are very grateful for all of the moisture and protection over this ranch and all that we own.  So far, this spring, though wild when weather is concerned, has been a wonderful wet, green one.  We ranchers are loving it.

~

We ordered chicks and poults (baby turkeys) in April and after a rough start of losing two turkeys and one chick, another turkey breaking its leg, and the turkeys not eating unless I hand fed them, they are doing much better!  They're sleeping outside (in their own house) and free ranging all day, weather permitting, of course. 

Day we got them to this evening


So far, we've only named three.  Claudia is a Buff Orpington chick who lives with Harvard, the broken legged turkey, and Spillwell, another turkey. 

Eggs from my grown hens

~

I went to a senior citizen dance with my college-aged cousin a few weeks ago.  It was my second real dance (the first being when I was a much younger girl).  I went with practically no dancing skills, and though I left with about that much, I did get up and dance a few songs.  It was a fun, very out of the norm evening, and I don't regret tagging along.

~

We have been to many brandings already this spring.  They have all been full of fun, manual labor, laughter, fellowship, and people we're glad to call friends. 

The other day, we five as a family, worked our replacement heifers.  You may remember the post I did in 2014 where I described what we do after buying new cattle.  The same process happens when we work the replacement heifers, except instead of branding them with our brand (because we already did that when they were calves at our branding last year), we brand them with the year brand.  Example would be, since these heifers were born last year, they get a number 6 on their shoulder.  (If you don't remember the post, it's the one titled, "I'm on a Roll" posted in Oct. of 2014.) 

 

 



~

I have finished and read draft 3 of my book.  However, I'm not 100% happy with the end result, so I will be revising and editing it still more.  Some of you may know that my goal was to publish at least one book before graduating, but as the time has neared, and I don't feel my book is ready to be sent into the world, I've decided to wait. 
I would much rather be later and have a book worth placing in the hands of readers, than be a published author with a choppy story.  I believe I will publish.  I believe it is a huge gift and dream God has placed on my heart, but I also believe that right now isn't the time.

I will definitely keep you all in the loop, as many steps towards becoming a published author are being accomplished!  And it truly is exciting to see what's happening in that area of my life.

Fire and Ice

I was going to write about the ice storm this part of the country got back in January, but time got away from me and I didn't get to it.  So when wildfires sparked and raced across this land, I thought a blog post using the title, Fire and Ice, would be neat.  However, the ice storm was kind of insignificant compared to the recent fires so I have little to say about it.  : ) 
 
Back in January, this area was hit hard by an ice storm.  Towns and homes lost power from anywhere to an hour to two weeks.  Trees and limbs were badly broken, power lines and highline poles snapped.  It was very pretty, but so destructive. 

~~~

 
Mid-March I wrote...
Have you heard about all of the fires in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas? 

My family and I are okay.  Thankfully, all of the fires were east, north, or south of us, but we were still somewhat affected. 

Over 1,000,000 acres burned

We have some friends/neighbors who were hit hard by the hot flames.  Their houses were spared and saved (praise God) but the fire consumed some of their cattle, fences, out buildings, vehicles, trailers, machinery, and acres and acres of needed grass.  Still, some people weren't as fortunate and did lose their home and/or even loved ones.

With the land turned to ash and sand now, the livestock which did survive don't have any grass to graze.  However, by the kind hearts of people all across the country, they are being helped!

Hay from many different states is making its way to the needy cattle and horses.  Truck and pickup drivers are rolling in, ready and eager to help in anyway they can.  When offered a gas card or payment, they instantly refuse it.  They won't accept a dime.  And when we've said thank you to the few we've been able to talk to, they grin and say that they're just happy they can help somehow.

Everybody is coming together and working.  Whoever needs hay is invited to come to the drop off place were all of the donated hay is kept and pick up what they need.  Night and day, the people working at that location wait for any arriving trucks pulling a loaded trailer.

On the 15th of March, Mom, Little J., and I went to give some food to our friends who'd lost things to the fire, and that's when we talked to the people at the hay drop off location.  They said all of the ranchers/farmers were good on hay at the moment, but still more trucks were unloading.  Without rain, though, they'll need all the hay they can probably get until the grass grows back.

One of our friends said they had some people coming in to help build fences.  The builders had said something to the point of, "Show us where you want the fence and it'll be there when we leave."  Complete strangers have come to the aid and are giving their time, effort, and prayers to the many, many people affected by the fire.  And it has been so touching, amazing, and appreciated.

I heard hay was coming from Arkansas, Kansas, Michigan, and so many more states.  In fact, I have lost count of how many states have donated hay/feed, fencing supplies, food, and time.

 

Though the fires are nearly, to completely put out, there is so much more work ahead of ranchers, farmers, and anyone else harmed.  Fences need taken down and rebuilt.  Cattle need fed and cared for.  Still other livestock had to be killed and then buried, taken to a dead pile, etc., because of their injuries.  Grass needs to grow back on the black and brown hills.  Houses need to be rebuilt.  It's not nearly over, even though the fire is.
 

 

We need rain.  As one person said, "We need a nice slow rain.  Not one that will pour and wash all of the hills away.  And I guess lightning wouldn't hurt anything."  It's at times like this a person needs to keep their humor. 

 


As I've said, it's been wonderful to see all of the hay coming through.  Facebook has been flooded with videos, pictures, and written posts about hay and all of the loving people doing something for the fire victims.  We've cried, we've smiled, we've prayed, we've helped, we've waved to countless semis and pickups hauling hay, and our family has been affected by the fire, though we didn't lose anything.  We've been emotionally affected by all of the helping hands coming to give assistance in this time of need and by what we have and can do to help others.
 
April 3rd...
Hello again from the Panhandle!  Since I hadn't posted this yet, I thought I'd add to it.
 
We have gotten RAIN!  Praise God!!!  It rained on and off all of last week and, though a lot of this area has needed it, the path of the fire really did. 
 
On the 30th, Dad, Big J., and I, along with our horses, went over to one of our friends' to move their cattle since the fence had burned and the cattle escaped.  I hadn't seen any of the fire area since Mom, Little J., and I took food and supplies over on the 15th, and it was great to see the progress which had happened in that little time.

 
The black ashes covering the rolling hills were blown away, leaving mainly bare sand dunes.  But everything was wet from the rain.  Puddles and muddy roads were all around and green sprouts of grass showed themselves. 
 
After riding, I posted to Instagram and Facebook, saying,

We had the pleasure of helping some friends (who were affected by the recent fires) move their cattle.  While riding through one of the many burned pastures, we could smell the leftover smoky fragrance and the fresh dampness after the rains we've been blessed to get.  It's amazing how the green grass is already shooting through the ash and making this present desert-like country beautiful again.  #wildfire #starbuckfire #beautyfromtheashes  

 

 

 

Hay is still coming to ranchers and farmers and people are still offering to help build fences, fix food, move cattle, do anything that needs done, etc..  Though there's a ways to go yet, things are beginning to look better. 

 

Thank you to all who have helped and prayed during this historic, tragic time.