Rubber Boots Required

Second week in to Christmas vacation....no snow trip, no Disneyland trip, nothing out of the ordinary except for the fact that there's no school....but why leave home when we have cousins coming over to hang out at the ranch "playground" with?

In above pic, cows are lined up and patiently waiting for their turn in the milking parlor.

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Post-Party Crashers

Have you ever had a party and ended up with some late, late party crashers?  Well it happened here.  These girls just couldn't keep themselves from showing up......12 hours after the fact.

We had an outdoor, summer margarita party the other night which was a ton of fun {at least for me} where we had a nice group of friends, jumpy for the kids, whiffle ball, eating, drinking, etc.  All went well, nothing broken, all bodies accounted for....a good party.

I look out the front window at 8 a.m. the next morning to survey and plan the clean-up duties and find some late party crashers, 15 of them in fact.  Happy as can be, looking for some nibbles and coming a little to close to the  jumpy house that was still out on the lawn.

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Weapons of Mass Destruction ~ Heifers

It was a late night coming home from dinner and all I wanted to do is get the kids into bed, put jammies on and crawl into bed myself.  After working outside for much of the day on the yard, I was so looking forward to a good night's sleep.

But just to get every one's engines all reved up before bed, as we drive into the yard, we're greeted by 20 pair of bright, glowing heifer eyes peering at us from our front yard.

It only takes one heifer to break through a gate before all the others will follow.  And boy, can they ever do some damage in a short period of time.

As I surveyed the damage the next morning, this is what I discovered.....

They used my bear as a rubbing post before it toppled over...

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Farm Chicks

Summer time.  The best time of the year as far as my kids are concerned.  Warm weather, cousins at the ranch, feeding calves, getting dirty and bonding in many ways.

Paige finds herself with the strong urge to visit her calf, Brina at the calf barn multiple times per day.

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I Have a Secret

There are days when I just want to go along for the ride.  

No jumping off the tractor or out of the truck to be the 'gate person'.

No lifting.

No feeding.

No cleaning.

These are the days I wear my flip flops.  The days I say "Oh, I wasn't thinking and wore my flip flops.....I can't jump out to help in the corral, but I'll drive the tractor."

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Through the Lens of a 7 Year Old

It's spring break and it's a "staycation" here on the ranch for us.  Paige is sick with the flu, stuck inside and not happy at ALL about it.  Bryce is taking up the slack for me by going out and snapping some pics all while helping Daddy.

I love it when I give the camera to my seven year old and tell him to have at it.  I truly can't wait to see what he comes back with, every time he takes it......like little treasures.

Here are some of the things that caught his eye this week......

Riding in the tractor, feeding the cows.....he knows how I like cow pics and am sure he took these solely for my benefit.

Playing with the zoom.....I like the outcome.

Boys and machinery....I'm not even sure where on the ranch I would find this......

Surprise shots....we all love those don't we?!......here's one of Daddy.

Lastly, a shot of a beef cow......T-Bone......or soon to be.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to leave a comment. I love to hear from you! Have a fantastic day!

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Milk Barn Distraction

With my kids attending a one-room school house, I often compare differences between our little school and a larger one. One of the many differences is, we have a Bookmobile scheduled to show up at the school. The Bookmobile is a mobile library that works in conjunction with the county library and it drives from rural school to rural school on a weekly basis during the school year.

During the summer, the Bookmobile makes scheduled stops at various ranches. Our ranch is on the list of scheduled stops this summer. We have been out of town or busy during the first three summer time stops but yesterday, the final scheduled stop, we were excited to meet the Bookmobile just down the hill from our house.

We headed down on foot, Bryce with his overdue Diary of a Wimpy Kid book in hand, to meet up with the Bookmobile.

We waited....

and waited.

Bookmobile didn’t show, which equates to two very disappointed kids.

Luckily there are plenty of distractions down near the dairy barns.....and the park across the street.

After exploring, big brother Bryce decides to show his sister just how boot cleaning is done.  With sprayer in hand, he expertly cleans his rubber work boots.

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Secret Tunnel

We drive by it every day. 

We and many others drive over it every day.

Walking through it from our farm, leads to Stafford Lake.  The Secret Tunnel, as I call it, is only secret because my kids didn't know it existed until yesterday. {and Bryce still doesn't}

While Bryce was in school yesterday, Paige and I went on a 'ranch walk' to see what we could discover.  I led Paige through the tall green grass on an area of the farm that's near the road.  Nearing the gated tunnel entrance, seeing it for the first time, Paige became excited with the prospect of experiencing something new on our morning adventure.

After opening the gate and walking through, Paige discovered we were now at Stafford Lake Park.  When she got her bearings and realized exactly where we were, she was amazed we didn't need to cross the busy road to get there.  It's acessable through the Secret Tunnel that only we can use.

The tunnel was once used {and is still used once in a great while} to move cows from our ranch, to the other side of the road where the other half of our property lies, behind Stafford Lake.

Once on the park side, we took a little stroll down a paved path.

Once we reached the end of the path {because X marks the spot}, we turned and walked back.

Back through the tunnel, we stopped midway to wait for a car to drive overhead so we could hear how loud it sounded from the inside. 

We also found hints of another tunnel walker that had visited recently.  Looks like a racoon or skunk print.....not sure which.

My kids LOVE tunnels and I don't know why I haven't shown them this before.

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'The Woods' Behind the Lake & MORE Baby Barn Owls

Yet another work morning with Dominic, the kids and I drove across the street with him to the heifer barn out behind Stafford Lake.  This is the barn on the other half of our ranch that sits across the street behind Stafford Lake.  At this barn and pasture are the heifers, or big calves that are rotated out of the calf barn on the main part of  the ranch.  Once the calves reach the age of five months or so, they are moved to this area that we call 'The Woods'.

This is the barn they walk into to eat their alfalfa and grain.  They also have many acres on which to graze upon.

This is why we call this area 'The Woods'.  It's beautiful, heavily wooded in areas and very peaceful.  This photo is taken just outside the backside of the barn.  I love coming here....it's very peaceful.

This is also a perfect picnic area.

The heifers enjoy it also.  We typically have up to 80 heifers on this acreage of the ranch, all varying between the ages of 5 months to 14 months.  At 14 months they are ready for breeding and will be moved back across the street to the main part of the ranch.

Our two assistants are helping with the feeding in the morning. 

And yet another set of baby Barn Owls is found!   I spotted three babies in this nest.  When we walked in, both the mother and father flew out of the barn and into the trees to the back side of the barn to wait for our departure.

I'll keep you posted on these guys as well!  The babies in the first nest that I posted about, just below our house, are all doing well with the two older owls flying and the two younger owls still confined to their nest.

Happy Wednesday!

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A Little Bit of History

The kids and I visited my parents in Penngrove today, so I thought I would share a little bit about where I grew up. My parents have 4 1/2 acres in Penngrove. The five of us lived in this little two bedroom one bathroom farm house up until I was seven years old. I was lucky enough to live in this house again 10 years ago for a couple of years. I love this charming, quaint house. Then we moved next door to the house my parents had built in the 70's. It's not much bigger than the farm house, three bedrooms and two bathrooms and a garage. The property had five chicken houses on it. One was taken down to build the new house. Four of them still remain. When I was a teenager, my 'garage' used to be this converted chicken house..... The chicken house directly behind our home was and still is my Dad's shop and the front part of it was our 'play house'. My sisters and I spent many hours playing, roller skating, and even riding bikes in that chicken house. So many great memories that I am able to revisit every time I walk through the door. I discovered this on my visit...... I attended Petaluma High School and graduated in 1985. I remember drawing this with chalk as though it was just yesterday. This chalk drawing is over 25 years old! I can't believe it's still there! Here is the middle part of the chicken house, my Dad's shop...... This photo is taken from the front of the 'play' chicken house, looking up to the back of my parent's house....... A view from their back deck........ My two sisters and I....... My kids playing in Grandma and Grandpa's house, creating their own memories....... Grandma and Grandpa with three of their grand kids, Bryce, Paige and of course Chloe..... Some other childhood memories that come to mind as I'm creating this post are SNACKS~ I think we lived on Tang.....I believe my Mom thought Tang was as healthy as orange juice....we even used to make ice cube popsicles out of it... Another favorite, Hostess pies. My school lunch was packed with 1/2 of a blackberry pie every day. They do contain fruit, they're healthy, right? Oh, and my favorite of all........ Happy Sunday! Pin It