Barn Clean Out

Last week we rented a skid steer and used it to clean up Crabapple Farm.  It is amazing what you can do with machinery!

We moved all our wood around to the other corner of the shop so we could park our truck and manure spreader under cover.

We also cleaned out the barn.  Did you know that even years after you've had pigs, you can still smell them?  It's true.

We really need a skid steer.

Ranch Roping Contest

The boys did great on the day of the actual contest.  Prairie had to borrow Nova's horse, but they still had lots of fun in all the events.

They can go to State if they want to, but I don't think they want to.

(Prairie is 249 and Nova is 248).

G. K. Chesterton Quotes

A few days ago I got out the CLEP study guide to show the Spy Twins.  Braeburn was the last to use it and had stuffed a bunch of quotes inside.  I started reading them, and then immediately got very lonesome for Elder Braeburn because the quotes sounded so much like him.  Here are a few favorites:

"Our society is so abnormal that the normal man never dreams of having the normal occupation of looking after his own property.  When he chooses a trade, he chooses one of the ten thousand trades that involve looking after other people's property."

(Prairie Spy)

(Nova Spy)

"A citizen can hardly distinguish between a tax and a fine, except that the fine is generally much lighter."

"One cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion."

"Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God."

"There are two kinds of charlatan:  the man who is called a charlatan, and the man who really is one.  The first is the quack who cures you; the second is the highly qualified person who doesn't"

(Prairie Spy)

"I would rather a boy learnt in the roughest school the courage to hit a politician, or gained in the hardest school the learning to refute him - rather than that he should gain in the most enlightened school the cunning to copy him."

(Nova Spy)

"You can't have the family ranch without the family."

(I told this last one to Nova Spy and he mournfully replied, "You can't have the family ranch without the ranch.")

So True.

4-H Ranch Roping

This year our neighbor, Tate Carter, called and invited the boys to participate in Ranch Roping for 4-H.  The boys have done livestock 4-H before, and were not interested in that, but they thought if they could get some experience with some cows it might be fun.  We were pretty bad about meetings and hardly made our quota with the boys being gone so much this summer.  But they squeaked by.

Friday night was their practice session before the event on Saturday.  They had to do 3 things:  sort and pen as a team,  then position cows and keep them at different places in the arena, and then head and heel the cows with breakaway ropes.

It was a lovely evening and I took lots of pictures.

There was a bit of waiting between turns so the boys roped the dummy.

Prairie Spy's horse, Nikita, went through a fence this week and got all cut up.  Prairie has been perfecting his bandaging technique.  We think she will be ok, but it's still a little dicey.  So Prairie had to use Nova's horse, Pepper.  Of course there was "discussion" about what needed to be improved with Nova's horse.  Prairie felt the need to work with Pepper a bit.

Pepper was actually a gem.  Granny Smith says Prairie looks blood thirsty in this picture.  I said that Prairie was just watching a cow.  It's an intense business.

RV Living and the Buck Brannaman Clinic

When the reunion was over we headed down to Sheridan, Montana for the Buck Clinic.  We found a little RV park to stay at.  I missed my bed... but Golden Delicious and I had a fun time walking around and around the gravel pit surrounding the camp ground, talking about goals and dreams.

I thought this painted a vivid picture, also!  I couldn't help laughing at the comparison!

The colt starting class was especially fun.  Buck is amazing.  

Annie was a very good sport.  When she got bored she would read a book, or take Jack and Pete on a walk with Granny Smith.

The most interesting part was when Isaac rode "The Mule".  A lady had this mule in the colt starting class.  He was a little out of control.  One of the things I like most about Buck is how he keeps everyone safe and he could see this mule and the lady were heading for a train wreck.  He asked Isaac to ride the mule that afternoon. Isaac did ground work in the round pen and then brought the mule into the arena, got on, and started working on a one rein stop.  Then it got very interesting because the mule would not stop.  He went racing down the arena with his head twisted sideways determined not to stop.  Buck told Isaac to just relax and act like he loved riding like this and thought it was more fun than being at Disneyland.  We adore Isaac and thought he was fantastic with the mule.  His arm must have been super tired, though, after an hour of working for that one rein stop.  

He gave the boys the best advice they got at the clinic.  To the best of my recollection he said, "you can be anything you want to be, if you'll work hard enough.  Wake up early in the morning, work hard all day long.  Go to bed, and then do it again the next day."  I thought that was quite profound and have been applying it to all sorts of things already.

This is Reata and someone else I don't know.  Nice horse though.  :) 

It was well worth staying at the clinic, even though we had to sleep in a tiny RV and even though we were super tired after the reunion. 

We are now all motivated to do better with everything in life. 

Going to a Buck clinic does that to you.

The Waterfall Hikes

Each day of family reunion we went on a different hike.  This is Snow Creek Falls.  It was beautiful.  Everyone waded in the water at the bottom and explored all around.

The next day we went to Grouse Creek Falls.  The water level was perfect for swimming and the water was warm (for Idaho).  It was as series of 3 small water falls you could swim to and then scramble up the rocks, and jump off the falls and swim up to the next falls.

It was shaded and perfect - very "this is the forest primeval" ish.  These pictures do not do it justice at all.

Golden Delicious crossed "jump off a waterfall" off her bucket list.

Sandpoint

We had a wonderful time at the Reunion.  The country up there is FABULOUS.  So beautiful!  Of course, I didn't really take any pictures of it because I was too busy looking at everything!

It was great to see my two brothers and their families.  Golden Delicious entertained the girl cousins with great patience and grace.  I am going to miss her so much this fall when she goes to school, I could start bawling about it now.  She is a delight.

I think my favorite part was going for a ride on "The Day Dream".  Sailing was so great!  So fun!  The Spy Twins absolutely loved being out on the water too.  I wish I had pictures of that.  I felt like I was a Kennedy at Martha's Vineyard.  (Just kidding - we're a lot more fun than that!)

Family Reunion 2013

We have family reunions every other year in our family.  This year it was Clark and Lillie's turn to host.  They invited all of us to their beautiful new home in Northern Idaho.

Annie (my cousin, Jarom's daughter) was up staying with us, and came along.  Annie is a delightful person, a "kindred spirit", and I loved having her.

We decided to drive Big Bertha, the motor home.  We sold the Beast several years ago to a friend in the ward, but Granny Smith has been in mourning ever since and wanted to go on another trip in her, so we borrowed her back and headed out on our adventure.

Did I mention we also took the dogs, Jack and Pete?  Yes.  We did.

(I only consented to this because the Spy twins assured me that the dogs would commit suicide if we left them again, after the boys being gone so long in Nebraska and away from them... No one wants suicidal dogs so they came.) 

We stopped at the Cafe (Calf - A) In Dell, Montana.  Many years ago an old friend of Mr. Bechtel's (John Morse)  invited us to meet him there for lunch.  We've loved it ever since.  It is an old one room school house that's been converted to a restaurant and it's lots of fun to stop there.  We had breakfast and read an old copy of an 8th grade final exam from the 1880's.  Not knowing critical things like how much volume "a bushel" could hold, we would have failed!

Our fearless leader, Mr. Bechtel, wearing his "open road" hat.

Montana was gorgeous.  We followed the Clark Fork river for hundreds of miles and it was so beautiful.  I was roasting in the non air conditioned motor home and longed to just jump in.  It was at least 100 degrees, and after 11 hours it started to seem a bit long.

We stopped just long enough to grab some local cherries.  So yummy!

Girl's Camp 2013

This year I was Camp Director.  It was fun.  It was also very crazy.  Here are the girls.  My favorite is the one on the back row in the BYU shirt.  :)

We hiked into Cave Falls one afternoon and took some pictures.  Here's Golden Delicious with her friend, Sadie.

This year was Stake Camp which was held at Darby, up in the Tetons.  It was a Hawaii theme and we had to come up with a ward camp name.  We chose "Camp Leilani"  because Leilani means, "Royal Daughter of God."  Awesome!

The best thing about camp was the food, without question.  That is because Annette, the assistant camp director, was in charge of the food and it was marvelous!

Reaaaaaaaally marvelous!  I even took a picture of the menu which was taped to the wall.  The carmel apples with homemade carmel, 4 different kinds of fudge, and funnel cakes were all divine.  The Spy Twins are horrified now at what they've been having to survive on at Scout Camp all these years.  Yum!

And the Priesthood Leadership Team!  Exhausting work!

Staying at Ricky's Ranch

A few days before the clinic ended Ricky asked Mr. Bechtel if he would consider letting the Spy Twins stay for an extra month working at his place.  We thought this was really nice of him.  We also were a little nervous since the boys are only 15.  We talked about it and decided that they would be ok and that it was a neat opportunity for them.

The boys set up their cots in the corner of the shop.

They ate, showered, and did their laundry inside Ricky and Sarah's house.

I wish I had better pictures.  I was so happy to see the boys again when we went to go pick them up that I totally forgot to document the experience :)  The boys learned how to use chain saws and they cut down lots of cedar trees.  They also took care of feeding the horses and basic chores.  Ricky was building a load out for his cows and also a grain bin for Sarah.  The boys say that Ricky is pretty amazing at having the ability to imagine something in his mind and then be able to build it.

Sarah helped the boys learn about horse nutrition information and general care for their horses. 

 It was hard work and not all wine and roses by any means, but the boys had a great time and learned a lot about being meticulous, working consistently and with focus, and how to be useful helpers.  They feel like it was an honor to be there and hope Ricky asks them to come next year.

Oh, and they each lost 20 pounds while they were there.  Bonus!

Ricky Quinn's Ranch Roping and Cow Work Clinic

The boys were thrilled when Ricky called and invited them to come to his ranch for his clinic.  We had a little drama getting ready because our farrier trimmed Pepper too short, and he went lame.  But after having the vet check him, and eventually getting the ok, the boys and Mr. Bechtel headed for Nebraska.

On the way they stopped between Laramie and Cheyenne at Remount Ranch, which is where Mary O'Hara wrote her famous My Friend Flicka trilogy.  Nova Spy and I have read those books countless times, and I love them so much that it practically hurts to read them.  I can see the grass blowing, the huge clouds floating across the blue sky, and the beautiful horses grazing on the uplands.  It's just amazing.

Ricky and Sarah's ranch is in North Platte.  The boys learned a ton and had a great time with everybody there, especially Dave Hicken, who they met last year in Heber City.

The last night of the clinic, Ricky had a friend over who cooked steaks for everyone.  Mr. Bechtel said it was the best steak he'd ever had.  He just placed himself conveniently by the cook, and the cook would cut him off little tidbits of meat every few minutes for him to try.  

The boys got roped into singing a few songs afterwards.  This made Golden Delicious and I nervous:  Did everyone else sing too?  Were they embarrassed? What did they actually sing??  Mr. Bechtel reported that, no, no one else sang, the boys were slightly embarrassed but got over it, and they sang a lot of stuff out of the Ricks Family Songbook, with Chris LeDoux and Kingston Trio being the favorites.  

It was a great experience to learn from Ricky and see his place.