Working with Leather

Well, Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, it's time to think of Christmas presents.  I have found some really fun projects to do with leather.  The only problem is that I don't know how to work with leather.  Mr. Bechtel does, but he is barely ever home, so I am open to helpful suggestions.

This is a very awesome "pancake style" knife holder that I quite love.  

It also looks awesome worn on the small of the back, I think.  Oops he missed a belt loop!

These spur straps look fun too.  I think I could buy the buckles and conchos.  The boys don't use spurs right now though, but they are still very cool. (and small!)

Sorry the resolution is bad.  I am stealing these pics off horsewrightclothing.com, which is probably illegal, but I am not doing anything bad with them, and now I have given them proper credit.  So maybe it's ok?

These are chinks.  

These are also chinks.  Sweet!

These are sort of armitas.  (The boys will have to give the particulars of the difference... something about the fringe on front.)  These are fun because they're 2 color.

I think I could make a scarf though!  A square of silk fabric... that sounds doable.  I would really like to make the chinks or armitas, or the combo "charmitas" but I am daunted.  We shall see.

P.S.  I don't know who this model (guy, buckaroo)  is.  He looks great though!  Thanks for letting me use your picture for my Christmas list!

Another Ranch, Sold

Oh dear.  Will we ever have a ranch?  I have been in love with this ranch for months and months, and just saw it sold.  I did not buy it.  Who bought it?  It should have been me.

I have wistfully looked at pictures of this place hundreds of times (this is best done while listening to Lady A's "Dancing Away With My Heart" - In fact I can't listen to that song any more without imagining all my little dreams about this place.) 

 I know the layout of all the outbuildings.  I know how the house is arranged.  I have imagined what it would be like making bread in that kitchen.  I have pictured the boys riding up to the door to get a bit of  breakfast before they headed off to work cows.  I have invited cousins to spend the summer at the ranch with us.  It was idyllic.  We went swimming every day, watched muskrats, and floated in the canoes across the ponds.  Then after the chores were done, we would watch the sun set while sitting on the porch.  The boys would sing me songs on their guitars.  Mr. Bechtel would grill something on the bbq, and we would watch the stars come out. 

But nope.  Not so.  This is not the place.  Oh well, there are wolves and bears here.  And probably thousands of mosquitos.

There will be a better place.... Just around the bend....

  

Farm Update

In my letters to Elder Braeburn I find myself giving him the update on all the farm animals, which he actually seems to enjoy.  It keeps him from feeling homesick I'm sure.  Just imagining throwing hay to the horses with the wind blowing it back in your face can make Yorkshire seem lovely I bet!

So, here is the update - species by species!!

Horses:

Pepper is Nova Spy's new horse.  He got him earlier this summer and the relationship started off a bit rocky.  They are both doing a bit better and I think Pepper will stay the winter, at least, with us.

  Nikita, Prairie Spy's grey mare, is being "marish" right now.  Meaning that she rules the other horses completely, and is just a pill.  She kicked a wall in the barn and bent it all up and is just being a prima donna.  Prairie Spy doesn't mind, though.  He adores her and when she does something dumb he just nods his head and slowly drawls, "well, everybody's entitled to a bad day now and then."

Dancer is a yearling and beautiful and lovely.  She has the most gorgeous face.  She and Pepper band together while Nikita is being a tyrant!

The Dogs:

Jack and Pete are happy and well.  

The Goats and Sheep:

The boys lambs did great this summer.  All 6 survived and thrived.  They are ready to sell now.  We have debated breeding them and keeping them over the winter, but with hay prices so high, I think we will sell them.  Kyra, the one remaining mother goat, is healthy.  Her babies (Felina and Rita)  are fatties because they are still nursing.  We need to separate them.  They are also hellions and wild and won't let us catch them.  They have excellent conformation though!  Maggie's babies are lovely and nice (Robin and Lady).  They are slightly smaller than the other ones because they haven't had milk on demand for 6 full months!

The Chickens:

Our chickens are not pleasing me right now.  We have way too many roosters and none of the hens are laying.  They are kind of welfare birds.  We are going to thin the rooster population shortly.  We do have one fantastic black bantie hen who hatched out a little clutch of eggs.  We tucked her in her own side of the coop and she and the babies are doing great.

The Cats:

Ah, the cats.  It brings a song to mind,  "Now just like everybody, you've got troubles of your own..."  We have lots of cats.  The problem is that all the neighbors cats and strays hang out in the barn and eat all the cat food so the cats that we like prowl around the house and meaow and look hungry and miserable and beg you to feed them.  We've got to do something about that. 

 Alice, the last remaining cat from our original litter (I'm going to have the kids do a kitten history chart some day soon to just keep track of all the cats we've had) anyway, Alice had kittens.  She is a good mom and keeps her babies safe.  She decided the safest place was the window well.  Granny Smith took pity on them one day when it was raining really hard and went out and brought them inside to dry off.

They were very adorable and took a nap in the laundry basket.

And then explored the large "Prairie Spy Mountain".

Stanley Lake

Mr. Bechtel and I escaped for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary.  This is where we went Sunday morning.

Mist!  There was still mist on the water.  My favorite!

It was perfectly still and quiet.  Just so beautiful.  McGown Peak was as amazing as I remembered.

Just to prove I was really there...

Look at that water.  Just look at it!  Liquid gold, or ice or crystal or something.  The water is pristine.

And for the very brave:  a perfect spot to take a dip in the inlet.  (which we did NOT do.)

Happy Anniversary!

I am pleased to announce that Mr. Bechtel and I have been married for 20 years!

Wow, that seems like forever.  Good thing it is still very nice to be married to him.  He is a good catch...

Here we are then....

And now...

It really is not fair the way men age more gracefully than women.  

Powder Puff Football

Miss Golden Delicious is a senior, and she played in the powder puff football game, and she was enormously competitive.  I was hoping the seniors would win because GD said the juniors were waaay too cocky and they needed to lose! 

I am happy to say that the Seniors did win!  It was a terribly physical game though.  Actually much more ugly than when the Spy Twins play for real.  There were so many personal fouls and tackles and holdings and a girl in our ward got a concussion from being tackled so hard.  So, I guess flag football is all relative.   But GD was stoked!  (as you can see from the pictures....!)

And here she is with her biggest fan. 

Good Job Miss Delicious!

Prairie Spy's Eagle Project

Early friday morning... very early.... the boys loaded up the horses, met Barnards at the end of the lane and headed up to Big Elk Creek to do Prairie Spy's eagle project.  Big Elk Creek is a side arm of Palisades Lake.  They decided to take the horses this time and save their legs!

Barnards are old hands at trail riding and brought a pack horse so they could load the digger bar, shovel, and post hole digger.

 

It was very cold all day.  We have got to get us some chaps.  Awesome!

Br. Barnard - digging out huge boulders.

Cordell

Tyrel

Doug and Deb eating lunch.  (notice prone figures in background).

They went a total of about 21 miles and got 3 posts in.  Then the trail kind of dissolved into a steep shale slope.  The horses were pooped and afternoon was going fast.  They ended up coming back down and getting home around 8:30pm.  There are still several more posts.  Whether we finish them this fall or next summer is going to depend on the weather.  When is the snow going to fall?  

Prairie Spy did a great job organizing the horses and people and everyone had a great time.  I could say the same for Nova Spy and his group.  They both did a great job all around.