A Trip to the Mailbox

I've come to realize that nothing happens quickly out here. Even a trip to the mailbox no longer requires walking a few feet from the house and a couple minutes of my time. No, now it takes almost 30 minutes, depending on how fast you decide to walk.

I recently sent a few notes back home and decided I could use the energy and so could the dogs, so we walked out the gravel lane and delivered the mail ourselves. There is a large rock inside the mailbox to keep the letters from blowing away and a jar with some change in case the mail lady needs to add extra postage.

Our mail only goes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday out here. But UPS and FedEx will deliver every day...including Sundays! Who knew. Mailboxes here aren't your typical box with a lid.Most are custom made out of a drum of some kind and nailed to a post. I think this is the most interesting mailbox and it belongs to our neighbor. It is a good sign we are soon home.

Very Large 8-Legged Creatures Are Ewwy!

I found this large spider when I was in the process of going through boxes and organizing them. It's good I didn't know he was there when I stuck my hand back to grab the handle. Yuck! I'm not one to be really squeemish over bugs, but this dude was huge! We didn't have spiders this size in PA! I also found his friend when I was going through boxes in basement as well.

I decided to cage the spider up in this container because to squish him would have been too messy (apparently when you squish them, all the little babies inside come pouring out...and yes, I mean pouring!) and I really didn't want to release him into the wild just to one day find him between my sheets. The ending to this story? He died. His friend? Almost dead.

The Time Has Come!

Harvest time has finally arrived here at the ranch! The combine has been serviced, the hoop buildings completed, and the marketing to sell our product has been started. It's an exciting time because now I can finally visualize what I will be marketing. I've been promoted to ranch cook and now my days find me busy in the kitchen making meals for the hungry guys. It's been fun being back in the kitchen doing something I enjoy...and they sure do appreciate a good, hot, homecooked meal instead of the cake batter and hot dogs they were living off of before. I take my camera just about everywhere and in my travels out to deliver meals and I thought I'd share the harvesting experience with you.

Here is the truck returning from the field with a full load of peas that was just combined.

He travels through the scale barn to get a weight... And then drives the short distance to the hoop buildings where we will store the peas and they will sit until it's time to clean, package, and prepare for shipping.

The truck is backed up to the auger...

...where the peas are then dumped from the truck...

...travel up through the auger... ...and onto the large pile of peas already harvested.

Here is a view of the peas prior to being cleaned. There will be more to come when we start using the cleaner. For now the peas need harvesting, the cleaning can wait.

These little guys are EVERYWHERE out here. In fact, I have even found them in the laundry! You can't walk anywhere without them hopping out all around you. The darker portion you see at the bottom of the pile of peas in one of the previous pictures is all grasshoppers. We've contemplated selling organic, chocolate covered grasshoppers...they would probably be a delicacy!

Snow Snakes

My dad is a one-of-a-kind! He has a sense of humor that puts a smile on my face. I remember quite a few years ago, my mom had gone away for the weekend and my dad decided he was going to take me on a father/daughter date. It is an evening I won't forget. He took me to see the movie "Life is Beautiful". We hadn't heard much about it and it was showing in this rickety old theater that showed only one movie. And it was a forgein film!...we had no idea we would be reading words at the bottom of the screen. We hunkered down in our seats and before long we were engrossed in the movie, not caring a bit that we had to read the words. But we were both intently aware the gentleman seated behind us was quite engrossed with the movie as well and he was a boisterous fellow...laughing at just about anything and we soon found ourselves laughing at the movie, but also laughing due to the infectious nature of the gentleman's laugh behind us. We walked out afterwards with quite a smile on our faces and it has become a moment we revisit on occasion and often end up laughing again about the whole thing. After the movie he took me to Carlos and Charlies for dinner. What a great evening with my dad!

That said my dad just makes me shake my head sometimes. He comes up with the most ridiculous things to say. Most of his employee's find themselves with some nickname my dad has invented for them. So, as stated in my previous blog, I lovingly slapped "Papa Smurf" to his name and low and behold, it has stuck for once! Papa Smurf kept us well entertained throughout the week, but his most impressive story was the one about snow snakes. Who knows where he thinks up these things, but he comes up with some very interesting tales! In my attempts not to offend him by botching up the story, I kindly requested that he send me a blurb about snow snakes. The following words are not mine, they are his and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I can't wait for the day that my nephew and nieces are old enough to hear this tale...and Papa Smurf will make sure they hear it...no doubt about that!

"Get this, have you guys heard about snow snakes?"

"Snow snakes, Dad? Really...there are NO snow snakes!"

"No, there are. Yeah! They are white and they have pink eyes. Yeah, those red eyed ones are no good. But the pink eyed snow snakes are considered a delicacy in California. Yep, the movie stars believe their eyes are an aphrodisiac."

"Oh come on, Dad! There is no such thing as a snow snake, least of all one that has pink eyes!"

"No, really, it's true. There is a host of medicinal qualities in the meat - very meaty these guys are - very meaty. When you ship them be sure to pack them on ice well, because you need to maintain good skin quality. The skin is believed to be very good for the complexion - it's full of Estamerfins. That’s a technical medical term you may not be aware of. When the snake is carefully skinned out you lay the skin over your eyes and you will experience immediate relief from migraines. (Be sure to cut holes in to see out of a little, like the lone ranger)"

"Snow snakes don’t have a backbone it’s all meat-very meaty. The meat is very high in Termactin (again a medical term beyond your understanding) is considered by experts to be the best ingredient of our time to fight against childhood obesity. The urine bladder (you need to save it intact) is excellent to fight athletes foot. The gal bladder (it’s a big one) is used for seasoning exquisite dishes from the very tip of South America."

"The excrement (turds in layman's terms) become very hard and shiny. They are very colorful and the Indians make the most beautiful necklaces out of them - ship em all over the world they do. Experts from many top dog universities believe we have only begun to scratch the surface in the true value of these incredible creatures."

"Look, over there I bet there is a colony of them! You know there is only a short time when you can harvest them and they only come out at night. You will need an antaphipler light that will make their pink eyes turn green. The red eyed ones will show up black. You can purchase the antaphipler on line from the manufacture in France. I can forward his website if you need it. Please pardon all the technical terms, because of the complexity of this beautiful creature it’s very hard to bring it down to layman's terms. There is so much more to share but I fear I am overwhelming you with so many details."

"Yes Dad, please don't bore us with ANY more details...please...spare us all!!!"

Quite the story, isn't it?!? Gotta love Papa Smurf! "You don't have to be crazy to be part of this family, but it sure does help!"

This picture doesn't have anything to do with snow snakes, but I liked this picture because of Papa Smurfs hands. He has "fat" hands with short stubby fingers, which make it hard for him to type, so the size of this story was just as impressive as the tale itself. But I do love those hands! His hands are always warm and they've held me many times throughout my life...the last time I felt those hands wrapped around me I was sobbing tears of sadness for those I now miss dearly but they also brought joy in knowing there is much love in those hands and I have been blessed. I do love Papa Smurf and all his wild tales!!! Thanks for the laughs and the love, Papa Smurf!

The Medicine Rocks & Camp Needmore

I apologize that I've neglected my blogging. I've spent much time sitting in front of my new monitor (which is wonderful), but it has been work for the ranch. I wanted to share a few of the pictures we took during my parents visit with us. We visited the Medicine Rocks and Camp Needmore (not sure what they need more of, but apparently they need more!)

We found some tree-huggers along the way, but aren't a great looking pair?!? Check out the sky...yes, it's really THAT blue! The Medicine Rocks all look like swiss cheese. They are sand stone and through time the weather has worn holes and divots into them. It is a beautiful place to hike!

I had never been to Camp Needmore until we visited with my parents and it's another great place to hike and look out. You can see for miles up here.

Jamie was the only daring one to hike out to the ledge. I'm not a big fan of heights and the path was very narrow at some places. But he took the camera out and got a few shots from the edge. He took several looking down from his post, but unfortunately you are unable to really see the depth in the pictures. Just wasn't as impressive on the camera screen as it was in person. Guess you'll have to come visit to see those views.

My mom took this picture of a strange creature we found in the trees. To this day we are still uncertain what this is!!!

I thought the clouds were impressive so I snapped a picture. They can change so quickly out here. It's fun to sit and watch the sky sometimes. I am continually amazed at the different views from out here in Big Sky country.

It seems that no matter where go out here, there are cows. I took these pictures for my dad. I'm not sure what his facination is with cows, but every time we would pass cows that were close to the road on his side, he had to roll the window down...I think they secretly have conversations we can't hear. Regardless it made for some humerous moments along the way. Riding with my dad makes an driving for hours seem like minutes...the humor never stops!

I'll leave you with a picture of this big fella! He was only a few feet from the truck and I was glad we were in the truck. He was eyeing us up for dinner. And the picture does him no justice either...he was a LARGE creature. Wouldn't want to come across him on a dark road at night!

Reality

This past week we had the privilege of entertaining my parents. They left home on July 15 and traveled out to Omaha, NE for a meat processors convention and then left Friday morning to travel the rest of the way to the ranch and arrived late that night. Unfortunately our trailblazer didn't make it all the way. They got about an hour and a half from us and it just died. Thankfully it brought them as far as it did without any problems. When my parents finally made it to the ranch, they were completely exhausted and in need of a good sleep. Saturday and Sunday had us driving to Ekalaka to help cook lunch for football camp. After we (I use this term loosely) were done with our duties, we decided to show mom and dad the beauty of Montana. We took them to the Medicine Rocks and to Camp Needmore. We got some beautiful pictures and I'd love to share them with you, but like my SUV, my computer is now opting not to work. (If anyone knows how to cure a white monitor screen, I'd love your advice!) We also made some great memories along the way and shared MANY laughs! What a blast!!! After a busy weekend we spent the rest of the week at the ranch. We got all the boxes off the trailer that Jamie and I brought out in May and they are now organized and stacked neatly throughout the house. I can't wait for the day when boxes no longer litter my living room. I keep telling myself that each day I get closer to this...sometimes, though I think my voice gets lost in clutter. But regardless, this too shall pass and I will have a better appreciation for once again having space to call my own. Thankfully my mom was here to help me unpack and pack the kitchen. We are not only moving in, but we are also moving Jamie's boss out, so it adds a different element to the whole process. But we made it and it's nice to have my kitchen out of boxes and into the space it belongs again. Unpacking boxes that were packed months ago makes it feel like Christmas...I forgot I had some these things. My mom is truly a saint for putting up with me all week and for helping get things put away. I had so much fun with her!!! She is such a blessing to me. My dad (better known as Papa Smurf after this trip....who knows how it started, but it has stuck) had the opportunity to go out with Jamie and see what he does, but unfortunately they were laying concrete for the last 3 days of their trip and there wasn't much true ranching work going on. But that provided my dad with some much needed R&R and my mom and I had the privilege of his company. Papa Smurf also had the chance to show off his cooking skills and it was great see my dad in his comfort zone again. I miss being his A-ssistant! After a long, hard week of unpacking boxes and putting things away I'm afraid my poor parents were in desperate need of a vacation from their vacation. But we were so thankful they finally had an oppotunity to see Montana and the ranch and come for a visit. We look forward to their visiting again. So after a week at the ranch it was time to drive the dreaded 3 hrs or so to the airport on Friday. I had to make the trip with my parents by myself because Jamie had to help with the last day of concrete at the ranch. I'm not sure where my head was because I just assumed he would be along. I have to get used to this! I don't really know my way around here yet, but I've been forced to learn because I HAVE TO, so I do. Thank goodness for GPS!! At least at home you have landmarks and road names, out here it's just dirt, dirt, and more dirt. Oh yes and the occassional cow. Try and give directions with that! "Ok, go to the first cattle guard, take a left, drive past a pasture of cows, go past 3 fence posts and turn right..." Yeah, not really helpful, but I'm proud to announce that I got us to the airport without turning around once and I got myself home again without turning around!!! When your forced to do things your not comfortable with, you sure do get a sense of accomplishment when you do it and cross one more hurdle. This whole living in Montana is quite a transition, but I'm always one for a good challenge. Saying goodbye to my parents and driving away from the airport was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. It hit me that this is it! We are now on our own out here! I just wanted to walk back into my childhood and into what I know is comfortable. Every part of me wanted to run into the airport and tell them not to go, but my hands numbly turned the steering wheel away...towards a life of uncertainties and unknowns. I think I came as close to panic attack as I've ever been. I just wanted someone to hold onto in that moment. It hurt inside and for once in my life, my mom wasn't just an arms length away...she won't just be down the road when I need a shoulder to cry on or a hug. But I am filled with a sense of peace knowing that God, the ulimate Creator, has a plan for us. This is not easy, it doesn't come without pain or frustrations, but He is there in the middle of it all and He will be there for me. I think on Friday there was only one set of footprints in the sand...His. I'm thankful for the memories we made this past week and the time spent with my parents, but my heart misses home today. Since I don't have any pictures to share with you, I thought I would share the following clip from the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life". This is a family classic. There is a part in the clip (about 2 1/2 min in) where Uncle Billy yells out, "I'm alright, I'm all-right" and it's something we've been saying in my family for many years. In a note Papa Smurf wrote to me one time, he ended it with, "Your alright, your alright". We've shared this saying many times together and Papa Smurf, this one goes out to you. Know that although I may hurting right now, I'm alright, I'm alright...I will rise to the occassion of my life!

Laughter...the best medicine!

I love to laugh! There is nothing better than sharing a knee-slapping time with people that you love. This is a picture I took of my younger brother, Jason, having one of those moments. I just happened to hit the button at the right time and capture this priceless moment. This has become one of my favorite pictures because it captures the realness of a moment...he was really having a good time!

The movie Patch Adams was on TV recently and I love the concept behind the movie. Never mind if you have crows feet by the time your old...I think it's a sign that you enjoyed life, lived it to it's fullest. The following is one of my favorite clips from the movie, one of many. I was looking for the meat packers convention clip in honor of the annual meat processors convention my dad attended this week in Omaha (and according to my mom they both had a fabulous time), but unfortunately I couldn't find one. But here's a quote from the movie for all my friends back at HMC who thought a meat convention was a funny concept..."We're all gonna be the best packers there are...I'm proud of my meat. And I know you're proud of your meat. Whip it, zip it, send it out! I say Now is the time for cow!!!" I hope my girls back home enjoy and appreciate that! The following clip is for "Carla"...I KNOW you'll find the humor in this!