Whenever Tom or I see a shooting star we think of one of our lost family members; his Mom or Dad and my Grandma. His Mom with the contagious, oh so loud laugh and his Dad with the quiet smile and German accent and strict ways. And my beloved Grandma that was such a part of my heart it is hard to put into words...
But we never fail to make a wish upon those shooting stars as well; knowing all the while that it may be a childhood fantasy, but we do it all the same. So when I heard this song it reminded me how truly blessed we are to live in a place where seeing shooting stars are a common occurrence; but that I still wouldn't mind the opportunity for a few more wishes... And that we are in a time right now, where everyone needs a wish or two.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Royal Ranch Royalty
Not knowing exactly how much longer I will be representing The Royal Ranch has made me a bit melancholy, I guess you would say. There is a good chance that this could be my last post in this series as the official owner of The Royal Ranch; therefore I really wanted to make it one that counts and one that really gets the point across of what I am trying to do with my livestock and my homesteads, yes I say that in the plural.
As I have NOT made a secret of, we are adding to our homesteads with The Double J; and of course I will continue with my heritage breeds. I hope to even expand my heritage poultry business, raise pork for my family and anyone else who is interested and of course by now you Rebels know I am adding Yak to the mix. But what I have been secretive about is what we are going to do with The Royal Ranch, and for another week or so, that is still going to be kept close to home (until I have cleared everything with all parties of course).
For now our plans are to continue to live in it, probably as caretakers, while we build our new dream home on the Double J. I am spending my days learning everything I can...for now unofficially, but that may change. I may go back to school officially if I think a GC (General Contractor) and Mother, and Rancher, and Volunteer and other hat wearer can also be student.... But right now I am a student on a quest for knowledge of all things heritage breed.
Meaning any breed of livestock that this country (and many others for that matter) was founded on to put it quite simply. I am taking my homesteads back to their roots. With their animals and with their supplies and with their needs. I have told you I am going off-grid, and I'm not kidding, so I'm learning a lot about that too. So I go to bed at night with my head swimming with ultra-capacitors and old-fashioned pigs; all wrapped up in one image. How in the world am I going to make all of this work????
Well, I am going to make it work with websites like American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and Earthineer. Those are today's Royal Ranch Royalty's; I bet you were wondering how I was going to get around to that weren't you? Well, Rebels, it is very important for me to get my facts straight, and in one or two convenient, intelligent stops. And I have found that in these two sites. I can look up information about animals and capacitors and make new friends all at the same time. So if you are living a sort of mixed up crazy weird life like me right now...check 'em out; more than useful!
As I have NOT made a secret of, we are adding to our homesteads with The Double J; and of course I will continue with my heritage breeds. I hope to even expand my heritage poultry business, raise pork for my family and anyone else who is interested and of course by now you Rebels know I am adding Yak to the mix. But what I have been secretive about is what we are going to do with The Royal Ranch, and for another week or so, that is still going to be kept close to home (until I have cleared everything with all parties of course).
For now our plans are to continue to live in it, probably as caretakers, while we build our new dream home on the Double J. I am spending my days learning everything I can...for now unofficially, but that may change. I may go back to school officially if I think a GC (General Contractor) and Mother, and Rancher, and Volunteer and other hat wearer can also be student.... But right now I am a student on a quest for knowledge of all things heritage breed.
Meaning any breed of livestock that this country (and many others for that matter) was founded on to put it quite simply. I am taking my homesteads back to their roots. With their animals and with their supplies and with their needs. I have told you I am going off-grid, and I'm not kidding, so I'm learning a lot about that too. So I go to bed at night with my head swimming with ultra-capacitors and old-fashioned pigs; all wrapped up in one image. How in the world am I going to make all of this work????
Well, I am going to make it work with websites like American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and Earthineer. Those are today's Royal Ranch Royalty's; I bet you were wondering how I was going to get around to that weren't you? Well, Rebels, it is very important for me to get my facts straight, and in one or two convenient, intelligent stops. And I have found that in these two sites. I can look up information about animals and capacitors and make new friends all at the same time. So if you are living a sort of mixed up crazy weird life like me right now...check 'em out; more than useful!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Happy Turkey Day, a bit early
My Beautiful BBB Turkeys;
now THIS is how a turkey is supposed to look!
(If I do say so myself, lol!)
Amongst the recalls and rumors, here it is almost Thanksgiving and I don't have too much nice to say about the turkey industry, I'm very sorry. I know that the poultry industry really started out with good concepts, but it truly has gotten out of hand. Antibiotics were once used to treat infection; not prevent it. Hormones are a dangerous thing no matter how you look at it. If they are medically called for as is sometimes the case in the aid of recovery for human beings and they should be scrutinized very carefully. But who in their right mind wants to eat that stuff??? Not me.
The more I read, the more it convinces me that I am doing the right thing by raising our own food (or even hunting) , trying to buy local whenever I can and to really notice where my food comes from if I do have to buy it from the grocery store. There are a lot of ways to go local folks; even at 9,000 feet in elevation. You don't necessarily have to grow the stuff yourself.
You can buy direct from the farmers, at a drastically reduced price. You can go online and buy from someone like Door to Door Organics; which obviously brings the stuff right to your door. Or there are a couple of great websites dedicated to the eating local movement. Eat Local Challenge is "a group weblog focusing on the importance of locally and sustainably grown food". But the best one to get the whole family involved in is Eat Local. It has a great animated feel to it that the kids will love and a down to earth way of explaining why it is so important to buy locally.
So come on Rebels and GSO readers, let's send those government cronies a message and tell them we chose to eat locally and sustainably. Let them hear your message through your purchases, tell your friends to do the same, that is where we hit them the hardest...in the wallet; quiet and peacefully.
Have a great day!
JJ~
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Clearing out the house!
Good morning Rebels! It feels like a Monday to me and you all are already half way through your week. I have had sick family members home all week and have not been all that well myself, so today I will spend the day clearing out the house just as the title says... WHEW!!!
It actually started last Thursday with my epidural. To be honest I really wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary; I have had this done once before and it wasn't extraordinarily painful when I got the injection, but it was pretty wicked that first week. So I tried to plan accordingly and you know, have myself somewhat prepared to be down for a bit. What I was not prepared for was the horrific pain of the epidural itself.
I am telling myself, and truly believing that the reason that this one was so much more painful than the first is because we had a bit more information this time and were really able to "zone in on" the exact targeted areas. So I am going to be up and running in no time flat! But what I will say is that this injection, for just a few seconds was worse than any labor pain or any other type of pain I could imagine, so if you are to have this type of thing, be prepared for that and maybe give yourself more than the 15 minutes of rest that they offer you. When I got in the truck I did sit for a few more minutes just to catch my breath for the long drive up the mountain.
So I rested over the weekend like I was told to do and then all hell broke loose with that darn wind storm I told you about...not only did it blow down all the old trees but it blew in some nasty bug, let me tell you. Tom, myself and my daughter all got hit with some sort of a flu bug and each of us got hit where we were the weakest. Tom in the stomach, Bella in the chest and stomach and me in the tummy; and I say it that way because luckily mine was a lot less intense because I was still dealing with recovering-GEEZ!!!!
On Monday we took our daughter to the doctor. And when I say we, that is something major because I can't even tell you the last time my husband took time off of work! But, anyway, the three of us, sick as dogs, load up in the truck and head for our friendly Evergreen Kaiser. Where they proceed to assuage my panic attack that my girl is not having asthma she is simply suffering from "flu like symptoms". I will not share with you all the words we had to say about that diagnosis. Awesome, is the nicest, and the most sarcastic.
Yesterday afternoon we (again, note the importance that The Big Bad Biker is still home, WHOA this is one nasty illness) started feeling a bit better and Tom filled the water troughs while I finally got some housework done around the pig sty, er I mean the house. Yes, just enough that today hopefully I can get a little down and dirty with some citrus and de-germ this place so that the last healthy Jeute that lives here doesn't end up with "flu like symptoms". Wonderful.
Oh, and by the way, I am no longer cross posting between here and The Double J Ranch (I reserve the right to do so if something is interesting to both blogs, or something I want to keep in my "journal" lol). As I mentioned in my first post over thar' at the new blog, I really want that to just be a Journal for me and my family. So, if you Rebels want to keep up on both you have to "Follow" both. There are multiple ways to sign up on both blogs; you can sign up for me to just pop-in to your e-mail box each time I post (upper left corner of each blog) or you can click on any of the follow buttons too. Either way your privacy is always protected with me, of course!
Have a great day!
JJ~
It actually started last Thursday with my epidural. To be honest I really wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary; I have had this done once before and it wasn't extraordinarily painful when I got the injection, but it was pretty wicked that first week. So I tried to plan accordingly and you know, have myself somewhat prepared to be down for a bit. What I was not prepared for was the horrific pain of the epidural itself.
I am telling myself, and truly believing that the reason that this one was so much more painful than the first is because we had a bit more information this time and were really able to "zone in on" the exact targeted areas. So I am going to be up and running in no time flat! But what I will say is that this injection, for just a few seconds was worse than any labor pain or any other type of pain I could imagine, so if you are to have this type of thing, be prepared for that and maybe give yourself more than the 15 minutes of rest that they offer you. When I got in the truck I did sit for a few more minutes just to catch my breath for the long drive up the mountain.
So I rested over the weekend like I was told to do and then all hell broke loose with that darn wind storm I told you about...not only did it blow down all the old trees but it blew in some nasty bug, let me tell you. Tom, myself and my daughter all got hit with some sort of a flu bug and each of us got hit where we were the weakest. Tom in the stomach, Bella in the chest and stomach and me in the tummy; and I say it that way because luckily mine was a lot less intense because I was still dealing with recovering-GEEZ!!!!
On Monday we took our daughter to the doctor. And when I say we, that is something major because I can't even tell you the last time my husband took time off of work! But, anyway, the three of us, sick as dogs, load up in the truck and head for our friendly Evergreen Kaiser. Where they proceed to assuage my panic attack that my girl is not having asthma she is simply suffering from "flu like symptoms". I will not share with you all the words we had to say about that diagnosis. Awesome, is the nicest, and the most sarcastic.
Yesterday afternoon we (again, note the importance that The Big Bad Biker is still home, WHOA this is one nasty illness) started feeling a bit better and Tom filled the water troughs while I finally got some housework done around the pig sty, er I mean the house. Yes, just enough that today hopefully I can get a little down and dirty with some citrus and de-germ this place so that the last healthy Jeute that lives here doesn't end up with "flu like symptoms". Wonderful.
Oh, and by the way, I am no longer cross posting between here and The Double J Ranch (I reserve the right to do so if something is interesting to both blogs, or something I want to keep in my "journal" lol). As I mentioned in my first post over thar' at the new blog, I really want that to just be a Journal for me and my family. So, if you Rebels want to keep up on both you have to "Follow" both. There are multiple ways to sign up on both blogs; you can sign up for me to just pop-in to your e-mail box each time I post (upper left corner of each blog) or you can click on any of the follow buttons too. Either way your privacy is always protected with me, of course!
Have a great day!
JJ~
Monday, November 14, 2011
The Great Windstorm of 11-13-11...
We went to bed the night before last to the power flickering and the wind howling. But as I lay there in bed listening to my basement bedroom window being sandblasted by wind from a direction that the winds never blow from; I knew we were in for some damage. I just wasn't aware of how much.
Between here (The Royal Ranch) and The Roost, our "nest in the woods" as we like to call it; are some very thick, very old forests, and even regular wind storms can wreak havoc on power lines, etc. We learned our lesson early on upon buying the ranch and the Roost; if the power goes out, chances are there is a tree down on the lines somewhere on Camp Creek road and we can find it and let IREA (our power coop) know where the problem is a bit faster to get it fixed a bit faster.
So when we awoke in the night without power it was not a big surprise, nor was it a big surprise to still not have power in the morning. The surprises started coming when we saw the AMOUNT of damage. Between here and our cabin, which means our soon to be home, The Double J, there were at least 20 downed trees! Many of them in the roadway to Camp Creek, along the power line, some on neighbors properties; like a roof and a classic Blazer.
The guys had a great day on Sunday "working" to clear trees and drink beer together. Our wonderful neighbors Dan and Steve pitched in of course and they all three went up to Sean and Rocky's (yes that is a girl's name and she is soooo cool!) because they are the one's that had the tree on the roof and that dang cool Blazer (Dad, it is the yellow of the Jeep that I tried to talk you into giving me-ha!); of course the tree went right down the middle of the hood and roof of the beautifully lifted classic!
We must say, that we are very proud of our power coop, IREA. Although they are not to hip on alternative power or rebates of any kind like that; when it comes to an emergency or downed lines those guys are all over it! They had Camp Creek back up and cleaned up in just a few hours; and we are talking some big trees with some major power outages. And each time we passed them they were always pleasant and had a smile on their faces. We even got a robo-call saying they were sorry for any inconvenience; last time I checked IREA had no control over the wind, but it sure was kind of them to call.
I was curious about all of the trees that were damaged. They ranged in size from about 6 inches in diameter to well over a foot. The large ones of course were old/rotten on the inside and will make great firewood and if they aren't on private property we will make good use of them. Many of the smaller ones Tom noted had either been damaged many years ago by lightning or something else, possibly beetles, but he didn't see many signs of those, thankfully.
One of the most amazing things about this storm is that these trees didn't just break off and fall to the ground like they normally do. Many of them we found multiple feet away. The wind had broken them off and then carried them 10-15 feet in some cases, simply unreal!!! We have walked through a lot of forests around here and not seen evidence of that kind of storm, I think this really was a once in a lifetime windstorm....at least I am hoping it was.
Between here (The Royal Ranch) and The Roost, our "nest in the woods" as we like to call it; are some very thick, very old forests, and even regular wind storms can wreak havoc on power lines, etc. We learned our lesson early on upon buying the ranch and the Roost; if the power goes out, chances are there is a tree down on the lines somewhere on Camp Creek road and we can find it and let IREA (our power coop) know where the problem is a bit faster to get it fixed a bit faster.
So when we awoke in the night without power it was not a big surprise, nor was it a big surprise to still not have power in the morning. The surprises started coming when we saw the AMOUNT of damage. Between here and our cabin, which means our soon to be home, The Double J, there were at least 20 downed trees! Many of them in the roadway to Camp Creek, along the power line, some on neighbors properties; like a roof and a classic Blazer.
The guys had a great day on Sunday "working" to clear trees and drink beer together. Our wonderful neighbors Dan and Steve pitched in of course and they all three went up to Sean and Rocky's (yes that is a girl's name and she is soooo cool!) because they are the one's that had the tree on the roof and that dang cool Blazer (Dad, it is the yellow of the Jeep that I tried to talk you into giving me-ha!); of course the tree went right down the middle of the hood and roof of the beautifully lifted classic!
We must say, that we are very proud of our power coop, IREA. Although they are not to hip on alternative power or rebates of any kind like that; when it comes to an emergency or downed lines those guys are all over it! They had Camp Creek back up and cleaned up in just a few hours; and we are talking some big trees with some major power outages. And each time we passed them they were always pleasant and had a smile on their faces. We even got a robo-call saying they were sorry for any inconvenience; last time I checked IREA had no control over the wind, but it sure was kind of them to call.
I was curious about all of the trees that were damaged. They ranged in size from about 6 inches in diameter to well over a foot. The large ones of course were old/rotten on the inside and will make great firewood and if they aren't on private property we will make good use of them. Many of the smaller ones Tom noted had either been damaged many years ago by lightning or something else, possibly beetles, but he didn't see many signs of those, thankfully.
One of the most amazing things about this storm is that these trees didn't just break off and fall to the ground like they normally do. Many of them we found multiple feet away. The wind had broken them off and then carried them 10-15 feet in some cases, simply unreal!!! We have walked through a lot of forests around here and not seen evidence of that kind of storm, I think this really was a once in a lifetime windstorm....at least I am hoping it was.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Meet (or is it meat?) The Meatrix....
Go ahead, I dare you to check out this funny video about modern day meat production....no blood or gore and it really gets the point across!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Welcome Double J!
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