Ode to Shasta

Shasta and Shade

Please Lord, wake me up from this nightmare that I am in.  Oh wait, I am fully awake and this is my real life.  Last night I went to put my daughter to bed and our Baby Girl Shasta was lying peacefully on her bed like she had been all day.  When my daughter grabbed her to cuddle up for the night she made an odd sound and her mouth sort of fell open; I tried to act normal and finish putting My Bell to bed and took the cat out of the room to my husband.

She was gone within minutes.  She made one more noise, a loud meow and then she was gone.  My husband and I just stood there in total shock, our beloved Raggedy Ann Doll Kitty was gone forever!!!  She got this reputation from years of being carried around like a rag doll; literally being tossed over the shoulder of many children with her arms on either side of their necks.  She would hug them as if her little life depended upon it and let them take her wherever they were headed off to play...


Although most visitors to the Royal Ranch did not even know that we had Shasta as she was very shy, but she had a soft spot for the children, especially our son Austin.  She was drawn to him from the very beginning of his and our oldest son Thomas' friendship so many years ago; and she would sleep on him whenever she got the chance!  Their next visit home will not be the same without her...

In loving memory of the best Raggedy Ann Doll a girl could EVER ask for.  We love you dearly, Shasta.

PS  When I clicked on the link to find it for Shade, I re-read that post and thought GEEZ, if I only knew then what I know now....  Yes, the loss of Shade really was an indicator of times a changin'; I have lost my herdsire, Marcel since then, which to be honest really made me lose my passion for llamas...  Now the loss of my beloved Shasta.  The loss of The Royal Ranch is taking its toll on us all it seems; it is most definitely time to move on and get a fresh start.  When we told our kids about the foreclosure, my son Nathan said that it was okay because he thinks that this place may be poisoning us and after what has been going on I'm not too sure if I don't agree with him.

Happy Humorous Monday

Royal Ranch Royalty: Shades of Change

 Shade

Well it is time to sit down in front of my computer and try to heal my broken heart with words.  See, I have been telling you Rebels about changes here at The Royal Ranch and they have all really started to hit me these last few weeks; thus my absence from this blog.  

We lost our beloved cat Shade a few weeks back and I knew it would be very symbolic of the times ahead.  Shade was our nurse and one of my best friends here at the ranch.  If any one was not feeling well, Shade was the first to let me know by laying by that animal or person and meowing insistently!  It was uncanny his ability to know that a spirit was not well before they actually showed symptoms outwardly.  I guess it was from his time living at the vet clinic for so many years; Shade had been a blood donor cat before he came to live at the Royal Ranch.

Which is how he became a character in my childrens book, Llucky Llama.  His name in the book is no other than Cuddly Cat of course.  Cuddly Cat is buried right next to Dedicated Dog; my first Great Pyrenees that was one of the greatest dogs I have ever owned in my entire life.  As a matter of fact, that spot has not been used since Marilyn (Dedicated Dog) passed.  Tom tried to bury another dog there one time and about got his head bit off by me-ha!  Sometimes there are just animals that are extraordinarily special in our lives and Shade and Marilyn were those type of animals.

As I said, I knew the winds of change were blowing; I just didn't know how hard.  That week I had gotten the news about my back.  I had gone back in because my back just isn't making progress.  It will be a year in October since my surgery and I have tried everything except chiropractic care.  And I do mean everything.  Walking, Pilates, stretching, yoga, acupuncture, etc., although it is all very good stuff it does not completely take away my pain.  I saw multiple docs in one week, one of them a specialist on the field who then sent me to another ultra-specialist who all agree; this is a lifelong issue.

The good news is is that the last specialist I saw did give me a shot in the spine that sent me into a horrific tizzy for about a week; and boy was it a painful tizzy, but I am better now.  So Rebels, please keep your fingers crossed that I can get these shots every three months for a little bit of pain relief!!!!  The timing was perfect because my back was feeling better just in time for me to deal with my next big change....

Which is losing my sons.  And to be perfectly honest, I suck at letting go.  I know that they are going to college and that they are doing the best thing for them, and that this is what is supposed to happen, but it still really hurts my heart.  I miss them sooo much it physically hurts sometimes.  And I know I'm not the only one out there; maybe I am the only willing to admit it, I don't know.

We took them to Gunnison, Co; the home of Western State College on Friday.  They will share a dorm room and will start classes on Monday.  Thomas already got a job and Austin has an interview today; so their lives are just going wonderfully!  My heart bursts with pride each and every time I get a text or a call or an email from one of them.  I really can't believe that my 2 sons are at college; to be honest I wasn't sure it could really happen.

These are two boys that come from homes that are not made of money.  As a matter of fact they are the first of both their families to ever have gone to college.  Thankfully, due to Austins legal circumstances (our adopting him) his schooling is entirely paid for with grants and loans (mostly grants-yeah!); but it really came down to the wire with our Bubby.  We have been selling things (anyone need a plow truck? ha!) and creative budgeting like no one's business.  I even swapped for some of his text books (review of book swapping sites to come in the following days, there are definite differences!).

Speaking of Austin's other home, that has been a constant source of stress this week also.  Since we have been a part of his life I have been very careful to include his other family and try to make one big happy family so that the boy does not feel as if he has to choose between the two.  I know that he loves his dad and his sisters and needs to keep contact with them; it is very important.  But this last week has just about killed me.  His Dad has let him down one too many times in my book.  As have the step mom and the sisters and the rest of them....I just couldn't take the hurt expression on my sons face any longer.  On the way up to Gunnison, I kept asking Tom what I could do to make up for the terrible week he had had, and all he kept saying is "Hon, you've got to let it go, you are already doing the best you can.  Just be who you are.  He knows how much WE love him."

I was telling my sister that I was so upset that Thursday, the last day I had with the boys had been such a stressful day because we had been running to Austins last dental appointments and needed to get their toiletries, etc.  And that at first I was wishing we had spent it differently, but when I looked back on it, I had been able to sneak in the fact that I had asked the dentist about cleft pallets and they are not related to fetal alcohol or drug abuse; a fact which Austin had grown up thinking and blaming his Mother for.  And when his Dad told him he wasn't coming home to say goodbye to his own son before he left for college; well I was there to buffer the blow and explain to Austin that it was because he just couldn't handle saying goodbye.

So, sometimes even a harried, stressful day can turn into one that is very meaningful to those we love.  That night when we got home, hours later than we had planned, our neighbors were waiting for us.  They were here gathered to say goodbye to our beloved boys.  They are the ones who truly love and respect these kids.  It's not always blood that makes a family.  We had my daughter's best friend and her Mom and sister.  The boys' best friend who is one year younger (poor kid getting left behind) and his family, who have truly become our dearest friends; and our beloved neighbors Dan and Judy over.  It was so perfect.

In the midst of all of this; I have been eluding to changes here at The Royal Ranch.  They have been a long time in the making I suppose, but it sort of came as a shock to me.  The biggest being that I have realized that I am probably not going to be doing pack jobs anymore.  There are times when my back is bad that I can't even make it up the stairs so it is a bit concerning to make a reservation for a pack trip up a mountain that is six miles one way.

Which really means that I have way too many llamas than I need.  And on top of it, I am losing my Great Pyr, Tia.  She has a cruciate tear that needs surgery that we cannot afford nor take care of after the surgery.  I am very blessed that the person who gave her to me is willing to take her back and pay for the surgery that I have arranged through a dear friend of mine and then care for her during her recovery stage....We will take it one day at a time after that.  The problem with caring for a dog that weighs more than I do, is that she will need to be physically moved, etc after her surgery.

So, I am slowly but surely placing my llamas, Tia will leave around the 13th of September, Paco my ram is going to Auction where he should pull a pretty good price and will not get eaten because Rams are yucky to eat and so I can finally feel comfortable taking an animal to auction and seeing how it all works.  I may replace the ram; the main reason he is going is because I would like to breed his daughter this year.  But the whole ghist of the ranch is changing a bit...

As a matter of fact, I had decided that I was going to do poultry.  That was until the neighbors dog killed one of my prize turkeys last week.  Yes, in the middle of my crazy week; I was in filling out paperwork with the boys which is how it happened because normally when the turks are out I have my eye on them at all times.  But this day, we were busy doing last minute stuff for the college, and I heard a ruckus and went out to find the dog eating my turkey.

Although they have offered to compensate me financially, it was very hard for me to determine a price on the first turkey.  First of all, the turkey was not harvested properly so I was unable to save the feathers which on these types of turkeys is a good portion of their value.  We, of course, were unable to save the meat after a dog had been eating it.  But what really bothered me the most was the waste of the whole thing.  I think you as Rebels know that I do not waste anything.

Let alone the amount of hard work and time and love that we all had put into these turkeys.  We knew that the turkeys were going to die; as a matter of fact we all were quite proud of the fact that these three were going to be the first animals that we actually planned on raising from the get go and eating.  Now we will not even be tasting our own hard work as the remaining two have already been sold to friends who have driven in our driveway, taken one look at those beautiful turkeys and asked if they were for sale.

So, my future business plans are as follows:  I am going to continue my writing; I think I may even finally have time to take that second childrens book out of my head and put it onto paper!  The ranch will continue to size down a bit, literally.  The llamas will find the right homes as they come along, and I will slowly grow my poultry/feather business as I feel it is safe.  The loss of my sons I guess I will get used to(?!?), but the loss of Shade....well, that was an indicator of times a changin' I'm afraid.

I would really love to hear from you Rebels.  Have you dealt with losing your children to college and if so what helped?  What about other losses and changes in your lives.....???

Carbon Monoxide Detectors

This little device saved our lives Saturday night:

 

If you don't already have one, get one...Today!!!

 Please read the comments below, my Dad has some very interesting input.

The things I am oh so thankful for...

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you all have had a day full of family and friends, turkey and fixins, but most of all I hope that you take just a moment to reflect upon what you are thankful for.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday I think because it is a day for celebrating, but with not expectations attached to it.  Meaning it still has managed to not be commercialized; no gift giving expectations, no plastic eggs and baskets to buy and fill.  Just a wonderful day to appreciate all that you already have.

So, here is my short list, in no particular order:

My family  (immediate and extended)

My friends

My health (although I have had a few struggles lately, in general, I am blessed!)

My ranch and home

My critters...llamas, sheep, chickens, cats, dogs, you name it, I love 'em

My businesses

My humble little town

My country and the soldiers that fight to protect it

My oh so loyal Rebels!

Back surgery sucks...

(thanks clipart, beautiful!)

Helloooo!  I'm back!  Well, I can't guarantee that I am back on a daily basis because my computer is too damn heavy, actually everything is too damn heavy, but at least I am here to check in-hooray!  I was really wishing that I had done an update before Sunday, because I was really great.  Sunday and yesterday, not so much, downright crappy I would even venture to say, but that is to be expected because the steroids and meds they give you during surgery wear off anywhere from day 3-5 and that is when it hit me.

As for a weight limit of five pounds, well, that is downright laughable.  I don't think there is anything on this ranch that weighs five pounds.  I do have one cat that is under that weight, but as soon as I sit down with a blanket I am covered with cats anyway, so I'm covered on that point.  Did you know that a gallon of milk weighs 8 lbs?  And yes, even my laptop weighs quite a bit more than 5 lbs., as a matter of fact it will even be heavier than the ten pound limit I will hopefully get to jump up to at my four week mark.  Do I hear a woot woot?!?

So, I have to share a couple of funny stories with you all.  This surgery really had Tom and I in a dither, I mean we were both scared to death about this one.  Tom was worried that I was going to come out paralyzed and I was afraid of dying.  We both know that over the years my vibes are something that we really should listen to, so it was hard for us to figure out if I was having just fear or some kind of vibe about doing this surgery.  So anyway, we both had pretty much gotten past our fears and surgery day was finally here, no more dreading it!

As you know the patient is not allowed to have anything of value, no purse or jewelry, nothing.  So Tom is in charge of everything, which he somewhat has been anyway since I have been so spacey.  Well, anyway, we have to check in at Security with both our ID's, no problem.  Then Tom checks me in at the computer and heads to the restroom...meanwhile they call my name and I head over to Admissions and tell them that my husband has all my cards; which he immediately starts digging for when he gets back from the restroom.  After accusing me, who had no pockets or anything, of having them, a nice lady behind the counter brings them to us!  He had left my drivers license and my Kaiser card at the main computer of the hospital!  I teased him that next time he should just leave them the debit card too!

Off we head to surgery, and there they take my beloved husband away.  And I don't mean for just a couple of minutes.  I mean for the entire pre-op time; oh and the post-op time too.  It really sucked, I must say.  I know it is an older hospital, and very crowded, and they are trying to keep germs down, and blah blah.  But I wanted my damn husband!  He got to come in for just a few minutes to say goodbye and then he had to wait to see me until I got to my room, boo hoo!

So have I mentioned that we are not city folk, let alone hospital folk?  Needless to say, I got zilcho sleep, mostly due to the noise, and thanks to my very low blood pressure (which I explained again and again is perfectly normal for me, but they still insisted on flushing me with those fluids so I could make those painful trips to the RR) they had long since taken me off the good drugs and I was back to plain old oral pain meds.  Which of course I was due for at just the time everyone got all ready for me to go..."sweet mother there must be a God in Heaven to get me into that truck and over those bumpy city streets while that stupid oral pain medication takes affect!!!!!" was all I could think, honestly.

Well, there must have been, because I made it home in one piece.  As for Tom, I'm not so sure.  He told me that as he was carrying all that "shit" (his words, not mine, because it was partially a spectacular bouquet of flowers from my family that is now my center piece), he was in the very middle of the intersection when the checkbook fell out of his back pocket.  It of course was full of all of the cards that all of the therapists had just given him that morning and they all flew everywhere!  So, my totally together, never loses anything biker husband had to set down his beautiful flowers and my briefcase and bag of clothes to retrieve his stuff while traffic piled up, oh I wish I had been there!

It was wonderful having Tom off last week, but the time flew by way too quickly.  I wasn't sure I was going to make it back from the bus stop yesterday morning, and saw my very first Bald Eagle in this area.  It was so cool, it stayed in the valley and just swooped from one tree to another doing a little fishing in between, the whole time I shuffled my way home...it made the trip much easier, I was home before I even realized it!

Speaking of wonderful...the messages and notes and meals we have gotten are fantastic!  We have the most wonderful family, friends and neighbors a family could ask for, that is for sure.  We are eating like Kings and Queens!

So that is about all for now, maybe tomorrow I'll get into the nuts and bolt of what they found in my back...quite interesting for sure.  Oh and I'm going to have the family take a picture of my battle wound so I hope no one is offended by that kind of thing, because I'm pretty proud of it!  Tom calls me Frankenstein when he sees it, how loving of him-ha!

Animal advice from an, er, expert

Speaking of Rams!

I always have to laugh a little bit at some of these funny titles these days, many of them not requiring degrees or years of knowledge.  Animal behaviorist, animal psychologist, animal...you name it, there is an expert out there for it.  Now, don't get me wrong,  I am by no means dissing them, the title comes from me doubting myself, just a little.

I have been living with and loving animals most of my life.  Although Mom was raised on a farm in Iowa and was not fond of taking care of critters we did always have outdoor cats and dogs as kids.  Then within about a week of Tom and I cohabitating we realized that life with just two people was very boring after living in a house with all of his buddies; so we got our first orange tabby; Razz.  As you know, the story has grown and multiplied over the last twenty years...dramatically.

Even before I met Tom, I was an active volunteer with various rescue groups.  If I remember correctly, the first being the Inter-mountain Humane Society, or was it the Evergreen Animal Protective League?  I don't know which came first and it doesn't really matter, the point is, is that I have been doing this a long time, and I still doubt myself as an expert in the field of animals; crazy!

That is why you always have a good team to back you up.  Mentors are my first line of defense.  And I have different mentors for each group of animal; sometimes it is the person I got the animals from (like the sheep breeder or a llama breeder).  But most of the time, you need to search out your own mentors, maybe this can be your vet, or even someone you meet online; but make sure you have that person to call (or e-mail) for advice at a moments notice.  It goes without saying, that a person with animals needs a good, trustworthy vet.  Not a vet that you are intimidated by, or don't share beliefs with, but one that you know will come out for any reason what-so-ever!

But the most important thing a pet owner can have is common sense, no really.  Common sense enough to trust your own instinct when it comes to your critters.  Watching them and knowing them is the very best preventative medicine you can do for them.  Almost every training method (100% success rate) that I have come up with has come from simply watching the behavior of my animals and adjusting the routine.

Take for instance our dog Rosie.  She was depressed and getting aggressive.  How do you tell a dog is depressed?  Well, she attacked a cat, she was not hanging out with the family, when she did she had her head down, etc, she just seemed depressed.  She was also very aggressively going after Gigi, my little dog that we had recently inherited from my Grandma; so it didn't take a genius to figure out what was causing her depression.  She had been my Baby and now Gigi was going everywhere with me.  So, I started taking Rosie with me everywhere; she no longer had to be in the fence with the rest of the dogs she got treated exactly like I treated Gigi (the only reason Gigi wasn't in the fence was because she could squeeze out of the wire!)

Now, as for the aggressive behavior towards the cat and Gigi, I was not taking any chances there (not with kids and small animals in the house), and I got aggressive myself.  I attacked her back just like another dog would.  It scared the crap out of my kids, I must tell you, but it got the point across to Rosie as well.  I yelled, and growled and rolled her over in a submissive position and held her there until she knew who was boss.  Between doing these two very easy and minor things Rosie is a very happy and normal companion now.

Let's move on to my problematic Rooster while we are talking about dominance here, because this is a new battle for me.  As I mentioned dominance is something that I believe you should always show in your herd, so to speak.  But, this is just a chicken, a bird for goodness sake!  Really, what harm is he going to cause me, and why do I have to win that battle?  It really took some re-thinking on my part.  I realized that every time the roo would see me get worked up, so would he, and if I would just hold still...he would fluff his feathers and move on.

So I tried this new thinking with my teenage son yesterday when I made him go gather eggs for my friend Janet.  I told him exactly what to do, even though he insisted the rooster would not attack him.  Well, he said that bird followed him around trying to get him into battle.  He did exactly what I told him to do.  "No, chicken", and hold still.  The funniest thing was his response.  He said that it went against his grain.  He said "you know Mom, I'm a teenager, and I really wanted to teach that chicken who was boss, it felt like I was letting him win!"  It's very hard to turn the other cheek sometimes.

Speaking of battles you can't win, remember that it is time for the rut, people.  Elk are bugling, the deer have that wild look in their eye, and my ram Paco, well, he looks like he's gonna knock me flat on my ass.. So as soon as I can catch him, he will be locked up with his girlfriend Esther.  And let me tell you, I won't be catching him with my hands, that sheep has one crazed look about him, I will wait until he is in the right pen, and then I will simply close him into it.  Yeah right, and then watch him ram the hell out of the gate, but that is why they call them rams I guess!

While we are talking about advice, I thought I'd mention a trick I have been using lately on the dogs various leg injuries.  It is total and complete immobilization.  Iowa has hurt her leg twice since we have brought her home, and now Gigi has a hurt leg.  When a dog is limping there can be many causes; check the foot first looking for any burs or cuts on the pad.  If there are none, you may need to try this trick, and it has saved me big bucks, because all of the times I thought I was headed to the vet.  Although it seems a bit drastic, put the dog in her crate for a minimum of two days, only walking her on a leash for potty breaks.  The problem is that dogs don't know not to run on an injured leg, and will still run to the front door to bark or whatever.  This really is the only way to completely immobilize an animal, lock them up.  I always feel terrible doing it, but when the leg is better, I know I have done the right thing.

So how about you, do you have any great pet advice to share?  How about pet stories or pics?  I'd love to see them and share them here and on my Facebook page.

Metaphysical Monday

Good morning and I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  Did you stay cool?  We tried to beat the heat with a few walks in our wonderful mountains, and it was really funny because I hadn't started out on a feather mission, but I sure completed one.  Let me explain myself a little bit here.

I have been wanting to start an altar here at the ranch, a healing altar for myself.  A place for me to do my Yoga and some meditating on healing my back; I also plan on meditating on my businesses in front of this altar.  And as funny as this sounds to you, it sounds funny to me too, because this is the first time I have ever done such a thing.  Really, I have never done any "official meditating" either, so this is one giant step for me.

I have been gathering pieces for this altar for months, well frankly for my entire life (like my Bible from my parents), so I knew a few of the things that I wanted to include on my altar.  I even knew the piece of furniture I would use so that it would be multi-tiered, movable, and have a surface I could safely put a candle on.  So, anyway, something was just holding me back... until this weekend.

On Friday I met up with my sister and nieces at Mount Falcon park for a great little hike with the kids.  It's probably only about a mile, but has really spectacular views (can't believe I didn't take my camera, sorry!) with a cool historical castle at the end of the loop.  As we were ending the hike we spotted a Red-tailed Hawk diving for a morsel of food, it was so cool!  What I didn't mention to my sister is that to me this is a very common experience, actually daily.  Not the diving, I knew that might be a sign, but I am always followed by the Red-tailed Hawks, and feel a very strong connection with them.  So it was no surprise to me that I finally found a hawk feather in the parking lot that day as I was on the phone, a feather that I have been searching for for a long time.

I mentioned our Heron quest yesterday when I introduced you all to our adventurous cat, Hector.  See, Blue Herons are somewhat new in our area, you know the last decade or so.  So they still totally amaze me.  In my research of the birds I have found out that if you find the nest of one, you will find the nest of many; so I of course I am challenged to find a nesting area of this giant fascinating bird.  The evening before we had spotted her going from the neighbors ponds to a tree and sitting for almost a half hour before jumping to this tree and going in and we thought staying.  We hiked over with the whole family, and I do mean the whole family, on Saturday and didn't find the nests, but we did find some feathers, which is to me, an honor.

On the very same day, I found a Magpie feather up at the barn when I was doing my chores.  Magpies and Ravens (and Crows of course) are said to be the most commonly worked with birds in metaphysical lore.  I had been waiting for a Red-tailed hawk feather, and in the span of two days, I had been given the gift of many feathers, it was definitely time to get moving.

A lot of people don't know it, but when a person is doing metaphysical, or energy, work and would like help from animal or nature's spirits, which of course I take help from quite often (usually without knowing it), things like feathers and crystals are very helpful.  These are very precious gifts to me and have been placed on my new altar that I finally made yesterday.  It literally took me about five minutes to pull this together because as I said, the pieces have been coming together in my head for a long time now.

As you can see my feathers are there, along with my Bible, a copy of The Secret, a yummy smelling candle and of course my healing crystal and amethyst.  I chose to cover the seat of this old phone table with a deer hide that my boys got to honor the deer, and covered the yucky table part with an antique pillow case that I found at the ranch when we moved in to represent it's spirit.  The doll is one that I gave my Grandma so many years ago I can't remember now, but she always said it looked just like me, and it was the only thing in her entire house the great-grandkids weren't allowed to play with, so I know it meant a lot to her.  If you look closely it still has the tag on it, so you know it wasn't fooled with all these years.  The cat, well, I guess that is probably self explanatory for me, the animal lady; plus the weight of the brass animal weighs everything down so I know my real cats won't knock it all over!

Right now my altar is placed on a wall facing west, the direction the sun sets and it just sort of felt right.  I like it there because it sits under a few of our favorite wedding gifts; the first being a framed, cut-up and re-made version of our wedding invitation and the second these very neat soaring wooden birds.  It seemed like the wall was just a continuation of my altar.

The direction didn't have me overly concerned, but when I did a little research, it did not surprise me to find out that if you are wanting to work metaphysically, a person might want to face their altar in the direction of the west.  Gee, what a coincidence, oh wait a minute, there really are not many coincidences in my world are there?  It is all about making sure that we are open to receiving each and every little gift we are given, even the little gifts like always having the guide of a Red-tailed hawk nearby, or a simple feather being dropped in your path.

Royal Ranch Royalty

I can't believe that I have not introduced you all to Hector before now, but it works out just as well because I didn't get the evidence pictures until yesterday.  For years my neighborhood has talked about this cat going on walks with me, and I have been wanting to get pictures of him doing so, but I of course am always the one with him, so it just never works out.  Well yesterday, we went on a Heron hunting mission (you know, we thought we might have finally found where she nests) and Hector went with us.  There were plenty of people to catch a shot of him, so finally I was able to catch a shot of the elusive cat going on his long walks with me!

I mean this cat is really an adventurer.  Yesterday's mission took us through the beaver ponds, which had many creek crossings.  Hector would fall behind and we would hear him start to howl.  I told him many times that he should just wait there for me and that I would be right back for him, but he would not think of it.  We got to the tree that we had seen the Heron go into from the house, but keep in mind that we had walked a good half mile by this time, and here came Hector.  His back legs and tail were all wet from one of the creek crossings, but he was just as happy to be there as the dogs were!  Even Tom was pretty impressed with the cats adventurous spirit.

Hector always goes to the bus stop with us.  The kids on the bus get a real tickle out of seeing the dogs playing with rocks and Hector over the hill sunning himself.  He is very much a "Mama's Boy" and pretty much goes wherever I go.  He is constantly with me when I do the chores, etc.  As a matter of fact, as I write this I have decided that Hector may be the feline character in my next book, Happy Hector, perhaps?  Each book has all species represented of course, I am an equal opportunity employer, you know!

Look closely, he's in there, this is after the crossings, he's having a little rest!

Royal Ranch Royalty...or not!

A relative of my intruder?

(Pic taken in 2006)

There was a fox in the hen house!  Or damn close enough for my liking, let me tell you.  I went up to do my chores the other morning with my daughter in tow as usual, and thankfully had Rosie and Gigi with me like I always do.  

Well, that morning the chicken scraps were particularly yummy for dogs, so I set them up high on the top of the hay stack so that Rosie would not eat them.  As per typical fashion the baby sheep and the rest of the critters were cramming themselves up against the fence where the hay is stored impatiently waiting for their breakfast, when suddenly Rosie pushes past me to growl at my feet.  These vicious little snapping jaws come out from underneath the pallet from where we store the hay, just inches from where my foot had just been and the faces of my beautiful animals!

I freaked out and yelled for Isabella to run and tried to get the dogs away from the snarling and snapping unidentifiable jaws; all the while the llamas, lambs and sheep are still yelling for their breakfast as if nothing at all is happening.  See, I thought it was a badger, which are very mean.  Either way, I was getting the hell out of there!  

A badger

We got the dogs home, and got the live trap that we recently found in the campground.  I thought it through, and realized that whatever it was could really only have two options.  The first being that it was not a well animal and that it had accidentally gotten trapped under there when we went up to feed and might need some help.  The other option was that it was a very well animal and that it was waiting to ambush my chickens when they came out that morning after I did my chores.  It had chosen the perfect spot to do so.  Again, either way, I was not taking any chances.

I prepared the trap the best I could and psyched myself up into going back up there.  Isabella stayed at about the halfway point.  She said it was to keep the cats from going up there, but we both knew it was so she had a straighter shot to the house!  My feet stayed as far away from that hole as I could possibly keep them while I literally threw the hay to my critters, and then I used a looong stick to retrieve the bucket of chicken scraps that I had placed unknowingly above the attackers hiding spot.  

When I set the trap up is when I found out it was a fox, and the damn thing had the audacity to be napping.  Here I was on a total adrenaline buzz, and he's having nap time waiting for my chickens for breakfast!  Needless to say, the chickens stayed locked up that first day.  The fox did not go into the trap, because when it came out from underneath the pallets to have a look around, Isabella taking off for home like a shot, scared him off!

All joking aside though, this could have been very dangerous for me (I don't particularly want a bellyful of shots thank you).  We have talked with a few neighbors since then, and we are a little concerned about this fox being ill and/or aggressive.  It really saddens me, because it is only because people have been feeding the local wildlife that we find ourselves in this predicament.  The foxes are one of the worst up here as far as people being guilty of feeding them.  It's not until the bear shows up for the foxes portion that the people quit, and then the smaller wildlife is already dependent.  

This is something I feel very strongly about, and even touch on in my book.  When I was doing a little bit of research on this fox's behavior, I found a great link on living in red fox country at the Colorado Division of Wildlife.  There is of course a different one for each species ( bear, mountain lion, etc), so take a look around the website, it is quite informative.

Well, although we did not trap him, and have not seen him since that morning, I still feel his presence "hanging around", so I'm afraid we are not quite done with this little guy.  Hopefully I will learn that he is a typical healthy fox that was just after an easy meal, but my gut tells me otherwise...

Here, kitty kitty kitty

Spaying and neutering is something I have firmly believed in since the first time I heard Bob Barker remind his viewers on the Price is Right how important it was.  And believe me, that has been a long time!!!  I recently have had many examples of why I so firmly believe in this literally dropped on my doorstep, okay maybe not dropped on my doorstep, but living and breathing and affecting the health (and food bill) of my ranch, so that counts too.

Meet Pimienta and Nocola, Royal Ranch's newest addition's.  Pimienta means pepper in Spanish and Nocola means no tail, I guess you'll be able to figure out who is who.  Not quite a year ago our renters got two cats, brother and sister from a breeder of Bengal Bobcats.  They got them for free because they are solid black instead of the typical Bengal markings.  Now, as a Landlord, I really try to mind my own business, but when I saw that the cats had had kittens I got a little concerned, let alone that the kittens were outdoors.

During this time, some changes in that very same rental happened and we took back over half of the duplex that the cats use, so Isabella and I became very familiar with the cats and what was going on with them.  That was when I realized that the Mama kitty was pregnant again!  As a matter of fact, Daddy kitty was trying to breed Pimi as well, which is what finally got me to leave a (not so friendly) letter on the door of the renter.  Well, one thing led to another, and thank goodness I have friends in the rescue business,  and now fast forward a couple months and here we are...

So, it has taken me multiple trips down the mountain to Spay Today to get all of the adult cats spayed and neutered.  I took Daddy, Pimienta and Nocola, who at the time all still belonged to the renter down right away.  Mama was busy having just had these cute little things.  I then waited until two weeks ago and got Mama spayed, another trip down the hill we go.  Last weekend we got to take her to a vet up here to get her tested for Feline Leukemia so that my friends over at Evergreen Animal Protective League can have these adorable babies without spreading that horrific disease.  Today we will deliver the babies, yup, all three of those precious babies are going to new homes through EAPL over in Evergreen.
Now, I mentioned that none of these cats were to be ours, and that was the original plan; until the renter mentioned that he might sell the middle generation at a pet store.  Since they are Bobcat Bengals, and since he is having a hard time financially and since they are always looking for kittens, etc.  Well, I'm probably going to offend someone here, but over my dead body!  I have heard waaay to many horror stories for these cats that Isabella and I have been working very hard to tame and take care of to end up in some filthy pet store!  So, that is how Pimi and Nocola became Royal Ranch cats, and you know the funny thing was that the very same day that we "claimed" Nocola, she started calming down.  It was just as if she needed to know she had a place to stay forever.
Okay, so I have bragged about my friends in high places, but you do not need friends in high places if you don't get yourself in this pickle of needing multiple surgeries done at once.  There are lots and lots of resources out there people.  If you can't afford to spay or neuter your pet, call your local shelter and they will help you get it done, I guarantee it.  Also, help your neighbor, they may be too embarrassed to admit that they have a problem.  We have a sad story going on right now here in Colorado, an 80something woman got kicked out of her house due to it being overrun with cats.  I know how it happened, I have seen it.
As a matter of fact, last summer, the very same thing happened to us.  A gal had been coming to us to buy her hay, and when she broke her leg, we offered to help take care of her horse.  Well, it led to much more than that, her place was taken over by cats and could have been condemned at any moment.  So we cleaned it up and got the animals fixed.  It was amazing, I found a group that brought a motorhome to her place, and in one day we trapped, spayed, and neutered 22 cats!  If we had not done that, the cats would be doubled by this year, think of that!  People just don't realize how quickly it gets out of hand.
Now, off of the "soap box" as my Dad would say, but I do have some interesting points about these Bobcat Bengals.  They really are some amazing cats.  Boy, can they climb!  The ones with no tails have extra toes to help them with their balance, which kind of looks weird, but again, makes for some amazingly agile cats.  Genetically, this has been an odd bunch.  Mom and Dad are both solid black as are Pimi and Nocola, and then here comes the third generation that has all of the Bobcat Bengal traits, like the toes and tails, but are Siamese in color, very odd.
I'm not sure where I stand on the breeding down the Bobcats and Bengal tigers thing.  Before I met these cats I would have said I was against it, for sure.  And I'm not too impressed that the breeder did not make sure that my renter get the cats fixed if she removed them from the breeding program.  But some of the websites I have visited are pretty cool, and talk about saving a piece of wildlife and endangered species, and the "good examples" of the breed are amazingly "tiger" like.  What do you think?

So, this is the second morning in a row that we have woken up to this:

And this is what our regular trio of geese thinks of it:

They were not too happy about their ponds being covered in a thick sludge of snow and ice and their feilds of green grass nowhere in sight!  There raucous complaints were so loud they had the cats hiding in the shadows!  Poor Fat Gary!

Gardening and Composting Challenges with Altitude (and chickens!)

Gardening at 9,000 feet in elevation is not even exactly considered gardening; it should really be called trial and error.  But, after a couple of decades I'm learning a couple of things, like always plant stuff that deer don't like, never waste your money on annuals (we've just got too short of a season), and reuse everything I possibly can, including seeds.  The seed thing has come from necessity; the plants that do well up here do very well and therefore tend to take over the garden with seeds if I am not careful to collect them.

I do not do much to prepare my very hearty perennial garden for winter as you can see by the picture.  I try to cover it with a good layer of mulch if there is one available, but I do not pay for mulch, because many of them have ingredients in them that I don't like and it is a product that is usually readily available if you wait for the right time.  I wish I hadn't had to lose my trees, but now I sure have plenty of free mulch, thanks to road and bridge.  Back to winter preparation, I have read that it is good to leave the plants standing for the winter because it gives bugs and such places to winter over and it also avoids premature pruning.  One of the main reasons I do it is to avoid my beautiful perennial garden becoming one very large cat litter box over the winter months-eeeewwww!!!!  If the large poky plants stay in it, the cats stay out of it, works for me.

So, early Spring, like last weekend (for us this is early), I use my spiffy new pruning shears from my great Mom and prune everything down to the ground and rake it all out.  This year I am composting everything so I tried something new.  I put all of the large clippings into the trash bin and used our weed whacker to break them down into smaller pieces so that they would compost faster.  Again, this is one of the biggest composting tips to come across, the smaller the pieces to go into your composting bin, the faster you will have compost.  This is a little difficult to do, and I went through quite a bit of whacky string, but I got the job done as you can see.

Now, the object of the composting game will be to see if I can beat the chickens.  A year ago when I started composting, we didn't have chickens, so it was a great way of using up our kitchen scraps, which of course now go directly to the chickens.  Well, the chickens discovered the compost bin and its tiny morsels of year old food a few weeks ago and must have worked together as a team to get the very large wood block off of the cover and have absolutely cleaned out the entire bin!  I guess I don't have to worry about stirring it!  The good news is, is that the stuff that the chickens have kicked out is quite black and nice looking, so at least I know I was on the right track, I just need to start over on a new chicken free track!

Obviously instead of composting with food scraps I will be composting with chicken manure, which means I will have to be very careful that my compost pile does not get too hot in the summer months and cause a fire.  That is when I will be very thankful for our high altitude and cool temperatures.  So, I will be mixing manures plant scraps,  a beer or two (shh, don't tell the big guy) and a little of the mulch from our beautiful trees that the county cut down for good luck (shh, don't tell the county).  I wrote a post on composting (pre-chickens) that has a great breakdown of things that can and can't go into your compost bin here.  I had to laugh when I saw the pictures because the bin was so full, and now the chickens have dug through and emptied the entire thing!  Oh well, this way I will rake up what they cleaned out, use it on my gardens and start fresh this year; that is what you are supposed to do with a compost bin, right?  Pop back to the other post, it's worth just looking at the pictures to see what the chickens have done, it will give you a chuckle for the day!

"Crashing" Down the Fences

Well, my babies are growing up!  The other day I went to go do chores and Crash was on the wrong side of the fence!  His mama was in an uproar!!!  I knew the time was coming and that he was getting tired of just hanging with girls because he had gotten out once before.  Our poor renter had seen him in with the llamas and his daddy, Paco, who was giving him a heck of a time.  Tom and Thomas helped him get Crash back in with Mama and Princess and fixed where he got out and we left it at that, but I knew my time was limited.

I have learned a lot about Rams since getting Paco, and I love him dearly, but I'm not sure that he will stay at The Royal Ranch.  As you all know, I am very careful about breeding programs and will not tolerate any unaccounted for breeding or aggressive behavior in between breeding times.  Paco is having a very hard time understanding this concept; he is a ram and that is what rams do for a living.   But, he has made life a little difficult here on the ranch by making us have to separate pens out for different fellas.  Luckily, I had done this a couple of days before Crash came crashing through.

So, as I said, I go up to do my morning chores to Esther's panicked bawling (Crash was not so happy himself at this point either); he had done quite a number on the fence so I got everyone fed to try and calm them down and started to try and repair what I called the nesting area fence where I was keeping the lambs and Esther.  Crash had himself so worked up that he couldn't find his way back in with mama so I kept making the space a little bigger, pretty soon I turned around, and the sheep were out and the llamas were in!!!  Oh, and did I forget to mention how happy my chickens were to have access into the barn where they had been locked out of for weeks; they were happily clucking and scratching their way through the layers of straw that I had neatly laid down for the lambs!

Yes, it was as backwards as I could get it, and I just stood there laughing.  Esther, Princess and Crash were happily trotting around the edge of the bottom pasture, Marcel and Jasper were eating Esther's breakfast and the chickens were in chicken heaven and I had lost complete control of my little piece of paradise and was supposed to be at a meeting in about 15 minutes!  The only thing for me to do was to run back home, postpone my meeting, grab my fencing supplies and get to work!  Thankfully I had my plan already in place, as any rancher does, and just had to implement it!

As you can see, there are smaller panels that have to be moved, and corral panels that have to be moved, all in the name of safety for Princess and Crash...

(The bucket is a step for the chickens to use to get over the panels, because this was their favorite exit, which is how I knew the lambs could get out; when, or where, will it end?)

 

My old boys, Marcel and Jasper, had been appointed lamb sitters.  Llamas are fantastic guards; as a matter of fact many of them are put to work in fields specifically for this purpose.  They are very aggressive towards coyotes and many progressive ranchers are now putting them to work to save their herds of cattle and sheep from losses of babies.  I had already divided out the rest of the herd from these two, so it was just a matter of taking the panels from the "nesting pen" and placing them around any danger spots in the lower portion of our llama pen to make sure that little Crash is not going to escape to the outside world.

I would like to leave you with a mental picture of how things are done here at The Royal Ranch though.  Keep in mind that I was dressed for a meeting, nothing too fancy, just dressed.  Anywho, when there is panels being moved around, that means excitement, and I don't do it alone.  I usually have a string of cats following me, one long haired black, at least one orange tabby, and one gray.  The chickens are always following me, again at least three or four; I have to always be careful where I step.  Marcel, my big white llama is at least one half step behind me because he is hoping for some grain, and after Crash's big scare, he was a little upset and needed reassurance, so he was rather clingy too.  So, each time I got down on the ground I found myself with a lamb on top of me, doesn't do much for the hairdo, although he is very proud to be in with the big boys now.  Needless to say, I had to redress and rearrange before I left for my meeting 1.5 hours late!!! Oh, the life of a rancher, wouldn't trade it for anything!
 

Yes, I know it is Tuesday, but I have had this post sitting in my drafts folder since the weekend, shame, shame!  I decided not to cross post to GreenSpot-On for that reason and because I wanted to share with those readers about my recycled chicken coop, which of course you all have read about before!  But, make sure and pop over there to check it out and leave me a quick comment, I'm curious as to how their comments come through!!! Thanks again for being such loyal fans!

Follow Your Instinct

I have a friend who is going through one of the most difficult times in a pet owner's lives.  She is making the decision of when is the right time to end the life of her best friend.  She has written me a note and asked for my opinion because she is having a hard time getting a straight answer, and she knows that I have been there many times.  I say what I say about everything else; you need to follow your instinct.  I told her that if she is asking me the question, chances are it is time.
Many of us, myself included, have learned to second guess our "sixth sense", you know, that feeling you have that tells you when something is right or wrong.  Kids have it, mothers have it when it comes to their kids, and even animals have it.  So, why as humans do we over-ride it?  Because of fear.  Fear that we are not going to make the right decision, fear that we are not going to make everyone happy, fear that someone is going to judge us for the decision that we did make.
You know that old saying that hindsight is 20/20?  Really if you look back (at least when I do, for sure) don't you always wish you had followed your instincts?  They are almost never wrong!  So when it comes to questions of utmost importance, you need to trust yourself and not listen to your fears or worries.  Sort things out in your mind; what is your heart telling you and what is just worrying you?  Go with the heart every time and you'll never lose!


In loving memory of Spike the cat and Lucy Rabbit.  Believe it or not, Lucy enjoyed this attention from Spike!

PS I do have a recipe for sick dogs that I used that I passed along to my friend.  I have to laugh though because the kids call it The Dying Dog Mixture.  It actually is good to get any ill dog through a rough time, but it can buy you time with your dying friend as well.  Make rice with broth (chicken or beef) without all of the junk like preservatives and add cooked ground meat.  If your friend is very ill, start with rice only in very small meals (1/4 cup max per feeding) and gradually add meat.  Serve to the animal slightly warmed.

Royal Ranch Royalty

Good Morning!  I hope you are all having a great weekend with Christmas (and yes, you will proudly see the word Christmas in this blog) spirit in the air!  My opinion on this PC "Holiday" craze set aside, I have more important things to discuss today!  Once again today's royalty is very deserving of her title; I am proud to introduce Baby; yes, we know it's not too original, but we didn't name her!
Baby was left here by a previous renter; who obviously turned out to be a bad man.  The renter and his girlfriend had taken her in during a snow storm when she was pregnant and hungry.  That seems to be the extent of the kindness that they would give the cat.  They continued to allow her to have two more litters after we had already taken in two of her kittens (Harry and Gary, our orange tabby's).  I helped them get her fixed and got her shots done so that she could finally regain her strength from her ordeal of surviving in the wild.
Thankfully, Baby only lived with him (his girlfriend came and went) for a year or so before we had to evict him.  A couple of days after he left, he called back to ask us if he could come and get his two cats,; we of course said yes.  The next day Baby was still here.  The jerk called later that day to let us know that he had also left his tarantula in a cage on the front porch.  Now I'm no spider expert, but I know that they are not supposed to live outside in Colorado in November.  Despite my fear of spiders I got the darn thing back to health and quickly found it a new home.
Baby has taken a little longer to recover from her time with that mean man.  She finally started letting Tom get near her after a couple of months, and is still very leery of anything that moves too quickly, but gets better every day.  I've got to tell you though, Baby is one of the meanest cats I have ever come across when it comes to other cats.  She obviously does not remember her sons, as she will violently protect her turf against any and all of our house cats.  Which makes her love of our other barn cat, Shade, that much more ironic.  Shade was Royalty earlier in this series; he is a very special cat that truly has healing abilities when it comes to my various rescues, including Baby.  I call them boyfriend and girlfriend even though they are both fixed and entirely platonic of course!
Make a miracle today!

Royal Ranch Royalty

Good Morning! Wow! These Sunday posts are coming closer and closer together is seems like. Our Royalty today is Shasta, she is our oldest cat, and as you can see, she thinks she's a baby. She is quite small, and surprisingly light, but if you just stopped by the ranch, you'd never know she was here.

We tease Shasta that she is a basement dweller, because whenever a visitor comes by she darts to the basement, scared to death. She has a way of draping herself onto your lap, and if she does not get an immediate response, she'll head butt your hand until you pet her.

My sixteen year old was just a baby, when my sister-in-law bought a ranch in Matheson, CO. It wasn't until a few weeks later that the kittens started arriving from the barn cats the previous owner had left behind. Our first visit down there was an exciting one for the kids, but a little bothersome for me. Way too many cats, and little runt Shasta was barely alive, let alone thriving. So, we brought her and one of her brothers home, to bottle feed and raise. I believe that is the reason she is such a baby, and is so very trusting of her family.

On the other hand, she is deathly afraid of strangers and being outside. Shasta went through one of her nine lives, right before my very eyes. Tom and the kids were headed out somewhere (been so long, can't remember...) and as I was waving goodbye to them, I see Shasta fall out from underneath the bottom of the Suburban and just barely miss the back tires as she screamed and ran for the nearest bush! It took me a few minutes to even find her, but when I did, luckily she was fine, just scared out of her mind. She hasn't been outside much since then.

We put in a cat door recently, so I could quit spending my day letting cats in and out, and now that she knows she can get right back in, she is a tad bit more adventurous. She'll sit in front of the clear rubber door and watch for a long time, and then she'll sneak out and belly crawl her way to her favorite planter, where she can roll in the mulch under my Butterfly Bush. What would we do without all of this entertainment?

Have a mircle of a day!

Royal Ranch Royalty

Harry & Gary
Gary and Lucy
(I don't like that look, Gary!)

Aaaah!

Good Sunday Morning All! It's a good thing I have a lot of animals around here, because I really can't believe how quickly these Sunday posts roll around! Today, I am proud to introduce Harry and Gary. Although they are brothers, and look very similar in many ways, their behavior (and weight) are very different. It's probably been a few years that we have been calling him "Fat Gary", and I swear he swaggers away, belly flopping side to side, proudly when we say this. It reminds me of the old show "Fat Albert", Hey, Hey Hey! (Oops, am I aging myself there?)

Tom and I have always had a thing for Orange Tabby cats; they are very intelligent, seem to have good genes, are good "talkers", and match my redheads-ha! Anywho, many years ago our renter (turned out to be not a very nice guy) took in a pregnant cat (actually it was his girlfriend at the time, but...), well, of course when we heard there were some orange kittens we had to have a look. A couple of hours later Harry and Gary were ensconced in their loving, if not chaotic, new home!

Harry tends to really raise a ruckus around the neighborhood. We have done something with this cat that we have never had to do before, put a collar with a bell on it on him! I mean this cat hides in culverts to sneak up on the neighbors bird feeders, he has even gotten a Magpie. Now, I don't know if Magpies are a familiar bird or not, but they are just a little smaller than a crow. Remember, I am a huge bird lover, so this is very upsetting to me, as I know it is to the neighbors, because they have even complained (rightly so) about him; we've seen them chasing him away from their beloved feeders. If you know much about taking in wild cats, even generations down, there is no way to keep them indoors, so poor Harry jingles when he walks!

Gary, on the other hand, would just prefer to spend his days napping. If you happen to be the unlucky soul that walks by and interrupts his nap, you get a very loud "mreow", yes, I swear he adds his own "r" to it, as if he's almost growling at you. And, god forbid you walk by him when the cat bowl is empty. The cat food of course has to be up off the ground, away from the dogs, so they have their own little feeding cart. Well, Gary will sit there and grab your elbow as you walk by, if there's not enough food in his bowl.

All in all, they fit in perfectly here at the zoo, I even have one of those metal signs above my front door that says "Welcome to Our Zoo!", I'm wondering if that should be a warning sign instead of a welcome sign?!?