Simplifying

 With a herd of these guys as neighbors, who wouldn't want to spend the summer playin' in poo, er soil?

You know, I wasn't really sure how to write this post, or when I was going to write this post.  And it's funny because this post has really been causing me to have a writers block; it's as if I feel like once I get all of this off my chest...I will be able to post more frequently again.  Even as I type this..I notice that I have a very concerned, "knit" brow!

I want to be careful how I word this post for some reason...it feels as if it really matters.  It's all about simplicity...I am simplifying my life, and being darn careful to do it in a very positive manner.  I think it may have started with the carbon monoxide thing...well, that's not entirely true; I have always felt that your thoughts and actions impact your life.  But the carbon monoxide scare was the final straw I guess, that and the recycling as funny as it sounds.

I have practically killed myself for the recycling of the schools; literally in some cases.  I had lost a bag of recycling on the side of the highway....yes the state's deadliest highway at one point in time, and when I pulled over to pick it up at a later date I sank a foot deep in gopher holes and got stuck!  All signs were pointing to time to face the fact that I could no longer handle all of this stuff on my own.  And to be honest, I didn't want to, my family had been giving me a hard time about this sort of craziness for quite some time.

I found myself saying things like "my life isn't really this melodramatic" in phone calls and emails to people, as I was rushing here or there...and let me tell you if drama is in your thoughts or words....it is in your life!  So I quit saying those things, and I asked for help with the recycling.  And I made some really big changes here at home.

We quit the DirectTV habit.  Yes, you heard that right.  We no longer have access to the outside world unless it is through the internet or Netflix!  This has been one of the most amazing things for my family of two (yes, two; exciting news on that later!) 17 year olds and a 15 year old and an 11 year old.  We no longer deal with LOUD commercials that are totally inappropriate on some cable networks, I no longer am subjected to news that brings down my already overloaded sensitive senses nor are my kids and we are in absolute control of everything that goes into our heads.  It is such a sense of FREEDOM, once you get used to it.

I have decided to really concentrate my energy on The Ranch this year.  As I have marketed our great product Naked~Nure; I got the same question over and over again.  Why use llama manure?  So I am going to take a year or so and answer that question.  I am going to try all different sorts of methods of growing (indoors and out), all different ways of using the manure (teas and composts) and I'm going to feed my family and benefit my property in the meantime.  I just really feel like the ranch and I have some healing and growing to do together this year.

But, the biggest change of all is that my family is now six.  I finally have my son Austin.  I have spoken about him before....and he has been a part of my family since the first day he walked through my door with his rolling giggle....but as of Friday April 1, 2011, he is legally ours and I couldn't be happier.

I apologize for my absence; and I look forward to taking you along on my journey of learning to simplify in a world of fast paced living.  This should be fun.  Tell me, what do you do to slow down and remind yourself to really be a part of today?

Oddly silent...Didn't want to spread the bug!

Well hello again Rebels!  I heard there was a nasty Twitter Bug, no I didn't say Jitter Bug...a Twitter Bug.  Someone got a hold of Twitter yesterday and made quite a mess of it from what I can gather.  As a matter of fact, when I did my research this morning to make sure it was safe to blog and all, I'm not even comfortable linking to any of the articles that I checked because there were so many pop-ups to, well, pop-up.  And that was the problem I guess; third parties that took you places that had all sorts of pop-ups and malware and nasty stuff.

So here I am being all proud of myself for just having gotten everything all connected.  You know, my new Royal Ranch Facebook page, and my new Twitter account, and of course this blog, and Tuesday is the day that I post for Green Spot-On...Wow, I'm pretty hooked up.  Yeah, hooked up to spread a virus like that like wild fire!  Really I laugh as I write this, you all know that right?

So, to make up for my absence, and god forbid any trouble I may have caused by my huge, massive exposure and connection  I will finally be posting my pics from our overnighter up to one of my favorite areas in the state; Lost Park Wilderness.  You know, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I do have quite a few pics here.  Ha!

Lost Park at sunset

Our walk in the "Park"

Dog walk at sunrise, aaahhh!!

You do see the antelope, right?

 

One of my favorite old barns in South Park

The next day we went to Tarryall Reservoir, what a beautiful dam!  

Pretty cool husband too!

 If you look closely, you can see swallow nests up top, and huge piles of bat guano on the ledges, very intriguing for a manure connoisseur!

There is no rock that they will not climb!

A little grody, but look at the size of this Pike head!

The first picture is from Monday night here at the house, we had a beautiful storm pass through, too bad it didn't bring much rain.  Please excuse the power line, but the view was worth it I figured!

PS  Notice there are no links!!!

Technical Tuesday-Sort of!

One of the gals that helped me get started in blogging, Katydid and Kid, does a great weekly feature called Tech Tuesday, and as I always say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  But, I am not near as tech savvy as Kathleen, so actually I am wanting you all, my dedicated readers to help me out on this one.  I am a little concerned about my handy dandy laptop that I do all of my business on and am wondering if this is a common problem or a sign of serious computer problems.
Keep in mind that all of my issues are always resolved when the computer is shut down and restarted, but sometimes it gets so locked up that I do have to shut it down incorrectly, which as we all know is not a good thing.  I have gotten a couple of "Fatal" messages, which makes my heart go into my stomach, but again, it seems to recover just fine.  I am thinking that maybe if I do some sort of clean up that it should take care of the problem.  So, my questions to you, my favorite readers are:

1)  Do you all do any type of regular maintenance on your computers?
2)  Do any of you use those back up sites?  If so, what do you think of them?
3)  Where do you take your computer to have it worked on, or rather what is your favorite place?
4)  What about pictures?  Do you feel comfortable with things like Snapfish?


Now, I know that I am not the only person who breaks out in a sweat when their computer freezes up, so this is a great time for us to share ideas on how to save our sanity.  As far as business records go, I am pretty good about keeping a paper trail.  I do think I am going to spend some time getting all of my pics onto cd's just in case, and most of my other work like this blog and e-mail of course is kept on the internet.  As far as viruses go, I do have protection, but it is rather basic.  Again, I think this is a great opportunity for us to compare notes and brainstorm ideas to keep our "central nervous systems" healthy!