Well, call me "blushing"!

Dear Rebels,
I am an ASS.  I did not read that entire article before I linked to it, and if I had I would have known it was bogus.  There are a couple of ways to tell if your pieces are any good or not and the first is to do your research; secondly is to go with your gut and see if the article makes sense and is not too over the top.  This one was.  As I got closer to the bottom and the Author got more and more angry, I knew I was in trouble.

I have no excuses, but I will explain what happened.  It is Spring Break around here, but for only half of my children; we have a case of unexpected Chicken Pox (and yes we were vaccinated) and things are nutty; I saw that article come across my email and it REALLY scared me, more on that in a minute.  I started reading it, I swear I did....and messing with the "link to" buttons, and lo and behold there was one for Blogger.  So I thought, what the hell????  Something distracted me, and that was that.

So, let's tackle this thing shall we?  First and foremost, my apologies if I offended anyone (which I did).  Period.  Secondly, I truly am sorry for linking to bullshit; no other way to say it.  I really try to pride myself on being an honest and up front writer with you all and that just really put a chip in my "armor" so to speak so let's just forget it happened, "K"?  I could have just pulled that piece, but it still would have been cached, and it would not have been a reminder to myself of my mistake.  As you see I did make a correction on that page.

Okay, so I tried to think through why I fell for this and it is because I truly feel that this is not far in the making.  Through CREDIBLE research I have been reading all about raids on homes, yes homes of FAMILIES, that are being raided with guns abalazin' all at tax payers expense because of milk, eggs or cheese.  This to me seems really quite incredible when our country is in such a time of crisis; like a foreclosure epidemic, a couple of possible overseas situations, starving residents, dirty oceans, my list could go on and on...  Food that people are literally begging for does not top my list of things to prosecute people for.

I mean it really has nothing at all to do with what I do here on my own Ranch.  Even if I did not sell my own products of this nature I would think this is total "you know what".  I talked to a friend of mine, and this comes first hand.  He had another friend that had a customer for three years.  That customer talked him into harvesting some chickens for them; they begged him to do it, even after he explained the law, etc.  Well, he went ahead and processed the chickens for the customers; because he had had a relationship with them for so long...BIG MISTAKE.  He is still going through court battles.

See, it was all a sting operation.  The whole three years!  For that whole time these folks had been in the area befriending the locals, buying eggs and then just waiting to ask them to process their chickens and then BAM! they'd bust them for being neighborly!  Which, yes, technically is against the law, but I mean really, I kinda wonder how many murders went unsolved during that three year time-frame???

And as far as health concerns go, well you are never going to win that argument with me.  The whole reason we are having outbreaks of bacteria these days is because of commercial farming, not because of organic farming.  IN MY OPINION, what has happened with CFO farming is that they have robbed the ground of all the nutrients so they have to spray it all back on, therefore using all sorts of chemicals, pesticides, etc. and that is what then causes the outbreaks.  Overcrowding of animals is also a HUGE, I can NOT say it enough, HUGE problem of bacteria in CFO farms!!!  A person can follow the CDC (Center for Disease Control) paths for themselves of any outbreak of any food at ANYTIME by going to the CDC website.

Now, as you will notice I did not take the time to link to anything with this first piece as I am a bit link shy right now.  I have been looking at the great Cantaloupe breakout to see if I can use it as an example, but again the CDC didn't show it's findings very quickly and I really wanted to get my apology out there!  But, from what I can gather, they were NOT organic farmers.

So, the bottom line is I screwed up and I'm sorry.  And you will continue to see more of my REBEL side, just a bit more toned down! :)

The American Tragedy Part 2

I was feeling really terribly that I left you all with such sad news and with sort of a negative post; the one about Shasta.  But, to be honest, that is sort of how life has been around here...But that is sort of how life has been for MANY people, for a VERY long time; so I am still smiling and laughing each and every day.  And knowing that many of these things are a natural part of any ranchers life; and that I would not be a good rancher if I did not take them so DEAR TO HEART.

So it is time to get over my pity party and get back to work.  I don't have many months left here at The Royal Ranch and I need to make every minute count.  I don't know if I have made the point enough times, but I am a full time student at Ohio Christian University now also; so life is a bit hectic, what with eggs in the incubator, kids running to and fro, new turkeys adjusting to our ranch routine and of course online studies to be done.

I am orchestrating the move of an entire ranch/family that will also entail a huge downsizing (which is a good thing in my book) and still taking on new projects.  Yes, you heard that right.  Why?  Because I feel that this particular project is one that will help my family, my new homestead and my community.  I will get further into it in another post, because I have really used my negotiating skills to get this project off the ground!

Today I want to talk a bit further about the banks (and bank bailouts).  Simply because I said I would.  I am not going to spend much of my energy on them because frankly they don't deserve much of my energy anymore; but what I do want to share is some useful tips.  I told you all our story in the first post of The American Tragedy.  I also told you all in that first post that our belief is that this foreclosure mess in America is due to the bank bailouts.

Okay, so I am no financial genius.  From here on out you are going to assume some of your own risk.  But I mean this country has a financial epidemic on it's hands.  We went to our county's Public Trustee's website to figure out about foreclosures in our county and did you know that only banks buy up foreclosures?  Not one has been sold to a private person in the last year.  That's right they take them, buy them back and then sit on them.  Why?  In my opinion, so that they can tell us tax payers that it is a loss and then when the market gets better they will put them all for sale; which by the way will be no good for the recovering market.

I mean, I just went to go pick up the links for this story and started getting a damn headache  from reading it all.  I can't do it Dear Rebels.  So if you want to do some reading on what all is happening to folks, have a go at this article (don't forget the comments, that is half the story!).  Or this one, because it is where I got a good piece of advice.  Well, I hope so anyway.  I filed a complaint with the OCC (Offices of the Comptroller of the Currency); which so far hasn't shown to do anything, but at least I feel like I am doing something and they are not just going to get away with this scott free.

Next, if you are in this or any other legal issue for that matter; make sure and read every line of every piece of paper that you are sent, and even more importantly do it in a timely fashion as their are "due dates" on many items.  Now, this may sound like common sense to some, but it simply is NOT.  When a person finds themselves in a place like I have the past few weeks, and that is simply inundated with work and pretty much grief stricken; common sense does not play a role.

I got a mailing from the attorneys that are foreclosing on our homes, and of course this mailing pissed me off.  So, being the Rebel that I am I had set it aside and not thought much about it.  Well, it just so happens that it was The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act that they are required to send me and it actually had some really helpful information in it so if I hadn't read each and every little bitty, and they do make sure it is little bitty, line of it, I would not know that they have to provide me with quite a bit of information before they can just foreclose on my home.  The catch of course is that you have to ask for this information, in writing, within thirty days.

So they are of course hoping you, as a dummy don't read the tiny writing and won't do the awkward wording of how in the hell am I going to ask them for all of that stuff and make it sound just so?  And within their time-frame no less?  Well, at least I was.  So, lo and behold my class right now is Intro to Computers and we are learning Microsoft Word; can you believe that in that program is a template for exactly what I needed?  I mean this letter even quoted The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and a court case that supports it and everything.  So there is help out there for us dummies folks, don't despair.

Lastly, we got a delivery from a Deputy of an affidavit that has some helpful information on it that we are following up on as well.  This program is something called Deferment; and I don't know much about it except that it goes through the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline and it gets you set up with a HUD counselor if you are approved.  I must admit I am a tad bit leery of this program as it is another government plan (gee, we've had such great luck with those so far...) and they are for people who intend to keep their properties as their PERMANENT RESIDENCE.  Which I am not sure we can commit to.  Wink, wink Big Brother.

You know that anything I say can and will be used against me in a court of law...or something like that.

An American Tragedy

     Every day at 5:30 am my favorite radio station plays our National Anthem; normally I look forward to this and if I have a hat on, I proudly toss it off and place my hand over my heart (even if I am driving) and belt it out!  And I am sure whenever the Pledge of Allegiance is said, my voice can be heard ringing out clearly above the rest; that was until yesterday, and ironically I had to lead both of them in one day.  Yesterday, I slowly took off my hat, and I sang, but more with a dutiful song in my heart; my daughter was with me, we must teach them respect.  And when I led the Pledge of Allegiance at my meeting in the afternoon, my voice was the same as the others; I just didn’t have it in me.

      This is a very difficult story to share because it is so very personal, but if it were to help another family or two from making the same mistakes, no decisions that we made then this is a well worth it piece.  Where do I start?  With the loss of 1/3 of our income?  Maybe I should start with a real bang and try and explain those pesky medical bills, you know the almost $30,000 worth (even though we are considered well insured)?!?  The loss of our home?  No, to be honest I want to start with my family, because that is what really matters to me…bottom line.

      Well, if you haven’t met me, my name is Judy Jeute.  Up until last week, I was probably the most proud American you could meet.  My husband Tom (who is a machinist by trade, biker by choice) makes parts that go up into space (!) and for all sorts of medical parts; all of which are proudly stamped with Made In USA.  Together we have so very proudly raised the most amazing family; we now have two sons in college, a sophomore in high school and a sixth grader!  And I truly don’t mean to brag, but everyone tells me that they are the most respectful kids you’ll ever meet.  :)

       I’m really not sure what came first, my back going bad or the loss of income, it really all seems somewhat of a blur now; but in 2008 I started feeling hip pain.  It took my organized health care company two years to find a severely ruptured and herniated thoracic disc.  In October of 2010 I had to have emergency surgery after I had to write a letter to said organized health care because my doctor was literally joking and betting my husband a "nickel“ about the size my disc would be in the MRI he incorrectly ordered.  I now have permanent and severe nerve pain, but I am blessed to be able to walk.

      The loss of income is the same old American story, I’m afraid.  The bottom fell out of the economy and then our President decided to not support our space program which directly affected any company sending parts into space (!).  But I had also been working on building our small businesses; building our dreams.  We have been living on our little ranch here on the mountain and sharing our passion for it with the rest of the world.  That is really hard to do with a broken back…but I am the type of gal to roll with the punches, so I kept our website up.  Hoping that someday I would get better, and not only that, but I am always changing my business plan to adjust to my life changes.

       The first time we almost lost our home it was because of the HAMP program.  We had a heck of a time getting on that darn program in the first place, but I did it; all the while fighting for my life practically with an organized health system that would not listen to me.  Anyway, we finally got accepted into the program, did all of our trial payments and then less than a week before our first permanent payment was due they told us that our payment would be raised more than $450.  I don’t know many families of six that have a spare $450 in a week’s notice and we started off on the bad foot, and it all went downhill from there.  We ended up paying over $10,000 to pull it out of foreclosure.

       Right away we started getting calls from our mortgage company (Wells Fargo) that they could help us with a lower payment and a new in-house modification.  Although I was suspicious, we proceeded, thinking what could it hurt?  I got really concerned in December when our Home Preservation Specialist told us not to make a payment as it would “skew” her numbers.  In January we were told we had a good deal going and were even given preliminary terms, although they were terrible; they would have us automatically upside down in our home, we had dreams so it didn’t really matter.  We were told we would hear back by the 27^th of January.

       On the 31^st I was on the phone with a really nice representative from our second mortgage, which also happens to be Wells Fargo because it was one of those fancy deals where they “roll part of our mortgage into a second” thing…  Anyway I decided to tell this nice lady my concerns; like how Tom and I had each been leaving multiple messages and not hearing back and that we had been told not to make payments and that now I was afraid we were in a position of foreclosure again.  This wonderful gal finally got through to someone who just coldly told me that indeed our home is lost.  We have been denied our modification and we are in foreclosure.

                The sad thing is how we were denied.  They used my own hard working drive against me; the fact that I kept my website up and intend to not take this back injury lying down and want to still be a contributing member of society.  When we told them Tom had lost his overtime due to the bad economy, they saw that he gets 2.5 hours each week opening up the shop (on each and every paycheck that we sent, probably 12-14+) because he is the foreman, they took that out of the equation because it is not “reliable income”.  But what really concerns me is the dates of everything; our house was being taken back much faster than this modification process was working.  If we are lucky it looks like we have four months left in a home that we brought our youngest home to.

Which brings me back to my spectacular family; we actually only started out as five.  We officially grew to six when we adopted our oldest son’s best friend due to a tricky family situation.  His father wouldn’t fill out the paperwork to send him to college and we needed to get his cleft pallet fixed before adulthood or there is no fixing it at all.  We thank our lucky stars each and every day that he accepted us as his family; he is an amazing kid and will make us very proud parents when he graduates alongside our other son at college in 3 ½ years.

But our three boys are active; and alongside my multiple MRI’s, surgery, etc. for my back injury (that we never will find out exactly what injured it, I have severe Degenerative Disc Disease as well which may have caused it along with ranching and the good/hard life) we have had broken bones, head injuries and concussions.  All of which really add up when a family is called co-insured; with very high deductibles, co-pays, etc. but even higher premiums for both us and Tom’s employer.  It adds up to almost thirty grand of debt.

When I applied for Social Security Disability like my doctor encouraged me to do, to try and help out with some of these crazy bills they called me before they even had all of my documentation and literally laughed.  Laughed because I had been self-employed for all of those years before this happened, I was not entitled to any government income.  I went for help at our local resource center; if you have ONE child and an income under $75,000 you are considered in the high-risk category; but somehow with Tom’s income we simply didn’t match the criteria for one assistance program.  It was so very kind of that resource center to pay one of our heating bills with their own local money; a one-time deal.

I am not concerned about my family; we are a strong, well bonded unit that can withstand any storm that is tossed our way.  As I said, we have a plan and we have dreams; although as I write this I am totally shell shocked and in mourning for a home that is so full of memories and the markings of a family being raised; but the memories we will carry with us.  In a few days we will recover, strap on our boots and begin to pack up a lifetime.

My concern is for our country.  This, my proud family of six and the situation we are in, is a prime example of bank bailouts and organized health care.  But, we are one family in hundreds of thousands that this is happening to; and I for one think that is criminal.  As I said, this was a difficult story to share, but one worth getting out there if it will stop one more family from losing their home.  So where do we go from here?  Stay tuned.  I intend to talk more in the upcoming posts about the hows and whys of why I believe this was due to bank bailouts and why I believe that organized health care is a terrible idea.  I also will give some specific examples and tips as we go through the foreclosure process.  Again, if it can help another family, I am all for it.

Judy Jeute

Is it really over? Time for a new start. Period.

Okay, so I have been putting this post off for unknown reasons.  And this morning I think I figured it out....I was not quite ready to let go of Christmas Break (and yes, I still insist on calling it that at my Ranches!!!).  But it is time to GET REAL.  It was such a wonderful time with my family...

Of course my sons were home from college, oh what a joy!  With their smiles and messes and tons of friends and laundry we all had so much fun.  But what I miss the most I think is my chats with my oldest redhead; he is an early riser like me and we have such wonderful talks in the wee hours of the morning.  We talk about everything under the sun (or the moon as it sometimes seems) and often debate the problems of the world...

It was so very hard to let them go again, but to know that they are on their way to such great things makes it easier and to have seen their amazing growth in such a short time frame was a real eye opener.  So yes, the tears flowed; some from sadness but many out of sheer joy to see my boys fly away on wings of their very own.

It is my family here at home that helps keep me sane; the wonderful, tolerant creatures that they are.  With their jokes and helping hands and never ending support for all of my hair brained ideas we get by.  And at the end of the day we know we are a team; a well oiled machine that keeps this ranch running and is preparing to build a whole new adventure together....

Which leads me to my new start for 2012; come on, we have all felt it.  It is not some crazy end of the Mayan calendar or doomsday catastrophe.  But it is a time for change and new beginnings.  Time to open up to new ideas and become better neighbors and friends; more loving people all around.

And I have decided that where that starts for me is right here at home.  It is time to concentrate on me and my family.  What?  Didn't she just say to become a better neighbor, friend and loving person all around?  Yes, I sure did, and I have this odd feeling that I have gotten a bit off track.

I don't know where, if it was my back injury or just busy raising a family all the while fighting to keep it together financially in a crappy economy, but I have lost my way a bit.  And when I say "my way" I mean my goals in general; and I had to take a look at those goals and re-evaluate.

And what exactly are those goals?  Well, that is a good question, but I do know that I am headed for self-sustainability.  Period.  I am sick of depending on anyone.  A boss for money a store for food a power company for lights....You name it, I'm done.  Don't get me wrong, I am SO appreciative of all of those things for getting us where we are now, but it is time for us, The Jeute clan to move on.

Yes, those are totally lofty goals and they are going to take some time.  But do you know what happened as soon as I realized that this is what was really bothering me lately?  The loss of me and "my way"?  Such a release and a wave of what I would call good fortune!

It started with me praying.  Praying for nothing; because that is all I really knew what to pray for.  "Dear God, I'm not very good at this and I'm not even sure what to pray for besides all of the usual things like the health and happiness of all of my (and your) children....but other than that I leave it up to YOU!"

And you know what else really struck me?  Talking to my friend Lynley on the phone the other day she said to me "a person has gotta get out and do something, even if it is something wrong, at least you are doing something!" and she is absolutely right.  I think fear stops too many of us from doing things that we really would love to try but are afraid we might do wrong.  Well, who the hell cares?  It is much better to try something and know that you did it wrong and learn from your mistakes than to sit around wondering if you shoulda, coulda, woulda.

So I'm praying, and letting go of the things I need to let go (you know things that take your time and are not healthy or productive toward your goal) and trying new things.  And it has led me to two new Animal Consulting cases, one huge farm rescue (which I love due to the challenge and the joy of placing animals in a new loving, forever home!).....But most importantly it led me to doing something I didn't think I could do:

Build an incubator from scratch out of ALL recycled materials (the Judy way, of course)!!!  Complete with 14, yes 14 turkey eggs from my spectacular Chocolate turkey hen who started laying eggs, well, two weeks ago.  A turkey lays one egg per day so I had only 13 days to get this project together with a little help from who else but my wonderful family.  It took a while to test it and get it just so, but her is the finished product:

And my girl really surprised me on the last morning because I had added the 13 eggs and then I went up on the 14th day and there she was just getting up off the nest after incubating an egg for me overnight.  So that egg should be just about on the same schedule as the others as it takes 12-24 hours for the eggs to warm up to temperature and them to get fertilized.  I gently grabbed it and ran down to the house like I was carrying the Olympic flame or something!

 And this picture of my beautiful Chocolate Hen proves that dreams really do come true.  If you all recall, I asked Santa for a camera for Christmas.  Well I got one!!!

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!

Please excuse this interruption to your regulary scheduled post:

 Meridian Trail

Good Morning Rebels!!!  I'm oh so busy getting ready for a garage sale; yes you read that correctly folks a garage sale in October!  We still have beautiful leaves, warm weather expected for the weekend and I have a ton of things that need to get cleaned out of this ranch house.  Garage sales are a great way of recycling and I am saving up for my tires so it is fun to have a goal in mind.  I also have a neighbor who would like to share the work; even better-a multi-family garage sale.

So, if you are a local, and you are going to be around this weekend...pop on by.  We are going to have all sorts of fun with my neighbors crafty stuff, the llamas and turkeys of course, baked goods at my daughter's lemonade stand, the garage sale....and as they say on the facebook page...The Royal Ranch driveway is the funnest driveway around!!!! 

Life's funny little bumpy roads.....

":) Being a leader, especially a leader of conscience, isn't always easy."

Yes, read that Rebels and let that sink in for just a minute.  I had to.  Dear friend and Rebel, Daisy sent that to me when I thanked her for her support about my letter to Ms. McGee a few days ago.  And it was funny because I got it on a day I had also taken on another llama big wig, the day I had to have another MRI on my back.


The day had been a hellish day anyway. I must say that sometimes it is easier to just count on yourself than to have partial support.  Tom had told me he'd take me to the appointment, which is great, but then he had to go back to work....and it was almost worse than if I'd just counted on my own strength the whole time, you know what I mean????  I had had to go and pick up my daughter sick from school and that threw a wrench into the morning....


But the big tests these days seem to be coming from my so called peers.  And what I have realized is that they don't know I am their peer; and that is where things went all wrong.  I'll give you a bit of background on the story, although it really isn't all that important to my point, but over a decade ago when I first got into llamas I mistakenly bought 2 llamas.  At that time I didn't know that there were rescue llamas that needed homes.  Llamas were on the downhill slide of the fad I guess....


One of those purchased llamas is the only one that has ever given us much trouble.  He is the only llama that I have ever had to spend vet dollars on other than maintenance because I have tried to figure out what the hell is wrong with him.  He has knocked each of my family members down, he has bitten me and all of these things are absolutely NOT normal llama behavior.


In the decade since owning this llama I have learned A LOT!!!  I have also rescued more than twenty llamas; many of them I (little old me at 120 lbs soaking wet as my husband would say) have trained to pack from being not even halter broke.  I have no formal training in llama handling besides what my wonderful mentor Bobra Goldsmith taught me before she died; which was a lot.

She taught me to simply expect good behavior from my animals; and that is a theory The Royal Ranch has always had.  When I train a llama to pack it is simply an agreement between the llama and myself....I'm going to trust you and you're going to trust me.  By the time I put the pack on them I have been building a working, trusting, loving relationship with the animal for as long as I can.  I don't stand for bad behavior and I never will; that is just the way it is.

Speaking of hunting camps..

  Take for instance our first hunt camp ever.  We had been getting advice from everyone that animals are afraid of the smell of blood and that our llamas were going to freak out unless they had been trained to be around meat, etc.  We had even been told to stuff their nostril with some sort of Mentholatum so that they wouldn't smell anything; to me this sounded like abuse. 

So Tom and I headed up the mountain with our very untrained pack train of llamas to pick up a huge bull elk for a friend.  We figured since it was a good friend of ours at least if the llamas freaked, no biggy.  We got to the camp and we did what we usually do; we packed up that elk and we put it on the llamas....that was that.  They were a bit jumpy at first but when they saw that we just expected them to behave like any old job, and we weren't going to take any crap from them, it was the end of their nervousness.  They knew they could trust us.  One of them even had to wear the antlers and the cape (which is the hyde) of the elk down the mountain!  It was sort of weird to look forward (I of course am always in the caboose position with Tom in lead) and see a llama with antlers-ha!!!


But back to my point, I am no llama schmutz.  I know what the hell I am doing when it comes to these animals.  I am the Co-Colorado Coordinator (it's an awful big state) for the Southwest Llama Rescue, and not by mistake, I was voted in.  If there is an aggressive male within a four state radius of me, chances are he is going to end up at my place for evaluation and rehab if he is capable.


So it really surprised me when I called the breeder of that fat, lazy llama and had to get into a battle of wits with him over the behavior of said llama and what to do about it.  Now that my spine is not quite what is used to be, I'm not really sure I'm comfortable, or really need a spoiled, over de-sensitized llama in my yard when I have spent the last decade of my life to saving llamas that really need homes.  As I mentioned this man, like Ms. McGee is in the llama world...you know, people that give a crap what other llama owners think of them.


He acted as if I was still some newbie, the same nobody that had walked into his yard 12 years ago looking at llamas for the first time and offered to come assess the llama for me.  Well, no thanks.  I've been assessing him and paying for him and having to watch out for my family's and visitor's safety from him for ten years now.  I gave him a very clear assessment of the situation, and simply asked if they were in a position to take him back now that my back is in such bad shape and he poses a real danger to me with his pushy behavior.

Well, needless to say, the llama will be staying where he is at.  The llama breeder got told exactly what I thought of his assessment.  And I kept thinking "Really?  Two people in one week?  My name is going to be $*@! in the llama world"  But I don't give a rat's patooty because that guy had it coming. (Well, I sort of did, I actually threw a baby fit when I got off the phone with him he had made me so mad, but it was just a natural reaction-ha!!!!)

And then I got that sweet quote from Daisy worth repeating again, "Being a leader, especially a leader of conscience, isn't always easy."; and it made me smile.  Thursday, I got a call from a gal on my rescue group who asked if I had a few minutes; I gotta tell you after the week I'd had with llama folks I thought I was really in for it now.  Actually she was calling to answer a question I had posted about; but more importantly she was calling to ask me if she could gift me a sweater that she had cherished for years because it had llamas on it.

She wanted me to have it because I have added such "vitality and personality" to the group.  All I thought I did was respond to the emails and try to help out a few llamas when I could-who knew?  It truly was a wonderful phone conversation; one of those where you really just enjoy getting to know the person at the other end of the line.  This amazing lady owned llamas from 1978 to 2008, and here I thought I was all that-ha!  But the point was, I know it sounds silly, but I felt like the chosen one, you know?

Then last night I answer the phone to the cutest little southern voice you can imagine and she is just thanking me up and down.  And it took me a second to figure out what the heck I had done.  Oh yeah, email again, I had sent a positive, reinforcing email to a newbie llama owner.  Amazing how far positive reinforcement goes, eh?  Whether it is with ourselves, our kids, our dogs, our llamas, whatever; I think in this post alone I have given you several examples!

These new folks have been SO kind to adopt some llamas from Nebraska; the issue is that they live in Texas.  Which as you all know is having a drought and heat problem.  The Colorado folks took in the Nebraska llamas temporarily until we could get them down south.  Well, somehow these folks got to thinking that our talking about expenses to get those llamas down there meant they were a burden (we should have switched to a more private Yahoo board in hind sight to avoid hurt feelings maybe!) and I tried to clear that up, right quick.  Anyone sticking their neck out to rescue one (and they are taking in 11!) of my wondrous creatures is no burden to me, that is for DAMN sure!

So my week had turned from on the attack to on the receiving end of so many blessings. I do believe strongly in everything I told those people I had to tell off, but I also truly believe even stronger what I told those people in loving manners.  Originally when I first started this post a day or so ago, it was called "Being kicked while you're down...", and then these crazy events just kept happening and I could no longer call it that, could I?

Dear Ms. McGee,

You called here screaming at me last night due to an email I sent you.  You were wondering (again and again) "just who the hell I am" to write you such an email, and how dare I suggest you give away your livelihood.  Well, my dear, My name is Judy Jeute.  And it is called a tax donation.

See, readers, I had emailed Ms. McGee that she should be ashamed of herself for attempting to make money on those of us who have stuck our necks out to save the hundreds of  starving llamas from the Montana Sanctuary in the middle of winter.  She is offering half price llama handling clinics to those kind folks who rescued llamas; and I told her "Half price?  Gah!!!"

When I picked up the phone she almost immediately was on the attack and so I got the uncomfortable chuckle like humans tend to get, and that really pissed her off!!!  But what I really realized is that what she was the maddest about is that how dare some unknown llama nobody suggest that Queen McGee get off her ass and actually do something to help not only the almost thousand llamas that came off that sanctuary but almost hundreds of HUMANS that helped them!

So, no Ms. McGee, I will not apologize for my "Nasty-gram", which really wasn't all that nasty, if it gets you to thinking about folks other than yourself.  The IRS will thank you kindly.  And I would imagine it would do wonders for your business as well, those friends would tell their friends, etc.  Much better press than this!

Kind regards, er, not so kind regards,
Judy Jeute
Manager/Co-owner
Royal Ranch

A musical clue:

Llamas and sheep and turkeys, oh my!!!

Photo courtesy of Kevin, our renter.

It seems that my last few posts have continually been of me sort of apologizing for not being here for one reason or another...I realize that is because my life has really been in an upheaval of sorts lately.  My sons moved on to college, my youngest started middle school, and I found out that my back "issue" is a permanent disability all at once; which led me to start making huge changes here at the ranch.

Well, this last week has really been a whopper if I do say so myself.  It started last Saturday when we place three llamas; and I must say that those boys really moved up in the world!  They now reside on 160 acres in a spectacular valley about an hour drive away; so I will be able to visit them often.  The transfer of the boys went flawlessly thanks to my fellow llama wrangler and partner in life and all things crazy, my hubby.

The very next day we headed off to the sister in law's house; as she works at a livestock auction.  I was going to take Paco, my ram, whom I was so positive would go as a fantastic breeding animal.  We loaded him and Esther, my ewe up (just for company for Paco) and headed out for eastern Colorado.  Monday was the big livestock auction, and when I say big, you must take that with a grain of salt because this really is a small town auction, but that is what I wanted for Paco and us since this was our first experience ever.

When we backed the trailer in there was commotion about our beautiful sheep and so I put Esther in the auction too; with a minimum.  They both sold at a premium price for what sheep are going for these days; I got what I purchased them for two years ago!  So, anyway, Annie (SIL), didn't have any help that day, so Tom and I pitched in and helped "load out".  Meaning that we got to load out all of the animals that were purchased at auction that day.  Some of them just a day old.  It was quite a learning experience for Tom, Isabella, Nathan and myself; but it was really cool because I was able to tell some of the new owners "hey, this one has a cough" or "this goat needs to be milked right away" or whatever.  I am hoping that maybe some of the new owners got instructions that they might not have gotten otherwise.

Esther had been one of the first to go.  I was sad to see her go, and I am pretty sure that she went to a great home.  And I say pretty sure because as the day wore on and I got more tired I saw some pretty crazy stuff.  Like a guy stuffing 16 goats and a giant pig in a trailer on top of a load of lumber that he had purchased; but we got them in!!!  All day I waited and wondered when Paco's new owner would come....and then a semi pulled up to the loading dock and my stomach sank.  That's right Rebels; my beautiful ram was headed to PA to a packing plant.

And that is also why they don't let crazy chicks like me carry guns; because when I went to say goodbye to him I literally thought that if I had had a gun I might just shoot him dead right there to avoid him having to travel half way across the country to get the old hammer head.  But I am a big girl, and I had made a big girl decision and I had to abide by it...  Think what you want of me but that is truly the way I felt.

Tom didn't think I looked to good after that little shock and working so hard all day so he took us all to Carl's Jr. after the auction; and that is when he calmly reminded me that he needed to take Tia with him the next day; she was to have knee surgery.  A dear friend was paying for her surgery and was going to care for her during her rehab so we were supposed to lose her for at least a couple of months; while she recuperated (I didn't think I was capable with my back).  I lost it!  I started choking on my all time favorite guacamole burger and was literally making a scene.  I had forgotten that the days were so close together and just didn't want to talk about one more loss at the time.

So Tuesday dawns and I have to say goodbye to Tia.  I get through that and take my son to the orthodontist and finally get his braces on.  Now this is a really big deal.  This kid has been waiting 18 years for these braces; he has a cleft pallet that has never been properly fixed and the clock was really ticking on this thing; if we didn't start now, there was no fixing it at all.  Big emotions there (this is my adopted son).  And then he's gone...back to college.  Another goodbye.

I'm not ashamed to say, Tuesday when I was driving home, I have never been so tired in my life.  I had said goodbye to my kids multiple times by now.  My back was killing me from working the auction the day before, I couldn't get the fact that my spectacular ram was on that semi headed east towards a hammer that I don't even believe in and now I was contributing too out of my head.... And my beloved Tia was gone for months!  At least, maybe more.  I got the kids off the bus and went to bed.

Well, it's amazing what a nap will accomplish; because when I woke up there was a message.  There had been a mix-up and Tia had to come home for a night....which led us to find out she really didn't need any lifting....she could still walk on three legs just like she did before the surgery!  And  do you know the most amazing thing Rebels????  My dear friend (actually Tia's breeder) still paid for her surgery!  And sent us all sorts of meds for the dear patient, like stuff for her arthritis which she is sure to get, and pain meds that oh thank the Lord that she has had because this has been one very painful surgery for the girl.

Tia and I have had a very busy week, what with all the pain and biting at her knee; we didn't even realize it was getting so close to Saturday....Turkey Day!  You know, I wasn't sure how to feel about Turkey Day, I was dreading it and looking forward to it all at once.  You Rebels know how much I loved those turkeys.  They were my pride and joy; they followed me all over the ranch, even to get the mail and when I laughed they gobbled.  But due to human intervention, if we had not harvested these turkeys, they would have gone down on their legs (their breasts are too large, the legs can't support them), or they would have died of a heart attack.

Photo courtesy of Teri, our friend/neighbor/customer!

Of course I had done a ton of research and was all ready for the big turkey harvesting and we turned it into a big party.  Check out some of the pictures on the facebook page if you want, still don't have a camera, thinking about putting on a donation button for that!  The pics were taken by a friend/neighbor/customer.  We were blessed that morning by our first visit by a big bull moose so I knew things were going to go well that day.  (I may do a post on turkey harvesting for my own records and for those that are agriculture readers, so  those that aren't beware!)

I can't believe all the changes we have made around here.  Three llamas, two sheep, two turkeys...  And we are not done yet.  But I think that is enough for right now.  My heart and head are still reeling from the loss of all the critters and kids.  And I would like to say another thing, I always say that things happen for a reason and I firmly believe that.  Like one of my turkeys getting killed by a neighbors dog and us not having one of that type to harvest for our family this year; well maybe our family is meant to have a heritage turkey (meaning not human intervened) for our first bird; who knows?  And we were invited over for the turkey dinner at our friend's house...there sure is plenty to go around!  Things always turn out the way they are supposed to...now wait to hear what I have up my sleeve!  Please, stay tuned in!!!  I have a music clue cued up for tomorrow as to what The Royal Ranch may be up to next....

Metaphysical Monday

I woke up this morning thinking how ironic that it was Monday and August 1, the day that I had chosen to make the announcement about my Life Readings and Animal Communications.  See, I've got to tell you, this has been one of the weirdest couple of months in my life; so weird in fact that I will probably split it up into two different posts so as not to confuse things much.  My next post is going to be about changes and losses here at The Royal Ranch, mostly due to me facing the fact that my back is not getting any better.

But today, Metaphysical Monday that happens to be August 1, and the day that I had committed to announcing to months ago, I want to talk about a new phase of my life.  You all know that I have a strange "sixth sense" that allows me to work with my Spirit Guides and communicate with animals.  Well, on June 15, 2011 I had sent out some letters to friends and people I have worked with over the years (no family) to let them know that I had been nudged to share my gift on a professional basis.

My letter stated that I feel very strongly that I can help my community by helping those in it.  I think there are a lot of souls out there right now who need the help and don't know where to find it.  And I am willing to barter.  We are a world that has lost it's spirituality and I would like to help bring it back one person at a time.

So anyway, back to the affects of the letter.  I got plenty of calls and responses, just like I was hoping.  And I did get to work on my "Spiritual dictionary" (I was a bit concerned that my Spirit Guides would not be able to help me enough on a professional basis; read=I was worried about charging people $$$, or bartering for my services), but the most amazing affect was on my confidence.

The letters revolved around the number 7.  Our address is 7, of course lucky seven; and then I was doing 7 free Life Readings in the seventh month.  My goal had been to send out 7 letters, but when I got to looking at addresses I coincidentally came up with 17.  My first free Life Reading decided that she did want me to do a Tarot reading on her when we were done (I am careful not to depend on tools for my readings), and of course a 7 was the first card we pulled!

As the readings progressed and my confidence grew a bit, I found that I was not quite so shy about my gift.  Like when we went to the Rivera's place to shear the rescue llamas and their dog had a nice long chat with me while we sheared away.  A while later the owner of the dog was telling me about how she was feeling guilty about an accidental breeding that had happened; and I knew why it had happened but was not sure if the people would think I was a nutcase if I told them their dog had told me why.

Being the hesitant soul that I am, I sat on it all for a few days....and remembered how they were with their beloved bird, and how they had been with those llamas that they had lovingly fostered and I took a chance and sent them an e-mail AC (animal communication) consultation.  I had written down everything I had learned while I was at their place from all those lovely critters.  And you know what?  They didn't think I was a nutcase at all, they truly appreciated the insight into their household. 

It had all been so cute because the dog (a boston terrier) had won a battle to get to talk to me.  The Rivera's have 4 Boston's and they all had come running up to greet me fighting over who got to talk first.  Growling and snorting like flat faced dogs do, and then when the chaos was all over the group in general didn't have too much to say, except they sure were proud of their swimming pool!  But one of them followed Tom and I when we went back to work and just chatted away, and when she was very adamant about something she would come over and quietly lick my leg and then go back to her corner and sit.

Again, an experience like that was one that I had to share with her owners.  Especially knowing that they carried a bit of guilt when actually the whole thing had happened for a reason.  I find that so often when I work with Spirit, which is why I have chosen to do this...there is a reason for everything, and we need to have some sort of Sprituality in our lives.

Speaking of spirituality.  I had another hunch that I knew I needed to share with a friend.  I hardly know this family; actually I really don't know them at all.  This gentle man is the man who runs one of the Yahoo groups that I follow; an organic gardening group.  He and his family recently suffered a terrible loss in their orchards, not only the loss of their fruit, but the stripping of the trees which of course means their imminent death.

He had been kind enough to help me via e-mail with a few of my very atypical and difficult high altitude gardening questions, but I still felt like some sort of stalker sending him and his wife a note letting them know that I had a very strong vibe that this was just not an orchard or fruit or $ issue like they were talking about on the group.  I felt very strongly that it was personal and that he and his family needed to take some precautions.

You can NOT imagine my surprise when I received the story of his lifetime back.  It is one I will read again and again.  As a matter of fact I asked him if I could repost it here, and he is not comfortable with that.  He did say that Creator told him to share the story with me, and I feel that it is because of the upheaval in my life at this time.  Needless to say, I was correct in my assumption and they are taking all precautions; and they did appreciate my kind thoughts.

The seventh month has passed, and I had helped people that I didn't even think I might be able too.  I will leave it up to the Spirit Guides and Creator, because obviously they have a plan for me.  Thank you for the interesting few months; it's been a trip.

The Royal Ranch Visits Oklahoma

Wow!  Did we have a wild and woolly trip to Oklahoma!!!  Literally.  We started the trip off by heading to my in laws place in Matheson, CO where we spent the night and got to spend a little time with my wonderful BIL (Brother-In-Law) and niece.  My poor SIL had to work that night, but we did catch her sleeping on the ground hoping to catch a glimpse of her nephews and niece that were happily all sleeping in her bunkhouse.  They had all spent the night playing Wii and who knows what cousins do to all hours of the morning.  I just about burst out in tears when I saw my almost grown kids all cuddled up in blankets out in this barn style bunkhouse and their Aunt keeping watch over them by the fire outside, with the rooster crowing and the horses grazing in the background...

We left the kids in the very capable hands of the family for the day while Tom and I went to shear and pick up some llamas a couple of towns away in Peyton, CO.  We had such a wonderful time at the Rivera place...Really.  Here we were there to work, and work we did, but we made some wonderful friends as well.  We sheared seven llamas in no time flat thanks to their great hospitality, a fantastic chute (Tom and I have never worked with a chute before, interestingly most llama people will tell you you have to have one to work with llamas!) and the fact that they had so many helpers.

While we were there, we found out that Henry Rivera (sorry no link, contact me for his information) is a fantastic artist.  And here we had just been outside swapping sweat with the guy!  Ha!  The Rivera's treated us like Royalty; they teased us that they had gone to the website and knew that we were The Royal Ranch and must be treated as such.  Lunch was wonderful, the shearing was smooth as silk, excuse the pun, and the loading went as well as could be expected for ten wild llamas.

We headed back to the in-laws to get the kids and some much needed rest, we thought; and just when I drifted off to sleep my cell phone rang and it was the gentleman we were to meet in Oklahoma with the llamas.  He was on his way.  What????  Okay.  So we loaded up the kids, oh yes, we were blessed with all our of our children this trip, and headed for Oklahoma!

See, these llamas had been adopted by a family in Washington, OK.  We were to shear them and then transport them to Guymon, OK to meet the new owners halfway.  I guess they got a little excited and I miscommunicated, but it all worked out because I wanted the llamas to travel in the cool of the night anyway.  But, the problem with that is the storms.  And let me tell you about the storms.  I mean I thought we were in a tornado at one point in time, the lightning was crashing and hitting the fields right next to us.  We passed a cow that had been hit even.  It was crazy!  And then once it got dark and the storms were bad, all you could see was when the lightning struck it lit up everything for miles....and then back to pitch black and that howling wind!

Amazingly enough, two people coming from six hours apart, arrived in the same little sleepy town of Oklahoma within five minutes of each other.  And even better, the llamas were so tired and road weary and afraid of the storms that we had passed through (and thankfully avoided while we traded llamas), did not give us one bit of hassle.  We found a hotel with a pool for the kids and piled in.  Goodnight, ya'all.

Sunday the kids wanted to swim of course before we hit the road to who knew where (that's sort of how the Jeute's roll).  My fifteen year old son went to jump in the deep end and couldn't get his footing because the bottom was so slimey.  All righty then.  Think I'll just stay walking around to get my exercise in the shallow end, thank you very much.  Kids, please shower after this one...But we all were giving my husband a hard time because he just seems to attract the "locals", if you know what I mean; and can talk to just about anyone, including the guy who needed to wait for my kids to get out of the pool to shock it with four pounds of chlorine.

Or the guy on the side of the road in the middle of the night holding the road sign.  Tom had decided to pull forward and ask him how he liked his job and about the local economy and such.  Well, all we kept getting out of the guy was a "Yuup", and I'm thinking to myself, can we back up?  How long could this wait possibly be?  Ha!

So anyway, we leave Guymon, and again in Jeute fashion we really have no idea where we are going, but decide that we want to go home through New Mexico instead of the same route we had just come.  We see a black road on the map that looks pretty good and we take it...not looking at the legend of course.  Remember, these accidents often happen for good reasons.  I had all of my family trapped right there in the truck with me. And we were on a dirt road...I was in heaven!

We saw turkeys and deer and elk and the plants, oh I was absolutely enthralled with the plants.  We stopped at Black Mesa Nature Preserve where there was an entire ecosystem that you could just walk right up to!  Complete with fish and cattails and dragonflies,etc.  The petrified forest nature hike that we took was really cool, there were lizards for the kids to watch and all sorts of species of plants for me to guess at.

We made it to Raton, NM Sunday night and the kids gave Tom and I a hard time because of course we chose this little hillbilly looking motel across the street from the big name Hotel.  While Tom was inside the boys were in the back just complaining away saying that this place was redneck and going to suck and be small and not have wifi, etc.  Then we opened up the door to our huge room (with all amenities), and they both (the eighteen year olds) said the other place had nothing on this one-ha!  It had a nice clean pool too; and we even got a late check out so that we got to spend some time there on Monday!

It was a tad bit of a bummer that the restaurant that they suggested was no good, they took forever and I got sick.  Yeah, I got sick, and I never get food sick.  And the day we were traveling home too.  But it was quick and over, so I was pretty lucky. 

The ride home was uneventful, but I will say that we are heartsick for the parts of  the country that are experiencing drought.  The little bit that we saw was devastating.  I have been hearing about poultry houses that have lost thousands of birds due to heat stress and it makes me thankful every single day that my birds can free range to go where they need to go to adjust their own body temperatures.  And I am so blessed to have had the rain these past few weeks.  We drove past fields that were simply left because of drought...

So thank you America, for another wonderful vacation and the chance to spend time with my family. 

Simplifying, cont.

 A "Tick" (looks like a chick, but actually is a turkey)!

Okay...so let's get down to the nitty gritty.  What do I really mean by "simplifying" and "healing with the ranch"  (as mentioned in my previous post)?  It doesn't at all mean just quitting things, like the recycling, and TV; oh no this place is a buzz with activity.  We have "ticks" (we have no idea what to call baby turkeys, and they look just like chicks, so ticks it is-ha!) in the garage, a beautiful lamb in the llama/sheep pen and all sorts of stuff being planted!  My goal is to reconnect with the old ways I guess you could say.


I have been doing a lot of thinking about our property, and how it could be used to it's greatest potential.  I want to use each and every animal to its highest potential as well; whether it be for egg, wool, meat or even guardian purposes.

I absolutely adored making my jams last year for Christmas and the response I got was unbelievable...so I am going to grow berries this year for my own jams!  Amazingly there are a few berries that will grow at our high altitude and we already have a lot of wild raspberries that grow around this area, so I can only hope.  I am also changing the formula of Naked~Nure, by happy accident, adding a secret ingredient that should make plants soar!  More on this in a future post.

The point is to make the very most of what I've got.  I don't feel that the economy is at all stable.  I don't feel that our government is at all stable.  It is time to use my property to raise what I need for my family and hopefully have a little leftover for my family and friends.  My goal is to barter...I really think this is the wave of the future...I already do it with many of my friends.  I trade eggs for some of my friend Tiffany's wonderful products.  I recently got some organic beef and traded some of that for my organic chicken feed....the list goes on and on...

I have always hated waste...and now I look at my property in a whole new light.  There are already many plants on it that I should have been harvesting for years...Chamomile, Currant, Rosehip, Chokecherry, even dandelion can be harvested and used....How about you, do you harvest and use any of Mother Nature's wonders?  And what are some of your plans in this unstable environment?

A song worth singing

Happy New Year!!!

Image from www.soundoflife.net

Wow, we made it to 2011!  To be quite frank, there were times in 2010 I wondered...whew...that is one year I am glad to put behind us and move on.  Not that it was all bad, don't get me wrong, but I just feel it is time for a fresh new start.  For everyone.

I got up this morning and did my regular routine of getting the fire going, checking e-mails, returning messages, pottying critters, and while on Facebook I noticed a recurring theme; I was not the only one happy to say goodbye to 2010 and "bring it" 2011!

So instead of looking back at favorite posts of the year, or favorite stories of 2010...I'd like to just welcome in 2011.  I've never really been one for resolutions because I try to be working on something all of the time (being more green, eating more organic, save money, etc).  But this year I do have some intentions.  I intend to get back in line with my business goals and I certainly intend to get this back thing in order.  I also intend to work on my marriage more; you know actually intentionally pay attention to it.  My husband deserves the same time and attention I give the rest of the world/ranch/kids/animals!

I'd really love to have The Royal Ranch Rebels be a part of whatever resolution or intention you have going for 2011.  I want to help and I know I could.  What is the resolution, let me know and I can do a post about it...It all boils down to one thing; sticking to it!  A support group like The Rebels is a great place to start.  Let's stick together in 2011 and make it the best year we have all seen in a long time.  I sure plan to. 

Waste not, want not....

My apologies folks, I left my camera at my parents house on Christmas!  I will post pics as soon as I get it back~ooops!!!  This just means you have to come back to see my amazing gifts.  J~

I've got to tell you, this is probably one of my favorite expressions in life...And my kids' least favorite!  But I mean it literally pains me to see things go to waste.  Hence, this years Christmas gifts.  What?  Yes, I took things that were going to go to waste, and I turned them into Christmas gifts for my family and friends.  Hold on with the hillbilly jokes for just a second, they turned out okay!

If you remember, pre-back injury, I worked at the food pantry.  Even at a food pantry there is waste.  Yes, it kills me to admit it, but it is true.  There are berries that get put in a fridge in the basement that get forgotten, or herbs that are just not picked up, or whatever; well, not on my watch.  I would take the stuff home and put it in the freezer, with my daughter/helper moaning all the while.

Well, as part of my post-back surgery physical therapy (boy am I smart) and to get some of my gifts made, I got myself moving by getting these things out of the freezer and seeing what I could make with them.  I had enough berries for six jars of triple berry jam and six jars of blueberry jam.  I made the herbs into a Tarragon vinegar.  But the really fun part about this was that I got to use some of my very special bottle collection...

The bottles under the stairs.... They were a mystery when we first moved in; there were hundreds of them.  Many of them beautiful, all of them old, and they at some point in time had been cleaned and very carefully collected.  Medicine bottles, liquor bottles, round bottles, square bottles...you get the idea; they were everywhere!  That is when we found out that old Charlie Royal had lost the original Royal Ranch to tax evasion for moonshining!  He built our home in 1955 after that and apparently never lost his urge to collect bottles for his hobby!

So, even ol' Charlie would be smiling down on this years gifts I think; although it may not be moonshine, it hopefully will be just as useful!  But one of the great things about it was that I received gifts like this too.  One of my sisters and her family made us a calendar with all of our important dates on it; chock full of family photos!  My other sisters family made us the yummiest green chile ever; and my parents brought tears to all of our eyes this year with extra touching gifts from the heart.  

We all got pictures of our grandparents from their high school years and then each of us got a touch of the past.  Mine was my birth card, the little girl card that they put on the bassinet in the hospital the day I was born!  And then I also got some beautiful antique Christmas figurines that I have loved since I was a little girl and used to put them out every year; they are from my Dads parents; very special indeed!

It was a wonderful Christmas, and a great way to start off our 2011, not wasting a thing, and really letting those we love know how much they mean to us.  I'd love to hear about your special gifts this year, or how you plan to not be wasteful next year!