My thoughts and prayers go out to the families involved in the Conifer fire:

Checking In!!!

Dear Rebels,
Hello, from your long lost Author, Judy Jeute, :)!!  I am so sorry this going to be a quick little post to let you all know that we, The Jeute/Prentiss clan are "Keepin On, Keepin On" so to speak.  Actually, we are doing quite well.  My poults are growing like weeds; and as you can see by the photo, they have some company.

 (Aren't they adorable?  The brown one looking at the camera is a poult and the black and yellow ones are chicks!!  Too sweet for words, really.)

I have learned that what is an instinct behavior in chicks, oh you know silly little things like eating and drinking properly, are learned behaviors in poults.  So one day when I was at my local Big R store (man do I love that place) to get the babies some vitamins to help perk them up, I heard some peeping and thought the sound had followed me from home in my head or something and lo and behold they had their own brooder full of chicks so I took a couple home to teach my turk babies how to eat and drink and within five minutes of me putting those chicks in there my poults were all standing around the waterer!!!  It was amazing. 

So, although my hatch rate has totally sucked, and I lost my favorite poult; we have figured out exactly what we are doing wrong so far.  And that is all a person can do, right?  Learn from their mistakes and go forward from there.  And that is exactly what I intend to do.  So we have more eggs going in the incubator today since we know what went wrong; poor air flow.  That just means more excitement in another month!  And even more exciting some of these will be sold for profit, what's that, actual money????  But I believe this is where the saying might apply.  Don't count your chickens before their hatched.  LOL!!!

Okay, so yesterday I think I might have had one of the craziest days.  I started it out with negotiating our new property single-handedly.  Thank goodness Tom is working overtime again, and we really need to get this property business taken care of.  As soon as the snow melts...we need to be moving our livestock up there.  Period.  We have fencing to do, barns to build, water to acquire, electricity to figure out, did I mention we will be off grid???  Oh yea, and a minor little thing like shelter for four?!?!?!

Oh wait, got a bit side tracked with my panic attack, JK! No, I talked with our friend who owns our dream property and yesterday I made sure... it is The Double J!!!!  I do believe that he, Tom and I will be sitting down this afternoon to finalize everything.  Whew.

And then....The High Timber Times arrived.  No kidding.  Yes, I knew they were coming, but I don't think it all really hit me til the guy with the monstrous cameras got out of his car and told me and Bella to act normal while doing our daily chores.  She joked that she wanted to go inside and hop on the couch-ha!  Anywho, the reason they were here is that they are doing a story on the Mountain Resource Center; and as I mentioned in The American Tragedy, I went to MRC for help with my electric bills.

I really have no idea how this story will turn out and to be honest, we were really nervous about doing it.  Could they make us out like the poor kids on the block???  This is a local paper, all of our family and friends are going to see it... they are ALL going to know now that we are in FORECLOSURE and that we have had all of these issues.  But you know what else they are going to know?  They are going to SEE me and Bella.  And I hope they hear the pride that we have in our ranch and our area.  But mostly in ourselves and our family.

Yeah, we have been put through the wringer, and yes, we have made some mistakes.  But we are being responsible for them now and moving right along.  Yesterday when I was being the pied piper and the turkeys were following me across the road as Bella gently herded them and the photographer snapped away I couldn't have been more proud.  I don't care about our mistakes or my pain or whatever, it was the smile on that girls face.... I could see the pride in her heart.

I also learned yesterday that Judy means praiseworthy.  And for some reason that really came at a nice time; when I'm negotiating deals and being a public figure and a proud mom.  So maybe this post was not as short as I intended, as I am behind in my schoolwork, but I needed to let my dear Rebels know....We are here, we are good, and we are doing what needs to be done.

JJ~

PS "Our" edition of The High Timber Times should come out Wednesday March 14, 2012 barring a local news emergency.

The Great Windstorm of 11-13-11...

We went to bed the night before last to the power flickering and the wind howling.  But as I lay there in bed listening to my basement bedroom window being sandblasted by wind from a direction that the winds never blow from; I knew we were in for some damage.  I just wasn't aware of how much.

Between here (The Royal Ranch) and The Roost, our "nest in the woods" as we like to call it; are some very thick, very old forests, and even regular wind storms can wreak havoc on power lines, etc.  We learned our lesson early on upon buying the ranch and the Roost; if the power goes out, chances are there is a tree down on the lines somewhere on Camp Creek road and we can find it and let IREA (our power coop) know where the problem is a bit faster to get it fixed a bit faster.

So when we awoke in the night without power it was not a big surprise, nor was it a big surprise to still not have power in the morning.  The surprises started coming when we saw the AMOUNT of damage.  Between here and our cabin, which means our soon to be home, The Double J, there were at least 20 downed trees!  Many of them in the roadway to Camp Creek, along the power line, some on neighbors properties; like a roof and a classic Blazer.

The guys had a great day on Sunday "working" to clear trees and drink beer together.  Our wonderful neighbors Dan and Steve pitched in of course and they all three went up to Sean and Rocky's (yes that is a girl's name and she is soooo cool!) because they are the one's that had the tree on the roof and that dang cool Blazer (Dad, it is the yellow of the Jeep that I tried to talk you into giving me-ha!); of course the tree went right down the middle of the hood and roof of the beautifully lifted classic!

We must say, that we are very proud of our power coop, IREA.  Although they are not to hip on alternative power or rebates of any kind like that; when it comes to an emergency or downed lines those guys are all over it!  They had Camp Creek back up and cleaned up in just a few hours; and we are talking some big trees with some major power outages.  And each time we passed them they were always pleasant and had a smile on their faces.  We even got a robo-call saying they were sorry for any inconvenience; last time I checked IREA had no control over the wind, but it sure was kind of them to call.

I was curious about all of the trees that were damaged.  They ranged in size from about 6 inches in diameter to well over a foot.  The large ones of course were old/rotten on the inside and will make great firewood and if they aren't on private property we will make good use of them.  Many of the smaller ones Tom noted had either been damaged many years ago by lightning or something else, possibly beetles, but he didn't see many signs of those, thankfully. 

One of the most amazing things about this storm is that these trees didn't just break off and fall to the ground like they normally do.  Many of them we found multiple feet away.  The wind had broken them off and then carried them 10-15 feet in some cases, simply unreal!!!  We have walked through a lot of forests around here and not seen evidence of that kind of storm, I think this really was a once in a lifetime windstorm....at least I am hoping it was.

5 years ago today...

Has it really been 5 years?  In some ways it seems like a lifetime and sometimes it seems like yesterday that our little community was changed forever by a crazed gunman.  You can read a parent's perspective here and a teacher's perspective here; either way it is a story that has affected this picturesque town in ways we never dreamed of...good and bad.

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....

Home of the FREE becasuse of the BRAVE....

 Photo courtesy of tattoodesign.me

A day to reflect, remember and appreciate all that we have, the freedoms we take for granted and those we hold dear.

My boys are home!!!

 

(One of my favorite pictures ever!)

And almost that time of year again!

Here I said I was going to be back to posting more regularly and I have let my beloved blog go again; I just can't seem to get back into the swing of things somehow.  I know I will get there Rebels, have faith...But this morning I woke up with my heart bursting with happiness as my house is literally jam-packed with kids!!! (I've even got 'em sleeping in the back of my truck, yeehaw!!!)

I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of my sons.  Thomas has been working at his job for over a week now and Austin will be starting his job as soon as his new boss gets her health in order.  They are both doing very well in their new classes....meaning that they haven't missed any with all of the partying they are doing!  Which to be totally honest with you is all I can ask at this point in time.

A couple of times when we have spoken, each of them have been doing some type of homework so that makes me feel good too.  But, I must say that most of the time that we talk they are doing some kind of enjoyable thing  and meeting all sorts of new people.  Like the roommate of one of the other boys from our little town of Bailey that is all the way from Hamburg Germany!  They tell me they're having a hard time remembering names-ha!

The changes at the ranch are still making slow but sure progression...I think that is my mental hold up here on the blog...and in my routine.  I am just not sure about this new life of mine-ha!  I am working very hard on PT for my back; but more importantly I am working on staying positive and keeping the vibes of the ranch good!  Tell me what all are you up to?  How do you stay positive during big changes in your life???

Welcome back to the school year Rebels!

I can't even remember what song I was searching for when this old memory popped up in the sidebar, but I thought it sure was significant timing with the beginning of the school year!  So as I always say when I post a song; crank up your computer speakers and push back your chair and do a little honky tonk dancin' with Lorrie Morgan on this classic:

Bailey Day 2011

 Entrikin Cabin located in McGraw Park

Photo courtesy of Gary Nichols

Well, here it is Bailey Day 2011; and boy did this one sneak up on me!  I had to look up in the newspaper when we were expected to be there, now that is pretty bad....but you know what I told myself?  I decided that that meant that I am getting so good at my job that I don't need much time to prepare for gigs like this anymore and no big deal; I can do them in my sleep practically.  And it is true.

But that doesn't make Bailey Day any less fun.  Or important.  This is our towns big event; and it is important; it is important to our town and it is very meaningful to us as a Ranch as well.  See, this will be our 9th year at old McGraw Park with the llamas; our historical park in downtown Bailey, CO.  And it is a beauty.  With cabins that have been carefully moved there from their original homesteads and then meticulously refurbished; a schoolhouse that received the same loving treatment all from our very own county.

Our town really does this celebration up right too.  Lots of great vendors and food too.  And it is so fun to teach people about the love of llamas...  So, if you live in the area and feel like a drive today; head west towards the cool air of Bailey, Rebels.  Consider this your personal invitation.

A story worth sharing...

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Juggling...

 Cookie Day 2010

This has been a week of juggling for me.  I had decided that I really want to try to get back to living life as normally as I could, you know try to act as if I didn't just have back surgery.  It has been long enough it feels to me.  But in the process, my beloved blog has fallen a bit behind!

I have been juggling many emotions as well.  See, our community lost one of its teenagers last week; one that I used to teach when he was just a bitty boy at MOPS.  He was a runner and trained by running past our ranch practically daily and he and my dog Gigi had a game; she'd run straight at him barking like the monstrous pit bull she thinks she is, and he'd run straight back at her!  I always worried, and apologized, but he'd just smile as if he too had enjoyed the game.  My heart and prayers go out to his family and friends....

Yesterday was my daughter's Christmas party, and yes, that is what I still call it.  I was the room mother so I was crazy with preparations.  We played Heads Up 7-Up, Christmas Style (filled bags with goodies instead of touching thumbs) and had a great time.  But before the party, my daughter was awarded the SOAR award!  That stands for Scholarly, Organized, Accepting and Respectful because she is an exemplary example of an eagle is what her teacher said at the award ceremony; I almost lost it.  He said that all students should work to be like her because she shows those traits day in and out, no matter who is watching....

I have an old friend who is really going through a rough time right now, don't know if I can help or not.  Could put myself in a pot of you know what if I do, so that's not really an option.  I don't like feeling powerless....

Last weekend was Cookie Day!  Boy, were we productive, but it took me a day or so to recover.  Tom and Isabella delivered all of the beautiful plates to our neighbors on Sunday and lo and behold if we haven't been getting wonderful Christmas surprises left on our porch all week!  It has been so fun!!!!  One morning, I went to the mailbox, pulled out a fistfull of cards, one of which had a $25 gift card and a big package from an old friend.  That very same morning while I was in the shower another neighbor dropped wonderful homemade jams and stuff off for our eating pleasure!  Christmas spirit is alive and well in our neighborhood.....

So, as I said, it has been a week of many ups and downs, and every which ways.  But you all have been in my thoughts, just not on my keyboard.  I would love to hear about your juggling acts this time of season too, believe me, I know I'm not alone out there....'Tis the season!  Here is to hoping your Christmas is a wonderful one and that you spend it with someone you love. 

America's Foreclosure Epidemic

Yes, we have become a part of the horrific statistics.  Blessedly, we were able to pull our beloved ranch out of the horrific word...foreclosure...in twenty five days!  And it still cost us a bloody fortune.  But that is not what prompted me to write this post.  It is the two ladies that have told me of their impending foreclosures in the last week that have prompted me to write this post.  To be honest, I was just going to keep my mouth shut out of embarrassment, really.

But then I got to thinking how this whole thing went down.  And I delivered a load of hay back to a friends house in a sort of "poor" neighborhood in our area, and saw all of the empty houses.  And then my neighbor stopped by to pick up an antler set that she had once given me; she needed it back to decorate and try and sell because her house was being foreclosed upon.  The same house that she had cared for her dying mother in, and that she has about 15 animals in...All for $5,000.

Then I get a call on the RV that we have for sale, due to the foreclosure, of course...who ends up to be a gal that I used to work with at the food pantry.  Her house has already been done, they're out.  See ya.  Well, gee, she's hoping the judge will be real nice and see that she's got a family and twenty years of stuff and let them stay through the holidays.  Then they can go live in an RV somewhere nice, that'll be a great learning environment for three high school boys, I'm sure.

So, these are the reasons I write today.  If I sound a little pissed off, well I am.  I've got to tell you, we were funneled right into this system from the get go.  Those modifications that they offer, be careful (and believe me, I was)...they are almost designed to fail it seems.  I have heard that from almost every single person (including our attorney and the Colorado Foreclosure hotline, unofficially, of course) in the same boat.  And never, ever make partial payments, or payments once you have been put into any legal situation.  You will never see that money again, it goes into a suspension fund, luckily we learned this through friends and did not make that mistake.

I want to give you a quick example so you don't think that I wasn't paying attention like often happens.  A year or so ago when I knew we were getting behind, I did the stand up thing and got us on a modification.  We did all they said, went through the trial period, great... and then one day (perfectly legal, according to the hotline) before our first regular payment was due they told us it was $400 more.  Well, already times were tight, we started off on a bad foot, they add a ridiculous late fee, my back, blah, blah...the story goes down hill from there.

But again, this isn't about just us, what's really breaking my heart is watching my little community waste away, and feeling like there's not a damn thing we can do about it.  I actually caught myself saying to Tom last night "If we owned all of the houses, than the government couldn't."  And as crazy as it sounds, it was the first thing that has made sense to me in a long time.  What the hell does the government want with all of these piece of junk houses that only hold the love of one family, but the value to whom (or none for that matter)?

Is it all to make our trillion dollar debt look that much smaller on paper?  So that they can say they have those assets with a dollar amount that they determine the value of?  I mean it was all a big scam, the way we had to pay off the attorneys.  One day it was one amount, the next day...$520 more.  And Tom had to pay it through a glass box; I guess that is because so many people have gone nutso on the folks, they've learned they're lesson and put up choke proof barriers!

Now I know that we can't go giving everybody free rides...I'm not that much of a bleeding heart.  But most of these people are hard working honest people that have just come across hard times, mostly due to this economic hell hole we are in.  Which no one can really point their fingers at who's fault it is, and to be honest I really don't give a damn anymore; it's time to quit pointing fingers and getting our asses to work saving our neighborhoods.

And I don't really love the idea of the government owning all the homes in my hood, I don't know about you.  I like real estate to determine the value of real estate, not the government, especially since I own quite a bit of real estate in this hood.  But I do have a few thoughts rattling around in this head of mine to try and put a stop to this vicious cycle.  We can't just stand by and watch the neighborhood go to the wolves, so to speak.  At least I can't, or won't.

Kindness Day

Today is one of the worst anniversaries a person can have.  It is the anniversary of the Platte Canyon High School shooting, and you can read all about my memories of that day here.  But, something wonderful has come from that shooting, actually a lot of something wonderful has come from that tragic day.  Kindness Day being top on the list.

I've got to say, I was really disappointed when I heard that the school was changing things up a bit and making Kindness Day voluntary for the teachers to participate in.  If they want their class to be involved in a community event then they could plan one, and if not today will be a normal learning day.  That was until I talked to my friend Tiffany who was there that day, and found out that she hates (Sorry T if that is too strong of a word, but you all know what I mean) Kindness Day, it brings back too many memories.  As a matter of fact, she doesn't even watch any news because she doesn't want to relive it again and again.  And I realized that we as parents may want to take this is a lesson to our children, but we didn't have to be there, and live the horrific experiences that these people have taken years to try to forget.

It also gave me a great idea as to what activity to do today for Kindness Day.  The educators at Platte Canyon High School and Fitzsimmons Middle School are some of the hardest working people I have ever come across in my life, and whether they like to admit it or not, it is because of that terrible day.  There is a bond that ties this community that I do not think is matched anywhere else in the world, except for maybe another small town community that has shared an experience like that.  Our children are kinder than others and our teachers, well they just seem to love their students a fraction more than most.

So, today I will take my Environmental Action class (like how I call it my class when I only co-teach one day a week?) and honor the staff at those two schools.  I am working on a poem (better get my poop in a group, it is today you know!) that the kids will use as a thank you card, we will attach them to the firestarters that we already made (my poem is about the fire within, get it?) and make sure that every staff member has one or two; so each time they light a fire, it will remind them of the acts of kindness they do each and every day.

The elementary school has really gotten into it as well, and this year they have come up with a winner.  They filled a school bus with all sorts of games and books that the children have been gathering from home for weeks.  Games that the kids don't use anymore, so to me, the "green" freak, this is a fantastic way of cleaning out PSwhatever cupboards all over the district!  We were also able to add in books and puzzles, board games and anything else game oriented we thought the children at Children's Hospital would think was fun.  Today the Student Council (blessedly my daughter is on the SC, so I will get to hear first hand about this experience) will ride the bus down to the Children's Hospital and deliver the "gifts" in person.

My challenge to you, can we make this a Nationwide day of kindness?  Let's hear about those random acts of kindness today folks!  What have you done lately to help someone in need?  Let's see, I know that lfhpueblo recently took in a sick pup, that is a wonderful act of kindness.  My dad is in Iowa trying to help out with harvest, if only the rain would hold off.  Mom, well you being there for Aunt Jaris' birthday I heard that made her day, so thank you for that random act of kindness.  Keep 'em coming folks!

Royal Rebel Friday

Good morning Rebels!  I hope you have been working towards your goals this week.  Let's see what have I been doing to work towards my goals?  Well, I am collecting and handling the mail each day.  I have worked with two of my lenders and gotten on programs to get us completely caught up.  Now this is a real pain in the rumpy, but very worth it, because of late fees and calls.  Now when I meet with my new bookkeeper, I will have some great progress to report.

The exciting news of the day though, is that I was working in my daughter's classroom yesterday and her teacher had me go to the office to make some copies.  Well, this never seems to go well for me.  I don't like asking the overly busy secretary for help anyway, and the damn original looked like an accordion when we were done with it, but we finally got my 125 copies done.  So off I went.  I was elsewhere in the building and came back to the classroom to hear that she had called me back to the office.  I got the "oooohhh, you're in big trouble" from the class, and dreadedly picked up the phone.

Guess what had happened in that few minutes?  One of the teachers from the pre-school had brought her one of my books, that a student had brought from home!  She was calling to tell me she didn't know she was "wrestling" the copy machine with a famous author!!!!  I just laughed and laughed.  She asked where she could get the book, and I of course told her I'd bring her one as soon as I could.

But the funny thing is, I couldn't track down the student that had the book.  So... this is one of the first books that has just appeared.  It is not one that I have sold to a friend or family member...See Rebels, our hard work is paying off!  Let's stick to it.

How about you, what have you been up to this week?

Fall colors and Judy keepin' it real

You know, I was so excited today with the response to my new Facebook page for The Royal Ranch.  It was really quite surprising; not only in the number of people, but who it was.  So since things were already on a little bit of a mixed up trend, and I;m getting ready for my big launch of Royal Rebels on Friday, I decided to do my post a little differently today.  I did part of post via video, so please bear with me and all of my nervous umm's, but I am new to this... so here goes:

And by the way, I was so excited about my idea to record my post I forgot one of the main reasons I was videoing.  That is to ask all of you to do the same.  Get your cameras and video recorders ready to record your goals for the Rebels and send them to me.  You can either send me a link to a YouTube video or e-mail me a picture to judy at royalranch dot net; this way we can all share in one anothers goals and successes.

Judy on being a Jeute, or is it Judy?

You know it really doesn't matter which way you say it, I was destined to be a double Judy.  In the past few days I have had the most unreal experiences that a person can have, and it feels like it has been an ongoing test of my strength and courage.  I must tell you, I am quite proud of myself, I have passed this battery of tests with flying colors.

Last I left you, "Change" was in the air, if I only knew how true that statement was going to be!  Saturday was Bailey Day, and oh what a glorious day it turned out to be.  As a matter of fact, I reserve the right to come back and write about it again.  But, suffice it to say, that once again, we blended our biker, mountain hillbilly friends with the historical (literally-ha!) park crowd beautifully!  My book signing was a huge success, twenty books sold along with small town folk coming out of the wood work to congratulate me.

Although that should be the highlight of this post it gets crazier from there.  I mentioned that I would be offline for a few days, but I didn't say why.  Well, I read somewhere your not supposed to advertise when your leaving, if only for a short time, so I didn't.  We had a quick family trip planned in Fort Collins, and when I say family, I mean my entire family.  So we were really looking forward to this one. 

As usual, I was as unorganized as can be, but I felt like it was really important to get these two blankets into the camper; a piece of our family, so to speak.  Nathan was already up there with my parents so the four of us headed up the road, and all was going well until we got onto the scariest part of I25, just full of construction, and the motorhome starts to overheat.  We chug, chug along until she just dies, and luckily we coast to just inches off of the busiest Interstate in all of Colorado. 

We look up and the reason we had been stuck in traffic in the first place is because of an accident that had been caused by the construction.  A truck had rolled over and caught on fire, terribly!  So, not only are we front row to watch them put out this fire, and turn the truck back over, etc. Tom has to try and work on the RV on the side of the road.  I am keeping the kids and the dogs out of the back, as I am just praying that we won't get hit, because those assholes passing by sure weren't slowing down any.

As many of you probably know, the engine compartment in many RV's is inside, so Tom got a mug of gas and primed the carburetor and got us on our way.  He had done some testing and knew that we had one fuel pump down, and yes this is important,  with one working.  Now, I have talked about my "trouble bubble" before, but I have never worked so hard on concentrating on getting us safely off of a road in my life!

We made it about a mile off of the exit and she died again, that was it.  Tom was getting really frustrated and the kids were dying to get there, so he got that damned mug back out.  The one that I had kept trying to take from him the first time!  And that was when it happened.  The engine back fired, and there was a fireball two feet wide inside the motorhome with all of us and the dogs!  Tom was on fire, the mug was on fire, the chair, my purse, the engine, My God!!!

Tom ran out with the mug, I screamed at the kids and the dogs to "GET OUT!!!", who immediately froze and sat down because they had never heard that command and didn't want to go out as Tom had started a huge grass fire outside!!!  Yes, a huge grass fire outside with his mug of gas!!!!  I can't use enough exclamation points here, I'm sorry. 

People had immediately stopped and were kicking dirt on the ever growing grass fire while I was inside throwing things out that were on fire, hoping to save the motorhome.  Blessedly, one of the things that I threw out the door was one of those blankets I had insisted on packing that morning, and it was what Tom used to put out the grass fire.

Thomas, my oldest son, had not wanted to come with us in the first place really.  He is seventeen now and getting a little old for family vacations, especially when you add that he missed out on one of the parties of the summer and a day of work!  But, late the night before we left, I had finally given in and told him that he didn't have to go.  He had said that he had gone to bed that night saying he would see how he felt in the morning and then decide, and thank God he felt like coming, because he was the one who had run off with the gas can when the grass fire had started!  The three of us worked together like a well oiled machine to save the motorhome, the dogs and possibly our lives.

To be honest, I can't even really remember how we got the damn motorhome running again, but we made it to the campground where we were to meet up with my family.  The funny part is, is after all of that trouble, my husband being on fire, and almost being a demolition derby vehicle on I25, it was a pulled wire!  And even funnier, I'm afraid that wire might have been karma from when my red heads were younger.  This wire had been pulled when a mysterious little red head came to play on my wonderful day (sorry T, had to out you here, but better to face the horror now than in a decade, like I'm afraid happened with me-ha!). 

So, all is well that ends well, as they say.  I'll go back to an old purse, dang, I really liked that purse, and as for the blanket, well, it's a total loss.  But me, I faced the fire, head on as a matter of fact which is a big accomplishment; we had a fire in our house when I was a kid.  And although the whole way home I didn't think I could face getting straight to work when I got here, I did it.  I had guests to prepare for, who else was going to do it? As a matter of fact the everyday work of cleaning and cooking (last breakfast ever-yeah!) was quite therapeutic.

We are all much stronger than we give ourselves credit for, if we dig deep.  I mentioned that change was coming, and I can feel it in the air.  I have been quoted on another blog (more on that later), I faced the fire and won, had a wonderful book signing and even got a few hours in with family.  Today, I will work on grounding myself, as funny as it sounds, but I need to do it or I will fall apart.  Mother Earth and I will be working in the gardens today, reconnecting and revitalizing.

Change is a good thing

Big change is coming to The Royal Ranch, mostly here at the blog and in my writing career.  I have decided that it is time to grow-up, so to speak, and so we are all going to go through a few changes together!  I know that you, my dedicated readers, will be along for the ride, and I hope to attract new readers and make this blog a little more interactive.

As you know I recently celebrated my first birthday on this blog.  It has been the most wonderful year, but it is time to grow up and be a big girl now and stretch my wings a little bit.  I went into this to get my name out there for writing and in business, so let's do it!

So how am I going to accomplish all of this?  Well, we are restructuring things at The Royal Roost so that it is now a "short term rental"; meaning that I no longer will be making breakfasts.  This will be a good thing and will free up some of my time and allow me to concentrate on my writing.

I am also going to being placing an ad or two on this blog.  Yes, I can hear you, me dedicated readers, groaning and reaching for the delete button as we speak.  But hold on just a second, I have done a lot of research on this and not only will the ads help me, but Google is very good about matching up the ads with the content and they may actually end up being helpful to you, my oh so dedicated readers; and yes I'm kissing up-ha!  A girls gotta make some money somewhere, being a starving artist isn't all it's cracked up to be.

My friend Daisy turned me on to the blog Problogger, and I have really enjoyed it.  One of the ideas I have gotten from there is to do a series of posts where we as individuals determine a couple of goals and then work on them as a group.  I'm going to call this series Royal Rebels, after my own rebellious spirit and to remember to remind ourselves of our own royalty each and every day as we strive to reach our goals.  

Just so that you can be thinking of a goal to work on for the big jump start of Royal Rebels, I am going to be working on getting and handling the mail each day, making a business contact each day, and have not yet determined what my long term goal will be.  Maybe I should be open to input on that?  It will definitely be writing related.  It can be to lose some weight, work out a little bit each day, whatever. But statistics show that no matter what goal you are trying to accomplish, it is better to do it with a support group.  And that is what I am going to offer with Royal Rebels.

Now, don't worry, I still have plenty of things to share about crazy life here at the ranch.  I'll break you all in slowly, as a matter of fact very slowly (I may even be offline for a few days, nooo!).  The next few days are very crazy around here.  Tomorrow is Bailey Day; our big town celebration.  We have the llamas in our cool historical park as we have done since 2003, and  then I have my first big book signing!  But get ready to grow with me, because I hope it will be a fun experience...and please bring a friend.

A day late and a dollar short

 The Lone Dead Tree

I think that just may be my new motto, a day late and a dollar short.  No, I'm just kidding, but it is definitely true for the past couple of days and this post, sorry GSO readers!  As it is for many of you, it is the last few days of school around here, which means all sorts of picnics and graduations and field days and all kinds of fun stuff when you have three kids in three schools.  It is also the week we are preparing to open our campgrounds for the big Memorial weekend.  So, it was not a good thing when I went out to start my beloved truck yesterday on the way to three of these fun events and it would not start.

Let's say I am very thankful that I know a lot of people in this community and was comfortable just hopping in the truck with the Dad of one of Nate's friends and hoping I could find rides from there on out.  Which I did.  My friend Amanda took me from the middle school up to the elementary, a neighbor took me from there to the food pantry where I was needed to put some extra hours in, and my wonderful seventeen year old sons came and picked me up from there and delivered me back home last evening-WHEW!!!

Now, the trouble of the day really started when we headed off to work at the campgrounds (that's pretty bad after a day like that-ha!).  I have mentioned the forest mitigation project going on around our area before, and I have said that I am pretty much on the fence about it.  Mother Nature is unable to take care of things because we as humans have gotten in her way, so I was hoping that we as humans had gone in and fixed the problem.  Well, I'm pretty much off the fence now.  My campground, er, the campground that the company that I represent that represents the National Forest I mean, looks like s@%t.  Yup, I said it (sorta).

You know, I can get past the loss of the trees, as a matter of fact many of the stumps that we investigated were diseased in the middle.  I am actually surprised by the number of trees that were already dying in that forest, but had shown no outward sign.  A few of the odd things were the fact that they left some really dead trees standing, one that looked as if we could just knock it right over, hence the picture.  They are riddled with beetle holes and both were struck by lightning and have a ring from top to bottom.  We looked for nests or any other obvious reason for them to have been left, but could find none; odd.  Tom joked that it was because they had not been tagged so the workers hadn't taken them, and I'm afraid he's not too far off the mark. 

I must say that my biggest concern is wildfire.  Ironic isn't it?  They come in for fire mitigation and I think Tom and I have one hell of a campground season ahead of us to make sure our campers don't burn down our home.  I am now thinking our new motor-home may come in awful handy as we may have to move into that campground to keep the campers from dragging all of the mess that the fire crew has left just on the outskirts of the grounds, into the grounds to have their fires.  Campers tend to get their fires as big as they can, and as you can see from the pics, the wood crew has left a "tinder box" of  wood debris about a foot thick just to the west of my, I mean your, campgrounds waiting for a spark to escape into.  Directly in the direction of my ranch I might add.

Okay, okay, in about twenty to fifty years, after this mess is all cleaned up by campers and decomposed back into the soil, it will be beautiful.  Nicely thinned, and some wonderful green grassy meadow areas, hopefully the deer and elk will love it.  As we stood there debating this whole mess, and I do mean mess literally, we must have been quite engrossed in our conversation because this moose must have walked right past us.  As we were leaving we saw some cars at the entrance; when we stopped to see what they were doing they pointed her out to us!  Look closely, that is her back side in the trees there, laughing at us as she walks away...

Double Agent Judy

 Happy Spring!

Although my favorite birds are back, happily humming their way around the ranch,

these beautiful flowers have a ways to go!

Photo taken summer "09

This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for weeks, I have thought of it often, but just never finished it.  Well, today is the day because this may be my last day to be a double agent due to such a huge increase in demand, just read on, you'll catch up.  This has become so near and dear to my heart that I haven't even been sure how to put it to words, so I will go with what I already had started:

You know, I went into blogging to advertise my business, help promote my book and to try and help people.  Really, that was my highest intention.  And I think I have written a couple of posts that have affected peoples lives, or at least opened up their minds.  Like when I posted about my epilepsy, that has the power to help a person to stay positive in their own "lemon" situation.  As far as opening minds, well hopefully I do that quite often-ha!  One time my Dad and I were talking about nothing in particular and he said that he had really gotten to know who I was better, through reading my blog.

As you all know I have been cross posting on Tuesdays for a few weeks now.  It seems that this is sort of a metaphor for my life, it is like I am a double agent these last weeks because I lead a double life on Tuesdays.  It's not really that I have kept it a big secret, it's just not something I want to brag about, I volunteer at the food pantry on Tuesday, which came about because I had to start going to the food pantry.

Let me start at the beginning, shall I?  It all starts with this post, really.  At least the trips to the food pantry do, because that is when I "woke up".  We really had no choice, at that time we had gotten so far behind in our bills due to my back injury that it was either pay the bills or nothing.  So, I had talked to many of my friends who had already had the "food bank" experience, and bawled my way there one Thursday afternoon.  Do you know what I cried for?  I cried for our country.

See, a year ago, we would have been considered a lower middle class family.  My husband made $20,000 less last year than he did the year before, due to a loss of all overtime.  I made zippo, because I lost my job taking care of the neighbors horses.  We accrued huge medical bills due to all of the broken bones, head and back injuries and the fact that my husbands boss can't afford good health insurance. (Who can? At least we have it.)  But that was what felt kind of funny to me, yes, I was a little embarrassed, especially if I thought of running into certain people or something, but mostly just sad for our country.

I'll never forget walking in that first time after crying my way there, this gruff hillbilly looking guy says "What, you need some food?"  I, of course in Judy fashion had come in the back door, but when I came around the corner, I swear I could hear the angels singing!  You can't believe the amount of bread and produce that was on the tables, it really was unbelievable; enough for the entire town of Bailey to each have a loaf of bread and then some leftover, I bet.  So, anyway, I got some food and got the heck out of there, I was so nervous!  But, that's just not the way I do business, and I knew there was more that needed to be done.

You see, one of the few good things about recovering from the back injury is that I found myself with a little time on my hands.  To be honest, I couldn't even really remember what it was I did before the back injury that had kept me so busy.  So, I signed up to volunteer at the food pantry.  Not only did it make me feel better about taking the food, but it introduced me to some really great people.  It also really opened my eyes to what is going on around me.  Believe me, lower middle class is not the only one that has been hit.  We are talking all the way up to upper class, folks.
For us, it was a matter of choice in a way, the only one that made sense anyway.  We had already taken advantage of all of the assistance through our mortgage companies, we make too much to qualify for public assistance (which I'm not sure I'm comfortable with anyway), so to get caught up on our bills, something had to give and that was the grocery money. We may not have any money, but I do have time, so that is what I gave.  And now I know the reason all of this has happened, I am exactly where I am supposed to be.
Remember that odd sadness for our country that I told you about?  Well, that is called empathy, and yeah, it has taken me a long way in my new job.  The first timers are easy to pick out, because they usually either are crying, or have just wiped the tears away as I had done when I walked in the first time.  Then you have the regulars, like the little old man that was so concerned when I was sick one week, that he practically ran back to the kitchen with a grin when I returned to tell me how much he had missed my smile!
The other volunteers have become great friends of mine as well.  I feel as if a couple of them are people that were put in my path for a reason and are on the same wavelength as I am, so to speak.  To hear the stories of how people ended up in the positions we have all ended up in, is simply amazing.  From freaks of nature, like repetitive strikes of lightning last year on one guys ranch to traumatic health issues like Agent Orange that have tainted an entire household, people have arrived on the food bank doorstep for many reasons.  But many, many of us are there wanting to give back all that we take plus much more, and that is a common and strong bond.
I purposely chose to write this post on a day that I write on both GSO and here at home at the Royal Ranch, because I know how many people this might affect.  And do you know how I know that?  Because ever since people have found out that I work/go to the food bank, each week I have sent someone new in there.  That is also why I will no longer be a double agent, demand is so high, we need to move some volunteers to Thursday, so today will probably be my last Tuesday.  That's right, demand for our little food bank is so high we are growing each and every day we are open.  Most days there is a line waiting for us to open.
A couple more things I would like to add.  To me this is "green living" at it's fullest.  Our biggest suppliers are Whole Foods, Target, Kings and Safeway.  So we are taking the day olds from stores that would be throwing them away and passing them along to people who really need them.  Now this to me is the kicker, it is all really healthy food.  Food that I could not afford, even in the best of times, to feed my family.  Lots of organic foods and soy and tofu and a variety of produce that you literally would find at Whole Foods.  I mean really nice stuff, and then anything that we don't use, gets taken back down the mountain to the homeless shelters.  Again, to me this all seems like a very environmentally responsible way of dealing with the stores' castoffs.
Now, a word of caution, or possibly defense, I don't know.  There are different types of food banks out there.  If it is a food pantry that relies entirely on donations from the community, that is a little different in my opinion, and should only be used for those with the utmost need (and by all means use it if you need!).  But if there is a pantry like ours, that receives donations from stores, it is well worth checking out, who knows you may make the difference in another persons day, or even  life.  Now go make a double agent miracle today, I plan to.

Royal Ranch Royalty

Good Morning!!! I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend.  I had hoped we would be camping this weekend, and that I would possibly be downloading pictures from one of our spectacular state parks.  Well, next weekend.  In a move that I would normally really support, Park County Government has closed all offices on Fridays in an effort to save money.  I really wish the clerk that I talked to on Monday and said that I would pick up my plates and proof of insurance on Thursday or Friday would have told me that, but I guess that was too early in the week or something.  Tom didn't take me up on the idea of faking temporary plates, darn him, so we decided to take Nathan bowling for his birthday instead.

So, this is where the big decision comes in.  Do we head to the big city of Denver, or go to Fairplay?  In general, if given a choice, the kids always want to go to the city; I mean these kids live in the mountains.  But, my poor husband on the other hand, commutes to the city at least four times a week and will do just about anything to get us to not go back down there on the weekends!  When I reminded him about the bowling alley in Fairplay, he was on the phone in no time flat- checking prices, menus, etc.  Lucky for him, we are a very food oriented family and the menu in Fairplay sounded much better than anything we could get at a bowling alley in any city.

So we climb into the truck and head toward South Park, yes, that South Park, and yes, it is very much like the show from what I gather.  Mother Nature really put on a show for Nathans birthday; we saw a very large herd of antelope which is rather unusual, a huge herd of elk which is usual, and of course the occasional deer.  The drive up and over Kenosha Pass is one that I even remember from when I was a child, coming into South Park is quite a spectacular view, you can see for miles.  I think it may be one of my favorite places in Colorado, it is also a popular aspen viewing destination in the fall.

Yes, this is where I finally get around to announcing Royal Ranch Royalty, it is hands down, South Park Bowl!  (Sorry, no link, couldn't find one) This place went all out to make sure that we had a wonderful evening, which we absolutely did.  I think it must be a husband /wife team, and they both work their butts off, but still took they time to ask Nathan things like "what's the best thing about being 14 that's better than being 13?"  And they had the kids go through their music collection to put on whatever they wanted, you know, a real small town place.

As for the food, oh lord, did we make the right choice.  The specials were beer battered shrimp and ribs.  We had already decided on the way up that we would each order one item and then share everything.  Yup, that's two full racks of ribs we ordered and two orders of beer battered shrimp-YUM!!!  It's funny, because in my family we have a rib competition going; my nephews say I make the best ribs in the world, so my brother-in-law is always coming up with some crazy new way to try and beat my recipe, which he has not done so far according to the nephews.  Isabella and Nate say Fairplay's ribs come close to mine, boys!

After we ate, we got right down to some serious bowling.  I did some real butt kicking on my family and then we went home.  Okay.... I can't tell a lie... I came in fourth out of four, but I had a lot of fun trying!  The family says they are going to use the bumpers for me next time, can you imagine the gall of them?-Ha!  Tom who hasn't bowled in years, had the entire bowling alley beat and crowed about it the whole way home!!!!  (I'm sure this is why I did so poorly, I was just being support for my macho husband---I almost laughed myself right out of the chair typing that one!!!  Sometimes I just kill myself!)

Anywho, we really did have a great time bowling.  The people around us were a lot of fun, some were local families, but we were a little surprised that people had come over Hoosier Pass from Breckenridge to bowl as well.  I guess bowling is a popular sport and draws a crowd.  But it was when we were done bowling that the tears started flowing.  The waitress brought Nathan a brownie sundae while a Happy Birthday song blasted over the entire sound system while everyone in the whole place sang to my fourteen year old little man.  It was exactly what my middle son needed.  He was the center of attention of the entire family, restaurant, heck he had given the entire town of Fairplay reason to celebrate it felt like!

So, if you are ever in our neck of the woods, and have the urge to knock a few pins over, head to South Park.  On the way there you will have your breath taken away by a view that you'll never forget, chances are you'll see a huge herd of elk, too.  If you are really lucky, like my son Nathan appears to be, you might even see a herd of antelope!