My Christmas Notebook

Yesterday in my journal blog I mentioned my Christmas Notebook and I realized that maybe everybody is not familiar with that concept; so I decided to do a post about it here, for you Rebels.  My Christmas Notebook is an old spiral that I have kept my Christmas notes is since the kids were tiny little creatures.

At the top of the page I simply put what year it is.  I then make a column for each child; blessedly this year I got to add a whole column for our new son Austin.  In previous years that was always a bit tricky as I had to buy him the same thing I bought the other "friends".  Anyway, underneath each column (which takes up less than a third of the page in my family) I have plenty of room left to make a list of nieces and nephews.  Underneath that goes all of the couple gifts to my sisters and parents.  Lastly I have a list of neighbors and friends that I either bake for or have the kids make stuff for.

Originally, I just started the notebook out as a way to keep myself organized while I was shopping.  And also to avoid the embarrassment of giving the same gift 2 years in a row (or more like I did with the wreaths a decade or so ago, I got really into wreath making and gave them away 3 years in a row and totally forgot about it, lol!!!); but I have now found that is a wonderful trip down memory lane each year when I pull it out to prepare for Christmas shopping.

See, I keep all of the kids' Dear Santa letters in there paper clipped to each year that they wrote them as well.  So for instance the other day as I was going through and making my list and checking it twice, we found a couple of those old letters and now that the cat is out of the bag completely at my house; we pulled a few of those Santa letters out and read them as a family (well poor Dad was working, but the rest of us were here and boy did we crack up!).

The first one we read was so sweet from my daughter saying that she wanted a play pony (thank God for the "play" part, eh?) and something nice for her brothers.  And then we open up one from my oldest son, whom of course by this time knew that I was on the receiving end of these and had only sat down to write one to humor my daughter.  It said:  Dear Santa,  don't bring my sister or brother anything, not even coal, as they have been TERRIBLE this year.  Also, I will leave plenty of Lima Beans for your reindeer so they can fart their way across America.

Well, all righty then.  Merry Christmas to me.  I mean we all sat here and laughed until there were tears rolling down our cheeks.  Some were tender and sweet, okay only those from my daughter....  And some were funny as all get out, but they were all ones that I am so happy that I have in one place.

So make 2011 be the year you start your very own Christmas Notebook because it is so well worth it.  You will never have another repeat gift again, you will have wonderful memories to look back on and it doesn't have to be anything special.  Mine is an old spiral that one of the kids didn't use all of the pages in  in school.  Recycled!!!!  Oh, and don't forget the secret column up in the corner for stocking stuffers and Santa gifts!!!  That way even if the kids get ahold of your secret notebook, they will never know who S (for Santa) is....

My Crazy Turkeys

I know I have mentioned my Yahoo! groups before, but my very favorite is my Rare Heritage Turkey group.  To be fair, I don't follow that many, but these folks don't have (or at least adhere to) too many rules, and they aren't stuffy and they really seem to have a great sense of humor,er, senses of humors?!?

Anyway, recently one of the gals, who really adds a lot of "color" to the group posted asking for stories about turkeys.  On a different post, I had responded to her, accidentally misspelling her name which has started a name battle ever since.  So, I felt bad that not many people were responding to her pleas for stories and in my oh so smart alecky way I responded to her.

It appears she has forwarded my silly story to a friend and that friend would like to post the story on his site; so I figured I had better share my story with my very own readers first!  So here my letter to my e-friend is in it's entirety:

Okay DoRENE,
I have a story for you. I have a chocolate hen who is a bit, well....schedule oriented (spoiled). The other day my parents were up for dinner and were absolutely fascinated with the turkeys, who of course had surrounded their car upon their arrival with chortles of delight. That was until the turkeys realized that this company was going to interrupt their own dinner.

Mom and Dad had been just full of questions; the typical ones like how much do they eat, etc. But the very last one before we headed in as the turkeys followed us up the stairs and hopped up onto the railing of the second story porch was "turkeys don't fly do they?". They were quite concerned for their safety up that high (this of course is their favorite roosting spot as it looks over the whole valley, the road, the driveway, you get the point).

So we headed inside and started our pizzas and got busy with our visiting. The turkeys did not like the fact at all that we ignored their preening and pruning and gobbling and chirping on the front porch so they trooped down the stairs in a line. And I'm thinking to myself, "finally!!!"; as I figured they were headed back up to their pen to start their dinner without me like they sometimes do.

I'm standing in the middle of the living room telling a big story, flapping my arms about when suddenly there is a VERY LARGE THUD against the picture window (right behind where my Dad is sitting on the couch)!!! And there trying to balance on the 1/2 inch lip of the window is my beautiful chocolate hen calmly looking at me. When she realized there was no room for her she just gracefully swooped down to sit on the snowmobile with her Bourbon Red boyfriend (turkeys know no prejudice) to the utter amazement of my parents. It looked as if the two of them were threatening to ride off into the sunset (literally with the sun setting behind them) if I did not hurry up and feed them! And she had just nicely knocked on the window to make sure I knew that they were going...

Needless to say, they trumped my story so my Dad and I happily got our chore gear on and headed out to lead the pack up the hill for dinner. What the heck had I been thinking to feed company first?

JJ~

Santa, do you hear me, now even OTHER websites are requesting photos of my amazing animals???

Royal Ranch Royalty: Shades of Change

 Shade

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 

Dear Santa,

Thank you so much for the Christmas card with the money in it!  Tom and I had decided to not buy each other gifts this year so that we could really make the kids' Christmas special.  So, when we got the stack of cards out of the mailbox on Christmas Day (sorry we were a little late, it had been a busy week, but I know you had been watching...) it was like our gift to each other; we split them up and each enjoyed the gifts they brought.

I noticed the North Pole postmark first, and thought it was kind of funny, and then opened up the card and out fell all of that money!!!!!  I'm very sorry, Sir, but you know how banks are, and they don't believe, so when Tom went to cash it...we found out that you bought it in Centennial, and have a bank in Grand Junction....So my dear Santa, we love you dearly, whoever you are....And please know, that we still believe!

Another Royal Ranch first...

Good Friday Morning!  Well, I have done it!  The first ever Jeute Family Christmas Letter.  Which really goes to show what a rebel I am because this has been my family's tradition for most of my life.  My parents have sent one out for as long as I can remember; with each of us girls (3 of us) having had our own paragraph to detail the events of the last year.

Well, thanks for the idea Mom and Dad!  As you all know the last couple of years has been filled with many ups and downs, and for some reason it seems that the Holidays have always brought about the downside of the money, time or health "case" (or maybe that is just an excuse) and one of the places I have skimped is with Christmas cards and postage.  But I have come to realize that often times, that simple Christmas card is the only time you might hear from that dear friend, and that holiday cards are truly a meaningful way of staying in touch with the ones you love.

So, what is your holiday tradition?  Do you send photo cards or do the letter?  Is it a personalized card to each person?  Up until this year (okay like I said, I skipped a couple years), I wrote out a card to each person and put a pic in each one.  Times are tough, and people know that; I think the letter, that has four family photos on it, will be great.  In holding with family tradition; I will have each family member sign it in a different color ink like we used to do when I was a kid!  Ho, Ho, Ho!

Tweeting Twoubles

 My new twitter pic.  Actually I also used it on my book, Llucky Llama.

Okay, so I know I am about a decade or so behind a lot of bloggers and other regular folks, but I just don't really understand this whole tweeting thing.  But, I am bound and determined to get it.  I have been doing quite a bit of reading, and feel that it is the next step I should take to help the blog grow and to help spread the word about our Royal Rebels.

I got myself a Twitter account, and from there I was lost.  My e-mail is through my website, not through gmail or Yahoo, so no contacts there.  I followed a couple things, but Jonas Brothers kept showing up...No thanks.  But I did find this cute widget to make it nice and easy for all of you to find me!

So today's post is more of an open ended question to you, my dedicated readers at Royal Ranch, and to my weekly readers at Green Spot-On; how do you use Twitter?  Where do you go, who do you follow?  And most importantly, why?  What makes that person, attractive, so to speak?

The Chicken Dance Poem

 My rooster does not like my brown pants,

He made me do a very awkward dance.

He came running up from behind,

And really, I tried to be kind.

But that darn Roo, just kept coming back at me,

I think he even did it with a look of glee!

I assumed it was my pants,

and that I would no longer have to dance.

I went back the next day to his door,

And lo and behold that Roo wanted some more!

A hen that has gone broody,

And is feeling very moody.

A ram that used to be quite lazy,

now is acting a little crazy.

Hmmm...

I have done all my reading,

And hopefully patience is all I'm needing.

If it is the change of the season,

That is actually his reason,

Neither McLovin' or I... should come out bleeding!

The above photo is one I took this morning of Tom and our naughty Roo working on a desensitizing exercise!

Royal Ranch Royalty

 My new favorite picture

Happy Sunday to all of you!  I hope you are having a great weekend.  I know I have been a bit sporadic about my posting this week, and that has been for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, I have been letting my brain recover, secondly I have had a lot going on with getting the kids back into a school routine, etc.  But, you all have been on my mind a lot.  So much so that I have decided that I am going to make YOU, yes, YOU, my Royal Rebels, today's Royal Ranch Royalty.  So here goes (in no particular order, of course):

To ifhpueblo:  You are Royalty for being such a great commenter and being so strong in everything you do.  I can tell you are a backbone to your family and friends, and I am so sorry that our country does not take better care of its service men and women.  Because you deserve the Royal Treatment!

To Tina D:  I have heard through the kids that you read everyday and really enjoy my blog, thank you, and I know you are out there.  Thank you for all of your compliments on Metaphysical Monday, it really means a lot, and you too are clearly a Royal Rebel!

To My Parents:  Thanks for being such great supporters of the blog, I know you look forward to it everyday.  I think you have finally gotten used to my rebellion, and maybe even embraced it, and for dealing with it when I was growing up, the biggest thank you of all!!!

To Daisy:  I know that you just dropped off Amigo at College, and I think this might mean you are an empty nester now; clearly a weird time in life, I think of you often.  You have been one of my best blogging mentors, and a great "green:" wealth of knowledge, thank you!

To Tiffany:  You are my friend and teacher, and you even give me wonderful products to review for this blog!  You too, are a partner in green living, and understand how challenging that can be at times.  You've even asked me to come help you teach, WOW!!!  Thanks, rebel sister.

Speaking of sisters:  Kelly, although you are quite busy you were kind enough to forward the blog to Lisa when you thought she needed to read it, Thank you.  I truly appreciate your comments and input.

To Mishaun:  Who is so dedicated to homesteading in this technology filled world.  I am very impressed with all of the work you have done over the past year or so, thanks for sharing all of your knowledge.  You my dear, are definitely a Royal Rebel.

To Irina and Matthias:  Reading all the way from Germany.  I really love that.  My heart is with you during this adoption journey, but you are two very strong, rebellious people that can handle just about anything this old world tosses at you, I know things are going to work out just the way they are meant to.  Until then, know that I am sending positive vibes your way.

To Amy:  You are such a great neighbor, and supporter of all of my writing!  I love to hear your kids playing outside, and can't wait to hear news of the new arrival-Good Luck!

And to those of you that I didn't name, know that I appreciate you as well.  I know that you are out there, because the numbers show it.  I'd love to get to know you better.  So, nobody freaked out and jumped ship over the ads, so it will soon be time to start Royal Rebels officially.  Have you, my dedicated readers, been thinking of a daily and long term goal you would like to work on as a group with us?  Come on, get ready to get your Rebel on!

Making every last minute count

The kids are headed off to school tomorrow; one of my saddest days of the year.  I get so used to having the little pains in the rumpy around that I really miss them when they are gone for the day.  But, as they remind me, I will have some time to work on my next book, so I guess it is a trade off...

Since today was our last day of summer, we had to make every minute count.  My daughter saved up her money this summer from taking care of the neighbors house while they were on vacation and decided to repaint her room; a girl after her own mother's redesigning heart.  Of course the process took a lot of prep work which entailed cleaning out the "little girl" toys.

The morning started with getting every last bit of paint out of the gallon that the dear girl had worked so hard to buy.  I of course will need one more gallon to finish the job while she is at school; three ten year olds did quite a job on the trim, etc, but what the heck, her and her girlfriends thought it was a great way to wind down the summer!

My middle boy starts high school this year, and my eldest made the mistake of telling him that all the high schoolers wear hats to school since it is allowed now.  The sucker in me gave in, wanting him to feel at his best on the first day as a freshman and headed down the mountain to find him a hat.  

It all worked out just fine because I could donate the "little girl" toys that my daughter had gathered to a local charity (making the trip down the mountain more worthwhile in my mind), take my youngest two to an inexpensive lunch at our new local diner (supporting a great new business), and I got the "lid" covered!  And speaking of back to school fashions, they are fantastic!  The colors this year are so vibrant  and beautiful (yes, even for the boys), that I didn't mind doing the laundry, and that is saying quite a bit!

The best part about it, was that I got home in time to catch my oldest son cleaning out his car.  So I pulled my truck up next to his and started cleaning it.  I have asserted for a long time, the best way to talk with a teenager is to do while you both are working.  The words seem to flow easier, the teen seems less defensive, and you're accomplishing a task on your to do list on top of it!

So, for those of you with school age children, good luck this year, and give your kids an extra squeeze, they will be graduating high school like my boy (soon) in the blink of an eye!  And please, by all means, please be aware of the school buses and zones!

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.

She will be missed...

Funerals are not my cup of tea.  I know that nobody really likes them, but I have a real "issue" with them I am learning.  Maybe it comes from my "spiritual" beliefs, and in knowing that the person's soul has simply moved on, it is only the body that has quit working, and so therefore I have a very hard time with these sort of formal goodbyes.  I find myself wanting to deal with life traumas in private, maybe in Mother Nature, so in other words I usually turn tail and run!

But today is a little different.  Grandma Boehme is my brother-in-law's (BIL) Grandma.  Now, to many families this is a very distant, possibly even unknown relative.  Fortunately in our family that is not the case.  I was blessed to know Grandma B through my nieces and nephews various activities, and of course way back when, when her wonderful Grandson became my oh so lucky BIL.

It was her keen intelligence that always struck me; and the twinkle in her eyes that went with it.  She was a woman with a story and was glad to share it.  She had been a school teacher for many years, and was very flattering when I got my first article published years ago.  She was one of the first people that really encouraged me to write professionally, although I would imagine she was the type of gal to encourage just about anyone to do just about anything!

I know that my sister and her family will miss her terribly.  But I hope they find comfort in the knowledge that their little Grandma Boehme touched the soul of everyone she came in contact with.  She lives on and on in all of us with our special memories of her and her little pieces of encouragement and advice.  Thank you for sharing her with us.

A wonderful day...

So I really had a nice day yesterday.  I had been looking forward to my books arriving all week.  That's right, I said it, my books are here!!!  They are also available at Amazon.com, but I will get to all of that later; that wasn't the only great thing about my day.  The day evolved into a wonderful book welcoming party!  This book has worked that way all along, things have just really flowed when they need to, and if I fight it... I came up against a road block.
As I posted  yesterday, I had a hen in a crate in my garage because she was in The Royal Ranch's version of the ICU.  Well, I was getting ready to take her back up to the barn, which of course got her riled which in turn got the dogs riled.  I was glad to hear her acting like a chicken, but did not want her to get injured in the process of getting her back home to safety.  As per Royal Ranch custom even at 7 am, if things are at all crazy, someone will drop by.  A long time friend stopped in to pay for his kids' and grand-kids' campsites for the big holiday weekend.  With all of the madness, I of course had to explain to him what was going on and he just laughed and new that this was quite typical for our house.  He said "You should write a book".
Llucky Llama, the third proof, is always at hand, and I proudly showed him it and told him that today was the big day!  UPS was supposed to bring my box, etc.  I don't know why me having copies was what made it official, because actually it's been available at Amazon a couple weeks, but this made it tangible, you know?  Well, I'll be damned if he didn't buy three right then and there.  I mean before the box had even arrived, I had sold my first three.  And you know what, the other day, when I was at the feed store, they had heard through the Bailey Day planning committee about the big book signing event about Llucky Llama and they were downright hurt that they don't have any copies on their shelves yet.  My neighbors are asking too.
But, let me get to the best part.  So, I have a dear friend  that I mention quite frequently on this blog, Tiffany.  She is quite a brilliant scientist and not only does she teach our local middle school kids and help me with the recycling program, but she makes these fantastic all natural products.  Her and I slowly became friends through the kids being in her class, and then sadly through the horrific shooting incident that our town endured, and then because of both of our passions to be "green" and to teach our middle schoolers that passion.  Well, anyway, Tiffany has really had a lot of impact on my business and my blog and hopefully we will even teach a class together next year. So, it seemed so very fitting that her and her two wonderful sons were with us when the UPS man drove in the driveway with my first box of books and theirs was the very first book to be autographed.
We had spent the day bartering.  And it was something that we both absolutely love to do.  I ended up with all of these wonderful, all natural, decadent products made by a mad scientist that I could never recreate in my life.  I mean the variety is amazing, like cleaners that will even work on some of my animal messes,and lip balms that smell delicious,  facial scrubs and wonderful moisturizers some with sunscreen (again all natural), and some great eye serum, just to name a few; you've got to check out her Etsy shop!

Not only did we trade for the book, she got to go home with a car smelling of Mother Earth.  We spent the day collecting roses for her rose water, and  a huge box of chamomile for something, I'm not sure what she will concoct with it.  And she got multiple bags of  Naked~Nure and a large bag of loose manure to work into her garden as well.  The boys were most proud that they got to take the eggs that they specifically collected.
We were still celebrating the box and Tiffany and the boys had just left when another neighbor from the cabin stopped by.  He is a Special Ed teacher in Jefferson County and my book is perfect for his students.  Again, the timing was amazing, his wife is an administrator and he kept saying he didn't know we had a celebrity in the neighborhood, it was a total crack-up, but really very complimentary, and hopefully a great contact!
Well, as usual, I got a little side tracked, but my point being is that this book is meant to happen, things just roll with it.  It will bring a smile to your face and I am proud to present it to you.  It sells for $8 anywhere+ shipping and handling of course.  My shipping and handling is $3, on Amazon it's $3.99 for my area.  It isn't available on Barnes and Noble quite yet (I don't know why, it will be soon), but if you'd like to order it from me, I'll save you $.99 in shipping and handling and autograph it for you.  I think PayPal is the best way to handle this at this time, so just either send me a comment on this blog, and I will get back to you, or e-mail me at judy@royalranch.net with your $11 and your request of names for the autograph.

Royal Ranch Publishing

Good Morning!  I have a question to pose to all of you today.  As I have mentioned my book is done.  On Memorial Day I accepted my final proof!  This means that in a few weeks my book will be available on all of the normal retail channels, Ingram, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.  Now, I am not naive enough to think that my books are just going to start flying off the shelves by themselves, I can hope that will happen, but I know that I still have a lot of work ahead of me.  But, I'm pretty good at hard work.

So, this is where my question comes in.  As you all know by now, my name is pronounced Judy Judy, but spelled Judy Jeute.  Most authors have their names as their websites, but I have considered for now just adding my book onto my Royal Ranch website.  I have also considered getting a website like Judyx2.com.  

The problem is that hopefully at some point in time there will be quite a bit of information on this site.  Like recordings of the ranch, and myself reading part of each book, and downloads for teachers to have to prepare for my visits with Marcel the llama, etc.

What do you think?  Does the spelling of my last name make it difficult?  What is most memorable?  Come on people, now is when you can say, "Hey, I had some input back when she was just a mountain hillbilly blogger and no one knew her name."  Ha!

Big News from HGTV

Good morning all!  Well we have made it half way through our week, we should all congratulate ourselves!  This is a very busy few weeks for me, and I'm sure many of my regular readers, as it is the last few weeks of school.  Which means it is Field Day, Exit Outcomes for the eighth graders, picnics, etc.  It has also been Career Day for the sixth grade, and I was asked to go and do an Author talk, which was really fun.  Still has me thinking on a post about that subject...

But anyway, the exciting news from HGTV;  I got an email from a producer from the show that was taped here at the ranch many moons ago (okay, November).  Although it is rather short notice, set your recorders and get ready to hopefully catch a couple of glimpses of The Royal Ranch on Thursday (yes, tomorrow) at 6:30 p.m. MST!  The show is titled My First Sale and of course will be showing on  the HGTV network.  Hope the camera was kind!

Stress and Life

My neighbor, Royal Ram

Okay people, I have a confession to make.  I have been suffering from a writers block,  Odd, that has never happened before.  But, I come by it honestly.  My rabbit is very sick, I think she is dying.  My sister has been waiting for some very serious test results and we finally got some good news yesterday.  I actually started my post for Tuesday, which would have been my cross post for this blog and for GreenSpot-On, but it was just not flowing the way I wanted, so I ended up posting a recycling post from here at GSO and leaving you all in the dust instead.  I know, I know, shame on me.

So, last night I get home from my weekly conference call (which entails sitting on the side of the road for an hour and a half for a cell signal so I don't pay long distance here at the house) and Tom tells me to sit down, I had no idea how wound up I had been until that point.  When he handed me the package that said Royal Ranch Publishing on it I literally quit breathing; my book was here.  I had not realized how stressed I was that it would not be right, or that it would look homemade or "hillbilly", as I told Tom.  It looks really great and very much exceeds my expectations!

With a few minor corrections and adjustments,  that hopefully will be worked out today, my book will go to print!  WOW!!!  The funny thing was that seeing my book kind of broke free all of the stress of the last week, the stress that I hadn't even realized I was experiencing.  I took one look at that book and started sobbing.  I was so happy about the book, and relieved about my sister, and so sad about that damn rabbit.  God, what a mess I was, I bet the kids thought I had lost my mind!

I'm still a mess today, but as you can see the block has mostly passed, but the rabbit has not.  She is not suffering at all or I would take her in.  She is almost twice the age rabbits normally live to be and is a very tough old girl.  I have spent my days making her comfortable and feeding her all of her favorite foods every few hours, which is how I know she is not suffering because she is still eating and drinking.  She is with her beloved, Rusty, and that is all that counts in my book, so I am doing the best I can.  Who knows, she may surprise us all and come out of this.

I must say, this has been one crazy week.  I know I'm supposed to be a tough rancher, and that I have been rescuing animals for years.  I should be used to this by now, but if I was, would I be any good at what I do?  No.  So I shed a few tears, endure a little stress and hopefully write one hell of a childrens book from my experiences. 

Catching Up

If you look closely, you will see that Fat Gary, Marcel, Iowa and Elway all decided to help with the gardening on Sunday.  Not included in the photo were Lily and Rosie who were oh so helpful in removing my rocks, not, and Hector who kept pushing me over because he was rubbing up against my legs as I was pulling weeds.  By the way, thanks Mom for the new pruning shears, they are fantastic and made my job easier this year than ever before.  Doesn't it look fantastic?!?

Lordy!  I can't believe it is already Monday and it has been so long since I have blogged, please accept my apologies!!!  I have been one busy lady.  I last left you all on Thursday, running out the door to work on the cover of my new book, Llucky Llama.  Well, I am proud to say the cover is done and it looks fantastic!  Today Vivian and I will be working on downloading the book to the printer-yeah!!!!  At some point in time I need to write about writing, this has really been a great project, and I think more people should learn about it; really.

After the work on my book, I did something that I have never done before; I went to look for a missing person.  Here in Colorado we have a missing 12 year old girl by the name of Kayleah Wilson.  She vanished from Greeley, CO two weeks ago on her way to a birthday party.  I'm not sure what is bothering me the most about this case; if it's the fact that she is so close to Bella's age, the small town thing, or what, but I can't get this one out of my head.  To be honest with you, this was more of a "psychic search" and I really wasn't sure what to expect.  I do feel that I was able to tell her energy what I wanted to, but I did not accomplish anything specific, so.... I guess the mission in itself was a failure.  For more information on the missing girl, please go to this link.

After the more than two hour drive back to Bailey, I had a meeting with the Destination Bailey group.  I am very excited about this committee.  Aside from one rude, cranky old guy, the group is made up of excited business owners like me who want to bring tourists into our cute little town.  Not just people who pass right on through on their way to someplace else, which is what happens now; Bailey is the definition of a highway town.  Destination Bailey is also very involved with the Park County Historical Society which is near and dear to our hearts for many reasons, not only do we love the history of the area, but the society loves us because we bring our llamas to their big event each year!

Friday was filled with playing with pre-schoolers.  Well, at least that is what we tried to convince them of; it was actually what our school district calls Child Find.  The day when all pre school aged children come and get their vision, hearing and any other thing the district can possibly think of to test, tested.  The cops are there to fingerprint, there is a cute little old lady to face paint, even a couple of home school groups were represented.  Me, of all people was doing vision testing.  No, I have no medical background, but at least I have two boys who have hit their heads more times than I would ever like to count and know how a pupil is supposed to react; one of the tests I was to perform-ha!!!!

Saturday, too, was a whole new experience, County Assembly, WOW!!!  You know, I have avoided talking politics on this blog, and I will continue to do so, for now.  But, I am going to come out of the closet, there is just no way around it... I am a registered Republican.  I often wonder if this will come as a surprise to my friends like Daisy and Tiffany, who are teachers and have strong political opinions.  But, I digress, back to Saturday.  Park County is allowed 125 delegates at the County Assembly, and for the first time in what anyone could remember (and there were some really old people there), we filled every one of them!  This is grass roots politics at it's very best people, that is the only way I can describe it.  

One thing you must keep in mind, is that our county is almost entirely Mountain Hillbilly, I mean, Republican so everyone who is anyone in the county was there.  The Sheriff, the commissioners, the clerk and recorder, etc. all the way down to the coroner race is all Republican pretty much.  That other party may have a name or two on the ballot, if they're lucky, LOL!  No, seriously, it was overwhelming the emotion that was in the room, and to have an impact on voting at such an early stage really made me feel like I was making a difference, and I was.  It was also a great way to meet my candidates in a different setting, many of whom I already know, but have not seen "campaign".

So, needless to say I needed a day to decompress and spend time with my family and animals.  The chickens have gotten into my compost bin and torn the darn thing apart and cleaned out every speck of food that was ever in it, which has prompted me to get to work on Spring projects; Thank you chickens!  The weather was beautiful yesterday so I raked out the perennial garden and lo and behold there was some green underneath!!!  Of course with us working outside in the beautiful weather we had neighbors popping by so I spread the word of the meeting I have with the Commissioner about the cut down trees for tomorrow.

I went to bed with a smile on my face because my son, Thomas had told me that he and his friends had been talking about my trip to Greeley.  He said he wasn't quite sure what to say, just that I was hoping that I could help, and that one of his friends had called me a hippie, and he said "yeah, Mom, you're like a modern hippie", which I took as a huge compliment.  It got me to thinking about these last few days, and how they all may seem kind of contradictory.  A searching psychic and Author one day, a volunteer the next, Gun Totin' Republican on Saturday and wrapping up my weekend composting and saving the planet with my family, now that's what I would call one hell of a week!  But, it's who I am, and what I believe in, so that's what I'll do.  Oh, and did I forget to mention I'm raising heck about the trees tomorrow?  (I remembered, I'm just making sure you caught that one-ha!)

It's all a cover up!

Oh come on, folks, you know me by now!  It's just a play on words, today I don't have much time to post as I am rushing around getting ready for a meeting with my book designer for the cover layout.  Boy, doesn't that sound fancy!  Not everyone has to know that it is my dear friend Vivian and the meeting is at her kitchen table, but we are doing the cover layout!

I was very careful when I chose to work with a friend; as a matter of fact I even broke a rule of ours.  We don't usually do business with friends or family.  Gets a little tricky.  But Vivian is the best in the business, and I always keep my business local anyway so this worked out great!

I have my ISBN's in hand, the book has been patiently waiting in the background, now all we need is to finalize the cover and download to the printer!  I'm off and running, literally!

Another First

Good morning all!  This is really very odd,  I am actually writing this as my second post for the day, now don't go getting your feathers mussed.  I'm not going anywhere, I'm just adding on.  Well as soon as I can figure out how that is.  But for today, it works out just as well.  Let me back up a step or two.  I am now an author at a great blog called GreenSpot-On.  I can't tell you how impressed I have been with this group of ladies.  The blog is really cool and it is all about things that are very intriguing to me as you will see when you go to check it out.

Normally, I will just cross post, meaning that my Tuesday post will automatically appear on both blogs; but since today is my first day, there are a few technical issues.  Let me rephrase that.  There are a few user issues.  As I said, it works out just as well, because I really wanted you all, my very dedicated and wonderful regular readers to go and check out this new site.  Yes, I am buttering you up so you will click on the link to read my post, but mostly just for humor, this really is an impressive and informative site (and my post is pretty funny if I do say so myself)!  Don't forget to go all the way to the bottom of the page for the wonderful slide show of some of the animals that have been rehabilitated, simply amazing!

Funny how things come into our lives

Okay, today I am finally getting to the post that I have been wanting to do all week.  But, this morning I woke up and knew that the delay had happened for a reason... now follow me for a minute here people;  This is where I had started earlier in the week:

I'm not positive which of the blogs I read that hooked me up with Mom Nos, but I'm really glad they did.  I will definitely always remember the very long but very memorable post that got me hooked, it was about her son's connection with Dierks Bentley.  The blog is about the joys of being a mother of a boy with Autism.  And I say it that way on purpose.  Mom NOS makes it sound as if it is a joy, as well it should be.  All of our children are a joy to behold, and she never lets us forget it.
Its' funny, because when I first started reading her blog, I sort if felt like I was intruding.  Here I was with 3 "normal" kids, and I thought that the blog was meant more for moms of special needs kids; but the more I read, the more I learned that the lessons I learned there I apply to all parts of our lives.  Then. this morning I was reading a part of a series that she is writing and a light bulb clicked on in my head.  I have something very in common with Bud, her son.  To a fraction of a degree, I deal with the same brain issues that Bud goes through on a daily basis.  That is why I was so attracted to her posts and was drawn to them like a moth to flame!
Right, so here it is Thursday morning, and I check back in to the same series and read it with tears running down my cheeks.  The series of posts is Mom NOS talking to her son's class about how Bud's hair dryer brain fits in a toaster brained kind of world!  The way in which she explains it all, makes perfect sense to the ten year old students she is lucky to be spending lunch with.  She has really done a fabulous job getting through to these kids and answering all of their questions as to why her son is different.
So, what does all of this have to do with me?  Well, in a funny way, a lot.  I have been thinking about the similarities of brain issues a lot over the past few days.  The more I read about Bud's issues with noises, over-stimulation and struggling with medication the more I empathize.  And Bud's stories, they are all very touching, thank goodness he has so many advocates in his life.  I have also read almost all of the comments on her blog and it does not appear that is the case for all of the folks that read the blog.
Again, timing is everything.  This may sound sort of funny, but I have been looking for a group to start working with when I get my book done; which is right around the corner now (yes, I know I keep threatening that, but this time it's a go!).  Now, I don't mean a "group" like, gee I pick Autism as my "cause" to step up on my soap box.  No, I mean that I have so many kids that I would like to help with my little piece of the world that I have to start somewhere, and since I have a connection with these kids specifically, I have decided that I would like to have some of my first author/Marcel visits (especially ranch/author visits) be with autistic children.
My animals are fantastic with special needs and have plenty of first hand experience.  This is an avenue that I have wanted to explore for a long time.  I am still going to go the traditional author visit route, hopefully to put a little food on the table so to speak, but I will do the ranch visits for fun!  Thanks for the idea Mom NOS!