My Black Hoody

As you all know by now, I am a home body, BIG TIME! For those of us that are blessed enough to work at home, it really becomes a way of life. We no longer have to commute, or eat crappy lunches, but best of all we don't have to dress to impress.

A year ago I bought my husband a hooded black sweatshirt at Goodwill. Well, for a man that is 6'3" there are not many hoodies that are long enough in the arm, so I inherited the sweatshirt. As soon as I put it on, I knew it was my favorite. To say the least this hoody takes a beating, it does all of my chores with me and is a daily wear in the winter, as we are keeping our house cooler now-a-days. Like this picture, often times I have it tied around my waist, waiting for the next big chill. But, that's okay, no one ever sees it anyway.

Well yesterday I had a stained glass class that I was going to. As I was getting ready to walk out the door I was at a total loss. I was so disappointed that I couldn't wear my Raggedy Anne hoody and didn't know what to wear without it. Actually, I even thought of wearing the old thing!

Now, I know I'm not alone in this, we all have an article of clothing that just feels right. Mine feels like home and family and critters, and it even smells like the mountains that I live and work in (probably because I never take it off to wash it-ha!). So, today I am headed off to pick up an elk camp and will happily be wearing my black hoody! Wear your "black hoody" with pride, it represents who we are, as hard working, happy, individual, home loving Americans!

The Kroger Company

Good morning! The other day when I went to the grocery store I was so excited. I thought I'd ask for some of the old produce to feed the chickens and rabbits, boy was my bubble burst! I was told that due to a lawsuit (again?) Kroger had made a rule to not give their produce away. I was told that I could have lettuce cuttings, but nothing else. Don't get me wrong, the big box of what looks to me like fresh lettuce came in very handy; as a matter of fact I used it on our tacos the other night!

Anyone who shops in any produce section in all of America has seen the hardworking produce guys painstakingly pick through the fruits and veggies for the very best looking stuff and you see the other stuff (again, still looks pretty good to me) being wheeled behind the big swinging doors. So, what happens to that stuff? My idea of feeding it to animals seemed to be a great compromise. There are many leftover boxes and containers that could be filled with the produce, stamped with "not meant for human consumption" and sold at a discount.

I went to the Kroger website and found that the company is really pretty earth friendly. They have a sustainability report that shows how the huge company is working towards being greener. On the report it talks about some of the stores donating to homeless shelters, etc. While I am very proud of the fact that they do this, does that mean our homeless are getting what I would consider chicken feed?

Like I said, if Kroger was to sell at a minimal cost what they consider to be trash it would help out tremendously; containers and unwanted food would both get recycled, seems pretty simple to me! If you get a chance, tell your produce manager (or send them a quick note, like I did) that you'd love to see them quit wasting this great natural resource.

PS I forgot to mention that my first ever guest post is on one of my favorite blogs. Check it out at Over Coffee The Green Edition-Thanks for the opportunity Lena!!!

My Teens Go Green

Good Morning! I am so excited to tell you about this great website that I came across. Swaptree is a website that is built to help people trade all sorts of media, at no cost. Well, actually it costs under $3 for postage, but the service is free.

How it works is really quite amazing. We went onto the site, made an account in no time flat, and just filled in the items (games, movies and DVDs) that we already own, but would like to trade. Up pops a ton of items that we were eligible to trade for. They are even able to do three way trades, which opens it up for many more eligible items. A person can make a wish list too, items that you are hoping to trade for, and they will try and find it for you.

Before I did this review, I waited to make sure it was going to work the way they say it will, and to my surprise, it went better than expected. The kids had all sorts of games that they had already played through, so they were ecstatic at the chance to get new games for free (to a teen $3 is nothing-ha!). I've got to be honest, in this day and age I was really concerned about getting ripped off. The only gauge to go by is the rankings of other people who have made trades with that specific person. But, for such a great green idea, it was worth a shot.

Swaptree allows you to print a shipping label and pay for it out of your account at the end of each month. So, there is no chance of getting addresses wrong or whatever. Within four days of mailing out our first item, we started to receive the trades the kids had made. All items have been exactly as described and the children were happy as can be.

It's funny, my oldest son, Thomas, calls me a tree hugger and thinks that a lot of the things I do are a little far fetched, but ALL of my kids love this service! They have been so busy making trades that I have not had time to make any for myself, but I am planning on trading some Cd's and some workout videos that I no longer use. When I told Thomas that this is the ultimate form of recycling, I got a "Yeah mom, I know, but this is really cool recycling!", don't they just kill you?

Have a miracle of a day!

Royal Ranch's View on Hunting

I realized that not very many people are gun toting hillbillies like we are here at The Royal Ranch. As a matter of fact, it might seem odd to some people that we spend our lives rescuing animals and sharing our love of this wonderful country and the animals that live within it, and at the same time support hunting. In my opinion hunting helps maintain the enjoyable life we are blessed to live.

Hunting brings huge money into any economy that will allow it. Hunters spend A LOT of money, with their tags, their equipment and guides, lodging, food, alcohol and daily necessities like a coffee in the morning at Loaf-N-Jug, they are constantly pumping money into our economy. Hunting season for The Royal Ranch alone brings in quite a bit of revenue, and we are very inexpensive compared to most hunting outfitters.

It is also very difficult for me, being in such a rural area, but with no farms nearby, to get meat that has no junk (antibiotics, hormones, etc.) in it, unless I want to pay a premium price. Game meat is a very healthy alternative to those of us that are meat eaters. It is much lower in fat than most red meats, and if cooked and cared for properly does not have a strong "gamey" taste. I know many families that are surviving on game meat due to this insufferable economy.

Hunting helps control herd population as well, which to me is one of the main reasons to support hunting. In areas where hunting is not allowed, elk and deer herd populations reach unhealthy numbers now that humans have removed most of their natural predators. Too much inbreeding leads to inferior animals, thus the decline of genetic make-up in some of our most wondrous creatures. Over crowding can contribute to Chronic Wasting Disease and is very hard on the terrain in which the elk or deer herd lives in. This negative effect trickles all the way down to innocent fish in the creeks and even insect population; many of which are essential to a healthy ecosystem.

I am by no means trying to sway your (or anyone else's for that matter) opinion in one way or another. I am simply defending my stand on hunting and explaining how such a huge animal lover is also a supporter of legal hunting. For now, it is the best, and in my opinion, the only way of helping Mother Nature with her very difficult job!

Hiking the Rocky Mountains

Jasper
Tom, Jasper, Thunderboy, Hunter and Marcel
in the snow!


More Snow!

Judy and Jasper on Friday

Tom and Judy

Me and my bad self!

Looking toward Mt. Evans

Thunderboy and Jasper nibbling.

Breathtaking!!!

This is very close to the area where the sheep

hang out.

One proud rescue llama!

Does he ever get enough of taking pics

of himself?

Royal Mountain

(Yes, named after Charlie Royal, the homesteader of our ranch)

Thank goodness for my hard working boys!

Yes, I realize I am over twelve hours late with this highly anticipated post-Ha! It has taken me some time to recover (and get the house back in order after a couple of days of a teenager being in charge!) from all of our crazy adventures this weekend. It began on Friday with a great hike on our favorite trail. We were dropping off an elk hunting camp, which was a scheduled pack. The next morning, Saturday, I got an e-mail from the wife of the sheep hunter we had dropped off on the previous Monday. He had filled his tag, with a HUGE Bighorn sheep and needed us to pick it up for him. Now, the trail that the sheep are up is much harder, steeper and rockier than all of the other trails we do, but there was a job to be done, even if it was our second long hike in two days.

If you've ever heard the saying "If you don't like the weather in Colorado wait a day...", that is because the weather can change very quickly in our magnificent state. We had the two extremes on our hikes, literally hours apart. Our hike on Friday was the best hike we have had in quite some time, the weather was spectacular and the llamas did a great job. We arrived at the top in good time, well before our hunters, so we had time to sit and enjoy the view. Directly ahead of us (the direction of most of these pics) is the backside of Mt. Rosalie and beyond it is Mt. Evans. The views are breathtaking, it seems as if you could see for miles. The llamas love the high altitude tundra and were content just to munch while Tom and I took pics and enjoyed the sounds of the forest. The elk were in a valley below us and were bugling, it was like a symphony back and forth across the picturesque canyon!

As you can see in these pictures, the weather on Saturday was not quite as fantastic. Yes that is snow falling that you see. Great big fat flakes that soak through your clothes in no time flat. At lower elevations it was raining, so I wasn't sure which was the least of the two evils. We arrived up at the sheep hunting camp in great time, it's a little easier getting the llamas up the mountain when their packs are empty. Anyway, we arrive at camp, which at first glance did not look at all packed up, and the fellas are celebrating their successful hunt with Wild Turkey and cigars. They were so happy to see us, it made the trip up worth the work. It took us an hour or so to get the camp torn down, listen to the exciting hunting story, and pack up the llamas.

Llamas are great pack animals, but the trip down the hill loaded can be as hard on the animals as a trip up. They carry their weight in their chests and backs, so it evenly distributes the weight on all four legs, but going downhill, fully loaded puts a lot of pressure on the front legs. We have modified our llama packs so that all of them now have what is called a crupper, a strap that holds the pack back that fits under the tail. It is very important for the packs to ride securely to get both panniers the same weight, which is very difficult to do in the snow, on the side of the hill, tripping over the happiest hunters I have seen in a long time. To draw his tag through the DOW took him seventeen years, to them it was the trip of a lifetime.

The thing that we love most about llama trekking is the fact that we are so gentle on the trail, we practically leave no trace. Llamas have padded feet instead of hooves, so they tread very lightly on good old Mother Earth. They are also browsers, meaning that they just eat a little bit of this or that, not pulling anything by the roots or taking too much of one plant or shrub. As a matter of fact, "nibbling" is their favorite thing to do. When we take breaks along the trail, you can watch a llama sample at least three or four varieties of vegetation.

As you can imagine, I was very happy to head back down the trail. Like I mentioned, it is a very rocky trail, and when wet, downright scary, so we knew we had to take it slow. This was just dandy with the llamas! It's funny, we were wondering if the packing was getting to be a little too much for us, and in two days we had the most fantastic experiences that it made us realize that this is what we are meant to be doing. The great hike on Friday was just the reward our tired souls had needed, and the hunter's appreciation was beyond flattering. To realize that we were a big part of a story that they would tell their grandkids put a grin on our soaking wet faces!

PS: the pictures are not in order as you could probably tell by now, the first three are of our very wet hike on Saturday. All of the others are from the fabulous hike on Friday, I thought it better to leave you with such beautiful images!

Royal Ranch Royalty

Good Morning! It is Sunday morning and time to meet one of Royal Ranch's Royalty. We have had an amazing weekend, so I really debated about not doing my weekly post on one of my infamous critters. This way I can keep my promise to my readers, and give my tired brain time to gather up all of the great memories to put into a story for you all tomorrow! It is hunting season here in Colorado, and as usual Tom and I can't see straight-how very lucky we feel! We hiked almost twenty miles in the last two days, and I'm excited to share our adventures with you.

For many years hunting season and Marcel were very well acquainted. Marcel is one of our first llamas, and absolutely one of the favorites. He is the leader of the entire herd, but he is the most gentle leader I have ever seen. Marcel is very rarely in any physical battles, but tends to get his point across without needing to fight. Whenever a new animal comes in, Marcel is the first to accept and love them. He has been so wonderful with the sheep for example. While the other llamas were either deathly afraid of, or wanted to kill the sheep initially, Marcel politely showed them who was boss, and allowed them to eat with him.

This last year, we tragically lost a llama, Carbondale, due to a leg injury during hunting season. It was a very scary thing to say the least, so I had decided that I was not going to take any risks with Marcel and retire him. As we all know, retirement plans change in times like these, so Marcel got to do our hike with us yesterday. Although the hike up is much easier, as the packs are empty, it is very difficult for the llamas to come down the trail full. The packs tend to slide forward, even with a crupper (a device like you see here on Marcel's neck, but it wraps under the tail to hold the weight back) on the pack. Llamas carry their weight with their chest and sides, so going down puts a lot of weight on the front legs and they tire quite easily. Marcel is a very dedicated worker, but is getting on in years (16 years old) and deserves to retire. He has been on every single one of our pack trips until this season!
Marcel is one of my rescues, but luckily does not have a sad story. We got him and his buddy Jasper off of an organic vegetable farm (kind of ironic he's gone full circle; pooping for a living, and then doing what llamas do best, packing for a living, and back to pooping for a living for Naked~Nure. The people that had him before, did not work with them at all, so when he got here he was very wild and difficult to halter. Llamas are very easy to train, so after learning he could trust us, he settled right into the role of lead packer.
As a matter of fact, my children's story Llucky Llama, is told from Marcel's viewpoint of living and loving at the Royal Ranch. He is also the llama that is on our sign and logo. Marcel is one proud animal, and we are so proud to share his life!

A Dedication to our Service Men and Women

Good Morning! I would like to dedicate today's post to all of the wonderful service men and women who are fighting for, and have already fought for this wonderful country. I really can't believe it has been eight years today since that horrific tragedy changed our country, and possibly the world forever.

I was watching the news that morning, before the first crash, I'll never forget it!! They were talking with a gal on scene when the second building was hit. We then slowly heard about the plane going down and the Pentagon. I stood there in absolute disbelief, with my hands over my face, I just prayed and prayed.

So many of our proud citizens were lost that day. To me it seems that even beyond the scope of the actual death toll, many families were torn apart as well, as one of the parents headed off to war. Tom and I have always had the utmost respect for the guys and gals who put their lives on the line for the good of our country, no matter what the price.

So, this is me taking my hat off to all of you, you have made our country what it is today!!!