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

An American Tragedy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Judy Jeute

Unbelievable!

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.

Welcome Double J!

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the newest member of the family...The Double J Ranch!  You can find us at dbljdotorg (soon) and dbljdotorg.blogspot.com (NOW!).

A musical clue:

Farmageddon; a great movie supporting local agriculture!

As you all know, I am very dedicated to supporting my local farmers as much as possible.  But for me, living in the mountains and not really having local farmers that is a little harder to do.  It is a learning process (one that I am very much still in the process of), Colorado may not be the biggest agricultural state, but by golly it is an agricultural state by some standards; mine included.

I am very proud to be a part of the agricultural business, I say it is in my blood.  It must have skipped a generation (my Mom is not really into the whole animal/growing thing-ha!).  See, my Grandparents were farmers in Iowa; they moved here to leave the farm life behind, I do believe.  But somehow it is just inside some of us, and I can't help myself...when I collect the eggs I am fascinated with the smooth little jewels of various colors.  And oh, my wonderful sheep that bleat for me if I am late to feed them...

And as for my packing llama string...I recently saw some pictures on Pinecam (our local gossip emag-ha!) of our ranch with Charlie Royal doing pack strings with horses...Well aren't we just going full circle?  I wish I still had that much land Charlie...But anyway, the joy that they bring me and our visitors is unparalleled; we get to teach our guests about our area, our way of life, but even better yet, how to be good stewards of the environment!

So to me, being a farmer these days is a lot more than just throwing stuff in the ground or raising organic animals.  It is about defending our rights to do so.  And teaching people about why we are doing it that way.  And why it is so important for us to raise heirloom varieties and heirloom chickens and sheep so that we don't have only one kind of corn or tomato or potato (and that there are still some nutrients in them).  No matter which way you say it; tomato or tomahto, potato or potahto, if there is no variety it would still suck.

Needless to say I was really excited to hear about this documentary:


Farmageddon - Movie Trailer from Kristin Canty on Vimeo.

Made by a Mom.  Check it out, there are screenings in towns all over the USA, or you can buy the DVD.  I have to wait for the movie....bummer!

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.

Buttercup...

Her name is Buttercup, and she is the most precious thing ever:

I took these videos a little over a week ago, and she has grown quite a bit since then:

But the funniest thing of all, is that her new best friend since I took these is Avalanche the Rooster!!!!

Is it the weekend already?

On our way to Breck, we saw one of these...

Amazing!

(this is my pic taken in '05)

Wow!  I can't believe the days have flown by like they have.  This is going to have to be an all inclusive post, dear Rebels, as I have had a few things on my mind to write about this week; I just haven't had the time (or the will) to sit down and actually do it.  The kids went back to school late this week, so we tried to make the very most out of the last bit of their winter break.

Which brings me to my first point.  Never tie your lunch to the top of your car when you go skiing!  I took the kids to Breckenridge on Wednesday, and due to my back I was sitting in the truck people watching when I saw a murder of crows (yes, that is the proper term for a group of crows) gathering over a neighboring car.  I saw the small plastic bag tied to the top and hoped for the owners sake that it was trash, but since there were receptacles everywhere, I kind of doubted it.  Those crows sure enjoyed the sandwiches and Funyuns that those people donated to them.  Fifteen crows took about three minutes to empty the bag and close half of the peoples' ski rack.  I wonder what they thought when they came back to that mess!

And you know what else?  I am so glad that my Broncos have finally pulled their heads out of their butts!  This coming from a girl who has been "crushing" on the Broncos for as long as she can remember.  Maybe it was when Rich Karlis walked into my hospital room when I was a little girl getting my appendix out, oh yes, I've always been a big fan.  But to see them cheating and going down the tubes like that was really a bummer for me...so bring on the Elway generation (and no, I'm not talking about my very lazy llama)!  By the way, what took so damn long?

So, the kids just got back into school, I barely get the Christmas tree down to the llama pen for their enjoyment...and here it is the weekend!  I hope your New Year is starting off great...I'd love to hear what is on your mind.  And how 'bout those Broncos?  Oh and watch your lunches in public parking lots, the crows can be just as bad as thieves, I was sooo wishing I had a video!

The Perfect Christmas Tree

Being an environmentalist really makes the Christmas Tree debate a personal one for me, especially living right in the middle of the forest and being as passionate about saving trees as I am.  But I know what a HUGE carbon footprint those plastic jobbies leave when they are made and placed in your home.  So where does that leave an environmental steward like me?

We looked high:

And we looked low:

And then we found the most perfect compromise ever!  We took a tree that already needed to be cut down!  This spectacular Colorado Blue Spruce was encroaching on the power lines at The Royal Roost, our "Nest in the Woods" getaway cabin for visitors.

 

It also was blocking some much needed sunshine from that very same cabin, so we knew it needed to go sooner or later, so I said why not use it for a Christmas Tree and firewood?

So this year, so far, my dreams are coming true.  What is your opinion on the Christmas Tree debate?  What are you doing this year to be green?  Or maybe to save some "Green"?

Murphy's Law

You know Murphy's Law is involved when your poor husband has been working his butt off to gather enough firewood for a few months; gets quite a bit split and stacked, and your chimney blows off with the first big snow storm!  I think my loyal readers know what my wood stove means to me.  I mean I even had this thing burnin' in the early morning all summer long!

So the other night when I was about ready to go to bed, and add a bunch of wood to the fire, I heard a huge crash...luckily I looked outside to see pieces of our metal chimney laying all over the darn driveway!  Believe you me, I did not add any wood, I freaked out and sat there and watched the fire that was left until there were hardly any embers left.  Knowing that at any moment our house was going to catch fire.  Sometimes I am such a FREAK!!!!

Needless to say, I was without my beloved fire for a few days...the coldest (and snowiest) few days so far this season...thank you Capt. Murphy.  But thanks to my dear husband and some new chimney tubing, I'm up and running this morning...Thank God!

Too Cute...

I absolutely loved this video and had to share it!

Ode to the Porcupine Gods

Dear Royal Rebels,

Please excuse the absence of Judy Jeute as she has been sitting around pouting.

Thank You,

Judy Jeute

No, I'm mostly kidding, but I have been having quite a pity party.  See, a very difficult part of being an animal "sanctuary" is that animals tend to find us, and that is not always a good thing; because sometimes they are coming here to die.  And it really breaks my heart. 

Take Monday morning for example, I dropped my daughter off at the bus stop and headed off to do my chores.  Rosie made it to the hay stack first, as usual, and I heard a hissing and then saw her jump back, and then lunge forward!  I knew to call her (good thing she's such a well trained dog!), and ran to see what it was that she was so interested in:

(Please excuse the mess, obviously I wasn't prepared to take a picture!)

This is what I saw.  A full grown, full blown, pissed off (well, kinda), porcupine!  Now, if this rings a bell, you're not crazy, this recently happened with a fox too.  Blessedly, we were able to chase the fox off, this guy... no such luck.

After taking the dogs home, grabbing the camera, and making sure that a porcupine is an herbivore and not there for food (like my chickens), and this is important to determine normal behavior or not, I headed back up to try and assess the situation and get this somewhat dangerous critter off of my ranch.

Now when I say dangerous, I mean dangerous in how my animals will react to him, and also if he was sick.  And don't forget that I'm not moving too quick myself, so thank goodness my renter was home to rattle his cage first thing in the morning!

So, being the mountain loving people that we are, we did everything we could to make sure that this was not a typical porcupine.  We talked it through (I know it sounds funny, but in a situation like this it is important not to panic), and then tried to chase him off and then even got a shovel and literally was able to physically move him around with it; problem was all he wanted to do was go into the llama pen.  And they were waiting to attack him with their front legs, and that would have been a huge disaster for me!  

This fella was terribly injured and so the only humane thing to do was to put him down.  Again, the Porcupine Gods were smiling on me, and I did not have to do it myself, although I was prepared to.  I have spoken with my vet since then and he agrees, which makes me feel so much better in my heart, but mostly I feel better about rabies.  It appears that porcupines are not prone to rabies like other rodent species and he agrees that it probably got hit on our new speedway of a road and came up here to die.  How sad.

But I will place some of his beautiful quills on my altar, and who else do you know that would be bummed out over a porcupine for two days?  So, I guess he chose just the right place to come maybe.  I honor the Porcupine God... and did I mention there is never a dull moment here at The Royal Ranch?

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!

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

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

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

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

Lost Park at sunset

Our walk in the "Park"

Dog walk at sunrise, aaahhh!!

You do see the antelope, right?

 

One of my favorite old barns in South Park

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

Pretty cool husband too!

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

There is no rock that they will not climb!

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

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

PS  Notice there are no links!!!

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.

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!

A quick note on Karma

To the jerks who left my spectacular campground a mess,

My husband let you stay for free because you said you were Veterans, that alone could get us fired.  You left your campsite dirtier than any site I have ever seen in the five years I have been cleaning sites, I have my doubts you are truly a Veteran.  After you filled the legal fire ring with trash, you built a half assed, illegal fire ring, and almost caught my forest on fire!  Although you stayed at the only campground with a dumpster, you could not get your trash bag over to it, along with the rug that your mutt crapped on.  Thank you for that nice surprise.

I guarantee your move across the state is not going well.

But on the other hand...

To my friend Kristi,

I hardly remembered referring the folks from The Royal Roost to you when they told me they were looking to buy real estate in the Jefferson area.  So it was such a wonderful surprise to receive a $100 gift card right when I was back to school shopping for the kids!!!  You helped us buy The Royal Roost, oh so many years ago, you are a wonderful Real Estate Agent and friend, you go girl!  Thank you and you know that only good things are coming your way.

Now that's what I'm talking about.

Recycled Roof

Yes, a recycled roof.  I was bragging on my daily (almost) blog yesterday about my environmentally, money saving, recycled roof; but I wanted to wait until today, when I could share it with all of you, even the GSO readers, because this is a pretty good one.  Wow, another sentence that would have my English teacher popping migraine (or worse) medicine!

I have to give you a little background here.  I have mentioned (groan, many times, over and over, you, my dedicated readers say?) that our little piece of heaven, The Royal Ranch, sits at almost 9,000 feet in elevation.  It also sits at the base of two almost fourteeners, Mt. Logan and Mt. Rosalie.  Now, I'm not just telling you that to brag, okay maybe a little-ha!, but we get some wicked winds up here, and I do mean wicked.  

This last winter seemed to be particularly harsh.  We had quite a bit of damage, we lost our historical sign, which I posted about here, and we had lots of little pieces of roofing come off the barn.  Well, I hadn't really noticed that those little pieces had all really added up to one big problem until we got all of this rain.  And then the other day, I went to step inside the barn and sunk six inches into the mud.   Now, I'm no genius, but when you are inside the barn, I don't think you're supposed to be slopping around in mud like that!

So, I get to thinking.  We have tried multiple kinds of regular roofing on this barn and it has not worked because of the tree limbs rubbing on it and the wind tears about anything paper like or shingle like, ie: typical roofing.  Okay what about a tarp type situation?  Now wait, I know you all are thinking, what, a tarp?  Now that's pretty hillbilly.  

But wait, these are the sides and the tops of the old hay barn that the wind took year before last.  It was one of those car port type things you buy at Costco, and it would have worked out great if it weren't for the wind picking up the whole thing, that was concreted three feet into the ground, and throwing it around like a ball of play doh (I told you we got wicked winds!).  It bent all of the poles beyond recognition and tore a few of the tarps, but for the most part the tarps were still in tact, and just awaiting a new life.  I recycled the poles, why not the tarps?

As a matter of fact the buildings themselves are recycled.  My tack shed is a six seater outhouse from a Civilian Conservation Camp from the Depression era that was moved here by Charlie Royal.  And the llama/sheep barn is an old chicken coop that old man Royal built himself.  When we first got llamas, we had our then renter, remove a wall and reinforce it for the larger animals, and voila, a loafing shed ideal for ruminants (which is what sheep and llamas are).

Well, it wasn't exactly me that did the work on the roof, anyway.  I don't think any of us would want to know the outcome if clumsy old me had gotten up on that roof.  But Tom did a heck of a job.  He laid the first tarp down and nailed it around the edges, and then a second one over the top, to make sure to cover any of the seams of the first one since these were meant to be walls instead of roofing.  He then sort of wrapped the barn roof like a present, and it looks great.

He also used some wood to reinforce where the wind will catch it.  He just took a long 2x12 and nailed it over the tarps.  It will hold down the tarps and to a certain extent guide the runoff away from the front of the barn.  The great thing about this is that now it is essentially one piece, so hopefully the wind won't catch little bits of it.

While Tom did the roof, the kids and I worked on the drainage around the barn.  I dug a few trenches, not really dug, more like guided the mud, to get as much runoff away from the barn as possible.  We all worked on raking up the loose dropped hay to put in the barn to soak up the mud; so it got recycled too.  Normally I would be able to rake this up once a week and feed it, saving myself quite a bit, but it is all too soggy to use; although I did see the chickens happily scratching their way through it, so that is good.

Back to me and my brilliant ideas, thank goodness I have a husband to help implement all these crazy ideas of mine.  I'll let you know how this one holds up, but in theory it's a good one, and it didn't cost me a dime.  So far we have had some really amazing rain storms and the barn isn't any wetter, which is of course what we were going for!

Sorry folks, I am experiencing technical difficulties, and have been waiting all day to get my links together and post this, but it isn't looking like the problem (within Blogger) will be fixed anytime soon.  So, I shall go ahead and publish without the links, hoping that you will come back and check those out another time!  Thanks for your patience~Judy