Moving 101, Royal Recycled Style (packing and storage tips)

 Well, as you can all imagine we are on the countdown to the big Homestead move.  It officially started on April 6, 2012; when we have just 2 months left at The Royal Ranch.  But, leave it to The Jeute's to get the scheduling all messed up.  My daughter went and broke her arm; and like we do everything, she did it BIG!

So, on the day we were to start our countdown and I was to be packing I was instead in the ER having this fixed on my beloved Baby Girl; who also just happens to be my "right hand girl", pun intended.  (Although thank God it was her Left hand as you can see on the X-ray!!!)

Anywho, the main reason I wanted to post today is that I have some brilliant packing ideas to share with you guys.  And you don't have to be moving to use packing ideas; anyone that stores stuff (which is pretty much every single person I know) could use these tips!

The first may seem quite obvious to some, but on a big move one must really think it through; grouping like things!  Take for instance my china cabinet, that is one of the places that I have started and will use for example here today.  Now, we are moving to a MUCH smaller place so a lot of my stuff is going into storage; but I would like to consider it a couple of different kinds of storage.  One that is a bit more accessible and one that may be gone for a few years.

So I started out by emptying the china cabinet and grouping all my like items:

This may look like a huge mess, but actually it is organized chaos.  I am gathering things from around the house and deciding if they are going in storage 1) Needs to be accessible within a few months time (please, oh please God!) or storage container 2) May be gone for years, so I best have my poop in a group!  And don't forget the donate pile; always keep another box handy so that you can just toss items into it and then take it to a drop off location near you as you pack.  Even up here in the mountains we have places that will take all sorts of items, just do a bit of research; someone would love your gently used stuff; if it is more than gently used it might be time to recycle/trash it.  I am also making a sell pile which is turning into a sell house, our rental house will be a yard sale for the last couple of weeks we are here...  More on that later!

As you can see in the front of the picture, I have Grandma's china.  That will go in storage area 1 of course in case I ever get to host Christmas or Thanksgiving again.  Which I love to do, so I will be doing it for at least my family by next year, so the china needs to be accessible.  Anyway, these are the kinds of things that will help you decide what is important to YOU.

Grab a good sturdy box, make sure and tape the bottom a couple of times for heavy items like china and books and grab a marker.  Try and do some of the labeling before the box gets so full that you have a hard time maneuvering it around, trust me on this one, you will appreciate this tip after a few full boxes.  And don't get lazy when it comes to labeling; remember by the time you are done with this thing you are going to have A LOT of boxes that are all going to look similar.  Label all four sides and each flap that will be the top; that way you will be assured that no matter what side is showing when it is set in your storage area; the one that is out will show it's contents.

For fragile items now is when we can finally bring in our recycled materials; if you haven't already used a recycled box.  I used egg cartons in the bottom of the box, because of course everybody and their Mother has brought me egg cartons and now I can use them up!  The point is, take something that you have a lot of, that will be good for packing material, like old socks or underwear or the husbands old OP's, yes, I know they are out there because I have a drawer of them myself, LOL!; and use them/it for something more useful than just a space taker.

As you can see in the picture, I then wrapped my large platters in used paper bags and chicken dinner bags.  I did the same with the gravy boat, sugar and creamer containers as well as they could then be labeled since I rarely use them and won't need to unwrap each piece sifting through them looking for the ones I want when I am running late next Christmas; not that that ever happens to me.  I did the same with the million tea cups that came with this beautiful white and silver set of china.  What is up with that?  Anyway, I individually wrapped them in newspaper and then put them in two plastic grocery bags (finally a use for these horrific things!!) and tied them up and labeled them too.

Once it was all labeled and secured another layer of egg cartons and it was ready for tape.  This box was at the way top end of the heavy range for what I would want to do to any mover let alone two movers with bad backs as we will never ask for help with moving our personal belongings....Now as for moving the rest of the farm we just may be looking for a few good volunteers.

Anyone?  Is that crickets I hear????

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....

Meet (or is it meat?) The Meatrix....

Go ahead, I dare you to check out this funny video about modern day meat production....no blood or gore and it really gets the point across!

Please excuse this interruption to your regulary scheduled post:

 Meridian Trail

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

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

Don't throw away that old garden hose!

While in the process of finding and then getting my camera to cooperate, I thought I would do a quick post on how absolutely brilliant I am.  Oh wait, I thought this post was about soaker hoses.  That's right.  See, this has some background to it, because the men in the family said I couldn't do it...So I, of course had to try all that much harder-ha!

For some reason this has been the year that a few of our hoses have decided it is their time to go.  Take for instance this last hose.  I was trying to water my new garden and was wondering what was wrong with the water pressure, when oh my, I turned around and my hose looked like Popeye!  I didn't even want to get near the thing in fear of it exploding!  Well, Tom had already insisted that one just like this was junk so I quietly set it aside until all the men were gone....

That is when the real fun began.  My daughter and I got up early one morning and got a nail and a hammer and we went to town on that hose.  I mean we just put holes in it everywhere, it was really a pretty cool project because there is no right or wrong about it.  I then just hooked it up to the water and watched it go.

By this time the boys were up, so I had to do my happy dance....Too bad Tom wasn't here to see it, but believe you me, he heard ALL about it-ha!  And we all got to be in on the fun of making little adjustments to the dripper system while it was running and add a few holes here and there and get sprayed in the face when we removed the nail.  We had a ball.

PS:  When I went online to look for pics I remembered that I needed to tell you that I had a sprayer nozzle that I used to cap the end of my hose, but I do intend to get some sort of more permanent cap.  When time and money permit....get things as you can is my motto, and make do with what you have.

A Party With No Trash...Okay Maybe Just a Little!

I woke up this morning feeling like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders.  My biggest commitments for the summer are already over, and it feels wonderful!!!!  My sons graduated on Sunday and boy did we have a humdinger (does anyone still use that word?  And if not, they sure should, it's a good one-ha!) of a party!

We also had a baseball game yesterday that was a big deal as my daughter and the choir that she is in sang the National Anthem for the Colorado Rockies; and they showed the town how that song is sang!  I was so very proud.  The group of fourth and fifth graders walked onto the field with a march in their step, took their  places in the choir and belted out our National tune like any professional group could do....even my Grads were impressed!  And that my friends is pert near impossible to do these days, let me tell you.

But back to the party with no trash; really it can be done; with a bit of preparation (and a bit of yucky digging afterward, I must admit).  Now, if you have been a reader of mine, on either of these blogs, you know that I am not at all familiar with paper products.  I do not buy plastic bags or paper plates or even paper napkins; my one downfall is paper towels and I do buy those very infrequently in bulk.  So the paper product aisle itself was a bit overwhelming to me.

So, I headed straight to the party stuff.  I knew I didn't want any "crap".  You know what I'm talking about the kind of forks that break when you first put them into a bite of potato salad?  Or the plate that dumps everything on the unsuspecting kid?  Yeah, I wasn't having any of that.  Party stuff it was, and blue and black to match the boys' colors, easy enough.  From there, it is simply a case of turning the products over and making sure they are recyclable, if not, put it back.  There are plenty of choices out there people, we do not have to fill up our landfills.

Okay now we are at the party and of course we have not gotten the trash cans and the recycle cans marked like I wanted.  Actually there was a huge misunderstanding and we thought the neighbor was bringing some last minute supplies (like the grill, trash cans and bags) so we didn't have them to mark....but anyway; my point is is that it doesn't even matter if it all gets mixed up.  I was able to nonchalantly grab the plates out of the trash as I was going by and put them into a different bag.

This all may sound a bit yucky, but to me it was well worth it.  I had purchased cans for the kids to drink; we had recyclable cups for the keg (I even grabbed out a lot of the food trash for the chickens-ha!).....So let's run down what all was in my trash can when this party for about 75 people was over.  Bags for ice, bags for buns, plastic silverware (and damn did I try and find some that is recyclable, I will try harder next time!) and napkins; that is about it.  That is one small bag of trash for a very LARGE party.  Now, we have two HUGE bags of recyclabes, but that is okay.

We had a wonderful party to help send the boys off right; we won't be filling up the landfills and polluting my beloved Mother Earth in the process and I am done with my major commitments for the summer.  Now it is time to get to work on those campgrounds....keep those campers from burning down our forests and enjoy the time with my children.  Wow, I truly am a very blessed woman.

Waste not, want not....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Firestarters

As I have mentioned a few times, I am helping my friend Tiffany teach a class on Wednesdays at our local middle school.  Our class is called Environmental Action, perfect for her and I, huh?  Actually, she got to choose the class, one of the things that I am so proud of, in this day of budget cuts, our school found a way to add a slew of electives for our kids!  Not only are our teachers getting to teach things they have never taught, some of them for the first time in more than ten years, but our kids had a variety of electives that our district has never seen!

Okay, enough bragging, and on to the nitty gritty.  Last Wednesday, our goal was to use up the huge amount of eighteen packs of egg cartons that I get donated to me.  Although I love my egg carton donations, most families only use a dozen, especially once they learn of how rich farm fresh eggs are, so the eighteen packs were really stacking up.  I had a stack about two feet high, and that is with them all laid flat into one another!

So, brilliant Tiffany found a recipe for Firestarters.  We had the kids bring in old candles, shredded paper and cotton material.  We filled the egg cartons with the materials (I found that a mix of paper and cotton works best) and then filled with the melted candles.  Interestingly, you can just toss the whole candle in a double boiler, when you go to pour it into the cartons, any wicks or labels will separate.  We even used recycled double boilers, as we had coffee cans for the water and smaller steel cans for the wax.

Let them dry, and then tear them apart.  The extra egg carton that will be attached to each firestarter will be the "wick".  Now, I have not tried any, because the kids have decided to donate them, doesn't that make a person proud, but I'm sure they'd make your fire in the woods just dandy to start, let alone one at home!

Sorry about not having any pics, but with them not being my kids, I didn't think I could take any...what do you think Tiffany?  But you can check out a picture and another post, as a matter of fact it's what we based our idea on, here.

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

What the heck day is it anyway?

Poor Tom knows, it's go back to work day for him.  But that does explain why I have been a little messed up on my days.  When Tom is off work, plus the kids being out of school, there is just no way I can keep track of what day of the week it is.  When I last left you I wished you a good Sunday on Friday, but it worked out just as well, because I wasn't able to get back on until just now, so anyway, I hope you had a good Sunday.

We sure did, we got a lot of work done around the ranch, but more on that tomorrow (once again, I have amazed myself in my recycling and money saving endeavors and want to save it for a Tuesday when I write for GreenSpot-On), today I need to keep my promise to my dedicated readers.  I told you that I would share some photos from our Royal Llama Adventure from Saturday and here they are:

This is how the morning starts out, me in the kitchen.

Our first snack break.

Practicing knots?

Bonding.

"The bowl" at Mt. Logan

Having fun skippin' rocks at "the bowl"!

He's always climbing something.

(Tom)

Finally, food!!!  A quick side note here, although I take paper napkins, we use cloth to wrap the silverware in.  Then I can use the dirty ones to put in between the dirty plates on the way down.  I came home with four paper napkins in my trash bag and only recyclable water bottles and soda cans, that's it, no other trash was created from this picnic.

Look at the size of this mushroom!

We all had a wonderful time and the rain held off until we got to the gate (in our cars), it couldn't have been any better timing!

A Milestone

One year, could it really be?  One year ago today was The Beginning of this blog, aptly named, I suppose.  It really is quite fitting that it happened to be on a Tuesday, and let alone the 13th.  I had to look it up, but I knew the anniversary was coming up and was pleasantly surprised about those two facts.  Tuesday because it would fall on a day where I do double duty and write for Green Spot-On too; and the 13th because that was Grandma's favorite number.  Her birthday was August 13th so I'm assuming she was a little partial to it.
What to do on such a milestone?  I mean, it's not like my birthday or something.  I don't see any gifts coming my way... damn!  But I do feel like celebrating.  This really has been a blast for me, getting to know my readers, but better yet, getting to know how my blog affects my readers.  Not only do I share funny stories about things that happen on this crazy piece of heaven on earth, but I have tried to share some things that hopefully make a difference in a persons life.
Maybe in just a little teensy way, admit it.  Okay I admit it, blogging reminds me constantly to stay true to the course that I have chosen, you know the environmentally friendly one.  Recently a friend of ours was making these huge bear traps (don't worry, they are only for decoration) and I encouraged him to use recycled material.  He came roaring in the driveway the other day to tell us that his product is now 85% recycled (thanks to me, he added) and he has already sold one!
Or maybe I have helped you deal with a health issue, because Lord knows, I've had my share.  Hopefully I help you deal with them with dignity and humor, because sometimes that's the only way to go.  But above everything else, I hope mostly I brought a smile to your lips each and every time you saw that there was a post.  I also hope you have learned by now that I am a total rebel at heart, as a matter of fact, many times my own rebellion is my worst enemy, so I thought it quite appropriate that I close this milestone post with a hillbilly "Rebel Girl" song from Miranda Lambert:

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.

One Big Load

Okay, I am a little later with this post than I usually am, but I have a good excuse. See, I started to post this morning, but realized that what I really wanted to talk about had to wait until the end of my trip into the big city.  Yes, that's right, I braved the heat and headed down the mountain into Denver.  I say it like it's such a big deal, when many of the people in my community, including my husband, do it four or five times a week.  Eeew, I could not deal!

But back to me and my trip down the mountain.  The kids drug me down you see; they of course love the adventures to be had in the city.  Nathan had finally saved up enough money from his birthday and working around the neighborhood for an i pod touch and Isabella had watered the neighbors plants enough for a new Build a Bear. 

As you all know, we spent Mother's Day recycling and cleaning up the ranch and today was my first opportunity to take the load of recyclables in.  As you can see by the picture, it was a full truck load; this is stuff that has taken us quite a few years to gather.  As a matter of fact, as Nathan pointed out as we were driving away from the monstrous recyclable mountain, we had not paid a dime for one thing in that pile.  The bikes had either been gifts to us or hand me downs.  Most of the metal was stuff that had been left on the ranch when we acquired it.

The best part of all is that we earned $41.25 on the load!  That's why I'm so late, I was dying to find out (and share) my total.  Now, to really make your recycling dollars stretch, you take that money and head to your local Goodwill like I did.  Man, sometimes I even impress (recycle to upcycle) myself-ha!!!  No, I'm just kidding.  Nathan is getting ready to go to Seacamp in sunny San Diego and needs a lot of shorts; so of course, my first choice for b-ball shorts for a fourteen year old boy is Goodwill.  Forty bucks for a cheap*$$ like myself goes a long ways, let me tell you... I also got some flowers for the beautiful crock I inherited from Grandma!  Too bad I'm posting this late at night and can't show you the flowers...

I'm here, sorta...

I am feeling a tad bit neglectful of you, my dear readers.  Life seems to be going in a crazy circle.  I was hoping that the kids being out of school would calm things down, but not quite yet.  I am off to pick up the last of the recycling at all three schools, visit a sick llama who's owner needs an encouraging hand, and run back home to get to work on those campgrounds!  But, just know, that you have been on my mind, and I thought I'd leave you with a picture and a question.  Is my love of trees contagious or genetic?

A Mother's Day of Recycling

I have found that sometimes the best way of dealing with the crap that life throws your way is to get grounded.  And I mean that literally.  Get reconnected with  the earth in some way or another.  So, when my family asked me what I wanted to do for Mother's Day, the answer was an easy one.  I wanted to get down and dirty and do some physical labor around this ranch and start the healing process.  For those GSO readers, please check out the last couple of posts at my regular home, and you'll see why I need some healin' time.

I must say that I am really proud of our accomplishments.  We only had two trash cans and all of this will go to the recycling yards.  Another great thing about it was the wood that we took off of stuff like the futon was used for a family bonfire and marshmallows...YUM!!!!

The funny part was that we had been having a long debate about the bicycles.  Tom said they had to be torn down, no plastic or rubber.  I thought they would recycle them the way they were.  Well, I had Thomas and my spare sons working on them for about five minutes before I heard grumbles that they should have gotten me a gift instead.  I tried not to bust out laughing before I let them go.  Anyway, after a bit of research, I, of course am right, they will be accepted rubber, plastic and all!

So, I will add about six or seven overly jumped and drug and abused bicycles to these piles, and completely fill my truck!!!  I will take them to Western Metals Recycling and have a very clean ranch to show for a great Mother's Day.  Fantastic.

CFL Bulbs

Good Morning!  I hope you all are having a good week and welcome to the middle of it!!!  Today I am posing a question more than posting a blog.  I need a little feedback from you, my dedicated readers.  I have the strangest problem going on and I can't figure it out.  Since the birth of the CFL bulb craze, I have purchased a couple of varieties of them, and I must say we have been sorely disappointed.

Granted, I never have the big bucks to pay for the top brands I'm sure, but I know that the last two boxes I have purchased have been name brand, because they have been from Costco (GE).  As a matter of fact, the first box that I bought from Costco, I had so many go bad in such a short amount of time, less than a year, I took them back thinking that they were defective.  I am currently on the replacement box now, and just walked into my office and blew one of the new bulbs, which is what has prompted me to pose this question to all of you.

As crazy as it sounds, I am honestly thinking it has something to do with this being an old house.  I am wondering if any of you have older wiring and have had issues with these very expensive and then hard to dispose of bulbs lasting even shorter than regular light bulbs would in your home?  I am all for helping the environment (as you have probably gathered by now), but The Royal Ranch consuming these CFL's like they are going out of style doesn't really seem right to me, what do you think?

Recycling Hair?

Yes, Recycling hair!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  What a fantastic natural resource that every single person, yes even including my very bald father, has to recycle.  I signed up for the Earth911.com newsletter a few months ago and it has been an absolute treasure trove of information for this blog!  I recently came upon an article entitled "I Didn't Know That Was Recyclable" and on the list was hair.  I was pretty sure I was going to come across the same old line of hair donation, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was actually hair recycling!
In 2000 an ingenious hair stylist named Phil McCrory was watching film coverage of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and notice the oil that stubbornly saturated the fur of the otters he thought of the huge amounts of human hair that is collected in salons and started testing the amount of oil he could soak up with the hair from his salon.  According to the article at Earth911.com "McCrory invented the hairmat to help soak up oil from an estimated 706 million gallons of oil that enter our oceans each year. There are more than 370,000 hair salons in the U.S., and each collects about 1 pound of hair per day. That represents a tremendous amount of landfill matter from something we probably never even thought about!".
With this great invention, was the birth of a great public charity called Matter of Trust that accepts hair clippings and turns them into the hair mats that are used to clean up the oil spills.  The group is doing all sorts of research with hair and fiber and it's uses and what a wonderful natural resource it is.  If you have a minute check out the website, it was very interesting and gave me some really great ideas for my llama wool as well.  Keep the link handy, and next time you get your hair done, pass it along to your hair dresser and they can sign up and send the hair in a shampoo box that they would probably like to get rid of anyway!
Now, I do not mean to minimize donating hair, it is just up until now, I thought that was the only way to "use" your natural resource that grew on top of your head, or unless like my Dad only on the sides of your head.  Boy, he's really taking abuse on this one isn't he?  Anywho, back to the subject of hair donation.  This actually is something I very firmly believe in.  The first time I donated was when my aunt in Iowa got breast cancer.  I could not be there, so I felt the best way to support her was to cut my hair when she lost hers.  I donated it in her name.  I must say I was a tad disappointed in the impersonal postcard that she received from Locks of Love.
The next experience we had was when my Grandma was first diagnosed with cancer, my decision to cut my hair was still fresh in the mind of my very young daughter at the time, but she decided that she wanted to cut her hair for "GG".  The timing still amazes me to this day.  We had been waiting for Isabella's hair to reach the proper length and for me to be okay with losing her beautiful blond locks when one morning I awoke and knew that the day had come.  My friend Della had just finished cutting her hair when my cell phone rang, I answered to my Grandma sobbing.  See, she had been a hairdresser for her entire life, so to have woken up that morning to clumps of hair on her pillow was more than she could bear.  The day that Bella donated her hair in GG's name was the day that I had to shave GG's head.
I have donated my hair one more time since then, but again, have been a bit disappointed in the simple, impersonal postcards we have gotten in response to the very personal gifts we have given.  I know that sounds kind of funny, but when I sent in Isabella's ponytail, I put on the form her age and the reason she had donated her hair, and again, just the regular postcard.  I did save it for her baby book and of course will make a big deal out of it on the page if I ever get around to updating the book, but it was just a matter of principle. 
The great news is that when I googled hair donation in doing my homework for this post, there have been many new companies that have gotten into the business of hair donation in the years since we have done it.  So whether your hair is long or short, whether you want to donate or recycle, don't forget, you have a wonderful natural resource growing right on top of your head (yes, even you Dad-love you!!!)!

Ecopreneur vs. Enviropreneur

Good morning!  You know how one thing tends to always lead to another?  Well, that is exactly what happened to me this morning when I decided to do a little research for today's post.  I have been feeling a little guilty about my environmentally friendly side.  Ever since I found out about the removal of all of my recycling centers, it sort of let the air out of my "green"balloon.  I must confess, I haven't even been as careful about unplugging my computer because it all seems like such a hassle and that sometimes I am the only person that really gives a hoot.  Well, we know that's not true, so as usual I decided to use this blog to keep myself focused, or my eyes on the prize so to speak.
Since I had spoken negatively about Yahoo groups, I decided to go back there (and give it a second try) to look for some environmentally friendly groups and some input for today's post.  Nothing really caught my eye (I don't think I have the hang of searching through the huge array available yet) so I decided to google Ecopreneur, which is what I call myself.  Don't ask me where I got the name, I just really liked it; and it is exactly what I am, an entrepreneur that is eco-conscious.  All of my businesses are based on some sort of environmentally friendly concept, so it couldn't be more fitting right?  Well, if it weren't a registered trademark it couldn't, that is!
I did find some very rewarding words as to what it is I'm trying to accomplish though at WiseGeek:
Many people believe that an ecologically-focused entrepreneur represents the best of the business world, finding a way to support him or herself while also helping the environment. The success of green businesses has also provided a workable economic model for preserving the environment, proving that it is economically sensible, sound, and profitable to care about the environment. An ecologically-focused entrepreneur who fills a unique niche like the need for biodegradable packaging can set the bar for future companies in the industry, showing companies how they can develop ecologically friendly factories and business practices.
I also thought the questions from Ecopreneurist to ask your self to see if you might fit the bill of an ecopreneur (they must not know about the trademark either-ha!) were great:
◦Are you more interested in what you do and with whom you work than how much you make?


◦Does community, environmental and social issues drive what you focus on with respect to your livelihood or volunteer time?


◦Do you view your experiences, growing and diverse knowledge base and unique skills sets as the primary value you can offer clients, customers or workplace?


◦Do you think the late Nobel Laureate economist Milton Friedman ate too many Big Macs after he argued — much to the chagrin of the massive multinational corporations and millionaire politicians — that “the only social responsibility of business is to make profits”?
◦Do you focus your life pursuits on helping others or restoring, enhancing or preserving the environment?



◦Are you more concerned about achieving balance in your life, seeking quality of life that doesn’t adversely impact the Earth or exploit people?


◦Do you readily try new ideas, explore new ways of doing things or adopt new practices or use new products or services that reflect your values?


◦Are you mindfully aware of your direct and indirect impacts on life on Earth, and accept responsibility that results in you being actively engaged as a steward of limited resources for the benefit of all life, not just for the present generations but for future generations as well?


◦Is work a reflection of your passions and values, deeply fulfilling and providing meaning and purpose, or merely only the focus for paying the bills, building personal wealth and funding your retirement?
So, Enviropreneur it is.  Oops hold on a second, I better go google that too, I'll be right back.  Whew, that just came back with what I would have expected, no trademarks-ha!!!  Although I didn't save you thousands on your energy bill today, or figure out the problem of global warming; I may have saved us all (okay, just me) from a needless lawsuit!
Make a miracle today!

Recycling Woes

Good Morning!  You know, I really like my blog to always have positive posts, but today I don't have anything to say that I can even slightly turn into a positive response to what is going on in my beautiful state of Colorado.  As you know by now, recycling is a huge part of my life; to a certain extent it is even part of my identity.  I woke up the other morning to this picture, I couldn't think of a better way to describe how I am feeling about recycling at this point in time (crushed and blown off!), my entire driveway looked like this.
You see, for over a year now I have become quite passionate about recycling and the benefits it can have for our community, state, and country (let alone the rest of the world)!  I started recycling programs at each of the kids' schools (which means I cover the entire school district) and my kids are very proud, even my sixteen year old son.  I can't do too much to impress a 16 year old, but I know this program means a lot to all of the kids; my spare sons even talk about how cool it is that I'm in charge of recycling their stuff and tease me that they didn't recycle that day at lunch.  Little Schmucks!!!

Although I have made some dear friends (Thanks Tiffany!), this has pretty much been a thankless job (the teacher at the high school has never once thanked me-how rude!), it is something that I truly believe can make a difference, and really it has.  It has really been a pain in the butt; with the wildlife and wind, but because it is something I truly believe in it has been a labor of love.
The problem that I am currently facing is that all of my drop off locations have been removed.  The few locations that are left are very far away and are very picky as to what they take, and all items have to be separated.  Well, there is no way to get students to separate their recycling; it just isn't feasible.  I called the Shriner's, who are the great group that has provided my oh so convenient dumpsters right by the Costco that I have to go to every now and then anyway.  They told me that Waste Management is removing the dumpsters due to costs.
We had a drop off site at our local Safeway for awhile, and it got shut down because people were abusing the privilege and throwing their trash in the recycling dumpster.  I am almost at a loss for words, almost.  People know what kind of trouble our environment is in, but make it impossible for us to do anything about it.  I really can not fathom going back to my old ways and throwing stuff in the trash, it goes against every grain in my body.
So, I am not only going to sit around complaining about it.  I have friends in high places in two of the local trash services that I am going to talk with to see what the problem really is.  My top is going to blow if it is simply a matter of money or politics!  I will let you know what I find out, but for those of you who have a neighborhood that provides recycling, thank your lucky stars!
I need to go make a miracle today!

Getting Rid of Those Pesky Meds

Good Morning!  Well, once again my family has given me the direction in which I should blog today, I just love that!  Of course with writing a "green" blog, I get a lot of questions about recycling and all sorts of other green habits; but the one my Mom asked me, regarding how to get rid of unused medication really had me stumped.  So... of course I did some research on how to dispose of medications properly.
The EPA has a website that is pretty full of information. It has a list of drugs that are safe to flush, and points out that many drugs have this information on the bottle or in its paperwork.  When in doubt, do NOT flush it, and this applies to all over the counter medicine as well.  I was really surprised to find out that if you have no other options, put the medication in a sealed container with something yucky, like coffee grounds or kitty litter and then put it in the trash. 
Interestingly enough, many states are just now coming up with ways to donate your medicine, which I was sorry to hear.  With as many people as there are who can't afford their medicine, it seems like a great idea.  This is what Louise at the Colorado Health Insurance Insider had to say:
I’m very curious about how the whole thing works. The donated medications can come from medical providers or individuals, but have to be unopened and sealed, and are checked by pharmacists to ensure safety. But who has unused medications sitting around? I know lots of people might have a few pain pills left over from a surgery, but they usually use at least a few pills out of the bottle first. As for medical offices and hospitals, wouldn’t they have a steady stream of need for the medications already? I think it’s a great idea to donate and recycle unused medications – I’m a big fan of donating and recycling just about everything – I’m just not sure where the supply is coming from. But it seems to be coming from somewhere – in states like WY and IA, drug recycling programs have netted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of medications for uninsured residents who would otherwise likely have gone without their prescriptions. So far, at least 33 states have passed laws allowing for donation, recycling, and reuse or prescriptions, and these programs are still new – many are in testing and pilot stages, so the full potential is far from realized. It sure beats having the drugs just go to waste in a corner somewhere.
I stringly agree with this opinion.  It would even be worth going through the red tape if we knew the meds weren't going to waste.  I did read a couple of places that organizations like UNICEF take life saving prescriptions to third world countries whose population really needs them.  To be honest, their website was just way too slow to load and didn't have a very good search engine, so I moved on.  It was a little bothersome to me that there really is not a definitive answer as to WHERE to donate your unused meds, and even if you do there are many rules regarding this, like they need to be unopened-What?
So, I guess for now these are the best steps to take if you have medicine that is expired or unused:

1. Check the EPA website and see if your medication is on the list of things that are safe to flush.
2. Hope that your state is one of the ones with a recycling program and take it there.
3. Talk with your Pharmacist, he/she may have a recycling program, or may let you bring it in for them to put in their hazardous material disposal.
4. If all else fails, try the kitty litter method.
5. ALWAYS remove the label on the bottle, no matter how you are disposing of it.  Most medicine bottles that I have come across are recyclable, so toss the bottle in the recycling and get rid of the medicine separately.

We really do not want these contaminants in our water, be it ground water or drinking water.  The impact on the environment is still unknown, but medications show up in drinking water all over the world.  As for the ground water, we all know how contamination of it can lead to problems throughout the entire eco-system.  And, shamefully enough, we have to worry about people or kids taking medication that they have no idea what it is.  Recently I heard that identity theft is even becoming a problem; with people taking your personal information off of an old prescription bottle.  What is this world coming to?
I hope this helps, Mom; thanks for the idea!
Make a miracle today!