Royal Ranch Royalty...or not!

A relative of my intruder?

(Pic taken in 2006)

There was a fox in the hen house!  Or damn close enough for my liking, let me tell you.  I went up to do my chores the other morning with my daughter in tow as usual, and thankfully had Rosie and Gigi with me like I always do.  

Well, that morning the chicken scraps were particularly yummy for dogs, so I set them up high on the top of the hay stack so that Rosie would not eat them.  As per typical fashion the baby sheep and the rest of the critters were cramming themselves up against the fence where the hay is stored impatiently waiting for their breakfast, when suddenly Rosie pushes past me to growl at my feet.  These vicious little snapping jaws come out from underneath the pallet from where we store the hay, just inches from where my foot had just been and the faces of my beautiful animals!

I freaked out and yelled for Isabella to run and tried to get the dogs away from the snarling and snapping unidentifiable jaws; all the while the llamas, lambs and sheep are still yelling for their breakfast as if nothing at all is happening.  See, I thought it was a badger, which are very mean.  Either way, I was getting the hell out of there!  

A badger

We got the dogs home, and got the live trap that we recently found in the campground.  I thought it through, and realized that whatever it was could really only have two options.  The first being that it was not a well animal and that it had accidentally gotten trapped under there when we went up to feed and might need some help.  The other option was that it was a very well animal and that it was waiting to ambush my chickens when they came out that morning after I did my chores.  It had chosen the perfect spot to do so.  Again, either way, I was not taking any chances.

I prepared the trap the best I could and psyched myself up into going back up there.  Isabella stayed at about the halfway point.  She said it was to keep the cats from going up there, but we both knew it was so she had a straighter shot to the house!  My feet stayed as far away from that hole as I could possibly keep them while I literally threw the hay to my critters, and then I used a looong stick to retrieve the bucket of chicken scraps that I had placed unknowingly above the attackers hiding spot.  

When I set the trap up is when I found out it was a fox, and the damn thing had the audacity to be napping.  Here I was on a total adrenaline buzz, and he's having nap time waiting for my chickens for breakfast!  Needless to say, the chickens stayed locked up that first day.  The fox did not go into the trap, because when it came out from underneath the pallets to have a look around, Isabella taking off for home like a shot, scared him off!

All joking aside though, this could have been very dangerous for me (I don't particularly want a bellyful of shots thank you).  We have talked with a few neighbors since then, and we are a little concerned about this fox being ill and/or aggressive.  It really saddens me, because it is only because people have been feeding the local wildlife that we find ourselves in this predicament.  The foxes are one of the worst up here as far as people being guilty of feeding them.  It's not until the bear shows up for the foxes portion that the people quit, and then the smaller wildlife is already dependent.  

This is something I feel very strongly about, and even touch on in my book.  When I was doing a little bit of research on this fox's behavior, I found a great link on living in red fox country at the Colorado Division of Wildlife.  There is of course a different one for each species ( bear, mountain lion, etc), so take a look around the website, it is quite informative.

Well, although we did not trap him, and have not seen him since that morning, I still feel his presence "hanging around", so I'm afraid we are not quite done with this little guy.  Hopefully I will learn that he is a typical healthy fox that was just after an easy meal, but my gut tells me otherwise...

Shorn Sheep!

So I have two naked sheep running around producing Naked~Nure, now if that is not one of my very favorite play on words ever, I don't know what is!  The babies did not need to get shorn this year as they did not have enough growth, actually it was a close call, but I decided to err on the side of caution.  I am very glad I did because it has been quite chilly since I took the shirts off their backs, so to speak!

I was supposed to drop the sheep off inside my trailer at the ranch where the shearing was to be done the night before, and that of course did not happen.  Between my being hesitant to have them in the trailer for twenty-four hours and the fact that our B&B guests were really late, I got them there the morning of the shearing.  I knew I had given them plenty of time to settle back down after their ride as the shearer was not to come until the afternoon.  The arrangement was made for them to give me a call when it was almost "our" turn.

I took a lot of photos, but no video, and I wish I had, because the sounds were outrageous!  I thought it would be good training for Princess and Crash to have a ride in the trailer with their parents and to see how the process is done.  Well, I hadn't counted on how loud three nervous sheep can be when they think the other one is being viciously attacked!  Surprisingly enough, the sheep that is being worked on is very quiet and pretty calm. So, from here I'll pretty much let the pics speak for themselves, with a bit of commentary thrown in by me....I can't help myself...

To shear a sheep, or for that matter, any "maintenance" on a full grown sheep you just set them on their rump.  It reminds me of grabbing a cat by the back of the neck, it sort of freezes.  It helps if you're plenty strong to tip the sheep in the first place.  Hmmm... maybe this is where all that talk of cow tipping started!

She started right down the center line...

Princess, Crash and Paco all making sure Esther is not being killed!  (Notice the devoted son got a bit sidetracked by the bag of grain...)

The beginnings of a Fleece.

Look at that beautiful wool!

To restrain Esther when she got nervous, they simply held on to her legs so she couldn't kick and covered her head to minimize the stressors.  I kept trying to jump in and help, but they didn't want the newbie...Plus who would've taken all these great pics?

Roll over Esther, roll over!

Now Paco gets tipsy, I mean tipped!!!

Start all over again, at the center line and out...

I am downloading these in the order I took them.  Now it is Esther's turn to worry that we are killing Paco!  At least she has sense enough to keep the children in a safe corner-ha!

I'm pretty sure my ram had a head when I brought him...doesn't this look terrible?  Again, this is actually the least stressful way to shear them.  The owner of the ranch that I got these guys is gently holding his head back and covering his eyes, to keep him from looking around and getting all freaked out.

You know, I am really disappointed because Paco's wool is spectacular!  Literally some of the nicest wool I've ever seen.  I had previously agreed to not keeping the wool (a little under false pretenses, so next year will be different...)  But, to not even have a better picture of the wondrous fleece that came off this boy is a tad bit of a bummer.  Black wool on sheep is not common, and his is a very high grade at that, this has determined the new goal for my breeding of the next few years.  I have a wonderfully healthy wool herd that I pretty much fell into and I intend to keep the genes strong.

The wool is son nice, as a matter of fact the breeder offered to take both Princess and Esther off my hands.  No cash involved, she wanted to do a trade...We'll see, but right now I've got a good thing going, and until I have to worry about a ram for Princess, I will keep this amazing creature.  Even if we can't find which end is which!

She will be missed...

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

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

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

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

Green living through dentistry?

I just got done e-mailing my dentist.  We've been chatting back and forth all weekend.  Now, my situation is a little atypical, but the dedication of this woman is amazing!  She is a student at The University of Colorado Denver Dental School, and for Green Spot-On readers please catch up with this story here.  My journey with this school started clear back in February and has been a great one.
Now, what does all of this have to do with green living?  A lot.  I have found that this is a great way for me to do community service, save money and that the school is on the cutting edge of technology which includes green practices.  When I say community service, I really feel as if I am helping these kids when I go in there.  I have the attitude that I am forming the minds of the future dentists of the world and what better way than to be totally open and honest and give them feedback and to help them learn?
It was really interesting this last Wednesday when I was in there, the student had the instructor come over, and the teacher asked why my hygiene area was still blank.  My student said she had felt awkward about asking that, so that is one of the things her and I have been e-mailing back and forth about.  Brainstorming ways of finding out true tests of ones personal hygiene without embarrassing them.  I said maybe she could ask the patient to grade themselves and then she could ask why they gave themselves that grade.
My neighbor, Mr. P. has even gone after asking me about it, and calls and updates me each time.  He is so proud of all of the work that he has gotten done there, it is almost funny.  Most of his dental work was done many years ago in Germany and is now needing to be replaced.  He is proud to tell me that for the thousands of dollars that his regular dentist was going to charge him, his total is at about $330!
Now, as I said in my first post about the dental school, it has to be a proper fit.  Meaning you must be able to devote quite a bit of time to your student.  I don't think I've ever gotten out of there in under three hours.  Mind you, I have gotten a lot done in three hours, but when you include a 1.5 hour drive each way, you're talking all day for each appointment.  But for me, it is worth it.

Holy Holiday!

Wow!  This has been a very busy few days, and yes I know I say that all the time, but I've been on a book buzz!!!  It's been wonderful.  Amongst all of the other busy things that I always brag/complain about like the campgrounds and the critters and the kids and the B&B, we have had a wonderful fourth of July and my books are literally flying off the shelves, okay I don't have time to even get them out of the box onto a shelf.

It has been wonderful to hear from friends and family on Facebook and here on the blog.  We have also had people stopping by, just to pick one up.  The regular flow of traffic yesterday was downright funny.  The kids were laughing because usually the cars stopped on the road are because of Tom, but yesterday they were all stopping for books.  And of course, the one time it was a person I didn't know very well, we had a loose llama.  Oh well, at least she was an animal control officer in some county and was helpful in getting our errant llama back into his pasture.

As for our holiday celebrations, I had to laugh at the men.  I think they were really disappointed that the cops didn't come.  They were like a couple of kids.  They'd blow something off and then throw the evidence in the fire and hide the rest of the fireworks, and then wait a bit.  Darn, no sheriff deputies.  Blow off something a little bigger, follow previous steps, damnit, still no cops!  Good thing it was raining the whole time, or I might've gotten a little bit nervous with these two almost fifty year old kids!  

Poor Isabella had her seat for the fireworks from inside the motorhome where we all spent the night last night!  She thought it was safer to watch from the back window, wrapped up in a blanket with a dog or two in tow.  I say "poor Isabella" quite loosely, because she was in there shouting out which fireworks were to be next, and which fireworks were to be saved for today when her brother Nathan gets home.  She also had a stash of soda (!) and snacks in there, so I don't think she was suffering too much.

Also, I wanted to give you a quick update on my drowned hen; she is doing fantastically.  The morning that I took her back up to the barn, as soon as she got within sight of it, she started squawking.  The minute I got inside the fence I had to open the crate so that she wouldn't injure herself banging around in there and she came flying out and has been acting like a perfectly normal chicken since then.  I am assuming she will steer clear of the water trough from now on, but if not, I'm ready for her!

On Saturday, the adult sheep were shorn and that was a big deal for our little ranch as this is the first time for us with sheep.  I did take pictures, but left my camera case, which has the cord to download said pictures, at the farm that we went to to shear, so I think I will do an entirely separate post about this sheep shearing thing when I get it back.  Let me tell you, it was a learning experience, and it really has me thinking about my sheep breeding program...but more to come on that.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said I've been running, but I couldn't let this holiday weekend pass without popping in to say Happy 4th of July, even if I am a day late.  Actually, this is one of my favorite holidays of all.  There is no gift giving expectations, you can almost always find free things to do, and the patriotic spirit is at it's highest in all Americans-how wonderful!

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.

Summer Stir Fry

 (Not my photo, I of course was not thinking of blogging as I was rushing to get dinner on the table, but it gives you an idea, minus the pasta.)

I've got to tell you, this is one of the family's favorite new recipes, and I came upon it completely on accident.  And when I say I came upon it, it means that I just made it up...so please feel free to adjust it to your tastes.  As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the easiest things to make, because it is almost entirely made of leftovers, and only heats up your kitchen for just a few minutes, so is very temperature friendly on those very hot sticky days!  Here are the ingredients that I use:

~Leftover cooked meat; so far this has been diced pork that has been cooked in the crock pot or BBQ'd chicken.

~1 bag broccoli coleslaw mix (I get mine at the food pantry, but it is very inexpensive in the produce aisle)

~2 or 3 colorful peppers, I use 2 pretty non spicy peppers and one spicy

~veggies of your choice (I use whatever is good that week, squash, snap peas, the sky is the limit, or better yet, your kids are the limit!)

~cooked pasta or rice (we like our Chinese food lo mein style and I always have leftover pasta in the fridge that I can just toss in there so it saves me the time of cooking rice, but knock yourself out.)

~Soy sauce.  No kidding here, the first time I made this, I used leftover packets from when we had take out, and believe me, we can't afford take out very often, so it doesn't take much soy sauce!  We like this recipe so much I did break down and buy a bottle of soy sauce though and it is very cheap, look for it on the "Asian" food aisle.

Since everything is usually precooked, just start by heating your pan with just a tiny bit of olive oil in the bottom while you cut up your veggies.  Place all of the veggies, along with the slaw and brown for just a few minutes before you add your cooked meat and pasta.  Heat all the way through and add the soy sauce to taste and consistency.  I do want to remind you that soy sauce is very salty.  Tom got a little carried away with it the last time we had this and added some after I served dinner and had a stomachache in the night, so don't serve it on the side!  You'll hear about it later-ha!

This is a great dinner because all of your veggies, carbs and protein are all in one helping; I simply get my fancy bowls out and serve it up!  The family thinks they're getting a fancy schmancy dinner and it probably only takes me about fifteen minutes from start to finish, I haven't heated up my kitchen too much, it hardly cost me a dime and I cleaned out my fridge...let alone how many veggies I just snuck into their unsuspecting little bodies!