Tour De Marriage Photos Part Two

A few more photos from our Colorado trip.

It was still a bit early for the aspens at the higher elevation of Grand Mesa National Forest. The acres of yellow leaves in the fall must be a sight to see!

A marmot watched us carefully from his lair in the rocks beside the road.

A grouse in the Gunnison National Park let us get only so close before flying away.

A yellow warbler was singing to us as we walked along the Gunnison River at the bottom of Black Canyon.

At this lower elevation, the aspens were a beautiful pale green.

About halfway up the canyon road, the aspens were a little further behind and decorated with tiny yellow-green leaves.

Near Placerville, we stopped for lunch alongside another river and found a lovely, coppery birch log shining in the sun.

Next up, red rock cliffs and wildflowers along Highway 141. Cheers!

Tour De Marriage Photos Part One

Here are a few more photos from our wedding trip.

We usually ended up out in the middle of the day taking photos. The sun is directly overhead and results in harsh shadows and washed-out colors. But the flowers were lovely and species that we don't ordinarily get to see so I couldn't resist. (Schnicklefritz, if you can identify any of these, I'd be obliged!)

Some kind of mallow, I believe.

I've never seen these before but they looked like little aliens.

A pretty little yellow flower only about two inches tall.

We had a little extra time and elected to drive through Arches National Park in Utah. I loved all the plants that grew in crevices in the rock.

One of my favorite plants: lovely, twisty juniper.

We expected Clint Eastwood to come riding along at any minute.

This photo doesn't really portray Grand View Point Overlook in Canyonlands National Park, Utah, very accurately. We were up on a high bluff overlooking a canyon that contained another canyon that was at least as deep. It's was pretty incredible and I recommend a trip here if you can make it. And, yes, that is snow at the edges of the lower canyon, so bring a jacket.

Haphazard Wedding In Colorado

Despite the best efforts of the weather in Colorado last month, we managed to have the ceremony we wanted - outdoors, solitude, and sunny skies!

Our plan was to find a peaceful, isolated spot on some BLM/National Forest land and camp out for a few days. The weather made that a challenge, even in western Colorado. It clouded up and rained so much that we thought we were back in Oregon! But on Thursday around noon, we headed into the Wild Basin Area of the Rocky Mountain National Park and found a lovely little spot along a waterway. The sun came out and, being midweek, we were surrounded by nothing but trees and willows and peacefulness!

We changed into our fancy clothes and took a few before photos.

Then we sat down and married each other. It was just about perfect!

I'm no good with off the cuff speaking so I had organized my thoughts into "What I like about you", "What I promise to do" and "What I'm asking in return” and wrote it all down. JD had clearly thought about his side of things but is great at\ spontaneous speaking and just kind of followed my rough format.

I read "Falling In Love Is Like Owning A Dog" beforehand and a short part of "Song Of The Open Road" after, ("I give you my love more precious than money...").

He said some pretty wonderful things, of course, and I managed to only tear up a little!

Then we exchanged rings,

had a toast of some lovely 12 year old Glenfiddich and took a bunch more photos.

Happy Birthday To My Dad

I just want to take a minute and wish my Dad, Curt, a Happy Birthday.

I'm sure I don't tell him enough that I appreciate him. He's the reason I can run a chainsaw, mend a fence, hammer a nail and manage my finances. And, credit where credit is due, the reason I'm a packrat. Our favorite mantra is “you never know when you might be able to use that.”

What he didn't actually teach me, I've been willing to try because of the way he taught me how to think.

So Happy Birthday, Dad, and many happy returns.

P.S. I hope your knee is back up to speed soon!

Chickens, Part Four Moving Day!

Two days before JD and I Ieft for our Colorado Tour De Marriage, we (he) finished the girls' new digs.

Before he moved the girls into their new home, he took a photo of me inside the coop for the last time:

and then started carrying the girls over one by one.

He put her inside the henhouse and she stood rooted to the spot not moving at all. I mean NOT. AT. ALL. If I hadn't seen her breathing, I'd have been worried. She stood in the same spot, the same position:

for about three or four minutes until JD brought the next girl in. Then they stood frozen.

They got a little better each time a new one was brought in but even so it took them a while to adjust to their new surroundings. They seemed confused by the windows. They could see out but could also tell something was in between them and the rest of the world. They poked around the inside of the house for a while but would only cautiously peek out the door:

And speaking of doors, JD, thoughtful and creative man that he is, designed and built a special door just for me.

It fits into a slot and the cable stretches up and out the top so that I can open and close the door without having to go inside the coop. Pretty sweet except he keeps threatening to paint a guillotine on it!

Eventually JD caught them all again and put them outside in the yard. They seemed to be nervous of their surroundings but liked him well enough:

The first several days, they couldn't quite figure out the process of getting inside and outside via the ramp. Now, however, when JD comes home in the morning and opens the door, they come running out. And when I get home at night, they are all in a little puppy-, er, hen-pile inside the house and I shut them in safe.

We've done all we can do. Now we wait for the egg money to come rolling in! And we figured out that all we need is a mere 100 dozen to break even on our costs....

P.S. I welcome feedback from readers - on content, on my writing, on anything at all! Feel free to add a comment via the link at the end of each post.

Chickens, Part Three

So The Girls are getting huge and are needing their new home soon.

We do think that at least two of The Girls are probably The Boys. The Barred Rocks above are the biggest of the flock and have a suspiciously proprietorial attitude when we clean the bedding or change the water or food. It’s still too early to tell for sure but we are keeping our eye on them.

JD has made some great progress on their new digs - which they will definitely need before we leave for Colorado in three weeks.

All that’s left is to cut and attach the roof panels, bury and attach the fencing and add a few more panels and a door to the house.

I think JD will be glad to be done with this project. The weather is trying to get a little more spring like with the lilacs and apple trees blooming away:

and there are lots of projects that need attention including our vegetable garden plans (containers on the deck or a fenced area with boxes, we aren’t sure yet), finishing the inside of the garage, and a dozen other maintenance projects like fencing repairs, trimming the goats’ and llama’s hooves, mowing the pasture, etc.

Happy Spring to everyone!

Chickens, Part Two The Girls Have Arrived!

This past weekend, we brought home four new chicks - Plymouth Barred Rocks:

(The color is a little off since we have a red heat lamp in their box and it's hard to correct.)

They are pretty cute and don't seem too anxious around people. This one even sat still for a quick photo shoot:

 

JD worked on the henhouse over the weekend. Henry helped.

And on Wednesday morning after JD got off work, he stopped at Burns Feed Store and picked up the rest of the girls: four Wyandottes and four Rhode Island Reds.

Well, we are hoping they are girls. My only real requirement for this operation was that there be no chance of fertilized eggs, and therefore no roosters allowed. We paid a little more for pullets rather than the less expensive straight run. The woman at the feed store told us we could count on 90% females. I told JD that if we do end up with males, one day while I'm at work, they'll have to somehow go to live on a farm with bunny rabbits to play with. Or maybe they'll run away to join the circus. I'm sorry and as a rule adamantly opposed to killing animals but I can't hang with the fertilized egg thing.

I'm still not sure how you tell on a chicken but a friend who sell his chickens' egg (and said we could count on more like 75% females) said their behavior would be the best indicator. Basically they'll start strutting around and acting foolish - kind of like typical teenaged boys. I think it will be a several months before the females get old enough to lay eggs so I'm hoping it will be apparent long before that.

Until then, we'll get their coop built and their yard in place and keep our fingers crossed. I actually petted on briefly today. JD picked up one of the RIRs up and held it until it calmed down. I was able to pet it with one finger for a few seconds. They are pretty fuzzy still and it felt more like fur than feathers. I'm not sure if I'll ever be at the point where one can sit on my shoulder [Kat, I'm talking to you! :-) ] but it's progress!

Bleet - Saturday Night Live

Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with my life. But I had to laugh when I walked through the house a few minutes ago.

JD's mom lives with us and is an early-service church-goer so she's sound asleep. JD worked grave last night and is snoring in the bedroom. Henry, the lab, is stretched out on the sofa. And me? I'm in my workroom sewing and listening to an audiobook.

It's 8:22 pm on Saturday night.

Another wild and crazy night here on the homestead. I feel lucky: this kind of compatibility is hard to find!

Chickens, Part One

Having had enough of expensive free-range eggs and not having any truck at all with factory-farmed eggs, we have decided to set ourselves up with some laying hens.

JD has wanted chickens for a while but never had time to set up a coop/henhouse. I like eggs alright but having bird-phobia, having chickens will be a bit of a challenge for me. I'm hoping that being around them on a regular basis will wear some of that down. For the time being, I told JD that I would do all the egg-cooking activity if he'll take care of the chicken-keeping activity. I think I'll be able to feed them from outside the coop but he'll definitely have to clean the henhouse and collect the eggs.

We've been reading up on chicken-husbandry and visited the chick room at Burns Feed Store in Orient, Oregon this weekend. Well, JD visted the chick room. I stood outside and watched the chicks safely separated by the plate glass window. They were pretty cute, I have to admit. Especially the one who had fallen asleep tipped so far forward that he was resting on the top of his head.

The woman overseeing the chick room was very knowledgeable and gave us lots of good information. She suggested building the chick box first, then, during the couple of months they are growing up, we build the coop.

So yesterday morning, we built the starter home for them. We didn't have to buy any new materials for the box. We built it all out of scrap lumber or bits we already had on hand - hurrah!

We used some of the cedar fencing panels we scavenged off Craigslist a few years ago (the same that we used for my garden boxes) and some other scrap 2x2s and 2x4s we had from various other projects.

Here it is, in all it's cobbled together glory:

JD even thought ahead suggested we create a removable divider to contain the little ones in a smaller area and separate them a bit as they grow.

We aren't sure how we'll set up the heat lamp. Apparently it needs to be around 90F for the brand new ones. I think the lamp on the rod as we have it will be too low. There's a beam overhead and JD suggested we hang the lamp on a wire so we can adjust it more easily and keep the temperature where it needs to be.

While I was at work yesterday afternoon, JD picked up a feeder, waterer, a little food and a red bulb for the heat lamp (which is supposed to be calming). Now all we need is bedding and some grit and we'll be ready for the new arrivals! We aren't sure what kind we'll get yet. Since they are strictly for egg-production, JD's been reading about all the good laying breeds. And I requested breeds that tend to be docile. We both like the Plymouth Barred Rocks (the black and white checkered ones) as well as the Rhode Island Reds and New Hampshire Reds. There's also a heritage breed called a Wyandotte which is a really burly looking - round and plump - that JD likes. We read that chickens can get agitated around other chickens that look too different (or are different sizes or ages) so we don't want to get too diverse.

The most important aspect, for me, is that they come from a reputable and humane breeder. The whole point is to make sure our eggs come from chickens that are treated well and it would defeat the purpose to get the chicks from a factory farm. I'll have to do a little research before we make a final purchase. I like supporting Burns Feed Store but I want to find out where they get their chicks from first.

I'll post pictures of the girls as soon as we bring them home.

Haphazard Blogging

So I sort of just realized how long it's been since I put up a new post. Since returning to work in January, it's been increasingly hard for me to post with any regularity. Being back at work full-time plus doing a lot of sewing for my wedding clothes plus trying to spend time editing and re-organzing my photos has kept me terribly busy. The other problem I am experiencing is that the topics about which I like writing (homesteading stuff, gardening, canning, goats) are all sort of tucked away for the winter. (Okay, maybe not the goats but goat-centric projects certainly.) So I've found myself struggling to find something interesting to say.

There are a few little projects that I think are relevant and, I hope, interesting to readers so it's not like I have nothing at all about which to write but one of the things I'd like to improve the most about my writing is the speed at which I can turn out a finished project. I feel like my writing is okay but it takes me a long time to be able to say “Okay. It's done.” I'm sure the best way to decrease that time frame is to write more. So maybe my goal should just be to write more frequently - then the other issues, speed and quality, will fall away as a by-product.

I will do my best to get something up at least weekly. A couple of non-friend/family readers were kind enough to follow me. Not giving them (and my family/friends as well) something new would be a sorry way to repay them.

I thank you all for your patience and loyalty. For now, here's a picture or two. I hope you like them!

Rosehips at the elk feeding grounds, Mist, Oregon.

 

Lovely red blackberry vines in winter

  

Frosty spider webs.

  

Haphazard Hiking - Criterion

In anticipation of our hiking/wedding trip in May, I suggested to JD that we start taking day hikes to get in shape. Last Sunday we drove out to a place just south of Maupin in central Oregon and hiked for about two and a half hours.

The map posted in the parking lot called the property the Criterion Acquisition. In the early 1990s, the BLM purchased the old Criterion Ranch with an eye towards providing additional access to the Deschutes River and linking other public lands (although there was some debate about the efficacy of their efforts published in The Bend Bulletin.)

JD knew about the area from his bird hunting days and indeed we did meet some hunters in the parking lot as they were wrapping up.

We had amazing luck with the weather: 50F and sun! What a treat in rainy PNW January. We had the area to ourselves and we turned Henry loose as soon as we got away from the parking lot. He was overjoyed and it was fun to watch as he bounded through the sagebrush stopping every few feet to sniff something interesting.

We walked along the service road for about half a mile and then turned to go overland following a gentle hill. I had to stop several times just to listen - to nothing at all. What a luxury to find somewhere away from the noise of humans and machinery. There wasn't even a plane flying across the sky. The only sound was the wind blowing through the juniper.

The air was so fresh, filled with the clean scent of sagebrush - that always takes me right back to my parents' place in New Mexico.

The main purpose of the hike was hiking but neither of us could resist shooting a few photos on such a beautiful day.

It was interesting to see Mt. Hood from the east side with sagebrush and juniper in the foreground rather than the doug fir forest I'm used to:

 

There were a few fences left from the ranch and one spot had a mass of vivid green lichen growing on it:

  

The sagebrush was mostly twiggy and leafless and the bright orange lichen looked lovely against the grey bark:

  

We even got Henry to sit still for a few shots although it was clearly under protest:

  

We took it easy since it had been a long time since either of us had been hiking. I also wanted to test how my leg held up. Neither of us are planning on climbing Everest or anything but we do want to be able to hike a bit for the sake of photography. We just want to get a little way away from the crowds to seek out some more unusual photos. I'm happy to say that we both held up well and weren't even sore the next day. I'm encouraged and looking forward to more trips.

Do you like to hike? Where's your favorite spot? Do you like to meander or challenge yourself?

Goat Sociology

Being an adoptive mom to goats is new territory for me. For a year or two, JD and I talked about bringing goats in to keep down the blackberries that are slowly burying us alive. I've never had goats before but by all accounts they are pretty great animals and keeping something that likes to eat blackberries is pretty appealing. Seeing them last year at the Oregon State Fair sealed the deal for us:

 

 

Despite growing up in rural areas of New Mexico and Texas, we never had goats. There were always an assortment of animals around: dogs and cats, a few horses, flocks of chickens and I even had two pairs of ducks and a little Bantam rooster and hen. I even have a vague memory of pigs at our house in New Mexico. But no goats.

When JD and I first brought Spike home, I emailed photos of him around to my family. They all know that four-legged animals are my version of children and have come to expect a different sort of "family photos". Everyone thought our latest addition was pretty cute.

Except Dad. My mom told me that he had a less than enthusiastic reaction: "I showed the picture to your father, but maybe you remember his speaking of Depression Days when he was growing up and on welfare. They were given charity food and some of it was canned mutton and he has never been able to eat lamb or anything resembling it since. So, I'm sorry to say, he didn't not wax enthusiastic about your new family member. But I still think he's a pretty color." That certainly explains the lack of goats around my childhood homes.

So I have a learning curve when it comes to goats. I rode a fair amount when I was a teenager so I understand how a horse operates. I've had a few dogs and I know how to interpret their behavior and how to be the pack leader. I have kind of a bird phobia but they are small and I can run away from them (yeah, that's right, I'll say it out loud!). Even cows, while being large and kind of cumbersome, are pretty direct-able (bulls are a different story, I know that much.)

Goats are another story entirely. I'm still learning what their behavior means, what their social structure consists of, whether they have an Alpha Goat (male or female) or just small groups within a herd, etc. JD told me one thing he learned was that when a female had kids, their position in the herd was one rung below their mother's rank. There is definitely a hierarchy among the three that we have now. Spike is at the top, then Sir Robin and at the bottom Sir Lancelot. I'll be curious to find out if those positions can change as Robin has displayed some challenging behavior towards Spike.

We've done some reading and there's always Google but does anyone have goats? What should I look out for? Does a herd of males act differently than one of mixed genders? None of our males are, um, intact. Does that affect their herd behavior significantly? I'd be grateful for information about your experiences with goat sociology be it anecdotal or scientific.