Independence Day

Hopefully everyone was able to enjoy their holiday this week and remember the freedoms we enjoy due to the sacrifices others have offered.  This is really a great country that allows us to own property and specifically for our family, the ranch.  Try to really enjoy it this summer and remember how lucky we really are to have it.

This was a fairly slow week at the ranch this week.  Randy and Rhonda Carr were able to go to the ranch for part of Randy's family reunion.  They used the zip line and just had a good time there.

Dustin took his young men/boy scouts on an overnighter and they all slept out under the stars around the cottonwoods.  We stayed dry and had an amazing time up there.  Without any fire we were able to see just how clear the night sky is.  We  had a miniature lesson given by one of the leaders and he taught about the correlation of light and our saviour and how he is the light of the world.   He also taught us about how when things are the darkest we can actually see the furthest.  The stars we see at night are much further away than the sun we see during the day.  Sometimes, when things seem most difficult in our lives we can actually understand the gospel and receive guidance from the holy ghost much more clearly if we just listen.  The spirit was very strong and everyone appreciated being able to use the property to have that experience.

The boys scouts were running a cub scout day camp the next day and it was great.  We were able to build 2 flag poles right by the cottonwood trees, if you want to use them do so quickly, we don't know how long we will leave them up there.  The cub scouts were able to hike to the damn, shoot bb guns and wrist rockets, learn knots, learn first aid, play Native American games, earn their whittling chip, and their favorite the zip line.  They also did a service project for us.  They helped cut back and clean out some of the trees on the road to the zip line.  We were able to do about 100 yards of work.  Many hands make like work and we certainly were able to get a lot done up there. 

Thank you to all for not having any fires at the ranch this year!!!

Fires

With several hundreds of fires in the state this year burnt or burning and many of them very close to our home there will be an indefinite ban on any open fire at the ranch.  You only need to go look in a couple of the fields at the ranch to see the ash that has fallen on the dirt to realize how much of our forests have burned this year.  Thousands upon thousands of acres are now just a black mark on what used to be beautiful green and yellow forest.  We want our 160 acres to remain lush and green so please avoid having any fire up there until we are instructed otherwise.  Fires include any briquets for dutch oven  cooking or any coals as well as an open flame.  Pass the word along and also if you see other people up there please let them know that fires are not allowed.  Be careful shooting or participating in any activities that might entail any fire or flame to keep the area safe.

Hay

This was an extremely busy week at The Ranch.  Wednesday evening Jared, Tucker, Karlee, Kerri, Dustin, Libby, & Toby went to The Ranch and primarily spent time at Doug Weight's place.  We worked on some of the machinery to cut and bail the hay, which he is allowing us to borrow.  We were only up there for a couple hours but got everything ready for the next day when we would swath (cut) the hay.  Thursday morning Jared and Dustin went up early and were able to get the whole thing cut in the morning.  We also mowed some of the other field to keep the weeds from growing and spreading.  Here are a couple of pictures of the field ready to bail.

Saturday at 6:00 am Jared and Tucker went to bail the hay.  They were able to finish it by early afternoon.  Tucker also was able to mow the flat iron.  We have over 100 bails of good hay.  Here is a picture of the field and all of the bails of hay.  

We are hopefully going up on Monday to bring all of the bails down.  We will have to find somewhere to keep them before we can get them sold.  Trent and his kids, Valerie, Karlee, Dustin and his kids, Tricia, and Morgan all met up there in the early afternoon.  Dustin had a rapid leak in his rear driver side tire but luckily Tucker was able to help Dustin get the tire changed quickly.  After everyone was up there we all started pulling weeds on the potato field.  Trent was quoted as saying "I think we are doing this for a greater purpose."  He meant that we may need to return to farming someday and we are developing the skills to do that now.  Trent left after helping with the weeds and on his way home he got a flat tire.  Two flat tires in one trip, luckily it was on two different cars.  Everyone else stayed for an extra hour and sat in the shade or shot a .22.  It was a very nice day but also very hot.

Tucker Returns

Saturday June 23 Tucker was able to return to the ranch after his 2 year hiatus while in Guatemala.  He seemed to enjoy it a lot and a lot has changed in the past 2 years.  We have 2 new gates, a new road, a new fence as a boundary (almost complete), a hay field planted and ready to harvest, and the cabin being torn down.  Tucker was able to work with Jared, Trent, Dustin, Karlee, Tricia, Valerie, and Kerri to put up the wire for the west fence.  We were able to string all 4 lines about 3/4s of the way down the fence.  It was a lot of work but very fullfilling.  We still need at least 2 more rolls of wire to finish the fence.  We will probably need more staples as well as a few T posts.  We still need to cut and staple dancers between all the posts but we are getting close to finishing the fence.  Valerie, Trent, and Jared also worked on mowing down the thistle that is growing around the road and field by the cottonwoods. 

We also had an amazing dutch oven lunch up there.  Cheesey potatos, beef stew, dutch oven rolls, salad, and fruit.  It was awesome.  It is extremely dry up there and as we have seen on the news there have been fires everywhere in the state.  We are asking everyone to be very careful with any fires they may have.  Have a bucket of water nearby and only have a fire in the fire pit.  Thank you for your cooperation!!!

Upcoming events:  July 5th Randy Carr will take his extended family up to the ranch to spend the day on the zip line and have a BBQ.  July 6-7 Dustin Moore will have a young men campout and then on Saturday Cub Scouts will be doing their day camp up there, it will be run by the boy scouts. 

Ariel Map of The Ranch

Tucker

Not much was done last week at the ranch but this Saturday Tucker will make his grand return to the ranch. We will be meeting up there Saturday 6/23/12 to do some work and play. Come joing us for a great time. More pictures will be posted soon and hopefully I can learn how to create a picture portfolio for the blog. Kyle and Chad surfing on the trailer.

West North Fence, New Gate, Tractor, and Hammocks

Saturday June 9, 2012 several members of the Jared and Eric Weight families went to the ranch to do work. It all actually started on Friday night when we installed a new gate. The gate goes from the water spigot road up to the dam. Now we won't have to mess with the barb wire fence since we have been traveling up that trail a lot lately. We had to plant a railroad tie post and then another cedar post on the other end and then attach the new gate, then boom, a new gate is in. Saturday morning we had about 13 workers. We were able to string the barb wire on this fence and attach the dancers. This was a lot of work but with a lot of help we were able to get it all done by 10:30. Eric and his family had to leave to a family reunion at that time. Eric and some of his family then continued working south. We were able to plant 20 T Posts in the morning. We then took a much needed lunch break and some of us even took a nap in the hammock, played frisbee, or just relaxed with the family. Trent and Valerie were even able to weed some of the potatoe field. Trent, Dustin, and Jared went back to work in the afternoon and had a lot of work to do. We had to finish planting the cedar posts in a very rocky section of the south west portion of our boundary fence. We were able to plant 10 cedar posts in a few hours. We finished by dinner time and then right at the end had an amazing view of a lot of the surrounding properties with some of the cabins and fields. We could also see some of the hikes to take which we hope to enjoy later this summer. This next picture is what we have left to work on for this fence. We just have to plant about 5 more t posts and then on the wire goes with the dancers. Libby and Colbie loved playing on the old tractor together as many of us have over the past years.