PUPPIES!!!

Jan 14,2016 PUPPIES were born! This is our first and last set of puppies. We have 6 beautiful dogs that have all been fixed except the two youngest Shih Tzu (from different places). Took them in to get them fixed and voila...puppies. 63 days later they finally came. Four were born which is a lot considering Shih Tzu usually only have 1-3.  Only three made it which was extremely sad.Here are some pictures of our babies. At the end is the link to the birth if you want to see it. Its edited so its only a couple minutes long. Didn't have to wait like I did. Excuse the Drumming sounds but apparently I am still working on my editing skills. Its suppose to be BACKGROUND music haha! Molly (the momma) is doing really well and I am proud of her. I only had to help with two so I was glad I was here. She is first time momma. I cant wait to see them grow up. Two of them are already spoken for and its not even been 24 hours:) Two great families that I am so thankful for anyways. Now we have had everything at the Ranch. Calves, Goats, Lambs, Kittens, Piglets, Horses, and now puppies. First and last batch but man aren't they so cute! Makes you almost want to keep one.

Subscribe by Google+, Bloglovin but email is best. Every week when they turn 1,2,3 weeks old I will be posting pictures. Who doesn't love seeing puppies grow up. Right now they look like little piggies or rats haha but they are super cute! ant wait to see what they end up looking like:)

FIRE on our Ranch

Living in California during a drought is never fun. Especially when living on a Ranch irrigating lands for cattle and having water for your own household. Everything else is VERY dry.

Where we live there is always threat of fire. Just this year alone on our property we have had 2 fires before today. Lightening strikes are usually the cause. We love the rain and need it badly but Lightening is not our friend especially during dry storms.

Yesterday though it was one heck of a day. Blue skies so did not even think of a fire. Ryan was outside fixing fences thankfully has a good eye. He runs three ranches. One we live on, one that is across the street per say (its 2000 acres away and on 3000 acres itself) and then one closer to town which we cant see by eye. While he was out fixing fences he saw smoke on the other ranch. He grabbed the quad, shovel and came in and yelled he had to go to other ranch. I decided to jump on with him and go help just in case.

Side note....its pretty funny when your heart is pumping because you see smoke that could be a small fire but with the winds we were having would turn to a big one and all you hear your husband say is, "Don't be mad if I am driving to fast and HOLD ON".

We get there and THANK GOD Thad and his wife were there putting it out. They had seen it, called Fire Dept. I felt so bad for them. They were frantic but so smart. The fire got dangerously close to the Barn and Thad was able to keep it away with wet blankets. I asked him later how he even knew to do that and he said "I have just seen too many old westerns I guess". Thad is an amazing Rancher who leases the land for his cows. His wife was amazing and had no qualms about getting out there to help. She had even lost her shoes while running to help. I think we owe her a pair for sure. Ryan jumped right in without a second thought and started turning over every little ember so it wouldn't spread. He got along the fence line so it wouldn't go out into the field and kind of told us what to do.

By the time the Firefighters showed up we all had it pretty much out but things were smoldering everywhere and winds were still high. With the winds if Thad hadn't grazed that area and our structures weren't on cement slabs I don't even want to think of what would of happened. I am thankful for Thad and his lovely wife. I know they were thankful when we showed up because it was crazy frantic. My heart was racing so much as we all were trying to get the fire to not go any further.

When the firefighters showed up they helped us to determine what had happened. With 50-70mph winds they said that the tin on one of the structures had came undone. It had blown up and hit a power line which caused it to arch. Once it arched it of course sparked and those sparks hit the dry land and away the fire went. They were impressed with how much we all had done. We were all lucky.

I am thankful to God. Thankful to Thad and Amanda for being at the right place at the right time as they aren't usually there at that time of day. Thankful to my husband for seeing it and running right over to help. Thankful to the firefighters who came and made sure it was safe and no sparks would continue to fly.

My husband was a firefighter in his 20s. That's what he went to college for. So when he sees fire he heads straight there. I know that he is smart and capable when it comes to fires and what to do. It helped with four of us helping. They were so thankful to see the dust coming down the road of Ryans Quad to come help. Being so far out it takes firefighters 40 minutes to get there. I cant even imagine what would of happened and how much land would of been burnt or structures at that.

Firefighters are amazing and everyday risk their lives. I was so thankful to see them and they were all so helpful! It gives a civilian peace of mind when they show up. Like ok....I can breathe...everything is going to be okay now.

It was quiet an adventure. I had told Ryan that I didn't have anything to blog about lately that morning. Later he said "well here you go". I am never going to say that again. This wasn't quiet what I was thinking about ha!

I hope the drought will end soon. I hope that no more fires happen this year. Its been a crazy year with that. Ryan is talking about getting a water truck. It really would make us all feel better. I worry but I think that is the job of a wife. I am just glad that everything turned out okay. We were blessed this time around.

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Coyotes killed my babies (Caution Pics)

 “Coyotes account for 65 percent of all cattle and calf losses to predators and 61 percent of sheep and lamb predation (ADHIS.usda.gov) Wildlife Services (a program within the USDA’s and Animal and Pant Health Inspection service). “

Quinny gotten by a coyote

We have four calves. They started out with rough lives either by the mother dying or not wanting them. One of them we bottle fed since birth. The other three we bottle fed when the mothers didn’t want them.

You can look at it the way of money. Each bottle fed calf is between 500-600 dollars and that’s only because they aren’t even weaned from their mothers and need supplements for months. So 600 times 4. Then you add all the grain and formula to each cow. We were feeding them 26 bottles a day. I went out in the morning and night when they were bigger. When I first got Minnie she was only a day old so we fed her every 3 hours around the clock. We give them all grain everyday which is 10 dollars a bag. I am sure you can see the numbers adding up here. Its an investment for sure. Especially when you are already feeding 4 teens but all their friends. These calves were for us to have for our family, produce more calves or help sell for college funds.

Quinny and Tulu before we left

Then there is me…..I love my animals. They are my babies. I talk to my calves. I pet them. I give them probably too much grain because they love it. I take a million pictures of them so I can see them grow. They think I am their mom. They run to me when they see or hear me. They follow me around the yard when I am doing other chores. They all have names….they are my babies. Yes I know they are calves but to me it like a family pet too. I have put a lot of time and energy so they are raised well and growing. They are gentle and all our nieces and nephews and friends kids can just walk up and pet them without being scared.

We went camping for two days. Came back to mayhem. We double checked that everything had been fed and watered while we were gone. Which they were. As I walked over to the normal spot and called for my cows they weren’t coming. I went over to check on the pigs and then a yard away I see this.

I cried immediately Quinny was gone…..called for Ryan. He said,”oh no coyotes” and we started to search for the others. All the kids had flashlights, driving quads as we searched and searched. The calves never stray far from the house.  We found Tulu hiding behind the hay bales. She was bit all around her neck, her face, her back leg and her ear was missing. She was alive! I don’t know how she stayed alive. My husband picked up this 100+ pound calf to get her into a horse stall so we could doctor her up, keep her from danger of anything trying to come back after her. She won’t be able to move much in there but we can doctor her up till she is better. We just prayed she made it through the night.

After 30 minutes we finally found RJ and Minnie. My panic subsided as I saw they were well. They had gone as far as I ever seen them go through hiding in a corner by the fences. They were our older bigger calves by 2 months.

I think the only reason the coyotes didn’t get Tulu after getting Quinny was because we have dogs that probably scared them away.  The dogs are always around the calves and we have never had any problems. The dogs usually keep the coyotes away. We have been hearing coyotes come closer and closer. They are definitely hungry if they are coming this close to our homestead. Our neighbors have been having big coyote problems too with their sheep. The coyotes went after the two youngest because they are weaker ones.

I am so sad. We have been doctoring Tulu and she is surviving thankfully. We have washed each wound, gave her antibiotics, sprayed all the wounds to keep flies away and so she will heal. We even are giving her electrolytes to keep her hydrated. She is getting better and I hope she is going to survive.

I know that coyotes have their place in the world but I personally don’t like them one bit. They don’t have a place around me, my kids or my animals. If they are brave enough to come up to the house that is not okay with me.

Here are some more facts so we can be educated on coyotes.

1.       Coyotes may only weigh 35 to 50 pounds but their jaws can exert more than 300 pounds of bite pressure.

2.       Veterinarian bills, lower rebreeding rates, and loss of weight gain are all part of the indirect costs suffered by herds that have been hunted by predators

3.       Coyotes kill $2- to $3 million dollars’ worth of livestock a year

4.       Coyotes are not eating the entire animal, they are just eating the prime parts and leaving the rest of the carcass to rot.

5.       They will eat the afterbirth right out of a cow that is calving. If hungry enough will eat the calf as its coming out. In most cases you lose the mother and the calf.

6.       Coyotes will lure domestic dogs out to them and kill.

7.       Coyotes kill for food, to teach pups and for fun.

We are taking precautions to help protect our animals. Please understand this is ranchers livelihoods and also to some of us our pets. These are the animals that you feed your children with. It’s a sad loss for everyone.  We are really saddened by the loss of Quinny and pray that Tulu makes it. Here is a picture of them right before we left for two days to go camping.

 

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Family at the Dude Ranch

This weekend was pretty fun. Ok, I know its Wednesday but after all the fun we had I have had to take a break. My cousin Aaron, his lovely wife BreAnn and their two kids came to visit for a couple days. It’s a lot of fun when family comes to visit. I am still recovering from Brain Surgery 11 months ago (it takes a year or more) so sometimes I get really exhausted from fun. Isn’t that crazy? It’s true though.

Aaron used to go to my mom’s once a year to visit. She passed away 4 years ago and now has adapted to coming to my house each year which I love. I like hanging out with them.

Its especially nice because of having so many bottle fed animals we can’t really go anywhere for more than 12 hours right now unless we have people to watch them. So family comes to visit here which is great! And we don’t even have to leave the Ranch ever.

Our first day was feeding animals, eating and reminiscing with each other while also catching up on life.

The next day Ryan took the day off and we all went to the reservoir on the property we live on. We had a great time taking canoes and kayaks out. It’s kind of funny because in 2 years we haven’t even done that because we never really had time. You know how it is. You do more stuff when your family comes to visit. We had a great time as you can see. It’s nice to have a place that no one else is at. It’s just you and your family

And dogs….they didn’t want to be left behind.

I loved seeing my mother in law smile so big! This is my all-time favorite picture of her.

Kaiden and Brock had a great time. Kaidan learned to ride a quad and learned to shoot ground squirrels with a pellet gun. That sounds mean but it has to be done because the holes they create are bad for the earth and also can break cow’s legs. Brock learned really quickly that he wanted to feed all the animals. I also taught him to tell his mom that “it’s ok to be dirty, I am on a RANCH mom” J

I loved visiting with them. I really enjoyed just hanging out with BreAnn and talking. I even got spoiled by her cutting my hair! She did a great job! Now only if I can fix it every day to look as good as the cut!

We had a great time. It was a short and fast visit but it was nice! I am always happy to see family. It’s a good vacation for them too because it’s like going to a dude ranch but its free ha! The only payment I ever want is tons of hugs! Love my family! Now if we can only get Seth and Danny here.

Three New Babies

We have three new babies! The best part about that is we don’t have to change any diapers! I wanted to get some more bottle fed calves because #1 I love them and #2 if I could get a bull that would make Ryan super happy because he always talks about wanting a bull. I looked and looked and looked for bottle fed calves. Ended up finding three in Redding that the lady was practically giving away because her Jersey cow needed a break and she was sick of milking. I am thinking to myself, “This is great! Father’s day is coming up and Ryan will get his bull! Not one but two!”. She had three bottle fed calves. 2 bulls and a heifer. All we had to do was go up there and get them, take them to the brand inspector, get calf milk and go home! Calf replacer is pretty expensive. I think we walked out of the store paying 350.00 for three bags and a couple extra bottles. Going rate for Calves right now is 600.00 someone told me at the auctions so this really was a steal. Glad she got sick of bottle feeding because I never will.

As many of you already know I have bottle fed all of our lambs. Then we have my baby Minnie who was born by C section who has been bottle fed since birth. She is the cutest calf ever! So I was thinking that bottle feeding three more calves wouldn’t be THAT much of a chore! Our lambs are weaned now but Stevie Wonder our blind lamb doesn’t feel like he is weaned at all. He is a fat pig (well lamb) now but he still will push the calves to the side to try and get the bottle. What a piggy! This is my favorite all time picture of him because it cracks me up.

Anyways, we got home with our three new babies. It take about 20 bottles a day to feed all four calves. We will be feeding them till they are 7 months old so about another 4 months. They get 2 bottles in the morning and 2 at night. If they want more they get more. They are also eating grass and grain. They do love their bottles though. It’s nice because it makes them all so much more used to humans.

Princess was our bottle fed baby 1.5 years ago. She is now a big ol girl who will be a mommy come Fall. It’s funny because RJ thinks she is the mom and keeps trying to nurse off of her. RJ is Ryan JR. This is Ryan’s Bull Calf. He is so cute! Great coloring too.  He is 3 months old. His mom had died but he is bigger as he did get some nutrition from the mom before she passed. RJ is an Angus/Herford Cross.

This is Tulu. She is a pretty Heifer. She is only two months old. Her mother passed also. They were at a ranch with over 900 cattle so I am sure this happens a lot throughout the years. I love her eyelashes. Is it weird I am obsessed with a cows lashes?

This is Quinny. He is a Bull and a Herford Cross. He is a sweet little bull. He will eventually become a Steer though. This means he will be “fixed” so to speak and not be able to produce. This is still up in the air though so we will see. My BFF kids named Quinny and Tulu which is super cute. All of our animals have been named by kids in our family. My Nephew is naming the pigs when they come in a month. It’s fun for the kids.

So our little herd is growing by leaps and bounds. I think I started looking the day my teens all left and went to their other parents house for the month because its summer. I have this thing where I want to nurture everything! It took me a couple weeks to find another bottle fed calf that we could get for practically nothing. I just lucked out and got a three in one deal!

I know you are probably wondering why in the heck I would do this. I love it! I can’t help it. I love watching them grow. I was raised a city girl and only had one dog growing up. I want my kids to remember all the animals and be able to bring their grandkids back to see them too when they are older. Like 30 years older ha! In reality too these animals can help be our kids futures too if we ever decided to sell them later on. I don’t see me being able to do that but you never know.

This is what happens when I get bored because my kids aren’t here. They better hurry back because I am looking for pigs and more chickens now. I get excited too when family comes to visit because the kids get so excited to be able to feed. This week my cousin and his family came (that will be my next blog) but here is a sneak peak at my little cousin Brock feeding animals. What more fun for City SlickersJ Next my BFF and her kids are coming and then my Sister and her family! It’s so fun! Who wouldn’t want to do this?

Love,

Farmer Rae J

 

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I finally did it!

I have decided that NOW is the time! I need to get my legs into action and start walking daily. I get about 5 miles in just doing my normal stuff or that’s what my Vivosmart says at least. I decided yesterday that I will walk 2000 extra steps at minimum each day. What started out as my own adventure in walking alone? Ok, wait…that’s a lie. I am NEVER alone. 6 dogs were walking with me. Anyways, back to the story. What started out as my own adventure in walking alone ended up with me walking to the creek which gets in my 2000 steps and seeing my handsome husband on the quad coming home from checking fences out. He of course is wearing camo because if he sees a coyote it becomes instant hunting. It was the coyote’s lucky day….he didn’t get seen and Ryan just did fencing stuff.

So I am 39 and I live on a Ranch. I am really not a Ranch girl so to speak. Never was raised on one. Grew up on Military Bases all over the world. We had ONE dog growing up….one! Now I have 2 cows, 3 sheep, 6 dogs, 2 cats and chickens. I am also looking into pigs and more calves right now but Ryan has been so busy with work we haven’t even had time to go anywhere. He is the Rancher. Working from 7am to sometimes 9pm or so. I am the Ranchers wife. Lol. I am the animal lover who takes care of all our animals and our children. I love this job. It’s my passion.

So back to being old….39 and not being a ranching super star. I have NEVER ridden a quad before. All my kids and my husband know how to ride one. They all have to know for working. They even enjoy moving cattle with them sometimes when not on horseback. I however have NEVER ridden one. I don’t know why. I guess this massive thing freaks me out or something. I kept telling Ryan I want to learn. He said I have been on a dirt bike before that I can ride a quad with ease. I just kind of always walked everywhere I needed to be on the ranch. Would be easier to ride a quad sometimes. Especially when it’s 100 degrees outside.

I walked up to my husband at the creek and he asked me how my day was going. We talked about fencing for a bit (YAWN) and then he said the magic words…..”Today is the day you are going to learn to ride the quad”. I think I came up with a billion excuses….”I am too big, I have allergies, I am going to turn into a pumpkin or something if I ride that”. He just smiled and said to get on the thing.

Then it happened! I turned it on with him in the back in case I died or something I didn’t want to be alone. I drove it!!! DING DING! I felt like a winner! Mind you my children have been driving them since they were little but I felt like I could SOAR! The closest thing I ever had gotten to ride a quad was in the back with my husband or his mom (that’s another story).

I was ready in an instant to do it myself. Ryan said lets go take the dogs back home and we can go out for a ride because he had to check the other ranch. I was ready! I am an expert now…I had driven a whole 3 minutes!

Ryan giving Sebastian a drink

It was pretty easy anyways. He was right I knew how to do it all along. We went on a romantic ride. It was romantic to me because we were together. To him he was checking fencing again and smiling at me every couple minutes. I asked him later why so many smiles. He stated it was because I had the biggest smile on my face. Well yah! I was now an award winning quad rider. Maybe in my mind only but hey I couldn’t wait to get back home, finish dinner and call the kids and tell them that I finally had done it.

Only I would have my Pellegrino on my quad

We had a celebratory dinner of ribs and beans. Seemed appropriate to me for some reason. Sent Jackson the picture of the ribs since it’s his favorite thinking he would say “not fair” but instead he is one smart cookie and said “you are breaking the rules”. He was right. We were sitting in the living room eating. Whoops! I wrote back to him that it was my vacation too and that I am a award winning quad rider that deserves it! J Till next time….maybe I will go over 15mph.

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Empty Nest Summer

Empty Nest Summer Syndrome? I guess this is what you would call my summer this year. Jackson and Jason left to go to their mom’s right after Graduation (as she came down for Jason’s). Cassie and Josh just left to go to their dads for the summer. I am childless…..and I don’t like it. I have to remember that this is the time that they get to have memories with their other parents so that calms my heart from missing them. I also get to refocus on my husband but mainly refocus on the things I like but never have the time for.

Jackson and Jason were visiting their Aunts while with their mom when we took Cassie and Josh to the airport. They have to go a couple states away so we always make sure to feed them and give them money for the one layover they have. You cannot let teenagers go hungry….you know which is literally every 5 minutes.  All you can eat Sushi is always a good choice. They can eat till they explode and it’s a onetime price of 15.00 each. Can’t beat that!

That reminds me and it’s kind of totally off the subject but I find it so funny that when we have two deep freezers full of food, the fridge to where you can’t fit anything more in it and a whole huge pantry of food that a teenager (probably only mine) asks WHEN we are going shopping because we have NOTHING to eat. Does anyone else get this too? Or is it just me? I am looking and thinking to myself that we could probably not buy a lick of food for a couple of months and still feed them every meal. I think it’s about the teenagers mind that if they don’t have a CERTAIN thing that they want to eat then there must be nothing to eat. Man…these kids are spoiled. They are going to really have a hard time in college when they get the college food menu of pizza and ramen ha! Actually because I coupon a lot my eldest son Jackson said he would pay me to coupon for him so he doesn’t starve to death in College. I see it now…They are going to shop in my pantry. You just watch and see. The “we never have food” is going to turn into “Mom you have too much food let me take it off your hands”.

Since the closest airport is 3.5 hours away we were lucky enough that MIL (Ryan’s mom Sally) stayed at our place to keep eye on animals and such so we could drop them off and not have to come back the same day. No one wants to spend 7 hours in the car….ok let me rephrase that. I don’t want to spend 7 hours in the car if I don’t have to.  I love to save money so we can spend it on other things so we got a hotel in Reno on Groupon for only $59.00 for a Suite at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. I love how casinos have the cheapest rates because they want you to gamble at their place. We don’t gamble so it makes it just a good deal for us!:) After the kids left had sushi and left on the plane we went to check in. Now what? It’s that sad feeling that all 4 kids are now gone and then that feeling of “
OMG let’s have a date night because we can”. Since all four kids live with us year round it’s a little different feeling than their other parent’s feel I am sure. I know it’s much more difficult for goodbyes for them.

We decided to wander around, shop a little and then go to a movie. When you live 80 miles from a movie theater going to a movie is a BIG thing! Heck we didn’t even know what was playing! We had to look up each movie and even see what it was about. Before moving to the ranch in the middle of nowhere we used to go to the movies every Tuesday night on the discount night. Now we are so thrilled just to see a movie on the big screen. It seriously cracks me up. THEN on top of it!!!! We went to a luxury theater and didn’t even know it. It was only 10 dollars to get it and it had seats that were recliners! I am still so amazed by this! My first thought was we have to take MIL to this when Jurassic Park comes out! My second thought was we have to bring the kids to this. This is amazing. So most of you probably have been to one of these. I HAD to take a picture haha! I mean when you buy the tickets you get to pick your seats. Assigned seating at a theater. At least you know when you bring a bunch of people you will all be together. I think I could live in this theater. Ok, maybe just maybe I am way too excited about this but it was awesome! Ryan and I loved it! As you can see we don’t go to a movie either unless you can have a huge thing of super buttery popcorn. I think going to the movies without popcorn is just so wrong ha!

We had a great time. Went to the Comedy SPY which was good. I love Melissa as an actress. It helped to take the bittersweet moments of the kids all being at the other parent’s house. We had a good romantic time together and were really thankful to MIL for watching the ranch for us. Next time we are going to go with her. I will do the 7 hours in the car so she can come too! So excited! IMAX Jurassic Park in Luxury Seats….I think I am drooling already….

The next day on the way home we had some errands to run and also stopped off at Home Depot to pick up a few things. I went crazy as usual and bought more plants. I always try to buy local when I can but these just called my name.  It was like my treat to be able to add more to my already growing garden. This is one of the things I am going to focus on when the kids are gone. By the time they come back it will be in full production of yummy veggies and fruits. I am always trying to come up with new ideas. I decided this time I am going to take a picture of the green house and the garden every Monday. Then at the end of summer make a video out of it and I can see how it grew week by week. So excited! I apparently get thrills out of the smallest ideas ha!

I

 

can tell though that I don’t know what to do with myself when I have no kids at the house because I start too many projects and start looking for more animals ha! I think I have that mothering nature where I want to nurture things all the time. The summer will fly by though and when the kids come back you just watch I will have to probably wear earplugs for a couple days because I won’t be used to all the noise. For now…I keep on music because it feels too deafening quiet. Shhh did you hear that? It’s my plants growing. Yep that’s how quiet it is while Ryan is at work and I am home.

 

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