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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Worst Chore and My FAVORITE chore!

Most people hate chores that they have to do daily. I guess there are a few that I don’t particularly love like doing dishes and I hate ironing. My favorite chore to do each and every day though is bottle fed my animals.

I was discussing with my husband how we went from one dog to 6 dogs, a cow, a calf, lambs, cats and 5 horses. Then I remembered who I was…an animal lover. It’s a big joke in my community that my name is Farmer Rae. It’s not because I farm that’s for sure. It’s rather for the fact that I have a bunch of animals….a Farm of them.

Our horses we saved them all except one was given to us. Princess, our black angus, we got at 5 weeks and had to bottle feed her for the next 6 months. Minnie, our calf, was a C-section baby that was early and we have bottle fed for months and will continue till she is about 8 months old. I love her! Then we have Stevie, Wooly and Lamb chops our bummer lambs that we bottle fed. And yes….6 dogs….of which over half were rescued and the other ones we just couldn’t live without.

You would think that is the end right but whenever my husband has some time (this is his busy season) we are going to go and pick up some pigs, and two more calves. So I guess I am Farmer Rae. I will hold that title proud. I love my animals! It’s hard not too especially when so many start out bottle fed and I am their momma!

How can you not love this….When they run to you each morning!

 

Or this….when Ryan is actually home late enough to feed with me. That’s always a treat!

 

Or seeing this…My cow Princess who used to be bottle fed. She still comes straight up to me even though she doesn’t even think about the bottle anymore.

 

They graze a lot too of course as you can see.

 

This is one Chore I definitely love. Sure beats dishes or ironing!!

 

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Why we are Moving?

When your husband runs 3 ranches there is A LOT of driving involved for everything. Work, School, Shopping etc. I guess I should give some background. We used to live in a house off of the Ranches so we would be closer to the schools. When that house sold all three Ranch houses we were renting out so we ended up having to rent ourselves till a lease ended. We knew that God was doing this for some reason or another. When we first moved to Big Valley the main house was open. Its an amazing house on 3000 acres with streams and beauty all around. Its deafening silent though out there. You hear every sound, every coyote howl, every russel of a tree. Since we came from the city we thought our kids would go crazy out there since the internet is horrible and there is land for miles around. We had spent summers out there when Ryan was working before we made the move to Big Valley. We all loved it but it was SUCH a BIG change.

God knew though. He put us in a huge house with five bedrooms that was three stories high. It was an amazing house that I could see my grandkids come to. ** like in 20 years lol!** God had other plans though. Things happened at work and the house was sold. We moved to a small  3 bedroom house that is cramped. All three of our boys share the Master bedroom. This was needed though. It brought our family closer and this last year has been great. Its right next to one of the main ranches so we were able to work it easy and have our animals close.

After all this learning and growing the Main house opened up. 2 years ago we wouldn't of dreamed of living there. This year its the right time. We now have more drivers in the house so that's helpful. Now a 40 minute drive just to drop off the kids at school and then come home would be hard but Jack can drive the kids to school. Its one of the main ranches so Ryan is there a lot especially during winter. It has a lot of history for us too.

For the Horses

The Main House

This house Ryan's mother used to run as a fishing lodge many years ago. Ryan even worked as a fishing guide when he was still a teen at this house. Jacksons first Halloween was at this house 17 years ago. Its the best size house for us all. Still only three bedrooms and two full baths BUT its much larger... has a game room and a big pantry which we need with four teens. It also has a bunk house next to the Main house and plenty of room for our animals. The kids will love the bunk house when their friends come for sleepovers as they will of course be living in the Main house with us any other time.

Shop and Tractor Area

Inside of Bunk House

We are excited to move. Its a blessing and we wont be moving again for a very long time. Ryan said he feels like God was slowly trying to get us back to this house. It was where we were meant to be. Now the kids want to move there and don't think about how far it is......because EVERYTHING is far:) 70 miles to the nearest Starbucks! Its a place that is peaceful and beautiful. Just look at the view out the living room window. Tell me that isn't Gods Country?

My cup of coffee view

Our animals will be closer and love it. We have the room we need for Tractors, Animals, Trucks, Teens and a garden:) I have to start packing as we will be moving in the next months. Its going to be a big project.....but its home.

OUR home......3,000 acres to tend too and we will love every single moment of that. Fresh air and Beauty for miles. I cant wait till we move. For now....I wish I could just click my heels and have everything over there ha! We have to wait for our renters to move out and then we will move in. I am counting down the days. Now the important question...Does anyone have some boxes I could borrow?

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Ranching Easter

Easter was a ranching Easter with lots of friends coming together. Love love going to the Albaughs for Easter. It's becoming a tradition. Lots of food and fun. I thought I would just show it in some of my favorite pictures since I am late getting this blog out and already onto my newest adventure which you will hear about soon enough :)

Yes this is real and where we did our egg hunting at our friends ranch

Guys putting the eggs in barn in the snow...Lamb Following

Ryan coming back after loading up barn with eggs

Cooper posing in the snow with his Easter Basket

Yes its snowing in California on Easter

Looking for eggs and of course all parents are taking pics

So Darn Cute

The Amazing Hostess and Host of Easter

Eggs with $ in it

Cassie, Austin and Ms. Lewis

Trying to stay warm but got a lot of eggs (Jason)

Having fun with my hubby

The lamb so adds to this event

All the Easter Egg Hiders and the Easter Egg getters lol

Jason and Cassie pretty happy

Austin loving his stash of candy and money

Look Grandma!

Chillin and having fun!

Josh and Seth chillin and talking up a storn

Long Amazing Day and even the teens are out cold

Thank you to the Albaugh family for the fun at the Ranch. Its become a tradition that we love. The teens always feel like they are too old to hunt for eggs and yet.....they run around like chicken every year with smiles on their faces. I have many more pictures but these were just SOME of my favorites. I hope everyone had an amazing Easter. One filled with friends or family and lots of smiles. Remember your kids are never too old for an Easter basket, dying eggs or Easter fun. 

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Saving Animals and Jasons First Steer

I know we live on a Ranch and my husband takes care of 9,000 Acres of Ranches but we don't own a bunch of Steers or Cows. You see we moved to Adin about 2.5 years ago to take on this opportunity. It all started with the fact my husband was a Contractor and would come to the ranches to fix houses, buildings, roofs, Etc. He did that for a couple years before we finally decided to move to this little community because we all wanted to be together every night instead of seeing each other on weekends because it was 6 hours away.

To be honest....I did not want to move. I thought it would be like moving to the middle of no where (which it is) but be like solitary confinement or something. To my amazement....Its nothing like that at all. I am often TOO busy. I have good friends here now and we talk all the time. My kids are in so many sports its hard not to see everyone all the time. Its an amazing community. One full of life and one full of helping others. We may have a sign on our one little corner store that says "60 miles to the nearest Starbucks...our coffee will get you there" but it adds to all the charm of the town. You cant go anywhere without being stopped and chatted to which is great. Everyone waves at each car that passes.

Anyways back to the cows. When we first moved here I was so into the fact that we could have more animals than just dogs or cats that I wanted to save every animals alive lol.

Elvis our horse we saved before and 4 months after

Cassie and our Main Horse Leroy

Patroling the Properties (Ryan, Cassie and Jack)

Within our first year we ended up saving 5 horses, a bottle fed calf and numerous bottle fed lambs. I love bottle feeding them!

Josh with Baby Lambs one and two:)

Ryan feeding them grain as they are bigger

Its something that I feel is so cute....and relaxing. I like waking up early and trekking out to the babies to feed them. The lambs we help our friends with and give them back when they are bigger. Then there was Princess.....that's my bottle fed baby cow! She is the prettiest cow in the world and I get laughed at all the time when I talk about her (in a good way). I always tell our friends who are TRUE ranchers how wonderful she is and how she is the best thing ever!

My baby Princess. Cutest Cow EVER

She definitely is not a little calf anymore but rather a cow that we are hoping to breed. Then I will have mini princesses all over the place! A pasture full of beautiful cows ha! I think I am biased of course. I am hoping to have another bottle fed calf sometime this year too. I just feel like they are more of pets than the food we eat.

Side note: I name the animals by what they are to be later in life. Princess will not be eaten as she has a real name. Our pigs pork chop and Bacon were well....just that! Then we had lamb chops and a couple of her friends. So if it has a true name...its safe. lol

Pork Chop or was this one Bacon

Anyways back to the topic. What was the topic again? Oh yah.....our first steer. Jason our youngest is in 4H this year. Our other three did it two years ago but since we came late they learned more about animals than they showed them. We had pigs and rabbits and learned about sheep. This year we are all in so to speak. Jason is doing Leadership, Shooting Sports, Beginners Beef, and cooking. So we decided that for him to show and sell so we had to get a Steer. Again we aren't cattle owners. The land Ryan runs has tons of cattle on it but we lease the land for the REAL cattle ppl like our good friends the Albaughs. I don't even know how many head they have but they raise the BEST beef! If you are ever interested you can look them up at FROSTY ACRES because the Beef and Lamb is USDA inspected of course, Flash frozen and vacuumed sealed for highest quality AND its ALL NATURAL GRASS FED Beef and Lamb. Which is harder and harder to find. Plus if I am being honest they are the nicest most genuine people we have ever met. Seriously if you need the number put it in the comments and we will help you out. They would probably kick me for putting this on my blog but oh well.....Its too good not to share!

Jackson looking cool in front of herd

So we decided to buy our first young Steer from the Albaughs. Hey why not....He is the Beef Leader and also we know they have great stuff. Jason at the end of this will have to pay us back. Its not cheap getting a small Steer to raise. Couple thousand dollars and then feed and hay etc. Jason's plan is to raise it and show it at the first fair at the end of the school year. Then he will show and sell the steer at the end of summer at our big Intermountain Fair. I love that he has a steer. This will give him something to look after and care for himself. He can put pride into what he is doing and learn all about beef as we go. This is TUB TUB Jason's Steer. I honestly think Ryan might be a little jealous because now he wants to buy a couple for our household lol. Taking care of ranches he has down pat but learning about how to be a cattle owner we are learning everyday. Thankfully we have a lot of good REAL cattle ranchers that are teaching us the ways:) That's another thing I like about living here. Everyone treats their animals with respect and its not like this horrible farming environment. Its a human and kind way of treating their animals. THEY ACTUALLY CARE!

Princess all grown up and our first steer Tub Tub

So yesterday was the first time we got TUB TUB. He is a beauty too. I personally think no one will be better than my princess cow but hey I am a little biased. I cant wait for each day as he gets to know his Steer and Tub Tub starts to get attached to him. Its going to be a process but its going to be pretty amazing! We are all rather excited but mostly Jason is. Spring is around the corner. Hopefully I will be back to my bottle feeding lambs and calves. Its truly something really fun. I wish everyone could experience it.

Here is Jason with his steer. I will get better pictures as we go. I am excited for him!

Jason's Steer Tub Tub

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