Feeding the Horsies

Kara loves the pony and the horse at the ranch. She loves when they come up to her so she can feed them, so every time we go to the ranch, she anxiously asks if the horsies are going to come. This morning, we finished feeding the animals and the horses came up to us. Kara had a blast playing with them!

Rain! Finally!

For the last couple of weeks, we experienced record heat here in CO, much like the rest of the country. The heat and the dryness contributed to several big wildfires here, and let me tell you, it felt like the entire state was burning. We did get some pretty sunsets out of it though, so I guess it wasn't ALL misery--there is always some kind of silver lining I suppose!

Anyway, we finally had a big rain the other night. I was so glad that things finally cooled down, and we were all loving the rain! My mom and I had taken Kara to Sonic to get an ice cream cone right as it started raining, and a bolt of lightning struck (literally) right behind us. My back was to the lighting, so I didn't see it (although I did see the flash), but my mom and brother saw it. My mom swears that you could hear the *pftht* of the lightning strike. The thunder was so loud, and it scared poor Kara to death. We hurriedly finished our ice cream and headed home before the rain got any worse. When we got home, the rain REALLY started coming down! It started raining so hard at one point that we couldn't see out our window!

After the rain died down, Kara and I headed out to the ranch to help my mom and sister with chores. The roof to the chicken coop (where all the baby chickens and the baby turkeys are) had a big leak and got all their food wet, so Karina climbed up and fixed the roof while Kara and I laid new bedding out for the chicks and cleaned out their feeders and gave them new food. And of course, I had to go visit the pigs and feed them. When we were about ready to leave, they were hanging out over by the fence in the mud pit they created from the rain, so I started feeding them some weeds that they love and playing with them for a few minutes. They were in hog heaven!

A Few Generations of JNP Ranch

I "grew up on a ranch," so to speak. My mom has a long family history of ranchers, and my dad has a lot of family who farms in the Midwest (he goes out to help every year). I guess you could say that ranching and the Spirit of the West runs in our veins. Although we lived in a subdivision, in 1998, my dad was able to acquire a piece of land  about ten minutes from our house and started raising a few head of cattle, and from then through all of high school, the ranch was a part of daily lives. I can't say it was my favorite thing to do (I hated fixing fence, and we had a number of times where we had to go out and feed in the snow). Over the years, we had chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows. We all experienced bottle-feeding animals that couldn't (or wouldn't) nurse from their mothers, sterilizing males, helping birth animals--all the stuff that normally goes on at a ranch. When I left for college, I was glad to put the ranching days behind me.

However, I got older, got married, and had a little kiddo. Somehow, my ranching roots came back to me, and I realized that I actually enjoy helping my dad and spending that time with my family. One thing we have never missed out on is attending the Hometown Rodeo (I've written about it in the past), and I guess I just started to realize that I like being a "redneck" as my brother puts it. One of my dreams has always been to own a modest home with a really giant yard. I think I have a somewhat romantic ideal of what family life is like for us at the ranch, but it's my ideal, and I am going to cling to it.

Part of my renewed investment/interest in our family ranch comes from watching the love my daughter has for going out to help grandpa and his piggies (plus, she really loves the pony--and so do I!) I love seeing Kara and my dad get to share this special thing together, and it has helped me to realize a softer side to my dad that I didn't see when I was younger. A few weeks ago, we helped my dad build a chicken tractor for some new chicks he was getting, and then later, Kara went out with my mom and dad when they were putting up new fence so they could put the sheep out to pasture. My mom sent me these pictures::

Kara running to help grandpa

Later that week, I was at work and Jon wasn't able to watch Kara, so mom and dad took her to a 4H show in Kersey where a girl who bought one of dad's lambs was showing him. My mom says Kara had a blast! Kara told me that she had hotdogs for dinner, had candy, saw lambs and piggies and horsies. When she is a little older, I think I'm going to let her do 4H--she really really loves the ranch.

So, I may not always have the fanciest house, and my family really might be a little bit "redneck," but I love my family, and I love the lessons I learned growing up. I think learning the ethic of hard-work and learning that family is all you really have in the world (besides the Gospel) is part of what makes me who I am. For that, I am grateful for the experiences we've had, and I only hope that I do as good a job of passing those lessons and tears and laughter down to the next generation.

At The Ranch

My dad has a ranch, and right now he is raising club lambs to sell to 4H clubs, and then he has 2 sows named Baby and Bella that he is breeding to have show pigs (and probably some for meat). Kara and I have been going out to the ranch to help my dad, and we are training one of the lambs (Kara and I named her Daisy). Kara LOVES going out to grandpa's ranch. She talks about it all the time, and she especially loves the pigs. Kara has had a really bad case of Croup this week (more on that later), so we haven't been able to go out with my dad, and Kara has been really disappointed. I think when she is older, we're going to let her get involved with 4H (if she still wants to).

Here are some pictures!

Kara snickering about something

This is Bella

Baby saying "Hi."

Bella Saying "Hi."

Kara Feeding Daisy

Another Trip Post... Almost Finished

 Friday night before we left, we all went out to the ranch for some shootin' practice. Those Diet Coke cans had it coming, I tell you! We all had a turn, but I think I was the best ;) (Ok, ok, that's stretching it... Really, really stretching it).

First, the men  had to show us how it was done. Literally:

My aunt was a pretty good shot. I didn't really see how my sister and my mom did, because by that time, we were preoccupied with becoming mosquito dinner.

And then I killed a sunflower plant. It was accidental, I swear! (Would that be floraslaughter?) I am a pretty bad shot.

My dad, sister, and I wandered around the ranch remembering old days and trying to find an old owl that roosts in the barn. Those are memories for another post, but right before we started wandering around, I took pictures of some of the flowers out there, and I found these two little lady bugs on one. They look like they were mating, but I think it is still PG enough to put up on the blog.

 (btw, do you like my dad's "Merry Christmas" t-shirt he is wearing in July?)

I think the evening was perfect.