Spring 2013

Well, it was a tough spring.... Ben was hurt twice, his back and his thumb.  We had fun going out to feed the calves many times, once with Joe Aburusa, Kara, Alec and Andy.  Alice and Clyde got to see a calf delivered in the barn -natural magic.  We had to do some major plumbing overhauls on the Warm Springs house (you can imagine what it's like to have to replace a 20 foot tall one hundred year old lead sewer pipe...).   We made "brown e's" for April Fools at school - the kids continued at Montessori Academy.  Celeb stayed with us for the winter and slimmed down.  We took the Smiths hiking at Rocky Canyon.  We branded a lot of calves.  And we took a load of horseshit by Shelley's office so she could take it to her legislative hearings - just kidding.  And we made a lot of art - mostly monsters but also some great animals.

Another Year of Calving



It was a really really cold January, but not a lot of snow.  Then February came, still cold.  Calving began.  We moved feeding to the afternoon this year.  That made for an inconvenient schedule in some regards, but what was great is that occasionally the kids got to go out and feed with Ben.  Our friends Joe, Kara, Alec and Andy joined us one afternoon too. 

We even got a picture of all four of us... a rare thing indeed!

Not too long after this, Ben hurt his back loading hay.  He was really out of commission for two weeks.  It was a tough winter that really made us question our choices and look at all our options.

Visitors & Pony Rides

Ben was really busy working and we weren't quite up for company through the winter. We made up for it these last two weeks. On the 30th, we had dinner for Mumsy, Gayle, Tommy, Sharon, JG, Rollins, Kay & Gregory (turkey dinner, mmmmm). The 1st Ben's family & some friends came for lunch and pony rides (about 35 people). The 2nd my childhood friends Joe & Mike came with their families (that's who the photo is of - 5 kids & 4 adults plus us). The 3rd Shelley called and wound up coming over with 3 Seattle area friends and their 3 children. We had just gotten the house clean when Erin's family came to town, so we had a big Rydalch dinner on the 8th (about 35 people again). Then on the 9th it was branding day so I made homemade rolls, potato salad and banana muffins for that and Janelle's family came over for our 0-1-2-3-4 photos and breakfast (huckleberry pancakes, elk sausage and fruit). On Sunday the 10th, Merche called and brought Chispe and her 5 kids out for pony rides and to feed the calves. So our tally was around 100 for the last couple of weeks and we have more coming this weekend. It's fun to be able to share our home, yard & animals with so many good friends and our families. The kids love seeing their cousins and friends.