August 5Th, 2009
It's been an exceptionally hot, humid, summer here on the ranch. We didn't get our monsoons as anticipated, so everything is lazy, sleepy, and just trying to stay cool. The sheep are inactive during this type of weather, they lie around in their barn, in their particular corners, and chew cud. I feel badly for them, so I've set up fans to blow on the girls and their lambs. Evening is a different story altogether. When it cools down on this high prairie the sheep get a bit more frisky. I open the back pasture up for them, the lambs run out, kicking their heels up in jubilation.....it's "play-time."
We live at an elevation of 5,640 ft. We also have strong winds in the Spring(so strong, they've lifted the metal roof off a barn or two, periodically). They call them micro-bursts and they are intense! We have snow in the winter, summer rarely sees a temperature above 95 degrees.
Today, we finally have a rain storm moving in. It's noon, the thunder has frightened two of our three dogs. I have to let them in, give them both a naturopathic calming pill, they will wile the day away sleeping, oblivious to the power of this storm.
The "old ladies" that surround this ranch house are Chinese Elm trees, or Lace bark Elms. These large, gorgeous trees, grow as high as 40-60 ft. , they can also grow as wide, or wider. The Chinese elms homeland is in North and Central China, Korea, and Japan. It was introduced into the U.S. in 1794.
On this ranch we have a 1925 Adobe home, it sits under these "old ladies." In the summer the home stays very cool from the shade of these big trees. The building material used for this home, clay brick or adobe. In the winter, the trees become deciduous, the sunlight shines down on the ole' house, and warmth prevails. The old timers knew very well what they were building and planting back in those days.
We have a large, organic garden area, a nine-tree orchard, three pastures, a cellar house with an 8 ft. cellar lined in huge slabs of sandstone. It too, stays a steady controlled temperature throughout the seasons. I preserve all the fruits (and veggies) of our labor annually.
A railroad used to run through our ranch at one time. It brought lumber and workers to the McNary mill. During the "dust bowl" days, families, single men, and hobo's used to walk those tracks,the track now long gone. They hitched rides on the train looking for work, a meal, a place to rest a weary body. In those days, the hobo's came up with an ingenious sign language, not the same as for the deaf, but a different type. This was a language made with markings, or drawings left along roadways.
This language allowed fellow hobo's to know what type of area they were approaching, where they could find a meal, good water, a barn to sleep in, a safe camp, or a nice lady lives here. Our ranch house had one of those signs out front in those days, "a nice lady lived here." It's an important part of the history of this house and a treasure to own that piece of American history. When we moved into this house my sister looked up the hobo sign for "A Nice Lady Lives Here," it was a cat.
She took an old piece of barn wood, burned a cat in it for me, it sits outside our front door.........all these years later. Thank you sister!
It's been an exceptionally hot, humid, summer here on the ranch. We didn't get our monsoons as anticipated, so everything is lazy, sleepy, and just trying to stay cool. The sheep are inactive during this type of weather, they lie around in their barn, in their particular corners, and chew cud. I feel badly for them, so I've set up fans to blow on the girls and their lambs. Evening is a different story altogether. When it cools down on this high prairie the sheep get a bit more frisky. I open the back pasture up for them, the lambs run out, kicking their heels up in jubilation.....it's "play-time."
We live at an elevation of 5,640 ft. We also have strong winds in the Spring(so strong, they've lifted the metal roof off a barn or two, periodically). They call them micro-bursts and they are intense! We have snow in the winter, summer rarely sees a temperature above 95 degrees.
Today, we finally have a rain storm moving in. It's noon, the thunder has frightened two of our three dogs. I have to let them in, give them both a naturopathic calming pill, they will wile the day away sleeping, oblivious to the power of this storm.
The "old ladies" that surround this ranch house are Chinese Elm trees, or Lace bark Elms. These large, gorgeous trees, grow as high as 40-60 ft. , they can also grow as wide, or wider. The Chinese elms homeland is in North and Central China, Korea, and Japan. It was introduced into the U.S. in 1794.
On this ranch we have a 1925 Adobe home, it sits under these "old ladies." In the summer the home stays very cool from the shade of these big trees. The building material used for this home, clay brick or adobe. In the winter, the trees become deciduous, the sunlight shines down on the ole' house, and warmth prevails. The old timers knew very well what they were building and planting back in those days.
We have a large, organic garden area, a nine-tree orchard, three pastures, a cellar house with an 8 ft. cellar lined in huge slabs of sandstone. It too, stays a steady controlled temperature throughout the seasons. I preserve all the fruits (and veggies) of our labor annually.
A railroad used to run through our ranch at one time. It brought lumber and workers to the McNary mill. During the "dust bowl" days, families, single men, and hobo's used to walk those tracks,the track now long gone. They hitched rides on the train looking for work, a meal, a place to rest a weary body. In those days, the hobo's came up with an ingenious sign language, not the same as for the deaf, but a different type. This was a language made with markings, or drawings left along roadways.
This language allowed fellow hobo's to know what type of area they were approaching, where they could find a meal, good water, a barn to sleep in, a safe camp, or a nice lady lives here. Our ranch house had one of those signs out front in those days, "a nice lady lived here." It's an important part of the history of this house and a treasure to own that piece of American history. When we moved into this house my sister looked up the hobo sign for "A Nice Lady Lives Here," it was a cat.
She took an old piece of barn wood, burned a cat in it for me, it sits outside our front door.........all these years later. Thank you sister!
