Annie and Jessie - on the job

Annie and Jessie are on the job now.

We here them working through the night and even during the day.


They have been warming up to us slowly and we get to pet them...when they want to be pet.

Anatolian Shepherds have a long history. They originate in Turkey as guard dogs for sheep.

They were never household pets, they were workers and loved their jobs.

To this day, Anatolian Shepherds still have that working drive.

These sweet dogs have protected herds from wolves, cheetahs, and bears for centuries!

These pups have our respect.
They will keep our small herd of goats from harm and risk their lives.
We look forward to growing with these little girls (they aren't even 2 yet!)
and see them grow to be amazing adult dogs.

Thank you so much to the Allen family for allowing us to adopt these amazing dogs.

Viva Las Vegas....for 12 hours.

We got into Las Vegas at 1pm on Friday afternoon.
Jeremy has never been to Vegas before so we did a quick run through.
We drove down the strip, pulled into the Paris hotel.
Took the trip over to the Bellagio.
Ate lunch at the Bellagio.



Went back to the Paris hotel.
Drove to our hotel (the only one that would allow two 100lb dogs in the room)

And met our new family members!

This is Annie...she is so sweet and was very timid while in the hotel.

This is Jessie, she was a little less timid but wouldn't come out of her crate either.

So we went to bed at 8pm, woke up at 2am and got on the road.

You may ask how we got the dogs in the car?!?

We loaded them in their crates on a bell hop cart.

They didn't come out of the car the entire trip!

Once we got home, we had to turn the crates over to get them to come out.

Poor babies!

Body Guards!

We have had a rough couple months with the threat of a mountain lion in our area.

So we have been researching Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs).

There are so many options but we were at a loss as to which one would be good for our family and farm.

We were lucky enough to have a family that had two LGD's that needed a new home.

So we adopted them!

However, they were in New Mexico and we are in Northern California.

Can you say "Road Trip"?

We met half way in Las Vegas, NV.

What a drive! It was so pretty but so desolate!

Our chicks are big girls now!

We have eggs!
12 of them now!

It seems like it has been forever since we got our little baby chicks
and now they are big girls!


Emily is so excited and checks the coop over twice a day!
She took the picture below.

Pappa's Corral

As most of you have heard we have had issues with keeping our fiesty goats inside the fence.

So when my parents came to visit, Dad and Jer went to work.

Hey, it was free labor!!!

Can you believe they ran 400 feet of no-climb fencing in less than 48 hours?

They are amazing men!

We officially named it "Pappa's Corral"

My Hardworking Ranch Hand

My husband is such a hard worker.
Not only does he have a demanding job as a firefighter....
but he comes home to an even more demanding job.

We are finally able to get going on the solar installation.

You see, we are off-grid which means that we don't have any power unless we run off of solar power or a generator.

Our generator has been charging our batteries but it uses propane (which is expensive) every time we have to run it. We run it about 2-3 hours a day.

Once we get the solar up, we won't have to run the generator and that will save us lots of cash!

Solar is FREE!!

He will be working on it again this weekend so I will update my blog with pics.

Welcome Lucy!

Since I can't have another baby until June of next year. We decided to adopt.
Not a baby!
A puppy!

This is Lucy, our Australian Shepherd. She is so much fun and so sweet.

Emily loves this little girl.

This little girl loves to sit at my feet!

She thinks she is a big girl and loves to play with Lily and Lindsay.
They don't know what to think of this little pup.

She does know how to keep up with them though. We went on a 2 mile walk and she made it the whole way!

Another girl on the ranch!

Poor boys!

Between all our animals, kids, laundry and housework how do I have time to make my own bread?

My secret? This book!

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day


This book has the recipies to make a variety of breads in literally 5 minutes. I have made dinner rolls, loaves for sandwiches and dinners and breakfast yummies!

This is the Pecan Rolls. I made them this morning and the prep time was a bit for than 5 minutes since I had to make the filling but it was so simple. I had everything in my pantry which is the best part.

This is what they looked like before rising and baking.

Here is what they look like after they have been baked!

I will post more pictures of the bread I make so that I can convince you to buy this book!

Next on the list....bread for lunch. Be back soon!

Goats, Goats, Everywhere!

My parents came to visit us for 10 days up at the ranch! It was so amazing to have them there for such a good amount of time.
My Dad loves helping out with the animals.

I snapped this picture as Dad was getting attacked by the hungry goats!
Well, they weren't attacking him, they were attacking the grain he has in his hands.

They are not shy about getting up on the quads.
Patricia, the Nubian/La Mancha baby, loves to play on quad.
I can only imagine the trouble her and Emily will get into when they get older!




Did you notice Emily's outfit?
It is the common practice to wear boots when working around the goats.
Their hoofs are killer when wearing flip-flops.

Back to the outfit...Cowboy boots and a sundress.
Is there anything sweeter?

Western State Horse Show

We visited the Horse Show and Emily got a new pair of boots!
They are Justin's..real boots!

She rode a pony. Now she wants lessons. What did we start?!?

Who needs to visit a petting zoo?!? We have our own!

The Davis Family came to visit us again! This time they got to meet our goats and llamas.
The llamas now eat out of our hands!
The kids had a blast playing with them.


Jack was having fun holding the branches for the goats to eat! He was cracking up!
Check out the video!

Antheraea polyphemus

I have been trying to figure out what kind of moth this was.


It is a GIANT Silkmoth.

You can find out more about them here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antheraea_polyphemus

Chicks - No Longer

My chicks are now grown. They are about 9 weeks old now but are not laying eggs quite yet.

I have to admit they are the easiest animal to take care of.

Give them food, water and a safe coop and they are good to go!

I swear that they grow another inch every day!

Jack - My Little Ranch Hand

Sometimes when Jack is cranky and won't go down for a nap he gets to do the chores with me.
Great training!

We ride around on the quad, feed the animals and he ooh's and aahhh's...and drools!

I think as soon as he can walk he will be in charge of the chicken coop!
he he!

A Giant in the Boonies!

The other night I was watching TV when I heard a THUMP on my glass window on my back door.

I thought it was a bird at first but it was in the middle of the night.

Then I thought it was a bat - it was the same size.

Nope...I was totally wrong!

It was a MOTH!

His wing's spanned 6" and his body was about 3" long.

I have NEVER seen anything like this before.

Totally amazing!

The Goats and Llamas get delivered

We hired a company to transport out goats and llamas since we don't have a large enough trailer.


They came right out of the trailer, into the pasture and started eating!
The llamas - named Tom-A-Llama and Ding-Dong - came out of the trailer and started stripping leaves off of the oak trees. I lovingly call them my "Fire Prevention Crew."

We have 2 acres fenced in for them and in the 2 weeks that they have been here, have made a significant change in the scenery. The goats eat EVERYTHING!!! The llamas are a little more picky but they get the branches that are a little higher up.

This has been a HUGE learning experience for us and we are enjoying every minute of it.
I will be sure to take some more pics...I have been so busy!!

Cluck Cluck!

Our chicks are no longer little furry things...

They have grown into teenagers (as I refer to them)
They like to go outside in their run and chase bugs and try to fly.

Hopefully by summer we will have a fridge full of fresh eggs
or
a freezer full of cluck cluck!

The Davis' Visit The Ranch

Sunshine and the boys came up over the Spring Break. It was such a nice treat to have visitors!
J-Beau rode the little quad. His comments were, "This is AWESOME!"

Sunshine got to play with the baby. She was teaching him how to climb trees!

Drew was big enough that we allowed him to drive the little 250 quad.
He helped Jeremy move our entire wood pile. He used the splitter to split the logs and drove the two little ones around.

J-Beau wanted a ride on the big quad. He was so cute. He kept telling me...
THIS IS WICKED!
He has the cutest vocabulary!

The Farm Grows....again!

We have been searching for a herd of goats and a couple llamas for the ranch and we found them!!
We drove about 2 hours south of us to visit the small ranch. It was so worth it.
We left owning two Llamas and 7 goats.
3 Momma Goats - one is Stella, the other have no names
4 Kid (Baby Goats) - One is Stella's baby, two are twins from one of the moms and then "Rubber Legs"

Rubber Legs is a special little goat, he doesn't know he is a goat.
He legs hit my knee when he is standing on his back legs.
He is a tiny little thing, who needed to be held up when he was born so he could eat.
Hence the name "Rubber Legs"

We will be getting them by the end of the month. Jeremy and I ordered our fencing last night and we have a couple days of driving t-posts and running electric fencing.

So worth it!

Chick-A-Dees

We finally got our chicks! We have 10 little girls...we hope they are girls...living in a huge water trough in my craft room.

I work and all I hear is cheep...cheep...cheep.

Good thing they are cute! Especially the one in the lower right hand corner.
She looks like she has a bit of attitude.

I do have to make this announcement though...

Boys - 3 (Jeremy, Jack, Phineas)

Girls - 15 (Teresa, Emily, Lily, Lindsay, Ferb and the 10 chicks)

Poor Boys!!!

A week in the life....

We went quad riding...

Visited a little pond...

Went wine tasting...

Such a rough week!

Hey look! We're domestic!

I guess my mom trained us well! While Becca was up we made fondant and cake pops. We even broke out the aprons!

This is the marshemellow fondant we made. It was super easy to make. However, we ran out of time and never did anything with it. Good thing it lasts a while in the fridge. I have plans to make Easter cupcakes with it. That is....when I have some spare time.

Auntie Monkey Butt Visits the Ranch

My sister (aka Auntie Monkey Butt) came up to visit us for the week. This was her first visit up and and we had so much fun. The weather was perfect!

We stopped at Michaels to get a few things after I picked her up from the airport and we found these little hats. They are very fitting for our family!!

Welcome Phineas and Ferb

Emily has been wanting a pet that she can snuggle with. So with Easter around the corner....we got bunnies!


Two to be exact, Phineas and Ferb. Phineas is the male and is a mini-rex, Ferb is the female and is a mini-lop.

They have been a lot of fun to have and Emily has been taking very good care of them.
She loves to snuggle with Phineas and he is a very patient bunny.
Ferb, on the other hand, is a little scared. We hope she will warm up but if she doesn't we will still love her the same.

What's next? What animal do you think we should get?
Goats, Chickens, Pigs, Horses, Cows, Buffalo???

Happy Birthday Isabella

Isabella (the pup in purple) turned 3 today!
Emily and I made her a cake to celebrate with her sisters Lily and Lindsay.
They licked their plates clean!



Here is the recipie for the cake:

Peanut Butter Delight Birthday Cake

1 cup white or whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4c peanut butter
1/4c vegetable oil
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp vanilla
1/3c honey
1 egg

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour and baking soda.
Ass remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a small baking pan sprayed with
nonstick preay for about 40min. Time will vary depending on pan.

Cinnamon Frosting

Combine the following ingredients and blend thoroughly:
12oz cream cheese (room temp)
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp honey

Happy Birthday Isabella!

How to go Sledding on the Ranch

Welcome to our ranch - Isabella and Lindsay

As you all know we have been missing Dylan a lot and we have been looking for a new dog to add to our family.
We signed up under Nor Cal Weim Rescue to adopt a dog and have been looking at their listings every night. Jeremy e-mailed me a listing for two little girls that needed a new home. I immediately called them and told the coordinator that we wanted them. We were told that they were being held for us until they were able to get transport to Sacramento.

Well...on Friday we met our girls! Lindsay and Isabella! They are so sweet and are a perfect addition to our family!

This is Lindsay, I love how her tongue hangs out of her mouth most of the time. She has the sweetest face and is very adventurous.

Do you know how hard it is to get all the dogs to look at you at the same time?
Isabella is in the purple, Lindsay is in the pink and Lily is our lab.
They all have similar eyes!

To our surprise, Bella and Lindsay get up into our truck very easily. I think they have done it before!

It snowed last night and our girls got to go out and play in it. They had a blast!

We know how hard it is to loose a member of your family. We are so glad that we were able to take in these beautiful dogs and give them a forever home. They are a great addition to our family and we look forward to having many, many years of fun with them.

Chopping Kindling...What a Chore!

This is our wood shed. It is temporary for now until we get a new structure.
We house the wood we need for the winter since our only heat source is a wood stove.


Jer has to go out there and chop kindling for me so I can build fires.
It snowed the night before so he wasn't too excited to do it.
He sat down on his usual stump and got to work.

He looked down at his progress and noticed there was nothing there!
He had been working for about 5 minutes so there had to have been some progress.

He cut one more piece and looked down.
There was the little thief!

She was taking away the kindling one piece at a time!

Now if we could train her to stack wood...that would be great!!

Look the sun!

The sun is out this morning! It is supposed to be in the 60's finally! Time to get the kiddos outside to play.

Here is my morning picture...



Can you tell I love where I live?

Lean on me...when your not strong

On my daily drive to drop Emily off at school I saw this tree...

the song "Lean on me" immediately popped into my head. Isn't it amazing how trees adapt to their environment?

Here is a little science lesson for you...

What is the chance that an acorn will grow into a tree?

In a good year the oak tree will have many flowers -- up to several thousand. With the right humidity, the right temperature, no late frost in the spring, and sufficient rainfall in the summer, tiny scale-covered acorns (called nubbins at that point) begin to grow. They will mature to become full grown and ripe acorns by late summer. The chances of one acorn making it to become an oak tree are very slim -- less than 1/10,000. That means that for every 10,000 acorns, only one will become a tree! (Taken from Interesting Facts about Oak Trees).

Picture Perfect Morning

I woke up this morning to a warm house (Jer started a fire before he left for work...I heart him!). Emily was in a great mood and Jack woke up with a smile on his face.

I looked outside and it looked foggy however, it wasn't fog, it was clouds. We were in the clouds.

It was a bit chilly outside but the rain had just stopped. It smelled so good, you know that smell, just after the rain but imagine it mixed with pine trees and wood burning stoves.

I took Emily to school and as we drove through my favorite part of the road I saw this...


You can see the clouds covering the tops of the tallest trees, the beautiful green color of the moss and the underbrush and the clean lines of the pine trees.

It truly was a picture perfect morning.

Champagne and Strawberries

Jeremy and I hit up Ikea once again and bought 4 large pieces of furniture which equals about 4 hours of putting it together.

So I decided to make it a little more fun...


Champagne and chocolate covered strawberries....YUM!

It made putting together the furniture a lot more exciting!

Boys and their Toys!

Jeremy has been working hard getting the house set up for all of us. We all went shopping this weekend and he casually said he wanted to stop by a hobby store to "look" at the RC cars. Little did I know, he has been researching them for quite a while. He walked in and new exactly what he wanted. How can I say no to that face!

Here is the newest addition to the ranch trucks!

This thing can go 45 mph! He is planning on making a track so he can drive it. I know that we are going to have to get Emily one soon so she can go driving with her daddy.

Country Chicken Hodge Podge

I love meals that you can prep and then let cook. I use my crock pot some, but I love the smell of something cooking in my oven. We had this the other night and it was a hit with my kid, my hubby and even the in-laws!

Country Chicken Hodge-Podge

4 chicken breasts (I use boneless skinless)
6 medium potatoes, cut into 1/4" slices (break out that mandolin)
salt and pepper
Thyme (fresh or dried)
Rosemary (fresh or dried)
2 Bay Leaves
1 cup smoked bacon, diced (use the good stuff, don't go turkey bacon on me!)
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup sliced carrots
2/3c stout (I use Guinness because it is in my fridge at all times)
2 Tbsp melted butter

Arrange a layer of the potato slices in the bottom of a wide casserole, use a circular pattern and overlap as you go starting from the outside and working towards the middle. Season with salt and pepper, and then at thyme, rosemary, and the bay leaves.

Top with the chicken, then sprinkle with the sliced bacon, onion, and carrots. Season well with salt and pepper. Then arrange the potatoes again in a circular, overlapping manner, just like the bottom.

Open up the stout, take a sip, then pour over the potatoes. Then drink the rest!

Brush the potatoes with the melted butter, and cover with a lid.

Bake in a preheated over, 300 degrees for about 2 hours. Uncover for the last 30 minutes to brown the potatoes.

I serve this with fresh rolls.

The best part of the meal is that you can use what you have for veggies. You can add celery, leeks, parsnips, etc.

YUM!!

Charlie's Soap

Living in the country, life is a little different than the city. One big difference is the laundry. We live off of a septic system and have been told that it is important to have low sud soap so it isn't harmful to the system. Remember the movie "Meet the Faulkers."

Jeremy searched online and found "Charlie's Soap"

It is a low sud, environmental friendly soap. You can buy an all-purpose cleaner and laundry soap.

The all-purpose cleaner is great! It breaks down all the grease in my kitchen (the previous owner liked to fry, I swear almost every night, so the build-up is NASTY!) and it also tackles the red dirt that my kid and my husband like to roll around in.


When I opened the package, we were delighted to find a reusable grocery bag inside. I try to use them as much as possible, when I don't forget them in my car while tackling a 3 month old.

This is what the FedEx man delivered to our house. A 40lbs of laundry soap! I wonder how long that would last me.

Let's figure this out.

1280 loads divided by 365 days = 3.5 loads a day!

I spent $145 on this bucket which will last me an entire year!

11 cents per load!

When I buy it at the grocery store a package of All Free and Clear runs me about $20 for 96 loads. That means it was costing me close to 21 cents a load. I am saving almost half!

Too bad there isn't a way to save from actually doing half my laundry!

I've got mail!

So Jeremy and I were curious if anyone would deliver to us out on the ranch so we bought something and had it shipped. Yesterday as I was talking to my mom on the phone, we see the FedEx truck pull in!


We were all very excited. Well, Jeremy wasn't thrilled because that means that I can do online shopping now!

The driver was very nice however, made the comment that he hopes he doesn't have to drive out here too much. I figure that the next time he comes out we will have something nice to give him for his travels. Maybe a bottle of water and a snack to make it back home.

Freshman Stripe

My little giril loves to play outside now that we don't have to worry about cars driving by.

She came in with a big smile on her face and I went out to see how she was doing riding her big girl bike.

Apparently, she loves to ride through the mud. She had mud on her face, legs....

and her back. At UC Davis, we call this the "Freshman Stripe." It is when the freshman think it is too cool to put fenders on their bikes and when it starts to rain (and it rains a lot in Davis), the water/mud/gunk would fly up their backs in the form of a stripe.

I have to admit is is much cuter on a six year old!

Jack gets the taste of the good life

Jack got to try solid foods for the first time - well it is semi-solid. Rice Cereal! YUM! He is loving every bite of it and knew exactly what he was doing when the spoon came close to his mouth. We are very proud of him!

"Oh What a Beautiful Morning...Oh What a Beautiful Day..."

"...I've got a fabulous feeling, everythings going my way."

We woke up to this! Picture perfect!

My Morning Commute

We woke up this morning to about 4" of snow...suprise!! I got to test out my new tires and my car in the snow. It worked perfectly. Emily was very excited to go to school this morning but then wanted to stay and play. It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine. The snow melted quickly and we are left with lots of slushy mud. YUCK!

Emily turns 6!

With the move, we have all been super busy. We got a much needed break to celebrate Emily's 6th birthday. We asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner and the request was "Chicken Nuggets and Tater Tots" - easy enough! I made her a Funfetti Cake with pink icing and it was a hit! She got a big girl mountain bike from mommy and daddy and a few other little items. Gramma and Poppa gave her the quilt that she picked out from the Pottery Barn catalogue. Auntie Becca gave her "Bling Bling" Sunglasses. Grammy and Granddad took her shopping for new clothes and an art easel. She had a great birthday!

Emily's First Day of School

Emily's first day of school at her new school ended up being on her birthday. Her school is absolutly amazing! It is a two-room school house that has a total of 34 children and two teachers. Emily's class is K-2 and the older class is 3-5. She made friends very quickly and found out that one lives down the road from us.

She got to wear her new raincoat. It was sprinkling but not snowing....yet.

Can you tell that she is excited?

The Propane Tank

We got our new propane talk delivered today! It was the next step in getting our power up and running on the cabin. We had to go from a 250 gallon to a 500 gallon tank so that we had enough propane to run our generator full time. We will be installing our solar as soon as possible but this will do for the time being.

These guys are pros! They came in and took the small one out, fitting the larger one and then transfered the propane. Then they ran a poly line through the trench from the tank to our generator. It was all done within a couple hours!

Jer and Ron are very proud of themselves for setting up the electrical system. These are our batteries that they are sitting on. They was upwards of a thousand pounds!!

Here are the inverters, the battery charger and the computer that runs the whole system. The power comes into these from the batteries, generator and solar and is changed into 110V just like a normal grid-tie house. Then it is sent into our home.

We did have some complications on the awesome day. When we went to power up the generator, it didn't work. Come to find out, while the generator was our shop waiting for us to install it, the mice got into a HUGE bag of bird seed and decided to store it in the generator. Ron and Jer were very upset to say the least. The propane guys had never seen anything like it! The seed was stuffed in behind the spark plugs and any other small area in the motor housing. Needless to say, we have a very large project ahead of us cleaning it out. We have a backup generator to use for the time being but it will not allow me to use the washer, dryer or refrigerator! So until Ron and Jer get this fixed or the generator guy comes next Thursday...I will be camping it! Thank goodness for ice chests!

As I type this, the Citrus Heights house is all packed up and ready to go. I won't be able to post until we get internet up at the house but I will be taking lots of pictures. Wish us luck!

A learning experience...

Jeremy and Ron headed up the hill to see if we would be able to continue our move. When they showed up there was a lot more snow than they expected. They were able to get all the way through to Kentucky Flat Road but that is where the trouble started. The snow was up to the bumper of our big truck, so it was plowing the snow then, the trailer was plowing what the truck was leaving behind.

Then they decided that they should turn around and that is where the trouble started. They got stuck....very stuck! So Jer called a buddy to help them out. Shawn came to the rescue in his Jeep and got the truck out and then the trailer out.

After a couple hours, they were able to get on the road again and come home. Once Jeremy got home we decided to not chance it again until the next week.

Let it Snow!

Jer and Ron took a trip up to the house to get more work done. When they were driving in on Thursday to drop off the new appliances the snow was not too bad. They were able to get to the house, move in the Washer/Dryer, Fridge/Freezer and a few other items. However, when they woke up the next morning it had snowed...a lot! So it ruined my trip I had planned with my mom and my sister who came up for the weekend. Jer and Ron came down the hill early to make sure they were able to get out with the trailer. After seeing these pictures, I knew our move was going to be a little delayed. I didn't know that we would end up getting over 3 feet of snow over the course of a few days to the point that we wouldn't even be able to make it to the house.

What to Plant?

This is the flower beds that are in front of my house. I am trying to think of what I want to plant. I have been thinking rosemary, thyme, and lavender. What do you think would be best? I would love something easy but functional.

New Appliances

Jer and I went and bought the new appliances for our house. We decided to get energy and water efficient machines even though they aren't necessarily typical "off-grid living" appliances. I am so excited to do laundry! OMG...what am I saying?!?

Here is the new fridge/freezer combo. We are going to put the fridge in the house and the freezer in the mudroom. We like the look of the "built-in" but have no room for it in the cabin. So we bought the vents and will store them until we build the house and we can put the two units together. The space of these units will be nice, especially with the grocery store being 45min away!

The "Hord" Power Company

We are making our own power company, sorry dad (he works for Southern California Electric Company). Here is what we will be using to power our home. We are so excited to not have utility bills (besides propane).

24-190 watt solar panels
1-Onan RS 15000 Propane Generator
4-Solar-One Cycle batteries
4-Outback Inverters

What do you do on your 3 day weekend?

Jeremy and I (and the kiddos) headed up to the ranch for the 3 day weekend to work on house. The weather was amazing and the snow had melted so it was time to roll up our sleaves and get moving on some projects.



POWER
Jeremy built a retaining wall to hold our propane generator. We had to make a run to the Ace Hardware in Greenwood to get more rock to fill it but it is finished. We even had enough rock to dump in front of the house to prevent mud getting tracked into the house. He then went on to work on the wall that will hold our inverters. For those of you that are new to "Off-Grid" living, here is a little about our power at the moment (our solar isn't installed yet)...



It all starts with a propane tank, that is plumbed into a propane generator (and our stove, water heater and gas dryer). The generator produces the power that is then fed to the batteries so that the generator does not have to run 24-7. The batteries, when charged, feed to an inverter, since it is not 110V like normal electical appliances use, the inverter changes the power to 110V. We then have power in the house just like normal homes.

If you were to walk into our house, the only reason you would notice a difference is when the generator kicks on to charge the batteries.

DECOR

While Jer has been working on the outside, I have been working on the inside of teh house. We have two rooms, a bathroom and a landing upstairs. Emily's room has been painted lavender per her request and all her new furniture has been moved in. I am still waiting to buy the quilt from Pottery Barn. I painted the landing and the ceiling and it is ready for our desk to be moved in. The other room is in need of some major work. We still have to do some drywall repair so I am on hold decorating Jack's room.

I moved on to the downstairs which has the master bedroom, a full bath, a sunroom and a great room that is our kitchen, livingroom and dining room.

The sunroom is going to be turned into a craft room for me and a playroom for the kids. We layed new carpet but everything else is going to have to wait. I want to install a craft table and storage benches for the kids toys. I think it is going to be a run to Ikea as soon as I save up the money.

I painted our room white (from a gross mint green) and it looks very clean and fresh. I am going to buy a new quilt from Target that is country but cute.

The hallway has been painted and we installed a new light fixture. The bathroom and I putting on hold because it doesn't look too bad and I have yet to spend time thinking of how to decorate it.

I do have to mention that I HATE wallpaper! I had to take down an entire wall of it. It was gross, sticky, messy...need I say more!


THE BIG MOVE
We are planning on being in the house by the 21st of Feb! Wish us luck!

Postal Service

As we were heading home after dropping the tanks off we were educated on the Georgetown way of getting the mail. We don't walk to the mailbox becuase it is 2.5 miles away that would be crazy! Apparatly, the new way of travel is the tractor!

We are on the move...

Jeremy and I have started to make the move to Georgetown! The weather isn't the greatest but we have made some progress. The foundation is set up for the new generator and it should take another two full days of work to get it up and running. We also have purchased two 2500 gallon water tanks. We were able to get them up to the ranch during a break in the storms.

The tanks are pretty big, they are about 8 ft tall by 8 ft wide. Good thing they only weigh anout 350 lbs so we were able to roll them off the trailers.


The trip was almost ruined by a foot and a half of snow but I saved the day by teaching Jeremy how to put chains on his truck.


The property looks so beautiful covered in a layer of snow.

Fountain of Youth or Old Faithful...you decide!

While the boys were working on tearing the shed down they hit the Fountain of Youth...or was it Old Faithful? Hmmm....Ron jumped in and tried to stop the water from flowing out as we are on a well and house our water in a tank. the water was flowing! Jer jumped on a quad and turned off the water at the connection and we were back in business. It was pretty funny to watch everyone scramble around as I just sat on my chair taking pictures. I guess that is the luxury I have being 8 months pregnant!

Demo Days Part II

It was absolutely beautiful up here this weekend and the boys decided to do a little demo on one of the sheds that is on the property. It needed to be taken down because this is where Cindy and Ron are going to be living until the house is built, NO NOT THE SHED!!! Just were they are going to park their motor home. It is already plumbed for water and it housed a generator in it, as you can see the pictures it wasn't worth saving. It was fun to watch the tractor do its work!

Demo Days at the Property

This past weekend we headed up to The Ranch and decided to do some work...well Jeremy and Emily will do some work. The upstairs rooms are basically mirror images of eachother. The problem with this rooms is that there is no closet, just a wall with two cubby holes in it. Jeremy decided that we could cut it to open it more space and give Jack and Emily a closet. So here are the pictures of the opening, I couldn't get upstairs fast enough to take action shots but I did catch Daddy teaching Emily how to do "DEMO" This is the first of many projects we have to get through to move into the house in the begining of the year. Good thing we aren't busy! HA HA

It is finally here!

We are picking up our solar array today! It is going to be hard work for the boys but so worth it! We sent them with a camera so we will see if we get to post any pics on here to show the breakdown. It is going to be so great having such a large system and not having to worry about running a washing machine or a dishwasher. The countdown is coming! We are going to be moving up there as soon as winter is over.

A Tale of Two Ranch Trucks

We have just purchased another vehicle, this one however was very important for the ranch, according to Jeremy. He said it was going to be a perfect truck to use around the property for doing "stuff." I love that phrase "Doing Stuff," it is the phrase to use when you can't think of exactly the "stuff" that you are going to be doing so you just throw in that general word.

His dad and him tried to convince their other halves(Cindy and I) by starting us off with a great dinner and a glass of wine. Then they starting talking about the truck that they wanted to buy, how it was going to save us money, how it was perfect for the ranch, it can haul lots of "things" and perfect for "doing stuff" around the ranch.

Little did Cindy and I know, it was a done deal in their heads. I guess they just asked us so that they would be able to enter the bedroom that night and not have to sleep on the couch. This lovely vehicle has some great options on it:

New Seats - Now there are only two, there were 3 but the previous owner ripped the middle one out for an ice chest (GO FIGURE)
New Car Smell - well I wouldn't say new car smell, more like old man who smokes two packs a day mixed with some mold/mildew
New Headliner - the previous owner ripped out the fabric and just spray painted the liner, how smart of him!
Spot Lights - they are mounted on the truck, but when I asked Jeremy if they worked his comment was "we don't know, we can't find the switch"


So yesterday, we took this lovely truck up to the property, its new home. All the while, Jeremy was still trying to convince me that it was a "great deal." So we get up there and I walk into the house and sit on the couch (my usual spot now) while the boys worked on getting some "stuff" done around the ranch (i.e. - long quad ride, organizing the shop). As we went to leave, I jumped in my new car and adjusted the lumbar, changed the dual climate control because I am always so hot, got comfy for the ride home in the leather seats and the boys all jumped in. I thought to myself...I am complaining about the "new ugly truck" that Jeremy just bought and yet I am getting into my "Ranch Truck" (see picture below). How can I even complain about the $1100 he spent on the work truck when I am driving a Yukon XL Denali. Yes, I am from Orange County and my version of a Ranch Truck and Jeremy's version of a Ranch Truck is completely opposite, but can I really complain? I will just blame it on being pregnant and it is the hormones that are talking! :-)

Quartz Ridge Ranch is going solar

Since we have bought the property we have being running off of a diesel generator, it isn't that bad, noisy and expensive but it doesn't stop us from using everyday items. We always new that when we were going to build "The Big House" as I call it we would be moving to solar. Well, we stepped up the time frame and bought the solar system for us to use while we are living in the house that is currently on the property. It is very exciting and I am looking forward to not having any electricity bills. I will update you all with pictures once it is installed on our property. These are the solar cells we bought below!!

Being a 5 year old

So what can a 5 year old do to help our around the property? Well, besides looking cute, she drives the quad while daddy throws in cut logs in the trailer, she stacks wood for the winter months, she picks up doggy poo and the biggest thing she does...Bosses the dogs around!

The Mitchells Visit

Peanut and Adam came up to play in the snow for the day. She had a blast making a snowman. We had fun watching her smile going down the hill on her sled.

The First Snow

We decided to stay an extra night because we knew a storm was coming in. It snowed that night, the first time for us. It was beautiful to wake up to. We headed back down to Sac that morning but it was so nice to experience the beauty.

The Fishing Pond

So this isn't our property but it is for sale, so we decided to do a little fishing. Too bad the pond was frozen!

Hot firefighters in cowboy hats...

Yes, that is my man on the left and yes the man on the right is taken. But they are fun to look at!!!

The new quad

So this cute little girl of ours was feeling a little left out and didn't have a ride of her own.


So we bought her a present...


She was so excited...


she looked back once...



and then she was gone!

The Parents Visit

So, I am from Orange County and haven't had a bit of country experience until we bought the ranch. So my parents wanted to come up and see what exactly their daughter got herself into. I taught my dad how to drive the quad...


I fed them dinner...



Aren't they adorable?


OH and I let my dad golf, wherever he wanted to, and the dogs were trained to bring the ball back. I knew how to win them over!

She thinks my tractors sexy!

So my mom's life long dream was to drive a tractor and "move dirt." Her dream came true when we bought the Kabota. Don't we look cute in our hats?



This is a little of what she was able to do, you should have seen the grin on her face!

The last power pole in the rear view mirror...

So as I mentioned earlier, the last power pole is about a mile and a half from the edge of the property. So how do we stay in the house? It is called a generator, this lovely piece of mechanics below. It powers up the house and the shop, you wouldn't even realize we didn't have electricity until you heard this baby humming in the back ground. It gives the house power to run the swamp cooler, the stove, and some lighting. The good ole boy that built the house, wired the house for both 110V and 12V. The generator charges the batteries so when we don't want to run the generator and we need lights they work. It is a basic system but one that is hard to understand for all you "GRID" people. Just think, we aren't paying a dime to PG&E, SMUD or SCE (sorry dad)!

The other kind of work....

So you may ask yourself what else do they do besides pull Manzanita? Well, we have friends up, we paint, we work, Emily swims, we garden, the dogs play, we have burn piles (leave that to the pyros), we cut down dead trees, we look at the wild life...



AND WE RELAX LOOKING AT OUR BEAUTIFUL VIEW!

The work...

Well when you have the amount of land that we do, there is a lot of work that goes into it. Here we are pulling Manzanita, yes you might think "oh how pretty" pretty much they are weeds to use and a HUGE fire danger, if you would like some for your bird house, a wedding or special even, you are more than welcome to drive on up there and get some, we do have a minimum of clearing at least a quarter acre of it for the payment (we can dream right?).


We thought the best way to pull the manzanita was by hand, then we used the quad and the wench. We did make a mark on clearing it, however, it was very labor intensive. We need a better plan...

There is my cutie! Oh and look at the two dogs in the trailer, they were quite used to running around so much, so Jer gave them a lift. Dylan looks like he is about ready to JUMP! Lily is loving the ride.

Home Owners

We are finally owners, here is the first time we opened up the property with our own keys. That is me in the jeans (don't look at my booty) and that is Ron in the red shirt (Jeremy's dad), oh yeah...and the is Claude (aka dirt claude, the truck). Jeremy, Emily, Dylan (our dog) opened the door to the home that would be called home in a year or two, for a couple years, until we build our dream home. Did you get that?

40 acres

Just to give you an idea of how remote the ranch is, here it is on google earth. You can see the dirt road leading into it. The white lines represent an estimate of our property lines. 40 acres is about a quarter mile on each side of the square. 1 full mile around. That is a whole lotta wood!

Are we crazy?

Now this might not be the home of your dreams...but it is ours, actually the 40 acres is the "land" of our dreams. Here are the photos from the listing that we took from MLS. As you can see it is furnished!! HA HA

Jeremy and I were looking for a larger parcel to be able to build a home one. We started looking at MLS listings and hired a buyers agent to show us around Georgetown, CA. She took us to a handfull of places and saved this one for last. As we were driving down the dirt road (2.5 miles to be exact) we kept looking at each other stating, "This isn't that bad." I think that was the first half-mile. Then we saw the last power pole, that was at the end of the first mile. Then we hit the clay, instead of the gravel road, and we still were looking at each other going, "This is getting out there" That was mile two. Then we hit the gate to the property, the agent opened it up and we drove in. The house was cute, it was actually better than we thought it would be. Then we started walking around...we fell in love. 40 acres of beuatiful trees an amazing view and quiet...so very quiet. We were sold. Are we crazy?