|
 Our ranch in the winter. This lovely picture was taken by our friend Jan Winje. She and her husband have the Winje's Farm Cottage that can be rented year round. If you ever want a quiet respite, this is the place ! http://surprisevalley.us/bandb.html
Nestled in the northeast corner of California is the incredibly lovely and lonely high desert community of Surprise Valley. Our ranch is in the small town of Lake City. Here is where we raised hay, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, dogs, cats and kids ! Our ranch is still a retreat for the entire family. We are refreshed by the quiet beauty of clear skies, open fields, rock foundations and weathered buildings.
|
|
Sunday, 06 September 2009 07:04 |
After the dump run and a few more clean up chores at the ranch, I decided to hook up my Wild Blue internet and connect with the more populous parts of the world !
Wild Blue is especially helpful to us who live in the most remote areas on God's Great Earth ! (Birds really like Wild Blue too).
We always unplug the internet when we leave. We know from experience that an unexpected storm and power outage might occur and wreck havoc with all kinds of systems ! This has been firmly established in our minds after we lost 2 freezers full of beef !!
I plugged in the internet device. However, my computer kept saying " perhaps you are out of range". Well, that made me hoppin' mad ! It isn't cheap to have high speed internet service in the boondocks and I sure expected it to work !
I called the tech support number, which of course, re-routed me to another number and then it wasn't even a "living" human being, but a recording asking me to go through a few simple steps. While listening, and remembering not to respond to the recording, I performed the required tasks. Like a robot I unplugged and plugged in the device again. And, still holding the phone to my ear, I saw there was another cord lying there. The recording continued to give directions, which I only half heard. I plugged in the second cord and low and behold, my device started showing the tell tale yellow light that says we have a wireless connection !
Thank God I had been talking to a recording and not a real person !
Obviously, I should have had a cup of tea first....but, you know, any time is a good time for tea !
Happy Infusions,
Kate
|
|
Last Updated on Monday, 07 September 2009 20:14 |
|
Saturday, 05 September 2009 20:26 |
From Cedarville to the ranch on County Road one,
you have to watch for......
and for......
also for.......
And watch out for your neighbor.....
And while you're watching out for the critters and the farm machinery,
you also have to watch for rocks !!
Most of the the time the half hour trip is uneventful, but there have been days and nights when we have encountered all of the above !
Happy travels and don't forget to have your tea when you get there !
Kate
|
|
Last Updated on Monday, 07 September 2009 20:13 |
|
Monday, 20 July 2009 17:36 |
The book and the letter from the court came in the same week.
Cowboy Ethics, a western "picture book", written by James P. Owen, makes a case for what Wall Street could learn from the "Code of the West". In the forward, David Stoecklein, (also the photographer), says, " The West is a place where the fence is always tight, but the gate is always open to friends and neighbors. It is a place where a man can make tough decisions without looking over his shoulder or worrying what someone else will think. A cowboy get his strength from knowing what is right and what is wrong and being true to his beliefs".
The Code is summarized in ten principles:
1. Live each day with courage
2. Take pride in your work
3. Always finish what you start
4. Do what has to be done
5. Be tough, but fair
6. When you make a promise, keep it
7. Ride for the brand
8. Talk less and say more
9. Remember that some things aren't for sale
10. Know where to draw the line
At first, I viewed the book as entertaining, full of gorgeous photographs and good stories. People I know and love have always abided by similar tenets; it didn't seem necessarily relevant to our personal lives. I decided this gem would be added to my " Great Gift Ideas" list.
A few days later, the letter arrived from the court stating that our "friends" were filing bankruptcy . We had loaned them a great deal of money to buy equipment to start a business.
A contract had been drawn up and signed with an agreed upon repayment schedule. For the last six months we had been trying to communicate with them. All of our calls and letters were ignored.
Bewildered, we wondered why they hadn't at least called or written to us to let us know they might be considering bankruptcy. Perhaps we could have recovered some of our loss with the sale of the equipment.
Smack !
Suddenly the book on ethics and a code of behavior became relevant. Realistically, I understand there is no way to legislate ethical behavior. Even in countries where punishment is severe, there are those who push the line and break "the rules".
I don't think we, us, the American people, have lost our commitment to honor principles. I do think we have to be diligent in remembering and teaching (especially by example) a code of ethics, values, what we stand for !
July 25th will be the one year anniversary of the death of Professor Randy Pausch, the author of The Last Lecture. He said in an interview with Diane Sawyer, that he wanted to leave his children memories of values, of what he stood for, not just memories of himself. The following interview is heart-rendering !
He was Dr. Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at a prestigious college in the east, but his values, his code of ethics closely resemble the "Code of the West".
May we always remember however we describe our behavior, whether it is a "Code of the West" or "values" or "what we stand for", the choices we make concerning our "manner of conducting ourselves" do matter !!
Happy Blessed Infusions,
Kate
www.oregonstreetteacompany.com  |
|
Last Updated on Thursday, 30 July 2009 12:56 |
|
Sunday, 19 July 2009 04:49 |
My husband commented to a young friend of ours the other day,
" You know Gabe, that fence you and I built is still in good shape !"
(Meaning the fence remains straight and taut having withstood herds of cows leaning on it, calves determined to crash through it, and deer
jumping over it).
Gabe, now nineteen, reminisced about the summer he was thirteen and stayed a week or so with us at the ranch to help build that fence.
I thought about all the fences my husband has built, starting when his mom married his second dad, Sherman. Sherman grew up in Likely, California on a ranch tucked deep into the
mountains. After Sherman married Phil's mom, they always had donkeys or horses. Phil and his siblings built and rebuilt miles and miles of barb wire fences.
And since we've always had horses and cows, our son, daughters, son-in
-law to be, several nephews and young friends learned to build good strong fences capable of corralling critters and prevailing, in tact, through the years.
Barb wire fences are tough to build and maintain, especially if the terrain is steep or rocky. Post hole digging is tedious. Slamming steel post into hardened ground with a fence post driver is body numbing. It's boring and slow moving....miles and miles of posts and wire. There is no way to avoid nicks, scratches, torn shirts and frustration. Depending on the weather, you are either sweating dirt or morphing into an icicle.
One year our rambunctious twenty year old son was in charge of the "day cowboys" ( our nephews) and fence building was the main project. On a scorching hot day, three dusty young men stomped into the house, declaring that Travis was impossible ! T.J. had just taken a measuring device and decided that the fence the boys had spent hours stretching and crimping didn't meet his approval. He told them to rip it out and start over. They were fit to be tied !
Of course, T.J. had learned this technique from his father, and his grandfather. In ranching country how a man builds and maintains his fences affects his reputation. The fence has to be built just so...to last...to be straight...and taut...able to keep in his own stock and keep the neighbor's bulls out !
Red Steagall, a cowboy poet, wrote a great poem, The Fence That Me and Shorty Built, summing up why it's important to do a job right !
May all your infusions be lasting,
Kate
www.oregonstreetteacompany.com  |
|
Last Updated on Thursday, 30 July 2009 12:56 |
|
|
more info...!