Mud Ranch’s Real Dirt

My update right now is that you should never leave a short blond girl by herself… Hubby went to the Big City today to continue what we went down for yesterday but got turned around.  Annie and I had just finished getting ready for the day when a Sheriff pulls up and over his PA he announces that there will be a lot of air traffic today and to shut up all my windows plus cover anything I don’t want covered in fire retardant – because the planes are coming!  I called my parent’s who were scheduled to take care of Annie today anyway (I was going to go on a trail ride…) and took her and my two house dogs there.

I was now free to go take pictures.  I started out in my yard and watched the “bombers” dive over the mountain but a ridge was in my way.  I tried climbing up on a post in the ram pasture which is a telephone pole for some height which did help but still wasn’t the look I was after. 

While sitting on the post I did happen to notice this mountain lion stalking me.

Okay bad joke… But I did decide to hop on the quad and take a little drive up to our neighbor’s (bare land) and then hike to the top of his ridge.  I did, and got some great photos.

I decided to tag my photos in case anyone got greedy… so please remember while viewing them that all rights are reserved (as always with all my pictures) and they are copyrighted to me.

I climbed higher and higher to watch these guys dump their loads.  It was nothing short of awesome and was a highlight for me.  I have always admired the pilots of the bombers and what they can do.  I think if I was a lot braver than I am, I would have loved to learn how to fly these things.

This ridge was bombed with the fire retardant after several practice runs.  It was previously (not all that long before) being worked on by the con crews and I noticed them leaving pretty quickly… then it got dropped.

I was close but not close enough for the red stuff to end up on my head.  If it did though, I have heard it’s not terrible, just stains.  I believe my blond head would have been a vibrant orange where my pony tail stuck out of my ball cap.

Amazing isn’t it?!

This is what it looks like as it blankets the ground beneath.  There is a distinct stain to the earth once it settles and you can see it creates it’s own chemical fire break.

There’s my alps, a view from up on the ridge.  See that speck?  That’s the plane.

And there’s my little house, my pastures to the right and left, and my little pond down in the corner.  See, we have a good amount of open space around us.  I love that view.

I’ll be back up there this afternoon to see, once the smoke settles.  The wind kicked up a bit and created quite a yucky breathing environment and the sites weren’t as easy to see.  I do have to take Hubby up, it’s quite spectacular.

Enjoy!

Okay, I’m opening.  Not only have I placed all my leftover bags for sale (4 of them), but I’ve also included some greeting card packs.  I also figured that if anyone wanted to create their own packs of cards, I could put up “special order for ______.”

So if you have any interest at all in getting some greeting cards for youself or for a gift, head on over to My Shop at Etsy.

And also, if you have kid’s birthdays coming up, especially little girls who like pretty little dolls, consider my Sis-in-Law’s shop: Megan’s Flowering Boutique.

Each on of her Flower Dolls is completely an individual made with love by Megan.  The dolls are about 4″ high and actually fit those little plastic horses made by various companies that are around 4-6″ high.  We have a lot of little girlfriends around here who are enamoured with Megan’s dolls and are usually riding them around on their plastic horses — they make a great fit.

This is one of the very few that Megan has made without the artificial flower skirt but I love the attitude this girl has — like she is a ballerina with spunk.

All their arms, bodies and legs are bendable and safe to play with.

Megan has even ventured out and started to make these Mermaids.  All the little girlfriends around here are really excited about these.  Megan always asks for their input and they love the wildly colored hair with plenty of sparkle and so that’s what Megan does.  I’m more of a traditionalist myself and prefer the full flowered skirts, but branching out to please the younger crowd is a better idea.

I was impressed with the salon highlights in this girl’s hair!

And this one includes a beautiful princess style double braid.  Too pretty!

Megan has also started felting their clothes from time to time, and as you can see, puts little flowery cuffs on the end of the sleeves.

Lots of time and detail go in to each little doll and all are unique little works of art.