ranch hotel 2017

The weekend before sabbatical ended (August 13), while Noah and Evie were at Rainbow, we rented our house for the Rally for the third time and spent three days at the ranch, August 10, 11, and 12. We were going to stay at Shari and Jesse's new house since they were on vacation, but we had Sugar to watch and she was feeling sick so it was easier to care for her out there. Plus, Terry's dad had a big project for them to work on...

Sleepy Ez and sick Sugar

...Railings! They needed a few extra hands in the beginning so Alice and I held up pieces. Early on in the summer Terry had promised to help his dad with them but the summer got away from us. However, staying out there worked out perfectly and they got it done. 

The littles and I wandered around with Luna while the guys were working.

We hung out by the new gravel pile where Samuel and Ezra threw dirt clumps at the tractor digger (last year they dug a big pit in the old pile). They made up a game about it. Good boys! 

I put my dad's shock collar on Luna and let her wander around outside with us. She did so great! She would stay near me and come when I called. My dad did a good job training her while we were away in Utah and California in June. 

The first railing took them several hours or most of the day, which was probably more than I thought it would. Of course they had never done one before and are both perfectionists. 

There used to be a sort of rustic metal railing there behind the couch before and then none along the stairs. We were used to the empty gap between stairs and we never worried about when the kids were little but now it's Shari worries about it a lot, so I guess they finally decided to fix that.

Old railing from behind the couch

It looked really good to have wood there instead of metal!

After dinner that evening we went for another walk down to the bridge, something I had already done with the boys once or twice during the day to keep them busy. We put the shock collar back on Luna and hoped she would be good. Shortly after this picture, Luna stopped short on the road to look at a cow that was nearby on the left, past that garbage can. I guess she'd never see one that close up before. We were a little nervous that she could chase them, but for a few moments all she did was stand very still and observe. The cow was the first to move and when it did, Luna was afraid! She turned tail and ran away from the cow, not towards it! Apparently she didn't know those big things were living animals and was surprised to see it move. 

Throwing rocks in the sparse creek below.

Samuel kept asking me to take his picture. 

Terry did not ask me to take his picture. But I'm glad I did. How often does one catch someone sneezing out a sun?!

Da boys and da dog.

Luna was being such a good puppy on this walk! 

Staying nearby her master persons.

It was a perfect night so we kept on walking.

The sun was just dipping below the hills but my camera had a hard time capturing it thanks to Noah's snow ball atop Beartooth Pass. :(

See how blurry? Yeah, that's the snow ball again. But this is the house Terry and I lived in before we moved to Nebraska in 2007.

Tried to make another family photo here like last year except we're missing a couple kids...and me. Different dog this year too.

Heading back to the ranch for bed.

"I'LL FLY AWAY IN GLORY"

Pretty sunset that night.

Boys and Luna racing down the road.

I was feeling all squirrelly like Luna and started chasing her around. Then Terry and the boys took over. She's so stinking fast!




The following day was Friday and the guys completed the second railing in a shorter amount of time than the first. They had learned a lot the first go round.

The boys and I went for a quick walk while they finished things up.

Ezra, Luna, and Sugar. Notice how Luna doesn't have the shock collar on? She had proved herself to be so good and obedient the day before. What a ranch dog she's becoming!

We got back in time to see them installing the new railing.

Both railings. Having two sure was a change.

Shortly thereafter we left for Rainbow to watch Noah and Evie's rodeo and bring them back with us.

The following day, Saturday was spent on a couple projects. I had to work so when I arrived back at the ranch, I was surprised to see yet a final, smaller railing at the ground level. I didn't think they'd be doing another but it looked great! All three did!

Jerry and his renter put in a new back porch door since the old one was shot and causing damage to the floor.

When we were back out at the ranch for the August 21 Eclipse, we found that Jerry had stained the oak wood! It looks so great.

After a delicious ribeye steak dinner, we went for one last evening stroll to the bridge. It sure was funny how Luna and that cow were checking each other out. The cow blinked first and left.

Beautiful sunlight.

Water!

Very dry field!

The following morning was Sunday and this was just before we went to our last Sabbatical Sunday service at Hillsview. We walked down to the bridge one last time. It's crazy how fast ten weeks went.