Snow!!!

We were all pretty excited to see the snow this morning, but I'm awfully sad about our two previously beautiful cottonwood trees. The leaves hadn't even turned yet, let alone fallen, and the super heavy snow just ripped them apart...

Clyde was pretty excited and helped build a snowman that his dad named Peanut Butter. Clyde didn't like that one bit, "It's not peanuh butteh, it's noman!"

Alice was a little less enthralled with the winter wonderland.

Since it's gotten colder, we're running the wood stove most the day. It's obviously somewhat of a hazard. Clyde gets it and stays away, but Alice didn't understand, so Ben and Clyde built a "gate" - it's not JPMA certified, but it's working!

"Maybe we're going on a date..."

Mumsy was coming for dinner and mommy put Alice in a dress and me in my tiger overalls and shirt. We looked good! Mommy told me I was so handsome and Baby looked pretty. I told her, "Maybe we're going on a date!" She was so surprised... she thinks I don't know about things, but I do....And this is my idea of a fun date... chainsaws and shovels...

-Clyde

Eggs and such...

We get eggs from the ranch and they can be all different colors. Sometimes they have yucky dirt and chicken poop on them.

Mommy made them into something yummy:

A day off...

Ben took Clyde and Alice to the ranch today.  It's so quiet, I just don't know what to do.  I thought about nothing, but after sleeping for an hour I got up, read about 100 pages of grant applications, vacuumed the entire house, dusted, did 3 loads of laundry, fixed a chair, picked up all the stray toys, revamped the blog (check out the labels), and now I think I'll watch a movie, try to read some more and make some flan.

Shipping Sheep

The other day we picked Daddy up at work and went to Sater Meadows north of McCall. There were so many sheep! I got a cane so I could help tell the sheep where to go. They loaded some on trucks and the others they sorted. Mommy didn't have her camera, but Marg took these with her phone. It was so fun! Daddy couldn't believe how quiet sheep are compared to cows. They can jump really high. Sometimes they tried to jump the fences. We put the girls in one pen, the boys in one pen and the old ladies in another.

I like sheep!

Look what Mommy Made...

Stuck up in the woods without many sewing resources nearby, Mommy was thinking what can I make for this baby shower. Her friend is having a second baby girl. So she made both girls little homemade purses. One is made out of part of a pair of jeans and the other a stained sweater, and they both include 3 extra quilt squares from a quilt she was making for another baby that's coming. She's also including some diapers and a baby toy in the package. The purses are reversible too. Check them out:

Back Yard

One of the best things of this summer has been the yard. Good for mom because it's got wire up and no one can get out. Good for Clyde because he can run around and beat on things. Both kids really like being outside (and the house stays cleaner too!). We'll miss the yard as it cools down and we get ready to move south with the cows.

The Last Huckleberries

It's cooling down in the mountains. We took a road trip over Lick Creek Summit down the Secesh River to the Salmon River to Warm Lake and back home. It's a beautiful drive if you're ever in the McCall area and have some time.

But the best thing happened, we found more huckleberries!!! It was September 6th and they were totally done in the valley for weeks, but we got high enough that they were perfect. And, as Clyde would say, there were "So many!!!" Clyde always asks for so many of everything. Not more or a lot, but so many.

And, they were gigantic! For those of you not familiar with huckleberries, these were probably double the size we're used to:

Luckily, the Smiths were planning on coming the next day (Labor Day) so we took them up to the same place. Some berries had succumbed to the frosty night, but there were enough they got about a pint and a half to take home. And we had huckleberry pancakes for dinner, mmmmm.

Here's some of the other cool scenery we saw on the drive:

Cool dead tree.

Fungus growing on burnt tree.

Tree growing out of a rock.

Mossy tree.

Alice Gertie Baby Ninya is One!

We can't believe a year has passed already. Alice is toddling around and falling down a lot as toddlers are wont to do. She is a very happy baby, even when Clyde is pushing and hitting her, which he is wont to do. Mumsy got her this special birthday outfit:

The Smiths came and stayed with us, which was a lot of fun for us and we hope for them. We took them out to feed the calves and the horses came to see what was going on:

We always get asked, "What are you calling her?" The truth is she gets called "Baby" a lot, but that's not something we want to stick. As you can see from the cake, Alice and Gertie are both getting top billing:

She is really a joy these days!

Berry Sad News, But a Berry Good Summer

The huckleberries are done. It was so sad to see only one or two with the rest withering on the bush. I suppose that we can get by until next year. At least we have some jam to tide us over. Lucky for us, Mumsy's raspberries started right when the huckleberries quit, so our summer of berries continues. Mom thinks that we've made about 4 gallons of jam this summer, which doesn't sound like a lot until you realize that it was about 40 jars of the stuff. We hope that next summer some of you will join us for huckleberry picking and jam making. Mark off your calendars for somewhere from late July to mid-August!

Strawberry/huckleberry jam we made with Aunt Libby:

Libby and Ben's huckleberry haul:

Clyde, a good picker and a good eater... these are Mumsy's raspberries: