5/6/13

Counting Down to Opening Day

No, I'm not talking about MLB here, I know opening day has come and gone (Go Giants)!

Yeah, I'm a born and raised Giants fan. See, I told you orange is my favorite color!

I'm talking about here at the ranch. The Guest Ranch will open in 13 days!

Before that, we have our annual Volunteer Weekend to help get ready. We have a willing group of 80+ come stay with us and do some of the more labor intensive work. They bring their own sleeping bags and sleep wherever they will fit. They help chop firewood for each of the guest cabins, the lodge, the employee cabins, the office and our home. They wash windows and floors, they set up the furniture and unpack the kitchen, they plant in the gardens, and prepare their own food. This year they get to help put a new fence around the pool, lay sod in front of the lodge and put down a flagstone path throughout the property. We are still suffering the aftermath of the septic project of the the fall, namely in MUD! These people are amazing!

Bunny talking to the tomatoes in the greenhouse.
The back wall is full of sprouts waiting for their move to the gardens.

Now sadly for me, the weekend is the same weekend that my 7th grader has her last track meet. So I will not be there to help in all that. I'm sorry, but my kiddos do come first. Plus, I know they are in good hands.

It is also the day of the Walk MS that I am signed up for. I am signed up as a virtual walker, because I knew I wouldn't be able to be there. But I am still in need of donations! If you would like to make a donation, click on the green MS button on the top of my side bar up there. That will take you were you need to get.

5/3/13

A to Z Challenge in Retrospect

This was the first year I've participated in the A to Z Challenge. I honestly thought I was crazy for signing up. But not only did I enjoy myself, it wasn't as hard to pull off as I thought.


I couldn't have made it without scheduling my posts. That helped immensely, although there where a few days when the scheduled posts ran out and I needed to actually take a minute to set up the rest of the month. Over all, I spend very little time at the computer.

Coming up with the posts was the fun part. The theme made it easy and my kids liked brainstorming ideas with me. Having the posts more image related helped. But now and then I told a story, like in my Owl post.

My most popular post seems to be the Cubs. And thus far we haven't seen them this year. That's a good thing. I hope they are more leery of us now that they are older. I have, however, seen three grizzly bears in the past week! But it was much farther away, off the Guest Ranch.

A darn big Grizzly Bear, looking right at me! 

He was pretty far away though.
My daughter took this shot of me. She's so awesome. 

Sorry… back to this post…

Will I do it again? You bet! And now that I know I will, I've got a year to plan!
Do I recommend it to other bloggers? Absolutely!

And the perks are even better! I've so enjoyed seeing how others have approached the challenge. I've visited many fabulous writers and will continue to. Many of the blogs on the list were not the kind of blogs who hang in the same Memes as I usually do. So the link up aspect of this challenge introduced me to these wonderful people whom I wouldn't have found on my own.

And I want to thank everyone who popped in on me! I have enjoyed every one of your comments!

Thanks for coming 'round!