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.

G is for Green

Our resort tries to be very environmentally friendly. There are many things that we do to decrease our footprint as we educate our guests. For starters, we are owned by a Nonprofit Organization. All of our profit goes right back to that Nonprofit, and we, ourselves are therefor, nonprofit.

To see the garden in it's late summer splendor go here.

We grow as much of our own produce that the growing season will allow and everything is organic. This means that when we buy from local farmers, they too have to be organic. We only use local, grass fed meats. And everything else is as local as we can get.

We have a greenhouse to aid us through the short summer months. And we use river irrigation to water the lawns and gardens. We compost as much a we can.

The office uses solar power. This photosynthesis panel produces electricity. (At least I think that's what Adventure Man called it?)

We also use wind power to make electricity for the office. Isn't the little wind turbine cute! We get a lot of wind up here!

The pool water is heated by solar as well as each guest cabin's water.

Our paper products are all from recycled paper. Even bathroom tissue. We offer locally made soaps for  our guests to use, and we give them a full sized bar of soap with the request that they save the box and take it home so we don't have to throw it out.

We use recycled paper plates and plastic wear as well as recycled cups when we have our Volunteer Weekend, to get ready for our opening. We rip these up and compost them. And we recycle everything that can be recycled but can't be composted.

As you can see from these shot's, this is not our prettiest time of year. The snow is just melting and the grass, where we still have it after our well work last fall, is still dead. The leaves have yet to make an appearance.

F is for My Fireman

When it comes to my fireman, I'm not clowning around. 

Out here in the sticks, firefighters don't get paid.

• Of the 1.15 million firefighters in the United States, 812,150 are volunteers

And according to this, they drive VW's and paint their noses red and run around the rodeo. 

• 94 percent of volunteer firefighters serve communities with fewer than 25,000 residents

~~~~~~~~

Our volunteer department is a group of men and women who would drop anything to come to your aid. I know this because I've lived on the side of the road before. I've heard the pager go off at 2 am and seen my man run out the door with EMT kit in hand. I've seen his face when he lost someone to a car crash. He's seen what a drunk driver can do. Can do to a mini van. To an arm. To a soul. 

I've smelled the smell of blood and death when my man came home at 4 am. 

• 86 percent of fire departments are all or mostly volunteer; they protect 39 percent of the population

We don't live on the side of the road now. We live up in the sticks. It's not likely that it will be Adventure Man coming to the rescue if there was a call tonight. It would take him 30 minutes to get to town. But he's pulled people out of the snow. And he's helped guests a time or two. 

• Volunteer firefighters save local communities $37.2 billion per year in taxes

He trains with them all. He's worked on forest fires. 

And controlled burns that aren't so controlled. 

And they're getting a grass truck out here.

• 72 U.S. firefighters died in the line of duty in 2010; 44 were volunteers

They are starting up the search and rescue team in the area again.

He'll be on that. He'll be good at that. 

• There are 21,235 all volunteer and 4,830 mostly volunteer fire departments in the United States

They're all good men and women. No matter where they are. 

And out here, "They haven't lost a foundation yet."

Facts from here. Pictures by Adventure Man 

One Talented Cowboy ~ Hand Carved Rifles

This is our dear friend. He and my husband have been friends since they were 19. The we in the Missionary Training Center getting ready to head out for a two year volunteer mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The Cowboy had never spent so much time indoors in his life and he wasn't sure he could make it. Adventure Man wrote a letter to his mom and asked her to send him a very special care package. He said he needed leather, beads and any other things that could be worked with your hands. Adventure Man got The Cowboy to start making stuff and it probably saved his mission. 

They were sent to the Okinawa Islands in Japan. At one point in my husband's mission he was on a small island for over a year and he had The Cowboy as a companion for a total of 11 months on their mission. Most missionaries will have the same companion for just a few months. But 11? That's unheard of! 

The Cowboy is very artistic. He hand carved this rifle and his wife is eager to see if they can sell it and more. If you are interested in purchasing one, please leave me a comment below and I will get you some contact information. 

And We're Off

Guests on a hike.
No, I'm not vague. 

Our first guests have arrived. They come in Sundays and depart Sundays. This means that our Sunday's around here are pretty crazy with the turn over, but technically this time around shouldn't have been too bad seeing as we had no check outs... Except there was the whole thing with the van not working so we had to change out the battery and redo some wiring. And then there was that issue with not having hot water in one of the cabins so a pump needed to be replaced. So really, with this week being sold out, and all, and having so many kinks to work out, it's been a little crazy. Not for me mind you, but still.

wild forget me nots

Someone from church kept calling last night for my husband. He was not expecting him to be at work on a Sunday night. Adventure Man has to greet the guests. And have dinner with them. And hang out with them after dinner. The guy called twice. He's a sweet old man who didn't know us last year. He wanted to talk about the Sunday school class Adventure Man teaches. (It's the 12 year olds, and they Love him! I know, so cute, right!)  At nine o'clock Adventure Man called the man back and got the machine. He called again this morning, but Adventure Man was gone by 7 am. Off to take the guests to a ranch just north of here where they are all hopping to spy some grizzlies. Or something like that. I don't really know as I'm not with them! But it IS Grizzly week ya know!

The Aspen Trail by our house

And so it goes. Adventure Man working and running, and me here folding socks. This is the life I tell ya! But really, we have just 2 weeks of school left and lots of crafts, and foods, and fun planned for our summer daze. And although the laundry never stops, and I am hosting a church service project in just a few weeks and would like to serve lunch in a clean house, not the house I'm living in now, we do tend to have lots of time for fun. Even if I don't get to go observe markings on the trees. And perhaps that's a good thing, as knowing that there are bear markings on the trees where my kids like to build fairy houses, might just be a bit much for this mama to handle.

NOT a grizzly. this is a black bear and cub
(ONE of the cubs, she had twins)
they came around last spring looking for food.
We scared them off, and although they were still seen in the area,
they never were quite this close.

Ready Or Not, Here We Go

Key West Fl

Home Of The Sunset

Have you ever watched the home makeover shows? Or even just a room makeover show? My brother is a movie producer but before he got really big he had to start somewhere. Once, one of these shows came to the area and he was hired, along with other technical theater folks, to lend a hand. He said it was a sham. All props and stage workmanship. Nothing that would really last. I've watched the shows, I love them! And there is a lot of last minute racing around to get it all done. I've seen them put bedspreads on beds without the sheets. Ok, I can forgive that for a simple (and exciting) reveal.

A few years ago we took our family on a trip to see my hubby's sister who is stationed in Florida. We didn't get to see them when they were in Germany and we didn't want to make the same mistake twice. I realize that Germany is Way different than Florida, but that was fine with us, that's just the way we roll.

While in Florida, and knowing it wasn't likely we would get the chance again, we wanted to do some main atrations. We found ourselves renting a condo in the Key's. SO AWESOME! It was beautiful! And the condo had just been put on the market of rentals. It was a new complex too. Had a great pool, amazing views and everything inside was top of the line. Adventure Man has good taste! We went from room to room taking pictures. Then someone sat on a bed. "Crinkle!" What was that? We looked… 

Condo Master 

The beds were made up beautifully but in the hast to get it looking perfect for the inspection (probably to see whether it would qualify as a rental) no one took the plastic off the NEW mattresses. That's fine for the inspection, but then they forgot to swap it out for real bedding. They were really lucky. Why? Because their first guests were us. 

We were the first managers at the Bed and Breakfast. We were there for the opening. We remember the all-nighter we had getting ready for the big Grand Opening. We were the first staff at the last ranch we worked at. A luxury Resort in Montana that caters to the rich and famous. Again, a major race to get everything ready for yet another Grand Opening. And then every time we opened a new cabin, or luxury camp, we had guests on the books long before it was ready to open. More scrambling and all-nighters. We remember the complaints of things that had been over looked. You try to fix them before the guests come, but sometimes it happens. 

Glamping at the last place 

My Darling ran down to the main office and picked up the sheets. It was late and there was no housekeeping around. We had the beds swapped out in no time. (Ok, I think I complained a little bit, but that's probably because I'm lazy and was pregnant.) The guy at the front desk apologized up and down. But really it was no big deal. 

Now we are just two weeks away from the start of a new season. Our staff hasn't gotten here quite yet. 

harvesting the last of the winter crop

Here at this ranch our scramble to get it all done will be greatly helped by our up coming weekend event. We have a lot of people who come and do volunteer work throughout the season, but just before we open we have Volunteer Weekend. We pack 'm in and work 'm hard. Most of the volunteers work for the non-profet company that owns the ranch. They cut trees and split logs, they clean rooms, wash windows and make beds. They set up the gift shop and work in the greenhouse. They make food for them all and clean it all up after. They're a group of angels and they're on their way! Here we go! 

Volunteer Weekend was snowed out last year.
That didn't stop anyone!