Pirate ship

The kids made a pirate ship while Grandpa was babysitting yesterday. 

 The ship had a pirate flag, a steering wheel and a telescope.

New bathroom

After two years we can finally call our new basment bathroom finished. We actually stretched out about two solid weeks of work out over two years.  We made the final push to finish before my sister's wedding this summer. Now we finally have a home for our barbers chair.

We built in a bunch of cubby holes framed into the wall.

Thanks to Susan we got our shower tiled last year.

Mary's dad built these beautiful cabinets and sent them up with Susan this summer.

 Here's the built-in magazine rack and toilet paper holder.

The sheep and the bull

We don't run sheep on our ranch, but we ended up with one for a few days wen this ewe followed a lame bull off our Forest Service allotment.

We brought the bull home and the sheep stuck by his side all the way. The bull was a bit abusive to its pal, kicking it and butting it when it got too close, but being hobbled with a bad leg he had to endure the company. The sheep belongs to a rancher in Jiggs who runs sheep on the other side of the mountain. She must have become separated from her herd and climbed over to our side of the mountain. With no other herdmates she buddied with the first animal big enough to offer protection and slow enough to not run her off.

The sheep hung out in our corral for a few days, climbing out as she pleased, as sheep are wont to do. She finally moved on when she followed a group of our neighbors cows that got into our yard.

Muddy kids

Mud is like a magnet to our kids, especially for our oldest boy. These pictures taken after the kids found a mud hole in grandma's garden aren't particularly remarkable. We just thought you might get a kick out of someone's enthusiasm.

Partial eclipse of the sun

While much of the country saw a total eclipse on August 21st. Here in Ruby Valley we settled for a partial eclipse. 

This is as close as we got. Enough to cool things off by 14 degrees and to dim the light.

Here's what it looks like through a colander.

and through some hands

The shadows of the trees were really cool with lots of little cresents.

 Here's the fam checking it out with eclipse glasses. The girls was taking temperature and wind measurements for extra credit at school.

This is about as dark as it got for us.

These made us laugh

The kids have discovered Uno. Although the boy may appear to have quite the poker face, don't trust the girl's innocent smile. She's dangerous.

 Practicing his smolder

 Despite appearances we haven't introduced the boy to cage fighting. His black eye got a black eye from a slip on the floor and a chair in the wrong spot.

Sorm watch

As I write this post the snow is still falling and I don't know if I'll get out of the driveway in the morning. Yesterday the snowdrift in the front of our house was even with the floor of the porch (about 2 feet deep.) As of tonight the drift has doubled in depth. This latest snow is light and fluffy and is easily carried by the wind.

 What we're really worried about is this wave about to crash on our house. I don't know if we should grab the sled or the surfboard.

Let the Sun Shine

Winters can be tough in Ruby Valley and this winter is tougher than most, but every once in a while the Lord gives us a tender mercy. The snow stops, the winds calm, the fog lifts, the clouds part and you wake up to one of the most amazing scenes you can imagine. Monday we woke up to a heavenly scene. The fog that had settled in for a couple of days finally lifted and left everything coated in ice. It was the thickest hoarfrost we've seen for a while.

 These pictures are taken before the latest round of snow, so these snow piles are only going to get bigger.

 Here's a look at our house. The snow on the roof acts as insulation, right?

 Here's my parents house at the ranch.

 A look at the horse pasture.

 Our nearly 4-year-old boy having fun on top of a snow pile.

The bunk house. This was taken in the afternoon and the pogonip was still thick.

A couple of closeups of some tree branches.

Freezing with a chance of clouds

I saw something on facebook that I thought we should try. So the other day when I woke up and it was -5 I knew it was the time to try it! We made clouds! We took boiling water outside and threw it in the air. It was cool. By the time we did our second go of it it was up to 14 degrees, so that didn't work quite as well, but the kids still loved it. Gotta love science!

First attempt - sans kids so we didn't freeze them if it didn't work.

The science experiment with kids. It wasn't as cold so we had more water, but the kids still thought it was cool.

Happy Winter!

A big pile of snow

IT's another snowy year in Ruby Valley. We've plowed enough snow in the driveway to make a pretty good sledding hill. Tommy took his first run, but didn't like it.

Why use a brand new sled when you have a dog food bag. I had to include this picture because of the great face.

Here's a video of the girl killing it with a dog food bag. Wait 'til they have dog food bag sledding at the X Games.

Here's Sam making the snow pile.

 Here's our family on our snow pile.

Here's the kids on the sled.

Not quite as epic as our run down the mountain a few weeks ago with four people in the sled. Check it out. 

On the next run we had a huge wipe out. This boy was none too thrilled to eat snow, but fortunately there was hot cocoa to soothe his soul.

The littlest boy took a nap during the sledding outing.

 The girl had fun trying out her cousins' snowboard.