A beautiful place to call home 5/11/22

We’ve been here just over a week now and we are so thrilled to be at Rocky Ridge Outpost! We were just starting to get into the swing of things when we all got sick and, while we haven’t fully recovered yet, we are getting back at it because we are getting bored!

It’s been slow starting here as it’s snowed twice already in the short time we’ve been here. It’s so beautiful here, but especially when the gorgeous Utah snow blankets the ground!

As all the snow we’ve been having melts, it turns the entire area into a mud puddle. There’s something about the soil here that must have a lot of clay in it because this is nothing like any mud I have ever seen before! I think “muck” is a better term for it. It sticks to your shoes and just keeps layering and layering until there are literally inches of it covering your boots. It’s something else! We quickly realized that our Phoenix-appropriate footwear was not cut out for this very different land, so we took the opportunity one slow day to drive over the mountain (75 minutes one way and to a height of well over 8000 feet) to the town of Vernal to procure some boots.

I have always wanted a good pair of muck boots and I finally had the need to get a pair!We checked every store in the tiny mountain town but not one had my size. I was so disappointed, but Jeff and Braydon got some good boots! I ended up ordering a pair but they are exactly what I wanted and I’m so happy to finally have them!

With these colder temperatures we’ve had to make a few changes to the water system in the bus. When we left the East Coast in November this past year, we hadn’t even turned our water system on for fear of the new pipes and appliances freezing. We have since added several shut-off valves and drains into the system so, if the night is going to drop below freezing, we can drain the system before we go to bed. It has been working so far and we are hopeful that the temperatures start rising in the very near future.

One of Jeff’s favorite new ranch responsibilities is pest control. Between the numerous prairie dogs, marmot, badgers, and muskrat, there’s a lot of work to do! As long as there are no guests on the property, Jeff spends time eliminating these rodents that are both tearing up the property and leaving gaping holes in the ground, which are dangerous for both man and beast.

Sue Ellen has been having so much fun with the barnyard, guests, and hunting. She waltzes through the miniatures’ coral and rubs up against the legs of the ponies and the mini donkey. Everyone who has come to stay in the cabins so far has loved meeting Sue. She rolls around and wants everyone to pet her. Also, today she hunted her very own prairie dog! She had previously retrieved one or two that Jeff had shot, but today she caught her very own! She was so proud of it, too!

Many people have been asking about Random Friend Konnie but she is here and we are so excited to be working with her this summer! To recap and explain in more detail, we all left Phoenix caravan-style when her bus had a sensor go off and send her (newer than ours) computerized 5.9 Cummins into “limp mode”. Unable to reset it on the side of the road, an emergency tow was in order and by 1 am, the truck arrived. However, the driver disconnected the wrong side of the drive shaft before towing her 40-ft skoolie, turning it into an industrial-sized blender, wrecking havoc on her entire system. Only several feet down the road from where she had originally coasted to a stop, the bus now had a wiring harness that looked like a frayed copper rope, 6 gallons of coolant pouring down the road from ripped out coolant lines, and air brake lines rendered useless in addition to the original issue. The plan was for her to wait with the bus while it got repaired, so we finished the rest of the trip without her. But upon hearing the severity of the situation (the work still hasn’t even been started on her bus), she wisely decided to pack her cats and other necessary items into her Jeep and finish the trip. We fixed up a tiny space for her here at  Rocky Ridge Outpost and it has been serviceable until something else works out. We are hopeful that the next steps flow smoothly!

We are going to have a great time here this summer! So many new and exciting things have already happened! Just today the Mama Goat had her kids… all three of them! This and many more exciting barnyard stories to follow, but for now, here’s a picture of Braydon with the Mama and brand new babies! (They were born only a few short hours before this picture was taken!)