“Ketchup” Post #3 7/11/23

So far we have had SO MANY photos of the cats. And there’s many more we could share as evidenced by this gallery below…

… But let’s get to some more of Braydon’s exciting new adventures! Every day the hens are getting more and more comfortable with their surroundings and are venturing further and further from the hen house. Braydon loves to catch them and carry them around like his little pets.

They’ve even started coming into the bus!

One of Braydon’s jobs is to collect the eggs from the hens on our days “on” and to take our veggie scraps to the hens whenever we have excess. Another one of Braydon’s jobs is at the Market where Jeff and I work. I’ve been working 12-hour days over the three days of the weekends and Jeff has been coming in for a few hours while I’m there to help out on the hardware side of the store. Braydon tags along with Jeff and has learned where all the tools are. He goes from aisle to aisle restocking everything he can find from the warehouse.

Above, he is gathering some back-stocked items from the warehouse to take out to the retail area. Below, he is refilling our extensive hardware supply. Each week loose hardware is delivered in tiny boxes and it has to be put in its proper place so that customers can find exactly what they are looking for. He really enjoys helping around the store and he even gets some “dollars” whenever he helps out!

He has been saving up his dollars to get some new things. He has big plans to improve his bike, he wants new batteries for his RC Car, and he’d like to upgrade from his BB gun to a small air rifle. But the first thing he bought with his money is a new knife. He had been practicing “knife safety” with a little pocket knife Phil had left for him to use after they bought it to take fishing and Jeff decided it was time for him to have something better. He has been very responsible with it and has not cut himself yet, despite it being a “real” knife.

He doesn’t have to work ALL the time, though. He has already had plenty of fun adventures!

Braydon has really been enjoying catching fish with Jeff. We have been eating lots of fish and really enjoying them!! Rainbow Trout is delicious!! He was so excited to finally be able to bait his own hook, cast it himself, then reel in his own catch! One of the times they went out fishing, they took Josh, one of the Smith’s grandkids. They all caught so many fish that Braydon couldn’t hold them and Josh could barely even hold on to them! Here he is below trying his hardest to hold up their catch!

Braydon has been enjoying meeting all the guests and getting to play with their children on the playground. Where once stood my shy boy who didn’t know what to do when a child wanted to play alongside him, now stands my social child who, as soon as a car with children pulls in, asks if he can go play with them! Not everyone who stays at Rocky Ridge has children Braydon’s age, though. He still attempts to hang out with them if they are receptive. One group of ladies came for several days and brought 5 horses and a mule to board in the coral so they could go ride the trails. There were only 4 women, so they didn’t take all the animals with them each time they left. The first day they left one horse in the coral and it was so sad to be left behind. Braydon sat on the fence for over an hour talking and singing to the sad horse who was very happy to have some attention even if it was from a perfect stranger.

After seeing how much Braydon cared for the horses, the ladies asked him if he would like to have a ride on one of the smaller horses. Of course Braydon said YES! Here, Braydon is riding bareback as the ladies told him it was the best way to learn to ride a horse. They must have walked around the property for at least an hour just talking about how to communicate with the horses and the best practices for interacting with them.

The next day the ladies came back from their ride and asked Braydon to ride in a saddle this time and they would try trotting. He was elated!! He said it was a little scary, but that it was a wonderful experience. He loved it so much he is now talking about saving up money to buy a horse and that he can’t wait for one of the RRO horses to have her foal next year so he can ride it!

THANK YOU to the ladies of Smilin’ Ranch Adventures for sharing this wonderful experience with Braydon!! We would love to meet up again soon!

I believe we are all caught up now! Hopefully our next post will be of more recent adventures. Until then…!