25 May – We heard/saw a super illustration of keeping the Sabbath in our Sunday School lesson today. The teacher asked two bretheren to be the ‘guinea pigs.’ She had bottles of condiments on the table and asked each one separately if they liked each of the condiments. If they liked the condiments, she placed the bottle beside that brother. First she asked if they liked ketsup, next mustard, A-1 Sauce and Tobasco sauce.
As it turned out one fella liked them all and the other didn’t like any of them. Then she brought out two bowls, filled them with Ice Cream and placed the bowls beside the two brothers. The teacher began to pour the condiments over the ice cream in the bowl next to the brother who liked all the condiments and he grimaced at the concoction. The brother who didn’t like any of the condiments began eating his ice cream with nothing poured over it. The teacher concluded the lesson by pointing to the bowl with condiments on the ice cream, and said, “Some things are not appropriate on a Sundae.”
In the evening, Arnold and I hiked to a hill top over looking Sutton’s Reservoir to watch the water birds – through our binoculars, of course. We spotted two new ones to add to our growing list. We also saw a pair of Canadian Geese shepherding five goslings across the water. We were amazed they’d hatched so early in the season!!!!
The water was like glass and some geese at the west end of the water decided to fly to the east end. They flew low, not far above the surface. We could see their reflections in the water just beneath them. Beautiful!!!! Arnold had his camera with him, but was so mesmerized he totally forgot to take a photo.
26 May – Emily tells us that Kiley used an experience she had last summer with her mom for a talk in church recently. They were out on a horse back ride. Kiley was ahead of Emily and a thought came into Emily’s head, “She’s OK.” At the time Em’ thought it rather strange because she could see Kiley up ahead – of course she was OK. Then, Kiley’s horse decided to do it’s own thing in a big hurry. A thought came into Kiley’s mind, “Get off this horse now!” She did a fast dismount and the horse went its way. Em came up to where Kiley was, calmly checked her out and they went about their business. Em and Kiley feel the Holy Spirit prompted them both to remedy what could have been a nasty, scary situation.
Today we awoke to pouring rain. During the day it tried to snow, too. No hiking trek routes today. Darn!! Instead we took care of other business. During a lull in the weather and a in the midst of a short sunny spell, the Elders took the high pressure hose to their trucks – all four of them (wink) – to wash off all the red mud from the muddy roads. They also checked all the fluid levels and tire pressure.
I helped a couple of the sisters move photos from their camera cards to their hard drives. Then we burned backup CD’s of their photos. Fun!!!
Over the last couple days, the cowboys (yeah, real cowboys) moved cattle from one part of the ranch to another. The first leg of the drive brought the cattle to a pasture right beside our camp area. The cattle remained there from Saturday night til this morning. The cowboys came back this morning and moved them on down the road elsewhere on the property. Kind of fun to watch.
It cleared up this evening, so tomorrow looks promising. I hope!!!
27 May – Beautiful day with puffy clouds floating about. The Sisters all went to the main ranch to pick up the mail, packages and deliver check requisitions. We had to go around, rather than through the ranch, as it was too wet to go through. We did errands in town on the way back. The Elders spent the day prepping porta potties and hand carts. They took the trucks over to the Dairy Barn, pressure washed the porta potties, hauled them to their beginning trek parking places and moved about 30 handcarts to the Corrals. There are more handcarts yet to move in the next few days. Last, they brought a smaller water tank over to the Depot. The water trailers (water buffalos) fill up here at the Depot.
In the afternoon, I finished splitting the big chunks of wood, but some were too full of knots and wouldn’t split. I drove down to the main gate, scraped the old paint off the sign at the entrance and painted it with primer. Then, I started in scraping old paint off the door jambs on Pappy’s Bunk House.
This evening Elder Sherwood took a few of us for a look see at some territory we had not yet seen. We drove Clutch. While we were miles away, on top of a ridge, we heard something clunk really loud under the truck. We stopped, got out and took a look. The carrier bearing bracket had fallen out and the drive shaft was almost on the ground. Elders Hawk and Sherwood scrambled under the truck to see what could be done. I wandered back up the road we’d just come down and discovered (quite happily for everyone) the carrier bearing bracket lying in the road a hundred yards or so back. I brought it to the Elders who joyfully discovered the nuts that hold the bracket onto the truck were still in their ‘well’ up under the chassis. There were tools in the truck and the bracket was quickly re-fastened in place. And away we went. Interesting adventures!!!!!!
Once we were rolling again, there were a few comments at the incompetence of the mechanics who recently replaced the clutch.
To replace a clutch, they would have had to loosen the bracket. It appears they did not tightened up the bracket when they reassembled the truck. Well, it’s fixed now – by two Elders lying on their backs under the truck on a dirt road out in the middle of nowhere!!!!!!!! GRIN!!
While the Elders were fixing Clutch, I walked back to the top of the hill behind us just for a look around. Lovely view. WOW!! I could see clear down Crane Hollow to the reservoir and the Dairy Bowl beyond. I’m tickled to death that this country is starting to make sense……all the little pieces are beginning to form a bigger picture in my mind.
Tomorrow is P-Day. Two of the Elders are going to Salt Lake to pick up NoSeeUm. At least, we hope they do!!!!!!!! Another couple will visit some of their family in the valley. Arnold and I will stay around here, meet a person at the main gate who is returning handcarts, do some repairs/fixing up around the Depot and make a trip to town for more errands. We’ll have the day to ourselves out here in this glorious, interesting country.
29 May – Lovely day!!!! Early this morning (before breakfast) I planted seeds in the garden. In the evening I ran a home soil test on the garden soil to find it highly alkaline and very low in other nutrients. I have some general fertilizer which will help the latter but must get some sulpher to counter act the alkali in the soil.
The Elders prepped handcarts all day. I finished painting the main entrance sign but still have some touch up to do on the letters – darn paint ran under the stencils. I, also finished getting all the loose paint of the door jambs at Pappy’s. Tomorrow (possibly) I’ll mask and caulk and maybe even get some primer on. And maybe the sisters will have time to clean at Pappy’s. Pappy’s Bunk House is our ‘guest house.’ It has two ‘apartments’. Each has two bunk beds and it’s own full bath.
Sadly, NoSeeUm is still NoSeeUm. The Elders returned from the valley without the fourth vehicle.
Recently we purchased some topo maps of the area and have mapped out the way points for each route. We used post-it flags to mark the way points – a different color for each route. It really helps me to ‘see’ the big picture!!!
31 May – The last couple days the Elders finished hauling the porta-johns and the hand carts to the staging areas at Fox Hollow and the Corrals and making sure they were all properly prepared. It was necessary to power wash the handcarts because birds had roosted in the barn all winter and left their calling cards all over the handcarts.
We sisters have dusted, cleaned, polished and scrubbed Pappy’s Bunk House within in inch of its life. We now have clean, though rudimentary, guest quarters when guests do come. Guests have to bring their own bedding (or a sleeping bag), towels, etc etc. We do keep Pappy’s supplied with toilet paper and hand soap, but that’s it. And, the Depot kitchen will most likely be available to guests for cooking purposes. The kitchen has dishes, silver and a yard sale selection of pots and pans – ie all different types, mismatched lids, an odd assortment of baking pans and an various serving/cooking utensils.
Since three couples were busy with route reviews and Ma & Pa training treks throughout the day today, the fourth couple washed and sanitized all four of our water buffalos.
Our first week of treks starts this next Wednesday (4 June) and all four couples have a trek. It’s been a huge choreographing job to position all four treks so they can feel like they’re the only ones out there while they’re out trekking. Just today during route reviews we discovered some of the different groups’ itineraries do not work with the routes we had previously planned. So we must sit down tomorrow and re-choreograph a little to make it work for everyone. Not to mention the fact that one of the routes, Lost Creek, is still too full of snow to use. One thing about this place, it’s always an adventure.
I purchased a small soil test kit and tested the garden. Of the four elements tested, three were at the utmost low. The fourth, went off the top of the charts. Bottom line, the soil is extremely alkaline which we will counter act with a top dressing of soil sulphur. The lack of the other three (nitrogen, phosphorous & potash) will be remedied by the application of a bag of 16-16-16 fertilizer. That ought to make green growing things happy.
During our route review today we discovered a fun thing this group does. The porta-potties are a green color – you know, white top and green sides. The trekkers are always looking forward to their next water/potty stop. So, during the Stake’s last trek a few years ago, the Stake President put on his thinking cap and gave the porta-potty trailers a new name – The Emerald City. “Follow the red clay road to the Emerald City.” What fun!!!
This week one of the other couples saw a doe Antelope with two fawns. There are several does hanging about the hillside north of the Depot. They tell us that’s where some of the does come to have their babies. We’ll have to watch and see.
2 June – Lovely sunny Sunday yesterday!!!! A baby was blessed in our ward so we took a baby bath towel to give the new baby. I took notes and Arnold took pictures. Next week we’ll give them our “transcript” of the blessing.
Today, Arnold went with Elder Sherwood to the meeting at the Home Ranch. Since I was up early (they leave at 6am) I went out to the garden to work. Got it thoroughly weeded, fertilized and hauled off all the dug up weeds and roots. Also worked some more on the door jambs at Pappy’s – all but one door is ready for masking off and primer. Maybe tomorrow?!
While cleaning Pappy’s this week, I discovered a sign for the building that someone laboriously carved out of a 2×12. Today I finished repainting the sign. Looks nice!!!! Now, Arnold will assist in putting it up. We think we’ll use a metal fence post out front.
Arnold and I went up on Lake Ridge to spot a trail coming into Lake Ridge that our trek this week is going to use. We’ve seen it from the east end, but we wanted to get a good bead on the west end – which we did!!! It’s so lovely up there. You can see for miles. It feels like we’re on top of the world and we’re the only ones in it.
However, the forecast for the latter part of the week is rather grim – showers Wed & Thu with possible snow showers. How I hope the weather will not be a hazard to our trekkers!!!!!
3 June – P-Day again – a working P-Day. We watered the garden, gassed up Charlie, picked up supplies in town, filled water buffalos and other miscellaneous jobs that needed done.
When they were filling water buffalos, I climbed into Clutch to move the truck and attached buffalo away from the hydrant so another buffalo could be filled. I realized it was needed down at Fox Hollow tonight and asked if they wanted me to deliver it down there. They did, so I did. Elder Sherwood found out I can drive a stick shift (none of the other women can) so he quickly designated Clutch as “our” trek vehicle. Arnold gave me the dickens cuz it’s a Chevy and he doesn’t like Chevys, but what else could be done? Giggle.
Our tally of wildlife seen has gone to nearly 50 different species of birds….ones I never thought I’d ever see. Grebes, all sorts of ducks, snipes (yes there is such a bird), Sandhill Cranes, American Avocet (the bird with a stuck up bill), white faced ibis, Bald & Golden Eagles, several other birds of prey, and lots of little perching birds. One of the birds has a call very similar to that of a Whippoorwill. It took us until this week to figure out which bird was making the call – it is called a Willet and looks very much like a Wilson’s Snipe.
We have everything ready to GO!!!!! We know our routes, campsites designated, water buffalos are filled, carts are in place, and porta potties are in place. We have set the Lord’s stage – prepared His arena. Once the trekkers arrive, the rest is in His hands. We know good things will happen for the Trekkers. Hopefully, we’ll get to hear about some of them.
Love & Laughter
Arnold & Syd
