GOLDEN CASCADE DUCKLINGS @ ONE WEEK

by with One Comment DucksGolden Cascades

Here’s a shot of the ducklings the day after we got them (above). The ducks are now one week old. All is going well, and the chores have now become habit. In addition to providing food & water, each day I clean out their brooder box. This procedure is a lot like what we did with our first ducks, and we are using the same car-top carrier box as before. There are videos of the 2011 brooder box & cleaning routine HERE.

The little guy front and center in this photo is my favorite, at this point. He (at least I think he’s a he) has managed to escape this box at least two times already! I think I may call him “Houdini”.  We’ve now begun to do a duck count every time we go in to see them.

Based on their beak and foot color, I’m guessing that of the Golden Cascades, we may have 3-4 males and 5-6 females. Two of the White Appleyards are larger than the other two, so I’m thinking the larger ones may be males. Time will tell! They’re awfully cute, and it’s amazing to see how fast they grow. I’ve taken a photo of each one, and will see if their coloring allows me to keep track of them as they grow and feather out.

“Houdini”

Meanwhile, we’ve begun to design our new duck house, and have decided where we’ll put it on the property. We will need a secure pen for them, too, and plans are underway to have this all done in about a week. Our 2011 ducks outgrew their brooder box and moved into their house at about two weeks old, so we assume these ducks will be ready to go by that time as well.

RETIRED? WHAT’S THAT?

by with No Comment Mountain Gaitway

Last Friday (29May2015) was my (Tim’s) last official day of working (and getting paid for it). They call it retirement. I’m starting to wonder where that word came from. “re-tired” – does that mean tired all over again? That’s how I’m starting to feel. Working on the barn, putting up fence, working with the horses, plowing my way thru a 700 page code book (acting as my own general contractor, I have to understand all the code requirements), getting permits, meeting with subcontractors to get estimates, building a duck brooder, making plans to build a duck house, helping a neighbor dig up and repair a water leak that was flooding his house, helping another neighbor unload a semi full of metal roofing, fixing a flat for a young lady passing by our property, the list goes on. It seems like I’m busier than I have ever been. And, I’m definitely tired!

But, it’s a good tired. We get to enjoy God’s handwork all around us while we’re working, we’re developing good relationships with neighbors, and I have even lost a little weight.

By the way, retire has a French origin and it means to “withdraw (to a place of safety or seclusion)”. When you look at it that way, it makes more sense. We have withdrawn to a place of seclusion (and beauty). But, we didn’t do this to become hermits. We did it because our Father led us here. We still have much to learn about His Kingdom and for some reason He brought us here to continue our “training”. We fully expect to find ways to serve people here, even though it seems like we’re out in the “boonies”.

The barn is coming along nicely. I’m not completely done with the metal siding yet, but it’s taking shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we frequently get visits from our “wild” neighbors.

A herd of deer “share” the pasture with our horses.

 So far, retirement is hard work, and yet, relaxing and refreshing. For any of my former coworkers reading this, if you are wondering if I miss my job, take a guess 🙂 .

DUCKLINGS ARE HERE!

by with No Comment DucksGolden Cascades

Our new batch of ducklings has arrived! They were hatched Tuesday, June 2 at Holderread Waterfowl Farm in Oregon, and shipped out that evening. After a postal service mishap in which the shipment was delayed, we found that they were sitting in Colorado Springs and would remain there overnight unless we picked them up there. Off we went, yesterday afternoon, to get them. They were all safe and sound in their shipping box!

Per instructions, we gave them some water with a little honey in it prior to the trip home. We had their brooder area all ready for them, so when we arrived home we put them in under their heat lamps, with water & feed, for their first night here.

We received 9 of the Golden Cascades, and 4 White Appleyard. The Cascades have dark brown & blotchy yellow coloring, the Appleyards are yellow. It’s amazing that these little guys were packed into their eggs just two days ago–they grow so fast!

We’re off on a new duck-adventure!

Ducklings in the back of the car, just after picking them up at the Post Office

 

 

LOCAL CRITTERS

by with No Comment Mountain GaitwayWildlife

Daily we see these beautiful, vibrant Mountain Bluebirds. It’s quite a delight to have them around. This photo is the male, the females are more brownish with just a little blue.

We also have many of these Pinyon Jays around. They’re larger than the mountain bluebird, and not as vibrant blue. They have quite a loud, distinctive CAW–CAW that we hear over and over.

Last, but not the least, we are over-run with these squirrels. They are called Wyoming or Richardson’s Ground Squirrels, and they are everywhere. They must have extensive tunnels underground; we see holes in the ground all over. KK enjoys chasing them and trying to catch them. She seemed to catch one by the tail or foot one day, but most of it disappeared underground while she chewed on something leftover. My concern about these guys is that when we get around to gardening, we’ll have to line the undersides of our raised beds with something to keep them out: probably chicken wire or hardware cloth.

Other than these, we often see deer, sometimes elk, there is a den of foxes near the road not far from here, and we frequently hear coyotes in the distance. (This afternoon I saw one just outside our RV.) It’s nice to be surrounded by so many critters.

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

by with No Comment Mountain Gaitway

We continue to make progress, little by little. The barn is getting closer to completion. The storage/workshop area is mostly done, with its SIPs walls and roof; the doors and window are in and the roof is mostly completed now with metal roofing to match the main barn. The lean-to is well on the way. We had someone come out to do a site inspection of the property in order to do the engineering necessary for our septic system. When the engineering is completed, we can submit that to the county for our septic permit. Then we can  move forward on that, plus approval for the home plans and excavation for the house.

With the storage room enclosed, we were able to get our belongings delivered after being stored with the moving company for almost 3 weeks. It’s good to know everything is here, safely in our possession.

Tim has just less than two weeks left with HP, and is looking forward to his retirement, so he can work on completing many of the projects we need to do here. There are so many things to do!  In addition to requesting permits and moving forward with the house, we still want to put up fencing as soon as possible, so the horses can roam the property. Soon we’ll have the roof done on their lean-to, so we’ll be able to put up fence around the area that will be their paddock and a larger area for them to enjoy on a regular basis. Later, we’ll fence as much of the 40 acres as we can for them to roam.

In all of this, we don’t want to lose sight of seeking God’s Kingdom and following Him in whatever He has planned for us. Sometimes we feel so self-focused, working on the house and property, but want to see His purpose in this move. We just want to remember that this life isn’t just about us, but about Him and His Kingdom.

MOUNTAIN LIVING, MAY 2015

by with No Comment Mountain Gaitway
Living in the mountains sure is different from the lowlands! We have been here almost 4 weeks now, and have had quite a taste of our new life here. We’ve had a couple of good-size spring snowstorms, which left roughly 10” of snow each time. Now we’re in the middle of the third since we arrived full time. At one point we were without power for about 4 hours, and another time it was out for about 34 hours. Today it was real glitchy, going off and on all morning. The internet has occasionally been down, which means we not only can’t get online, we can’t use our phones, since all we have right now are internet phones.
 
We’ve contacted the phone company about getting a land line. At first, they couldn’t verify our address, since the county hadn’t put us into their E-911 registry. We got that taken care of with a few phone calls, and after a couple of weeks waiting, the phone company came to discover the nearest junction is across the street from us; they will need to bury a line to our house. They’ll put it where the house will be, and we will need to put our own line from there to the RV. That should be done by early next week. Then we won’t feel quite so stranded when the power and internet are down.
 
Between the snowstorms we’ve had some rain & hail, and a few nicer, sunnier days. The roads get quite muddy when it rains or the snow melts, and are a bit difficult to maneuver. A few neighbors get out with their snowblades or a drag to even out the ruts, but other than that there isn’t much done for the roads. We had thought that the local association would maintain the roads during bad weather, but we haven’t seen them do that yet. We definitely don’t see as much traffic go by when the roads are bad. The horses’ pen gets quite mushy, too, and it’s difficult to feed them and impossible to scoop poop. The poop will wait, the food gets thrown over or under the fence.
 
Yikes! It’s 2:20 pm and I just saw a coyote about 100 yds from the house. We do frequently hear them in the evening/night, but I don’t like seeing them around during the day. Perhaps the snow brought him out. Fortunately, KK (the cat) is inside curled up on the sofa, and not out roaming around!
 
That’s what we’re dealing with here these days.

NEIGHBORS

by with No Comment GuffeyMountain Gaitway

Now that we’re here full time, many neighbors have been stopping by to say hello. If they don’t stop, they often drive by slowly, curiously looking at the property and waving. It’s been great to meet friendly folks and discover where they all came from and what brought them here. Many are retired; some are snowbirds, spending winters in warmer climates and summers here. Everyone seems to love the mountain lifestyle, getting away from cities and their escalating problems. Some have been here many years, others a short time; one is still building and not sure if or when they’ll come full time. Some are second-homeowners who only visit weekends or for vacations.

One neighbor who stopped in a couple of days ago brought us a dozen of his duck eggs! It’s sure nice to have those duck eggs in the refrigerator again! Our ducklings (to arrive the week of June 1) won’t be laying eggs until at least November or December, so it’ll be nice to have a local supplier of fresh eggs until then.

We’re enjoying getting to know the neighbors little by little.

WELCOME TO THE COLORADO MOUNTAINS!

by with No Comment Mountain Gaitway

There’s an expression around here: “If you don’t like the weather in Colorado, wait 15 minutes”. OK, things aren’t quite that extreme, but we certainly do get a variety of fast-changing weather.

As if to underscore this point, here’s a pic from our “move in” day (Thursday, April 23) sitting on the swing in the evening enjoying a glass of wine:

and here are some pics after a snowstorm 3 days later:

Today, the temp will be back up in the 50’s and in 2 or 3 days the snow will all be gone. Of course, then we have to deal with mud until it dries out. We love it!

Fortunately, we got most all of our unpacking done before the storm so we were able to stay inside, read and relax while watching it snow outside. We had a power outage for about 4 hours. Tim got out the generator and tested it just in case, but we didn’t need it.

Tomorrow (Wed) we should get the barn extension framed in. After that, we put on the metal siding. Once that’s done, we should be able to get all our stuff out of storage and put it in the barn extension. We will be glad to get that phase done.

We met with the excavator and have started on the process to get a septic system put in. After that’s under way, we will submit the house plans to the county for approval and start scheduling all the construction activity involved with building the house. It’s going to be a very busy summer!

THE NEXT CHAPTER

by with No Comment DucksGuffeyWellington

The Wellington GGR Garden has now been passed on to its new caretakers. We’ve closed the sale on the house & property there, and the buyers will be taking over. Our address is no longer on Shoofly Lane. It’s being deleted permanently from many databases. We’re now in Guffey for the next chapter! The move is good, but bittersweet.

We enjoyed our little “oasis”, the home, the view, the birds singing, the quiet. Tim put a lot of work into the home and property over the 28 years he was there, and it showed. He had a lot more invested in the property, and a lot more memories than I did, but I have a lot of fond memories as well. (I was there just under seven years.)

We each look back on many good times, but the best part is that we know we are moving on, *TO* something that will be equally as good, or better. We have a lot of work to do, building our new home and garden, and we are excited to get to it.  

The garden will wait until 2016 or 2017, as we have way too much to do for now. However, a dozen ducklings have been ordered, and will arrive the week of June 1. Again, we will get a straight run, will fatten up the drakes 16-20 weeks for dinner, and save the hens as layers. We may keep a drake for breeding purposes, but will decide that later.  This year we are getting a mix of Golden Cascades and White Appleyard.  The Appleyards will be more for eating, and just because white ducklings are so cute. The Golden Cascades will mainly be our layers. 

Congrats to the new buyers, and we wish you well!

WE DID IT!

by with No Comment Mountain Gaitway

Laurie has a beautiful Down Syndrome great-nephew named Charlie. When Charlie does something that he is especially proud of he smiles from ear-to-ear, raises his hands and proclaims “I did it!”.

<Missing Photo Goes Here>

You can just feel the accomplishment!

Well, we feel like doing “a Charlie”. We moved all our possessions, closed on the house, loaded up the horses and cat, left Wellington for the last time and arrived at our new Golden Gaits Ranch yesterday (Thursday, April 23, 2015).

WE DID IT!
We’re living in the RV and starting to make plans to build the house. There’s SO much to do, but it’s a huge relief to just be here and not have to run back and forth (200 miles each way) anymore. 
Tim still has to finish out working for HP (thru the end of May) and then will be retired. He will be working on finishing the barn, getting people lined up to start excavation on the house, fencing for the horses, etc. 
Laurie is busy unpacking and organizing the RV as efficiently as possible, doing address change stuff, getting new bank account set up, etc. She ordered new ducklings which we will be receiving the 1st week of June. Of course, she will be making plans and starting on the new garden as time permits. 
We are so truly grateful to our Father for the years we had at the place in Wellington. We are also grateful for this new chapter near Guffey, CO. We are looking forward to learning more about His Kingdom, forming relationships with new neighbors and seeing what Father has in mind for us here. We know that this whole thing isn’t about us, it’s about our Father and what He is doing not only in our lives but in the lives of others whose paths we will cross. 

I guess it would be more honest to give God the glory and to say:

 

HE DID IT!