Trail Ride

After work today we were able to go on an hour trail ride.
I had a very well trained horse. He didn't like to walk across the small streams but jump them. I was surprised the first time but knew what to expect each time after that. With a horse like him, I could get into riding. We didn't have to do any of the work of getting the horses ready. Just hop on and ride and at the end, hand the horse over to the wranglers to do the work. BC had been on his horse for about 30 seconds when this picture was taken--I looks a little tense. I did have a little problem getting off my horse--my legs wouldn't work. Hope I am able to walk tomorrow.

LD's horse had been in a pen for several days, so it was more spirited. Of course she was the most experienced rider, so she had fun.

BD looked like an old pro--He did get a surprise when his horse jumped back when it got too close to LD's horse. It was a beautiful afternoon and beautiful country views.

This is a picture of the second lattice gate that we built. It sounds like we may be putting up some more lattice around a deck tomorrow if it doesn't rain. It is hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day on this project. We will be on the road for a week so may not get any blogging done.

Our next project starts February 8th. Bye nlsower

Only two days left

We did get to the cowboy church on Sunday. Their web site is http://www.crossbrandcowboychurch.org/. The first picture below is the front of the church--the pulpit is made out of horse shoes.
This is a picture of the congregation after church. Lots of jeans, hats and boots.

The stairs was finally finished on Monday. Home sawed pine for the structure and home sawed oak for the railing.

Tuesday we built a lattice door in the opening. Wednesday we are to build another door just like this one on the other end of the building.

I got a close-up of one of the long horns today.

This the walkway we use to get from our RV's to the camp. It is frosty some morning so impossible to get up the slope in the middle. We have to drive around the far end--over the dam.

The cross by the "lake" is a constant reminder of what the focus of the camp is--even if it is a working ranch.

We plan to go to the Valley on Friday. Our trail ride was postpond until Wed at 4 pm--hope it is not raining. nlsower

End of second week

Good morning--it is a sunny Sunday morning--we are going to the Cowboy Church again this Sunday. I am disappointed that I left my hat at home; at least I have my boots.

The picture below is of the SOWER ladies in the camp's kitchen. They have spent allot of time there since the camp staff have been gone.

BC is attaching the stair platform to the rafters.

"The stairs" with some treads.

One of the ranch's long horns.

Part of the herd.

Our SOWER group in the dining hall.

The group leader mopping up after everyone. He is a real servant.

A group of kids returning from their trail ride yesterday. They had three groups of twelve riding in the rain.

The end of the trail. Waiting for the wranglers to tie up the horses.

We were going to ride today but one of the wranglers couldn't go so we will have to wait until next week.

This week I have to replace a brake caliper on my truck--two of the wranglers said they would help.

Thanks for the comments. Also for the over 50 viewings.

Starting week two

Hi, we attended a Coyboy Church yesterday--lots of fun. Their attendance is about 800 per week.

The little wooden box on the floor next to the white door is the extent of B and B's construction of all day today--boy are we slow or what?

Well, maybe that isn't too bad considering we had to gather lumber and tools first. We are to build a stairway from the wall by the white door to a platform above the wood door. The platform is to be hung from the ceiling. Oh the lumber--the 2 by 12's were out in the pasture in a pile. The 2 by 10's were in the hay loft of the horse barn. The 2 by 4's were under one cabin. the 2 by 6's and 2 by 8's were in another pile out in the pasture. The table saw and planer were down the road. The plywood was under another cabin. All of the lumber is rough sawed--the thickness varies so we couldn't start building until we had all of the material collected. Maybe tomorrow we can focus on building. Of course we had to stop for hot apple pie and coffee in the middle of the morning. The weather in beautiful.

Below are some more neighbors--there was a group here over the weekend and they went trail riding.

First week done already

Hi everyone. Be brave and write a comment. It would help me know to whom I am writing.



This is the wall B and B refinished.


This is one of our neighbors. We are camped at one end of the barn and the horses are on the other end of the barn. The ranch office is in the barn closest to us. The laundry is in the barn--we can sit on the hay bales while we wait for our clothes to wash and dry. We are careful not to drop any clean clothes on the floor.

Here B and B are repairing a broken fitting in the feed and storage room in the chicken house. Ice broke the fitting behind the sink.


Here is one of the pens in the chicken house.

Today, we went to the SOWER headquarters for coffee and cookies at 10 am--it is only about 20 minutes away. B and C stopped at the YWAM project on the way back--it is only about 17 miles from our Jan project. We will be at YWAM in February. It was fun visiting at the SOWER office--we visited with a couple with whom we had worked in Alaska in 2007.

I built some shelves in the camper this afternoon--sure is warmer working on the shelves here than in New London.

We plan to go to the cowboy church on Sunday. Bye for now. B

First couple of days of project

Here are a few pictures of our project. We have had cool nights but beautiful days. 50's and 60's.

This is the path from our "homes" to the work site.
This deck had paint spots which we sanded off.
The door on the right leads to a hallway where we are enclosing a heat duct.

The dining room wall behind B needed to be sanded and two coats of sealer.

The group leader has heating and AC experience so he is servicing all the ranch's units--lots of them.

Arrived Safely

We arrived at Rockin' C Ranch today at 4 pm. It was a rather stressful trip. The cold weather when starting and then getting stuck in Williams IA for 42 hours in a snow storm at a Flying J truck stop. After leaving Williams IA on Friday morning the roads were very good except for about five miles where there was black ice. We had a leisure trip the rest of the way. We were going to come in to the project on Saturday but the water at the project was frozen up so we waited until Sunday. There is snow all the way down until the lower part of OK.

This is a beautiful place. We are parked next to the horse barn. I see they have a ford tractor. I will post pictures as soon as possible. We have very good wireless here but poor cellphone reception. Email is the best way to contact us. Good night.