Dear Friends As we sat on a massive driftwood fir log while dining on our light lunch of summer sausage and sheep cheese, Caryl and I watched the V-shaped ripple of disturbance in the quiet bay waters manifest a harbor seal. He cautiously raised his head above water, his eyes furtively scanning …
When Beauty’s Poison Kills
“Dang it.â€, I thought. I could hear the squawk of magpies over the continuous rustle of aspens turning golden in the mountain breeze. The striking contrast of white and black iridescent beauty in their plumage was quickly eclipsed by their grisly reputation: dead animal eaters. Hearing the …
Hail and Hearty
Dear Friends It was the unsettling low roar that got my attention. When first perceived, my mind simply put it in the folder marked ‘wind in trees.’ But then the rational mind took over with a nagging thought: there were no trees on this part of the range. The nearest forest or creek-side …
There’s a Storm Coming
It’s been an eventful (full?) week with long days (often into the night), tumultuous weather, and a new summer horseback crew learning the ropes. Yesterday, a couple of aspiring range riders inadvertently overloaded the fenced corridor that led to the ranch’s livestock scales, causing a cattle …
Springtime in the Rockies
This story is by our 2nd daughter, Abby. She and her husband Ethan live near Alderspring. Both work here at the ranch while also raising their own pastured pork. Weather is coming. All of us can feel it. I get up at 7:00 because, even on a Saturday, my 1 ½ year old daughter doesn't believe …
The Wild Ones
This story comes from Abby, second of the Elzinga sisters. Abby lives a few miles from the ranch with her 3 kids and husband, Ethan. It was just Becky and I in the front, driving the long dark road home from Salmon. My three little kids snored in their car seats in the back, rocked to sleep by …