Way Up At The Headgate

We had a wonderful weekend!  Thomas, my grandson, and two of his friends came up to get away from Casper for a few days.  They had all kinds of plans for things to do while they were here but we had a few plans for them to help us out, too.

The most pressing chore was to go up to the headgate of the Little Jessie ditch and see why there wasn't much water coming down it.  Bob was taking the Cat and Thomas and I were to follow him on the 4 wheeler.  The other boys were going to town to buy supplies for their camp out later that day.  Thomas and I lasted behind the 2 or 3 mile an hour Cat just past the first ditch and then went around him so we could do a little walking around and exploring on the way up.  We checked out the Thinking Rock and the big washout and then cruised around looking for cool camp sights.  We continued on up the mountain and did some more exploring (OK--I kind of forgot where the headgate was so we did a lot of walking up the ditch.)  With so many trees going down from pine beetle damage we had to go off the trail to get around them.  Bob just pushed them aside with his big play toy!  One tree was way too big so he had to go around it, too.

 Thomas heads up the hill to the Thinking Rock

 Looking down on the ditch and then the river

 Thomas stands on the edge of the headgate with the river behind him

We finally reached the headgate and discovered someone must have been messing with it and pushed it clear shut!  There must be some crazies running around in the remote parts of the forest is all I've got to say.  Bob showed Thomas what to do and we got it jacked up (it's an old wooden one with no wheels to turn just leverage!)

 Bob explains to us how the headgate works.

It's an oldie!

 Bob is still giving us instructions!

  The river is running higher than Bob has ever seen it in all the years he has been up there.  I took pictures but with the roaring of the water it was much more impressive!

 The Beaver Creek is really roaring.

  We hiked back up to the vehicles and I walked along the top of the ridge and checked for leaks in the ditch.  There was one suspicious place so we walked down to the weir so we could cross it and go back up to the leaky place to fix it.

 Coming up the hill from the headgate.  Notice all the beetle kill.

 I love this picture!  The trees aren't dead and they smell divine!  That is the canyon going up to Aqua Fria in the background.  Still lots of snow up there.

When we got to the weir, we discovered we had opened the gate too much and so Thomas and I walked back up to the headgate and lowered it by 1 board.

 Thomas is closing down the headgate a little

  That was enough for the water not to go over the top of the leaky part so we finally could come back home.  It was such a gorgeous day we just enjoyed it to the hilt!  One sour note--I killed 3 big mosquitoes filled with my blood!  This is way too early for those pests!

Here comes the Cat.  Notice the dead tree I'm standing near and the live little ones along the trail

Looking over the job.  The river roars on down.

The Cat is headed home.  He about wiped out the fence in the foreground as he came through but it made it unhurt.

Speaking of irrigating, today I decided it was time to go pick rhubarb.  I set out walking (since I really need the exercise and I wanted to take some pictures along the way).  I had not even got out of the driveway and I noticed a lot of water had been running down our road cutting a little trench.  I'd never seen this before so I went back and got Bob.  The water has been so high the last few days that the ditch closest to our road went way out of its banks and ran down the road.  It had gone down enough that it was no longer running over, but we decided to go on up and check out some more ditches.  Luckily I brought the camera with me and took some pictures of springtime around here! The ditches were doing OK so it was an enjoyable ride!

Bob's doing a little irrigating

A question for the Manville kids.  Where is this?  What is the building in the background?

Look at that blue sky!

Kathi and Danny, I hope one of those isn't "your tree!"

We drove around and couldn't see the writing anywhere so I hope we just didn't know where to look.

More about my rhubarb adventure, fishing, and Springtime in the Rockies in later blogs.

A "Fun Family Adventure"

One last report on our Memorial weekend is in order.  I felt I must talk about another Manville/Corkle type holiday event.  Back when my children and their cousins were school age and a holiday came along 2 things usually happened.  1.  We would plan to celebrate with some kind of meal with local relatives which most often meant  at least the Corkles came out to the ranch.  2.  Since there was a lot of extra help, Bob and/or Uncle George would plan to get some kind of project done before we ate.  This could include moving cattle, branding or working cattle for some reason or other, putting in a garage/shop door, some kind of irrigation project, fixing a piece of equipment or testing it, or whatever.

The moving cattle thing was the worst since there was always a lot of extra traffic on our country roads.  Campers, fishermen, hikers and so forth wanted to get where they were going and didn't feel the need to be sitting still while a herd of cows and calves balked at crossing a bridge or mama cows tried to go back to find their calves who had ducked under fences.  So of course someone would always lean on their horn and come plowing through the herd scattering them everywhere.  This project never went as planned ("Oh, it ought to take about an hour just to move them up to the North Field") and by late afternoon we might get to eat the planned noon meal!  there were usually some of the kids' friends and lots of cousins involved in this and not all of us were on horseback, either!  It seemed like no project that was attempted ever worked out the way it was planned so the kids always knew to eat a big breakfast when holidays occurred!

Now to the present, when my children and some of my grandchildren are all  grown up and only Bob and I are left at home.  The Corkles are also grown up and we don't seem to get together as much any more so Bob and George don't get to make plans for projects--or do they........

Bob seems to still be in the mode on a smaller scale since there are just the two of us around usually.  Especially for Memorial Day.  As it happened, Bob had just had a new to us John Deere Crawler delivered to the top of the hill on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend.  On Sunday, he announced that we would drive up and get the Cat and then I could drive the car back down to the house and he would bring the Cat down.  I had been down sitting on the porch enjoying the rest of my coffee, reading and hearing Bob playing with his new toy, pushing trees off the road. I was so absorbed in my book I didn't realize how time had passed and the next thing I know, Bob is walking in to the cabin!  The new crawler had quit on him about a quarter of a mile up the road!  He was fuming as this has happened to us before with used equipment we have purchased.  His first strategy was to go to the neighbors to buy about 10 gallons of diesel since we only had gas here.  When we got over there (about 2.5 miles away) they weren't around so we decided to go into town to get it (about 20 more miles away).  We got the diesel and some groceries and headed for home an hour or two later.

We loaded the two 5 gallon cans onto the 4 wheeler and took it up to the Cat.  Bob mumbling the whole time about filters and clogged fuel lines, and 30 day warranties.  I suggested we only use 1 can of diesel in case running out of fuel was not the problem and we wouldn't waste the expensive stuff if we had to drain the lines (a brilliant idea, I thought!).  We poured in the 5 gallons , said a little prayer, and hit the starter.  Whoopie!  It started right up!  A true first in the annals of Manville fun family adventures!  I was able to take the 4 wheeler home and prepare lunch a few hours behind schedule!  I was so excited I forgot to take a picture of the stranded Cat.  It was quite picturesque, too.  Well, I feel sure there will be other opportunities.......

The culprit in our fun family adventure!  Notice the Delaney Butte in the background where our home ranch was and the sight of many of our holiday adventures.

Memorial Weekend Continues

Today I decided to try the 6.5 lb. butterflied chicken on the grill!  Armed with advice from Kathi on how to butterfly the whole chicken and more advice from Pat on how to grill it I went to work.  I vaguely remembered Pat telling me how to soak wood chips and put them in the grill so I soaked a bunch of apple wood chips he had brought up here years ago to use and didn't use them all.  Then I got out my (Bob's really) new woodpecker kitchen shears that Kathi and Danny gave him for Christmas,  and tried to follow the video posted on Kathi's blog (countrychickengirl.blogspot.com) on how to butterfly a chicken.  It was good and easy except I think it looked easier to cut through a 3 lb. chicken than my big 6.5 lb. one!

Bob's Cool Woodpecker Kitchen Shears

These shears are heavy duty and sharp!

Then, I had read about someone who had mixed a bunch of herbs with some yogurt and put them under the skin of the chicken.  I opted to leave the yogurt out and rub the herbs in under the skin.  Next I whipped up some marinade to soak my butterflied chicken in.  Pat had marinated a bunch of chicken thighs last year and grilled them for Brendin's grad party and they were delicious.  I used wine, olive oil, and some garlic and herb marinade that was in a bottle in the fridge.  I put the chicken in a big plastic bag with the marinade and soaked it in the fridge for about 7 hours--I think I'd do it overnight next time.

I heated the grill up on low,  put a small pan of wine and water, mixed, into one side of the grill, put the chicken all spread out on a cookie sheet on the grill, sprinkled soaked wood chips around on the grill (well, below on the burner part), put some more in the wine/water solution closed up the grill and the smoke has been pouring out ever since.  I'm going to check it at 1 hour with the instant thermometer.  It should read 180 degrees when done.

LATER

It took about 1 hour and ten minutes to cook it to perfection.  It was juicy and the flavor was delicious!  I made some of Pug's baked beans, German potato salad and brownies to go with it.  How's that for "cabin food"?  The only thing missing for this holiday picnic was home made ice cream,  family and friends to share it! But Bob and I managed to do it justice on our own. The chicken was a winner and I will do it again, soon.

MMMMMM! you can almost smell the sweet apple woodsmoke!

Looks yummy and it was!

Ready to "chow down"

Memorial Weekend at the Cabin

 Memorial Day Weekend 2010

As always, click on the pictures to make them larger and hit the back browser to return to the page.
 
We got home from Bob's tests in Denver on Thursday just in time to have missed the major traffic in the Poudre Canyon!  Unfortunately we did not miss the State Patrol Officer that pulled us over between Ted's Place and the mouth of the canyon!  He said we were going 60 in a 45 mph zone.  How many of us EVER went 45 on that stretch.  He could have picked up anyone who went past him, I'm sure.  Actually, he was quite nice and only gave us a warning.  I think he was the vanguard for the "100 days of Heat" campaign on drinking and driving so we were OK on that level.

As we drove over the pass I was trying to see how far up we got before the trees were still not green.  It took to almost the top so I was hopeful that our trees would be green too.  But as we traveled down this side of Cameron Pass the green didn't show up until we almost got to Walden and then you really had to look to see any.  By the time we got out to the cabin there was a very slight hint that maybe we would see some green in the next few days.  By the next morning we had some green!!!  Here are the pictures I took.

 Just a thin veil of green is visible!

 A bit greener

  Those on the hill are really green

I also decided it was time to make my family feel nostalgia for the cabin in spring and summer so I went down to the creek to get some pictures of high water.  It really wasn't as high as sometimes but it at least was bank full!  And then I noticed  the dam that all the kids and grandkids have worked on for years is gone!  It must have washed away while I wasn't looking!  Here are some pictures of where it used to be!

 Looking upstream the creek is bank full and the willows are just beginning to get their leaves

Right where the dam should be

 Looking downstream toward our good fishing hole

I walked up to Beth's grave this afternoon and checked out some favorite spots and the wildflowers.  She has such a lovely spot for us to spend some quiet time!  I went over to check out the new Caterpillar or Crawler or whatever they call a John Deere piece of equipment and then went to get some close ups of what's left of "the red truck" for Carla and Kathi.  I had to go see what was doing at the pond but the wind was all that was happening there!  I did decide I needed to dig some worms and do a little fishing when the wind dies down.  I came back across the old rickety bridge without even getting my feet wet!  I noticed that the huge wasps' nest from last summer that was in the calf feeder is gone!  Now where did it go? and then I got to wondering where wasps go in fall when they leave their nests?  Anybody know?

Beth's grave sight is so peaceful

 

 None of the tulips or irises came up and only a few wildflowers inside the fence

The Luck Penny Ditch is running lots of water!

Micah's Path to the top of the hill

What's left of the old red truck

The ponds looking down off the hill

Me on a very windy day at the pond.  Wish I had my fishing pole but it wouldn't have cast very far!

The old rickety bridge but it's picturesque

Better watch your step--especially Carla!

While I was up at Beth's grave I got to thinking about some memorable Memorial Weekends I have had.  I think the one I remember most was one I spent up in Owyhee on the Shoshone-Paiute reservation (Duck Valley Indian Reservation in northern Nevada and southern Idaho).  On that Saturday I spent the day with my good friend Teola up in Boise getting flowers and other decorations for their family cemetery.  We did a lot of shopping and ate at a restaurant and had a lot of giggles and laughs.  She invited me to come with her family when they went to decorate the graves on Monday.  I felt very honored and excited since it is traditional for everyone in the family from the grandchildren on up to the elders to gather and walk from one grave to the next while the eldest elder gives an oral history of each member of the family buried there.  As Teola and I drove home that day she told me some of the older history of her family when they (her ancestors) lived and hunted in the Jarbidge area of Nevada.  I love the history and stories that these Native Americans have.  It is such a wonderful heritage compared to my pretty boring one!  Well, Monday came and I was plagued with my annual spring eye infections!  My eyes were almost swollen shut so I thought I best run up to the hospital, get some "magic" eye drops that seem to work almost immediately and get back over to the Mannings so I could go with them.  It was not to be.....  It was a holiday with one new Dr. on call and he wanted to consult with some doctors up in Boise before doing anything and being a holiday they were either not there or busy so I waited and waited and waited.  While I was waiting, one of my student's mother who worked up there (I think she, the Dr. and I were the only ones there) came over and sat down next to me to take a little break and to visit.  The first thing she said to me was, "Well, did you decorate?"  I racked my brain trying to think if I was supposed to have decorated for the prom, decorate my room at school, decorate my house, or what!  I kind of gave her a blank stare and then realized she meant did I decorate my family's graves!  Wow! You really know you have made it on the reservation when someone thinks you are Indian enough to have family buried there!  What an honor!  That week end really stands out for me and makes me realize what great friends I had when I worked there!  Unfortunately it was well after noon before the Dr. gave me my eye drops and the "decorating" was all over.  By that time the next year I was in Wendover.

I hope every one has a great weekend and honors those who have given their lives for our freedom.

The hummingbirds are back and very hungry

Happy Memorial day!

Indian Tacos

,I was reading a book the other day when it mentioned what a great cook the Native American mother was.  This got me to thinking about all the great food we used to have up on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in Nevada and Idaho.  Those people loved to eat and, since there wasn't that much going on up there, we had a lot of potlucks and occasions to get together with food as the centerpiece.

The most popular form of food for us at school was the Indian Taco.  We made them in my classes whenever we could find an excuse to, but we served them in the concession stand at most basketball games.  The most important thing about Indian Tacos is the fry bread used as the base.  Every family on the Rez has their favorite recipe and the kids also insisted that so and so's grandmother should be the one to donate the tacos.  As the Family and Consumer Science (home ec) teacher, I felt obligated to get a really good recipe to use as my basic one in class.  This proved to be quite difficult for several reasons!  First, everyone thought theirs was best and none of them were quite the same.  Next, everyone wanted to show me how it was done right.  And then, when I tried to get the recipe they would say well, I don't use measurements!  I agree there is a technique to shaping but some were easier than others. (there are a lot of jokes about techniques used by different tribes, as well)  I finally got a nice easy basic recipe which I used the whole time I was there and it seemed to work fine.  To be honest, though, I really like the recipe that uses yeast the best but it is not the most popular one in Owyhee!  I am including a recipe and then some variations for you to try.

INDIAN TACOS

 4 Cups flour

2 Tbsp baking powder

2  tsp.  salt

2  tsp.  sugar

Enough warm milk to make a soft dough (about 1 1/2 Cups)

Mix dry ingredients together, add milk and stir to make a soft dough.  knead until soft but not sticky.  (too much kneading makes them tough)  Shape into balls about 3 inches in diameter.  Flatten to about 1/2 inch thick and the size of a salad plate. (this is where technique comes into play--my students slapped them in between their hands but just pressing them out or rolling them will work too).  The next part also depends on who is doing it, too.  I cut a small slit in the middle, some poke with a fork, some don't do anything and I saw where someone said to make a small depression in the middle but I don't see how you would do that. Heat up deep fat in a heavy skillet (about 4 Cups oil), add tacos 1 at a time and cook to light golden, turn and cook other side.  Place on paper towels to cool.

TOPPINGS

2 cans chili beans or 2 cans pinto beans with about 1/4 Cup picante sauce--heated

1 pound hamburger

1 pkg. taco seasoning

shredded cheddar cheese

shredded lettuce

diced fresh tomatoes

diced onions

sliced black olives

sour cream

picante sauce or salsa

Brown hamburger, add taco seasoning and follow directions on package.  Place fry bread on a plate.  Put beans, meat and cheese on top.  Add any other toppings you want and enjoy! 

VARIATIONS

Fry bread can be eaten with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on them and honey drizzled over them, too.

I like using yeast dough to make them.  You can use frozen dough or make your own and then make 3 inch balls and flatten like the others.

 We never even used meat in the ones we did for concessions, just the chili beans and they were really good too.

MMMMM!  Still warm

Tory fixes chili beans ready for concessions

 

Coming Home

We finally returned to the cabin last week after being gone since February.  We arrived in a snowstorm on May 11!  The snow was sticking to the ground with big huge flakes and everything was white.  No visibility at the cabin although in town it still was OK for driving and hadn't started to stick there yet.  Everything seemed to be in good shape at home although the hot water was almost black from the rust that had collected in the hot water heater.  This has always been a problem and we just have to run the hot water tank out to clear it up.  We got dinner out of the freezer and were set.  It really felt good to sleep in our own bed that night.  It continued to snow all night and by morning we had 5 or 6 inches of heavy wet snow--just perfect for snowmen and snowball fights as well as huge mud when it melted!

Snow pictures on May 12, 2010

My hearty tulips.  I hope they don't get frostbite!

We kind of lazed around that morning.  Bob complained that the altitude was bothering him for the first time in his life and he was out of breath after climbing the stairs and I just couldn't get back in the routine.  By afternoon I was trying to hook my new computer up to the new TV to see if I could use HULU to watch the last episode shown of Lost.  I just felt really tired and didn't even want to lift up the Kindle to read my book.  I finally decided to go take a nap in bed (something I NEVER do).  As I was trying to go to sleep I realized I had that stomach flu feeling  coming on!  I have not had that feeling for maybe 20 years or more!  I've had food poisoning a few times and am the PB queen of lapband land but no stomach flu for a very very long time.  I was really worried about throwing up, too because of the possibility of my lapband slipping but it never happened.   Everything went the other way and I suffered with diarrhea for 3 days and could not get out of bed or even lift my head except to run for the bathroom off and on.  My head hurt and every hair on my head hurt individually. By Sunday I finally felt like I could get outside,  try to get my suitcase unpacked, and do some laundry  but after that I was back to being tired. (Maybe the altitude got to me a little too) Today I am finally back to normal.

While I was being sick Bob had Dr. appointments in Denver and then we missed going to Scottsbluff for Chris's graduation from lineman school.  Now I hope Bob doesn't get the malady.  He and Lynn had it in Florida so hopefully he is immune.

Today is a beautiful day with a few puffy clouds but nice warm sun!  It is 65 degrees out and I am sitting outside in front of the porch enjoying the sunshine, my favorite activity at the cabin.  The snow is almost gone, the hummingbirds are back and so are the chipmunks and the Canadian geese, so all is well up here.  By the way, our morning alarm clocks (the geese) wake us at 6:30 AM every morning with their incessant honking!  They'll be heading up to Canada in a month or so and we'll get to sleep in again.

One of our Canadian geese that comes through each spring

Sadie holding a hummer that got in our house last summer

The Amazing Maizy

Last night Maizy, the dachshund, had an amazing adventure.  It was about 8:30 PM and the kids had just finally got settled down and we were trying to bring season 6 of "Lost" up on Hulu on my new computer.  Suddenly Maizy who normally does not do much barking began to bark wildly .  She was outside and Kim shouted at her to be quiet but she kept on barking.  Micah went out to see what the deal was and heard a clicking sound.  Maizy was looking under the kids' play table on the porch and when Micah took a look there was a baby diamondback rattler!  He was coiled and rattling very hard!  Micah quickly got Maizy in the house.  He was afraid the snake had bit her but she wasn't hurt, just very excited.

Bob's got him pinned down!

He's still trying to strike!

This pick axe should do the job

Ewwwww!

They finally got him!

Getting the rattles!

Micah ran out to the garage and Kim and I ran for cameras!  Micah couldn't find anything appropriate to kill the snake so ran over to the neighbor's  to get a shovel with a point.  They both came over and Grampa tried to kill it but only pinned him down.  Micah and Alejandro ran back to get a pick axe while we snapped pictures, Bob held down the snake and Maizy retired to her kennel.  Micah finally chopped off the head and the rattles and the excitement was over for the night!

Next morning, Alyssa's birthday,  the kids went out to see what was left of the snake and to examine the diamonds on it's back.  Maizy was still very excited and ran around but didn't bark.  Several times during the morning she tried to play with it until I put it up where she couldn't get it.  I think Micah is going to save the rattles and give them to Alyssa to commemorate her birthday , but he needs to find out how you preserve them properly.

We are so proud of Maizy !  She must be a snake dog or maybe the kids' guard dog.  Who knew she would turn out to be a hero!

The girls' guard dog!

 Maizy, our hero!