Cheryl, the girls and I began working upstairs today. It started by throwing things out the window into the front yard. A vacuum that was left, vases, paintings, and a lamp. We probaly could have sold the stuff on ebay and made some real money on it for it was probaly collectables. It was more fun throwing them out the window especially because they were so ugly. Which it was too late when I had my brilliant idea of wraping the lamp up and giving it to someone for their Birthday. I could kick myself for not thinking of that in time. We then started taking apart closets that were just thrown in the rooms. They were made out of scrap wood and very hideous. I wish we had taken pictures of all of this but we didnt. Shucks. Grandma took up the carpets and pad and pitched them out the window. Soon the entire we had a pretty big pile in the front yard. After lunch Grandma tried to put our One year old in for a nap while our three year old went back upstairs with me. She really got into throwing things out the window. She was a great helper. She would sing "I am throwing this out the window the window the window, I am throwing this out the window the window" very loudly to the tune Farmer and the Del. Then she would switch tunes once she actually tossed the items out to "wasnt that a dante dish to set before the grass" from Sing a Song of Six pence. It was very funny and cute to me.

When her Dad got home she went for a ride in the tractor while he brushed hogged the field closest to us. Appearently she quickly fell a sleep in the tractor and Asa was trying to drive it while she slept the whole time. Wish we had the camera for that one too.

Tomorrow is hunting season and Asa was unable to find his waders. He is allowed to shoot eight Canandian Geese. Hopefully, he wont get too many because we then have to eat them. However, we are hoping Woody will perform well tomorrow.

Grandpap flies out of Vegas tonight and will be here in the morning.

Shower at the State Park


Last night Grandma, the girls and I went to the state park for a shower. On our way we drove down the road which goes by our field to look for critters since it was about dusk. When we pulled out of the drive way our three year old ordered us all to be quiet and to talk in a whisper so that we wouldnt scare off the racoons. On our drive along side the field we saw a Possum. When we pulled into the State Park we happened to see a racoon by the side of the road. We kept asking our three year old do you see it and she wouldnt answer. We were backing the car up and kept trying to get it in the head lights so she could get a good view. We kept asking her if she saw it but no answer until we finally heard a faint Yeah. She was in a very low whisper so she wouldnt scare him off. On our way out of the park he was still there and she wanted us to whisper or not talk at all the whole way home. I asked her what that racoons name was and she said beau beau.

Tonight on the way back out of the State Park we also had to whisper and this time we saw a big skunk. But it wasnt stinky the Skunk Ghost. It was just a normal skunk. But she still didnt want us to talk on the way home. Asa loves the smell of skunks for some bizzarre reason. He thought if he got sprayed by a skunk if they would send him home from work and how many days this could go on. He wondered if he could collect disability because he had a problem with getting sprayed by skunks. Only he would think of such things to discuss.

Today was a crazy day and for no reason. Nothing went as planned. The kids slept past nine am which is wonderful but it through the whole day off. We didnt even finish breakfast until 10:30am. Our original plan was to go to Watertown for breakfast and shop. That never happened. Then Grandma was going to go do laundry but the Dr.'s office called and she had to repeat a test (just routine but one didnt read correctly due to their error) in the early afternoon. So we were going to drop her off and go to the park just down the street and wait for her. Well it ended up taking almost two hours because they were so busy. But in the mean time at the park our three year old got a splinter in her finger and was very upset at the play area and didnt want to play anymore. So we decided to go for a walk. Which would have been fine if we had a stroller to strap our one year old into because the park is right on the water and the stone wall had no barriers and you could jump right into the water if you wanted. Our three year old listens but our one year is so crazed by water, she is difficult to control near it. Holding her hand works for a while but then you have to carry her most of the time or she would jump off or at least freaks me out the whole time. By now the kids were getting hungry so we went to get some lunch and Grandma called and she was done. We decided to take lunch home and give our 1 year old a nap. Which never happened but was a good try. Grandma went and did laundry and by the time she returned it was six pm.

While Grandma was at the laundry mat and our 1 year old wasnt napping I decided to get play dough out for the kids. I took it outside with their table and little chairs so I could mow the yard and watch them at the same time. Well we found out that dogs and goats really like play dough. They wouldnt leave the girls alone while they had it out. At one point the goat jumped up on top of the little table and was eating. The girls and my self werent sure what to do she was loving it so much. We were all laughing especially because we had just formed it into little bears and Happy Birthday was eating them for a snack on top of the table. She then jumped off and she had it all over herself. Then our one year old was eating it too. I decided it was time to put it away while we still had some left. I wondered why the girls werent hungry for dinner or at least the one year old. She was probally too full from play dough. So we learned our goat and dog love playdough.

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Parents Visit







Yesterday my parents arrived in the afternoon. They have been up several times since we have moved here. The girls love when they visit. Our 3 year old always asks when they are going to visit again. They have a Bernese Moutain Dog named Maggie, which the girls both love too. Unfortunately, so does Woody and he wont leave her alone, so we have to tie him up or put him in his kennel.

My Dad helped Asa with the shower this morning before he had to go to work but hopefully they will finish tomorrow for Asa is off. We have also been using my parents shower at the hotel which works awesome. I feel like I am being blown out of the tub there is so much water pressure, and there is hot, warm or cold water. You can actually pick the temperature and you dont have to worry about a toilet flushing. The State Park is nice but at least at the Hotel you hope they do a better cleaning and you dont have to wear flip flops.

The girls cant wait until our new tub is put in so they can take a real bath. They havent had a real bath since we left Colorado back in June. We did go swimming at the State Park Pool but its not the same. Our water is finally clearing up, not perfect but better now we need to figure out the water pressure. It is so bad you can pop a bag of popcorn before it washes the soap off of your hands.

We also went and looked at a few tractors to mow the lawn. We currently have been mowing with our lawn mower from Colorado which is a Sears push behind with 24 inch blades. It takes forever. It's not the walking behind its the fact we cant get much else done but mow the grass. And by the time we are done it is time to start over. It looks so much nicer when it is cut. Asa and I were determined one Sunday to get the entire yard cut by the end of the day. We tag teamed it. 12 tanks of a gas and 8 hours later were almost done. We hadnt cut a section by the road. We had left it. So having a riding lawn mower would be so nice becasue we could be done with in an hour, hopefully.

We went to dinner at a floating resturant here in Alexandria Bay. The resturant part was completely full because they had a bus tour come so we at upstairs in the lounge. It was a beautiful view of Boldt Castle and the St. Lawrence Seaway. It was a bit much for my mother because she gets motion sick very easily. We sat her away from the window. You could feel the resturant moving with every wave. The girls and I loved it. My mother did quite well and even was able to walk back to the car.

When we were leaving dinner there were lots of people dressed for a black tie event. We had remembered Boldt Castle was having an end of the summer Gala. Anyone could attend at $175 per ticket (not couple but a ticket). Our three year old loved seeing everyone in their gowns. We told her they were waiting for the boat to take them to the castle like in Cinderella but its a boat instead of a carriage. She said she wanted to go. We said maybe someday when you get a little older your Dad can take you and your sister. She liked that answer.

Here is a link for the history of Boldt Castle.

http://www.1000islands.com/alexbay/boldtcas.htm

Links TO:

Terra Server (arial photo of farm)
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=11&Z=18&X=1084&Y=12262&W=2

Here is a link to an arial view of our property. You will be able to see the pond and the main road. Most of the land below the main road is ours. You will also be able to see the farm by the road.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/coldandflu/local/13679?x=15&y=7

This link is to the weather for our area. It looks ok now but wait until winter. We hear it can be bad.

The closer you get to our house the worse it looks. This is why we always show the beauty of the property and not the house. Although someday it will be pretty too.


Yesterday was Grandma and Grandpap Reed's Anniversary. Happy Anniversary! Hopefully, you will get to spend more time with one another than working on the shower.

The junk or scrap metel man was here today. He took two trailer loads off the property and it didnt seem to make a dent in what i here.

We went to Clayton today. It is a very cute little town with some unique shops. We only stopped at a few but it is very different than Alexandria Bay. It is more open and you can see the St. Lawrence much better. Other than running a few errands it has been an uneventful day so far. As I say this I see Woody across the grass carring a dead chick with its neck and head bouncing as he trots proudly. We think it is the same chicken from last night because he was carring it this morning too. He doesnt seem to be eating them because the feathers are all intack. He seems to have a gentle mouth which is great for a hunting dog. Or we are down to about 3 baby chicks and he is having some great meals.

Asa is counting the days down until hunting season. It starts September 1st. It's too bad this having to fix the shower is getting in his way. He has already complained that between work and having to fix the shower he has no time to practice his archery, post the property and to work with Woody. I am sure he will get it all worked out. We will just be showering at the State Park until next year LOL. He has done well working on the shower. Thank you Asa.

Thank you to those of you who have made comments. It is nice to know who is keeping track of our progress at the Ranch. We welcome all comments.

Our morning started by being woken up by the previous owners of the farm. They knocked on the screend door as they walked into the kitchen. They could see no one was up yet because Grandma was laying in bed with our 3 year old who finally chose today to sleep late. And her bedroom is right off the kitchen. It was only 8 am. I was sleeping in the back bedroom which you can see back into because none of the rooms have doors and with the right angles you can see into the rooms. They came to tell us that some Amish were going to be coming by this afternoon to give us a price on painting the barn roofs. Which we werent too concerned with at the moment. But thanks for walking in on us. They did say we were farmers now and we should be up at the crack of dawn. If had gotten out of bed I would have told them well you arent farming now so go back to bed. And what we would like to say is "and you dont live hear anymore so if no one answers when you knock dont come in". "Oh by the way can you take some of the crap you left behind in the barns too". But we are too nice at times and it is a very small town and we have to drive by their house on our way into town.

The Amish did come by this afternoon. Luckily Asa was home from work so he talked to them. They had a two horse powered buggy. The horses were beautiful. I wanted to take their picture and post them on the blog but Cheryl had heard they dont like their pictures taken. I said they would never know, its not as if they have a computer. I did take a picture from inside the house but it didnt turn out. Maybe next time. They came from a farm that is by Asa's work which takes him 45min by car. Who knows how long it would take by horse. I hope they had other business down here because they only stopped at our house for about 5 minutes. Just long enough to give us an estimate.

Asa, learned how to cut Happy Birthday's hooves. She is a great pet but she would be an awesome pet if she would stop pooping on the porch. The guy who showed Asa how to cut her hoove also bought hay and said he will hook us up with his hay dealers. Everything is word of mouth and zipped unless you know someone. While he was here his dog captured one of our baby chicks and killed it. Asa was going to breast it and cook it but he set it down on the rail of the porch for a second while he ran in to get his knife and when he went back outside it was gone. He never did find it. At first he thought Cheryl or I hid it from him because we didnt want to eat it. But we told him it was Woody. Who knows how many other chicken dinners Woody has had. Hopefully this was his one and only. Asa did bring the chick inside to show Cheryl and she frieked "get that thing out of here, it could have disease, or fleas or who knows what". I just chuckled to myself. And thats how the chicken disappeared. Woody!

The photo was taken off the local chamber of commerce website. This is on most of the post cards for here. We havent even had a chance to go boating yet. We cant wait to tour all the islands, houses and castles. Let alone the fishing and diving.

Asa worked at Lowes today; came home and worked more on the bathroom. He has most of it framed. Our three year old was a huge help. She would run to the cellar and get him tools and hand him screws. She loves working with her Dad.

Our one year old was up most of the night with a fever. She is teething but I also think she has an ear infection. She was very cuddly all day which is never the case unless she feels bad. Which makes me feel very sad for her and it breaks our hearts to see her sick but we all enjoy the snuggles. Tonight the girls were playing in the rocks for a while when she started screaming. Turns out the 3 year old hit "by accident" the one year old in the head with a kids shovel. I scooped her up and she had a face and mouth full of pebbles combined with tears and snot. She looked pitifull. I then took her inside and put onn her PJ's.

Grandma and I went upstairs today to brainstorm a remodeling plan. We think we will have less to do than we originally thought. This is always good. Originally we were going to knock out lots of wall but now we will only have to create a few door ways. It is mostly cleaning it up and making it look asthetically pleasing. Except for the bathrooms. We will be adding one and moving the other. And it looks like we will have room for a laundry room upstairs, yeah. At least we hope it will all come together like we want.

The R Ranch from Reed Ranch is short for OUR Ranch meaning; Welcome to OUR Ranch. Our home is your home, have a great stay enjoy the view, fishing etc.... We would love all of OUR Family and Friends to come visit OUR (R) Ranch. We chose Ranch verses Farm for several reasons. First we liked the western flair to it, since we moved here from Colorado. Second, Asa, liked Double R Goat Ranch, as a title for the goat business. Third, we would like people to feel as though they can come to OUR (R) Ranch for some R&R. We didnt think people were understanding what we meant by Reed Ranch (R Ranch). If you have any other questions please add to the comments at the end of each posting. We are always open hear other ideas of Farm/Ranch Names if anyone has something clever.

We were trying to come up with an acronym for ASA, Asa Acres, or Asa Farms. We came up with Asa's and Sarah's Adventures, but this left Cheryl and the girls out. We did like the Adventures part on the end but couldnt come up with anything. If anyone comes up with an idea please post it in the comments or send and email.

It has been misting and rainy this weekend. Tonight it is cool, crisp and feels like winter is right around the corner. When your nose is cold and you want to snuggle under a blanket or put on your favorite sweat shirt and watch some football or a good movie ( depending on gender, LOL). Some of the trees and shrubs have already started to change colors. Just a few of the colors we see now are more than we would see in Colorado. Fall is most of our's favorite season. There is only 11 days until hunting season. It is opening goose season and Asa is so excited. Today he bought a target so we can practice with our bows. Our three year old made Daddy, Asa, very proud when she told him she wanted to wear some camo so she could go hunting with him. She already loves to go catfishing at the pond.

We also made our 5th stop at Lowes today and have no shower. Time ran out. Asa will have to work on it either by himself or settle for us ladies to help him. And since he has to work tomorrow it could be a few more days showering at the State Park. Tonight, the State Park employees remembered us and just waved us thru. I knew the Park Pass was going to be used frequently but I didnt realize in what way or how much. I originally bought it for the girls and I, so we could go to the beach or swimming pool on the hot days. It has turned out to be very handy.

The men didnt stop working until 9:30pm last night. They probaly would have kept working but they found out the showers at the State Park close at 10:00pm. When I woke up this morning they were gone, back to Lowes. This is trip number 4 and the shower is not in yet or the hot water heater. And Grandpap has to leave today by 1:30pm to go back to Las Vegas. All of this work and we arent even going to keep the shower when we redo the entire bathroom. This was just a quick fix so we can shower here at the house. However, all of the plumbing does need to be replaced so we will have a jump start on it.

Another trip has been made to Lowes. Which isnt easy since it is 23 miles away. Its not like when we lived in Greeley and it was across the street. The old shower hasnt even been ripped out yet.

It is raining this afternoon and our 3 year old was watching Pocahontas for the first time. She came into the kitchen balling because the man got shot. I told her she needed to watch the rest of the movie so she can see how it ends. Once the movie ended she was sobbing. Grandma and I were laughing because it was so cute to see this three year old so emotionally attached to a movie. I know I do it and it was just so cute to see.

Grandpap went straight to work after breakfast trying to get the plumbing changed out for the new shower. I went to the State Park to take a shower and it was heavenly. Clean water, good pressure and I was by myself. This doesnt happen often. On my return to the ranch I was instructed to stop by the hardware store. Shortly after I was home Grandpap and Asa left looking for another part for their plumbing repairs. They called after being at two stores and were on their way to Lowes. They have been gone for a couple of hour now and they havent really even started the plumbing job. Cheryl and I are chuckling at how many more times they will need to leave to get more parts before this job is completed.

Yesterday morning tragedy struck. A chicken was sacrificed and left for dead at the bottom of our porch steps. After some investigation we concluded Woody got too carried away with his "Love" for other animals. The chicken wasnt eaten at all and he did bring it to the front porch. He has half of his bird instincts correct. He just needs to figure out the difference between pheasant, geese and chickens. By late afternoon we knew for sure it was Woody. I looked out the window of the house after hearing lots of clucking going on and I saw Woody chasing after the big rooster. He had it pinned to the ground when I caught him. I yelled at him to "leave it" and he did. Which was amazing too. I did have to call his name and say the command a few times but he did comply. The rooster quickly clucked, ran and hid.

Our Three year old asked "are you sure the chicken is dead" as she is looking at it eye to eye. So close to it she is almost be nose to beak. Or what would have been a beak if its head wasnt twisted off and lying underneath the hen. She then went on to say "I think it's just sleeping." I said no it is definately dead. She said"WHY" and I said" because the hens head is twisted off". She said "oh" and went on about her business.

Grandpap arrived into Watertown and we went shopping for a new shower and supplies to change out the tub and all the plumbing associated with the shower. Once back at the "R" or (Our) Ranch Asa, grandpap and the girls went to the pond to check the trap. The trap was completely empty, no fish or animals. This has happened twice now and Asa cant believe how clever raccoons can be. However, while they were out by the pond they ran into a flock of about 40 turkeys. Asa was so excited. Hunting season is just around the corner. Asa also showed grandpap the cut hay fields. We at least200 hundred big bales of hay. Too many to count. Grandpap was amazed.

After dinner Asa, our 3 year old and I went to the drive right down the road. We saw Barnyard. It was a very fitting movie. Except now our 3 year old is terrified of Coyotes which you can hear at night hear at the Ranch. We told her Woody is like Otis and will take care of those Coyotes.

Asa checked the trap and only the fish was there.

Grandpap flies out tonight from Las Vegas and will get into Watertown tomorrow morning. Grandma will pick him up. The girls are very excited to see him.












We are just about ready to have our third bonfire just like this one. I asked our 3 year old what she would like to show her friends back in Greeley the most from the farm and she said the old Christmas tree we found and how it burned in the bonfire. I would have never guessed she would have picked the bonfire.

Asa checked the trap yesterday by the pond but it was empty. The bait fish was still there but no animals yet. It will get checked again today. Both kids went to the pond with him to look along with the dog, Woody, and the goat, Happy Birthday. While down there Asa has been working on Woody's training. Yesterday he did retrievals in the water. Asa was very excited on how well he is taking to the water.


Today we go to the preschool's Open House. Exciting times, our daughter is so excited to start school. Today we painted shirts for playgroup in Greeley, CO and we also painted Grandma's closet. She will be so surprised. It is white with Polka Dots.

Our adventure of the day. Our dog Woody, has now created his own dog doors through both of our screen doors.

They have continued to cut our hay fields and it is looking great.

This morning Asa went to take a shower and his foot went through the bath tub floor for the second time. We were hoping our patch job would hold until we remodel the bathroom but it doesnt look like it. He looked in the cellar to see if there was any water leakage from the tub and sure enough lots. So we will be going to the State Park on regular basis for showers now until we can get a new tub. The state park also has a nice swimming pool so we will hit the pool first then showers.

I am still working out the kinks to this blog. I want it to look much prettier.

Tuesday August 15, 2006

My first attempt at a blog or website of any kind. I want to post our daily or exciting events and adventures at R Ranch the Reed Ranch.

Today at the Ranch Asa was cleaning out the chicken coop and after digging through a combination of Poop and garbage ( old feed bags, ropes, containers etc..) he finally hit cement. It was down about a foot. He cleared out about a 4 foot section and it took most of the day. It is a nasty job with lots more of it.

He took a break from cleaning the chicken coop to plant some raspberry bushes which, Happy Birthday, our pet goat had eaten all of the leaves off and left nothing but twigs. While digging the hole to put the raspberry plants in he dug up some tire tubes, milk jugs bags of garbage that were burried. The spot chosen to plant the bushes was an unsuspecting location for trash. He was surprised but not that surprised.

We were told by the people at the landfill/transfer center "the previous owners of the farm never came here" and we are discovering years worth of garbage. The previous farmers were not the cleanest folks. They seem very nice but just not the cleanest.

Yesterday we took Woody, our Curly Coated Retriever, who is now 5 months old to a boat ramp at Hyde Lake in Plessis, NY. It was here where he learned how to swim. He did very good. So today Asa, took him down to our pond for some training. Our 3 year old went too and they caught some catfish and set a have a heart trap. On their way back my one year old and I hid in the tall grass and were going to jump out and scare them when the dog found us first. He has a good nose and ruined our fun.



View of our pond at Dusk








We all got into the car and went to one of the State Parks near us and we had family shower time. It is so nice to have a fresh water shower at least once a week. It makes our hair feel so good. Our well water is very hard and has lots of iron in it. It doesnt come out of the faucet very clean. It looks ok until you put it in a clear container. It is hard for me to believe the previous owners of the farm drank it out of the tap. We have since put a sediment filter on the house. Before we did this you could decant the water out of a gallon jug. It was gross. We go to the laundry mat so our clothes dont get stained. But soon we will hopefully have a much better filter and will be able to at least wash clothes at home.

Below is the toilet that came with the farm house. YIKES! Stained from the Water!