More Life On The Ranch

I tried counting sheep last night but it didn't work.  Then I tried cattle, which only resulted in eyes-wide-awake mode.  Suddenly the booming and banging began.  

Back when we lived on the ranch here, Castle Air Force Base was not far away ... maybe 15 miles or so.  The B-52's would fly over so close to the ground that you felt like you could reach up and touch them.  Eventually, the base was shut down, which just about killed the little town of Atwater California where it lived.

They have been trying to come up with something to use it for ever since.  Although a couple of businesses have moved out there and a few airplanes take off once in awhile, it's mostly not used for anything.  

So someone said ... well ... it's the perfect location for war games!!

Sure enough, they moved in last week to begin training exercises for close combat.  You would never attack someone in the daytime when they could see you ... you would attack at night, yes??  That would be a BIG YES!!  You can't imagine how well noise travels at night!!  Hopefully it won't continue for long.

I finally got my butt in gear and began cleaning the garage yesterday.  Good grief ... the smell from those boxes full of antiques was overwhelming.  I can still smell it in my hair this morning.  I did find a few more funny pictures that I'll share.  

Meet Polly.  She was a good old mare, but she knew if you could ride or not.  She would run away with the cousins who climbed on her, quickly depositing them in the dirt.  I was about four years old here. Apparently it was hot, because WHERE ARE MY LEVIS?  Notice the tiny saddle ... just my size.

Don't I look like the fashionista?  I got the leftover Levis that were too long, so we folded them up at the bottom.  The shirt is too big, but I didn't care, nor did I care that my hat had been crushed on many an occasion.  

By this age, you had to saddle your own horse and get on by yourself.  Notice the saddle blankets are on backwards.  The fringe should be to the back.  Oops!  To get on, we walked the horses over to the tractor loading ramp ... which was also the high pass overlook when chasing after bank robbers.  Many a bad guy was spotted there.

Once caught, we threw them in jail (the saddle house) and locked the lock.  Sometimes the bad guys resembled the chickens we raised for eggs.  We got in trouble for that one because we lost the key and the chickens were locked up to roost on our saddles all night.  BAD NANCY!!

School was required, so I attended a small country school several miles from the ranch.  I think this is the only picture I have of the Indian maidens making dinner for their brave scouts.  Frances will surely recognize some of these girls, all of whom are wearing their mothers skirts.  I'm the one with long pigtails in the middle.

We had several Indian grinding stones we found on the old high desert ranch.  Mom let us borrow one to grind corn and make corncakes.  We really got into it ... and whipped up a batch for everyone at school to try.  What a mistake THAT was!!  We ground the corn alright, along with the stone, meaning it was so full of sand we couldn't eat it.  If I had been allowed to spit it out, I would have!!!  It was a fun day that I remember well.

Did I ever ride my horse to school?  Of course!!  One of the neighbors at the school had a small corral where I left my horse all day.  In the end, I got home faster than if I rode the bus.

More shenanigans ... this was the go-cart that us girls were not allowed to drive.  It's got a tin roof and the wheels from my dolls baby buggy.  Obviously it only went as fast as we could push.  That nose cone made it go faster of course.  Notice the stop sign?  Yup we pushed it out the driveway and down the road.  Funny how we survived all that.  That's me on the right.

I cleaned out several boxes of junk that went in the trash can.  That beautiful candle that would have made everything smell nice, melted into a big stinky pile.  No kidding ... the smell from some of these boxes was overwhelming.  These two shelves were full of plastic boxes when I started.

I cleaned out all the old Christmas and Halloween decorations, which now reside in a big pile in my driveway.  I'm hoping someone came along and stole them all last night, but I haven't looked yet.  This is all camping gear and lots of dishes.  I even came across two huge boxes of hand painted Japanese dishware, including bowls and platters.  I know where I got these, but I'm keeping it a secret.

I'm sure they are worth a lot of money to the right person.  I should see about selling them.  Sadly, there is no place around here to donate good stuff ... books, an entire collection of 100 year old tobacco cans and an entire setup to make porcelain dolls.  Yes, I've had some weird hobbies over the years.

I've got more to do, including moving those two empty shelves, but I was exhausted.  It was time to hang out on the couch with Cooper.  Suddenly he began barking.  He's such a good little watchdog ... he spotted my neighbors having a big party. 

I had heard the boom boom boom of the music one door down, but it was drowned out by bull riding on the TV.  They had not one, but TWO photographers, so it must have been a big celebration.  It was interesting that the men were invited right up front, while the women were told to stand aside.  Finally they all got in the picture!

You can't imagine how gorgeous those dresses are!!

Come to think of it, maybe THAT'S the boom boom I heard most of the night!!  No it wasn't ... because this is a wonderful friendly family that brought gifts around to every house when they had a wedding reception there ... just to be sure to let everyone know they would keep the noise down.

So that's it for today ... however I did find the set of photos I shot for a college class many years ago.  They are rather funny now ... so I think I'll post them ... maybe tomorrow.