The Return Of Davy Crockett

King of the Wild Frontier. He LIVES! I saw him this morning, in my driveway!
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I had to sneak up on him to get the photo.  He is camera-shy and there was only a split second to capture him.  You can see by the look on his face that I startled him...or maybe it was my modern, fancy camera.  He probably hasn't ever seen a camera like mine.

If you're doubting this far-fetched story, let me just confirm to you that it really was him!  Here he is the proof:

See!  I told you I saw him!  I don't know what gave it away...maybe the eyebrows?

I learned that Davy has been treasure-hunting on the Wild Frontier around my house.  While hunting the prairie yesterday, he found this old thing:

I think someone must have been telling him what a television is, and about shows like American Pickers and Auction Kings, because he was quite excited about the find.  He was sure it was worth TONS of money and he insisted we find an expert to tell us all about it and give us TONS of money for it. And he was quite sure it had something to do with Buffalo Bill Cody.

I talked Davy into riding to Cody with me and we found an expert.  Actually, we visited two.  And here is what the experts told Davy Crockett:

The knife was made in Germany.  It dates ALL the way back to the 1940's or 50's.  It was child-size hunting knife and once had a leather or wood piece around the handle.

And it is worth...(drumroll please)...$20-$30!

Okay, it may not be TONS but to an almost seven-year-old Davy, it was quite a find!  And I wouldn't be upset to find something in the dirt worth 30 bucks.

Well, I will keep you posted on the Davy Crockett sightings and if he finds anything else worth reporting about on the Wild Frontier.  Meanwhile, at least we know his head isn't cold.

Summer Self-Entertainment

Summer on the prairie can get a little boring at times for an almost-seven-year-old.  Tonight The Prairie Kid decided to get a little silly and it wasn't just himself that he entertained!  

Drought Stricken But Still Kickin'

We are sadly being hit with bad drought this summer.  It was a sad day in the beginning of June when we loaded up 90 good cows to go to the sale barn.  It is another sad day today...138 heifers will be loaded on a truck to be hauled to sale.

Yesterday we had to gather up everything in that heifer group and bring them to the corrals.  The Prairie Kid and Bart were back at it again! 

At one point the saddle slipped off Bart's barrel belly and The Prairie Kid fell off, onto his face.  That kid didn't even cry!  Just stood and waited for help getting his saddle re-set.  Got right back on and away he went!  I am so proud of him!

Look at how dry our land is...

There is some nice green down in the bottom of this hollow where we've diverted water from the mountain to our reservoir near the house.  We're down to less than 20% full on our mountain reservoir now.

That little bit of green grass is like an oasis in the dusty, dried out prairie

Our 16-yr-old nephew helped move cows for the first time yesterday

Well, we'll keep praying for rain and until then...we'll keep on keepin' on.

Never Gets Old

While my family was in town we were able to do some fun things together.  We bowled, went out to eat, went to the Heart Mtn Relocation Center, and we went up to Foster Reservoir.  

It was a gorgeous day out.  We took three four-wheelers.  We didn't leave until late afternoon so that we might escape part of the heat.

It was amazing as usual up at Foster.  We got to see a few big horn sheep and some elk and calves. 

A storm rolled in and we got rained on a bit.  We got chased down the mountain.

We were so blessed to have this time together...and the scenery was spectacular too! 

Sponataneous Fun

We invited our dear friends over for fishing and dinner while my mom and her husband and our nephew were in town last night.  It was a beautiful evening and we had a whole crew of boys, eight of them, from ages 3 to 14.  They were having a blast in the yard and then after dinner we went fishing.  While we were fishing I invited everyone to just stay the night because otherwise they had an hour and a half drive home.  They agreed after we bounced the idea around for a little while.  We had a smorgasbord of blankets, pillows, pjs and cowboys all over the basement.  It was a blast.

This morning we served 5 adults, 1 high schooler, 1 middle schooler, 3 elementary schoolers, 1 preschooler and a pre-preschooler bacon, pancakes and eggs.  They played and played and played until lunch and then treated the hot tub as a swimming pool for half the afternoon.  I am sure that there is a Yukon full of sleeping young people on their journey home as I type.   

There was enormous amounts of testosterone being released with bats and toy guns in the yard before dinner

We "divided and conquered" by spreading the adults around with the various kids for fishing

It could be considered miraculous that no one got hooked or hurt or even wet!

And, of course, we enjoyed the worms!

No one caught a fish but it was a beautiful, fun night

There are various bodies under this mess of blankets...

If you want blond cowboys to clean up all of the toys REALLY fast and come to the table for lunch, all you have to do is announce "When all of the toys are picked up and you've eat lunch you'll get to HOT TUB!"  Like a bolt of lightning the toys were put away and a bunch of hot-tub-ready, shirtless, swimwear clad cowboys showed up for hot dogs.

And six kids in a six by six foot area had a BLAST for a couple of hours

What a crew!

Two things I know for certain: we'll all sleep REALLY good tonight and my dog is SO happy to have her house back to normal.

Beginning Another Chapter

I have been praying for a couple of years about having a "home away from home" in the town that we "live" in but don't live in.  You see, we go to church 35 miles away.  Our son goes to school 35 miles away.  I have been working 35 miles away.  The grocery store is 35 miles away.  And even though there is a smaller town 6 miles from us with a school and church, we were CERTAIN that God lead us to the church and school we're apart of...35 miles away.

This has posed a challenge for our family as we have made the trek back and forth what seems like a gazillion times.  Sometimes the days are so long the we find ourselves running for 14 hours straight to drive home, sleep, and drive back to start it all over again.  Some days activities are so spread out that we either have to try to find things to do for hours on end or we drive the 70 miles round trip twice in one day.

It can be exhausting, and unnecessary, especially for a child.

So I have prayed, and daydreamed, and prayed, and chatted with hubby and friends, and prayed.  And I kept my eye on the local real estate listings for "fun." I thought it would just be perfect to find a house with an apartment or cottage on it.  We could use the cottage for ourselves and rent out the house to cover the mortgage.

This Spring we knew it was time to move forward and get a little more serious about our search.  To make a long story short, here is a timeline of some events:

March 22nd- contacted an agent and began viewing houses
April 28th- found "the" house with a perfect walk-out basement to make into an apartment
April 30th -we were planning to make an offer on the house but we stalled and later found out about another property that The Prairie Daddy was very interested in
May 2nd- viewed the new property and met with the bank and made an offer
May 4th- went into contract on the property
June 4th- closed and were the official new owners

I cannot tell you how exciting this new adventure was/is!  Because we didn't just buy a house with a cottage or basement apartment.  God lead us to buy a fully-functioning vacation rental business that is 4 newly renovated, furnished townhouses.

Let me introduce you to Cody Vacation Housing:

You can also visit us at www.codyvacationhousing.com

So, now I definitely know what I am going to do with myself!  I am going to be managing our new business!  And so far, I have my work cut out for me!  Especially since I am not done with the last chapter until mid-August.  But God is good and knew that I would be a wild chicken-with-her-head-cut-off this summer trying to balance all of these things.  And this next school year, we will call Townhouse #1 our "home away from home."

Finishing A Chapter

11 months ago this week I was asked to go full-time as the Director of Children's Ministry at our church.  I had been working for over a year and a half in a part-time capacity.  As a new pastor came on board and the church began to see growth, he realized that the job was going to need more time than I was committed to. 

After prayerfully considering the offer with The Prairie Daddy, we both knew that this was not the best choice for our family, which is my first ministry.  So, I declined and began a long transition that will come to a close exactly one year after the first conversation about this that the pastor and I had. 

In November I was shifted to an "interim co-director" and they added another co-director to the position to help carry the load.  A search committee was formed and began accepting applications for a full-time ministry leader.

This process took months before candidates were invited to visit.  And finally in May the position was offered and accepted to a great guy from Idaho.  Just this past weekend they moved to our area and he began his work yesterday.

I will wrap up my position as the VBS coordinator and officially be done on August 13th.

Meanwhile, there were many prayers and conversations about "now what?"  "I wonder what to do next.  I can't just not do anything."  "Maybe I could waitress again.  I love to waitress."  "Maybe I could work for a realtor.  I love real estate."

And as season of life began to get closer to closure, another began.

 

Birthday Cheer

Life seems to be passing me by so fast that I haven't had much time for blogging again.  We're in the beginning of one new adventure while I am still wrapping up my last big adventure.  Hopefully soon I will be able to update my blog on these events.  For now, you'll have to settle with a video of the birthday cheer my sweet boy performed for me 2 days ago.  And, yes, he has a brand new hole in his mouth!