Four Country Gals

Well, everyone (but Cindy and Bev) know that sheep are “flock or herd” animals. One lamb amongst a pack of dogs has serious identity problems. Not to mention a lamb that started life sleeping in “Grandma’s” bed.

What to do? Get more bummers! It seems there’s an ample supply this year.

So, they go from “Paco”, the lone lamb… to a small flock, adding “Taco” and “Wooly”. Now, the new guys don’t get near the treatment Paco got. They’re confined to dog crates at night, and outside in the back yard just as soon as possible.

The weather is quite agreeable, and with three of them, there’s safety in numbers. Especially with a pack of dogs who believe their lot in life is to eat, play, and sleep.

The back yard has some “edibles”, that really have to go away before any landscaping can be done, so the little lambs are sort of “earning their keep”. The little “kids” get a shelter, so they can escape the hot, summer sun.

No thoughts yet as to what happens when they grow up…

Part of our dream has been to have more than just dogs… we really would like to again have a horse or two.

Cindy was a really good rider, participating in barrel racing all through high school, and Bev helped her Grandfather a lot when he was raising “sulky horses”. For years, they’ve had to set aside the desire to own, train and ride horses.

But, they’ve got some hurdles. They don’t really know any one yet… and they sure don’t have a barn. Oh, and it’s still winter here… and they’ve got no idea when it will be spring.

Never mind, since Bev is in town regularly, she often stops by the local hardware store… Bracken’s. They have a “local ad board” where she finds a request for “horse rescue center volunteers”.

What the heck… they go check it out.

Cindy and Bev head into Enterprise to visit. That’s all, just visit… well, maybe we could volunteer some hours feeding and cleaning.

Turns out, the gal is starting a “Thoroughbred Horse Rescue Center” as her father-in-law and grandfather breed and raise Thoroughbreds for the racing industry. You know, only a very small percentage of horses ever actually make it to the track… so she’s thinking setting up a rescue would be a good idea.

Within days, it’s really winter again, and thoughts of horses are far from their minds. First, what to do with all this snow! It seems like no sooner is it here… then it is gone… and then back again.

From the middle of February, until the end of March, we’ve had at least four distinct snow storms, leaving as much as 8 inches or so each time. Even our birds are tiring of the routine. Poor little things, they’re just so cold.

Finally, with a 10-day dry stretch, they begin thinking again about the horses. Deena’s having a hard time getting volunteers and she’s thinking maybe it would be better to find “foster homes” for the “racing rejects”.

You know… we’ve got this old shed out along the north property line. Wonder if we could do anything with it? Wonder how much work it would take to modify it for a horse or two?

Oh boy, it’s full of tumbleweed. What’s with all this “heavy metal”? They must have kept something pretty big in here… cows maybe? Hey look… we’ve even got a frost-free hydrant. That will make things really easy… we can just hook up a hose and fill water barrels from here. No time to see if it’s operational, the ground’s still pretty frozen.

Hmm, even if we do get this area cleaned out, we don’t have a corral, or anything to make a corral. We’ll need posts, a way to dig the holes for the posts, fencing (including electric), and God only knows what else.

Electric fence? Now, that’s gonna be fun… we don’t have any power! Oh, wait, we’ve got plenty of sun… we’ll get a solar powered fence charger.

The gals (and Shawn) enjoy a quiet Christmas, celebrating by opening packages on Christmas eve. This year, it’s a little subdued as Mom is still recovering from the bout of diverticulitis and then depression.

Coco, the puppy is the “star of the show”, investigating every gift, and of course, all the wrapping paper.

Shawn has to catch the Las Vegas shuttle out of St George bright and early Christmas morning, so it’s up at “Oh God:thirty”, well before the sun comes up.

Leaving Mom home with most of the dogs, Bev, Cindy, Shawn, and Coco “the pup” pile into the Avalanche for the hour plus drive to St. George. All the way there, they’re a little concerned about whether or not the shuttle will actually be running on Christmas Day.

No problem, they arrive at about sun up (shortly after 7 AM) and hook up with the shuttle.

Their only regret is that there is no snow for Christmas.

Oh… but the very next morning, they awake to the first tease… a brief snow shower.

The ground has been frozen for some time now, so what little falls sticks immediately. Is it really winter here now?

It’s getting into November now, and the gals, remembering Ohio are looking for really cold and snowy weather.

They’ve got the fireplace ready. It’s even decorated for Christmas with a “frontier desert” motif. Along with the fireplace, they’ve laid in several cords of wood, as the fireplace will provide most of the “morning heat” and evening “stoke it really good” heat. Even though electric heat isn’t expensive here, they’re not real sure about the quality of their furnace/heat pump.

They can see snow in the really high mountains. That’s actually “Brian Head”, Utah’s most southerly ski resort. It’s situated south of Bryce Canyon and north of Zion National Park.

They even watch some really menacing stuff pass them by on the east. Around here, the main “weather” happens east of the nearest mountain range in what they call the “I-15 Corridor”. That’s where Cedar City is located… and they get an abundance of snow.

In the meantime, cold means it’s below freezing at night… sometimes way below as in barely above zero, and then bright and sunny during the daytime. Oh, and what makes it winter is the north wind.

When the wind comes from the north, especially the northeast, or even east, the wind chill is ferocious. Even the birds look for shelter where they can stay out of the wind.

Think they’re happy?

You bet! With Mom here, and the dogs, “Mindy, Missy, and Koda”, the family is nearly complete. They’ve even managed to get Shawn, Cindy’s son to come out for Christmas. Life is very good, indeed.

With the family more or less complete, Bev, Cindy and Mom settle in to prepare for the coming winter. Not knowing what to expect, they are laying in wood, and getting things put away and “winterized”, meaning extra insulation stuffed here and there, and “visquene” covering the large dining room window.

Other local “family members are also preparing for winter. Unfortunately, this little guy has chosen the front lawn as his “new domain”. Now, this little guy doesn’t know Cindy or Bev, or Mom, and has no idea exactly how they feel about green grass, and dirt mounds.

Cindy and Shari are chatting online when all of a sudden, Mom yelps. And when Mom yelps… it’s all hands on deck!

The ground is moving… out there, look… Every once in a while something is throwing dirt out onto an ever-growing mound.

What is it? Is it one of those protected prairie dogs? Is it a chiseler?

Never mind… it’s in our yard, and it’s making a mess… It has to go.

Plans are laid.

Here’s the deal… Cindy is the best shot, even though it’s been better than a year since she last fired her rifle. Cindy will sneak out the back door while Bev monitors the critter through the binoculars.

He doesn’t stick his head very far out of the hole for very long, so maybe Bev can help Cindy get a clean shot.

So, here’s Bev, looking through the binoculars, when all of a sudden “Pow!”. Bev is NOT a happy camper… Cindy’s managed to dispatch the critter with a single shot, while Bev saw more than she wanted.

With the kitchen nightmare behind them, they now turn their serious attention to Mom’s room. The days are quickly racing by, and soon, she’ll be joining them. If they can’t get it all redecorated… they should at least get stuff unpacked as best they can.

Let’s see, right now, Mom’s room is chocolate milk brown. One wall has some kind of god-awful wallpaper that really looks like the “papered” side of drywall. There are patches where there used to be curtain rods, and those are unpainted.

Time to really focus and see if they can get Mom to agree to colors. They figure if they take pictures of the chips AND send both the chips and the pictures to her, surely she can choose one.

Well, that’s a no go… Mom can’t decide, so will wait until after she gets here. That means they’ll have moved everything at least three times. Once from where they originally put it, once away from the wall to make room to work, and once to where Mom finally decides to put it.

The one thing (probably the most important one) they’ve done for Mom, is find a great home for the houseplants they brought. You see, Mom just loves cacti, and other little house plants.

Cindy and Bev had carefully packed those in the Avalanche so the dogs wouldn’t trample them. As soon as they saw the east facing kitchen windows with nice deep ledges, they knew exactly where to put “Mom’s house plants”. Now all they had to do was remember to water them… not too much, but enough.

They’re fairly comfortable with the inside (even though it’s not done), so they turn their attention to at least making the outside look more presentable for her pending arrival.

They’ve managed to get the underground watering system going in the front yard. It’s on an automatic timer, and they’ve got it going twice a day, 30 minutes each time.

In order to make that work, they literally had to listen for the water to come on, go see where the timer was set, and adjust the time. Don’t ask them how they got it come on twice a day… that hasn’t happened for a while.

The backyard is another story. For the time being, Koda likes to play in the weeds and enjoy the shade of the tall cinder block wall. Missy and Mindy could care less.

You know, these two have been unpacking now for over two weeks, and they still have boxes scattered about, stuff laying around as if it will never have a home, and Mom arriving within a very short time… They’ve simply got to get in gear and get it done!

So it is as they head into the Labor Day weekend…

Left all alone with only their boxes, their dogs and each other, Bev and Cindy set about unpacking. Now, I don’t know about you… but unpacking is almost worse than packing.

They had lots of expectations about where things would go, and what they’d have to buy. Time to rethink a few things.

Good thing Mom wasn’t joining them until about six weeks later. They’d have time to get her room “just right”. Remember, the kitchen really belongs to Mom, too… so no matter how they set that up, it would most likely get major adjustments.

Yesterday, they’d had the big pieces moved directly to the proper rooms. Even though Mom’s room would get a paint job, they’d have to cover everything… better to have the moving guys move the big stuff up the the two stairs and around the hallway corners.

Some rooms were pretty straight forward. How many places can you really put the entertainment center when one wall is a fireplace/woodstove, and the other is a 12 foot sliding glass door?

As they were unpacking Mom’s stuff… well putting her stuff into her room, they also set up their computer there… just temporary so they could keep in touch with Shari.

The dogs? Where are the dogs?

Well, they’re settling in. Missy wandered from room to room until she found her favorite spot. Mindy staked out Mom’s bathroom and the tile floor in front of it for her “cool spot”. Koda was perfectly happy anywhere she was… give her a toy and a comfy bed and she was happy.

It’s now Friday… they’ve been “homeless” since Monday, when they left Put In Bay, Ohio, bidding farewell to a long and storied past.

They had enjoyed the trip, and the adventure to discover their new house… but frankly, living out of the Avalance and Blazer with three people, three dogs, and all that stuff was getting pretty old.

With their new beds and dining room table loaded into the trailer, they again headed over the last mountains to Beryl, and that little patch of sagebrush, tumbleweed and sand.

Mom had gotten her end of the paperwork completed earlier in the week and had personally seen it to the ferry from the island… As of Friday morning, the packet still hadn’t arrived in Utah, so the house wasn’t theirs yet.

The seller gave them permission to work on the outside area. After all, it had been quite some time since the grass was cut, and the weeds “whacked”. Between Jim and Cindy, both the front and back yards were mowed and whacked. I can’t really say there was any grass… more like drought resistant weeds.

Bev was busy making lists of everything they’d need right away. After all, the big moving van wouldn’t be here until sometime Monday. There was the Internet connection to figure out, the TV to get connected, phone service, etc. On top of that… there was all that sand and fine clay dust.

They all pitched in to shovel the sand from the bottom of the driveway area as well as on the walkway adjacent to the house. No time yet, to even think about what to do with the acreage.

Shortly before 5 PM, the all important call came in… the paperwork had been approved. The financing was all settled. The seller had been paid. The house was now their new home!

Awesome! Tonight they’d be sleeping in their own beds, under their own roof.

Upon checking into the motel Wednesday night, the Inkeeper suddenly realized they had three pretty good sized dogs, and saw an opportunity to extract a higher rental… Well, the girls got all undone. After all, they were pretty much exhausted after the very long day.

They soon struck a deal. No extra charges unless the dogs damaged the room.

The next morning, with Bev and Jim having packed everything, and gotten the three dogs into the vehicles, Cindy stood for inspection in the room… no problem at all. Therefore, no extra charge. However, the shoddy treatment by the proprietor has led Bev to put that place on her “do not recommend” list… to the point of not even providing me the name.

Knowing they’d be staying in Cedar City for at least one more night, they went across the street to the Motel 6, where the folks were very dog friendly, even providing them a first floor room near the door.

After a quick breakfast, it was time to “go exploring”… that means go west on Hwy 56 and find their new home. All that stood between them and their home was one more mountain pass… elevation 6455 feet. Lot’s of history here… but no time to stop and investigate.

Within minutes they crested the summit and began their decent into the Escalante Desert Valley. My God, you can see forever!

They pass the little burg of Newcastle. Significant as this is the home of their local Post Office; that and a Phillips 66 station and convenience store. A couple miles further there’s a sign to the Beryl Rural Fire Dept and a community “dump box” area… oh boy.

About 7 miles down the road, they come to Beryl Junction. Where’s Beryl?

What’s at the junction? This is where Hwy 56 and Hwy 18 intersect. You’ll find the “El Rancho Restaurant”, a small Mexican place, as well as the offices of the local power company, “Dixie Escalante Power Cooperative”. There’s an elementary school, a small community center, the “old school”, and a couple of houses. Oh, there’s also a road maintenance shed including some fuel tanks, and a little roadside picnic area.

A few hundred feet south on Hwy 18 is one of the busiest Goodyear Tire stores in the west… they marvel at that…

Turning right (north) on to Beryl Hwy (no longer officially Hwy 18), they soon find themselves in very unfamiliar territory.

What’s this big dairy? How come everyone looks alike? More about that later.

What was once desert is now a huge patchwork quilt of irrigated circles. Folks are growing alfalfa, hay, potatoes, and corn. There are a couple of “cubing” operations on their right about 4 miles up the the road.

Just past a sign that’s had more than it’s share of bullet holes saying… Blowing Dust, they turn west (4800 N or Antelope Springs Road) and see a fair-sized group of locked mailboxes.

Heading west for about 1/2 mile, they pass a couple of mobile homes. Other than that… nothing but sagebrush, tumbleweed and sand.

Right on to 400 W and they’re new property is on the left of the truck… an expanse of tumbleweed, sand, a couple of pinion trees, a couple of sagebrush bushes… and their new house.

I say “house” as it’s not yet THEIR HOME. With the “double closing” and Bev and Cindy on the road, paperwork had to be “overnighted” to Mom. Yes, she’s on the deed. This process proved to take a little longer than they expected. Mom had done everything correctly… so it wasn’t her problem.

A quick call to the seller confirmed that although they could unload the trailer and store the stuff in the garage, they wouldn’t be able to put anything in the house. That was the advice from her attorney… as long as she was carrying the insurance, the new occupants couldn’t have any access to the house.

No problem… with the trailer unloaded into the garage, they’d have room to haul some new furniture. You see, they’d left their old beds on the island, planning to purchase brand new beds when they got here. Hey, if you’re gonna make a change… you may as well make a big one!

Trailer unloaded, they take time out for pictures… gotta show Shari how far away from “civilization” they really are. From here you can see over 40 miles west, about 40 miles or so north, about 25 miles east and about 20 or so miles south. What a view!

Ok, time to get back across the mountains to Cedar City, a distance of about 45 miles, and do some serious shopping. In addition to the new beds, they add a dining room table and four chairs, spending nearly two grand in the process. At least they’ll sleep well, and have somewhere to eat.

Having arrived at Dad’s barn, they set about gathering the many boxes and other items they’d been moving off the island for the past six months or so. Originally, they’d been packing and storing the boxes in the basement of their island home, but the Realtor insisted they move things off and put an end to any clutter.

So, they moved things three times, from the upstairs to the basement, and then back upstairs out the door, onto the truck, to a rented storage building, out of there, back onto the truck… across the lake to Dad’s barn.

By the time they had stuffed the moving van and 12 foot trailer, all available extra space in both the Avalanche and the Blazer, it was nearly 11 PM. Yikes, and they were still in Ohio!

On the road… no matter they’d been up way before the sun. They must press onward.

They convoyed back to pick up the I-80 Turnpike, and head west.

Somewhere west of Toledo at the Swanton Rest Area they pulled off for much needed sleep.

Every time they stopped and started again, Cindy called Shari. It mattered not that there was a time zone adjustment, or that it might be the middle of the night. So, Shari was called after the vet stop, and then again very late, as they left Dad’s barn.

Very early the next morning, with fresh eyes, they again started their trek… Utah or Bust!

Bev and Jim did most of the driving, with Cindy filling in for short stints. On long boring straight highways, Cindy tended to get drowsy (or is that mesmerized).

From just west of Toledo, they put the pedal to the metal, soon heading into Indiana, through Illinois, Iowa, and into Nebraska. They’d be on I-80 until they got to I-76 just west of Ogallala. Even though they had well over 1900 miles to go, they felt like they’d be there in no time.

The towns and cities became a blur as they raced westward, stopping only to fuel the rigs, themselves, the dogs, and to provide a few minutes “out” for the dogs and themselves.

By the time they stopped for the night in Kearney, Nebraska, they’d gone through most of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and half of Nebraska. That’s also four update calls to Shari, who was tracking their progress, as well as keeping an eye on the weather for them.

The found a “dog friendly” motel and crashed for the night, knowing the most challenging section of the trip was still ahead… the drive across the Rockies with the Avalanche pulling a 12-foot trailer.