Girls Weekend Getaway

Last weekend Alicia and Marisa and I road tripped up to the ranch for a little no kid getaway! I'm pretty lucky I have two friends who consider a weekend of manual labor vacation!! We had a blast up in Fort Jones and got a ton done....

Vacaville pit stop for outlets and Applebee's. Yum. 

chasing the sunset to get to the porch in time for sunset cocktails 

 Made it!! Cheers to the fastest sidecars ever made

And fancy dinner provisions watching the sun go down 

morning shadows  - ready for a busy day

and the first project tackled... Bye bye 150 years of wall coverings! Shocked to find original wood in good condition under it all 

Then a drive up to Ashland OR for lunch and picking

home for a ranger drive out on the ranch with wine. Deer spotting. 

top of echo mountain 

and drove down to the river for sunset

love these girls 

found a cow graveyard 

ranger for 6

and back to work the next day. Hallway demo. There was a false ceiling and wall of pressboard around the stairwell. It's not there anymore :)

big front bedroom wall paper gone!

lunch. Might be a sidecar. 

and then the one task we promised we'd do... Build a firepit!

good friends. 

garden center visit in town 

and some planting 

and it's firepit time!!! 

what a great trip. Thanks girls!!!!

Cabin Redo

Friday we kept moving in and setting up and by Friday night we had our neighbors over for drinks and card games!! 

Friday morning Maisie doing breakfast dishes. That's one way to do it

YOYO lunch (love the term Jeanette!) fend for yourself kids we are working!

the girls and I put up some Instagram prints with washitape (printed with prinstagram)

and then the girls wanted to put up a rope swing - but an old feed bucket planter was in the way. So I gave them two shovels and told them to empty it out. 

Tessa and I took a break to relax in the sun and watch them. Felt pretty good to sit down!

they convinced Dad and Derek to back the truck up to hang the swing finally

and we are swinging!! Not a bad view 

the house is coming together. Front porch ready for sunset drinks and watching the rope swingers 

inside too!

I've been so excited to put this runner down. It's an old kilim rug I found at the flea market that has "HH" on it!

My old bed I got as my 13th birthday present - has a home again! The bedrooms connect by a bathroom / laundry room. It's a very efficient layout! ;)

and the mud room in the back off the kitchen. We put in fake grass to keep the dirt out if the house! Wine fridge, beer fridge, dog house - check. 

meanwhile the girls were playing with dead animals on sticks and at as request only handling them with pliers. Gross. But I secretly love it ;) I was a gross kid too and proud of it. 

we took a walk across the field to check on the minnows in the water trough and the sheep in the pasture. Our only current ranch animals... I think we need to change that!

Cheif Big Horn, Geronimo and Eugene doing fine 

we worked til the sun went down to finish the house and then ran to Bob's Ranchhouse for dinner. And I forgot to mention this guy took all four kids on errands this morning so I could sleep in and work - these errands included the farm service administration and the DMV!! He's a machine. 

and the Blacks came by for a nightcap - bourbon and card games! The boys were so cute playing with the girls. After cards they played hide and seek... Not hard here! 

Cabin set up weekend

we were up at the ranch Thursday-Sunday to move into and set up the cozy little cabin. I love it up here!!! Especially now in the little house that's a little warmer and has a few more amenities ;) nothing fancy but it's perfect for ranch life at Sharps Gulch. 

we woke up EARLY Thursday morning for a 6am departure. Right when Peet's opens 

stopped a few places this trip including the tractor store in Willows to order our first real farm implement for the ranch. Girls found ways to stay busy. 

then back on the road. Red Bluff and a picking up the Troopy to take up there. By hour 7 JJ said she had to pee and Tess was crying so I performed two in car seat diaper changes without unbuckling them. I was pretty proud of my houdini skills ;)

State of Jefferson barn... In ranch country!

so we got up there at 2pm and started moving stuff into the cabin (all finished now!) to sleep there. It stays much warmer than the big bunk house and we redid the kitchen, put in new double paned windows, painted, new floors and bathroom remodel. I love how it turned out. 

Empty house ready for furniture...

nothing better than an empty space ready for moving in! The girks carried ten things each in and earned a sunset ride out with dad to shoot ground squirrels while mom set up shop.  Lucky girls. 

Francie grabbed two root beers and said "if you're gonna shoot squirrels you gotta have beers!!"

I worked for awhile then ran to Ray's to get stuff to make dinner. Love the view from the driveway going to the grocery store. Somehow it's a peaceful experience up here!!

first dinner in the cabin. Pasta with pork sausage, French bread and salad. Forgot we didn't have any salt in the house but at least we had tobacco for Heff ;)

moved in pictures coming next!

Working

I love making things with wood and not worrying about making it perfect :) chop saw at sunset...

lots if building to do up here! Shelves in our closet in the cabin. 

then trying to figure out how to tackle closet bunks. One a crib below and either closet space or another toddler bunk for Janie above...

before. 

and after. needs paint but should hold a kid in!

fort jones lumber yard... My new favorite place. 

Fixing Up the Bunkhouse

last weekend we came up to the ranch with my Dad and Uncle Bill (and no kids!) for Valentines weekend house fix up :) we wanted to get everything set up to come back with the kids for the week so we set out with two days to set up camp!

Heff and I drove the truck with the horse trailer behind us - full of hand me down furniture, cleaning supplies and warm jackets :)

my dad and Bill drove the Sprinter up for us and we met for lunch at Granzellas 

we arrived around 4pm and have them a tour if the ranch. 

and had heff's birthday /valentines dinner at Dotty's burgers :)

the plan was to set up the little cabin for our until-we-build-a-house residence and to stay in next week... But we had some work done while we were gone and the pace in fort jones isn't exactly what I'm used to :) so we quickly realized the little house /cabin wasn't going to be ready for the week up here with the kids. Bathroom was gutted, no kitchen, no heat... You get the picture :) 

but while Dad and Bill were cozy at the Etna Motel we roughed it on the floor by the fire in the cabin! 

we were up early the next morning (easier to get out if bed when it's a sleeping bag!) to start working

sunrise on the drive to breakfast 

bob's ranch house breakfast to start the day

and then back to the house to tackle our solution. The big house needs a lot of work - but it was cleared out and just needed a deep (really deep) clean. This is where we started...

 Living room

 Front bedroom 

 "parlor" front room

and lots of this in every window under layers of plastic wrap to double pane

so we started by pulling up the 1975 brown shag carpet. It was a dirty job!

but we found great old for floors underneath with multiple layers of paint 

then on to the tack strip and nail removal... Took forever!

and lots if sweeping and cleaning. And more cleaning and cleaning. 

we had good help!

ammonia on every surface - this was half done...

and the dust!

more tack removal while Moose attacked my crow bar 

and finally... Time to paint! Bill and my Dad went to the hardware store in town to get more supplies and floor paint. They picked a great red color

two coats rolled on and we've got improvement! Much better smell too ;)

and after a full day working the neighbors kindly invited us over for dinner! They are such a nice family we are lucky to have at the ranch next to us

and up early again Subday morning - moon in the sunrise outside the ranch. The views never get old!

we unloaded the container and put furniture in the house. 36 hours after we started...

thanks to these guys for all the help!!!  What a fun weekend!

and by 1pm back on the road to go pick up our crew at home!

The Bunk House - a TBD Project!

Built in 1868... this house has a lot of character and needs a lot of love! Still waiting to see if we can bring it back to life. Either way, I love it!