Mike CHS
Herd Master
Learning how to do the fecals makes it so much easier to manage the sheep and it sounds like everyone had a good time in Texas. 
Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along
- Thread starter Ridgetop
- Start date
Baymule
Herd Master
We had a blast with @Ridgetop and her husband. While us gals were at the table eyeballing poop, the guys were talking up a storm. @Devonviolet's husband was feeling much better after having open heart surgery. We all had fun and enjoyed ourselves.
RT, y'all need to get it together, sell your place and get to Texas!
RT, y'all need to get it together, sell your place and get to Texas!
- Thread starter
- #793
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Well, finally back home after 4 weeks in Texas and 2 weeks coming home through Kansas and Colorado to visit DH's cousins. Then a quick 3 days in Utah.
We had a great time in Texas with Baymule and her DH, and met Devonviolet and her DH. We had a wonderful time learning to do fecal exams and Devonviolet has the most worm free goats ever! I was not finding any worm eggs at all until finally there was one egg! Thank goodness because I was beginning to think I was just failing to recognize the worm eggs! Now I need to buy a microscope to check my own sheep. I will borrow my grandson's microscope first and see if it is powerful enough. I think I will need to get a more powerful one with a light in it though. We had a blast visiting with Baymule and her DH! They were so much fun. When we ran the sheep through her chute I was struck with intense lust for her set up. I must buy a set of gates and set up a chute of my own.
Next we went to eastern Kansas to visit DH's cousins and it was somewhat bittersweet. We were shocked to learn that one cousin had died suddenly the previously year. They all thought we knew since they had told DH's sister but she did not let us know. Another cousin's husband had Alzheimers and that was sad too. But all in all we enjoyed our visit with them. We felt very badly for the farmers whose first plantings had been flooded out. The farmers replanted but hail destroyed the young wheat. Most of the crops we saw were soybeans which had been planted late but were doing well. Some milo and corn was up in western Kansas. Many of the corn fields were not looking too good.
Then on to Colorado and what a surprise to travel the Wolf Creek pass! It had been years since we were there and they had completely rebuilt the highway! We did not even recognize little Pagosa Springs which is now a huge tourist vacation spot! The scenery was lovely and I did not need to travel the pass with my eyes shut! On the way, luckily before we reached the pass we had a blowout on our trailer Luckily DH had replaced the spare before we left after noticing it did not look too good. We called AAA and had it changed. Once we reached Durango DH bought a new tire to replace the spare. We had a lovely time visiting DH's relatives in Durango. While there we finally took the Durange-Silverton narrow gauge railroad trip. DH has wanted to go on it since he was a child when he would come every summer to visit his grandmother in Durango. Every time we had been in Durango we couldn't get tickets. This time I made reservations early. When DH found out how much they cost now, he hyperventilated a bit then said he did not need to go on the train. I said he would go and enjoy it! I do not plan to be told on his deathbed that I had never let him ride the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge train!
When we left Durange DH announced we would go to Utah and visit a Dorper sheep breeder we met at the show in May. We had bought 4v of his animals and he told us to come see him if we were in Utah. We had never been there and the scenery was fantastic. Our acquaintance, Travis, is a sheep farmer and hay grower (alfalfa and grain hay) in south central Utah. He told us to go to Capital Reef National Park which is a lesser known park in the state. How gorgeous! Deep red cliffs intersected with thick white strata - looked like a red velvet cake with white filling and frosting! DH and I marveled at the extremely rough terrain and the courage of those Mormon pioneers who traveled through that harsh landscape with its sheer cliffs intersected with broken ground, sand, and tilted upshoots of sharp rock and shale. Beautiful and deadly land without water, then suddenly a small river in what is called a "waterfold"! Incredible area!
More later - family just arrived and we haven't seen them in 6 weeks.
We had a great time in Texas with Baymule and her DH, and met Devonviolet and her DH. We had a wonderful time learning to do fecal exams and Devonviolet has the most worm free goats ever! I was not finding any worm eggs at all until finally there was one egg! Thank goodness because I was beginning to think I was just failing to recognize the worm eggs! Now I need to buy a microscope to check my own sheep. I will borrow my grandson's microscope first and see if it is powerful enough. I think I will need to get a more powerful one with a light in it though. We had a blast visiting with Baymule and her DH! They were so much fun. When we ran the sheep through her chute I was struck with intense lust for her set up.
I must buy a set of gates and set up a chute of my own. Next we went to eastern Kansas to visit DH's cousins and it was somewhat bittersweet. We were shocked to learn that one cousin had died suddenly the previously year. They all thought we knew since they had told DH's sister but she did not let us know. Another cousin's husband had Alzheimers and that was sad too. But all in all we enjoyed our visit with them. We felt very badly for the farmers whose first plantings had been flooded out. The farmers replanted but hail destroyed the young wheat. Most of the crops we saw were soybeans which had been planted late but were doing well. Some milo and corn was up in western Kansas. Many of the corn fields were not looking too good.
Then on to Colorado and what a surprise to travel the Wolf Creek pass! It had been years since we were there and they had completely rebuilt the highway! We did not even recognize little Pagosa Springs which is now a huge tourist vacation spot! The scenery was lovely and I did not need to travel the pass with my eyes shut! On the way, luckily before we reached the pass we had a blowout on our trailer Luckily DH had replaced the spare before we left after noticing it did not look too good. We called AAA and had it changed. Once we reached Durango DH bought a new tire to replace the spare. We had a lovely time visiting DH's relatives in Durango. While there we finally took the Durange-Silverton narrow gauge railroad trip. DH has wanted to go on it since he was a child when he would come every summer to visit his grandmother in Durango. Every time we had been in Durango we couldn't get tickets. This time I made reservations early. When DH found out how much they cost now, he hyperventilated a bit then said he did not need to go on the train. I said he would go and enjoy it! I do not plan to be told on his deathbed that I had never let him ride the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge train!
When we left Durange DH announced we would go to Utah and visit a Dorper sheep breeder we met at the show in May. We had bought 4v of his animals and he told us to come see him if we were in Utah. We had never been there and the scenery was fantastic. Our acquaintance, Travis, is a sheep farmer and hay grower (alfalfa and grain hay) in south central Utah. He told us to go to Capital Reef National Park which is a lesser known park in the state. How gorgeous! Deep red cliffs intersected with thick white strata - looked like a red velvet cake with white filling and frosting! DH and I marveled at the extremely rough terrain and the courage of those Mormon pioneers who traveled through that harsh landscape with its sheer cliffs intersected with broken ground, sand, and tilted upshoots of sharp rock and shale. Beautiful and deadly land without water, then suddenly a small river in what is called a "waterfold"! Incredible area!
More later - family just arrived and we haven't seen them in 6 weeks.
RollingAcres
Herd Master
Sounds like a great trip!
Baymule
Herd Master
Yay! Family is there! Round 'em up and bring them with ya'll to Texas!
- Thread starter
- #796
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Back now! Baymule - Instead of bringing our family with us I will be happy to leave them in our dust. After discussing our proposed sale of our house and move to Texas which we have been talking about for 3 years, our children are very upset with us. They have completely ignored our reasons - financial improvement, change in neighborhood, loss of horse keeping zoning, horrible state government, etc., etc.
DD1 is angry and "disappointed" in us for moving to Texas.
Apparently if DS1 goes with us she will have no one to ferry her children to and from sports activities. She has told him he can live with them (as long as she needs him to watch her children). No salary was mentioned. It is our fault. Having just moved into her new house the day before we returned, she was too angry and upset to tell me anything about it because I told her we had a real estate broker coming out tomorrow to give us an idea of the value and pricing of the property.
Our grandchildren starting crying and begging us to stay.
DS2 is worried that we may be making a "stupid" mistake in "starting a large sheep operation" in Texas. I don't know where he got the idea that we would be running hundreds of sheep since we don't plan to increase our flock to more than about 25-30 head and that would be gradually. We currently have 15 head. I asked him what he thought we had been doing for years now - no answer.![:\](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/side.png "side :\")
He wasn't worried when he and DS3 had 150 dairy goats.
DS1 hates the thought of leaving his niece and nephews (as do we) but is afraid to let us go alone because he thinks we "may be too old to manage" without him.
Now where did I leave my walker??? (DS1 read this over my shoulder and insists he did not say we were too old, just that we are too "feeble"! 
)
DD2 has not favored us with her opinion of us for moving since she is no longer talking to us because we disagree with her quitting her good job WITH PAID HEALTHCARE to live with her loser good-for-nothing boyfriend and support him.
At this point I am looking forward to leaving them all behind!
Anyway, tomorrow we have a 10 am appointment with an excellent broker (not the one DD1 used) and will have more idea of whether or not it will be financially feasible. Once we know for how much to list, and how fast it might sell, we will probably put in a contingency offer on a property we saw when we were in Texas. Back tomorrow, too annoyed with my children to write more now.
DD1 is angry and "disappointed" in us for moving to Texas.
Apparently if DS1 goes with us she will have no one to ferry her children to and from sports activities. She has told him he can live with them (as long as she needs him to watch her children). No salary was mentioned. It is our fault. Having just moved into her new house the day before we returned, she was too angry and upset to tell me anything about it because I told her we had a real estate broker coming out tomorrow to give us an idea of the value and pricing of the property.Our grandchildren starting crying and begging us to stay.
DS2 is worried that we may be making a "stupid" mistake in "starting a large sheep operation" in Texas. I don't know where he got the idea that we would be running hundreds of sheep since we don't plan to increase our flock to more than about 25-30 head and that would be gradually. We currently have 15 head. I asked him what he thought we had been doing for years now - no answer.
He wasn't worried when he and DS3 had 150 dairy goats.DS1 hates the thought of leaving his niece and nephews (as do we) but is afraid to let us go alone because he thinks we "may be too old to manage" without him.
Now where did I leave my walker??? (DS1 read this over my shoulder and insists he did not say we were too old, just that we are too "feeble"! ) DD2 has not favored us with her opinion of us for moving since she is no longer talking to us because we disagree with her quitting her good job WITH PAID HEALTHCARE to live with her loser good-for-nothing boyfriend and support him.
At this point I am looking forward to leaving them all behind!
Anyway, tomorrow we have a 10 am appointment with an excellent broker (not the one DD1 used) and will have more idea of whether or not it will be financially feasible. Once we know for how much to list, and how fast it might sell, we will probably put in a contingency offer on a property we saw when we were in Texas. Back tomorrow, too annoyed with my children to write more now.
Baymule
Herd Master
Hammer a G.T.T. note on your door...….
for those of you who don't know, in the 1800's, people nailed a GTT piece of paper to their door, loaded up and were GONE TO TEXAS.
Life is an adventure. I'm going to live every minute of it.
for those of you who don't know, in the 1800's, people nailed a GTT piece of paper to their door, loaded up and were GONE TO TEXAS.
Life is an adventure. I'm going to live every minute of it.
RollingAcres
Herd Master
Sorry to hear of your "troubles" with your children. I don't think you "owe" them any explanation of why you and your DH want to move to Texas.
I like what @Baymule said about G.T.T!
Sorry, some of us don't have family close by to do that for us. So you figure it out yourself, juggle your work schedule or hire someone to do that. Or work something out with another sports parent to see if they each can car pool or something.
I like what @Baymule said about G.T.T!
High Desert Cowboy
True BYH Addict
Sounds like a good trip overall. Durango is a nice area, I used to cowboy in a little town west of it called Mancos and it’s one of my favorite places on earth. I’d probably still be living there if I was still cowboying. Where at in south central Utah did you pass through? I imagine it’s frustrating with your children, I’m currently in their shoes as my mom and stepdad just moved to Oklahoma but you gotta do what’s right for you.
Mike CHS
Herd Master
Teresa's 3 kids tried to talk us out of moving to Tennessee 5 years ago when we bought our place. As it turns out, one moved to California, one moved to Nevada and the third is still in South Carolina but not where he used to live.
