Life at the Dome

 First board of the next project. Click on images to make larger!

 This is how it begins!

 The angel of hay bringth our breakfast!

 We wait patiently!

 Bloody hurry up will ya!

 And this week end we are feeding the Neighbor's mules also. Big mules!

Hungry mules!5 of them and one horse of 30 years!

experiments with chalk paint

 Latex paint and plaster of Paris.

 We insulated the garage doors.

Bought another $1000 worth of building supplies for .....the next project! Lowes loooooovvves us!

'nother lovely ride at the Pit Rd trail

 About  5 miles away on the other side of the mountain with our neighbor Georgia Kinninger. Great footing!Click on pics to enlarge.

Riding just out from our place

 It's not all work for us out here on our Nevada property. It was 58 degrees and 0 wind.Click on pics to enlarge.

 Meet the neighbors!

Septic problems....Mernie fixed it!

 Dang! The Septic backed up again.Don't call a plumber. Mernie will fix it. With of course the help of his trusty assistant yours truly.Way to save about $300 and burn off some calories!

 We dug a hole and found the septic.Mernie poked around and dislodged something blocking the pipe. Hmm. No one ever did say where the previous owners went!

 Yes, i did some digging too.

 There it is.No way you could get that concrete lid off by hand but.....

...Mernie fixed that! Septic was fine but something was blocking the flow. Mernie fixed it!
Click on images to make bigger.

Mornin' Nevada

What i see when i wake up in the morning!

Outside

 Looking out of the loft's bedroom window.

 Getting ready for and evening ride.

 Look at those mountains for taking the edge off of Kip.

Kip approves of the new digs!

Everything BUT the Kitchen Sink

Ok there are basicly two living places on the property. A big dome house (the forever project see previous post) and the loft above the garage which is also a work in progress but where we are living right now. It is insulated, has heat, hot and cold running water and a tooty! All these things have come one at a time, and now the kitchen is upstairs rather in the freezing garage. Now we have, literally every thing BUT the kitchen sink. See here my makeshift kitchen sink pictured above.

 The old couch in the inset window bay.

 Bathroom now has a door. We put it in yesterday.

 Mern putting up bathroom towel hangers. Life's little luxuries.

 The bedroom. Bad photo. There is more light than this.

 Buffet at the side of the kitchen.
All sort of make shift but very livable and cosy.

We are in Nevada!

Well, we are now living in Smith Valley, Wellington, Nevada. We have 5 acres, a geodesic dome house, and two garages with an apartment above one of them. Mern built the apt with the help of his son Corky and handyman neighbor from Jim M.It is lovely here!! We have four horses on the property: Ice, Kipling, Lucky Girl and Subha. Flambeau is down the road with Jim being test driven( ridden).Jim will spoil him and has already provided him with a cutie little mustang mare. If Jim likes him, we will have four horses on our hay bill. We are technically 20% richer!
The weather is still cool but on average about 10 degrees warmer than Laramie. Lot less wind, although I've heard it can really tie one on from time to time. So far, other than one snow storm, the weather has been delightful. Miss everyone in Laramie but hope to stay in touch. 
Looks like I have enough project material to keep me busy in 2014. Or maybe for the rest of my days!

 Below is the grotty ceiling in the MB. Scrubbing still leaves it stained. I'm thinking Kilz! It actually looks better in the picture due to the flash i think. It's pretty yukky!

The master bedroom in the Dome house. 
So far just lots of vinegar and Simple Green. The walls are still stained with grime and smoke. Carpets have been ripped up and floor scrubbed with bleach several times.

The bathroom ditto but the tiles are in good shape!!

Surgery day for Meniscus repair

Had surgery for a torn Meniscus on Tuesday. See me here
in one of those sexy hospital gowns! All went well but i will still be hobbling around for a few weeks. Gotta rest up. Well at least its not riding season.

 The big news is, we are finally moving to Nevada! We have a wonderful couple taking over the daily operations of the ranch so we will be able to take off into the sunset. We have already taken a load of 'stuff' to the Dome and next is the trip with the horses. Stay tuned, more to come.

3 originals by Ronnie

Moab Canyon Endurance Ride 2013, The Ride according to Kip

See me here with my cutie Duna in the background. She worships the ground I trot on. As well it should be!

The trip to the ride was uneventful probably because uncle Gary was driving and I was happy in the back snuggling up to the cutie Duna giving me no reason to cause the usual havoc. When we arrived, the monkeys did their usually scurrying around setting up corrals etc while a big ole hot air balloon hovered above. I told all the horses to 'RUN FOR YOUR LIVES' but noone fell for it.Dang. I'm losing my touch. Spoil sports! 
The weather was lovely and all the monkeys were happy, smiling and having a good time which is always good for us coz they have more energy to bring us buckets of goodies with enthusiasm.
Even  'I' was pretty well behaved. Well, for a good part of the time anyway. I just had to bump on one of the innocent by standers right at the end. I had enough of waiting for Duna's pulse to go down. I wish i could have got it through to the monkeys that Duna's pulse was so high because she's so totally in love with me and that just makes her heart go crazy. The monkeys wouldn't listen anyway. I had to carry my monkey up all the hills as well as tail Uncle Gary AND my lovely Duna. No worries! 
Patrick was there and we ran together with that foxy Vixen and her monkey Jimmy the Greek. Patrick's monkey kept yelling at me to slow down. I do as she says coz she's a nice monkey and gives me treats at the Vet stops when my monkey FORGETS to pack them.GRrrr!  Patrick and I did have a bit of fun talking to the classy mare at Global Endurance. She said she wanted to have a go at the 'lose the monkey' game she'd heard about. We gave her lots of ideas. Some of Patrick's ideas were pretty lame but i had some good ones. Only trouble is, she wasn't listening! I told her to run and buck several times and aim the monkey at something solid like a sign; preferable near the edge of a cliff. What does she do? She chooses a dinky little 'Caution Horses' sign that wouldn't hurt a fly. She lost the monkey alright but no sooner was he back on board like nothing happen. Geeez!And she's not even a palomino!
Now that grey mare of the monkey called Lydia has real brains! Get this. I wouldn't have even thought of this one.( Well maybe) On the LD first day her monkey gets off to squat and pee. That grey mare 'accidently' gives her a little bump and knocks her bum first into a cactus patch!! Brilliant! She gets my vote for brains of the year! See here a pic of Aunty Bon working on that bum for hours. 
Well, we completed all three days and had a great time. They say its the last time this ride will be held. I suggested that we the horses take over from the monkeys but apparently the aerc wont give us points for that. Silly bloody monkeys. Till next time
Trails and bales! Kipling.

 Uncle Gary with the strange object!

 Uncle Gary lookin' good!

 See that fire comin' out of my bum. I am the greatest!!

 John Wayne country!

 My ears!

So I told him, the monkeys need leadership. Always make the wrong thing easy and the right thing difficult. It takes lots of repetition............

Oh this was precious! Aunty Bonnie worked for hours on this.