Thanksgiving Weekend

Day 1:
-Morning workout for Bea.
-Cooking show for Bea.
-Logging day for Mark.
-Resting a lot for Buck & Spitz.
-Thanksgiving dinner stuffing ourselves for Mark and Bea, tasting a little for Buck & Spitz.
-After dinner walking in the woods for all of us.

Day 2.

-Family logging day.

Day 3.

-Family construction project on Green Acres.

Day 4.

-Continuing the pole barn.

-Running out of material, daylight and weekend.

Weekend with Tatum Part 1

Tatum, Dani & Greg came to visit Grandma and Grandpa Houghton on a rainy, foggy, fall weekend.

This was the first time for all of the Brandts to come to our home.

We had a nice dinner, good talks, a pancake breakfast and some doggie plays. Tatum entertained us full time.









Tatum is eating her grapes after pancakes.

Who is that doggie in the window?

Buck and Spitz are waiting to play with Tatum.

Wait Buck! Don't go! Let me pull your tail!

Kiss kiss... Buck loves Tatum too.

Sooo...that's the doggie yard....

Are you going to pet me or just stand there?

OK....I'll play with you too little doggie.

Weekend with Tatum Part 2

A morning on Green Acres.






















Tatum is ready to take a ride in Grandpa's truck to the ranch.

Silly boys, girls can grease tractors too. Especially Texas girls! Dani is preping JD to do some work.

Getting a short class on driving.

There she goes grading and compacting.

Country girl at heart.

Greg get's to work too. He is widening our trail.

Tatum woke up and she is ready for some action. Playing with Spitz....

Running after Buck....

Petting Buck.....

Loving Buck.....

and of course tractoring.

Hey...this is too much fun!

We visited Idyllwild for an afternoon. Walked around downtown, did some browsing in the stores, some shopping and had icecream.

Weekend with Tatum Part 3

A day with Great Grandma Joyce.

Tatum wonders how come she has so many grandmas.

Everywhere she goes, she is meeting another grandma. Lucky girl!















All children, grandchildren and great grandchildren used this blackboard to draw.

Grandma Joyce fixed us a wonderful dinner.

Grandma Joyce, Dani holding Tatum and Grandma Houghton

You better give me more of your candy Grandpa!

...or else.....I get grumpy...

If you give me more chocolate no-one gets hurt.

Logging Weekend

Fall time is logging time. Not that we are waiting till the last minute to get our firewood. This harvest will be drying for 2 years before we need it. We call it: planning ahead. Besides...what else do we have to do? Buck is always ready for a cool oak cutting day.

Mark is cutting it and I'm kicking it. How come I always get stuck with the harder job?

Must have steel toes for this work.

Must have muscles too. Those logs are heavy. I am saving on GYM membership again!

Our pile is ready to load.

Spitzers is helping to unload the first tree on the ranch.

If an oaktree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does that still mean we will cut it up and take it to the ranch?

You betcha!

That was a dangerous tree. Half of it was suspended and would not pull off even for the truck yanking.

Mark had to cut the other half of it, which was still attached to the main tree. Instead of falling down, the tree jumped off the trunk and stood up on the ground still holding up the broken part.

Then we pulled it over with the truck and cut it up.

And here is the pile of two trees, a little over a cord, the result of the logging weekend.

If we stack it 4 feet high, how many cords can you fit into ten acres?