SnOw dAyS!
adminWe’ve had snow for the last few days…. Morgan just loves to play in the snow!!!
Trip to the Zoo
During our Christmas vacation, we took a trip to the Portland Zoo. Not quite the size of San Diego’s zoo, but it was a fun day in the city.
Christmas at JB Ranch
We celebrated our first Christmas at home this year. The girls had a great time opening all of their presents…Jodi and Brad did too!
The EVEN GREATER Storm of 2006!
Power went out Thursday night and didn’t come back to our area until Sunday evening. Thankfully, Brad was well prepared (and if you ask Jodi, secretly hoping) for an event such as this! He set to work early Thursday morning and coordinated the JB Ranch Disaster Recovery Plan.
North Valley Oregon Equestrian Trails Meeting
We attended our first North Valley OET meeting tonight and met some more great horse resources! This will definitely become a monthly occurance…
First Snow of the Season
We squeezed three horses and a mini mule into the barn just in time for our first snow of the season. Piggies, chickens and ducks all have their own enclosures to keep dry and warm.
Fall Deer
On the way to pick up some horse feeders in Scapoose, Washington, we stopped to take a great picture of these deer in the fall leaves.
Welcome home, Bubba!
After a couple of close calls, we decided Jodi needed more of a ‘confidence builder’ horse and Kody was too green. Just when we started looking, we ran across a posting from Miranda, Kelly’s daughter (our trainer). They were helping friends sell two horses and, after taking a trail ride with both of them, we decided to bring Bubba home with us (the horse formerly known as Laredo). He’s a great big quarter horse and is 15 years old. Although you can’t tell from this picture, he is extremely solid and stocky. He has plenty of ‘hours’ on him and is safe for anyone to ride (even Jodi!)
The Great Wind Storm of 2006
Weather forecasters started out the weekend by predicting a large windstorm to hit sometime on Sunday. By Sunday afternoon, they were all back peddling a bit and covering their previous predictions by saying, “you can never be too prepared!” By 9pm the winds really did start picking up and, at one point, reached 50-60 miles per hour in Colton and 102 miles per hour on the coast. Not such a good thing when we’re surrounded by 100 foot trees! This turned out to be the worst windstorm in 10 years and most likely the top 5 worst ever in Oregon. With daybreak came the discovery that one of our very large trees did snap and fall directly onto a gate and electric fence in Kody’s pasture. Luckily everyone is safe, but we have our fence repair work cut out for the weekend.
Christmas Tree Harvest Time
Estacada is known as the Christmas Tree capital of the world. Just like most Iowa farmers grow corn, here in Estacada and the surrounding areas, most farmers have Christmas tree lots. The harvest begins a few weeks before Thanksgiving. This weekend we stopped to take pictures of one farmer harvesting his crop with a helicopter, which seems to be a common practice. A group of workers will cut down the trees and bundle them deep within the field. The helicopter will then fly overhead with a dangling cable. Without slowing down, the helicopter will hook up to a bundle of trees, fly them to the front of the lot, then release them. From there, the farmers will load the bundle for delivery.
