Batman Caves

this sunday, our adventure was to batman caves. you can only faintly see the valley floor below us in the picture. there was a brisk wind blowing, so we didn't stay long. the temperature is supposed to plummet tomorrow. please don't tell me we need to start burning wood again. we did that into may this year!!

County Fair!!

it's fair time in elko county. the fair is kicked off by a parade, which consists mostly of 4-h clubs, high school bands and cheerleaders, politicians and demolition derby cars. this year, we decided to put a few tractors and a baler in. it was kind of last minute, but we managed to have some banners printed that we can keep for future displays and made some other signs (we are all missing a few precious brain cells from the marker fumes).

as you can see, we were the last entry, and thus stuck behind the division of forestry. who, of course, were 1/4 mile behind everyone else. people started leaving because they could see the street sweepers tailing closely behind (not noticing the stunning tractor display). so, to attract attention, tyler and mac started weaving back and forth, and honking their horns. hopefully enough people hung around for a few extra minutes to, at least, admire the stunning signs.

tyler and ian drove the "big daddy" tractor and baler. we couldn't see them very well because of the massive signs.

mac (of course the biggest of them all, at 6' 10" got the smallest one) drove the little tym tractor. dad threw candy from the backhoe seat in the back.

i was feeling hostile toward the forest service and their slothful driving until we parked the tractor at the fair grounds for a few hours for a little free advertising. while they were parked there, we went to the park and ate lunch, then browsed all the displays and animals at the fair grounds. we skipped the vegetables this year. we only need to examine the 100 tomatoes and zucchini every other year.

My maiden voyage...

so, this is my favorite place for my backpack to be...namely not on my back.




this is liberty lake, and is the only decent picture of a lake that i was able to get. i think overland lake is more scenic, but my picture taking skills don't do it justice.
i've always thought that the 'nevada division of forestry' was a bit presumptious as a title for the amount of trees that our fair state has been blessed with. so far, this is about the closest thing to forest that i have come across here.
as you can tell by now, if i had any computer savy, my photos would be neatly inserted into my post. apparently, i have no savy. thus, the description below of what these paltry photos are all about.

after two weeks of non-stop wrestling with haying machinery, i thought i should show mac something besides the shop. don't get me wrong, we've saddled up the horses and moved cows and done lots of stuff...but that's all still work. so, with mac as my excuse i begged nancy to let us hike up to the ruby crest trail and tramp around on top of our local mountains for a few days. we were both surprised at how nice the scenery was, and more surprised at how out of shape we felt as we slogged up the mountains. note to self--lose gut.

on the first day we humped 7 miles up out of the valley to a pretty little spot called overland lake. the lake is stocked with trout and there must be an abundance of fish and a serious lack of fishermen because those little guys were everywhere. i think if i had brought a pool skimmer i could have bagged a slew of those little raggamuffins. overland lake sits underneath a really cool looking peak that we thought we would like to return to and summit sometime, but we knew we were both too out of shape to try it this time. maybe next year.

the second day was a bit more than us old-timers were ready for. we were on the crest trail now but that did not mean that it was easy going. lots of ups and downs and 15 miles between water. needless to say we were having fun, but the thought of being without water was a little disconcerting. so, we kept up a steady pace and took in the view. it's really spectacular to be 4-5,000 feet above the surrounding valleys with nothing between you and other mountain ranges miles and miles away. we had all this pretty much to ourselves--we ran into two other groups of hikers over the 15 miles. we made camp by a lake in upper furlong canyon and promptly collapsed into deep sleep.

the third day was our up, over and out day. we woke up and crossed a ridge line and were hiking down into kleckner creek when we heard some rocks falling behind us. we turned around and after a few seconds spotted not one, but two groups of mountain goats. these guys are no schmoes when it comes to high elevation gymnastics. they were scooting around on precarious slopes over bare rock like you and i would amble down the sidewalk. very cool animals and i still can't see why people get excited at the prospect of shooting them. i should also mention that we also came across piles of deer. it seemed like every time you walked into a thicket of trees you would push a few deer out the other side. we took in some very pretty scenery and wrapped up our hiking experience with a shake at arctic circle in elko on the way home. so, three days, thirty two miles, and, if you know ruby valley ranches, we walked from buster's place to the sampson's ranch.

Uncle Jared's Birthday Party

last night, we went to uncle jared's birthday party. he is 37. without telling ian, i dug out a few treats to give to jared for his birthday. it took a lot to convince ian to give them to him. then, when jared opened them, ian told him he'd split the m&m s with him. here are a few pictures of the party guests. sorry, i don't actually have a picture of the birthday boy. i will have to teach mom to download them from her camera and put them on the neff family site.

cam had a great time!!

it's hard to see ian's thumb, but he gave jared the thumbs up, with a bonus wink for his birthday.

8/27/08 House Pictures

steve was out yesterday, and backfilled the foundation. you would never guess that there is so much slope to our property. the highest point, where the foundation sits, is 4 1/2 feet higher than the lowest point. so, he had to do a lot of pushing dirt around to make it look this level. he's still planning to do some work on the west side of the foundation to keep water away from the foundation.
other than that, not much has happened at the house site. we have to wait until after they drop the house off to put the septic in because we don't want those big trucks driving over the system (we'd really like it to work). they are going to drive in behind the foundation and set it with a crane. we will have to take lots of pictures of that, and sing the crane song with ian.
we have paid the electric company for all the work they have to do, and they've cashed the check, so we assume they'll be out soon to start putting in our power line, although we don't have a date when they're planning to be here.
the house is ordered, and we assume, under construction. you don't really get updates on that, except that you should expect it take about four weeks. so, we expect the house to be here around the end of september, beginning of october.

ian was delighted to see that steve left him a huge pile of dirt. he immediately climbed up so he could be king of the hill. maybe we could keep a pile just for him??

Our Dam Adventure

our favorite family past time lately is going on, what we call, adventures. this consists of going to neat places around the valley. so far, they are mostly car adventures, but hopefully they will grow into full fledged hikes as our children grow. we go to simple places, like the old school house, where grandpa went to school (where ian fell only feet from a rattle snake. we've decided not to go back until it's cold enough for the snakes to go away), the battlecreek mines, the crystal mines, joe billy basin and indian rock.

our latest adventure was to the beaver dam on secret pass. it is on the 71 ranch property. we didn't know we'd have to trespass to go there. anyway, we had to traverse sagebrush taller than we were to get down to where it is. the dam is quite an engineering feat, but apparently ian wasn't impressed, because when we got there, he said: "can we just go home?". we didn't. we made our way over to the dam for a closer look. there were tiny fish in the water, but, much to ian's dismay, no beavers. when i thought i'd spotted one from a distance (it turned out to be a duck), ian insisted we walk over there. i told him that i only knew one person (ok - two - counting peter) who could walk on water. ian looked up at me and said, "yeah....YOU can".

we headed back up to the car...through the brush. this time, i had to carry ian. he thinks i can walk on water, and that i have super human strength. he would have been better off on the ground because he could go right under most of the sagebrush.

when ian used to go on adventures alone with tyler, i'd always tell him to bring back a treasure. i secretly hoped he'd bring back a flat rock to add to my collection (for my rock pathway - which will probably take me 5 years to build). but, usually, he comes back with some random rock or stick, which explains the pile of said items in the trooper and on the porch. anyway, ian was about ready to jump in the car, when he turned around and grabbed the first rock he saw. this was his treasure. no use carrying something all the way when you can just pick it up at the car! he's definitely tyler's child, or maybe he's just a boy. tyler thinks i'm nuts when i lug rocks for miles to the car.

before we left to come home, tyler wanted to drive on the old secret pass dirt road. this is the road my dad used to drive to elko on. i'm sure in it's day, it was maintained - but it was scary just driving a few yards on it. it's very narrow and parts are washed out now. you feel precariously close to careening off the side. i guess it's always been narrow. dad says if you met a car, one of them would have to back up to a wider place to get past one another. grandma said that when they'd take the family to town, they'd all be throwing up on the way. ugh! i have had my share of unsettling experience on the paved, two lane road, but i'll take that any day over that old road!

He Did It!!

i am overjoyed. ian decided the toilet is where he should do his business. hooray!!! we had a big celebration last night, and ian got to open his tractor that has been sitting on the back of the toilet for weeks.

Our New Addition

we have a new addition to our family! mac wilson, an old college roommate of tyler's (bravo tyler for keeping in touch with old roommates - i am not very good at that) has joined the throng out here in ruby valley. he has already been here two weeks, and was planning to stay for a month. hopefully the solitude comes as a welcome respite from the bustle of southern california.
mac is staying in the a frame across the lane from us, and eats a few meals with us everyday. we enjoy mac's company, and like watching the olympics with him because he used to train with a lot of the people who still play on the volleyball teams.
ian especially loves mac. he wants to go to the shop everyday to see mac. who can blame him? mac takes him swimming and on walks, and gives him his undivided attention, which is not something mom and dad can do all the time. ian likes mac well enough that he wants to go to his cabin to take a nap (or so he says). the other day, when i took him out on chipmunk(the horse), he told me that mac was his 'ex-mate' . i don't think he has any idea what that means - he just picked it up off a movie, in which a guy had his 'ex-mate' (ex-girlfriend) over for dinner. translation (in ian's mind): mac comes to our house for dinner, therefore, he is my 'ex-mate'.
anyway, we are happy to have him out here - at least for a few more weeks.

8/14/08 House Pictures

the footings were poured a couple days ago, and they're getting ready to pour the walls.
ian is taste testing our well water....with a spoon of course. a few minutes later, he also taste tested the dirt....because he said he was a dog. i told him that not even dogs eat dirt - just worms.

Cameron is 4 Months Old

cameron is four months old now. i thought i better update his progress since he never gets mentioned here. he's not old enough to be included on ian's naughty chronicles (i have more to add). anyway, cameron is now 16lbs. and 25 3/8 inches long. that sounds big and feels big, but it's really only about the 70th percentile. he's pretty close to average. here's a list of his newest skills:

• he rolls over both ways!! i often find him several feet away from where i put him down. ian rolled over about the same time, but then never did it again for awhile. i guess he didn't have anyone to keep up with like cameron does.
• he smiles & laughs.....especially for mom, dad & big brother. this has really helped ian to see him as much more than just a posession.
• he grabs toys, hair, boxes, hands, corn....whatever he can get ahold of and puts it in his mouth.
• he slobbers A LOT - but not as much as he spits up. i asked his doctor if it was normal for him to be spitting up 6 - 10 times every time he eats. he said as long as he's gaining weight, they don't get too worried about it. apparently, he is, what they call, a "happy spitter", and he should grow out of it between 6-9 months. i would love to not smell like milk and have spit up smeared all over me. but, i know after the milk stops coming, i'll have graham cracker & other exciting pastes to battle.
• soon.......he'll be enjoying delicious solids. i had planned to wait until after we go to iowa to start, but he seems soooooooooo hungry in the afternoons, i think i'll start this week.

i still can't believe he's four months already. he's getting to be so much fun. we're so glad he's part of our family!

GUESS WHAT!!!

after all the waiting, it has finally happened!! billat construction arrived yesterday afternoon and started to dig. they have the hole for the foundation more than halfway done already. this was all just hours before we got the final approval for our loan. and, within another hour of hearing about the loan, the home dealership in boise called to finalize our colors and order the house (we're starting to feel like they're kind of pushy - but let's be honest, after two years of trying to make a sale, i might be a little anxious too). we don't have a date yet of when the house will arrive, but it usually takes about four weeks.
all this being said, it will probably take another month (tyler says at least six weeks), once the house is on the foundation, to get all the finishing work (driveway, decks, water and power - which have to be done before they'll do the finish work on the inside of the house) and inspections done. then we can move in.....but, in my opinion, that's much better than next year.

Why We Love our Two Year Old

two year olds are supposed to be mischevous, impulsive, precocious. ours definitely is...all of that. i could fill up an entire page, just recounting the things that we adults think are naughty, but just come naturally to this little guy. the last few days have been especially trying for us, but i'm starting to see the humor in each situation.

• he has filled the toilet up with toilet paper several times.
• everything, to him, is 'my job'. it was his job to add an extra 1/2 cup of sugar to my cake the other day.
• yesterday, when i responded to his screams, he had the same bundt cake pinned between his chest and the cupboard. i'm afraid i was too upset, seeing my delicious poppy seed cake pulverised, to see the humor in the situation at the time.
• he thinks he's being really sneaky when he raids the starburst stash...which are supposed to be for potty training.
• the lawn is now the place of choice to poop. i guess at least it's not in his pants. the most embarassing part is that he tells me to leave (will not let me take him to the toilet), but tries to carry on a conversation with our neighbor between grunts. how do you explain that you don't talk to people when you are pooping in front of them? or that maybe you should go further away from the house before you do your business?
• he thinks if he asks for something every 3 seconds, he will get it.
• a few weeks ago, he pulled down his pants and said "hey grandma, look at this".
• when you ask him why he does some of these things, he says "because i love (pronounced lub) do it".