Mt_Rider

Mooooother....how can we keep doing that? I pulled up Journey IIII and saw no one had posted since this morning. And in the time it took me to paste my previously written post and hit "Add Reply".....you got yours stuck in first. This is getting tooooo funny. Especially since I've been working on this VOLUME off and on all day. And just now decided to post. And YES we had a blooper. But I hit Edit and shifted our day around just a bit. Whew.....saved it again. Y'know, if we lived in the same house, I'd just bet we'd run INTO EACH OTHER constantly and we'd both be sitting on the floor. Hopefully laughing. Anyway...about the IV or IIII..... REALLY? I don't think I've EVER seen IIII before. Mebbe I just never noticed. I remember WAAAY back in grade school laboring over the IV & VI.... which is which??? Cuz I'm right/left dyslecsic [why do they have such a difficult word to spell for those of us who have it ] and I can't get them straight. And you can keep any IV's away from my needle-phobic self too....[pardon pun] And while I'm not the ONLY one who shifts plot and shakes our UNreality....I DO have a tendency to do so, don't I? Anyway, I still have to read the REST of Mother's post.... MtRider [still can't believe we did it AGAIN!]

[OK...yeah this is a volume and a half....but I'm trying to make up for lost time. I've never tried to describe our place much yet..... oye, this is loooong. AHEM.....HOW did you *just* sneak that post in as I was pasting mine to the page? We keep doing that! ] Saturday Cleft in the Rock Homestead My head is still spinning. I hardly slept last nite. OUR FAMILY IS COMING!! Oh God, our fervent prayer is for their safety and provision as they journey. For DD1, DD2/DSIL and GrS1&2. For my parents. For my brother too, and neice...wherever they are. And now also for this family of recently orphaned siblings. Young Nathan here to petition for them all. Micah & Machela, Ben, Kaylee & Kailla. What I really want to do is pack up the donkey cart and go back to Rockin' J and fetch them ALL home! But the trip out here nearly killed me ....on a number of occasions, truth be told. The exertion alone took a terrible toll. So, no....I will wait for them here and prepare. Hey! We can send the other two oxen and the donkey cart back with Nathan. They can pack more things that way. Poultry fit nicely on it. We'll send the cages too, if they don't have enough. He can leave his horse here. One less animal to get over that mountain ridge twice. What else can we do to make him more prepared? I finally hoisted my stiff body out of the wondrous featherbed and wandered out of the cave. I walked across our "patio" of rock ledge to the edge of the gently sloping hill. We'd been putting "spare rocks" [one has a lot of spare rocks when you live in a cave... ] along the edge where the stone meets the soil and grass. Eventually, a wall to keep out marauding livestock. Well, ducks maybe. The slope and the grassy bottom land near the river is our main pasture for our assorted critters. Last nite we'd given our new son Nathan the tour of Cleft in the Rock Homestead. Miz MM trotted right up the hillside to greet us with that HEEEEHAAWWW bellow of hers. Expects a treat, of course. Nathan is already hearing MM stories. Her cohort is Jack, a male donkey and new love of her life. From the patio, we could point out our horses, Roan and Midnight. We'd let his horse, Chet, roam with them and all seemed well after an initial period of shuffling for dominance. Midnight still reigns on this slope so far. It's a very large area but eventually we'll have to build fencing for more pastures. We'll have to rotate to make sure the grass isn't cropped too closely. But this has been easy to contain them with a few rail fences. It's nearly choked off anyway by the rocks at the east and west sides near the river. Not that they couldn't swim the river. It was about 20 feet wide at this point and moving slowly. 8 -10 feet deep. Besides the equines, there are 4 dwarf goats [not as liable to roam far in their greatly pregnant state], dozen ducks, and Cotton patch geese [good for garden weeding]. The geese are still setting eggs. All were kept under the watchful eye of Big Dog. She particularly loves her goats, which is what her kind was bred for. The donkeys are also quite protective. Our two were seen running a coyote out of the pasture and up the hillside four days ago. [iRL ..MM and 'Roan' ran a big white dog outta their pasture today. ] Big Dog continued the chase for a while ...and fortunately came back safely. A big pack of them would be dangerous to her. Wow, you should have seen my 140 pound dog scramble up the rocks after that pest! Big paws with toes splayed out and gripping....it used to give me a heart attack until I came to trust her skills. Well, that's our inventory. Well, 4 breeder meat rabbits in cages in the "barn" ['barn' is now that first cave opening with the water seepage trough and we decided to live in the Great Room]. Not much compared to the livestock this lad's family owns. But together, I think we'll do just fine. I'm relieved to hear they have milk cows. With all those children...and my grandsons coming, we'll need more than four dwarf goats can provide. We're making do with a little powdered milk in recipes for now. I was also very glad to hear that the older children all are skilled at milking. Cuz my old arthritis hands were worried about milking my four all at once. We showed him the series of caves that open onto the rock ledge. He didn't seem to mind that our home was literally a rock "castle". He marveled at the Hot Tub Room. The Great Room...one of the first we'd found....has central heating and sky lights. The rear of the cave was very warm....too warm for me to spend much time there in summer. Obviously, there is a very hot springs behind/under the back wall/floor. It all seems very warm. For winter, the front of the Great Room should have a wood burning stove/fireplace. We'd picked Annarchy's brain on that day she'd stopped by. She promised to come back once things slowed down, to show us how adobe bricks could be used to build many things. And we DO have to climb up and plug the so-called 'sky light' [aka: hole opening to hillside] before winter. We have a list of things for Nathan to try to bring. Glass, clear plastic sheeting [uV stable], and rigid clear/tinted plastic are high on that list. Since they plan to board up their ranch house, he might be able to take out a few small windows... frames and all? It depends on HOW much stuff they can haul. DH and I have not forgotten how difficult that route is. At least Wagon Train #2 will not have snow to deal with. Flash flooding, lightening strikes, and ....the bears are no longer hibernating. Since Dh and I had never finished exploring all the caves, this seemed like a good activity for this afternoon. He and Nathan had been up early and the Three Sisters garden patch is now weeded. No need to water...God has been doing that for us regularly lately. Thank YOU! Then Nathan ran up to tell me that two of Mother's clan brought down the plow. So DH, Nathan and neighboring Grkids took turns with the plow. Nathan thot it was great fun. He also realized that his dad had been collecting "antiques" and he only now knew what some of them might be. DH told him to be sure and have Jacob take a look around for things on their ranch that might be vital here. So they all worked hard to clear a bit more land. Far more than DH or I have dealt with before. Far less than the fields of the Iowa farm I grew up on. Every little bit helps....especially now. It was nearly two when we waved goodbye and thanks the kids. We still wanted to explore the caves so we got out the oil lantern, flashlights, and headlamps. Off we went. Several hours later, we had dragged our way back to the Great Room cave. We'd been ALL over. UP and down and into the very "bowels of the earth" ...as they say. I like caves ....big roomy caves. Crawling-on-ones-belly type caves...NOT! I didn't go in that kind. There are so many twists and turns that we should have used bread crumbs. Next time, if I can find some of that white chalky rock, I'm going to mark the intersections. We found a lot of old evidence of larger animals using the caves. Nothing fresh. Big Dog startled the heck outta us a number of times when she'd suddenly dart forward snarling at small rodents. Once it was a porcupine and ThankYOU, God....she did not "engage" that one. It decided to evacuate the area. There was a bat cave too. No batmobile but hundreds of bats. Good! They eat bugs. The river could draw a lot of bugs. The batcave was much higher up the hillside ...and way over above the next "village". That's what we decided to call our "C" curved grasslands next to the river and ringed by the shelf rock with caves. We thought ours contained a great set of caves. But when our "C" curve of rock ledges ended on the eastern side, another one began....and it was much larger. A much larger grassland was enclosed by this larger "C" of rock. The patio ledge continued on around to the next "C" but we had never seen that. A huge section of gooseberry [those are the ones with the thorns, right? ] had hidden the access to the next area. The overhead stone ledge ends however, so visiting the next "village" of caves would involve getting wet in the rain....unless you use the cave tunnel. Yep, it also follows all the way around. Iffen we can even FIND that route again. Well no, it's really not that bad. But it's a lot more extensive that we realized. I know every day it's too rainy to make fences or plant, we're going to be mapping cave routes and making an inventory of features like spring water or hot springs or...TOO hot springs. We found several of all three. We'll have to mark the hazards too, and somehow block those off from exploring children. Sheeeeeeesh! Something else I just thought of. While it's great to have plenty of room for expansion of our "tribe"....trying to secure the entire interior of the hillside from larger predators [bear/lion] and smaller pilfering varmints [weasel/raccoon] will be crazy. And I for one, do not want to have Smoky the Bear come visit me while I'm flippin' flapjacks for breakfast. Oye! As it stands right now, DH & I are still going to set up in the first "C" with the 'barn' and Great Room and hot tub room, etc. It's got plenty of space for the children and us. Livestock will have to be spread between the two areas. That will be easier when our Maui and CO people arrive to keep watch. They will settle in the eastern "C"...or "village". Haven't figured out where my parents are going to be. Maybe they want to be in town? Maybe they want an "apartment" cave near but not so near that the racket of the 'tribe' is disturbing ALL the time? There is the one area toward the middle that looked quite promising. [THEN I try to picture them in a cave at all and....... dunno, but they have to be somewhere. Hmmm, Mother? I need one of those adorable pups if you are still handing them out. If they are herd watchers, I've got more herd than I ever planned to be responsible for. Or rather, Nathan just told me they have three herd dogs...one for Machela's sheep, and two Aussie Shepherds for the cattle. OK, Saint pup for the children then. Please? [got to remember to ask her on Sunday.] Nathan asked if the children should call us "Dad and Mom". I asked him if they would be comfortable with that ...having lost their parents so recently. He said they'd called their parents 'Oma' [Korean for mother] and Papa. ['Apa' is Korean for father] Well then, Dad and Mom it is! DD's are going to be real surprised to find out they've acquired a few siblings. While exploring, the three of us exchanged stories about our families. I feel like Nathan can bring back stories about us and we have a lot of information about the children. Like interests, strong qualities, not-strong qualities , fears, hopes and favorite colors. Kailla's favorite color is green and Kaylee's color is blue. Except the next week she'll say her favorite is white. Nathan was concerned about the amount of work it was going to take us to plant while he was gone. Well, we'd had some help there. Last week little Jaime Witlock came down ill in a big hurry. The severity lasted for four days and all were afraid the fever was going to damage him...or worse. Dr.MtR spent five days straight at the Medical Clinic trying to keep that persistent fever down below dangerous. Thank goodness he learned that odd technique. Meanwhile, young Teddy Williams [b's] came up to help me "hold down the fort" here. Finally the fever broke and Jaime was making a recovery. I was sure glad to see DH and Roan trotting back up to Cleft in the Rock. I was also very glad to see a team of 4 men show up the next day with the plows, discs and teams. "Where do you folks want a field, Doc?" They were all related to little Jaime. Witlocks are a large clan. Boy, did they set to work on that flat stretch out behind our hillside. First they used a scythe to cut & then raked the grass to dry & put up for some hay. Not real long yet but why waste it? Then they began to plow and disc. They showed up for three days straight. Dr.MtR and I tried to shoo them away. "You don't owe us THAT much labor, for pete's sake! {chuckle} I think they got into a contest for the best/fastest fields. They certainly prepared a lot of ground for us. Good neighbors. Double thankful now with this recent news. Dh and Nathan have gone over there now. I think young Nathan is going to begin the planting yet this late afternoon. DH might help but I know he's tired. He lost a lot of sleep last week. More wheat & oats. We're feeding more livestock and people this winter. Potatoes, beans/peas for drying. We're going to have to switch to the root crops this week. We're running out of time to plant grains. Carrots, beets, sugar beets, turnips, parsnips, rutabaga, ..yum! Wish I'd set more tomatoes in containers. We don't eat them much but the rest of my tribe probably will. Well, I put in some. I am soaking in the 'hot tub' cuz I am going to feel the muscles we used exploring. {snort} I am SO glad I set some rice, dehydrated veggies and canned beef to 'cooking' in the fire pit this morning. I used the large Dutch oven - heated the contents up to boiling. Then lowered into the hole we dug...lined already with heated rocks from the breakfast fire. Cover the hole with burlap, then dirt to insulate the heat. [pretty much Hawaiian imu cooking...except they didn't have iron pots] Well, we've shoved into this day about all that it could hold. Our lives are about to change forever. That's ok. I think this will be a good match. But I'll be grateful that their older sisters/BIL will be on hand to help us out. Heading for the Lodge tomorrow with all the oxen [and their yokes/harness packed along. Nathan will be driving the donkey cart with two oxen hitched. We've rigged harness for four if he ever needed them. I've sent enough food to see him easily back to "civilization". He let us keep the photos. I sent back a couple for him to show to the other children. MtRider [ ...gonna hate to see this pleasant young man heading for that steeeeeeeep exit from our Valley..... {sniff} ]

ATTENTION ALL READERS...... This is another invitation to come and join us in Big Valley. I have no idea how long we will keep this thing going. When winter is over IRL and we all begin our gardening and other projects....this may fade away. But dunno about y'all but I've still got quite a bit of winter left yet. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A LONG-TERM Mrs S MEMBER TO JOIN US IN Big Valley. We're not exclusive. And you don't have to be a writer. Just journal a diary if you like. But you should probably try to read at least all of this last WagonsHo thread. The Journey IIII. [speaking of bloopers, Mother. Shouldn't that be " The Journey IV " ?????? Or....Big Valley I ????? ] So if you want to join the fun, C'mon! If you've been reading, you know how we're living. And you know it doesn't matter if we have a blooper or two...or five. Part of the fun. We just to ask folks to keep away from any false information ....cuz this is a learning tool. Make sure we aren't passing on something that would get someone in trouble if tried IRL ["In Real Life"...if someone doesn't know this abbreviation] Example would be that Quilty was careful to put cautions on a few of her canning instructions like the pectin. Old time methods not strictly approved by today's health standards. That's the proper way to write that sort of thing. The another rule is no one dies. But we've sent a few to the hospital. A slightly tricky part of this thing we've called "Corporate Writing" is to not place a real person [Me, Mother, Annarchy, Q, AH's, Mo3B] or their families into a situation that will mess up their posts that they might be working on. It does happen. But we've gotten rather good at a quick rewrite when we've posted at the same time as someone else. [Haven't we, Mother? ] Anyway, ...for instance, don't announce a birthing of their cow or something like that. but we've done visiting and such. Just stay a bit vague about real folks so you leave them wiggle room. If you need a person outside your own clan, the B-group, [aka: Benefactors group...see previous threads for who they are] people can be created and molded to whatever your storyline requires. Need some strong muscles to make your plowing more realistic? Watch my storyline. I'm about to give some poor B-group child a bad fever....just to get some help with plowing fields!!! {NEED help...Dr.MtR and I are too OLD for acres and acres of plowing! } We're all trying to keep it SOMEWHAT realistic. We all slip on that sometimes cuz....well, it IS UNreality. I'm adding in family members that realistically, I should not be expecting to make it. But....I just couldn't help myself. It got tooooo lonely in big Valley without our clan around us. Right Q? Even an attempt to adopt some fictional family didn't keep me from wanting MY REAL-LIFE kids/Grkids/parents out here safe with us toooooooo! And that is a real issue....if the real hooey ever hits the fan [iRL]. A big issue for MrMtR and I with our kids across the ocean. So, if you want to arrive in big Valley with Wagon Train #2, post something about your wagon(s) and your clan (if any) and about waiting at the Rockin' J ranch....gateway to two weeks of wilderness travel thru mountain passes and ravines [watch those flash floods and wild life]. Regular BV writers, in a bit we can start posting here and there about our family members coming thru the route we took....if you want to. I'm not going to be able to spend a lot of time on that. But if you want to flash to a family member you intend to be on this train...go for it if you'd like. MtRider [busy planting even more food and ....exploring the rest of those caves next where we plunked our stuff down...gotta get organized before our personal hordes of kids arrive! ]

[...ok...IRL, I did not quite plan for this turn of the scenario for us. I've been plotting in my head, a family of kids we could take on....cuz DH and I will NEED more than the two of us out here in Big Valley. That's become quite clear...even in UNreality. So I was set with my imaginary kiddos and then....I just couldn't do it. Tho it would be improbably that our Maui family [and my parents] would join us in such an adventure....even in UNreality, I found as I typed that I just could not leave them out of our Valley story. So suddenly....they are all coming....... What's a writer to do? ] Dear Diary There is two more things that happened today. They involve Mr.MtRider and I personally. The first is about our DD1, DD2 and SIL with GS1 (age 6) and GS2 (age 4). From their letter which we have already reread many times. It was sent over a month ago. How they crossed the Pacific on a cargo ship. NOT a pleasant trip, evidently. Crammed in like "immigrant steerage" in the ships of olden times. But they were able to carry some goods with them, including their pickup, SUV, and van. They found a trailer when they landed in CA and hauled their things across the southern route - CA, Arizona, New Mexico and up to CO. Better for the weather but nearer to the border of Mexico. That border area has been in severe unrest. I don't think they will ever tell me all that happened on that leg of the journey. Just as well. They are safe enough for the present in CO. My parents also sent a letter. It also was dated last month. THEY have finally decided that it will be worth the danger to leave now. They so did NOT think they could travel like we did; by wagons in winter. Probably right. But now is more dangerous to get to Montana. The wilderness will be the least of their worries. However, they have found out that it is not only the truckers who are banding together to travel safely on the highways. Anyone can sign on for an armed security-protected trip. For a steep price, that is. So when their grandkids/great grandsons arrived [unexpectedly...the mail did not get thru to say they had left Maui] , my over-80 parents decided they would go too. What use to be left behind? There is no estimate as to whether they will reach the Rockin' J by the time Wagon Train #2 leaves. Doubtful. They'll probably have to catch the next one. Wellllll, I'm somewhat relieved to hear about the armed guards and "wagon trains" of private cars traveling together on the major highways. But eventually, they will be traveling on their own. They will have three pickups, [one with a trailer], a van and DD1's SUV. I wonder if they can haul as much as our conestogas? I wonder if they can get gas? I wonder about my brother and niece from way out east. [i'm finding myself wringing my hands....God help and protect them, pleaaase!] I wonder what on earth they packed????????? These are not rural girls! Camping trips did not go well with them. Oh, my...... But my folks are practical. And farm folks....long-retired farm folks but they will probably be very valuable for their knowledge. Even if my dad does fall asleep while watching TV these days. The trip will be so rough on them physically. Even driving the highways. I hear one does not make good time anymore...even on the interstate highways. {sigh} Anyway, my folks will know what is needed. And I sent them a list...both of what we were advised to bring and after we arrived, I sent a letter back saying what all we WISH we would have brought. Or wish we could have brought. Like plexiglass and more crop seeds and fruit trees, another hand plow, tea/coffee/chocolate/pipe tobacco, more tools, more footwear, Meds and OTC stuff, and ....... Well, in this letter they said they'd tried to get most of that stuff. Wasn't specific on which items they had been successful. Now if they can make it here. Oh bother! I can't see my parents living in a CAVE! For that matter, I'm not sure I can imagine either of my DD's living in a cave either. Mebbe some curtains.... OTOH, after what the kids have been thru, Cleft of the Rock homestead might look like a grande fortress. We do have a whole string of caves right here. DD2's letter was way too brief. My mom's letter gave me more details. Doubtful we'll hear again until they arrive....or don't. Mebbe Wagon Train #2 will carry another letter of their progress. Ok, that's 5 more adults and two small children joining us. [fear, joy, trust...all mingled together to put butterflies in my stomach!] God help them! Help us to bear the waiting! --------------------------- Now for the second half....or rather, we found out about this first. Before we opened the letters. The messenger rider did not arrive here alone. With him was a 17 year old boy named Nathan. Nathan had been told by Joy and Jacob to seek out the MtRiders. So after hearing all the messenger had to tell, we fed the both of them rabbit stew and pancakes....[wasn't expecting more for supper and pancakes can always stretch a meal quickly]. Then the messenger had gone on up river to Mother's clan. Hobbit Hole. We sat down with young Nathan to hear his story....and his plea. He pulled out some family photos, carefully sealed in waterproof packets. He lingered just a moment over each one before passing them to us and explaining who we were looking at. His parents on their wedding day. Dad was in the Army, stationed in Korea. Mom was Korean. Nathan is their firstborn. Twins, Micah and Machela are now fourteen. [will be fifteen in 8 months, he assures us....very mature and helpful!] All were born in South Korea when Dad was still stationed there full time. They lived mostly in Montana after Ben was born. Ben is now 10. But they still lived in Korea part of the time. During their last long stay in Korea, Mom and Dad adopted Kaylee and Kailla as infants. The girl twins just turned five years old in April. All speak fluently in both languages. Dad retired from the Army four years ago and the family returned to their Montana ranch permanently. As the national situation worsened, they began to stock up and prepare for the worst. But on a simple trip to town three months ago, Dad and Mom were killed in the crossfire of a robbery attempt. Social workers are scarce but there has been some talk in their community of putting the younger children in the orphanage. Nathan has been insisting that he's old enough to care for his siblings but the violence is increasing. Someone from their church put him in contact with Jacob and Joy. "So here I am," he'd concluded. "Mr & Mrs Rock said that you've already adopted and raised daughters who were born in Korea. I have come to ask if you would consider sponsoring me and my siblings until I turn 18 next May. It's a full year till my birthday. Then I'm able to claim my 40 acres here in the Valley." He continued, "My siblings and I have been raised by a military dad and a Korean mom. We've been taught to be respectful and to do our share of work. The girls...Kaylee and Kailla are little but we can make sure that they are taken care of. Micah and I could be a lot of help to you here. We're strong and willing to work. We are all rural kids. We'd be bringing our own horses.. [ponies for the little girls], and three milking cows and their latest daughters, ....hogs if we can figure out how to get them here, and my sister...Machela, has sheep. She's won ribbons at the fair thru 4-H for her sheep and her weavings. Micah, Ben and I show our cattle. I'm not sure how many of those we can bring. But we could bring our breeding stock for sure. My father had begun a good breeding program with cattle. Mr Rock is trying to sell some of the cattle for a decent price so that we can be equipped to come here. " He'd said that all in a rush, trying to convince us. We were his desperate hope for refuge. {snort} He already had us when he showed us the family pictures and told the sad ending of his parents. Especially looking at those adorable twin girls. So like we'd envisioned our DD's must have looked like at that age. When would we ever see our DD's and their family again??? [remember, we had not read the letters yet....had NO idea they ALSO were on their way here. ] Yes, of course we'd help. And he didn't need to think that they would all have to move out in a year either. We could be a second set of parents for as long as they needed. [of course, being a parent never does end...does it? ] Nathan was doing a great job selling his little family. SIX kids....wow. We'd better hope they were a family that functioned well together. Or DH and I had just bitten off a huge mouthful. But young Nathan was going to have his hands full just getting used to this wild land. "Do you need Mr.Mt.Rider to go back with you to help bring you all out thru the mountains?" That would be problematic for me being by myself and we had to keep the crops and livestock tended. No, Jacob Rock had assured Nathan that others would help the children get thru the wilderness trek. ....Meanwhile, DH and I will be busy planting more gardens. Nathan will stay with us until the group is ready to return on Sunday. How did you know, God? That we've been wanting more children around us? But...five year olds????? Oye! Now You will have to give us the strength for that. I hope they obey or how shall we keep them safe?????? Excitement, fear, but also Peace. This thing is to be. Later, we opened the letters from DD2 and my mom. Oh.........my! We need more cave space explored. And MORE gardens. What have we gotten into? I never thought they'd leave Maui. I never thought my parents would leave their home...... And there is my silly husband....grinning like a cat. YOU are the one who likes your privacy and space remember! Go find us a nice cave for our own. Shoo!...while I try to figure out some logistics. Lemme see. The kids are hauling rather a great deal of rice all the way from Maui. My mom reported that. She said they had ...... and if we plant..... and .... oye.... But hey! DD1 is a teacher! We've got homeschool handled. Note to self: make sure Nathan brings all their books, etc. He mentioned they were homeschooled. We could invite Mother's YGS down for school. Our GS1 is about his age. And once the others get here, there will be a whole clan to help watch the young ones. .....ok, quit hyperventilating. This will work. MtRider [....who may never sleep again until ALL her children .....and her parents, are safe in Big Valley! ]

[iRL...once again I'm behind in reading the posts. I catch up and then y'all are posting your hearts out here. I so enjoy them when I catch up. But I'm gonna get skinned alive iffen I don't get this one posted so....here it is.... Hoping for no drastic bloopers.... ] Dear Diary A messenger on a fast horse came thru today. Told Mr.MtRider and I that another wave of Big Valley immigrants is getting ready to leave Rockin' J. It will include a daughter and a son of Joy and Jacob Rock - plus their spouses, children and a few in-laws thrown in. Many other folks have gathered at the Rockin' J and have been awaiting a departure. Some of them are friends and relatives that were expected. Some have providentially found this departure point. Evidently, even in remote NW Montana, the scene is getting harsh. There are bands of bandits. Organized gangs are a huge problem in many urban areas. There are rumors of a resurgence of organized crime. Nearly everyone now is carrying firearms and traveling in groups for safety. The local law enforcement are being assisted by local militia. The military has stepped up to assist in many large cities. Martial law is in place but, it is difficult to enforce it so one area may have a totally different set of rules than a place just 20 miles away. Travel is, naturally, restricted. But folks are still getting through. News stations are reporting the worst but there are many, MANY acts of kindness and generosity out there too. It's just that even if most people are still trying to be decent, law abiding....the struggle to merely feed one's family is putting tremendous pressure everywhere. Disruptions in the electrical grid are not helping the situation. Anytime there is an unannounced blackout/brownout, people panic. Riots are becoming common. Staying holed up in one's home is common, especially in densely populated areas. With the warmer weather, deaths from lack of home heating sources have diminished. But there are so many homes with plumbing lines broken [in the winter weather without consistent heat] that city water pressure is constantly effected. They are trying to shut off any point of broken lines so that other areas may be still served. Truckers are signing up in caravans [like wagon trains] with hired armed escorts or the National Guard. Supplies are moving throughout the country but with none of the efficiency as before. Gasoline prices are dear. Basic goods are bought, sold, and bought again and again in a system which is more black market than normal commerce. UNBELIEVABLY, once the trucking caravans began, a lot of the goods ordered by our wagon train members actually got thru to the Rockin' J. Companies are trying to stay in business, thinking that surely by next year, things will have settled down to normal again. The five young men and two gals who came across the mountains to deliver this message brought a good portion of those parcels. At least the ones that were small enough for pack animals. AND they brought mail. The US Postal service is getting through....eventually. We even got mail from Maui.....or rather, Colorado. Our Maui family has migrated....and, will be trying to come here. Oh my. I am so excited and yet....so sad they had to leave Maui....reporting conditions so bad there in the middle of the Pacific with little to no shipping and zero tourists. AND I'm horrified that they will try to travel thru this mess. They are staying with our friends for now. Sheeeesh, I wish they were here already. One of the main national problems is that agribusiness has nearly come to a standstill. Gas/diesel prices are horrific. Even if they can get fuel, seed shipments have been hijacked repeatedly. Farmers that did not already have seed, have been set far behind in the season and are switching to oats or soy bean instead of corn [ due to it's longer season requirements]. A late frost down in southern states had devastating effects on some fruit growers. [Must have been the remnants of the blizzard that hit us!!] So usual things as well as the abnormal things are happening. But there is some talk of small rural communities [including those around the Rockin' J] trying to plant gardens and small fields by hand. Round the clock security is required tho, since pointless vandalism goes with the chaos of the times. The Rocks have been teaching some neighbors and small town folks the art of Victory Gardens. They've contributed a lot of seed which they had stored for this purpose. But, they are also worried enough about the situation in general to begin to send their family members to the Valley. They are hoping to be able to remain on their ranch. Two other sons and some other relatives are staying also. But they are ready to evacuate at a later time if it becomes necessary. The assignment of the 7 young folks, besides making contact with us and the parcel delivery, is to drive back any oxen that are not in use here. They are needed to be used for the next wagon train. So we're sending 3 of our five back. They're just getting fat and lazy here. We'll keep 2 females as we planned to send them down for a visit with "the Bull" when the time is right. The young people will also bring back the 2 conestoga wagons that were left at the top of the BIG HILL. It's been more difficult than anticipated to obtain any kind of wagons and teams for the new immigrants. At couple [mebbe more?] of the young folks from the B group have signed up to go back and help bring Wagon Train #2 into the Valley. There is to be some compensation in land acres, I believe, for their help. Wonder if any more will help with that? Wellllllll, there is certainly plenty of land yet available in this Big Valley. I hope that we are able to provide the food for the newcomers. I decided to get some more vegetable seeds started. Especially the short season varieties. I know there have been some larger fields of wheat, corn, soy bean, and oats planted in the flats on the western side. Some of the B group were farmers recruited to do just that. In anticipation of late arrivals. I wonder HOW MANY will come? Every one of us has loved ones we'd like to see safe in this refuge....ones that might have changed their plans now that it's getting worse instead of better....like our family members. {sigh....this is one time I'd liked to have been proven WRONG! ] I REALLY hope that the new immigrants have brought the proper supplies, tools and attitude. I hope they are immigrants to this lifestyle and not just expecting to sit around waiting for someone to provide for them. We could certainly use more skilled workers or willing labor but....... I guess we'll have to trust Jacob and Joy. They are definitely good, solid folks. I hear Mr Hughes will be going back with the young folks and the oxen. He'll be the wagon master again. That's good. I hear he set up his cabin somewhere over here on the eastern slope. Further north than Mother and us. So far, he has not had any family with him. I wonder if he's expecting anyone in this batch? MtRider [a LOT to personally ponder in the MtRider camp tonite....but more on that in the next diary entry] [iRL...now that that's done....I get to read and find out what y'all have been up to.... Any of you expecting more family to finally arrive? ]

I brought some mother-of-vinegar: red wine and apple cider. I got them from a MrsS member originally [iRL ] So I can share that. Also some dry yogurt starter [Lehmans] Lots of yeast, of course So some Sunday-at-the-Lodge, all the families can share their starters? Or begin to develop a specialty product? I needed back up tools, I think. The thot of breakage or loss....each tool is so needed. I tried to back up things like the jiggling thang for Sherman [my canner]. I certainly brought a lot of various knives. But until our society gets more skilled in the fabrication of such things [Michael and the other metal workers?] these initial tools need to be take care of. I think we need a big two person cross cut saw. Extra ax...but not really for me. MORE spare blades for any saws we brought. More pairs of work gloves....again, until we have goat hide and sewing folks with "gloves-capability". I'd guess by now even my excessive amount of bandaids will not be a year's worth. Strips of cloth tied into place may or may not stay in place. I'm a klutz! [Anyone learning about something they need to stock IRL due to this exercise?????????] MtRider [when's that next mule train due..... overdue? Bummer! ]

{IRL....I am so behind in reading y'all's posts. So I hope I don't create a blooper but if I try to go back and read right now...I'll never get anything posted and you'll think the MtR's have been eaten by cougars! So I'll be reading your posts in the next day or two..I hope. Missed being here! } Dear Diary, Wow, it's been days and days since I could even HOLD a pen to write. All this moving things into the cave system, digging& planting, more digging and planting, handling the animal care, trying to stay clean and healthy, exploring the area and finally marking off the acreage. OW! I repeat: OW! Whoooooooeeeeeee, DrMt.Rider and I have become hermits. But hey, we're having a pretty good time. Except we keep saying: "This wouldda been a LOT MORE FUN when we were YOUNGER! I MISS EVERYONE!!! We've had some news here and there with the message riders who stop by even if the message isn't for us. Dr.MtR has run back up to the Lodge a couple times for minor injury to handle at the Medical Cabin. That's why we settled not too far away. He got our land deeded on one of those trips. I've been meaning to ride Midnight over to see MOTHER and her clan but just haven't gotten a chance yet. They send someone down with the plow now and then. And stay to help DH for a while. That certainly helps our garden/field attempts. It's enough work just trying to plant and get the garden areas fenced with uprights of pointy-stake sticks all 'round. Gotta TRY to keep out the wildlife before there is a lot of yummies sprouting up. [MtR grumbles about critters having the whole danged Valley and where to they chose to dine? My gardens! ] 'Course...gardens can be viewed as as "meat lure". Have had rabbit on the menu real regular since the garden near the cave entrance started sprouting salad veggies. I do real well with the BB gun. Actually, I did real well with the "cannon" [meaning the rifle that is sweet to shoot but I barely lift it. Braced on a rock tho... ] that one early morning I spotted some young "venison" males in our Three Sisters patch. A long shot but ..... Fortunate we could turn some of that into jerky...now that we're staying in one place. We have yet to get the stove set up or I would have canned some. We've moved into the caves are are so glad of the solar lights we brought. Rue the day they don't work anymore but for now, this is easy and smoke-free. They just have to be gathered up each morning and put out into the sun and placed inside again at nightfall. Some of our caves have openings UP at the top slope. Openings that will have to be dealt with before next winter. But for now, they provide light in the dark caves. Now, by "moved in" I do not mean anything grande. I mean there is no longer anything in the conestoga wagon. And the donkey cart is used for hauling around stuff...garden tools, buckets, lunch, etc. as we work on our daily projects. Donkey's are proving to be a great help....WHEN they've a mind to. But I'm certainly not above bribery. MM ALWAYS falls for bribery and I still have a lot of dehydrated carrots left. Ahem....so the caves are a mess. Just like the wagon while we traveled. But there is so much ROOM in the caves. I just set suff on the floor or with insulating log pieces under them. I'm wild to have it all organized but the rate I'm going, it may be a winter project. I'll have to describe the caves another time. The first ones we explored ended up to be the barn. [with the automatic water seeping down... woohoo!] But I DID find my hot springs. More than one, in fact. And one is REALLY hot. THAT will be near the winter living quarters. Summer quarters are the cave that keeps a breeze. And we spend a lot of time working on projects [or just looking down to the river ] outside under the shelter of the huge overhanging rock ledge. ...LOL..have I mentioned that our "patio" is also a mess of half finished projects? Even rainy days are so busy. Mebbe the next rainy day I'll put on a poncho and ride over to see Mother. They are pretty close to us. I've computed that on horseback at a good walk, I can cover a mile in less than 20 minutes. Faster if I do walk/trot/canter. [iRL..I really did time this one day! ] ....except where the trail is winding around hills & backtracking...or it's muddy and slick....or if I'm on rocky ground. So good "road ways" will be important to seek out before the real winter weather hits. Or we'll all be hermits for months. I do have that hunting toboggan we used during the blizzard. Wheeeeeeeeee....... {remember Mother at the old homestead? } But the spring/summer season surely is here. Even Rain. I don't have to water the seedlings. My four goats are showing their pregnancy and I've quit milking Chanel for now. Let her grow the babies. So we will have no milk until about 2 months from now. Then, I'll need to be ready to make cheese, etc. Mebbe I can trade baby goats for baby pigs? If we'd be ready with pens by then. Mebbe not. I've gotten real good at pancakes. Ya know they are the easiest thing to make when you are SO tired you are sleep-walking? Dog gets the burned ones...when I fell asleeep while sleep-cooking. We've to the ducks settled and they are laying eggs regularly. Always have eggs. And rabbit. And venison. YUM! The geese have been setting on a nest and we're hoping they are able to hatch them. We're being really careful of disturbing them. The three females are all setting on a sort of communal nest. One of them gets up frequently but the other two are in that somnolent state and barely will get up to eat or drink. I'm SO glad we have good broody females. Shhh..don't tell the geese ladies but...we snuck a few duck eggs under them as well. So we'll have to grab them away when they hatch. [note to self...check the hatch dates for duck vs goose] I'm not at all confident that the geese would like duck babies to care for. But we can raise them. Back in that hot cave. Not IN the hot springs...NO! [actually, I wonder about the smell from the hot springs on delicate bird respiratory systems...but the hot cave is not directly venting air from the springs...only the heat emmanating from the rock. ] Well with all this, you can imagine that I BEGIN each day in the hot springs and END each day there too. I am SO delighted with this. One of the reasons we thot DH and I might lug our old sleves along on this venture. MrS & J and MrH ALL ASSURED me that we could find hot springs in the Valley. I AM going thru a fair supply of Nuprin too tho. I repeat: OW! More later, MtRider [planting and planting and animal care and weeding and weeding and....fencing and fencing and fencing....and DH harvests fish! ]

Oh excellent, Mo3b. I'd thot of this topic too. Now that we're not traveling but actually trying to civilize and settle in, I've been thinking of things that didn't occur to me when getting my packing list done. Actually, due to leading this thing, *I* never DID get my list done. I know in my head which things I would have tried to pack [one wagon and a donkey cart cannot hold nearly all I'd have liked] so I'm basing my story on that. But what made me think of starting a thread on this topic was that some of you are coming up with some ideas that I've never even thot of . Many times things I COULD have packed! VERY good. [ NEXT time I pack for a wagon train, I'll know! ] So I'll post in here when I have the chance....but going to bed now. Thanks for starting this one. It's going to show some of our learnin'. MtRider [ ...what a blast this has been.... ]

I LOVE writing about our caves and grasslands and eventually finding the wild fruits, etc. But..... AACK....I am having trouble finding the TIME right now. So for now, just pretend we're being remote and secluded but be assured that I will give a synopsis whenever I CAN write again. I have a bit more saved on a file...somewhere. Did that danged goat eat my file? LOL I am trying to keep up reading all your wonderful story posts tho...at least every other day. Such good ideas and perseverance! And I'm writing down the tips....like epsom salt for danged blossom-end rot. You can bet I'm going to be adding that to the fish emulsion that I already use. Have a terrible time with that here and the plants look sooooo good and nothing produces for all my LABOR! This may just be what I need. <--for Q BTW, the reason I don't have the TIME is the opposite from the other times I've gone OFF-line. This time it's cuz I'm actually doing BETTER. That durned Fall Fatigue [lasting longer into winter ] is finally releasing me. So I take a look around at ALL that has been in chaos and .....whooooooeeeeeee, folks. It is TIME for me IRL to get some things done, and sorted, and cleared, and finished and.... well, you get the picture. Once I get a handle on things 'round here, there will still be plenty of winter left for writing...when you all are already planting gardens IRL...I'll be watching the snow fly in our Spring Blizzards. Hope to be back soon MtRider [Dr.MtR, MM & Jack, Roan & Midnight, 4 PG goats, ducks, geese, CAT, and BIG DOG.....oh, rabbits. I forgot we got rabbits at the last minute. Now I have to house rabbits in our corner of the valley too..... ]

Like a gigantic kiln? Wonder if a roaring fire would glaze the inside? Is that what the salt was for....glaze? Interesting! MtRider [Thinking of interior walls of adobe....we're gonna all have so much to talk about at our gathering on Sunday! ]

NOTE: I am recording my journal as fast as I can but I’m playing catch-up. This entry is still for Friday.... We made our way carefully, traversing the hillside. This pathway was quite wide and comfortable. Even Mo3B would not be afraid of this gently modulated slope. Um...well, don’t look in *that* direction tho. THAT’s reminiscent of our CO home. DH stopped the donkeys by a grassy area and tied them to the trees. We kept the cart hitched for now. I stayed aboard and DH walked with Big Dog. We nearly missed seeing the first opening under the high ledge. B*D had to sniff there tho. It was totally grown over with brambles. Since the dog was showing no real interest [as in: big critter inside ] , we moved on. The next opening was larger and we encouraged her to go on inside. The overhead ledge was getting wider and, even on horseback, it was easily tall enough for me to be underneath it. It would be nice to be in it’s cooling shade on a hot day at high noon. The late afternoon sun shining on the southern-exposure rocks made it nicely warm today. With the shotgun in his hand, DH ducked to follow the dog inside - with his headlamp on. {glad I found those wind-up headlamps! sheeesh...I HOPE he doesn’t have to fire off a shotgun inside a cave... } They came out and DH reported that it went back about 15 feet and was about 10 feet wide. It got rather short in the ceiling towards the back. Plenty of animal sign in there but nothing recent. We moved on. Just around an outcropping of rock, the whole area opened up. The smooth rock ledge that we walked upon was about 40 feet wide before it ended in the dirt of the south-facing gentle slope going down to the river flats. Here and there rocks and boulders were scattered on this “patio”. A few trees had managed to grow at the edge but for the most part, it was an unobstructed view to the river and beyond. The patio extended along the slight curve of the ridge line for about 100 yards. Cave openings could be seen in a couple places. The overhead [roof-like] rock ledge covered a good half of the patio ledge in most places. It was nearly flat-horizontal with just a slight rise upwards as it ran east. The next cave opening was big but not deep inside. You could have parallel-parked our truck in there tho, and had it enclosed on three sides. Ooops, I mean we could actually park the donkeys ANd the cart in there. I thot it was time to dismount and join B*D and DH on foot. While the dog was having a grande time exploring and sniffing, she showed no anxiety nor did she sound any alarm. The equines were not nervous either, and they would be if any large predator had been here recently. We unhitched the donkeys and tied the equine trio up to the trees growing near the patio. I dug for my headlamp, pulled my cane from the saddle scabbard, and was ready to explore. This wide cave opening had two extensions leading deeper into the cave. The one on the left was like a wide hallway and we could see that further down it was lit. Where was the light coming from? Ah...an obscured opening about shoulder high and about 2 feet diameter. Hey...a window....if we move the brambles. Are those gooseberries tho? Yep...gooseberry or currants. I always forget how to tell the difference. So we were inside the hill, moving back toward the way we’d rode in. [don’t pass out, Mother...just in case you are reading my journal about this part! PLEN-ty of room in here! ] We saw light ahead and it turned out to be that very first opening, also covered in gooseberry bramble. We’d traveled inside behind the 10X15’ room and rock outcropping. Obviously, there was only exterior access to the 10X15’ room. But this area behind Bramble Door #1 was good sized. The access opening was actually about 12 feet high and 5 feet wide. That was surprising since we’d nearly missed it coming in. We turned on the lantern and the large shake-lite to see better. Wow. Smooth grey rock looked like it was sanded. Shaped in interesting curves. Floor was basically level and smooth. Basically. We walked it out and found it was roughly 25’ in both directions with alcoves around here and there. One larger alcove led further back and there was the sound of dripping water. Ah HA! We followed that sound. Suddenly Big Dog made a dive for something small and furry that scuttled past us in a big hurry. OW, you big oaf, I yelled [too loud for the confines of the cave..whoa...] Well....she’d stepped on my foot and nearly knocked me down. Evidently, she’d chased off whatever rodent it was [ a rat? ] and trotted back to us with a big doggy smile. Yeah well great....foe vanquished...march on. Within a couple more steps we found the water. B*D immediately tested it and kept slurping. It was spurting just a bit from the crack in the rock about shoulder high. There was a pooling at the bottom which was only about a foot deep. Another crack must have been seeping it out again because it didn’t spill over. Hmmm,.....automated doggie dish. I *LIKE* it! So did Big Dog. This certainly had possibilities for living! That running water in the back...well, it was more like an “ambitious seeping” really. But THAT was marvelous. I’m at an age where carrying water up this Oh-So-Gentle slope from the river would have my arms outta the sockets. Wonder how pure this gurgle is??? I mentally began placing our belongings here and there in the alcoves. DH brought me back to present. He noted that it was getting late and we really didn’t have time to explore further. He suggested we retreat back down to the garden area [having not yet assertained that all the caves were...EMPTY OF RESIDENTS ] ....and get a good start again tomorrow [ Saturday] morning. We’d have all day and then head back to the Lodge late in the afternoon. We do not want to be traveling after dark....not yet anyway. So we made camp down near the river and our first garden plot. Naturally we had fried fish and I made pancakes. Cuz they are easy! We buttered them and thot of how we’d better dry off our one milking goat soon. She and the other 3 are due in 3 months. Normally we could wait another month but she’s been milking for nearly 2 years. She needs to build up and grow her baby/babies. Not that she looked poorly. Even with the rigors of the trip, my goats tend to look like round barrels. Piggys, they are! We slept in the midium-sized tent with B*Dog right at the door. She woofed a few times just to let “whatever” know we were here. The night sounds were mostly familiar. Some stirred long-ago memories of the midwest summer nites. That was pleasant. Nite.

Yeah, Mother has been reading my journal and then....she's been forecasting what I'm about to write in that journal before the ink is dry! I'm interested in this adobe too, Annarchy. Might be a solution for my front wall and other projects. How ...um, "wet proof" are the bricks? Any special care? Do the walls have to be sort of plastered on the outside? {OR...I might just wait till she posts and find out then.... LOL } Still looking for a natural [as in: available to us in Big Valley] mortar for stone workings. MtRider [ trying to get back into writing and catch up on my planting...yikes, it's MAY 16th already! Aaaaauuuuugh! ]

"First Blessings" - 3 Sisters Garden Patch Dear Diary......WOW. God is so good. I cannot believe the wonder of His creation. Just as He's kept us safe on this long journey to this remote valley, so He is providing shelter for the coming seasons. HE even provided some very kindly neighbors....as we would discover. Mr.MtR and I left the Lodge at dawn with MM and Jack pulling the donkey cart. [Apparently Mother & Clan had left just before we did.] Big Dog came along, of course. And Midnight was towed along, just in case. He is the fastest and most dependable way back to 'town' if we'd have any emergency. Survival rule....ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN 'B'. We'd arrived at a point along the NE River that was not yet half way to the eastern edge of the valley floor. That river was back within it's banks and looked nothing like the torrent it becomes in it's ugly mood. Now in this mood, it was gently gliding down to the Lake. We saw places that were 10 feet wide and others that were 30 feet. I thot of someday riding an inner tube down to say HI to anyone at the Lodge. Well, for real, I did pack a small rubber boat. I'd replaced the unworkable plastic oars with a double-bladed kayak paddle. What I'd give to have been able to bring a decent kayak along with the wagon. {sigh} This northeast quadrant was more hilly and forested than some of the other parts we viewed from the top of the cliff ...before that descent! Since we've been MOUNTAIN folks for a long while now, this area drew us even before we saw it. It also has the advantage of letting DH get back to the medical clinic if needed, without traveling for long hours. ...well, not until the snowdrifts make travel ...challenging. We've kept the NE River on our right side as we traveled. DH told me of trying out his fishing skills here and there. He comes from a family of fishermen. Unfortunately, he's not that fond of fish. Hmmm, gonna have to talk to a fisherWOman like Q and get some tasty ways that might win him over. Cuz sure and for certain, fish is one very plentiful source of protein year round. [ edit to add - to get rid of a "blooper" ] So what with the river being so inviting and the morning so grande and this talk of fishing....we just pulled over and threw in a few hooks. Meant to just be a half hour or so BUT the fish were biting and HEY, even *I* caught three trout. DH did well and mebbe my jinx is off here in the Valley. Usually I'm Jonah and everyone wants me to go home so they can catch fish. Not only do I not catch...but no one around me does either. So, with supper wiggling in our large bucket on stringers, we set off again feeling a bit tardy but....what the heck. The tall Eastern rim of our Valley loomed forever ahead. We wanted to chose a spot that would not be too occluded by that rim. We would have fantastic western views, for sure. This general location was perhaps 15 miles down to the southern rim and mebbe 4 or 5 miles to the northern wall. I commented to DH that we were totally upside down from island living. Living "in a hole" instead of living on the upthrust of land that makes up Maui. Still, one could get the same "island fever" . But I don't tend to fret over small spaces. I enjoyed island living without being antsy. I was content on my CO mountain, nearly homebound. I will be happy here in our Big Valley. The area nearest to the lake and Lodge was quite flat. But we'd been steadily climbing -- but with no sense of doing so. Very gradual. There were plenty of open meadows and stands of forest further back from the river. Occasional rocky areas forced us to meander our path in and out of sight of the river. But it made an excellent guide. I noted how DH and Mother's clan was already beginning to wear a discernible path thru this wilderness. We could see a lot of fresh droppings from all their animals. They'd were traveling this morning, lock, stock, and barrel, to their new home. Best of wishes and prayers to them. It would be nice to have neighbors but I worried a bit about how far away they would be. How long does it take to ride between our two places? No one else, not even one of the B families, seems to be settling up this way yet. Mother's clan is much closer to the eastern border of the valley floor. But what a prize they found, from Mother's exciting descriptions. She and I have such similar tastes and interests in so many things. But I happen to know she does not *personally* want to go into a cave. She knows the value of them tho. "Sooo, when do we get to your digging?" I'd asked DH. He pointed out the area ahead where the our river path must detour to the north for a bit. It climbed one of the many hills in this region. There was a rocky steepness on this side of the river. The south side, however, was flat. "The river curves a little up here. " he'd said. "But I didn't go up that far yet. The soil is great right here. So, I started cutting off the sod on top." And so began the the beginnings of civilization. He said he'd cut about 20X10'. I didn't expect that he didn't get too far. Cutting the sod is heavy labor. Even if you keep the tools sharp. I sure hope we can borrow one of the plows soon. We'd put in a late Lehmans order for a garden plow like Michael and Lori's. They'd convinced us along the wagon trip that it would be a good investment. But, like many other things, it had not arrived yet. Maybe we could pound a shovel into a plow share and figure out a way to use that for smaller areas? WELL, did we get a surprise! As he pointed out his digging area, a puzzled look came onto his face. HUH? We stopped the cart and got out. I was fixin' to be VERY impressed with his effort but .... HE was looking impressed too. "Now how'd they do that so fast?" he pondered. Mother's group wasn't *that* far ahead of us this morning. "OH! You mean you *didn't* do all this?" I asked as I looked at a very nice sized area of black naked earth. My DH snorted, "Not hardly! I told you I'd barely started and only was doing some because we are getting so late in the season. I thot at least we could get some corn in or it might not make it." We looked at each other and laughed. If we hadn't done that impromptu fishing, we might have caught them out in their "shoemaker's elves" good deed. I was so excited! I was a farmer's daughter...corn and soybean farmer's daughter to be specific. Living up at 9,000' in the Rockies all these years, and tropical Maui before that, it had been decades since I'd had the chance to grow corn. I eagerly got down on my knees and felt the soil. A farmer's daughter never called it "dirt" if it looks and feels like THIS! I rolled it in my hand....just a good as DH had said. God bless which ever of Mother's clan had pulled off this kind surprise. "Lets plant now!" I said suddenly. "Before we explore for the cave?" asked DH, very surprised I'd put off finding my HOME. "Yep! Can't waste a day cuz corn needs a long season and so do the squash." A lot of the wagoneers had discussed the Three Sisters: planting corn, pole beans, and squash [any variety] together. The huge leaves of the squash vines blanketed the ground around the corn & kept down the weeds. The pole beans were planted in circles around the corn plants so that it could use the sturdy stalks for climbing. We'd researched this endlessly because we've not been able to grow ANY of these in our island or high mountain homes. We'd had gardens together and before we'd even met in the midwest decades ago, but we'd never done this combination before. So we tied off the equines so they could munch and pulled out the gardening tools. DH had packed these things so we could at least get a row or two of corn started before we returned to the Lodge for Sunday. [gonna be a plowing demonstration and we NEED to attend that....AND we miss everyone so much! ] But what a delightful surprise to be able to get a good sized planting in TODAY! Working in the soil together is something DH and I have done wherever we have lived in our married lives. We enjoy it and this soil was a wonder after our rather sterile, flour-powder and sand soil of the Rockies. This had WORMS, as I mentioned before. We dared to remove a few [just about three of the garden's residents] for fishing later. We soon had the "First Blessings" field lined up with strings to keep our planting straight. [We'd named this plot for the kindness of our new neighbors and for the blessings of food God would bestow.] Then DH planted the corn and I circled the corn with beans. We'd chosen to plant the field corn for the animals since it took the longest. Well, we could certainly use it ground up as well, but we tended not to use much corn in our diet due to digestive concerns. We'd plant the popcorn, which I did use, in a plot far from here and we'd drape some of the plants in fine-mesh cloth in order to further prevent cross-pollinating of these two varieties. I wanted to try a blue heirloom variety for grinding too but, I'm not sure how much we'd get to put in. We'd brought a lot of mesh material for draping. There won't be any Gurney's seed delivery out here and hybrids will be UNwelcome except by specific design....and then you'd still have to grow the "parent plants" each year to be able to repeat the hybrid seed. Too complex...stick to heirloom. While I thoroughly enjoyed the planting, I was fretting a bit about the delay my illness had caused. Taters...we have to get them in soon. Greens and peas too cuz they will produce fast and need the coolness of spring. We'll plant successions of greens in shady areas tho. Wonder if our purple potatoes, so well adapted to our high elevations will do well down here at 3,000'? That variety came from the Andes Mts in Peru. We've been growing them and saving seed potatoes every year and would hate to lose that variety. We certainly worked hard enough to keep them from freezing during that danged late blizzard on the way here. They'd fully sprouted by then and the vines are sensitive to freezing. Maybe we'll put a few in along this edge here. DH had added a few to our donkey cart with the 3 Sisters seeds. We also put in a few radishes. They are for morale. They start coming up and WOW....we're successful farmers/gardeners! I don't even like them that much but, they can be cooked and eaten as a root veggie too. It was well into the afternoon by the time DH sent me to rest while he handled planting the pumpkins in and amongst the corn/bean plantings. I dug out the sandwiches sent by Chef [bless him!] and began munching before DH was even done. Big Dog and I wandered down to watch the river flow past. Ahhhh....this is grande! DH Came up and filled one more bucket and hauled it back to "First Blessings". Each hole of corn seed had gotten a cup full of river water and a squirt of fish emulsion. Likewise the pumpkins. Some bean seed had been soaked overnite and sprinkled with a nitrogen fixative [that black powder stuff] before being planted today. We hadn't soaked enough for this much prepared land, but I began soaking more immediately and they'd had at least a couple hours. We'd have to keep them well watered in the next few days. Unless God watered for us with rain. [Not Sunday tho, if you please, God....] We would have to get some fencing up around the patch soon too....very soon. If there is one thing we have experienced, it is gardening in land that is heavy with wildlife. Finally DH washed off his hands and joined me on the river bank, very ready for his sandwiches. He ate three of them in record time. The one thing this man does not dawdle over is his food. Goood! Cuz I was gettin' REAL antsy to see what could been seen just into this bend in the river. So near I could almost touch it but, this garden patch was very important too. We were both rather grinning like idiots, I noticed. Very pleased with this start on our homestead. "So you think we might find some caves in that ridge right there?" I asked. "I sure hope so, since we've set up this garden plot here. But it sounds like there are a lot of caves in this area," he answered. So we hitched up again [not willing to get out of sight of any of our things] but instead of following the wagon tracks toward the north as Mother's clan had done, we stayed close to the river. It was going to be difficult to find a route for the donkeys and cart. I was so stiff from riding and then gardening that I volunteered to ride Midnight. Had to get the kinks out of my muscles, weak from so many days in bed. With Midnight and I scouting, we soon found a route wide enough for passage amongst the rocks and boulders. [hee hee....I like rocks too....couldn't wait to climb up and perch on some of them...just watching the river flowing by...] On our side...the north-side of the river, the ridge rose about 500' high. (????...IRL I'm lousy at number estimates so this number might change. LOL) The passage we found took us up above the river bank about two-thirds of the way. Below there was only a gradual hillside that evened out at the bottom. A wide flood plain arced in a semicircle as the river turned more southerly. We were on the outer rim of the gently bent curve. We sat there looking down the gentle slope to the bottom. There the hillside gave way to a wide stretch of lush grasslands on both sides of the river. Wow. The southern bank was low and flat enough to see for miles. Mebbe we could wave to Q's and Mo3B's homesteads? Seemed like it. The wide bend of the river was cupped on our northern side by the ridge line ....just a ways back from that lovely grassland. The rocks followed the same curve like a backwards "comma". DH spotted them first. I was gazing at my beloved water, wanting to bring the boat the next time and just bob around on it. But he pointed suddenly and said, "There it is!". The topmost ledge of rock came nearly straight out. A massive overhang for the ledge below it. It was the lower ledge that this passage was going to meet. "My gosh!" I exclaimed! "It's like the cliff dwellers! Are there caves and ...{gulp} are there any critters in residence already?" I was certainly thinking of the wildlife of the Rockies...Mt Lion and bear, specifically. Obviously they would be in areas like this. But the hibernation of bears was over and ...well, this was one job for Mighty Dog and her alert nose. "Wagons Ho..." I'd said quietly this time. THIS was what we'd been waiting for! I just KNEW we were HOME! MtRider [stuffing the journal into my jacket and taking up the reins.....whew, even writing about gardening is hard work! .....yes, of COURSE I am using adrenaline to keep going!!! ]

Not a pain at ALL, hon! I love your participation. [i think you should arrive in your own wagon with a small group sent on after us by Jacob and Joy..... ] As for boiling water, one thing you have to remember about the bubbles. Now, I assume it also applies in the ...ahem, lower elevations like 3,000' but the deal is this. It will begin to bubble and roll BUT it has not reached the traditional temperature of "boiling-at-sea level". That means if you are wanting to purify water at {pssst...what temperature does boiling indicate to low landers? } ______ degrees, then bubbles are not an accurate indicator. There must be some formula on this....for mountain hikers? We just let it boil away longer before putting the pasta in or whatever. It means more will evaporate, btw. And [again, not sure if this is higher like us] WHEN the pasta goes in ---- it gets all fizzy and froths right outta the pot. Unless you stir with an empty spoon and them quickly pour in the pasta or whatever, you're going to lose a LOT of your water over the sides. It took me forEVER to remember that when I moved here. Drown the stove repeatedly. ...or, drown the campfire, in our case. Many folks use those alterations but... I never did. I'm not an all-star cook tho. When baking cookies, we use a double layer cookie sheet tho. [ or two cookie sheets on top of one another] or you burn them before they're done. AND we cover brownies/cakes etc with aluminum foil and cut out the center -- leaving about an inch covering the edges. Cuz the edges get too done before the middle is cooked. MtRider

Dear Diary [THURSDAY] Mother and clan came back to "town" and she came to visit me. MrMtR walked in too. They'd passed by him on the way and he joined up returning here. Of COURSE I am in bed where they all think I belong. She had such news to tell. CAVES! Oh I was SO hoping there might be CAVES! Mother's group has found one [lots] and now I'm not gonna be satisfied until DrMtR and I can find one too. It has *always* been a fascination with me. Nooooo, I do not want to crawl thru itty-bitty places on my belly. NOT that type of cave. But 3rd book of Clan of the Cave Bear series type cave. Nice dry sturdy cave. Yep! I'm going cave hunting. Even if I have to give up my beloved BIG WATER, I want a cave. Understand the amount of stress I've been experiencing...primitive life way down at 3,000' elevation. I'm gonna DIE IN THE HEAT OF SUMMER WITH MS! Caves will solve that problem. I know DH & I have discussed endlessly HOW on earth we were going to keep me alive come summer. That's why we've been insisting on being right on a big body of water. I HAVE to keep cool below 75 degrees. I can take winter subzero but heat above 75 kills me quickly. OH yea! CAVES! Natural Air-Conditioning! What a relief. Other than falling badly and breaking my fool neck...heat is really the only thing about MY version of MS that will kill me. It had us so worried. So guess what? We're packing up the donkey cart with overnight supplies and going out to look around the area DH thinks might be a good spot. He did some digging on the fertile flats near the river. The spring floods look to gently fan out across this area so the soil is dark and with good balance between sand and clay. Loamy with organic material and ....there are earthworms! If a worm is happy, plants will be happy. [and MrMtR-the-fisherman will be happy too] Now where did I put that ph meter? I HOPE we're just a bit on the acid side. Majority of plants will do well. I am SO tired of the granite Rocky Mts giving us highly alkaline soil. Hard to deal with; needs constant modification. Now that DH has heard of the cave idea [guess I never mentioned it to him...] he likes the idea of not building [all by our decrepit old selves] the cabin. We've lived in a cabin and may build later but we want to focus on farming initially [crops/garden and livestock]. He has a couple areas for us to start looking for caves. Anyone know of a natural mortar we could use for stone working? MtRider [ I get to get outta prison! C'mon MizMM and Jack. Wagons HO! ]

No......I've just come DOWN SIX THOUSAND FEET from where I was living in the CO Rockies. I'm breathing just fine, thanks for asking. MtRider [ eagles for neighbors IRL up here...really! ]

Dear Diary, Hee heeheee...... Ms. Protocol does not know but today was the 3rd time I've slipped out the medical cabin window to go do my "resting" down by the lake. I just leave a large bump of blankets in my bed. I have a little secluded alcove in some willows down here. Water is so ......satisfying to me. Just like to feast my eyes upon it. Sometimes I wonder if we should have just parked along this huge lake somewhere. But...DrMtRider does not want to be in the midst of a lot of folks. So we're going to be running up the NE river. Not as far as Mother's clan but I hope we can be near enough to visit easily. We NEED neighbors in this life. DH has been riding up that way scouting out the sites. He's kinda got the general area but HAS to wait for me to get up OUTTA THE DURNED BED to be there choosing the final selection for the homesite. Think he was going to start some digging near the river, just to get something started for the plants. I did start some seedlings...a few each nite for the past week...well, until I got really sick. DH has been tending to them but I got a peak at them yesterday when I was AWOL. That danged donkey nearly gave me away too. She spotted me and hollered! {sigh} She ALWAYS hollers when she sees me and everyone knows it by now. I had to hop IN the window really fast and hang my head out as tho she had seen me there. Lucky for me there are bushes growing around this window and they are NOT thorny ones. Getting out in the fresh air has been good. I still get dizzy and tired quickly, but at this stage I need to move around some too. And besides, it's time for a change of scenery when one knows that there are 37 knot holes in the ceiling of the medical clinic patient room #1. Mebbe I'll just move over to patient room #2 and start counting there? MtRider .....sneaking back in the window cuz the clouds are making it chilly out here.... ]

Hi y'all.... Remember me? I have been struggling with health/energy/cognitive for as long as Wagons Ho has been running this winter. But sheeeeeeesh.... I am wearing out. I do think I might be getting a break in this siege. I hope. I've had some days that I actually got to catch up on the IMMEDIATE TO-DO list. I even was able to do a therapeutic ride Friday. That's been thwarted this frigidly cold winter due to snowpacked roads where we usually get solar power to clear them. So I have not even been on MrsS for ..days and days and days. Fortunately, y'all stuck me into the medical clinic cabin and proceeded on. But I'm going to have to read a lot to catch up before I can post again. And I'm not up to anything like that yet. Just now getting rid of yet another migraine-quality sinus headache. Been waking with them every morning. Takes me 2-3 hours to get them to clear. ....then the energy for the day is already depleted. But I wanted to at least let you know that I'm still planning to return and get ME outta the medical clinic. Mr.Mt. Rider had better be scouting for our home place and digging the veggie garden. Someone want to put us on the list for getting a field plowed? [MrS & J have brought in a couple horse-drawn plows to pass around for larger field planting. But there are a lot of folks who need to share these. Most gardens will be hand dug and we are pushing against time on some of the longer-growing things. ] OK...energy gone......but I still have to milk IRL....so I'm gonna say bye for now but I'll pop in as I can. this too shall pass........... MtRider

Remember while looking at Michael's wonderful map [isn't it coooool! ] that the tiny tree indicators are just that....not representing individual trees. But just that those areas are more heavily wooded. The areas without tiny tree indicators does NOT mean NO trees. There are plenty of trees here and there and EVERYwhere. But there is certainly more open land in the clear spaces on the map. You get to chose and tell us what you are finding. Same for the water. Any number of ponds, creeks, and streams are there to be found. A number of hot springs too. But the map shows our major lake [1 mile wide and 2 miles long approx] and the rivers. They are fed from the watersheds for miles around so they will be running year-round. Higher in spring of course. These rivers are not huge like the Mississippi. NOT! More like the width of two country gravel roads and their ditches. More or less. And deep enough for our watercraft of canoe/raft. ....um, we have to build those, huh? Streams will be shallow mostly but some deep fishin' holes. But the rivers are deep and running strong. [MtR trying to figure out how to harness some of that river=power! ] To get scale....remember the valley is 10x20 miles so I printed the map, then divided the length by 20 equal sections and the width by 10 equal sections and got a grid of square miles. A LOT of square miles here. As with Mother's computations of how many 40-80 acre plots can fit within a square mile.....we've got plenty of room. MtRider

{.....whooooooeeeee, here we go! IRL, however, MtRider is doing very poorly. Nothing to worry about but it just stinks! I have no energy, no coordination, no ability to *think* clearly, NO ABILITY TO TYPE CLEARLY.....and I'm having trouble with NETZERO knocking me off line or jamming so I have to shut down the computer and restart the whole business .....& hope I saved to a word processing file whatever I'd been working on. So if I'm scarce, you'll find me lounging on my comfy FEATHER BED in the back of the wagon and hoping for better energy and the return of MY BRAIN! WELCOME BACK WAGONEERS AND READERS } MtRider kinda hung back as the others went up to The Edge to look down over that beautiful valley. It was neat to just watch the reactions. We were here...finally home. Well, we would be once we got DOWN to the valley. That was gonna be a challenge. But hey, we've endured everything from helicopters to blizzards. This group [no longer two groups but melded into one by now with friendships extending throughout ] was toughened in body AND attitude. Whoops, now that person really doesn't like heights. Get her laying down, quick. Nah....she'll be fine. Let her walk down and it's not so bad. It's getting the wagons down that is .....yeah, that's pretty bad. But Edward and Clarence and even Jacob Rock have all taken wagons and teams down here intact. We'll make it....slow and careful. And no, none of those wagons ever came back UP to this mountain top. It's a one-way ticket ...for our wagons anyway. In fact two of the wagons brought by Mr Smith are staying up here. If we ever need to go fetch things from civilization, they will be handy. Mother's wagon is down safely and the next wagon is in place. Everyone has been warned to stay quiet so as not to startle the animals working this shift. The children and the rest of the animals are being kept well back at the last clearing and tended there. It kinda sounds like a golf tournament ...with a few quiet ooh&aaahs here and there. But mostly it is extreme focus on the business at hand. DH has our wagon hooked to the cable and .........[MtR tries to decide if she'll close her eyes or stare-without-blinking.....] Then she feels a hand grip hers and Mother is there to support her. "I DID happen to notice that you aren't feeling well today," says Mother. "I'm ok....not much more than ok..... " I answer. ... and I've decided to stare-without-blinking as DH and our oxen inch down and down this steep incline. The back wheels are skidding; not turning because of the large log crammed in to lock them up. I remember to take a breath now and then. Then that boulder is so CLOSE to the left rear wheel. The stupid log catches on it. Now what? They are almost to the leveling out area but DH can't go further forward. STUCK! The horses up by the cable winch are halted. Don't play out anymore line. Several strong men rush up to try to move the jamming log a little so that it will clear this obstacle. This large boulder won't move. I start fussing about how *I * should have driven. I was a professional driver of tour buses....DH needed to to swing wider on that curve! Fuss*Worry*Pace*Wring-Hands The horses are pulling IN the cable just a bit. The oxen are confused but DH is directing them back UP hill a few inches. Suddenly the log is freed and the men remove this temporary "brake" so the wagon can get thru this narrow spot. "Hold everything real tight," hollers Mr Hughes. "You'll be without the log braking you for the final few feet down. Don't worry, you're almost there anyway." Mother held on to me a while cuz apparently I'd unconsciously began to head down that hill to be closer to our little drama. "Wait," she said. "Just a moment and he'll get your wagon thru." And then it was done. Our oxen rumbled the last few feet and stopped for the cable to be loosed and wound back up [dragging the brake-log up too] for the next wagon. And my legs, none too sturdy on this day anyway......gave way. I sat smack down and all but dragged Mother with me. "I'm fine,.....just need to sit a bit." "You aren't bringing MM down with the cart, are you?" Mother asked. "No. Normally I would, but I just don't have the legs for it today. Mr.Mt.R will come back up and bring the cart down. We decided to use both donkeys since Jack has a steadying influence on MM. The cart has the long poles so it won't overrun them anyway. Later, I'll be going down on Midnight. Dh will take Roan down at the same time.....but he might walk her too. She's always a bit of an idiot and this isn't a good time for that." The donkey's were quite careful and slow enough they almost wouldn't have needed the restraining cable. Of course, nasty rocky hillsides are what they are bred for. The poultry & rabbit cages had been made quite secure on the cart and each cage was stuff rather full with dried grasses. Other than some quacking, honking, and scrabbling for position when the cart first tilted downward, all went very smoothly. Of course the goats had no trouble when it was finally time for the livestock herds to be encouraged over the edge. My four small does are showing their pregnancy but are not yet heavy enough to slow them too much. I was put right to bed again once we'd gotten our animals situated. I didn't need a second opinion. I think we all dropped 5 pounds these past two days. We are all glad the wagon train is back together and not split with some still up at the top. Mr.MtRider and I on our lovely featherbed in the wagon, discussing just how we plan to accomplish things with just the two of us. Or...the one and one-half of us..... if the past few days is any indication for me. Oh well, the garden and small fields first and once that's started, we can worry about anything else later. We plan to be right on the NE river and not too far for him to get to the medical clinic if he's needed. The tents we brought and the wagon will be just fine for the summer. But from our Duluth experience, fall comes and then a house of some kind will be needed. Plenty of trees and grass land in that area from what Clarence told us. We're getting very anxious to actually ride around and discover WHERE our new home and lands will be. Are we there yet??????? Almost! MtRider

Thanks, Annarchy. You made me Sheesh, y'all. Ready to see the Valley already? OK HOMEWORK FIRST........ I need some geometry done. ---You have a valley basin floor which is 10 miles by 20 miles roughly. Oval shape. Think REALLLLLY LARGE football stadium with the seats representing the hillsides going up and up and up. ---The North and Eastern sides are pretty steep. the Eastern side is 1,500 feet UP altho not a sheer cliff. Only towards the top. ---The South and West sides are much more gradual and not as high. {that's part of what we are figuring...} More mountains beyond them further away. [{sheesh} can't even spell "mountain"....my brain is NOT doing well IRL, btw ] OK...what I am looking for is an estimate for Winter Solstice [Dec] and Summer Solstice.....what time would the sun hit the valley in the morning AND what time would it set in the evening. At those two extreme times per year. Basic question, how much are the mountains around us going to affect our sunlight hours in the summer and in the winter????????? AND....does it matter much between the East side of the valley and the West side of the valley???? {10 miles wide} Anyone want to take this on? MtRider.... Happy New Year everyone. [yes, I know it's JANUARY in 3 hours..... BUT WHO SAID WE ROLL OUT ON JANUARY FIRST?????? ]

Wow, excellent! No worries. No matter how much we know individually, we can never each know as much as we ALL know collectively. Keep it coming. Mother...you have people doing 'homework' on Christmas..... ...oh yeah, I'm here too. AND I watched "Westward the Women" today with my mom. Coool!!! MtRider [ who says we've got a W*Ho addiction problem... It's important research! ]

Can I be lazy and not look this up myself? What years did the pioneers take the wagons west? I'm thinking of doing a email story like this for my far-away Grsons. I'd make up a pioneer family which just happens to match their family characters. Mom/Dad/Auntie/Boy1 & Boy2. Grson1 may be able to read it to little brother if I keep the words simple. Something I'm pondering while missing family so far away..... MtRider [...I *think* this family will head for the Colorado Rockies... ]

Well I'm gonna search for my plot of land till I find one that has a nice&hot [...but not TOO hot] springs right there. I will put up a greenhouse around it and add the cabin onto that. Sulfer-smelling heating. Hmmm......... Wracking my brain for low-tech but also low manual labor means&ways. MtRider [ ...... did I mention my IRL hot tub is now kaput? And no tub in the tiny bathroom either, only shower. Wah! ]