quiltys41

uh yeah, sort of like that! I was trying to imagine something along those lines while writing, but I kept getting queesy so I had to stop it lol. Q PS...Leah thanks for all the help here in the comments. You have been giving us some really nice tips and links to help us research and write the story with. For that you get a big

Herd 'em up and move 'em out! We're ready to get a move on lol. Yippeee ^^^^^ Q/ Mr.Q

This is one place I am so happy to have the hubby along! I kept looking over the edge, down that steep path, then over the edge again. I am SO afraid of heights that I keep having to remember to breathe, one, two, three, four. Breathe in, breath out. Whew. Is this one of those little gulley's? I saw Mt.R. and Mother watching the guys take the wagons down so I got behind them quietly and watched too. It was as if the men had been doing this all along. They moved like a well-oiled machine. One hooked up the cable, two would put the pole through the back wheels, another one would check the hitchings on the oxen and one checked the horses. Over and over, wagon after wagon they went. There were a few mishaps along the way but nothing that got anyone or anything hurt. We decided to stay up top the first night and hubby fell right to sleep, almost exhausted from all the hard physical labor during the day. He had worked himself beyond his usual and I knew the next morning he wouldn't be moving well, if at all. That had me worrying that he may not be up to driving the wagon down that steep slant of a path. So, what would happen if it was me that had to drive down it?? and with as much as I hate heights?? Ha, I would have to drive without a blindfold too. This was too serious to be messing around. Hubby snored and I worried. Such went the first night.... The next morning, they guys were right back at it again. Our wagon was to be the second one down today. I was thankful for that since it gave hubby a chance to loosen up and get a good bunch of coffee down him before even trying to get that wagon going. Maybe there was another way? Where is that helicopter when you need it?? I saw hubby coming from the fire where everyone had been eating breakfast, two cups of coffee in hand. I got a scolding for skipping breakfast again, but I was so wound up that I just couldn't stand the thought of eating until we were all down off of here safely. We both stood there quietly looking out over the land, sharing coffee together. The lake had the sun on it today and it shown like diamonds flickering all over it's surface, dancing around like gems in a roller. How pretty even if it was cold up here. I wondered what it was like down there, next to the water? Hubby has grown up on the water, always near a river. I knew he was looking at the lake and could see him following the path of the rivers, especially the southern one. I had to ask him what he was thinking even though I already knew the answer. "So," I said, "what are you thinking hon? Are you wanting us to live on the river? I know you have always been on one your whole life and I don't want you to have to change that now. Just because we live in a different part of the country doesn't mean you have to give up the water too." "Yep," he said, "I do want to live back on the water. I don't think I want to live on the lake so much any more. I'm not as young as I once was. I think I would rather live on a slow moving river or even just a good sized stream would suit me now. Just so that we will have water, one way or the other, year round." I just squeezed his hand gently letting him know that I loved him and we would do what he thought best. My eyes followed the South river off of the lake, down below the dam until it went out of sight behind a big grove of trees. Such a beautiful place to call home! I was getting antsy to get down there and stake out a claim. Michael called the hubby over to the wagons and I followed along for a bit, staying off to the side out of the way of all the people working to get us down off of the mountainside and into the valley below. I watched as they attached the cable to the wagon, checked the harnesses, hooked up horses and put the pole in the back wheels, missing the spot where there was a spoke still gone from the last time we had to try this little trick. That's when we were getting away from the floods caused by the Chinook. Hubby climbed up into the wagon, ready to slowly head the oxen on down the trail. I went through everything I did that morning in my head battening down the hatches for the ride down. I just hoped the chickens would co-operate since I had thrown a cover over their cage. We didn't need them squawking and flying around today. I prayed hard that everything stayed secured while he was edging the wagon downward. Little by little they went, with me at the top watching and praying. I think I forgot to breathe more than once. One time before they were half way down I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder and someone telling me to sit down before I fell down! So I sat, they drove and before I knew it, my hubby and our wagon was safely down to the next clearing. I wanted to jump up and shout or run right down the trail and plant a big wet kiss on the hubby! I had watched him wincing, trying to hide the pain. He had a time keeping the oxen doing as they should, but he managed. Just like I knew that he would. He was a man I could count on, one who never gave up and didn't know the meaning of the word, no matter how bad he was feeling. I promised myself to remember to scratch his back tonight until he fell asleep, one of his favorite things. We both hung around the top after he climbed back up the trail. We helped the others get down too and bring down any livestock needing it and checking around the campsite to make sure nothing was left there that wasn't supposed to be. Then we took that long steep walk down off the last mountain that lead to home. It was a bit sad knowing that our trip would soon be ending, that all of these people we had both come to know and admire would soon scatter all over the valley and not be as close as a call out the back of the wagon. I was going to miss being that close to everyone. It would take some getting used to, us being alone in the boonies again. But there would be barn raising's to help with, meetings to go to, church to attend and things that would need done between neighbors. I'm sure we wouldn't be lonely too long. And then there was the other hand, we weren't ending things, we were beginning them. This was a new life ahead of us. One we would create all on our own. We would carve out our own place on the land. It wouldn't be tamed for sure, but it would be worked. There was a house to build, a barn to build, chicken coop, outhouse, etc...all that needed to be carved out of this wilderness on our own land, by us. No, we weren't ending anything...we were just starting! Q

Thanks Mother, I was starting to wonder lol. I thought it was the Vista too. And thanks so much to Michael for making the map and Wormie for emailing it to me. I tried to take it and overlay a 10x20 grid over it, but I am so puter illiterate that I can't do it lol. Will have to go read what everyone is writing and see what I can come up with today in between that and planning out this years garden and getting the seed order together, going to have a full day! Hugs e1... Q

Must be me, but there isn't one on the picture that comes up on windows Vista? No magnifying glass either. And if you click on that little black bar or the words "not to scale" is does absolutely nothing (no I don't use a pop-up blocker). Guess hubby and I don't get to play now? Or can we pick a place without having the blowup of them map? Not sure how this is gonna work LOL... Q

I can't get it to open into another window either. No magnifying glass??? LOL, I need a magnifying glass to find the magnifying glass! Q

And those on the east slope are going to have less sunlight per day also. Since the sun rises in the east, it will take it longer to come over the higher mountains on that side. Also will effect the NE and SE corners of the oval about the same. Best amount of sunlight may be right smack dab in the middle of the valley. If you go to the west side, you will gain the morning sun but lack the afternoon or early evening sun due to those mountains, but not as bad as the east side since the mountains on the west side are further away and cause less of a problem blocking the sunlight that way. LOL I hope that makes sense???? Hummmm I think there is going to be a race on here shortly LOL Q

Since I usually get up around 2am every night....I wonder if I will find a new "Wagons Ho!" thread open and ready??? Mother, that was really cute!! Q

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas? Just peeking out from under a pile of "homework" to say HI! lol...to be honest, I haven't gotten too far on it because IRL got in the way, dern it! But I have gotten a couple of books now to read, lots of articles bookmarked on line, plans to draw up...oh and have to find time to plan out the garden for 2010 IRL and get needed seeds ordered. Don't need too much, but will need some like zipper cream peas. Try to check in again before new years but I am just itching to get started again on the story!! Q

Hmmm, I like the farmers market idea. It would be a good place to buy/sell/barter for food and livestock too. I know we will be on the look out for some gilts once we get a homestead going. I have got to have my bacon, ham and lard!! And maybe for the quiltingbee and such, if we had a community building there where the farmers market is held, it could double for those things too. Wow, ya' know, this is hard work setting up a place lol... Q

Thanks for that link Mother, it's great and I bookmarked it under my research stuff. 10 x 20 acres? WOW, that is way bigger than I thought it was! Very nice in deed. Okay, that will make planning for us a little easier too. And I will hold off posting that pic I drew up until later on. Good idea. I am so glad that I spoke up first before just posting it lol. I could have gotten into deep doo-doo! I agree, it is almost as much fun and I am really getting into this, can ya' tell lol?? Thanks for sharing that idea! Sounds like a good one. But I am having a tough time just doing one map lol. Maybe I will do a second one leaving off all the scribbles and stuff and make it one of what we want the finished place to look like when we are all done with it? Sound like a plan? Mt.R.....thanks for fixing my post on the size of the valley. I wouldn't want anyone to read that and get the wrong dimensions. You're a sweetie. Q

That was fun to read so thanks for posting it! I was one of the ones MIA lol. Q

And you, my dear, are first in line at the W*Ho treatment center...lol I understand real life getting swamped for the next couple of weeks and I look forward to y'all beginning to illustrate through the written word, your dream homesteads. Knowing MR, Mother and AH, there'll be monkey wrenches thrown in from time to time, but that's how we all learn. As an outsider to this journey, I want to thank every participant because for your contributions. I know that not only I, but all your readers, have learned alot. Just yesterday, one of my puppies fell into the water outside and got stuck and was freezing and crying. Reading about hyperthermia in the W*Ho thread brought to mind things I could do to help get this puppy warmed up and safe again. If I were y'all, I'd be making all the lists you'll need so that you can BOMBARD Mt Rider once she starts your new W*Ho homesteading thread in January. Give her a taste of her own medicine, albeit a different flavor. lol Wow, I am so glad you could save your puppy Darlene! Now you see why we try to be careful not to give out wrong or misleading info when we cover "real" topics in our UN-reality story everyone. It could be used by someone like Darlene did. What if we had given out bad information? That would be disasterous in my thinking. Really, I am just so tickled that we could play even a small tiny part in helping out Darlene! Hey, have you posted any pictures of all of them yet and I just missed them somehow? I really love seeing puppies. And one of my most favorite smells in the world is puppy breath LOL. Yeah, I'm a nut. I just love the simple things of life! CeeGee, I think a church would be so wonderful! To me, God is the center of my life followed closely by my Husband and my family. So I really need a shepard here on earth too lol. I don't know how the others feel, but for me, I would love to see a church and quick too! Even like Michael said, something outside would be great! Outside worshiping our God surrounded by the majesty of His handywork! Excellent idea! CeeGee, If you can garden, even a little then that will help. Don't worry, you will have pleanty of neighbors to help you with what you don't know or understand. Same for canning and such too. Hey we all came this far together so now is no time to abandon that closeness and sense of community, right?! Get together with some of us, whoever you would like and find out if they can be a neighbor to you and give you a hand learning some of this. Maybe someone that doesn't know how to cook on a woodstove but wants to learn? You could trade lessons in that for maybe gardening or canning lessons. Or lessons on how to raise livestock! I don't know about the others here, but I love teaching people how to do that stuff. It's like passing on a dying art or craft. You pass it on in hopes that it wont die out or get lost. And especially in a situation like this where it will help someone do better in their lives. It's rewarding to teach stuff and to find someone to learn it is like hitting the lottery lol. Did I mention that I agreed we need some kind of law and order in our new place? Yep, and I thought I would throw out a suggestion. That we have kind of a town counsil with maybe three from Mr. H's wagon train and three from ours. And I would like to nominate Mt.R., Mother and Michael for those three spots! LOL! Hey, they did a great job leading us here and getting every one of us through. I thought they would be great to keep that going as town counsil members! One more thing...As I go through Mt.R's old posts on Wagon's Ho, I am writing down the stuff...like the place is 10x20 [edit..MILES, not acres] and surrounded by mountains on all sides. And that there are streams all over the place. Stuff like that. Then I am going to draw up a rectangle of our 80 acres and start drawing in where I want the house, the well, trees, the barn, the garden, etc...I am going to scan it into the computer and then post it here in the comment section if that is okay with everyone?? I wont do it if you all think I shouldn't! But I just thought a visual like that may help someone else out in planning their own spot and if we get some comments back on ours, we could do some changing on it for the better! :wink (2): Okay off to read. Have a blessed Sabbath everyone! Q

Oh yeah that makes tons of sense! And I like that idea. We could all help each other security wise and helping each other in the summer with canning and such without too much distance to cover. What about a road (dirt is fine) in the middle of it, like going in between the four houses putting two to a side? I know roads and such are way down the road pardon the pun lol, but it's just an idea to throw out there... PS...I don't think there isn't one person in our group that I wouldn't welcome as a neighbor! LOL even city girls! Q

Hehehehe Annarchy that post was a hoot! I am still giggling lol. Sounds like our homes are much alike! Ahem...now to that little teeny ? about the law and order...I still think we ought to string up the bad guys and hang 'em! Hang 'em high! Oh woops...sorry lol. Been watching a slew of westerns lately. I don't know why either? I would vote for some kind of town counsel being set up. Maybe 2 or 3 representatives from each wagon train? If so can I be the first to nominate? Okay I didn't hear any NO's so I would love to nominate Mt. R., Mother and A.H. who did such a fine and wonderful job of getting us here and leading us to the land of milk and honey! The laws to govern us being those set up by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and The Declaration of Independence. Others as needed. Just an idea and wondering what everyone else has come up with? Oh this should be fun to do! Really! Now about that land....are we drawing this up in square or rectangular sections? With the size given of the valley floor below, sounds like either would work. I am getting out pen to paper and taking more notes as I go back through old posts of Mt. R's looking for clues. LOL I feel like Inspector Clueseau. Hehehe... Oh, and for anyone else interested in that book I mentioned earlier about Women of the old West and how they dealt with homesteading and such here is the info Leaning Into the Wind: Women Write From The Heart Of The Old West Edited by Linda Hasselstrom, Gaydell Collier, and Nancy Curtis ISBN 0-395-83738-3 Houghton Mifflin Company Okay off to search for more clues, dream about the homestead and wonder what this 12 step program will be like lol. Q

<<<<<kicks the ground walking around mumbling about being lost without anything to write. So has everyone been thinking about the land they would like to have? I was wondering what some of yall are looking for besides the obvious...water! I'm not sure but think we would like about a 50-50 mix pasture and woods...what do yall think? Pasture for animals and wood to burn in the woodstove and to make the buildings with? And to shade the house? Yes? No? Ack! LOL Q

OH NO!!! It's locked! I can't type in my day? UGH And here I was so hoping to get in this great post about how the valley looked all laid out below us and something happening to our wagon and oh well shoot!! I don't want to give too much of it away. Maybe I can remember it later when we are allowed to post? I hope I still have internet after the holidays. If not, I have to say it has been a joy and an honor to do this story with everyone! Gee, I have learned so many new things that I had to buy another three ring binder today lol. I had stuff laying all over that I had printed out while doing research and stuff. Even ended up buying a few used books on line about women in the Oregon Trail trains and one really good one called "Leaning Into the Wind" about women in the old west and how they set up homesteading after they got off the Trails and such. And I have learned much from each of you too. There is so much knowledge here that I am just in awe of yall. So if I don't post much, I am reading and learning and scared to death of appearing stupid by asking dumb questions LOL. And reading yall's recollections of being younger made me think back on my own. I was raised Brethren, which is Anabaptist like the Mennonites and Amish. We farmed with my Uncle who had 500 head of dairy cows. Milking was about an all day chore. I remember very well how to muck out stalls lol. And how to squirt a barn cat in milk. I loved doing that and watching all the other barn cats run over to the one I had squirted, licking all the milk off of it hehehe. And the gardens were huge at our place too. It was 3 acres every year of veggies. The corn was separate and over to my uncles place down the road since he raised sweet corn every year to sell. I still hate pulling weeds to this day! Every evening during the garden season, right after dinner, Mom would march us kids out to the garden and show us what the plants looked like that we weren't supposed to pull in that row. Each kid got their own row and there were 5 of us at the time. And you couldn't leave one weed in that row either! If you did, no popcorn later! So every night except Sunday night we all weeded the garden. Ugh. So that's why I have such a hard time making myself get out there as an adult and do the weeding, because it was a "have to do" when I was younger. But then no one really does like to do weeding, right? Well guess I will go read what kind of cliff hanger we have over there and see if I can't jot down some notes jik I get lucky and am on line after the first of the year. Q

I am so tired tonight that it's hard to write. I just hope I don't do another nod off into this journal lol. It was a tough climb today and we didn't make as much mileage as we thought. Too steep and hard on the teams so we just took it nice and slow. Even so, you can tell tonight that the team is over tired. Looks like they want to sleep and chew at the same time. Hubby checked them over good and put salve on them where the yoke was wearing hard against them. I just hope that it doesn't get too much worse for them tomorrow when we get to the really rough part! It's good that we all stopped tonight instead of trying to take that in the twilight time when you can't see good. I would rather have bright sun thanks. And oh that Mt. R... If she doesn't get some rest tonight after riding all day I am going to sit on her lol. There for awhile Mother and I had to keep an eye on her so she didn't go back and help pick up stuff left downhill. You could just tell by the look on her face she wanted to go with the guys. But she was good. Stayed up here with the rest of us and rested. Still thinking about Sasha's touchdown lol. That was some play too, she out-ran all the guys! Then tonight around the fire we were treated to some wonderful singing by CeeGee's family. Her oldest boy sang my very favorite show tune "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera. I just loved that! I have the soundtrack to it even though I may never get to hear it again. I love Sarah Brightman who sings the lead ladies part in it. Anyways, dinner tonight was provided by Chef mostly and kind of a potluck from others. It was really good and tasty but sad to eat thinking this might be our last night on the trail. I want to get to our new home, but it has been wonderful traveling with everyone. We really have become a team. I just hope we all keep tightly connected when we get to the valley, and not drift away from each other. That would be too sad to take. Boy is Mr. Q tired tonight or what? I think they can hear his snoring clear down into the Valley below LOL..sounds like a freight train coming through. Worse than his usual. It might have something to do with all the clean fresh air up here too along with all the good hard work. I'm not going to be awake much longer either. Just want to make sure a few things are secure and others put away before we take off tomorrow morning. No sense waiting till the last minute to do it. I know most are sleeping tonight dreaming of what lies ahead of us tomorrow. That last final turn before we can see the valley laid out below us. I keep trying to imagine what it looks like. I see a huge clearing full of tall green grasses. Trees lining up along the bottom of the mountains. Streams running to and fro along in the grass from all the run-off of snow coming down from the mountains as it melts away. It would be nice if there was at least one or two year round ones that ran all along the valley and everyone had access to it. Would sure cut down on having to water the live stock. Oh and the mountains ringing the valley inside. Tall but beautiful, capped with snow. Ahhh...well enough of this dreaming. If I don't get things done I wont see if that is what it's really like tomorrow LOL. Night all and God bless. Q

Been a long day of uphill climbing today. And I for one am glad to be out of the wagon and on somewhat level ground right now. I think there are permanent fingernail imprints in the side of the wagon seat where I had ahold of it today! There were a couple of places where the going got so tight that I thought we would surely go over the side and down the mountain. Curves here and there added to the fun of going up, up and away! Really I am hoping that we start down pretty soon because I am having a hard time breathing up here. To bad an oxygen tank weighs so much because me and a few others around here could use one right now. Including Mr. Q. The oxen are pretty tuckered out tonight and hubby made sure to give them some grain too to go along with their grazing. They did a lot better than I thought they would. It was slow and steady all day. No real signs of them struggling. I wonder if they do better in the thinner air than people do? We will continue to keep a close eye on them as we go. I don't want to wear them out so bad that they get hurt. Or we do. Might have to stop a few times on the way down. It just seems like that is going to be harder than going up. Maybe I'm nuts lol. But hubby found a nice log about 8 foot long and it's about a foot around, maybe a little bigger. He says it will do just fine for a "brake" for the back wheels. The idea is to stick it into the spokes of the back wheels all the way across inside the two wheels and up by the bottom of the wagon so that the wheels are locked into place and wont move. It wont stop the wagon from moving on the downhill like we are facing, but it will slow the wagon up so that it doesn't run away from us. At least that's the hope lol. It was good to see Mr&Mrs. Mt. R. out at the fire tonight. She sure got a ribbing from all of us about breaking her own rules...again!...but, she has to know that we only do it out of love and concern for her well-being. If we didn't care, we wouldn't tease. But she posed and interesting question to us. Well it had a few parts to it lol. See hubby and I are used to being alone together on the homestead and we have been for almost 5 years now since I retired from nursing. We go to town or just down to our little burg maybe once a week. We got a few things at the store and went to the local veterans club just to say howdy and have a coke. Otherwise, we were on our own just the two of us. If something came up, we handled it. We have had bears near us, deer, rabid coons, a few copperheads (one even got into the house IRL and I found it by stepping on its tail! ) which hubby dispatches to snake heaven lol. But we are used to being together and know when something is wrong and how to deal with it. We have our own signals worked out and have had to back each other up before. I know we will have way more than 5 acres now, so we will have to work something out there just about the size of the place we will have to cover. I think we will end up using the whistle first, then the three shots. It's not like I can call out and he will hear me if he's at the other end of the acreage. I also know what I can handle, what I can't and where my limits are. So if for some reason he would have to go into the village without me, I can and have taken care of myself. Never over night though and we may need to look at the possibility of that happening and what to do about it. He too may also have to face that possibility if I get stuck out overnight on a medical call, especially babies lol. They have a way of wanting to show up finally after midnight. I'm sure we will talk this out together and change what we are used to doing to fit our new situation. It wont be near as hard on us as it will be some of the others who are used to being in the city or have never had to live out in the "sticks" lol. But we may need to look at having someone work with them on shooting and such too. I keep forgetting not everyone shoots a gun like we do. Well it looks like most everyone is gone from the fire. Just a few are left sitting there talking. Oh shoot. I was going to ask about everyone getting together weekly or every couple of weeks for church once we all get to the valley? It would be a good way to give thanks, honor Him and catch up on all the goings on too. Maybe a potluck lunch to go along with it? Well I will bring up the idea next time I see Mt. R. or Mother. They can take it to Mr. H. and see if we can get some kind of announcement on it before we all break up to go onto our own places once we get to the valley...Hey! How are we going to know which ones are ours and where they are? LOL...I can get lost in a city block I swear. Well time for bed. We have a long day ahead tomorrow and I have some of that bread left and some of that pepperoni I swiped from back at the smokehouse in that homestead. Maybe I will just make us something out of that for a change of pace. See ya all tomorrow and God bless us all as we keep on heading toward our new home... Q

It's a nice morning to start our final climb today. Not hot, no rain, just lots of sun for once. You can almost feel the change in the weather to that of Spring. I know it comes late up here where we are now so I have to wonder what it's like already down in the Valley we will be calling home. Is it getting too late to plant yet? I imagine some things like the turnip greens are going to have to wait for the fall garden and too it's going to be a chore to get that ground turned just as fast as we can. The sooner it's turned, the more we can get planted. And that is going to be a MUST to get us through this winter coming. Our food supplies are dwindling so we have to get that produce and have it put up so we wont starve our first winter out! I know hubby is an excellent hunter, so there will be NO problem getting meat. But you can't live on that alone lol. I have to do my part of it too by putting up the produce. Hubby and I make a good team that way. Well Mother was nice enough to have a little chat with me yesterday and try to allay any fears I had of trying to decide what we might have to pitch over the side of the wagon. She is so sweet and I just don't know what we would do without her. But I do feel a bit better about things and not so worried today. So far, we are making it up the "hill" lol just fine. The oxen are working at pulling but not so hard that they seem stressed. If they look like they are having a time of it, I will get out and walk. I don't mind walking it's just that the air up here is so thin and I am not used to it. We are used to about 400' above sea level, not 4000'. So I get a little short of breath, but if you stop and take a break every so often, it isn't too awful bad. I am just looking forward to not having blue fingernail beds again lol. Looks like I put a soft pastel blue paint on my fingernails! And I never paint 'em. Too much work to do with my hands and I never could find a kind that didn't chip off in all that work. Anyways...back to the climb. We are stopped right now for lunch. That stew is still hot wrapped in the quilts. I dished hubby and I up a bowl with a chunk of that bread for dunking. Pretty tasty! We were watching the goats running around up and down the rocks. They look like kids just out on spring break lol. Someone brought something green to Mother to look at. Looks like fiddle heads to me. Those are mighty tasty eating! We used to have them back home too. Every spring you would find them in the woods out behind our house growing. I like them fried up but some folks like to eat those raw in a salad. Course we like everything fried lol. Which reminds me I am going to have to see if we can get a couple of gilts from somebody. I need to raise a few hogs to butcher so I have my lard to cook with and a change of pace in the meat besides deer and squirrel and rabbits. Oh and chickens lol. Darn rooster! Oh for heavens sake! I see Mt. R out of the wagon! Don't tell me she is going to ride today? Oh yep, see I thought she would lol. At least someone is riding with her so she doesn't go off on her own again. She still seemed a little confused yesterday and she might ride off not meaning to. I think she will be right as rain in a few more days. Well as right as she can be lol. That gal has some spunk for sure. Well time to clean up lunch mess and get back to the trail. Will write more later tonight after we camp and dinner is done... Q

Wow was that part hitting home. Home. Grace will lead me home. That word sounded so good after all this time on the trail. Even after two days of rest, I am so tired and I just want to go HOME. It was a long day today trying to decide what we needed to get rid of if anything. Hubby is worried about the weight in the wagon and getting over into the valley. Even though we only have one wagon, it contains all the things (minus my medical supplies) we will need to set up homesteading in the valley. All the seeds, tools, etc...that we have are all in one space. What of it would we be willing to part with if it got to the point that we would have to dump something out over the side in order to make it? Surely not the wood stove. It's under 100 pounds since it's small. But large enough to keep our soddie warm until we can gather enough stones for a fireplace. Heat is a necessity. His gun smithing tools and reloading equipment? I can't see that going out of the wagon and off the side of the trail down the mountain. Those are things that will be needed by all of us in the wagon train. Canning jars? Hand tools? My sewing machine? There really isn't anything in there that wouldn't be considered needed. Maybe the kitchen table and chairs? That's really it, the furniture. But then what takes the place of your bed or your table? Oh this is so hard. But those are the things that we centered inside the wagon. Easier to get at if it has to go and with it centered, it should be easier on the oxen I hope. Our four oxen. It's going to depend on them, so we have been watching them so carefully the past two days. Checking for any problems with their hooves, making sure they are eating. Hubby even put a little extra feed out for them. He got into my cracked corn lol, but it's worth it. So I let him and said nothing. Laundry is caught up and stored. I have a loaf of bread in the dutch oven right now baking so thought I would catch this up a bit. The bread smells so good that it's making my stomach growl. I am going to make a pot of stew when the bread is done with some of the meat being passed out. I just need a handful or so of the chunks, not much. I will brown that up good and put a cup or two of water in there. Let it cook for awhile with some seasonings (Worcestershire, salt, fresh ground pepper) and throw some of the dehydrated chopped onion in with it. Then about an hour or less from being done, I will put in some dehydrated potato chunks, carrots, peas, corn and more onion. Let that simmer for a half hour to an hour until it's good and thickened up. We will have that the next two nights with the bread. Before we leave tomorrow, I will set it to boiling with some more water in it. Then take it off the fire to cool just a little, put it in the wagon with quilts wrapped all over and around it. That should keep it warm enough. I know I wont feel like cooking tomorrow night and we have no way to refrigerate it so the only option for me is to throw more in it and cook it slow during the day wrapped up like that. Makes it almost like a crock pot. I am going to make some tea today too for dinner. I found some mint growning wild when I was doing the laundry. I picked a bag full and took a tablespoon and dug up a few plants that I wrapped in a wet towel and then wrapped it with plastic bags I had stashed inbetween canning jars as a cushion for them on the trail. But I filled a half gallon canning jar with some mint leaves and fresh water, put the lid on and set it in the sun in the wagon seat. I will take that and set it in the stream before dinner to cool it off. It wont be iced tea, but it will be pretty darn cool. That water was cold! I went over and checked on Mt. R. today. She seemed better but was having a time of it with the muscle spasms. That was early this morning. I haven't gotten over there again but want to before everyone goes to sleep tonight. I do hope she is able to at least move around the wagon by tomorrow morning. I don't think she will be able to get out and walk it tomorrow along the trail though. Ha, she may prove me wrong too. She has that "can do" spirit and I admire her for it too. I am going to need some of that too if I have to get out and walk the trail tomorrow. It would take out 175 pounds from the wagon. It's not much less for the oxen to pull, but every little bit will help them go just that much further. I don't want to make it harder on them. Hubby will have to drive the team so he will have to stay in. Maybe. He may have to head them up too...don't know. I hope someone will do a little quick in-service on this today. Most of us have never had to drive a wagon over mountains before. Yeah mountains. I think we left the hills back awhile ago! Well the bread is done so I am off to mix up meat and seasonings for the stew. Please say a prayer as we face our toughest challenge yet tomorrow. Gee, I think it's tomorrow lol. Ya' know, I haven't seen Mr. H. or Mother out telling us we are moving out in the morning. Wonder what's going on there? Q

It's been one of those days that are so stressful that you want to say "Cut! Let's do that scene over again and make sure things aren't so rough this time!" But this isn't a movie and we can't do that. And here I sit in my wagon near tears. It's just the stress of almost loosing a friend today. I checked in on her earlier and she seems to be improving little by little. She is able to keep her own body temperature in check now, so they have taken off most of the quilts. I just looked at her laying there so still and quiet and it hit me how very close we came to loosing her and how much of a, well, I can't even think it now. It's no picnic out here and I am afraid that in this journal I have made it seem almost too easy. It's not. There are days where we have slugged it out with the animals who didn't want to put one more step down. The nights we had to treat the oxen's necks with ointments and salves because the yoke wore on them so much because we had to push them so hard, like the day of the Chinook. And the days that the going gets so tough that we had to get out and walk to make it easier on the animals. We can only push them so hard. To loose them, we loose our way of being able to plow gardens and feed ourselves. They must be put ahead of our own needs at times, they are that precious. For a time, there will be NO replacing them. And the walking. The blisters that formed on our feet from not being used to the shoes or just from walking father than we thought we were ever able to do. Days on end of it. Days where I thought I would drop five miles back down the trail yet still found the strength from God to go on. Even some of the children had them. And having to treat them all, salves and ointments, thick socks and rest. I hurt me to see the little ones hurting. So back into the wagon they went. That's the times where families had to put something out over the side or maybe if they were lucky, another wagon to take it on for them. There is a trial of "unnecessary" items strung from here back to the Rockin' J. All of it needed at the start. But once things and the going got tough, all the sudden they weren't as needed as we once thought. And the times we struggled to find water. It wasn't "just there" every night. Some nights we camped with no water available. Where we watered the animals first. We came last. Thirst was always there looking us in the face, a real possibility. Lucky for us this wasn't the Oregon Trail and we did find it sooner or later, unlike some of those who went before us and died of thirst along that trail. Yes, it's been another one of those days again. I just pray we all make it and that we are all happy with where we have chosen to live. None of it will be easy. Not for a few years anyway. It will keep being like this, hard work and little rest. Maybe not the thirst or the blisters, but there will be other things to take their place. Of that I am sure. Do we have that pioneer spirit still inside us? Can we really make it out here? I worry about some come winter. I just shake my head in wonder. I almost lost one friend today and don't plan on loosing any to this land. I will do what I can, that's all I can do. Well I suppose I should sleep but I think I will just put up the journal and turn off the light and lay here awhile listening to the sounds of the night in the camp. I'll file those away to take out one day and remember. Oh, there goes Mother to the fire, she's carrying something. Best off the light so I don't disturb her. She looks almost as deep in thought as I am... Q

Well it's been another one of "those" days again. We had a good rest last night and a half way decent meal. Most of us enjoyed the fire and each others company, all talking about what kind of house we wanted to build, what we would be planting in the gardens and such as that. Most of the guys went over the fine points in the building, leaving us ladies to figure out how we wanted things set up inside for ease of use mostly. Seems that we will all be living in soddies the first year or so until we can get the barns built for the animals and the gardens going good. Since the animals are our food, we really do need to do the barns first, then the houses. Besides that, many barns can have a room or two made inside of them to live in until a house can be built. I know many friends of mine have done it this way for years still in this day and age lol. Well we set off this morning okay, early as usual. Everyone moved out just fine and there was more of the same up hill and down, then up hill and around a bend then up hill again. I sure don't know how they got Mothers wagon through those really tight passages, but now I am thinking there was a reason for it and that reason was to save another's life. Not too awfully long after we left out of camp (about the second up hill again lol) I saw Mt.R. ride by our wagon going back the way we came. I gave out a "hello" as she went by and a wave. She sure looked like a woman on a mission lol. Didn't think much more of it for awhile. Hubby was doing his usual He-man driving of the wagon and getting the oxen to listen to him without stalling or balking at going around those tight places. I don't think I have the nerves of steel it takes to do that. I started kidding the hubby about it when I saw Mt.R. ride by again on her horse but she didn't look right? She was sort of slumped over in the saddle and looked like she was barely hanging on. This isn't right! I told hubby to hold up the wagon. Someone else must have seen her too because whistles started blowing up ahead of me. I jumped out of the wagon running up ahead as fast as my fat little legs would carry me, which isn't too fast. Someone up ahead got her horse stopped. I got there just as someone asked her what was wrong. I thought it was her MS again so I hollered out to pull her down of that horse right now and get her into Mothers wagon. So a couple of the guys did just that with her mumbling the whole while. Huh? I couldn't make out what she was saying...something about shooting a fish on her horse??? They got her into Mother's wagon and they were promptly shooed outside by Mother. One of the guys said she feels like ice! Oh shoot, she's wet and cold! We got her clothes off of her, or what was left of them as fast as we could. Then someone came up with a stack of quilts. We got them wrapped around her after putting her on the bed. Up on top of her and around her head. All you could see was her face. Someone handed in a bunch of those chemical hand warmer packets. We activated them and stuck them down around her feet, up by her head and under her arm pits trying to warm her up quickly but not too quick. That would just send her into shock and we would run the risk of loosing her. I asked if someone could make some warm tea for her please. I no sooner asked then someone handed me a cup. We got her to sitting up so that she wouldn't choke on it. It was hard because all she wanted to do was sleep, but without warming her insides too, we wouldn't stand a chance of getting her back. By now, Mr.Mt.R was there in the wagon. Someone sent word ahead what was going on and rode him back to Mothers wagon. He was a big help since he knew more about hypothermia than the rest of us combined. He told us we needed to fix something high in carbs for her to replace what she had lost shivering. Mother and a few other ladies set into making that for her. I just kept watch on her. She felt like she was starting to warm up to the touch, but she was still not making any sense and just kept mumbling about a gun, her horse and some fish and a duck? Or a buck? I don't know, it wasn't real clear with her shivering again. I put another quilt on her and checked in on the chemical packs. The ones we had put in there were now just barely warm, so I activated a few more and replaced the ones around her feet and up under her armpits and stuck one behind her neck too. At least she was shivering again, so I was happy about that, but she was still sleepy and not responding to us well. Mr.Mt.R was talking to her, trying to get her to stay awake and see if she would make any sense. Mother handed him something in a cup to feed to her. We all helped hold her up in the bed, making sure to keep her wrapped up tight in the quilts while he fed her. It was tough keeping her awake enough to eat so he could feed her. Every time she wanted to nod off, I pinched her a good one and that popped those eyes back open! LOL and it would probably be the ONLY time I could get away with doing that. I reached in the quilts again after Mr. Mt. R. got done feeding her. Her skin was now warm to the touch, but not hot (frostbite). That was good. And she seemed a bit more with it now too. Plus she was getting really irritated with us for all the fussing about over her. Wow, I was glad to hear that lol. I figured if she was getting short with us, then she was getting better. (being irritated is a good sign of mild hypothermia) I checked the hot packs and they were okay. Best to shoo most of us out of Mothers wagon and let her get some rest. Between the hypothermia and the MS, she was sure going to need it. And she would be out of that saddle for a few days too. So I told Mr.Mt.R. and Mother that if they needed me to send one of her GS back to get me and I'd be there directly. Someone grabbed her horse and tied it to the back of Mothers wagon. I don't know what they did with it, hopefully someone took care of it because if Mt.R was like she was, then I bet the horse was in trouble too. I cant wait until we get stopped tonight to go check on her! Yes, we had to keep going. We got her into Mothers wagon and somewhat stable, someone is driving the Mt.R.'s wagon for them while he stays back with her. But we couldn't leave the entire wagon train up there on the side of a cliff for the day and the night. We had to keep going and get to where we could stop for the night where it was somewhat safe. Well as safe as one can be out here. And that's another thing I have been thinking about this afternoon as we rode along. Just what was it that was so darn important that she had to go riding off like that on her own ALONE out here in the wilderness?? I sure hope it was something life or death! And I am going to find Mr.H. tonight. We need to talk. I don't see a need for anyone else to ride off alone like that while we are on the trail. It's just too darn dangerous for anyone, male or female. And I know we are going on this trip because we want to get on our own away from the world and all that, but there are some rules we are just going to have to set down just to protect our own from harm that could be dangerous as all get out. Maybe if Mr. H. suggested it to everyone that they not ride off alone, it would do some good. I know Mt. R. knows better than to do that. I wonder what it was that was so important? Did we forget something back at the camp? Okay, I have got to get back into the wagon and look up something for dinner tonight. The shadows are getting long and I didn't have any time earlier to do it. But I had to write this all down first and get some of the adrenaline out of my system...must be about time to stop, so will write more later... Q

I asked my DH about that. His reply was rather interesting. He said, 'if we had taken all our supplies of ammo, he says it would last 3 to 4 generations to use it up. Mainly because we are not practicing with it and only using it for hunting and protection.' I know we have also brought bows and arrows which can be reproduced in most cases. I asked mine about it too lol. He said if we had those hot springs out in the west, then chances are we had sulfur. And if we had sulfur, we could make black powder. I thought that was kind of cool so I asked how. He told me how we could make our own salt peter, the charcol and the sulfur. I wont put the mixture here for obvious reasons. But it can be mixed in the right amounts to come up with black powder for reloading. lol he thought we all knew abou that...I just gave him "the look". hehehe Q

I keep getting so busy that I forget to write things down lol. So it has been a busy last few days. Up the hills, down the hills, up the hills, up the hills, hey! We aren't going down anymore? Oh well I can tell it since this "belle" is a little more dizzy headed than usual. Must be the air up here. I am used to 420' elevation and darn near 80% humidity. Not 4000' + elevation and hardly any humidity. This is going to take some getting used to for those of us from down home country. And thing is, it might take awhile too. Blood has to change with the elevation and humidity too, not just the skin and such. Well working outside when we get to our new homestead will help. I did manage to get most of the laundry done back at the stream and the oxen were very happy to have the grass instead of just hay for a change. Just wait till we get "home" with them. I did a quick check of the wagon and contents while we were stopped yesterday. I got most things lashed down to the sides of the wagon so they don't all rush to the back end. Hubby checked the outside, including the wheels so we don't have a repeat of having to stop on the trail and change one if at all possible. He did say one or two of the Plexiglas pieces are cracked though. I am thinking we will still just use it anyways. Have to do something about the crack, but it shouldn't hurt too much. Other than that, the wagon and the stuff outside seem to still be okay. We did leave the chickens inside still so they aren't hanging off the side of the wagon in those skinny passes we keep going through. It's hard enough without big cages in the way. But hubby is doing a fine job of getting us where we need to go and I am just riding along it seems and enjoying the scenery or studying up on things we will need when we get "home". I did find one interesting idea for shoes which I liked, but it may not suit others so well. Hubby was telling me about groundhogs. How they were good eating and the hide is so tough that they used to make shoe leathers out of them. They would scrape the hide off and then before it got to drying out they would make a circle. Then they would cut about 1/2" strip going around and around inside the circle until they got to the middle and the end. Then they took that 1/2" strip and hung it in a tree to dry. It is so tough when it dries that you can't hardly even cut it with a knife! So it makes great shoe laces. And you can trace out a sole pattern for your shoe by using your current shoe as a pattern and just adding about a 1/4" all the way around it and then let it dry. It will shrink some as it dries up bringing it to your size you need. Then you can sew it on your shoe or use it for a sole for a new shoe or moc. Oh yeah, you need to punch some small holes in it before it dries to sew with. It's really hard to get the holes in it after it's dried hubby said. So I am going to use some deer hide for the side of the mocs and use some groundhog hide for the laces and the soles! Hubby said they should last me a good long time too. So I guess I had best make him a pair also. That will solve our shoe problems. But it wont be for awhile yet since we have some pretty good sturdy work boots to wear now. Might make a good winter project! I have to add this before I forget again. I was sitting around the fire last night watching everyone having a good time, especially the kids. And I saw quite a few adults who looked to be doing a lot of hard thinking like I was. I can't help but feel like the Lord answered my questions last night there around the fire. I had been wondering the same things that I imagine most have...were we right to leave it all behind, all the family, friends and the problems? Were we going to make it in this new place? What would happen to us as things started to run out? How would we ever know if things were good, better, or worse than when we left? And what if someone started a war, how would we know? Would we even want to know. But all those questions tied into just one thing and that was the world we left behind. I admit I was feeling guilty about leaving family there where I knew it wasn't safe. But then the Lord brought two things to my mind. Noah warning family and friends for 120 years and they didn't listen to him either so why did I think they would listen to me? That kind of helped me not feel so bad about leaving. Then the second thing just sealed the deal and that was the scripture about "Come out of her and be ye separate". Well, that was what we were doing wasn't it? Yep. So it felt like a big weight had been lifted off of me. I hadn't slept so good since we hit the trail. I just knew we were doing the right thing then. And I can see others here on this wagon train that are having those same doubts. I hope and pray they get their answer soon too so they can have peace about it. Well off to check on our food and see what I can wrestle up for dinner tonight. I think it is going to have to be easy since I am feeling so dizzy up here lol. Maybe some sandwiches made on the left over biscuits from this morning? Sounds good to me. Q