Fauna and Fires and Floods, oh my!

A lot has happened since my last post. It's hard to decide where to begin. I guess I'll start with the Fauna.

When someone offered us a cowdog puppy, we decided it might be a good idea to have a larger dog to keep the beasties away from Rosa the Chewdle, especially since she's never been keen on staying in her kennel, which has consequently now been converted into a replacement bunny barn. (The original now being finished out as my studio.)


Gypsy the Cowdog


"Puppy" was a bit misleading, as Gypsy was about seven months old when we adopted her, and looked pretty much like a dog. She still acts like a puppy, though, much to Rosa's disgust. She has settled in well and now guards us from coyotes, strange vehicles that enter the gate, and the contrails from the jets that fly over from the AFB in Utah.

And speaking of the bunny barn and the bunnies, I finally got some photos of those:






Bunnicula




















New, improved Bunny Barn
(Formerly Puppy Pen)

We believe the rabbits are Cinnamon Rabbits, a mix of Californian, New Zealand White and Checkered Giant, although there's some possibility of a bit of angora mixed in. When the temperature returns to a reasonable level, we'll get serious with the rabbit raising portion of our ranch.

I've mentioned the Wash House, the 8'x8' building we added to the front of the bunny barn-cum-studio. This is where I wash the clothes, using a utility sink and a plunger, after pumping the necessary water, of course. We have a series of hoses connected to the pump through a four-way valve, which allows us to fill gallon jugs, pump water on the baby willow trees, fill the fresh water tank on Serenity, and pump water into buckets for the laundry. Here is Wash House, phase 1:

That's my shadow on the wall. With this arrangement, I had to monitor my water use so I could change the collection bucket before it overflowed, and then carry the water to the trees or some other deserving plant life. Greg has now connected a lot more pipe, so the water flows to its destination without my help. This speeds up the washing process, and saves a certain amount of wear and tear on the Washerwoman. You can see a portion of the Windbreak (aka privacy fence) in the background. The Wash House has a nice faux-parquet tile floor:

as does the studio. Both now have paneling on the walls, as well. The studio is finished except for painting the trim (and the outside walls), but I haven't yet photographed it. I'm still working on the trim and finishing touches in the Wash House.

The Big Event of the year in our little town is the 4th of July. It begins with a parade, followed by a cookout in the park, a pie eating contest and other forms of group entertainment. Greg, having joined the Tecoma Township Volunteer Fire Department in early June, was asked to drive one of the fire trucks in the parade. I took photos from the porch of the store:

Speaking of the fire department, Greg has gone out on three fire calls so far. Thankfully, only  one has been a major fire. That night we had a big fire on the mountains in two directions at the same time. The Rhyolite Fire was the most visible, although the 20 Mile Fire, which Greg responded to, was much larger. The rain (remember those floods I mentioned in the title?) helped the firefighters put both of them out.



Rhyolite Fire



This was the view from our yard, looking toward the east. The 20 Mile Fire looked much the same over the mountains to the west. Because of the prevalence of wildland fires like these, the highways are dotted with billboards that pose the question: How fast can your house run? Being a travel trailer, our house can make pretty good time, providing it's hitched to the truck. Of course it wasn't, that night.

 After several days of flames and smoke, it rained, and we went from fire to flood:





Gamble Road





Section Line River--er, Road







North gate



This used to be the way we went out, making a circular drive, in one gate, through the yard, out the other gate and back to the county road via the section line road. Its current resemblance to the Grand Canyon prevents us from doing that until we can make it back into a road again.

But, as the song says, "And after it rains, there's a rainbow ...."



Double Rainbow





Now I know where the pot of gold is, right over there to the east. Think I'll take a stroll that direction ....