Kicking off September

This week was a bit of a whirlwind!

I made playdough rather successfully, thanks to my friend for sharing the recipe she uses. I tried to do it once before with gluten-free alternatives, and it was a flop. Clancy enjoys making “big dead worms” and laying on them to smoosh them. Making tracks in it is fun for him and less fun for us to scrape off the floor.

Make the playdough here.

Clancy and I met up with other mom and toddler duos on the Deschutes River at Cline Falls. Since becoming pregnant with Clancy, I’ve scrutinized my personal journey of self-identity, place in the world, and connections with others. I’ve felt a lack of friendship and community since that first pregnancy, but now I feel a sense of both of those that support the person I am now; a package deal of woman and mother. I feel a new sense of balance to share my life with new friends that understand the hardship, loss of self-identity, and joys. Being a mother is a complicated role to transition into and do well while honoring your own personal self.

During the weekend, Nathaniel went camping with his cousin for a night. I had anxiety about Nathaniel being gone for even a night; we are close, and he is the primary one to put Clancy down or bed. We had a nice date lunch and no problems at bedtime. The next morning he was up early, and we decided to wing it and make banana muffins which we finally nailed a gluten-free muffin! I will be sharing that recipe soon and then will convert the recipe to hopefully an equally successful applesauce muffin recipe to honor Fall!

Clancy and I at One Street Down Café. Band-Aid courtesy a collision with the floor.

I just began documenting and managing Nathaniel’s Instagram account; It’s the best way for me to contribute to Big Rock Woodcraft. He recently began his biggest job yet; a series of bookcases for an entire retail location and expansion for a local bookstore company in Sisters, Oregon. The opportunity is truly an honor.

He is really sinking into the first round of bookcases. I think in this round there are twenty bookcases. To begin with, he ordered a massive amount of 3/4” walnut veneered plywood and thinner for backs. He has cut all of this material to size, and this week he began adhering walnut veneer edge banding to all the cut edges that need to be finished. Nathaniel is really enjoying the steps and scope of this project.

Nathaniel’s parents are in town for irrigation week. It really helps to have Johnny here intensively managing the watering as we are in the final weeks of irrigation and growing season. Getting every pasture a deep water right now will really help if we end up having a dry Fall and Winter.

Nathaniel’s method of irrigation has shifted to quick changes on the way to the shop, during lunch, after work, and before bed; irrigation is on his schedule rather than him being on its schedule. Johnny, also known as Poppy to Clancy, can micromanage the ditches by clearing grass with a weed eater to increase water flow and adjust the dugout outlets at each set to maximize efficiency.

Clancy goes with ‘Poppy’ every opportunity he gets. They dig at ditches and zip around on the ATV, switching water, starting the pump to water from the pond, and limb trees. Poppy’s dedication to working around the ranch matches Clancy’s enthusiasm for working and irrigating; it has allowed for lots of little moments when Clancy is off with Poppy on adventures.

Clancy with Johnny/Poppy AKA “The Popigator” and Monty in the Upper North Pasture.

These unorganized Clancy-less opportunities allowed me to do chores silently and alone on multiple occasions. I lunged both Boe and Porter mid-week, worked with Nathan in the shop, got content unhindered, and did quiet things with no justification, like write and shower. And I never once had to ask for it; Clancy was simply off tagging along and learning from watching Poppy. It was the best-unexpected surprise!

This weekend brought the arrival of the bull we get to borrow. Leftie has returned for one more breeding season, and we couldn’t be happier to have him again. He is getting too big to safely breed without hurting himself or the cows, so we are his final stop before the auction and very likely the butcher. It will be an honor to give him green grass and unlimited hay this Fall and the first stent of Winter.

Sage and Lynn deliver their Hereford bull to us for another Big Rock breeding season!

We all got to ride Porter this weekend. Nathaniel got a nice ride around the ranch on Porter, and his dad hopped on for a driveway loop afterward. Johnny actually worked on the largest ranch on O'ahu, the Kualoa Ranch, as a young man, so this was a brief return to the saddle.

Clancy went for his first ride outside of the dry lot on Porter. He went for a “trail ride” down the driveway. His interest and desire to ride always comes on suddenly and ends quickly. His passion won’t be horses, and I don’t intend to push it on him in any way. I intentionally want to keep him involved, so he is always comfortable and confident with horses, even if he doesn’t enjoy them.

Going on 35 weeks, I am still getting saddled, mounting, walking, and trotting in the dry lot on Porter. It does my mind and body so good to do something that is so me. Unfortunately, I will have to shift to using a mounting block to get on. I only say that because Porter needs to be trained to ‘pick me up’ from the block, as in standing in the right spot and not walking off. He gets a bit fidgety around mounting blocks; I don’t have time, stamina, or balance to do this right now, but I want to keep my sanity and start now so I can safely mount for dry lot walks with the new baby in a carrier.

We have six weeks or less until our baby girl decides it’s time to be earthside. We are awaiting her excitedly, especially Clancy.

It is a horsey post because we are reconnecting and reprioritizing the horses!