Category Archives: Family

Family adventures at Spring Creek Ranch

Release

Returning home from our working visit at Grandpa’s and Grandma’s we found that an uninvited guest had visited while we were gone. The uninvited guest had a ringed tail and a black mast and no, I’m not talking about Zorro.

We lost almost all of our ducks to a very agile raccoon. One Cayuga female was left alive but she couldn’t walk so we brought her inside where she lived in our bathroom for a week. We put her in our large sink twice a day so she could swim about and made her comfortable in a cat carrier at night. I was really hoping that her leg might heal up and that the daily swimming would serve as beneficial physical therapy.
However, after almost ten days she still couldn’t walk. After much discussion about her options we decided to release her on the river. I didn’t see how she could survive with the rest of our poultry any more and I didn’t have the heart to end her life. So on a beautiful, sunny afternoon we took her down to the Methow River and gave her the first real taste of freedom she had ever had. She loved swimming around and grooming herself. She swam up and down the river bank and settled close to Ayla who sat watching her from atop a boulder. Finally she crossed the river and started what was undoubtedly her greatest and last adventure.

E i e i O





I didn’t quite get our working ranch experience out of my system yesterday and I found a picture of Grandma Louise with a picture of Grandpa Gary inside the photograph! This will have to do for now since it is hard to get Gary to slow down for a photo op.

And how could I forget Ayla’s first official sewing lesson. Milestones, everywhere I look!

Calving

It has become family tradition that we spend some time each spring helping out at Grandma and Grandpa’s Ranch. Once there we met up with cousin Tenaya (as seen below) and I took the girls out to watch a birth. Of course we are plenty far enough away to give the mom the privacy she needs, but I wanted the girls to be able to see as much of the birth process as possible.

I can’t help but laugh to myself when I think of the sleepovers I had at my Nana’s house which included a trip to the movie theatre with ice cream afterwards and then a breakfast of scrambled eggs and popovers. I loved my overnights with my Nana and I love that my girls will most likely associate trips to their grandparents with horses, buffalo and tagging calves.
When I recently recounted to my younger brother that Daren and I had a date while visiting the ranch he clarified, “You mean tagging calves in the freezing cold with your father-in-law was a date?” Yup, that pretty much sums it up.
Ayla begged me to set my alarm so that she wouldn’t miss the morning bottle feeding routine. There were an amazing number of twin calves born this year and some needed extra calories.
Rogue is right at home on the hay. Though we had a hard time convincing her sister, Emma that Rogue was a welcome canine addition to the ranch. After all, Rogue, Emma and brother Stripe were all born here and their Mama Zip still holds her own on the grounds.
Are you wondering why a trip to see Grandparents doesn’t include one single picture of those Grandparents? That’s what happens when you are 70+ years old and still managing hundreds of cows (and horses, cats, dogs and buffalo)- you’re so busy you can hardly stand still long enough for a photo!

Dear Friends

On Sunday, Ayla and I had the pleasure of taking our dear friend Nell White to see a matinee performance of Nunsense at the Twisp Community Center. Nell got up early to curl her hair “just right.” I think she looks beautiful though she lamented the lack of beauticians in the area who could “do a perm” to her satisfaction. I don’t know much about perms, but this 95 year old firecracker has had a lot of years with them, so she should know.


I met Nell, through her husband, Don White. Don’s parents built the Spring Creek Ranch House in 1929 and subsequently sold the home and property to the Belsby’s in 1976. Don has been so helpful to us with managing the ranch. He lent us his personal family photos to copy and display in the house and he knows the history of every square inch of the property.

We often go and visit with Nell and Don and savor all of their detailed stories about life in a very different time. A time when Nell went into the woods at the age of 12 to blow stumps (using dynamite) with her father to clear land for their family in Northern Saskatchewan and Don was dropped off in the woods for an entire fall season to cut fire wood for his family, by himself- with a crosscut saw. He turned 14 that fall as he waited for the snow to fall so that his father and brothers could harness up their horses with a sleigh to haul the firewood back to Winthrop.

Thinking about such hard work makes me all the more glad to see Don relaxing in his reading chair. A magazine draped casually across his knees.

One more week!

One more week of groomed cross country skiing in Winthrop, Washington. Our beloved Methow Valley Sports Trails Association has vowed to continue grooming through APRIL 1st! Nothing like Spring skiing in the sunny Methow Valley. Check out the grooming report for specifics.

Ski out the front door from Spring Creek Ranch in April- wow!