August 29,2010

I'm posting this from the dentist's office in Moses Lake this morning as I could not get on line last night at the ranch...

Wednesday was moving day once again. We were finished with our fourteen night stay at Ponderosa Falls RV Park, so decided we would head down to the ranch for a short stay. While our farm is leased out, we do have full hook-ups alongside the shelter belt. They only problem is that down in the coulee, we do not have either good cell phone or internet. But we have great satellite TV reception.

It was a beautiful day for driving. There were just enough clouds in the sky to make it interesting as we drove west on Interstate 90 along Sprague Lake.

The columnar basalt along the roadside reflects the beauty of this part of the country --

It's sort of hard to imagine the forces of water and wind that shaped the landscape after the volcanoes spewed acres of rock --

Because of the very brazen -- even in the daylight -- wholesale theft of farm machinery (the thieves cut it up and sell it for scrap metal!), Jeff and the boys have put a locked gate at the end of the lane to the ranch. It seemed a bit strange to stop and unlock the gate, drive through, and relock it as we entered the ranch...

We saw a family of grey partridges along the dry creek bank as we drove in. Later we saw them again along the sagebrush in front of Auntie Violet. I wasn't quick enough to get a picture, but there was a hen with at least five chicks. I scattered some bird seed along this clump of blooming grease wood. Hopefully, they will be back along this way when I am better prepared!

I have NOT been able to get on-line this evening to post this -- I'll try again in the morning.