BACK AT THE RANCH(ETTE) 2 - PHEW!

Does anyone else put on a party that imposes a deadline to get things done? The Family & Friends reunion we have been working on since December, 2011, takes place next week. We have 80 RSVPs. Headquarters will be our Rainbow Ranch. People are bringing trailers, vans, RVs, and tents, to camp on the ranch. Some are renting houses and condos in the Ogden Valley. We will have a daughter and grandchildren, and my father's and our num cousin staying in the house with us.

The house, built in 1945, and moved on the property in 1948, is remodeled, but still has that old time atmosphere. I think I have shared that the upstairs has an updated kitchen and bath, new wood floors, furniture (funky), window coverings, new roof, gable and overhang, as well as lot of things that don't show. The basement is now finished with a large family room with wet bar/kitchenette, bedroom, bath, laundry area, and great storage.

This week we are coordinating three teams of workers from 45 minutes away in SLC so everything gets finished before the reunion. I may be dead, but it will be finished! The over-sized garage is getting a face lift that includes new lift doors, a new side entry door, another security light, old broken windows replaced with dual paned ones with screens, metal roof caulked, siding secured, etc. We will have a TV antenna on the roof that will allow us to get free TV from a translator. The barn, old missile silo, and stable got a coat of paint. A very efficient crew, who also does the painting, has been hauling away junk - about three tons of it.


Today I got a frantic call from Anna who is part of the painting/hauling crew. They were removing the last piece of junk from the field, a huge slab of rotting wood that could be a old dock. How and why it got into the field is a mystery. We are two miles from the lake. Was a former owner planning a Noah's Ark evacuation in case of an emergency?

As they were lifting it they found a mother skunk using the as underside as a hide away home for a couple of babies.  What to do? The junk needed to go and no one wanted to disturb the mother skunk further. They decided to leave the family there, knowing skunks are nocturnal and thinking she would go out to hunt tonight. They decided they would return early in the morning and get rid of the junk, trusting that mother skunk will be away gathering food for her youngsters. After she returns and found the lid gone from her home, she would then move the family elsewhere. Wonder what surprise that move will have for us? As Anna was signing off phone, I heard a shriek, and, "Dang! She let loose!"

If this skunk is still angry next week, she could get sweet revenge on all of us.