Landed On 42 Acres of Paradise With History

 When we first saw our property in August of 2011 it was advertised in the listing as "like living in the wild west".  Well it is. Our 42 acres  is just a nugget  of acreage owned by the founding Dersch family in the late 1800's. The land became hundreds of acres of free range cattle land and the acreage that we own is the centerpiece for all the  sorting and branding done in the area through the years. Leaving several areas of our land with corrals constructed of three strand barb wire for the most part nailed to trees with an occasional fence post and in later days a few t post.


When we had the perimeter and cross fencing done in spring of 2013 we had the company doing the fencing remove a lot of it. Ari the English Setter had given herself a nasty laceration on her chest two years before while she and I were walking the area of corrals. It was nice to have them agree to it as this was still in the middle of Geoffrey's 3.5 years of chemo treatment. So it was most certainly something he wasn't up to doing.

Over the years the pups and I have found more barbwire and old nails, coffee cans and other items. We have several  rock walls not unlike the ones across the street at the Armstrong (Holiday) ranch. But not as wide or tall. The wall below is a visual lie as it is about 4 feet tall and about 4 foot wide. Ours are much smaller and not as numerous but attest to cowboy ingenuity and grit.

The folks who live behind us on an equal sized parcel have found artifacts from the then local indigenous  people. A tribe known as the Yana's were said to have inhabited the land we now call home. I have yet to find any artifacts but have found what appear to be several grinding stones for acorns to be ground into flour.

  

  

 Then coming soon to Nor Cal and most of the rest of the state in varying degrees. It has been pretty cold around here of late. Toss in a wind blowing out of the north giving a wind chill like a pitchfork tossed into one it is not spring anymore! Note we have multiple chances for some degree of snow this week and weekend. We have pretty much been left empty handed but if this lives up to the preview we have been getting it should be the real deal. In fact the weather is so intimidating that our group the other side of the mountain has decided to not meet tonight. They already have snow on the ground from the last brief event and driving can become a bit challenging at best even for us seasoned pros.

I have to make a run tomorrow to Red Bluff about 30 minutes south for provisions but plan to make it short and sweet. That is on the valley floor but they are calling for snow that far down tomorrow also. I find it irritating to deal with folks who don't drive weather well. They are dangerous to both themselves and the rest of us. So I will do only what needs to be done and come back up the mountain to wait it out until Sunday.

Will be adding more straw this afternoon to the barns and extra alfalfa in the feed bunks. Some of us who are ahum geriatric   older need extra help .

Flair who is 12 this year is styling in a well used thermal Carhart with shortened sleeves and a T-shirt. I later added an older sweatshirt with sleeves also shortened and she is now a snug happy doe. 

Have a good evening and I will take lots of snow photos ! Ahh the power of positive thinking! 

Photo send a few days ago by Lori of weaving fame of her place after the most recent weather event prior to now.