Three weeks ago, we moved into our new home, which I might add is a bit smaller than our last home. It consists of a two car garage with a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, living area above it (more like a small apartment).

I must admit that I thought it would be a little crowded, but I find it just the opposite. It is cozy. The best part of the whole deal is not so much our cozy little home, but the location and the acreage that surrounds us. It is like heaven, and for the first time since we left the ranch on Willow Creek, we are sleeping with our windows open and the sounds of frogs croaking in the night sky.

Wide open spaces

1-½ years ago we were fortunate to have acquired a larger ranch by joining efforts with two of our family friends. We were hesitant at first because of “The Not Paved Road” that accesses the property, but have since grown to appreciate that if it weren’t for “The Not Paved Road”, we may have never had the opportunity to purchase this parcel.

“The Not Paved Road” is about 3-½ miles in length and hence comes the saying “we are now living a little ways off the paved road”. Today our portion of the property consists of 180 acres and we are in heaven.

We have two small springs flowing through the property, a small barn, corrals, machine shed, and lots of willows and grass. This past winter we located our home site by snowmobile and dug a small fish pond that would be close by so the kids could enjoy it out the back door.

The kids’ new playground.  They definitely spend more time in the background than the foreground.

The views are terrific and one of the coolest parts is that we are just across the valley from where I was raised at in Cora. During the winter we had made plans for our home, but by spring had decided to start out with something small that would be more affordable and expedite the opportunity to get out of town. Along came the idea for the apartment. What a great idea it was, and with the work of Bighorn Quality Construction (Casey and Jeness Saxton), we are now waking up to moose, deer, antelope, ducks, skunks, and rabbits right out our windows.

The kids are enjoying the freedom to play outside and are loving every minute of it. They come back to the house with muddy shoes and froggy smelling hands on a regular basis. We stocked the pond with 100 catchable rainbow trout which they love to harass and have become quite good at. Grandpa has even found the perfect spot for fly fishing lessons.

The unbelievable view from our deck.

The great outdoors have even seemed to help the brother and sister get along with each other a little better. We will see how that fairs this winter while they are cooped up in a small bedroom together. But, for now, they are enjoying the last days of summer in their new backyard.

Another great part of being out in the country again is that our animals can be close by. We have our herd of mules at the property and it has been fun spending more time with them. Of course, we had to fence them away from the house since they thought the board and bat siding was something they enjoyed nibbling on. We did get them stopped before too much damage was done and learned a lesson about having them TOO CLOSE!

With the help of our friends, Aaron and Dianne Willson, we are hoping to have some miniature angus cattle born next spring and start our own herd so that we can have some cattle around. You know the old saying that you can’t take the ranch out of the Rancher, and we feel real fortunate to have some acreage to enjoy a taste of small time ranching again. We are looking forward to raising our children out here as well in hopes they will appreciate the agricultural community as much as their mother and I do.

I will be writing more about our new property, our pets, and the wild critters that pass through our pastures, so keep tuned in to “Off The Paved Road”.