Good Times

It’s been awhile since I have written anything on this site. I have been trying to decide what I wanted to put here. I was trying to remember some good times we had at the cabin but for some reason I am having a hard time remember very many.
I remember some funny things to which I wish I had pictures for. But then Jason wouldn’t appreciate that much. I use to bath the kids in a round water trough. We would heat the water on the wood stove and pour it in to trough. I have this picture in my mind of Jason sitting there with his knees up around his chin taking a bath. I at one time had a picture, but unfortunately it has been lost, lucky for Jason!
Then there was the time one winter when the boys made a sled and wanted to sled down the hill behind the cabin. The only problem was they did not take into consideration at the end of the hill was a drop off of about 4-5'. Once they hit the end of the slope they dropped straight down. That kind of spoiled the sledding fun for the day. Boys will be boys!
All three of the boys enjoyed finding critters, salamanders or waterdogs as they called em. There was always something to explore for them. Unfortunately for Sarah it wasn't much fun, having to use an outhouse, no bathtub, no running water all the things little girls need to be comfortable. She did have a good friend up the hill, the same family that took us in when we walked out after being snowed in. They still keep in touch having found each other on the net.
When we first moved to the cabin I use to read the Little House on the Prairie books, the similarities of our life at the cabin and the way life was lived in the books was scary. I use to wash clothes down at the creek on rocks, and believe it or not they got clean, although scrubbing on rocks has a tendency to wear clothes out faster.
I bought and read over and over a book on wildlife in the mountains. The kids and I use to try to figure out what left what tracks. We discovered bear, mountain lions, skunks (not my favorite, cute but smelly), opossums, racoons, quail, snakes, lizards and so on.
There were many times when I would walk up the hill and hear something following me just up the hill in the trees. I could never get a good look at it, but decided it was probably a mountain lion. I had read they will out of curiosity follow at a distance and were usually not dangerous unless threatened. So I just accepted the fact I was in it's territory and as long as I didn't bother it, it wouldn't bother me or the kids. And it never did. It was pretty cool though knowing I had somewhat of a companion when walking.
Of all the things I miss its the beauty of nature we experienced every day. Each season was filled with a different visual blessing from above. Winter was the pure cleaness of the falling snow, Spring was the gorgeous blossoms on the apple trees, pink and white; the changing colors of Fall, yellow, brown, and faded green.
At times it was a harsh way to live, but the beauty and the wildlife made it all worth it.

In Memory of Suzie

This picture reminded me of Suzie, so I felt it appropriate to place it on this site. I miss her so much, and even though she was merely an animal, as some would say, she was my soulmate and friend. She would be would be over 20 years old now.

Snowed In

After living at the Cabin for a couple of years we were able to get a generator. With the freezer full of food and "electricity" I thought it would be awesome to get snowed in. I pictured being all snug in the cabin watching the snow fall. Reading stories and playing games, and even watching movies now that we had a generator. No one to bother us, the cousins wouldn't be able to get down the road it would be almost heaven. Unfortunately what I pictured and what I got were two totally different things.
My husband decided to offer his drug buddy a place to stay for awhile. He was going through a breakup and needed some place to stay. It was bad enough having to deal with one crankster, but now there were two. And both liked to use meth as well as drink.
I believe I said before the cabin had been there over 40 years.
I am sure in those 40 years there had been worse storms than the one we experienced. So the cabin was pretty sturdy. In all those years no one had actually lived there during winter so it was pretty obvious it could hold quite a lot of snow on the roof with no problem.
This buddy of my husband, who we will call Joe (not his real name) was one of those very paranoid cranksters. When the "blizzard" hit he started freaking out, first it was trying to keep the road open, they drove off and on all night up and down pulling a railroad tie behind the truck to keep the snow from getting too deep. They waited too long on the last trip and within a couple of hours it was too deep to get through. The snow began to pile up.
It was at least five feet deep, the roof was covered and we could barely see out the windows from the blowing snow. We had the woodstove going of course so every so often you could hear chunks of snow falling of the roof.
Joe started pacing saying "what if the roof caves in, that's a lot of snow." He kept going on and on. My husband told him to stop worrying about it, the cabin had been there for years and it hadn't caved in yet from the snow. Of course being paranoid all he could do is say just because it didn't before doesn't mean it wouldn't now.
The man was really beginning to get on my nerves! Not to mention the two of them being cranked up neither could shut their mouths. They would ramble on and on about absolutely NOTHING!
The second day of the storm brought more snow. So of course that night we had the same paranoia only this night he added a twist.
I was watching "Lethal Weapon" for the first time. Enjoying our generator and having the ability to watch a movie again. Just as it was getting to the good part we could faintly hear Suzie bark, she was quite a ways from the cabin past the creek from the sounds of it.
"That's a little weird", I said, "she never barks, must be something out there."
BIG MISTAKE to say this considering this guys was such a tweeker. Next thing you know he is insisting we put out the lights, shut the generator off so we can see if someone is out there and so no one will know we are home.
I just looked at him with such disbelief anyone could be that stupid. Here we are down in a canyon, five feet or more of snow on the ground, the only way in is the road which is also covered with several feet of snow, not even a 4-wheeler could make it down that road, and this guy thinks there is someone out there!
He kept insisting someone was out there after him. I simply told him "Hey I am watching a movie here and we are NOT shutting the generator off because you are tweeking." This guy was freaking out!!! My husband told him "Man if someone wants you THAT bad you need to get the hell out of here because there is no way for anyone to get down here."
Joe finally let it go, but still continued to pace around the house. This was my final straw.
The next morning they were out trying to dig out this old snowmobile. They figured they could get it running and make it up to the road to get help. I had decided I could not take anymore. Because Matt and Chris were so little and the snow was so deep there was no way I was going to be able to carry them two miles in the snow up the hill. So Sarah, Jason and I headed up the hill. I figured we could make it to the neighbors and see if we could get someone to plow open the road.
Now call it ignorance if you must, but I really thought it wouldn't be THAT hard to walk out of there.
The snow was well past my knees, making it a bit difficult to break a trail. I didn't figure on the kids getting tired and cold so quickly and guess I hadn't really realized just how far it was to go in the snow.
We had made it half way up and the kids were wore out. I was wore out and we still had a long ways to go. I will never forget... Sarah threw herself on the ground and said, "I am not going any farther, I can't, I am not getting up." We had two choices. Head back down to the cabin...To me not an option...Or continue up the hill.
So I told her, "Sarah I cannot carry you, if you want to go back to the cabin fine, but it's the same distance back down as it is to go the rest of the way up. So either get up and start walking or you are going to freeze to death right here."
We continued on our journey. I don't even know how many hours it took us to finally get up the hill and to our friends house, I know we were near frozen when we got to her door. She brought us into her home, sat us by the woodstove and gave us hot chocolate. I told her we were snowed in and the boys were still down there with their dad. Her husband got on the phone with the man who owned the tree farm and explained the boys were still down there and the road was closed. I spent the night worrying about Matt and Chris but all I could do was pray they were ok. That next morning their dad showed up. He had walked the boys out. He left them with me and headed back down, they were still trying to get the snowmobile running...
That morning the gentleman who owned the tree farm took his plow down the road and opened it up for us.
So much for my desire to be snowed in!

More Danger from Men than Wild Animals

The only time I ever really worried about the kids when we lived at the cabin was when other people where around. Namely my ex-husband's cousins. One was just a drunk, the other was missing a few marbles and the third was the one I mentioned previously, the crankster.
These guys would show up in the middle of night, bang on the door or drive right around the house. They would stay for days of course never brining enough food, cigarettes or gas to get home on.
One day the crankster was there with his guns out showing off for a new girlfriend. Because he was a tweeker as we like to call those who use meth, he was also paranoid. (meth does that to those who use it any length of time.)
This was in the time frame before Susie actually ate out of our hands, and during the time Jason was always trying to sneak up on her.
One afternoon Tweeker thought he heard something in the trees and saw a "man" supposedly behind those trees, and without even thinking was getting ready to fire his shotgun into the trees. I came running out of the cabin. "What the hell are you doing? Where are my kids at?" I yelled at him. He started telling me he saw someone in the trees, I asked him if he even thought about the fact I have four kids roaming around outside. Which of course he had not. I knew Jason had a tendency to sneak around up where Susie slept without his shoes on trying to catch her. I yelled for him and he was standing directly where Tweeker was going to shoot. He came walking out of the trees, and he was not happy because he was close to touching Suzie.
Had I not come running out of the house and asked where my kids where the idiot would have shot Jason. He apologized which meant absolutely nothing, since this kind of stupidity was common with him.
There were so many instances similar to this living there. And it was only when these guys were around that I worried about the kids. We had mountain lions, bears, snakes and other critters, yet I never really worried about the safety of the kids when it came to the wildlife, it was a totally different kind of "wildlife animals" I had to be concerned with. Those of the human kind.

One Of Many Miracles

Not too long after we had decided to move from the Cabin, my husband and his cousin got into a fight. Both were on meth at the time, which was usually the case. Anyway to make along story a little shorter, the cousin had hit him in the head with an exhaust manifold. The kid’s dad came into the house to grab an old gun, and ran back down by the creek.
I tried to stop him and when I realized I couldn’t I kept the kids in the house and just started praying for the Lord to do something.
I heard the gun go off, my heart stopped! The kid’s dad came back up to the house and said he fired the gun out the truck window next to his cousin’s head. Not to kill him but to scare him. His cousin of course took off up the hill.
The next morning, very early we hear, “come out with your hands up, this is the police you are surrounded.” Talk about a scary way to wake up.
The kid’s dad stepped out the door and we heard the sound of guns being readied. He started yelling we have kids in the house. He was told to walk out the door with his hands up and lay on the ground which he did.
His cousin had run up the road to call the police saying he had been shot in the head, quite a miracle I would say since he was walking around with no wound.
My husband was carted off to jail. He called his mom and she drove up from Sacrament to get the kids and I. Sarah was at the time living with my mom, having become a teenage girl could not handle living the way we were. Jason must have been staying at his grandparents or his Aunt’s for the week. For some reason I cannot remember why he was not with us.
Anyway it was Matthew, Christopher and I.
My mother-in-law drove us back up to the cabin so I could get our things and our car as we were going to be staying with her for awhile. She dropped us off at the top of the hill because the road was in bad shape and she had a new car.
As we got closer to the cabin I could hear glass breaking and a gun being fired. It wasn’t right by the cabin so I made the boys stay put and walked down to the house. There was broken glass every where from the windows of two of our cars. Apparently the cousin decided to ‘get even’ and shot out all the windows, except the one I was going to be driving. Thank the Lord for that, at least that’s what I thought at the time.
It seemed safe since he had done all he could really do by the house and sounded like he was down by the creek. We made sure the bag of dog food was out for Suzie not knowing when I would be coming back up, got the clothes and stuff in the car and started to head up the hill.
When I reached the first part of the road, the cousin came running out of the bushes in front of the car. He walked over to the driver’s window and told me he wasn’t mad at me and wouldn’t hurt me or the boys. I told him I was going up the hill and I would be calling the police. He reached in and grabbed the steering wheel. He was trying to stop me from leaving, I don’t know if it was the overwhelming hate I had for this man he saw in my eyes, or an angel beside me. I said to him, “Let go of this steering wheel right now!” He got this look on his face and let go. I hit the gas and headed up the hill in the little Volkswagen I was in.
We were about half way up the hill when all the sudden I had no control of the car, the steering had gone out. I tried the brakes but didn’t stop. I think now it was the clutch I was stomping on and not the brakes. The car kept going up the hill.
Now the road going up was only big enough for one car, curvy and if you went over the side you would find yourself going a few hundred feet down the into a canyon.
I use to wonder if I was to find myself in a situation like this if I would react like you see in the movies, saying “oh shit” or if I would call on the Lord for help. Where exactly would my mind be at the time, on the Lord or in fear. Of course I had no desire to find out.
That day I found out!
When I realized I had no control over the car, and we headed over the edge, the only thing I could say was, “Jesus please stop this car.” The moment I said it we hit something. At the time I had no idea what. All I knew was we had stopped unexpectedly and forcefully.
I hit the steering wheel with my face which felt like it had exploded. Matthew hit the dashboard and landed on the floor, Christopher was in the backseat and hit the back of my seat which was not padded and landed on the floor.
I grabbed Matthew and he seemed to be ok, not a mark on him. I turned to grab Chris, he also was ok, no marks. I looked in the mirror just knowing my face had to be bleeding as it sure felt like it was, again, not a mark. When we got out of the car my leg was hurting I looked down and saw an actual hole in the top part of my left calf. To this day the only thing I can figure is the turn signal handle, which was skinny and long punctured my leg when we hit.
I composed myself, thanking the Lord for stopping us, still I was not sure what stopped us, as I could see nothing in front of the car.
We walked up the hill. I couldn’t go any farther once we got to the road so Matthew ran across the road to the neighbors and asked them to call 911. I had never met these neighbors since they had just recently bought the house. The husband came running over to see if I was ok. They called the police and an ambulance, deciding I needed to see a doctor.
The police and various residents showed up. I told the police about this cousin down there shooting out windows, explaining he was on meth and tried to stop me from leaving. It was beginning to get dark and the ambulance was taking forever, so the neighbor decided to take me to the hospital and his wife graciously said she would watch the boys.
I don’t remember a whole lot of the ride there, I know I talked a lot, probably out of shock and nervousness.
We got to the hospital. One of the officers showed up as they were examining me. He told me it was a miracle we were still alive. They had walked down to where the car was stopped. He told me it was a tree stump that stopped the car, had it not been there we would have gone all the way to the bottom, he also said the stump was just big enough to stop the car and had it been any taller or wider it would have pushed the whole front end of the car into us and we would have been seriously hurt.
I guess the Officer didn’t know what else to say after that. He was standing there talking to me while the doctor was checking the hole in my leg. The doctor needed to see how deep the hole was so he stuck this very LONG Q-tip thing into the hole. This officer asked, “ Does that hurt?”
The doctor and I just looked at him in disbelief and the doctor said, “What do you think, I am sticking this into an open wound of course it hurts.” I had a few stitches and was released.
I am still amazed to this day the boys had no marks whatsoever on them. They should have at least had bruises. I can still almost feel hitting the steering wheel with my face years later and again am amazed I had no marks.
At least at that point I no longer had to wonder what my first response would be, I did what I always hoped I would, called on the Lord in my time of need and He heard me and was merciful.

Note: The police where going to go down to the cabin to have a talk with the cousin, but found the gate had been locked. Because it was dark they were not willing to take a chance on what they would be walking into since there were guns involved.

The Fire

As I mentioned previously, living at the Cabin meant I had to completely trust the Lord to take care of us. He did in many ways and on several occasions I do believe we would not have survived had it not been for his protection and grace.
It was going into the end of winter, the fire was going in the woodstove, we would usually stoke it heavy before going to bed so we wouldn't get up to a freezing home in the morning.
Because the Cabin was over 40 years old, there was, at least in my mind, a potential of fire, since the flume pipe hadn't been replaced in who knows how long. I didn't believe with all the snow in winter it would be a concern though.
As usual that day I had brought in the usual 20 gallons of water from the spring. Because it was winter the natural spring was running up the hill and with the help of gravity we were able to run a hose down from the spring to the cabin in winter. Which was nice for me as it meant I could just take the bottles out back to fill them up. Instead of walking all the way down to the creek.
I don't remember what time it was, only that it was in the middle of the night. I woke up to the sound of crackling wood. At first I just figured it was the wood in the stove and started to doze off again. I kept hearing "get up and check". I laid there and had this little conversation with myself, "it's just the wood crackling", "no, get up and check", after a couple of minutes I gave in to the voice in my head. I walked into the other room, listening still hearing the noise only it was a little louder than usual. Something told me to look up at the ceiling.
I glanced up not really expecting to see anything.
What I saw were red embers at the crossbeam where the flume connected at the cabin. I woke everyone up and started throwing water from the bottles on it. Thank God I had water in the house, I had debated on whether or not to bring it in that evening because it was so cold outside.
My husband at the time went out grabbed the hose and a ladder and began putting water on the outside. We got it out, and had I not gotten up when I did it might have been too much for us to extinguish.
Had this fire happened in the summer we would have been in trouble. Being so far away from neighbors, not having a phone and the gate being locked at night even if the fire department could have gotten down, it would have been too late. The water in the house would not have been enough to put it out, had it not been for the hose running. God only knows what would have happened.
By the Grace of God, and I believe the Holy Spirit telling me to get up there was not too much damage and we were ok.
It was always a fear it would happen again every time we used the stove. We did replace the pipes but the fear was still hanging in my thoughts. I did learn to turn that fear over to the Lord and He continued to protect us until we were finally able to move.

Old Friends

It's funny how we kind of loose track of close friends as times goes by. Well not really loose track just don't commuicate with as often. Living at the Cabin was definitely no picnic at times and Omo Ranch, which is where the cabin was located was a very small community. You had the people who had lived there forever and those who had had enough of 'city life' and bought homes in Omo Ranch to get away from the hectic life of city living.
I was lucky enough to make friends with a woman who had lived there several years. Her name is Sue. They lived at the top of the hill going into Omo Ranch from the cabin, right next to the school. Yes we actually had an elementary school,if nothing else we did have a school!
Most people were not even aware there was a cabin up the road. There was a tree farm, of which you had to drive through to get down to the cabin. Most people never ventured off any of the dirt "roads" inside the farm. And if they did there was a large metal gate blocking the road down to us.
Sue had five children, I had four so this was something we had in common. Like myself she is a very down to earth person. They were who they were and lived how they lived and if you didn't approve that was your problem. There were certain people who had moved up to the community who were, how shall I put this, somewhat snobbish? Most had money and worked in the Bay Area (San Francisco). They built new houses with pellet stoves or central heat/air, septic systems and so on. Unlike those of us who relied on wood stoves or fireplaces, wells and actual septic tanks. Or like myself, other than the wood stove were completely uncivilized.
When school started I would usually stop at Sue's after dropping the kids off at school. We would visit and have coffee. Sarah and Sue's daughter Katie was best friends. I remember on morning in particular.
It was winter and as I have said before the road into the cabin was clay, there were plenty of ruts and holes in the road, some would go almost all the way across the road. When it rained a lot or we had a lot of melting snow these ruts would fill up with water. Clay being as it is, can be VERY slippery when wet.
There were certain spots in the road that looked like little ponds they were so deep and wide. So driving up the hill was at times an adventure. It could even by today's standards be considered an Extreme Sport as far as I am concerned.
This particular morning the road was really bad. There was one spot I was terrified to even attempt to get through, but the kids had to get to school and I was the one taking them. We got to this spot in the road and I stopped. Half praying and half debating whether or not this was worth the attempt. Jason and Sarah both said, "you can make it mom". So I hit the gas, held my breath and headed through the "lake". The little car we were in went slipping and sliding through the ruts I just kept my hands on the wheel and foot on the gas. We made it through with the Lord's help most definitely. Jason and Sarah both just went "Wow mom you actually did it. We didn't think you were going to."
By the time I got to the top of the hill I was literally shaking. I dropped the kids off and stopped at Sue's. I asked if it would be ok if I waited a little bit to head back down. She asked me if I was ok, since I was white as a sheet. I told her my adventure for the morning and expressed I needed to work up my nerve to drive back down the hill.
Needless to day she said of course and I sat and had coffee with her before braving the ride home. I use to say I could be a sprint car racer as I had the driving on wet clay experience whipped!
I talked to Sue this morning via email, which is what brought this memory up. She has since moved on to Ohio I think. I will have to ask her for sure. Anyway in one of the emails she told me I was in her prayers, what she said next made me laugh but also agree she said, "We survived Omo Ranch, we can survive anything." On that note I know no matter what life throws at me, We did indeed survive Omo Ranch anything else should be a piece of cake!

More on Suzie

One morning when I went outside to have my usual cup of coffee, Suzie was circling the Cabin. I was sitting there watching her and she stopped at this log a few yards away from me. She just stood there starring at me. A couple minutes later she walked over toward me, then turned and made her way back to the log. It stood me a few minutes to figure out she wanted to me come see what was over there.
I walked over to the log and there was this very large opossum, dead of course, laying on the log. She just stood there and looked at me, Suzie that is. She had killed the thing because it had come to close the cabin that night and she wanted me to see she had protected us. She didn't mangle it or anything, just killed it and laid it on the log for me to see.
The following morning she was doing the same thing, only THIS time I knew she was trying to show me something. It was another critter, this one I believe was the offspring of the opossum she got the evening before. It was considerably smaller. She again left it laying out for me to see. Usually after I had seen it it would disappear. Not too sure what she did with the bodies. Not sure I want to know!
She had these 'circles of protection" around the property. If anything came within the area she had designated "too close" to the cabin she would take care of it. I think at one time I counted three areas. One was within a few feet of the cabin, this was where she would circle if she heard yelling or angry voices within the cabin. The next circle was probably 50 feet outside the first, and then next area was even farther out. The last one would include the area around and beyond the creek.
I did learn a valuable lesson once concerning her jealousy it had to be jealousy because I know she didn't think we were in danger!
We had gotten the kids some baby chicks. I had them in a little cage and was going to put them in a big wooden box outside. As I was walking out with them, Suzie was coming towards me to see what I had. I showed her the baby chicks and told her, "see the new babies, you leave them alone, these are my babies." BIG mistake!
We put a heavy lid on top of the box the chicks were living in, until we could build a little coop for them. One by one, each morning there was another chick missing. Suzie was pushing the lid aside and taking a chick out every night. We started finding them buried, yes buried on the path down to the creek. She didn't eat them or mangle them, just killed and buried them, at least I hope she killed them first. It took her a total of 6 days to get rid of each one. We had six chicks, she would steal one a night. Guess she thought maybe I wouldn't know it was her if they disappeared one at a time!

Matthew  

Christopher the Cabin years 

Sarah and I her wedding day 

Jason now  

Sarah, Jason and Matthew Christmas at Grandmas. Time sure has flown by.  

Jason and Matthew at 7 and 2 

Suzie

Suzie was my dog, she was a 3 year old wolf/husky mix and former sled dog. About a year after we moved to the Cabin one of my closest (as in miles) neighbors asked me if I wanted a husky, she'd heard of a woman over in Placerville with several sled dogs she needed to get rid of. The story was she was kenneling the dogs for her brother who was going through a divorce or something. She could no longer afford keep the dogs and he didn't want them sold because of the divorce. I figured sure, I have always loved Siberian Huskies and always wanted a wolf mix.
When we arrived she only had a few left. I fell in love with Suzie the minute I saw her, She was black with a little white and had that "wolf" look to her. Because she was giving them away I decided to take another dog, a male whose name was Buddy.
The woman told me when I got them home to immediately tie them up for at least three weeks, because if I didn't they would take off. Especially Suzie. If they got loose on 15 acres we would never seem them again.
Of course when I got them home, the first thing my then husband did was let her loose. And she was GONE with a quickness. I was so angry at him. I figured that was it I would never see her again. I was WRONG! (another prayer ansered)
A couple of days later we spotted her running around a ways from the cabin in the trees. We began putting food out for her in the area we had seen her. It took awhile, several months in fact, to get her closer to the cabin. Eventually she picked a spot just up the hill behind the Cabin. Once we got her that close we started moving the bowl of food closer and closer to the house. She was probably about 40 feet from the cabin so we moved the bowl right next to the house. At first she started just picking up the whole bowl and taking it to her spot. Finally I found a very heavy cast iron pan she couldn't lift so she began eating by the house, but would always run off if anyone got too close.
In this time she would make circles around the cabin just cruisin around checking everyone out. Eventually she started sitting and watching me and the kids when we were out front or down by the creek, getting close but not close enough to touch her. Because she was part wolf she very rarely barked. And because of her color she could 'sneak up' on you at night and you would see only her eyes which looked red in the darkness. She scared the heck out of my then husband and anyone else that was around at night.
I think she had been abused at one time and by a man, she was extremely leary of any males around, except the boys.
I don't know what it was but Suzie and I had this bond. It's like she knew what I was thinking. There would be times when I would go out front and sit on a stump to be alone. She was always be right there, not close enough for me to touch but enough to make eye contact. She would sit in her comfort zone and I could talk to her. I swear she could understand me. I use to think the Lord put her there to protect the kids and I and to be my confidant.
My husband during those years was a drug addict, his drug of choice was Crank, (methamphetamine). A nasty addictive drug that turns people into violent paranoids. And that's being nice! Anyway, there were times when he would be yelling at me and she would make this continual circle around the cabin. During the summer both the back and front doors where left open. She would look in the back door, go around to the front, look in and continue this until I guess she felt I was not in danger, or until the yelling and cursing stopped.
Jason was the first one to get her to eat from his hand. She was up in her usual spot, he was always sneakin around try to get her, she always managed to hear him and run off. One day he took a peice of fried chicken up to her spot and stood there, I think we had had her a little over a year at this point. He held it out and stood still. She ran up and snatched it out of his hand. He came yelling down the hill that she took food out of his hand. This continued for a month or so, she started with the snatching, then began to gently take food from each of us as she began to feel safer. Eventually she was at ease enough to let us lightly and very quickly pat her head. She would never stay still long enough to take a chance someone might grab her though. It took almost another year for her to feel safe enough and to trust me enough to let me actually pet her, not for long but more than just a pat on the head.
It took a lot of patience and a lot of time but eventually she allowed us to be 'her' pets :-) I always felt safe with Suzie around, not because she had shown she would actually do anything if anything did happen, it was just this gut feeling, or maybe the Holy Spirit telling me she would defend me and the kids if the need ever arose.
She proved this to be true a few months later. Like I had said previously because we were on 15 acres and because I was such a sucker for puppies, I had brought two pups home, Little Boy and Little Girl who I mentioned before. One day the kids were out playing with the pups and one of them jumped on Matthew and knocked him down. Out of no where her came Suzie flying across a log, she picked up the pup and flung it away from the kids. I was stunned! That pup never jumped on the kids again. She set the other animals straight when it came to the kids. It was at that point I knew for sure she would always be around if trouble or danger came around.

Spring Time

Spring at the cabin.
The apple trees with their pink and white blossoms in the middle of the green grass of the meadow surrounded by the tall pine and fir trees forming a perfect picture of Spring. Topped off by the sound of the creek running below.
A slight chill in the morning air, sitting on the front steps with a nice hot cup of coffee taking in the beauty God created for us. How can anyone not believe there is a God when surrounded by such a witness as nature?
I loved the apple trees in Spring. It was this time of year when the creek was high and provided not only our water for drinking and bathing, but adventure for the kids, especially the boys. It was the time there were actually fish in the deep holes and lots and lots of water dogs, otherwise known as salamander. Did you know they actually feel like smooth rubber? They're pretty cool looking. They would usually dig their way out of the ground and make their way to the creek. Before they made it to the creek was the time the boys had the best luck catching them.
Everything was so fresh at the beginning of spring. Fetching water from the creek for the cabin was a lot easier in the spring. We had several of those five gallon drinking water bottles. Everyday I had to fill at least five or six and carry them back to the cabin for the day. If you want to taste some awesome fresh crisp water, nothing comes close to mountain water drawn out of a creek.
I would heat the water on the woodstove to give the kids baths in the evenings. My son Jason should consider himself lucky I no longer have the pictures I use to of him sitting in the round watering trough we use to use for bathing, his knees sticking out above the edges as he was taking his bath, and getting almost too big to bath in the tub any longer. I think he was about nine or 10. I had planned on using those pictures to show his future wife just to embarrass him. You do know it's a parent's job to embarrass their children when they get older right? It's kind of a pay back for the times they embarrass us as they are growing up saying the exact wrong thing at the wrong time. But alas, he got lucky! The picture is no where to be found.
When the kids were in school I would spend the day cleaning the cabin, brining in water, washing a few clothes at the creek and then hanging out at the creek with our dogs. At one time we had more than 10 dogs. The nice thing about living on 15 acres we could have animals. The bad thing is I was a sucker for puppies being given away at the grocery store. Eventually we got down to three. Susie, who was half wolf and half husky, Little Boy who was, I think, Rottweiler and Doberman, and Little Girl who was Little Boy's sister.
I had my battery operated tape player and my Christian music which I would take to the creek with me. I would sit there and listen to music and read either the Bible or another book until it would be about time to get the kids from school. When the weather was good they walked home. It was a little over two miles, but up there it was safe for kids to walk home.
One of the things I liked best about living there was I felt I didn't have to worry about my kids safety. I use to say the only thing we had to worry about was the critters but my kids were safer around the various wildlife than around human beings. At least with the wildlife you had a chance, but there are so many sick people in the world death is not the worst thing imaginable.
When we first moved to the cabin I bought a book on wildlife. One which showed what kind of footprints each animal left, their habits and what one really needed to be afraid of. Most wildlife is just as afraid or curious about us as we are towards them. It told of ways to keep certain animals from getting too close, what not to do, such as make sure you don't have garbage or any kind of food close to the house as Bears will come sniffin around. Helpful things like this.
One of the concerns I had was of snakes, not regular snakes, but rattlesnakes. There were a lot of wood piles and tall grass around the property as well as Gooseberry bushes. I had never even heard of gooseberries until we moved there. If you have never seen them they grow on bushes with long and sharp thorns. Even the berries themselves have thorns on their outer skin. You have to peal the outer peeling to get to the berry itself. They're actually quite good, but as far as I was concerned way to much work. Anyway, rattlesnakes like these bushes especially when they are shedding their skin. Boys being boys, of course they wanted to catch things like snakes. Jason and Matthew we old enough to know what they could and couldn't touch snake wise, but Christopher was only three and had no fear of anything.
One morning all three boys were out playing in the meadow by a big tree stump. We could see them from the front steps. They were a few yards from us. All the sudden Jason started screaming, Christopher was crying. I went running out and all I heard was Jason say something about a snake. My heart sank, my biggest fear had come true. Jason had Chris in his arms when I reached him. I looked down and Chris' right hand was laid wide open. All I could think was "what kind of snake could do this?" Jason was hysterical. They had caught a water snake at the creek and decided to kill it. Jason had an old axe and had laid the snake across the stump. Just as he was bringing down the axe Chris decided to save the snake. He put his hand out to retrieve the snake and the axe hit right in the middle of Chris' hand.
My first instinct was to start praying for the bleeding to stop and the Lord to take away the pain.
We got all the kids in the car and headed up the hill to the hospital, which was more than 20 miles away. I felt as bad for Jason as Chris. Accidents happen and kids get hurt but I know Jason was hurting as much as Chris was only in a different way. I just kept praying!
Before we even got up the hill Chris was no longer crying, he was quietly sobbing as he asked if we could stop and get him a ButterFinger candy bar on the way to the doctor. His dad and I just stared at him amazed. I explained to him we did not have time to stop, we needed to get him to a doctor.
When we arrived at the hospital and they took him to the emergency room the doctor said it was a miracle he still had his hand in tack. He was also amazed there didn't appear to be any nerve damage considering the depth of the cut and it's location. I don't even remember now how many stitches he had that day. He still has a very visible scare across his hand.
The Lord was definitely watching over the kids. One - the axe was old and dull had it not been Chris would in all probability, be missing part of his right hand. Two - with that kind of cut there should have been A LOT more bleeding than there was and lastly, the child should have been in more pain than he was, yet was thinking only wanting to get a candy bar! (Kids)
I know the Lord answered my prayer that day. I know he kept Chris from losing his hand, stopped the bleeding as well as the pain and prevented him from having any nerve damage. There have been so many instances in which the Lord protected us when we lived in the mountains, I will share more next time.

The Cabin

Many moons ago when the kids were little, our family moved up to the mountains in Northern California. The property we were living on belonged to my then husband's family. His grandfather had bought 15 acres for a bottle of whiskey and I believe $2. He built a cabin on the property some 45 years before we came to live there.
It was situated down in a canyon almost two miles from the nearest neighbor. There was a year round creek several hundred feet from the cabin, with several apple trees, of which today I never tasted apples so sweet . Because it was so far from the main road there was no electricity, no running water (unless you count the creek), no indoor plumbing and of course no phone. We did have a natural spring which ran down the side of the hill in the winter time.
The road into the cabin property was a little over a mile long and a real pain in the winter time. Because it was dirt, or maybe clay would be more accurate it could be a real adventure going in or out.
The cabin was two stories with three bedrooms, I guess you could call them bedrooms. The upstairs was never completely finished so half of it was used for a bedroom the other half stuff was just stored on the rafters.
Heat was provided from a 50 gallon drum turned into a stove. We had propane run lights,Icebox and cook stove. There were the three 'bedrooms' and the living room/kitchen area. It was small but suited our need at the time.
We originally moved there because we had no other place to live at the time and we didn't have to pay rent. At first I thought we would only be there a few months, but those few months turned into four years.
I use to tell everyone we were reliving "Little House on the Prairie". In fact I use to read those books to the kids and even got the idea to make homemade applesauce for the first time. Which was pretty darn good I might add.
I learned to wash clothes on rocks down at the creek, how to tell what kind of animal left what footprint and more importantly how to really trust the good Lord to take care of us.
I intend to use this blog to tell the stories of that period in our lives. It was a great time but also a rough and sometimes frustrating time. Yet it was a period I believe my children and I had to experience to get where we are today good or bad.