Land From Above

Right after our bid for the property was accepted, we decided to celebrate by hiking up the mountain behind our new land for a bird's eye view of our new purchase.  The mountain is BLM public land, and the mountain isn't all that high, so we decided to go for it.

Nicole thought it was a grand idea!

Clint is so dang photogenic that he makes a half-dead juniper look good.  

That's probably why my best pictures are the ones with him!

We stopped a few yards up to survey things so far.  It's already a pretty nice view! 

The land looks good, too.

We finally made it up to the the top of the mountain.

The views were spectacular!

There's our property!  Not where the buildings our--it's the land pretty much blocked by the juniper in this picture, but it's there!

Ah!  A better view.  You can clearly see the southern property line in this photo.  It borders BLM to the south as well as the west.

We were quite pleased with our new future home.  

On Cloud Nine,

~J

Hole-y Ground

While our trenching adventure dug up a lot of dirt, we still needed to make up some ground.  We spent the next weekend making even more progress on our new place!

We left early in the morning with the Bobcat in tow.

We marked our spots for our pressure tank pit (for the well), the line from the well to the pit, and the last line, shown below, is the spot for our very first hydrant (this one is for a livestock tank for the horses)!

We kept part of the electrical trench open, just so we wouldn't hit it and undo all our hard worth thus far.  It would have been a shocking experience.

Around noon hubby picked up the excavator we rented.  

In only a few hours, he had made a pretty nice dent in the task at hand.

He was pretty pleased.

I can't help but smile, when I see that smile.

He got the pit dug as well as the water lines we needed trenched.

And as night fell, he excavated the last few buckets of dirt

It was a pretty neat machine and took care of the task quite easily.  Hubby liked it so much, he put it on his Christmas list.

I guess you can say, he dug it.

It's getting deep in here.

~J

Easter Roadtrip

Happy Easter everyone!  This post is about a little tale.

Not that tail.  It's a tale about a whirlwind trip to Kansas, about a quick but lovely visit with loved ones, about getting a few things done in between several hours on the road, and about eating way too much incredible food (prepared by my culinary-gifted mother in law).

It really did taste as good as it looked. 

We got to see my adorable step-son!  He really dug this hole his dad created when he fixed a leaking hydrant on the old ranch.

In a matter of only hours we were back on the road again.  Sophie loves road-trips but even this was a little too much for her.

She does have a face, by the way.

When we got back we had to make a quick run out to the land to put up some address signs to get ready for inspections.  We could see rain in the mountains all around us.

It was a beautiful day!  Nicole helped out by painting the letters on our temporary address signs.  There's no way anyone can miss our place now!

We saw the sign, and it opened up our eyes.

~J

Ditch Us Well, We're On Our Way!

Our land.  Well, there are already a lot of stories we could tell about this land that we've had for only a few months now.  There have already been blood, sweat, and tears--but that's what it's all about, isn't it?  Making memories.  Making a life.  Making a home.

A couple of weeks ago we faced the insurmountable task of ditching over 2000 feet of rock-saturated soil, 48 inches deep, for the electric company to lay our electrical line.

Sure, we could have had the electrical company do it, but what fun would that be?

The first time we looked at this property we actually passed it up for this very reason, but eventually we decided that once this difficult part was finished, it would be the quintessential mountain ranch we've dreamed of our entire lives.

Although my detail-oriented husband had called before we began to get the existing utility lines marked, they unfortunately missed one, and thus began our already-daunting task: by severing our neighbor's phone line.

Good thing our neighbor already met and liked us, or this might have severed ties with him for good, no pun intended.

Okay...pun intended.

Then, while my daughter and I were working across the property, I got a call from hubby.  He needed some assistance.  That's all he told me.  That and "when you get here, don't laugh."

I laughed.

After we got the trencher un-stuck, our day seemed to get un-stuck as well.  Hubby persisted through all the rough spots and 16 hours later, the end was in sight! 

But then when he was almost done, something weird happened.  It hailed, but it wasn't hail.  We were pummeled by tiny snow balls.  I kid you not.

I mean, you can't make that up.  At least I can't.  I'm not that creative.

TWO THOUSAND feet, in mountain soil, through shale, through the weirdest hail storm we've ever seen, through a few mishaps, and through an unmarked telephone line.  He made it.

This only furthers my suspicions that I'm married to the real Superman.

Life's a ditch.  Dig it,
~J

Welcome!

We're the Niedens family and we live in beautiful southern Colorado, home to such famous landmarks as Garden of the Gods, Seven Falls, Pike's Peak, and the Royal Gorge.

As a matter of fact, the latter is not too far from the site of our future home base.

Our family includes a small menagerie of three silly little hens (of whom I will share pictures of in a later post), two paint horses (Fabian and Prada),

 our shelter kitty Maybe,

and our lovable mutt Sophie.

Two years ago I met and married the love of my life.  I decided to start this new blog as we start our new life (it only seems fitting).  You can see my back story on my old blog Rose Valley Ranch.  It's been quite a journey but it has brought me to the amazing life I now feel so fortunate to live.

Our family welcomes you to share in our journey as we navigate through some exciting adventures ahead of us!

From the four of us to all of you--welcome to where only good things grow!