Shari’s Gone Country

Just after lambing, we began to hear that we’d want to kick up a project I’ve been working on for the past year or so. You see, shortly after Bev, Cindy and Mom arrived here in Utah back in 2005, they got wind of a really sweet “local government contract” that could become available at any time.

That’s actually one reason I joined them here. It’s a contract to provide food service for the Senior Citizen Center and Meals on Wheels in the neighboring county. The folks who have the contract now may be retiring by December. At least that’s been the consensus amongst the seniors.

We’d like to have that contract. So I’ve been preparing the full business plan, finding recipes, building menus and costing them out for the past couple of months. It’s quite a task.

Additionally, Bev and I are the relief cooks for the folks who hold the contract and we’ve been asked to fill in for them a couple times this spring, including the past week.

How’s the farm?

The lambs are growing up fast. Tuesday we’ll be loading up the ewe’s and lambs for a short trip to the neighbor’s farm. There, we’ll have the ewe’s sheared and then return home. Then it will be back to the neighbor’s to pick up our ram, who’s been enjoying “ram camp”.

We’ve begun work on the basement. By the time we’re done, we’ll have a full walk-in pantry, enclosed storage for all our extra “stuff”, an office, a family room, and I’ll finally get my own bedroom… No more sleeping on the hide-a-bed in the living room.

We’re also replacing the fascia and soffits starting with the back of the house. The front will wait until next year.

The greenhouse is up and loaded with plants. We built raised boxes for Mom. Now, that was a chore, indeed. As of now, we have tomatoes, egg plant, broccoli, spinach and some herbs planted. Mom also has some flowers waiting for it to stay warm enough at night so they can go to the front yard.

All the tulips have been removed (they’re being relocated), and that area is ready for other plants.

We’ve expanded our outdoor garden patch to include the area in front of the chicken coop. Last fall, we threw some pasture seed out there, but between the birds and the wind, the seeds never had a chance.

This year we’ve planted potatoes, onions and garlic. At least those are fairly “critter-proof”.

Next up will be the “tender” stuff, like carrots, beans, cucumbers, melons and squash. Between the weather and the critters, those crops have been a challenge for us.

Bev and I are going to a “food show” later this week, but hopefully I’ll find time to get new pictures of our little piece of paradise in the desert.

Yeah, I know… I’ve neglected this diary.

All things considered with the experience at the Senior Center, we had a “family meeting” and have now officially set our sights on obtaining the food service contract whenever it becomes available.

So, this past few weeks, my task has been to flesh out the bare bones business plan we put into place last year. In addition to my “animal husbandry” experience, I also have a 30-year career in the food industry.

I’ve put together a plan that will work for us, and provide enough income to keep us interested, while providing very high-quality meals for the seniors in our area. Additionally, I purchased a program for “kitchen management” that takes care of everything from scaling recipes, to grocery lists, yields, preferences, etc. What a find!

We have no idea when Bill and Sue will choose to retire, but we intend to be ready for the process, no matter our competition.

I’ve still got more work to do, so will be a bit spotty in my updates.

Our weather here has been more like Oregon than Utah. The snow pack in the high mountains is nearly 150% of normal, awesome news for the water situation. Our concerns are that we’ll get a really fast thaw, and find ourselves under water… yes, even here on the desert.

It flooded in the spring of 2005, just a few months before Cindy and Bev moved here. Fortunately, there was no damage to the house, but I hear the roads were impassible and St. George suffered serious flooding.

I’ll tell you how bad it’s been this winter… We all bought (and use daily), muck boots! The mud between the chicken coop and the sheep water station is about 4 inches deep. The horses area is bad, too. We get snow, then thawing, then rain, then sun and it starts to dry… then it snows again, and we start all over.

Time to put on the boots and feed the animals now… I’ll be back later (with pictures, even).

January went out with a big snow storm… and February came in with even more snow. Of course, for us, that meant wind, which blew most of our snow to the next county.

Since the first of February, I’ve been kind of “missing in action” as far as blogging goes.

Way early on Friday, February 1, we got one of “those” phone calls. It was still dark, and I was really getting my best sleep when all of a sudden I heard Cindy calling to me… “Shari, Bev’s on the phone with someone and I just heard your name taken in vain!”

What the hell…?

I tumbled out of bed (and that’s not a pretty sight) only to discover there was no time for shower… Not even time to make my bed. Get dressed immediately! We’ve got to fill in at the Senior Center for Bill and Sue (the food service contractors). Thankfully, someone had started the coffee…

It seems Bill’s father had suffered a massive stroke, and Bill was a basket case. The father is quite old, and living with them. He was put on “hospice” earlier this year, so the end really is near.

By the time Bev and I got to the Senior Center, Bill had started on the meatloaf. Chris, the Center manager was helping out. She sent Bill home to be with his Dad. She’s added some ingredients to the meatloaf.

I got there and finished what I called “Meat Loaf by Committee”. The rest of lunch was Oven Roasted Potatoes and a green vegetable. Bev took care of the salads and dessert ( a cake).

We ended up cooking all last week. That’s something that absolutely fatigues me. It’s been 12 long years since I last cooked professionally, and my body just screams at me.

Going into this kitchen is quite similar to that program called “Dinner Impossible” on the Food Network.

We changed the menu around, since some of the things scheduled were  “pet recipes” and there were no written instructions. I didn’t really want to mess with those.

Monday morning we battled the elements getting to work as we’d had a snow storm on Sunday. Additionally, Cindy had left the windows in the Avalanche open a couple of inches. (She smokes and was airing out the truck). Well, it was 4 degrees inside and outside the truck. with 1/4 inch of ice on all the windows.

That was the COLDEST 15 mile ride… might as well have been on the horse!

I scrambled all morning to get lunch done on time. The menu… Beef Stroganoff over Noodles with Green Vegetables. The first of the Meals on Wheels go out at 11 AM and we didn’t get to the Center until almost 8 after stopping to pick up the groceries at the local store.

Wednesday wasn’t much better. Again I was scrambling around. We had Country Fried Steak (really breaded chicken patties), made from scratch Roasted Garlic Smashed Potatoes, and made from scratch Glazed Carrots. You know how long it takes to peel 20# of potatoes and 8# of carrots?

Thursday we had to go to St George and shop for the Friday lunch. Since we took the Senior bus and had other seniors with us… it was an all-day trip by the time we shuttled around St George for doctors’ appointments, shopping at three different stores, and lunch, plus the 2-hour round trip drive.

Friday was the “easy” day. Pop the frozen lasagna into the oven. Open cans of green beans. Open cans of applsauce. Open bags of salad. We were really thankful for the “slack day”.

Sadly, Bills father passed away on Wednesday and as I’m writing this, they are having the Memorial Service for him.

This next week will be back to “normal” as they’ll return to work for a while. In time, we’ll fill in when they want some time off for themselves. Hopefully, we’ll have more than a quick phone call.

That’s right, I got here a year ago yesterday. The weather is eerily similar. There’s snow on the ground and we’ll be lucky to get above freezing today.

So, what have I helped get done in the past year?

The first project was to help get the sheep bred. That was the “cross-country hike” in boot-high snow with our two ewes to the neighbor’s farm. Of course we also had “the great sheep roundup”.

Next up, we built the chicken coop and got the little birds… how grateful we are for the fresh eggs. Can’t say we’re totally thrilled with the meat as we let the boys get a few weeks too old. It’s tasty… but chewy.

All winter long, and into the summer I helped with hauling hay, a chore that definitely put my body to the test. We now have enough animals that we can purchase our hay by the ton and get it delivered.

We built raised beds for a vegetable garden. After two years here, the family finally had a few veggies from the garden. Nothing to store away… but at least I’ve shown that it is possible to grow stuff here.

We’ve got the worm bin started. In fact, we’ve got two now. That amounts to about 10k or so worms happily munching their way through shredded paper and fighting for leftovers that don’t go to the chickens.

I raised my first “bummer lamb”. Freezer is still with us. Guess we’ll keep him for company of our ram, “Algernon”.

My suspicions about Chiquita a Polypay sheep that was supposed to be a ewe. “She” had horns, and like to butt whatever was in her sight. About May, her baaa began sounding like she had laryngitis, and got really deep. Our shearer (named “Flip”) confirmed she really was “Bruce”… and away he went… couldn’t produce a lamb, so of no value to us.

In May, we went to see Clinton Anderson “Down Under Horsemanship” and I got the bug… my prayers were answered late in summer when our mentor asked us to keep her yearling, Dakota.

Until the weather turned sour, I’d been training her in the round pen. It will be a couple years before she’s ready to ride, but want her to have solid ground training first.

In November, our ram returned from a visit to a neighboring farm to do his studly stuff. In about a week, he bred each of our girls… oh yes, our mentor had sold us the rest of her black Merino sheep. I am the shepherdess!

So, what about Sarah, the “Spinach Fits”… aka Finnish Spitz?

She’s loving every minute here. I don’t let her get up in the computer chair so she’ not been able to update her blog for a few months. She’s growing quite a crop of fur… even beginning to look like a Finnish Spitz.

She’s learned beds (the one’s belonging to us humans) are for sleeping on… and she wants her half out of the middle. She gets along well with the other dogs, unless they step on her feet… then she creates a real ruckus.

She’s discovered the chickens, sheep, and horses as well as lots of rabbit holes. About once a month, we go out on the acreage and “hunt”. Other than that, she has the run of the big back lot, where she and the other dogs dig, run and wrestle to their hearts’ content.

Most recently, I’ve chosen to get back into network marketing with a company called BookWise. It’s something that makes total sense for folks who live in “the boonies”. You buy books, we donate a portion of the profits to help children learn to read, and get away from abuse.

I would say, I’ve had a most fulfilling and successful year!

I know, you’d think I ran away. Well, not really.

You see, there’s something about me you don’t know… once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur.

A couple weeks ago, I got an e-mail about a business launch… and it really turned my crank HARD!

First there was all the research…

I looked this thing over from the bottom up, the top down, left to right, right to left, inside out, and outside in. I discussed it with the other three gals, and we all agreed… I should jump on it.

So, after interviewing some other business owners, I chose to get started.

Come to find out, there are several teams rolling out the new business opportunity, and I’ve joined one of the top teams. Since doing that, I’ve been assisting with a full upgrade of the team site, so it will correctly reflect the corporate site.

So I don’t really taint this blog with all my “business stuff”, I’ve started another one where you can see what I’m doing to completely start over. I’ve got no list, and until Saturday, no online web site.

What’s been going on around here?

We’re “waitin’ on winter”. It’s really cold, but not as cold as it was last winter. Friday after Thanksgiving we started our first fire in the wood stove, and have had one going every day since then.

Morning chores now include bust serious ice off the water troughs. In fact, this morning there was ice all the way down the sides on the sheep trough. The chickens are getting alternate water containers… one gets thawed in the house and taken to them, and the other gets picked up to thaw, refill and start the process again (morning and evening).

Tuesday, I took the day off and went with the other senior citizens to Cedar City, where we shopped all day. Lunch at the Sizzler was excellent!. Our neighbor (Susan) and I got to shop to our hearts content in downtown Cedar City, where there’s a collection of the neatest little local businesses. Too bad all I could do was “window shop”.

Ok, time to get back to updating things… more about the business launch later, as it will have a positive impact on our little farm.

It’s now Friday morning and I’m about to do something I’m not too sure about. What’s worse… I’m not the only one.

You see, Cindy is my chauffeur and she absolutely, positively hates driving in any kind of city traffic. Bev has to work, and there’s no way we’ll let her take time off and not get paid.

So, bright and early… as in blinding sun in our eyes, we begin the long drive from our little desert hideaway to St George, actually clear to the other end of it. Make that a distance of some 75 miles.

Until we get to the St George cut-off, the sun’s not too bad. Now, combine the rising sun (in the southeast sky) with a two-lane highway going through a mountain pass, and you’ve got a recipe for adventure. You can encounter deer, slow moving trucks, school buses stopped along side the road… even falling rocks.

Thankfully, all we encountered was a slow driver “Blondi in a Caddie” who was being overly cautious as she braved the pass.

Our directions were simple enough, just stay on the same road until after we cross over I-15 and pass the cow pasture. When we see llamas on the left, the driveway to the dental office is on the right.

After a quick stop at Starbucks… my first in nearly 10 months, we proceed to the dental office.

Now, this isn’t your normal well-stocked very modern office, where you know your bill will be three figures just for being there, let alone having anything done. No, this is a free clinic ($5.00 donation greatly appreciated). Since I don’t have any income, I qualify (not sure that’s a claim to fame, either).

It’s 10am and time to hop into the chair. No arm rests, the head rest doesn’t adjust… oh well, just open wide for a quick x-ray. Yes, the dental tech did have a lead-filled protective vest for my other vitals.

Problem confirmed, here comes the dentist. He’s a big ol’ boy… real cowboy looking. And, he starts jabbering from the time he enters the room.

After a bit of probing (kind of lancing the abscess) he says to the tech… No sense probing any more and creating more pain. Give me two full vials of Novacaine. He then explains to her (she’s really new) that when you’re working on the mandibula (guess that’s the lower jaw) you’re better off just to numb it to the max than do one now and one again later… Thanks Doc… I think.

She’s not getting the syringe loaded correctly and he’s afraid she’ll bend the needle so he reaches across my face and loads the damn thing right over me… Good thing I’m not squeamish.

Within 5 minutes, the whole right side of my face is totally numb, including my ear, and half-way down my neck. Doc returns again… this time he’s at least added a surgical mask. He’s still jabbering, though. I don’t even try to answer. After all, my mouth is wide open, there’s the little vacuum thingy, and his fingers all in my mouth.

One probe, a request for something called a “cow horn” that has been stored in a sterile plastic baggy, a quick twist, and suddenly, the tech is stuffing a big piece of gauze in my mouth and telling me to bite down.

“All done”, she says.

Total time in the chair, less than 20 minutes… no fuss, no muss, not even any pain.

So, what was Doc jabbering about? He wants to hunt some “legal” prairie dogs. Most are protected in Utah.

Even though I couldn’t open my mouth, Cindy joins in the chat and we kill another 15 minutes talking about where he’s from… Wyoming, has two other brothers who are also dentists. He even had a dental office in one of the towns I spent my toddler years in… Wheatland.

Two days later, most of the swelling (abscess) has gone away. The antibiotic is killing whatever infection is there. My system is surviving nicely, thanks to an understanding “family”.

Mom even made meatloaf yesterday, with mashed potatoes, gravy, and well-cooked cauliflower. She’s made jello for me, as well as shared some of her tea.

Unless plans have changed… I think I have to “grow up” to real food tonight. I heard hamburgers are on the menu, and I don’t want to get left out.

Ya’ know… it could have been worse.

Oh, you didn’t know there was more than one crash? Yes, “Shari’s Gone Country” has been missing in action for a few days. That is the result of a hardware failure at the datacenter.

At the same time, I’ve gone missing in action thanks to a tooth that “went sour” and abcessed… not a fun thing. You see, I look more than “chipmunky”… I look like a pocket gopher with a full pouch.

That’s really bad news, too… Cindy dispatches those critters with her handy .410 shotgun!

Now, let me tell you… when you live in the desert, have no income ’cause you don’t have a job, you’re at the mercy of “the system”. Thankfully, we have a clinic in Enterprise (17 miles away) that at least provides an evaluation. The Physician’s Assistant is very nice and knowledgeable… except about teeth and abscesses that occur.

I got lucky, if you could call it that.

The clinic knew of a free dental clinic in St. George (67 miles one way). The catch… I had to get there within the next 4 hours for an “intake evaluation”. That means they’d discover I have no income, I have a very swollen jaw, and say… yep, you’re qualified. See you at 10 on Friday… two days later.

The PA had also prescribed a “kick butt” antibiotic that they assured me was on the Wal-Mart $4.00 generic Rx list. She had wanted to shoot me, but didn’t have the med on hand, so would have to pick up a ’script while I was in St. George. Enterprise is too small to support it’s own pharmacy.

Wouldn’t you know it. The folks at the Wal-Mart in Bloomington were being their usual selves. We arrived there at 4:25 pm to pick up a ’script that had been called in at 1 pm. No, they didn’t know anything about it… oh wait… “have you been here before? We found it… and need more information from you.”

At that time, we again confirmed the kick-butt stuff was on their $4.00 list, and they agreed.

Forty minutes later (after standing in line three times) the cashier said “that will be $49.52 please”. Say what?????

Now it was after clinic hours, no one answered the phone… Good Grief, and I was supposed to take this stuff IMMEDIATELY… as in as soon as possible after we could hustle our butts from Enterprise to St. George.

So, ask the nice pharmacist… how much could I get for $4.00? I could see at least 14 maybe 20 tabs in the bottle. By my math, that would let me get started on this stuff while we got a different ’script. Even if there were only 10 in the bottle… at $49.52 that would be $5.00 per pill… but no, there were at least 14 or more.

His reply… each pill is $12.00!

I’ll do your eyes a favor and not repeat what I wanted to say besides “see ya!”

So, it’s back to Beryl with no meds. But there’s good news… Jackie the PA had prescribed a combo of Ibuprofen and Tylenol. I could run the dose up to 800 mg of Ibuprofen (had to figure if it was in the Tylenol product). Now, that stuff kicked the pain… and even helped reduce the swelling.

Let’s see… It’s now Wednesday night. This tooth went bad over the weekend, and the swelling started Monday night. So there was little sleep Monday, less sleep Tuesday… I mean even the dog slept on the couch since I was flopping around like a fish out of water.

I did get a good night’s sleep Wednesday night.

Thursday… it’s back to St George to a different pharmacy for the ’script. Only this time, I take the “Enterprise Senior Bus” as Bev is the driver. We leave our house shortly after 8 am.

Now, the road to St. George isn’t exactly a super highway, except for that nice smooth 4-lane section at “The Ledges”. The bus isn’t one of those smooth-riding coaches. It’s a rattle-trap with few amenities other than heat and air conditioning.

The good news… about 11am I finally take the first dose!

The rest of the day is spent ferrying folks from place to place. We go to Costco, Deseret Books, Wal-Mart, IFA and finally to lunch at “The Golden Corral”, an awesome buffet. Not having eating more than a couple of small containers of yogurt over the past 60 hours… I’m famished. Thankfully I can handle the meat loaf, mashed potatoes/gravy, mac and cheese, steamed zucchini, and even bread pudding.

That took the edge off!

And with that, one more store stop and then back to Enterprise to off load the groceries and supplies into the truck and on to Beryl. Boy did the hot pack feel good when I got home!

Ok, so I’ve been around for a long time… old dogs CAN learn new tricks, when the information is presented properly.

I’m studying an e-book I got by way of a theme designer. Over at Four Country Gals, I chose to go with the WordPress script and upload it to my own server, rather than stay here at blogger. Besides looking for personal growth, I had an intuition I’d be able to drive traffic and attract attention more successfully with a unique domain, and hosting.

First, here’s a link to the book I found, complements of SK Design Studio. It’s called WordPress Complete Book

I’ve been learning about Technorati, and have now filled in my Technorati Profile. I know… I’m a little slow on the uptake… but hey… at least I’m learning and gaining an understanding.

Just launched… a new blog, which is a “reality blog book”.

I’ve been asked 1000’s of times, just how did the four of us decide to move to the SW Utah Escalante Desert Valley.

Now you can join along as I write the full story at “Four Country Gals“. I cover way more there than what I do here on this blog, or what Cindy covers on her blog at Country Musings.

This new project serves as inspiration to those of you who are searching for ways to re-invent your lives. Our message is “Never give up! When you plan, and things don’t go quite according to plan, make adjustments and keep moving forward.”

Be sure to subscribe to the feed, so you’ll get the latest updates.

I’ll be continuing this blog, and eventually some of the stories will overlap a bit. Take heart though, there’ll be far more detail in the “Four Country Gals” than there is in this blog.

That’s right… I moved a plan up a bit, and went country in December.

One of my Internet associates and I had been discussing and laying plans to join her and the rest of her family in Utah next spring.

Well, after assessing the long-term weather conditions, my personal financial responsibilities, her family’s needs, I made an immediate decision to make the move. Thankfully, I already had most of my furnishings in storage.

I left on December 8, 2006 in one of the many drenching storms from late November carrying forward. Sure glad I left when I did, as I was able to outrun the storm, arriving in Beryl, UT ahead of the first of several snow storms and a long time in the deep freeze.

Got here on Dec 11 and have been incredibly busy ever since. Finally I’m able to chronicle the experience.

Now, you may ask… what about Sarah, the “Spinach Fits”.. I mean Finnish Spitz? Well, she’s loving it here and has her own blog called “The Itchy Dog Blog“.

Be sure to grab my feed as this is where you’ll be able to keep up with what I’m doing here, both on and off the ‘net.

Shari