The children were all finally in bed. I turned to Nate and asked, “Do you remember when we lived in Springville and you would come home from work? We’d eat dinner, I’d do the dishes, and we’d all go for a walk?”

He nodded.

I glanced at the clock showing 9 PM. “I’m still on the do the dishes part.”

The cows were out of feed so it was time to move them to a fresh pasture. We all gathered and began saddling the horses.

Two of Nate’s sisters, Anna and Lisle, get their horses ready,

then give their daughters some early cowgirl training.

My oldest holds the Shetland Pony while her cousin saddles him.

Paul puts the reins on Talinka.

Matt’s got his horses saddled and is trying to figure out who’s riding up front, behind, and what path we’re taking to the new pasture. Finally, everyone knows their position, the lead and tail cars are loaded, and Grandpa takes a group of little cowgirls and cowboys to shut gates and guard openings along the route.

The cowboys (and cowgirls) gather the herd as the storm gathers. Sometime before I snapped this picture, Nate’s horse Canyon decided she didn’t want him on her back. She began crow hopping and then all out bucking. Nate stayed on a good eight seconds and beyond, but eventually Canyon got her way. Nate has NEVER been bucked off a horse before. He says forty is not the age to start. He climbed back on Canyon and together they helped herd the cows the four miles to the new pasture at which point it was all Nate could do to get off the horse and into the car.

Paul on the other hand looks like herding cows in the rain is the best way to spend a Saturday.

We brought the cows out and immediately crossed the road.

Here they come

to cross another highway. These crossings are why lead and tail vehicles are needed. They park off to the side of the road, one on each side of the crossing, with flashers going and a stick poking out the window with something red on it. This hopefully alerts oncoming traffic in both directions if they haven’t seen the animals on the road yet.

The camera doesn’t show the rain or the wind.

I drove the tail vehicle. Here’s my windshield.

We arrived at the new pasture …

and the neighbors were pretty excited to greet some new cows.

Our cows immediately headed over to make friends. All this neighborly kindness led to a long night a couple of weeks later. I’ll have to post about that another time.

The storm was picking up momentum about this time so horses were quickly loaded.

Done socializing, the cows spread out to enjoy their new pasture, and we drove home to warm houses.  Nate collapsed on our coach to finish watching a soccer match and I thought we might never beable to get him up again. After a hot shower and good night’s sleep he was doing much better and was able to hobble off to his early morning church meetings. By Monday morning, his limp was barely noticeable, and by Tuesday, his aches were almost gone.

]]> http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2010/06/30/another-rainy-cattle-drive/feed/ 1 http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2010/06/07/spring-cleaning-with-the-family/ http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2010/06/07/spring-cleaning-with-the-family/#comments Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:21:22 +0000 Kate http://www.katrinapalmer.com/?p=2372 Our string of six birthdays in eight weeks is over.

End of school year plays have been performed.

Advancement speeches have been made.

And now all the children are home with Mom. Time for spring cleaning. I envisioned all the cleaning taking the first week of summer break. We’ve begun week two and aren’t even halfway there yet, but here are a few things my children learned last week:

1. White means no dirt in the corners either.
2. Mom yells.
3. There are four screen edges, eight if you count both sides.
4. Mom checks both sides.
5. The ledge where the latch is attached to the windows is part of the window and has to be cleaned, too.
6. So does the latch.
7. Mom yells loudly.
8. Mom will take the phone from your ear and tell your cousin that you can’t talk right now because you haven’t finished your windows. Especially if this is the third call in thirty minutes.
9. Window tracks go all the way around–they’re not just on the bottom.
10. Straight pins can be used to extricate fly parts from window tracks.
11. Mom won’t let you play until the window passes her inspection–even if it’s 2:30 and your cousins are hovering outside the house.
12. Mom doesn’t understand “I can’t …’
13. It can take two days to clean all the windows if the children help Mom. One if she does it by herself.

And this is when I chant, “Teach your children to work even if it’s easier and faster to do the job yourself.”

This is our water. Once it melts we have no way of storing it. That means after the fourth of July, we can’t water our crops. How many of you stop watering your gardens or yards at the height of summer heat? Eighty years ago a plan was established to remedy this situation. A storage resevoir would be built in Sanpete and the Scofield resevoir in Carbon County would be doubled in size. Sanpete’s resevoir would be built first.

Before work on the Sanpete project, called the Narrows or Gooseberry, commenced, a serious risk was identified in the Scofield structure. “During World War II, it was discovered that Scofield was failing. A catastrophic failure of Scofield would do huge damage, including wiping out the railroad line that carried Carbon’s coal to Geneva Steel in Orem. The damage to Carbon’s economy, and to Geneva Steel’s contribution to America’s war effort was simply unacceptable.” (quoted from The Narrows Project Website)

Sanpete agreed that Carbon County’s Scofield project must be completed first. The dam was repaired, and its size doubled. The war ended. Carbon County had their water. Sanpete did not. Since that time, whenever Sanpete has tried to initiate progress on the resevoir to store its OWN runoff, the Carbon County Commission, the Carbon Water Conservancy district, the Price Water Users’ Association, and others have objected.

We need the capacity to store our water. We need the Narrows Project. Please help us by sending an email to the Bureau of Reclamation. Your email needs to be in their hands BEFORE JUNE 1 and must contain your full name and address.

narrowsSDEIS@usbr.gov

You can read more about the Narrows Project on this website and also in this article in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Here’s the letter Nate sent:

I am a local farmer in the North Sanpete area and have been here for over 35 years. Without the ability to store water, we are 100% dependent on spring run off and when the run-off ends, usually by end of June, so too does our crop irrigation. We desperately need the water promised to us to continue with our crop production. Each year we eek out one and half crops of alfalfa, which is not enough to even pay the expenses. With this Narrows Dam Project, we would be able to get an extra crop, making it possible to sustain our operation and secure a future for agriculture business in Sanpete. I only desire this project to be completed as promised. I have traveled to Carbon County in the fall and observe their continued irrigation of crops well into October. It is only fair, that we recuperate the water that rightfully belongs to us. I urge you, with all of the emphasis I can, to end the bickering and approve this project so we may sustain our desire to preserve our local economy and feed our communities.

Here’s the letter I sent:

I’ve lived in North Sanpete for the past seven years, first in Mt. Pleasant city and currently in the county. Sanpete maintains excellent water conservation principles both within its cities and in its various agricultural pursuits. Utah State University has recognized Sanpete County as a leader in water conservation measures. Even so, I’ve experienced the yearly summer water rationing as a city resident, and witnessed first hand the crop devastation each year beginning in July when we no longer have water for our alfalfa, barley, and oats. Citizens of our cities, as well as our many farmers, would benefit greatly from being able to store our own runoff–our own water.

Repeated environmental impact and engineering studies show there is no better place to build The Narrows Dam and Reservoir. The location is a relatively small area inhabited by sage brush and a small meandering stream. Due to a tunnel ditch and gravity, the proposed site involves no pumping costs. In 1984 Carbon County agreed, in writing, that the Narrows Project should be built, and agreed not to oppose it. I urge you to move forward with this project that began in the 1930′s. It’s time we had access to our own water.

How You Tube Showed Me My Plotholes

Sadly, I was unable to attend LTUE this year. I know, I know. It’s free. I should be able to make my schedule accommodate such things, but such is life. However, some beautiful people made a video (5, 10 minute segments, actually) of Dan Wells‘ (author of I Am Not a Serial Killer and podcaster from Writing Excuses) story structure class. Then Dan Wells posted not only  the You Tube links but also his coinciding Power Point presentation.

Amazing. Simply amazing. Can I just say, I love these people for doing this, and Dan Wells is brilliant. Brilliant people. You should all check this out. Basically there are seven points to every plot: action, character, romance, betrayal. I used his seven point plotting system to plot my WIP (Work in Progress). When I did this I saw precisely where my plot fell down, stalled, ceased to exist even. It also quickly pointed out which genre I had written–not the one I thought. Now I know what is missing, where in the story it’s missing, and most importantly how to strengthen my plotlines to write the book I thought I was writing.

How Shards of Glass Are the Only Backstory I Need

When Anon critiqued my work, I discovered I had three chapters of backstory. Three! I knew I needed to ax those chapters, but I kept trying to rewrite my favorite scenes into later parts of the book. So frustrating, because if chunks of backstory don’t belong in the first three chapters guess what happens if you try to weave it in later? That’s right–the story comes  to a complete halt while I share this bit of backstory I’ve tried to rework as something that moves the plot forward, but it can’t–because it’s backstory.

Feeling as if this might be the book I have to put away and never touch again, I quit revising. But I didn’t quit searching for answers. At the end of April I came across a backstory series on Jordan McCollum’s website. She is an amazing blogger who packs her posts full of helpful info for writers. I’m in awe of the time and research she puts into each article. Back in March Margie Lawson wrote a guest post on Jordan’s blog.  The light of backstory understanding finally dawned when I read this:

Mark Sullivan (mystery/suspense/thriller writer) has a great plan for back story management.

He suggests writing down what you think the reader needs to know.

Grab a red pen – and go through your back story points and circle what the reader absolutely has to know.

Next, take those points you circled, that the reader absolutely needs to know, and picture them etched on a sheet of glass.Got it?

You’re imagining those points imprinted on a rectangle of glass. Imagine carrying that sheet of glass to a brick patio. Imagine standing on a brick patio, holding that sheet of glass.

YOU KNOW WHAT’S COMING!

Drop that sheet of glass.

Watch it shatter.

Imagine picking up one narrow shard of glass at a time – and slipping each sliver of back story in your first 100 pages. Repeat. You insert one sliver of back story in those first 100 pages, one piece of back story at a time.

That powerful image created quite an AHA! moment for me. Now I knew I had to throw out the first three chapters. No question.

How To Quit Spinning My Wheels and Write

I learned so much from Margie Lawson’s one guest post on Jordan McCollum’s site, I enrolled in her online Deep Editing class. Wow. It’s intense. The first five chapters of my WIP are in shreds.The class ends next week and I’m pitifully behind. However, I’ve discovered that I first need to rewrite with Dan Wells’ Seven Point Story Structure system, and then use Margie Lawson’s Deep Edits to make my manuscript shine.

Knowing what to do makes all the difference in motivation.

Moroni’s BBQ Turkey

5 lbs. boneless turkey breast cut into smaller pieces (or chicken)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup soy sauce
2 cans 7-Up
1 1/2 tsp. horseradish
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Marinate meat for 18-24 hours in a large container with a lid.

**I put 4-5 lbs. of chicken tenders in a gallon-sized ziploc bag, poured in the marinade and placed it in the freezer until Monday morning when I moved it to the cooler before we left for Spring Break. It slowly thawed in the cooler and was ready to cook on Tuesday night.

The outside grill was being used by the dutch oven so we grilled this inside. An outdoor grill is preferable if possible.

Slowly grill and turn to cook other side. You can baste with the sauce as you grill if desired, but NOT if you do this indoors.

There you go. Easy Peasy and Delicous. Enjoy!

Moroni’s BBQ Turkey

5 lbs. boneless turkey breast cut into smaller pieces (or chicken)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup soy sauce
2 cans 7-Up
1 1/2 tsp. horseradish
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Marinate meat for 18-24 hours in a large container with a lid. Barbeque slowly.

Next, he removed the twine from the four posts

and replaced it with this.

Then we attached short lengths of twine to one row of rebar and the longer lengths to the other row.

Nate placed the PVC over the rebar and

slowly walked along bending the PVC to fit over the opposite rebar.

The PVC fit into the precut holes and over the rebar on each end wall.

When all the ribs were in place he took another length of PVC and began taping it to the center of each rib.

It took two lengths of pipe to complete the spine.

At the opposite end, he sawed off the excess before taping to the final rib.

He also duct taped the pipe to the corners of each end wall.

That’s as far as we got until Friday.

On Friday evening we rolled out the greenhouse plastic along the length of the structure and then some before cutting it. We should have gone another two feet–you’ll see why later.

The plastic should nearly touch the ground when you get it spread over the pipes. We were a little short. Creative- engineer-as-you-go is Nate’s specialty. We still need to get some greenhouse plastic tape to finish it up. Anyway …

Next we secured the plastic by throwing over a couple of the long twine ropes and tying them to their corresponding shorter twine partner.

And posted a child on this corner …

and one on this corner and a wife on another.

Then Nate brought over a pile of these

and began cutting out the plastic about six or eight inches inside the door frame.

Then he folded the plastic around a wood slat

and screwed it into the frame.

He repeated the process for the sides

and the bottom.

Then we secured the remaining lengths of twine.

You should cover your door(s) with plastic before you mount them. There it is! All done! So exciting! Nate quickly set up our drip watering system inside and

we planted our tomato and pepper plants. We haven’t decide if we’re putting a door in the far end or a vent window so we draped a piece of plastic over the opening for now. Here’s the link for step-by-step instructions, and this is a link to a video clip showing a hoop house in action.

]]> http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2010/05/10/hoop-house-part-2/feed/ 2 http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2010/05/04/hoop-house-part-1/ http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2010/05/04/hoop-house-part-1/#comments Tue, 04 May 2010 15:17:18 +0000 Kate http://www.katrinapalmer.com/?p=2291 I blogged about the grow rack Nate built here. This is what our tomato and pepper starts looked like about two weeks ago. They’re bigger now. Originally, we had planned to transplant them into the hoop house in our garden on May 1. Mother Nature had different plans. We got part of the hoop house up on Saturday and we hope to finish it tonight. (And by we I mean I’ll be there with a camera to document all of Nate’s work and occasionally lend a hand–but only if he absolutely needs it. )Then we can begin transplanting.

The first thing Nate did was build and paint the end walls. (We used a gallon of untinted paint. It dries clear.) He also drilled a large hole in each side of the base that extends beyond the walls on either side.

After quite a bit of measuring to make sure everything was square, he pounded in two-foot lengths of rebar and set the endwalls onto them.

Next he pounded in a fence post in front of each inner vertical support.

Then used some handy-dandy baling twine (seriously, how did I ever live without this stuff?) to secure the post to the endwall frame.

Then he stretched a length of (you guessed it) baling twine from one endwall embedded rebar to the the opposite endwall embedded rebar as guide. He stretched out a tape measure and place two-foot lenghts of rebar every three feet. Lastly, he pounded the rebar into the ground leaving a few inches above ground to receive the PVC pipe.

That’s as far as we got on Saturday. Hopefully, we’ll get it finished tonight. Can you taste those tomatoes yet? Tomatoes in July–amazing, miraculous! Is it possible?

]]> http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2010/05/04/hoop-house-part-1/feed/ 5 http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2010/05/03/branding-calves/ http://www.katrinapalmer.com/2010/05/03/branding-calves/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 15:46:22 +0000 Kate http://www.katrinapalmer.com/?p=2278

It’s that time of year again. The time when we separate the calves from the mama cows.

Nate feeds the cows up the chute

where others stand ready to receive the calf.

These cowboys close the chute and turn it on its side creating a work table.

These gals keep track of how many males and females come through as well as few other things as needed.

Like measuring out immunizations

and administering them.

My father-in-law checks out this calf

while my cowgirl slides a rope into the back of the chute for the cowboys to loop around the calf’s back legs.

Then she and her cowgirl cousin take turns securing the rope so the cowboys don’t get kicked when they raise part of the panel …

to do this. Rocky Mountain oysters anyone?

This guy’s never experienced that.

Branding is the last part of this process.

The calves are released into a holding corral until we’ve worked with all of them.

Grandma helps the tiniest cowgirl peek at the calves.

The calves are released back into the waiting mama cows. Lots of loud mooing ensues as each calf and mama cow call out until they find each other.

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