K Diamond K Ranch Getaway Feb. 2012

Some R and R away from home sounded so good!  When the Groupon for a two night stay at a working ranch in Republic popped up Mike and I grabbed it.  We needed the R and R!  What a great place.  This is our room.  I think there were 8 or 9 rooms at the ranch. Kathy and Brian were our hosts for the weekend.  

 There was a huge common area with two fireplaces.  Do we looked relaxed?

This is the kitchen area also part of the common area of the ranch.  Kathy cooked all our meals.  We just needed to sit back and chill!  There were about 8 other people staying the weekend and we got to know them.  Great conversations around the table.

 I played the piano a tiny bit.  Maybe one song twice.  I am not a great public player!

This is Kathy and her mom.  This ranch is a family place and her mom is a vet. The vet clinic is a stones throw away from the ranch!

This is the upstairs area.  Our room was up here.  There were books to read, games to play and seating areas upstairs.

OK, here we go.  Keep this Staff Only sign in mind as you read the rest of the blog.

 The sign was over the kitchen.

On Saturday morning we heard some of the guests were going to go feed the chickens and goats.  Mike and I rushed to get ready to go outside and joined them.  The goats were just adorable!  They loved the petting.

 I even got an occasional smooch!  Not on the lips though, just on the nose.

Talia had the feeding job.  Boy the animals know when food is coming and where it it coming from.  They start following anyone with food.

Hmmmm.  Is he inside the coop or outside.  I am pretty sure I would not go in that coop.

 This area is just beautiful.  We had gorgeous sunny days.

After breakfast those of us that felt adventurous went to feed the cows and the horses.  I could hardly wait to see the horses.  The cows not so much but I went along to try things out.

 Soon this flatbed would be filled with hay!

The cows know that we are going to feed them and start following the truck.  A cow train!

Here we go!  Lifting the bails of hay.  25 had to be loaded onto the truck.  Kathy said they weighed about 70 pounds.  I had no problem lifting them up but getting them up on the truck was another story.  Kathy stayed on the back of the truck to help with that!

 Babies!

We had to cut the string on each bail and toss some hay on the ground.  The trick was to hang on to the string.  Don't want the cows eating the string! Oh it was also important to stay on the flatbed and not fall off.

 Look a this!

 We are now headed to feed the horses!

 The horses did the same thing.  Followed the truck.

After throwing some hay off the truck I hopped off to take some pictures.  This is the team in action!

 One friendly horse!  He just loved being rubbed and petted.

The only Clydesdale of the group.  This horse doesn't look that big in the pictures but he is big and has lots of muscles!

 James the lover horse!  He is very affectionate.

 A few of us decided to walk back to the ranch.  Ahhhh, a sledding hill!  Fun!

I thought I would try my hand and filming and sledding.  Not bad.  You can tell I am having Fun with a capital F!

 More beautiful view!

OK, so here is Mike cooking in the kitchen.  I guess he didn't see the STAFF ONLY sign over the door of the kitchen.  By the end of the weekend he was a fixture in the kitchen helping.  So great that he could do that.  You can help whenever you want to but there is absolutely no pressure.  You could sit in front of the fire and read a book all day if you wanted to.  By the way Mike kept the fires going pretty good too.  He cook and sets fires!  What more could a woman ask for.

Everyone really enjoyed Mike and his fun/quirky personality.  He was relaxed and in his element!

This is the ranch.  Such a fun place.  In the evenings we played card games or board games with some of the other guests.  Some sat and visited with each other.  It was so comfortable and easy!

Mike and I took a walk and saw these old buildings up the road.  They are part of the old homestead where Kathy's parents used to live.

I saw this pond as we hiked up this hill.  Looked like something might have fallen in the pond.  I hope not!

We didn't go all the way to the top of the mountain but we got high enough to take some great pictures.  Mike looked for animals through his binocs while I laid on the ground (on our coats) soaking up the sunshine.

 The Hunter

 The Sun Bather!

 The moon decided to show itself during the day!

As we came back from our hike we approached the ranch.   HMMM.  Llamas.  Earlier in the day I had heard someone talking about the white llama and how it spit.  The last thing I wanted was to have llama spit on me.  ICK.  These two guys are right by the front door.  Of course we could have walked around the back but where is the adventure in that.  We would just be careful and smile at them.  Show them some love!

Anything for a picture.  Closer and closer.  No spitting yet.  Watch the ears.  If they go back you are in trouble. That's what I heard!

 We are heading up on the porch.
 Boy they are curious about us but so far so good.  No spit!

Safe.  See the young man by the 4 wheelers??  He distracted the llamas and we got in the ranch with pictures and without spit.  I hope he got in OK!

 This is one of Mike's roaring fires!

 Does Mike play the guitar?

 Assume the position!  SNOOOOORE!

We stayed until about 2:30 on Sunday.  What a great weekend.  We laughed, relaxed, helped out, met new people, played games, ate good food.  Just what the doctor ordered for us!  We took a little drive through Republic on the way home.  Quaint buildings, small town.

 The Fire Hall is now the Brewing Company.

These buildings look just like you would imagine a small town looking years ago.  I am so glad there are still places like this!

Driving out of town we saw this huge ice clump.  I would call it a sculpture but there was no sculpturing here! If you looked closely you could see water spraying out of something.  Guess that is why the frozen clump.  Pretty unique.

What does it look like?  Remember when you were young and looked up at the clouds?You could make shapes or things out of them so easily.  We get out of practice as adults but if we practiced again we could still do it!  I see a hunched over witch with a very long nose.  What do you see?