Fall 2011

 

Today there is a gentle autumn breeze.  The leaves flutter past my window.  The lawns are covered with gold.

The sugar maple is the last to put on it’s golden garb.

 

This is our last weekend of the season.  Temperatures are in the low teens at night so it is time to get Dan’s Plumbing crew here to have everything drained.  They will come this Thursday.

 

We just finished getting new flooring in the rooms and cabin no. 5.  The new carpet smell is wonderful and the rooms are beautiful!

There is new flooring in the sink and bathroom areas as well.

 

Cabin no. 5 is the coziest ever!

Thank you Bingham & Sons of Rexburg for your quality flooring selection and the awesome work!

Robert will finish putting away the lawn furniture and the Rankin bench this afternoon.  I am finishing a few last sewing projects- a curtain panel and perhaps a pillow for no. 4 to match the new curtain panels I just put up.  I’ll also get a few more pictures of the cabins for the Cabin Showcase blog entries coming up.

We’re looking forward to the upcoming 2012 summer season.  Reservations are coming in so book your room or cabin with us as you plan on traveling the Yellowstone and Teton areas next summer!  We look forward to seeing you!  And as always, travel safely!

 

 

 

 

Cabin Showcase! No. 3

We’ve found time to move some new furniture into the cabins along with some new decor.  And I want to share some of the special, unique things about each of our cozy cabins

Early morning sunshine pours in.  There is a corner breakfast nook and a new quilt on the bed.  New curtain panels and valances add extra color to this room now.

A radio (yes it still works!) sits in the corner ready to tune into “Prairie Home Companion”.

Through the door you can see the other room of the cabin.

Here are comfortable chairs, books and a sewing cabinet for a night stand.  And an old, re-finished trunk sits at the end of this bed.

The leather straps are the old horse harnesses used to pull the wagons and plows in the fields.

More Cabin Showcases in the coming blog entries!

We had special guests stay with us last month.  They were the first to rent one of the new motel rooms my mother and father added in 1970.  The travelers remembered my folks and said they paid $24 for the best night’s sleep they had ever had!

The Harvest of 2011

Golden leaves, cooler temperatures, and SNOW last week!  We lost quite a few branches off of the trees on the center lawn.  The weight of the wet snow and green leaves (they hadn’t started to turn yet) were too much for the older elm tree branches.

We harvested our barley and flax-seed crops a few weeks ago.  The weather was beautiful!

 

Now travel back a few years to 1922.

This is a picture of Great Aunt Margaret to the forefront, with my grandfather and grandmother, D.K. and Eva.

 

The golden wheat of 1922.

 

And another picture of working in the fields.

 

What a legacy of labor.  A few pictures have survived.  A few moments are frozen in time. Women posing in the fields. My grandfather standing tall and proud in that field of wheat up to his chest.  He is wearing a suit and proud of his crop.    The other pictures are of horses and men, guiding and pulling machines to gather the crops.  What hard work.  I remember the stories of how much food had to be ready to feed the men working the harvests.  Loaves of bread, biscuits, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, pies and cookies.  Work for the farm women in the kitchen was no easier.

I keep this legacy alive in my heart and have created a flower garden I have named “The Heritage Garden”.  It showcases the few remaining pieces of wagons and wheels we brought from the fields in 2008.  It becomes more beautiful every passing year.

 

The flowers are about finished blooming now though the black-eyed susans are beautiful and bright.  The days are shorter and traffic lighter.  A few workers on local projects and spud harvest crews are staying with us.  We have our rooms cozy and warm for everyone traveling our way this October!  Travel Safely!

We Remember

A quiet, relective Sunday in Ashton at The Rankin.  Our flag at half-mast to remember and honor those who were killed by the violence of the 9/11/01 attacks.  The war on terror continues.  Our son has completed 2 tours to Iraq.  We are proud he is serving his country.  He was a junior in high school when the attack occured.  That moment defined his future.

A memoir my family members published is titled ”We Remember”  The stories are those of homesteading, the depression, WWI and WWII.  Cousins Beth and Lois each owned a single dress.  They planned dates carefully so as to have a different dress available for a date.  And woe to the person who spilled anything on the garment!  Cousin Winn flew over what remained of Hiroshima shortly after the atomic bomb was dropped.  He was overwhelmed with the destruction and evil that thing had unleashed.  His life would never be the same.

I worked steadily all afternoon in my pansy garden bed.  It is a small area around an old cottonwood stump, shady and protected.  A huge bumble bee was suddenly crawling on the stump in front of me.  As it flew off, I saw a bird taking a bath in the water fountain 4 feet away from me.  The bird splashed furiously and sent beads of water into the air and sunshine.

I worked several more hours into the afternoon and another bee!  Could it be the same one?  I had my camera this time.  He circled in the air several times again before leaving.  The beauty of everything surrounding me was overwhelming.  He had come back to make sure I was appreciating it all.

We welcomed guests later in the evening.  Travelers from Germany were eager to see Yellowstone and wanted to know all of the good places to see.  They especially appreciated the mileage / estimated travel time map we had.  It’s an easy guide to help you navigate the park.  Of course if you come across a buffalo standing in the road, you aren’t going anywhere!  And we always point out the Mesa Falls scenic drive- Robert shows them the road on the map to take, and I show them the picture of the falls we keep on the end table.   All of our other reservations made it safely.

 

We dedicate this post to our dog Rocky.  We remember.