March 14th: Tractor, Chipper and Mud!

After all the excitement from the day before... waking up Saturday it was hard to believe our weekend was only half over. Zach's parent's neighbors gave my dad a great deal on a 4-wheel drive tractor and trailer. My dad was eager to buy a tractor again (it's been a few years since he had one in NY), and this one, although smaller than he originally wanted to buy, it had been hardly used, came with an auger, and a trailer. Once my dad had secured the purchase of the tractor (a few weeks ago),  we went ahead and purchased the PTO chipper. Chippers can either run on their own motor (expensive option) or can hook up through a PTO attachment to a tractor (cheaper option). Even though a PTO chipper is less expensive, it's actually safer, and can take bigger branches (ours takes up to 8 inch branches)than a comparable gas powered stand alone chipper.

So Saturday morning we got the chipper hooked up to the tractor, and the tractor/chipper loaded onto the trailer, then headed out to Hidden Hills. We could haul the trailer 11 of the 13 miles, but then the road gets a little dicey. So my dad drove the tractor/chipper the last adventurously muddy 2 miles. We got stuck a few times, but he maneuvered it like a pro! When we parked the chipper next to the first pile of branches, Zach saw that somehow a piece had come loose and fallen out :/ We couldn't chip without the missing piece. None of us were defeated by this. Just getting the equipment out there was an accomplishment of its own.

  Instead we continued to clear more trees, and trim some trees for fire safety (cutting branches from 0-4 feet up from the ground). Since we had a large area cleared (80ft x 80ft) we started burning a lot of smaller branches and brush. For 3 hours we had a nice size bonfire going.

The weather was so nice, and the kids were awesome workers. We are excited to get the 6x6 up here to pull some stumps out, and get the chipper fixed up to get chippin!

Today's Guest List:

Our Crew

Grandpa Mike

Grandpa Les

Simon

Jo

**UPDATE** Zach called the company we purchased the chipper from. After explaining what happened, they informed us that the part that came loose shouldn't have come loose. So they shipped out the part free of charge!

March 27th: Chipping, Cooking, Fires, and Food!

  I've realized now, that I don't take nearly enough pictures :(

  Friday morning my mom, myself, and the three littlest presidents headed from St. George to Paragonah. We double checked our camping supply lists and headed for the hills!!! This was our first "serious" camp out. We would be cooking 5 REAL meals over the course of 2 days, trying out the sink my my bought, using a solar battery for charging phones and lights, and a new (garage sale steal) gas stove.

   We all gave my mom a hard time when she came home with this "sink a few months back". But I am totally eating humble pie now, because it was SO useful. Whenever we've gone up to Hidden Hills, it's usually just been for 8 hours or so. Baby wipes and hand sanitizer is the standard for cleaning hands. But with all the cooking we were doing, it was SO NICE to be able to really wash our hands while preparing and cooking.

 Don't mind my first video appearance :) Camping is a little rough when you're 20 weeks pregnant.

 Making a comfy campsite with the chips

Today's Guest List:

Our Crew

Marshall

Grandma Pam

Grandpa Les

March 26th: Loft and Chips, Solar and Straw

  Today was a busy and productive day for Zach. He first met with the county engineer concerning our road right of way. Since our property is in the middle of BLM land, we needed to get permission from them to build a road from where the county road ends, to the base of our property (about 4 miles through BLM land). During the Right Of Way (ROW)  application process, we were informed that the county could "hold" the ROW and give us permission to make and maintain the road. This was advantageous for us because we were able to avoid a very expensive application fee ($1200) and yearly ROW lease ($75/year, but the fee goes up every year by $2 or $3). This is something we would have to pay for  FOREVER had we attained the ROW personally. The county would be given grant money to pay for this, and they would get approved much easier and faster than us. If anyone else decided to moved out there and build on their parcels and WE held the ROW... they wouldn't be obligated to help with road maintenance.  But because the county agreed to apply and accept the ROW, we could potentially share this maintenance with others. Everything through the county was approved and we can start major road construction after April 15th. YEAH BABY!!!! Our road is pretty rough right now, but with a few guys chainsawing, and someone on the backhoe, we should have a decent road after a few weekend work parties! (Email me if you want to be kept in the loop of when we will be up there working, so that you would know when to come @ thehiddenhillsranch@gmail.com)

 After his meeting in Cedar,  Zach was able to meet with an architect up on Hidden Hills, who specializes in energy efficient homes. We plan on building a home that is insulated using straw bales and that runs mostly off of solar. "Off the grid" so to speak. Where we want to build our house is ideal for this type of home (whoop whoop!). Although it might be 2 years before we actually start building our home, it was good to get an expert opinion before making concrete plans for the barn placement and home placement. When the times comes, we will reach out to him again to draw up our blueprints.

After that meeting was over, Zach had plenty of time to add a loft to the shed, creating more storage and a place for kids to sleep off the ground (if they want).

While Zach was throwing the loft together, Lincoln and Marshall started in on the piles of branches that needed to be chipped. Lessons learned: Always wear long sleeves and sun/safety glasses while chipping. Work gloves are a must as well!

Today's Guest List:
Zach
Lincoln
Marshall

March 13: Be All That You Can Be

So, exactly two weeks ago Zach came home from work and told me about this TOTALLY AWESOME truck he wants to buy. He told me how adventagous it would be to have this particular truck up on Hidden Hills. 

  On the way to our nephew's court of honor, we swung by the truck to take a look. You can imagine my surprise when we pulled up to this.... 

..... Um.... Yeah. So I've learned to think things through before I speak, with this husband of mine. But then He showed me a few YouTube videos to showcase this bad boy and... I was convinced too! We needed it!! After 4 days of Craigslist/Ebay searching and we were looking at purchase prices of around $9-$40K. :/ We were busy figuring out what we could sell to come up with the cash when our friend Paris let us know about government surplus auctions. BINGO!! We logged in on Thursday (6 days after first setting eyes on the truck), only to find out that we had just missed the auction. Not to worry though... They happen almost every Wednesday. 

  So the government sells a TON of stuff every week. There are actually 2 different sites. One does trucks and equipment, the other does toasters, blow dryers, tents, etc...  The hitch is that the items are located at different army bases across the country. So you have to find items that are close to you so you can pick up them up... There isn't a shipping option. You have 3 days to wire the money, and 10 days to pick up. 

  Zach signed up (it was easier than signing up for Amazon or Ebay) and we started earnestly researching what trucks to bid on. All the trucks are inspected and the auction site give you a list of problems they found, mileage, etc... We decided there were 5 trucks located in Ogden Utah (about a 7 hour drive from Vegas), that were worth trying to get. Wednesday morning we woke up so excited!!! We had decided that we would not bid more than $3500. That would be our max bid no matter what. I prepped all the kids on the likelihood of us winning and to not be upset if we didn't get one. I knew it would probably take a few weeks to get the hang of the bidding and such...  But not to worry. We would keep trying. 

  So a little about the bidding process (incase you're going to give it a whirl one of these days). They give each item an auction start time. The auction lasts for 5 minutes. 5 MINUTES!!! However, if a bid is placed in the last 2 minutes... The timer resets to 2 minutes. Our first auction started at 8:05. The truck had 19K miles, external lights didn't work, and engine wouldn't run w/out an external power source. This is considered "non runner". Zach assumed it was an alternator or battery problem and thought it might not be too difficult to fix. So at 8:05 the bidding opened. We waited. We watched to see what was going to happen. We both decided that we should wait until the end to bid. The starting minimum was $2000. It was immediately hit and we watched it slowly climb. With 1 minute and 30 seconds left the truck was up to $2800. We placed our bid, but was it was outbid seconds later. I was so nervous. The kids were all excited. Jumping all around. I yelled for Zach to bid $3200. So he updated our bid and the timer reset again for 2:00. The kids counted down all the way. The screen flashed ":05, :04, :03, :02, going, going.......... SOLD!" 

  I looked at Zach in total disbelief. I started shouting... "Did we win? Really?? Did we win??? Check our account!!" Sure enough, in our account under "items won" was our winning bid and photo of our new truck!!!! 

  The whole day I was in shock. Happy shock. The kids said "I can't believe we bought a 6x6 today" ALL DAY. I thought the same thing. We rushed around the next two days wiring the money, getting it insured, temporary registration and scheduling a pick up time. They are pretty specific with procedures pertaining to pick up, and with it being 7 hours away, we didn't want to have to drive up there twice. 

  Thursday night we drove to Paragonah, dropped some kids at Grandma Ginger and Grandpa Les's house, and continued up to Salt Lake City. We arrived and crashed into sleep at my Aunt Laura's house around 2am. We woke up early and at 7:30 my two awesome cousins met us to go pick up the truck. My aunts house was an hour and fifteen minutes from The pick up location in Ogden. 

  We arrived at 8:45. When the workers saw our paperwork they looked around for the trailer we were planning on using to haul it away. "You know this is a 'non runner' right??". We chuckled and told them we were hoping to be able to revive it enough to get it to its home in Paragonah UT (3 hours away). Little did they know that I had been praying morning, noon and night for the past three days that we would be able to pick up the truck with few complications as possible. There was one other customer in front of us, so we had to wait about 45 minutes for them to get to us and our truck. We saw the two workers drive away with a jump-start truck... and 10 minutes later they drove back with our truck. DROVE. YES. DROVE. 

  I don't know if they were feeling extra nice, or if Angels had jimmy rigged the truck (my gut feeling is that it was a combination of both). They said not to turn it off until we got where we were going because it wouldn't start on its own because they took off the broken alternator. Instead of leaving right then, Zach wanted to switch out the old dead batteries for the new ones he had purchased. That way we could have them jump start it again so we could leave. That wasn't necessary. After the new batteries were in Zach started it right up! We hit up the nearest gas station, filled the 80 gallon tank, aired up the 6 enormous tires, and headed south. We dropped my cousins off (thanks Jon and Remmington!!) and decided to swing by my sisters house before making the trek to Paragonah. 

  Within minutes of pulling into her neighborhood, dozens of kids were climbing all over and inside the truck. Zach used this downtime to check for leaks in the hoses, recheck the oil and other fluids and do a little research on the Internet. After giving all the kiddos a quick ride, we said goodbye and hit the road for real. 

  The truck likes to run at about 60mph. Lincoln and Simon made the 4 hour trip with Zach in the 6x6. They were in heaven! Jefferson and I followed directly behind in the van incase something happened. The ride back was smooth sailing. We stopped one time for a quick dinner break half way down. It's a good thing the parking lot was big ;)

  I was so grateful that things had gone so smoothly. Shocked. Totally in awe. We got home just as the sun went down. We pulled in and parked at Zach's parents house. The girls came running out to have a look! They were squeeling with excitement. Naturally they wanted a quick ride. So Zach went to start it up.... And nothing. Nada. It wouldn't even turn over. I was a little bummed but not surprised. We were blessed to have been able to have done the things we did that day with no major glitches or problems. Can it be fixed? Of course. But for now we are counting our blessings and grateful that the Lord provided for us. 

  I'm tired. I feel like I've been run over by a train. Physically and emotionally drained. 

  God is good. Goodnight. 

Today's Guest List:

Our Crew

Jonny 5 Steele

Remmington Steele

Laura Campbell

Emily Peery

Adam Peery

Jacob Peery

Ginger Hulet

Les Hulet

Simon

Jo

March 7th: Chipper Assembly Complete!

We headed to Zach's shop on this beautiful Saturday morning to assemble the wood chipper. It took a few hours, but we had lots of helpers to move the work along! Can't wait to get this puppy up to Hidden Hills!!! 

After assembly was complete, we hit C-A-L Ranch and picked up 50 meat chicks. In a few short months they'll be ready for processing! Let us know if you want to join us and learn how to process a chicken from start to finish. It's not as sad or gross as you may be thinking ;)

Today's Guest List:

Our Crew

Marshall

Simon

Josephine 

Snow. Snow. Snow.

  Lets just say that we are learning when to take a hint. There has been bad weather for over a week now in Southern Utah. This isn't the first time our plans have been halted. At first, it is ALWAYS discouraging. However, we are learning that these storms are timed perfectly :)

  By not having the production of actually driving up to Hidden Hills... we are able to really focus on "what do we really need to accomplish next?". Sometimes when I think about what we need to do, I find that there isn't enough oxygen in the room. But as soon as I get a grip, I remember where we started and how far we have already come! We have been so blessed and guided along this journey, and we have such awesome supporters.

  Can you believe it's MARCH already?!?!?  Which means pretty soon we wont have any excuses NOT to spend every extra minute at Hidden Hills. We are trying to tie up as many loose ends as possible, here in Vegas, so that when the time comes and we CAN spend a lot more time in the mountains, and will be getting as much done as possible each trip!

  TOMORROW... our wood chipper is arriving. It will hook up to the tractor that my Dad just bought, and pretty soon all those enormous piles of branches that we've cleared the past 3 months, will get chipped away to almost nothing! Tons of pictures and videos to come... I promise! I can't wait to see the difference!

  So for now it's homeschooling, cleaning, working, organizing, and a whole bunch of planning!!!