Big Daddy at work

We had a little excitment at the Ranch on the delivery day.
My builder had to fire up Big Daddy to pull out the tractor trailers after the unloading process.
Hopefully this video will post properly.

The building arrived yesterday!

Tuesday, December 2nd, I meet the Mueller truck drivers and let them in to deliver our building. Of course, as always since we have started this project, it rained the night before - 1.5 inches at the ranch according to the locals at Kotts cafe. (I picked up breakfast for the drivers since they slept all night in their cabs.)

It took 2 tractor trailers to get it here.

The slab will be ready for construction next week.

I did it!

Yes, I did ... Thanksgiving morning I walked 5 miles. I ran a little but I am not a runner.

I finished - I was last crossing the finish line of the 5 mile run. I averaged 15 minute miles too.

HAPPY THANKGIVING!

Wishing all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!
To all the deer hunters - Good luck and shoot straight!
Wishing the Aggies a win today - BTHO t.u.! GIG'EM AGGIES - WHOOP!

wishing Curt a Happy Thanksgiving in China - Wish he was here!

The turkey is in the oven, pumpkin pie baking in the other oven. Kitchen smells great.
I made peanut butter pies last night. The first round of fudge and cookies were made last night as well.

We are going to run the Turkey Trot today - well now it is called the Run thru the Woods. After the race I will then finish cooking our Thanksgiving dinner....

May God bless us on this special day as we give Thanks!
Safe Travels........

Concrete poured

We have poured the foundation for the barndominium. They brought in a pumper truck and I lost count of the number of cement trucks. I attempted to draw our brand in the back corner of the porch and dated the slab as well. The building arrives on Wednesday next week, however they can't start putting it up until the weekend. The concrete has to cure at least 10 days. We should have a building Dan's birthday. If all goes as planned we hope to camp up there for New Years.

BIG DADDY!

BIG DADDY was delivered on November 22, 2009.

Ranch update - water well & foundation

I finally have a moment to myself with no interruptions so I uploaded pictures to post. I have more that I took today, but that will have to wait. Lots of progress at the ranch. The bottom picture is of our water well being drilled. That is done and capped off until the building is up so we can set the pump and tank. The picture above it is of the foundation being framed and made ready for the concrete. The plumbing has been put in for the barndominium, etc. The electric fence is built plugged into the temporary pole for now. We had a fun time building this. It got dark on us, so we had to utilize the truck and Suburban headlights to finish the fence. The girls helped Dan and I.

Water well drilled on 11.11.2009.

Ranch Update

We are getting excited about the build out at The Ranch.

We moved our entry gate back. Still the old rusty gate but new supports. Dan and Kendyl cleared all the brush out so that our fence guy could do the build of the new fence and entry.

We set it back from the road to allow vehicles to get off the road while someone jumps out and opens the gate. (We call this person the Gate Bitch.)

The first picture is what it looks like now... second picture is before the culvert.

With the culvert installed, our entry is 40 feet wide and about 25 feet into the property.

Looks good.

(The pictures are backwards in the posting - sorry - pretty frustrated with Blogger right now and not letting me move these. oh well... I am too tired to mess with it... so just deal with it.)

The Barn is in fabrication. Dan and I are working through the electrical requirements now.

I have a temporary electric pole and the electric company has marked where the permanent pole and temp pole need to be set.

Things are moving along.

We should get the slab design this week and then our builder can get the concrete ordered - we will have a slab soon.

Next we are going to have to build the electric fence around the construction site. If Dan isn't home then Kendyl and I will do this.

Update on the Home Front

This has been a busy fall. When I got home from my extended stay in West Virginia tending to Granny's house, I had to get my remodeling finished here at home. (WV Recap - Granny took ill in May - two surgeries - a two week stay in ICU - discharged to a skilled nursing facility for rehab - she did great and is now in an assisted living home. So took this opportunity to do some house cleaning in WV. WHEW... makes me tired just thinking about August.) My remodeling started in June between my trips to WV, but had to be put on hold. So here I am again. We have remodeled the back portion of the house - painted, new blinds, new countertops, etc. And we put hardiplank on the outside of the house and painted it outside. The we here is not us - I contracted it out. Dan is too busy to do this these days - he did hang my new blinds and did some fixit trim for me in the kitchen. I'll post pictures once it is done.

We did take some time to ride the Harleys to San Marcos for the Texas HOG Rally. I have posted these pictures. We were second row for the Joan Jett concert. IT WAS AWESOME!

I am standing between Kendyl's and Dan's bikes. I love the picture of Dan & Kendyl - typical pose for 2 engineers. Kendyl was put up front in the Harley Group photo because she is so pretty and her bike is too. It is extremely rare to have a young beautiful woman riding her own Harley and the Harley organizers recognized this. Dan got to tag along because he was The Dad. There are over 250 bikes in the group picture. It should be in the Harley magazine later in the year.

Kendyl on HER Harley!

I've posted a group picture of The Woodlands HOG attendees - The Olds group is standing on the left just under the nose gun - and one of Joan Jett - you can see how close we were.

Wish we had more time for these kind of trips. Hope we have some great November weather. Dan's travel schedule got changed again - he may be home more this fall, but his busy season has started early.

My next posting will have a ranch update.

Tasha is back in China - check out her blog for pictures from Thailand and their diving vacation.

Later... Safe Travels!

The Barn has been ordered.

Building is officially underway at The Olds Ranch (TOR for short). "The Barn" has been designed and steel ordered. I have a full day of appointments next week at TOR to meet with the road guy, the builder, and the slab guy. We hope to break ground on the building next month. The build will go quick. The inside will take longer because Kendyl and I will be doing most of this work. (I would say Dan but he has a killer travel schedule starting in October.)
I will be posting pictures of progress when there is something to report.

North to Alaska

Dan and I and the girls and joined my sister, Whitni, and her family for a cruise of the Inside Passage of Alaska. We departed Vancouver, Canada and cruised to Whittier, Alaska.--7 days of jammed packed fun. This was a great cruise for a family vacation. We saw lots of wildlife - we lost count of the pods of whales. IT WAS AWESOME!
I posted one picture of Dan and I after our day of halibut fishing in the morning and zip-lining in the afternoon in Juneau. Dan and Kendyl rode Harleys in Ketchikan, Tasha and I did a float plane there. In Skagway, we had breakfast in a bordello, drove into the Yukon and then in the afternoon rode a train into the Yukon into a different direction. We glacier cruised. We hiked glaciers, visited a wildlife center. I am busy scrapbooking the pictures. Kendyl is doing a video.
It was awesome. You'll have to visit to see the pictures. There are just too many good ones to post online.
I will be posting more later on our summer adventures.

On the homefront, Granny is doing much better and has moved to an assisted living center in Buckhannon, WV. Her phone number remains the same and she welcomes the calls.

In Texas, I am still busy remodeling our place in The Woodlands and have started on the Ranch buildout. We should break ground in October for our building.
Moving fast on this.

Hope everyone had a great summer and is planning for a wonder fall festival season.
Safe Travels... Tracy O.

YEAH - Summer is Here and July Birthdays!

GUESS WHO??









YEP... it's me!










I took a welding class in June. I can strike an arc and run a bead with the best of them. Well, I only took an intro course and got pretty good... still have a lot more to learn. I just have to practice and practice some more.

I have been swamped lately.
Dan has been traveling with work. Kendyl too. Tasha in China. Then Granny had to have emergency surgery... so we are traveling to WV to see her monthly. She is recovering - but very slowly... but normal for a 92 years young person. She is in a skilled nursing facility so that she can get the physical therapy she needs to recover.


We have put development on hold at the ranch until fall.
We are in the middle of a heat wave and drought, so it is just as well.
And in the middle of all this we are remodeling our home in The Woodlands.
So I am retired but still being a consultant and project manager - just not getting paid for my work. LOL!!

We have attended the May and June weddings....
Now it is July and the parties have begun for the July birthdays. Lots of travel including a trip to VEGAS .... BABY!! Watch for posts later of the parties!

Hope you have a wonderful summer full of family fun and reunions ... and Safe Travels!!

Update from The Olds Ranch

Our unusual trees at The Ranch:

Been awhile since I have posted anything about the ranch.
We have been busy clearing fence lines. Sawing up fallen trees (lost some to drought and to H-Ike). Picking up rusty barbwire from an old fence line we found in a stand of trees. Found out later that there was an old house and barn in this area. Makes more sense since we found a hand dug water well in this area. The rancher that runs cows on the land put an old round bale feeder around the well to keep the calves out. We have been worried about the tank running dry. Worries over... we had a huge rainstorm (dropped over 4 inches in 24 hours) and the tank is running over. YEAH!!
I planted daffodil bulbs last fall - Dan laughed at me - said they were pig food. Well the pigs did get some, but I had daffodils this spring. (Now that they are bigger either the deer or cows are eating the tops off of them... oh well!)
Still working on the barn/shed plans. Latest news is Tracy has signed up to take a welding class so she can weld her pipe fence and the cattle pens.
Biggest news is that the old tower is down and removed. YEAH!
I have added pictures taken at the ranch.

Dan & Tracy resting and planning.

Another ski story

I wanted to share a video with you but first I have to give you a little background. First of all, I finally won something - a Flip Mino HD from the Ellen DeGeneres show. I KNOW!! I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT EITHER!! I put Ellen's assistant through h-e-double-hockey-sticks proving to me this wasn't a scam. Anyway, I received my Mino in the mail and we used it on the ski trip. It is fabulous.

A funny incident happened to me while standing in the line picking up our ski tickets. I was waiting patiently in line (oh yes I was...) when I heard a couple whispering behind me. Saying - "yes those boots are called rear-entry and they don't make them anymore. " Well, I knew they were talking about my boots. Yes, they are really really old. My first pair dry-rotted and I had to finish that ski trip with them duct taped together. Kendyl found a pair on eBay and that is one of the best Christmas presents I have ever received. You see Nordica made these about 20+ years ago and they are the perfect fit for me - without too much lean on my poor old knees. I can ski standing up in them. (I don't do bumps anymore -not worth the pain later.) Dan - bless his heart - bought me some really really expensive boots but they about tore my ACL my first trip out with them - so now Tasha skis in them. Lucky her! So anyway, I have my Old School Rear-Entry Nordicas. The second topic of their conversation was about my skis - at this point I had to turn around and talk to these folks. My skis were older than they were. Yep, still ski on Old School straight skis. They are showing their age and have turned from white to yellow. I do however have new bindings - this is for safety! (I just bought new shaped skis and new bindings for next season.. we'll see if I like them - will take my Old School Roosters just in case.)

Enjoy the video and watch for my Old School equipment.

There is no editing on this video, Dan is filming - we girls are skiing.
In the video, the Olds women are in black (girls have white/ivory sleeves); the other girl snowboarding in yellow and blue is one of Tasha's friends that lives near Breckenridge.

March Madness-Olds Family style

March absolutely flew by. Tasha has officially moved to China. We spent the month helping her with her many to do lists. Her house is rented; she is moved out-stuff went to storage; lots of stuff was sold; the renters have moved in; Maverick now lives in Fort Worth with their old neighbors (and he is loving the adventure there); the Lexus and bicycles are at Kendyl's house; and Tasha has reclaimed her old bedroom at our house for when she/Curt are in the US. Makes you dizzy doesn't it? Anyway She is in route to Shanghai at this very moment where Curt will pick her up. Dan is traveling there in a few weeks on business, so he will be their first family guest at their apartment in Suzhou. You will have to read Tasha's blog/facebook to get the rest of the info.

We did sneak in another ski trip - this time to Breckenridge. We drove and Kendyl flew in because she is saving her vacation for other trips. We had a great time. This was the first time in many many years that it was just the four of us skiing together.

Here are some pictures from this trip.

This is from the very tip top of the mountain looking down at Breckenridge..

It is a long way down. There is a new lift that takes you up, but you have to climb up the rest of the way.

This is for the Extreme Double Black Diamond skiers - Dan, Tasha & Kendyl slam-dunked it!

This is now supposed to be the highest ski run in North America (beat out A-Basin). They had a great time and there are stories to tell.

The Olds Daredevils at the top after the hike up and before their hair-raising decent to the bottom - not really but it was steep.

One story from this trip: We were all skiing together and usually Dan follows me down the mountain. This year HE had a hard time keeping up. It appears that I am now a much faster skier than he remembered, so he was dawdling around thinking he was letting me get a head start but when he looked up - he couldn't find me because I had already made it down to the lift.... My trip in January followed by this trip really improved my skill level. I am back to what I used to do when the kids were little. I bought new skis for next season, so I will have a learning curve.

More later - will try to post a short video from the trip as well. Will get some ranch pictures up soon too.

February - Where did it go?

Howdy! As usual it is busy busy and I don't know where February went.
Curt and Tasha had their going away open house on 1.31.2009.
Curt left for China on 2.2.2009. He is very busy with his assignment.
Tasha and I made a trip into West Virginia to visit Granny and to see Parker play basketball. We had a great visit. Tasha is trying to visit all her friends before she leaves. She finally took her leave of absence and is now currently getting things wound up here before she takes off to China sometime at the end of March.
We had a quiet Mardi Gras - (quiet for us anyway) we attended the Rockets game. They won!
Dan is busy working and has NOT been traveling.
Now we are in full swing for skiing in March and for Rodeo. WHOOP! and baseball season is starting. (another trip to WV to see Parker play!)
Kendyl is training for the MS-150 in mid-April and has also started playing soccer again in a women's league. So we have once again joined the Sunday Bear Creek soccer groupies!!
Tracy is busy with the barn raisin' - we are still in the design phase, are getting the barn plans done and we have a builder!! Dan is still in denial! Planning on dropping the CB tower soon.
Dan and Tracy have been busy working on the ranch - just clearing downed trees from H-Ike and normal fence repairs.
That's our February recap...
Safe Travels... Tracy O.

January - Steamboat and the Cowboy Downhill

January is typically a quiet month in our household-relaxing after the holidays, putting up Christmas. Dan does his annual trip to The Netherlands. Yes, that all happened... but Tracy shook it up a little bit. She traveled to Steamboat Springs, Colorado for the 35th Annual Cowboy Downhill. She took Tasha & Kendyl with her as well as family friend Michael. The group had some great weather for skiing - it was spring in January - nice sunny 30 degree days and no snow. But the real reason for being there was the Cowboy Downhill. Cowboys from the Denver Livestock show and Rodeo come to the mountain for fun to raise money for their rodeo charity. There are racing events - downhill through gates, off a jump, rope a mountain ambassador, saddle a real live horse before crossing the finish line. Then after the races, there is a Cowboy Downhill Stampede - all the particpants go to the top of the race course and come barrelling down full speed off the jump and the first one over the finish lines win. It is a sight to behold.

After all the fun, the cowboys gather at the Bear River Grill for autograph signing and alot of beer drinking (although they started well before the race.) Many of the participants have never skiied or the only time they have ever skiied is for this race. They are a fun loving bunch of guys.

Most of the participants will be at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.

Christmas & Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. Quiet, uneventful. We were very thankful for a great 2008 and looking forward to 2009. We received numerous Christmas cards and it is great that so many sent along family letters as well. We just love receiving news from those that are so special to us. We are blessed to have so many friends and a loving family.

This is one of my favorite pictures from Christmas Eve. This is Sunni - Ma'am's dog. She made herself at home after Christmas Eve Dinner awaiting the present opening.