Life as a Yowler

Our week of being disconnected is over. Believe it or not, I enjoyed our week. The thing about Texas is it’s so huge. There’s so much variety. We have stayed places like Houston and San Antonio, where there are endless activities to do. Then you have the sticks of Texas. I really mean the sticks. That’s where we stayed. It was the middle of nowhere. The first time I ever went to Texas was back in high school. I went on a mission trip to Mexico, and we drove through the state. I remember thinking to myself “I will never again get excited when we get to the state of Texas.” I was shocked to learn, we still had about 3 years of driving before reaching Mexico. Brandon was hunting on and off all week this week. He took one kid at a time with him, and kept rotating which kid he took. Even Isla got one turn. The kids and Brandon did way more mountain climbing than I did(because of hunting). I did get to climb the mountain three times. I’ll give a summary of our week in list form.

1. As I mentioned earlier, Isla got to go hunting once. She did great. She knew to whisper. As soon as Brandon walked her up the maintain and sat in the blind, she loudly whispered “dad, I pooped.” It was back down the mountain after the world’s shortest hunt.

2. I read through 2 entire books myself. I did lots of reading. I also read through 2 books with the kids. We read a couple of the Little House on the Prairie series. I figured what could be more perfect to read. We were pretty much living the same life for a week.

3. I have become a darn good speller. All week long I have been playing this Word Cookies game on my phone whenever I would get bored.

4. Each night, despite Brandon making fun of me, I rub a couple essential oils on our kids. One night I forgot. Caed yelled from bed “mom, you forgot our oils. I’ll take Rollie pollie(a nickname that’s been given to the roll on oil) and lemon O lime(a nickname that Caed just made up entirely by himself). Not sure where he got it, but we’ve been laughing about it since.

5. The ranch we were staying at is owned and run by the nicest old couple. Brandon has come three times before, so he already knows them. I got to know them this week. They absolutely love our family. If you think about where they live and their season of life, I think they  get pretty bored. So if you consider wanting entertainment, our 4 kids are perfect for providing it. Every time I took the kids outside the motor home, John or Linda was right there talking to me and watching the kids play.

5. Linda, who is 77, is no one to be messed with. 🤣 She saw a rattle snake, ran and grabbed a gun, shot and killed it, and gave the rattler to my kids to play with. Tonight she is going hunting. They need more meat, and they literally live off the land.

6. I can see why they live off the land. Driving to town takes a half hour. This town has one gas station and one dollar store.

7. The ranch was full of cactus. Unfortunately, when we were hiking, Isla fell into a cactus. She cried but she soon stopped. I didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until later, when she woke up from a nap, that she was crying and whining about her foot hurting. I noticed a splinter. I waited for Brandon. Let’s be real. I suck at removing splinters. I held her down and Brandon dug it out. She screamed and screamed and she has a very high pain tolerance. Brandon had to use a knife. I felt terrible. Once it was finally over, Brandon pulled an enormous cactus thorn out of her toe. It literally almost went through her entire toe.

8. The ranch we were staying at was within 60 miles of the Mexico border. A lot of the land and property around the ranch reminded me a lot of Mexico.

9. After day two of going nowhere and getting pretty bored, I found my way to town. We passed a Texas longhorn farm and it became the kids’ favorite thing. We stopped several times throughout the week and watched the longhorns. The one day, one looked at Brielle, started kicking his legs, put his head down, then came charging right at her. I was thankful for the fence. Brielle keeps talking about the bull, who tried to charge her.

10. The weather was perfect. It wasn’t too hot or too cold. It was mostly 60’s. We did have one 75 degree day.

11. I was reminded again how much I love nature and outdoors. I didn’t love not have cell service. It’s the weirdest feeling. I wasn’t able to keep in touch with anyone, or find out any news at all. The world could have ended and we wouldn’t have known. Honestly, it was good though. Being disconnected every once in awhile is good for you. I love mountains. They’re beautiful. I also love water. There was a river on the ranch. I took the kids down to explore and splash in the river.

12. I’m thankful for lots of outdoor time and warmer weather. Michigan Winters are tough in a lot of ways. Depression always flares up for me. I’m thankful to avoid most of that by being where it’s warm and doing lots of outside exploring and exercising. Being active sure helps too.

13. Linda gave me a portion of sour dough she has kept for 47 years. No joke. Brandon said he’s not worried about me making it. She and John have lived for 80+ years, and it hasn’t killed them. I’m excited to make some bread and try this 47 year old batch.

14. Part of the reason John and Linda love having us is that Brandon helps them out so much. Each day he and John would drive up the mountain and Brandon would fill the feeders for John. The one time Brandon caught John as he was about to fall over. Brandon told him he really shouldn’t be trying to do this much longer. But John is convinced staying as active as possible is what keeps them young. I believe it.

15. John has a special bond with Joah. Joah loves him. John told him all week he’s like the little boy he never had. He only has daughters and granddaughters.

16. Isla got peed on by John and Linda’s Dog yesterday. We all were laughing and laughing and she wasn’t overly impressed, but handled it pretty well. 🤣

Here is a picture summary of our week.

Here we are at the river on the ranch. The kids loved splashing and exploring, and jumping totally in for two of the kids. 🤦‍♀️

Heres the Longhorn, who charged Breezers.

John and Linda took us into town one day for an all you can eat catfish buffet. They caught the catfish right out of the river. It was amazing. My kids devoured it.

This sign was in the restaurant bathroom. Like I said earlier, we were only about 1 hour from the Mexico border. I remember this well from my time in Mexico. You can’t flush toilet paper.

The kids each gathered tons of rocks. They each had a very impressive collection of unique rocks before we left.

We hiked up the mountain several times. The one day, I let the kids stay and play for 2 hours. They were having the best time and making forts and climbing and climbing. For the most part, Isla kept up really well. She did most of the climbing herself, without help.

All week long the kids would fight over who got to open and close the gate every time we would come and go from the ranch.

Its been a great week with lots of memories. Our kids will remember the mountain climbing and hiking, the splashing in the river, the Texas Longhorns, and the family time. They’ll remember hunting with dad. By the way, Brandon got two pigs. They’ll also remember reading with mom. Overall, it was great. I’m thankful for cell service again. I’m also thankful for civilization. It feels good to be back.

Side note…there was a landline in John and Linda’s house that we gave to family in the case of emergencies. My mom did have to call once. Not for an emergency, luckily. Just for a flight change for Brandon for an upcoming business flight.