Adventures of a Stay-at-Home Mom, Episode 1, Cleaning out Ponds

The view from "my office" today.

My official occupation currently is "stay at home mom", I say it in quotations because it's my job and I love it, but I'm not always at home when I do it. I used to work full time for a dermatologist and I really loved it. I miss my work, my patients and my co-workers, oh...and a regular paycheck! But I wouldn't trade this time with my kids. I get to do so many things and share so many experiences with them that I wouldn't be able to if I still worked full time. I got one of these experiences this last week with my kids. My dad has always been a sheep rancher and there is always work to do on the ranch. I really enjoy going to Sanpete County and helping him with his work. This last week we had the job of cleaning the silt out of all the ponds the sheep drink from while they are grazing on the mountains. This is U.S. Forest Service ground but we have responsibilities as grazing permitees to do these kind of improvements ourselves. It's lucky that this is what my handy husband does for a living (operating heavy machinery) because this type of cleaning project requires a large track hoe. The area is very rugged terrain to maneuver in a pick up truck, but it is very pretty to look at. On the slow, bumpy ride up the canyon to the ponds, Dad and I got some good visiting in. He knows a lot about the history of the mountains, people (especially old sheep herders, and they always seem to have colorful stories and personalities!) As we drove, he taught us the names of the areas, springs, mountains, hollows, flats, we heard entertaining stories of the sheepherders of old, who once traveled these same areas trailing sheep. At a certain dangerous looking turn in the road my dad mentioned that when coming down off this turn that it can really get nasty when wet. He went on to say how if it was wet you just have to get the outside front wheel into the trench that was already carved there from previous travels and keep the tire in that rut all the way around the turn because if not you will slip off the side of the road (it's a long, unpleasant way down if you go off there!) And that when in this rut you will automatically go off the road you were on, and onto one that will eventually get you back up to the road you want. (Which was nice to know because had he not given these instructions we would have felt lost on a new road in the rainy, darkening night.) While listening to him talk about this nasty road I thought he was just making conversation. Later when it started to rain while we were up on the mountain I realized he was preparing me for my ride back down the mountain. He had let Matt, (my husband) drive his truck up the mountain that morning and so dad would be taking his truck back down and we would be on our own for the ride back. So on the ride up Dad was driving my truck.  Little did I know at the time of this story Dad was coaching me for the ride back down. And I was grateful because a little rain did make those clay roads very slick and boy was I glad Matt was driving. We slipped and slided but he kept the wheel in the rut just like instructed and we weren't afraid going off onto the other road because we had been warned. (I love times like this too because although scary, they give us good chances to pray and exercise faith that all will be okay.) I could hear my girls in the back whispering prayers to their Heavenly Father that we would make it down okay. And we did. Grandpa taught the kids about avoiding certain plants while on the range, (such as Stinging Nettle). We hiked, worked, had picnic lunches in the wide open spaces. We reminisced about old times in the Aspen Trees as we saw names of our ancestors who traveled these trails before us carved in the trees. We carved my kids names in the trees to come back and see in future years. We played in the mud and spent quality time with each other and in this beautiful land God made. Yes, my stay at home mom's salary may not be much in dollars, but it's definitely rich in experiences! I'm grateful for my opportunity to share these kinds of experiences with my kids.

My youngest child, the "Superintendent" on this job, oversees dad's pond digging.

A little lesson in family history.This is my grandpa Kay Frischknecht's name carved in a tree from 1940. 

He was also a sheep rancher who traveled these trails before us.

Making mud pies, you bet!

Grace getting a lesson in Stinging Nettle from Grandpa Joe.

Grace getting her name carved in an Aspen Tree. 

And this is a test question, do you know what these mysterious 1/2 truck tires are doing out here in the middle of nowhere? (and here's a hint, they are not garbage, so please don't throw them away if you see them, they have an important purpose! Do you know what it is???)