Last Few Days on Rich Ranch

  It is actually sad to think that our time on the farm is nearly at an end. 
It is now only days away that the property will be registered and we had over to the new owners.
The zip line is one of the last to go and I would love to know how many children got an absolute thrill riding this 100 meter line over the water over the past 12 years. I also wonder how many overcame their fears at the top of the tower and took the plunge. 
Those are our good memories that we take with us.
Richard is harvesting the oranges with the best harvest yet on out one and only orange tree.

Hiking on Rich Ranch

As usual we do what we love on the farm and still hike as much as possible. It is all very bare and lonely out here.
Winter is approaching and the veld is very dry because of so little rain this year so it is quite eerie with no more cattle and the last of the game has been removed. 

The Fairy Forest

The chalets are all empty and the hall is bare, the only thing left are our flags from the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Today we felt a bit like the last two competitors on the reality show "Survivor"
We came through the Fairy Forest ( see earlier post) and the mushrooms that make up the Fairy Forest are just starting to sprout, so we paid tribute to Toria that named the Fairy Forest.
We are waiting for the registration of the property into the new owners name and then we only still have to load our bed and a few personal items.
We will surely miss the vastness and the beauty of our beloved Rich Ranch

White Lions - Rich Ranch

One Hungry Baby

Our children from Australia are visiting so we thought it would be a good outing to take them to Sebaka to see the  baby White Lions, tigers and panther.

You forget how quickly four months goes, so did we get a surprise to see how they had grown since we last saw them in December. 

So Content

There was no ways we could go into the cages this time and pat them, they would bowl you over in one stride they have grown so big.

They are beautiful and well kept and very content in their environment. We are very privileged to view them from so close.

Rich Ranch - Auction

I Don't Want An Ear-Tag

Once again our lives are full and exciting with all the happenings on the farm. 

One thing I have experienced on the farm is that you are never too old to learn.

As we get ready for the auction the cattle now have to be sorted by age and pregnancy and whether they have calves. They all get different coloured tags to make everything easier on the day. 
To make hundred percent sure that the right calf goes with the right mother we had to separate the calves from their mothers for a night. We had them causing chaos the whole night through as they shouted for their mothers, but the next morning as we let them out one by one, they would dart to their mothers and would be tagged accordingly.
Once all that completed it was getting all the implements,

Final Touches before Auction

Auction Day

equipment, bedding, cutlery, crockery, etc sorted out. 
Then came the BIG day. About half an hour before the auction started we made our way up to the cattle for a last look and Richard thought we might not have enough people for the day, but as eleven o'clock drew near the trucks started arriving and the people poured in.
Loads of bidding - some items were sold for more than we thought and some less but all in all a good day as we sold out right to the last item.
It took a day or two for everyone to collect their items but now all is sold and it is just our personal belongings left.

The Sale Of Rich Ranch

I have not posted about the sale of the farm because I first needed to let my clients know what was happening.
Our farm was part of a land claim from the Government.
As with lots of the land claims, our claim had also been hanging in the air for many many years, but towards the end of last year things began to move and now all is in place and we will be leaving by the end of April 2013.
Our beloved Rich Ranch will be no more for us but being the people that we are, I can only believe that there are good things lying in wait for us.
It is our intention to do some travelling and more shooting competitions. More visiting of the Kids and the Grand-kids and just spoiling ourselves a little after many years of very strenuous physical hard work - but very enjoyable and rewarding work.
Thank you to all that supported us through the years. We have had such good times and met such amazing people and only take wonderful memories with us.    




 Once again I want to share some of our beautiful sunsets that we enjoyed so much over the years.

Pregnancy Tests on Rich Ranch

In two weeks time we will be having an auction here on the farm so loads of preperation has been going into the area where the cattle will be held.
They will be divided into different groups depending on their age, if they have calves, if they are pregnant, etc.

You Are Never Too Young To Learn

On Friday the vet came to do the pregnancy tests and he can determine if the are pregant by the sixth week of being covered by the bull.
Quite a messy business with a gigantic glove needed.

Python on Rich Ranch

On Thursday Richard decided to do a bit of a clean up and hooked up the grass cutter to the tractor. He cut us new walking paths and cleared up areas around the obstacle courses.

I was busy in the office and received a frantic phone call to come to the obstacle course and bring my camera.
Off I rushed and saw Richard dragging off a two meter plus python.
As he had been cutting he felt something jamming the cuuter blades and stopped to inspect.
Check this out
William wanted to be in the photo but was in no way going to touch the snake.

Rich Ranch Update

                                                                                                                   

Baby Kingfisher

 What an upside down six weeks it has been here on the farm.

 We have had unbearable heat and when the schools visit we have to check that kids go out with caps and hats and smothered in sun block.

There has been no rain and the soya beans are dry and wilted and there will definately be a low yield crop this year.

Soon our lives are going to change drastically but until then we are still enjoying every minute on the farm. 

Just like always there is something happening.

This Kingfisher baby knocked himself unconcious flying into the window, but after a while he was OK and took off again.

Don't Know

These other creatures I am still studying up.

 I don't know what they are but their family is surely growing so there will be more of them in the near future. 

Will let you know when I find out what they are 

Shooting, Shooting and More Shooting - Rich Ranch

So how about a very exciting weekend in my life. 
Who ever said that a Gran has to knit and sew. Not this one. I am now the "Shooting Nan"
This weekend there were two firsts for me.

ISPC Club Instructor

If you have been following my blogs you will know that we had looked into the sporting disciple of IPSC and that we had purchased handguns. I had to do my Competency Certificate as I had never owned a gun before but all the legal side and paper work was completed late in 2012 and now it was time to start shooting at the club.
We joined Golden City Gun Club in Johannesburg and on Saturday was our first induction shoot.
Rules and regulations were explained to us and safety which is a major issue at the club was drilled into us. Some target shooting and getting used to our rigs was the order of the day.
I absolutely loved it. Many times I had to be corrected (not life threatening offenses) as the adrenalin pumped through me but slowly I became more comfortable with my handgun. 
Richard and I both are shooting in the standard division with 40mm pistols.

STI - Edge 40

Now we are eagerly awaiting our second lesson and then it will be onto the range for our first club shoot. Fortunately we can get some practice in as we live on the farm most of the time which is a great advantage for us.


So that was Saturday. Then came Sunday.
Richard and the youngest son normally go to the "Maglite Shoots" which is a clay target shooting competition, shot in Babsfontein just outside Johannesburg. Unfortunately the son could not accompany Richard so I made a wild suggestion that I would go along and try my hand.
I have on a few occasions shot at the Christmas Shoot and a few shots on the farm, but never an official competition.
Here I was with seventy other shooters - all men - entered into this Sporting shoot, wearing Richard's old shooting jacket, my pockets filled with ammo and my gun (sorry Richard's gun) over my shoulder. I tried to look the part as naturally as possible. 
With the first few clays I was at a complete loss but soon I started picking up a few and whatever Richard had taught me started coming back and so the morning went on. By the time I had shot at sixty clays I could feel the strain in my arms and shoulder, but there was no way I was going to show it. Not in front of the men. I completed the hundred clay course and then seeing that I was the only lady I was even in line for a prize.
All I wanted was not to be bottom of the leader board and with a score of 45 there were four shooters (men) below me.
To great applause I went up and received a lovely lantern (Maglite manufactures torches and lamps, etc) which will always remind me of my first Clay Target Competition. 
Who knows, I might even decide later that I would like to shoot this as well.
A Message for all grans - Get out there and try your hand at something new, it invigorates your life, brings smiles to your face and gets your heart pumping.

German Exchange Student at Rich Ranch

We are back at work and our first camp of the year is done and as always what a pleasure this school is. 
As always we meet the most interesting people. 

Lisa Our Exchange Student

WE had an exchange student from Germany who is actually working with orphaned children in Uganda visit over the weekend. She is a lovely young blond from St Johann, Germany.


Hope you enjoyed your stay Lisa, you do wonderful work.

Guns Fired During Shooting Can Damage Hearing - Rich Ranch

Welcome to 2013 all who follow this blog. May all your dreams and wishes be realized this year.
It is a hectic time of the year when we do not have staff as well think it is important for them to be with their families and we take on all their chores. It is also a time when we have the farm all to  ourselves.
We walk and jog, we fish and just relish the sun and the quiet. We close up the office and try not to miss anything electronic for a while.  We even stayed away from the TV.
This got me thinking when I received an article from John O'Connor. Although it is specifically geared toward shooters I think everyone should start realizing how noise can damage our hearing.


Thanks to John O'Connor - Enjoy his article

Guns Fired During Shooting Can Damage Hearing

Hunting is a very popular sport and hobby for many people, but few people are worried about protecting their hearing. Hunting can be detrimental to hearing if the proper hearing protection is not worn. Gunfire can be damaging to the ears of the shooter and also for people who are standing nearby. Hearing loss can take time to develop, but it will eventually become more prominent. People should protect their hearing now to ensure hearing in the future.

My father has been a hunter and outdoorsman for years.  Back in the day he rarely wore hearing protection when out on a hunt or at the range fine-tuning his shot.  Now many years later he is paying the price for his actions.  He currently is severely affected by hearing loss and uses hearing aids to help increase his hearing levels.  Without his hearing aids in he would have an extremely hard time hearing someone in a conversation or even hearing the radio in the car.  Hunting, although not the only cause, did play a major role in his decrease of hearing levels. 

What are the Causes of Hearing Loss While Hunting?

Hearing loss is caused by the sound of the gun firing when hunting. Experts know that noises over 80 dB are harmful and may lead to permanent exposure if the noise is repeated for extended periods of time.

Why You Should Protect Your Hearing While Hunting

Noise-induced hearing loss is common. The noise of a shotgun can trigger noise-induced hearing loss. The average shotgun can produce sounds greater than 160 or more decibels (dB). If a silencer is used, the gun produces 144 dB. These levels are well above the recommended limit.

How to Protect Hearing While Hunting and at the Shooting Range

To protect your hearing while you are hunting, you can wear earplugs, earmuffs or electronic earmuffs. Here are explanations of each type of hunting protection:

Earplugs

Earplugs are one of the first lines of defense when using firearms that produce sounds at high decibels. These earplugs often range in type of protection. The earplugs must be chosen wisely.

Earmuffs

Earmuffs provide excellent noise protection, and there are some models made for budgets of all types. Noise cancellation earmuffs provide some of the best protection available. Some people use both earplugs and earmuffs for additional protection. Most people enjoy the protection it provides but would like the ability to hear others while shooting at an indoor shooting range or at an outdoor shooting range.

Electronic Earmuffs

Electronic earmuffs have a noise-cancelling feature that is absolutely necessary for shooters that want to detect speech during its use. Any noise over 80 dB will cause the earmuffs to block all sound. Communication with others along with being able to hear incoming animals is much easier when using these earmuffs. 

Protect Your Hearing Before It is Too Late

You should protect your hearing before it is too late because no one wants to live without their hearing if they don’t have to. Consider these forms of protection to protect your hearing.  

Hi my name is John O'Connor, I am a father, outdoorsman and passionate about living a healthy lifestyle.  Over the past few years I have become more and more interested in hearing loss.  My father and grandfathers, who are and were all hunters, are affected by hearing loss.  I feel that there is a general lack of understanding around the issue and it is our job to spread awareness where we can.  Check out my new blog at bloggingwjohno.blogspot.com!

Rich Ranch Visits Sebaka Siberian Tigers

We had a lovely surprise yesterday morning again when we received an invite to visit Sebaka again as their Siberian Tigers had arrived. 
Not much to say except what a privilege to be so close to these beautiful animals but it makes you think. 
Should these animals be in captivity.
Do we get caught up in our own pleasures of seeing these animals up close. 
Should we not make the effort to to see that their environment is in tact for them to live the lives they were meant to live.
Enjoy the photos but think on what we are doing to them.

White Lions, Wild Dogs, Cheetah and Hyena Near Rich Ranch

Due to the unfortunate happenings with the theft here on the farm we met a neighbour who we had only heard of before. 

White Lions

White Lions

We had heard what a lovely place "Sebaka" was and that they were building up their wild life and had made huge  changes to the farm.

So who would ever have thought that right on our doorstep was the most amazing collection of wild animals. They are being used for breeding purposes and have beautiful and thoughtfully layed out camps.

Hyena

We were invited to visit on feeding day and as we arrived at the gate we were met by the farm manager in his viewing Land Rover. It was still early so the Blesbok , Zebra and Giraffe were quietly grazing as we drove past.

Wild Dogs

First up to be fed were the White Lions. They are only about fifteen months old but you surely don't want to be in the same camp as they are when you see how they rip their food apart. They have huge paws so will grow into huge animals.

 Next up were they Hyenas. There were only three of them and one had just had her babies and as soon as the food landed in their camp she took off with a portion to go and feed her young. Nature is absolutely wonderful.

Cheetah

In the adjoining camp was the Wild Dogs. I have never seen them in real life and they are every bit as awesome as they are in the books. They feed in packs and as the food is thrown in the camp they all feed off one piece until finished and then move on to the next piece. There were fourteen of them in the camp and I checked on the web and found there are fewer than 5000 left in the wild. They are on the endangered species list. 

Next was the Cheetah camp. There is only one pair of cheetah and they were very wary of  us and we only saw the male up close. He came to collect the food and took it off to his mate up in the hillside. We did though catch a glimpse of her in the distance.

This was an absolute treat of a day. Enjoy our photos. 

Kingfishers Back on Rich Ranch

Kingfishers are back

It's no more camps for us and it's going to be a great four week until we start off again. 

Soya Beans Looking Good

We will have the entire farm to ourselves with no noisy kids (sorry kids but we need this time away from you so that we can spoil you all ion the New Year again) to disturb the beautiful bird-life and the wild animals that come to drink.

We have had a few good rains and the soya beans are looking way better than last year. 

Flying Ants

The days are extremely hot and it feels as if the suns cooks under your skin but the nights are strangely chilly.

My favourite Kingfishers are back and they have us up early with their cries for each other. They must feel safe here to come and have their young as I can get fairly close with the camera. 

On Thursday after the rains we again had the flying ants in their droves. It is only the second time we have seen them on the farm.

I am going to keep you up to date as we
intend to do loads of hikes and quad rides on the farm this month.

Some Target Practice on Rich Ranch

Getting Some Practice In.

We are really excited to get started with our IPSC Shooting but with being busy on the farm we can not get to the clubs or official shoots at this time.
Our gun licenses are issued so we could collect our guns and set up our rigging. It's quite a bit of business to get set up.
A lot of ammunition is used so it s far more economical to reload your own. For this we had to set up a reloading machine and after measuring and adjusting for hours we eventually had everything correct. Everything has to be perfectly weighed and measure otherwise you might just loose a finger or two or damage you gun barrel. 
We are getting up to date with all the rules and there is an entire rule book to adhere to. The safety and procedure during a shoot is vitally important
Fortunately fr us living on the farm we can set up a range of our own and get some practice rounds in. 
This is an entirely new sport for us and we are enjoying every minute of it so far.

Living in Faith on Rich Ranch

In my last post we celebrated the birth of a new granddaughter and then we thought we were winding down business for 2012 but we were in for a rude awakening.
One of our kids has gone through a very tough time with his family. He is constantly in our prayers and will stand with him. We know you will come out good on the other side.

Then we get a call while we are in Johannesburg - and on the day that we were actually going to return - that someone had broken into our hall and our home. We quickly packed and set of back to Mpumalanga to sort out the problem.

Our Scenery

It makes me so angry that you have no respect for what is not yours. We lost a few valuables but our private space has been invaded. The place was ransacked and just to show how much damage they can do they destroyed doors and draws which is quite unnecessary. To you thugs I say - May everything you do to others be done to you.
Feeling a bit down we stood at our bedroom window late yesterday afternoon, just admiring the scenery  and right before our eyes a little Duiker comes strolling past the window. How cool is that after all the turmoil of the past two weeks.
At times like this I count my blessing - and we have loads of them.

Logan Arrives - Rich Ranch

Our New Addition - Logan

We have been waiting for our new grand daughter to arrive since last Thursday.

Each morning we wake up thinking today is the day. 

The Mom was just enjoying the last few days of peace and though she was uncomfortable she has been healthy and on the go.

The Sisters

 
On Sunday morning when I phoned she was even taking the dogs for a walk but now the new addition has arrived and great joy has come to the family.

We are still busy with our school camps and so will not see our new addition until next week.

I can't wait to see you Logan. Welcome to our family. I just know you will add joy and blessings to us all. 

Maddy Arrives on Rich Ranch

One Brave Puppy

After we lost Molly we decided that we were not going to have another dog. We had lost our Labrador - Tombie - three years ago when her hips collapsed and two years ago we lost our Pitbul - Capone - to cancer. Then along came Molly who we only had for two years, but she crawled into our hearts and then we lost her to a "Rooikat". Most devastating.

Pooped After A Hard Day

One of our students that works for us pitched up on Sunday with a beautiful surprise.
I'd like to introduce you to "Maddy" (I think that is going to be her name). She is a Labrador with a tiny bit of Spaniel. Only the ears are Spaniel.
She is one of those brave souls that is not afraid of anything. This is her second day here and she braved a very strong stream. No fear for water. She is lovely and not much perturbs her.

Change of Plan on Rich Ranch

The Voortrekker Monument

Unfortunately for business we had a school that hit a bit of a bump and had to postpone their camp but fortunately for us this meant a mini break away and an opportunity to see the kids.

Richard's gun license was also grated so he could collect his gun and I am very peeved that my license is still in the pipeline. 

Receiving Instructions For The Range

Loads Of Action

This weekend was also the National Championships of the IPSC which is their major shooting competition of the year and we could go and have a look what it was all about. It was held in Pretoria on the military ground "Eeufees" which is opposite the Voortrekker Monument. There were more that 270 shooters and the ranges were set up with loads of twists and turns. Most interesting! We spent most of the day there trying to pick up tips on our new sport. We still have loads to learn about the rules and regulation, about the rigging we still have to get, about the reloading which we will definitely have to do. I sure do hope we are in the position to take part in this competition this time next year.

Enjoying The Fun At The BeerFest

On our way back to Johannesburg we were invited to have a beer at the "Harley Beerfest". This is something else that is on our Wish List. These beautiful machines just arrived in droves as the different clubs gathered to interact with each other. Not a spot of dust on their machines. Their leathers and badges, bandanas and boots were all appropriate for the day day. I can just imagine what it must feel like to take to the long open road on one of these steel horses. Oh well - at least we can still dream ( and have a beer or two with them)