Q. Why didn't the skeleton go to see a scary movie?

A. He didn't have the guts.
HA HA!
How did you spend your Halloween?
We spent it here on the Haunted Fat Bear Ranch.
The BEST place for a Halloween night. We even have a residential cemetery here, which we tend to NOT bother on a night like tonight or any other night for the matter as it is just a little toooo real, if you know what I mean. Best to keep the spirits on our side in this crazy life.
The day started with GRANDPA!

My dad graced us with his presence on this great Halloween day. After a walk through the redwoods...
we headed back to the ranch for some spooks festivities, spirits, ghosts, treats, and of course, beer!

Forrest was the Ranch Dragon, complete with a "ROARRRRR", wings and a tail. He loved it!

We bonded with the ranch spirits with our neighbors, a great camp fire, and some yummy Halloween cookies, candy, and other treats.

We'd love to have you up next year as Bigfoot says he's making an appearance! Along with the ghosts of Fat Bear ranch past, the skeletons of the dead, and the spirits of the spooky ones.
AHhhhhhhhhhh!

A fish story....

Once there was a little boy, unable to even fully take his first steps, who landed himself in a drift boat with his crazy mama and dad....

He was so excited to be there he stood on the seats dancing for joy....

...and watched his daddy fishing....

He also used his mad baby skills at fish finding to scan the water looking for the BEST salmon for his family....

When suddenly he grabbed the water with his baby hands and pulled out a giant salmon nearly his weight exactly!


And yes, perhaps his mama held his overall straps so the big monster fish wouldn't pull him in....

And perhaps his dad helped him out a bit with this thing called a rod and reel.....

But this fish was indeedily snagged by this little baby boy's magic hands...


His dad was so proud!


And the little boy was so in awe he looked at the fish....hugged the fish.....

checked this thing out called a rod a reel his dad had used to "help" him...


and decided he liked his way of doing things, as he knew his baby hands were "magic..."

and fish stories should stay magic.....

"Look Ma, no hands!"

Houston we have a problem. A 7 month old, not EVEN 7 1/2 months yet, that can stand and balance with no help. And not just for a fleeting moment, for like 60 seconds.
What?
I am amazed, and overjoyed that he seems to have covered this milestone in no time flat....buuut....
I am quite scared at how our life is already changing because of it. He is suddenly a very active baby. Not that he wasn't before, but his activity is turning out to be quite demanding. The other day I got home from work and Alex looked like he had been in the trenches of a war, except this was just a day at home with Forrest!

And don't get me wrong, he is still the most amazing baby EVER, and has that charming smile to boot, but he is putting his parents through the paces.
So, needless to say, I wouldn't be surprised if we had a walker on our hands soon. At this point I just hope he at least waits till 9 months.
But according to Forrest he wants it now. We'll see what those little baby legs can do!

Dear LA DODGERS....

This is Forrest Fulton, one of your littlest fans. He may be little, but he is a fan none the less. He loves your shirt so much he can't stop looking at it and has even been known to slobber on it at times.

He, (and his mama,) would so love for your team to kick the Phillies butts to make it in the world series this year. You're down two games to one, and if this is just a stunt to make it all the more exciting to kick Philadelphia in the rear then IT IS NOT WORKING. Loosing 8-0 last night is also taking it a little too far.

We're keeping the faith, and your littlest fan is rooting for you tonight. Please pull it out for us.
Love,
Forrest and his mama

7 months!

The calm before the storm

A fall walk this afternoon before we got dumped on....There was definitely "storm" energy around. The wind was blowing, black clouds were moving in, and Forrest and I were loving it. We were excited, it seemed the trees, and even the AIR was excited. The first storm of the season seems to carry this energy. And this one is a whopper, not just your Fall pansy storm, this is a lets kick those humans in the ass storm!
We're ready....
:-)

How many ways can you say SQUASH!!!!!

Today was Harvest Day for our squash and pumpkins, as a whopper of a storm is coming in tomorrow night. Last year we learned the hard way when we procrastinated and BAM, moldy squash.

I had the fun job of rounding up all these bad boys. Just look at them all. A MOUNTAIN of squash! We've got butternuts, delicata's, sugar pumpkins, and the big boys at the bottom, the ones that feel like they weigh half my body weight, the PINK BANANAS...These are truly massive. Last year we made the mistake of planting three or so plants and we had about 30 of these monsters. I spent a good deal of my preggo time last year butchering these puppies. You really feel like your attacking an animal cutting into this amazing vegetable. One can seriously feed you for over a week, a week filled with squash soup, squash pancakes, squash pie and bread(very very similar to pumpkin!) And of course the old stand by, baked in the oven with some butter and brown sugar...yummmm.
Now we've got a nice selection....
After all Forrest is a growing boy!


P.S. Don't be too surprised if you end up with one of those bad boys with a ribbon on it from Santa this year! Only the "good" little girls and boys will get the pink bananas!

Fall....

has fallen....here in our crazy home.

We LOVE Fall!
The cooler weather.
Pumpkins and winter squash galore.
The return of the woodstove to our lives as more than just a dust collector.


Fall also means work. Alex is as busy as ever delivering firewood because of course his customers must keep warm as well! This work is some of the hardest you can do. I had a taste of it during my PA school days. I would come to visit on the weekends or vacations, study, and to take breaks would go out and help him split, load, stack, and deliver the cord wood. It was nice as I loved the physical labor, (it helped even out all the sitting on my arse I was doing with my nose in the books....) But you tend NOT to love it anymore when you back never stops hurting, your hands are chronically creaky, and the wood seemingly continues to be harder and harder to find.
Lucky he doesn't have to cut nearly as many cords as he has had to do in years past. So the grunt work, just in a somewhat smaller scale, continues....

Fall means APPLES!
We actually got our first batch of apples in early August. Now the rest of our trees are going off. We are in the middle of rehabing them from their bear beaten days, so we really have never gotten this many apples before!


They aren't the greatest apples for eating, but they sure do make great apple sauce! Again, more work, but it is satisfying to see the jars of homemade sauce lined up.

And pumpkins....

Our little pumpkin here is checking out our harvest. We actually FINALLY have nice sized pumpkins this year. In the past they have been absolutely ginormous. This year we can actually move them without the fork lift.

This little pumpkin though is the prize winner of the patch!

He loves fall walks in his baby carrier. He doesn't seem to mind the cooler weather one bit...just is a bit more bundled than the hot summer walks. I think he's loving the season change as well!