Val invited me to come and spend the weekend with her and Brandon at the Andrus ranch. The Andrus ranch is in Lava Hot Spring, ID. There the Andrus' continue on with the traditions of the old west. They raise sheep, cattle, chickens, and horses on their 1500 acre ranch. To bring in extra cash, they added an apartment you can rent and made a couple of the bedrooms into a Bed n Breakfast. The Andrus ranch sits up against the Caribou National Forest. So you can imagine how incredibly gorgeous this place is. We saw all different kinds of animals around the ranch. I had the best time getting to know the Andrus'. They are the most down to earth people you will ever meet.

We took off for the ranch on Friday after work and when we arrived, the horses were saddled and ready for us to ride. . Saturday we woke up to lamb baaing and cows mooing. We started our day with a hearty meal of sour dough waffles and eggs. After breakfast we headed out the door to help with the sheep. They were in the process of sheering all 450 sheep. It takes a lot of time and patient to do that many sheep. I helped sheer two sheep but gave the job back to them since it took me twice as long to do one sheep. Saturday afternoon Val and I headed out again on the horses. This is when I got a little pink from the sun. We went up and down the sides of the mountains. By 4 pm we were exhausted from the day's activities.

I loved this weekend.

Thanks Val, for inviting me.

The entrance to the Andrus Ranch. (check out the old barn)

Val and I out in the back yard of the lodge.

Val and I make the cutest cowgirls. Don't we? Val rode on Doc and I was on Bucky. We rode for a couple of hours on Friday and Saturday. We had a blast going on the 1500 acres that the Andrus ranch consists of.

Brandon and Val (they make a cute couple)

Val and I are ready for some sheep wrestling. We have our gorgeous plaid shirts on to prove it.

Here I am sheering a buck. Uncle Ken said I did a great job. Uncle Ken also said I could make great money on the side, by sheering sheep. I didn't cut him or make him bleed. If they were to hired someone to do all their sheep it would cost them around $6.00 per head, and when you have over 4500 sheep., you learn to be really fast and just do it yourself.

Close up shot of me sheering a buck.

Uncle Ken in his sheering clothes. When you sheer a lamb, your hands and knees become covered with lanolin oil. This is in the wool, and it makes your hands very soft and smooth, while ruining your clothes.

Joshua (Val's nephew) is laying in the wool bin. They place the sheered wool in this bin until they have enough to bale it. This wool is not worth enough to sell. They raise the sheep for their meat and not for their wool.