In which I measure the ranch house

To do any real planning we've got to have some plans to work from.  So I'm measuring the ranch house.  Here  are my measurements.

I will, of course, collect more measurements as I consider the electrical and plumbing, but this is where it stands right now.

Meriwether Lewis on a Mountain Bike

Mapping the ranch with three kids is very inefficient.  Efficiency may not be particularly important in this case.  The ranch has been in the family for around 70 years without a map.  What's the rush?

For my own mental health I thought it would be better to take a shot at mapping sans children.  So I went out on a mountain bike and my GPS.  What a beautiful ride!

Here's an image of the raw data:

I started and ended at the Ranch House.  This is just the lower field, east of El Toyonal.

Here are some pictures that I took as I rode:

Mt. Diablo from the edge of the property

There's the turkey coop

Looking North West, toward the Eucalyptus grove

Rusting farm equipment at the Playground

This is how I found the skull.  Anybody able to identify it?

Next time around, I'm going to do the upper field.  We'll see how that goes.

I've placed a copy of the mapping project KML file on my personal site, here: https://sites.google.com/site/mattritzman/test/test2/11_1113_Ranch.kml?attredirects=0&d=1

All in a day's work

Sunday evening we sat around the dinner table and each recounted what we did at the ranch the previous day.

Julie, Kaia and Kallan saddled horses and rode around the playground.

Griffin and Lena also got on horses.

Josie and I took a stroll up the hill from the Playground.  We didn't bring keys so we ended up waiting at the gate for Julie.

Colson rode up Mt. Diablo, and Logan caused a ruckus.  It was a great day.

Found: Duffle

I found a duffle bag full of clothes at the ranch.  They are not "ranch" clothes.  It looks more like somebody was taking a trip and left them here.

I'm going to leave the duffle at the ranch for now, but eventually, I'm going take them home.  Don't worry, they aren't my size.  I'll just hold on to them till I find that somebody's been looking for them.

Let me know if they are yours.

Nov. 5th 4AM: Goals for the ranch house

I’m at the Ranch with Kallan and Griffin.  We spent the night here.  I'm awake.  Thinking about things to improve the Ranch House to make it more inviting is keeping me awake.  Often the best way for me to stop these ideas from bothering me is to write them down.

Here are some of my thoughts and goals for the Ranch House.  Take these with a grain of salt.  I'd be interested to hear what other people envision for the place.

Ranch House Vision:

The ranch house should be a comfortable place for a family and a couple of friends to stay.  It is a remarkably small space, an endearing quality, but also a real design challenge.  There are several potential activities indoors, but it encourages the use of the outdoors.   Enhancements to the ranch house shouldn’t come at the expense of getting people (kids, mostly) outside to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.  I also think safety and accessibility should also be on our list.

Regarding safety, the ranch, in general, is a place where things can be a bit dangerous.  But the ranch house should be a place of respite.  If there is an accident of any sort the ranch house should be the place you come to fix your boo boo’s, not worry about getting them.

I have a strong bias towards accessible areas, but a lot of us are getting older and our mobility is always becoming less and less.  I’d really like to look into making it easier to get to the house and then move around unencumbered when you’ve made it here.

You may have noticed that I haven’t discussed style.  I’m a bit hesitant to do so.  The ranch aesthetic is an ad hoc, bubble gum, duct tape and baling wire, do whatever meets the most immediate need kind of style.  The problem is that if everybody goes in an makes changes as they see fit, we can easily step on each other’s toes.  It is something to discuss in for the future.

I plan to post my ideas here before executing them, at least the major ones.  As always, please let me know what your opinions are.  The comments section is a great place for that.

I think the first thing to do is take stock of what’s here.  From there we can decide what stays, what goes, and what can be improved.  Look for that in future posts.

Final Resting Place

Last Saturday afternoon we scattered some of Uncle Dick's ashes on the Ranch.

We gathered at the Eagle's nest, just off of El Toyonal, sang a rousing chorus of "When the Saints Come Marching In," as Colson accompanied us on the trombone, and had a prayer.  Then everybody was given a small cup of ashes to spread upon the earth that Dick loved so dearly.

It was a touching and remembrance.  I felt that Dick would have appreciated that we took time to visit the ranch and think of the impact he had on all of us.