Yes it did. It snowed yesterday, and today. Yesterday’s snow actually stayed for about 12 hours. Today’s snow melted almost instantly.
In this picture you can see the snow, our hammock, Rosco, and our two closest neighbors (those are both 2 1/2 story buildings).
Heres a picture of the mountain behind our house today, as I was driving back home from town.
-Ashton
New Puppy!
Anna has been talking about getting a dog for over a year, but we’ve never had a yard big enough for one. The day after we moved into our new house, Anna tells me that she’s going to stop by the pound and see if there are any puppies. I’ve never had a dog and can’t wait.
At about 11 o’clock, I get a phone call on my cell from a Montana number I don’t know. It turns out to be a friend of Buddy’s (Anna’s step-dad) who has a puppy that needs a home!
To make a long story short, he arrives at our house within an hour with our new puppy!
Meet Rosco!
He’s a German Shepard, Rottweiler mix. (Body structure of a German Shepard, coloring and fur of a Rottweiler, and the intelligence of both.) He is such a fast learner and a great listener! We don’t have to tell him anything more than twice. He always learns on the second.
What Rosco didn’t know was that we have a cat named Mocha and she’s not used to dogs.
Meet Mocha!
But Mocha is very curious about this new family member, and has been slowly getting used to him. As long as Rosco isn’t looking at her, she feels safe:
Rosco Adopted our family immediately. When his owner drove off, he didn’t even notice. Anna has taken him everywhere and he loves every minute of it.
-Ashton
Outside Our New House!!!
We are so excited!! 2007 has been such a great year for us! Our business www.websitesinaflash.com has been doing very well which has set us up to be able to buy our dream home.
We decided a while ago that we needed to move out of our starter home which we bought a year ago, before we get married. It is only 700 sq. ft. and has no room for any wedding gifts or expansion. Right now I have my desk set up in the bedroom and he is in the living room so to say the least we are a little cramped with no storage space.
So I started looking on the net at all the listings. We really wanted something that was close to town, had 10-20 acres for the horses, a nice house we could move into without much fixing up, some fencing for the horses (not barbwire), horse riding trails bordering the property, horse shelters, and room for guests and future kids. Let me tell you it can be very hard to find a place that is anywhere near town that isn’t horribly priced and has all the things I described above, but somehow we found it!
This house was built in 2002 which is awesome so it still looks brand new and it is almost 2,000 sq. ft! When you drive to the house you drive about 5 miles out of town up the west shore of the Flathead Lake and take a left on Flathead View Drive. Then you head all the way up to the mountains a few miles and take a right on Jumping Horse Lane (a very fitting name for my street) then you drive about 1/2 a mile on a dirt road and all of a sudden you are looking down into a little valley which is our house and property. It has one of those cool wooden post entrance ways with a sign hanging from the top beam which now reads “Skye Hawk Ranch”, we are going to make a new one for our ranch which is of course “Top Priority Trakehners”.
Starting from the outside it is on 21 acres with smooth wire and log post fencing. It has 3 horse shelters plus a fenced arena and another seperate horse stall in case you need to isolate a pregnant mare or sick horse.
It also has a big 3 sided hay barn which is awesome so I don’t have to put tarps on my hay. The previous owners built a sand volleyball court with a big rock fire pit next to it and horshoe pits so we will have some fun parties!
Currently about 1/2 of the 21 acres is fenced with the smooth wire fencing. Up behind the house there is about another 10 acres which is a nice slopping hill which will be great exercise for the horses.
It is fenced on 3 sides currently with barb wire so next year we will probably re-fence it. When you walk to the top of the property you can see the lake and the mountains which is a beautiful sight! When you are down at the house you can see the peaks of the snow covered mountains which looks cool but we are protected all around us mostly by hills and mountains which are great for blocking the wind.
In front of the house it has a big covered porch which we are going to have to furnish with some fun furniture!
You can see the hay shed from this picture
Inside Our New House!!
All of these pictures are current photos with the current owners furniture, so I will send out new ones when have our stuff in it!
When you go through the front door you are in the living room which has a cozy and modern propane fireplace set into the wall and covered by glass.
Off of the living room to the left is the master bedroom and bath.
Both are perfect for me with a beautiful 2 sink dark wood vanity, bathtub, seperate shower and nice hardwood flooring which is all through the house except the bedrooms.
If you walk straight through the living room you are in the dining room which has my dream bay window looking out onto the horses.
(Sorry it’s a little dark, I forgot the flash)
The dining room and kitchen are connected. I love the kitchen as it has a lot of character, the ceiling is really nice blue pine T&G (tongue and groove). The kitchen has new wooden cabinets and brand new brushed stainless steel appliances and a cute island for eating breakfast at. Plus a built in desk for a computer, a huge pantry and a built in china hutch.
Off of the kitchen you walk in a sunroom which is Ashton’s soon to be office, it has lots of windows so he can watch over the horses for me 🙂
(I think they are using it as storage currently)
Then if you take a left out of the sunroom you end up on the outside back deck which has a Hot Tub!! Ashton is going to be so spoiled!! I guess he will need it to soak his sore muscles after playing in the sand volleyball court 🙂 That wraps up the first floor!
To get downstairs you take a left through the front door and there is a really nice log wooden banister that takes you down to the other bedrooms. First you end up in the hallway, if you go left you end up in the huge laundry room which has built in storage and has a door to outside so we will use it as a mud room as well. Next to that heading to the right of the house is the first big guest room which has a big bathroom connected to it that has a shower/tub and nice sink.
(Currently a little boy’s room)
Then connected to the other side of the bathroom is other adorable guest room which has french doors going into it.
(Currently a little girl’s room)
There is a big linen closet also between the two rooms which is nice for storage. If you go all the way to the right of the stairs you end up in another living room which has a really cool half moon window looking out on to the yard and a really cute free standing propane stove. Plus there is storage under the stairs.
I am not sure what we are going to put in all of these rooms so if anyone has any furniture they want to get rid of let us know!! 🙂
That about wraps it up, we are so excited to get into the house and I can’t see how Ashton is going to keep me out of the pasture and playing with my horses 🙂 I can’t wait to go riding out there, we are backed right up to the Salish mountains and I guess one of our neighbors knows lots of trails.
Sorry this is so long I just wanted to really give you a good idea of the layout and what it looks like. Can’t wait for you to come and stay as a guest at our cute little ranch!
The Snow Continues.
Since our last post, we’ve had a couple blizzards, and it got pretty cold. There is still snow everywhere. I parked my diesel car under the carport to keep the snow off of it… That didn’t work at all. The wind just covered my car. To make a long story short, I tried to get it started, but it was taking to long, so I left. Since I burned up all the battery on the first try, I couldn’t start my car again. =]
Anna and I had to push it out of the car port, and jump it with her car; which actually was pretty easy, considering how hard it could have been. So now I just park my car in the carport backwards, and if I start trying to start up my car, I make sure I get it started.
Fun times with diesels and cold. =]
-Ash