Wytex Ranch

[bzbzlady]

We have had some rain the past couple of weeks. I learned to drive the truck in 4 wheel drive yesterday. It helps a little, but the roads are really slippery when the mud gets wet.
Our dog found out he was capable of running down and killing prairie dogs. It will save us a lot of ammo, and a lot of work on the roads filling in their holes.
We still haven't really gotten into the grove of things. There is so much to do, it's hard to know where to start! Each day we just try to get a couple thing accomplished.
We now have to pour new concrete pads for the 5th wheel because the old pads aren't in the right place for the new 5th wheel.
We are now using the 500 gallon Amerigas tank which makes life easier as we don't have to fill all the smaller tanks.
We got our drivers licenses' changed, but now have to get the vehicle plates. The Sheriff comes out to your place and reads all the VIN numbers from everything so you don't have to pull them all into town. Kind of nice of them!

[bzbzlady]

Time for an update from bzbzlady out here on our Wytex property. We call it Mortimer Meadows - named after one of our cats. Our well is name Barthalomew - after another cat.
This is our first winter out here on the high plains in Wyoming. We are just under 7000 ft in elevation. It's been snowing for the past 3 days and we have about 6" and it is 9 degrees outside tonight.
We have stocked up on food and will see what happens out here. Our new 5th wheel is a NuWa hitchhiker Champaign and should get us through the winter ok as it is an all season model.
Our dog hasn't decided if he likes the snow or not. He runs in & parks himself in front of the heater vent. We had a log truck full of logs delivered for firewood. We still haven't gotten a construction loan due to the remote location. We have a mortgage broker working on it now.
My husband Steve played cowboy this summer at one of the ranches, and found out how hard they work. The cattle roundup is done on atv's mostly, but some horses are still used in rugged terrain. He has really enjoyed meeting new guys and loves the Comradery. I even helped a couple days. I hadn't ever ridden an atv before, but it was easy. We are constantly learning new things out here. We learned if we work one day, we need to rest up at least 2 days before we can do it again. I did notice that we didn't accomplish as much this year as we did last year. But then again, we're retired old farts.
Keep us in your prayers.
Colleen & Steve

[sunsprit]

An interesting update, Colleen ....

for perspective, keep in mind that "winter" has only just begun.

You'll be seeing a lot more snow, very cold temperatures, and many hours of strong/gusty winds over the next 4-5-6 months. "Slick" roads will become drifted over roads, and small amounts of snowfall will build up into wind-packed drifts of many feet depth; the big issue will be how wide those drifts are. I hope you have a plow capable of dealing with it because a 4-wheel drive pick-up will unlikely be able to deal with it, depending upon your location and access to the county maintained roads.

Stay warm and safe, and good luck.

[imbobbbb]

Well keep us updated,it will be interesting to read your perspective on things come april.Goodluck ,stay warm ,and have fun

[F350]

What type of power source did you go with for your well? Did you go with any wind/solar options for your 5th wheel or do you just run a generator off your LP tank? Thanks and stay warm!

[bzbzlady]

We've had snow a couple more times now, but it has been dry and mostly blown away. We went to Laramie yesterday & were surprised at how much snow they had. I guess they have all the buildings that stop the snow and it piles up. It looked like they had between 8-12 inches.
We use a 5550 briggs & stratton to pump the well. We do have several backup generators also. The
5th wheel has 5000 or maybe a bigger propane generator. We really like it, because it has a switch inside the trailer to start it.....last year, when the generators ran out of gas, we did a swift dash to the barn to fill it up. This year we now have 2-500 gal tanks of propane to keep us going, plus a several backup tanks from 5 to 100 gals.
We did buy a little 400 watt wind turbine, but haven't put it up yet. We also have a 15k generator that we are going to use to put electricity in the barn with.

Now, pumping water is quite interesting. We are about 400 feet from the well. Luckily, there is a very slight slope down to the well. We put black water hose from the trailer to the well. If we push all the water out of the hose when we are done pumping, then we can still pump in freezing weather. Last week we didn't get all the water out, and it froze solid. It was a week before it thawed out. Thank God, that I keep lots of jugs of water around!
I don't think the winters will be much worse than Alaska, or Maine, where we originally hail from, but time will tell. Living in a 5th wheel has its challenges. We keep the temperature at 70-72 inside, so out storage area underneath and the holding tanks stay warm. This 5th wheel uses alot of propane, so we keep it topped off when possible. This is a high end 5th wheel, and I honestly think that a lesser model would be insulated enough out here. The one we traded in for this one was only their next model down, and we can really tell the difference in them.
One of the other guys that live out here said that one year he couldn't get out on the roads for 7 weeks. The good news, is that we have lots of supplies, and won't have to travel when it is stormy.
I'm still surprised at how good the computer & cell phones work out here. Verizon seems to be the best of any of them. Tracfone also work out here. We also use a USB from Verizon for the computer. I did have to take the computer into Laramie to do the update because it wouldn't do it out here.
The antelope are starting to herd up for the winter. We had 73 grazing about 150 ft from the trailer a few days ago. We have been told that sometimes the herds will get as big as 500 animals. I am going to try to attach a couple pictures....if I can figue it out. Please email us anytime, be don't get to talk to very many people.[IMG]005.JPG (470.1 KB), 006.JPG (629.2 KB), 007.JPG (653.1 KB), 008.JPG (570.9 KB)[/IMG]

[bzbzlady]

Can anyone please tell me how to put picture on here, I see it didn't work before.

[WyoNewk]

You'll have to upload your images to an internet server and then post the url to them. Your internet provider might supply the disk space for you, or you can use one of the many free sites on the internet set up to host pictures, such as Photobucket, Imageshack, Flickr, etc. Just Google picture hosting sites and you should find several. I've never used them as my internet provider hosts mine, but those I listed are popular.

I think you can use your browser to upload the images. I use Fetch, a $10 shareware program that's fast and simple for my Mac.


What kind of 5th wheel do you have? We're planning to upgrade ours in the next year or so for fulltiming.

[ElkHunter]

Uploading a picture. I use Photobucket. They are a free site. Log on there and get an account. Once that's complete you'll see a button for upload images.

Click on Upload Images. Then you can search through your drive to find the image you want. Click on the image and click on "Open".

Once the image is uploaded it will offer you a chance to put a title on it or a brief description of the image. Then go to "Go back."

When you put your cursor over the image, it will drop down a menu. The bottom item on the menu is IMG xxxx IMG. Click on that to highlight it.

Hit control C to copy. Then go to your post in City-Data and click on the space you want to put the image. Hit Control V to paste. It will drop a line of data in there. NOT THE PICTURE ITSELF. Once you save the post, the image will appear.

Let me know if you have any problems.

Oh, one other thing. In Photobucket, if you want to load more then one image, hold down the control key and click on files and it will highlight all you want. But when you load to City-Data, you have to do one at a time.

[F350]

Thanks for the info. Like WyoNewk, I'm also looking to upgrade to a full-time capable 5th wheel within the next year. What brand/model did you go with? I try to be cost conscious and bargain shop but I'd hate to have the first big storm roll in and find it's impossible to keep the place warm and my tanks unfrozen. Any suggestions are appreciated!