Party at Murphy’s Retreat

Saturday, December 12, 2009, we had a little get together with some friends and family at Murphy’s Retreat. The fire was roaring in the fireplace.

Entertainment was provided by my dad, Russell Halbert, my sister, Mary West and my niece, Alyssa Forbes.

Dad, Mary and Alyssa

We had lots of good food and drink. We listened to great music, visited and had a great evening!

Enjoying a glass of Peaceful KT's mulled wine

Clayton, Josh and Jim

Dad and Mary, tearing it up.

Lovin what we're doin

Peggy, Gerald, Clayton and Crystal

Alyssa

We couldn’t quite remember the words to a song, so I had to write it down on the back of a paper plate.

Writing the words to Black Jack County Chain

Alyssa just started playing the guitar in late September. She was amazing!

Alyssa solo

What a fun night!

Keith playing Alyssa's guitar

Josh, Mom, Peggy and Jon

Peggy and Jim

Josh, Mom and Peggy

Clyde, Gerald and Tracey

Jeff and Gerald

Tracey, Jeff and well, I guess half of Josh

Mom and Jon

Sing it, Dad!

Mary and Jim. Jim is supposed to be our harmonica player, but he never remembers to bring it.

Katie diggin' in

Julie and her awesome spicy spinach dip.

Kate and Dailene on the couch.

Kate

Mom, Gerald, Katie and Julie at the table

We sure had a lot of fun. Wish ya could have been there!

New Barn Update

Well, the barn may not be totally complete, but it is definitely at a usable point.

I like that dark roof.

The pipe panel stalls are just temporary. Eventually we will close in the front of the barn and have a doorway from each stall into individual loafing pens. For now, I have a dry place to groom, saddle, feed, etc.

Horses all settled in.

The horses seem to enjoy their new accommodations.

Razzle munching some hay.

I had a little trouble getting a close up of Reno. He is so friendly I had to run around his stall to stay far away enough to get a full body shot.

I’m pretty sure he thinks he is a lap dog.

Little Reno

Pappy and Tam, our resident equine senior citizens seem pretty satisfied as well.

Pappy

My old friend, Tam.

I think I’ll try to get a little work done, then go enjoy the beautiful day from horseback. You should too! Horses are shod and ready to go.

See ya,

Crystal

Barn Construction

Woo Hoo!

My barn is oficially on its way up. One more step toward being able to offer trail riding, training and boarding at Murphy’s Place. Framing is complete, trusses up and metal should start going on today.

Monday the first wall went up.

Ember is "helping". Every time someone lays a board down, she grabs it and runs.

Getting closer to complete every day!

 

Hopefully the metal will be on before the weekend is over!

One more time, WooHoo!

See ya!

Crystal

End of Fall Color?

Well, it looks like the beautiful fall colors have just about faded out completely.

However, if you look closely, there is still a glimpse of gold, orange and red here and there.

If you want one more peek at the last colors of fall, come visit and explore the woods before it’s too late.

See ya!

Crystal

Added accommodations!

We are in the process of finishing the basement at Murphy’s Retreat.  When it is completed the max capacity will be 12 people instead of 8, with another full bath as well.

I’ll post more photos as the progress continues!

Beautiful Fall Day

What a beautiful day! The fall colors are starting to really show.

This was the view from the deck of Copperstone Cottage. Our guests, Jim and Terri, left us a great little gift. It is a copper pitcher that matches the decor of the cottage perfectly. Thanks guys!

I went to the river to see how things were looking down there. The landing was carpeted in yellow-gold leaves. It was really pretty.

I love fall days like this one.

Ember has her eye on something.

Do you suppose this is what she is looking at?

Large hornets nest.

Yikes! I think I’ll be careful not to disturb that!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this lovely day as much as I did. See ya!

Clear water

It’s amazing how clear and beautiful the river gets after the main floating season passes.

My border collie pup, Tag, taking his first taste of river water.

Tag's first trip to the river.

Well, back to work. See ya later!

Finally blogging again!

This summer has been crazily busy around here! Murphy’s Place had guests all but 9 days in August and we have been working on some horse facilities. I now have an awesome 100 ft. round pen for training and lessons and the new barn is officially under construction.

round pen

The new 4 stall barn is still in the beginning stages, but we do have the foundation poured and the plumbing lines run.

barn foundation

Gerald and I have also started team roping. My horse, Razzle, is coming along nicely as a head horse and we bought an older, experienced heel horse, Pappy.

Razzle

Pappy

Pappy may not win any beauty contests, but he give everything he has every time you ask him. He’s a good old guy and a good teacher.

I’ll try to remember my camera next time we practice so you can see us in action!

We are learning from Gerald’s cousin, Tracey, and I am trying to get her to offer lessons to our guests. If anyone is interested in learning to ride and rope, let me know. I’ll try to talk her into it!

We start by roping a dummy on the ground, then from horseback and finally graduate to real cattle. It’s a lot of fun.

Well, I have horses to saddle. I’ll try to be more consistent with my blogging and I’ll keep ya posted on my roping progress.

See ya!

Crystal

Murphy’s Place Float Trip

Murphy’s Place now has a couple of rafts, some kayaks, tubes and a canoe. On Saturday, we decided we should take them for a test float, just to be sure they would be safe for our guests. We recruited some of our neighbors from Highway T and gathered at about 1pm at Murphy’s Retreat. By 1:30, we were on the water.

floating along

fun on the water

It was a perfect day. Warm enough to enjoy the river, but not so hot that you never wanted to get out of the water. Gerald and I started out in the kayaks. Those things are awesome!

shooting the rapids

We love the kayaks, but I have to admit, Herb showed us up. He could maneuver a raft full of people and coolers as good as we could the kayaks. I think he may have been showing off.

Captain Herb

We floated about 4 and 1/2 miles. It was perfect. We stopped 2 or 3 times rest and swim.

Afterwards we had a BBQ at Murphy’s Retreat.

Boats all loaded. We survived the trip!

Jon and Peg had to miss the float, but made it for supper.

dinner on the screened in porch

I had a great time. I hope every Saturday this summer is this much fun!

See ya!

Crystal

Ground hog trouble.

I am having a problem with a groundhog down at Murphy’s Retreat. For some reason, he has decided he needs to be inside the screened in porch. I have seen him a couple of times, but he is very quick. I just get a glimpse of him as he dashes under the fence and off the bluff. He has a hole down there somewhere. However, I don’t have any trouble seeing where he has been.

I’m not sure what to do about the little bugger. I usually have a dog or five with me when I go down to clean, but he does his best vandalism when nobody is around.

Here are my faithful kelpies standing guard (or taking a nap) on the patio, valiantly protecting the screen door.

Guard duty.

Livi, one of my Jack Russell Terriers, takes the job much more seriously.

No groundhog is gonna' get past me! Grrr!!!

Well, if anyone has a good idea about how to discourage a ground hog from eating screen doors, please share!

That’s all for now.

See ya!