Hay!

 Since the Ross Fire, and for some time to come, we have to provide extra hay for Moon and Mimi.  On this day, we moved some more hay out for them.  It's fun to see how excited they get with a new roll!

Little Frog Ranch is recovering!

Beauty for Ashes

Little Frog Ranch had over 3 inches of rain so far in October!  Seeing the new growth since the Ross Fire brought to mind one of my favorite songs by Crystal Lewis, based on Psalm 61:3.  

Beauty for Ashes (click for video)

He gives beauty for ashes
Strength for fear
Gladness for mourning
Peace for despair

After the Ross Fire

 The Ross Fire burned for 23 days before it was 100% contained.  But finally, it is gone!  We hope all of the emergency crews get a much needed rest after their hard work with the Ross Fire!

We found one living sunflower left!

Moon and Mimi were happy to see us today.

Maybe because they wanted their snacks,

and a fresh roll of hay.

We often come across something unique at Little Frog Ranch.  

Today's find was this random pipe fence near the pond.

Ross Fire 7

 Today the Ross Fire is at 88% containment across 90,400 acres. We had a little bit of rain this week, which was a nice break.

We had some fence work completed this week, and the burned Mesquite trees were rooted up and piled together. It's best to uproot them after a fire using heavy equipment.  These were removed with a skidsteer to ensure the roots came out.  Mechanical uprooting is best for now, otherwise it could take two years for chemical/herbicide removal after a wildfire.  

Ross Fire 6

 Today the Ross Fire is still at 57% containment.

Moon and Mimi are happy and well fed.  They have had a lot of visitors since the fire came through, but they seem to be just fine.  We have noticed that Mimi has been scratching her back left side more, so we are keeping an eye on it. They have some scratching brushes that they love to use.  

We could really use some rain!

The fire jumped around a lot. It was strange to see just the middle of this cactus burned.

We find something new every time we visit these days!

Ross Fire 5 / Fence

Today the Ross Fire is at 57% containment. But in other news...

A trailer driving by Little Frog Ranch lost control and wiped out a long section of the front fence and a gate connecting two pastures.  All we could do was laugh, seriously!  We actually did laugh, because it is so crazy the challenges that Little Frog Ranch is dealing with at one time.  But this one turned out ok! The people were so nice and put a temporary fix on the fence so the cows didn't escape. They will come back later and repair it permanently.  We are grateful that they stopped, and fixed it!  

This was a large roll of hay. The trailer hit it and pushed it forward to the second pile in the background.

The rest of the roll of hay.

The view back from where it stopped to where it came in.  The front fence was fixed the same day, and they will come back during the week to fix the fence between the pastures.  

The worst part of this is that the trailer belonged to another member of our community who lost his business in the Ross Fire.  Even in the midst of their own tragedy, they still fixed the fence right away so our cows couldn't escape.  

Check out their story and news video and their GoFundMe.

Ross Fire 4

The Ross Fire is still burning, sitting at about 44% containment today.  The firefighters came by today to go through our property and the property behind us to do a "mop up". Mop-up is the process of extinguishing hidden hot spots, smoldering logs, and underground roots near a wildfire's edge to ensure the fire cannot flare back up. We are grateful that they are checking!

To keep up with the Ross Fire, we check the WatchDuty Website. We also get good information from Inciweb.

This week we had to provide hay for the cows, since there is almost nothing left for them to graze on. We were able to get 5 six-foot round coastal hay rolls delivered and will monitor how much they eat over the next month. They were very happy!

Here is a quick view of Little Frog Ranch from the front left gate.