12.18.2011

New People. New Experiences.

Change is inevitable.  Change takes some getting used to in most cases.  Change is awesome if you're willing to embrace it and make the most out of it...just like anything else in life.  I've shared with many of you that follow Our Love Shack Blog- the more we get out and explore the area and the more we get out and meet new people the more and more I am falling in love with Battle Mountain.

Have you ever been to a restaurant where the food was amazing but the service sucked?  (I have found myself using this analogy lately)  It's awful and as a former waitress it's even worse- you spend your hard earned money on going out to eat and then have a lousy experience.  I've been to some places where the food is mediocre and the service is amazing.  9 times out of 10 I'll choose the better service over the food- life is really about people.  Well Battle Mountain may not be my first choice for living but by golly I've met and come to know some awesome people in the 8 short weeks we've been here that make me not want to leave.  People here have been so kind to us, so open, so generous, and I'm looking forward to making forever friends here in Battle Mountain.

E & I did some more exploring out by Galena Canyon.  We went in a bit further and a bit higher.

Pooks & I Galena Canyon
We've become amateur rockhounders . There seems to be an abundance of quartz out here and that's been the only rock I've been able to identify.  It's fun to learn new things so I hope we become better geologists and botanists.
I struck quartz...wish it was gold!

E trying his hand at rockhounding.

 We also checked out the ghost town...or what is left of the ghost town.

E clearing the rats out of the cellar.

And the excitement of today 12/18...observing a heifer and a steer be sacrificed.

There were 6 this morning and now only 4.
A guy that we've met through the church that we've decided to attend regularly invited us out to observe how they kill the moo- moos.  I think he thought E might only be interested in the beginning but being the sick crazy person that I can sometimes be I was interested in tagging along too.  I tell you we are so far removed from how our food gets to our plate it's sad in a way but hard to stomach (no pun intended) in another way. 

There the Heifer lay.
I think the hardest part about the whole experience for me was that the cows were killed in front of the other cows.  It wasn't necessarily the killing, skinning, gutting, and quartering but the fact that it went down in front of the other cows. Those cows are going to die before too long tanywho but it just seemed a bit harsh to make the other cows watch.
Dropping the Heifer on the scale...946 lbs.
I was very impressed with Jim and his hired hand Kerry.  They worked the cows really fast, killing, skinning, gutting, and quartering 2 cows only took a little less than 3 hours.  I think E really enjoyed it and wants to learn how to do it.  Weird...he's always getting his hands on trying something new.  I think that may be why I love him so much!  He also started talking about hobby farms tonight...it sounds like work to me but it would be cool!
There she is in all her glory.
So it wasn't so bad observing but don't know if I could be the one with the knives.  The coolest part of the whole process in my opinion was the tail.  Something I did not know people eat the tail....SAY WHAT?  Yes people eat the tail, the tongue I knew about because I've seen it at the store but it's definitely not something I want to try anytime soon.  The tail however was super cool when Jim cut it out because it looked like an octopus tentacle (I still am not interested in eating it though).

We're off to California at the end of the week to be with E's family for Christmas.  I am very excited to experience my first California Christmas!

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