Our Ranchers are bottle feeding 22 baby goats to help reduce the work load for the Erickson's.  What a hoot they are!  Each kid has a collar with the Rancher's name on it and each Rancher finds his/her own goat, sits down with it and feeds it twice a day.  They spend time holding, cuddling and talking with their own little eating machine.  This is all in preparation for when we get our own angora kids in June.  Our plan is to have the most docile, user friendly goats in our area so they can stay with us forever. 

 

 

More on angora goats later. 

Meet the Staff ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Meet Donna Bilinski.  She's the senior member of our house staff.  Besides being the resident house parent in Faith House and life coach to the five Ranchers who live there, Donna is our activities coordinator and oversees her own brain child, our Gospel Greens program.

 

A mother of three, grandmother of five, Donna is a multi-talented woman--in her own words, "Jack of all trades and master of none!"  She loves cooking, hanging out with her Ranchers, finding a smokin' bargain, taking trips, and just digging in the dirt.  She has a great sense of design and is putting our memorial garden together little by little.  She also enjoys sewing and crochet, but just can't seem to find the time to pursue those interests. 

 

Donna's son lives and works on Dove Island, just off the coast of Alaska.  She's planning a trip there this summer to stay at Dove Island Lodge.  Another son lives in Severance, CO and has 18 month old twin girls.  Donna's daughter and her husband live in Broomfield and have three boys, twins aged 15 and one aged 14. 

 

Several years ago, Donna asked to be buried "on the north 40", but has since realized the Ranch only owns 20 acres.  No one is sure that 20 acres will be quite enough to contain her generous heart and huge spirit.  Donna is best described by Proverbs 31:30-31.  "Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised.  Give her the works of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates."

 

Thank you, Donna for seven years of service and for the security and confidence you bring to our staff.  You're a gem among gems and we're blessed beyond measure to have you on our team.  Here's to the future!!

 

 

Spring Planting and Memorial Gardens~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Plowing was a treat this spring.  Virgil Taylor and his draft horses came out and turned the ground for us with great fanfare.  We've never  had this kind of rig come to the Ranch for plowing before and it was quite a spectacle.  Our thanks to Virgil for making time to do this for us. 

 

Spring planting day was spent with most of our Ranchers and volunteers shivering in the cold.  It was windy and cold enough that we didn't shear our alpacas.  The thought of undressing them and tossing them out into the cold was too much for us, so we just sent our volunteers out there instead--with their clothes on...

 

We're planting in 4X4 squares this year.  We placed the squares so that our Ranch manager could put the sprinkler heads in, staked out and lined the walkway with railroad ties and leveled the entire garden.  Along with planting daylillies, wild roses and transplanting the sunflowers from the greenhouse to the east side outside of the greenhouse, we turned the dirt in our memorial garden area.  That was enough for most of us.  We were driven indoors by the freezing wind and rain.  We'll do better next time.  There's always lots to do here at the Ranch, so we'll give it another try later in the summer.  Our thanks go out to Scott and Kelly Forster and their children, Ian, Caleb and Carly, and to Doug and Augie Rekers for giving us their time. 

 

Our friend Jerre Fisher, long time friend of the Ranch and generous donor and volunteer, passed away February 20th after a long battle with cancer.  Our Ranchers are planting a memorial flower bed to commemorate her contributions to the Ranch and her love for the work we do here.  Along with remembering Jerre, we'll be remembering our good friend Denny Kjar, a long-time Rancher, who passed away in 2007, and Bev Hess, another long-time Rancher who passed away in 2006.  Both of these Ranchers are missed so much by everyone.  This is our ongoing work of love in honor of some very special and sincerely missed people.  Our desire is for it to be a protected and peaceful oasis for people to come and spend time.  We'll post pictures as the work progresses. 

Eagle Scout Project--WOW! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Grant Gattis and his fellow Scouts spent a cold April weekend building our new compost bins.  Grant put together the proposal, presented it for approval by his council, found all the donations, assembled a work crew, participated in the labor and supervised the entire project.  As if that wasn't enough, he also opened the door for his group to earn their disability awareness badges.  I say again, WOW!! 

 

This young man is one of the reasons we should have confidence in our future leadership.  Thank you Grant, for putting together such a necessary and practical project to help the Ranch use its resources.  Thanks to you, we can start getting our p**p together.

 

 

 

 

 

Calling All Cars!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

Triangle Cross Ranch needs an automobile donation.  If you have a mid-sized or compact vehicle that is safe and functional and would like the tax write off, contact our office immediately.  We will have it checked out and give you tax credit for the full price of the car when it passes muster. You will be helping us stay on top of our fuel and maintenance costs and making a good business decision for all. 

Thank you in advance!! 

Independent Living at the Ranch~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

 

Hope House, our oldest house, has been closed for renovation for over a year.  In March, the board passed a proposal to remove Hope House from our assisted living license in order to open it as an independent living residence.  The Ranchers who will live in this house will be qualified to live on their own, but will benefit from the day program we offer and the added security that living in a protected community offers.  This house will open as early as mid- to late- 2010 and four rooms will be available to developmentally disabled adults, physically disabled and elderly.  We will be taking applications beginning in the fall.