We finally saw our first rattlesnake of the season. We were walking down our road, and itwas right next to the road in the 'gutter'. If you look closely, you'll see that Rob shot it right between the eyes. It was only about 4 feet long, but obviously very well fed.

Rob and Remy go for a hike.

Remy really wanted to get some target practice in, so Rob brought several of his rifles and pistols up to camp, and Remy had a great time with them. (slideshow)

Remy loved the ATV, but had more fun going fast than going offroad. (slideshow)

Now that we're going to be farmers/ranchers, Rob just had to get a new hat. Here,he watches the shooting, wearing his new straw hat.

We took Coco to rattlesnake avoidance training. Very interesting. Using a shock collar,they were able to teach her to avoid rattlesnakes by sight, scent and sound, all in about10 minutes or less. Hmmm.... I wonder if that works on husbands and children?

We all hike to the South Fork River.

The river was down quite a bit. But then, this is already the end of August, so that's better than last year. There were hardly any mosquitos, and it was very nice and cool there. (slideshow)

Here are the obligatory plant pictures... most of them are unknown at this time, so if you haveany ideas, let me know. (slideshow)

We just could hardly wait for the tractor. We found out it was only 1/2 hour away,so we drove down the road and waited for it. (slideshow)

Here it is, in all it's glory! Our very own tractor! With loader, backhoe, post-holedigger, box blade and brush hog. And to think that 2 months ago we knew nothing about tractors.Rob tried it out as soon as we got it, but it was at night, and the pictures didn't turn out.(slideshow)

First thing in the morning, Rob tried it out on the road. Here he is, with his first cup of coffee, and a loader full of dirt.

Rob seems to have this 'thing' about fixing tires. For those of you that saw our Belize pictures,you'll recall he had to fix a tire there, too. The tractor arrived with two flat tires.Fortunately, we had a small compressor to fill them with. But it could only stay on for 10 minutes, and these are very large tires. (slideshow)

This is a Chinese tractor and an Italian backhoe. The manuals leave a lot to be desired.Here are the instructions for the backhoe - right in front of the controls.(slideshow)

We decided to practice right next to camp, beginning with the area that we normally useto turn the Blazer around in. It's not as easy as it looks! (slideshow)

Hmm... now that it's Loretta's turn, it won't start. We tried everything - checkedfuses, traced the electrical from the battery, read and re-read the instructions (that were written in 'chinglish'). We were beginning to get a little worried, but it finally started.

Now it's Loretta's turn to drive the tractor. Her legs are barely long enough toreach the pedals, and it's been more than 20 years since she drove a stick shift. (slideshow)

Rob just has to try out the backhoe. Again, it's just not as easy as it looks. Besides,we discovered that the camp road might as well be cement.

Loretta now gets her chance to push in a road - to make a spot for the tractor

Here are the two driveways now. Rob did a really good job at smoothing out thedriveway after Loretta got done with it.

Here are some of the additional implements we got with the tractor. (slideshow)

Here's a small video of Rob pushing in our driveway.