Idaho

Welcome to Nuestro Sueño, my Aunt Lori's ranch, deep in a canyon in Idaho. It is the heart and home of all the dreams she shared with my Uncle Jay, cowboy, cowboy poet, artist and rancher, who passed away long before his time, 14 years ago. My brave, tough and tiny little aunt has continued to run 100 head of cattle and 25 or so sheep almost every year since, all by her lonesome.

Lori's ranch is so far off the grid you simply won't believe it. There are 7 miles of winding dirt road, often on the edge of stomach dropping cliffs, before you even reach the hard-surface road. She has never had electricity and when she and Jay first moved in, they had a crank up telephone that only connected to the operator, a neighbor at the top of the canyon, in the afternoon...on good days. She now has a "real" phone and has solar panels to run what little electricity she uses, often just to listen to a book on tape or turn on a reading light.

The Scale of Things, originally uploaded by maryjanemidgemink.