Real Ranch Living in Minnesota | Daily Life Vlog

Just outside of Faribault, Minnesota is a nice little piece of property with plenty of dogs, cats, and horses, and the wildlife that roams around here too. I came to visit a friend living here and learn a bit about life on a Minnesota ranch. Greetings, Rock Hopper here and I am in Minnesota with my buddy Lance who lives in Minnesota. I first met him at Picacho Peak in Arizona. We climbed to the top and now I'm here and we've got a whole little menagerie of animals. We got a cat back there. It's more like a dog than a cat and he follows us wherever we go. Plus there's some dogs here and there's some horses back there. I'll show you those in just a minute. Right now there's dogs and look who we got behind us. It's Mackle the cat coming along like a little dog wherever we go. Right there. He's pretty funny. He's really cute too but he thinks he's a dog, right? Yep, yes he does. He thinks he's a dog. What do we have here, Lance? This is a pet cemetery. A lot of horses, a lot of dogs been buried here. Yeah. It's a rough time for Julie. So Julie owns the property, right? Yes. Okay, well we got to introduce everybody to Julie in just a minute here. Yeah. What is this? A lightning strike. Right there, that big stripe? Yep, it goes all up to the top of the tree and it's a splitter wood like a bomb going off, sonic bomb going off. It hit the house. The bark? Bark hit the house, yes. So it's the bark shot off the tree into the house all the way over there? All the way over there. Amazing. And it just made a heck of a boom. And that's why the dogs don't like loud big booms. Wow, check out that. Yeah, they just took the bark right off all the way, all the way up there, all the way around to the top of the tree, all the way up there. Okay, Lance, let's tell everybody about Picacho Peak. And you know, I had to really encourage this guy to get up the mountain. He is not used to climbing up mountains, am I right? Right. Yeah, you were having a heck of a time. Yes, it's a rough walk, a hike, I mean. So we went through the cage and we went up these cables and eventually, after many breaks, he did make it to the top. Finally. And you know, what's really funny is I told him, I said, come on man, you got to make it. There's going to be a pretty blonde waiting with a beer for you at the top. And guess what? What happened? There was a blonde on top with a beer and I couldn't believe it. I thought it was set up, but it's not. It was pretty amazing. It was a great time. It's a fun time. But then going back down was the hard part. You're supposed to make it all the way down the mountain. I was 200 yards, maybe, to the parking lot and I accidentally slipped on some rocks and fell down. Got bruised up pretty good. I never made it off the mountain, but I did make it to the car. He made it to the car, but he's like so close to the car and he's looking at some girl's butt and he got very distracted. Yes, that's true. So he makes it all the way up to the top of the mountain and he manages to get back down almost to the car, like maybe 100, 200 yards. Yes. Staring at some girl's butt. He slips and falls back, hits his shoulder really hard, and he's like, oh God, he's thinking maybe he broke it or something. I thought, my ankle too. Hand is an ankle. But luckily, that didn't happen. No, I came out alive. Yeah, you got a story to tell out of that. Yes, we do. It was a lot of fun. It was amazing. This is pretty nice. We got a river down below, huh? Yes, we do. It's beautiful down there. But there have been some incidents here, is that correct? Yes, there was one of our horses way back, went down the hill and he started floating that way down the river. They didn't find him for like 10 miles down. And then kayak, canoers were going down the river. They fell out, they overcapsized, and it was like, it was a family. Command post was out here, so they had a whole schmitt and caputo of fire trucks, ambulances, police, sheriffs, you name it. And they came over here because they didn't know where they're at. So they slid down this hill. Go see the command post was up there. And these guys slid down here, EMTs and everybody else slid down this hill on the bottom part down there to see if they're on this area. It was pretty, pretty amazing. And the news came out to this place? The news came out. They did an interview with my mother and asked her what's going on. It's pretty neat. And she didn't like being on camera. Okay, so they had a few TV stations out here. Yes, four or five and a nine. So the people who capsized, they were okay. Yep, everybody came out alive. But the horse didn't make it? No, the horse did not make it. They had to drag that out like 10 miles down the river. Had to drag that out by four wheelers. And she's buried over here. The horse is buried at the pit cemetery. This is Julie and she's here at Smiling Acres. She owns this ranch and she's going to tell us a little bit about this and things that go on here. This is Vegas. She's 26. This one over here is Snickers. He's 27 years old. He's the old man of the bunch. And then this youngster here, this would be Apache. He's 17. So he's the youngest one of the bunch and the newest. Nice looking trio. Yeah. So how did you end up with this place? Well, to tell you the truth, my dad was a lifetime barber here in Faribault and he had a customer that came in and said that he was thinking about selling this place. So when I got halfway down the driveway, I said I wanted it. And he says, you haven't even seen the house yet. And I said, I don't need to. So and we've been here ever since. Been here 24 years now. So it's pretty fun here, right? Yes, absolutely. And you call it Smiling Acres? Yes. Yep. We call it Smiling Acres here. There's sometimes it feels like frowning farms, but we put that behind and move on. So what kind of plans do you have for this silo, Julie? Well, eventually what we'd like to do with the silo is make it a Airbnb of some kind, maybe with a spiral staircase and a room in there and then open up the top for a telescope and a platform up there so you can have a rooftop supper or whatever. But that's in the future. So we have all kinds of projects going on with the weeding and the horses and all the kinds of stuff. We're surrounded here by DNR land on one side, which is public hunting. And then all the woods that you see behind me is Nature Conservancy. So that's a special part of Smiling Acres. We're only about four miles out of town, but yet you feel like you're out in the middle of nowhere. It's pretty cool. Yeah. It's nice and peaceful out here. Yes, it is. And there's never a dull moment, right? No, there's never been a dull moment. We've had horses get out and run underneath deer stands during deer season. We've had a very protective dog. The neighboring farm farmer stopped and startled him. And he was a very nice man. There was no lawsuit. Yeah, there's always things coming. You'll be meeting one of the kids that comes out here. She's learning how to take care of the horses. And she's telling people nowadays that it's not as fun when you have to do all your own catching and brushing and saddling. But she's doing a heck of a job for an 11-year-old. And we're very proud of Riley. So you'll be meeting her later. So this is the house behind you, huh? Your house? Yes, this is my house behind me. We have an apartment in the basement. It's rented out at this time. And then there's three bedrooms upstairs. So we have this. And then we have what we call my bitch barn, where we hang out. We do fish fries, senior brunches out there, pizza parties. It's just a place for everybody to kind of get together and have a little family time. So let's go see the bitch barn. All right, let's go check it out. We're going inside what she calls the bitch barn. All right, thanks. Let's have a look around. This is the garage. We store our stuff in the winter. And then this is where we hang out. We have a 1960s jukebox, stocked full. Nice. There's a pool table, nothing fancy that the kids can wreck. Right? Yeah, this is our newest dog, Gunther. He is now two years old. Hello, Gunther. Well, yep, I'm not seeing anybody else in here. We do have indoor plumbing. Okay, hey, it's a cool little bathroom. Got a bicycle up on the... hanging from the ceiling. Yeah, it's nice. Nice to do some work on this wall here, but it'll get there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's pretty cool. All right. All righty. Oh, here we have what we call the Miranda. Nice. Nice view out here. Yes. Here come the other two. Ah, here come the two other dogs. We have Piper, the little white one, and then 16-year-old Sherman. Hello, Sherman. So you're 16. You're an old dog. Yeah, you're an old boy, aren't you? All of the animals stay on the property for eternity. We have our own little pet cemetery out here. If you follow this around, it overlooks the river. I'm sure that you got some shots of the river. I did. The last couple years in the spring, we have had to be a part of river rescues because people are so anxious to get on the river that they don't think about their safety. We don't want to see that every spring. It's kind of heart-thumping when that happens. We're very blessed that everybody made it out safe. There was three adults and six kids that were taken out of the river this spring. And then the year before, it was two younger gentlemen. But everybody got out safe and went home safe and sound, so fingers crossed. And you have the news crew here, is that right? Yep, yep. I was interviewed by Channel 4 out of Minneapolis and Channel 5. Did you have the search and rescue? Yeah, they showed up with the boat, but there's no way. When you see that footage going down to the river, there's no way you're going to launch a boat from here. But they had drones. Guys just slid right down the hill to get those kids out. You know, when you hear that there's a child involved, I think that everybody's adrenaline was pumping pretty hard that day. So lots of excitement here on Smiling Acres. Yes, it's pretty laid back most days, but every once in a while, something pops up. Julie loves watching Wagon Train every day. I do, every day from three to four. My 89-year-old dad watches Gunsmoke from noon to one, so we can talk from one to three o'clock. But after that, it's like don't call or don't text. Don't call, don't text, but it's three to four. That's my Wagon Train time. That is your Wagon Train happy hour. Yes. All right, and it's just about to start. Yeah, so get out. I'll talk to you in a little bit. All right, sounds good. So I've heard you have some pretty mischievous animals here. Yes, as you've seen before, you met Gunther earlier. He's two years old. In the past, he's taken it upon himself to eat pools. We used to have a pool that had a blow-up ring around the top, and first he popped the ring, and then he decided that he could play with electrical cords. Thank God they weren't plugged in. But this is our third pool of the season, and he was very nervous about even coming near it. I think he's learned his lesson. Now Lance was telling me he was actually caught chewing on an electrical cord that was plugged into the pool pump. Yes, yes, yeah. He's kind of mischievous, but he's he's grown out of it, so all puppies are mischievous. It would have been quite a shock if he had bitten through that cord. Definitely, definitely. And yeah, you're looking at about a three thousand dollar dog here. He got into horse warmer one time by accident, and he ended up in the emergency room, and they had to pump his stomach and whatnot, but he's overall turned out to be a pretty good boy now. Oh, that's good. Yeah. But Gunther, you've been kind of a bad dog at times, huh? You're expensive. Do you know that? Yeah, he's slinking away. He knows he's an expensive dog. He's guilty. He knows it. He had that guilty look on him. He seemed to know we were talking about him. Miss Raylee will be here soon. She's going to show you guys how to catch the horses. Awesome. Hey Sherman. What's up, buddy? Hi. I've got a cat on my bed. Well, it's not really my bed. I've just been staying here, and so this bed right here is where I've been sleeping at night. Very nice and comfortable. I'm very thankful for that. Thanks to Julie. Hello. How you doing? Oh, you just decided to get up, huh? Yeah. Mackle? Decided to get up? Okay. This is Raylee, and she's going to tell us about how to get a horse and a few other things, right? Yeah. All right. Cool. So what are we doing? We're haltering and leading them into the barn. Okay. So explain how you do this. So the way I do it is I throw the lead rope over their neck. This is the way you're going to hold them to be able to put their halters on. Sometimes the halters can be a little bit tricky, especially on the wrong side. This is the nose band. You slide this onto his nose. This part over. Dude, it can't be difficult, man. No, you're fine. So is Apache being a little difficult right now? Yeah. He wants to eat, but he can't eat. Oh, don't you know? Horses are always hungry. Yeah. This band over and behind their ears. You always want to make sure your horse is comfortable. Make sure it's not too tight. I like to put it on the third or fourth loop just to make sure it stays on there. Okay. You take your lead rope. Back up. Back up. Back them up or out however you want them to go. Back up. Back up. Come on. Are we going to the barn? We can go to the barn. So what advice would you have for other kids? Always make sure you have control of them while you're trying to put the halter on. Make sure your horse is always comfortable. And then where their nose goes, the rest of their body goes. Okay. So now what are we going to do, Riley? You have to tie them up. All right. So let's see that knot. Over. Over again. Through. This is a quick release. So if your horse were to get scared, you just pull this and then they can let theirself off. So the first thing before saddling is you've got to brush the horse off. Yes. You have to make sure no horse leaves here with any burdocks in them. You want to check their feet. Make sure that they're not limping in any way. And if they are, you've got to clean the feet off. You've got to get all these burdocks out. And we don't want those laying in the yard spouting out. So you put them in a bucket and you throw them in the garbage can. All right. Well, let's show what these burdock burrs. I think most people are familiar with them. But in case you're not, this is what they look like. And they really stick into the fur and hair of animals. They're really kind of a pain. Get them out by hand as much as you can first and then you brush them out. Yep. See, there's whole clumps of them sometimes in the tail. There's another one right there. If you're going to go behind them, you've got to either be right up next to them or go far behind them. Right. Because they could kick. This is just like detangler for normal. It's just spray on detangler. It works really well. Okay. So you've been given a few sprays of that on there? That makes your horses comfortable with the spray though. Because if they're not, they won't freak out. We're going to brush the coat. We got the burrs out. We've got a bucket of burrs or a few anyway. First, you want the curry comb to get all the dust out. This. You got to be gentle with this one because it has sharp teeth to help get all the dirt out of their coats. With this one, you always want to go with the pattern of their fur. Especially if you're riding, you want to get where their cinch goes. So you just do this all over? Yep. From the curry comb, that brings a lot of the dust out. So then you just have to kind of brush the dirt off of the coat. Okay. So we're just using our regular brush now? Yep. And this one is a good one to get the grass stains off their legs. Okay. Good boy. And this one you can go on any pattern with because this one's a really soft one. Okay. Let's get a look at that. All right. What's this little brush now? This is for like brushing their sensitive spots. So he has a really bad bug bite he's been scratching at. Oh, right there? Yeah. So you just want to kind of brush that off. I haven't gotten to get a good look at him yet, so I haven't seen if he's got any more. What's wrong? Told you to stop smoking, Apache. This is just like a special ointment that helps not itch at these so much because he'll like try and get that with his chin. And you only need a little bit of this. Okay. So this is like some healing ointment. You're just gonna put a little bit on there. And you're all ready for saddling. Okay. Well, let's saddle up. Okay. I gotta go get the saddle. This is the saddle pad. First, before you put it on the horse, you gotta make sure there's nothing on it. Because this is the part that touches the horse. Gotta make sure there's no sharp thorns or anything. Most important thing about this, you want it to be kind of like half of where this is. So like half. And then I like to do this to measure what side, how high it is, I think. Okay. Then I get it even so that I don't have to fix it when I'm on him. Okay. If you have any accessories for your saddle, take them off before you throw them on, before you throw the saddle on. Get that up there. Get your stirrup on there. I hold it with my one hand on the opening and then one hand right on the back. This is a pretty light saddle, so it's easy to just go up there. Then go over on this side. You always want to put the saddle on from what side? I think it's the right side. And make sure everything's set right on the side. So you want your stirrup to be like six inches away from their thigh. And then this is their cinch. You go on this side. Be careful doing this. He's very calm with people going under him. And then this is another part of your cinch. I pulled it the wrong way. So this is a trickier part. You throw this stirrup up there and then make sure this is in the right spot. Make sure there's nothing under there. And then this goes through. Make sure it's not twisted. You don't want to tighten it too much on this one. And then go through, over. Now here's where you tighten it. So you gotta pull. Pull up and then pull this. You don't want to get it too tight. You want to be able to put your fingers through this. Then this end goes up through here and you gotta tighten again. This goes through and then this part goes up there. And then I usually have a saddlebag but I don't have it with me right now. And then I can't put the This part goes over his head. Then this clips on to the part that's on the side of his face, on this side. It'll go on the same on the other side right here. And then same on this side. Before you ever get on the horse, check and make sure that your cinch is still tight. Because when they're just standing, they like to let out air in their stomachs. Always double check your cinch. It's tight. Then before I ride, I like to spray bug spray right there. You don't have to do this, especially if it's not that buggy. So you never want to do it where his saddle goes because that'll irritate him or her. So that's bug repellent? Yes. It's for humans but it's a lot cheaper than the horse stuff and it works the exact same. Okay so now everything is ready. Yep. And so it's just like you're getting ready for a ride. Yep. So do you want to climb on the horse? Sure. So hold your reins and you always want them out on the right side. So hold your left hand and then get both feet in stirrups. Straighten out your saddle and then you're good. You can't go nowhere. You're still tied up sir. Well that's great advice. Thanks for showing people how to do that. You're welcome. And I'm sure other kids are happy to learn about this. Getting to be a chilly evening but right now we got some food going on right? Yes we do. We're gonna throw on some hamburgers. Throw on some burgers tonight. Throwing a bagger on the babby. Yeah. Right mate. Throw on some tecca. Good on ya. All right. Put some good burgers on. You were a cook weren't you? For uh 35 years. 35 years. You must have cooked a lot of food. A lot of food. You working in different restaurants or what? Yes I did. All around this area? Around this area in Waukesha, Minnesota. I started out at seven years old. Seven years old you learned to cook. Yep. Tell me about that. That's pretty crazy. I was a dishwasher seven years old and my buddy's brother told me to come over to the fryer to make french fries. So I had a step stool to get up on that to lift the basket up. You put french fries inside the basket and drop it slowly in the deep fryer and it cooks and he tells me as soon as they start floating and turn brown lift the basket up shake it and put it up on the hook. There's your french fries. Then he taught me how to cook grilled cheese, hamburgers, eggs, hash browns at seven years old. I did it for 35 years. And you actually learned this in a real restaurant. Yes I did. I'm off a cafe in Waukesha, Minnesota. And you were cooking for customers. Yes I was. At seven years old. Yes I was. I don't think they'd let you do that these days. No they wouldn't let you do this again. Not around here. Not this time of the age. No I don't think so. And I taught my son the same way. He's a good cook too. So I'm the same way I taught. I got taught. I taught him the same way. You got the dog, cat, and mackerel. Oh there he goes. This is Charlie. Hey bud. How you doing? Hey. Good burgers. I hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit about life on the ranch with Riley and Julie and Lance. Don't forget to give me a like on the video, share, and subscribe. Until next time this is Rock Hopper. I'll see ya. Bye. Thanks for visiting Smiling Acres.