2001 - on January 12th Alan and I starting dating. By May he got come to Wyoming for a small contract but while he was in Jelm the contract was extended and do I want to come over for a vacation. I handed in my notice at work ( I was a pre school teacher in Southsea for the past 13 years) I also arranged to rent my house in Fratton. Jay and I got passports and yep - lets go on vacation for a few months!
We are still here and have no intention of returning to the UK. We have done the H1B Visas, the Green Cards and within the next 12 months we are going for citizenship!
Three weeks after staying in the cabin, Alan came back with a small brown ball of fluff in his hand. one of the worker's dogs, Sophie, had puppies. "Pressie for you" I fell in love instantly. Muppet was now a part of the family and where ever I went - So did my boy
In 2003 both of our divorces were absolute and we got Married April 8th 2003 , High Noon at the court house in Laramie . I was all in black leather , only 4 people there , straight after we went and had our wedding bands tattooed on our fingers
The design is both of our star signs entwined with our initials) After the inkage - we went and had a Mexican
We lived in a few places before we bought the ranch
For the first 4 months we lived with Ron (in the pics above) as he owned the property where Alan worked and had been staying in his spare one bedroom cabin . Sophie also lived with us for a year and while we were in this cabin too - but luckily we found a house to rent on Sheep Mountain Ranch - the blue house as the kids started to call it. So October we moved and we were there until 2003.
Jay went to school in Centennial (near the blue house) and for a few months I had set up his special needs program with the district and school. Whatever Jay needed, he got - Speech / behavioral /social and educational therapists and also a para pro (Jean), who was with him for every minute of school. Jay as Asperger's Syndrome (High Functioning Autism) and anxiety disorder. I didn't fight anyone and all of his IEP was instant. (compared to my ongoing battles in UK! ugh)
In 2003 , cabin fever set in, even tho I was suffering from some colitis or crohns problem. I enrolled at Laramie College and studied Criminal Justice and Criminology - give my brain something to do. I completed both classes with a 4.0 GPA for both! We got married while I was there. Soon as college had finished we had to move from the blue house (the ranch had been bought and was being subdivided - long battle and court case but I had to find somewhere for us to live. Sadly nothing was available in Centennial where Jay went to school, and had to resort to living in Laramie, 30 miles away. every day I drove Jay back and forth to centennial for school as I was still looking for something up there. Luckily living in town was only for 6 months!And i found a place behind the church in Centennial! not great but it did ok until we bought the house from Jay's teacher Mr Ort, big house behind the school
After college I was talking with Jean (Jay's Para Pro) and her horses - she had 30 of them. All Mountain Quarter horses on a massive ranch. So I asked if I could go over, see them, ride one and help out .This then became daily for me for the next 8 years. Literally her ranch hand and go to guy. Dakota was one of her horses and we bonded instantly. I became her human!. After a few months someone came to the ranch to buy her, threw a saddle on her back , to which Dakota freaked and I instantly said to Jean - I'll match her price as she is not having Dakota. (I had just cashed in my endowment plan in UK and house was on the market)
Dakota was now mine
It was a BOGO deal aswell as she was pregnant and we didnt know at the time.
(The stallion had busted out a few months earlier and had a party with all the mares - twice, two months apart!). Photos of all of this, plus Thorny, are under the HORSES tab above
I did a lot more on the ranch for board and keep for Dakota . Working horses, imprinting and training the foals, hay, cleanup, beaver dam clearing every summer with the kids. Chores increased once it was definite I was going to have a foal! I was busy all the time down there and with Jay at weekends. oooh I was so fit and strong!
For most of the years Ana and Dori came over for a few months every summer. Ann (Alan's Mum) flew with them, stayed a week and then came back to fly them home) So they too helped on the ranch - beaver dam busting was the favorite, plus picnics and adventures up in the Snowies
Alan was all over the place working for different companies and projects and away for months at a time. after he left working the company in Jelm, he worked in El Salvador for a few years. He came home for breaks. I can't remember the order of places now after this but there was St George, Red Desert, Minnesota, Mexico, Brazil, Baha. (I must do a tab soon of all the places he has worked soon as there are loads more
The biggest job was at Springpole in Canada . He discovered a huge Gold deposit under the lake and made a lot of money on the shares he had been given - which we used to help buy this Ranch in 2011
So much to remember . Jay did well through school and surprised everyone. From screaming and hiding under the tables to being extremely intelligent and focused. He became Mr Young's biggest success stories. Jay tried baseball for a couple of years with Little league. First year went well as the coach worked with Jay's condition and it was a fun year as his team (Arcon) got to the finals. The 2nd year did not go aswell, the coach didnt understand Jay and he treated all the kids and the game as if they were in Major League and the parents were atrocious at the games . Awful to witness . So we stopped that! Instead I wanted to find Jay something where he was doing something with others but not as a team. So we found Kempo Karate.
He did this until December 2011. He was really good at it. kept him focused and helped his anxiety from school and his frustrations .
After a while I decided I wanted to do something aswell, I missed kickboxing but nothing in Laramie! so I did the adult karate class after the kid's class. So twice a week I was doing 4 karate classes a week ,as I ended up helping the small kids!
In 2008 Alan , Jay and I went to an outdoor concert "The Big Gig" to see some bands we loved - Offspring was the headliner. Amazing day. I was impressed with the local opener, "Skyfox" and when I got home, i could not find much about them except on Facebook. I started sharing their music and chatting with the guys in the band. They were so good and not enough recognition . After 6 months their friend wrote to me asking if I would check out his band, "Fulcrum" and do the same. I did. Then one of their friends wrote me.. same thing with his band "P-Nuckle" I realized I had better start my own page for this and I called it Best 303 Sounds, Online Promotion. It grew so quick with local bands contacting me . All from Denver. I always have 40 bands , now from all over the states, as long as they play in the 303 (Colorado zip code) and I am still doing it now. the 40 change often but i still have P-Nuckle! I do it for free and for the love of music. Now it's harder to go to their gigs as i have lost my ranch / dog sitters now that Dori and Jay have left home. So now its all from behind a keyboard
Every summer, Xmas or Thanksgiving we have people here. Either the Ana and Doreen, Alan's parents, my dad or my cousin Mikel and at all of the houses since the blue house in 2001 to here at the ranch - there's a page for this Family/Friends Visit
On 20th November 2010 Muppet passed away. I still suffer from this day so I wont expand as I'll start blubbing. Losing him still hurts, my 24-7 companion we were inseparable. He is always with us and even more so when our road and ranch are named for him
In 2010 Doreen decided that she wanted to live with us. She came over for Xmas that year and we wanted to make sure she was serious and to give us the final decision after she got home. Mind you that Xmas was in Las Vegas as a surprise for her 13th birthday! so we made sure she went home and thought it through properly before that decision. We had a great time in Vegas, we had just gotten the stocks cashed and it was a treat! We stayed in y favorite hotel there - The Bellagio , I took Dori with me when I got my hair done by Kim Vo - (Celebrity stylist who I used to talk to alot via twitter), he was so sweet and she had her hair done too and he treated both of us . Shopping sprees , shows , fantastic dinners.
Photos of this in Places Seen & Done
After the trip to Vegas, we had Xmas at home and on Boxing day Alan and I went to Colorado to a puppy rescue and we came home with Oscar . I was ready for another dog and it would help with my grief too
Sadly he was not a confident puppy, alot of abuse from the high kill center where he was rescued from. PTSD etc. The following year in October we got Cookie Monster from the same place - yes I kept the Muppet theme . Oscar changed a little and became a dog finally. Barney we got the following year after Cookie! So 3 puppies! Barney is very close to what Muppet used to be. He's with me 24-7, same dependency and loyalty too. I love my pack and I would love more but as it is that i wont leave the dogs alone ever, wherever I go they go. My Jeep is big enough for these 3 !
By the end of January Dori had decided to immigrate over and we got all the paperwork started and end of May 2011, I went to the UK, spent a week with my best mate Monika , then a few days with Alan's parents, then a few days with Mikel in London.. at the airport, Ann & Brian bought Dori and over we came
Most of the house in Centennial was boxed and ready while I was gone. Alan and Jay had been busy , Oscar was regressing but soon as I got home he was fine. we spent a couple of days going places and buying new furniture for bedrooms which had their delivery date then Alan had to leave for work and the three of us packed the up house in the remaining 2 weeks and moved to the ranch on July 17th
Claire
🖤💜🖤💜🖤
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