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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Emergency services Since You Asked: Fracking and the LNG pipeline UPDATED: Body found in Greensprings area is Klamath Falls fugitive Mail Tribune online access is free this weekend Record low snowpack worries irrigators and resorts Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Emergency services UPDATED: Body found in Greensprings area is Klamath Falls fugitive Former Klamath County District Attorney Ed Caleb dies Man who allegedly almost robbed Purple Parrot returns Medford burglary nets guns, electronics and cash Politics and Elections Amid rising scrutiny, governor says fiancee won't have role in administration Ashland aims for diversity, but numbers show shortfall Kent Bush: The keys to decoding the State of the Union address Oregon Legislature convenes, session starts Feb. 12 Education Parent files discrimination complaint against Ashland schools Some gains, some losses Medford reconsiders full-day kindergarten State boosts class time expectation A wealth of experience Environment Commissioners won't object to BLM road closures Mt. 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UPDATED: Body found in Greensprings area is Klamath Falls fugitive ... Record low snowpack worries irrigators and resorts ... Amid rising scrutiny, governor says fiancee won't have role in administration ... Caretaking Rogue River Ranch Ohio couple took envious job of watching over the historic ranch and museum on the Lower Rogue Preventing ice cream from turning into sugary soup is one of the biggest challenges, Martin Petras insists. Comment By Paul Fattig MailTribune.com By Paul Fattig Posted Sep. 9, 2011 @ 12:15 am Updated Sep 9, 2011 at 3:15 AM By Paul Fattig Posted Sep. 9, 2011 @ 12:15 am Updated Sep 9, 2011 at 3:15 AM » Social News Preventing ice cream from turning into sugary soup is one of the biggest challenges, Martin Petras insists. "It is really hard to keep my ice cream cold for 21/2; hours from Grants Pass to here," he says. "So you just pack a lot of ice around it," he adds. "Sometimes it's a little gooshy, but we get it here. I can't live without my ice cream." "Here" is the Rogue River Ranch, the historic ranch and museum open to the public at the confluence of Mule Creek on the Lower Rogue River, about 22 miles below Grave Creek in the Wild and Scenic section. Petras, 69, and his wife, Kathy, 65, are this year's volunteer caretakers at the ranch, owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management since 1970. The ranch, with its barn-red ranch house and white trim, is on the National Register of Historic Places. There are three ways to get to the ranch, established by George and Sarah Billings in 1887: a 22-mile float trip down the wild section of the Rogue River, a hike of roughly the same distance on the Rogue River Trail or the long, ice-cream-challenged drive on a very windy road from Grants Pass. The couple arrived April 28 from their home in Hinckley, Ohio, a tiny township south of Cleveland known for celebrating the annual return of the turkey vultures — they call them buzzards in Hinckley — each year in mid-March. Turkey vultures were already floating on the thermals above the Rogue River canyon when the Petrases took over. The big birds likely will be gone when the couple head back to Hinckley at the end of October. "When we first got here, we just thought, 'Wow!' " Kathy says. "It's so beautiful. It's an oasis." Married for 46 years, the couple aren't strangers to the beauties of the wild. They have spent their retirement years working in national parks and wildlife reserves. He is a retired telephone company repairman; she worked at a local garden center. They have worked seasonally at the Big Cypress Preserve in the Florida Everglades, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona, Edwin B. Forsyth National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey, Alaska's Denali National Park and Disneyworld in Florida. In Oregon, they have served at Bonneville Dam, Devil's Lake and Fort Stevens. "It has been a lot of fun," he says. "Fun places, all of them," Kathy agrees. Three years ago they applied through the BLM's national volunteer registry to become caretakers at the 70-acre ranch. This year they were selected. "They've done a really nice job," says Todd Calvert, a BLM park ranger. "They've been great to work with. They are definitely in the upper echelon as far as caretakers we've had here." As caretakers, they receive a daily stipend of $25 per person. But they are required to keep the place shipshape, from mowing the fields to watering and maintaining the vegetable garden. "We generally look for a couple — for safety purposes we want two people at the ranch," says Calvert, a 1992 graduate of Hidden Valley High School in Murphy who has a bachelor's degree in biology from Southern Oregon University. "Because there is always a little handyman work that needs to be done, we look for people who aren't afraid to work," he adds. It was their love of the great outdoors that drew the couple to Oregon. "When we were younger, we took the kids to Yellowstone," Kathy says. "I asked one of the clerks, 'How do you get this job?' Well, that's what they are asking us here now." The ranch is one of the premier stopping places for river floaters and hikers, Calvert says. The main house is open as a museum, and fresh drinking water is available. A radio telephone is there for an emergency. "We have all the conveniences except for Internet," Kathy says. "We have satellite TV and plenty of electricity." The latter is powered by the sun in the form of solar panels backed up by hydropower supplied by Mule Creek. In addition, they have a propane generator which they have never used. "I enjoy gardening — this gave me the chance to do it again," she says. In fact, caretakers are required to raise a garden as part of an effort to preserve the ranch atmosphere. The garden has a perimeter of brightly colored cosmos, as well as yellow sunflowers. "We got the basics — beans, zucchini, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, chives, onions, basil," she says. "Some are doing well, others aren't." For instance, the Anaheim peppers are going gangbusters while the tomatoes look tired. "That I don't understand," says the seasoned gardener. The couple eat a lot of the veggies but also give many to hungry boaters. Hungry wildlife in the form of bears sometimes drop by for a visit. Take the ones in the cherry tree the other evening. "We tried to scare them out," Martin says. "But the one bear, he didn't want to go." "He just stared at me and I stared back," Kathy says. "I'm yelling. He wasn't moving." When they returned later the bear had high-tailed it, perhaps fearing the couple from Hinckley had gone looking for a switch. They saw one cougar when they were driving back to the ranch from a supply run to Grants Pass. "I never want to meet that mountain lion," Martin says. "Stretched out, he looked 12 feet long to me with that tail. He looked awesome. That was really something." Although they have enjoyed their time along the river, they say it's not close enough to Ohio, despite having been visited by several relatives. Come the end of October, they will be heading back to Hinckley. "We miss the grandkids," Martin says. "We have to go spend some time with them." "We probably won't come back here because it is a little too far from Ohio," she says. "But we will miss the ranch. It's so beautiful, so peaceful here." For information on how to volunteer to become a caretaker at the ranch, check out www.blm.gov/or/resources/recreation/rogue and click on "volunteer" on the left-hand side. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 541-776-4496 or email him at [email protected]. By Paul Fattig MailTribune.com By Paul Fattig Posted Sep. 9, 2011 @ 12:15 am Updated Sep 9, 2011 at 3:15 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. 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