A Trip to the Ranch
05/26/2006 - 05/30/2006
by me

I thought that maybe there might be someone out there in cyberspace that may be interested in just what it is we do on a trip to the ranch, so I decided that I'd write up this little diary-journal sort of thing. I understand that it is very doubtful that there may be someone that will actually read this, but I am home sick today, and have little else to do, so here I go:

Friday (05/26/2006)
We arrived at the ranch about supper time, and unloaded (but not before Ne--ie did her customary ringing of the Ne--ie-Bell to signal our arrival). We ate spam sandwiches for supper (we rediscovered spam on this trip -- tasty stuff that spam). It was already getting dark, and it was too windy for a fire, so we stayed inside and played Uno (except me -- I was too tired to play Uno and just went to bed). I am not sure how late Ne--ie and the kids stayed up playing that game.


Saturday (05/27/2006)
We got up early, and after everyone had their customary walks (Laurent and Megan take a walk together every morning, I usually walk around the property each morning, and Ne--ie usually walks up and down the road each morning), we went into town. We stopped at the Fina station and got snacks for everyone. Unfortunately, I spilled my pop all over myself -- this is not an uncommon occurance. After that, I dropped the girls off at "Dollar General", while Button and I went to Ace Hardware for some stuff and to the auto parts store to buy a deep cycle battery (the battery powers an inverter into which we can plug standard appliances). While at Ace, I got a call from Jason, our neighbor, who had just arrived in town from California. We met up at Ace, and Button and I went and helped Jason unload some stuff at his storage facility while the girls went to Wilbur's (the grocery store). After we picked up the girls, we all went out to an RV park, and I paid the owners $5 to allow me to fill up two 55 gallon drums with water (the drums were in my trailer, if you hadn't figured that out yet). We hauled the water (that stuff is heavy) back to the ranch, where I used my dolly to unload the drums from the trailer.

Once all that unloading was done, we had lunch (spam sandwiches!!!). I then drove Puke over to Jason's place, because it was not running at all right. Jason made a few adjustments to the points and to the carb, and Puke started working much better.

Later that night, Jason came over for supper. It was too windy again for a fire, so we had our hamburgers inside.

After supper, Laurent and Megan decided to start playing a game with my dolly. Laurent tied Megan to the dolly, and started giving her rides up and down the driveway. Unfortunately, Megan became too heavy, and Laurent dropped her on her back in the middle of the driveway. Leaving poor Megan screaming in the driveway, Laurent had to run up to the cabin to get me, and I had to pick up my full tummy out of my chair, to rescue Meg. See the pictures at right.

We ended the day with several hands of Uno in the cabin (by the light of our "hurricane lanterns").


Sunday (05/28/2006)
I started the day with an early morning hike. I wanted to check out a flowing well to the East of us, in an area in which I had never before been. I decided to cross Kat's (short for Katherine -- another neighbor of ours) land. I was surprised to find her there (she isn't often), so I stopped in and talked to her a while (and invited her over for supper at my place). I eventually did find that well, but not before walking quite a ways. It is surrounded by at least 40 acres of really green land. It's a pretty place. See the top picture at the right.

After getting back from that hike, I took Laurent and Megan on a hike to the flowing well just North of us. They ask to go there every time we are up at the ranch, I think. See the middle two pictures at the right. The green at the left of the third picture is a bunch of cattails. There is a pond behind that tank!

After that hike, as if I had not hasd enough hiking that day, Mudge wanted to go for a "walk" (Mudge does not like hikes -- they are too long -- she likes "walks"). So I took her for a walk. We went up the hill at the Northeast corner of our lot. See the bottom picture (the view from there is really good, but you can't see that in that little picture).

Jason came over for supper again, but Kat never showed up. We had hamburgers with beans, spam, and hotdogs on them. It was really good. It was too windy to have a fire at supper, but the wind died down enough for us to have a fire for burning our garbage and cooking marshmellows.




Monday (05/29/2006)
Ne--ie and I began the day with a walk (not unusual). While walking we met up with David and Lupe (neighbors), who were driving around out there, checking on their place, and looking for relics (more on that later). David and Lupe used to live on their lot, full time, but have since moved into town (St. Johns). They told us were they lived, and headed home.

Once we got back, Kat showed up. She and a friend had been touring the petrified forest, painted desert, and Canyon De Chelley ysterday, and had arrived back later than expected (11pm). That's why she had missed supper the night before. At least she got to meet Ne--ie and the kids.

We decided to go into town ourselves this morning, but not before Ne--ie washed the hairs of each girl (we can do that now that we have those big barrels of water). We stopped off at David and Lupe's place (so that we know where it is, if we need to find them), and talked to them for a while. Then we bought some ice and other supplies and headed back "home".

Laurent, Megan, and I decided to hunt for some relics ourselves (like David and Lupe had been doing), off at "Petroglyph Mountain" (that's what we call a limestome outcropping near out place that has lots of old indian petroglyphs). Jason stopped by as we were leaving and he joined us in the hunt. We were successful! See the picture to the right. We found two arrowheads and a couple of pieces of pottery.

We had supper by ourselves Monday (the first supper this trip we had alone). After supper, Jason stopped by for marshmellows over a fire and for a star party. We all got to see Saturn, Jupiter, and a few deep space objects through "Telly" (my Meade LX-200 telescope).


Tuesday (05/30/2006)
Our vacation was all over but the leaving. We cleaned up the cabin, buried the poop, and we were on our way. Sadness.

Well, there you have it, A boring write-up of a vacation that you don't care a bit about. But at least things are documented. We always must document. As an amusing aside, we received just this afternoon an offer to purchase our land for $4000. Obviously, a company is fishing about for people in financial trouble looking to offload land that they own (unimproved lots right next to us are currently selling for almost $30000). Ne--ie wrote the company an e-mail telling them what she thought of their joke.