Up-Dates

Greetings from the Ranch; Been up here a few days now! #1. I do believe I am still allowed to come to the wedding after all! Yay! Getting closer and closer!! #2. I thought I would share a breakfast recipe. If you are ever in a bind for some good breakfast, try this: One left over pizza slice, poach an egg in a pan of water about 1" deep (put some either white vinegar, apple cider, or coca cola in to help the egg white stay together), and put in a moderately fresh egg. Microwave the pizza slice, put the egg on top, and add Mexican style chile beans. Yum!! The beans are optional.. #3. Weather has been nice up here, cooling off nicely. I have had nice afternoon rain showers. The nights are cool, but only up to about a 1/2-dog night. Still, Campfire time in the mountains! It is so green up here and I've been busy mowing, weeding, spraying, and trying to accomplish some rodent/pest control.. #4. Having trouble with rodents up here. I still have about 4 squirrels making a total mess of the barn (putting horse manure, alfalfa, nuts, bolts, various electical connectors) even in the ATV. Found a rope end down stairs, only stayed connected to the upstairs railing since it was tied. I figure the racoons would have untied it but squirrels can't figure that out yet. And then there's the mice. I've tried traps of various ilk and even resorted to mouse poison. It seems the squirrels are eating the mouse stuff, which is not enough to hurt anything, and the mice are getting into the traps and eating the squirrel food. Great. My next step is just to get some TNT and blow the barn up and start over.. #5. The plan is for me to fly home tomorrow am, get ready to move again somewhere, drive to Phoenix to go the Neil Diamond concert, then come back up for the Labor Day. #6. Everyone is busy busy; a wonderful wedding coming up, travel plans, work, life in general. Wishing everyone a safe Labor Day and we'll all meet up in San Diego!! Love to all, UR/Dad

Day 4, June 2

Well, howdy from the ranch: lots of stuff going on for sure.
Fence is up and running, found out we do not have 2 bull calves, rather we have one bull and one heifer! That's good news!
Bad news, we think one of the chickens is a rooster...uh oh.
We do have a problem brewing. You may have heard about the Wallow Fire, about 20 miles south of us now, about 16 miles south of Alpine. Well, our valley is and has been filled with smoke for a couple of days, and the wind keeps blowing, and it's 0% contained. We can't even see Escudilla for the smoke. Ash and soot actually blowing in our windows!
Please follow it with us @ www.inciweb.org, and follow the prompts. You can see a map and news of evacuations. Have to admit the people around here are getting a little nervous! We just need rain so bad, and it won't come until around the first week of July. This is not a good place to come visit right now for sure.
We are here until Sunday am, Chipman's coming over for supper tonight, and maybe the winds today will at least blow out some of this smoke!
Love to all, UR/Dad

Day 1

First full day at the ranch:
Long but uneventful trip up yesterday, picnic en route, ran into a neat old car show in Alpine.
John and Sara came up and met us shortly after our arrival! Good to see them!
Really windy today, but a fun night last night at Tal-Wi-Wi and got to listen to Sara doing kareoke!Then a quick visit at Derrick's house. Looks like lunch with Montalto's today, after I get the fence fixed...again.
Now,anyone heard from Kristin? They had some nasty storms go through Atlanta the other day; guess no news is good news!
Anyway, we're up here, looking forward to a fun week.
Love, Dad/UR

Snow in May?

Got the word, there's snow @ the ranch, about 3", but at least it's melting rather quickly. Crazy.
Going up tomorrow with the horses, then will move a couple of the cows, then come snow or ice, I'm going fishing on Canero Lake with the kayak.
Staying until Sunday, then coming home to (ugh) work.
Any takers? Come on up, bring fly rod...

Wed 27 April

Greetings from Elk Ridge:
Came up today, brought the horses and i cow, picked up from ranch down just past Patagonia yesterday, after I worked @ Sells. But, here we are!
It's cold; last night temp was 19 deg of all things and I guess we should be expecting that as well tonight, then it warms up. Poor horses might actually relish going back to Tucson.
Everything looks ok up here, except the fencing, always the fencing. Don't know if the elk really mess things up, or if the bull calves do, but the the two little ones are hilarious just in the short time we've watched them. Tomorrow the work starts, tonight a nice steak and maybe an attitude adjuster.
We plan on driving home Sunday.
Love to all, Dad/UR

Gone Again...

This is the 21st, my Grandson's 2nd birthday!
I'm up at the ranch in front of a warm fire, drinking hot chocolate, up here for some clean up and to drain one of the ponds. It's still cold up here and there's a smattering of snow.
1st: Yea for U of A!! Outstanding surprise. Last PAC-10 team standing but we knocked of a Big-12 power. Now for Duck. i mean ducke, duke? Anyway, it's good for another 72 hours, then on to baseball for a couple of months anyway.
Tomorrow it's start to lay out the hoses, fire up a pump, and start the drain process. Also will clean some stalls, get some more hay down from the loft, hope the Subaru starts (had to jump it @ the airport with Chip's car), and then home to Tucson on Wednesday eve/night.
Horses will be shod Thursday, photos for Obstetrix, then Thursday night is OPEN! Friday I'm invited to play some golf and I can't wait to show off my new skills...as it were. Just hoping what happened in Mexico didn't all stay in Mexico!
Hope all is well; I'm SOO looking forward to seeing everyone in must a couple of weeks. Anyone getting cold feet? Love, DAD/UR

At the Cabin:

Today is the 21st of Feb. And it is Real cold up here in the mountains; not much snow anymore since I guess it's blown off a bit.
Barn cat is fat and sassy, Autie took the drive in good shape, cows look good, and it doesn't seem we had any damage done due to the extreme cold spell they had when we were gone. Just lots of clean up to do and re-stock the hay supply, etc.
Plan is to drive home Thursday, maybe via Phx to squeeze the grand-kids! It's been too long.
Love to all, DAD/UR

Home Bound?

Well, howdy from the Frozen North. It's a blizzard outside, w storm warning tonight, tomorrow, and all day Thursday with snow to 100%, accumulation a couple of feet I guess.
Thank God Mike Rising is stepping up to the plate: he has agreed to feed and care for the cows since we have no cow care for the winter..
Our plan I think is to travel home Friday but may try it tomorrow. Have a good truck but it'll be a long slow way to Globe..Ugh. Love to all, DAD

Ranch stuff/happenings:

Just got back down from Elk Ridge Saturday night. Went up Wed am early, had a nice early lunch @ La Paloma Mexican restaurant in Solomon (outside Safford), and made it all up ok w Autie. Was cold when we got there but the rest of the week was beautiful and nice temps.
Did the usual cow repair/fence eval stuff. Didn't get any more racoons so maybe we are free for a while. Barn Cat will like that part of the equation. More food.
Had the Chipman's over for dinner one night, a delicious antelope roast!! And we visited Derrick's one night for supper as well.
We went out and found a beautiful Christmas tree, cut it down, lugged it into the pick up, and then took it back to the barn. We went w the Derricks' and they bought one too. We hauled it up w the block and tackle, trimmed it some, and we hauled it down to Tucson Sat late afternoon. It's real pretty, maybe the best we've had for several years! And now, no kids to come play around it!! Oh well, life goes on.
++ Our next visit up will be the 26th of December for a week, then we come home for a New Year's Party here in Tucson +++. We Love Visitors! See travel plans as well...
Love, Dad

Visit to the Ranch:

OK, forgot about this for a while; taking a little break since return from the trip I guess:
Anyway, this is the 2nd visit to the ranch to check on the cattle, run the horses a bit, and tend to the barn. Last visit w Rich Flynn got to sneak over to Silver Creek a bit for a good day of fishing! Caught some nice fish but the Droid X got over-exposed to the moisture over there I guess and it went totally dead. After some discussion, I got a new one. That's all.
Came up here again d-r-i-v-i-n-g, my nemesis, to bring up the Subaru, my least partial car. Came up this time for some general R & R, and to bring the horses down so I exchanged the Subaru for the diesel and we'll take off tomorrow am early, providing I can capture the horses..
Did some more racoon control: that makes 5 in the last few weeks. No wonder Barn Cat has been so agitated; more than usual, that is.
It's cold finally; low 20's in the am, but up to low 50's during the day. Yesterday had the first snow flurries of the season, but didn't stick.
Tomorrow is Ash' and Paul's wedding anniversary: Congrats to them! Also, Susan turns 54.
So, it's me and Autie, and home we go tomorrow. Have a Christmas Tree permit, and the next time we're up will be around the 1st of Dec, just after Thanksgiving week-end.
Love to all, Come Visit! Dad

The Return!

Home now, finally.
The saga started in Ft Sumner at 7:30, wanting to go to Belen (on the way) for fuel. Weather wouldn't allow that, so flew up to Santa Rosa (on I-40). Taxing out, blew the nose tire...Nothing is at Santa Rosa, only a coin operated fuel pump.
Short story: inflated tire by Ortega's truck wrecker who came out, promptly deflated, and there I was with antelope in the plane. There is NOTHING in Santa Rosa; no car rental, no bus stop, no nothing, and the open (Sunday) auto mechanic shops on the interstate refused to touch it. The airport manager came out with two kids, hung on the tail, elevated the front wheel, and we took it off together. Supported the plane with a big rock, took the wheel to his house where he had a rather complete shop, dismantled the wheel, found the leak in the inner tube. Albuquerque Beech dealer would bring new one MONDAY and it would cost about 900 bucks due to travel time, etc...So we went to NAPA, bought a 4 dollar repair kit, and patched it. Blew it up, it held, so I non-stopped it to TUS and held my breath a little bit on landing...did Great. In fact, I think it did so well I would just leave it. Harlie says "No Way", so I get a new inner tube. All's Well that ends well, and the Antelope is in the freezer! I'm done with this ranch week, but was a good one. Now, back at work; for my last week. Love, UR/DAD

Very nice couple of days w Sara and John; today is cloudy, light rain. Been a nice break and it's only Monday! Last night was a fun camp fire @ Atlas's for his surprise birthday party. A beautiful night but the early morning hours ruined by all these bull elk in the area getting their dander up...
On Sat when I came up, it was the day after our 16 th Wedding anniversary. Wow, how time flies! I spent the evening w some friends with whom we had shared our anniversary in Greece last year! I think Susan was with Gerry Hogan, one of our neighbors.
Tonight we are going out to dinner in Alpine to the new(er) place, Brushy Valley. Ashley has been there with me once; a nice little place. Tomorrow it's up early for the guide trip Tues and Wednesday, and the Fulfer's come up tomorrow night for one night (I think) en route to their Mule Clinic. What a fun place, but I think we wore Sara and John out.

Sunday the 5th of Sept.

Greetings to all, from the ranch: have had a little trouble signing in to write stuff so not much new here.
Susan arrived Fri after leaving the house about 5 am; I went to work at Casa Grande, back home to Tucson to watch the game at TCC with a bunch of friends, then flew up Sat am early.
We all met up at the airport with Chipmans' and headed for Taylor AZ for the "Sweet Corn Festival"...now that was interesting..Back home, piddled a bit fixing some stuff at the Headquarters bldg, then off to Derricks' for drinks.
Sara and John came up for dinner, and a friend of mine Tom Robertson came over from the X-Diamond for dinner as well (yum, Ribs on the Barbie, frest Sweet Corn (see above..) and overall delicious meal. Lots of social activities planned with friends up here, then Tuesday and Wednesday I have to WORK! Taking a guy fishing 2 days in a row, using float-tube and kayak. A tough job, someone has to do it.
Beth and Bob Fulfer coming up Tues night, spend the night, then they head for Alpine for a Mule Clinic. Friday am early I fly over to Fort Sumner N.M. to hunt antelope and maybe dove for a day or two, then home to D68 Sunday AM, then back to TUS, then to work Monday at the real (but TEMPORARY) job.
And, did I say, we seem to be getting a donkey? that's another story.
K.I.T., come see us!! Love Dad