Another Rainy Day

As of 5:00 today, we've had 2.4" of rain in the past 48 hours and its still sprinkling!  Its pretty amazing to get this much rain in two days in the desert!  Only once since we bought the ranch in 2003, have we gotten more rain in a similar time frame, and that deluge came within 1 hour, so it mostly ran off and caused massive damage and erosion.  The rain of today and yesterday has been slow and steady and is soaking in.  Well... we have a few puddles.  We love it!

Rainy Day

It is rare for us to have a rainy day, all day.  Today is one of those days and we are loving it!  Over a half inch of rain has fallen since midnight.  The clouds are low.  Its a good day to hunker down.

Movies

Papa and I have spent a few extra days in Tucson over the past two weeks.  While there we've seen two movies that we particularly liked.  The Hundred-Foot Journey, tells the story of a feud between two adjacent restaurants: one operated by a recently relocated Indian family and the other managed by a Michelin-starred French chef.  It was filmed in St. Antonin-Noble-Val, a French village we visited a few years ago. 

The second movie we enjoyed was The Good Lie, about Sudanese refugees given the chance to resettle in America arrive in Kansas City, Missouri, where their encounter with an employment agency counselor forever changes all of their lives.  I highly recommend both of these movies. 

Downtown Tucson

Papa and I drove to Tucson this morning.  We went downtown for a late lunch and then walked around afterward.  We were blown away at the renaissance of downtown Tucson!  Over the past five years, several apartment buildings have been built for University of Arizona students.  A new trolley from the University campus to downtown has been installed.  There are lots of new restaurants in old spaces and all kinds of businesses have moved back downtown.  It was busy and booming on a Saturday afternoon!  A bonus was the celebration of Dillinger Days, with over 50 antique cars lining the streets.  The mix of old Tucson architecture with many new buildings and was fun to see.  

 

 

 

Mountain Silhouettes

As the sun began to set today, the foothills of the Rincon Mountains were backlit and beautiful in silhouette. 

Day Hike

Papa and I hiked yesterday, from home, down the hill to the Rock House corral to feed the horses, then up into the horse pasture.  Deer were in the horse pasture.  We saw Colter and Dallin working on fence, so we checked it out, then hiked across the top of that ridge to the road.  We hiked home on the road.  Not a usual hike for us, but still a beautiful day and a nice hike!

Toby & Greta's Winter Visit to Winchester Ranch

I make photo books for many occasions and Toby and Greta's visit to the ranch was certainly worthy of a book!  They had fun playing with the dollhouse upstairs, riding in the back of the truck, riding on the Ranger, grooming and riding the horses, hiking, playing in the snow, and playing with Legos.  Papa and I enjoyed every moment of their visit.

Coyote

We see coyotes regularly, both at the ranch and in Tucson.  This coyote was 

on our fence at the Tucson house, at sunrise.  A bold guy!

A Little French

I am enjoying the gifts I received for Christmas.  The most challenging gift I received was 

from Audrey and Dan, a pad of 365 French Words.  I signed up for daily French lessons too.  

It can only help me to improve the number of French words I know.  I have 

no illusions about speaking French by December 2015! 

Partial Rainbow

We woke up to a cloudy morning with a partial rainbow over the Rincon Mountains. 

Weekend Visitor

Lorraine, a friend we've gotten to know through the Boys and Girls Clubs in Tucson, arrived at the ranch by noon yesterday.  After lunch we embarked on a two hour hike to Buck Knob, making a big circle up toward Hunter's Camp and back home.  We had a hearty dinner, talked, and played Bananagrams, before turning in for the night.  After coffee and more visiting this morning, 

we hiked up toward Hunter's Camp and east to the Indian cave, then uphill toward 

Fairchild Dam and back home.  We worked up an appetite with all the hiking, so Papa made pancakes for lunch.  Lorraine left by 1, to drive back to Tucson.  The weather was perfect, 

the sky was beautiful, and we enjoyed good conversation.  A good weekend visit!

Winter Roundup

The big roundup was two days ago, and yesterday the cowboys preg checked, sorted cows and calves, and weighed calves.  I took lunch over to the Patterson corral.  The wind was blowing 39 mph when I left home.  There was no wind at Patterson and the temperature got up to 70.  Cowboys were unzipping their coveralls and leaving jackets on posts.  Next they took the cows to Warbonnet Ranch corrals for sorting and shipping.  It was a beautiful day!