South Texas Time

Papa and I drove from Dallas to San Antonio yesterday.  We visited Lynne, Papa's mother in law, who celebrated her 94th birthday in November.  We enjoyed lunch and dinner with her yesterday, and breakfast this morning, along with lots of conversation to catch up on a few years of life events.  Lynne gave me an incredibly beautiful necklace with an arrowhead pendant.  

Mostly we were grateful for the time we spent with Lynne.

By 9:30 this morning, we began our drive west from San Antonio.  We drove through 

Fort Clark in Bracketville, established in 1852, and on the National Register of Historic Places.  

The Fort saw action during the Civil War and the Indian Wars through the rest of the 1800's 

and into the early 1900's, with its last military use, during World War II.  

Most buildings are in good shape, built of Texas stone.

We stopped for lunch in Del Rio at Julio's Mexican Chips restaurant.  We drove on Highway 90, parallel to the US border with Mexico, over 200 miles, over the Pecos River (with steep rock canyon walls), and through south Texas ranches along the way.  The landscape was beautiful with several herds of grazing antelope.  We arrived in Alpine just before closing time at Big Bend Saddlery, so we had a look about.  We checked in at the Maverick Inn then walked to downtown Alpine for dessert at the Century Bar and Grill.  We sat next to a couple from Houston and enjoyed talking about both our travels in various places.  We exchanged email addresses and Ruth and Rusty gave us their tickets to the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering tonight, so we rushed off to hear Cowboy Poetry by 7:30.  

We've had an extraordinary day!

Family Time in Dallas

We've stayed at Whitney's house over the past four days and enjoyed time with her family and with Brian.  We've gone to Toby and Greta's ice skating lessons and played outside with them in the yard.  I've spent some time with long time friend, Linda, at lunch, shopping, and a long walk in the Park Cities.  Papa and I went to the Dallas Arboretum.  We had a family dinner tonight, with take out barbecue and German chocolate cake topped with Blue Bell ice cream.  We enjoyed every moment!

Disney World

We have been on a weekend adventure to Florida, with our granddaughter, Sarah.  We left Dallas on Friday afternoon, on a flight to Orlando.  We spent all day Saturday at Disney World.  We spent most of Sunday at the Kennedy Space Center, and flew back to Dallas today.  It was a whirlwind trip!

Chinook Helicopter

With two military bases within 70 miles, military aircraft flies over our house on a regular basis.  It sometimes feels like we are being invaded!  This Chinook helicopter came within a few hundred feet above our house, flying east to west. 

Happy Valentine's Day

 Wishing you a very Happy Valentine's Day and a bouquet of passion flowers!

And Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Saying Goodbye to Oscar and Pablo

On Saturday morning, Papa went down to the Rock House corral to feed Oscar and Pablo one last time before delivering them to their new home on Antelope Ranch.  I rode with him.  Cassie and Paige met us and welcomed Oscar and Pablo, introducing them to new horse friends. 

Papa has spent thousands of hours over the past ten years with his horses, feeding them at 5 every afternoon along with sugar cube treats, changing their shoes, letting them graze in the Rock House yard while he reads on the porch, and riding on the ranch.  He has introduced Oscar and Pablo to our grandchildren and ranch visitors.  Papa will miss Oscar and Pablo.  I will too!

Moonrise and Moonset

The world has enjoyed seeing the full moon over the past few days.  We have enjoyed our viewpoint on Winchester Ranch of the moon rising over the Winchester Mountains and setting over the Santa Catalina Mountains.

Hiking Discovery

Papa and I rode the Ranger up toward Fairchild Dam, then hiked to the dam.  While standing just above the dam, we looked up the mountain and saw a small cave and horizontal shelf that we had not noticed before.  So off we went up the mountain to check it out.

The hike was mostly vertical until we arrived at the site.  Papa climbed up to check out the small cave and horizontal shelf, to find that the horizontal shelf continued.  We checked out the base of the rock outcropping, with its wide overhang.  There was a horizontal shelf above the overhang.  We discovered one red mark on the overhang ceiling (most likely Native American), a bat cave with giant guano pile beneath, an 8" triangle carved into the rock, and finally a large two room cave!  Winchester Ranch is full of surprises!

New DALE Bag Under Construction

Papa has been hard at work the past few days, on a new leather bag for Claire.  It is a copy of one he made for Whitney several months ago.  There's more work to do!

New Shoes for Oscar

Papa trimmed Oscar's hooves and put on new shoes yesterday, under the watchful eye of Pablo.  Oscar and Pablo have provided unending pleasure for Papa over the past twelve years, 

along with a little frustration at times! 

Morning Sky

Its not often that we are treated to such a colorful sky as the one we woke up to this morning.
It was spectacular in every direction!

Hike up the Mountain

We hiked about two and a half hours today, straight up the mountain from our house.  The views from up there are amazing, but mostly we were watching where we took each step.  The mountain is steep and rocky.  We stopped several times to catch our breath and to soak in the amazing vista.