Ranch Guests

We hosted a donor party for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson in October.  Carla was in Tucson that week, working with Boys and Girls Clubs kids in her "Finding Your Voice" project.  Carla was invited to the donor party to share her opera talent with the donors.  Carla's voice is incredible!  I visited with Carla and David during the party and Carla and I have corresponded many times since. 

Papa and I invited Carla and David to the ranch.  Carla is going to work with the Boys and Girls Clubs kids again this weekend, so they flew out a couple days early to visit us.  They were on the ranch about 36 hours and we packed in as much as possible.  We hiked, talked, ate most of our meals on the porch, and talked some more.  We enjoyed every moment!

Watching You Watching Me

I hiked into the Buck Knob pasture today and saw these cows.  They were watching me watching them.  They would run ahead as I got closer and turn around again. 

Tucson Festival of Books

Papa and I left home at 9 this morning so we could get to the Tucson Festival of Books in time to get a seat for Joe Conason's 10:00 presentation of "Fake News."  We parked and walked to the Main Stage Tent, arriving by 9:30 and already too late for a seat.  We sat on the ground next to the stage and enjoyed the talk.  Afterward, we checked out various tents including the National Parks exhibits of National Parks in Arizona.  We ate kettle corn, we watched a children's mariachi band perform, Papa went to a JA Jance presentation, and I went to a culinary presentation.  We met in the line to hear Maureen Dowd, but were too far back in the line to get a seat.  The weather was beautiful with clear skies, a light breeze, and the atmosphere was festive.  There aren't many places where over 100,000 people come together for the common purpose of celebrating reading and learning.

Cows All Around

The heifers Colter held back from the 2016 calf crop are now in the pasture around our house.  

We like seeing cows all around while living on this magnificent cattle ranch.

Spring in Tucson

The vegetation at our Tucson house is much different than at the ranch, as the seasons are different, with Tucson being warmer and seasons coming earlier.  Spring has begun in Tucson.  These flowers are blooming in our yard.  Tucson has had a wet winter, so I'm hopeful spring will last longer.  Beautiful sunny days with warm temps, days getting longer...  love it!

Deer Closer Today

The same herd of deer I saw yesterday are in our yard right now.  Some are on the other side of the fence, but they are quite close to the house.  I took this photo from our upstairs balcony.

Over Four Dozen Deer

We've been been off and on the ranch over the past few weeks, with trips to Disney World and Texas.  We returned to the ranch this afternoon.  I looked out and saw a herd of deer.  They lingered for well over an hour.  I counted 52 deer.  What beautiful elegant animals!

Makes Me Smile

Audrey sent this photo of Taylor a few days ago, after Taylor and a playmate had polished 

their nails without supervision.  I smile every time I look at this photo.  Adorable!

Congratulations Karla!

While driving through west Texas on Saturday, we received a call from Lee at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson, telling us of the amazing speech by Karla, one of "our kids," at the annual Boys and Girls Clubs Youth of the Year competition.  On Monday evening, we received an email from Meybelyn, Karla's sister, inviting us to the awards ceremony.  Papa and I left the ranch yesterday morning to drive to Tucson, so we could be at the Clubhouse when Karla found out she was named Tucson's Boys and Girls Clubs Youth of the Year.  It was a thrill for us too!  Congratulations Karla!

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!