Waves of Snow

The snow of yesterday morning had mostly melted by late afternoon.  By mid morning today, clouds were rolling in and snow began falling again by noon.  Wave after wave of snow fell, without a lot of accumulation.  Its beautiful and cold outside!

Winter Snowfall

We woke up to snow all around us and snow covered mountain tops in our view.  We know it won't last long, so we are enjoying the morning, with extra coffee and looking out the windows.

 

Snow Flurries

We returned to the ranch this morning, after spending several days this week in Tucson.  The mountains were white with snow.  Throughout the day and after dark, snow flurries came down, whiting out the mountains.  We are grateful for the moisture and the amazing views of snow covered mountains and trees.  Beautiful!

Saguaro National Park East

Papa and I hiked over 4 miles in Saguaro National Park East yesterday.  We had not been there in several years, as we more often go to Saguaro National Park West.  Tucson is in a rather unique position to be book ended by two National Parks full of saguaros.  The day was sunny and warm, with temperature in the mid 70's.  It was a perfect day to hike.

 

 

 

Party

Last night, we threw a holiday party at the Boys and Girls Club for the kids we've worked with this year.  We had lots of food and gifts, and they decorated wood slice ornaments.  Fun for everyone!  

We love these kids!

December Sunset

Hiking with a Purpose

We will soon begin installing another 1.25 miles of water pipeline on the ranch.  Papa wanted to measure the distance once more, before ordering pipe.  We set off across the ranch, on the Ranger at 10 yesterday.  When we got to the pipeline starting point, we began our hike, each equipped with Ipods to measure our distance hiked.  The day was beautiful with clear skies.  We saw white tail deer, mule deer, and very fresh bear scat along the way.  The sun was shining through the natural bridge near Javelina Peak.  We enjoyed every moment!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays 2015,

We started the year with Winter Roundup on the ranch.  It went like clockwork.  Colter continues to manage the ranch for us and he does a terrific job!  We are blessed to have Carly and Colter, Madilyn, Colter Lee, and Traven in our lives.  We enjoyed activities through the year with the kids and a trip to Kartchner Caverns in July.  We had good rains throughout the year, with the largest overall rainfall in a year since we’ve owned the ranch.  With rain comes good feed for the cows plus flowers everywhere. Loved it!

We work weekly with a group of teenagers at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson.  A group of them came to our Tucson house for lunch in mid March, after a week of shadow opportunities for many of them.  We really enjoy our time with them.  We left a couple days later on a cruise from Miami to Mexico, Guatamala, Belize, Cayman Islands, and Key West.  We explored Mayan ruins and took a seaplane to Fort Jefferson.  Before the trip, we enjoyed wine and dinner with Joy and Jim in St. Petersburg, and we had fun with cousins Renee and Russ, Jane and Fred, Mom and Sonny, over dinner in St. Pete.  We spent a day with JW, Carrie, and Wade, on our return to Miami.  

In late April, we drove to the Grand Canyon for a couple of days, where we hiked and took photos. Beautiful!   We also visited the Hopi Reservation, the Navajo National Monument, and stayed overnight at The View Hotel in Monument Valley.  Breathtaking!  We stopped for a tour of Rock Art Ranch near Holbrook on the way back, where we saw thousands of petroglyphs in Chevelon Canyon.  

Audrey, Whitney, Claire, and Lulu met for a few days visit with family in KY.  The girls left and Lulu stayed, with Papa joining, to attend Lulu's 40th high school reunion. Loved reconnecting with old friends!  While in KY, Lulu went tandem biking with cousin Dickie, a first!  

Claire, Emerson, and Colby came to the ranch on June 4 for a visit.  They spent a few days in Tucson/Phoenix before returning for Ranch Camp, June 15-21.  What a week, with all 8 of our grandchildren and all four of our children and spouses riding horses, branding, and playing hard! Whitney rode in the roundup before the mini-branding and Brian branded every calf, with Emily giving shots.  Everyone pitched in!   

July is always the busiest month on the ranch.  Cousin Dickie and his family arrived on July 13 to help with summer roundup.  Lots of cowboys came together on the ranch that week.  The ranch Branding was on July 18, with 48 people helping.  It was a busy, dirty time and couldn’t have been better!

In early August, we flew to IL, for a long weekend with Audrey, Dan, Lauren, and Taylor, at Lake Geneva, WI.  Papa had several tests in July and learned that he needed to have kidney surgery.  He went to Mayo in Phoenix, for further testing and the surgery on September 16.  Audrey flew to PHX to be with us during Papa’s surgery. All went well and he will have further testing this month.  We appreciated having Audrey with us.  

Lulu’s high school friend, Margaret, arrived on September 29 for a week long visit. We explored Tucson, the ranch, Santa Fe, and the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.  The Balloon Festival had been on Lulu’s life list for some time and it was more spectacular than imagined!  It was wonderful to reconnect with Margaret too!  The next week, we had a group of our BGC kids come for a day of Ranch Camp. Colter put on a little rodeo for them and taught them all to rope.  Fun for everyone!  

On October 22, we left for the UK.  We spent a few days with Claire in London, then took the train to Brighton, where we rented a car and began an odyssey from Sussex to Dorset to Devon and Cornwall, Somerset, Wales, and the Cotswolds, before returning to London on November 20.  We learned so much!  Highlights included visiting Stonehenge, Avebury, Seven Sisters cliffs, Chartwell (Churchill’s home), the Cornwall coast, Bath, the cathedral of Wells, and renting a cottage on the Great Orme in Wales. We returned to London to rent a house and our family began arriving two days later. Audrey, Brian, and Whitney flew over with their families.  Claire’s family moved to London in July.  We were tourists in London with breakfasts and dinners together each day.  Thanksgiving 2015 is one our family won’t forget!

We continue to hike on the ranch, almost daily.  We enjoy volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club on Tuesday evenings.  Papa seems to always have a leather or building project and he enjoys his horses. We have entertained various friends at the ranch this year, Penny and Brian, Linda and Bob, Jenny (Papa’s friend since kindergarten), Jim and Elizabeth with Bryce and Emily, and Mary on Branding weekend.  We attended Adriana’s wedding in Phoenix in March, seeing several people we knew 25 years ago when we lived in Dallas, and it was a treat to see long time friend Linda that weekend. Its been a good year!

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2016!

Love,  

Lulu and Papa

Sunrise

The sky was filled with pink stripes this morning, as the sun was rising over the Winchesters. 

Back at the Ranch

Papa and I traveled many hours yesterday, from our London hotel to Heathrow to Tucson.  We had a wonderful six week trip in the UK.  We saw innumerable historic buildings and sites.  We stayed in interesting accommodations, from historic B and B's to a National Trust rented cottage, to an historic house rental in London, and finally in a boutique hotel near Claire's London home.  We had interesting and informative conversations along the way, on the train, in B and B's...  We had first time experiences we'll never forget, seeing Stonehenge and going to a fox hunt.  Certainly the highlight of our trip was Thanksgiving Week in London with our children and their families.  We made many happy memories!