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On Friday,
May 25, 2007, the kids and I (but sadly, not Nettie) left for a trip to
the ranch. We did not return until Wednesday, May 30, 2007. We had a
great time! In fact, two trip reports, written by the kids themselves,
are included below (just page down). This is a picture of the kids
standing in Boney Lake. I wouldn't call it a lake myself, and I've
certainly never seen water in it... Really, this catchment, located
about a mile southwest of our property, seems to be nothing more than
an unusually green spot.
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This is an old, fallen-down
cowboy bunk house near Boney Lake (again, the work "lake" is used very
loosely here). It was never a very big house...
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This was takin in one of the many sink holes near Boney Lake. Lots of fun dirt clumps for the kids to climb on!
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Yet another sink hole (which itself is part of a wash).
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This is a picture of a Yucca
plant, in bloom, in what we call "Heidmann Wash". We get to name the
wash since it is entirely contained by our property (which means that
it is a really small wash).
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No foolin' -- these little
suckers are hard to catch! They are really fast and very nimble. The
kids caught this one with teamwork, and by cornering it near the tin
shed. Cute little thing, huh?
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I wanted a top view of the
lizzard as well, since goodness only knows how long it will be before
we'll be able to catch another one!
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Oh look! Yet another picture from on top of what we call "Petroglyph Mountain". I think I must have a zillion such pictures.
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This would be the "zillion and oneth" "Petroglyph Mountain" picture.
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This picture was taken on top of a place that I like to call "Petroglyph Mountain". Ever seen a picture like this before?
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This is Button Boy. Any idea where this picture was taken?
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Here is one of the many reasons
that I like to call "Petroglyph Mountain" by that name. This is an
interesting petroglyph. It means that the people who made it came from
the direction that the petroglyph points, and then stayed here. This
makes lots of sense, because the petroglyph points to the east, where
there were several major Anasazi dwellings (like Chaco Canyon).
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On Sunday and Monday, Jeff and Nettie joined us. Here is Jeff a-shootin' up a pop can.
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Jeff went through lots-o-bullets on Sunday.
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Here is Jeff shooting a real gun (not a silly hand-gun).
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This is a port-a-potty that my
neightbor gave to us. We don't yet use it for a potty, but the kids
often played in it this weekend (yick). Here, they decided to see how
many kids you can fit into a port-a-potty.
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On Monday (Memorial Day), we
drove through the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. This picture
was taken from the trail behind the main building in the Petrified
Forest.
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Jeff resting on a stone log.
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This is one of the largest petrified trees that I've ever seen.
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This one was taken so that I could be in a picture (normally I take all of the pictures).
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A nice view of the Petrified Forest.
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This is that huge petrified log, from a distance.
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This and the next few pictures
were taken at Agate Bridge. This is a place where a Petrified Tree (now
supported by an ugly cement thingy) forms a bridge over a small canyon.
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Agate bridge.
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Jeff and Nettie at Agate Bridge.
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Kids climbing around at Agate Bridge.
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This bird was so ugly, that I just had to take a picture of it.
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This is Newspaper Rock, in the Petrified Forest. This rock has more petroglyphs than any rock I've ever seen!
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Overlooking the Painted Desert.
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A good view of the Painted Desert. Pretty, huh?
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On Tuesday, the kids and I took a hike south of our ranch. This was taken in a tunnel under some railroad tracks.
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Somewhere in northeastern Arizona...
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In a wash, on the hike.
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I turned my back to pee behind a bush, and look what happened! Why did those kids climb up there?
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After the hike, we decided to
drive to New Mexico. Rest assured, Jacob and I did our male duty -- we
each did a pee in New Mexico!
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This is my new $144 chair. I had
some extra money from my company's reimbersement from a trip to Boston,
which I combined with my REI dividend to purchase this. It is the most
comfortable chair ever, and worth every dime.
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These pictures are a bit out of order here. This is Mudge's birthday party.
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Girly presents for a Girly-Girl.
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Ditto the above.
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Mudgy's cake.
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Mudgy's eaten cake.
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Mudgy's birthday party.
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I'm going to let Nettie explain
this and the next picture. Hey Nettie -- come here and type something:
"Here we have a lovely photo of the Redwall Oat Cakes made by Laurent
one recent morning (when, through my neglect, we were out of bread).
She is quite a fan of the Redwall books, and this was her first
attempt at one of the recipes from the books. They turned out
splendidly, btw." -- Nettie
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Um -- see above.
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Wait Nettie, come back here and
explain the this and the next: "While my parents were here for a visit,
there was a weak and paltry attempt at organizing 5 generations worth
of photographs. This is what our dining room table looked like
for the duration of their visit. I can't even remember how we
managed to do meals!" -- Nettie
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"I made some really, really,
really good bread. Had to take a picture. You may now go
get a napkin and wipe the drool off your chin." -- Nettie
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We call this dog "Baby Stupid". A picture is wroth a thousand words.
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Nettie's parents, who have lost a lot of weight.
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Megan's Ranch Report
On Friday we left to the ranch around noon. We had lunch in the
car. Once we got there we went to the Namcome's house for supper.
We had, Steak, Fish, Rice, Corn, Cake, and Ice cream for miss Kristen's
birthday!
The next day we walked to Bony Lake. Well it is not a lake; it is
completely dry with ALOT of flowers and ALOT of bees and beehives.
While we were at the ranch we walked to Petroglyph Mountain two times, once with the Namecome's and one without.
Mom and Uncle Jeff came on Sunday and left on Monday We also went to
the Petrified Forest with mom and uncle Jeff. It was so cool. I liked
Newspaper Rock best, Newspaper Rock
Is a rock with ALOT of petroglyphs on it? Once we got back from the
Petrified Forest, we had supper and then we went to
the Namcom's place and went SWIMMING!!!!!! And after
we got out it was SO C-C-OLD!!
The next day we went to NEW MEXICO!!!!!! On the way there we took a
hake, and we stood in a big pipe under the rail-road tracks. and then
we hiked to a very pretty wash. We stood behind the New
Mexico sighn and dad took a picture of us. also we went swimming
again. Exept that we did not go in the evening.( thank goodness )
And then the next day we went home.
We went through a very foresty small town called Pason it is a very nice town.
And after that we got home. |
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Roo's Ranch Report
Our trip to The Ranch began Friday, at noon, when Dad
finished work and packed Buzz, (our little white Ford Tempo) with all
our suitcases and cooler. We decided not to bring the dogs this
trip. We got together the things we were bringing in the car for
diversion, said our goodbyes to Mom, (she wasn't coming until Sunday)
and pulled out of the driveway.
Our first stop was at Quik Trip, for drinks. We filled
up Buzz with gas, and set out again. We did not stop until Globe,
where we stopped for a potty break, drinks, and lunch. We ate lunch
in the car as we sped towards our next stop, Show Low. At Show Low,
we pulled in at our ritual Circle K, again for potty breaks, drinks,
chips, and gas. Megan bought her normal peppered beef jerky, and we
piled into the car again. Our next stop was St. Johns, where we
paused at the Fina gas station for our normal reasons. Next we went
down the road several miles and bought our food for The Ranch. While
there, we met a friend and neighbor, Mr. Chris. After we finished up
at Wilbur's, we started out on the final leg of our journey, the
bumpy roads to The Ranch!
We finally arrived at our long-awaited destination! Us
kids ran down from the corner of The Ranch to the cabin, racing Dad
to be the first ones to the door. We won (Dad has to go down and
then up a big hill) and when he arrived, we unpacked our things, and
then set out for our friends the Namkung's ranch, for we had been
invited to a barbecue in honor of Mrs. Namkung's birthday! While
there, we visited with the kids, Ashley (15), Andrew (13), Melissa
(10), Brandon (5), Wayne (Biggie) (4) and Kaitlyn (1). Also, we saw
their menagerie, consisting of 2 chickens, 3 ducks, 2 dogs (Girl and
Snoopier), 1 pig (Biggie Higgins), 2 cats (Pippi Longstocking Orange
Soda and Tiger), and 1 horse (currently being kept at Mr. Chris's
ranch until the corral is finished). After visiting all the animals,
we went inside and played and made cards for Mrs. Namkung. We
finished up the evening with a spectacular dinner, and many long
goodbyes.
The next morning, (Saturday) Megan and I went on our
traditional Morning Walk. We went up the hill behind the cabin, down
the road to Heidmann Wash, and from there back up to the cabin just
in time for a scrumtious breakfast of oatmeal with maple syrup.
After breakfast was cleared up, we all went for a hike to Boney Lake,
a little dried-up resevoir with tons of bees and green, flowery
plants. Afterwards, we went to an old ruin close by, and came very
close to a brown calf with a white face on the way back.
Soon after we got back, Andrew and Melissa came over.
All of us kids except Jacob hiked over to 'The Canyon', a miniature
canyon down the driveway and across the road from The Ranch. We had
a great time, even though it was raining. Melissa and I stood on top
of 'The Castle', an island of dirt in the middle of The Canyon, and
Andrew, Megan, and Geneva tried to erect a lean-to out of sticks and
branches, which are not plentiful in The Canyon. Eventually they
gave up and scurried up to the cabin. Melissa and I staid a bit
longer, but we, too, trooped home.
Once we got back to the cabin, we all went over to the
Namkung's place to help set up their pool which had arrived that day.
Once the pool had started filling up, we played around and watched
it fill from the shade of an EZ-up until lunchtime, when we went
home. We had peanut butter and jelly or
mayonnaise-baloney-cheese-dill relish sandwiches.
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