Title

Ranch Trip
July 1-6, 2009
Click on any picture to enlarge...

Every year, we journey up to the ranch for the weekend of the fourth of July. Always, we have loads of fun, always, we go to Lyman Lake to watch the fireworks. This year was no exception. We did lots of hiking and especially lots of shootin' (I hate to think how much money we shot down range this weekend -- it was lots). One very important discovery this trip was why I was always shooting low (with handguns, anyway). Turned out that I was jerking the barrel down when I pulled the trigger. I need to work on fixing that...
	The problem with having kids who know how to use a camera is that they end up taking all sorts of pictures of the scenery as it flies by. I think that this is between Superior and Globe (not that anyone cares).

	This was a drag. On the way up, we hit construction between Superior and Globe. I bet it cost us about 20 minutes (which is twenty minutes that I could have spent on the ranch).



	Rocks.
	And more rocks.




	This cemetary is located right outside of Globe. Anybody want to be buried here?



	See, now, I always thought that Globe was a swell place to drive through, but never quite swell enough to take a picute of it.
	This and the next few pictures are of the huge (and I mean HUGE) strip mine in Globe.


	Trailings from the strip mine in Globe.


	The flag on top of the strip mine trailings in Globe.


	This is "our Shell". We always stop here on the way through Globe.
	Why we have a picture of the fence company in Globe, I do not know. It's that "kids with a camera" thing again.




	This was taken north of Globe.



	A tree.
	More trees. Must be getting close to Show Low.


	Napping little Button Boy!
	Hey look! Its me! Serving up Arby's in a parking lot in Show Low.
	Drinks, anyone?
	Now this is just plain silly.
	Mooms!
	I think that the point of these next few pictures is the "cute little outfits" in which the cute little stuffed bunny is dressed. I think that the girls made these "outfits".



	More crocheted little "cute outfits" for "cute" little stuffed animals, brought to you by the girls of the Heidmann household.


	Clouds. My wife took lots of pictures of clouds this weekend. More cloud pictures are coming...

	Geneva and Jacob wanted to hike to "Petroglyph Mountain". I was happy to take them. Little did they know that I was planning a "scenic route". Jacob is already suspecting this, as you can see by the expression on his face.
	About Halloween, 2008, I found a live cow stuck in the mud. See here for pictures of the half decayed body. This trip, this is what is left of the poor creature.
	Look at Button's face. He is not happy that we hiked this far! This is the flowing well 1.5 miles north of our place. That water is NASTY!
	We decided to take a breather right before getting to the top of "Petroglyph Mountain". Button looks like he is really enjoying this hike!
	See, now this is why the kids like to come here. They like to climb in and around these rocks. Can't blame them, it really does look fun.
	You should be able to see Button way off in the rocks somewhere.
	More "cute outfits". Just what we need.



	I really like it that our kids really like to shoot. Jacob likes Nettie's gun the best (lots of people really like Nettie's gun -- I'm not one of them -- but that's just because I'm the guy that has to clean it).
	This is Nettie's tree. She thinks that it is artistic or something. The only reason that we have so many pictures of it here is that we were playing around with the settings on our cameras.




	Every trip to the ranch, we always run up to Ron's place and get fresh eggs (usually, we get to go into the chicken coop and pick the eggs ourselves). The eggs are usually coated with nasty stuff (all eggs come out of the chickens this way). We sent Mudge to the sink to clean off the dried up goo from the eggs, so we could eat them.
	Hey look! Jon came up! This is the very first time that Jon shot his new gun "Jack Bauer". We ended up puttin g quite a few rounds through "Jack" this weekend.


	Now we have the kids all trying out Jon's gun.

	See, now this is bad. This is very bad. Since Megan is (almost) 13, we felt compelled to let her drive, since we let Roo begin driving (another very bad idea) when she was about 13. This can't be good.
	Bad, bad, bad...
	I took these three for a really fun hike to a mountain about two miles or so east of our property. This picture was taken in Jarvis wash, right at the foot of the mountain.
	The thing I like about this mountain are the really cool rock formations. This is just the start.
	See? Rock formations. Cool, huh?


	I thought this was a good picture.
	Roo in a hole.

	Looks like Nettie is going to try out Jon's gun.
	Not sure about this picture. Looks like it was taken from the shootin' range.
	Coke is it!
	Miss Jupe!
	I had Jon drive his pickup up to the shootin' range, so that we'd have a place to set our guns and our kids.


	Me.
	I asked Jason to come over, because Nettie really wanted to try shootin' his AR-15 (military assault rifle). Before we could do that, we had to zero in a new optical sighting system.

	I figure these are pictures of clounds. That would have been Nettie's doin'.

	Here we are, attempting to zero in the new sights.
	The kids found this horny toad (note: horny toads are not really toads at all, they are lizards).


	Huh?



	This is one cool gun!

	This is why I asked Jason to bring over the AR-15 -- Nettie wanted to try it out.


	My teenager shootin' a military assault rifle. I wonder how well the gun control advocates would like this?



	More shootin'!

	More clouds...












	This would be dirt (sand really). Why do we have a picture of this?
	More sand. Sure glad I have a picture of this. Wouldn't want to forget it.
	Mooms shooting "General Sherman". This rifle has a KICK!
	You really have to admire Jacob's tenacity here. He drug this big ol' tumbleweed up from "the canyon" (about a quarter mile from the fire pit), getting stuck several times I'm sure, just so he could watch it burn.
	And burn it did.
	And it burned some more.
	Sunset.


	More cloud pictures (Nettie -- who else).



	Supper. Hot Diggities. With Jon. I like hot diggities.


	Blurry pic.
	Another blurry pic.



	Another hike. On this hike, we really spend most of the time driving around the countryside in Jon's pickup. This picture was taken on top of a big mesa that you can see from our place (it is south of our place, probebly at least 6 or 7 miles).
	From the top of the mesa, looking straight at our place (not that you can see it from here).

	Button is really happy to be on this hike (really).
	Pretty view.
	This is a section marker that we found along the way.
	This picture was taken at the top of what I call the "Canyon lands". Look far off -- you'll see the painted desert in the background. It really is pretty.
	This isn't a cabin. It is a roof over a big hole in the ground. It was put here as an access point to a very big pipe.
	Old cabin.

	On the way back up the canyon, Jacob slipped and slid down that bentonite hill (bentonite is decomposed volcanic ash). Poor Button, he was tired.
	ME!!!
	Clounds. Don't have enough pictures of clouds yet?


	Our kids, Namkung kids. A good mix.



	This picture was taken on the way to Lyman Lake. We go to Lyman every year to watch the fireworks. It really is a pretty place.



	Ah yes, here we are, Lyman Lake.






	Every year, the kids swim in Lyman. This year, I joined them. The lake was muddy and mirky (it always is), and the air was cold.





	Nankungs on the shore.



	Swimming!

	Me, towing Jacob across an area where he could not touch.

	This is were we parked the cars for the big fireworks display.


	Getting ready for supper (barbeques must be planned out, after all).
	Supper!






	This is what happens when you give kids cameras.




	Pretty sunset pictures.




	Button and the burger.


	Wet Mudge.





	Gene brought a watermelon. Turned out to be a big hit (imagine that - a watermelon on the fourth of July).





	Finally the fireworks started. I took a few pictures of them.







	Roo cokking pancakes for breakfast. These were really good, because we used 100% pure maple syrup on them (you know, from a real maple tree -- none of this "Aunt Jamima" or "Log Cabin" crap).
	Kids found a toad (this one really is a toad).

	Who let these girls behind the wheel. This is a really bad idea...

	Even on ranch trips, my kids read, which I kinda think they shouldn't do (they can read at home). And they read with silly glasses on their faces.
	Roo and I went on a hike, in search of a lost cabin that I am told is out here somewhere. We never found it, but we did have a really long and fun hike!
	This hike was south of our place, in the same valley in which our property sits.
	Still looking for that cabin, but finding only interesting rocks.
	This was a cool find. We had to hike up a big hill (near the end of the hike, when we were both tired) to get here, but it was well worth it. That is a big log of petrified wood on which Roo is sitting.
	The end of the log. I took this picture because of the really pretty crystalline rocks inside the log, but alas, you can't really see them in this picture.
	Don't know anything about this picture.



	Gettin' ready to shoot.
	My rules sign. I make my kids memorize these, and quiz them from time to time, to make sure these rules are stuck in their heads. This sign is for them, for me, and for anyone else who may be shootin' on my shootin' range.


	I thought that Jacob did a good job hitting the target, so I took this picture.
	Nettie is shootin' her gun!


	Miss Jupe spent much of this vacation in front of the swamper. Silly dog.


	Good shootin'!


	Writin' Mooms.




	I found this really pretty chunk of petrified wood on the hike with Roo. Spent some energy lugging it back (it is now in my cube at work).


	All of the remaining pictures are of the last night of this vacation.















	Wonder who wrote this... Pretty sure it wasn't Meg.



	This is what happens to dogs when they come to the ranch. They run themselves into the ground.

	Another really tired pooch!





















	On the last night, the Namkungs brought these HUGE marshmellows over, and we made shmores with them...


	See? Big marshmellow.

	Lamp.