Day Four...One More Day!!!!

There's Lady, resting in her field.  I can't help but be enamoured with her.  I've never heard of a horse living to such an old age.  She just seems to fit here.  I think I'm so happy to see her, because even though we don't have a horse, she makes me think of home and all of our animals.  Every time I see her, I think of how much you all would love to meet her.

I don't know if you can see the building at the foot of the mountain, (in comparison to the mountain it seems so tiny) but it's there.  Sort of in the left middle of the picture under the mountain.  That's the dining room.  We have all of our meals there (good food, too--usually mexican).  I took this picture right after I talked to you all on the phone today on my way to meet Daddy for lunch.    

I thought this picture was interesting because of the anthill or whatever that is in the lower portion of the picture.  The circular sand clearing around it is funny to me.  I wonder what lives in that little mound?  Cody, you would find out for me, wouldn't you?

This is just another random shot of the surroundings.  It's very beautiful here, but to tell you the truth, every time I see something interesting, I wish you all were here to share it with.  The scenery on this trip has been every bit as pretty as our trip out West a couple years ago, but without all of you, it's just not as vibrant and exciting.  No fun without you all here to point it out to, or to explore it with.  I'll be so happy to be home with you SOON!!!!  Love all of you.  Take care of each other! 

Day Three...One Day Closer To Home!!!

Today I am much later about writing. I have spent the day in the meetings with Daddy, then we went on a tour of the ranch, so I have just now gotten the time to get down to the computer lab to write. Here’s a picture of Daddy standing in the balcony of one of the meeting houses this morning.

Today on the tour they told us a bit of the history of Ghost Ranch and how it came to be named.  It was quite interesting. Way back in the 1800’s, there was a group of men who were stealing everyone’s cattle and herding them into a box canyon (a canyon that is hidden from view by large cliffs). The men told everyone that the area was haunted, so most people were afraid to search that area and the ones brave enough to go, never returned. Thus the name Ghost Ranch. So far I haven’t seen any of the ghosts! Thank goodness!!! J

There’ve been several movies made here--the lady said "dozens." The cabin in the following picture was built for a movie set by a crew and left here after the movie was over. When we get home, we’ll try to find out what movies were made here and maybe we can watch a couple.

This horse in the picture below is 42 YEARS old. Can you believe that? Her name is Lady and she is as sweet as can be. I told Daddy that if we could have a horse like her, I’d have one. Her poor swayed back! She lives here at Ghost Ranch. Her owner had to move to Florida about 5 or 10 years ago and asked if Lady could live out the rest of her life here. She just grazes in the field in front of the main office all day long. You all would love her!

Yesterday, as I was driving around by myself, I took this picture of this very dry creekbed. It looks EXACTLY the way my nose, mouth, and throat have felt since we got here! D-R-Y !!!!! It is SO dry here. I’d forgotten how arid it is out here.

Here are a few of the pictures we took on our tour today. It was a gorgeous day with bright blue skies and temperatures in the 60’s, maybe even 70’s. It got warm!

I hope you all are doing alright. Well…I know you are. But I hope you’re behaving and all. I miss you like crazy and I love all of you! I’ll write again soon.
　

We're here!

Hey guys.  I decided to start this blog as a way to send pictures and such.  It'll be much easier for you all to see the pictures on here than to have to open all the email attachments.

So far things are good.  I had quite a pity party last night when we got settled in because I realized I wouldn't have a way to connect with any of you until today.  The computer lab is not close to our room AT ALL.  It's about 1/4 a mile away.  As it turned out, somehow we were able to receive the email both grandma's sent right before we went to bed.  So at least I knew all was well there before we went to bed.

So here are a few pictures so you can see where we are.

This is the car we rented.

This is the building we are staying in.  It's called "Coyote" and there are 10 rooms, only one other lady is up here though and we think she's moving out today.

Here is the view we woke up to this morning.

Our room has a sitting area, a bedroom, and a bathroom.  (Yes, thankfully we have our own bathroom.)  It is all very simply furnished and minimally decorated, but it's nice and clean and very sufficient for our needs.

Here's the sitting area.  I do love the shutters!

Here's the bedroom.  There's a queen bed and a single.  We're using the single for our stuff.  You can see the door next to the single bed which leads into the sitting room.

And here's the bathroom.  It's attached to the bedroom.  When you come through the door from the sitting room, the bathroom is on your left.  Not that you're interested, but it proves how simple it is.  There isn't anything un-necessary.  We recieved a set of towels each.  No extras.

So, there you have it.  Our accommodations for the week.  I'll take more pictures and tell you more about the place we're staying over the next few days.  Right now, Harold's in his meetings and I'm at the computer lab.  In a bit, we're supposed to meet for lunch.  (We're 2 hours behind you.)  This afternoon, I'm going to take a few pictures to send you all.  It will probably be tomorrow, though.

Thank you Grandma, Grandpa, and Mammaw for taking care of all the kids.  And, kids, please behave well for your grandparents.  Do your school work and chores, and be nice to each other.  We're thinking of all of you every minute.

We love all of you!