Hank Astounds & The Hay Pals

Hank, our beyond loved golden retriever, did something this past weekend that has me completely shocked! OK, so most of you know what a reptile fanatic our son Garrett is. He's the one forever catching a snake or twenty lizards for children to see and play with. Well, this past weekend we were at our family cattle ranch where Garrett was on the usual hunt. Darned if Hank (OUR DOG) didn't catch TWO lizards and bring them to Garrett! I cannot believe that. I guess he knows what Garrett always hunts, and he thought he'd help out. The other amazing thing is that the lizards were still very much alive upon delivery. Hank the lizard catcher!

Not near as amazing but still very cool, Hank also caught a micro tiny cottontail bunny that he carried around, but did not kill. We have a pet rabbit that plays with Hank all the time. Maybe Hank thinks all rabbits are his friends. The bunny was eventually rescued by Garrett and placed under a porch away from the wolf's vicious fangs.

In other uncanine related news, Max managed to stay awake tonight long enough to recall the name of those individuals assisting yesterday with the hay stacking. I'm listing their names so you can get an appreciation for the help we're receiving. We are so very thankful and amazed at the support coming our way. This is a God thing--it just has to be!

• Doug
• Bear
• Carri
• Debra
• Amanda
• Tony
• Peter
• Sarah
• Vance and his father (Father, we know you have a name but Max cannot recall it. Sorry!)
• Zack
• Heidi
• Any other person Max might be leaving out. I think we should cut him a little slack--he's very exhausted right now.

A big shout out to Trish for feeding on Thursday, Friday and Saturday last week and to Mike and Steph for doing it Sunday. Also, thanks to Marvin and Mike for cleaning out pens and refilling water troughs. Great friends abound!

My heart is gushing with gratitude! (How could it not?!)

Shudder From Udders

Max, the tired turkey, is in bed when I need his help posting. I wasn't there today when several very wonderful volunteers helped unload 250 bales of hay. He's the one who knows names and details. I'll have to properly thank them another day.

Plan B is this post--various pictures I uploaded a couple weeks ago and then never wrote about. This group shot is actually the last hay moving crew that helped. The poor things could barely breath as they unloaded in the storage trailer. We definitely need to remember to have bandannas on hand. Hay in the lungs is not good for respiration. Thank you, sweet people! Here is that gorgeous saddle PeeWee, Matt, and Donna donated back in December. We love it! It is the perfect size for the little ones. Melissa, our friend that helped so many long hours at the pumpkin stand, visited GG one fine day. Grant got a kick out of her. I loved seeing the two of them interacting. Please pray for Melissa's sister, Amy, who was recently diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of breast cancer at 23. I know that was tough news to hear the week before her wedding! She is a strong woman with a positive attitude, but I'm sure prayers would be most appreciated by her, her husband Mark, Melissa, and Tim and Barb, Amy's parents.

Not only do we get well behaved children at Galloping Grace, but we also get some of the most handsome! Max is meeting new children on almost a daily basis--never a dull moment.

I'll end with a little story from our family cattle ranch this weekend.

Brooke, our ten year old daughter, was on a cattle drive yesterday morning when she witnessed something she'd rather forget. Two adult cows were getting a little drink of fresh milk. The odd part? They were simultaneously drinking from each other's udders! Ugh and weird. Candido, our ranch manager, said it was time for them to go--they will most likely not properly care for a calf. Who knew?? And why didn't someone snap a picture for me?! Wouldn't you all like to see that?

Don't forget--drink your milk. All the cool cows do it.

Linky Poo

For those who haven't already watched every exciting second of the news story that aired last Friday on KRQE, here it is.

Thanks again, Deanna and Chris. We really enjoyed it!

Cochise And His Little Lady

Happy Saturday to you!  

Pumpkin Pow Wow

Our biggest fundraising for Galloping Grace, and basically the reason the horses can eat, is because of our October fundraiser--pushing pumpkins! We have a grand ol' time with a mini hay maze, corn bin, pumpkin tower, horse back riding, etc. Monday evening we had a meeting of minds to brainstorm ideas for this coming season's pumpkin stand. The people shown below were some of the most involved last season, so we figured they might have a lot to bring to the table. (And they were nice enough to be suckered into it!) Let me tell ya--they didn't disappoint!
You had better prepare yourselves for the most exciting stand yet! Be looking for us the beginning of October at Eagle Ranch and Paseo Del Norte in the Quanz parking lot. (If they're kind enough to have us back.)

Pumpkin pals--thanks a ton!

Attention, Attention

The news story (scroll down to the last two posts if you have no idea what I'm talking about) is scheduled to run twice tomorrow, June 26, on Channel 13 KRQE between 5:00 and 7:00 AM. They told us it will also be uploaded on their website after tomorrow in case you live out of town or cannot force yourself out of bed at such an ungodly hour. I hope to post it here on the blog as well.

In other exciting news, Lauren, our brilliantly precious niece, is nine whole years old! Yippee!
Lauren, we love you and are so proud of you! Again, move back to Albuquerque so we can see you more often. (Tell your parents--they'll listen.)

Ssstar Of The Ssshow

Sorry my snake hating readers--Tim, Andrea, Chase, Paint Girl, Steve--Garrett was at it again. What can we say, the boy has a gift for finding them. He was beyond excited that he had a large bull snake the morning the news team was on the property. Visions of his own show were probably running through his head. Where the camera was, you could also find Garrett and his cold-blooded buddy. Bless Deanna Sauceda's sweet heart for holding Garrett's snake AND filming a little piece to torment her coworker, Dick. From how she explained it, he will turn his head if a story about a snake is coming up. She said something along the lines of, "Dick, look what I found for in the outskirts of Rio Rancho!" (Deanna, I apologize for butchering your poetic words with my shoddy memory's recollection.)

Chris, who appeared to be afraid of snakes and definitely not a fan, agreed to hold it. I'm sure he's far too tough to be shown up by a beautiful news anchor--an anchor who used to ride horses all the time when she was a young girl and had all her toes broken in the process. (It came up during Max's safety talk when he told the children they need to always be an arm's length from the horses.) Ms. Sauceda, thanks for taking the time to talk to Garrett about his desire to have his own TV show when he's older. I know your words of advice and encouragement meant a lot to him. Chris, you're the man! Way to overcome your fears.

Sssssee ya!

Deanna's Day

Exciting stuff at Galloping Grace this morning. Deanna Sauceda, Channel 13 KRQE news anchor, and cameraman Chris spent quite a while filming and reporting on the happenings of our little ranch. We were blessed with beautiful weather, fantastic volunteers, and happy children.

Max started off with his typical safety lesson. Chris filmed a little bit of everything. It will be interesting to see what makes the cut.

Of course the world needs to see three cutie pies learning how to saddle a horse. And children scooping poop? An absolute must! Grant, Cindy's son, was the first person interviewed. I was really impressed with his composure and quality answers to Deanna's questions.

While I'm on the subject of Deanna's questions--man, the lady knows what she's doing! I loved watching her in action. The camera would start rolling and out of her mouth came the most clever statements in quite an impressive delivery! You'd think she did it for a living or something.

I took this picture of Grant for his mother's benefit. She was off doing something else while Grant was making his small screen debut. Kaley then sat in the hot seat. She was quite the cutie. At one point Deanna asked Kaley what she wanted to be when she grew up. Kaley wasted no time in answering, "A barrel racer."

Dan the Man granted one of his rare interviews. For being a little hesitant to the idea of talking in front of the camera, he sure hit it out of the ballpark! Max was the same way. He has the ability to gab away to all of the greater metropolitan area while I huddle in the corner with my camera lens pointed toward the action. Tomorrow I hope to show Deanna modeling courageous behavior while Chris looks on in horror. Good times!

Soon we expect to hear when the piece will run--we'll let you know as soon as we do.

Deanna and Chris, so much fun! Thanks for taking the time to meet us. We're can't wait to see your completed masterpiece.

Horse Power

Since last night's post about our family cattle ranch branding went over so well, I thought I'd post another series to further bore the pants off you. I'm so nice that way. (These dangerous looking shots were NOT taken at Galloping Grace--we're much more responsible there!)

I enjoyed looking back at these pictures and seeing the fun the kids had that morning. I mean really, how often do you get to play tug o' war with an 1100 lb animal? No, I did not approve of this activity(where were their parents?!), but I had fun taking pictures of it. I'm sure this will be a fun and lasting memory in their minds for many years to come.

Happy 12Th Birthday to our niece, Brittany!

I think this will be my last summer being taller than her (she?--I can't think clearly at 1:40 AM.) At 5' 9" she's quickly approaching my 5' 10 1/2". The good thing about Britt is that she's as sweet as she is tall!

Brittany, we love you! Have fun at basketball camp.

A news anchor will be at GGYR in the morning to do a feature story on the ranch. Exciting stuff--I'll let you know when it will be airing. Pray that my reflexes are swift enough to avoid cameras pointed in my general direction.

Flank Steak

I wanted to apologize to you, my faithful readers. All I've been giving you lately is mushy sappy happy stuff! I'm sure it's a little cloying (Word of the Day flashback) to your senses.

This morning I was looking through some pictures from last summer's branding at our family cattle ranch. (Not Galloping Grace!) This particular series of shots made me smile--don't it look like real fun, y'all? Well, don't it?These particular youngsters flanking those ferocious calves were from Team Jerry, Max's father's team. Yep, they're all purty in pink! I'm sure their team motto had to be something along the lines of Sacrifice Your Body or Cowboy Up or Tough Enough or Stupid is as Stupid Does. (Don't tell my children I typed that S word--twice!) By golly, they got those calves wrestled to the ground. See folks, I'm not all about the pleasantries of ranch life. And it that wasn't a Happy Father's Day present for all you dads out there, there's just no pleasing you!

Have a great week.

Ramped Up

First, a baby praying mantis for your weekend pleasure.

Now down to business. Time to show you what this talented man and his talented wife have been making for us over the last couple months. Yep, folks, it's our new handicap ramp for mounting horses! We were so excited to see Toby and Cathy pull in to the parking lot with their newest creation. Hank jumped right up to test it out. I'm pretty sure he approved. Garrett also gave it a try. I think the child just likes to stress out his mother.

Wells Fargo, thank you for the donation that made this ramp a reality. Toby and Cathy, thanks for giving us a good deal and doing such a great job!

Now Trish can contact the families on the waiting list who have children with special needs and require a ramp. We're blessed!

Apprentice

Max had a terrific day today. With the help of Pat, our farrier and friend, he learned how to trim horse hooves. No, he's not an expert yet--but he was catching on and having a great time. He even spent a little time showing Garrett the ropes.

Pat, thanks so much for beginning the process of working yourself out of a job. With your knowledge imparted to my hubby, GGYR will save a lot of money when trimming time rolls around.

Brooke's Big Adventure

My first born, sweet little cowgirl turned double digits today. Unbelievable! If you know Brooke, you know that she only likes to wear jeans and cowboy boots every day. She's very resistant to anything fancy or girly. Cowgirl fashion, minus the bling.

Max and I made a decision several years back that the girls had to wait until they were ten to get their ears pierced. No real reason, ten just sounded good. Brooke said a few months back that she had no interest in earrings, not at all.

Two days ago my mom was questioning Brooke on what she might like for her birthday. The girl could come up with nothing except giant marbles that she might want. Nothing else! Mom then took me to the side and asked if we could take her to get her ears pierced. That would be something Mom could buy for her that she may want. I told her that would be fine, she'd just have to convince Brooke. To our absolute shock, Brooke agreed. She wasn't excited or overly sure of her decision, but she agreed.

Mom, Claire, Grant, Brooke and I headed to the mall this afternoon for the big event. She was calm and confident. She quickly selected her birth stone studs and sat back and waited. I didn't have to comfort or bribe her--no panic attacks for fear of pain. Brooke sat there and took it like a. . .

OUCH!

I guess we might have sorta forgot to tell her that it hurt. Honestly, it didn't occur to me that she didn't know that.

Still, she almost smiled as the lady did the other side. Yes I was dorky asking the employee if she'd pose for a picture with Brooke. I'd think she got that often, but from her reaction I don't know if she does.

Would you like to see a close up of her ears? So would I. Some how I didn't take that shot.

Mom, thanks for being part of a fun memory for us.

After my daughter's body was mutilated, we walked the mall searching for something, anything Brooke might like. She didn't want us to buy her a thing! Weird child. We left the mall and headed to Barnes and Noble where I bought Brooke a stack of books she'll probably read in less than a week.

Tonight, Max and I took her to a movie and to dinner. It was her own date night with us in lieu of a party. (I love that practical child!) She was so proud and happy. She exclaimed, "I never knew a birthday could be so much fun!" As a special treat at dinner, we let her get her very first Coke. We never let the children have anything with caffeine--they usually have milk or Sprite at restaurants. (No, we're not strict or overly healthy, just have never done the caffeine thing.) Tonight she came in the office as late as 11:45 PM because she couldn't sleep. Too funny. Good thing special days like this only come around once a year.

Brooke, we love you so much. Happy Birthday!