Cute And More Cute!

Ahh, precious in ever sense of the word.
What helpers!
Those cheeks!
Sweet mama donating cute stuff for our silent auction.

That expression coupled with the pink hat! Of course cowboys like to slide. They just sometimes get their spurs stuck on the way down.
I bet you are.
Cute kids loving on a cute dog. Hank sure has it rough out there with all the adoring fans.
Can't see the children all that well, but don't the trees look amazing?! We love all the volunteers who have painstakingly watered them.
That drawing, that face! Our participants are even cute while being thankful.
Poster child for sweet. Becky, thanks for donating the cans and making them look so spiffy.
One of our volunteers who has vanished. Perhaps we forced her to scoop too much poop with wee ones. Maybe the mulch got to her. Could it have been the weeds? If you know Margit, handcuff her and bring her back. We miss her cute smile and sweet nature.

Soak it all up. I'll be back one day with the next installment of melt your heart cute.

Crushing Blow

In the winter, we have it coming out of our ears. Now, we don't have a pile to spare. What you ask? Oh, just poop. Galloping Grace Youth Ranch has a severe shortage on steamy piles of equine excrement. Who would have thunk it?! It has gotten to the point where we have kindly asked our volunteers not to scoop, rather to save it all for the kiddos. It's a pretty comical problem. If you look in our horse pens, they are sparkling clean. I bet there are a lot of horse owners out there who would love to have our woes.

Because of the rough poop economy, Max has had to get creative when assigning work for the participants and family members. One job, helpful yet torturous, is pulling weeds. If I did a poll of the children, I would bet almost all of them would vote weeds are the worst job on the ranch.

On the other hand, we have found a real crowd pleaser--

crushing cans!

Thanks to all who have donated cans to the ranch. Not only are you contributing to a fundraising project,

but you are providing hours of "work" for the masses.

Wowsers!

Thank you so much to the whole rummage sale crew!! Nick, Melissa, Chase, Trish, Tim, Barb, Melissa, Derik, Misha, Miki, Tom, Keri, Aubrey, Kali, Taryn--you guys did an amazing job!

Because of their hard work and dedication, they raised $2000!! Not too shabby for a Saturday. Who needs to sell pumpkins, guys? We can just start having garage sales every week. What do you think, Melissa? You wouldn't mind, would ya? ;)

Melissa's other fundraising baby is creeping up on us rather quickly. The auction/dinner is set for July 17 at 6 PM. Below is the information she pasted on our facebook page. I thought I'd post them here in case any of you, for some crazy reason, are not our fan on fb.

These are items that we have up for bid!! Buy a ticket to the Auction/Dinner and come bid on some fantastic items!! Dinner and music is included as well as raffles and door prizes!!

Gift cards from:
Jason's Deli, Red Robin, Jinja, Build a Bear, Monroe's, 66 Diner, Artichoke cafe, Marcello's Chophouse, Cashmere Rouge and Spa, The Chocolate Cafe and Bakery, Gekkos Bar and Tapas, Azuma Sushi, Oniell's Pub, The Barley Room, Zea Rotisserie and Grill, Flying Star, Texas Roadhouse, Buca Di Beppo, Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs and Spa, Apple Blossoms, Inn and Spa at Loretto

American Girl and book (NEW from American Girl)
Signed Cookbook from The Pioneer Woman (yes, from Ree herself!! to the ranch from the ranch!)
2 ride passes from Cliff's (good for a full day of rides for two)
Family Memberships to Explora and The National Museum of Nuclear Science
4 tickets to ride the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Train
4 one day park hopper passes to Disneyland
Round of Golf with cart included from Ladera Golfcourse
Magnum of wine from Milagro Winery
A BIG DIG from Dan's Boots and Saddles
Saddle bag, cd and shirt from Boot Barn
Case of Jam from Heidi's Raspberry Farm in Corrales
Painting from Kiva Gallery in Gallup, NM
Jewelry from Local NM artist Artful Muse
Art piece from Wulff Art
Electronics from Best Buy
4 VIP tickets to Albuqerque Isotopes
Photography Session from Staley Photography
Handmade quilts from Donna Wade
Piano Lessons from Bethany Ostler
Custom Cake from Especially for You
Balloon ride for two from Wells Fargo (during Balloon Fiesta

Gift Baskets from: Tastefully Simple, Pampered Chef, The Candy Basket, Rudy's BBQ, Creative Memories, St. Clair Winery

We are still receiving auction items weekly!! Purchase your tickets now to support the ranch and come bid on some awesome items!! Tickets are still $25 each until July 10th, when they go up to $30 each. Your ticket price includes a FULL dinner and non alcholic drinks, live music, door prizes and entrance into the Auction. For your convenience, you may purchase any drinks at the bar.
We will also have free Horse and Carriage rides courtesy of Rio Sandia Morgans from Corrales.

Go to www.ggyr.org to buy your tickets now! Give yourself ample time to receive tickets in mail. They are going fast and we would love to see you there!!

Should be fun.

Melissa, thanks again!

Our Champion

My apologies to our friends and family who have already heard the exciting news. Stop reading now. Just stop. Play Bejeweled. Get a snack. Read your paper. Just don't keep reading this post. I mean really, how obnoxious can I be? (Don't answer that!) For those who didn't receive my bragging memo. . .
Garrett is the state champion in javelin! And if that wasn't enough bragging for you. . .
He set the new state record "shattering" the old one by over a meter (I think--I'll have to check with Max in the morning on the exact distance)!!

Way to be, Garrett! We're so proud of you.

Jon And The Law

I was reading the comment section on one of the posts over at Tj and Mark's blog, The Ranch on Salmon Creek, when I was touched by a paragraph written by a man named Jon.

The chores remembered from my youth and cherished to this day. One of those chores was my duty to keep the Tack Room/Horse Barn, Hay Barn, House and Chicken Coops free of vermin. Just remember that I had a lot of Ranch Hands telling me how to do my Chores, but that is how we learn. I still rue the day when I was big enough to handle a pitch fork and George handed me one for a new chore, but I got to tell you that when it came to mucking out a stall the rage of my youth was well used in learning new cuss words and resentments until one day somehow it wasn't a chore anymore and the Ranch Hands just kind of smiled and we laughed and laughed and I just muked a little harder knowing I could do a good job without ever having resentment in my heart.

Hormones? Lack of sleep? I don't know. But when I read "... until one day somehow it wasn't a chore anymore. . ." I actually cried. What an absolutely beautiful way to describe growing up. I see that exact thing happening in our oldest child, Brooke. I wrote my own comments saying I was off to see if Jon had a blog for me to enjoy and then later to tell him to start a blog because I saw he didn't have one. A couple days later, I found this email in my inbox. I thought this was too interesting not to share.

Dear Michelle and Max Palm Springs, California / June 19, 2010 a Saturday letter with no stamp.

Thank you for the kind words over at "the Ranch on Salmon Creek". But if you search for a blog by Jon (that would be me) your quest will be in vain. Reason: Spend most of my time reading,walking the dog and helping people understand the Constitution and our laws.

No I'am not a Lawyer (although many Judges wish I was one so they could hold me in Contempt of Court).

As you might of gathered from my post to 'the Ranch on Salmon Creek' that I grew up on Cattle Ranches and had a hard but wonderful time growing up. So if you continue to read this electronic letter do so at your own peril, (That little... 'So if you continue to read this electronic letter do so at your own peril' is what Legal Eagles would call a CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE) but if you do continue, I hold you harmless unless you fail to laugh, sigh or smile (RESTRICTIVE CONDITIONS of the CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE that NEGATE the CONSTRUCTION of the RESTRICTION that would hold me harmless to ACTION on you).

Hope you don't mind, but I perused a couple of Months from your Blog at 'Galloping Grace' in order to get a handle on the "Wades". Well folks, I fell in the deep end of the "Wading Pool", lucky for me that you haven't had the chance to fill it full of "CITY WATER" (that's the stuff that doesn't come out of your own well) otherwise I might have had to dog paddle to the Court House end of the pond in order to save myself. Yup, that would have been a real chore.

But getting back to the Court House End for me is easier than it is for most folks. Wasn't always that way, but when you are handed a problem sometimes you have to look at it as an OPPORTUNITY and not a PROBLEM. Sometimes people get the two confused. So let me for my own sake (its good for me to remember this every once and a while) review that a problem is something you have no control over: like getting sick. As long as you have your health then everything else you come across in life is an opportunity and what you do with that opportunity is up to you....ie: County Inspector walks up to me on the job and says "Jon we have a problem, you don't have a permit for this Building so I will have to charge you with failure to comply with with the law and order you to remove said building." ...PROBLEM or OPPORTUNITY?...Little does this Inspector know that Jon is going to take the OPPORTUNITY to comply with his request and go get a Demolition Permit on said Building knowing full well that the County will not Issue a Permit for demolition as there is no permit on file for a Building and no Abatement Notice has been filed (this is where I beat him to the Court House and start my paper work).

Works for me as I get the Building Department to issue a statement in writing that my request for demolition has been denied. Then when I get to Court and the Judge asks me if I plead guilty or not guilty of having built a Building without a permit I tell the Judge that I cannot plead to the CHARGE as there is no Building according to the County, this FACT evidenced in my application and denial to remove said Building as noted in the Original Complaint and humbly ask the Court in the interest of Justice to dismiss the charge.

The Judge at this point has no choice (one piece of paper in evidence supplied by the office of the Complainant stating there is no building and out goes the Complaint) and with the words choking in his mouth says:"DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE" dismisses the Charge. (Boy, do I get an ear full from the Judge on just how often he/she is reminded that in the good old days he would just have me shot, off the record of course.).....Sometimes I will fall at the foot of the Judge and beg for the mercy of forgiveness, this plea really upsets them and is why when they (Judges and Clerks) see my name on the Calendar they make sure I'am the last one called and that the Court Room is Closed (everybody out).

Life hasn't always been like this for Jon, but a little over two decades ago someone had his way with my four year old daughter and "in the interests of Justice" the District Attorney, the Court and my wife kept the proceedings secret from me until the Trial was over. Looking back they did the right thing, because murder was in my heart once I found out. Had to look to the Good Book and in reading Matthew found guidance for my life (It was one of those occasions in my life where I really had to stop everything and find myself or let insanity take its course.), Wow, I have to tell ya that the Sermon on the Mount had a new meaning as if I had read it for the first time and now as I was reading it I could feel the thoughts of the Carpenter as if I were there sharing a crust of bread with the person next to me as we listened and understood his words to all on the hill side. I had been so devastated as to how the Legal system had treated me and abandoned my daughter at its will, that I knew the only way out of my insanity was to use everyone of the eight Ideas in the Beatitudes in my life everyday and with every thing I touched and find out WHERE and WHY the Legal System was failing.

So to make a long confession even longer (kind of like Alice and the Rabbit hole) I took the next six years to find out what was wrong with our justice system. Not wanting to ask questions of those in the legal community (judges and attorneys) as to why it was messed up, nor did I want to go to Law School to find out. I went to the County Law Library and started reading all of the Law Books. Some days too much reading, too many unanswered questions as to the law and I would take a break and go to one of the Court Rooms to observe and take notes on the proceedings, kind of like trying to get a feeling of what was going on. As time went by my person did not go unnoticed in the Court House and soon people (not Judges) would ask me if I need any help and help they did.

Six years of reading every book in the County Court Library, thousands of Trials later, hundreds of more books in other libraries before I ran out of new questions to ask myself. My journey into insanity had ended (sometimes insanity keeps you from going insane). I had finally found and answered at last that question of "how did our Laws and our Justice System fail" and continue to fail. Should have asked my sister, she has one word for all the troubles in the world, that word is "MEN" and on occasion I will say to her "Oh look Sis, a woman driving like a man".


Again,thank you for you kind words about my post. So in closing I must admit the blogless Jon has a deeper reason for no Blog....I prefer to sow the seeds of discontent in other Blogs and watch them grow and bear their own fruits as other folks water, cultivate and fertilize the thoughts.

Well, it is time to singlefoot out of your place and go over to the next range for some real water in a real empty wading pool.

Godspeed and best of regards to all of you and the horses,

Jon Huettl, an old Desert Rat in Palm Springs way out in California...don't get me going.........

p.s. I you want to re post this, go ahead and share the seed or don't.. Heck a couple of fresh Road Apples on top of it will only make my words look better.

Jon, thank you so much for sharing this with us. You sound like an amazing person who has battled a tough journey. I hope you make it back to the blog to share more of your fascinating comments.

Hey Niece Lauren--Happy Double Digits, girl! We love and miss you so much! Move back! Move back! Move back!

Ultimate Garage Sale

Melissa, fundraiser extraordinaire, is hard at it again! And when I say hard at it, I mean buried under a massive pile of other people's discarded treasures. You have no idea. And when I say you have no idea, I mean it! This picture she took with her cell phone doesn't do the mass amount of "stuff" justice

Imagine fifty cent toys spilling out of boxes. Barbies. Dolls.

Beds, all shapes, all sizes.

Recliners. Notice that was plural.

TVs. Also plural.

China hutch.

Tables. Chairs. Tables. Chairs.

Lamps.

Shirts. Pants. Shirts. Pants. Shirts. Pants. Coats.

Car seats. Strollers. Stuffed animals. Stuffed animals. Stuffed animals.

Books and more books.

Cups.

Fixtures.

Shirts. Books. Stuffed animals. Stuffed animals. Books. Shirts.

Boom box.

ETC.!

So many people to thank! Parents, friends--we so greatly appreciate your donations! Chris K., really? A whole house of furniture, tons of clothes, etc.?!! Thank you so very much!

Bring all the dollars in your wallet (plus some from your piggy bank) to support our colorful, crazy, zany cause this Saturday morning.

Comment left by Melissa:

Don't forget to put where!

183 Camino Verde, Corrales. Follow the signs from Corrales rd and Alameda. We take Cash, credit and check. Everything but American Express.

8-12, don't leave your kids, or I will sell them.

PLEASE come take everything.

I failed to mention that Max and I cannot attend the above mentioned garage sale because of our children's state track meet. Can you believe it?! Exact same time. We thank all our fabulous volunteers and wish them great success.

Rainbow Kind Of Day

This was the exact moment this morning when Tootsie should have run for the hillsGirl, don't stand there being so obedient--run! You don't know what is about to hit you! Having your chest cracked open at a young age should entitle you to special perks now and then. Since Miss Jayna is not yet cleared for riding, I figured she should have a special activity to occupy her time while hanging out at the ranch. . I present Weapons of Masterful Creation--We decided to give Tootsie the honor of being Jayna's blank canvas. The sweet girl did not disappoint. It turns out she is the absolute best when it comes to this activity! Cochise who, I tell ya! Jayna, welcome back to GGYR! Your rainbow and name were quite lovely.And since the horse and paints were already out, why not offer up a turn to all the children there at the first session? They jumped at the chance.






Wait, a big kid! It's nice Max lets his friends play when they stop over for a visit. The hats are killing me. What cuteness.
Tootsie proved she is one heck of an amazing ranch horse and our go to girl for the painting scene. Great morning.
Getting closer to telling you about another amazing horse--stay tuned.

Wise Beyond Her Years

We are surrounded by dozens of adorable children every day. Pick a favorite? I probably shouldn't. But I tell you what, one little precious muffin is earning some serious Brownie points with me!

You might remember little Miss Grace. Her mom sent an email today telling me Grace has given me a nickname she uses around her house.

Are you ready for it?

If you know me, you'll really appreciate this.

If you don't know me, know that all I really do is walk around chit chatting with everyone while snapping pictures of super cute kiddos. It works for me. What could be more fun? You should also know I do not claim to know much about our four-footed friends. Not at all. Why do I need to when having such knowledge is already handled by our studly volunteer staff?

OK, back to the wise child and her astute nickname. Grace now refers to me as "Horse Lady." Yes, she knows my name is Ms. Michelle, but why use that when Horse Lady sums me up so beautifully?
Grace--you couldn't be more precious if you tried. Shhh, don't tell anyone my secret--I might have to do some work around this joint.

Folks, I am starting to get overwhelmed with story ideas for this blog. I tell you what--feast or famine! All or none! I scrapped the bottom of the barrel from January until May for things to post about, and now I have more than I can possibly report. Hopefully very soon, I will tell you about an amazing woman, a special horse, and how they apply to GGYR.

Happy "I'm now a teenager"Birthday to my athletic, tall, smart, beautiful niece Brittany! We love you, girl.

Alicia, feel better soon.

De, Happy Late Birthday.

Max, fold the laundry.

The end.

Bull Snake Boas

Pictures from the Wade Ranch--not Galloping Grace. (Not saying this wouldn't happen at GGYR if the right snake presents itself.)

We bring you the newest trend in fashion--






And what do your children do for fun?

Tastefully Terrific

Saturday evening Melissa (on right) hosted a fundraising event for GGYR at her house. Talk about delish! Big thanks to not only Melissa, but also to Jasmine. She is one of Melissa's friends who is a Tastefully Simple distributor. She graciously offered to have a party where all the proceeds from the sale of items go to the ranch. And in the name of charity, I went all out sampling the cuisine. After I had had a taste of every single food prepared, I went for it all over again. It's ultimately about the children, right? Who cares I felt a little ill when it was over. By golly, I was going to do my part.

This next picture refused to be deleted. If it had come across correctly, you could see our volunteer Betty with a load of items she brought with her for next week's rummage sale. Thanks, Betty!
Thanks to all these supportive ladies for attending.

It was my pleasure to slurp and gobble my Saturday evening with every one of you. Here's to Twisty Graham Pretzels and overly garlicky dip!

Trimmin' And The Birthday Girl

Tuesday was pedicure day at GGYR. No more unsightly hooves on this here ranch. Our horses are lookin' gooood. Mr. Pat even gave our Brooke lessons on how to get the job done. I gotta give it to her--she hung in there holding that leg up. . .
and picking those hooves out.
As hard as she worked, you might guess she's older than ten. Oh wait, she's eleven today! Happy Birthday, sweet girl.
We love you and are so proud of the work you do with all the kiddos.

How is she already eleven?!!

Also, Happy Birthday yesterday (17th) to my baby brother. If having an eleven year old doesn't make a gal feel old, how about having a baby brother who is 35?! I love you, Tug.

Have a good Friday.

Rattle My Nerves

This post dedicated to Steve, Chase, and Tim--maybe a little exposure to snakes will help with your extreme phobias of our slithering friends.
All photographs in this post courtesy of my friend Melissa.

We went out to our family cattle ranch this past weekend for a little R and R. Instead, there were cattle drives and a new friend made.

The kids were running around in the barn when Max announced, "Rattlesnake!" Claire, our eight year old, was standing directly on top of a rather large diamondback rattler. I wasn't there at the time, but I've been told the scream was like something never heard before. Claire was rather fortunate there was a metal divider between her and the snake. Over the past eleven years, there have been plenty of prairie rattlesnakes seen, but never a diamondback.
Max and Garrett caught the big guy. Much to the disgust and shock of Max's dad and Candido, our ranch manager, Max released the snake at another part of the ranch.
Max's defense in the whole matter was that he had Garrett, the biggest reptile lover on the planet, and Melissa who loves all animals, both hounding him to release. Candido is concerned that the snake will come back where he was found. According to him, this particular breed mates for life.

Guess we'll all be on the look out for the Mrs.

Sssssee you next time.