We've Moved----->

Hot diggity dog--I did it! I did my first post on the new site. With my new-found confidence and knowledge, I guess it is time to bid this blogger site adieu. I'm not going to remove this blog because I'm too sentimental, but new posts will now be found at ggyr.org. Some thoughts as I depart:

• Sniff, sniff--Blogger, you've been mighty good to me. Thanks for the free posting privileges.
• Cindy, thank you for working countless hours creating the perfect site for us. We love it and all the beautiful details (did you see "Meet Our Horses" tab?) you've poured in. Cute stuff!! We love you and cannot thank you enough!
• Kurt, thanks for creating and maintaining our former website these last two years. You came to us offering your services, free of charge, and really got the ball rolling by getting GGYR into the website world. We appreciate you patience, advice, hard work and friendship! We could not have done it without you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
• Readers, I know change is hard for some of us. I usually complain and kick and whine when I see someone has started a new blog when I am already used to their old one. Take comfort in the fact that I know your pain. But, this new site will be a great thing for me and the ranch in general. It will be so much easier to steer people to ONE location instead of saying, "Well, the website is. . . and the blog is . . ." ggyr.org and we're done!
• When (ha!) you leave a comment on the new site for the first time, your comment will not appear until I approve it. After that happens, your future comments should appear right away.
• Cindy imported almost all the posts from this blog into the new one including comments.
• That being said, if you happen to come back here and comment for some reason, I'll still get an email alert from Blogger.
• Big pictures! Fun.
• Change is good. Let's go out and embrace it.

Wonder if this sets the record for the longest post telling people to update their bookmarks to a new site?!

Remember, ggyr.org. I'll see you there.

Lotta Lot

Things are looking mighty fantastic in the pumpkin stand location department. We have a site. Now we have to hope and pray the city gives us the go ahead to use it. Details to follow. In case any of you cannot stand to wait, it will (Lord willing) be at the old Rowland's lot at Coors and Irving. So much space! Such nice owners! Thanks, Plant World family!

Trish is pretty annoyed I'm still blogging here instead of at our new blogsite. I don't know, I think I might be doing a great thing giving you all plenty of warning before I take the plunge. It's just an added bonus Trish is worked up about it. ;

Oh, if any of you see Max somewhere, please know he is completely obsessed with pumpkins. He is hard at "work" planning the whole thing out in his mind. If you notice a glazed-over look to his eyes, welcome to my world!

Rat, Corn, Gourd, Wrist, Toots, Car, End

We have several volunteer corn stalks springing up around the ranch. Cracks us up. Max said the rats did a good job spreading the love around.

Guys, keep us in your prayers. Tomorrow (Tuesday morning) a few of us are going to check out three different locations for the pumpkin stand. Time is a ticking! We hope to make a smart, safe decision and quick!

One of the new "pumpkins" will have this year. Somewhere. At that one place. TBA.

Anyone notice the lovely wrist model?

From the vault of summers past--2009. Sweet Tootsie receiving a little love. What a fantastic horse she is.

Sniff, sniff. Shout-out to my vehicle as it spends a lonely night at the fix-it shop. Sounds like we probably have a bad fuel pump on our hands. Should I take comfort in the fact I didn't get bad gas for $96 today? Nah, probably not.

The randomness ends. Now.

Snip Away Now

Dear Blogger,

I'm still here. Instead of learning the ropes on how to leave you, I spent the entire day being part of the team that picked 2500 lbs. of grapes at Roy (Max's bro) and Beth's (sis-in-law) vineyard. Yep, my college education at work once again. Pretty soon I'll use it even more lugging pumpkins around.
So Blogger, enjoy me for the short time I'm still here, for soon I will be a big girl, proficient and proud of my new skills on our blogsite. Once there, I will tell our readers all about the weird object shown a couple posts back and Cancer Comfort at the Corral--both worthy stories in their own right.

Right now I am off to remove grape juice and dirt from my forearms and baby spiders from my hair.

Love,

Michelle

If you are a wine drinker, please take a moment after your next sip of the vino to appreciate the hands that picked the grapes. As fun as it is to snip away, it is very tiring work. Our whole crew agreed that we were more exhausted after picking grapes than after branding at our family cattle ranch. Now that's saying something!

Salud.

Dear Blogger,

I don't think I'm ready to say goodbye to you yet. Could have something to do with the fact I am inept at posting on the new site. I know you. I am used to you. How can I move on?

Love,

Michelle

Cancer Comfort at the Corral was an absolutely wonderful event. I left the ranch feeling peaceful. I'll definitely have to share all about the evening. Off to the couch for a nap.

A Different Kind Of Buck

Miracle happening before your very eyes. I said I'd post pictures of Dollar's high withers and by golly, I'm doing it!

Yep, he's part camel.

We're thinking fitting a saddle on him should be a lot of fun. (I know--bad pictures. Just go with it.)

Little background--

Like many of the other horses, Dollar Bill was a roping horse. In fact, he was a CHAMPION roping horse. I wasn't told his owner's name, but I was told he was good. Once he could no longer handle the competition, he was retired and found himself living with a very nice lady named Connie. (A story for a different post.)

Now Dollar finds himself surrounding by small children running and giggling all over the place.

Sure hope he loves his new home.

Cross Dollar off the list. Now I only two more new horses to tell you about. Just call me Ms. Productive & Efficient. Yep, that's me.

Young At Heart

Do you remember Wanda, the sweet volunteer who traveled to the Grand Canyon this summer? We love Wanda!

Ms. Wanda asked me to share a little info with all of you in case you're interested about their upcoming charity event. (Please note this flier was much cuter before I cut and pasted it on the blog. That caused it to lose graphics. Sorry.) Wanda sings with a group titled Young at Heart. If you know Wanda and you would like to go out and support her and her friends, some info for you--

THE “YOUNG AT HEART” CHOIR

Invites you to
“Heartsville Country Fair”

October 1 & 2, 2010
Friday 10 am to 9 pm Saturday 9 am to 4 pm
Location: Heights First Church of the Nazarene – Gym
(NE Corner of Barstow & Paseo Del Norte)

*****Bar D Wranglers****
In Concert with Young At Heart Friday 7:00 pm / $15.00 ea.
(Tickets can be purchased at the Country Fair or YAH Center)

Something for the whole family!
Town Stores: Second Time Around, Vintage Jewelry, Accessories ETC., YAH Bucks Coffee,

YAH Country Store, Something Sweet, YAH CD’s & More.

Food Stores: Bakery, Food Shack, TOP DOG Hotdogs, and more.

LuLu’s Theater (live entertainment hourly) KIDS: Face Painting, Clowns, Jump House, Old Fashion CAKE WALK, Shooting Gallery, and Much More!
Lots of Door Prizes!
Spectacular GRAND PRIZE - $500 Visa Card
************************************************************
Get your Coupon Books NOW TO Enter The Drawings!
Pick up tickets at “YAH Center – 10600 Menaul NE Suite B or
yahconnie@q.com
505-858-3009 for more information
Fund Raiser for the YAH Choir
All items sold have been made by the men and women in the YAH choir.

In Wanda's words--

I left Max some posters and flyers advertising the Young at Heart gospel choir annual event to be held first weekend in October. You of course are invited to the event and we would appreciate any promotion you can give us. Basically, we decorate a donated gymnasium into a western town and have booths, cake walks, food, face painting & activities for kids; on Friday nite we will have a joint concert with the BAR-D-WRANGLERS from Durango, our ministry partners.

Bring everyone you know to this family-friendly event:

HEARTSVILLE Country Fair

Barstow at Paseo del Norte, NE (church gymnasium)

Albuquerque, NM

Friday/Saturday 10/1 & 2/2010 9:00 am to closing (Friday concert at 7:00 p.m.--$15 per person)

INFO LINE 858-3009

Wanda & Wayne have coupon books for sale (892-8763) if anyone wants to advance-purchase Heartsville bucks to use at the event; $10 for ten Heartsville bucks; or you can purchase at the event while you are there.

Family fun and frivolity for all!

Wanda

Debut Of Dollar And Other Interesting Topics

Exciting day with our lovely vet gals on the premises (more posts to follow--eventually.) I'll give you a few little tidbits so I have ample time to do some pumpkin business at the end.

Most exciting was this little item. Do you know what it is? So if you do know, and you know for sure, please be vague when commenting. I'd love to see the answers our readers can come up with for this little beauty.
I dedicate this picture to my pal Demetria. She loves eyeball shots.

Well, not really. But still.

Ouch! Ouch! Rotten tooth alert. It popped right out when the teeth floating began.
Well to be fair, popped out is a bit of an exaggeration. Dr. Alex actually had to pull it. She thinks our little patient will be feeling much better without that rotten thing in his mouth.

And when I say his mouth, I am talking about our charming new gelding, Dollar Bill. We have shortened that to just Dollar because Melissa commented that Dollar Bill sounds a little gangster-ish. Dollar is sweet and skinny and is in possession of the highest withers ever seen on a horse. Don't believe me? I'll have to post a picture later. For now, please check out his cute little face. Does he remind you of any movie star?

In pumpkin news--

The City denied our petition to have our pumpkin stand in the same spot we've had it for the last three years. Apparently, someone complained about the parking situation. The city agreed. (We're not blaming them here--they're doing their job.) We are no longer able to set up and operate in the Quanz lot. We are sad, but realize there has to be a reason for this. Maybe a life saved? A better, larger location for our ever expanding stand? Whatever the reason, I'm sure it's a good one. We'll just sit here and trust that God has it all worked out. If you know of that perfect spot, please let us know. We have to make some big decisions in a hurry! Without pumpkin and tree sales, GGYR is in tricky trouble. These two fundraisers are a huge part of how we can operate for free.

We are so very grateful to the owner and manager of Quanz for graciously sharing their lot with us for the last three years! What a company! If you ever frequent their business for your automotive needs, please thank them for all they've done for Galloping Grace Youth Ranch!!

Oh, almost forgot to mention something really fantastic. Ninety people have signed up for Cancer Comfort at the Corral scheduled for this Friday night at the ranch. We are so excited for these families to come out and enjoy the horses. Thanks to all our volunteers who so sweetly offered to work Friday night so this can happen. Yay!!

Have a good one.

And I Don't Mean Wheel

We spent the weekend down yonder at our family cattle ranch. For those who dislike my gross posts about the happenings from that place, you will be happy to know the following:

• no body parts were cut off any animals and then photographed
• no free-floating craniums were photographed
• no eyeballs were seen with cactus chunks hanging out of them
• no horses had to be euthanized
• no bones were collected and used as toys

All that being said, I'm sure there are a fair amount of you disappointed about, well, all of the above.

Hope you had a fantastic Labor Day weekend. I'll tell you one thing about me, I'm

.

Trish and De, thanks for feeding this weekend. We appreciate you!!

Sugar and Spice

An entry so nice, I'm posting it twice. Originally published on 2/14/09, but love stories like this are timeless.)

A love story for this Valentine's Day.

For the past few months, Grant's little life has been planned out for him. Kaley is very much in charge of what they play and how they do it.She also knows best what they would like to eat for lunch and have for a snack. A couple months back she took it to a whole new level. The way Trish tells it, Kaley spelled out how things will happen once they are older. Kaley's words in order of event:

• When we get older we're going to go to school (college).
• I'm going to rodeo for a while.
• I will get a black pick-up truck with a pink horse trailer.
• Me and Grant are going to get married.

I guess Grant nodded his head in approval not knowing he had a say in the matter.

Fast forward two months to the day Grant announced to Kaley that he was no longer going to marry her.

Grant: We're not going to get married anymore.

Kaley: Yes we are.

Grant: OK

That has been the status lately. I'm sure the ever confident, ever in charge Kaley senses the weakness in little Grant. He is, after all, eight months younger than his fiance. What would he know about the ways of the world? Trish has had talks with Kaley about allowing Grant to have an opinion of his own and not being so bossy. I don't think Kaley was sold on the idea.

While we were hanging out with Trish and Chase last weekend at their house, I was noticing the interaction between Kaley and Grant. I commented that their marriage might be a little rough. Trish said, "Nah, Grant knows to listen to Kaley so things will be just fine." Isn't he one smart boy!?

On Tuesday a new chapter was added to the love story. Kaley told her Aunt Tracy that she and Grant will just be friends. I'm not breaking it to him---I'm sure she has it covered.

Kaley, my maybe future daughter-in-law but possibly not, Happy Birthday on this Valentine's Day. I hope you day is as sweet and fun as you are. Love ya.

She Floats Our Boat

(An entry so nice, I'm posting it twice! Originally published 6/4/09. Paige has since moved Down Under. Hope she's having fun with the kangaroos.)


And our horses' teeth too!

Paige The Super Vet graced us with her skills and generous heart once again! This time her mission was perfecting the smiles (OK, chewing) of our beloved equines.

She looked in Seabiscuit's mouth and almost packed up her gear and headed home.

I kid. A little gum disease would never scare off the likes of Paige!

She quickly got to work drugging the animals--

And filing all the sharp points off their back teeth. She said Black doesn't have much left, but she worked with what he had.It's odd watching them stand there trying to figure out what hit them. Paige told us she has only seen one actually fall down from the effects of the sedative.After Garrett's intense questioning of Paige, I think he's well on his way to becoming a vet himself. I gotta give it to him--the boy is thorough. Paige allowed him to assist by holding tongues. (Hmm, was that a message we missed--"Garrett hold this tongue."?)The boy took his task seriously. No tongues were lost in the floating of teeth--not on his watch.Renee, thanks for helping Paige. You were often stuck in awkward positions requiring a lot of muscle. For this we thank you--also for everything else you do for GG!Paige, you proved that you can not only save a horse's life,
But you can help him chew as well!

Thank you so much for your services. Because of people like you, Galloping Grace can remain a free program!!



These last pictures are courtesy of my seven year old and her shiny new camera she got for her birthday. (She used birthday money and chose not to have a party to get one.) I must admit, I'm jealous of the job she did on these! Claire, good work! Pretty soon I'll let you take over the blog.

Go floss people!

Hi.

Joe

You know that old saying good things come to those who wait? Well, tonight I learned that is most definitely true!! Melissa has been nagging me for some time to get the story of our amazing new horse Joe on the blog. I couldn't get my soul to cough it up. I didn't feel like I could do it justice. I didn't want to sift through all my pictures. Tonight, after listening to her ask for the umpteenth time for me to write something, I told her to do it. Do it she did! The wonderful post AND pictures below courtesy of Melissa D.
Melissa, take it away--

This is the story of Joe. Sort of.

On August 24, Galloping Grace received its newest blessing. Sweet Joe. He came all the way from Flagstaff, Arizona to live with us here at GGYR. His lovely owner Amita graciously donated Joe to GGYR because she knew that he had another purpose in life, and that would be to bring joy and love to children. Joe and Amita have a very special relationship and we can never thank her enough for bringing him into our lives. After meeting Joe, I realized he reminded me very much of a certain lovable bear..

Just like Pooh, Joe comes from the woods. He loves to eat and he is quite a whimsical, cuddly old ‘bear’. He’s gentle and kind. He’s patient and slow.

Joe is a draft, quarter horse paint cross. He is a most amazing creature and has a Buddha-like nature about him that makes you want to walk up to him and give him a squeeze and wrap your arms around him. He’s extremely sweet and loves getting treats!

After being at GGYR for only a week, we saddled Joe up this past week and he took to the kids right away and didn’t mind giving a few rides, even though he has decided that he\is napping in between rides is part of his contract, and definitely a must.

Spending the past couple of weeks with Joe, I have decided under my own conclusion that he does in fact remind me of Pooh Bear..

And so my friends I will leave you with this:

In the words of Winnie the Pooh..

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?”

Cancer Comfort

(Click to enlarge. )

The Wait Is Over

I get this comment this morning from my dear friend Misha--

Meesh said...

Hey, it's been like a week since you ran the big teaser of 'huge day at the ranch!'

just how long you makin' us wait?

:)

Guilty! So guilty. In my defense, I was out of town for a day and a half. Also, the computer I load most of my pictures on (in) was acting crazy all last week. For stories so big, I always feel like I need to include a lot of pictures. Not happening tonight. I will just end the tease and report the cold, hard facts. No frills. No back stories. Just enough to get that pushy Misha off my back.

In one day, we got FOUR new horses! Crazy, we're well aware. Absolutely crazy! One was from Flagstaff and three from a town not far away, San Ysidro. Their names are Joe, Casper, Bones, and Dollar.

The end.

(For now.)

Chew On This

So listen--I'll scratch your back,

If you scratch mine.

Home Alone

Max posting:

As the title of this post so eloquently states, I am "home alone". That is if you don't count my 4 sleeping children. Earlier this week, Michelle's sister Erin, and her husband Christian offered to fly Michelle over to Chicago to take pictures of their new baby daughter. She accepted and, well, that is why I am home alone. Before Michelle left, she quickly tutored me in the art of creating a new blog post and ever so sweetly asked me to create one of my own. So here it goes. Before I start, however, let me warn those of you who are like me-----THERE ARE NO PICTURES!!!! I am sorry, but she did not teach me that advanced blogging technique. I am struggling reading my own writing because of the lack of pictures and captions. Anyway, let's see if we can get through this together.

Here is one of my memorable moments from this week at GGYR.

Hannah, who is a sweet veteran participant despite being only 6 years old, doesn't always handle horse slobber all that well. Almost always, Hannah brings carrots to feed the horses once she is done riding. As eager as she is to give them treats, she can get seriously grossed out by their saliva. This week, after riding Tootsie, Hannah decided to spend some quality time with her horse without feeding her. I am not sure what the conversation was about but Hannah was up close and personal with Tootsie's nose. Well, needless to say, it is allergy season and Tootsie frequently has "sneezing" attacks. As you can imagine, Hannah's face was engulfed in a sea of horse snot when Tootsie let one fly. I couldn't help it. Even though Hannah was expressing herself in a less than calm way, I was doubled over with laughter. It took a while, but Hannah regained her composure, petted Tootsie on the snout, and said, "God bless you Tootsie."

I am blessed to have similar memories every day.

For those of you who love sweet corn from the other side of the mountain, send Trish an email at trishkoester@ggyr.org. The man that supplies us with our pumpkins picked his field of sweet corn this morning and will be in town tomorrow. He has offered to donate a portion of the proceeds to GGYR.

Let's Get Random

Cone heads!Quiz time (and not for the volunteers who are at the ranch all the time)--who is this horse? Junior volunteers (and this isn't all of them)--

Please know how saddened we are with your decision to go back to school. Who do you expect to help all the kiddos scoop people or write gratitude letters?! And how important is and education anyway? Please get your priorities straight! Geez, some people's children!!

Have a great one.

Drip Drip Drip

So I never told you about. . . (remember when I used to do my "So I never told you" posts about lost or forgotten stories in GGYR land and then forgot to keep doing them?!)


Since my husband is absolutely obsessed with the upcoming pumpkin stand, I find myself getting into the spirit. From the archives I found these shots taken last October of a commercial being filmed at our very own little joint.

What was the commercial about, you ask?
Oh, just some water conservation ad. We all chuckled about this because back in the Kiddie Corral one could find a certain activity involving ducks racing in lots of water that was very far from conservation.

Be on the look out for Kaley lighting up the little screen some time this fall. If they're lucky, our son Grant and our little friend Gabriel might be in it as well.

Calf Whisperer

Family cattle ranch alert.

My sweet niece Brynn with a sweet little calf. Pretty precious.

What a great weekend this was. More to come.

Huge day at the ranch! I have new horse stories for you and how!

So, I guess I'll go to bed.

Have a good one.

Matt Squared

Family cattle ranch alert. Family cattle ranch alert.

Can't remember--did I share these joyous shots with all of you last summer? It would be a tragedy if you missed out. If you have seen them, I'm sure you'll thank me for sharing once again.

At branding, I always take a Matt and Matt picture. Both great guys. Both named Matt. The picture is a must.

I present the 2009 Matt & Matt photos. . .
at the barn dance.
Sure they're tough cowboys, but who knew they could dance so well together! It was a pleasure watching them twirl the night away.

Happy almost weekend to you all.

Kaitlin Is The Greatest

I must start out by noting this is the second blog for today. Yep, blogging maniac. Hear me roar!

OK, so I guess I can't take credit for this post. All text and pictures are courtesy of Ms. Trish, our volunteer extraordinaire. (Except for my muffin word which she clearly stole. The nerve of some people.)

Trish, take it away--

Do you see this cute little muffin. Her name is Kaitlin. While she loves the horses, she also has a great fear. What is her fear you ask horses. See she a begged her mom to bring her to Galloping Grace to see the horses but she has not wanted to be on the horses. She a been out two times prior to this great day. One day she was brave enough to pet the horses and the next time she led one of the horses. But never ever actually got on a horse. Well today was the day for this brave little girl to overcome her fear. She sat on Seabiscut. If took a lot of convincing from Steph, Melissa, mom and myself but Kaitlin was brave and accomplished something huge in her little nine year old life, she sat and for that moment in time she was the bravest girl in the world. I am so proud of you Kaitlin. I truly hope you carry that feeling with you for the rest of your life you are great and can accomplish anything you set your mind to. And that my friends in blog land is the greatest thing to be a part of to watch a child do the impossible. Pure Joy at its best!

Kaitlyn, you should be proud of yourself. Way to go!! Trish, you too! Just how many guest posts is that for you now? Thank you so much! Thanks for blogging, for scheduling, etc., etc., etc.! Any night you want to write up another sweet story like this, I am willing to accept.

Copy. Paste. Done.