John held perfectly still as he leaned against the tree. The deer moved cautiously out of the trees onto the meadow. First, a doe with her fawn stepped out. Looking all around, walking sort of jerk, jerk, look. Finally, the rest followed, last of all came the buck. Still cautious, he stepped forward with authority, like when Dad came in for supper.Holding his breath, afraid anything might spook them john watched in wonder...

Growing Up Ranch Chapter 12 My SchoolJust as I had a ranch version of other things, I also had "ranch" school. (No escaping it, IT'S THE LAW!!) I had the good fortune to attend Fawcett School, one of the Rural District Nineteen public schools. From the name alone you may perhaps suspect that this was not your ordinary public school and you are right.At six years old all children begin school. For ranch kids like us, this...

Growing Up Ranch Chapter 11 Horsey Tales. My growing up ranch was quite unusual even in its day. The reason was we were one of the few ranches that worked our cattle exclusively with horses. These “beasts of burden” became friends and companions, each with their own personality. Here are some short sketches of the regularly used mounts which amounted to about a third of our horse herd. ChalkyWe had a number of saddle hors...

The ranch was an isolated place but that didn't mean we lived in total isolation while I grew up ranch. We had many visitors from far and near who enriched our lives in many ways.Often it was a family who came bringing with them the whole family including kids. Our Fox cousins from Denver were particularly fun to entertain. They, of course, wanted to ride the horses and ponies. After an hour or so of that, a nice cool off...

Just pondering.Can you name even one truly two-dimensional object? Stuck? I can not think of a single one. A photograph still has a thickness even if it is small. A line on paper? Still, has the molecular level of height making it three dimensional.I would argue that we actually live in a five-dimensional universe. Length, width, height, time, and spirit, make up our world’s dimensions. I won’t address five for the sake o...

Growing up Ranch Chapter 9 Working and Exploring  Work. That four letter word we all grow to know eventually. Growing up "Ranch" meant that work started early in life and was intertwined with an element or curiosity that I will call "exploring". The line between the two was often blurred. Work was also so much a part of ranch life that it was something I looked forward to rather than dreaded. Getting to be part of the fam...

Do stories ever write themselves?Sometimes it seems so.They spill forth from our fingertips with no effortYet I’ve stared for hours at my paper, and no print rises upNor does my pen dip itself and begin to form the lettersThe blank white computer window is still blankNo story prints out from the etherHow I hunger to read the next chapter I’ve yet to writeBut the words remain in their secret havenI’ve no spell to speak and...

I was fortunate to have both sets of Grandparents alive while I was growing up. My Dad’s parents were “ranch” and lived just over the hill about a mile away. My Mom’s parents were “town” and lived in Douglas, the full forty mile drive away. Naturally, I was much closer to my “ranch” grandparents than my “town” grandparents.Grandma Ruth and Granddad Art were my ranch grandparents. Grandma Ruth was one of my special people....

            Growing Up Ranch Chapter 7 My Parents“Growing Up Ranch” or growing up period isn’t possible without parents. Because of the ranch, however, my relationship with these two special people was unusual. I was blessed with a full set of two and a stable home compared to many, but our special circumstances did make for big differences.Because the ranch was by western standards a micro-ranch, my Dad was often absent...

Having a brother wasn’t unique to growing up “ranch,” but it will help you fill in the big picture if I introduce him to you. There were some big differences in how we related to each other because we grew up “Ranch” together, but far from other playmates.Paul came along when I was three years old. I was very used to being the special son/grandson. I got highly pampered and felt this was the norm. Imagine my shock when th...

Growing Up Ranch Chapter 5    My PoolNow most parks or playgrounds didn't have free pony rides, but I could understand that. What I didn't understand, or rather resented, was paying to go swimming. All I had to do was walk down to the creek, slip out of my shoes and a wading I would go. Swim trunks on I could splash and play all day and often did. My pool was more than just a pool it was a free flowing wild stream and was...

My Uncle Dave was an electrician by trade much like his father, my Grandpa Vernon. He retired from the power company and became a private electrician. One night we were in town for a visit to Grandma Mary and it came up a windy rain storm.Uncle Dave came in and sat down and related the following story. He had just been called over to “Old Lady ___’s.” She had lost power during the storm and had called Dave to get her ligh...

Growing Up Ranch Chapter 4 My Playground One of the more significant differences in growing up Ranch concerned play. The isolation of the ranch meant my brother Paul was the only playmate within walking distance. The next nearest neighbor with kids was at Esterbrook seven miles away. On the busy ranch, there was no priority to carting kids back and forth just to play. The nearest ranch neighbors were nearly ten miles away...

Growing Up Ranch Chapter 3 My Bike Toby What boy doesn't dream of the day when he has his very own bike? A way to fly down the street; wind in your hair; running wild all on your own. I had similar dreams, but my "bike" was a good fast horse.Not even most of the farm and ranch kids I knew would grow up riding horses or ponies nearly every day. On the SPAR ranch, there was no paving of any sort; a hard packed dirt path was...

“Growing Up Ranch” Chapter Two Our House - The Cabin I grew up in a house, but not one like everybody else had. My house was a genuine log cabin built around 1898 as a homestead cabin by Ernest Newell. It was by cabin standards pretty large, but its size was limited to the length of the tallest tree large enough to build with, about sixteen feet long by sixteen feet wide. The cabin was two stories tall, but the original b...