El Morro National Monument

Yesterday we took a drive to check out the area and we started by going to the Zuni Pueblo about 30 minutes away. Most of the town was very old brick buildings, I'm sure there were many older buildings, they have been there a long time. we couldn't take any pictures with out getting a permit so we just drove around and checked it out. Then we headed east from there to the town of Ramah. it wasn't Native American at all. Seemed like a very white town with farming and good size homes in the middle of what what we thought was the Navajo Reservation. We wondered around there and found a little lake in the canyon.

Then we continued East another 15 miles or so to El Morro National Monument. http://www.nps.gov/elmo
that was very cool. There is a natural spring that is tucked back into the Sandstone bluff that travelers have been stopping to camp and water their horses for hundreds of years. There are petroglyphs on the sandstone and some time around the early 1600's the travelers began to etch their own names and messages along side the ancient drawings. We did the 1/2 mile walk to the bluff and back to the visitor center or we could have continued walking the full 2 miles up to the top of the bluff where there are Native American ruins. we'll do that next time when we're better prepared. It was awesome though. To think how many people passed by here... The Wild West.

Trace’s Birthday in Albuquerque

I took Trace to see Jeff Foxworthy for his birthday present on Sunday. We got to ALQ around 6 and stopped for dinner at the Texas Cattle & Ranch restaurant for a nice steak and headed to the Sandia Casino and Resort to see the show. It was an outdoor venue and the weather was awesome! It was a sunken bowl kind of amphitheater and all the seats would have been great. We were on the floor about 6 rows back dead center. Perfect. Jeff came out about 8:15 and did a great show for about an hour and a half. He mixed in new material with some classics and ended with a round of …you might be a redneck. He started out by saying how great the casino and that his wife just won $5000! We all cheered and clapped. Then he went on to say in his special twang, she won it at one of the automatic teller machines at the front door! Ha ha, you got us Jeff. We headed back for our room in town. It was a great day!

Monday was Trace’s 39th birthday and we woke up LATE… and had to boogie just to get ready for check out on time. We headed to Olive Garden for a birthday lunch. Guess who picked it?? I miss Olive Garden and it was goooooood! So while we were in ALQ, I took the opportunity to look for a puppy! I have wanted one FOREVER. And now seemed like a good time. We have a yard at the Gallup house. I’m off of work for the move and will have some time at home setting up while I look for a new job. I had been thinking about getting a Yorkie. Most of you know I’ve had 2 before that ended in tragedy. But I was willing to look at several small breeds: cocker spaniel, Westie, mini schnauzer, Brittney, etc. I printed the puppy ads from the ALQ paper the week before and had circled several ads. So after lunch we headed to the one pet store in the area that sold puppies as a starting place and called a few private ads and had to leave messages with them.

At the pet store there were soooo many to look at and play with. They had a French bulldog, I’ve always thought they were cute but I didn’t’ really want a short hair; I wanted something a little fluffier. So we played with a shi-poo, Westie, Cavalier King Charles, cocker spaniel, and cock-a-poo. They had a silkie terrier which is very similar to a Yorkie but he was sick and couldn’t come out. The shi-poo was cute but was just kinda a weird mix and color and shape. The Westie was very cute and playful. The King Charles was a sweet sweet little girl and so soft. The cocker spaniel and Cockapoo where in the same kennel so we could see them at the same time. The spaniel was also very soft and sweet. But both those little ones shed all over me and tinkled as they played. I’ve always heard cocker spaniels were hard to potty train and Trace HATES dog hair. So those two were out. So it was between the king Charles and the Westie at that place. The king Charles was very expensive and the Westie was in our budget. So he was top of the list. We decided to think about it and spend some time in town seeing a few more. None of the Yorkie people called me back and the animal shelters were closed that day. So after a few hours of trying to find other options I decided I wanted the Westie, and we went back to get him and take him home. Meet Maximus!!

Saturday @ the Ranch

Saturday, May 16th we went to visit Trace’s parents. We took our time getting there and Trace took me a new way and we went to Groundhog Reservoir along the way. The trees are leafing out and the grasses are green. We were a little early for the most of the wildflowers but if you slowed down and paid attention, they were everywhere! Trace said Groundhog is an old reservoir and he remembers as a kid that’s where all the good fishing tales took place. That brought us through the head of Disappointment Valley which is beautiful. Very green and lots of trees, it winds around into the actual valley which can get very dry and not nearly so lush. That’s how it got it’s name, the settlers came in from Utah over a pass and they saw the dry dusty valley…Disappointment. But from the head of Disappointment, back where is was green and pretty and the water runs off into the valley, you can see North Mountain. At one time the Griffith’s owned the property on North Mountain and that’s how the family hunting business got it’s name. North Mountain hunting ranch. This will be the first year I get to help with that in October and November.

So we finally made it to the ranch and headed up country on their property to check everything out. There were lots of wild flowers there and I got several pictures.



It was still a little early there and there will be even more when we go back next weekend.

We checked on the cows. He has 3 steers (neutered males) that are going to be butchered in the next month that he’s going to give out the meet to the family. There are 2 little heifers (females) that were born last year; and 5 momma heifers. There are 4 calves so far and we’re waiting for the 5th. Then we got in the truck and drove up and down all the dirt roads and checked on the ponds and saw some other cows.

It was a beautiful drive. Then we headed back to the house for some dinner and headed back to Durango.

The Ranch

Wow, so much fun stuff has happened since I’ve posted. I need to catch up! I’ve talked about “the ranch” before but let me tell you a little more. That is were Trace grew up. It’s in Dry Creek Basin, which isn’t a city or town; it’s more like an area. The closest town would be Redvale or Norwood. His Great Grandparents homesteaded there way back, from Missouri, I think... His Grandma (Dora Moore) and Grandpa (Guy Griffith) were both born in Dry Creek Basin in different families just a mile or two from each other, and ended up becoming friends as kids and getting married. How cool is that. So the two families combined. Then Guy & Dora had two sons, Dave and Clyde. Clyde married Darlene Reed and they had Kim, Blain, Trace, & Ash. When Guy ran the ranch and Trace was growing up they ran cows and had a chicken house and sheep, and grew potatoes and raised hay, and the works, as well as starting a hunting business that is still running today. Now, Trace has a few cows there and they still raise hay to maintain the fields and feed the cows but that’s about all for livestock. We hope to get it back into good working order some day when we can live out there. So Trace calls that home regardless of where his bed is and it’s beautiful there. I love to sit and listen to him talk about growing up there. I know none of us reading this blog can even imagine what that would be like. I just love it!

May Calendar

Hi everyone. I thought I would give you a preview of what's going on with us this month.

Tomorrow, 5/15 is my last day at Alpine Lumber.
Saturday, 5/16, we're going to "the ranch" to hang with Trace's parents
Sunday, 5/17, Trace & I are going to Albuquerque to see Jeff Foxworthy for Trace's B-day
Monday, 5/18, Trace's 39th Birthday!! I'm hoping to do some puppy shopping in Alb. :)
Thursday, 5/21, Jessica's last day of school and the move begins!
Saturday, 5/23, we pick up the U-Haul and head to Gallup!
Monday, 5/25, hopefully we're all moved and unloaded and we can do something.
Saturday, 5/30, this is a big day for me... this is calf day at the ranch. that's what i'm calling it anyway. we're going to brand, castrate, and immunize the 5 baby calves we had this spring. WOW! I bet you can't wait to see the pictures from this. It will be my first time and I'm a little nervous...
Sunday, 5/31, a Griffith family meeting at the Ranch with Trace's parents, siblings, uncle, & cousins to talk about the stuff at the ranch and what needs to be done for the year and beyond.
That's it for now. I'll keep you posted on how all of this turns out.

Wedding

I couldn't help post a few wedding pics. Here's a quick recap even though I'm pretty sure everyone has heard already.
Trace and I got married on Catalina Island on March 31, 2009. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful ceremony.
from left to right: G-ma Shari, Crystal, Jessica (Trace's Daughter), Trace, Me, Mom, Kathy, Derrick, & Shannell

Step-Mother's Day

I had my first Step-Mother's Day yesterday. How fun!
Trace and Jessica took me out to brunch and bought me a gift certificate for a massage.
We went to brunch at The Palace in Durango. it's cute nice resturant next to the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Train Depot.





We got there at 11:30 and we didn't have a reservation so they sat us in the bar area, which was just as nice as the rest of the place. They were packed. We ordered a baked brie as an appetizer, with honey and almond over the baked brie and a fresh fruit and toasted baguette slices. Yum! It's a good thing we did because we ate the whole thing before they even took our order... Jessica had an iced tea, I had a mimosa, and Trace had a crown and coke. it was noon by then :) and we gave our orders and we waited... then we had another round of drinks and we waited... 12:45 by the time our food was served...yikes. it was good. i had sweet crepes with an orange cream filling and blackberry syrup. good thing we weren't in a hurry.


In fact it was really nice to just hang out and relax. the place was full and the weather was great so there was a lot of good people watching to be had. in fact as we were finishing our meal. a couple outside our window on the patio proved to be very entertaining. They had two little boys, maybe 4 & 6. They're food came out not long after us and we had already been watching and noticing how good those boys were. to sit there for an hour and wait for food. they had 2 appetizers and plenty of crayons so mom and dad must have known what to expect. The little boy ordered chicken nuggets and was happy as a clam. the older boy ordered french toast and it was very frenchy. it was a diagonally sliced piece of very narrow french bread and was pretty toasty. we knew that already because Jessica ordered the same thing. it was good but the crust was so tough she asked for a steak knife. so this little boy gets his plate and his eyes grow 3 inches and his face twists a little wondering what the heck they brought him... but mom convinces him to give it a shot and we watch this little boy work the heck out of it with a butter knife. Good job kid! Then mom and dad both send their food back because it's cold and Jessica can see them talking about it. Trace and i had to turn to watch them so she had the best view. They get their food back, pretty quickly actually, and everyone gets to eating. Then the little one decides he's done and throws his chicken nugget across the table and almost smacks the dude sitting next to them. Mom wasn't pleased. by then it was 1:30 and we've finally paid our bill and head out. it was fun and tasty... but next time we'll probably go to Denny's. :)