I’m currently sitting outside at my friend’s ranch in Skull Valley, Arizona. I stopped in for a quick visit on Monday, and got stuck. RB Paradise Ranch is a difficult place to leave. Open arms, horsies, rock clambering, good food, Argos romping… easy to get stuck here. You see, Richard is the kind of guy who has a big heart and loves company. He is chosen family to a lot of us oddballs and I’ve been to the ranch many times over the past bunch of years for dinners, picnics, camping, horseback riding, and general relaxing fun with friends.

I got to drive a tractor for the first time since I was a kid!

We had to move some hay bales for the horses.

Argos is turning into a ranch dog and loves running around! He and Pugsly took a walk to see the horses in the back field.

We took a day and went fishing. I caught a tree and we laughed a lot.

In a “hold my beer and watch this” moment, Shaughn climbed a dead tree that overhangs the lake to retrieve the bobber and hook. Surprisingly, the tree held but he was only able to bring back the hook. He had managed to fell the branch that the bobber was on, but it was all still in the water. Richard, not to be outdone, waded in a fished out the bobber. That’s me pointing my rod at Shaughn in the tree.

It was a successful day.

Today, we went for a horseback ride. I got one photo and it’s mostly of the horses noses eating grass. I haven’t been riding in a while now and last time was here at the ranch on the same horse!

It’s a hard life here with the perfect weather, horses, and chickens, and dogs (oh my!) and it will be difficult to leave tomorrow morning. But my wanderlust right now is stronger than my desire for this kind of contentment… although, if I didn’t have a jobby job and time-frame now, I’d stick around for longer and help plant flowers and get the gardens back up to snuff and go on more horse-rides. *sigh*