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Welcome to our corner of the world!. |
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Wishing you all a blessed new year. |
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One of the magnificent views along the extensive Missouri River that runs through the middle of the state of North Dakota. |
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One of our best memories is taking 4 of our own horses and showing them oursleves to 19 first places and Championships in a double Class A show. Not bad since Rauleigh never owned a horse until he married Eve! |
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Oh....did we mention.....that life is never dull on the North Dakota prairie? Rauleigh likes to caption this photo...."You might get in, but you won't get out!" Trail cameras set up to monitor the movement of the deer in preparation for fall hunting, caught the images of mountain lions prowling ours and other ranches during the night. This one was taken out by our 15 year old neighbor when it tired to kill her horses! |
They weigh in up to150 pounds. On November 27th of 2009....one was actually taken out by the Bismarck police department within the city of Bismarck. It
had begun stalking a mother and her young son. They have also attacked numerous horses, cattle and sheep in our immediate area, so Eve renewed her hand gun permit and now doesn't go hiking with out it. >
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In the summer of 2009, Eve brought back home, her all time favorite mare, Fame's Diamond Chip. In September, Eve headed back to the shows with her and they are winning again. A special "thank you" to Diana and Andi for letting this beautiful girl come back to our barn once again....see you at the World Championships in 2010! |
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And then, "the rest of the story!" Heading home from Tulsa, a winner, with 2010 World and Reserve World Championships for Eve and Fame's Diamond Chip. This made a year of hard work in the preparation, the marathon drive to get Fame to the show unblemished and healthy in the high heat and humidity , and the 4:00 am wake up calls and dealing with the 102 temps at the show, all worth it. In the end....there is nothing like winning to give you a natural high!!! |
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We are beginning to enjoy this semi-retirement. The kids have now learned to check with us ahead of time as we keep our bags packed and if the mood strikes us, we head off motorhoming or may be on another cruise. We think we may have been aboard the Sun Princess in 2007 visiting Russia on this cruise. |
In the process of retiring, we sold off the indoor arena and that 40 acres and our home of 25 years and it's 9 acres and relocated to our beloved ranch southeast of Bismarck. The 160 acres has breathtaking pastoral views of big skies, wild game and native prairies that overlook the majestic Missouri River. An incredible sense of peace pervades the area with deer occasionally passing through, pheasants and quail who call this place home dancing about on the prairie, and foxes and coyotes romping about at the oddest of moments. In this peaceful setting, outstanding horses will continue to be bred...just on a smaller scale. Okay, it does snow up here in the north country once in a while...but it keeps the "riff-raff" out!
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Our retirement home out on the ranch near the Missouri River. |
Rauleigh likes to say that marriage is a compromise, so in building our retirement home, we both wrote down everything we wanted in the new home.....and then we built it all. We put in offices for both of us and a huge studio for Eve so that she can work on several projects at a time. Rauleigh's contribution was creating the circular, lighted from beneath staircase. It is breathtaking. The several fireplaces are faced with black china stone with etchings of wolves and wild horses. Stained glass windows with wolf and horse motifs are embedded in the walls, of course designed by Eve. Since one of the pass times both Rauleigh and Eve love is cooking, the home has two kitchens, one small one in the master suite upstairs and a gourmet kitchen complete with 2 dishwashers, a 6 burner Jenn-air, 4 sinks, 3 ovens and granite countertops on the main floor. Friends tell us that we will never be able to sell this for what we have into it given our location, but Rauleigh explains that we are playing "Ted Turner" (if you have ever run into his place on the Madison River in Montana). Rauleigh tells them that we built it to enjoy and don't ever intend to sell it....we will die here and let someone else worry about that problem! In the meantime, we will play with our dogs and horses and thank God for "another day in Paradise!"
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The dogs, Huntley and Brinkley. Huntley is Rauleigh's English Cocker and hunting companion that is an amazing addition to Rauleigh's love for pheasant hunting. They rarely come back from a hunt without two or three in the game bag. Brinkley is Eve's Bearded Collie who thinks it is his responsibility to entertain everyone. He loves being outdoors so in the summer heat he sports his summer hair cut and in winter looks true to his breed. They are known as the "clown dogs" and he is very good at it. |
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Where is the farm truck? Didn't we park it behind the arena to be safe from the storm....ooops! Everyone talks about the weather, but we really do have "weather" out here on the prairie. We are the northern extension of the desert in the summer and that brings up dry and very hot winds. (We even have cactus in the pastures!) And in winter from the frozen northland we get what is fondly called "the artic express" which brings down the bitter cold. The highest summer temperature we have experienced was 118 degrees! The coldest was an incredible 47 below zero with a wind chill of 97 below on a Christmas Eve! |
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Finally, we are thankful for the many blessings that God has seen fit to bestow upon us. We thank him for the gifts of family, friends, health and the blessing of having been born in this amazing country where anyone who is willing to work hard enough, can truly achieve the American Dream! |
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