The Guerin Ranch is located on 360 acres of high desert cattle grazing land. Gayle's grandfather originally bought nearly 50,000 acres in the early 1900's and some of the land has been sold and the rest past down to children and grandchildren. Gayle (my son Conlan's girlfriend) lived on the ranch with her brother until her brother and sister in-law decided they wanted to move to Oklahoma. The brother sold off his portion of the land and moved leaving Gayle with the remaining acreage. Gayle no longer raises cattle and is in the process of establishing a new business of organic gardening.
Conlan works for the Forest Service in Conejone about thirty miles south of Tierra Amarilla and Gayle is one of the school bus drivers, so they are a very busy couple. All of their spare time is devoted to working on the ranch AND playing hard. Conlan and Gayle are also very active with the local human society and foster dogs when needed. They now have five dogs, three of which were unadopted foster dogs. The ranch is a great place for them. Two of the dogs are "outdoor" dogs...they sleep outside and have a very important job of keeping the prairie dogs and coyotes away. Conlan's dog Boone has adapted well to ranch life and has dropped a lot of weight( so has Conlan for that matter), and sleeps in the house at night. Gayle's other two female border collie mix dogs share the house with Boone at night but spend their days chasing away the prairie dogs and coyotes.
Boone, the black lab and P-Ditty. P-Ditty is one of the full time outdoor dogs. He was found howling and abandoned at the grocery store. Nobody stepped up to adopt him, probably because he is always a mess. He likes to roll in everything and is always dirty...but he is the sweetest dog... a a great prairie dog hunter.
Four horses live on the ranch in addition to the five working dogs, one of which is Gayle's horse. The others are borders. Since it has been so cold, they all still their winter coats.
Jingle Bob is one of the borders and really outgoing and gentle. He always comes to me when I am out walking.
This is Arnie, Gayle's horse. He is a real sweetheart and pretty friendly.
Gayle on Arnie along with Boone and Jennie riding on the lower pasture.
About a week after arrived, Gayle and Conlan, few out to Nevada and California to visit family. My job was to keep on eye on the ranch and feed the animals, which kept me pretty busy.
I have a pretty sweet set up here. I have sewer and water available but no power, so my solar panels have come in really handy. This has been an usually cold spring (night time temps have averaged in the 20's, so my olympic wave and forced air propane heaters have been getting a workout. I have some awesome views from my window. Although El Vada State Park is only three miles up the road there is very little traffic and it is very, very, quiet.
One of the hillside views out of my window
More to come, so check back.
looks lovely.
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