The apples are always sweeter on the other side of the fence

The mountain views are spectacular

Jean and Larry enjoying the warm sunshine

and sweeping vista

Larry chomping on an apple

There's Larry climbing up to get some apples

Reflections of Autumn

I don't know why it is, but for some reason, apples on the other side of the fence are always better than anywhere else. Today we went for a ride up into the mountains, nothing particular in mind except to enjoy the crisp, cold, alpine air. We weren't disappointed. The air smelled of Pine and Autumn leaves...and apples! There's an old ranch on top of the mountain, we've been there before, it's a nice ride and an easy trip. At one time the old ranch was known for having the best apple cidar vinegar anywhere but nobody tends to the orchards anymore and the only interest nowadays comes from the elk and deer who frequent the old orchard. Larry braved the barbed wire fence (and the "No Trespassing" sign) and went to get us a few apples. Gosh, they were good, cold, sweet and juicy! We all remembered the days of our youth when grabbing apples from someone else's orchard always seemed like such a fun thing to do. Maybe we're going through a second childhood, but for some reason, we all had to admit, these were the best apples we've had since we were kids.

There's a lot to be said about life's simple pleasures.

Jack Shoe to Thompson Mesa

With cooler temperatures finally here, we all decided we needed a break from our home improvement projects, so we headed out for a Jeep run with Larry and Jean. We've been to this area before, but this time we wanted to venture a bit further to check out the ruins of an old homestead we'd heard about. The trail was pretty good, very rocky, very bumpy, but with caution we did it without any damage to either our vehicles or our nerves. To our surprise, wildflowers were blooming along the trail adding to our enjoyment.
We found the old homestead, there isn't much left except some stone foundations but the views in all directions were spectacular.
On the way back down the trail we stopped to visit with a horse and a couple of mules, they reported, "all's well", so we proceeded home.



This is the dry wash we had to cross
Very pretty!



A dessert watering hole. Lots of pawprints all
around the pond. Javelina, coyotes and cattle
visit it often.


Some of the stone ruins of the old homestead



We stopped to chat with Mr. Mule


After getting the "all's well" from the horse and
mules, we headed home.

I wish I was a Geek!

Gosh, trying to set up a new Journal is almost more than this poor brain can process. I don't know if I'll be able to transfer my old pictures from AOL Journals to this one. Living here in the boondocks as we do, we've got a really slow dial-up connection and I'm not sure if I've got the patience nor the motivation to go through the extremely lengthy process. I'm thinking it might be easier to just start anew with photos and forget about the old ones. Heck, at this point, I'm still not sure how to put photos on this Journal but I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.


To those of you who follow our Journal, please bear with us...eventually we'll get it right