{"id":15079,"date":"2026-09-02T09:42:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T16:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/?p=15079"},"modified":"2026-09-02T09:42:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T16:42:25","slug":"day-off-at-the-ranch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/02\/day-off-at-the-ranch\/","title":{"rendered":"Day Off at the Ranch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Nettie Note:<\/strong> This post has been sitting in the drafts for a full month, waiting on Paul to add some detail to the photos he brought home from his last ranch trip of the summer. He finally got around to it over the weekend so I post it by way of a record of events, although I felt it necessary to point out to him that his descriptions were rather&#8230; sparsely worded this time. He tends to approach the task from an engineer&#8217;s rather than a blogger&#8217;s mindset, which is not surprising I guess. \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-15079_14029e-f8 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-15079_14029e-f8 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-15079_14029e-f8\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I finally got a chance to get away from it all. I took a few days off and went up to the ranch. I am grateful for the time I had to think and pray.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_211112679_EDIT-765x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15089\" style=\"width:395px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking of praying, here is where I did that. I put a chair in a nook in this tree. Good shade, good views, good time to pray.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"771\" src=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_220526219_EDIT-1024x771.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15090\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3281616720606764;width:589px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_220526219_EDIT-1024x771.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_220526219_EDIT-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_220526219_EDIT-768x578.jpg 768w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_220526219_EDIT-1536x1156.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_220526219_EDIT-2048x1542.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_220526219_EDIT-640x482.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Turned out I had a lot of work to do on my &#8220;break&#8221;. We had a lot of rain. So much that our valley flooded and the running water messed up our fence (again). I had to spend a lot of time and effort digging out the bottom line and fixing a few breaks.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"771\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_231104650_EDIT-771x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15091\" style=\"width:453px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_231104650_EDIT-771x1024.jpg 771w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_231104650_EDIT-226x300.jpg 226w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_231104650_EDIT-768x1020.jpg 768w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_231104650_EDIT-1156x1536.jpg 1156w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_231104650_EDIT-1542x2048.jpg 1542w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_231104650_EDIT-640x850.jpg 640w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260806_231104650_EDIT-scaled.jpg 1927w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is an ontologically superior telephone pole. Honest it is! Just ask my kids. A few times, I would take my kids on a (forced) hike that ended up here. When my kids asked, I&#8217;d tell them that the hike was to see this telephone pole. Clearly it is better than all  the others and well worth the hike!!!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"771\" src=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135200770_EDIT-1024x771.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15092\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3281616720606764;width:580px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135200770_EDIT-1024x771.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135200770_EDIT-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135200770_EDIT-768x578.jpg 768w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135200770_EDIT-1536x1156.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135200770_EDIT-2048x1542.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135200770_EDIT-640x482.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After my time at the ranch was over, I decided to go through the white mountains on the way home, and go for a hike. This is at Pole Knoll recreation area. We go here often, but I can never hike very far, because I have kids with me and they are&#8230; well&#8230; not up to it. Today, I was on my own and determined to finally make it to the top of Pole Knoll Mountian.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135302784_EDIT-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15093\" style=\"width:454px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135302784_EDIT-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135302784_EDIT-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135302784_EDIT-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135302784_EDIT-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135302784_EDIT-640x853.jpg 640w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135302784_EDIT-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And I did make it. Here I am. The view is of&#8230; trees&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"771\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135348102_EDIT-771x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15094\" style=\"width:455px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135348102_EDIT-771x1024.jpg 771w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135348102_EDIT-226x300.jpg 226w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135348102_EDIT-768x1020.jpg 768w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135348102_EDIT-1156x1536.jpg 1156w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135348102_EDIT-1542x2048.jpg 1542w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135348102_EDIT-640x850.jpg 640w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135348102_EDIT-scaled.jpg 1927w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pretty!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135523318_EDIT-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15095\" style=\"width:456px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135523318_EDIT-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135523318_EDIT-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135523318_EDIT-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135523318_EDIT-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135523318_EDIT-640x853.jpg 640w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_135523318_EDIT-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Most Difficult&#8221;??? Whatever.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_140246275_EDIT-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15096\" style=\"width:454px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_140246275_EDIT-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_140246275_EDIT-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_140246275_EDIT-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_140246275_EDIT-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_140246275_EDIT-640x853.jpg 640w, https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PXL_20260808_140246275_EDIT-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I better be careful! The trail is steep!<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div><p id=\"pvc_stats_15079\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"15079\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p><div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nettie Note: This post has been sitting in the drafts for a full month, waiting on Paul to add some detail to the photos he brought home from his last ranch trip of the summer. He finally got around to it over the weekend so I post it by way of a record of events, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_15079\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"15079\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"iawp_total_views":16,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,35,33,7],"tags":[11,39],"class_list":["post-15079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adopted-joy-blog","category-hiking","category-ranch-pix","category-travel","tag-carrizo-ranch","tag-hiking","entry","has-media"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":14,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15079"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15134,"href":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15079\/revisions\/15134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adoptedjoy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}