From Flip Flops to Clodhoppers

We are in the Great American Desert.

So named by the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Known as home sweet home to me. 
At a little ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska, nestled at the end of a ten mile country road, forty-five minutes from the nearest town, over a mile from the nearest neighbor.
Where cows outnumber people ten to one and where the deer and the antelope play.
And where the weather is BITTERLY COLD!

I packed everyone into the minivan in Louisiana in the sweltering heat of 90 degrees  (mind you that was at 9:00 A.M.)  We traveled three days straight  (yes, you read that correctly!)  THREE DAYS in a minivan with a four year old and 19 month old twins.  I would never have made it if my mother-in-law hadn't offered to brave the trip to see my family with me.  God Bless that woman!  When we crossed the state line into Nebraska the temperature was 38 degrees with driving rain!  I was still wearing flip flops.  What was I thinking?!  My dad met us in Omaha and drove us 10 hours to the ranch.  Poor little Boston started runnning a temperature and got sick in the car.  It wasn't long after that my little girl got sick, too.  But we made it!  What a miracle!  It took us a good four days to recooperate.  And even now, after being at the ranch for almost two weeks, we're still not used to the cold!

 I will say, though, that the snow was a pleasant surprise.

We woke up Sunday morning to a winter autumn wonderland.  Instead of leaves fluttering through the air, giant snowflakes were blanketing the ground in the barest of whispers.  It was the perfect snowfall.  No wind, just balls of cotton lightly swirling in the silence of morning interrupted only by the crunch of our shoes.  Thad loved it!  The twins did too.  Okay, I even enjoyed it just a little bit...and then my now southern thin skin got cold.

Thad said it was almost as fun as riding Jenny.

Jenny is the pretty palamino pony I got when I was seven.  She's a beautiful blonde with blue eyes and even though she's gotta be near 80 in horse years, she doesn't look like she's aged one bit.  As ornery as she is, I love that little horse.

It's been fun here on the ranch of my childhood.  And seeing it through the eyes of my little ones has made it all the more special.

Two weeks is a long time without my honey, though, and I'm practically jumping up and down with excitement because he's coming up here to the ranch tonight--just in time for my birthday!

                 

P.S. Doesn't this post look so out of place compared to my last post with us ON THE BEACH in Florida?!