Terry,
 I have fond memories of an experience I had at your ranch near Ramon in l944:
 It was after I had finished gunnery school at Yuma and was on furlough before going to Overseas training at Barksdale Field... I had about a month leave and decided to visit all my friends and relatives from El Paso all the way east to Amarillo.

 Uncle Adron and Aunt Johnnie invited about 50 or 60 of their friends to come to a "wolf hunt" they gave in my honor at the ranch near Ramon while I was there for a few days. The day before, Uncle Adron picked a very gentle horse out of a huge herd of animals for me to ride the next day. Aunt Johnie and I rode our horses that afternoon out for a long distance and I found out that I had a great horse.

 But what happened the next day will make you laugh:  Uncle Adron got about 20 or us to ride in a formation, at a distance from each other of about 100 yards.  We could just see the rider next in the line, the distance was so great.  I made the sad mistake of riding  "swingman" (should have asked to be  "pivot man", since the whole formation moved in a great circle and the man who rode "pivot" had an easy job and didn't do a lot of riding; whereas the guy posted at the far end of the line had a lot of long and hard riding to do).  

 Well, we were all supposed to be back at the ranch house about 1:00 PM that day but "yours truly's" thighs were so chafed after just a few hours of riding that he had to dismount and lead his horse in. As I came dragging in about 1:30 and told everyone why I was late they all "ribbed" me unmercifully. Got quite a laugh out of it.  

 But nothing like the laugh my grandpa Will got out of it... while visiting him in Las Cruces about a week later, one morning the two of us were in the bathroom together, I was shaving and grandpa came in to wash his face and hands.  When he looked down and saw the huge scabs that by that time had formed on my thighs he said, "Son, what in the world happened to you?"  When I told him he just hee hawed!
 
 Regards,
 
Ralph

(Terry and Adrienne’s 2nd Cousin.)
Posted 09.27.04