R & E Ranch

One year and three months ago I said a final goodbye to a property that is very near and dear to my heart. I have started, stopped, added to, and deleted things from this post since that visit. A few weeks ago, I left Montana to come to California to help some family for a bit. Being back in the area and having to drive by this piece of property on almost a daily basis, made me realize, I really need to finish this post; because I’ve been meaning to for over a year, and, because it’s time to truly let go.

My grandparents purchased 116 acres of rolling hills with a small herd of cattle in Paso Robles, CA in 1998. About a year prior to that, my grandpa purchased his very first horse in his mid-seventies. My family and I were living in Eagle, Idaho at the time and were looking in to relocating to the Paso Robles area. I was beyond ecstatic to get to live in a much closer proximity to this wonderful property, as well as back living closer to my grandparents, and of course, the horse.

The property came with a beautiful ranch style home, goat barn and pen, chicken coop, duck pond, garden area, several horse shelters in large paddocks, an arena, pole barn and cattle shoot, tree house, and playhouse. To my young, adventurous, animal, and outdoor loving 11-year-old mind, this, was heaven.

I have so many fond memories at the R & E Ranch. I tamed semi feral cats, I helped brand and vaccinate cows, we moderately learned archery, went trap shooting, I had a horse to ride consistently, picnics and Little House on the Prairie reenactments in the playhouse, endless hours wandering through the cattle pastures pretending to be an Indian scouting out the next hunt, or an outlaw cowboy on the run.

Not all our days were littered with play, however. We spent long hours over many days, scraping old paint off the fence boards for the ranch hands to repaint. My family and I helped paint numbers on the end posts in the soon to be vineyard. We “planted” plastic knives in the ground to mark where the grape plants would be planted. I walked miles and miles a day, in the sweltering sun.
Once the vineyard plants were established, I helped secure netting on the plants to keep the birds and deer from getting to the grapes before harvest, I helped take netting off the plants right before the machines came through to harvest the grapes, I walked the rows after the machine harvests to collect any grape bunches left behind, either on the ground or still attached to the vine.

I spent almost an entire summer there with my grandparents when I was twelve. We had a horrible cricket problem that summer, and I remember every night, before I went to bed my grandma would get down on her hands and knees to make sure there were not any lurking under my bed before she turned out the light. I helped with ranch and kitchen chores, we watched Hong Kong Phooey after lunch to take a break from the hot summer sun, my grandmother let me help make meals, went to the local county fair.

Some of my fondest memories of and with my grandparents were time spent at the Ranch. I will forever hold close the time and memories made with them on and off this property. However, it will always hold the largest space in my heart when I think of special places, and fond memories with my grandparents.