Our herd has grown to 17 horses with the addition of Charlie, a fourteen year old Appaloosa gelding. Charlie is having a great time getting to know all his new pasture buddies and learning the herd’s daily routine. We thought we might have to keep Charlie separate for awhile so we could slowly introduce him to the herd, but he ran up to the fence and met everyone without any of the typical biting or kicking, so we let him in the pasture and he has fit right in.

Charlie is a red roan, meaning he has red hair flecked in to a mostly cream colored coat. His mane and tale are a strawberry blonde color. Yesterday he came up to the fence and I hardly recognized him – he had rolled in the mud, then let it dry, and it was caked on him – he was completely brown! We had to hose him off to be sure it really was Charlie underneath!

To meet Charlie and all his friends, come on out to Seventy-four Ranch.

Our annual July 4^th picnic at the Seventy-four Ranch was a wonderful time for our whole ranch family to get together and enjoy each other and the animals and the great outdoors.

The festive mood started with the flags lining the driveway and draping the front porches of the house. Just look at the picnic table loaded with everyone’s favorite dish.

My favorite was the beef, peppers and onions slow roasted over an open fire by Menny – the savory smell had everyone standing in line as soon he rang the dinner bell!

The kids rode horses, and even the youngest wranglers got in on the ranch activities. I think we have a budding cowboy learning to rope cattle before he even starts kindergarten.

All the dogs joined in the fun, and Annabelle, our 4 month old calf, drank four big bottles of formula. Our fireworks were spectacular – Larry made a special trip to South Carolina to stock up so that everyone would remember this July 4^th for an entire year.

We sure hope everyone had as nice a July 4^th as we did.

Meet Annabelle, the Orphan Calf. She is bottle fed and doing fine.

Our foreman Menny made the bottle holder which is a Godsend. She is strong, and headbutts as calves do, this frees me to concentrate on work here.

We had a lot to be thankful for this past week. Despite the drought, the trees are prettier than I think I have ever seen them. This year the oaks really turned a rich shade of red. We took our guests from Florida down to see our creek and I am pleased to report there is actually water flowing now in the Big Scarecorn. Our two painted donkeys, Willie and Waylon, suddenly decided to turn friendly. Our neighbors, the Wares, graciously allowed our animals to graze their good pastures for a few days. I completed my entry for a charity cookbook I want to start. My husband and I are both in good health, and so happy together.

And did I mention the feast? The Mayor of Hinton brought creamed corn and green beans straight from his garden. Our guest, Carol Applebee, made the mashed potatoes and she and her husband gave us a great bottle of wine and a beautiful wine stopper from Murano. I brined the organic turkey, and it was the most moist I have ever tasted. And my husband pronounced my cornbread dressing almost perfect. A life full of blessings. Hope some blessings found your way to your house this week, too.

The air is crisp now in the North Georgia Mountains, especially early in the morning. The summer heat is a memory and the horses are so happy. We’ve had some rain, and their pastures are greening. During a rare day off I got to ride Blue’s Bengal Wonder, our three year old tiger-striped dun, for the first time. We call him Bengal and he may be our sweetest horse. We were with Bengal when he was born. In the process of what is called imprinting he became so close to us he once tried to get into our pickup just because we were in it. Putting your leg over a new horse is always exciting. But when it’s your horse, your baby, it’s almost indescribable. He more than lived up to his training and all our hopes and within the next year or so I hope he will be my saddle horse. Below you can see Bengal as a baby enjoying attention from Ranch visitors and being fed by Ranch Owner, Larry Butler.

We knew the ranch was special from the very first time we set foot on it. We noticed something was special about how other people felt about the ranch when our friends from Atlanta would come up to spend Saturday afternoon and wonder on Monday if they should call in sick. Larry and I love to travel, but gradually we have noticed that what we really want to do is vacation at the Seventy-four Ranch. Over the past few years, we have had the great privilege of having people choose the ranch to celebrate their special days. Grace’s mom in Florida just emailed us to tell us that Grace said all she wants for her birthday is to go “see Mr. Larry and Ms. Pam”, and meet Gracie, the little Jack Russell terrier who is her new namesake. Jared liked the farm so much he came back to celebrate his birthday with us this May, and now he wants his dad to buy him his own farm.

We’ve hosted newlyweds, couples getting a precious weekend away from their first child for the very first time, and couples who are celebrating many joyous years together. We now have the pleasure of planning 2008 weddings. It’s very rewarding and we get to live here!