Memory Creek Ranch

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Someday, Riley will make a better entrance sign to our new ranch, but things are so busy that this temporary sign on the only white fence we have will have to do. Enjoy! Go to the High Sierra category to see pictures from Andi and Riley’s adventures in Yosemite.

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Before reaching the ranch sign, visitors wind their way around the rolling hills. Sometimes it’s muddy, and sometimes there are wild turkeys.

Riley is a good shot bagging a turkey. I’m careful to not let chicken scraps escape, or we would be up to our eyebrows in wild turkeys. They can be frightful pests. But what is a ranch without a never-ending parade of wild turkeys?

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Just when I thought spring was here, a freak snowstorm dusted the eastern foothills. Boy, was I disappointed. (“Moonglow,” Stranger in the Glade, coming February 2022)

Then it got worse. Snow came to Memory Creek. Just for an hour and then it melted, but I nearly froze to death. I never remember snow on the Circle C in the valley.

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The house Riley and my family built for us is small, but it has a nice front porch and Riley says we can always add extra rooms or even a second story as our family grows. For now, it’s just right for a rancher’s family.

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Riley has set aside a nice paddock for the spring foals. He loves it when it rains and rains and rains. We both know once April rolls around, the rain is pretty much over until next winter except for the occasional crazy thunder and lightning storm and downpour, so Riley tries to time foaling season in February so the mares and foals get the benefit of fresh, green grass.

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A Very Special Spot

Remember that hidden spot Riley claimed nobody but he knew about? It’s true. Here are pictures of that special, quiet, hard-to-get-to place. This setting shows up in both books as “A Very Special Spot” and “Stranger in the Glade.” I never believed there was anything in the midst of the banded rocks. Cory and I went clear around them in our youth. There was no way through. Or so I thought.

Riley left the horses and led me through an intricate maze that finally came out in a beautiful little meadow with a year-round pond, green grass, and plentiful wildlife.

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