The Gift of Wranglers War Leo

 Wranglers War Leo a 1983 Gray Stallion. This picture was taken in August 2004. I was lucky enough to acquire Wrangler in 2001. This is to say thanks for the privilege of owning and riding such a fine horse. I'm also very lucky to have offspring from such a horse.  I don't know if I'll be lucky enough to ride a finer horse ever!

Wranglers War Leo earned the 1987 World Champion Jr Working Cow Horse title in Oklahoma. He won with a 10 point spread between 1st and 2nd place. Out of 25 shows Wrangler won 22 Championships, 2 Reserves, and tied for 3rd once. Always in the money and mostly in the winners circle!! A true champion and an awesome individual.  He was competitive in the Working Cow Horse, Reining and Cutting.

This is Ziggy's Wrangler a 2002 sorrel mare, that was my first Wrangler foal and I had lots of fun and success with this mare. We reined in 2007, and oh boy were we having fun winning a few dollars, and prizes along the way. We came away with a Rookie of the year buckle! So cool to win a buckle!!! Sadly, she hurt her knee and now she is a brood mare.

This is Shasta, one of our very best Wrangler mares, she takes good care of the novice rider as well as the seasoned rider. Marilee (seasoned rider) will sometimes let Denver ride his horse. Who knows, maybe someday Marilee will have a Wrangler of her very own and Denver can ride his horse anytime he wants! All though, who wants to give up Shasta? Nobody, that's who!

This is Yuno, my black 2006 gelding that I use on the farm and in the mountains. I like this horse and he is the only black Wrangler that I've had.  He's fussy about water and has a few other quirks, that's what makes him Yuno!

Here's a couple of 2004 foals showing off for the camera. I think my brother in law should use them for advertising his dental practice, don't you?

These are the 2006 foals, I like the picture and all of those foals have become good horses. The Wranglers have been fun to train, like one of my trainers said "The Wranglers are easy money!" (That means no buck and that they learn quickly!)

Ahhhh......

Another 2006 foal by Wrangler. 

I'm one classy dude!!

Look at me, I was born March 2009, my name is Peppy's Magic Mocha. I'm going to be a star!

These pictures were taken within a couple days of being born.

Wranglers War Leo is my daddy and Peppy's Sweet Magic (a Black Magic filly) is my Momma!
This mare is my hope to replace Ziggy as my show mare. So far so good! The 2009 foals are the last of the Wranglers as Wrangler died 02 November 2009.

Here is a picture of the last foal crop of Wrangler, taken during the summer of 2010 as yearlings. Thanks Marilee for such great photos of the horses. Can you find Mocha? Look to the widest blaze on a sorrel.

Another fine photo by Marilee. Mocha is the 4th horse from the left, behind the red horse by the wooden fence.

This is my favorite photo of the "Last of the Wranglers!".  From left to right the horses are:
Wranglers Rustic Lee, Slidin N Grinnin, Wranglers Belladonna, Wrangler Winsalot, Peppy's Magic Mocha, and Pepinics War Leo. Horses # 1,4,5, and 6 are the yearlings or 2009 foal crop.

This is a view of where these horses are growing up, and where I am lucky enough to live. 

Old Chief Mountain in the summer.

Old Chief from the Community Pasture, a favorite place to ride.

Thanks Wrangler for the good times and wonderful foals you have left behind!

Banff !

Well, to mix things up a bit, I decided to throw in a blog about Banff! We really do live in an incredible part of the world, people come from all over the world to see our Rocky Mountains, and sometimes we don't take advantage of what we have. Kelly and I decided to take a few days and visit Banff National Park! We were so lucky to have warm winter weather and NO WIND!! Oh that is such a great thing, No Wind!!

 This is a picture of the west side of Lake Louise. Kelly and I were cross country skiing so I thought I would take a few pictures.

 This is the north end of Lake Louise, the end one would see if you were standing at the big fancy Chateau Lake Louise. We skied to the end of the lake. about 2km one way. It was beautiful, I felt like I was in a movie, just no music or handsome leading man, shucks!! :)

 Evidence that Kelly and I were there, under the shelter to get out of the snow some, but I actually liked the snow.

 Just a little vanity, to show I was truly there. I would like to go to Lake Louise in the summer too, it is beautiful.

 While we were snacking and taking pictures the sleigh showed up. I SO want to have a day like this for a sleigh ride in Leavitt. This is the type of day I was hoping for, for New Years Day, soft falling snow, no wind, slippery snow for the sleigh. It was a perfect outdoor day. (Actually, today would be a good day here, but of course, everyone is working, doing the life thing, not able to go for a sleigh ride, Patience, patience, I know, I know.)

 "Can you hear those sleigh bells ring ting tingingling too?"(Oh I know I'm off key, just smile:)

Ok, can you see my friend below, he decided he wanted some of my trail mix and helped himself!! Birds these days, I tell ya!

Some Ice Climbers getting ready!

 This is the waterfall that the guys were getting ready to climb. If you look real close you can see someone is already up there, he is in the upper left hand side of the ice. From where we were it looked like a very long way to go! We heard him cheering himself on, once he got up to the very top. He was quite proud of himself.
It is about a 100m waterfall, according to the info I read about that waterfall. "Who says you can't walk on water? He climbed it!"

 Ice sculptures at the Chateau Lake Lousie. Kelly posing for me, thanks kido!

 Here we are right next to the sculpture! They are so cool! There were several around the Chateau.

This guy was right outside our Condo doorway. He just made himself at home, I thought about making some noise to get him to put his head up and pose, but then I thought better of it as I'm not such a good runner!

So was our time at Banff and Lake Louise, we got some downhill skiing in, some time in the Hot Springs, and of course time in and out of the fun stores on Banff Avenue. A good getaway with great weather, oh, I'm so lucky to be able to do such fun, neat things!

"Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?"..."Come and See!"

This is modern day Nazareth, today it is known as the Arab capital of Israel.

These are some pictures of Nazareth as it is today, I just love all the color in the plants.

Interesting roof tops, I think anyway.

This was the childhood home of Jesus. So cool to think that he roamed these hills.

This is the entrance to, ( you guessed it) Nazareth Village. This is a living representation of rural life in 1st Century Galilee. The village has a synagogue, an olive press, a vineyard, houses and many of the aspects of life about which Jesus spoke.

An olive tree. I love the narliness of the trunk. Our guide, a Christian Arab, sharing profound thoughts of course. (Christian Arab, a true minority that is for sure!!)

Close up of the olives on the tree. I read that olives are harvested in the green to purple stage. Close to ready I would say. (Olive expert that I am!)

 

These guys are harvesting the olives.

Do you know what this is? Oh, I had to be told too, and I remember thinking oh I didn't get that right when I made up my own picture of what a Threshing Floor was. ( I was thinking wooden floor for some odd reason, maybe it's because I'm odd!!)  Shush... you don't need to confirm that thought at all! :)
Quick fact: The threshing floor (used to harvest wheat, or grain) was flat and hardened by the passing of oxen over the sheaves, sometimes pulling a sled designed to separate the grain from the husks. After the threshing process, the stalks and grain were thrown up into the air so that the wind might blow the unwanted chaff away and leave the valuable kernels. This was known as winnowing.
What's interesting to me is the size of the threshing floor, the trees are on the outside edge of the floor and the rest of the picture is the floor. (I didn't get the whole thing in this shot) Big eh?

This is a shepherd, he has sheep in the enclosure.(duh) The village has people dressed as 1st century citizens would dress and doing the various activities of the day and time.

I just thought this guy was interesting so I took a few pictures.

So, what do you think he is thinking? Easy money? Oh boy tourists again? 

Umm.. I'm hungry?

Ok, this is interesting! Can you see that the guide is standing on a wine press? If you look closely you can see impressions carved into the rock. Where the guide is standing is where the grapes are arranged and the workers squash the grapes with their feet and the juice would flow down to the lower side. ( the direction that he is walking).

Oh, there is so much more to the winepress, but I can't remember all the details and I don't want to bore you, so just have a look see. I'm impressed that it's so big and carved right into the rock.

The Olive Press. Olives are harvested in the fall and brought to the press where a large millstone crushes the fruit to produce virgin oil. (the first press).

So what you are seeing is the press that produces the "Virgin Olive Oil" that so many like to use.

The millstone is huge and it is heavy. (Helps me understand the "millstone tied around the neck" in the scriptures)  Once they get the oil from the first press, then the olives go to a beam press which extracts the second-grade oil from the pulp. Olive oil is used for food, lighting, cosmetics and anointing.

"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?....." Just a note: the English translation uses carpenter which reflects the European notion that a builder primarily works with wood. But the word in Greek to describe Joseph and his son is literally "builder" which can indicate woodworking or more likely in ancient Galilee, stone. Like today, stone was more readily available than wood and was the primary building material. (notice the walls)

The guide indicated that houses in first century Nazareth usually had the work shop towards the front of the home. On the walls are some of the tools of the time period.

And as you go farther in then you get to the living area, this is the kitchen.

Typically women did the spinning and weaving at home.

Some of the handiwork.

Good thing I wasn't a first century Jewish woman, I would have gone hungry and cold.

This, I believe, is the outside of the synagogue. Notice the windows. No glass on them, just open spaces.

This is the inside, and it has the dimensions and style of synagogues that Jesus would teach in. Did you know that in the time of Jesus, there was no separation of the sexes in the synagogues, the women were very active in religious life in the first century. The table there with the scrolls holds the "scriptures" that will be read. The "scriptures" can't be read unless there are 10 adult males present.

The opening in toward the back of the room just right of center is where the "scriptures" were kept.

Luke 4:16-21, talks about Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth. Nazareth is the place where Jesus testifies of Himself as the Messiah. "....this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."  I wonder if I would have been able to fully grasp what he was teaching if I would have been present that day? Many that heard that with their own ears, and saw him with their own eyes "were filled with wrath" (Luke 4:28)

Just before John Lund presented a fireside of sorts we sang a few primary songs about Jesus and I just have to say that I teared up somewhat, it was really hard not to! Such a neat place to sing songs about Jesus.

Hey, just a thought that came out of the fireside: Notice that Christ never used his divine qualities to help with his mortal journey. Satan was constantly tempting him to do that very thing.(turn this stone to bread, etc..) Hence, when Christ says "Come, follow me." we know that we, as mortals, can truly follow Him, he was the example in all things. We have all the tools necessary to return home and to become like Him. We have the ability (with His help) do we have the willingness?

Back to the actually building. Notice the windows, they are wide toward the inside of the building and tapered to the outside, that is for the circulation of the air in the building. (remember this is a hot country!!)

This is the roof from the inside, they have timbers for the cross beams, then reeds over them, and a plaster on top of the reeds, finally they put a soil on the plaster to soak up the rain.

Whew, finally done, I sure hope you stayed with me!! I guess if your reading this you did, ya hoo, thanks for that!! I'm so grateful that I got to "run where, Jesus walked", it really does help to bring the scriptures to life. Thanks for coming on the journey with me. Hopefully you'll learn a few things, have a few grins and maybe even giggles. :)  I know I'm remembering more!