9.15.2011

The Faux Ranch

Now that we are all back at school I am terribly homesick for the faux ranch.  The Ranch means many different things to me.  Most importantly it is my reset button.  Every year for 24 years I have been going for at least 3 or 4 weeks in the summertime.

It's actually one of the most beautiful places on earth.



Many, many years ago BigMan's great grandfather bought this land. He, in turn gave it to his three sons.  Each of the three families still own it. BigMan's grandfather was an architect and designed and built all of the buildings. We are up to something like 32 owners for just our ranch alone.

The Faux Ranch has a few different buildings.  The Main house has a kitchen (fairly non-functional but we make it work), with a large fireplace at one end, a huge table with benches and a small "living room".  It also has a piano.  It's rustic with concrete floors, bats often fly through and the mouse battle is grand.

The Moon Viewing (which may or may not fall down in the next earthquake) is a one room cabin perched high with a teepee type roof which is glass and when you lay in bed at night you can see the stars.

There are a few tent platforms, a bunkhouse and the Wooden Tent.  We mainly stay in there and it is just a one room structure.  We also have a Japanese soaking tub, bowling alley, and tennis courts.  It sounds all grand but it's much more like living like a colonial woman.

The best part of the ranch is the gathering of people.  On some occasions we have had 60 people there.  It is a great mix of generations.  Someone is always playing music, cooking and there is always someone to just hang out with.  The Faux ranch teaches my children so many things.  They learn how to work hard.  They need to get along with others and they learn to enjoy beauty and to respect nature.  They honor their relatives and gain respect for people who are not like them.  It's a great thing and I hope that our future generations will love it like we do.

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