Julia, The Most Precious Gift by Gene Long 2013 In January 2013, my sweetheart Rhonda and I bought a small ranch in Palo Pinto County, Mineral Wells Texas just 4 miles from Palo Pinto. We named it, The 2R Ranch, after Robert Frost’s poem, 2 Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood. Since I was 10 years old this poem has had a significant influence on my life. I suggest most young people read this poem. In a short time we found we needed to add a program to the ranch to keep the taxes at bay. Sam the Ram, Ruby & Louise, the two ewes rounded out the “herd”. These are three Mouflon sheep which basically are wild mountain sheep with hair instead of wool. Very regal, beautiful, and clearly wild until they come up and eat a little corn from your hand. My mother’s name was Ruby, her sister Louise. My grandmother Mary Agnes Clark had a sister, Julia Clark. My grandmother became Mrs. Mary Neal of Palestine Texas and Aunt Julia became, Mrs Julia Rogers, of Shreveport Louisiana. Family names are easy to remember so I had plenty of names for the future for all the animals that would come. By summer, Rhonda and I began to talk about having a ranch family. We already had Lotus, an old Sheeba dog that was more cat than dog. Burglars, don’t come to our house if you don’t want to be sniffed and licked. Lotus, never met a stranger. I could tell in our conversations that Rhonda would love a horse. By July of 2013, I was looking for a really good deal. I began to tell my friends that I was looking for a horse. Jim Curry told me that his sister, Janice, was raising show horses in Keller. I jumped on this and said simply, “If she ever wants to give away a horse let me know.” Jim laughed and said he would pass that on to Janice but…..these are really expensive horses and he doubted it. My phone rang, it was Janice Young. Janice and I had been friends for over 30 years. She said if I was looking for a horse, she had one for me. Janice invited me to her ranch in Keller that she shared with her husband of 30 years, Bud Young. That Monday, Rhonda and I drove over to the Keller ranch and, are you ready? We were introduced to Julia.(nicknamed JuJu) I smiled knowing that the 2R Ranch family is growing. Julia stood 15.1 hands tall. Tobiano Paint 7 year old mare with splashes of white, 2 dark hooves. 2 white hooves, and a long beautiful tail to the ground. Registered, beautiful, gentle, and smart. It was love at first sight for Rhonda. Clearly a tear or two were showing in Janice’s eyes as this turns out to be her favorite horse and her baby. It seems that Janice had decided to retire from the horse business (on a daily basis) and that I would benefit from this with the loveliest gift, Aunt Julia. Janice brought Julia out to our ranch after saying her goodbyes. Janice, being the good mother and horse owner, looked over our place and declared it was the perfect family home for Julia to spend her life. With a few hugs all around, she was gone. Rhonda was alone and opened her heart to her new baby, JuJu. I look out the window now, see Rhonda, JuJu, and our dog Lotus, walking down the trail. Let’s see now, we still have plenty of family names left, there’s James, Albert, Nina, ……….I turn 70 in January and it feels comfortable to have the family all around me again. Thank you Janice…..you truly have been a good friend…..
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 14:51:54 +0000
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