The Ranch

I visited the ranch for the first time when I was twelve.  My dad was in his teens when he first hunted there with his dad and brothers.  For them, hunting for deer and other game was a necessity that enabled them to feed their family.  For me, a visit to the ranch is a chance to vacation and to see some of my family, in the beautiful Pine Ridge area of northwestern Nebraska. 

The ranch

My great-uncle, Frank Vaughn, was a doctor in Gordon during the Great Depression.  Many of his patients paid their bills with livestock, rather than money, so Uncle Doc bought the ranch to provide a place to raise his cattle.  The ranch was also his place to get away from the cares of his life for a little while.  He gardened there, fixed fence, and cobbled together repairs on the houses and various outbuildings.  There were good reasons why he was destined to be a doctor, rather than a carpenter or a mechanic.  He's the only person I ever knew who repainted his aging pickup-- with a brush!

The bone tree

Uncle Doc, who was the father of four daughters, loved having his brother-in-law and nephews (and their extended families) come to hunt at the ranch.  I don't believe that he did much hunting himself, but he always joined the hunters for meals, bringing along his guitar to provide a little after-supper entertainment.

Levi swings across the creek

One summer, the hunters brought their families to help with major repairs and renovations on the house they inhabited when they came out to the ranch to hunt in the fall.  That was the first time I ever got to visit the ranch, since fall hunting trips were for adults only.  That memorable summer, the adults added a living room (formerly an outbuilding of some kind) to the house, and re-roofed the entire structure.  All thirteen of us kids, ranging in age from two to twelve, rode in the back of Uncle Doc's pickup to see the ranch, fished in Wounded Knee Creek, rode Uncle Doc's horses all over the ranch, swung across the creek on the rope swing, played kick the can, and enjoyed s'mores around the evening campfire.  It seems to me that the boys slept outside in a tent, but the girls slept on lumpy old hospital beds that lined the enclosed porch, which we called the dormitory.  Unfortunately, a bat also made its home on that porch, and the dormitory roof leaked during the frequent nighttime thunderstorms that occurred that week, at least until the roofing job was completed.

Cooking at the ranch--through the years!

 We still talk about the Sunday when someone drove all of us kids the eighteen miles into town so we could go to Sunday School; I suspect that the teachers were a little concerned to see all of us come in the door that day, since there were more of us than the rest of the Sunday School combined.  However, we were all well-behaved kids who were used to being in Sunday School and church, so the disruption, while memorable, shouldn't have caused any real hardship for anyone. 

Footbridge across the Wounded Knee Creek

We also remember the day my brother, Dan, age nine, got lost.  He and the other boys had been fishing in the creek.  Dan decided to take a short-cut back to the house, and ended up walking in the opposite direction.  Several hours later, after much searching, just when the adults were ready to call the sheriff for help, a neighbor brought him back safely.  I've been told that Dan completely wore out his shoes that day.  (I hope that Dan will write about that day someday soon in his own blog.  I wonder what he remembers?)

Levi hikes the Pine Ridge

After my first momentous trip to the ranch, my family visited often in the summers.  After Uncle Doc died in the 1970's, Aunt Lucille gave my dad and uncles the opportunity to buy part of the ranch.  That's how those 600 acres came to be owned by the Pine Bluffs Land Corporation, consisting of Dad, Uncle Lee, Uncle Gary, and my cousins, Steve and Wes.  They all still hunt at the ranch every spring and fall, and our extended families vacation there (and make repairs and renovations) every summer.

Cousin Steve, finishing the new floor

Cousin Wes, painting in the dormitory

Last weekend, we joined the family at the ranch again.  Levi, Victoria, and I slept in a tent this time, since the dormitory was getting a new floor.  Meagan and Andy joined us, too, with Tobin.  Someone remarked that Tobin is the fifth generation to come to the ranch.  I wonder just how many generations are yet to follow...

Victoria, in our tent

Levi, Victoria, Nikki, and Joe, in front of the bunkhouse

Andy and Meagan, with Tobin

Mom relaxes in her favorite rocking chair