Ace of Hearts Ranch

I was reluctant at first about going to Ace of Hearts Ranch because of how I had perceived horse people. I thought they would be either know it alls or horse fanatics. Sandra and Ed were neither, however they were extremely knowledgeable concerning horses.  Ms Sandy (Sandra Vann) was a certified Parelli instructor and the most honest and caring lady that I have ever met. We were welcomed with open arms and treated like family. We were privileged and honored to be there to celebrate her birthday.

Her Mom, who is 85 years old,  became very special to me. We chewed the fat and killed a multitude of deer flies together. Here she is with Jeanne and Jadyn.

I was blessed to help out some on the ranch. My first project was to sharpen the blades on the finish deck of the tractor. Man I love to work on things. I removed the blades and put an edge on them with a bench grinder, then hung them on a nail to check balance.

Then it was off on a trail ride with Ms Sandy. She put me on a really cool horse named Arby.

The trails that we rode were beautiful dense Florida woods. Ms Sandy pointed out fauna and explained about it and we enjoyed blue berries along one of the trails. 

One evening we decided to have a wiener roast. Me and and Jadyn gathered firewood and used pine cones and pine needles as kindling. Soon we were roasting the wieners and I also roasted toast for Jadyn (she doesn’t like hot dogs).

 

The next day Ms sandy had a few ceiling fans that needed to be replaced. So I grabbed my tool bag and off to work I went.

The really pretty fan above was for a real pretty girl named Sadie. Sadie was a beautiful Belgian Draft horse pictured below with another beautiful girl, my daughter Jadyn.

The following day Ms Sandy had some trees that needed a trimming. I took the chainsaw and she lifted me up the tractor’s bucket so I could trim the trees. It was hot and muggy but who doesn’t love to run a chainsaw, huh? Here I am riding in the bucket seat.

While we were there they gave me an AC unit for the bus. I hacked out a hole and put that baby in. I made the mistake of putting to much of that spray foam under it and had to spent some time later to fix it. It runs great now!

  

I want to thank Ed and Sandy for their hospitality, kindness and generosity. Seldom in life do we find such great people of integrity. Off to another great adventure living free.