Ranching...
Ranch Life... Good Word from Jim Petty
Oh how I miss the words from our friend Jim Petty. A rancher from Oklahoma that I never met face to face, but had the privilege of communicating back and forth. He is now in heaven.. He wrote this to us a couple of years ago. It is fitting for our activities yesterday on the Lonetree Ranch.
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...Ranching... "Ranch-Work"...does something for the heart of a Man and Woman...that NO OTHER Occupation...can or will...DO!! Ranch-Work and Horses' Combined...do Amazing Wonders for the heart of Both Men and Women!! Please Know This...You are ALL thought of and Prayed For...OFTEN, with the Approach of Winter's obvious Trials in building Fortitude, Jesus-Dependent Character, and Depth of Heart-Sensitivity!! We Truly "Treasure" our 'winter-trials' over the past 83 years!! What a Great Blessing it is...being Blessed to Endure, and Mostly Enjoy...the Total Experience of People, Horses, Cattle, and being assured Every Day and Night...that we are NOT without the Eyes and Heart of our Lord Jesus--Lovingly Looking-On, Watching Over, ...and Making His Amazing Miraculous' Provisions...when Really Needed... It's Called...Living Out "John 14:6..."...while feeling Very Much...Loved and Cared For!!
My Dad and My Son - From September 2015
We finished planting the Northfield today....As I watched the sun disappear behind the Black Hills to the west on this first day of fall, memories began to flood my mind. We are not big farmers. The fields that we plant and harvest all have stories that date back with the family many decades and some of them over a century. Son, Caleb, was sharing how even in his 13 years as he rides around Lonetree Ranch/ Rainbow Bible Ranch....he is building his "memory bank" as well.
This photo is dear to me. Taken near the end of my Dad's active farming career in the same field that I just completed sowing. Yes, I realize that this season is the first planting on the Lonetree without Dad's presence. As you see, the stories are generations deep. Aside from Danny's very blond hair and the obvious limp of Dad... are Dad's big hands engulfing that of his grandson's. And for a three year old, that big hand was a connection to a very big heart.
The family agricultural operation is a phenomena, perhaps one could even say an institution that dates back to the Garden of Eden. Certainly to be cherished, whether actively involved or memories etched deeply in our hearts and minds of days gone by. It is true that Dad is not physically here, but his effort, sacrifice, sweat, and perhaps some drops blood as well has been mixed into the soil that continues to grow and multiply. And it is for certain that the big hand continues to hold and the huge heart continues to beat through the Legacy that has been established.
Eating Tomatoes.... Together
"Oh how I wish I could be in the garden eating tomatoes with this little towheaded boy..." says Grandpa.
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I know Grandma Robin would love to be there, as well.
Working Cattle on the Lonetree Autumn 2024
Happy Birthday Caleb
Happy Birthday to our dear son, Caleb. Your thoughtfulness, wisdom and insight are just a few of your gifts to others and most of all to God. We are so grateful for you and to you. "Godspeed Son".
Love,
Dad and Mom
Good Sunday Morning
"Good Sunday Morning!"
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I will challenge those that desire to be a better horseman, to not expect more from their horse than we expect and accept of ourselves. That should be true in our daily lives, even when we are not mounted up.
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Philippians 4:8 states, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."
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Let us raise the standard in our own selves. Yes, this is a challenge to myself as well today. LBR
Sunday August 25
Sunday, August 25... A spectacular evening. We have had more rain in the last few days than we did most of the spring thru mid August combined. We have been so dry and hot... We have been feeding livestock hay that should have been on grass alone, however our situation is looking up... Thank You Lord. Too often we let our situations bring us down, rather we need to continue to look up in Faith and realize that we don't "have this" but God does. Each day, I give Him my burdens...
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Caleb, Julia and Kiersten went out on Reinhold Lake with the Kayaks. Our "Big Dam" went up five feet the other night after over three inches of rain fell in a couple of hours time. We enjoyed a little shower and rainbows and a gorgeous sunset.
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Thanks Robin and family for taking so many nice pics.
Remembering our Neighbor, Earl McPherson
Photos from one of our Legacy rides this past summer. A number of years ago when our neighbor Earl McPherson was still present in our Hereford/Alkali community, I took a group of young riders to their ranch headquarters. Earl greeted us on horseback and said to me, "I haven't seen this many riders come through in one group since the cowboys of the Cross S". The Cross S was an open range outfit of the late 1800's into the early 1900's. Every time I take a Legacy II ride out, I think of the old time cowboys riding the open range of Western Dakota.
A Miracle Rain
Well... we got some rain. 2.5" in about an hour and half at Hereford 12SW. US National Weather Service Rapid City South Dakota
This is video of water going over the road on our driveway. Culverts running full. Lonetree Creek is running high. Reinhold Lake is getting water now as well. We did receive some hall and wind blew at 60 mph with lots of lightning. We had some branches down. We will know better how things look at sunup. I can almost hear the old ground groan as the huge cracks in the earth are sucking up the moisture. Thank you Lord.
Almost Ceremonial
It is a tradition for the family on the last nite of the camp season to mount up and take the camp remuda over east to pasture. The horses seem to know that have capped off a summer of being equine friends to hundreds of kids from around the country. The family and staff of RBR are grateful to this fine string of saddle horses that have provided a good experience to our "camp Kids".
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Simply stated, "We love and appreciate our horses".
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From the Book of Job in the Bible....
“Do you give the horse its strength
or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
Do you make it leap like a locust,
striking terror with its proud snorting?
It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength,
and charges into the fray.
It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
it does not shy away from the sword.
The quiver rattles against its side,
along with the flashing spear and lance.
In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground;
it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’
It catches the scent of battle from afar,
the shout of commanders and the battle cry.
Memorial Day Gratitude
Memorial Day Gratitude
My mother, Vicky Reinhold, was a great 'story teller". She would tell of her family members that served during WW 2. It was close to her heart as her three brothers served and she was the little sister. She told me of her cousin, Stanley and that he lost his life during the war.
Thank you Stanley and too all soldiers,sailers, marines and airmen that have given so much.
Stanley H. Bangert, gave his life for his country. He was a crew member of the USS Grayback, a submarine, which was lost in the East China Sea.
The Grayback sank numerous Japanese cargo ships, tankers and freighters, costing them about 21,594 tons of shipping. According to captured Japanese records, on Feb. 27, 1944, a carrier-based Japanese plane spotted the submarine on the surface and attacked it. The sub exploded and sank but, just to be sure it was destroyed, anti-submarine craft were called in to depth-charge the area.
Stanley Bangert tops the alphabetical list of those lost on the Grayback.
Rank/Rate Motor Machinist's Mate, First Class
Service Number 321 23 87
Birth Date March 27, 1919
From Sioux City, Iowa
Decorations Purple Heart
Submarine USS Grayback (SS-208)
Loss Date February 26, 1944
Location 25° 47'N x 128° 45'E, south of Okinawa
Circumstances Sunk by air attack
Remarks Stanley was born in Tyndall, South Dakota.
Memorial Day Tribute
Memorial Day Gratitude
I knew him as Joe. The son of a dear family friend that was taken from this world seemingly too young in a hunting incident. Joe's mom continued raising Joe and his brothers with her Godly example. Joe came to camp as a little boy and I was able to spend some special time with him. Joe grew up and took on the honorable position of being a Marine. He was killed in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Reinhold family is grateful to Joe and his family for the sacrifice.
Joe's memory reminds me as I work with so many young people just like him each year, that their path here on earth may not always be as expected. With that, may we always be faithful in our service to each other and passionate about the call that God has given us.
Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph T. Welke
Died November 20, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom
20, of Rapid City, S.D.; assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died Nov. 20 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, of wounds sustained Nov. 19 in enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq. CITY, S.D. — A Marine from Rapid City has died of injuries suffered while fighting in Fallujah, Iraq.
Lance Cpl. Joseph Welke, 20, of Rapid City, died Saturday at the Ramstein Air Force Base hospital in Germany.
Family members contacted Monday said they did not want to comment.
Welke graduated from Rapid City Stevens High School in 2003 and was a Greater Dakota All-Conference football player that year.
Joel Hybertson, head football coach for the Raiders, told the Rapid City Journal that Welke had always talked about becoming part of the military and joined the Marine Corps right after graduation.
“He was a hardworking kid and a very intense competitor. He wanted to be good, and he worked at being good,” Hybertson said.
“If we need somebody for our country, I want somebody like Joe Welke,” he said.
With Welke’s death, nine South Dakotans and a Nebraska man assigned to a South Dakota unit have been killed during military action in Iraq.
Funeral for Marine killed in Iraq to be held Saturday
RAPID CITY, S.D. — Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday in Rapid City for Lance Cpl. Joseph Welke, the latest South Dakotan to die in Iraq.
The 20-year-old Marine died Nov. 20 after being hurt while fighting in Anbar province, which includes the city of Fallujah. He was a member of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Welke’s body arrived about 6 p.m. Thursday on a commercial flight from Minneapolis. The flight was met at the Rapid City airport by a Marine honor guard, which moved the flag-draped casket to a waiting hearse. The Marines saluted their fallen colleague as the casket was moved.
A close friend from Welke’s unit accompanied his body all the way from Iraq.
Welke, an all-conference football player, graduated from Rapid City Stevens High School in 2003. The funeral will be held in the Stevens gym.
A Marine Corps honor guard will provide military honors during burial at Mountain View Cemetery.
Passengers on the Thursday flight had not been told Welke’s remains were on board until mid-flight. The passengers remained in their seats in silence until the honor guard completed its duty.
One passenger wept openly and was still crying several minutes later in the terminal.
Gov. Mike Rounds has asked that flags be flown at half-staff on Monday to honor Welke.
Nine South Dakotans and a Nebraska man assigned to a South Dakota unit have been killed during military action in Iraq.
— Associated Press
Happy Birthday
Wishing a very blessed and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my husband, Larry! I so love this poem written by our friend, RS Barrett. It expresses so well Larry’s heart and character. Thank you, Larry, for your generous spirit and heart of service. I love you!-RLR
Love the Prairies
I love my prairies, they are mine
From zenith to horizon line,
Clipping a world of sky and sod
Like the bended arm and wrist of God.
Hamlin Garland
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Photos By Robin Lee Reinhold at the Lonetree
Habitat
Habitat for wildlife is necessity for wildlife and our enjoyment for us as well. Today we planted trees as we always do every spring. Julia and I came up on a hen mallard and her nest as we planted willows along a drainage below Lyle's Pond. In the tall grass next to the cattails hidden very well was this nest. "Tall grass and cattails vs. "cut tails"... We will be planting 550-600 trees this spring. Today we planted willows in wetlands... Ponderosa pine, Colorado Blue Spruce and apple. Thanks to my crew...
NOTE... The photo of currants in blossoms are "volunteers". We did not have currants on the ranch twenty five years ago.. started planting them in select places... now we have them spreading naturally. The fruit is fantastic in jelly, syrup and pie.
Heard From An Old Friend. - By Jerry Johnson
Heard from an old friend today!
I love hearing from old friends on any day, but this message was remarkable considering Lyle died in 1979 and has therefore enjoyed 45ish years in the presence of the Lord.
I was digging through some old slides this morning, when I discovered this one. Back in the late Middle Ages, before PowerPoint, people prepared visual presentations with slides. They would type on a transparency plastic then create little slides to act as text headers and transitions during their slide presentations.
At the little bible college I attended, there was a class for students with certain majors which included a requirement for a visual presentation. I was a popular go-to-guy since I had backpacked and camped through my high school years and taken exclusively slides. So I had lots of slides of high mountain lakes, peaks, waterfalls, flowers, etc. of central Idaho. I loaned out slides to anyone that asked and in the end the slides all became kind of a mish-mash with little organization. And inevitably a few extra ones would pop into the mix. Like this one of Lyle's.
Lyle was my first close friend in college. He befriended me and pulled me out of my "monk mode" (working hard at getting straight A's). I might have been more of a recluse that year than I am now. Lyle was outgoing and sociable. Impossible to ignore when he would choose to drag me out of my studies to go do something fun.
He was a big happy guy with a quick smile from a ranching family in South Dakota. He drowned with his little brother and friend (who had both just graduated HS) in a stock pond on the property. Lyle's heart was all about Christian camping for youth. And after his death, his brother Larry Robin Reinhold, (another of my old college friends) and family turned the family ranch into Rainbow Bible Ranch. A working cattle ranch that ministers Christ to kids in a wonderful ranch setting. If you would like to learn more you can visit rainbowbibleranch.org.
Thanks for the little reminder today Lyle! And I do praise the Lord, and especially today as I thought of you and your life.
Went out into the breaks to see some dear friends.
Went out into the breaks to see some dear friends.
