Joyce White’s memoir of her life on an Arizona Ranch is sheer delight—her sense of humor, her ability to tell a unique and colorful and anecdote in each chapter, her knack for making the most ordinary aspects of her life and work exciting. Her writing style is not the most polished, but I thoroughly enjoyed every page, starting with her first meeting with her future husband, Bob, a divorced rancher living out in the middle of nowhere. She was also divorced, with a young son. She had never been a cowgirl before, but she was a brave woman. They spent their honeymoon on Bob’s remote ranch, the Loving U, in Burro Creek Canyon. She describes how she first learned to ride, to participate in cattle drives, and to cook out on the trail. This was in the 1950s and 60s. Although the house was a fine, solid house, it didn’t have electricity and was so remote she home schooled her son before homeschooling was a thing.
Every animal has character. Dogs and horses were key members of the ranch team. The social life people managed to have in a place where there weren’t any other people around is impressive. The efforts they had to undertake see friends and family in other parts of the Southwest shows how important human connection is. I can see why she loved the place, and how every day of those eight years was an adventure. In a way, I was sad as she was when they sold the ranch and moved to move to Missouri to start cattle farming in a place with more water and more grass. I highly recommend her story. She also provides recipes that one could cook in a ranch house without electricity or out on the trail feeding the cowboys.
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