The Latigo Family

May 28, 2018

Hannah was kept busy this last Friday as she launched into the ever-challenging endeavor of wrangling smiles from the staff for their ranch photos. There are a few stragglers she’ll have to snag later, but the bulk of the required pictures are being edited, printed, and labeled for our guests to peruse on the front porch bulletin board. At the top, you can see the newest photos of Randy & Lisa, Hannah, and Spencer & Amanda.

She captured a few old friends, many new faces, and a lot of fun in front of her lens.

Some of those who’ve been to Latigo before might remember Jonathan “Jon” Kimbriel – former maintenance, waiter, and current head wrangler. He’s worked in enough different departments to have a keen understanding of Latigo, our mission, and how to keep this steam engine on the tracks. He was introduced to Latigo many years ago when he visited as a guest at the age of 11. He’s been back for a while, but this is his first year as our head wrangler. With a grin like that, we think he will be able to face all of the challenges this summer with optimism, determination, and a very necessary sense of humor. He has been doing a great job so far. He and Randy made a point of going through most of the hiring decisions together, checking up on the herd this winter, and making any changes to the program. He also radios the kitchen so they know if any of the wranglers will be late to a meal due to pressing fence-fixin' needs, which is one of the best ways to earn points with the kitchen folks.

In a word: Jon loves Latigo, and Latigo loves Jon.

The new addition to our Latigo animal-family you should know about is the latest member of our petting zoo: Cuddles. She’s a donkey from down in Arizona who was in need of a change of scenery. She loves carrots, being petted, and watching the team of draft horses roll by (she runs to the fence and calls encouragement to them). We’ll be keeping her in a pen close to the barn so the kids can come up and pet her while the adults are out roaming the hills. The kitchen is already stocking up carrots just for her!

Our other two returning staff members this year are Hannah Zellers, once a housekeeper – now a chef. She has been practicing her knife skills over the summer and has taken to her breakfast-chef position like a duck to water. She wrote a post for Latigo last year, and you can read it here. Then there's Phil, once a maintenance man – always a maintenance man. He keeps the entire ranch from falling into utter disrepair, and he keeps us all laughing with his tall tales and many jokes.