Recent visitors to Cwm Ceffyl Ranch
Yvonne, Keith, and Benjamin Gerhardt from Byers, Colorado visited the ranch to check out the Bijou Basin and the Texas Longhorn Cattle
Chuck's
brother Kevin came by on 27 October on his way to a church conference with his friend Michael Beaver. They both live in the St. Louis area with their families. We had a good time watching the St. Louis Cardinal vs. Texas Rangers World Series Game #6 which was such a good game and then checking out the Texas Longhorn cattle the next morning.
Chuck's brother Steve and his family visited from California on 15 October. Left to right, this is Emily Hughes, Sharon Hughes, Steve Hughes, Tracy Peterson Hughes, Andrew Hughes, and young Hayden Gerald Hughes. Sharon's sister, Linda Jenks, is pictured with Sharon below. We were happy that Linda came along for a visit and we enjoyed showing her a bit of Cwm Ceffyl Ranch.. 
Our nephews Scottie (on Bridger) and Matt had a good time checking out the ranch and doing some riding a shooting. They're booth good shots. That's their mom, Anne Wolter, with them.
Chuck's nephew, Travis is on the left, Chuck's brother, Kevin is in the middle, and our bull CB Marco Polo is on the right. Travis reports that this bull is Barak Obama speech........a point way over on the left, another point way over on the right, and lot of bull in between. No matter how hard I tried, Travis just wouldn't climb on for a ride.
John and Darlene Nelson from Cloverbloom Ranch in Wellington, Colorado sold us our new herd sire, CB Marco Polo. John a PhD, MS and is a retired Engineering professor at Colorado State University. Darlene works very hard as Treasurer of the Mountain States Texas Longhorn Association.
This is Karen Enoch on the left and Keith Birkholz on the right, checking out West Bijou Creek. Karen and Keith, from K2K Ranch, are helping us while Chuck recovers from back surgery.
Chuck's mother, Mary Hughes, is on the right. Mary's and our familty's long time friend Vivian Olsen is on the left. And of course our gentle trophy steer is in the middle. We enjoyed their visit and appreciate the help as Chuck recuperates from back surgery. We all enjoyed a dinner of lobscows (Welsh for beef stew) made from our Texas Longhorn Colorado Healthy Beef.
Kadie Hughes (center) welcomes Bill Fraser (left) and Carl Anderson (right) to Cwm Ceffyl Ranch. Bill is the founding partner and CEO of Fraser International Business Development Ltd. in Cardiff, Wales. Carl is one of three priciples at Hot Start Enterprises Ltd. in Burnaby, British Columbia Canada.
South Africans Marianna and David Bernhardi visited Cwm Ceffyl and we had a good time comparing our operation with their Whipstock Guest Farm near McGregor, South Africa. We exchanged ideas about making both operations better. If you're planning a trip to South Africa, he has guest quarters on Whipstock Farm, which is located a couple of hours drive to the northeast from Capetown. We hope to visit him in South Africa sometime in the near future.
Photo by Chuck Hughes
Colleen Bizzarri, Kadie's good friend from Omaha, Nebraska stayed with us for a couple of days in February. Here Kadie is on the left, Colleen is on the right, and that's our kitten Pegahosa in the middle.
Photo by Chuck Hughes
Jay Kole visited Cwm Ceffyl Ranch to deliver some of his custom BBQ sauce and resupply with some of our custom beef. Here he also sports his coat with the Cwm Ceffyl Ranch logo.
Photo by Chuck Hughes
Our annual Rat Pack themed New Year's Eve party this year included (left to right), Alicia Nazarellah, Kadie Hughes, Paul Nazarellah, Anne Wolter, Scott Wolter, Chelle Wamboldt, Jim Adair, Mary Wilson (Kadie's mom), Arletta Adair, and Matt Wolter.
Photo by Chuck Hughes
Dennis & Charlotte enjoy a cup of wassail at the the Christmas Madrigal at the Glenn Eyrie Castle which we attended with them a few days before Christmas. That's the castle coat-of-arms to Dennis' right. The Castle was built by the founder of Colorado Springs, General William J. Palmer a little over a hundred years ago. We enjoyed Kadie's dad, Dennis and Charlotte during their Christmas visit.
Photo by Chuck Hughes
This is our daughter, Katie, and her husband Cameron Butler. They came down from their ranch in the Cash La Poudre Canyon to help with the 2009 branding. They both worked hard sorting, vacinating, and applying some bag balm to the fresh brands.
Photo by Elizabeth Hughes and courtesy of Katie Hughes Butler
Our daughter, Elizabeth, is on Bridger getting ready to retrieve some escaped calves. Elizabeth grew up ridiing a palamino that matches her hair color, and now is one one again. Too cool.
Photo courtesy of Katie Hughes Butler
This is our grandson Colby Mulvihill on Smoky while rounding up some maverick escaped calves for the branding. Colby is always fun to have at the ranch.
Photo courtesy of Katie Hughes Butler
Stu Butler, at right, organizes the irons for branding calves. Stu and his wife, Olga, came out from Castle Rock to join us on branding day, and were a great help.
Photo courtesy of Katie Hughes Butler
This is long time friend Jay Kole who now lives in Grand Junction with his wife, Jody. Jay came over for the 2009 banding and operated the head gate for us. He and I have been great friends for 28 years now. In addition to being a good hand with horses and cattle, he's also a first class ranch "cocinero."
Photo courtesy of Katie Hughes Butler
Tony & Valerie Loebach and their children Natalie and Matthew spent a recent weekend with us at Cwm Ceffyl Ranch. Here, Natalie is on Smoky and Matthew is on Bridger.
Photo by Chuck Hughes
Aldo and Becky Poletti, at the right, spent a Friday evening with us at the ranch. We enjoyed the company, conversation, and dinner featuring Texas Longhorn beef.
Photo by Chuck Hughes
In the center of this photo is "Gunny" Bob Newman. On the right is Gunny's son-in-law, John Meyers. They helped thin out the prairie dog population on Cwm Ceffyl Ranch with their .220 Swift "varmit exploders." Both are crack shots. In addition to being a crack shot, "Gunny" Bob is a retired USMC Gunnery Sergeant, author (Guerrillas in the Mist, A Battlefield Guide to Clandestine Warfare, and several other books), an avid outdoorsman, renowned anti-terrorism expert, and KOA 850 radio personality. Gunny's now off at some undisclosed location helping keep terrorists from hurting us again. Chuck was thrilled to receive from Gunny an autographed copy of Guerrilas in the Mist. On the left is Chuck Hughes.
Photo by Kadie Hughes
This is Caitlyn Gillette with our black cow Cwm Velvet. Caitlyn visited us with her grandparents (and our good friends) Tom & Carol Gillette from Florida. Caitlyn is the grand-daugher of Tom & Carol and Velvet is the grand-daughter of the famous Texas Longhorn bull, Gunman.
This is nephew Manny "Tuff" Wilkins. He's a good hand on a horse and enjoys helping us with the cattle. At right he is on Bridger with Vali supervising from behind.
Photos by Chuck Hughes
This is Paty Crowciata, who came by to look at the Longhorns. While here, we came up missing a three day old bull calf. Paty got roped into riding Bridger (pictured with him) and riding with Chuck to locate the missing calf. Paty is a heck of a good horseman and a good hand. He didn't seem to mind the hour or two in the saddle. We found the calf and got it "mother'd up" just fine. In a matter of three days, Paty had cowboy'd in Montana, Wyoming, and now Colorado. He keeps and rides some Quarterhorses out on Long Island in New York. We hope he will come back for another "working" visit.
Photo by Kadie Hughes
Kadie's work friends from Time Warner Telecom visited Cwm Ceffyl on the 15th of September. To the right is Kadie giving a ride to Catherine on Janet Kostelic's big riding steer, Red River Playboy. This is probably one of the last photos taken of Red River Playboy before his tragic death as the result of a highway accident.