Family.
Green fields and pink cliffs...
The house at Swapp Ranch
Everyone introducing themselves and whose family they belong to..
Listening to cousin Ron's stories...
Oh, yes...those are what you think they are! EEEK!
View across the pond...
This year for Pioneer Day we celebrated in the best possible way, by honoring my pioneer heritage and attending the Swapp Meet reunion at Swapp Ranch in Sink valley. This is the very best way to celebrate if you ask me! I love to go and see relatives (my Dad's cousins) we only see every other year and listen to stories of cow herding and horse riding and mishaps and adventures of long ago while working the land in Southern Utah/extreme northern Arizona.
Where is Sink Valley you ask? It's off of Johnson Canyon Rd (about 40 miles) if you are familiar with highway 89 to Kanab or 7 miles from Alton if you go all the way up 89 on your way to the Cedar Mountain turn-off. The valley is a picturesque scene of fields of green and pink cliffed vistas of Bryce Canyon above. My siblings and I spent much of our time growing up running through fields and splashing through ponds in muddy and dusty fashion. We trounced though groves of juniper and pinion pine and swung from the tire swing as our Grandpa Johnson pushed, his two little granddaughters squealing with delight. I can remember spending time with our Johnson grandparents there and also at the old Swapp Ranch where my Grandma Johnson spent her youth. I couldn't have wished for a better way to grow up among nature and it's splendor.
The turn out at the Swapp Meet reunion 2010 was small in comparison to other years, now that the entire generation of Swapps that started the tradition is gone. It was a good crowd though and we enjoyed each others company and listened as Dad's cousin Ron told pioneer stories and enjoyed a great lunch. The excitement for the year was the intrusion of a couple of unwelcome visitors and the first time I've seen any up there, yes I'm referring tho the picture of the rattle snakes! It was actually Seth who first noticed them several feet from our picnic table under a bush. "Mom, is dat a fwog?, he asked me while pointing under the bush. "No son, that would be a snake..." I said and motioned to my Dad. I pointed them out to my Dad and he gestured to his cousin Ron who inspected them and asked if there was a shovel near by. We located a shovel and he returned successfully cutting the bigger of the twos heads off. The smaller snake slithered off, but was soon located by my Dad and cousin Ron and was soon decapitated as well. If you are reading this and wondering of the cruelty to the snakes, let me inform you of the severe poisonous nature of these vile serpents and the fact that they were just feet from the house. They would have returned even if herded off. They were buried and disposed off and various screeches could be heard from the women who had taken refuge on the porch. Seth was proclaimed a hero, yes the little hero who had peed his pants earlier....*sigh*.=0)
Lee and I and the kids followed Mom and Dad to their cabin and inspected their progress and enjoyed eachother's company sitting on the porch and enjoying the cool air. My Dad relayed stories of growing up with his cousins and his chores for his grandmother, who lived next door. It makes me so extremely proud to know that I was born into such a great, strong, loving family.
I was helping a customer in front of me some years ago and noticed she was writing me a check from Moccasin (near Fredonia) and I told her I had family from there. She asked me if I was Swapp or a Johnson and I told her both. She looked me in the eye and said, "You must be a good person then." I know why and you can't ask for better people, period.
