Friends, vodka, camping, and general panic

It's official. I'm a blog slacker. I can't seem to make time to hit the computer after work. Things should get better now, though. We put the horses in the mountain pasture, so I don't have to feed them every night. So, here I am, finally blogging again, and I have much to report.

Friday Becca and I went over to Jen's house for a candle party (not Jen's, but a friend). We decided after one cosmopolitan to bag the candle party and just hang. We commenced to the drinking of much vodka. It was fun, though I had to work the next day with a slight headache and massive sleep deprivation.

So, I made it through Saturday, and my weekend finally started. We decided to take the horses up to the mountain pasture, as it was a very wet year and it is HORSE PARADISE right now. The grass is belly high to a Lightning dog. That's what my husband said, anyway. Actually it was belly high to Andre the Giant. Anyway, I decided to camp out that night on the mountain with the horses, just to make sure they adjust to the new digs. Ken had to work the next day, leaving the camping to Kiri and I. We pitched a tent, roasted hot dogs, and marshmallows, told stories, and laughed our butts off. Then we decided to ride the horses before it got too dark. We were riding around, enjoying ourselves when this truck drives through the pasture. It's this dude with sheep on the other side of us, and he uses our road to access his animals. He stops and asks Kiri and I if we were riding the horses out that night. I told him that the horses were staying in the pasture for the rest of the summer, so please make sure he closes the gate after him. He leaves.

Kiri and I spend more time around the camp fire, which was a rare thing for me because I teach and practice Leave No Trace outdoor ethics, and camp fires are one of the worst things you can do to trash a pristine environment. My husband feels this is hogwash, so he made us a fire in spite of my misgivings. And it was fun, though I made sure everything was burned to ash and cleaned up all our trash. Finally, around midnight we climb in the tent and try to sleep. But Kiri and I had the giggles, and she kept quoting Austin Powers, asking me if I wanted a "smoke and a pancake". Every time she said it with a Sean Connery accent, I would bust up laughing. A good hour later, we fell asleep.

A painful need to pee woke me up around 6 am. We got up, ate some pudding for breakfast, then went to look for the horses. Guess what? NO HORSES. I drive up the road and that fucking bastard from the night before had left the gate open after I asked him to close it. The horses could be anywhere on the mountain at this point. Kiri is in tears, I'm raging mad and worried sick. I tell Kiri to start walking one way, and I'll go the other then to turn around after a half and hour and meet back up. We walk and walk and walk. Then we drive and drive and drive. Still no horses. After 2 hours, I tell Kiri that the horses have to be in the pasture. That is where the water is. The pasture, mind you, is huge. So we go back to the pasture. Kiri walks one way, I walk the other. After climbing up a steep ass ridge line in cowboy boots (not good for hiking) for about 45 minutes, I find the damn horses. They were there the whole time, the bastards, probably watching us run around like crazy panicked morons looking for them. What a relief. So we go riding again and head home. I told my father in law about the fucker that left the gate open and he called the guy and chewed his ass. I've never seen my father in law angry before, and I was glad it wasn't directed at me.

All in all, it was a great weekend, with some good bonding moments for Kiri and I. It was nice to have just the two of us stuck together in the woods, forced to amuse one another and remember how much we like hanging out.

I think I'll go have a smoke and a pancake.

Funny Visitor Question:
Visitor: when do the self-guided tours start?
Ranger: uh, whenever you tell yourself to start them.