Friday, July 11, 2008

I forgot to mention last Tuesday was my one month anniversary here!  Cool, huh?  One month playing with horses every day and no Evening Meeting to go to!  Awesome!

Horse Poop Diaries

Today we had to move one of the big piles of horse poop in the corrals into the garden for "sheet" composting.  That is when you spread it all out in a larger area, and it kind of does its own thing.  Though, I think Pat said that they might rototill it later this summer.

Laura drove the little tractor that moved the poop, and Shawn directed her into and out of the garden.  They did a great job!  Pat and I evened it out in the garden, and I watered it down to get it nice and mushy.  I was nice and mushy by the time we finished!

Poor John, Pat's husband, had a kidney stone and was in a lot of pain, so Pat had to drive up to the Road House to get him.  Shawn and Laura were going up there to work for the weekend.  I asked if I could go, because they were going to town, also.  She said, yes!  Two road trips in just one week!  Awesome!

Pat and Shawn sat in front, and Pat gave Shawn the mileage and the landmarks at every crossroads, so they wouldn't get lost on the way home again.  With no street signs, and all these dirt roads and canyons looking alike, it's not easy getting from one place to another.  Laura and I sat in the back squished together.  I couldn't see very well which I think was a good thing, because it was kind of a scary ride.  

The Road House itself is pretty cool.  It's a restaurant and a gas station/convenience store in the middle of nowhere.  All the oil field guys, and a few tourists frequent the place.  It's very nice inside, decorated with Native American art.  We couldn't stay long because we had to get John his medicine.

We drove to Bloomfield, which I think is the nearest city to the Road House.  Bloomfield is small, and despite the fact that it only has 8000 people, it has plenty of fast food places!  Our first stop was a feed store to get something for Sparky's eyes.  What a cool place this was!  It had bridles and boots and horse shoes, and all kinds of horsey stuff!  I bought a pair of gloves for the garden and for feeding the horses.

Next we went to a drug store, and I bought a tablet of paper.  I'm telling you what I bought because after a month at the ranch and only the ranch, it is a novelty to be somewhere I can buy something.  Although, it is kind of cool not spending any money for so long!

Our last stop was the grocery store, and that, too, was a good sight.  Although, all I bought there were some dishwashing gloves and some batteries for my camera.  But it was neat being in a grocery store after so long, too.

As we drove home, Pat and John would tell me all the places you could get stuck if there was a storm.  It was kind of scary, because it was drizzling a little as we drove!  Pat or John would say, "This one coming up can be really hairy," but luckily, all the bad places were just a little damp and not running with water.  After it felt like we were driving forever on this rough dirt road, John says, "See this sharp turn?  It is the halfway point."  It was very nice seeing the adobe of the house when we got close.  I'm ready to stay home for awhile now.