Back at the Ranch

Friends, Family and Foes, I sincerely apologize for the week long hiatus. Most of you know I started a new job three weeks ago and BOY is working exhausting – take it from someone who has been on an extended vacation for three months. What I miss most is not being able to be wear sweatpants all day. Sometimes Matt would compliment me on getting all dressed up when really I just had something other then sweatpants on.

Anyhoobies, we spent last weekend up at Matt’s family ranch in the Paradise Valley, it was sweet! Picture driving up a rutty dirt road for 15 minutes then coming to the end of the road and driving through a tall grass field to a house nestled under a mountain. When we arrived Matt got out all of his nature books including Western Berry Identification, Hawks of North America, Montana Wildflowers, The Complete Book of Fly Fishing, Scats (that means poop for you city slickers) and Tracks of the Rocky Mountains, The Illustrated Dictionary of Mycology (more on that later), Predators of North America..etc. You get the point. We sat on the porch with Charlie the dog, ate jerky and read.

[A porch with a view]

As a special treat, my best friend Jo from back home in VT was in town for a wedding that was just 5 miles down the road!! She and her adorable fiance Max came up to stay the night at the Ranch. The next day we decided to take a “hike.” Jo and I are lame ducks so it was more of a geriatric walk, but with Matt as our wildflower and berry guide it was very educational and fun. It has been raining like the Dickens these days so we ended up finding a TON of mushrooms…We mad Max and Matt test them first. Mycology is the study of fungi for you unacademic types. I am by far the worst mycologist on the planet. In the picture below I was only able to identify 1 mushroom in about an hour from a book. The white one is called a Western Giant Puffball, the rest, a mystery.

Some pics from the top of the mountain:

Max and Jo are getting Married in Montana in two months and are too cute:

I so regret not getting a picture of Max’s camo baseball hat that says – Beers + Deers, That’s How I Roll. I hope he wears it to the wedding!