Surviving the 4th

We headed back to the ranch last weekend for the fab 4th celebration weekend – we made it through the weekend unscathed, but it was close….

Our traveling companions were Bacino the Italian (accident prone) stallion and his girlfriend Ariann – repeat after me, Airy-Ann. We rolled into Livingston, had a Ted Turner sighting, fought for rodeo tickets and finally grabbed a bite at the “fancy” steakhouse in the area. We got our delicious mooing steaks and from out of nowhere an akward 16-year-old bus boy dropped a plate and a flying piece of glass sliced Bacino’s ear off! OK, not off, but it was a lot of blood for a little scratch. All I have to say is that it was a really easy way to get FREE DRINKS!! I recommend it.

Ariann & Bacino

We headed to the ranch and were so overwhelmed with Independence Day spirit that we needed to light some stuff off (Matt would like me to add that it was wet and raining, Smokey the Bear approved conditions). We found some bottle rockets from the 1970’s, dusted them off and went to it! Matt had a few good ones and Bacino decided to partake and had a one blow up in his hand..yes, he still has all 5 fingers. Bottle rockets got old and boring, so Ariann and I bought some real stuff out of a trunk of some dudes car the next day – does that mean they were Illegal!? We never set them off due to our deep guilt.

I went on my first river rafting float…Don’t tell the Montanan’s here, I would be shunned from society. I kept waiting for the River Wild gauntlet rapids, or Kevin Bacon, but neither ever came.

It got rainy and cold on the river so what were we to do? How about a soak at Chico Hot Springs! As we pulled in we noticed a bride in her whole get-up crying on the steps..hmmm, suspicious. Then we walked into the pool area and were told 3/4 of it had to be closed and drained because there was an accident..Just let your imagination run wild for a little, we did. The bonus, it only cost $2!! Yay accident.

Stock Photo - pool on the left was drained this time

The next evening we went to a pro rodeo (sponsored by Canada, I kid you not), let’s just say it made the Hot Springs rodeo look like JV girls badmitton practice.

He Haw-ey

Cowboys actually won money and got national standings from their 8 second romps. I bought a lasso for practicing steer roping – Matt has gotten the starched rope in his face a number of times but I am starting to get good. We watched fireworks to the soundtrack of patriotic coutry twang…We were the only losers not singing along to “Proud to be an American.”

Livingston Roundup - Backwards

Hook Em!

Fast forward past card games, good eats, S’mores, board games, reading and more food to our final few hours on the ranch on Sunday.

Matt shooting the moon in hearts....jerk

We decided to take a hike to relax and enjoy the afternoon. Along the way Matt lost the trail and we ended up having to bushwack through prickers and underbrush. I can’t tell you how many times he said “just a few more feet, the trail is just up there!!” He couldn’t find the bridge so we had to attempt a daring, freezing river (creek) crossing. Halfway across Ariann lost her Croc. We watched it careen down the river and away like a mini raft. 2.5 miles from home and missing one shoe can be a real problem. There was a lot of “I told you not to wear those shoes,” some eye rolling and a solution. We wrapped her foot in 2 socks and a bandana and set out on our way. Bacino re-designed the shoe with a stick and belt but that fell apart in about 30 steps. Matt finally decided we were dead weight and he had to leave us behind and go get the truck. I had massive blisters by this point and the ladies were ready to sit and wait for our men to come back to the rescue…Talk about pathetic! Safe to say Ariann will never live this down. I blame Matt.

Sporting 2 shoes

Bandana and blister girls left behind....

My camera was having such a great time on the ranch it decided to stay behind. So as the summer TV re-runs drag on, I have deicded to just start re-posting old entries..Kidding!! I think I have some old news up my sleeve that I will post.