On Saturday I headed out into Owyhee County with my
parents for the 7th Annual Ladies Day at Duck Ranch.
My great aunt and uncle own property called Duck Ranch. Each year at the end of March they invite all
the ladies out for an afternoon of socializing and relaxing. My Dad says this tradition started out as a
thank you to all the wives for allowing the husbands to spend time away from
the house during hunting season. Whatever the
reason it is fun to see my family and visit for the afternoon.
The property out on Duck Ranch is really neat. It started as a single cabin and has grown
from there. It is also decorated very
interesting, for lack of a better word.
It is definitely a hodge podge of all sorts of stuff.
I am no stranger to ausing n outhouse. Our cabin in Silver City does not have a
working toilet and so I have spent many years making trips to/from the
outhouse. Uncle Mike just finished
building the new one before we arrived.
I was the first to use the new outhouse and it was like peeing in luxury. Pretty fancy!
I love this Indian Weather Rock. Uncle Mike said he was out at Duck Ranch a
few months ago and the rock was covered with snow. It really works!
Part of Ladies Day at Duck Ranch is that the ladies hike
Castle Butte and then the men stay behind and cook lunch. I like the scenario. Uncle Mike always comes on the hike as he is
our tour guide to ensure we don’t get lost.
My Cousin John often comes too but his family wasn’t able to make it
this year. We had my Cousin Nate joining
the group and also my Cousin Debbie’s boyfriend Don. Kenyon has also gone on the hike a time or
two. We don’t discriminate as long as
there are enough men to stay behind and cook for us. I’m kidding…sort of.
This is my Cousin Amanda on the left and both of us on
the right. Amanda has worked really hard
the last year to lose around 100 pounds.
This was Amanda’s first time on the hike and I am so very proud of
her. She rocked it! What an amazing accomplishment.
We saw signs of wildlife along our trail. This photo is a gopher trap. Uncle Mike said the coyotes are pretty savvy
in that they watch the gopher traps and then steal them and break them apart to
eat the trapped gopher.
We also saw some animal bones that still had a tiny bit
of fur on it. Creepy.
Don’t all hikes involve seeing cows?
I was super hungry when we got done with our hike and
lunch wasn’t quite ready. I didn’t want
to blow through my PPVs snacking on junk so I dug into Don’s homemade
chili. I heard there is a whole head of
cabbage in his recipe. It was
delicious. I also enjoyed the festive
atmosphere. (Okay that is kind of gross having to look at bones and cows and than food. Sorry about that).
I was pretty sure I’d have a hamburger and planned ahead
with extra lettuce for a lettuce wrap bun. I
added an assortment of pasta salads and some olives and chips. I love BBQ food!
I finished off with a few bites of dessert. Since I can never pick just one I had a
sampler plate. I also had some cold
coffee from the bottom of the pot. All
the old people that stayed back at the cabin drank it all before I got
there. Sheesh.
When I got home I took a nap. It was glorious. Despite the iffy weather we had a beautiful
day. The rain held off until the drive
home. We even had a few times where the wind died down and the temperature was also pretty decent. Some years you just never know what the
weather will be like at the end of March.
I had already agreed to go to the Chinese buffet with
Kenyon when he got home from work. Then
I figured up the PPVs I had eaten at the BBQ and for breakfast. I was out of DPA and only had 9 WPPA
left. GULP. Whoops.
Had I not already agreed I might have said no to Chinese. However, it wasn’t the end of the world. I just had to get creative.
My best guess is 12 PPVs so I used 3 of my APs for the
week. I started with a big plate of
steamed veggies sautéed in sauce and then had my usual small bits of Chinese
food. I stuck to non-fried protein
sources and had had a few green beans and some pan fried chow mien. I’d usually also have two crab rangoon but I
skipped that since I didn’t have the extra PPVs to use. I would also get more green beans since that
is my favorite part and I usually get some chicken meatballs. Again, I skipped that.
The best part of Saturday was spending time with my
family. I wish Kenyon could have been
there.
