Our Last Day on the Ranch

Our last day on the ranch really snuck up on us! Ricky and I have wanted to hike the hill behind the house the whole time we’ve been here, but hadn’t done it yet. We sort of tried two other times, but ran into problems:

The first time, we didn’t really know where was best to go to get up the hill. We weren’t super motivated to climb the hill yet, but just explored the property we’re living in.

The second time, it was really hot and our cat friend (Ricky named her Maple Story - Maple for short) followed us. She would stay back and meow for us to come back towards home, and when we kept going up the hill, she gave in and continued to follow us. She seemed worried about us, haha. But we were also worried about her because she was panting like a dog! Also, we got to the fence where our property ends and couldn’t really find a way to get past. It was rusty barbed wire and we didn’t find a good place to hop it in the area we went. So, we decided to give up that time too.

Today, it was our last chance, and we were determined to hike the mountain! We waited until it was evening so it would be cooler. We had a plan to walk straight up our property to the place that we thought would be the best to hop the fence. When we got to the fence, our challenges began. Ricky ripped his nicest pair of jeans and I got mad at him for wearing those jeans in the first place. Then, we realized that the grass was a lot longer on that side of the fence because the cows can’t get to it. It really grossed me out to step on so much matted down grass that you would sink down with each step. I was just picturing mice and rattlesnakes having burrows under all that long, dry grass. You also can't tell where the rocks are under the grass until you actually step on one. I really just hated not knowing what was under the grass! But then it got worse. We noticed that the part of the hill we had planned to go up was a whole lot steeper-looking when you were right up close to it. And we kept slipping on all the grass. So we decided we would try going the less steep way on the left side of the mountain. But just trying to get over to the left side of the base of the mountain proved a challenge. The grass was not so matted down anymore, but was almost as tall as us. Plus, there were these horrible weeds that were tall and so thorny! They would poke into our thighs and arms with each step. We both got frustrated with how things were going.

“Ricky, wait! I can’t do it!”

“Hurry up, we’re losing daylight”

“Which way do I go? Come back and hold my hand!”

We were not far at all when we looked ahead and saw many, many more of those tall, thorny weeds and decided to give up on the idea of climbing the mountain. It was also dark by then and we were scared my phone would die and we would lose our source of light. We went back to the best place to hop the fence and headed back home. Maple had followed us to the fence-line but did not ever get over to the other side of the fence with us. She just followed along on the other side meowing at us to come back because she was worried about us. She was happy when we were back on the right side of the fence again with her.

When we got home after the hike, Ricky took off his shirt and I noticed something dark on his nipple. We just had a lamp on, so in the dim light, he thought it was just lint. But when he grabbed it, he realized it was a bug and threw it on the floor. I had him find it on the floor to kill it so I wouldn’t be worried about it being in our room with us all night. When he found where it was, I thought to take a picture of it for some reason. Later, I Googled “ticks” because I had a feeling that was one, and it definitely was. We ended up flushing it down the toilet and all was good. I was just a little paranoid for the rest of the night. I kept feeling like bugs were crawling on me even after we showered and washed every inch of our bodies! But he was lucky it hadn't bit him!