Murf got up with the chickens to ride along with Kimberly, a game warden, who needed to check on a few hunters in her area. Murf loved watching and learning about a job that is so alien to his industrial designer gig with Proctor and Gamble. Around noon Murf’s tutorial switched from law enforcement to ranching. He (read: Brady) saddled up his ride, Rosie, and played rancher for the afternoon. He attempted to separate the steers from the heifers and then the little/young ones from the old. All with the help of two dogs and two others riders. He was one tired buckaroo by bedtime I tell ya but had a wonderful day! He loved the amazing scenery, in particular, as well as watching how effective the cow dogs were. The daunting amount of work necessary to run a ranch well was the big takeaway.

Cyd and I got up just in time to participate in goat milking. Three friendly goats are milked twice a day and know exactly what to do. Anticipating a cup of grain, they cheerfully trot out of their pen, walk over to the milking stand, hop up, and put their head in the appropriate place. Once the milking was done they were all free to roam for the rest of the day. Besides the three milkers, there are two rams, quite a few neutered goats, and a llama who, we are told, takes his mission of guarding the goats from predators quite seriously. Besides the llama and goats, there are lots of chickens running around pecking away at the ground looking for delectable bits.

Breakfast was fabulous: homemade yogurt on freezer jam followed by eggs Benedict. Once our bellies were full to capacity, Mother took a quick nap and then Cyd, Mother, and I headed to Sargents, 40 miles down the road, for a visit and lunch with her nephew, wife, and son. When we were in the car headed back she commented that she had a blast of an afternoon. Her nephew, Bob, in the low 80s, is in the early stages of dementia, so there was a sad side to the afternoon, but it was far outweighed by all the laughter and fun stories about ranching, hunting, years of family get-togethers, and how much gold it takes to maintain the golden years.

Mother napped before we went to Kimberly’s and Brady’s for the evening. They grilled their delectable grass fed beef and we chatted away the evening on full …as is our habit… tummies. Stick a fork in our seventh day as roadies.