Welcome to Melder

It was a very nice weekend at 4B Ranch. We got there late afternoon, got set up and oriented. They had a BYOB saloon! And there were full bathrooms and fire pit, BBQ, and even a full open-air kitchen for use - but it was far enough away from where we camped that it was like roughing it without being rough. Our group headed out for a walk, and I lasted about 10 minutes before I announced I was heading off on my own.

Over the weekend, I saw a number of great birds, including Eastern bluebird, cardinal (male and female), red-headed woodpecker and another woodpecker species, and a flycatcher of some sort.

After my solo birding we had dinner - our guides were of the primitive camping mindset. Over an open fire we made little foil packets of raw hamburger, frozen vegetables, and chopped potatoes with a bunch of Tony Chachere's, followed immediately with smores.

And then it started to get COLD. We huddled around the fire, trying to stay up long enough to not be up all night. Got to hang out with other visitors to the ranch and had a good time, and I even got to practice my German. It got down to about 30 degrees - yes, below freezing. And I was of course fine, because I am an REI whore. But I slept with two layers in my -20 Sierra bag on a thermarest, wearing a hat and socks. Some of my miserable compatriots were less well-prepared and suffered miserably. I only woke up because my bag is a mummy and every time I try to toss and turn there's a problem, and I wake up and then go right back to sleep.

Morning was beautiful, and I got to lay there waiting for the edge to get off the chill while listening to a forest of birds. Breakfast, including some coffee because it was so damn cold, and about 10:00, half of us headed out on horseback.

I spent every childhood summer on horseback and I've been thrown at least twice. Maybe I'm just getting old, but when I got up on that horse and looked down CLEAR to the ground, it seemed mighty far. So we took off, and Midnight and I made some things clear such that I really was the boss and I wasn't going to tolerate his mischief (he kept trying to race to be first, or to head after the horses going back home - and when I first refused that he tried to run under low-hanging trees to knock me off - but I was having none of that and then he was the best-behaved horse there).

These were some feisty horses. Usually when I see trailride horses their personalities have been beaten out of them and they look physically miserable and spiritually dead. Not these horses - they seem to have a pretty damn good life with a whole huge pasture to play in and they were very well-fed and cared-for. But I don't think that they were necessarily the best horses for beginners. We had three students from China who just really couldn't control their horses, and the language barrier made it a problem. Their horses kept turning around and heading home, and the guide would chase them down and so forth. I ran out of patience, so when we had to chase one guy all the way back to the ranch to get another guide to help out, I said I'd stay behind. I'm happier closer to the ground anyway.

So, I had some great conversations with some real Cajun folks and I got some great recipes. Then I went out and looked at some more birds and walked around the huge pastures. We had lunch and when the other group went out to ride I chilled with a book and took a nap and chatted it up with the other people some more. Then we hopped in the van and rode along at 90 mph.

A very nice weekend! I liked being in National Forest again - all those logging roads and side trails are like home to me.

Unfortunately though, the Brownies didn't finish my paper for me while I was gone, so that is still here.