Saturday morning we woke almost as bright and almost as early, if not quite early enough for the sunrise. Nonetheless, stepping out the door into crisp cold country air in the morning is a happy thing indeed for us desert valley dwellers. We had told the Grands to come out and join us for breakfast around 8, as I had purchased enough flats of eggs to feed an army. The came, and after Laurent sauteed the veggies with the sausage, I went out and began the epic egg cracking project. By the time I got them all into the frying pan, I could barely stir it without egg schlopping over the sides and into the burner. I have never seen eggs take so long to cook! Between the massive quantity, and the brisk cold wind outside where I had the stove, it took close to 40 minutes. But the up side of that was that Jon, Jessica, JT, Joe, Jenna and Jadyn came rolling up the driveway exactly as I turned off the burner and breakfast was finally read to serve! Timing is everything, folks. I planned it that way! 😉
With the whole clan together for the day, we had a blast. The teenagers did some driving on the country roads, and some shooting up at the shooting range. Aunt Jess did little face paintings on the kids, and there was a yummy lunch of sandwiches, chips, and birthday cupcakes (for JT’s 16th birthday!). It was all too short a stay, as Jon’s crew had to get back to town for their Sunday morning duties.
As they left around 3:30, we decided that, although we were loathe to leave, there were some mitigating factors (such as a stove that, two nights in a row, nearly burned us out with overheat, and my ranch CPAP deciding to give up the ghost) that caused us to vote for packing up and heading back to the valley right away rather than waiting till morning.
This time, I let Laurent take the wheel from Show Low and on home, and though I panicked some on the downhill curves, it was not due to her driving, which was excellent, but rather to my own wigginess. I’m determined to seek relaxation through chemical enhancement on future drives. Everyone will be much happier if I do. 😀 It was with great relief, as we drove into east Mesa on Highway 60, that I mused upon the remarkably trouble-free journey we were about to complete — when with a ftftftftftftf, the front passenger side tire on the van blew out. Laurent was cool as a cucumber, and made her way safely from the left lane to the shoulder of the diamond lane. Thanks be to God and our fantastic Guardian Angels for getting us through the canyon on that tire. And thanks be to AAA for the quick and courteous service. They had us back on the road in under an hour!
Once again, we thank the Lord for the blessing of the ranch. Our time there is always refreshing, always too short, and always leaves us eager to return.
The The End.
