Memories of Memorial Day

Another ranch gathering over the Memorial Day weekend led to the usual excesses...  beer, tequila, and food...  and music, which is never excessive itself but does stimulate the other excesses.

As the happy campers arrived, high camping fashion was in evidence, particularly hats.

Gathering around the fire (the weather was great, but by evening things cooled off significantly), the music began.

There were some technical issues....  (can you guess?).

The evening meal was carnivore heaven...

Later we howled at the moon...  feeling cheated by the skimpy (if it occurred at all) lunar eclipse.  But the full moon itself was a wonder.

For some, the night ended early (others lasted way into the early morning hours).

The next morning we had a jammie contest.  The winners, both days:

Finally, after enumerable cups of coffee (and a few shots) breakfast began.  First, the bacon ritual...

Rosemary brought a homemade wok (derived from a farm implement) to cook an amazing fritata...

After breakfast, the serious drinking and partying began.  More music, more tequila, more patently untrue tales of fantastic adventures and amazing sexual prowess...  

At some point, the sixties were revived with a bra burning (of sorts).  

The great white hunter went out to shoot cute coyotes...  which tend to bite off the ears and noses of his sheep.

Rosemary, ever the culinary leader, organized a spring roll factory for an afternoon snack...

But the afternoon finally took its toll...  

All revived for the evening festivities...  most too unmentionable and thankfully unrecorded for this humble blog.

But the next morning, everyone woke fresh and happy.

Rosemary again brought out here "wok", and proceded to cook up all the extra bacon, eggs, and vegies remaining in people's coolers.  Her kitchen sink breakfast proved a big hit.

All in all, a wonderful time...  and thanks to the Berts for hosting.

However, there was a very sad note to the weekend.  Annie, the Bert's dog, was found dead under their truck on Saturday afternoon.  What problem caused her death is unknown...  how this could happen to a happy and active animal is a mystery and was quite a shock to all.  We extend our sympathies to Bill and Julie and share their sadness.