How I spent the last day of my spring vacation

All good things must come to an end. Darn it. Wednesday was the last day of my spring vacation. Danni had a late afternoon flight back to Portland and Critter Farm. The plan was to leave the ranch early Wednesday morning, drop off Snapper at the vet for a re-check of his feline asthma, then head to Albuquerque and climb Sandia Peak the lazy way - on the tram. I was planning to show you majestic photographs from high atop the mountain today, sort of like this one:

photo courtesy of Sandia Peak Ski & Tramway

But about 45 minutes after we left the 7MSN and 10 minutes before we got to the vet's office, the conversation in the truck went like this:

Me: I don't suppose you happened to shut off the coffee pot before we left?
Danni: I didn't have time for coffee.
Me: Crap.


A few minutes later...

Me: How long do you think it takes for three cups of coffee to boil out of the pot and burn down the house?
Danni: We should go back now.


A few more minutes later...

Me: I remember back in the old days when somebody would leave the coffee pot on at work all weekend and we'd come in Monday morning and it smelled really bad and the bottom of the coffee pot looked like tar but nothing ever burned down.
Danni: We should go back now.

So we never made it to the tramway. After Snapper's vet visit, we turned around, made the hour's drive back to the ranch, turned off the coffee pot, then turned around again and headed back to Albuquerque. There wasn't enough time for Plan A, so we went to Plan B ... some serious retail therapy, then lunch.

City girls might have sought out the finer department stores at the mall. But farm and ranch girls? We headed straight for Tractor Supply, then Dan's Boots and Saddles.

I came home with a new Jolly Ball (on sale!), three tubes of Ivermectin (on sale!), a gallon of fly spray, and flag thingies to mark the patches of locoweed that need to be sprayed. I couldn't have been happier. I did pick up a little something for myself, too.

New work gloves! With pink-leather reinforced palms and fingertips!

Whoohoo! Top that, Nordstroms.

Wynonna: You've been gone all damned day.
Could you stop taking pictures and feed me, please?

Me: All right, all right. But not before I show everybody how lovely all the wood on the porch looks 

because our houseguest and friend extraordinaire helped us paint it while she was here.

She also posted about our escapade to find The Rodent Who Sleeps With the Chickens, as well as George's first time under saddle, here.