Little Big Man

Sorry I have not posted much lately. I just have not been feelin' very blog chatty. We have left Billy's family and moved out an hour or so west to my friend Brook's ranch. Brook was my best friend when I was a little kid. She lived next door and we had sleep overs almost every weekend, collected stickers together and did the usual basic dumb kid stuff together. When we got a little older (meaning around the 7th and 8th grade) we started sneaking out at night with other kids from the neighborhood and we would all creep around in the woods feeling like we were getting away with murder for being out in the wee hours of the night. It was good times. I have a lot of fun memories from those days.

Brook and I had not seen each other in twenty years (groan.... we are getting OLD) and we have been looking forward to hooking up once Billy and I arrived in California. So here we are. She and her husband Mike and their two girls Riley and Taylor live on a huge cattle ranch near Napa Valley. It's just beautiful. We are spending the week with them before heading to the coast.




Last night Billy, Rudy and I walked the ranch in the late afternoon. I think it's like 300 acres of land and obviously there is a herd of cattle roaming around on it. We had an escort for a good portion of the walk which you can see represented in the new banner up top. That is a picture of me screaming at Rudy to leave the cows alone. He was right in their face barking like a mad man. They pretty much did nothing about it but I was worried one of them would turn around and give him a good solid kick to the face. So there I am yelling my head off and all three animals are standing there quietly regarding me as though I were nuts. Nice. Maybe I am nuts. Rudy seems to think he is quite capable of taking on these animals which are 42 times his size and weight. Like he is the bad ass cowboy who just rode in on the ranch.





Rudy is having a blast here so far. There are two other dogs... Buddy and Presley. Presley is a working cattle dog and Buddy is a giant old goofball. Rudy and Buddy made instant friends in such a way that it was just plain stupid to watch. I will try to grab a few pictures of them today to share on here so you can see what I mean. Mostly they chase each other around in circles, around a car or the yard or the sofa or around you or me or anyone or thing that is near them. Buddy has a long beard sort of in the style of an old Chinese wise man. Dogs are funny.



Billy is really stoked to paint the landscape here. He is starting work on a scene today. This is the California stuff he has been wanting to paint for years. I am so glad to have the chance to visit with my oldest friend (not that she is old... it's that we have known each other so long... duh.) It should be a great week. I will try to post lots of pics. I hope y'all are having a fun three day weekend here in the states.