5 September 2001 // Ghost Ranch story, part the first.
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"How are you?" Q asked me as I walked into work yesterday.
"Mosquito-bit, sunburned, my ankle hurts... and I had a great time!" I replied. ^_^;;
Coming back to work after a long weekend - heck, even after a normal weekend - is annoying. Too many fires to put out (figuratively-nyo!), too much stuff to catch up on... on top of everything else, they were doing inventory yesterday and would frequently pop in with "can you find this item" questions. At least my FFIX soundtrack was waiting for me when I got there, so I was happy listening to that all day (mmm, Kuja theme). I have "Melodies of Life" quite thoroughly stuck in my head now. I want to go play that game again... I settled for continuing FFVI last night. ^_^
Ghost Ranch was wonderful. The back of my truck makes a very nice bed, with the camper shell and the carpet kit and all... very cozy and nifty. Except when the damn mosquitos get in before you close it up, and then gnaw on you all night. Grr. I really don't like the idea of wearing bug repellent to bed, but I had to the first night.
Saturday morning I went for a long walk around the ranch, all the way down to the constructed wetlands (a really cool system for treating the waste water from the place). As I walked, I imagined Viole coming home to a place like this when he gets some time off from the Dragonslayers. His hometown would be a small, high desert community, mostly self-sufficient, with a lake nearby, and a small military outpost where he'd received his first basic training (GR does now have a high ropes course, which prompted that addition). He flies in in his Alseides, but leaves it parked at the outpost and hikes the rest of the way home. Some of his friends and family are proud that he's become a member of their empire's elite fighting force, some are more suspicious of the emperor's motives and aren't really thrilled with Viole's choice of career ("Ach, my son is wearing a sword! He used to be such a nice boy! Look what they've done to him!" "Aw, Mom..."). He meets his childhood friends... and one who was more than friend (who's mildly jealous of Viole 'cause he has such a beautiful commander, and wants to know if they've been sleeping together... and wants all the salacious details if they have ^_^;;). I started trying to write the story down later, but I was sitting in the Long House, the main gathering area, and everyone else was chatting so I ended up with maybe two paragraphs. -_-;;
A group of us went swimming in nearby Abiquiu lake twice - Saturday afternoon and noonish Sunday. Last year the water in the dam was so low we could walk across on dry land to the small island. This year, the water was higher (yay) but we could still walk across - the water came about up to my neck in the middle of the place where we could cross. Trudy and I swam out into deeper water, while the others stood in the shallows trying to adjust to the cold water. ^_^ The mud on the island is really cool - red and full of clay, and really squishy... feels so nice between your toes. *grin*
Saturday night after the "ice cream social" at the Morans' RV, I walked the labyrinth by moonlight. The moon was so close to full, it lit the landscape as if it were day. Incredible. I wrote down my experiences there - I'll post that later. :)
By Sunday afternoon my right foot was starting to hurt really badly when I walked... not a good thing when you have to walk everywhere around camp. After lunch, instead of going back to the lake (for the second time that day) as planned, I holed up in my truck and read and napped and stayed off my foot as much as possible. I'd been planning to go on the moonlight hike to Chimney Rock, but there was no way I would have made it with my foot in so much pain.
*looks at the clock* Oi, I'm gonna be sooo late... *eeps* More later! -_-;;
recent alterations //
21 November 2002 // I'm not dead yet!
03 October 2002 // Snarling bitch to genki fangirl in 0.8 seconds flat! [i]
27 September 2002 // He's got butterfly wings, not feathery angel wings. Geez, people!
25 September 2002 // The Great Oekaki Contest Begins! [ai]
14 September 2002 // The obsessiveness continues...
