there was an eagle

The Lone Ram staffers are straggling out of the deep oblivion of slumber at noon today, after a very full week of day camp. I, among the rest, was frequently up from 5:30 am to 11 pm, with only an hour to myself. That hour was usually spent trying to remove at least one layer of dirt.

I admit that yes, it was a hectic week. The day campers came at 8am, and left at 5:30. We finished feeding the horses at 6, our dinner at the BigHorn lodge was at 7, at 7:30 we were out tacking up again for the BigHorn groups coming at 8pm, and by 10, the horses were usually done working for the day and we were heading back to get ready to hit the sack.

But among the blur, there were highlights:

*When you are up at 5:30, the mountains are gorgeous. One morning there was a haze of mist in every indentation of the mountains. Soooooo lovely.

*A bald eagle flew over the pasture so low that I could hear the wind in it's wings. It was the first time I'd ever seen an eagle in flight and it left a deeper impression than I thought something like that could.

*There are monarch butterflies everywhere.

*On Wednesday a family came over to the ranch so that their special needs daughter could ride a horse. I was a sidewalker. She could only communicate via sign language and held my hand tightly the entire time. It was very cool to see the huge smile on her face as she grew comfortable and so excited about it. Horses are amazing creatures.