what do you mean, visiting?

so, friday evening i went to the beacon with the him. we arrived just before 7 and commenced to have steak for dinner. after a while we were joined by others, until our group was about 10 people. brother b and becky came in from the ranch, and friend woody from meeteetse was in town, friend eddy was there, and friend stuart, among others.

so we all sat around and visited and got up and danced regularly. at one point i went over to talk with bouncer friend kyle, who was taking the cover and checking IDs at the door. he told me the cops had really been harsh lately, with four or five of his friends pulled over in the last week.

the him and i left about 1:30 a.m. he'd left his truck at the apt, so he was riding back across town with me. there were a couple vehicles following me as we headed east on yellowstone, and sure nuff, we got almost to poplar and lights came on behind me. i was very baffled, as i was going 50 on the dot and was just driving along minding my own business.

so the cop comes up to the window and i've dug out my license.

cop: "do you know why i pulled you over? you were all over that yellow line driving down the road."
me: "oh, i'm sorry. we were just visiting as we were driving home."
cop: "what do you mean, visiting?"
me: "um.... talking to each other?"

isn't that what the term "visiting" means to most people?

and just for the record, i'm pretty sure i hadn't even touched either paint line, he just wanted any excuse to pull me over. pretty sure he was sitting in the shadows watching the beacon parking lot. the mills cops are low-down and dirty like that.

obviously he knows we've come from the beacon, and he asks how many i've had to drink. and really, seriously, who keeps a running tally when they've been at the bar six hours? anyway, i gave him a low estimate, noting that we'd also had dinner there, and i was just giving the him a ride. that, and it'd been over an hour since i'd had my last one.

you know how long it's been since i've had to recite the alphabet? well, he made me do it under pressure, with lights flashing in my rearview. then i had to count backwards from 67 to 54, and then recite the alphabet from 'c' to 't.' sounds easy enough, right? but when it's the middle of the night and dark and a cop's standing there shining the light, that adds a little bit of pressure and one starts overthinking. but, i passed. he took my license back and checked it out, then let me go.

so yesterday we all went to the bull riding at the events center, and i didn't even go to the bar afterwards. figured i'd maybe used up my luck for the weekend. there were a lot of casper and mills cops out, and the sheriffs. a good night to just go home and go to bed. besides, after the performance me and the him, brother b and becky and their uncle sonny and his wife carole from kaycee - friend G's parents - all went to casper's for coffee and visited until after midnight.

otherwise, yesterday morning i came into the office for an interview with the buffalo ffa ag issues team, then went out to the ranch with lucy for a while. she wanted to play with her sister puppies out there, but they were scared of her. i think she's a little overbearing and confident. since she goes so many places, she settles into things and gets comfortable pretty quickly. then the him, brother b, becky and i went and had mexican for dinner, then headed to the bull riding, where we joined up with the mutton marshall and his wife dorothy.

right now i'm at the office, getting ready to clean. then the rest of the day *should be* devoted to cleaning the apt. since my mind's been set on moving, it's been neglected since i'm thinking that soon i'll be packing everything up and organizing it, anyway.

still trying to restrain myself from packing....

maybe today is warm enough to take my horses out for exercise. i took them out thursday evening after work. i saddled april and was riding her, leading jazz. but jazz has this thing were about once a year when i'm ponying her she decides she's going to launch an all-out attack on april, biting and rearing and kicking and she just won't give up. if i knew how to anticipate it, i could work on fixing it. so anyway, i might take them out separately today, because i don't want to get kicked in the leg or hit in the head with an attacking hoof.

the him and brother b are helping the mutton marshall move his cows to spring pasture today. i opted out, as it's guaranteed to be a long, drawn-out ordeal and not much time horseback. that, and they were all a little peeved with each other last night, so a good day to stay out of it.