Ranch Camp Day 2-4...Bluestem Lake Memories, Boots, Adventures

…Ranch Camp is moving right along.
Day 2 Friday was another busy day on the Drummond Ranch, with the twins working cattle with Uncle Thatcher on 4 wheelers. This was a new skill for them, and they enjoyed it.
…And Fun at Bluestem Lake… What Memories
We also spent some time on Bluestem Lake with Uncle Thatcher and Forest, where the kids jumped off the famous water tower. We were going to try a zip sled run, but we had a bit of a technical difficulty… the rope was not on the boat. We will have to be more organized. Bluestem Lake is a small lake, but it brings back a lot of memories for us. When we were young, our family had a small boat dock at this lake, where all of our cousins, aunts, uncles would gather for a lot of fun! Thatcher and I reminisced about a time when we were kids, when the whole family was on our bright green, home welded party barge. It was all our cousins, aunts, uncles, and even Grandma Ruth and Papa. We would drive this party barge to the middle of the lake and someone would grill some burgers.

Anthony and Forest are weighing their options for jumping off the water tower!

We could jump off the top of the party barge, and we had a smaller boat that would circle round with skiing and zip sledding fun. This barge was no ordinary party barge. It was a custom made welded square with 2 stories and green turf grass covering (thus the green color). The floatation was good old fashioned barrels, and maybe some foam or something, and a motor was attached. It was pretty low tech, but it was bigger than any manufactured pontoon or such that you see. Thinking back, that thing was pretty cool! You could literally fit 20 + people on this thing.

Forest is telling Thatcher "no way"... Look Out... Thatcher is on his way up!

It mostly stayed parked, for us to swim from our boat dock on, but on special occasions, we would drive the beast to the middle of the lake and have a good old time. It wasn't often, but on very special outings, Grandma Ruth and Papa would join us. I think the chaos made them a little nervous, which is why they were not regulars on the barge. One time in particular, Thatcher and I remembered that Dad was driving a little fast on the beast and it started taking in water.

We had quite a crowd, so it perhaps was not floating as high as usual. This was one of the times when we were honored with the presence of Grandma Ruth and Papa. Papa was the patriarch of the family, and was the boss of absolutely everyone and everyone! He began shouting and hollering, and Dad was shouting back, and Grandma was laughing, mostly at Papa, and at her crazy son trying to sink us all, as she did in times of stress. Kids were instructed to jump off to reduce the weight so they could float the beast to safety. I don't have clear memory, but I am sure that during this outing, nobody actually put down their beverage. The kids never really knew we were in danger… it was just another day in the life of our crazy family.

What funny things get burned into our memories forever.

It was a pretty long way down... Look at Forest Jump!
Day 3 -- New Cowboy Boots All Around. It was a Saturday, and miraculously, there was no cattle work scheduled for today. Papa offered to take the kids to buy new boots after 3 days of struggling to get the boots on and off. This, he thought, would be a simple quick errand. Nothing is simple with 4 kids. Our first stop was a store outside of Tulsa, but Anthony it seems is in a size that is popular, and not greatly stocked. He is between kid and adult sizes. In addition, the kid is a little particular. No square toes, No round toes, and no pointy toes -- he just wanted the traditional point toe (but not too pointy). He knew what he wanted for sure, and Papa's patience was struggling a bit. This would require another stop (hopefully not more). Papa's patience was tested, but we all survived! Oh, today I had a nasty eye infection that by the end of the day was determined to be PINK EYE! We have calls in to several doctors, because, of course, Pink Eye is a emergency issue (kidding). I don't know how I got this, but the next worse thing would be to transfer it to my 4 kiddos, so I am hopeful to get rid of it before it spreads. If we all get pink eye, along with our other injuries, we might have to pack up for the city already.

Day 4 is Sunday, and Mommy awoke with PINK EYE, and the bright sun was painful! Papa took the kids to feed cattle, and Ginny took the kids to the "graveyard", where there is availability of many bones of animals – a little spooky, but the kids thought it was a blast. By the end of the day, a sweet doc family member rescued me with some medicine for my pink eye… life is getting better already.