Bob the Elusive Mountain Cow

My life is rarely simple. Having a copius amount of daughters leads me to frantically schedule girl scout meetings amongst gymnastics and playdates. I have a bounty of boys in my front tree all calling for them to come out and play, I know these same kids will be the ones trying to take them to prom so Bryan's getting his game face on early and practices his gun-cleaning skills.

This weekend, I took Rowyn on a girl scout rafting adventure in Pennsylvania.


Being true Oregonians, we marveled at the beauty of the river and the carpet of trees in varigated greens. Then reverted to our wimpy state as soon as the rain started at 2am and I slept in a puddle. Who designs these tents? Edward Scissorhands? It reminded me of a time in college where I was in a class that met only one time at Crater Lake Park in Oregon. I broke my toe the night before so missed the informational meeting and decided to drive up anyway the next day. Never having pitched a tent before and more than hoping to find someone to pity me with firewood (never did), I found myself alone and cold but happily eating marshmellows that night and telling myself ghost stories at the campground. The next morning, I awoke to idyllic sunshine and stuck to my pillow. I had inadvertantly rolled onto the marshmellow packet and the baggie was stuck to my head. Imagine a woman with a swollen foot, frozen butt and marshmellows sticking off her head emerging from a wonky tent. I was magnificent!

The remainder of the day was spent searching for wildflowers (the original intent of the class) and talus formations (rocks I assume, I never really did find them...). As I traveled the crater, I noticed I was being followed, by cows. Immediately I'm thinking they want my marshmellow- encrusted hair, then I wonder what the heck cows are doing in a national park. I have yet to figure out the true reason for the bovine fascination but those dang things were everywhere! True to my pioneer spirit, I had a fabulous time the rest of the day and now think of this as one of my best camping trips ever. :)

Go ahead... call me Fool on the Hill for this blog entry...

Latah Vadah~