Nostalgia

I got a call from a friend of mine a few weeks ago. He wasn't a close friend by any means, but we were acquainted and whatnot. Out of the blue he called me one day and said "I ripped out half the fence on the ranch and I have to have it put back up by January thirtieth. It should only take three or four full days."
I initially took five days off maximum, thinking I would be able to only have to put up with my boss for a week before she left for Texas. I ended up staying double that, leaving on the nineteenth and getting home yesterday the 1st. Needless to say, it was the best recovery two weeks I've ever had, and I'm pretty sure it was a reward for putting up with that crazy ***** of a woman since October.
Not all of my two weeks were devoted to building fence. We put in two days before the neighbor, Mike, asked us to help him move his herds back to the house. So, the first day was only few hours, but the next day was an all day ordeal. We mounted up around nine, and were in the saddle till four thirty or so, gathering up cattle in the Middle Unit. It was one of the most ridiculous drives I've ever been on. We had seventeen volunteers (more than a few of them just along for the ride) to move a hundred sixty head. A little overkill, but it made for a more interesting day.
I rode with the game warden all morning, running the high ridgelines looking for anything that might have drifted into the steep country. We met back up with the main group around one, and to lighten the mood Nikki and Mike had made around 2 gallons of stiff peppermint schnapps. I'd already killed off the flask I'd filled up the previous night, so I was a bit tipsy already. Anyway, we left the bottle back in the parking lot, so Townsend and Luke rode back to get it. As we passed the bottle around, Amy, the photographer of the drive, got ahold of it, took a drink and said "That's great!" and proceeded to lope away, bottle held high.
I think the highlight of that drive was first thing off- one lady was riding a horse that had put her in the hospital twice. Not that the horse was really nasty, just she wasn't the best rider in the world. Townsend agreed to ride her for a while, and traded Tick, our ranch stud, to ride this mare. The horse, Moonbeam, was fine right up until he asked her to lope. She started giving the most pitiful bucks anyone had ever seen. Townsend is a professional bronc rider, and he was spurring her on trying to force her to keep on, and Mike was up on the hill laughing his guts out. That was the last thing Justin and I saw before we passed over the hill.

This was probably the best birthday present I've ever had. Even though I spent more hours in the absolute frigid cold wind/ an icebox of a rodeo arena and got terribly sick from it, I'm glad I went. It was a sorely needed respite from my typical sluggish winter activities.
Sorry about the horribly unfocused/terribly written format. This falls into the 'literary vomit' category.