I promised awhile ago that I'd put up pictures from the Day of the American Cowboy parade a few weeks ago. They've been up on Flickr for awhile, but I'm finally posting one here. Here is the clan from one local ranch with their float–and yes, they do have a keg and they're handing out beer. They were by far the most popular entry in the parade. . . nobody even minded that they were holding up the other floats.
I spent the weekend much as planned, attending various social events (Friends of the Library barbeque Saturday night; dinner party up the Wood River last night) and hanging out with Jim, who left today on a six-week vacation. He gets free rent in exchange for doing a lot of work on the house he lives in, but part of the deal is that he clears out when the owner shows up for her vacation. I am trying very hard not to think about the fact that I will never get another six week vacation. It's a point of pride with me that I made it through the first 30 years of my life without ever having a full-time job, but grim reality is setting in now.
I did slip out for a hike this afternoon/evening, though. After a day of working at the computer at home (the library is closed for cleaning), with no patrons to interrupt me, I was going stir crazy, and one of the good things about living here is that in under an hour I can be in the Shoshone National Forest, far from the reaches of almost anything–well, except bears and wolves and so forth. But that's different.