Oh…that’s right, I wasn’t!  It’s a long story and some of it I can’t tell as it would create issues for me and the little people in my life so I’ll hit the spots that can be told.

The Riot came out to spend 10 days with me during spring break.  Kick me to the ceiling and then scrape me off the walls.  There is no silence, there is no time alone, or a moment that doesn’t seem to have dirty dishes in the sink, food to fix, or something going on.  Living alone with a dog for company is poor preparation for having an 8-year old around full-time.

Yes, we’ve done this many times before but it seemed to run harder and longer this time.  I felt a lot of pressure with work and things I needed to do around the house and property. But we did have fun.

We went to the desert, him on his 50, me and Scout walking.  It was almost a tragedy.  Scout goes crazy when we take the bike out of the shed and start firing it up.  She runs in circles and barks and then races around the property, jumping in the air (for a fat 93 pound dog, she can jump pretty high). If he’s riding on property, I normally bring her in the house after a bit because she won’t stop and I fear she’ll have a heart attack.  But, the first trip out to the desert with him on the bike, she did run and pant like she was dying (the panting is pretty normal for an over-heated dog) but she didn’t seem to be much different than the usual.  The second time we went, she went down behind me.  I wanted to puke.  I honestly thought I’d killed her by not putting the leash on her and making her walk with me.

She was laying in the shade (if you could call it that) of a short stand of mesquites, in the dirt, panting her ass off.  She was in trouble.  I went back and stayed with her, patting and soothing her, and waited.  A bit later, when she got up to continue running, I put the leash on her and forced her to walk slowly home with me.  I was just sick over it.  I don’t want my dog dying because I’m stupid.  I won’t let that happen again.

The whole time Riot was with me, momparental had plans to meet us at the Tecopa turn off and go to Cathedral Canyon and then on to the China Date Farm. Numerous phone calls went back and forth, along with text messages. It’s a semi-long story but rather than go into all of it, momparental has been to Pahrump twice in the 5 years I’ve been out here.  I make the trip into Vegas to grab the boy and return him, or upon occasion, his dad meets me halfway or drives out, but it normally falls on my shoulders.  So…Riot and I had a bet.

I told him she wouldn’t show, he said she would.  $1 was on the line.  The night before we were to meet, I even sent her a text, telling her if she couldn’t make it, to let me know then because we could sleep in if I was just returning him to Vegas.  I got a text back that I should call her at 7 a.m. for wake-up and she would meet us at 10 a.m. I got up at 7, called her and she answered.  I let my buddy sleep until 8, we left Scout at home and hit the road about 9ish.  We got to the Tecopa cut-off about half an hour early and I had him call her.  I could hear, “Really mom?  I could’ve slept in.”

By now we were off the highway and I took the phone to ask where she was, “In Vegas.”  Really? She said she ‘would be there.’  I told her that if she left right that minute it would take her an hour to get there and that we weren’t going to sit by the side of the road and wait an hour or more for her, we would go on to Cathedral Canyon and I would bring him into Vegas.  The conversation was short – not sweet. I don’t understand people…you figure it out.

Off we went to Cathedral Canyon. Riot is standing by the vandalized Christ of the Andes statue in the canyon and then sitting at the top of where the waterfall used to spill into the pool of serenity (my choice on naming the pool).

Now the pool is a party spot, beer cans everywhere, the fire had been burning the night before and the smell was still in the canyon, along with a few wet spots where someone either took a leak or dumped out a drink…which I doubt the latter.

View of the canyon from the rim, Riot standing at the gate (almost destroyed now) in the entrance, and someone’s idea of worship in one of the vandalized alcoves in the canyon.

Check out the link above to see more of the canyon.

We headed for Vegas and will do the China Date Farm at another time.  It was a long day for me – 3 hours into Vegas and back home, not including our stop at the canyon.  Yuppers, from the mouth of Riot, “I owe you $1 grandma.”

I really never believed she would come and meet us, I’ve heard the same story about 200 times since I moved out here and she’s always a ‘no call – now show’ when it comes down to the wire.

Well…where was I?