Today, we are waking up to a golden day. Not only are we in a wild RV park in Golden B.C., overlooking a wild range of mountains, staring at a bunch of wild gophers, staring at me from the meadow, but even more wild… it is my golden girl’s birthday.
And that means I have to get cracking to pull together a fun day to celebrate Bernadette’s big day. Normally, I would have a flock of family to help pull together some cool activities, but this day, it is solely up to me. And don’t even ask me about Gordie. He is useless with birthday surprises.
So, I needed to start early. “Honey,” I whispered. “Happy Birthday. You just stay in bed for a few more minutes. I’m going to the wash house to have a shower and I’ll come back to make you a big, birthday breakfast.” The person under the covers did not respond, so I took that as an ok to get moving. Gordie kept snoozing too. He is useless.
As we were off the grid, the park’s communal camp wash house was my choice for a morning shower. That would leave the birthday girl with a long, luxurious shower in Ladybug. So off I went.
The shower started off cold, and just got colder. Then it hit freezing. That’s when I decided to take the leap. At that very moment, leaping into the freezing shower, trying to catch my breath, I started thinking, “What the Hell am I doing?” And then it got even stranger when I noticed a flock of Ravens on the walls of the shower. “What are these Ravens doing here in this freezing shower?”
I swatted at the first Raven and that’s when all Hell broke out. In seconds, I was attacked by mosquitoes, who only looked like Ravens because they were so damn big. I swatted and swatted but there were just too many mosquitoes. They must have mistaken me for breakfast. I exploded out of that wash house half covered in soap being chased by a swarm of mosquitoes the size of Ravens. A nice start to the golden day for Bernadette.
Back in Ladybug, we went over the day’s special activities. And the main activity planned for Bernadette was to visit a buffalo ranch outside of town. A strange choice for some, but buffalo ranches can be pretty cool and Bernadette loves them. So off we went.
The Rocky Mountain Buffalo Ranch is run by a gent named Leo Downey. An interesting fellow for sure. Part musician, part historian and part buffalo rancher of which he is passionate. He told some harrowing tales of how the buffalo were almost wiped out be the western expansion of settlers. Millions of buffalo were systematically killed which almost pushed them into extinction.
Fortunately, conservation policies in both the US and Canada, helped turn the corner for the buffalo and today, it is estimated that there are more than 500,000 buffalo living throughout North America. A far cry from their numbers in the 1800s, but on the right track to protect and preserve the species.
Leo described buffalo as a “stoic” animal. They do not run off when attacked and will stand their ground. Since females can grow to over 1,000 pounds and males over 2,000 pounds, they aren’t animals to be taken lightly. We kept that in mind as Leo guided us down to the pasture where his buffalo were grazing.
What an incredible sight. These are big animals from a distance and they get a whole lot bigger when they get closer. The dominant bull was a giant named Chester junior. He was a ten year old bull, about 2200 pounds, who could conceivably lead his herd for another 15 years. That is, if he can continue to win the annual challenges from other young male bulls during mating season. The challenges can be quite violent and usually do not end well for one of the bulls. Good luck Chester.
At the end of our day, we feasted on fresh Coho salmon, a gift from our friend Warren Wagstaff during our visit to Vancouver Island. We also discovered that Warren shares the same birthday as Bernadette, so Happy Birthday to Warren as well. Gordie and I searched high and low to find a suitable birthday cake. And all we could get were two sad slices of carrot cake. Candles helped the presentation and we did our best to sing Happy Birthday as enthusiastically as ever. Bernadette smiled as she blew out her candles. “Hoorah, Hoorah, Hoorah!” A golden day in Golden for my golden girl. Happy Birthday Sweetheart.
