Good morning! Do you think that you can get to breakfast with these horses blocking the way? Hmm, guess you better tell them to scoot, or you will never get that cup of coffee!
Now that I had my cup of coffee I will tell you about Michael. He had a very interesting life. He was born in Columbia, grew up in Austria (where he got his delightful accent), then moved to Tokyo and Hong Kong. He said that he was an Austrian Count. I’m not sure if he was telling the truth or not, but he played the part well. Five foot ten, with silver hair, he looked like a silver fox. Debonair, courtly and flirtatious, I could understand why he had been married three times. Besides women, he loved to smoke cigars and drink.
He was an accomplished rider and loved to do yoga on horseback. Sitting on the front deck of our cabin it was fun to see him gallop by on the back of a horse! He was leaning back on the horse so that’s his back was parallel to the horse’s back. How he stayed on, I will never know!
He was looking for wife number four, but it was best if she was named Elizabeth. I asked him “Why?”. He lifted the scarf on his neck, and on his nape was the name Elizabeth tattooed across his neck! Good reminder to only have the names of your children tattooed on you, not your wife or girlfriend, as they might change over time!
I mentioned that Michael liked to drink. Remember that fancy bar in the main lodge?
This is where Micheal gave us a demonstration on how to taste red wine. What a production! He had an audience of ten other guests as he did his demonstration. He said it was most important to be standing. So we all stood. Then you had to inhale and sniff the wine. Than you had to take a large slurp and swirl and slip it around in your mouth inhaling a large amount of air over the wine without swallowing any of it. It was all very noisy and amusing, and quite sexy. it looked like quite the party trick.
Michael had the hots for the activity bartender and as it was his last night he ordered a bottle of Dom Perignon that he wanted her to share. She had seen his type before and invited those of us at the bar who were learning how to drink wine ala Micheal to share the champagne. Poor Micheal left to go back to his house in San Francisco alone.
Michael was an investment banker, and I keep an eye on the news to see if he has been arrested for a Ponzi scheme! I was very nervous for the ranch that Michael would be good for his bill as he seemed quite sketchy, but as all guests had paid in full before they arrived, the Ranch had nothing to worry about.
I had previously mentioned that wine and liquor had been included in the daily rate. Bruce, the owner did have a locked cabinet of his special wines and liquors. Bruce told me that one night he had an inebriated jerk of a guest who tried to pry open the locked booze, he was caught and had quite the bill!
Steve fished the morning on the North Platte and caught twelve fish. The day started out at a cool temperature of 55 degrees warming to 85 in the early afternoon. 
In the afternoon Steve took a ride with me. This is his horse saying “I hope this guy continues to fish, he is too heavy for me!”
Do you prefer red or white wine?
Do you add ice to your wine?
Have you ever tried to break into a locked liquor cabinet that wasn’t your own?