Big Ranch Roundup

I went with the MSM to the Pine's 10,000 acre ranch for the annual 4th of July Big Ranch Roundup. It was a lot of fun. Here is some photographic proof.

Quite the Weekend, or, (Fatherhood almost came 8 weeks early)

As I previously stated, we had our leader's retreat at the Pine's Ranch this weekend. We left the Bay Area around 6:30 on Friday and arrived at the ranch around 8:30. The ride was pretty uneventful and quite pleasant until we arrived at their quaint little house. That is when things changed. Mel went to the bathroom when we got there (this fact, trough slightly intrusive, is integral to the story's plot). After she left the "facility" she thought that her water may have broken. This was the source of much calamity that would ensue throughout the duration of the evening. She told me what happened and I told her that she needed to go tell Becky (a girl around our age who happened to be a postpartum nurse at John Muir). Becky made a few phone calls to various nurses and doctors at John Muir who all highly recommended that we go to a hospital immediately. So that is what we did. We hopped back in to the car (about 10 minutes after arriving) and headed to John Muir. Ann and Becky came with us as well. We arrived at John Muir around 11 and they admitted Mel right away. Needless to say, a lot was going through my mind. Luckily Mel was really calm and was not in any pain. The baby is not due for another 8 weeks and neither of us were excited about having a baby the size of a Ken doll. My words, not hers. The nurse ran a series of tests on Melissa and determined that her water probably did not break. They monitored the baby's heartbeat and Mel's contractions and discovered that she was having small contractions every 5 minutes. The nurse gave her a drug to stop the contractions and informed us that we would be staying at the hospital another few hours. Becky decided that she would go work some overtime so she "scrubbed in" and Mark picked Ann up. We got home around 4 a.m. Mel was not put on bed rest, but was told to "take it easy." I ended up driving back to the ranch at 10am the next morning. It was hard leaving Mel but she was fine with it. She ended up staying the night at her parents' house. The retreat went really well. Tony took over some of my responsibilities when I was gone and we all had some good discussions when I got there. Rob and I took our cars 4-wheeling all over the property with some of the guys on Saturday. It was grand. It was a really strange weekend and I got a brief glimpse of what it might be like when the baby is born. I am excited and anxious for his arrival but I think I will need these next 8 weeks to prepare.

a man down

Matt Gin shaved. He was weak. We didn't need him anyway. Truth be told, as the days go by, I am beginning to question my beard growing resilience. We will see what happens. Today we are heading to the Pine's ranch for a middle school and high school ministry leader's retreat. The Pine's (a family from the church) own a 10,000 acre ranch (not a misprint) near Cache Creek. It is insane. 60 square miles of squirrel hunting bliss. It should be fun for the 30 of us in attendance. All of this gnarly beard growing has me reminiscing of a simpler time. Here is a video clip from Egypt, depicting the night that Charlie and I shaved.