Chapter 9

Monday we took Bobbie to the doctor, and although she had not gained any more weight she was in good shape. The doctor told her that she needed to slow down a little for the last two months. After that we went to lunch and waited for Doug and Michelle to get into town. After lunch the all three women went looking for dresses for Michelle and Doug's wedding while Doug and I returned to the ranch.

Doug and I spent the rest of the day visiting the new property. I was shown what had been done and what needed to be done. While we were on the new land nearest my ranch I was introduced to the new hand Carlos. Before Doug introduced me to him he told me not to worry about his age because he could work the both of us into the ground on any given day. After talking with Carlos for about 15 minutes I knew he was born to ranching and would make an exceptional hand for the ranch.

Later when we were at Doug's having a cold one I asked him where he had met Carlos. Doug replied, "Years ago when I was a young teenager Carlos worked for my Pa. Pa had me work the whole summer with Carlos and I think I learned more in that summer about ranching than any other time."

Shortly after 5 PM the women returned. We were told that they could not find two matching bridesmaid's dresses so had decided to just get ones which were close to the same pastel color but totally different in design. We were not allowed to see the bride's gown but the bridesmaid's gowns were a pale mauve with white accent,

Two weeks later it was Michelle and Doug's big day. Two days before the wedding Doug's son Matt had showed up, and Michelle and him seemed to be like old friends. When I commented on this to Doug, Doug said Matt had visited before on the weekend we left. When Doug entered the house he heard them arguing, so he turned around and left to sit on the front porch for a while. "When Matt stomped out of the house in a huff," Doug said, "I waylaid him and asked what the problem was. Matt's replies were not too polite so I laid into him about his attitude and the way he had been treating me. The up shot of the whole thing is, Matt heard me out then turned and went into the house and apologized to Michelle. You know he did not even offer an argument to me about the whole deal and they have been friends ever since."

The wedding went off without a hitch. Michelle and Bobbie's relatives stayed at the same motel but some more Aunts and Uncles came. Doug's family came, along with his ex, and all seemed to have a great time. The big surprise was that half the church congregation showed up for both the wedding and reception bearing food and gifts. We finally left the community hall at 10 PM five hours after we were supposed to. To this date I have never heard a single complaint from anybody nor did we pay any extra money as far as I know.

I let Michelle and Doug take my pick-up on their vacation. They were headed to Florida and Disney World. Later when I went looking for Matt I found out he went with them and they all had a great time. When Matt turned 16 he surprised everybody by moving to live with Michelle and Doug.

The next morning Bobbie and Sara wanted to go visit their relatives at the motel. On the way in it was mentioned while this truck (Doug's) was good for the ranch it was hardly suitable for a go-to-town vehicle. I teased them about using Doug's truck as an excuse to buy another vehicle. Of course they denied that vehemently, but it did not stop them from visiting the GMC lot with me.

I fell in love with a Silver Birch Metallic 3/4-Ton Yukon XL with all the goodies. Bobbie and Sara were taken with a GMC Canyon and I talked them into a crew cab version explaining that putting in or taking out a baby and car seat would be much easier. They agreed on a Cherry Red Metallic one which the dealer happened to have in stock. I got mine ordered, then bought theirs, and we waited an hour while they finished prepping it. Someone else had ordered it, then backed out at the last minute, so most of the delivery prep work had been done previously and we got a good deal for it.