The Ranch

The Ranch

The paddocks that lined the country road each held two horses. Shiny hides gleamed in the sunlight and their fit bodies gracefully moved over the green pastures. The country road was quiet and full of potholes that needed to be filled regularly, When it rained, the potholes would fill up and the ducks from the ranch would sit in puddles. The fences of the paddocks were worn down, and the paint were chipped. They had once been painted brightwhite;e however, with time, the fences had started to chip and fall apart.

The willow trees that lined the road and aged arms swept the ground. The cool shade spread wide and, covering the green lawn in its shade, the barn cat would seek shelter in the sizzling summer afternoons. The larks liked to dart from its branches and to the big red barn at the end of the road, it would dramatically sweep over the paddocks and towards the barns and back again to the willow’s comfortable arms.

The cat would intently watch the activity of the larks as it sat under the willow tree in a soft patch of mossy grass. Not that far from the aged willow tree was the singing stream, which flowed gently through the ranch The roots of the willow tree hungrily reached for the life-giving force. The stream sparkled in the afternoon sunlight, and it had a little song that it sang as it danced over the pastures. It crackled, popped, and tingled out as it flowed along. the bees buzzed around the pastel wildflowers that speckled the green grassy meadows. The sweaty smell of long green grasses and the soft, hot breezes of summer wind that cast over the pastures.

The shiny chestnut coats of the horse glimmer in the afternoon light and slightly damped with patches of sweatiness. The first trees at the far edge of the paddocks cast a broad shadow and the horses tried to find a cool patch to rest on. Their heads hung low and hovered over the ground, not eating the soft shoots of green grass. The daylight of these long summer days would shine on for hours on end. It would stretch out and spin out the hours into days and years; those long summers were never-ending rests of energy.

The ranch was an hour from downtown Olympia, so it felt like it was in the country. It was not that far away and, the city and the feeling of urban life. The pasture was green with worn fences and lined the county road. The bumpy road was covered in gravel and had potholes in it. It was two miles long and met up with the county highway that led you into town. The county highway had a speed limit of forty, however, with no traffic lights and intersections and only gravel driveways that lead to houses and ranches along the road.

  The teenagers in the area liked to take their old beaters out on the county highway and drive as fast as possible, the old junkers would not reach more than eighty before backfiring or, overheating. The elderly members of the community regularly complained about the out-of-control youths. Threatening to someday, the speed limit on the county highway was thirty, however, most adults secretly drove more like sixty or seventy on the country highway and did not want to lose the freedom of being able to speed to work and the grocery store and then back to their country homes. The freedom of open roads is not found in the restricted and regulated highways and streets in town. In secret, many of the youths were now adults who drove much nicer cars and had fond memories of summer speeding and high school romances on that country highway.

The community was small and many never left it. They went to the public schools, went to the local colleges, married their high school sweethearts, and raised their children in the same place their parents had. Life was easily followed and the routine of raising children, adulthood, elderhood and death were all part of the community. People had known each other for decades and no one in that community was a stranger to each other. Everything, in its natural course, always happened. In its way, life was simple. The few that left the community never came back and were considered outsiders. However, many did not find leaving an option and the support of the community was stronger than the drive to leave.

In the summer, the prairie that the ranches lay on was in full bloom. The patches of bright blue and white flowers with mixtures of yellow weeds made the grass a colorful quilt. The grass was short and browning by the time June came around, as the horses had eaten most of the good shoots and the mixture of weeds and wildflowers spiced up the paddocks. The afternoons would have the hot rays of sunlight that would flash over the sky. The summer sky was odd in the fact it would change as one time it would be covered in thick grey clouds and then be bright blue and wide open. The shadow of a fir tree that scraped the skyline would bring quiet relief to the hot horses and people. Tilly, a large quarter horse with broad shoulders and a long mane, slowly paced in the paddock, waiting for the late afternoon when the family would come home from school and work, and she would be put in the cool, dark barn.

There were six horses, and the family would leave in the morning for school, the daughter and son would take the large yellow school bus to the elementary and middle school down the country road. The schools were at the edge of town and were within city limits. The parents would leave in separate cars each to their workplace, and the horses would intently watch as the family left each morning. They knew when it was the weekend and had a good sense of the weekly work schedule. The family would exercise the horse and take them out on the tree-lined trails for day-long trail rides. However, during the week, the horse would be moved from the paddocks back to the barn in the late afternoon.

 The ranch was a quiet place, a simple place where one could always find a horse to befriend, a good long walk and a wonderful place to lie down under the gentle arms of the willow tree on sweltering summer afternoons.