California Vacay – Day 4. (NBPM – 3)

Ok, where were we? Oh yes! Day four of my Escape to CA. And I promised you jousting, near death experiences AND a baby fix…. so with that in mind….

TBF and I were supposed to be at the fields at the godawful hour of 8am, when the first load of horses would be dropped off. Fortunately, TBF knows the leader there very well, and we didn’t even bother getting out of bed until about 10am. We got up, and scooted out of the house, and headed for the Coffee Catina (soon to become my favorite place in Frazier Park on, about, Tuesday) for breakfast bagels and Latte’s and Mochas, and then we got to the field around 10:30, where the horses had yet to arrive. Good call TBF! The arena wasn’t even set up yet, so TBF and a few others got to work on that while I picked up and tossed a few rocks, wandered around, and drank coffee. Hey, it was my VACATION after all – and they knew what they were doing so I did what I do best – supervised!

Hey, just cuz they didn’t know I was supervising… that had nothing to do with anything!

So, the horses arrived, and the arena was set up, though there wasn’t enough wood or supports, so the leader, James, he decided to rope off the perimeter of the arena. Read that again. Remember it. It comes into play later in this sordid tale…

So eventually the horses were all there, TBF and Lady C worked to get the horses warmed up a bit, and get all the gear set up, while I settled to the tailgate of the truck and continued to watch the festivities. I designated myself Photographer, and did my best to take plenty of photos of the festivities so that TBF had plenty for the paper and the website if they wanted them.

Soon the festivities got underway, with a rousing game of 9 pins – only they couldn’t find a bowling ball, so used rocks instead. Patrick and Big John, they used a REALLY BIG ROCK.

Or they wanted too – but instead i used it to sit on. Hahaha! Thanks guys! It was nice and comfy!

While the 9Pins was going on, there was also an area set up where folks could try their hand at throwing a variety of sharp pointy things; Spears, bow and arrows, tomahawks, knifes – you know, the normal fair. Those stations were full and busy all night long, as everyone tried their skills with a variety of success. And failures. Hahaha.

The Sack Race was exciting – as a very tall man was pared with a not to tall girl, and eventually gave up as he held the bag and threw her over his shoulder and carried her down the arena…. and still lost. HAHAH!

There was also a new sport! That’s right, as that was going on in the small area, in the arena, A REALLY BIG HORSE was used to pull a rope, connected to two boards for ‘Dirtboarding’ – everybit as amusing as it sounds!

Many brave souls tried it, and a few even did ok at it. They did better when the Dark Knight pulled out his padded riding jacket to help protect the more squeamish who didn’t want to risk road rash.

There was also some sword practice, and then a lovely young lady gave a Roman Riding demonstration, where she rode bareback, on her belly, backwards, and then standing – jumping hay bales and everything.

Then came the main festivities – the Harold named Dave announced (Usually by saying “nah, I got nuthin”) and there were spear throws, and jousting, and sword passes, and sword fights, and much laughter and even some applause. Generally, as it wasn’t very well organized this time around, it was a practice for the riders, and fun for the watchers…

Then came the final hurrah. As the Knights were doing their final victory laps, James had his near death experience. Something spooked his horse, he didn’t have the right tack on her, and remember those ropes? Well, the horse went under, and Sir James was summarily close-lined, thrown from the horse, and knocked cold. I was running video at the time, though I didn’t get the actual fall, I did have a lovely view of the ground as we hurried over to see if he was ok. There were screams for a cell phone, and as I had mine on one side of my bra and TBFs on the other, I grabbed TBF’s dialed, and handed it off because hello -what was I gonna say “er, I’m somewhere on the hill, and something bad happened, come find me!”?

The paramedics were called, while James came too and found himself the center of attention.

For a few minutes he didn’t know where he was, what he was doing, what horse he was on, if he was jousting or anything of the sorts, but his head began to clear soon thereafter. There was a paramedic in the crowd, actually, and she checked him out, as well as those of the ambulance that showed up a few moments later. While they were checking out James, the rest of the knights and ladies went about packing things up, taking care of the horses, and cleaning up. The final show that was supposed to happen wasn’t going too as the crowd dispersed, while James was cleared for continued duty. He was looking pretty glazed though, so TBF and I went with the rest to be sure the horses were put up in the right place at the ranch.

Then – TBF was STARVING and I wasn’t that far behind, so we made a quick stop for Carl’s Jr., before we went to find the wife, at the the inlaw’s place where they were helping a friend celebrate his birthday. I got to meet J for the first time – I’d met B. the last time I’d visited. Their 3 year old was sleeping, but the baby, she was fussy, and when Mama got tired of dealing, I finally got to say my favorite words “Give me the baby!” She thought I was kidding, but I wasn’t, and I took the baby and she and I rocked and rocked and I was spit up on, and we rocked some more, and she got sleepy, and then woke up again for her midnight snack. After they were done playing Halo, we trundled into the truck, and headed back home to be boisterously greeted by the menagerie of animals eagerly awaiting their fair share of attention. Which we happily showered them with, of course.

Exhausted, and very very very sunburnt, we decided to turn in, with the joy of knowing we could sleep in the next day, Sunday, before we would head to LA once again. That story, of course, is for tomorrow’s installment which includes LACMA, Dali, Another Big Black Guy Flirt Moment, and a Real Club. Oh. And Fire. Lots and lots of Fire.

You KNOW you can’t wait…. but wait you will! See ya then!