Why are We Here?

 This is quite the topic to tackle, from a point of philosophical awareness. People have written countless books about existentialism but I will delve into it as it relates to us. (Sorry Jethro, more big words.)

The term "here" refers to a spot in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Particularly the "J bar B" ranch close to the town of Custer, SD. A year ago we got a message from Jethro and Bambi. He said he was inviting a small group of people out to the ranch in September of 2025. He wanted to give everybody plenty of notice to clear their calendars. Fast forward to now and here we are. 

Photo stolen from Jethro and improved by Tango.

Saturday.

These are the couples that are making the journey to South Dakota. Traveling from 3 different states and one province. We all arrived on the same day and started to get caught up with everyone's  lives. While everyone was getting reacquainted Jethro pulls me aside and whispers in my ear, which was a little unnerving because he smelled of bourbon and pork rinds.

He said to me "Tango, Bambi and I have a million dollar idea. I don't want to do a food trailer because that sounds like too much work for Bambi, so we came up with this idea. The J bar B ranch.  A +55 and older dude ranch for senior citizens! That's why you all are here! To give it the first test. We have activities planned, tours set up. It's all inclusive too. Food and beverages. Everything! We have even scheduled nap times! It's perfect!"

So the first day was slow and easy since it was a travel day. Pretty soon Jethro was bringing out the bourbon. Those that wanted to do blind taste testing of a variety of bourbons could. Just an observation here. I think there would be more takers if there was prize money involved. Giggling could be heard the rest of the night.

Sunday.

Today was a quiet day. People could explore on their own. The afternoon was going to be a cornhole tournament, more bourbon tasting and alcohol consumption. Jethro made a bracket and names were drawn to see who was going to compete with who. Everyone started googling the rules to make sure it was on the level. We decided on the Queensbury rules of cornhole to the death and the competition began.

It was a very spirited competition, comments from the spectators were nonstop as you could imagine.

Jethro pulled me aside again and whispered in my ear. "Tango, today we are just playing cornhole but imagine an Olympic size shuffle board court here. Over there yonder I want to install a pickleball court. What else do old people play? Oo, I know checkers!" I looked over and saw his eyes gleaming and a smile plastered across his face. I was wondering how much bourbon he has already had and why does he always smell of pork rinds?

The losers of the games would then have to spin the wheel of bad decisions. The wheel was listed with all kinds of bad alcohol and the losers would spin to see what they had to take a shot of.

Here is Jethro spinning because his team lost. I think he lost on purpose just so he could drink.

The tournament went on for hours with the eventual winners being the team of Bambi and Tango. Again, just saying that maybe some cash prizes may be a good incentive.

Fun was had by all. But if that wasn't good enough, the two winners now had to face each other in a sudden death game. The game went back and forth for what seemed like hours. Imagine two athletes at the top of there physical abilities competing head to head. On and on it went until finally time started to take its toll on, Tango. Bambi was in her prime and finally endured the final outcome. Bambi was the overall champion. Congratulations to her. Jethro presented her with the Shepard's hook of physical prowess. Again, cash!

With the game over alcohol was brought out for drowning your sorrows or celebrating your victories. I would like to add that the meals Bambi has been cooking were fabulous! Bambi has been doing so much cooking and keeping us fed. I made the comment that this is like the opposite of fat camp. It's more like "see how much you can eat camp". After every meal you can hear moans and groans of satisfaction. You can always count on Jethro to add "save room for some bourbon!"

That's it for the first two days. There is so much going on that I have do small snippets to just keep up with everything before the alcohol clouds my mind. Stay tuned for more.