We felt right at home when the much needed rain moved in on Sunday night. This area is in a drought so everyone was happy to have it. Scott had to work anyways so it didn’t affect any of our plans.

The rain was done by midday Monday so we decided to hike up the mountain behind Allyson and Alex’s house. Allyson had warned us that the mud was fantastically sticky and slick and she wasn’t kidding! Carrying several pounds of mud on the bottom of our shoes made the hike up the mountain interesting and we got quite a laugh over it. It was surprising to me to see live oaks covered in Spanish moss on our hike, a sight you’d expect to see in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. The views at the top of the mountain were unreal and looked like a painting- vineyards, orchards, and cropland laid out across the foothills as far as the eye could see; the air unbelievably clear after the rain.

On Tuesday Allyson and I were able to hunt with the Santa Ynez Valley Hounds again. Allyson and I played horse taxi to pick up the horse she was going to hunt and I was able to ride Billy again. Billy was a little fresher for this hunt, having had an uncharacteristic day off the previous day because of the rain. He was still a good boy and despite being a little fresher and strong at times, he was perfect when the going was dicey and it really mattered.

The hunting conditions were nearly perfect for the hunt since there wasn’t any wind, it was cool, and it had rained a few days ago. The hounds struck immediately after being cast and got a coyote about 10 minutes in. I had never witnessed such fast action. It was incredible to watch them track and see how excited they got over their kill.

The next few days involved involved some yummy dinners and drinks at the Hartenburg’s- Alex cooking one night, bartending both nights, and Scott making dinner for us another night. Allyson and I both joked that we liked not having to be domestic!

We also got to spend lots of quality time hanging out with Tupac, the Hartenburg’s 80 pound pet Sulcata tortoise. Scott and I both found him endlessly entertaining. The Hartenburgs inherited him as a pet when he kept escaping from a neighboring home and the owners relinquished him to them so that he wouldn’t get hit and killed while on his illicit walkabouts. We were both surprised at how much ground he could patrol in a day and were fascinated with feeding him whole heads of lettuce.