Curry night

A couple of months ago we had a promises auction to raise money for a military families organisation. As the village is quite a hike from local restaurants and cinemas, Jim and I pledged to bring the town experience to Ralston with a "curry and a movie night" in our house.

The winning bidders were Gill & Gary and last night they left their two young children with a babysitter and came over for their night out! Jim spent all day slaving away in the kitchen creating two wonderful curries (whilst I was in town shopping!) and I made chocolate brownies for dessert.

We waited on them all evening and plied them with food and alcohol and then they watched a movie on our projector in the basement. Everyone had a great evening!

Next weekend is the Ralston Rodeo. A dusty arena on the fringes of the village is transformed for one day every August when the animals, cowboys and crowds come here to watch a spectacular display of ranch skills. There are two events which are just for the staff at BATUS, wild cow milking and gentleman's calf roping.

They were struggling for the full quota of teams for the latter event, so in a controversial move, I have put together the first ever all ladies team. Three of us will take on the task of catching, grounding and then tying up a young calf. On the professional rodeo circuit this job is done by one man on horseback in about 20 seconds, so how hard can it be for three army wives?

We have found a local rancher who is happy to give us a couple of hours of training this week (which is more than the men get) and we are reassured that it's apparently all down to technique and brawn has nothing to do with it!

On a final note, tonight I was supposed to be taking part in an overnight prairie trip to see the night time live fire training exercises. The trip was one of several held for the wives so that they can find out more about the work their spouses do. I ducked out of it because I didn't fancy missing a night's sleep and then going to work the next day, but the good news is that the other Ralston blogger Kerry, is going on the trip and you'll be able to read her account on her blog here