I think  most people are basically kind. Most people will smile and greet you, lend a hand if you need it, even go out of their way to do a favor. Our nature is to tend toward community with others, so the fabric of our being is to treat others as we want to be treated.

Those who are cruel exist-and in a terrible lonely way, I imagine. Most likely they’re cruel because they were treated cruelly and thus that is what they learned and know. They have no community, know no kinship, and exist in a world made up of only themselves and their evil, tortured minds.

Out here, where people are few and far between, community is so important. We come together in times of need, and how the word gets around that there is need must be a God thing. We had a plumber out and when he pulled in, the first thing he said was, “Wow, I guess you don’t see too many people out here.” I laughed and assured him that we see plenty of people and even have indoor plumbing-hence the reason for calling him down.

Our horses are ready to make their journey to the mountains for the summer in order to show lots of travelers the beauty of a trail through Aspen groves and high meadows. I miss them in summer and so have some girlfriends here to ride these last couple of days. We rode over 18 miles yesterday, packing our lunch and all-important pull-n-peel Twizzlers. We’d hoped to pull-off a two-day pack trip in the mountains, but late snow necessitated a plains oriented trip instead.

Rather than watching for bear and deer, we rode into to stubble fields to let tractors and semis pass, the familiar smile and wave of community surrounding us. Lunching on the deck of some dear friends ‘up north’, we tied the horses in their corral and ate our PB & honey with Cheese Its sitting in comfort of padded deck chairs. I think we all decided that we’d never had a cushier ride day meal! And only one rattlesnake on the homeward road.