10 Pound Bag Ch. 016-020

On the way back I hit the Tack and Feed for feed, hay and other odds and ends, and the local DIY store and purchased additional supplies: rope, twine, lengths of chain, sandbags and sand and other odd bits. All the things that you always forget when shopping on-line.

It was well past noon when I rolled back into camp. Sonya and Matilda were gone with the rental truck and they appeared to have taken Mila with them. While they were gone I changed back into everyday clothes and unloaded the truck. The hay and alfalfa went into the hay loft, the feed and tack into the tack room and the rest into storage. Then I went to spend some time with Abigail.

I was trotting Abigail around the pasture when the ladies pulled back to the site, Sonya parked next to the rig and they started unloading. I put Abigail up, stowed my tack and went to help, Mila ran and greeted me with enthusiasm. The women seemed to have had a field day out shopping; aside from some late arriving deliveries they picked up, they had hit clothing stores, craft stores, a big box grocery and even found a good butcher shop. Once again the pile of trash from modern day packaging defied comprehension. We filled the bed of the pickup with garbage and I called for a portable dumpster; they were able to deliver the dumpster that day. It was convenient to have basically unlimited fun.

I enjoyed loading the meat into the freezer, the two of them had done very well and the selection was all top quality. We had everything from steaks to sausage; we had beef, pork, lamb and poultry. The dry goods consisted of a lot of things I hadn't thought of including gallons of vinegar, blocks of yeast and even several flats of Bell Jars. The Craft Store had yielded up yarn, thread, bolts of cloth and even rolls of thick burlap and cotton duck canvas; Matilda's hand showed here and I was starting to slowly learn a little about her.

The late delivery packages turned out to be the fishing kit my brother had ordered for me. I wasn't much of a fisherman but I wanted to learn and at least move beyond the beginner stage. There were four poles, a couple of fully stocked tackle boxes and a few other items. He had promised to teach me when I got there so I simply stowed the gear and moved on.

The rig was starting to get properly outfitted and I was getting a better idea of what I would want to carry on future hunting or camping excursions. The garbage dumpster was delivered and we filled it with the trash from the back of the truck.

It was late afternoon by that point and we turned to end of the day chores. Sonya was cooking tonight and Matilda was doing something interesting on the table with a flat of the mason jars and fresh vegetables. She had a pile of celery, green peppers, asparagus, onions and various other yummy veggies, she proceeded to cut all the veggies to length and stuff them into the jars. She filled the jars with cold water, added a little salt, and screwed the lids on tight; I then helped her store the jars in the refrigerator. This wasn't pickling so it had to be a form of short-term preservation. I tried some of those veggies two weeks later and they were still crispy and firm; so much for my old bad habit of leaving veggies to wilt on the counter for three days.

I left Matilda to her business and went to curry down Abigail; I was taught to always curry my horses immediately after I rode, but I always attended to it by the end of the day. With chores complete, we enjoyed a fine steak and potato dinner with fresh spring asparagus and started to wind down our day.

While Matilda cleared up I discussed with Sonya my thoughts from the previous night regarding online books. It was an interesting visit into the world of the modern city girl Sonya: the very concept of not having the internet or even cell coverage was new to her. I gently explained that out in the woods even satellite service could be spotty at best, and that you definitely didn't choose your camping site based on data connectivity. It didn't take much more than that to convince her, and after further discussion it was decided that I would get a ruggedized laptop and she would get a ruggedized tablet.

Internet fired up we ordered away. We then moved on to the eBooks we should get, we each were looking at different types of things with me focusing on camping, hunting, and survival guides while Sonya flipped through recipes, crafts and romance novels. After Matilda finished tidying up and came out to join us, her cat surprisingly crawled out of the bag and curled up in her lap purring. Mila for her part was fast asleep on her blanket, chasing rabbits and sleeping off a fully tummy.

We were selective in our buying until the realization struck me that neither money nor hard drive storage was a problem; after that, we relaxed and had fun. Sonya was still casting her screen and flipping through titles when Matilda spoke up with a sudden "Si!". Up on the screen was a colorful image of a weaving book, Sonya looked at me and I merely smiled and said, "Sure, let her order too."

And so it went for about an hour before we realized we should turn in, as we were traveling in the morning and needed to get a good start.

That had been the most relaxing day I'd had in over a month.

**** Chapter Eighteen -- Sante Fe ****

All creatures rely on routine for day-to-day existence, humans are creatures of routine just like any other creature. A major change will happen disrupting our previous routines and before you know it we'll create a new routine.

Breaking camp was starting to become routine for us, everyone had a pretty good idea what needed to be done and there was very little discussion needed. After a quick breakfast we fell into our new routine and were on the road in just over an hour. Even that stupid cat had seemed to relax and was curled up on the seat between Matilda and Mila as I pulled out to hit the freeway.

Sonya was going to return the rental truck and take an internet taxi from there to the truck stop outside of town where we would meet up. I needed to empty the septic tanks and top off the fuels so it was a convenient stop. We were on the road to Santa Fe before 9 a.m.

Santa Fe ended up being about seven hours away. We didn't push straight through as we weren't in a hurry; we'd stop at the rest areas every few hours and stretch our legs. Mila appreciated those stops a lot, however I did get some funny looks from travelling families as I walked Abigail around the "Pet Area". It surprised me that Abigail caught on pretty quickly that this was the place to do her business; this was a smart horse who apparently preferred a clean stall.

Santa Fe was a full homestead internet rental to camp at. I don't know how Sonya found these places, but they were perfect. There was even a barn with paddock and small attached pasture for Abigail. We had full use of the house but it seemed more of a hassle so we simply followed our new routine, set-up camp, dined and then each of us slipped off into our private worlds for the evening.

The next morning started early and after chores and breakfast were completed we all headed out for the day's business. I was going to meet my stud dog today; Sonya would pick up our deliveries and take care of any personal business she needed to deal with. I was taking Mila with me and Matilda climbed in with us. When I dropped Sonya at the rental shop surprisingly Matilda stayed with me in the truck.

So Sonya was off on her own and I had Matilda and Mila riding along to meet the new dog; I had reached the point where I didn't ask anymore and simply accepted whatever the women folk decided was going to happen. So much for my "manly man" persona.

I called up the breeder and told him where I was, he allowed that I should be there in about thirty minutes or so and gave me some basic directions. I punched his info into the GPS and off we went.

I arrived about when he said I would and he greeted us out in the drive, his name was Frank and he had a nice small spread -- probably about ten acres and it was pretty. Matilda, Mila and I were invited inside where we met his wife Anne and were offered coffee, naturally I showed proper manners and accepted. We sat down at their kitchen table and had a pleasant pre-business conversation; he strategically took that time to meet and evaluate Mila. I said the right things and even Matilda smiled at the correct moments but still she kept to herself to herself.

After the coffee was finished Frank called out and his twenty-some daughter showed up in the kitchen, he introduced her as Mary Beth and politely asked her to fetch Brin so I could meet the boy. She left out the door and he turned to me and said, "we'll go out and catch up with her in a few, she's just gonna bring him out". I nodded as he turned the conversation back to Mila and her bloodlines, that was easy to handle and I had a copy of her papers ready to hand in preparation for this moment, he had the same for Brin. Ten minutes later we went out to meet Brin, Matilda stayed in the house with his wife.

Outside we were greeted by his lovely daughter approaching us sitting on a dog cart with a large and very handsome Rottweiler dog in trace. I asked Mila to "Stay" and walked forward to meet Brin; Brin on his part took a wary and protective stance.

Mary Beth dismounted the cart and led Brin over, she said "Friend" and Brin while still in trace relaxed and turned into a huge ball of "happy to meet you" Rottweiler. She released him from his trace and he ran to sniff Mila, I released Mila and thankfully they started to play. This was going to work out well.

I was intensely interested in the dog cart and Frank was more than happy to discuss the subject. He built the carts as a side-line and since Rottweilers were a working dog they absolutely loved pulling the carts. We had a long discussion along those lines while Mary Beth played with both Brin and Mila. It turned out he had a cart he was trying to sell and traces that would handle one or two dogs, when I asked about training Mila to it he merely pointed out that she would emulate Brin. After he explained how the carts collapsed down easily for shipping, I sealed the deal on the spot.

Mary Beth kept the two dogs busy as we loaded my new cart into the bed of the truck; I now had two dogs with a dog cart. I loaded the dogs into the truck, Frank brought me Brin's papers and I was ready to go. Now I simply had to fetch Matilda.

Almost as if on command Matilda came trotting up on a dog cart with Frank's wife Anne, and the grin on Matilda's face as she brought the dog pulling the cart to a halt was something like I'd never seen. At that moment I was very glad I'd let her come along and very glad I'd bought a cart.

Naturally Matilda didn't offer a word of explanation. She simply leaped gracefully off of the cart and retrieved a cage containing four chickens which she deposited immediately and without question into the bed of the truck. I simply stood and stared while she went back to the cart and grabbed a small bag of feed and threw it in the truck as well. Matilda had managed to surprise me again.

Everyone was looking at me with grins on their faces.

Frank looked and me and stated, "Anne raises purebred heritage chicks, those there are White Dorkings."

I stared at him blandly and answered, "OK."

"Well," Frank said, "they're good birds and they'll do you very well in cold weather."

All I managed was a measly, "Thanks."

I asked Frank to add them to the bill, politely thanked them all, and climbed into my truck. I drove away the moment Matilda shut the door. I now had two dogs, a dog cart and some chickens.

Apparently regardless of how hard I tried -- I really wasn't in control of my life and Matilda was here to stay.

**** Chapter Nineteen -- Next Stop, Texas ****

Brin and Mila got along well in the back seat and the return to the camp site was non-eventful. I introduced Brin to Sonya and then Matilda showed off her chickens; the chickens earned me another humorous grin from Sonya. I walked the dogs out to meet Abigail, she simply sniffed them, snorted and started checking my pockets for a treat. I gave her an apple and with that she promptly ignored us.

Matilda was trying to unload the dog cart from the bed of the truck when I returned, I took over for her and then demonstrated how it was quickly assembled. It was a compact little thing designed for one person and a small cargo load. I brought Brin over and he eagerly stepped into the traces, I quickly shared the lesson Frank had given me on hooking the dog up. Within ten minutes we had a fully functioning dog cart ready to go, Sonya simply stared in amazement as Matilda climbed into the driver's seat and Brin took her in a circle around the yard.

I called Matilda back over and tossed a couple of loaves of alfalfa into the bed of the cart and then off her and Brin went to feed Abigail, Mila paced along side of Brin full of curiosity. Sonya, herself, was full of questions but I merely told her to watch Brin; Matilda had a smile on her face but Brin had a huge happy grin on his. Brin liked to pull the cart.

I gave Matilda about a half hour while Sonya and I unloaded the rental truck. I then called Matilda over and had her but a harness on Mila, we then added Mila to the trace and off Matilda went again this time being pulled by a pair of dogs. Mila simply followed Brin's lead and got the hang of it in no time, the next thing I knew the three of them were headed off down the road to points unknown. It was an hour before we saw them again.

Sonya started to work on dinner and while I unpacked our new deliveries, our new laptop and tablet had arrived so after everything was stowed and packing materials tossed into the house's trash bin I ran the new laptop through its set-up routine and started to download the libraries we were slowly building on-line. With all the memory card slots full I had almost 4 terabytes of storage space to fill up.

Matilda eventually came back sitting smiling on the cart being pulled by two very happy dogs; there were fresh greens and some berries in the bed of the cart. Matilda seemed to be very much in her element. After the dogs were fed and watered I showed her how to brush them down and check for harness sores, I explained fully how any animal needed to be curried and checked immediately after being worked. There was a brief standoff when Brin tried lay on Mila's blanket but dominance in this case was pre-determined by Mother Nature and he moved to the blanket I had laid out for him. In a dog's world the leader of the pack always got the place closest to the master and the leader of the pack was always a bitch; it didn't matter how big and bad Brin was, Mila was in charge.

Dinner was a delight as always and it was hard to object to the company, both ladies were easy on the eyes and talkative Sonya usually kept some sort of conversation or monologue flowing. After dinner I went to check on Abigail and give her quick of day grooming. On my return I was surprised to find Matilda operating the new tablet while Sonya sat next to her providing guidance. I asked Sonya to show Matilda how to cast to the big screen and within minutes I was watching as Matilda worked her way through the online book libraries tagging books to our queue.

I fired up my own laptop and logged in remotely to our new library laptop which was now secured safely up in the rig's electronics bay, it was faithfully downloading our purchased and tagged books at a slow but steady pace. After that I worked on figuring out how to download some video's which were basically educational "How To" regarding life in more primitive times. I had learned well during my youth that knowledge was far more important than belongings when you were on an off-grid, long term hunting excursion.

Sonya was unusually subdued that evening and she seemed to be furtively checking her personal phone at a constant rate. I didn't feel it was my place as her boss to intrude but I was beginning to worry that undertaking this trip with me was causing problems in her personal life. I decided I needed to keep an eye on that situation but at that moment I needed to distract her.

I spoke out regarding Matilda's sudden adaption to the tablet and audibly wondering if Matilda had a phone that would meet our needs; Sonya took the bait and asked Matilda to show us her phone. Sonya could get Matilda to do things and out came an actual brick phone circa 2002, I wasn't surprised -- Matilda tended to keep things like that simple. This actually made my mission easier, I simply turned to Sonya and asked her to arrange a new phone for Matilda and to please make sure it was ruggedized. Boom -- just like that Sonya was busy again and done moping.

Mila slept with Sonya as normal and I took Brin into my tent with me; Matilda had that cat thing and so passed our night.

Morning brought more of the same routine: wake up, bathroom, chores, breakfast, break camp, drop off rental truck and hit the road. The only difference was we had to load the dog cart into the storage room. The room was designed to hold a couple of ATV's or Snowmobiles plus supplies so I had plenty of space, securing everything was the only real effort.

For today everyone but Abigail travelled in the cab of the pickup, it was a bit tight in the back seat with two dogs, a cat, and Matilda but they all managed. We were in Lubbock, Texas about seven hours later.

Our reserved camping spot in Lubbock was much the same, a vacant farm that was on the market. We had a pasture for Abigail and plenty of privacy. Sonya had spent much of the drive when we weren't working on business matters fussing with her phone and she was getting grumpy, my concern was growing.

We set up camp, worked with the animals and had another wonderful dinner prepared by Matilda. There wasn't a lot of conversation that evening; I had nothing I felt needed saying, Sonya was predisposed on her phone and Matilda of course just didn't talk. Outside of my concerns for Sonya it was a quiet and pleasant evening for me.

We all retired early that night. I spent some time sitting outside my tent enjoying the clear starry night and then turned into my tent and climbed into my bed.

Matilda however had other plans and it was hardly an hour later when I woke as she slipped silently into bed with me. I didn't get nearly as much sleep as I thought I would.

**** Ch 19.5 -- Midnight with Matilda ****

It was overly warm that spring night; blankets weren't needed and I slept in only my boxers.

I was dreaming. It was a good damn good dream too, a naked woman was crawling over me, touching me, kissing me and grinding on me.

Then I wasn't dreaming any more, I woke up.

The naked woman lying on top of me wasn't a dream and this non-dream woman was definitely grinding on me.

I was hard; my body had beaten my mind to wakefulness by at least a few minutes. The odor of aroused woman was everywhere, her potent pheromones had already been rubbed all over my body. I was doomed.

I touched her trying to discern just who it was molesting me.

She reached into my boxers and pulled out my engorged penis.

I touched her face, it was Matilda.

She sank down on my throbbing cock. Fucking hell did that feel good; snug, hot and dripping wet.

I groaned and coherent thought abandoned me.

She squatted above my groin and began to ride me. I mauled her breasts with wild abandon.

At the end of every downward stroke she would grind against me, my crotch was covered in her juices.

I pinched her nipples - hard, she groaned louder and bounced faster.

I found her clit and she started to quiver, I diddle her clit faster and she rode faster. Her orgasm was close and she was approaching the edge so I pushed my moist finger deep into her ass. She froze, fully impaled on my cock, I ground upwards and started to pump my finger in and out of her tight ass.