NEW CABIN
Thanks to the generosity of friends and long-time guests, Ring Lake Ranch is blessed with a beautiful new cabin, completed in mid-July, 2000. The cabin is situated down the hill toward the boat dock, just beyond Cabin 6. One side holds twin beds and the other a queen sized bed and kitchenette. Each side has a private bath.
Blessing of the new cabin was held during our final summer session. Hospitality was provided by Cabin 8 residents that session--Dick and Gretchen Williams and Dick and Marge McIntosh.
GREETINGS TO ALL,
My recovery since falling off the horse at Ring Lake Ranch on August 28, 2000 has been remarkable. For those of you who weren't there this is what happened: I fell while walking the horse and hit my forehead on a rock sustaining a blood clot and seizure and injuring the frontal lobe of my brain. It sounds traumatic and was but I am already back to work at my old job as a chaplain at St. John's Mercy Hospital in Washington , MO. I'm easing back into the job two days a week and still going to brain injury rehab three days a week.
Everyone, including the doctors, say I am a walking miracle and I agree. I am about 95% back to my old self. I'm still a little weak because I lost 23 pounds but my memory and equilibrium are almost back to 100%.
It has been a little over two months since I fell off Redneck. ( I should have known not to ride a horse with that name.) The doctors say that the healing curve for brain injuries is most evident during the first six months so I'm way ahead of schedule. The most frustrating thing is I can't drive till the end of February because I had a seizure in the ambulance on the way to the hospital in Lander and state law in Missouri says you can't drive for six months after the last seizure. This is frustrating because the blood clot that caused the seizure was removed when they operated on me in Casper, WY the day of the accident. Oh well, if that's the worst to come of this besides the scar on my forehead then I won't complain.
My attitude has been upbeat and I know that I have been blessed. Lemonade is already being made out of the lemon I have been given. My visits with the patients have been more productive since I understand their "traumatic situation" better since I lived through one myself. It has already been suggested that I be the chaplain for the Missouri Brain Injury Foundation that meets twice a year.
I probably will also be giving presentations to the 32 local elementary schools concerning Bicycle Safety and the use of helmets. What do you think the odds are that I will also suggest wearing a helmet while horseback riding?
Well, that is all from the Great Midwest. I hope to see many of you at Ring Lake Ranch again in two years when I plan on visiting and riding (with a helmet) again.
God's
Peace,
Tom Haller
* Ring Lake has a number of helmets now, thanks to several generous donations.
DUCKS UNLIMITED?
Ring Lake Ranch is always blessed with watchable wildlife, with surprises now and then. In June, members of the Junior Staff, while cleaning the Living Room, found a live duck which they rescued and released. That was curious enough, but the next day I was working in Top Cabin and saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Something walked around a corner and disappeared into a bedroom. There I found a duck under the bed and ushered it outdoors, to its apparent relief. And what should appear the next morning inside the fireplace in the Dining Room? Yes, a third duck, fairly sooty from its trip down the chimney. The consensus is that these were female cinnamon teals (Anas cyanoptera, (var. santaclausensis?), attempting to find nesting sites. Screens have since been put over the chimneys.
~ Alan Mebane
