Cowboys and Aliens

1. The Ranch

Mark Phoenix didn't believe in fate, but recent events had started him thinking maybe there was something to all this fate mumbo jumbo?

It was 6am on a cool Saturday morning in October, when Mark woke up from a deep and peaceful sleep. No alarm clocks were needed, after many years of owning his own business and then the past couple of years working in HVAC, he just always woke up at that time. Today though was different! Today was the first day of his so-called early retirement.

Mark donned his white cowboy hat, that he wore almost every day, as he stepped out of his trailer and into the Walmart parking lot. Then across the parking lot to the McDonald's restaurant to use their washroom facilities and grab some breakfast.

He hadn't planned on retiring at 50, but after Alice, his wife of 28 years, gave him the 'I'm leaving you' speech a little over a month ago, he was forced to rethink things.

They had managed to sell their lake front house within two weeks thanks to a hot housing market, and then sold their furniture and other belongings at auction.

Mark and Alice only had two vehicles, so they both kept their respective vehicles. Alice kept the 3 year old Audi Q8, that they had bought just before everything went south, and Mark kept the 10 year old 4x4 truck. Fortunately, Alice had insisted he also keep the trailer, so he would have a place to live until things got finalized.

She would be staying with a friend, which turned out was someone she had been seeing on the side for who knows how long, and Mark didn't really care to know any of the details at this point in time.

Mark had friends in the city as well, but no close friends that he would feel comfortable staying with for an unknown length of time. His best friends lived on a ranch a little over two hours drive northwest of the city, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains of Central Alberta.

Neither the speech, nor her infidelity, had really caught Mark by surprise. In fact, there had been numerous times during the past few months that he had considered giving her 'the speech'. Their lives had been full of turmoil the past couple of years and their sex life since then, was simply non-existent. So he figured Alice let him keep the trailer as sort of a consolation prize, since she had been unfaithful, plus her Audi was worth about the same as the truck and trailer combined.

Fortunately they had very little debt and were living within their new means, but now that Alice was making more money than Mark, she held it over him constantly and it was clear that, short of winning the lottery, things were never going to go back to living the opulent lifestyle in their large lake front house, hosting dinner parties for all of Alice's personal and business friends.

Mark had been forced to change careers 2 years ago, after the successful IT company he had owned and operated for over 20 years, ran into some serious legal and social media problems, thanks to a couple of careless employees leaking some sensitive customer data. Customers started taking their business elsewhere and he was forced to downsize, then eventually close the doors or risk going into bankruptcy. He couldn't even sell the company, so he just closed the doors, backed up all the data and encrypted it, wiped all the computers and hard drives and sold all the equipment and office furniture.

A job of opportunity came along as one of the long time customers of his IT company, had just lost a couple of employees, so he took a job as an HVAC apprentice. It was one of the higher paying trades and, while he was the oldest apprentice they had ever had, he was doing OK at it and they were paying him well, but it was clear he wasn't going to be doing that sort of physical work until he could retire, which had taken a big hit due to their financial strife.

With work being very demanding, both physically and mentally, most days he was just drained by the time he got home and, since he had hit the big 5-0, he was finally starting to feel his age, having problems with his back, knees, shoulders and other joints.

Mark's biggest advantage was his sharp mind, which allowed him to learn things very quickly and he consistently ranked in the top 1 or 2% of any IQ tests he took. His mental aptitude to learn quickly and retain what he learned, coupled with his roll with the punches attitude allowed him to never be afraid of change.

Throughout his life he had worked in more than a dozen drastically different jobs, IT of course, but also as oil rig roughneck, grain elevators, truck driver, carpenter, landscaper... you get the idea. He had truly reinvented his life numerous times, just like his namesake and the only tattoo that Mark had, a phoenix on his left bicep.

One advantage to the HVAC job was that he had lost a lot of weight and was in better shape physically than anytime in the past two decades. He was 6'3" and was down to 220 lbs, he kept his brown hair buzzed short, to keep the grey at bay, and his appearance, mannerisms, humour and wit often had people guessing his age to be in the 30s.

After Alice had delivered 'the speech', Mark had phoned his best friends, Joseph, and his wife Katherine to apprise them of the situation and to inform them he would be driving out to the ranch to get his trailer, so he had something to live in until things were finalized.

Joe and Kat, as they preferred to be called, used to own a business that had been one of his IT customers, from way back when he started the company. Joe, Kat and Mark were all born and raised in rural Alberta, so their kindred spirits and rural upbringing was a big part of why they had become such good friends.

They had built their business up to the point that they ended up getting an offer they couldn't refuse and sold it to a competitor for a lot of money, which they used to follow their dream of owning a ranch.

The ranch was very much a family business... owned and operated by Joseph, Katherine and the twins, Annabelle and Jason. They had got a great deal on a run-down ranch with roughly 750 acres of pasture and wooded land bordering the crown land of the foothills.

Since purchasing the ranch, Mark spent at least one weekend every month out at the ranch, and almost every weekend during the summer months, helping repair things, getting the ranch established and even working as a wrangler on some of their trail rides, which is why the trailer was pretty much permanently parked at the ranch. It was just more convenient to leave it there and have a place to stay on the weekends, than to find some place near the city to store it, where he'd have to pay storage fees.

Joe, Kat and Mark had often offered Mark and Alice the opportunity to build their own cabin or house on the ranch, Alice had considered it at one point in time, as it would be better than staying in the trailer, but in recent years, she rarely ever accompanied Mark on the trips out to the ranch. So in reality, it was only ever a dream, since there was no way Alice would ever leave the city to permanently live out in the middle of 'butt fuck nowhere', as she termed it.

After paying the legal fees and the rest of their debts, they split the remaining funds, leaving them just over $500K each... not enough to retire and live a life of luxury, but that wasn't the type of life Mark wanted anyway!

With the house sold, and knowing how much money he would be getting, Mark asked Joe and Kat if the offer to come live and work on the ranch was still on the table. Which it was, of course, so it looked like Mark living on the ranch was going to become reality.

On that day, Mark gave his notice to his employer and agreed to work the next two weeks, rather than just quitting and leaving them short-handed. If nothing, Mark was loyal, hardworking and would always go out of his way to make sure everything was taken care of.

Despite Mark's world being turned upside down for the past month, it seemed that by playing the cards fate had dealt, he was actually going to come out better by it! A blessing in disguise, as he now realized how much he had stifled his life to be with Alice in the city.

He finished his breakfast, refilled his coffee mug and was soon on the road, starting the nearly two plus hour trip out to the ranch to begin this new adventure.

The drive was relaxing and uneventful, the skies were clear and blue, there was no wind and all the leaves that remained in the trees, were yellows, oranges and reds, which contrasted nicely with the various shades of the evergreen trees. It was a very scenic drive to take in the early morning, when the rising sun begins to shine on the Rocky Mountains in the distance.

Mark started feeling a bit nervous the last few miles as he approached the ranch, but that feeling quickly faded as he crested the hill exposing the valley filled with colourful trees and he could see the green rooftops of the ranch buildings off in the distance. He soon turned his truck and drove under the big overhead ranch gate and sign saying HENDERSON RANCH and found himself looking down the lane toward the ranch, trees and mountains in front of him.

He had this sensation sweep through his body... this is where he was wanted to be, more than any place else in the world.

The ranch was mostly concealed from view by the highway, due to the abundance of mature aspen, poplar and evergreen trees, transitioning to mostly evergreen trees beyond the ranch and up into the foothills. When driving down the straight gravel lane, all you can really see is the entrance of the lodge and the loop feature in front of it, otherwise all you could see was white fences along the lane and lots of trees.

The right side of the lane was split into fenced pastures with white wood fences. The left side had white fenced paddocks all the way down the lane, each with a shelter on the north side.

Past the paddocks was a large 130'x200' outdoor arena with a groomed clay/sand base, so it didn't turn into a big muddy mess when it rained. The arena was big enough for several of the areas rodeo riders to practice barrel racing.

The barn was a long reddish-brown building with white trim and green roof, it had forty 10'x12' stalls with equipment lockers.

The ranch itself owned 20 horses and the rest were all horses that people boarded there. The primary income source for the ranch was the boarding, although they also offered day rides, trail rides, horse training, riding lessons and lodging, all of which contributed to the ranch being quite profitable.

There was premium boarding, where the horse got to stay in the heated barn with their own gear lockers each night and daily turnout to their own paddock during the day. Then there was outdoor boarding where each horse was kept outside in an individual paddock with shelter, bedding, food and water. Then there was budget boarding in the pastures to the north side of the lane, where a half dozen horses were just kept in a group pasture with shelters, salt licks, a water trough and bales of hay to eat.

The boarding was consistent year-round, everything else was seasonal or weather dependent, although the lodge was becoming more of a year-round source of income.

At the back of the clearing was the lodge with a 30' round loop feature in front featuring two trail riders on horses and was filled with flowers and a few shrubs. It was also where the lodge septic tank was buried. Fortunately, there was a water well on the property, so water supply was not an issue.

The lodge itself was a large two-storey log building that was shaped like a W with a wall of windows for the main entrance connecting the two lower points of the W, there was three steps up to the wide covered porch which ran the entire length of the right side of the W, whereas the left side was built out covering the porch.

With the autumn weather still quite warm, the ranch was a pretty busy place by the time Mark got out there. However, Joe and Kat saw Mark driving up the lane and were waiting outside the barn to greet him.

Joe was a cowboy through and through, he was 56 years old and stood 6'2", with silver hair, grey eyes and he always had a moustache. He was in very good shape for his age, partly because he and the family worked out every day, but mostly just from the cowboy lifestyle and working on a ranch.

Kat was 5'6" with blue eyes, shoulder length brown hair, soft red lips, large natural D-cup breasts and a gorgeous ass. Being a cowgirl kept her body lean and fit as she looked more like a 20-something than a 42-year-old. She was a former rodeo queen, did most of the riding lessons and was a certified horse trainer.

They both had smiles on their faces as Joe shook Mark's hand and hugged him, saying he was glad he came out, then Kat just hugged him and gave him a big kiss saying she was glad he was joining them.

When Kat left to prep for another riding lesson, Joe told Mark to park his trailer and then meet him over at the workshop.

Mark parked his trailer in his usual spot and plugged in the extension cord, so the trailer didn't have to work off battery and solar power, and they never left water in the tanks since the trailer was at the ranch almost year-round and the lodge wasn't that far away. With the trailer setup, Mark parked his truck with the other family vehicles and proceeded to the workshop.

The workshop was just that, a place where all the tools lived and where any tinkering got done. It was actually where the original house was on the ranch. They had lived in the house until the lodge was completed, but the old house was in serious need of repairs, so they demolished it and built the workshop, which was actually larger than the house with two tall overhead doors on one half of the building and the other half was where the larger tools and machinery lived, but they did it right with the spray foam insulation, heaters, epoxy covered concrete, hydraulic lift and even a pit.

It was well lit, heated and equipped to do blacksmithing, wood working, leather work and mechanical work. It had two overhead doors on one end of the building one normal garage overhead door on the side of the building facing the lodge and feature loop and then a tall overhead door on the western side of the building facing the trailhead. There was also a hydraulic vehicle lift and an overhead double girder crane that allowed moving heavy things pretty much anywhere in the shop. Thanks to the previous basement, they had also built a pit, so they could work under larger vehicles, such as tractors, that didn't fit on the hydraulic lift.

In the workshop, Joe was busy maintaining the tractor and blade, in preparation for the coming winter, while both Gators were in to get the closed cab accessory put on. For those of you that don't know, a Gator is a utility vehicle manufactured by John Deere. Those things can pretty much go anywhere and have lots of accessories.

While Joe was working on the tractor, Mark started attaching the cab accessory to the Gator.

Shortly after Kat finished her riding lesson, Maria announced over the radios that lunch was ready.

As you came into the lodge entrance, the lobby area looked like a campground, complete with artificial turf instead of carpet and a couple of hexagonal picnic tables for eating, playing games, or whatever you wanted.

Off to the right side was a feature wall made of logs, with a big natural gas fireplace surrounded by a rock chimney that went all the way to the peak of the roof. There were 3 couches arranged around it and a TV mounted above the mantle.

One advantage to living in Alberta is the abundance of readily available natural gas, so gas fireplaces were both decorative and useful.

To the left side of the feature wall was a wide hallway with lots of windows, providing lots of natural light looking out into the courtyard area. There was ten rooms down this wing, five rooms on the ground level and five rooms on the upper level.

Each room was roughly 12'x15' with a dresser, a desk, a king-size bed, two night tables and a PTAC unit mounted above the large central window for individual room heating and cooling. There were no televisions in any of the rooms, but the ranch offered wireless Internet, but most people came out to the ranch to get away from all the technology.

Due to the challenges with plumbing out in the country, there was a single bathroom with shower on each level, located in the room nearest the lobby.

The middle peak of the W was a 20'x20' gym on the ground level, which had a rubberized floor with some free weights, a punching dummy, an elliptical and one of those multi-gym units that you can do dozens of exercises on. There were windows along the outside walls, looking out into the courtyard, the interior wall on the lobby had two staircases to each side of the upper level side putting the entrance to the gym between the two stairs.

The upper level was an open area with windows along the outside walls and a pull-down projector screen on the front wall overlooking the courtyard with a projector mounted to the ceiling. It was a large enough area for the workouts and for small weddings when they couldn't be held out in the courtyard.

The lodge was becoming a popular place for weddings with its rustic ambiance, majestic scenery, accommodations and options for either indoor or outdoor ceremonies, plus there was room for campers or trailers if they needed more accommodations than what the lodge could manage.

That upper level was also where the family did their morning workouts.

To the left of the lobby was the ranch office and store/gift shop, which ran the entire width, except for a door on each side.

The left door went into the dining room of the family's living quarters. The right door went into the kitchen area and was one of those doors that can swing both directions. The kitchen and pantry wrapped around the office, the living room was the open space facing the courtyard, the master bedroom occupied the entire width of the far end wall and there was two bedrooms and the washroom along the outside wall.

The washroom was actually a locker room with a group shower. It had a single central shower with 4 heads off it. So when having a shower, you were looking at anyone else that was also having a shower. Since they were a fairly sexually liberated family and occasional nudists, it just seemed like a more efficient way of getting cleaned up and ready for the day after their morning workout, which they did together very morning.

The upper level above the living quarters was just like the upper level on the other wing. There was a washroom and shower closest to the lobby, then 5 rooms going down the wing. The rooms on this side were a bit larger and featured two queen-size beds with a single night table between them instead of the king-size beds and two night tables.

On the backside of the lodge was the courtyard area, it was a large patio area with artificial turf. There was a barbecue, a few hexagonal picnic tables with umbrellas, a large hot tub, and a central outdoor gas fire pit with benches around them. The kitchen also had a sliding window setup to function as a concession window for the courtyard.

The courtyard area was quite expansive when you considered each wing of the building was almost 100' in length. There was a waist high rock wall surrounding it completing the connection between the two wings. From the air, the building was shaped like a baseball diamond, with the gym area being home plate.

Maria, the only true employee at the ranch, was a Hispanic woman about 40 years old, short black hair, nice C-cup breasts and a very curvy set of hips. She lived on an acreage a few miles away, but her husband worked for an oil & gas company and was often away on business.

Maria just liked having a part-time job, it kept her busy and gave her people to socialize with. She came in on the weekends, or whenever anyone was staying at the lodge, which was pretty much full-time during the summer months. She was the official cook and housekeeper. She cleaned all the rooms when people checked out, and she made the lunches and suppers at the lodge.