Do Si Do!

Every Tuesday and Saturday night is Square Dance Night at Lost Valley Ranch. On these nights, we clear the dining room of all the tables and chairs, and all the staff show up with their name tags pinned on their snazziest western wear to dance the night away with our lovely guests.

For those who love to dance, it is quite a lot of fun. For those that hate it, it's a miserable experience. One of the staff who worked here last fall was conveniently "sick" each square dance night, and never made it to a dance. We aren't paid for the time spent at the square dance, so the ranch can't legally require us to attend, but our crew leaders tell us that it's a "heart issue"... if you don't go, you lose the opportunity to interact with the guests... and that's supposed to be our purpose here at the ranch, to minister to our guests and bless them whichever way we can, whether it be cooking for them, cleaning up after them, serving them meals, taking them out for rides, cutting their firewood... or dancing with them.

Here is Spike, our "caller". He runs us all through the moves quite patiently and models them with his lovely wife who accompanies him here. I can't believe that he's been doing this for over 20 years, every Tuesday and Saturday. Talk about tradition.

I don't know what this dance is... but can you tell who the old staff and the new staff are? All of us newbies were a bit bewildered and dazed by all the new dance steps to learn, along with all the strange terminology. What's a two-step? How do you promenade? Why are my hands starting to sweat so much? Am I out of breath already? Why is the room spinning around me?

Charlie, the head wrangler, is showing Hannah, the new waitress some moves. We have about 11 guys and 20 girls... so none of the guys really get a break :) It's funny to hear some of the girls talk about the guys... pointing out which ones are the best dancers and which ones need a little more practice. It makes me feel like I'm transported back to the olden days when people attended balls and danced the night away. Back then, that's where many romances began... on the dance floor. I guess the same thing happens now... but on the polished floors of night clubs. I guess some things don't change, do they?

Yee-haw! This is fun!

Another nice thing about square dance nights, the floor is clear of tables and chairs so the maintenance guys can mop! Us waitrii have to sweep the floor after every meal, but we can never get the sticky stuff off and it bugs me. Yay, for mops!