MORE Kitties!!!!

 Good morning 106 degrees!!!  Good grief, my air conditioning is running overtime.  No worries though ..... I HAVE SOLAR!!!  For the first time ever I'm not worried about how much the AC runs.  Oh I'm not going crazy though ... I never set it below 80 degrees.

Here's the last of that darn hummus.  I tried to pass some off on Dan, but he was having none of it. He's a meat and potatoes kind of guy and hummus is NOT in his vocabulary.  I finally had to ditch the last of it.  

The breakfast casserole turned out great ... thank you black kitty.  Having cleaned out the fridge and freezer, this is on my menu until I leave for Arizona.  

Mr. Chance was off really early heading North to the Harley shop.  These critters require maintenance by the pros.  If you find a good mechanic, you stick with him through thick and thin.  By the way, I have a nice stereo system in my house, a whole house setup that was here when I bought the place.  I have to say however, that it's NOTHING compared to the stereo system on this bike.  

Bikes have come a long way since we all rode together years ago.  I was lucky to have a sissy bar in back and pegs to put my feet on.  There was no GPS, no stereo, no fancy saddlebags or even a comfortable seat akin to a Mercedes Benz.  

We rode perched on top of a piece of foam and leather with high pegs.  You've probably never heard of those.  Instead of your feet being down by the exhaust pipes, they were on pegs about four inches below the seat.  It was a balancing act for sure, but there was a good reason for that.  If the bike laid over, your leg wasn't cut off or seared by the exhaust pipe.  Oh yes ... the days of old!!!  Riding on the back while racing a Kawasaki down the highway.  Now THAT'S an adventure!!  One of these days I'll relate THOSE stories.

In no time I was ready for some lunch.  A lovely grilled cheese on sourdough bread.  This must be my all time favorite.

Then the weird and not normal thing happened.  Sadly, this beautiful mountain lion was discovered about two miles from my house at the high school.  With all the fires and lack of food, the poor things are just looking for something to eat.  

I haven't heard what happened to it.  I'm hoping someone had the sense to tranquilize it and take it back to the hills.  The craziness went wild with an all points bulletin for everyone to stay in their homes.  Really?  It's just scared half to death.  Too sad.

I spent the next few hours finishing up this quilt.  It now has a top and bottom border and is stashed away in my "quilt this" bag that's going to Arizona.

Dan got back in the afternoon heat of 106 degrees.  It's like driving in a convection oven.  Apparently there was a little trouble with a tomato truck overturning and blocking the entire road.  That's not unusual around here, since most of those truck drivers are newly licensed.  Someone didn't slow down at the stop sign.  You can imagine the mess that created.  After a few wrong turns on our washboard country roads, Dan finally made it back to the house.

Oh boy oh boy!!!  That means another dinner at Habit Burger.  Luckily there's one in Tucson too.  This time I even remembered my phone to take a picture.

Dan is off early this morning in the cool air, heading to the coast and traveling south, missing all the heat waves in the valley.  I'm still packing, trying to fit everything in my truck.  I'll be heading out tomorrow on another adventure!!  

Black Cats Bring Good Luck

It was a bright sunshiny morning, although pretty warm by most standards.  Having had a 106 degree day makes the early hours not as cool.  Cooper was chomping at the bit to get outside for a walk, so off we went.  

He trots the entire time, making me almost run just to keep up.  He's pretty spry for a 13 year old.  It took some time for him to see the kitty crossing the road in front of us.  His eyesight isn't what it used to be.  Once locked in however, he never let go as we walked past. 

We turn around not far from here.  The kitty kitty never moved an inch ... just sat there daring him to come closer.  If looks could kill ... the glare on that cute little black face was enough to make Cooper decide to take chase.  Brave kitty ... he never budged an inch as I drug Cooper on off down the road.  Of course MY thought was black cat crossing in front of me.  Uh oh!!!

Back at the house, I logged on to see what my solar had been doing.  Here's the report.  

July 15 - July 19 (yes, only five days) my electric bill was $63.39 PRE solar.

      Also included ... $16.00 State non-bypassable charge (paying for the Paradise fire)

July 15 - Aug 15  gas portion $4.98. Obviously I'm not doing much cooking.

July 20 - August 15  (with solar) $9.40 

July 20 - August 15  All the taxes and crap are gone.

Which brings up the question, with everyone getting solar, who is now going to pay for all the damage done by PG&E not maintaining their lines, which cause fires and burn down towns?       

The minimum charge is $10.00 a month.  At this point however, I've used more than I produced, so my true-up is at $39.00.  As soon as I'm not here for awhile, that will disappear completely and hopefully will all be zero by the end of December.  In six months I will have saved about $1500.  Should have done this years ago I guess.

I sewed a little here and there, watching Caldwell Idaho rodeos in between.  Talk about people crazy for rodeo ... those people were having fun fun fun (or maybe it was the beer)!!  Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door.  Gosh Cooper ... how did you miss Mr. Chance coming up the driveway on his Harley??

My company has arrived!!  Dan has been on an epic motorcycle trip across half the U.S.  It happens that his old haunt, and the best place to take the iron horse for service, is not far down the road.  If he stays here, he will save about $200 in hotel bills, giving Miss Patty more money to spend on fabric for quilting.  See how that works???

In return, I get dinner at Habit Burger.  What could be better than a BBQ Bacon Char Burger??  I'm telling you, that's the best burger I've EVER had.  Whoever the cook and prep people were this time, did it up right!!

I have to give it up to the black cat ... good company and a good burger.  The perfect way to end a day.

I'm attempting to bake a breakfast casserole this morning before Dan hits the road.   I'm hoping the kitty kitty will help out a little with some more good luck!!

Kicking Out The Freeloaders

 Most mornings I jump out of bed ready to meet the world head on.  Not so much today.  Either old age is catching up with me or I need a new mattress.  I'm not mentioning the hummus.  I probably spent WAY too much time on my buttinski yesterday.  In case you didn't know, it's Rodeo season across the central U.S.  

Now is the time the cowboys rush around the country trying to ride every horse and bull they see in order to pick up enough money to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo where the big bucks will be made.  The contestants are neck and neck.  If I had known you could make so much money rodeoing, I might have signed up for that occupation.  Of course back then, they made pittance.

So instead of watching horse wrecks on TV, I decided to seek out those that have set up housekeeping in my kitchen.  It didn't take long to find the latest condo.  Mom and Pop daddy longlegs set up their new home right over my Instant Pot.  I don't imagine all that screaming hot steam did the kids any good.  By the time I discovered it, it looked abandoned.  Sayonara my friends, I'm kicking out any and all freeloaders.  

By the way, did I ever mention I was in the National Reined Cowhorse Association for awhile?  Not the reining people, but the cutting cattle people who also performed reining patterns.  There are lots of sliding stops and spins (which amazingly my horse did very well), along with working cattle in an arena, also on a specific pattern.

That's how I apparently cracked the vertebra in my back, but that's another story for another day.

Back in the day, I ran the practice pen for the cattle part of the World Championship competition.  As you can imagine, there were some strong personalities working their horses just before their time to show.  They got five minutes before I would ring the bell.  They never stopped ... wanting to get that extra edge of more time worked.  I would ring the bell again.  Finally I would have to stand up and yell TIME!!!  

Let me just say that the National Reined Cowhorse Association has hit the big time.  From small town Fresno, they have moved on up the tall ladder to Las Vegas for a million dollar competition, which will be shown on the Cowboy channel tonight and tomorrow.  Tune in if you want to see what I aspired to way back when.  You will probably be surprised.

After cleaning the house ... sort of, since you know I'm not so good at that task ... and finding I have no more fabric for the big quilt (it's a block of the month quilt and I'm finally caught up), I couldn't sit still.  I drug out my box of fabric that's been laying around for ages and put this together.  

Well, not exactly since it's not SEWN together yet, but it probably will be by the end of today.  Since I had no "board" to put it on, I drug out some old batting, stitched it together and nailed it to the wall.  It still needs borders too .... maybe Saturday.

OH LOOK!! MORE HUMMUS!!  There's no such thing as a small batch of this stuff.  I wondered what happened to the nuts I had toasted since they weren't on the OTHER bowl.  I'm pretty sure this is the END of my adventure into the world of hummus.  I took about four bites and was so full I didn't eat dinner.

When I checked my emails this morning I discovered my PG&E bill had come through.  $77.77 (lucky sevens) for half a month on my dime and half a month on solar.  I tried to check the breakdown, but of course it's not available for a few more days.  No worries, I'll be checking out every single entry!!  As for now, Cooper is begging for a walk, so off we go!!!

Inventors Reign Supreme

After sitting through these 105 degrees days, a cool 73 on the patio with my morning coffee is highly appreciated.  It gives me time to think about all the amazing brains in the world that invent stuff.  A handy man is highly prized in my world, especially since I don't have one.  It has forced me to become semi-handy, or at least able to fix SOME things with too much repercussion.

Here's an example of ingenuity.  This is a hand washing gizzy that some smart man invented.  I'm giving credit to a MAN, but it was probably a woman that kicked him out of the house until he cleaned up, not leaving all that dirt and grease in her clean sink.

While up in the mountains, this is what Sandy brought for washing our hands.  Well not exactly this one, it was a prototype her husband made after seeing this online.  You fill the bucket with water, turn the spout the other direction and place a bucket underneath.  The end of the hose goes in the white bucket.  Then you step on that little bulb thingy and water comes out the spout.  Who knew about that little bulb?  

The second bucket is just so your campsite stays dry ... you dump it when full.  This setup is also great for washing dishes.  Who knew??  You can imagine just how dirty you get in a dusty campsite with horses.

Then there was this.  We all know Progresso makes pretty good canned soup, although I never eat it.  I'm not really a soup person, but when you're camping in the back country, what could be better than opening a bag, pouring in water and dinner is served ... after a few minutes boiling on the barbecue or hotplate of course.

We didn't eat this one on the trip, so Sandy gave it to me to try here at home.

Not really wanting twelve cups of soup, I stirred it up in the bag and measured out about half a cup.  I added 4 cups of water (it calls for 8 for the bag) and let it go on the stove for 20 minutes.  Next I added a cup of that Costco chicken I had in the freezer.  When done, I followed one of Patty Chance's directives ... place tortilla chips in the bowl first.  There's something satisfying about crushing up all those chips you've tried to keep whole for dipping.

Pour in the soup, top with cheese and avocado and VOILA!!  Dinner is served.  Probably not the smartest thing to cook when it's 105 outside, but boy was it a tasty dinner.  I think this package runs about $5.00.  That's a pretty cheap dinner for a family.

Oh yes, I'm still trying to get rid of this hummus.  Honestly these pine nuts have no flavor whatsoever.  I'm not sure what I'll do with the rest of the package of THOSE.  Maybe I'll try toasting them and eating them on my salads.  After that soup, I need something COOL!!!

I'm happy to announce that all the hiking and walking in cowboy boots and spurs resulted in the loss of three pounds.  WOOHOO!!!  I'm sad to announce that it only took two days to gain it all back.  BOOOO!!!

You may be wondering how my solar is going.  Me too.  I'll check out the website for my usage and let you know tomorrow.  Right now I think I need a nap.  It was an awful night of nightmares, tossing and turning and mind racing thoughts.  It was the hummus, I'm SURE of it!!!

It's MAGIC KINGDOM Time!

 I sat on the patio with my coffee for far too long contemplating the grass.  That's what happens when you know it's time for the Magic Kingdom of flame throwing peasants.  Suddenly it dawned on me ... my grass is almost green in the back where it gets little water.  

It's amazing how changing out the water schedule and cutting back four hours of watering a week, can result in the lawn getting green again.  The front lawn looks even better.  It's not due to the new gardeners, that's for sure, although they (like all of them) do a fairly good job of pruning everything.  They are also really good at pruning my electrical wires for the landscape lighting.  I'm shaking my head.  There is no such thing as good workmanship in the gardening world.

Suddenly a tiny creature caught my eye.  I have a few lizards around here, but I rarely see them.  Most likely because there are so many kitties.  This tiny guy is under three inches, the smallest I've ever seen.  Not wanting Cooper to get a taste, I tried to move him into the grass.  He wasn't going for it until I actually touched his side.  Cute little guy ... and he eats ants!!

Sorry for the distraction .... anything to keep from thinking about BINGO!!!  Soon enough I was off to the Magic Kingdom.  It pays to go early because I had a hard time finding a parking spot big enough for my truck.

I took a deep breath and crossed the moat, heading for the round tables of the Knights.  Coke please.  I mean really, it's free, so it's what I drink.  This will be my last visit for awhile, so I took full advantage.

In no time the hoards were standing at the gate clamoring for entry.  I have a hard time figuring out how throwing your money away is fun, but that's just me.  The line was long, so we opened early and went to town.  Jackie is my new counter of cards, and she is AMAZING.  We whipped through those peasants like a hot knife through butter.

Here's the thing ... Jackie is a player, so they don't mind that she picks their cards.  It's good luck I guess.  Otherwise we get the stink eye for pulling cards right off the top of the pile.  There was only one fray at the table when one peasant took her bingo book out of order, before the lady in front had picked hers.  Oh my gosh ... if looks could kill, that lady would have been strung up from the highest beam in the castle.

Here's the King calling numbers from the bingo machine.  Like the infernal machine, it's gets tied up occasionally, which requires a tweak of the power cord for it to continue.  Not only do the called numbers show up here (in case you are late), but they show up on three television screens around the room.

We had over 120 people on this night, as the hot ball pot was up to $1199.00.  If you win bingo with the hot ball number, you win our pot AND theirs.  That's a cool $1449 in one fell swoop!  For someone who has raided the piggy bank for change to pay for bingo, you can imagine that's a pretty big windfall.

I had the normal "you charged me wrong last week" to "you didn't give me my red ticket" nonsense.  If you do it for one, suddenly 25 more people in the room have lost their ticket also.  It's epidemic!!

At last it was time to wind up the show.  I print out a ticket from the infernal machine that tells me how much money I should have.  OH CRAP!!  What did I do?  I'm $200 OVER.  At least I'm not short, right?  I count the money and count the money.  By now I'm tired (been up since 4:00 am) and my mind is blank.  

I explain the problem to the King who is happy as a clam.  OVER is good he says.  I put everything away, lock up the money in the safe and head to my truck.  

It never fails.  Two stop lights down the road and I remember exactly why I'm over.  I forgot to record the Bonanzas sold on the floor.  Maybe I'm getting too old for this job!!!  I sent a text message to the King that he didn't win Bingo on this night ... that the till was right after all.  

By the end of the night, the peasants were happy (at least those who won), I was happy and the King was happy.  Just a side note, all the money raised for the last few weeks is going to the people who were burned out in that last big fire in the foothills.  

Lucky me, I'm having company for two days, so a house cleaning frenzy is on the horizon.  I guess it's time to put all that camping stuff away and dust off my broom.  

Home Again Home Again ...

 I'm back on the patio in the dark.  Thankfully there are no bears to worry about here and no long walk in the dark to the outhouse.  It's nice and cool for the time being, but that won't last long.  It appears 106 is on the schedule for the next four days.  OUCH!!!

I guess I should have been working hard at putting stuff away the last two days instead of hanging out on the couch.  As you can see, I couldn't get up .... nailed to the cushion by this little guy who has my heart.  You just can't move when they are sleeping so soundly.

When he finally woke up and the latest rodeo ended on TV, I got the brilliant idea I would make some hummus.  Where the heck did THAT come from?  Sometimes when you are in the mountains, if you are lucky, a chef will pack something great for your eating pleasure.

Sandy's husband is a pretty darn good chef (not really, he works for the School District) and an inventor of the most amazing things.  She shared with me some of the best hummus I've eaten, made by the same hands that took a tarp and sewed it into a hay bag.  

So why not try it myself?  I should have resisted the urge.  First, you have to open a huge can of garbanzo beans and squeeze the little buggers one at a time to take the skins off.  After the first ten went flying out onto the floor, I was having second thoughts.  

Then there was the tahini ... ground sesame seeds, including the oil ... that I ordered from the internet.  You can't just buy the 1/3 cup required ... I'm now the proud owner of 32 ounces.  As for the piñon nuts ..... there's a story behind my love of those.

Way back in the days of the dinosaurs, BEFORE the dam was built and our ranch flooded, our entire family would go up into the mountains for pinion picking and a picnic.  They were pretty proliferous among the pine trees.  The nuts come from the pine cones that fall to the ground.  Naturally they are covered with pitch, making them ever so fun to extract.  

We gathered the cones while my dad whacked them with sticks until the nuts came out.  Those that refused to move were tediously picked out by hand by us kids of course.

They come with a very hard shell.  To remove it, the nuts are roasted over a fire, then cracked to expose the wonderful weird tasting nut.  Since there are no trees around here, I again had to hit the internet.  As you know, there's only a picture ... so how do you know which ones to get?  You don't ... and at $2.00 an ounce, you don't want any mistakes.  The ones I got were not the right ones.  Too small and no flavor.

SO ... into the food processor went the garbanzo beans, tahini that had to be stirred about 15 minutes before getting to the right consistency, garlic (WRONG - DON'T PUT IN GARLIC), pine nuts and a little salt.  Add to that cold water as it is processing and you have HUMMUS.  

Let me just say it tasted like crap!!!  It looked nice, but the taste wasn't there.  Probably not enough pine nuts.  Maybe it will taste better after sitting in the fridge overnight.  Yes, there's supposed to be olive oil topping the hummus in my picture, but I'm not a fan of oil.  As you can see, I scraped off most of the piñon nut topping and ate those first.  STILL no flavor.  I guess I'll try tasting it again tomorrow.  In the meantime, I have some tahini for sale .... CHEAP!!!

Here's the latest update on the quilt.  Just when I thought I was almost finished, I discovered I had 22 MORE ribbon sashings to sew before sewing the triangles around the outside.  Big sigh!!!!!

It will be a miracle if I ever finish this thing.  In the meantime, I'm girding my loins for one last BINGO meeting before I head on out to the monsoon flooding in Arizona in week.  In case you haven't heard, Las Vegas is having floods, as did Death Valley.  Apparently it's an epic monsoon season in the desert.

Do We Stay or Do We Go??

 The sunset tried to peak through the trees, but my phone didn't capture the colors much at all.  On this night dinner was quesadillas Sandy whipped up on the barbecue.  All those Costco muffins I took along didn't get touched.  There's just something about being in the clean mountain air that makes you want to eat things good for you instead of sugary sweet stuff.  Except for my trail bars.  Okay, I admit, I ate peanut butter cashew trail bars!!

Another scary morning trip to the outhouse scanning the darkness for bears is always an eye opener.  When that pine cone fell from the tree and hit the ground nearby, I slammed that door and locked myself in.  I've had many bear encounters in my life and I really didn't need another one.  Especially since the nuisance bears from Yosemite National Park are brought up here and released.  We are very careful not to leave ANYTHING outside of the trailer or my truck.  By the way, these are vault toilets (no flushing) so I didn't stay long.

Add to that the fact that all the burned tree stumps look like bears, or bear cubs.  No kidding, I was always looking twice!!!

Here began the long discussion of whether we pack up and move to the next location, Kennedy Meadows, or whether we just head on home.

It's obvious by now that Mia is getting frustrated by being tied up the entire time.  She's a different package of muscle that likes to lay flat.  We really can't let her do that on the high line since horses are notorious for stepping over the rope.  That ends up being a rodeo while we try to get close enough to cut the string and release them.

When her patience runs thin, she bucks up a storm (something unknown before this trip).  Even with several miles of ponying, her attitude didn't change.  There's nothing worse than a frustrated kinky horse on a mountain trail.  She did SO well getting into the river.  Too much frustration will erase every bit of it and we'll start all over again.

Better to end it on a good note and head back home than to meet up with 30 new horses at another location where she will again be tied up in all new surroundings.  Besides that, she probably needs another four months of riding before working on the mountain stuff.  You can overwhelm a young horse and end up in the dirt if you aren't careful.  Trust me, that is NOT fun!

Sandy made the final decision, so we broke camp and began packing up, tying the horses to the trailer so we could take the high line down.  Mia helped by biting the metal side.  She's probably the mouthiest horse I've seen in awhile, another sign of young nervousness.

Sadly we headed out to the main road.  Luckily this entire campground section did not get burned, I think because the river runs along the edge.  

I did want to mention one other great tip I learned from Sandy about ice chests.  I guess I'm old school ... I bought a bag of ice and poured it over everything in my Yeti chest.  Of course the ice melted in two days, in spite of Yeti's claims.  Sandy buys those gallon jugs of water and freezes them.  She puts those in her ice chest and the food stays perfectly cold and DRY.  The jugs still had ice in them when we left.  When the ice melts, she uses the water for drinking and cooking.  How smart is that??

One last stop to check the horses before heading off down the hill.  Although that looks like trees, it's just burned tree stumps on the mountain.  So sad, but rather pretty ... all the black tree trunks.  

I picked up Jonathan, who apparently said not one single word the entire time, and headed home.  He talked up a storm as soon as he heard my voice.  Who would have thought a parrot would miss you?

First thing, Cooper got a bath, which of course makes him want to play.  He's still pretty wet around the edges here.

In no time, he crashed on the couch.  Me too for that matter.  I had forgotten just how much work it is to camp with horses.  

I unloaded the Yeti ice chest to find that water had invaded BOTH containers of Cooper's food, meaning it all had to be thrown away.  It even got into the leftover chicken I had in a waterproof container.  No, I didn't eat it ... all that stuff in the water didn't make anything look appetizing enough to keep.  

Don't look if you're squeamish.  Here's one of my rope burns that almost healed up before I scraped the burned skin off accidentally while packing up the truck.  OMG blood went everywhere.  Of course taking white towels didn't help.  It looked like I murdered someone before I could get it bandaged up.  No worries, it will heal up eventually.

And so ended the horse camping trip.  There won't be another one soon, as Sandy is sending Mia off for a little more training.  We are both probably too old for bucking horses.  I rather think an older version would suit me more, but alas I have discovered they are a LOT of work.  Funny, I don't remember that part when I had horses.  I'll be on the couch recuperating!!

Day Three In Horse Camp

The horses were a little restless on this night.  That means I was awake listening for bells, but only since it was a full moon.  Cattle bed down at night and sleep.  They don't wander around in the dark unless there is a full moon to provide some light.  Of course there WAS an almost full moon, but thankfully, no ringing could be heard.  

There was however, lots of pine cones falling along with a few trees.  The fire devastation makes for lots of tall trees with all the limbs burned off.  Those are very dangerous because depending on how long the trunk burned, they can fall on you at any time.  The campground didn't suffer too bad, but the trails into the mountains can be scary.  You make very sure you and your horse do not bump a dead tree or step close to the trunk where it can cave in from the roots being burned out.  Fun, right???

Breakfast was not one, but TWO cups of coffee to get us going.  Apparently I'm in a little better shape than I thought because I'm still not stiff or sore.  Definitely weird.  Mia on the other hand was exhausted!!  She laid down every chance she got.

We decided to ride just in the small valley, taking the roads and trail around in a big circle.  A river runs through this campground (with some amazing fish to catch) which offers a couple of spots to work on that water crossing with Mia.

No use going out early ... we stayed in camp and entertained the chipmunks for a couple of hours.  These two guys were on a huge rock right behind me.  There's a second one under the green branch at the top.  Very curious little guys they were.  

They were probably more interested in Cooper.  They came down off the rock and within two feet on the ground, looking for a handout I'm sure.  Surprisingly, Cooper stayed in his bed as I walked around cleaning up and gathering stuff from my truck.  He was so good I can't believe he's my dog.

At long last we saddled up and headed out.  Mia was still pretty nervous and tense.  If you pay attention, you can feel it in their body and see it in their ears.  Shaggs wasn't any too keen on riding her after that bucking display she put on and it wasn't my place.  We again took turns ponying her along the trails.  

Three year olds have no patience and she began biting Mindy on the butt.  Just lightly of course because she didn't want her teeth kicked out!!  I scouted out the best trails to the river's edge so we could give the water entry another shot.  

I told Shaggs to just wait on her.  You walk your horse into the water and you just wait for the other horse to follow.  Eventually they will snort, take a step or two, smell everything and then walk right in.  It's the same for loading horses in a trailer, crossing a bridge ... anything you want them to do.  You just wait on them.  Spurring, hitting and any other method just makes them more afraid.  Looky here ... she's IN the water!!!

I was also keeping an eye out for fishermen.  There's nothing like jumping out at a horse from the water and sending them into a bucking fit.  Luckily on this day there were no humans around.  Mia did great and in no time was 6" deep in the water, getting a drink (which shows she wasn't so nervous any more) and figuring out how to walk on the rocks.  Yup there's a lot to walking in water.

Just a note here ... I'm happy to say my phone held a charge for three full days before I had to use my portable charger.  There would be more pictures of us riding, but it's hard to hold a phone when you've got reins in one hand and a lead rope in the other.  

After that great water experience, it was time to quit.  You always quit on a good note when working with horses.  Stop when they do what you want.  They will always remember that next time.  Push or slam them, and they will remember THAT the next time and you literally have to start all over again.  

We headed back to camp and had some lunch ... another BLT burrito which I almost swallowed whole.  The food eating schedule was not the same as at my house.  That's a good thing because I lost 3 pounds.  YAY!!!  Not that it will stay that way.

Mia rested up again!!  She's so funny ... she spends a lot of time laying down.  Every horse has their own personality!!

Mindy just headed for the food!!  She and I have a lot in common!!

Not only did Mia learn some things on this trip, but so did I.  Here's one ... when you make coffee in the morning, you make an extra pot of water and pour it in a thermos.  This hot water lasts all day and night, giving you some nice warm water to wash your face with in the morning.  It's not my thermos, so I had to use cold bottled water.  Brrrrrrr ...

That whole morning routine of teeth brushing, face washing and makeup goes right out the window when your bathroom counter is the front seat of your truck.  You're not going to believe this ... I didn't wear any makeup!  I know, right????  That's a miracle in itself.  I have to say it did help ... that's probably why there were no bears in camp.  I scared them all off!!!

With everyone fed, including this little guy, we talked the evening away until bedtime.  

It was a really good horse day, and though I was covered in dirt from head to toe, I crawled into my tiny bedroom and crashed.  You've got to love those chair cushions!!!  

Tomorrow .... more riding.

Day Two ... More Bells!!

 Ah yes ... the quiet early morning of the Sierra Nevada Mountains found everyone asleep except me.  Since I'm the one who gets up early, I was in charge of feeding and watering in the morning.  That of course comes after taking Cooper for a walk and hitting up the outhouse half a block away.

I can't explain how fun it is to walk that far in the pitch black of night with your one small flashlight, hoping and praying you don't run into a bear.  No kidding, it's sketchy!!

The horses always get to eat first.  They each get a leaf of hay, following by a bucket of water which you hand hold.  No use taking any chance that a horse will get his foot stuck in a bucket handle.  

Someone else was taking advantage of the early morning hours also.  I can't believe he was so good this entire trip.  Although we did take a few walks, he was content to sleep in his bed on the cot.

I'm just going to say here that Shaggs is a great driver pulling a horse trailer.  I can count the good ones on one hand.  She's also a good horsewoman whose horses really trust her.  To have good experiences, you have to be able to read your horse.  You can tell their mood, whether they are scared, whether they feel good or bad.  You can watch their ears and know exactly what's going on around you.  Truly, most horse people don't have a clue about this.

Since Mia is still young and crazy ... most young horses are ... Shaggs ponied her (led her while riding Mindy) around the campground before getting on, just to help get the kinks out.  Once they snort a little and relax, you should be good to go.  So off we went up the trail towards a tiny meadow maybe 5 or 6 miles out.

This is all new to Mia and she was pretty tense, so we decided to pony her most of the way.  One thing you don't want to happen is a bucking frenzy on the side of a mountain full of trees that are now burned into matchsticks just waiting to be bumped and fall down.  This area was completely devastated by fire two years ago.  It's amazingly pretty, but can be dangerous if you don't watch yourself.

Not wanting Shaggs to do all the walking, we traded off.  She would ride Mindy and I would walk ... in new boots with spurs hanging off the back.  No problemo ..... at least I'll be in epic shape going up and down these hills at 6500 foot elevation.

One of the main things we wanted to do was get Mia to cross water.  You might think horses would do this naturally, but they do not.  They have to be taught how to step slowly and carefully.  The first little creek was maybe two feet across.  I was on Mindy at the time.  I crossed leading Mia and stopped, giving her ample time to figure it out.  

Again, she's young.  She panicked and made a flying leap four feet in the air, landing on Mindy and I (even though there was plenty of room for her to go by), before raking the left side of my horse and trying to take my leg off.  She was on the wrong side, so I dropped the lead rope, but not before it completely removed any trace of fingerprints on my hands, along with a goodly amount of skin.  Well that was fun!!!

We caught her up easily since she wasn't about to leave her protector Mindy and we headed on further up to the next water crossing.  This time Shaggs held the lead rope from the ground.  The water came down the middle of the trail and was only an inch or so deep.  Mia did much better this time, snorting a little, but eventually walked through the middle.  SUCCESS!!  

That's when the BELLS began clanging again.  Oh good grief!!  I'm in the lead on Mindy (who is afraid of cows) and I see a cow straight ahead on the trail, but covered by a big bush.  I holler at Shaggs, who goes ahead and chases them off while I wait with the horses.  

So now here we are at the THIRD water crossing just before the meadow.  Sure enough, the meadow is full of cows.  Shaggs goes ahead once again to chase them off before returning to walk Mia across the last wider and deeper creek.  This time she did great ... no snorting ... a very good sign.

We got off and let the horses eat at the meadow, which calmed them down considerably.  That nice green grass got their attention off the clanging.  We decided that was far enough and headed back down the hill.  This time when Shaggs led Mia across the water, she wanted to walk on top of her, so she had to let go of the rope.  Mia said WOW and just walked on off down the trail.  Although most horses don't like to lead, she was on a mission.  

There's one thing you don't do with horses, and that's chase them.  It makes them run away faster.  So we waited for her to realize she was completely alone.  Sure enough, she looked around, whinnied WHERE ARE YOU and came running back.  Whew!!!

Next water crossing .... instead of going down the trail through the water, she took off up the hill and Shaggs couldn't hold on.  Off down the trail she went again!!  Now Mindy thought that was okay the first time, but THIS time SHE didn't want to be left alone.  She reared up and whirled around.  

No problem, I stuck with her, but there's nothing like having 1500 pounds underneath you trying to run off.  It's a good thing I'm a pretty good rider if I do say so myself.  One more rear and whirl and we went through the creek like it wasn't even there before Mia finally looked around and discovered she was again alone.  She came running back, making both horses happy.

Big sigh ... okay, between the cows and the water, we decided it was time to call it since she went over the last water just fine.  Back to camp we went, switching off ponying her and walking.  As you can see, she was pretty tired when we got back.  No kidding!!!!!

That's how it goes when you have a young horse.  You learn, they learn and hopefully you come back with all your parts and pieces.  You also always end on a good note.  Never stop when they misbehave or don't do what you want.  Since she had crossed the last three creeks in good form, we decided it was time to quit.

Cooper had spent the morning in his kennel, safely locked in the horse trailer.  When he heard my voice, he began barking, very happy to see us back.  I doctored my hands and we relaxed in camp before fixing a delicious bacon and tomato burrito for dinner.  Boy did that ever taste good!!!

While feeding, Shaggs fixed Mia's high line so she could move a little more.  Turns out that wasn't a good idea.  When she hooked her back to one spot, Mia got really frustrated and mad.  Suddenly she went into a bucking crazy frenzy.  Shaggs had never seen her buck before EVER.  There was nothing we could do but watch.  Thank goodness the high line held and she finally stopped ... for a few seconds .. then she went at it again.  

Mind you, Mindy is tied right next door.  She had had enough.  Here's an example of being able to READ your horses.  Mindy backed up ever so casually to within kicking distance of Mia, turned her head sideways, put one ear back and gave her the evil eye.  Mia stopped immediately and calmed down.  Mindy took three steps forward and went back to eating her hay.  That was it ... no more bucking or nonsense out of Mia.

OH BUT WAIT ..... MORE COWS!!!!  This time a huge group came up the road clanging away.  I went out to move them over so they wouldn't go right through camp.  Like reading horses, it's a good thing to be able to read cattle.  There is always a BOSS and it's always a cow ... not the bulls.  Boss Mom was having none of it.  She had that I'm going to run your a$$ over look, so I headed for the closest tree and threw a few pinecones at her.  They finally took off, making a big loop around the campground before heading back from whence they came.  This time the horses weren't as spooked since Shaggs stayed near them.  Thankfully the cows and calves did not come back.

Soon it was time to hit the hay.  I rearranged my bedroll to give Cooper a little more room and hit the cushions.  I guess I slept pretty well because I didn't hear the coyotes that howled for about an hour.  In a flash, it was time to feed the horses again, but that's tomorrow's story.