Just Hangin

 Juanita and I went to the Denver National Western Stock Show last night and watched the draft horse "6 up" and "8 up" hitches.  We both forgot our cameras, so you'll just have to take my word for it, but nearly 8 tons of horse flesh pulling a wagon is impressive.  It was a very pleasant evening with friends.

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The weather up here is pretty nice today.  Temperature in the mid 30's.  Wind in the lower 20's.  Sun shining full on.  Time to do a little outside work.

Recyclables to the transfer-station.

Trash out to the dumpster.

Dog messes in back yard.

Move hay from the big barn to the feeding shed.
(If you REALLY want to get your horse's undivided attention, unload a ton of hay just out of their reach)

Now, time for lunch and a soak in the hot-tub, then maybe an old James Bond movie.

I'm okay with that.

Bill

Maybe the Bahamas...

It's snowing again today.

Wind is in the 20's

Temperature is in the 20's

I'm no longer in my 20's.

I KNOW why old people move to Florida and Arizona for the winter, 'cause I are one.

Bill 

My Turn

Beel keeps hinting it's my turn to blog.  Don't know why I have been absent so much from the blog world.  It's been busy, but not so busy as the summer gets.  I think it's just a different kind of busy.  My mom has had a couple health issues lately; not the complicated and tragic kind some of you have been dealing with, but time consuming for us, as it's a three hour round trip to check on her.  She wouldn't even let me know she had doctor's appointments until a couple days after the fact. (See where I get my martyrdom attitude?)  Now I insist on going to her appointments with her, so I can get the whole story, not just her 'maybe' version.  That was a trick in itself, finding out and getting her to let me go.  It's always difficult to accept the time when you become the support system for a parent, instead of the other way around; something I need to learn to deal with emotionally.  I've been lucky; a lot of you have already had to go through this, so some of you might have to prod me in the right direction now and then (no cattle prods, please - my titanium would not be pleased!)

We had a group of croppers in this weekend, which brought us back to reality.  You know, real work.  As I was stripping rooms after they left today, I looked out an upper story window and noticed Jesse just standing off by herself and ignoring "the boys" at the feeder.  Huh?  Jesse never, ever ignores food - and she is NOT a loner.  You just don't see her like that.  I watched for a while, thinking she could be in the beginning stages of colic, but didn't notice any real signs.  She was just hanging out, ears up and alert, squared up like some stallion standing guard, but NO motion.  I checked on her every couple hours and she just stayed there. 

Finally, I decided she was melancholy; no going out, no person to play with as we've been on the road so much; and the boys were boring.  I grabbed her halter, her frisbee and a pocketful of treats, and headed for the corral.  She couldn't get her head into that halter fast enough; she didn't care where we were going, but we were going!  Beel tried to get me to take the Flip, but I figured I would have my hands full as is - and boy, was I right.  I took her to the neighbor's big corral, turned her loose, brushed her and saw a spark in her eye.  We started playing frisbee and by the time the neighbor came home a few minutes later and let her two dogs loose, we had pandemonium.  Jesse doesn't usually chase dogs, but she had a ball today keeping her frisbee away from the dogs.  She raced up and down the hill, kicked up her heels, let loose good ole horsie farts and threw in some bucks for good measure, while I talked with the neighbor.  When she decided I had talked enough, she went to the gate and stared over at the boys in our pen, like she was saying, "OK, we can go home now."

I think I needed that time out in the fresh air as much (maybe more) than she did.  Of course, when I got back to our pen, it was very obvious both boys felt extremely slighted.  Guess I'd better make time for them tomorrow.  Oops, we're supposed to get another six inches of snow tonight.  Oh well, what's a little snow among friends!

Bionic Cowgirl

PS - I forgot to tell you all MY New Year's Resolution.  NO MORE BIONICS!!!

A Couple Monsters

 
 This morning Juanita and I went out to feed the horses, and as we walked up I realized something was wrong.  The two geldings, Ranger and Washoe were running around in a panic, and even Jesse was a little concerned.

"HALP! HALP! HALP!"

As I walked into the corral, hoping to find the problem, Ranger was very worried, stomping, snorting and staring off at the highway.  (Jesse and Washoe saw Juanita with BOWL FOOD and lost interest in the mysterious problem that still had Ranger worried.

"BEEL!  THERE ARE MONSTERS IN THE TREES!"



 Ranger, staring high into the trees  by the road, was on FULL ALERT.   Upon closer inspection, I saw a white hard hat near the top of a 50' ponderosa pine tree.

"Howdy!"

"Hi there!  I'm from the power company in Estes Park.  We're trimming trees near the power lines."

"No problem." I say.  "But I don't think I'm going to convince these horses it's not a problem..."

"Yeah," he says "they have been running and snorting pretty good."



We wandered back to the lodge, Jesse eating and Washoe and Ranger keeping watch.

"That's not the usual, Beel.  Peoples just don't climb up trees."

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A couple days ago we hit an after Christmas sale.

Someone got paid to build a moose, wearing a Santa outfit, sitting in a rocking chair singing "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer".

Sad.

Sadder still, I bought it.

I can't WAIT till next Christmas!

(I hope I haven't run the batteries down by then...)

Bill