Strangers by Our Corral

This is Ranger.  The horse.
                                           (Bill, doing sub captions)

This week we had some peoples staying at the next door people barn.
                    (Guests at the cabin across from the lodge)

This happens a lot, but this time horses were here, too.
                    (They brought their horses)

The strange horses sayed to me they finally talked their peoples into running away from the big smokes. 
                    (All were evacuated from the big fire 50 miles north of us)

The strange horses sayed they were glad that they were in the rolling shed behind the stinky truck, cause it would have taken two  and a half sleeps to get here of usual travel.  But maybe only one day of super crazy lunitic going.
                    (They liked the trailer.  It saved two and a half days of walking, or one day of endurance pace)

One of the strange horses scared me some.  He had no eyes on his head.
                    (One horse had a fly mask on)

Now stop saying those silly things, Beel.  Flys do not wear masks, and if they did, they sure would not fit on a horse.
                    (Yeah)

But the strange horses eyes came back the next day, and he was fine.
                   (No flies here, so they took the fly mask off)

BEEL.
                  (Right)

I think the smokes from the big fire must have hurt the eyes of the peoples, because they kept calling one of the horses that brought them "Ranger" and he did not look like me at ALL.  Maybe it hurt their brains.
                    (One of their horses was named Ranger, too)

The kid spent his first day charging the fence trying to scare the new guys.  It did not work.  They ignored him.  It was funny.
                    (Washoe charged the fence to try to dominate the other horses.  They turned their backs on him.  It WAS funny.)


The strange horses and their peoples have went away again.  Too bad, because it was kind of nice having an other herd to talk with.
                    (The folks got the call that the fire was out near their home, and though some of their neighbors weren't so lucky, their home was undamaged.  They loaded up and headed back home.  Our horses called after them when they left.)

That is all.
Ranger.  The horse.

                   (Bill)

Our  wrangler friend, Elsa, stays with us a couple nights a week when she fills in at the livery as a day rider.  This week she wasn't needed for the second day so we commandeered her for a longer trail ride - so all three horses could get some needed exercise.

Jesse - Yah, you know a walk around the block is OK, but sometimes you just need a HIKE!

So we took off down the road towards the Allenspark Trailhead, planning a loop down towards the girl scout ranch and back up the Finch Lake Trail, a particularly tough outing - but, hey, we DID plan to picnic at one of the junctions.  We figured about 3 1/2 hours round trip, so off we headed down the road, leaving the Energizer Bunny in charge of the lodge.

Anyone recognize these stairs? (Hint:  last year's High Country Rendezvous)

Washoe, up front, leading the way.

Ranger, poking along behind.

Are you coming, Ranger?
Further along the trail we came across a group of boys from one of the local camps.

As we continued along, discussing the fact that there was usually an 'older' counselor type with these groups, we came across the rest - a group of girls - and of course, Jesse got a bit peeved with me for suggesting we should move along instead of mooching off the girls (notice the tail!)  She got more than her share of pats on the way by.  This time there was a counselor, too.

Up ahead we entered the old burn area, where there are some spectacular views - reminding us that even though there are a lot of fires around us, the area regenerates and leaves remarkable sights behind.

It's wonderful to realize that the 'new' growth from this particular fire is now taller than the trees from the old fire.

When we first started riding this area over a decade ago, these pine trees were barely knee high on our horses; now they tower over our heads - and really mess with the view!  We finally come to one of our junctions.

Ranger:  Are we there yet?  You promised a piknik!  
You're getting a rest, good buddy.  What more do you want?
Ranger:  PIKNIK!  And this does NOT look like a good spot!!!

 We had obviously made a bad decision when we chose to continue to the next junction and do the loop backwards.  We had forgotten just how downhill it was - for 1.2 miles!  Poor Ranger even had a misstep on a steep slab of rock and ended up sitting on his backside.  Think he's glad there were no cameras out at that time -but he was very glad a short time later, at the last junction, where there was lots of grass.

Washoe:  Yo!  How cum he got the good spot?
It was hot for the horses and they were glad to get a break.  While we ate, Bill got this great picture of our state flower, the Colorado Columbine.  We don't have an abundance of flowers this year, with the lack of moisture, so we were delighted to stumble onto several of these.

  The horses - and humans - were back on the trail soon, headed for home - and a shower.

He did have a shower, honest!  But a good roll in the dirt made things much better.  Look like any horse we know, Funder?

Jesse:  Like this, kid?  Sure feels good on the back!
Ranger had a good roll, too, but it's just not as impressive with his color.  Can we say it was a good day?!
Bionic Cowgirl

Random Info

This will be a sort of "stream of consciousness" post.  Okay, maybe more of a "puddle of consciousness".


I have removed word verification from the comment section.  Some of the pictures and fonts are SO BAD, no one could POSSIBLY read them.

Two words?  Really?

 So now I am fending off random Russian spammers...

 Thanks in favor of sharing such a pleasant opinion, paragraph is fastidious,
thats why i have read it fully
Have a look at my web-site-   WW.WhatKindOfFoolDoYouThinkIAm.con

 The "paragraph is fastidious"  was the horses talking in the "Overheard in the Corral This Morning" post.



Yesterday, our daughters showed up and made cookies for a bake-sale for the "Purple Ampersand" or the "Blue Exclamation Mark"... nooo, I think it was the "Red Cross"

They made some more "Chocolate Aztec" cookies.  Chocolate, cayenne pepper, fine ground coffee...GEEBUS TAKE THE WHEEL!  Good stuff!  I don't think they would be better with bacon (and 'bout everything is better with bacon...).


Went for a three hour ride into the Rocky Mountain National Park.  Very, very nice.



Oh yeah, and the neighbors horses were out before breakfast this morning.

Sigh.

Bill

You Just Can't Tell

Brains of a turnip.  Except I hate to insult turnips like that.

I went out this evening to "bug the horses" as I do most evenings.  Just get a little hands on time, check for new cuts, kick marks, ticks and so on.

I found no ticks on any of the horses, except Ranger.  He had a big, bloated one right on his... umm...  on the... umm... under his tail.  Ranger has always been rather "cautious" about letting anything under his tail, so when I pulled out my Leatherman and opened it up I told him "I really hope this hurts you more than it hurts me."  I have seen the old guy "jackhammer cow kick" through 3/4 inch plywood in his younger days, and have received a memorable pop or two myself.

I slowly and carefully lifted his tail, latched onto the tick near his head (making DARN sure I didn't grab any uh... skin on Ranger) and I pulled the tick off.

NOT A TWITCH from the old guy.  He just looked over his shoulder at me, and when I dropped his tail, he pinned it tight to let me know HE WAS DONE NOW, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, but that was all.

"Whew." I thought. and I closed the multi-tool.

"Click"


OH MY GOD!   MONSTERS!  EVIL HORSE EATING BOOGERS!  THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT!

And Ranger was off on a bucking, snorting kicking bug-eyed rampage across the corral.  I stared at him a little bug-eyed myself.

"Ranger, you moron!  You let me RIP a parasite the size of a Volkswagen off your anus and don't move a muscle, But I close a pair of pliers as I'm walking away and you FLIP OUT!  WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?"

And off I went, following the knot-head  around with a pair of pliers, making him touch them, after which he would snort and run away some more, so I would follow him with a pair of pliers, making him touch them....

Lather, rinse, repeat.

"Click" 


 Dope.

Bill 

A Little Night Music

Last night, the eldest daughter and I threw bareback pads on our horses right at sunset and we went out for a short pre-father's day ride.

We had gone a little over a mile, and the dusk was deepening.  We had just begun to circle back, when off in the distance, we could faintly hear a siren wailing, far, far off.  Suddenly a family of coyotes joined in the song from a couple hundred yards away, back in the deepening purple shadows across the meadow from us.

All sang their mournful tune together for a minute or two, but the ambulance finally faded into silence.  The coyote family sang for another moment or two, then faded into a disjointed chorus of yips and finally lapsed into silence themselves.

Daughter and I just stared at each other.

Best father's day ride ever.

Bill

Apple Raisin Walnut Breakfast Bars Recipe

Apple-Raisin-Walnut Breakfast Bars

9” x 13” baking dish, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Sift together, set aside:

2 c. flour

2 tsp. Baking powder

1 ½ tsp. Cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

               

In a large bowl, on medium speed, blend together:

   Approximately 3 minutes or until smooth:

2 c. light-brown sugar

2 eggs

½ c. (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

Reduce speed to low, gradually add flour mixture for 2 minutes.

Stir in:

1 ½ c. diced apple

1 c. oats (not instant)

¾ c. raisins

½ c. chopped walnuts.

Spread into prepared pan.  Bake at 350* for 35 minutes; until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely; cut into bars (18 – 24).  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Have fun with this one; mix and match fruit and nuts for your own favorite.  It's solid enough to be used as a trail bar - but won't break your teeth!

Juanita

Overheard at the Corral This Morning

"Looky there!  That's one of the big neighbors runnin down the middle of the road!"

"He got's no people with him..."

"Wow, he is gunna be in trouble!"

"Ain't he one of them Belgers?"

"Yup.  They are big 'uns for sure."

"No chair on his back, and no bag on his face like last time...  he gets to eat all of the grass!"

"I hate that"
.
.
.

"HAY YOU GUYS!  LOOK! LOOK!  All of the neighbors are out and going the other way"

"We know that Mare.  Do you think we is dummies?  (Say Kid, she is right!  They are ALL out!")

"Say, ain't that Beel coming outa the lodge with a lead rope?  He looks CRANKY."

"Well, you KNOW he hates leaving the lodge before the sun  comes up."
.
.
.

"It seems to be taking longer to catch them this morning."

"That is 'cause they are eating grass out here, and do not want to go home, I bet."
.
.
.
"Well, it looks like they are all back in the pen.  I wish we could'a  go'ed out."

"Someone should 'splain to Beel that Colorado is "Free Range" .  I think that means we gotta be fenced OUT, not fenced IN."

"Lawns are a waste of good graze"

"Yup."

I Love the Sound

I love the sound...
    of a horse tiptoeing down a steep trail.

 

I love the sound...

    of a horse chewing.

I love the sound...

  of an animated conversation.

I love the sound...

   of a water crossing.

I love the sound...

   Of a trail ride.

Bill

A Little Extra Work

B-  Well, we lived through the ride today, Ranger.

R-  Yes Beel, we did.  No thanks to you.

B-  The only problems we had today were in your head, where there is lots of room for problems, because your head's empty.

R-  The problems were real, Beel.  You are just not smart or observant enough to see them.  Like when you first climbed on my back, the tree FELL DOWN and ALMOST HIT US!

B-  The tree was cut down across the street.  You walked by it  five minutes before while they were sawing it.  We were 40 yards away when it fell.  No danger.

R-  The cowboys YELLED, Beel.  And the tree FELL, Beel. And the cowboys WHOOPED and HOLLERED, Beel.  And when I jumped and spun and tried to get away, you made me stop and called me a @$#%$^!
What is a @$#%$!, Beel?

B-  You are, Ranger.

R-  And then you made me cross the street and stand there, RIGHT NEXT TO THE  TREE THAT HAD JUST FALLEN DOWN!  And pieces KEPT BREAKING OFF OF IT!

B-  They were sawing it into logs, you moron.

B-  And then when we did hit the trail, you grabbed a mouthful of grass after stopping  dead in the trail and wouldn't move on!

R-  That was very mean of you to pull my head around and take ALL of the grass out of my mouth.  You did not even eat it.  You just threw it on the ground.  Mean and wasteful.

B-  And when we went on, you were jumping at everything.  Stumps, logs, quaking aspens blowing in the breeze, birds.  BIRDS?  For crying out loud, the only way a bird could hurt you is if you choked on it.


R-  And then you made me touch everything I warned you about.  That was mean.  I should have made you touch the bird...

B- You darn near did you @$#%$!

 R- Hmmm

B-  Hmmm

R-  That was a good ride.  Can we go again tomorrow?

B-  You bet, buddy.  Sleep well.

Just Look'in Around

About 15 minutes ago, we looked out the window and saw a string of horses going down the road.  Probably 15 or 20 of them.

Not really an unusual sight around here.

They were all saddled and on their way.

With no one on their backs.

And empty feed bags on their faces.

Opps.

Team Lodge (Juanita, Bill, and grand-daugher "Autobot") mobilized and headed out to head them off.  In years past, I would have jumped in a truck or minivan to herd them home in, because they would be off at a run.  But these guys were obviously just out for a stroll.  We managed to get them stopped (okay, they stopped themselves at a nice lush patch of grass and tried to eat through their feed bags, with limited, to no success) and grabbed a few to lead them back to the livery.  Reinforcements arrived from the livery, and we got them home in less time than it's taking me to blog about it.

Back to breakfast prep....


Bill

Nothing Bad

This is Ranger.  The horse.

I am mad at Estes-the-other-mare's person, GunDiva.  She went for a ride several darks ago and saw some moose-monsters.  I telled her "DON"T TELL BEEL!"

But she did.

So the day before the last dark "The Kid" and I went for a walk with the chairs on our backs and iron bars in our mouths.

Looking for the moose-monsters AGAIN.

Beel is crazy that way.

It was a good walk, because I got to carry a smaller person.  She was named after some kind of flower or something.  Iris.  Or Daisey.  Or something like that.

I like Pansy, because when we all stopped to eat grass, she gave me THREE granola bars!  Beel only ever gives me one, maybe, if that much, and HE eats the rest.  No wonder he weighs so much.  Petunia weighs much less, because of her generous, sharing nature. (Have you ever eated a pear core?  They are so good!)

It was also a good day, because, once again, no moose-monsters were spotted.  In fact, no deers, elks,  sheeps, coyote-dogs, robert-cats, rabbiters, or squirrlies attacked us either.

And when we got home, Dandelion gave me more fresh grass to eat.

Yumm.


Ranger.  The horse.

Trail Maintenance

A few blogs ago, we had pictures of downed trees; lots of downed trees!!!  Well, yesterday we had sort of an impromptu family gathering for Nebalee's birthday - you know, the CAKE thing.  Our youngest son and his fiancee showed up early, complete with a gas powered chain saw.  Yeah!  We could finally get those trees off the trail.

The hike in - with a helper.  We had all wanted to take the horses in, but even though our horses are accustomed to this type of work, it was a busy ride day for the livery and we didn't want to take any chances having 'extra' horses tied in the area.  GunDiva's ride passed us as we were working this spot.

Clearing branches at the first site, for the major cut.

About here?

Then we hiked over to another trail, to find three dead ones that had fallen in a group.

The last two.

A job well done.  Thank you, Junior, for getting the two most used trails passable again.  In the National Forest, or the National Park, you are not allowed to move the trees; only cut a path where the trail is already established.  That's why we hadn't attached a rope and pulled them off to the side.  Besides, when you are trail riding, it's much more fun to go through this stuff than to have 'pristine' trails.
Bionic Cowgirl

Visitors

We haven't meant to be absent so long ... but you all know how things suddenly just get sort of busy; not the kind of mind boggling busy that you can plan, but busy enough ...

We've had lots of fun with visitors - friends and guests.  Momma Fargo and NFL Man came for a visit; what a blast.  She has found herself a pretty good guy, but we are really prejudiced.  We happen to think HE has found a pretty good gal - so does that make them a good pair?  We think so.  Congratulations you two - and don't make yourselves scarce; we expect to see you often.

At the same time we had a guest named Catherine, from Ireland, that I got to go riding with.  See how much things have greened up since we had a tad bit of rain/snow a couple weeks ago.  It looks almost normal.

Also, some of the grandkids came up for their first rides of the season, so it was a busy horse week.

Next we had a couple more Australians come for horse therapy, and ... you guessed it, yours truly got some more major riding in.  Hard to beat this kind of job.

Bill's brother, SIL and niece came next for four days; checking out colleges in the area for graduate work.  How did that happen?  Niece being old enough to be a junior in college, with enough scholarships to pay her way through grad school?  Yep, got her on a horse, too.  I'm on a roll here.  Nobody should come near me who doesn't want thrown on a horse.

Oops, forgot about bringing Queen Estes (GunDiva's horse) back to the mountains.  That led to a day of excitement, as some of you know from Ranger's post.  Estes is more than a bit of a hussy, and came back while in her first heat of the season.  Of course, she wanted nothing to do with Washoe and flirted non-stop with Ranger - until he complied and she bit the tar out of him.  They both are showing many nasty bite marks, but seem to have come to agreements on various issues. I managed to get all the burrs and dreadlocks out of her mane today; it's been a three day process but it's done.  Her feet need some care next; not terrible but not like we want to see them.  Other than that, she looks GREAT!.  Sending her to fat pasture was the right decision.

Time to feed; I can just FEEL their eyes on me even though I can't see them.
Bionic Cowgirl