A Misunderstanding

"Alright.  Which one of you guys tore the fence apart again . . . Jesse?"  The fence gets 'dismantled' a lot, right where the feeder hooks on to it.  Jesse is notorious for destroying the cross buck pieces when she gets bored from being in the pen; not getting to work.  She hasn't been worked much at all this year as we are trying to get her back and hip healed.  Apparently her back is too long to carry weight well, so carrying me around for long days for the last 12.5 years has taken its toll on her lower lumbar region and she has developed arthritis in her left hip, to the point of making her lame on that side.  It was very noticeable when we brought them up from winter pasture last spring and we have spent the summer with massage, anti-inflamatories, and supposed rest.  Well, now she feels better and nothing is safe.  One of our vets said I might be able to work her up to 2 - 3 hr. rides 'now-and-then', but no more of the tough six hour rides we like to get to our mountain lakes.

Alas, I digress.  All this to explain why I would blame my mare for further destruction. I put boards back as best I could in the dark and tied their slow feed hay net to the feeder.  Then I climbed inside the pen to tie the other end and the horses went crazy.  Even Ranger - the old man - demonstrated his famous all four feet in the air bucking style.  They jumped, kicked, bucked and ran around like fools; not their normal feeding frenzy at all.  They finally quit and came up to me to get fed, but were still quite hyper.  I put it down to being cool out and dark.

Fast forward to bedtime.  Bill goes out each night to check the cars (bears, you know) just before locking the front door for the night.  He came back in and asked if I had seen the moose when it walked across our parking lot.  What moose?  The one that left the huge tracks in the sand just behind the cars.  There were no moose tracks there when I had crossed to feed the horses a couple hours earlier, but the tracks he showed me were definitely moose.

Bill then suggested that maybe it was not my mare, but a moose who broke up the fence, trying to get at the horses' hay - and they were just telling me the story of all the excitement.  That makes a much better story, don't you think?

Bionic Cowgirl

Repairs Can Be...Difficult

Stuff breaks down here at the lodge.  I fix it.  I enjoy fixing stuff.  It didn't work, and now it does.  That makes me very happy.

This morning I replaced the dishwasher.  After about 15 years of service, it was time.  I pulled the old one out, put in its replacement and ran a couple loads through it.  It worked fine.  So I hauled the old one out to the garage/hay barn to store it until the next trip to the landfill.

As I was getting ready to open the door and put the leaky old dishwasher into the garage, I heard a sound next to me.  I glanced over my shoulder to see TWO HUGE FRICKING MOOSE coming around the corner about 2 feet from me.  Yeah, yeah.  I know.  They were "long yearlings", just babies really.  But they are still bigger than my horse (not that that takes much).

We all left the area in a HellOfAHurry.  I went back into the lodge and told Juanita about the TWO HUGE FRICKING MOOSE and we went up on the roof to take pictures.  They had already gotten over their fright and the "THREE" of them were eating our trees.

The mother was just out of camera sight, behind some trees.

Some of you may wonder why I tend to flee when I see a moose.  It's because they are the North American equivalent of a rhinoceros.  Poor vision and cranky.  I'd rather face a bear.  At least our little black bears.  I'm just glad we don't have grizz.

As for the dishwasher, it's still outside tonight.

Maybe next spring I'll put it away...



Bill