Spring Weather and Assorted Stuff

My cowboy washes my truck for me.
In the snow. While I stayed in the warm, dry house.


Spring... and we had snow. At our house. On the blossoms. So much for living below the snow line.
I considered requesting a refund from our realtor, I desired property that did not get snowed on.

UFOs hovering above that outbuilding? Nah, just my trick photography.

Horse teeth. You can tell a horse's age by it's incisors. Really. And by this picture you can even make a very accurate statement about this horse's gender without looking at the nether regions. Guess how?

This is my horse on drugs. She wouldn't normally submit to having her mouth cranked wide open with a large metal device designed to allow access to her molars, which extend as far back as her cheek shows in this picture. Horses require regular dental work. Really.

OK, sometimes I do enjoy the snow. Especially when it is not at my house and I get to enjoy it on the ski slopes, with my daughter and my grandson.

When it wasn't snowing it rained. and rained. and rained. Carson enjoyed the snow more than the rain. Our new trees and the pastures and the flowers love the rain. Me too, until our roof started leaking, in the middle of the night, in the bedroom, right beside my side of the bed. drip, drip, drip....

Wet.

It didn't rain or snow all of the time. The weather cleared enough during Di's visit in Feb. for an enjoyable trail ride. My nephew rides horses and snow boards, I miss you Kev!

It stopped raining enough for another trail ride. Tristan in the lead on the tall horse, Jerry and his good buddy follow on the mules.

It really doesn't rain and snow all of the time. I enjoyed a very lovely ride with a small group of lady friends recently. I need to get over my fear of heights, then I could take pictures while we ride along the cliffs, instead of being gripped in a panic, imagining plunging to a terrifying and painful death....

The snow in February was pretty I suppose and didn't hang around for long.

My nephew rides horses and snowboards and is missed.

The grandson who (whom?) is learning to snowboard.

I have sorely neglected my blog, life is just busy, and I feel 'behind' most of the time. There is always so much to do. Yes we are able to get out and enjoy life and I enjoy sharing that. We also are busy working and busy with all of the 'projects' around our log cabin in the woods.

Snow skiing and horseback riding are two of my favorite activities. I am so thankful that we have been able to enjoy both with good friends and family.

I am calling a hotel room 'home' this week. Excellent Internet connection here. I watched a little TV this evening. Very little, I don't understand the popularity of 'Dancing With the Stars'. The news continues to depress. I am so ignorant that as hard as I try, I cannot comprehend, not by any stretch of my mind, how going into unimaginable debt will save our economy. So I turn off the news, turn on my computer and blog. I get form letter emails from one of my government representatives. I disagree with all of her views, I reply to her emails personally, but she never addresses my concerns personally. All I ask is for some common sense explanations. Listen to me go on and on. See, it's better that I don't regularly watch the television.

It's time to go lay down and do a bit of reading, compliments of the Gideons.

Oh and some grandma (nana) brag, visit greenslobber.blogspot.com and scroll down a few entries to see my youngest granddaughter in her very first horseshow. Yeehaw.

Happy Trails, whether they be dusty, wet or rainy!

'Tis the Season.....

Our original plan was to ski all day on Christmas Day. We had friends from out of town staying with us and everyone was 'pumped up' for a first day on the slopes.
It rained, heavy rain, on our tin roof all night Christmas Eve. Up at 0'dark thirty, we checked weather reports, road reports, travel advisories; and we decided to stay home and let the blizzard in the Sierras wear itself out.
Tristan was relieved to find that Santa himself, had no trouble making it through the blizzard.





The following day, also Tristan's birthday, we headed up the hill. These check points are a common sight on the chains required days. Our 4-wheel drive and all 4 snow tires allowed our ascent without the chains.





Traffic was heavy but evenly spaced, driving was slow and careful, we made it to the ski resort safely.

Yeehaw!

I took up skiing just a few years ago and it is my winter-time love. I would ski daily if possible. I don't remember the exact number, but my first year, I skied over 20 times.

When I started dating Jerry, I remember telling him that my ideal partner would love to ride horses, love the country, camp, travel and snow ski. He smiled, I wondered, "is that his smile when he hasn't heard a word I said?, or is that the smile of a man who just agrees with everything?, or can he really be the one who does all things?"

Our first winter together, Jerry was recovering from a traumatic dislocation of his shoulder, the Dr. said NO skiing. We went to Durango that winter and Jerry sat in a chair at the bottom of a ski run sipping 'spirits' while his son and I had an awesome day skiing Purgatory.

We entered our second winter season with one recovering from cardiac surgery and the other recovering from a riding accident.

Our third winter together and I discover the truth........

The Cowboy skis, and he likes it, a lot! He even went back and skied all day the following day, while I was at work.

Birthday Boy spent the entire day taking snow board lessons. He was hot, worn out and in no mood for a picture. I took some anyways.

Whether they be dusty, muddy or snowy;

Happy Trails to all!

SKI #2

We've been busy getting things together and in place. The internet connection up here 'in the hills' is poor, we will have to do something about that. It took almost an hour to load the following two pictures. I have more but don't want to risk losing my entire post, which has happened several times.

I took a day this week and went skiing. It was a lovely drive, the snow is melting away now. But there was plenty of snow at the ski resort. It was too warm out to wear a coat, a sweatshirt was just right. By noon, the snow was getting slushy so I headed home. After five months, my leg that got squished by the horse, has finally healed. I had no problem with 2 1/2 hours of downhill. I love to ski. I missed by buddies Kevin and Tristan though! Maybe next year they can join me. Last year, my nephew Kevin and I braved massive blizzards to drive up to the resort. It was quite the adventure.



The day was warm, the skies dotted with just a touch of cloud, a bit of wind, and plenty of snow.

Doesn't this look fun? I was thinking about skiing around the edge over there and doing a bit of back country down hill skiing....

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!! Well I did think it, but not seriously consider it.

Soon I hope to post pictures of some of our works in progress here at the log house.

Deer and Mice

I almost went skiing today. Almost.... I planned to go for a half-day afternoon, there's less ice on Hwy 50 later in the day. I invited Jerry along but he is working on some big transformer deal. I put my chains in the car, checked my oil, filled my windshield washer reservoir, filled up with gas, and then headed to my storage unit where the majority of my material goods are, and have been for almost a year now. I was confident that I would find everything I needed for a day on the slopes. I found my bag of gloves, hats and goggles; I found my bag of ski pants and coats; I found my skiis and poles....I found hiking boots, mud boots, cowboy boots and shoes... NO SKI BOOTS though. They are probably in a box at the bottom of a stack of stuff in the far corner I can't get to. I was bummed, I looked long enough that I didn't have time to just go up and rent boots, the ski resort closes at 4 p.m. I loaded up a few assorted boxes of kitchen goods and headed home.



The rest of the day was spent scrubbing the huge pantry that came with this place. I love a big pantry. I washed walls, disinfected shelves, cut and laid shelf paper. Looks good. After dinner I went back to admire the clean pantry and found little mouse deposits on my clean shelves. I haven't had mice in a few years. I hate mouse poop, alot. The mice will have to go. Everything not in a can or glass jar will be put in tupperware. I still have not finished cleaning all of the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen, it is overwhelming. So far no mouse droppings in the kitchen.



I made a yummy pot of chili today. I am enjoying this big open kitchen. The painter is almost done with the bedrooms. Then we will clean carpets and start moving in our furniture. We are still sleeping on the floor in front of the wood stove. Rustic and primitive... I want a bed!



So, as I am scrubbing in the pantry, Jerry is at the kitchen table working, wheeling-dealing, with 2 computers and his phone going. I catch him turned around watching out the window an awful lot! We live in a deer playground! He calls me into the kitchen as he takes a picture of this little guy who just walked up to the window and peeked in.





He is just peeking in, checking out his new 2-legged neighbors.








"LITTLE BUCK-A-ROO"



Little Buck-A-Roo and his mama decided to skip out to the pasture and since I'd had my fill of scrubbing shelves for the day, I followed. Our upper pasture is wooded and there were deer all over the place, I played hide & seek with them until late dusk when they scattered. Several of the deer are a bit lame, I wonder if they are snagging where we are repairing fences they've torn down, I hope not.



So that's my day here in the country, where deer play in the woods and mice play in the pantry.