Bliss

Two days of wet blankets! (Jupiter's was wetter than it needed to be since I didn't get my water bottle closed before I put it in my pack! Ice water was tickling his fanny!) Saturday we went up Hennessey; Shirley told us she was "pulling leather" down on the bottom of the trail where we start out. She told us, "Go, go! Bees!" She said Star was bucking and having a fit. Neither Lynn nor I saw anything. Then I heard Lynn say something about Shirley and Star had gone through the short cut trail, rather than down the other one that makes a sharp left like we did. We don't usually go the other way because the branches are stiff and pokey. Plus, it's fun to make that turn. When we returned, sure enough, there was a paper nest on that part of the trail. We could see it from the other one. No one got bees that time and Lynn and I are going to try and either gas it or spray it.

We went on the upper trails to the left and then down the trail to the steep one, but Lynn got off and pulled out some downfall and when she got on, we were all pointing up hill and away Jupes went. So we did the loop backwards--which was fun, too. We just missed Lynn's favorite steep part. Last week, it was too smoky on top and we turned around and went to the bottom meadows and rode around.

On the way down on the steep east side of the mountain, heading back to the trailer, Ziggy gave a big jump off the trail and swung his big head around and gave Lynn something to think about. I watched him do it. It was pretty interesting. He's a lot of horse to be throwing himself around. :) He likes to be in the lead on the section of trail and so he had a little fit. He keeps her on toes some days.

Today we rode on Underwood. It was a nice morning. It was a quick little loop around and back, but I sure like it. We saw two deer and all the dogs only gave a short chase and then returned. Poor Haley was covered in burrs. Lynn had us laughing as she told us about Ziggy having stuff in his mane. She wants to reach out and get it, and he acts like he wants her to too, but she says it's a loooong way out there. :) Speaking of stuff in someone's mane--Lynn tried to break a limb or pull it out of the way and all it did was get caught more and made it so we couldn't really get under it very well. She was on the other side, so Shirley turned Star and was going to go around it. It was a dead Cedar tree. I just held Jupes back to watch this. As they went through, they knocked into the branches; Shirley and Star were in the middle of a gold cloud of Cedar needles and dead branches. They were covered in them once the dust settled. Seriously, Star was almost a palomino. :) Jupes and I were thankful as we went through unscathed. :)

Last Sunday we did the hoop-de-doo trail for the first time this year. The lower meadow is FULL of star thistle. The stickers are abundant this year. Yuck! We saw some cows, but no bear; no jackrabbits; and thankfully, no mules. We have avoided that area because one of the locals lets her horses and mules out to graze during the day. We didn't go all the way to the brush obstacle, but turned around at the bottom of the steep climb. Last year there were bees just past that area. I don't know if they use the same holes or not. . . but we didn't take a chance on it.

Today is the Summer Solstice. It's officially summer. I have grades to do and my room to clean, but I am almost free until the end of July when I will teach six days of summer school. I hope the rest of summer is as good as these past two weekends have been--love those early morning rides. :)