Birdsong, a sack of potatoes, and peace

                                    

Saturday

 SHOES!!!  Yay! Finally, the farrier made time for us to get our shoes replaced. It's been a month. Okay, maybe only three weeks, three LONG weeks without riding during prime riding time. It made me cranky. 

So Saturday, we were off!! What a great day. All I could hear were all different kinds of birds singing and maybe even some baby birds chirping. At the top of Hennessey, we turned left and went up Widow Maker Ridge (also known as Deadwood Ridge--I forget what I call it each time! lol) and turned left at Indy's frog pond. We went off to do some bushwacking. We have not done that spot the same way twice. Jupes is always trying to tell me, but I don't always listen and we go off behind Lynn who isn't listening to her horse either. LOL. Then we rode down to the turtle pond and back up through the big meadow. It was nice. Katie got a lot of running in. She was everywhere and running hard to catch up with us.

On the way out, we were trotting. Jupes and Zigs like to do the rollercoaster trot and sometimes Zigs even gets in a lope. We go down the last little hill back toward the trailer and then up and a pause by the tree and then swoop down the trail. There's a tight little turn right before the creek bed. Jupes likes to do that quick turn, so I leaned down and into his neck so I would miss the low hanging branches. Then, YIKES! Jupes got caught up with the down madrone right there sticking in his chest and I was caught on a sharp limb hanging down. He jagged and I slid down his neck like a sack of potatoes. WHUMP.  I was on the ground and he trying to get out of the mess of madrone. T/C was "outta here!!" Something scary just happened and he whirled around and wanted to head back up the trail. I was trying to tell Lynn, "I'm fine," but the wind was knocked out of me. She asked, "How's your arm?" So I waved them at her, wheezing, "I'm fine, I just gotta catch my breath." Too funny. I didn't fall very far or very hard. Just kind of slid down him. I have a few bruises and scratch from the limb, but all's well. Lynn thought I was going to hang from the tree branch, but I think I might have broken it on the way down. lol

Sunday

My dad passed away in December 2010. I had his ashes forever on my entertainment center. I just didn't know what to do with them. The more time passed, the harder it was to face it. Finally, several years ago, I made up my mind to just deal with it. On Father's Day, I would take him to the top of the ride on Underwood. It's a beautiful place. I asked my brother if it mattered to him. It did. So in a fit of frustration, I told him to take the ashes (and our uncle's) home with him. He put them outside in the fern bed. Once upon a time, it was a really pretty place. Then my brother passed away. I told my nephew to find the ashes and please bring them to me. They were full of water. So I have left them in my garage since January. Every time I passed by them, I felt disrespectful and awful. Once again, I was in the dilemma of what do I do? 

Finally, I asked Lynn if Big Zigs could pack my dad up to Underwood. So on Sunday, we took his ashes to the rocks below the big white snag. It's a special place. As we rode up through the bushes, we saw a huge bird sitting on the tree. It was white with light brown speckles on it. It lifted up and flew before we could capture its picture. I think it was a Red Tail, but we could only see its underside. Its presence was powerful. 

I put my dad ashes right by this big clump of yellow flowers. He planted a yellow rose at his house and gave me one for my house. He knew I liked yellow. It felt so good. Both Lynn and I felt the peace and overall perfection of what we did. I feel so much better. I am very happy that we did it! 

I'm so happy we have shoes! It was a GREAT weekend--looking forward to the next one!