Shingletown

Once again work called me away from the fun! Here's Lynn's version:

Friday night got home, kicking off "good" clothes for "everyday" clothes (same stuff, everyday is too worn out for work).  Called Mom said you ready to roll?   Of course she is ready to roll, she was for sure watching me  and headed out the door.  Mom asked where is Vicki?  I told mom she can't come she is in San Jose or San Rosa remember she is at a conference?  Nope.   Caught Buster and Star.  Hooked up, through our crap in the trailer, loaded up horses, Haley and us piled in... on the road by 5:15...

We stopped at the Lumberjack in Redding for dinner, lets just say it was okay.  

On to Loomis Ranch.    We arrived and was met by Dave the hired hand.  He was moving making everything perfect.  Horses water, and cleaned out our trailer, and showed us our room.  I ask  if I could let Haley out.  I was nervous, Kate has added chickens.  They were between us and our accommodations.   I seen Haley's keen eyes hone in on them,  I told her in a low and I mean it voice NO, you leave them alone.   She was really good and tried to ignore them, I could see her watching the whole time.  I know she was thinking they could be fun.  

Dave showed us our room.  It was nice, quiet and unique.   It is located in an out building.   The Bathroom is to the left right when you go through the open air door.  Continue on and the room in on the right.   It has all the amenities you need, TV, Wi-Fi, love seat for your TV viewing.   Angela text me many times, she is fast.  I could not respond fast enough, I was laughing...  WE went to bed... on the trampoline one little movement and your rock'n & roll'n for 5 minutes, it was a hoot.  Definitely good for a laugh.   Haley wanted us to hold still.  Needless to say I could not breathe, allergies!  Augh!    After Mom tried to go to sleep and I was still trying to breath, of course blowing my nose.  CRAP!  That set mom off  laughing.  There was a knock on the door, Haley went nuts!  Kate.    She was checking to see if everything was okay.  She said she was sneaking up to see if she could hear conversation  she wanted to say hi and realized her spurs were jingling then she heard us laughing, she knew we where still up.   She was just getting home from the rodeo.    We visited for 15-20 minutes.  She was leaving at 5:00 am she had entered her first bass tournament. 


Finally,  morning came.  I went to feed and Mom shower.   Then she asked when Alisa was going to get here.  No Alisa is not coming.  She also thought we were going to ride there.  I said we got to get on the road to Shingletown.  Meeting Angela at Reeds Market.   Later on the road, she said Alisa is always on time.  She'll be there or we arrive at the same time.  I had to remind her that Alisa was not coming. 

At Reeds market we had breakfast.  Did some shopping, in and out of the store.  Finally I told the checker that we were waiting for someone.   In about 1 hour Angela showed up.    We introduced each other.  We took off following Angela to Claire's house.   

Angela  introduced us to Steve (Claire's husband).   I asked Steve if I could let out my dog, and he said of course.  So let Haley get out.   Steve busted up, said wait right here... Than I started laughing.  Here came "Woopie"  Black and  very tall Standard Poodle.   She is a very happy dog :)   I followed Angela to Claire Gaston's (?) house.   Claire had broke her ankle the day before of course riding, not her horse and for the first time in 5 years rode with no helmet.    I told Steve  too bad the other 2 standards  weren't here.  By this time Claire had made her way out... poor thing.   She asking about Haley and I told her about Sammy and Ziva.   She just smiled.  This is their third standard.   She loves them. 

Angela saddled up and we headed out.   It was about 10 am.    She was riding Dozer... :)   We had a nice ride.  The terrain is flat.   They had a "hill" our drive way is about the same incline.   Inside I chuckled.   Haley chased a jack rabbit.  She was not much larger than the rabbit.   I seen a doe and turkey tracks.  The weather could not have been better.  Sunny and about 75 degrees. 

We arrived back about 1:30 or so.  We unsaddled put the horses in one side of their corrals.  Then we went and visited with Claire for a little bit.  At about 3 we loaded up and headed for home. 

We stopped in Weaverville for our best meal of the two days at Marino's gassed up and arrived home at 7:00 pm.  Good weekend.

Buster Bucks

It's the year of the horse! According to one website, the "Horse year is about freedom, returning to nature, and enjoying life and life’s adventures." Hmm. I'm liking that! 

I am sitting here multi-tasking, reading Texas 10th grade paragraphs online (and every now and then I need a mental break!), writing this, and playing with Ziva. As I look down at my feet I see a bone, a zebra, a ball, another sort of ball, a rooster, an outside flying squirrel toy, and Ziva who is straining to get under the hutch to get the tennis ball she has put there. Do you think maybe she thinks I am boring? I am sure she had rather live with Lynn and Haley where she thinks it is about having fun all the time! :)

Saturday started off a little rough. Zigman had blood all over his left front leg and his knee was swollen. Lynn brought him down and cleaned it up and doctored him. We aren't sure what happened, but he seems like he's healing up; although, it was still a little swollen last night (Monday). Haley also ended up with a hurt foot. She cut it on something near the end of the ride. Poor little thing was holding her foot up and wouldn't put weight on it. After cleaning it real good, then a few epsom salts soaks, and having a wet Sunday off, she was much better last night and ran and played with Ziva the whole time. 

So Lynn rode Buster and caught Star for Shirley. We rode out around the top of the Hennessey. It just never gets old! Lynn is currently working on a trip to Shingletown for a ride with her friend who lives there. It sounds like a good time! In addition, Lynn thinks she found another place to try when Alisa comes over, which will be fun, too, but honestly, every day is a different day when we ride and I just don't get bored. I don't think Jupiter does either. 

Another thing that never gets boring is feeding the horses at night. I am sure Lynn is much faster when Shirley and I are not "helping." Because I am there with Ziva, it slows her down considerably. We laugh and mess around with the boys and then go for a quick loop up and around the hill so the girls can run. They are so much fun to watch. Then there's Lynn and Shirley. As you know, all three of us ride the 4-wheeler together (totally illegal and dangerous!). We all have on mud boots, big jackets, and hats so there is not a whole lot of room. Shirley is positive that we would be the team to beat on the luge! Because the hill is steep, Lynn needs to shift down to slow us down a little, although I am sure it's only because Shirley and I are on there, too--I am willing to bet she flies at top speed when she's alone. Anyway, the joke is that Lynn tries to shift Shirley's foot half the time. It's hard to get big mud boots under the lever, and with everyone's feet in the way, it's even harder. So she tries to get Shirley to shift. It's silly and we laugh.

Finally, we are adding a new way to support our horseback riding. Buster Bucks. Buster is Mr. Steady. He is the "go-to" guy when someone's regular ride is out of commission. Toni has ridden him, Lynn a couple of times, has Alisa? Anyway, Shirley has always called him the backup horse. So the idea is to buy shares of Buster. As an English teacher/word lover, this is a fun one because of the play on words! Get it? Shares like part ownership and shares like sharing (renting) the ride. ha ha I am always cracking myself up and no else thinks it's funny. :)

The sky is now bright and maybe even a little blue! so it's time to get ready for my real job. Happy trails!

A donkey to love

Rode up Underwood today. What fun! We are starting to ride fast quite a bit these days. I am staying on so far; however, today I got a surprise. We were trotting fast downhill on one road to the fork of another that turns and goes uphill quickly. Jupes was trotting for all he was worth and was just breaking into a good lope when: WHOOSH! He shied hard at something and twisted his body into a U while loping and thinking of maybe running! I squealed and my boot came out of the stirrup, but all was well. Lynn and Shirley had a good laugh. From that point on he was a little wired--he was totally sure there was something scary out there. Silly thing.

Last Sunday Shirley and Lynn rode up Hennessey. Star let himself be caught and Shirley rode him for the first time in a long time. He was jumping down the steep hills and going sideways, I guess. Good thing Shirley can ride!

A man who was my neighbor all my life (well most of it) passed away and a local mogul bought his land. On it is a donkey and cart that I want to own--I just love it--for lots of reasons. The new owner kept putting me off, but finally said no, I couldn't have it because his wife wanted it. My brother wanted me to have it and didn't know that the new owner had said "no." It showed up in my backyard when I was away at my uncle's funeral. I asked my brother to take it back. But in the meantime, check it out--I think he belongs in my backyard.

Happy Easter!

Loping!

Yay! Saturday was a fun ride. We went early and rode up Hennessy. We didn't see anyone or hear any chainsaws--it was just us and at least one deer. There were lots of wild flowers and tons of color all around us. It was a beautiful morning.

We rode pretty fast and Jupiter even broke into a smooth lope. I was proud of both of us, I stayed on and just let him run and he didn't buck in happiness or anything else. We even jumped lots of little logs and did tight turns around trees and stumps. It was a banner day.

Lynn said it was one of her favorite runs with Ziggy as well. Although in the beginning of the ride, he lived up to his name, swerving six feet off the trail because Lynn was turned around and talking to us. I laughed as she yelled, "Ziggy!" like she does. I think he does it to be funny.

The boring horse, Buster, didn't buck while he was running up the hill either. I think everyone had fun--dogs, horses, and people. Nothing could be better.

Stump Animals

Yay! Two beautiful days and lots of riding. Saturday, Jupiter seemed like he was acting up. We all know he has to be ridden a lot or he is difficult. I told him his birthday is coming and he needs to start acting like he's nine and more mature. I had to spur and yell at him as we were going down a steep hill; I thought I was going to be a projectile and I didn't like the possibility--although the ground was soft, there were lots of logs and limbs.

Finally I paid closer attention. Poor baby had a carrot stuck in his throat and he was just trying to get it loose. I am not a good mom after all! No more carrots for him and I apologized for yelling and spurring him. Shirley said it made up for times he needed it and I didn't do it. Thankfully he is much better now!

Sunday we rode Underwood. We are all liking our new parking arrangement--good job, Lynn. We had a beautiful ride looping up and around. They boys got to eat their favorite grass and the girls had fun, too. Ziva is becoming a great trail dog! Hailey is staying close, too. Buster tried to get out in a bog to eat some special grass and sunk down to his knees in the black muck! It sort of scared me, but Shirley just rode out of it.

Most of the morning, we were in back of the line, just cruising, and I swear I saw a mountain lion (or two), a bear, and a giraffe! (: Those stumps are all different colored and laying (or standing) in ways that look deceiving. My imagination was running away with itself! Jupes and I are a definite match.

It was a great weekend and I look forward to the next one.

Exploring

Today we went exploring. What a good time! We drove up Underwood and parked way up the hill. It was steep and rocky and a little narrow, but Lynn just motored us on. Piece of cake (although she worried about it all night!). The elevation where we parked was 4200.

After we parked, we headed up a skid road. There wasn't much brush to stop us, although there were a lot of down trees.We rode on both roads and through the trees. There were some beautiful views overlooking the river gorge (South Fork) and back at Ironside. We had to skirt some down trees, but all the horses just did what was asked of them. They are all such good mountain boys. We hit some deadends, but somehow ended up making a loop back onto our first trail. Ziggy knew where we were, but I think the rest of us were surprised.

We got back to the truck and kind of rode around looking for another avenue to explore, but decided to load up the boys and head downhill to another spot and ride out of there. Although it didn't seem like it, we had put in about 3 hours at that point, but no one was ready to stop. The boys loved eating all that high mountain grass and definitely wanted more, so they were okay with going on another trail.

Once we got out and on another skid road, we found ourselves in some prickly brush. I saw Ziva jump up and over a small bush rather than let it touch her. The trees have grown over the road some, but it was a nice ride. Unfortunately, we came to a log that wasn't high or low enough to navigate and both sides were too steep to go around, so we headed back.

The boys were happy to see new trails and the dogs all stayed close. Ziva really want to chase some quail down a super steep hill, but she listened and stayed with us. Hailey was a on a dead run after something--high above us on the hill--but she came right back when Lynn called her. We heard a big wood pecker or two, but didn't get to see them. I saw some tracks of something else, but I am not sure what it was. I don't get to go tomorrow, but I'll relish this one all week. It was a great day. (as usual!)

Easy rides

Two beautiful mornings dawned and smiled on three happy riders. Saturday we rode up Underwood. It was uneventful (Jupes behaved) and the dogs stayed close by. It was warm and sunny and aside from lots of traffic on the road, we rode all over and enjoyed the day. It has dried out and the slopes weren't too slippery.

Saturday afternoon, Lynn and Lee drove up Underwood. They drove up the road we usually ride to see if we could park the truck and trailer off the main road. They also drove up past where we cross it. Lynn says there are a couple of good trails we can explore on up there. Next weekend we will try it out.

Sunday we planned to go down to the meadow and ride the loop around it. We met a couple of regular walkers who told us that it had been totally torn up by vehicles. Julie said that they had even gotten two or three trucks stuck coming up the hill where the roots are. They fell some trees and had a tow truck come down to pull them out. Both meadows had fallen victim--even down by the barn. We heard enough. We did not ride down there. Not even seeing the new calf was worth seeing the devastation.

We rode up to the top and made a quick loop. We gave the boys a snack and on the way down, fixed one of our trails. The boys are out of shape and Jupiter stopped often to catch his breath. But it was fun. I think I can now handle whatever life throws at me next week!

PS Ziva now weighs 42.6 lbs and is 43 inches tall at her front shoulder. She'll be 8 months old next Sunday. She is becoming a great trail dog. Also important notches on my timeline for this week: I will have had Jupiter for 5 years on Thursday! My how time flies when you're having fun. :)