You see Bill has been gone with Willie for the past two days, fishing out of their rented Avery Cabin on the Coeur d'Alene River, so I've had full days and evenings to do pretty much what I want.
On Monday I did perform a surrogate grandmotherly task by driving Miss Swiss Miss to town to see one of her friends. Actually, it wasn't a "task"; it was a pleasure. Once the friends met, Debbie and I headed off for coffee and decadent dessert at Trinity.
This morning Debbie, Swiss Miss and another of her friends, Selina, are headed off for Seattle to attend a One Direction concert at Century Link Field.
Annie will join Debbie in nosebleed seats. They'll do their best to get into the One Direction concert expectations, which Swiss Miss must have perfected by now with four other concerts with the group (including Helsinki and London) under her belt.
Should be a wild and fun night for the foursome and several thousand other One Direction fans.
Anyway, back to my open schedule. Yesterday's great achievements included the nice morning walk, five more bags of green beans in the freezer, a handful of blueberries added to the handful from the day before and a head of lettuce washed and put in the collander.
With the morning's picking and grinning completed, I saddled up Lefty and took him for a ride.
This was a big moment because I've not ridden either of my horses in more than a month for two reasons: heat and a sprained wrist.
Heat does me in enough that I can't even imagine imposing the misery on my horses. And, the sprained wrist did put a crimp in my style numerous ways for the past month.
Yesterday, however, I was once again able to throw a saddle on Lefty's back with very little pain. So, fat Lefty and I went down the road.
He behaved pretty well most of the way, although he still gets notions that it's time to turn around and go back home.
Can't blame a guy for trying, but with some prodding, we continued north on the road until we reached the place with the big arena.
Then, we turned around. Then, Lefty decided to be a twit for a few minutes, prancing and acting like he was performing for a parade. It was windy, so his behavior came as no surprise.
A few circles and eventually he settled down. We also spent some time riding trails and off trail in our Lovestead woods. In the end, I was quite pleased with Lefty and with myself.
Later, I loaded up the three pups, and we headed off to look for huckleberries. Of course, when I go huckleberrying by my fraidy-cat self, the berries must be found within a 50-foot sprint to the car, lest a bear eat me up or a moose trample me.
I found a spot in a gorgeous setting and picked berries, all the time with an ear cocked for noises in the surrounding bushes besides the dogs. I also kept Foster on leash while picking as he continues to have an inflated image of himself in the midst of potential danger.
Actually, Foster is lucky to be with us, after a close encounter with a wild animal last week while I was gone.
One evening Bill and the dogs were out in the woods. They were racing around, having a good time, when suddenly Bill looked up to see a deer bounding full speed ahead in a path where she and Foster could potentially meet head on.
Bill could only watch as the two barely missed each other. Then, Foster started barking.
Then the deer, which probably had a fawn nearby, started chasing the little guy. Bill said that doe was on his rear on the trail all the way up through the woods to the dog run where the deer eventually turned off and left Foster to live for another day.
Needless to say, when I have him in the woods anywhere, until after fawn season, Foster will be at arm's length.
Yesterday, he seemed content to stay with me as I picked enough berries to fill a small freezer bag. I might go back today if all the projects---including picking more beans and some lovely looking cucumbers and mowing some lawn----get completed.
After berry picking, I came home, watched the news and then saddled up Lily. It's seldom that I ride two horses in one day, but the ride on Lefty in reasonably cool conditions made me think an evening ride on Lily could be pretty pleasant.
It was, and I'm thinking last night's laid-back, relaxing experience up and down South Center Valley Road was one of the best I've ever had atop my big, pretty import from Oklahoma.
She's 10 this year, and I'm thinking almost every time I ride her that this spotted mail-order mare turned out to be a pretty good deal. She's a keeper.
Happy Wednesday.
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