Dirt- Road Scenes

I'm astounded once again this morning with the numbers of hoops needing negotiating in order to publish a blog posting.  Things have been strange, to say the least.

Nonetheless, I stick with it.  It's often baffling why something in our computer age with its lightning speed can take an hour longer than expected.  That's been the case with blog posting the past two mornings.

Anyway, I've included some photos taken during a horseback ride yesterday.  Yesterday was Lily's turn.  I rode Heather Tuesday night and Lefty, on Wednesday.  

Heather was very good; Lefty: not so great.  He has enjoyed some time off from working and too much time in the pasture for the past three weeks or so.  

Consequently, the globs of fat have reappeared around his tail, and the desire to have to work has disappeared in direct proportion to his weight gain.

He's now spending most of the day in the barnyard away from the food.

Lefty crow-hopped with me several times Wednesday evening, stuck his head down several times and just plain resisted all appeals to behave. 

So, Lefty went from taking a spin around the place to ground work-out in the round pen.

That's where Lefty bucked like a bronc---even better than Lily.  We've discovered that his sweet disposition and lovely expressions sometimes mask a wolf in sheep's clothing.  Lefty gets sullen at the thought of working.

Well, he was really sullen Wednesday, so he raced around that round pen after his bucking performance.  I let him race to his heart's content.  He even fell down once he was so mad.  He picked himself up and raced some more.

After about 15 minutes of wearing himself out and working up a good lather, he seemed a bit more cooperative. 

So, we went back to the fence where I put the bridle back on.  Lefty was shocked, I'm sure that he would have to work some more.

I climbed aboard.  He wanted to be bad again.  I told him no, and almost instantly he began to act like a gentleman.  He behaved during a few more strolls around the barnyard.

Such is life when you have young 'uns which need riding--or as they say, a wet saddle blanket and don't get either often enough.

Well, yesterday's ride on my Lily was much more of a pleasure.  I took my lunch along and nibbled on pieces of Tillamook medium cheddar cheese while Lily and I plodded down North Kootenai Road.

When I wasn't enjoying the cheese, I was snapping photos.  Lily knows the drill whenever I want to take a picture.  Stop and wait while Mom snaps away.

It was a lovely day for a ride after a night when we had gotten a thorough washing from a thunder storm.  Everything was clean and fresh again, and the air was a bit crisp with a nice breeze.

Can't ask for any better than that.

I took a picture of the milk cows at a little farm on North Kootenai.  The owners have horses, a big black pig, lots of chickens and lovely milk cows.

And, it so happens that when I returned, I read an email from Annie who had hiked in the mountains of Liechtenstein yesterday and heard the famed cowbells echoing across the valleys.  She said she saw a lot of bovines too.

Annie has always wanted us to have a Jersey cow, and I think it's a good idea too.  Just can't figure out who's gonna want to stay around and do the milking.  Maybe this cow could just raise calves and walk around ringing her bell.  

That would be nice.

Guess that's enough.  With a wing and a prayer maybe this Friday post will publish and I can go outside in search of adventure here at the Lovestead.

Happy Friday.