At Home; along Selle Valley Roadways

That's Sterling on the left and Duke on the right.

I met the two yesterday afternoon while driving down West Shingle Mill Road.

Sterling is a former race horse with a tendon problem, while Duke is a Paint. 

I had all my chores done, including carving up the remainder of that wonderful turkey given to us by our friends down Selle Road. 

After the meat went into the frying pan, it was doused with some gravy I'd made a couple of days ago. 

Talk about yum yum. 

We'll be feeding off from that mixture for a couple of days. 

My afternoon also included some grooming on Lefty, CB and Lily.  The most difficult part of working with this trio is always surviving the "me first" congregation at the gate.

Those horses need to learn some manners about sharing and standing politely in line.    

After an exciting NFL game between Baltimore and San Francisco had ended with the Ravens winning by a field goal in the last seconds, I decided to go for a drive around the neighborhood in search of photos. 

It was pretty blah around here yesterday, 'cept for the antics of Sunny and her horse friends, so I wasn't expecting much. 

That outlook changed within minutes when I saw horses coming my way on West Shingle Mill Road.

Even when I approached them in the Subaru, I didn't recognize the horses or the rider. 

Turns out I should have, but when folks are all bundled up for cold air, they aren't always recognizable. 

The rider introduced herself and then came the recognition.  Yes, I've known Jamie Dockins since she was a little girl, and, yes, I remember her horse Duke, which was used by a 4-H'er this past summer. 

I met Sterling for the first time and heard his story about how Jamie had acquired him from the track in San Diego and has been nursing his tendon injury for the past year.  That stuff takes a long time to heal. 

  She says she's seeing improvement in the big sweet, 6-year-old Thoroughbred. 

We had a great time catching up on horse news and family tidbits.  And, I enjoyed meeting both horses. 

Jamie's mom, aunts and grandmother were all enthusiastic members of our Schweitzer Valley Dwellers 4-H Club a few decades back. 

The rest of my photo op trip turned out to be pretty uneventful, but I still found a few items worthy of stopping for photos.

Members of the Balch family at the Eich were adding a festive outdoor touch to their home.     

I'm sure the bonfires I saw in a woods along Hickey Road have been snuffed out by now, thanks to an overnight snowfall, which continues as I type.  

We're in to December.  It's been cold.  

It's warming up, and, as long as the snow stays pretty and doesn't pile up too much, I won't complain.  

Happy Monday.