Sunday, March 28, 2021

 We went back out to Escure Ranch for John's birthday and found our way to the "otherworldly" lakes out there.  I didn't have a good map.  I thought we were at Turtle Lake when we were really at Wall Lake, the final destination, so we went a couple miles more than we needed to. 12.5 miles in 6.5 hours.  We're not going to win any races.  We walked a lot of it, well over half.  My feet were killing me, I wore the wrong socks.  So I think I walked about a half mile barefoot.  That was fun.  Buster would never step on me.  Scout would rip my feet off.  Luckily John has to put up with him.





The Artist at Work (Hahaha)


I'm really glad I don't have this much trouble building fences.


Cheezy selfie smile!  Crazy camping hair!  Oh and hey there's my heart monitor.  Only 4 more days and I can get rid of it and soak in a hot bath.  Careful showers are dumb.



Cookie Buster

I had to go hike around that corner, then I sent John to go see.

Nubbly rocks.  Hey, it's the little things in life.  I forgot to put on my other glove in the morning, so I wore one glove all day.  :)  My daughter made them for me.  More happy little things.


Bare feeties. (My nice holster is in getting the bullet holder bits adjusted for my ammo.)

Not sure I'm too happy about the length of Buster's toes...  Wonder what's up there.  Maybe I distracted Verle by talking too much while he was trimming.  Naw, never!

On the Edge

The cliffs on this side are just as high as the other side.  Buster didn't mind.  The water lapping below was the coolest sound, echoing off the cliff walls.




Cautious drinks.  Very thirsty boys.  This spring is cool, piped right into the big trough.

Scout is ready for the croc-a-gators.  Running stance activated!

The previous day we got there late (don't even ask, John got stuck on the phone a lot for work, I had to do pretty much all of the loading up after doing all the shopping, got the truck stuck TWICE and had to tow it out with the tractor, and Scout tried to kick John so I had to kick his ass soundly, etc)  But we got there!  We took the boys out for an evening ride and thank goodness the drunk fishermen were leaving as we rode out.  Screaming kids rolled in about the same time but that family turned out to be really cool.  I'd love to hang out with them if they didn't live a couple hours away.

I like Buster's ears in this picture but I was really taking a picture of the moon just above the hill (click to embiggen).


I love the Western feel of this picture, especially the grass by the fence post and the tenacious little sagebrush on the rock.  The moon looks so small in pictures compared to reality. I wish Buster's ear shadow hadn't shrunken somehow.

Here you can see Escure Ranch under the rocks across the creek.  I mainly like the light.  And the ears.

The way the sun was shining through the windblown grass was pretty freaking amazing.  I wish I could share it with you in a way that captured it a little better.  

This photo could do a good job of it, once edited, but I'm too hungover from my fun weekend.  (NO alcohol, all fun!)

Buster the Endurance Donkey, pulling a difficult hill.

End of the ride.  Buster cannot be made to smile.

This reminds me of a song lyric, "May you ride as long as the day is light."

Alright, so every time we go out there we go down to the creek at night and listen to the water and look at the sky, take some pictures with the Night Sight setting on our phones (Google Pixel).  I thought I might see what a full moon selfie looks like.  And suddenly this ghoul appeared.  There were several other outtakes, all quite hilarious.

Slightly less hideous.  But full moon selfies maybe are not the best.

I do like the water under the moon though, and that bluff in the background demands to be admired.

Here we have a sample of some of the serious conversation that goes on around here.  Written quite seriously on my new handmade paper.  If I had the time to write down all the things...  I could write a book.  (Click to enlarge and you should be able to read it.)

The ticks are taking over the ranch, so I'll be looking for other places to ride.  I'm going to start making my beasties' training and conditioning more of a priority.  I have (hopefully) a couple people to ride with this week.  I can ride Buster out alone but I wouldn't be safe doing that with Scout.

Oh, I forgot to explain the name Big Pyro.  I have a tendency to put too much wood on the fire.  Not because I like a big fire, but because I like to add wood to the fire.  I exploded some rocks.  And I have had to be told to sit my ass down a few times.  I just can't help myself.  If there's wood and there's fire, and they're intended for each other...  Well...  I just gotta fulfil that destiny.  And study where would be the best place for this stick, for that log?  Yeah.  I like fire.

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