We just got back from a little trip.  My grandma's memorial service was Saturday, and we added a quick jaunt to the beach so my kids would feel like they had some sort of vacation this year.

On the way over we stopped at Multnomah Falls, but it was so crowded we didn't hike up.

You have to look closely to see Mt. St. Helens at the top of the mountains in this pic.  I grew up under that mountain and all its grumbling and puffing.  I was so mad when the mountain blew its top.  I was young and I didn't like change, and it was MY mountain, and it wasn't symmetrical and beautiful anymore.

For years after the eruption she kept dumping ash on us.  We'd have air raid sirens go off in our tiny town and have to stay indoors or wear masks to go out. 

Looking east from the Astoria bridge at the mouth of the Columbia.  Mt. St. Helens is in this one too, just to the left of that island.

We took my nephew with us.  He'd never stayed in a hotel, and he was really intrigued by it all.  The boys had a lot of fun running on the beach.

Whale skeleton on the beach.  I was fascinated by all these vertebrae behind its head.

Jumping waves:

Bumper cars:

Carriage rides:

Beach ninjas:

Pelicans:

A very loud and active feeding frenzy:

Cool old cabin:

I think I did my beach time when I was a kid.  It doesn't really do much for me now.  I did enjoy the junk food and the shopping.  The candy shops were especially fun.  And I got to walk back from the beach by myself in the rain, splashing barefoot in warm puddles.  That was nice and relaxing.  Even if I wasn't super excited about the beach, the kids had a lot of fun, and that's what it's all about. 

We got home after a very long drive yesterday, and the naughty horses were out in the big pasture that isn't completely closed off from the big, bad world.  They came in pretty easily at the promise of grain though, and I fixed the temporary fence that someone had run through.  The dogs were VERY happy to see us.  It's good to be home, even though that means lots of laundry and going back to work. 

There's a pretty awesome looking thunderstorm coming in.  I think I'll go outside and watch it until it starts raining.  :)

I think I can blog from my phone!

This is a test. This is only a test.

;-)

I am late posting, as usual, and too tired to write much.

Moved them on to new pasture:

Bella's birdie flying away:

I bought a new saddle.  With a broken tree.  Just a little crack in the middle:

But if you look where the stirrup feeds through, it's completely broken.

Perfect for saddling a youngster.  Looks stupid, slipped back, but for training purposes it works.

Poor Scout has to really work to be next to his mama sometimes.

It looks serious but 30 seconds later Bella and Scout were grooming each other while Joseph stood alone.  He just isn't as persistent as Scout.

We had a lovely visit on my friend's farm.

Liam and I both fell in love with her bottle lamb.

Blue Dog:

Looking for his distant herd:

Followers:

Bella says, "What'cha doing?"

Joseph, showing his playful inquisitive side.  Scooching it under him:

(Blue is sure that horse is being naughty.)

Well scooched:

Backing up to play some more:

Poor Blue really would like to put an end to this but he's been told to "leave it."

Blue's disgusted, can't watch anymore, just has to leave.

Curiosity satisfied.

I wish I'd had time to hang out and play with all three of them again today, but had work and then a baseball game.  Maybe tomorrow.  :)

I went on a most excellent trail ride with my sister and my niece for my birthday.  Beautiful trail, kept up well with no serious obstacles.  The uphill side was narrow on a steep hill, but enclosed in trees the whole way, and the downhill side was easy peasy on a 4 wheeler track.  Happily, we didn't see any motorized vehicles.  Just some guys on mountain bikes and they were very courteous.  We didn't see any wolves either.  That's a plus.  There are more and more stories about wolves in the mountains here, and some of them make me nervous.  As we were leaving the trailhead where some people were camped, a lady hurried up behind us to tell us they'd had a wolf in camp last night, trying to lure out their dogs.  It went away after they fired a gun.  Glad they didn't shoot it.  I have nothing against wolves, in fact they were my favorite animal and I did a lot of research on them in high school.  But I don't want to meet a pack of them out in the wilderness when I'm on the back of a prey animal with a dog along.  My sister did see some bear poop.  Scout didn't even know it was there, I guess being domestic born, he doesn't care about bear poop?  I thought all horses knew bear poop was scary.

Anyway, Scout was pretty awesome.  I told John I'm going to steal his horse.  He said that'd be fine until tomorrow, when I come in saying, "Your horse!" after he does something naughty.  Really though.  I am going to take ownership of that horse.  I don't mean in the material sense, I mean... well, he's my creation in a way.  Granted, he has his own personality that's all his, but he was born in my lap and I am the person he's had the most contact with.  I should own what he is and build a partnership with him instead of foisting him off on John and complaining about his annoying ways.  He's a good horse.  A very good horse.  Instead of me expecting him to be something he's not and always finding fault, he just needs more life experience and a person who's with him and cheering him on. That's the kind of partnership we had today, and it was good.

On our way in we had to wait for the free range horses to get off the road.  You don't see that very often.  Look closely through my filthy windshield and you'll see the adorable little red dun colt blocking the way.

That's my niece on her big ol' paint horse:

Scout's head is cocked in the most adorable way here.  I think he saw my sister's dog off to the left.

I always thought Scout and Cowboy would make good friends.  They've both got that goofus doofus playful thing going on.  I was right, they like each other.  I'd love to turn them loose together and watch them play.

 It was very nice in the cool forest on this hot day.

On the home stretch:

That last mile was the longest Forest Service mile ever.

When we got home I let Scout graze in the front field.  He stuck with us in the shade for a while and then went exploring.  

 

It was a long and tiring day, but in the best way!  I can't wait to get out there again, on my new good horse.

Earlier this year there had been the possibility of a mustang adoption this weekend, so I arranged to have today and tomorrow off from work.  The adoption isn't happening but I'm still going to enjoy myself.  I'd thought of going on a trip out into the mountains, packing all my gear and staying a night or two, which would work whether my horse was saddle broke or not, because I have legs too.  But that didn't work out either.  There are too many reasons not to go, and not enough reasons to go.  Some of those reasons are wolves.  One reason that surprised me was that I think I'm afraid of camping with my horses again.  The last time I did, I lost my Tonka.  I'll be smarter next time, but next time isn't here yet.  More reasons - some of my family wanted to come along, but not all of them.  Can't leave the kids home alone, so there you go.

Anyway - today I took Joseph out to explore some new trails.  We had fun.

In the deep, dark woods:

You might not believe the number of pictures I took trying to get a good shot of this bluebell over a little creek.  Obviously I wasn't successful, but it sure was pretty in person.

Love, on a forest trail:

My flash was on, so this one looks kind of unreal, but he's still handsome:

Before we went, we had some excellent entertainment.  Three-way tug o' war.  :)

 

Tomorrow we're going to ride in the vicinity of the hike we took today.  Of course I'll be riding Scout, not Joseph.  There appear to be a LOT of trails out there.  Hope we don't get lost. 

It's been a good couple of days. I'm finally mostly over my cold, caught up on sleep, and recovered from my work week.  Just in time to do it again...

Scout was pretty tired too.  Couldn't even muster up the strength to lift his last foot over that pole.

There's my perky doofus.

Joseph got to just stand tied while I rode Scout these past few days.  He thought that was hard work.  Well I guess it was, the way he was doing it. There was a lot of pawing and strange grunting.  He worked up a sweat.  Then we cooled down in the shade for a while.

I think here I was telling him not to eat my chair.  What a goofy face.

Chicken watching:

Just chillin'

He even groomed me a bit.  I did have to ask him not to use his teeth.

We wasn't too excited about being my footrest.

And he wore a fly mask for the first time!  No problem whatsoever.

Joseph is just this week starting to let his guard down with the other horses.  I've seen him and Bella grooming each other, but he still doesn't hang out close to the other two horses.  He isn't quick to build bonds, even with them.  It makes me feel a little better about our lack of a strong bond just yet.  I think we're making progress.  He was really very relaxed in the shade with me today.  But there is still a distance and tension a lot of the time.  Him wondering what's going to happen next.  I think I should have taken it slower from the beginning. Live and learn.  I do know that our quiet time in the shade was just what I needed to feel better about life.  I think he enjoyed it too.

I have been so exhausted lately I haven't found time for the horses.  Since it's summer I don't even have to feed them, I just look to make sure they're still there.  I should at least be giving them their vitamin/mineral supplement once a day, but I haven't been.  I can't even stay awake all day, working with horses just isn't happening.  Not really conducive to training. 

But the last couple days I have gone out and found them and rubbed bellies and scratched itchy spots.  I think I can at least do that.  And Joseph likes that a lot better than doing hard stuff anyway.  :)

I did quickly trim Scout's front feet last night.  It was actually kind of funny.  I put Winston in the dog fence and went and got Scout, and when Winston went bouncing through the grass near us Scout bolted sideways.  He hadn't seen the new dog yet.  Then Scout marched right up to the fence and confronted the great white monster.  I'm not sure if Winston thought he wanted to play with Scout or if he was scared.  I think a little bit of both.  He sure bounced around a lot.

Winston is still settling in really well.  He and the other two dogs are getting along fine, and Winston has met most of my family and seems way cooler with strangers than the Aussie brothers are.  We went hiking today and passed a growly pit bull and he had his hackles up but stayed right beside me and only watched as she walked by.  He walks on a loose leash most of the time and really I'm just impressed with him.  He doesn't seem high energy at all, but every now and then he batts tennis balls around the house like a cat and gets toys and shakes them to death.  He loves to play fetch.  I finally got him interested in some treats (he was really stressed and not eating at all at first) so I took him outside off-leash and boy howdy he can run!  It is the funniest thing ever.  Full-speed ahead, butt-tucked, joyous running with ears and legs flapping out to the sides.  I can't even describe it.  Hilarious.  He just made a circuit of the mowed field and came back to me for a treat, and repeated the performance a couple times.  Yep.  I'm pretty happy with him.