Walkin' & Singin'

     Lately, all I hear from others, and do myself, is complain about the lousy weather.  I have decided I need to change my attitude.  Barbra Streisand sang. "Don't tell me not to live, just sit and putter.  Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter.  Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade"!

     Sometimes (and much too often) it does rain on our parade.  We should follow Gene Kelly's example and sing and dance in the rain. (Video)  "Just singing in the rain.  What a glorious feelin', I'm happy again... I'm singin' and dancin' in the rain"!

     Granted, outdoor activities on sunny days are so much more enjoyable.  "I'm walkin' on sunshine, woh-oh, and don't it feel good"?  I love this song.  It is sung during this really cute video of dogs at the beach.

     Saturday morning's sunrise was quick to "chase away" the moon light.  Brother met me at the barn and was checking out the full trailer of wood shavings. 

     I was out working on stalls from 8:30 to 11:30.  I completely cleaned them of all dirty shavings and let the "piss pits" dry all day.






     Joe brought in the new shavings as I hauled out thirteen wheel barrow loads of the old ones.


     Since it was so nice outside, I let Kabob out of his pen, and even opened the gate to the back pasture so he could try out green grass.



     The horses came to see this new barn yard addition and then continued grazing.


     I kept a watchful eye on the herbivores during my numerous trips out to the manure pile. 



     Stew came in for water, with Kabob following at a safe distance.  Stew stood and scratched at this fly replant scratcher for several minutes.

     When Kabob followed Stew into the paddock, he got chased back out.  Stew has none of the nurturing instincts that Sir Loin or Babe had with the new calves we brought them.


     Joe rented a tiller and cultivated the garden soil while I dug up some of the major weeds.



     I soon lost interest in the garden work and, wanting to ride before the rains came, I rounded up Amiga.





     I did ground work first and then rode Amiga, staying in the round pen and focusing on training rather than just "trail riding".

     Marj called just as I was about to finish with Amiga to say she would soon be ready to go to Moraine View.  I quickly un-tack Amiga, lured Bob back in with his bottle, fetched and loaded Roni and grabed a granola bar for lunch.  At Marj's, we loaded two more horses, and she and Cassie.


     We had an enjoyable ride together.  At first Cassie's horse was reluctant to go through water.  But it wasn't long, and she was enjoying it. 





     It started to sprinkle on us in the woods towards the end of our ride and was coming down heavier when we reached the camp ground.  It was sprinkling on the drive back to Marj's and while unloading there.

     By the time I got home and was unloading Roni, it was pouring.  I still had to get stalls ready by raking all the shavings into the pits that had been drying all day.  My arms and shoulders were trembling from the day's exertion and I was thinking a hot tub would be so nice.  But, I took a fast shower and was headed for Bloomington at 6:30 for dinner and a play with Joe.

     It was a cloudy, drizzly Sunday.  I went grocery shopping after working in the nursery and then meeting Joe at Church.  I came home to do a major house cleaning and fix dinner (bean casserole and veggies to dip). 





     Dan and Valencia came and were trying out a new card game while waiting for Courtney and Mike to come.  They had brought Wheeler, who has grown, and has an especially large, fluffy tail.





     He got along great with Abbey and Kaysha and had fun exploring as usual.  All of my photos were out of focus.  These are the two best.  :-(

     Once Courtney and Mike arrived,  Joe grilled the brats and hamburgers and then we ate.




     After dinner, the "kids" played this new card game while I watched and Joe read. 

     Monday morning was foggy.

     But it was quick to clear off and become a beautiful sun shiny day. 


     After Water Lilies and walking I let Kabob go out to the back pasture along with the horses.  The ground was too wet for weeding so I moved lawn furniture and planters out of the shed.  I planted all these flowers and did a minimal amount of weeding and edging along this bed.

     Abbey and I have really enjoyed spending a lot of time outside.








     Growth Group was cancelled, so after a rest at my computer, I went back out and worked with Roni.  Courtney showed up to work with Zorro while I was riding.  If you enlarge this photo, you can see her on the way out to get Zorro.

     I know this photo is blurry, but I think it is so cute how Amiga was following Zorro and Courtney back to the barn.





     I finished early with Roni so I could talk with Courtney and watch her work with Zorro.  He is getting reacquainted with the bit, but has been "fighting" it. 

     Tuesday morning I was loading Roni at 8am and headed over to pick up Marj and her horse, Vinni.  We went out to Moraine View.



     Marj took a quick phone call while waiting for me to lunge Roni. 

     It was absolutely beautiful at the park and we had a very fun, peaceful and relaxing ride. 






 Camera wars on horse back.






     My main difficulty during this ride, was getting Roni to gait smoothly.  He prefers to trot.  By the time I unloaded him here at home, it was after noon.  I had lunch and read out in the sun on a lounge chair, and soon fell asleep.

     I spent all afternoon working in the
garden.  The nicely tilled soil had been re-compessed by the hard rains Sat. night.  The top soil was a dry crust, but beneath that was a sticky, gooey clay.  It was quite a bit of work to rake the ground flat and remove all the weeds that had been tilled up.  Then I planted all the veggies Joe bought.  The day exerting myself in the hot sun and fresh air led to complete fatigue by dinner time, and I was in bed by 8:30.

                                                           May Day Wednesday was another
absolutely beautiful, gorgeous day.  I didn't walk after Water Lilies but made a quick stop at the IGA to grab some fruit and veggies needed for the night's dinner.  I had a cup of tea when I got home while making some notes for this blog.  Then it was out into the yard and sunshine to work.  I planted the rest of the flowers around the bird bath, added fencing along the iris in front, and did some weeding.

     It was so warm out, the horses even moved to the shade for a break from the hot sun.





     Dan and Valencia arrived while I was fixing the salad and veggies.  Dan mowed and Valencia and I chatted while I puttered in the kitchen.  
Britney's former room mate (Alissa) was flying into B/N and her mom, Brenda came to dinner before picking Alissa up.  Joe ran to LeRoy to pick up pizza and Brenda and I caught up on life as we know it.

     Joe skipped out on the conversation after dinner and went out to work on cleaning the corn crib.  In this photo he has about a third of the floor cleaned up.  You can see how high the soiled, unwanted moldy hay is.  Courtney arrived just as Brenda was leaving.  As I watched Brenda depart down the drive, I noticed Courtney in distress.  She had gotten stuck, and sunk into the waterway mud.  She was in over the top of her boots.  I went out to rescue her, which was no easy matter.



     The gooey clay had even gone inside Courtney's boots.  I lent her clean socks and pants when we came in to wash up.  Then she worked with Zorro and I with Amiga.  It was 9:00 by the time I came in from the barn. 



     Thursday I had a relaxing morning and then went out to ride before the rain was predicted to come.  I started with Amiga.  It takes a lot of time and arm muscle to get a dirty horse brushed and hooves picked.  I rode her for almost an hour.  You can tell this is her, and not Roni, because her mane is on the right side of her neck and most of his is on the left side.




     All of our fruit trees are full of blossoms.  The above photo is of the crab apple out front.  If you click on the photo below, you can see the colors better.
 


     Amiga did a fairly nice job.  She is so much calmer than Roni, but does not listen to the bit very well.  She turns without my asking and doesn't always stop right away.  I try not to pull on her face to correct her.



     Next was Roni.  By the time I had him cleaned up and was ready to saddle, I decided to go to Moraine View because it was getting too warm to be working very hard in the direct sun.  It would be cooler in the shade of the woods.






     I rode for over an hour.  We were in the woods and meadows.  We rode along the creek and through the creek.

     The water was flowing fairly fast because of all the rain we have had.  We saw all sorts of wild life.  The deer and wild turkey were too quick to capture on film, and I need both hands on the reins when Roni got nervous. 



We saw May Apples...


...and Blue Bells.



     We got to one creek crossing where timber and debris had washed up on shore and was in the way. 

    


     It took some convincing, but I did get Roni to carefully step over the timber to get to the creek.  Then I let him stop and drink while I praised him.

     Back at the camp ground I let Roni rest and graze while I had a granola bar and read my Bible and prayed.  The solitude and solace of the park were so comforting as I was reflecting on the life of Richard. (It was the one year anniversary of his death.)

     Once revived physically and spiritually, I went back out for another hour of riding.  We spent a fair amount of time along roads and fields and I worked on gaiting with Roni.  We did see this left turn sign in a crazy place.

 


     And this sign even Roni seemed to understand.  Ha ha ha.








     The farmers were busy trying to get some field work done.  It started thundering far off as I was headed back to camp, and the rain came while I was driving home.  I unloaded in the rain and put Roni in the barn.  I had to clean stalls real quick and then brought the other two horses in because it was thundering and lightning.  I was glad it was raining because I needed a break from working and playing so hard outside.  But we didn't need any more moisture. 

     I had a late (4:00) lunch and then later had dessert instead of dinner.  Strawberries and bananas made my ice cream with chocolate sauce healthy, right?



     The pool Friday was much colder than usual at Water Lilies.  I walked inside since it was raining.  I was walkin' and singin' while listening to my I-tunes.  Later in the day I went shopping, getting some new swim suits along with some groceries.  Carol arrived in time for cocktails and we enjoyed chatting, dinning, and going for a walk outside. Some clouds, bringing rain, did move through at dusk.

     The dog barking woke me up at 11pm and a gully washer of a storm soon hit.  I gave the dog a Xanax pill that Carol had left over from Tie after he passed away.  Then I ran out to the barn to close doors I had left open.  I got drenched, and nearly blown away.

     Have a great weekend and enjoy life even if it does rain on your parade.