I live in a horrible place.

I had to ride down the road tonight with this as the backdrop:

I should probably move.

Finally! Mountain Foliage Ride

Since I've had horses here I've wanted to ride up in the mountains while the aspens are changing. Six years later it finally happened.

All below pictures of me by my friend JG.

Yeah, really can't complain about that parking space.

It's hunting season. But, I think wearing orange in the orange aspens is rather silly, so I break out the hot pink. No one was going to miss me.

See?

Naners was her usual awesome self.

I am spoiled for real life.

Snow

Banana says, "Why would I go in the barn when there's perfectly good falling snow to stand in?"

The small things aren't really small

There's a line in Under the Tuscan Sun that goes, "try to live your life spherically and with childish enthusiasm."

It very much sums up my outlook on life.

I take a lot of joy in things that many people don't bother to take the time to notice. I love the birds, even the early morning cacophony of the meadowlarks. I love that we have both House Finch and Mountain Bluebird nests in the backyard and three different types of hummingbirds come to the feeder. There's the foxes and the white clouds against the deep blue of our high elevation sky. The light of late afternoon, the sun approaching the horizon, a cool breeze blowing through the less obedient tendrils of my hair. My Heeler curled up next to me on the couch, his nose resting on my hip, snoring as he sleeps. Finding a wildflower, a particularly nice pinecone, or the cool spray of a waterfall full from spring snowmelt.

Take time to enjoy what others might term "the small things." Because when you appreciate them, they aren't small, but fulfilling.  I wonder if those that don't feel empty.

Land of Snow and Cold

Snowy and cold here in the Land of Snow and Cold. At least it's sunny? Not much of a comfort when you're climbing through snow drifts to get to the barn.

It's even been snowy and cold at the Taskmaster's and we've officially now lost more days of riding this winter so far than we did the entirety of last winter. That's okay, forces us to take a break for a bit and that's not a bad thing.

I do have four new jackets to keep me warm though. It was the Christmas of Outerwear for me.

White stuff

Bye bye grass, we'll see you in the spring.

I was supposed to be competing in Flagstaff this weekend. Instead I had this:

Now, I'm not complaining about the rain. It lowered the temp 15-20 degrees, so now even though it's humid and a bit muggy it's so much more comfortable than it was. Our wildfire danger has dropped significantly. I don't need to worry quite as much about every lightning strike starting a wildfire. I suspect the grass will start greening up, though the weeds will also grow with a vengeance. The only problem is that because my arena has no footing, it's just the native clay, I can't ride. It's slicker than snot when it's wet. I would just ride down the road, but I haven't gotten shoes on Penny yet and I'd be asking for trouble if I took her mud soft feet down the gravel. I don't mind giving her time off, but she got that month off because she was lame, then it was too damn hot to ride. At this point, she's gotten almost two months mostly off and she's losing condition. That does not please me. I need to call the farrier and see if he's ordered the shoes yet. We're going to try rubber shoes this time. Fingers crossed that they'll work.

In the meantime, the boys are keeping me busy brushing the mud off them.