More practice of the play today. Wish me luck... it is on tomorrow night!
On Saturday I went herding horses with a local cowboy in town who has been a rancher for most of his life. It was AWESOME!!! We went with another couple, Ken and Shirley, who are newer to horseback riding but are very keen and recently moved to the valley from Pemberton; they are great folks. First we went to catch the horses out in the field before the long trek back to Barry's place. The whole ride took about 5 hours. Barry knows which horses are the "leaders" in the group, so those are the ones we rode while the rest followed, at times hesitantly and slowly in front of my yipping and yelling. I felt like a real cowgirl! We rode all the way from Gun Lake to Tyaughton Lake, which is a long way, as those of you who know the area can attest to.
Click on the pictures for a larger view.
Walking across the lake to get the horses, who are in the white-covered field to the left of the picture. Four of the ten are white, so they blend right in.
Shirley with Pepper on the right, the beautiful white mare that I rode, waiting for the other lead horses to be caught. I can't remember the other horse's name. To catch the horses Barry would call for them and then take off his hat when they came near. They would come up to him to look inside and he would stroke their necks and halter them.
Leading them back to the truck to get saddled up. Barry tied one horse to the tail of another. If he had to do the run on his own he would tie up the four “lead” horses nose to tail so that the rest would follow their respective leaders.
Curious!
Barrie pulling some horseshoes. If left on the horses would get snowballs built up on their feet, which would make them slip around because they would be walking on a half-moon of snow once they reached the pavement.
Getting tacked up at the truck.
Ken with his steed. Shirley brought a little warm mulled wine, hence the red cup. It was great for loosening up before the long ride. We didn’t have a bridle for Ken’s horse so he rode with a halter the whole time. Cowboy Ken!
For the first half of the ride I rode with Barry and he twisted around to tell me stories of the area. Lucky me!
More stories...
My turn to keep them horses movin'.
Right after the ride I had to decline the dinner invite to get to a housewarming in Lillooet (1.5 hours away). But a REAL party, with REAL adult friends! I couldn’t say no. There was a “rugged” theme, and with lots of time to think and lots of old stuff in great supply out here, I came up with an idea for my costume. Darlene at the motel had an old rug around that she gave to me, and I cut it in half and tied the top corners so I could wear it like a rug billboard. I then cut out “id” from pink cardboard and stapled it to the top of the front panel of my rug outfit and I was done, literally wearing a rug and “id”. Worked for me.
Had an awesome time at the party, and then an early wake-up so that I could be back for the Turkey Bingo at the Gold Bridge Community Club, which was also where the second of our fieldtrip fundraising came in. There were about six turkeys to be won, as well as some money, and a few cheesecakes. I won a turkey, which will sit in my freezer until I convince my city-loving friends to travel up here en masse for a weekend of feasting and mountain adventures, or maybe I can host my family for Easter? We shall see. I suppose being almost 29 it’s probably my turn soon. And who knows, maybe I’ll live in terrain that is even less accessible once this contract is up.
I also got a BINGO during the final game, a blackout for a $100 prize, but I lost during the tie breaker (there were three simultaneous BINGOs, me being one of them). I would have donated the cash to the field trip fund, which would have felt good, but oh well. For the $8 price tag it was still an interesting way to spend an afternoon. The bingo cards were these antique-looking slider cards, probably left over from the boom-time up here. Got me thinking about when bingo was actually invented. I’ll have to do some research and get back to you on that.
I have lots more to share about the mouse, some Cinnamon Crunch updates, and some beautiful views from the highway between home and Lillooet, but it will have to wait. Need to get some rest before the big evening tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it all goes. Thanks for reading. For those of you who would like to subscribe so that you receive an email when there is a new post, you can sign up at the very bottom of the blog. Email me if you have any questions.
Sweet dreams or sunbeams, depending on when you read this. Wow am I ever a nerd! I can’t believe I just wrote that and I am leaving it! Yikes! I have been working on rhyme with the kids, so that’s my excuse this time… blame it on the rhyme. I’m cut off…
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