Sunrise

I took this picture in late November and I've been using it as my desktop for the month. I try to change my picture each month but might have trouble letting go of this one. The Fall/Winter sunrises are the most colorful and I watch each day for the next picture-worthy one.

Merry Christmas

Vista

You know those oranges/tangelos/NOT Christmas balls from a post back in early December? Well, the game is on now to salvage at least a couple for our centerpiece for our Christmas dinner. The house that's being built right next door has some construction fellows who are brave enough to dart across our patio and snatch a few when they THINK we aren't looking.

Oh, and also, you should see the very white people walking along the shoreline in shorts and tank tops, dipping their toes as they go. I think they are visiting from Canada. Makes me shiver.

I'll go put on a heavy jacket and pick the remaining oranges. It's way down in the 60's today. I wouldn't want them or me to get frost bite!

WHAT THE...

Eau de Toilette

McCoy was out there, trotting away from some boys who were trying to catch him. Bella was equally interested in her bucket and her man's adventure. McCoy is an older black gelding who romances every mare in his domain.

Bucket, McCoy, Bucket, McCoy

Eventually she had to go to her poop corner and scent it with eau de young-mare-in-heat.

taken with my cell phone

No, Not Christmas Balls

This little orange tree has been working so hard for many months and only now do I take notice. It looks like there could be a couple more weeks of waiting for them to sweeten up. I call this tree a tangelo, but it may be some other lovely little Mexican orange. I'm not going to show you my navel orange tree because it is a "yearling" and only is producing about 10 oranges this year, and I'm not sharing.

El Rancho

We got to ride out on the lovely neighboring Rancho and we took the girls with us. Cita was the lone water-roller today, however they all love to get up to their bellies in the spring water. We went for miles and the girls played most of the way, or settled into showing us that they could lead and show us where we were going.

Don't Cha Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me

I'm starting Pilates classes today. After 12 lessons I expect to look like that.
What? You doubt it?

Fortunate

How many miles have I driven through the desert? Alone?

Thousands.

I came up out of Mexico last week and drove another 700 miles through desert all the way to more desert. California desert, Arizona desert, Mexican desert. All pretty empty.

I made it all the way up here and then? Then my car thermometer went into the hot range. Across the street from the Nissan dealer.

The radiator has been replaced and, other than my now-empty wallet, there has been no stress.

I am a lucky old lady.

Oh, speaking of that old business, my very best friend from when we rode stick horses together mentioned in our little online chat today that we have been friends for 50 years now. Holy Moley.

This week went really well with Bella relaxing a lot on the lunge line and me studying some of the Parelli lessons. Overall she is ready for the next business I can throw at her which might be lunging under saddle. We'll see. Meanwhile, Diane got an invitation from a neighboring ranch to put her horses out on their wonderful pasture. She is leaving for a month and thought it would be a nice vacation for her mare, yearlings, and old Mochie to get to meander hundreds of acres while she was away. I raised my hand and asked if Bella could be included. Yep, that made 5 horses, with Mochie being their guardian, out to pasture for at least a month with nothing but nature to bother them. We rode them over last evening and unsaddled right at the gate. They hung around waiting for us to open the gate and take them back home until one by one they got the idea that we weren't making them go back. We had to wait for Joe to pick us up then we didn't have to lug the saddles the few miles, so we got to love on all of them and then watch them head back down to where there is a huge spring and tons of grass. What could be finer for muscle and brain development than swatting flies and grazing, walking for miles, and having no human stress. Sounds good to me. I'm going to be gone a little during November anyway, and thinking of Bella standing for days on end wasn't a good solution. We'll pick up the next phase of training when her vacation is over.

Bella in her halter and bridle.


On the lunge line.

My heart bursts with pride at how hard she is trying for me.

Lunge
I started Bella on the lunge line today. She was only slightly curious about the line and the whip until I insisted that she get going and not stand there. She figured it out so quickly that I keep wondering who else has been working with her. After about 10 minutes of walking and trotting in both directions I went and got her bridle. I slipped it in her mouth and over her ears with very little complaint from her. Then back on the circle to trot a little more. She started getting somewhat strong and a little opinionated about which direction she wanted to go, so after a few circles in the direction of my choice I thought it was time to quit. While standing, I asked her to bend her neck around by gently pulling the bit. She got that beautifully. We went back into the barn and had a nice grooming session. Actually it felt like she was more willing to stand and enjoy my attention than normal. So, my question is how do you get your lunging horse to stop and then reverse direction. I had to reel her in quite a bit before I could ever ask for a reverse, and the stop never happened without bringing her almost all the way in to me.

The Strip
Isn't it funny how it only takes 18-24 hours for money to have no value? I walked into the Bellagio clutching my little pennies like they were precious. By the next morning I was sitting in front of a slot machine slipping a hundred dollar bill in the Insert Here slot like it was a kleenex. Well, the Scotch in me does eventually come to the front and after a session of only a few cherries showing up I was feeling frustrated. Up came some odd combination of pictures that lead to many Credits being added to my total. I hit the button to retrieve my dubloons and ended up with slightly more than double my original investment. I considered it a win-win for me.
We had a lovely time but were quite anxious to get home. Now I've got the cash to pay for my Bella's board another month!
Oh, and her winter coat is coming in since it's down in the 70's overnight now! Yep. And she is getting lighter and lighter in creamy color. I owe a picture.

TMI

We are leaving in a little while and heading up across the border once again. Where? Vegas, Baby. It's our 40th anniversary this week and we don't have the time to go over to Germany so I picked Las Vegas instead. There's a new Hofbrau House restaurant there and we're licking our chops to order a schnitzel. We got married in Germany in October 1967. Such a long time ago, but only yesterday. One day we got married by the Burgermeister, the next by the American Army. He couldn't dump me if he tried.
It's our Ruby anniversary.

October 1 Sunrise

Sunrises thrill me so much more than sunsets. Like the pretty wrapping on a birthday present, it might represent the promise of something exciting inside.
Sunsets are more like a punctuation mark at the end of a busy day. Nothing unexpected, just reflective.

Emails

This is an excerpt from a running email between my sister and me. Part of the fun of living out of the US of A is in learning different lifestyles and embracing what fits and realizing what doesn't.

"...A few more observations: Young Mexican women are SUPPOSED to arrive late. There may be something about making an "entrance", but I'm inclined to think it's more about the poor time management multiplied by the number of people in the car. I might be able to work out an equation, given the variables (number of women in the car and distance to the location), and find an answer to what time they will arrive. Another thing that we have learned is that Mexicans find
so much joy in partying late into the night. I liken it to the joy I find in my early morning coffee..."

Change Is In The Air

The full moon brought us a blissful change in our weather. The temperatures are changing, the percent humidity is changing, the water temperature is changing, the wind direction is changing, and my mind is changing.

By mid-September most of us who made it through the summer and hurricane were pretty bored with the overwhelming, sweat inducing, heat and humidity. A few days ago? Bingo, humidity is gone and temperatures are slightly lower. I guess it feels more like Phoenix or Las Vegas. Yippy.

I enjoyed a little grooming session with Bella yesterday evening. We still need to work on holding the hooves up nicely. She does very well with two of her feet, then the last two she starts pulling away. I patiently waited until she was still before letting them back down. She also doesn't appreciate her forelock being combed. So, we'll do that everyday now. I led her out to my car to get the bucket-of-love and take it back inside to the stall feeder. She handled that pretty darn well. We had to open and close the gate both ways and she wasn't allowed to even ask for a bite of her pellets. No pushing or pulling and she had to back up and wait until I poured it into the feeder. She has turned 2 and a half this month. I'll drag the saddle out and put it on her this weekend. She doesn't forget anything we've worked on, so I'm ready to move forward.

Pods

I love my iPod. Downloading podcasts and syncing them onto my lovely, black iPod makes me so happy. As I drive through the Mexican desert listening to Geek Speak from NPR in Santa Cruz I am not unaware of the irony.

We are heading across the border for 2 days tomorrow and I'm all 'N Sync.

A few monsoons and a windy hurricane and the desert just comes alive. The beautiful rocky mountains in the background are blooming as well. The horses are in heaven.

Back Again and Back Again

In between hurricanes and sisters I have had more than my fair share of trips up across the border this summer. My husband and I just made a quick up and back trip this last weekend, getting back home last evening just at nightfall. To say the least, my cupboards are well stocked. I've got a million gallons of wine and mayonnaise on hand now. What more could I need? Oh! Bread! duh. I got it.

Well, what I do need more of is time with my filly. I hate leaving her over and over. She seems to be ever more accepting of my absences but almost forgets her manners when I take her bucket into the stall. A strong word usually accompanied by a hand signal gets her to back off until the pellets are poured into the feeder. Funny how the rules get ignored or pushed when Mama isn't around. I'm anxious to start working her in bits and pieces but the weather is still miserable for more than a tiny bit of activity. I think we've got about a month to go until the cooler breezes come in. Then, this winter I have big plans of lunging and ground driving. I hope you blogger friends will offer some assistance in my starting. She'll be a worthy little mare if we do this right.