Goodbye to a Friend

Today we had to say goodbye to Shadow. For those on Twitter, I had kept you posted as to her daily progress. About 4 weeks ago we lost her for a few days. When she reappeared, she was injured, and the injury had an abscess.

Willa took her to the Vet, who performed a pretty extensive surgery to get the infection out. She came home with all kinds of drugs, and we had pretty high hopes that she would make it.

It was not to be. She tried, but somehow, something just wouldn't heal up and she couldn't eat or drink without regurgitating. We tried many things, but she sank lower and lower. Finally, today we had to say goodbye.

Soft long grey fur
You spent hours grooming
Always impeccably clean

Soft meow
Clear and singing like a bell
We didn’t hear it often

Soft to all your people friends
Gentle to stroke
Loving the pet

Quiet padfalls
Weaving through the hay
Is it a mouse? Then it is gone!

Quiet purr
You loved a warm lap
And cuddled whenever you could

Quiet trust
Even in pain you did not snarl
Strong until the end

We watched you walk toward the rainbow
Finally fading
A Shadow in the mist

A Little Bird & Other Stories

Today was special.

This morning as I led Mercedes out to work with her, I spotted a bald eagle sitting on the very top of our "Lone Poplar". It was an awesome sight. I tried to take pictures of it with my IPhone, but it was too far away. Still, it was amazing to see that huge bird sitting on the very top branch of the tree.

Then Mercedes worked with me the best I've ever seen her do. I really have to thank Clinton Anderson and his "No Worries" method of horse training. The first part of this month, Willa and I went with two other friends to Reno to see him at one of his Walkabout Clinics. It was one of the most informative weekends I have ever experienced. And even better was coming home and trying out my new knowledge on my two horses. What a difference it has made in both of them! But Mercedes really has shown the most improvement. She was incredible to ride today. She did everything I asked of her. She is beginning to flex just like Clinton showed us, and moving the feet has made a world of difference in her respect for me.

Then this afternoon we had a great community meeting. I have such high hopes for the future of Dream River Ranch. There are exciting things yet to come! I can't wait to see them come to pass. And as they happen, I will try to keep this journal up to date, so that you can share those exciting things with us.

I don't usually do the chores (we're calling it "horse care" nowadays--because that's what it is) in the evenings. Willa usually does them, but this evening her back was bothering her, so I went instead. We have a little "cabin trailer" where we keep all the grain and blankets, some vet supplies, etc. When I turned the light on, there was a little Finch flying frantically, trying to get out of the cabin trailer, but unable to find the door. Every so often, it would stop and rest a moment before trying again. I wanted to help this bird, because the cabin trailer is a favorite napping place of two of our barn cats, and I knew that if the bird didn't get out tonight, it would be dinner before morning.

So I thought, "What the heck." Gently, I put my gloved finger out to the bird as though it were a tame bird and to my complete amazement the little bird stepped onto my finger! So I carefully carried the Finch over to the door and then let it fly away into the darkness. It was free!

I don't know what made that bird decide to trust me, but I've been trying to think what words I could use to describe how I felt at the time, and I guess the main word I come up with is: gratitude. I was so grateful and amazed that this little wild bird stepped out onto my finger with such confidence. I believe it was a gift.

This whole entire day was a gift. I want to share this gift with you. I hope that knowing there are places where Bald Eagles still fly, and horses become better, and little wild birds can trust helps you all to look out for the gifts that come to you each day and adds a bit of brightness to your lives.

For this I give Thanks

Time passes quickly in my life, and here it is 2 months since I wrote the last blog! Ouch!

This will be my third Thanksgiving at the Ranch and the second one since I started blogging for the ranch. Once again, this year, I find myself very thankful for many things:

I'm thankful for the people in my life: Willa, Joseph, Steve, and Tammy (all the ranch folks who are my ranch family), for Gail and Jan (who went with Willa and I to Reno for the Walkabout Clinic), for Douglas and Connie (who will hopefully become ranch partners, we loved your visit), for Deborah and Jana (who came all the way from Germany to see us), for my own family (you know who you are), for the many volunteers who helped us out all summer (we love you!), for the kids who came to camp this summer and learned so wonderfully about horses and riding and being courageous, for Bill who worked for peanuts (and a little pipe tobacco) but did so much, and of course for any of you who are now fans of Dream River Ranch on Facebook, just because you love us and are interested.

I'm thankful for the animals: for the cats, Tuffy who moved in when Grace died (and broke my heart), Shadow, and Pepper (who might still be Stoner, but we're debating) thanks girls for keeping the mice down, for the chickens (including our new "peep" the first DRR natural born chicken), for the dogs, Rusty, Sam, Hal, and of course Boss (who is a little crotchety in his old age) thanks boys for keeping the coyotes far away and for being so lovable, and of course the Horses who hold our hearts, carry our bodies, and heal our souls. We LOVE you all.

It's been another year of adventure, fun, sorrow, joy, and most of all LIFE!

I'm thankful most of all to the Creator who makes all of this possible.

As we say in the SCA, "Vivat!"

Air Force Appreciation Day

We rode in the Mountain Home Air Force Appreciation Day parade. It was a blast! Willa sewed for an entire week, but Lucky and Rider look very good in their totally new trappings. In fact, we all looked very good. We were proud and glad to be able to show our appreciation for what the Air Force does for America and thereby for us.

The horses did very well. We're pretty sure that for Sabrina and Lucky, this was their very first parade. And if that's the case, they both did very well. In fact, the horses were exemplary in their behavior.

As far as we know, we were the only horse group who performed a simple drill in front of the reviewing stand.

But it was sure a lot of hard work! Willa sewed for an entire week. We practiced for two weekends before the actual parade. All the horses (nine of them) had to be washed and primped and then kept clean (that was the hardest part). It took us two trips to get there and two trips to get back home. Then we had to put everything away-that took several more hours.

We weren't perfect, but we looked good. The work was all worth it for us to show our community that we support them.

And the Garden Works

Last time I wrote about gardens and dreams. Here is a picture of a dream coming true. Yes that is lettuce! And look at those radishes, in only a few weeks! Next week, I'm thinking that we will be eating our lettuce with radishes and spinach. Yummy! This is only a partial picture of one box, we have two boxes, the other one contains okra, spinach, beets, cabbage, and kale. Not pictured in this box is the broccoli, colorabi and basil.

Next year, our garden is going to be a lush, food producing bit of loveliness on the ranch. But it's nice to know that we get some it the benefits this year.

Steve and Tammy also planted some very lovely roses, all in a row at the front of our garden. They are soooo beautiful. I really do love roses and it's nice to have some planted, and growing, on the ranch.

So we've also been getting the hay in for next year. We don't have all of it in yet, but we do have it ordered, which is very good. No more panic! Willa is so wonderful to keep on top of this! And I'm sure that the horses appreciate it very much.

Last weekend we did Cavalry Drill and Jousting training. Everyone had a really good time and the horses did very well. We will be posting some pictures from the Jousting training and the Mounted Archery soon.

It is so much fun to live on the ranch!

A Work of Garden

I took this picture this morning on my way to work. Steven and Tammy have worked so hard getting our garden just right. It's been an absolutely huge project. First they had to get all the infrastructure in, including a beautiful sprinkler system. Then they built the boxes and hand filled them with dirt.

The boxes are pretty big 4' x 12' each, so it wasn't trivial to fill them up by hand. After everything was ready, we finally (at the end of July) could plant. So we planted all cold weather crops which will grow this fall. We have lettuce, brocolli, radishes, some beets, and other really great stuff.

The thing I've been learning about dreams is that they happen slowly. Much more slowly than I thought at first. They require that you don't give up on them just because they don't happen as fast as you want. Even then end result isn't always what you thought it would be. But dreams are worth doing in spite of all that you go through to get them to become reality.

This year we have done so many things, and now we are looking forward to fall and this year, the fall will be not just a time of harvest, but a time of new beginnings. Usually, lettuce and radishes are the first crop, not the fall crop. But this year they will be. Because dreams that are worth having, take time.

Little by little we cross the ocean.

After Camp

Our last overnight Kids Camp finished on Monday. What a blast! Unfortunately, I got my foot crunched on Sunday morning by Scotch, and so missed the rest of Sunday and most of Monday. I did get to help with clean up on Tuesday.

This time Willa taught the kids horseback archery. They really enjoyed it, and I think they learned some great skills. At any rate, a very good time was had by all in spite of the heat. It was over 100 Saturday, Sunday, and Monday but everyone managed to press through the heat and drink LOTS of water. There are now sprinklers around the outside edge of the arena and it was really helpful to turn them on every so often and cool off.

Someday we might even have our own "Mongolian Horde" with mounted archers.

Also this last weekend, Steve and Tammy got our first two planter boxes done and we all planted the first one, they planted the second one. These are all "cold weather" crops like lettuce, beets, and brocolli. Next year, the garden will be all ready to go first thing in the spring and it will be automatically watered by our sprinkler system. What a crop we will get next year! Yum.

The pole barn is getting ready for this year's shipment of hay. Willa, Joseph, and Bill are working very hard to get the floor evened out so that we don't lose any hay to water seeping underneath the stack.

The chickens are getting used to each other. The new Arucana pullets are fitting in nicely. We did lose two of our new Guineas to accidents, but we still have one left and she seems very spunky and a bit wiser than her siblings were. The new Arucana rooster is quite beautiful with his irridescent blue tail feathers and his gold and red "mane". He is also quite the showoff. He must be, all the big girls hang with him now. It's interesting the new Arucana hens are all hanging with the old Banty Rooster "Pretty Boy" as well as our little Guinea.

It is cool and rainy at the ranch today. Kind of weird for August, but really nice just the same. I know the animals are enjoying this break from the heat of last week. Seems like we've been transported to Puget Sound, but I don't think any of us mind too much.

And so life at the ranch goes on. Next big event: Jousting Clinic!