It Wasn’t All Bad

I have enjoyed several parts of my trip out here to Jerome Creek, and I want to be sure to give them their due:

• ·         my friend MS came out last night and we had a beautiful ride, and an excellent dinner at the Hoo Doo.
• ·         The ride took us over two trails I’d worked on earlier this trip, where I’d been hanging from trees as I trimmed them. I had ridden the trails bareback on Shadow, and I’d done a good job with the height for that; riding Sikem with a saddle (and the extra 3 or so inches of headroom needed) also worked! No more sharp, pokey dead pine branches in the eyeball!
• ·         G&N had me over for delectable lamb burgers and Greek salad the night before, and I brought along a peach cobbler that wasn’t so bad, either.
• ·         Sadie has found a job that I praise her for, much to the disappointment of her sister-dog. A couple days ago I was outside with dogs, talking on the phone with my mom, when I noticed Sadie standing at the door to the sun porch near where I was chatting, grrring and talking—not barking—in an insistent but not eardrum-piercing way. I let her inside and she ran immediately across the kitchen to the back porch, to where Tessa, who had been inadvertently left inside, had dragged the galvanized bucket holding Spackle’s food. The bucket was on its side, and Tessa was just beginning the process of figuring out how to unclamp its lid and enjoy its tasty insides. “Tessa, BAD DOG,” I said. “Sadie, GOOD dog.” The next morning, I forgot to close the cabinet door where Tessa and Sadie’s food is stored. I heard a low-grade grrrring and went onto the back porch, where both dogs were on their beds, but Sadie was very clearly keeping Tessa at bay. I again praised her, “Good dog, Sadie!”, and Tessa gave her a disgusted look as I closed and latched the cupboard. 
• ·         In the vein of forgetting to close things, the other evening after I’d finished wrapping Snickers and putting the horses to bed, I turned to come back to the house and saw Shadow, out, standing across the road from me. “Shadow!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing? Get back into your pen!” I walked across the driveway to her and she walked briskly by me, nosed open her gate and went back in. I had forgotten to latch her chain, and she wanted to make sure I knew, not unlike this time
• ·         A really awesome and satisfying hike with the dogs up from Jerome City to Maple Creek Landing, about 2 hours and maybe four miles?
• ·         Seeing a big bull moose on a drive down the mountain
• ·         Seeing an elk mama and twins
• ·         Frogs in a little puddle left from White Trash Creek, the seasonal stream bisecting the front yard.
• ·         The small plot of commercial pines that I limbed with my favorite birthday present ever, the folding saw that Ian gave me several years ago for hacking my way through the National Forest.
• ·         The leap forward I’ve taken on my path to personal enlightenment.

Mom is flying to Moscow/Pullman airport tomorrow morning and Spackle and I are going to collect her and she’s going to accompany us on our homeward journey. You can bet we'll have a lot to talk about!

And here are some (very few, alas) pictures. There almost weren’t any, because, ironically, the day that I went to collect my new battery charger from the local PO, I lost my camera. I found it the next day, though, perched on top a “piling” on the “pier” on the pond. Fortunately, for this iteration of photographic tool, I purchased an “adventure proof” Pentax. Even if Tessa had managed to knock it into the water, it would’ve been okay. It’s made to be submerged as well as dropped and kicked!