OK, in case you didn't get it... in those bygone days of Roman rule L-? = fifty something. We need not to be any more specific than that, as time marches on.
Today was the perfect day for a Kittee's birthday. Skies were as blue as Kittee's eyes, the sun was bright and warm as the glow showing on her face- picture above, and all the ranch horses and I were happy to be with her all day.
We started our day with a good strong cup of java, and then Kittee proceed to sit in the yard watching horses graze and having her bowl of huckleberry granola for breakfast.
Afterward we walked through the herds, putting on fly mask, and pony grazing muzzle-mask. Had allot of fun chasing Ginger around for about 10 minutes to catch her and put her muzzle-mask on. That was fun as together Kittee and I took very few approaching /chasing steps but kept Ginger moving along -running around the horses- until she gave up; huffin/puffin and just stood still for the mask. Funny, silly little ponies.After everyone was situated for the day with fresh water, plenty of green grass, we begin working in the garden until the temperature got July hot. Kittee loves this time of year- the heat thereof- she generally says "it very pleasant and about 85° outside" when actually the thermometer shows it is more like 95°+ and it's pretty freakin HOT.
After working in the garden, I turned on the irrigation for horsey comfort, we had a bite of lunch and got ready to spend the rest of the afternoon in Walla Walla. There we made our first stop at
the "Ice-Burg" ice cream parlor/snack shop for a root beer float. Mmmmm, that was good, our first of the season. We have been talking about making root beer floats at home for the past couple of weeks. The "Ice-Burg" is an interesting soda stop. While we were there, they had Elvis Presley singing on the outdoor stereo and the old car-hop area has now been converted into a very small parking area for those that wish to order their treats at the front window and enjoy the ambiance of just sitting at this little drive-in. Picture this, they now have drive-thru windows on both sides of the building for the folks that do not wish to leave the A/C of their SUV's and walk up to the service windows. Kittee and I felt that the "Ice-Burg" is probably a 50-60 year old landmark of almost city center Walla Walla.Next stop was to head for Staples, and Kittee got a new laptop Compaq computer; very nice machine... Windows Vista, large hard drive, CD/DVD read-writer, etc.
From Staples, we made a beeline to a favorite area restaurant for dinner. We went to Kelly's with our friend Miriam last Friday evening and our dinner was so good that Kittee wanted to have seafood fettucini again tonight. I had to agree with Kittee that this evening's dinner dish was better that the wonderful one we shared on Friday... had more seafood and salmon tonight. While waiting for our dinner to arrive, we had a cocktail and asked the waitress to hold off on dinner until Kittee had time to play/setup her new puter.
After dinner the air was a bit hot sitting in the sun, so we pulled the hammock and lawn chair into the
shade of the front yard maple trees and sit back and relaxed see above picture.As soon as the sun began sinking in the west, Kittee, Sylvester and I went out to check on the garden's growth for the day, thereafter we went out to check on the herds and our baby- Rosey.
Rosey is now taller than the ponies, not quite as heavy by a few hundred pounds. She spends more and more of her time grazing these day and trying to act like a "big" horse. The other day I watched her running, running running around the pasture and through the mare herd for maybe 10 minutes steady on. Just having fun being a little horse.
After the sun had set slowly in the west, we started rounding up our "stuff", turned off the irrigation works, headed for the house and called it Kittee's Birthday.Happy Birthday, Kittee
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As you can see in these blog pictures, Kittee is now carrying her arm in a sling on an almost everyday basis. She still has a banged up/sore shoulder from the flying lesson given her by Shaiela and Rosey. Part of today's activities was trying to get in to see a doctor to take a look at the shoulder... no one available until September or October.
Needless to say we have not been horseback riding in awhile. Good news is, that my broken ribs of last July's bucking ride are almost healed (?), and hurt very little anymore... as time marches on.
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Needless to say we have not been horseback riding in awhile. Good news is, that my broken ribs of last July's bucking ride are almost healed (?), and hurt very little anymore... as time marches on.Looking back over the three day Fourth of July weekend, we had a pretty busy time and received two more boarders on Monday 7/7.
Last Friday our friend Miriam from the Portland area came in for a getaway to the country. She arrived here as Kittee and I were finishing the afternoon of horse baths. Over the weekend Kittee and I broke in our new horse/pony wash station. Kittee washed Ginger and Nugget and I washed Misty and Goldie. All went well, even though we had to work together on getting Goldie to stand steady in the wash station. After she got used to standing in the station she did fine for her first real bath.
After Miriam got here, I mixed up some Fuzzy Navels and we proceeded to sit back and relax before heading out for dinner. Being the Forth of July, we felt that our favorite Mexican restaurant would be the order of the day, hip hip hooray. Miriam always enjoys the La Ramada when she makes it out to M-F. As we pulled up to the restaurant we noticed that it was closed. We could not figure out how they could justify closing a real Mexican restaurant on the "Americans" Fourth of July... don't think we have ever seen it closed before except for Xmas. Anyways, we proceeded to pull through the parking lot and headed on up the highway for Kelly's restaurant. The weather was very mild (all weekend) and we had a most enjoyable dinner on the outside patio at Kelly's. The drinks were good, the seafood fettucini was good, and the company (folks we knew and did not know) were very enjoyable. Hey, Hey, Hey, get this... Miriam (now a two-time-grandmother) got carded when she ordered a Fuzzy Navel for her before dinner beverage. Hey, Hey, Hey ladies... wanta get a rush, go to Kelly's for dinner. By the time we got back home it was time for another round of Fuzzy Navels and then we called it a day.
Saturday started early for Kittee and I, and we let Miriam sleep in, until mid-morning. I was up by the sun about 5:00 a.m. and went out to commune with the horses, particularly Rusty. After our strong cup of java at about 6:00, with a wild blueberry granola breakfast, we were out taking care of
horses, ponies, water troughs, and puttered around in the garden for awhile. At about 8:30 Miriam was up, so we then strolled back through the mare herd talking with everyone. Miriam had a good chance to pet our baby- Rosey. After the morning rounds were done, we got ready and headed out to the CTUIR Pow Wow at the Wildhorse Casino near Pendleton.
To stay out of the mid-day sun, I spent a couple of hours at the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute reading books, while Kittee and Miriam spent their time watching Pow Wow dancing and drumming, looking for real Native American jewelry. By the time all of this was done, it was time to head back home and get ready to go to dinner, since all we had to eat this day was breakfast. This evening we took care of business at home and headed for La Ramada, Mexican restaurant once again. This night they were open, and we had our usual feast of good food.
Returning home we just blobbed out in the lawn furniture until after sunset. Thereafter called it a day... done.
Sunday, was quite a busy day. Sunday morning breakfast was previous dinner leftovers-- for Kittee and I it was seafood alfredo, and for Miriam's it was her vegetarian creamy pasta dish. Mmmmmm good stuff, again.
I started preparing for another McKuster Ranch BBQ for the evening. I had prepared most of the food works over the past couple of days so Sunday was easy "fixins" of just working on the chicken and pork ribs in preparation for the smoker.
After breakfast everyone went out to pasture to bid ado to the herds, and Miriam had a formal
introduction to our handsome Arabian stallion -- Rusty. Miriam and Kittee also walked back along the river and took a perch at Contemplation Station. Before she had to bid farewell Miriam spent some time petting Rosey, and begin to think that she needed to find a place in northeast Oregon to retire to. Life is different here, and we love it.
Dave also from PDX country showed up about mid-morning to pet and groom his two Arabian girls. He was on too tight a schedule to be able to stay on for the evening's boarders' BBQ. Dave told us he couldn't take it anymore and was moving to Hermiston in October.
The rest of our day was taking care of small chores around the ranch and preparation for dinner. Around 6:00 p.m. Kasey and Travis showed up, shortly thereafter Jennifer, Henry, Leila and Gary got here for horse petting and another round of BBQ ribs with the side dish trimmings. This little party broke up next to dark with a breeze coming off of the Blues, and the air was cooling off quickly. Since most of the food prep had been done the days before, there wasn't much cleaning up to do and Kittee and I headed to bed shortly thereafter. It was a good day.
Monday, everything begin to settle back into place with the exception that we were to receive two new Arabian fillies on the ranch.
Kittee headed off to work, and about 8:30 I received a phone call from the equine transporter that he was about an hour from the ranch with sisters Sunny and Raji. After offloading these girls, the transport driver and I walked them around the pasture to introduce them to the fence line, water trough, salt block and grass. Raji the yearling probably ran a mile circling around me as I walked her around the pasture perimeter on lead.
They appeared to be quite happy to be standing on firm ground again after their ride from Scottsdale, AZ. Upon their hitting the ground I realized the had not lived on pasture grass before, so I made a quick trip to town and was able to find some prime eastern Oregon grass hay to cut into their diet. They are doing very well now.
Thus another weekend and Birthday in the lives of Kittee and Dale
Last Friday our friend Miriam from the Portland area came in for a getaway to the country. She arrived here as Kittee and I were finishing the afternoon of horse baths. Over the weekend Kittee and I broke in our new horse/pony wash station. Kittee washed Ginger and Nugget and I washed Misty and Goldie. All went well, even though we had to work together on getting Goldie to stand steady in the wash station. After she got used to standing in the station she did fine for her first real bath.
After Miriam got here, I mixed up some Fuzzy Navels and we proceeded to sit back and relax before heading out for dinner. Being the Forth of July, we felt that our favorite Mexican restaurant would be the order of the day, hip hip hooray. Miriam always enjoys the La Ramada when she makes it out to M-F. As we pulled up to the restaurant we noticed that it was closed. We could not figure out how they could justify closing a real Mexican restaurant on the "Americans" Fourth of July... don't think we have ever seen it closed before except for Xmas. Anyways, we proceeded to pull through the parking lot and headed on up the highway for Kelly's restaurant. The weather was very mild (all weekend) and we had a most enjoyable dinner on the outside patio at Kelly's. The drinks were good, the seafood fettucini was good, and the company (folks we knew and did not know) were very enjoyable. Hey, Hey, Hey, get this... Miriam (now a two-time-grandmother) got carded when she ordered a Fuzzy Navel for her before dinner beverage. Hey, Hey, Hey ladies... wanta get a rush, go to Kelly's for dinner. By the time we got back home it was time for another round of Fuzzy Navels and then we called it a day.
Saturday started early for Kittee and I, and we let Miriam sleep in, until mid-morning. I was up by the sun about 5:00 a.m. and went out to commune with the horses, particularly Rusty. After our strong cup of java at about 6:00, with a wild blueberry granola breakfast, we were out taking care of
horses, ponies, water troughs, and puttered around in the garden for awhile. At about 8:30 Miriam was up, so we then strolled back through the mare herd talking with everyone. Miriam had a good chance to pet our baby- Rosey. After the morning rounds were done, we got ready and headed out to the CTUIR Pow Wow at the Wildhorse Casino near Pendleton.To stay out of the mid-day sun, I spent a couple of hours at the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute reading books, while Kittee and Miriam spent their time watching Pow Wow dancing and drumming, looking for real Native American jewelry. By the time all of this was done, it was time to head back home and get ready to go to dinner, since all we had to eat this day was breakfast. This evening we took care of business at home and headed for La Ramada, Mexican restaurant once again. This night they were open, and we had our usual feast of good food.
Returning home we just blobbed out in the lawn furniture until after sunset. Thereafter called it a day... done.
Sunday, was quite a busy day. Sunday morning breakfast was previous dinner leftovers-- for Kittee and I it was seafood alfredo, and for Miriam's it was her vegetarian creamy pasta dish. Mmmmmm good stuff, again.
I started preparing for another McKuster Ranch BBQ for the evening. I had prepared most of the food works over the past couple of days so Sunday was easy "fixins" of just working on the chicken and pork ribs in preparation for the smoker.
After breakfast everyone went out to pasture to bid ado to the herds, and Miriam had a formal
introduction to our handsome Arabian stallion -- Rusty. Miriam and Kittee also walked back along the river and took a perch at Contemplation Station. Before she had to bid farewell Miriam spent some time petting Rosey, and begin to think that she needed to find a place in northeast Oregon to retire to. Life is different here, and we love it.Dave also from PDX country showed up about mid-morning to pet and groom his two Arabian girls. He was on too tight a schedule to be able to stay on for the evening's boarders' BBQ. Dave told us he couldn't take it anymore and was moving to Hermiston in October.
The rest of our day was taking care of small chores around the ranch and preparation for dinner. Around 6:00 p.m. Kasey and Travis showed up, shortly thereafter Jennifer, Henry, Leila and Gary got here for horse petting and another round of BBQ ribs with the side dish trimmings. This little party broke up next to dark with a breeze coming off of the Blues, and the air was cooling off quickly. Since most of the food prep had been done the days before, there wasn't much cleaning up to do and Kittee and I headed to bed shortly thereafter. It was a good day.
Monday, everything begin to settle back into place with the exception that we were to receive two new Arabian fillies on the ranch.
Kittee headed off to work, and about 8:30 I received a phone call from the equine transporter that he was about an hour from the ranch with sisters Sunny and Raji. After offloading these girls, the transport driver and I walked them around the pasture to introduce them to the fence line, water trough, salt block and grass. Raji the yearling probably ran a mile circling around me as I walked her around the pasture perimeter on lead.
They appeared to be quite happy to be standing on firm ground again after their ride from Scottsdale, AZ. Upon their hitting the ground I realized the had not lived on pasture grass before, so I made a quick trip to town and was able to find some prime eastern Oregon grass hay to cut into their diet. They are doing very well now.Thus another weekend and Birthday in the lives of Kittee and Dale
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