Back in the saddle again

Daybreak Saturday 10-10

The past couple of weeks has once again been quite busy for Kittee and I. Kittee seems to be having trials in the State, Tribal, City of Pendleton, City of Milton-Freewater courts on a weekly basis. I have my daily bus runs a.m. and p.m., making sports trips out of town a couple of days a week, I have been trying to go fishing in the backyard at least once a week, and now I am back in the saddle again. These fishing outings and horseback riding really feel good, as I have been laying low, putting on weight since my horsey wreck of August 1st. Here my fishing friend Jan holds her last hook-up of the day. On Jan's last two catches of the day, I showed her my Ketchum Release tool, and she found it quite beneficial in not having to handle the fish we catch.

Anyways...

It was Saturday before last that Kittee and I awoke to a most rosey daybreak (see above) which made a beautiful start for our day. This day for breakfast we had some seasonal O'Henry peaches, some of our backyard walnuts, other special ingredients and a pat of butter in our bowls of hot oatmeal. Just like our apple bread French Toast, this breakfast too is much like having dessert to start the day. Today we planned to ride horses. Yep I had healed enough that I wanted to get on my gentle, sweet, Misty mare. Actually I was hoping to do this before October 1st, but with the rains and snow of the week before, my broken bones and back didn't feel like getting on a horse. Anyway, this day was the day to saddle up Misty and try my riding ability once again. In the warmth of the late morning, Kittee had been riding since just after breakfast, I brushed Misty off and tacked her up for a short ride.
This felt good, and once in the saddle I did not feel the broken ribs. That was a good thing.


Now it has been since August 1st that I was in the saddle on Nugget, and it was way back in June since Misty was under saddle, so we kept this outing rather short and sweet, mostly for Misty's sake, since I am sitting on her back sporting a big round gut these days. After our rides and lunch Kittee and I went down the river to a plum orchard and picked some more plum for ourselves and the herds. The weather forecast was for a hard freeze to be heading our way, so we knew those tree ripened plums were not going to last for long. That day we picked maybe 60 pounds of plums.

The next day, Sunday we were hoping to ride again, but the weather turned to gray and wet, then it turned cold once again... really cold for several days. So for Sunday we spent playing cards and watching a movie or two. This was our season's second cold snap, and overnight temperatures dropped into the lower 20's. Monday the skies had cleared but our irrigation system looked like this...
By Monday afternoon our clear blue, cold skies were turning gray again as I was taking a sport trip with the MacHi girls soccer team to Umatilla. It was a nice ride, but a bit chilly to sit out and watch the game.

The team once again played a good game, but when they came back to the bus everyone was covered with plenty of heavy clothing and many of the girls were wrapped in blankets. It was turning cold at 5:30 that day as we headed for a submarine sandwich dinner and our way home.

On Tuesday, I once again climbed into the M-F school's trip bus and made another trip to Umatilla, the day was cold and wet. But this time I was taking the Central Middle School girl's volleyball teams for a three match set of afternoon volleyball games inside the gym. We stayed much warmer on this outing, and the games were good and pretty even. Again, I think... this is not a bad way to earn extra money and pay for our horses' upkeep. As the ole saying goes... "The least expensive part of buying a horse, is buying a horse."

Now as we get back to this past weekend, the entire weather pattern has changed and once again life in Northeast Oregon is nice and balmy. This weekend our temperatures were in the low 70's with plenty of sunshine to go around. Saturday Kittee and I rode horses in the riverside arena and back pasture. This time I put Misty into a nice jog as we circled and wove the arena track. Gee do I feel that workout in my legs today. Kittee rode Nugget in the arena while I was prepping Misty to ride, then she cantered him through the pastures to put some wind in their faces. Saturday evening while playing cards and listening to NPR's A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor a guy came knocking at our door and presented us with a photo of the lower 18 acres spread of McKuster Ranch that had been taken from a helicopter this past early spring.

He did take some money for the photo, but we thought this was a nice picture of the place, less the bluff and our back of the river 60 acres of cattle range. I can see from this photo and also a few weeks ago while putting up No Trespassing signs that next spring I have a couple of pastures that need to be reseeded. But this past year was our seventh year at the ranch, so it is about time to re-groom some of our pastures, and I am still tweaking the irrigation system to cover most of this ground. Having a farm/ranch with livestock is an eternal job.

Sunday, we were just going to groom horses before Kittee had to get ready to make a trip to Eugene. Then our old next door neighbor came by and invited us up to his place and to pick apples and pears. So we closed up shop here at the ranch and headed up the river to visit with Rick and his family and pick fruit. We picked about two bushels of apples, two dozen pears for us and about two bushels of holey apples and pears for the herds. By the time we got back to the ranch it was time for Kittee to clean up / pack up and head down the trail to Eugene for an attorney's conference on Monday and Tuesday. This afternoon I hope to get in a little backyard fishing after my p.m. bus route, and the rest of the week I am making school bus sporting outing to Baker on Tuesday and to Pasco, WA and Pendleton, OR on Wednesday.... busy, busy, busy,

and that's the way it is, around McKuster Ranch these days --- Dale

PS. To answer your question... Where is Kittee in this picture of Dale going fishing in their backyard? Kittee is not fishing. Kind of sad tale as it was a fly fishing outing that brought us to our beloved McKuster Ranch to begin with. Kittee has not done any fishing since a sunny Sunday afternoon in June. Is there anyone out there that wants to go fishing with me???