Taking a break from blogging

I am taking a blogging break while I mourn the loss of my chestnut mare, Beauty, who died suddenly and tragically on June 25, 2009. I found her dead in her corral the next morning. As far as we can tell, she got cast in her corral and wasn't able to get up. What a waste of a beautiful, caring, and loving creature. Beauty was only 5 years old and the ONLY horse of mine that I have ridden so far. My cousin helped with her training and Valerie is just as devastated as I am. It is never easy to lose a faithful pet and Beauty was my faithful and loyal companion. She picked ME as her human and always whinnied to greet me when I arrived at the ranch. There are no more whinnies from the other horses now. They just ignore me. I miss her sunny and warm personality, her goofy attitude, and the white patches of hair on her butt.

I LOVE YOU and MISS YOU, Beauty! She was a feedlot rescue and at least she was given a good, loving home and was spared the horror of slaughter. Please, if you can, give to the horse rescue of your choice so that more horses like Beauty will be spared from slaughter. Thank you.

We're home, finally!

Hubby and I took a short vacation to Northern California last week. We drove up Highway 395 through Ridgecrest, stopped at the BLM corrals there and fed the mustangs! What a bunch of goofballs! They must get fed carrots a LOT because they sure knew what carrots were! Then, up to Yosemite, over the Tioga Pass. Have you ever drive up that pass? Phew! WHAT a climb! We spent 2 nights in Merced, CA and spent the next 2 days in Yosemite, then drove BACK through Yosemite and DOWN the Tioga Pass. I know, I know...we MUST be nuts! We saw 2 bears there during our trip. Then, on to South Lake Tahoe. That driving day was another stormy day. Apparently they'd had snow just 2 weeks prior to our trip last week! It was cloudy the whole time, but we got some beautiful photos! From Lake Tahoe, we took some side trips, down to Genoa, Silver City, Virginia City, Reno, and Markleyville. Then, yesterday we drove back down 395 and stayed in Lone Pine. We took the road to the Mt. Whitney portal in the afternoon and the next morning, we arose at 5:00 a.m. to get some morning photos. Then, back home through Ridgecrest, stopping to feed the mustangs AGAIN, and home! Right now, I have Ripley asleep ON MY FEET so that I don't go anywhere EVER again!!! Here are some pics of our trip...enjoy!

Ripley has a new trick!

Ripley has a new trick. I was wondering why the cat food was disappearing so quickly. I mean, I have 3 cats that I feed outdoors, on top of a table. BUT...their cat food was disappearing much too quickly. So, one afternoon, I heard scratch, scratch, scratch, crunch, crunch, crunch and YUP! Caught in the act was Ripley! She was up on the table, eating the cat food! Yikes! I don't have any photos yet, but I'll lurk around and try to get some. Silly dog!