Dag, y'all, we look so good! plus hills

Yall have got to click over and look at these pictures of us. I'm not gonna imageleech them, you have to click to the photographer's site. I am definitely buying several of these. And framing them. I might get a digital copy of one and use it for my profile pic on every website known to man, too.

Picture 1 - I can ride!

Picture 2 - S's favorite of us.

Picture 3 - Look at that backdrop. I love this one.

Picture 4 - Or how about lake + mountain?

Picture 5 - She doesn't melt!

Picture 6 - I think this is my favorite of the group ones. Looks like so much possibility, like we're all going to ride off together and never come back to real life.


Meanwhile, in real life!

I communed with the couch all morning, then finally dragged myself up and took Dixie up the hill for our short hill workout. She wailed on that hill, too. It was overcast, windy, and about 50 (so perfect weather for a hairy beast).



I took Cersei, and my knees have been feeling creaky, so I didn't want to run. (I was experimenting with not taking glucosamine - I started taking it seriously about a year ago, and my knees/joints felt better, but then I've never stopped taking it so was I just imagining things? After a week off glucosamine, I can tell you that it definitely makes my joints feel better.)

Dixie went ballin' up that hill. Steady 7 mph trot/foxtrot, and she only slowed to a walk twice. On the less-steep bits headed out, she reluctantly trotted very steadily at 8 mph, and on the downhills coming home she zipped along at 9-10.

I know a lot of my current readers are not and will never be endurance riders, but there are a couple of yall who are considering it, and I suppose more wannabe e-riders will stumble upon my good idea in the years to come, so I try to give the mph info for those people. We started out two years ago barely able to trot 6 mph for 100 feet before Dixie would slam on the brakes, leap sideways, or spin and try to bolt. You can start from very unpromising beginnings and eventually get a steady 6.5 mph trip up and down a hill - it just takes a lot of miles.

Cersei has not yet puked water in the house. I am somewhat hopeful that she's going to keep it all inside her. Fingers crossed!

Argle, last day in the life!

Google has been horribly slow for me for a couple days now - I don't mean annoyingly slow, I mean "wait ten minutes and it still hasn't loaded yet" slow. Blogger, of course, is a google service, so whatever's wrong with my gmail is also wrong with Blogger.

Also I haven't done anything different from the earlier part of the week - everything feels like "oh I posted this two days ago."

Anyway! Here's yesterday's photos. I took plenty, but more than half of them didn't come out. Stupid iPhone camera. I tried to take all my week's pics on it, and it was more convenient than the real camera, but the quality leaves a lot to be desired. I think I'll try to just carry the real camera more often, and try to take a good picture a day next week.

Palomino Valley and beyond


S and Summer climbing the hill


Blue view


Oh hi!


Moon, road, dog


Sweaty horse

And now for something completely different!

How to make a birthday cake, by Funder.


First, stick the Frangelico in the freezer.



Line a pan with wax paper and grease and flour it.



Assemble your stuff (or prepare your mise in place, if you're not a redneck!)



Whip it all into a thick delicious batter.



Woah look at that, it's a cake!



Make some real classic buttercream frosting...



Whip in some melted (and cooled) chocolate!



Secret frosting-taming weapon.



Ta-da!



Oh shit, get the Frangelico out before it freezes and pour yourself a drink.



Not cake related: Rock out!

Week in the life, 3

Sorry, short post! It was a dull day.

Early morning.


Fresh trim!


Headed home to Peavine Mountain


Cersei has a TOY!


Rustic potato galette.
(Pro tip: if something doesn't come out looking like the pictures in the recipe, call it "rustic." I don't have a mandoline so my potatoes aren't sliced perfectly!)


Snow showers to the east.


Mmmmm dinner!


I'm getting a headache, so no more pictures tonight. Tomorrow - birthday relaxing!

Week in the life, 2

I studied for the bar all morning.


Cersei dreamt of being a puppy.


Then I got dressed and went out.


Dixie was snuffling in the mud - very strange horse.


Due for a trim - tomorrow!


Then off to the gym - these tractor tires are for strongman training.


Here's Reno's daily 5-minute traffic jam.


My birthday package arrived from my parents!


Started carving the chicken before I remembered to take a pic.


Jabber likes to nap on the back of the couch.

Week in the life, day 1

So Mel suggested I do the daily pictures thing - here's day one. As always, click to embiggen!

Pictures too!

I forgot to link yall to these totally gorgeous pictures I took of Dixie last week. She's easy on the eyes to begin with, but the long grass and pretty sky didn't hurt at all!