May 22 & it's Snowing!

I drove into school this morning and the mountains were not visible due to the low clouds and then I hit Cody. There was big chunks of wet snow falling and still is. It is going to be a very wet Memorial day Weekend! Our camping trip may be on hold. We've had to change over from A/C back to heat. What a spring!

Summer Time!

Isn't it funny how you write something down and think that's how it's going to go, that the plans can change so quickly?

My summer plans have really taken a turn. No longer am I lounging around the house doing as a I please, but my loving husband decided I needed a summer job. He just started a new job for a guy in Powell. Which is great because we hopefully won't have to spend a bazillion dollars on fuel for a while. He is working to box in some new sprinkler systems in the local college housing. He volunteered my energy and time to possibly supervise and help some college girls paint those same boxes all through the 38 different houses! ( I think it's 38! It's a lot anyways) He knows I don't mind painting and since he "trained" me to paint, I could supervise the 2 or 3 girls the guy has working for him. I now go from Para-professional to summer construction girl. I'm paying for helping him these last few summers. So instead of loafing at home making no money, I could make some extra money this summer. I guess we'll have to find a new way to "hold down the couch" since I won't be there.

As far as the camps go, I thought I would help with the girls camp, but now I'll have to see how it goes.

This could be my last post for a while. My computer is the school's and they want them for the summer to possibly work on them. I want to be bad and not hand them in but at the same time, I was told to do it. Oh, the pressure, I can't take it. If not, the local librarians will become my new best friends! Keep checking in!

Have a Great Hot Summer! My A/C has been on already!

No Guiding Trips

Of course after I wrote yesterday's post, I talked to my Cowboy about him guiding fishing trips and he said that he wasn't going to do it. He'd talked to the store owner and he said he was interested but not overly excited. He had only had a couple of people ask for them. It sounded like Cowboy was thinking it was going to be a busy business, but we would have to go out a couple times a week to make it worth our while and the work. So, I'm kind of relieved that we're not because of all the money we'd have to put out for horses and hay.

8 more days!

Can I get a Hallelujah and an Amen! I have 8 more days of school left and then I'm jobless for the summer. I don't know how we did it in Manitoba by going to the end of June. This getting out in May is nice but I hate having to go back the 18th of August!

Once school gets out next week, (I'm so ready to sleep in!) we'll be going up into the Big Horns with some friends in their 5th wheel camper. I know, we're really roughing it, but we are going to also haul some horses and day ride and fish for the 3 day weekend. I think we'll have a lot of fun.
The first week in June, I said I would help at the annual Rodeo Bible Camp in Meeteetse for 3 days. That's always so much fun, with "church" under a tent and horses and rodeo events every day and seeing all the kids. It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun. Hopefully the weather is better than all the rain we got last year.

I've also found out about a local camp south of Powell, that needs some help with their 5 camps they host during the summer. Some are day camps, horse camps and girls and boys camps. It's run by a Christian couple who opens it up to some of the troubled youth or come from troubled homes. We actually met this couple when Jason and I went to the Walk to Emmaus. They both went through it with us. We were hoping to move our horses to their place, and we got to talking and Ron drove us around and showed us the camp. It's a roughing it kind of camp. Winkler Bible Camp is paradise compared to this camp. The number of kids they take is also not as many as some of the more established camps. They have 3 big shed size buildings with bunks, out houses for bathrooms and a black barrel filled with water for showers. The Kitchen is an open air building with just a roof and the swimming pool is a pond with fish. Ron said the kids have so much fun and they swim so often that they never take showers. They also float the river on inner tubes, and get off right in front of the camp. They also have horses which they take out on trails and ride in the arena. His wife was happy to hear that I might be interested in helping because they need more adults for the girls camp and just more help in general. What's great for me is that it is also close to town so I wouldn't have to drive too far.

We also have a possibility of hooking up with a local fishing shop that takes out fishing trips, to offer horse riding fishing trips for the day. The owner said he was interested in offering such a service and a fishing guide friend of ours was enthusiastic about the idea as well. So the idea right now is for people to book the ride, we would come in and supply lunch and horses. We would take the guide, and the fisherman up a trail for 2 hrs riding and then get off and fish, eat lunch, fish some more and then head back. The could stay out as late as they want. We did something like this when we worked at the guest lodge 4 summers ago. We think it could be fun and some money could be made. What a great way to spend the summer, riding and fishing in the mountains.

I also want to try my hand at having a vegetable garden this summer. I now have the space to do a small one. I bought my first tomato plant over the weekend and it's sitting on my window sill. I must visit the nursery soon so I can get the rest of my small list. I also need to get some flowers and some shrubs, but what to get is a hard decision.

So those are my tentative summer plans.

Lucky 132

No, we're not gambling people but we do enjoy a good horse auction every now and then, and Saturday was just such a day, and it was a beautiful day.

We called up our friends, Ron and Faith, to see if they were going to make the hour or so trek to Worland, Wyoming. They were game along with a few extras. So we met them early enough that we could look through the stock in the yards. Jason had saved some extra money and was looking for a good all round/team roping horse. Faith was looking for a horse as well and we had each found one or two prospects that could work, but Jason and I weren't real impressed with what was there for what he was looking for.

After coming back from lunch, I saw a man riding a nice bay gelding. So I showed Jason and he went and talked to him. Dailon Jones was his name and he was more than willing to answer Jason's questions and let him try out the horse. Not many others were so willing. Jason really got to liking the 4 yr old. While he was riding, someone we know walked up and he told me he had a big 16 hand ranch horse that was used for roping. (Horses are measured in hands, which are about 4 inches to every hand. 16 hands is really tall) So Jason got on that one and didn't mind him either. He had a decision to make.

We met up with our friends inside and discussed what Faith was looking at. Here she is with her son Caleb, who was at his first horse auction. Of course the moment had to be captured.The sale was definitely a buyer's market, with horses going for really low, unbelievably low. They were pretty much giving them away for some of them. Faith's prospect came up and she raised her hand and won her 4 yr old mare for $400. Her friend Shauna picked up a little 2 yr old filly for $250 who was a full sister to Faith's. Since we brought our trailer, just in case we needed it, we had room to take them both home. Jason's prospects came up and went through. It was hard for him not to buy the big 10 yr old who only sold for $650, but he waited for the 4 yr old.

Well, lot #132 came through and Jason knew this was the one and he was prepared to play the game. To make a long story short, he won! "It's always better when you win it," even if it's not ebay! So we loaded up the three horses and headed to Meeteetse, to drop off the 2 new girls.
We dropped them off and Jason got on his new horse and tried him around the round pen. He only fell more in love with his new purchase.
His registered quarter horse name is Hey Leo Lena, but he was called Socks. Jason's wanting to change it and is leaning towards Cole, after watching El Dorado with his favorite cowboy, John Wayne.
What's cool is his color and markings are almost identical to his first horse Danny. His birthday was the day we bought him and one day off of my own mare's birth date. He'll hopefully bring many years of joy to my cowboy. Already, we've grown attached to him, and Jason is far more excited about his long awaited horse than he is about his new lawn mower.

Ron and Faith went down for one horse but ended up with 2. Shauna didn't really need another young horse to train, so she sold her baby to Ron. So Ron got the horse bug and has acquired the one with the spots on the blaze.

It's Mower Time

'Tis the season to start mowing, fa la la la la la la la la.

We haven't yet, but the itch came with the recent purchase of our first lawn mower. Jason, I do have to say, was pretty pumped.
Surprising enough, Jason actually likes to work in the yard. His dad was pretty on top of things when they lived in Texas, and consequently, Jason got the bug.
Last weekend he worked in the yard by leveling out low spots and filling in dirt. He hauled quite a few wheel barrows full of dirt. We need to get some seed and put that out and turn on the sprinklers. We're all waiting for some green grass, which is coming up in a lot of yards.

With the purchase of the lawnmower, we only naturally had to get the matching weed eater. It was like Christmas for the big kid.




Beware Grass, this man's on a mission!