Saturday, April 9, 2011 - Car Show Day

Brother told us about a big car auction and show today down at the fairgrounds, so Hubby and I decided to check it out after we went computer shopping.  It's a huge event, only held a few times a year in various parts of the country, with the auction being broadcast live on Speed network all day.  Some incredible cars of all kinds, many of them just like the cars we grew up with, from early 60's Cadillacs to all the GTO's and other muscle cars.  Of course, the Batmobile is a standard at this show, called the Barrett-Jackson car show, as well as all the usual classics.  Enjoyed the day, temps were a bit warm, but the tents provided enough shade to make it comfortable.  Brother met up with us later in the day and we toodled around together for a while before heading back to the ranch.  We sure have been seeing our share of sights since we've been here!  Makes for a nice change, particularly since we're still able to ride a lot in between all those events.  The only trouble here is that I don't have a very good broadband signal, so pix are being loaded up later.  A small price to pay for all the perks we're enjoying, though!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011 - Ride Day

Trailered the horses out to DuPuis and took a nice long ride with Hubby today. It was going really well, the horses were having a great time, the weather was perfect, until we started a nice long canter on a really sweet spot of straightaway, with nice grass footing. Hubby and his mare Clio got a little ahead of me, and, right on cue, saw something off to her right that caused her to veer suddenly to the left. Unfortunately, Hubby was out of the saddle at the time, so one second he was enjoying a nice canter and the next there was no horse between him and the ground. He took a tumble, which fortunately was on pretty soft ground, so after a few minutes of getting his breath back, I packed a cold pack from the first aid kit on his hip where he fell, and soon we were off again, albeit at a somewhat slower pace (darn!). The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, and the icepack helped Hubby make it through okay, and we did manage to get a few more jogs in. We were on the trail almost four hours, and it was a lovely day. We had inadvertently taken the same trail that I had taken with my brother on Sunday (I had planned to do the same trail in reverse, but got started off wrong somehow), but it was new to Hubby, so that made it worthwhile. A fabulous day, just the kind we live for!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 - Shopping Day

Took a run out to town today to do some shopping. Otherwise a quiet day.

Monday, April 4, 2011 - Rest Day

So tired from my long ride yesterday, I tried to relax most of the day today, just doing a few chores and working on the computer, until we quit about 4:00 and settled down for the night.

Sunday, April 3, 2011 - Ride Day with Brother at Dupuis

Having already let his friends know he would be leaving early today, Brother and I left with the horses around 12:30, finally taking him out to Dupuis, a place that despite the fact that he lives less than 30 minutes away, he has never been. We saddled up and headed out, me with my saddlebag packed with my usual; first aid kit, thermal blanket, matches, Swiss army knife, extra Gatorade, etc. Brother, of course, packed his saddle bag with his usual; beer. What can I say, it's just the way he is. Anyway, we headed out on the yellow trail, most of which I hadn't done yet, and it was a lot more wide open than previous trails had been. After an hour, Brother needed a break, so we stopped for awhile. Then we headed out again, for about another half hour, till he needed to stop again. While we were resting, we saw TWO bald eagles, one perching in a tree so quietly he looked like part of the tree, and another that came swooping in, landing near the one perching for a few minutes, making some sort of overtures of some kind (not sure if it was mating play or something), before taking off and circling away. It was truly a beautiful thing to watch. We then carried on, and finally got one pretty decent canter in (he doesn't like to trot because he hasn't really learned to post yet, so we've been plodding along at a walk the entire way), which went well. Then we took a third and final break next to a small pond where the horses were able to get a much needed drink before heading out again. By now, even my butt was getting tired from doing the same pace all day. The trail is just under 9 miles, and I had figured about 3 hours, but with all the stops and lack of trotting and cantering, it took us almost 4 � hours to complete. It was after 6:00 by the time we got back to the trailer, nearly 7:00 when we got home. It was a beautiful day, though, a bit hot in the sun but a nice breeze kept us from overheating. It was a great ride which I look forward to doing again with Hubby on another day. Crashed for the evening, watching the very compelling movie "2012" before going to bed.

Saturday, April 2, 2011 - Hang Out Day

Spent the day just hanging out today, though Brother spent the day getting his house in order, as he had guests coming to spend the night later on for a bonfire he's planning for this evening. A pretty relaxing day overall. His friends arrived around eight, and we joined them about 9:00 for about 90 minutes before heading off to bed.

Friday, April 1, 2011 - Busy Day at Dupuis

The time has arrived for us to dump the RV, and our plan had been to go out the Dupuis and spend the weekend, but we decided that we have it so easy here at my brother's that we would just take it out and dump, return, then take the horses out there for a ride, so that's what we did. Once again, the ride was spectacular. Today we took the Red trail, part of which we had done before, but most of it was new. We really love this place, it truly is on our Top Ten list in terms of spending quality time with our horses. We were out for nearly four hours, with lots of trotting and cantering. At one spot, we saw a group of small deer and a wild turkey all gathered together, though they skedaddled once they saw us coming. It was a wonderful ride, and a great way to start off a new month!