Replenishment

I had not realized how much mental stress I was under until Thursday, 31 August.  I knew that I was unhappy with the current elected administration, and that I have had to increase my anti-depression medication accordingly.  I knew that I was missing Rosie, the Irish Setter, whom I cared for for 10 years, until her death.  I knew that I missed returning to Chincoteague and Assateague Islands this summer.  I knew that I was sleeping more than normal, just to "escape" the usual day-to-day living events.  Thursday was my eye-opener.
    Beatrice, my room mate, gave me a Christmas gift - a certificate for two riders to take a hour trail ride together.  Beatrice doesn't ride.  My sister has been in poor health for the last year, and, so, I had no one to ride with.  I called the company, explained I was an experienced rider, and was told I could have a three-hour trail ride as a single rider, instead of two one-hour rides.  I went riding Thursday morning, having walked a dog, fed fish, fed two sets of cats, and having released hens and cleaned their coop and roost.
   It was a 45 minute drive, and I was asked to arrive 30 minutes before we were scheduled to leave.  Upon arrival, I was told that another group of four people were expected to join the wrangler, or guide, and me.  I signed my release form, opted to not wear a riding helmet, and grabbed a saddle horn bag to put my drinking water and camera into.  Then I settled down to wait.
   When I pulled up, there was a large sorrel tied up to the railing.  He looked like a guy who could easily carry my weight, and he had a saddle with short stirrups on.  I thought he might be my ride.  Then the wrangler came out, and saddled up a bay Appaloosa - roaning and black spots on his butt, with roaning also along his sides and neck.  Then several folks started bringing out other mounts - multiple pintos, a bay, and a palomino.  The people who were supposed to ride with me changed their minds at the last minute, so Richard, the wrangler, and I set out alone.
   Richard was riding Outlaw, the bay Appaloosa.  I was mounted on a 16 hand bay pinto gelding named King.  King's legs had twice the bone of Outlaw's - and Outlaw was about 15 hands with a light, but strong, build.  Outlaw also has a convex face; much more so than King's.
   The stable complex is right beside highway 34, to the east of Estes Park.  The three-hour trail ride took us to the very top of Crosier Mountain and back down (of course).  Richard was pretty quiet, once he ascertained that I did, really, know how to ride...  In several places, he launched into his guide spiel, what the elevation was, and what we were looking at; and he kept warning me about the closeness of tree trunks and rocky outcrops - that's his job.  He also tried to point out the different types of trees, brush, flowers and wildlife we encountered - but, after telling him I could recognize them, and nicely asking him to only speak when needed, we both just enjoyed the ride.
   We did see the tracks of two different mountain lions; one much larger than the other.  We saw bear droppings (scat).  There were hoof prints of elk and mule deer, too.  The horses both shied at one point, and snorted, with their concentration on one distinct point, but neither Richard nor I could see what was bothering them, so we moved on quietly.  About three-quarters of the way through the ride, we did hear the squall of a mountain lion, but it seemed to be more than a mile away.  What else did we hear?  The wind in the pines, birds singing, grasshoppers buzzing, insects ticking, the chatter of squirrels, the calls of hawks.  We saw a bald eagle on the wing, and three red tail hawks; there were numerous chipmunks and squirrels, and an Abert's squirrel; there were meadow larks, nuthatches, sparrows, jays, a Stellar's jay, a few swallows, and a whole host of smaller birds on branches.  Once, there was the sound of a distant airplane.  But there were no sounds of any other vehicles - no cars, no trucks, no buses, no motorcycles, no ATVs.  No telephones rang.  Once, their was a quiet voice from Richard's radio - but that was the only non-organic sounds during those three delightful hours.
    We traveled mostly up- and down-hill, so we were leaning forward in the saddle, or leaning back, and letting the horses have their heads over rocky, sometimes sliding ground.  I was in heaven!   I was able to stretch forward and stroke King's ears, and to reach back and pat the base of his tail.  We trotted occasionally across an open meadow, and cantered across a beautiful stretch of glade openings among the pines.   We looked down, from 8500 feet, to see highway 34 and the Big Thompson River.  We had partly cloudy skies that morning, and we were all a little sweaty when we returned to the stable area - it was all of 73 degrees, but very dry...
    I felt so relaxed and refreshed and just generally - replenished - after that ride. I had no idea how taut my nerves were...   I highly recommend getting away for several hours - and doing whatever it is that makes you feel good.   There is nothing better in life.

2017 Denver National Western Stock Show

Guess where I've been spending my "spare" time?

No parade this year due to 14 inches of snow...

Colorado Scenery

Near Grant

Storm Mountain sunset from Old Flowers Road

Sky Corral Lodge

Back scratch

Near Steamboat Springs

Shrine Ridge, near Vail

Pendleton Ridge

Riding near the Wyoming border

Horse Riding in Rocky Mountain National Park

It was 95 here in Boulder yesterday, and 97 in Denver, tying the day's high temperature records.They think we'll reach between 95 and 100 today.  I know it was 72 degrees at 6:45 this morning - and I never turned my fan off last night.  Looks like I'll be turning on the second fan today...  Considering the heat, Lovey and Nedi have been very snuggly, which is fine with me - when they get hot, they leave, or just move over a bit.  With the heat, Rosie and I have been starting our walks before 8 a.m., so I'm finished doing my daily work and am back at home by 9:30 - seems odd, right now.  But, in another week, it'll seem totally normal again.
  I had a wonderful time with my sister on Sunday.  First we drove up to Estes Park and wandered through a Hand Made arts and crafts fair, and made a couple of purchases, while admiring a lot of things.  Then we snagged a quick lunch at McDonald's, where I introduced Kathy to the mango-pineapple smoothie, which she really liked.  Driving in to Rocky Mountain National Park, we found that she qualified to buy her Life Time Park Pass for $10 - as opposed to paying $20 each time.  She'll never have to pay to enter a national park again; now, that's grand!  And we drove on up to Moraine Park and Hi Country Stables...
  Signing in there, we found that while 13 folks were there for the 2 hour ride, only Kathy and I were signed up for the 4-hour ride.  Our guide/wrangler was a girl from Blacksburg, Virginia, who is a junior at Virginia Tech, and is studying Equine Science (she'll be a vet).  Kelly, the guide, was riding Smokey, a black quarter horse.  Kathy and I were riding brother and sister horses - both were half-Belgian (the draft horse).  Kathy got Pinkerton (aka Pinkey), the pinto gelding, while I got Pal, the palomino mare.  We rode for over 4 hours, and only ran into four groups of hikers (all going in the opposite direction) - so it was just the countryside, the wildlife, the three of us Virginia girls and three horses.  It was sheer bliss - no phones, no radio, no music, no vehicular traffic - just the sound of horse shoe on occasional rock, birds, water flowing in the creeks we crossed, and the breeze in the trees.  I would love to spend every day of the rest of my life like that!
  Upon returning to Boulder, Kathy, Jim, Bea and I had supper at Turley's and laughed ourselves silly - or, rather. sillier than we already were!  We had a great meal, and enjoyed wonderful companionship.
  The only thing that "went wrong" was that Kathy lost her glasses.  She thought she'd had them on during the first quarter of the ride, and that they'd come off their neck strap while we were riding quite a ways out.  When we returned to the stables, I heard a crunch under my boot, and looked down to see I was standing on Kathy's eyes...  Don't know if I broke them, or just popped the lens out of the frame - a horse might already have walked over them - it was right where everyone mounts and dismounts...  But she had an appointment to get her eyes tested this Wednesday, and she had a spare pair, so it wasn't a truly awful thing.
More about the ride later this week...
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The New England Patriots have signed Tim Tebow on as their third-string quarterback.  It's a two year contract, with the payment unspecified.  Josh McDaniel, who drafted Tebow as the Broncos' head coach, is now the Offensive Coordinator at the Patriots.  Tim showed up for mini-camp today.