Frame It!

Happy 4th of July! There is rain in these parts this morning. I won’t complain. We just got done haying, so the fields need the moisture. The parties that go with the holiday aren’t my thing. So I’ll take advantage of a down day and get clothes packed for vacation. In less than a week, we will be heading west to ride in the Medicine Bow National Forest in the Cheyenne/Laramie, Wyoming area. This is kind of a bittersweet vacation because my oldest son has decided to forgo the family vacation for his job and detassling corn. Now the thought of leaving a 16-year-old home alone scares the bejeezes out of me, so I’ve enlisted the help of my brother (who wrote the book on teen craziness) and my niece (who is home safely from Iraq), so he won't truly be home alone. More on the vacation in the days to come.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge is “Frame It”; a photo that is framed by something. I have found that I frequently do try to frame my subject into something natural in the picture. Keeping it horse related, here are my contributions to the challenge.

This picture of Butter and Blue was taken on the trail to Harney Peak in South Dakota.

This is my friend Kathy on Zuni, taken at Two Rivers.

I liked how the trees framed this picture of Vic, on Deacon, along the Oak Creek Trail.

And this shot was taken in our pasture.

This was taken from our driveway looking out to the west pasture. The maple trees framing Butter and Baby are on the driveway side of the fence.

The Harvest is Plenty

The fields are high and summer's day are few.
Green fields have turned to gold.
The time is here for the harvesting,
For gathering home into barns.
The harvest is plenty, labourers are few.
Come with me into the fields.
Your arms may grow weary, your shoes will wear thin.
Come with me into the fields.

I hum that hymn whenever we are haying; especially when haying is going good. And it is going real good this year. All that rain we endured has paid off in hay, beautiful hay! Horse people – we love summer, but we worry about the winter. Hay to us is like nuts to squirrels. We gotta stock up! Once we know we have enough to get us through the winter, we can rest easy. Believe me, it doesn't always go this way. "Hay Stress" could be a certifiable sickness. As of today, these squirrels have nuts!

Last night, the Platte River Riders were scheduled to ride on my friend's property. He has some gorgeous private trails and it's a "can't miss" ride. I was so anxious to ride there again, that I took the afternoon off to go early. Yeah, the best made plans… never go as planned. Ended up having to go in to work and watched the time come and go for the early ride. And was really doubtful I would make the ride at all.

When I left work, I had 2 hours to get to the ride. In those 2 hours, I had to drive 30 miles home – 8 miles of it on gravel roads to avoid a road construction hold up. I got home in a little over 30 minutes. Then I needed to change clothes, hook up the trailer and fetch & load my horse. I got that done in 17 minutes. Then I had another 60 miles to drive to get to the ride. And along the way, get gas and pick up a friend, Mary, and her horse who were trailer-pooling with me. At 6:30 ride out time, I was 10 minutes from the destination. By the time we arrived, unloaded & saddled up, we were on the trail just 20 minutes late. THAT is how bad I wanted to ride! And it was worth every minute and every mile! Unfortunately, in my rush to get there, I forgot the camera for what is one of the prettiest rides of the year!

Windy spent the night at Mary's house. I've been having some problems with my trailer lights and her husband offered to help. So when I dropped her and her horse off, too, we put Windy in one of her pens and dropped my trailer for his inspection. I'll pick them both up after work tonight.