Desert Blooms

It is spring and the wildflowers are coming up everywhere! Even some cacti are starting to leaf and flower. I went on a couple hikes with my camera over the weekend and then spent some time looking through an Arizona wildflower book to identify the pictures. Most of the flowers out in the desert are tiny and so many look very similar at first glance but are different species. So sometimes I'm not positive I have the name right but here are a few pictures and guesses! 

Mexican vervain (verbena)

Fairy dusters -- these are everywhere, spreading across the hills

Desert honeysuckle

Mexican gold poppy

Lions; no tigers, no bears

Well, the weather here continues to be mostly beautiful; even the bit of snow (that's right, snow) was very picturesque. I am enjoying this "break from reality" and riding as much as I can. The last two Wednesdays (my day off) I have gone on an all-day lunch ride, leaving at 9:30am and returning around 4pm. Everyone packs a bag lunch and sticks it in their saddle bags and we head up the mountain. 

Last week my ride went to one of the higher summits and the views were amazing. The spot is called Lion's Hotel, because many years ago Charley's grandmother saw a mountain lion in the rocks. I'd really like to see one; some of the guys have pictures from a hunt and it's a beautiful animal. So, the ride up is steep and the way down is steeper, but I was on a nice big horse named Nevada Bob and we had no problem. Here is a picture heading out of the barnyard, and one of me at the top. 

This week my ride went wandering through the desert with Jason, the barn boss. When Charley can't decide where to send a ride, he tells Jason to just "wander" and it's great because Jason knows every inch of this land. We couldn't go up really high because there was still snow there. Instead we went over one ridge and across the desert to an area where there are a lot of Indian petroglyphs from hundreds of years ago. They're really quite amazing, both the images and the fact that they are still visible after so much time. 

We ate lunch on a little hill with big flat rocks, overlooking the desert and mountain ranges to the east. The sun was shining and the air was mild -- a beautiful day. I'm really starting to think I should move to a place like this where the sun shines more than once in a while! 

Pictures

the Millers decorating for Christmas

The javelina is ready!

 

me and Jillian 

at the Saguaro National Park with my parents

Happy New Year

The three months I've been here in Arizona have flown by. It's a long season in some ways but right now it's feeling very short! Life continues much the same: serving meals, hanging out in the sun, eating too many cookies, riding a few times. One exciting thing last week was that Charley and the wranglers started working with the colts -- they're about 6-7 months old -- and we all got to watch. Before now they've been handled very little, so now the halter-breaking begins. First each colt was brought down to be branded and then received his halter and lead rope and was tied onto a line stretched across the middle of their small paddock. The guys worked pretty quickly and before long had all eight colts on the line in a row. A couple of them were totally calm but most were fighting their leads and throwing themselves around. We felt bad for the cute little things in their distress but they were fine; it's just a normal part of horse life! The wranglers were very gentle and patient with them and it was amazing to watch them gain control and trust from the colts in just a few minutes. They're not done, of course. It's a weeks long process that I'm sure will include some little colt temper tantrums! I went down to their paddock to see them yesterday. Two of them let me touch them but the others were still a bit skittish. I intend to visit regularly and win them over :-)

Bough Ride

I rode Manny (so cute!).

The Last Month

Well, it has been some time since I wrote here last. The last month has been busy, with Thanksgiving and now Christmas preparations. My parents visited last week and we had a great time seeing the desert and hanging out with the Elkhorn gang. I even got them up on horses! We had the crew Christmas party on Sunday night, complete with a very funny Yankee swap. Mom and Dad actually scored some good stuff, which of course they gave to me. 

Elkhorn does a good job of doing it up for the holidays. Two days ago we had the annual Bough Ride -- we ride high up the mountain until we find a good amount of evergreens (yes, they do have some in this desert), we have a campfire and lunch, and then we walk off into the woods and cuts boughs to decorate the ranch buildings and cabins. All of it is loaded on two pack horses and then we trek back down. It was a great day for many reasons. 1: all-day ride; 2: just the crew went out; 3: the highest and steepest trails I've ridden yet and amazing views; 4: smelling the evergreens and feeling a bit at home in the woods; and 5: riding, all day :-)

Glorious

Yesterday I went riding! It was absolutely amazing. Here are some pictures.