Idyllwild weekend~~Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors~052714

We spent the whole weekend up in Idyllwild, along with our grown kids and their families (8 of us total).  We went together and rented a 3 bedroom, 2 bath log cabin that can sleep 14 people!  It had a fireplace, a huge back porch and deck, and a full kitchen.  We split the cost.  This seems to be our family tradition now.  This is the 3rd year we've gone together as a whole family (with grandkids now) to celebrate Memorial Day up in Idyllwild and everybody wants to continue this tradition.

The cabin is set far back from the street, so there was absolutely NO road noise!  The only noise was the morning calls of a red tailed hawk and the afternoon calls of the quail.  Oh, and once the sky got light, noisy blue jays were demanding their breakfast of peanuts!  A murder of crows (or ravens) came lollygagging around this morning and a dozen of them stayed around most of the morning.  Gray squirrels scampered to and fro, enjoying the corn and sunflower mixture I bought at WINCO.  The squirrels liked the sunflower seeds, while the crows ate the corn.  That's a good mixture and cheap!

We took several walks up to the main lodge, where the koi pond was.  Both grandkids enjoyed that.  We also hit the Memorial Day library book sale and many yard/garage sales.  I bought two kids' folding camping chairs for $1.00 each, and found a set of rubber stamps for my classroom for $3.00.  Our daughter bought some shoes for her baby, and some cute girl baby clothes.  I scored 3 books at the library book sale and sat by the window in the kitchen and watched the antics of squirrels, blue jays, and ravens all afternoon.

It was a restful weekend and it's back to work tomorrow...ugh.

 Feed me...NOW!

 Our cabin for the weekend.

 Our granddaughter trying to climb the stairs.

 Grandson got to see firefighters' trucks!  He was thrilled!

 Our daughter and her daughter.

Grandpa having a conversation with the little one.

DAP? Nah...I don't think so...

California Chrome's partners are called "Dumb Ass Partners" and his jockey has a big DAP on his silks, but I don't think those two are dumb.  "Clever as a fox" maybe, but certainly not dumb.  I've looked at California Chrome's pedigree.  On his sire's side he has Lucky Spell, who raced 69 times and won 12 times, placed 8, and showed 11.  And, he has A.P. Indy, a son of Weekend Surprise and Seattle Slew.  On his dam's side, he has Danzig and Numbered Account, as well as Sir Gaylord, who was a son of Somethingroyal, the dam of Secretariat.  He's also cross bred twice to Northern Dancer.  Yeah, I don't think there is ANYTHING dumb about these guys.  I just read that CC's dam is bred again to Pulpit.  Do you think lightning will strike twice?  I don't think so...Do you think he will win the Belmont Stakes?  I think he just might...

Anyway, I spotted this guy enjoying the morning next to his barn near Ramona two weekends ago.  He was so adorable that I pulled over to take a couple of photos of him.

Spring? Nah...summer is HERE...NOW

"Summer's coming!".  No, actually, summer is HERE.  Down in the desert, we've had temps of 108 and 107 the last two days.  I'm going up to the horse ranch this morning, and it is overcast, so the temps will be about 10 degrees cooler here in the desert and it should be pleasant up in the mountains.  I bought everybody pellets last weekend, but I need to get them all salt blocks, especially with hot weather coming. So, I'll go up and do my chores this morning.  :-)  I actually enjoy horse chores!

 Quad, doing what he does best...eating!

The colt looking down at Sunni in the arena.  That's Lucille behind him...

The little colt

The little colt is doing well.  He has been moved next to two mares now and one of them is due shortly to give birth.  Then, he'll have a companion.  We stopped by briefly Sunday afternoon, bought pellets, unloaded them, and gave every horse a nice snack. It was very windy up there and I had hubby with me and he was impatient, so I didn't take any of them out.  Just too breezy.  We visited with the ranch owners for a bit and headed home from our San Diego weekend.  Then, yesterday, I read on Facebook that there was a fire down in Rancho Bernardo.  Oh, no!  Yes, it was very windy down there, too.  I'm not sure of the update yet for today...

Anyway, here is the little guy in his new corral.  Yes, he has one brown eye and one blue eye!

I HATE Mondays!

We drove to San Diego over the weekend and our son and his family drove down to the hotel, too.  It was a nice change from the desert and its dust storms.  We've had a horrific May with lots of blowing dust and sand.  It was foggy at Rancho Bernardo and was a welcome relief from the dry desert winds.  We drove out to La Jolla beach park Saturday afternoon and watched the waves crash against the rocks there.

On the way home, we stopped at the horse ranch.  The little colt has been moved in between another pregnant mare, so he'll soon have a companion.  I'm sure he misses Sunni, but he was on the end of the corral row, basically unprotected (except for Sunni, next to him).  Moving him probably was a good idea.  He is doing well, thank goodness!  :-)

So, after a weekend of play, it was hard waking up this morning and heading to school.  I went to school tired this morning.  Ugh...Mondays...

Double tragedy up at the horse ranch

It was a bad week up at the horse ranch...two of the owner's horses died.  One of them was the mother of the little pinto colt.  Apparently, after giving birth, she had an air pocket in her tummy and ended up with a twisted intestine.  So, she was put down.  Cali had a twisted intestine back in December of 2012 and I lost her.

Then, one of the pregnant mares broke her leg while struggling to get up.  She was put down, too.

And, on top of all this, it was Cathy's 65th birthday last week.  What a week to remember!

So, the colt is now being hand fed with a bottle and he is also getting soaked hay.  Cathy also told me that after his mother died, Sunni, who is next to him, stayed right by the corral  and didn't move away from the little guy for 3 days!  He was protecting him!  He and the colt have really bonded.  I took Sunni down to the arena yesterday, which is right below the colt's corral, and he nickered to Sunni the entire time!  All alone now...poor little guy!  He is spunky, however!  I love to hear his little nickers!