Merced, CA ranch and cows

Hubby and I are on our Yosemite road trip. Yesterday I made some new friends for about a nanosecond before they all responded to my "Mooooooooo" and headed for the hills! No! I mean it! I mooed at them and they all took off! What did I do wrong? Only one cow was left to stare at me! Seriously, though, there are some beautiful ranches up here and I'm busy taking pics of their BARNS! (hehe!) We drove into Yosemite valley yesterday and found the road to Fresno and got some gorgeous pics of Bridevail Falls from above. So did about 1,000 other people! I met some new friends when I parked and didn't get entirely off the road...let's see... 3 angry honks and 1 "finger" and a park ranger yelling at me from the tram! OOPS! My bad! (heheheheheh!) There are so many waterfalls in Yosemite right now that I think we've found over ten. BIG ONES, too! This morning it is back to Mariposa for breakfast, back through Yosemite, and back up to Olmstead Point and then DOWN the Tioga Pass to Lee Vining and then to South Lake Tahoe.

Sleet in the Sierras!!! Imagine that!

What a day yesterday was! We left home at 5:45 a.m. and got to Ridgecrest by 9:00. We bought 4 HUGE bags of carrots for the mustangs and off we went to feed them. I always enjoy the geldings and 2 year old males! They are just so goofy! They got 2 bags. Then, on to the mares. They were shy at first, but soon they too, came up to the fence for carrots. Then, off to the other side of the corral. Some of the smarter ones followed us, including one beautiful dark buckskin who followed me and waited by the fence for her share (again) by banging on the fence with her foot! Smart girl! Then, on to the moms and babies. There was a roan mare and her baby who OBVIOUSLY knew what carrots were! The baby, about 7 months old, started banging the fence, too! She knew what she wanted! Some of the babies were shy, but after we threw broken up carrots over the fence to them, they enjoyed theirs.
Then, I asked hubby, "Hey, since we are already here on 395, do you want to take this up to Yosemite, go up the Tioga road, and drive through the park from the east?" "Sure," he said, so we hit the road and went through Lone Pine, Independence, and DUH...of course we stopped in Bishop at Schatts' bakery (spelling?)... We bought sandwiches, cheese rolls, an apple struedel, and cheese bread and off we went, up 395. Hmmm....clouds....on to June Lake, where we saw a beautiful waterfall. Oh, my! It certainly was chilly up there!!! Oh, is that thunder I hear? Those clouds look awfully dark! So, at Lee Vining, we turned up the Tioga pass (yes, my little car took that road in 2nd gear!) The road was wet from rain, which soon turned into....SLEET! Egads! So hubby said, "Hit the gas or they'll close the entrance to the park and we'll be stranded here without a hotel!" (our hotel is in Merced, on the OTHER side of the park!) So, I flashed my handy-dandy $80.00 national park passport at the guy as sleet was coming down! It was pretty dark, but I stopped at the visitor center and ran in and bought a tee-shirt! Hubby, wisely, chose to stay in the car! As we ascended to 9,000 feet, the sleet continued. Once we got to Olmstead Point, and saw Half Dome lit by the sun among the clouds, we knew it was worth it! Then, we drove up over the top of the mountains and saw many beautiful waterfalls! Of course, we stopped to photograph them. Once we were over the top of the mountain, the weather changed to just rain. Phew! There were waterfalls EVERYWHERE! We got down to the bottom of Yosemite Valley and turned toward Merced, thankful to make it through the park! Today we return for more adventures. Photos to post later as I go through the 10,000 we took yesterday! We both had 3 cameras we were using and I'll have to go through them all!
Enjoy your Sunday and give your horse(s) a hug from me.

Pretty in pink?

When I bought my SWAT (fly repellant for horses), I didn't realize there was a clear one and a pink one. Guess which one I bought? Yup. The pink one. Now, don't these two look silly? Have a great weekend and hug your horses for me!

Horse chores and road trip

Hubby and I went up to visit the horses yesterday. They are all happy. The ferrier is coming later this month and I needed to work with Cali, so off I went, armed with my handy stick. After watching a Clinton Anderson DVD and listening to him talk about "no-no spots" (i.e. spots that your horse may NOT like the handy stick), I decided to use Cali as my test subject! (Hehehehehe!) She was very good and stood still while I rubbed her all over. No no-no spots on her! I went up and down those little mustang legs and she was fine. (Sunni was watching the whole time.) And, I even lifted up her front two feet with no problem. BUT, once again, she moved off when I went for her back ones. Not as much as she has previous done, but I need her to stand still! UNFORTUNATELY, we're leaving Saturday for our June vacation ... going to Yosemite and then South Lake Tahoe, so I'll only have two days when we return to work her again. I must say, however, she was much better. She did NOT like me bouncing up and down with my keys in my pockets, so she'll get another dose of that also! Then it was Sunni's turn. With him, I just say, 'Up" and he lifted each of his feet. I like to wear my little apron when I apply the Thrush Buster! He got a dose of Thrush Buster on each foot, since he has a tendency to get thrush. I cleaned out each one and he was a perfect gentleman! (Big goofball, if you ask me!) It was a gorgeous afternoon up at the ranch...a little breeze, long afternoon shadows, a chill to the air (last night was 46 degrees up there). South Lake Tahoe right now is 36 degrees each night. WHAT is with this weather? Here in the desert, it is in the mid-80's in MID-June! In the 30+ years I've lived in the desert, I don't EVER remember a mid-June with 80 degree temps. But, then, I didn't remember a May that had days over 100! Crazy weather!

I hope to be posting from the road. Hubby wants to stop at both the Ridgecrest BLM corrals AND the Litchfield ones, so I'll take pics of the mustangs at both of these places. Enjoy your weekend and your horses and give them a hug.

Oat hay Part 2~~Green Thursday for June 11, 2009

Another whole section of oat hay was being harvested last weekend. I stopped to watch the tractors, but they had stopped and were chatting and I had to get home to watch the Belmont Stakes! Apparently every single bale of this oat hay is presold and NONE of it is available to local folks! I've heard it is GOOD oat hay, too and the horses love it! Unfortunately, the ranch owner has tried to buy some and has been turned down since there isn't any left for local horse owners! Once this field is harvested, potatoes will be planted for the summer. The crops are rotated on these fields during the year, from oats to potatoes to sudan grass. The sudan grass is plowed back into the field to add to the soil. It is interesting to watch it change during the year. This is my first post for Think Green Thursday, http://ramblingwoodsgreen.wordpress.com/

Cali

Of all our horses, Cali is the most relaxed around people. We are hoping she'll be a great horse with the grandkids! She isn't as big as Sunni, Beauty, or Gigondas and she is unspookable. She's very laid back. I've never seen her take off in the arena like Beauty or Gigondas or Sunni. Hmmmm....our two mustangs seem to be the quietest and calmest of all our horses!

Ah! There's nothing like a bath for a girl! TMW

I tell you, there's nothing like a bath for a girl! Scout sure enjoyed hers this weekend! That's My World for Tuesday, June 9, 2009.