"P"~Sunday Stills Challenge 031311

While driving around Sedona yesterday, waiting for hubby, who was in a camera store, I spotted these PINK jeeps! And, the name of the jeep company is "The Pink Jeep Company"! Aren't they ADORABLE? I had to drop hubby off in town as he needed a good lens cleaner as the wipes he used on his lens smeared guck all over it and left smudges. Have you ever tried to park in Sedona on a Saturday afternoon? FORGET IT! So, he hopped out of the car, ran into the camera store, and I drove around and around and around the block. Every time I turned the corner, there was another pink jeep! I must have passed by this place a dozen times! I finally found a public parking lot way up behind the camera store, but it was full, so I just parked and took some photos. We're in Arizona for the weekend as hubby had some time off and he wanted to get away! "Pink" for Sunday Stills Challenge for March 13, 2011.

Raven and sky~SkyWatch Friday 031111

There are a couple of ravens up at the horse ranch where "the herd" resides and I always enjoy watching them! They are noisy birds and they often alight on the corral pipes and "talk". They never seem to allow me to get close enough to get a decent photo of them, but I did see one of them last weekend with something in its beak. SkyWatch Friday for March 11, 2011. To visit SkyWatch Friday, go to: http://skyley.blogspot.com/ UPDATE: I just wanted to add...for me, it has been VERY difficult to even get a decent shot of a raven! I was driving down a country road last weekend and spotted a raven with something in its mouth just sitting on a fence post. By the time I leaned over to grab my camera, he took off! I frequently see them up at the horse ranch or near it, but never get a decent shot of one! Does anybody have any tips??? Aarrrrgggghhhh.......(pulling out hair!)

Look at those legs! (Cali)

Whoo, whoo! Look at those legs! And, who do they belong to? Why, Cali, of course! All the horses except Scout got a trim a couple of weeks ago. Scout was too ornery to be caught, so she'll get hers done FIRST next visit by the farrier! (little bugger!)

fuzzy wuzzy horses!

March here in the desert means daytime temps up in the mid 70's. Up at the ranch, that means temps in the 60's. I'm not sure if they had rain the last couple of days as it was so darn cloudy I didn't drive up there. I've emailed the owner and she hasn't responded (their Internet is finicky!), so I don't know if they got rain. Yesterday here in the desert we had near hurricane winds and several roads were closed down due to blowing sand. The horses are all covered with their long hair and thick coats, but...March is here and the temps will be rising.

Virtual tour of the ranch~ 030711

I've been meaning to do this for some time~~give you a virtual tour of the ranch where I send my horses. I found Cathy and Bill's place in the Horsetrader about 3 1/2 years ago. I called and talked to Cathy and she seemed just so nice! She gave me directions to come check out her ranch and boarding facilities. I had 5 horses at that time (not Quad, but Beauty) that I was boarding WAY up in Lancaster, which was 3 hours from our home and hubby and I would make 2 trips a month on the weekends to visit the herd and it was just wearing us out! Cathy's place is a 35 minute trip up the mountain and is in our local mountains. She is very knowledgeable and has been a wonderful mentor for me! She breeds and raises her own Peruvian Pasos and they are all beautiful, gorgeous horses! Next time, I'll get some pics of them! And, she has extra corrals which she boards to folks. She's VERY reliable and I never worry about my herd missing a meal! THANK YOU, Cathy! So, here are some views of her ranch. That's my messy tack room with all my ropes and halters hanging on the door! She just got another load of hay because part of her previous load got wet and moldy, which is too bad, but I'm hoping to get some of those bales for my garden in the desert. I hate to see the alfalfa go to waste and it will put valuable nutrients into the desert sand! I like her lanterns which hang outside her kitchen window. Sometimes, during the summer, hubby and I drive up there and have a nice BBQ with Cathy and Bill outside. That's one of her ranch dogs, Pearl. Her two dogs are both rescues. Looking out over the arena...that's Sunni's and Quad's row of corrals. They have covered corrals, but my mustangs don't.

Just chores

This morning I headed out bright and early. It was an incredibly beautiful day, with some high clouds, but plenty of blue sky...perfect for taking photos! I left the house about 7:30 a.m. and stopped to take photos along the road. By the time I got up to the ranch, it was nearly 10:00 a.m. The owners were gone, so I didn't take any of the horses out. Instead, I cleaned out the tack room, messed around with the mustangs, filled up blue water containers (ALL of the automatic waterers are unplugged due to the below-freezing nighttime temps!). I messed around with Quad for a while and Sunni and I caught them staring at me over their corral and the arena! What a couple of goofy guys! I'll drive up one afternoon this week, too, for another visit. Quad was very interested in sniffing me. He's so gentle!

I'm missing my horses, but feeling better today!

So I'll be heading up the mountain this morning! I'm actually going through "horse withdrawal"!!! I was telling my students that when you describe something, you should also tell how it smells and how much I love "horse smells". Especially Sunni. He has a real earthy, sweaty horse smell! I wish I could bottle it! And, that got me thinking...in terms of smell, I love Sunni's smell the best, then Gigondas, then Scout and Cali. I don't think I've ever really smelled Quad! HA! Guess I'll have to do that this morning! And, it's amazing what lounging around all day in your pajamas can do. I feel so much better this morning! I'm also using Firefox, not Internet Explorer, and I'm not having ANY of the problems that I was having with Explorer! Thanks, Lisa! That was a good tip! Lisa suggested that I switch over to Firefox. Hubby already had it on this laptop and believe me, I'm actually NOT sitting here pulling out my hair! :-)
UPDATE: Okay...here's my list of horse smells: Best smell: Sunni, then Gigondas, then Quad, then Scout, then Cali. Cali had almost no smell today. Do mustangs smell less than other horses? I'm asking because both Scout and Cali have almost no smell!