Saturday, August 16, 2008

Trying to Stay Cool!

I know that this is not what people are waiting for, and I promise to get to How It All Began, Part Two, soon, but it has been darn HOT around here-there I go complaining about the weather again!!-and we have been trying to keep cool. Remember last week, when I was whining about the 50-60 degree weather?? Well now it is 95 degrees out, and we are all in shock. See, that's the problem around here, we have these huge fluctuations in temperature all of the time, so you can never get acclimated to it...Last week Bo and Waska were wearing their rain slickers at night, and now they are sweating and trying to loose the extra hair that they grew when it was cold out.
In an attempt to cool off the other day, we decided to load the kids up on Bo and Waska, lead Sienna, grab the dogs, and head over the river and through the woods, to the creek. The problem was that everyone had the same idea that we did, so we walked about two miles down the old rail road tracks, which is now a trail, until we found ourselves a nice little beach to play on. The first place that we stopped, dropped down sharply, and we had to tie the horses up on the trail, and climb down to the creek.

Bo, Waska, and Sienna pigged out...I mean stood guard for us. As you can see, Bo took his job very seriously.
A view down-stream. Parts of the creek are really getting shallow. It will be a difficult year for the salmon run, which will start in about 2-3 weeks. Miss Katie Kate enjoying the cool water.

We ended up moving to a different location, because we wanted to find a place where the horses could come down to the water with us too. Sienna was able to run around loose, we had crossed the creek, and she pretty much flaunted her freedom to the boys.

You can see the look of disgust on Waska's face when Sienna walked by and said, "Haha...I can eat all of the grass that I want to!" OK, she didn't really say that, but it looks like she did!
Sienna enjoyed playing in the creek with us. Bo came in too, and proceeded to paw and splash so much, that I was completely soaked...it felt good though! Bo likes to stick his whole head, up to his ears, under the water, I always try to capture it on film-my camera is digital, but "film" sounds better!-but he is too quick for me.Eric and Amber climbing on the log jam made during last winter's floods.All in all, we had a great afternoon at the creek. On the way back, the kids decided that they wanted to lead Sienna, so Amber and I were able to ride, which was a good thing, because Bo was really pissed off about having to stand tied up for over three hours, and he was a handful. I am sure that we made quite the sight going down the road. The kids were in their swimsuits leading the dogs and a pony, and Amber and I, soaking wet, on the backs of prancing horses!

Well, it looks like we have a few more days of heat, and then it will drop back down to the 70's and 80's. Amber and I are off to Portland tomorrow, to go watch Jewel and Abu, from 20 Meter Circle of Life, compete in Dressage. I hope that this hot weather has not affected them to much...it has been in the triple digits down there!

5 comments:

Chelsi said...

Had to pop over and take a boo at your blog now too! Dont you love the sense of community in this little horsey blog world? Thank god we have so many creeks and rivers here in the northwest for hot days like these! The southern folks all think that we are babies but they dont understand that the swing of temps here happen so quickly that you never get to adjust. My older horse has trouble figuring out when to shed his coat because it will be smokin hot one week and then back to winter blankets the next. I look forward to stopping in to your blog again.

Happy swimming.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

What a great day....horses and splashing in the creek!

I laughed at Waska's annoyed expression seeing Sienna with all her freedom. hehe What a character.
Bo looked on full on alert on that trail.

We have odd weather here, too...but it happens every day. During the day: temps in the 80's-90's.
At night: temps in the 40's-50's! Such a drastic change from day to night.

I hope you don't mind me saying this, but your dear Katie has a gymnast's or dancer's body shape.
How old is she? Her face tells me she's still very young, but her body looks much older.
She is just lovely! And one day in her tween and teen years, Daddy Bear will have to keep his gun at the ready to chase away nosy boys!

Hope y'all have a great time on your 'dressage watching' trip.

Melanie said...

Adventures of a Horse Crazed Mind...Welcome! Sorry that we share the same weather issues!

Twinville- Oh quit bragging about your wonderful desert weather...lol!!! It's funny that you commented about Katie's picture-and no, I do not think that you are a sicko!!-because we have been thinking the same thing, and have made plans to get her started in gymnastics. She really wants to do it after watching the gymnasts at the Olympics.

Andrea said...

What a wonderful day. That looks like it was so much fun. I have never ridden a horse in a creek before. I know so shelterd right? It looks like so much fun.

Momma / Cowgirl said...

Wow.. what a lovely place ot take your horses. The kids looked like they were have a super time. Such greenery, fantastic pics!