Just in case anyone is wondering, the boys are on their way home, but I will not tell you about "who got what," until I have my camera back in my mitts, and can post pictures along with my write-up.
Miss Katie and I have had a fun week, filled with manicures, pedicures (provided by moi!), eating out, and sleeping in, and it is a good thing that the boys are coming home, or I would probably gain about five pounds!
It has been difficult to get much homework done with Katie harassing me, but my parent's took her yesterday, and then had me over for a delicious dinner at the end of the day. Thanks again mom and dad!!!!Amber and I were able to get a nice ride in on Friday, and I really missed having my camera, because we had some significant flooding over here last week, and the aftermath is amazing and horrific all at once. Pictures would have shown you what I mean, but the damage will still be there next week, so I will take some pics when we head out again. See the river in the above picture? It looks nothing like that now. A neat little piece of trivia about the river in the above picture, is that about 35-40 miles upstream from where I took it is Mt. Rainier, and the Carbon glacier that feeds it ("it" being the river!). Pretty neat that we are so close to such a magnificent mountain huh??? As long as it doesn't erupt...lol!!!
I have also received another award from a person that I consider a great "blog" friend. Lisa, over at The Laughing Orca Ranch has bestowed the "Million Dollar Friend Award" upon me. Thanks Lisa!!! I think that you are pretty swell too!! She doesn't know it yet, but Bo and I are just going to show up on her doorstep one day...lol!!!!Anywho...hope that you have all had nice, relaxing, or productive, weekends, and I only have about five more hours until my camera gets back...oh yeah, and Kevin and Eric too...lol!!!
(Whitetail Deer picture above)
Let me start off by talking about Bo Bo. This was his first time being around cattle, other than the time that he and Amber chased two cows back down a trail and into their pasture, about eight years ago. While he did really well, it was not because he paid attention to the cattle and what they were doing, it was only because he is so well trained, and was able to move off of my legs telling him where to go. In other words, Bo is definitely not "cowey," but I think that he will learn what it is that I expect him to do, without me having to ask so much, because he is smart. This being said, his strong point was not being the horse that went in and picked out the three steers...he did better at holding the line, or keeping the herd at bay, and holding the cattle that we had sorted out until it was time to move them to the pen. So, for future penning competitions/clinics, Bo and I will be the sweeper (the horse that helps push the cattle down the arena and towards the wing person/pen) and the holder. 
Next we had Kristina and China, (we were really not worried about China's performance because she is a Paint), and she definitely lived up to her breeds heritage. Like I said, it was hard to watch each other out there, because we were all working as a team, but Kristina and China just got right in there and moved those steers! China was not timid at all, and she proved herself, under Kristina's guidance of course, to definitely fit in to the "cowey" category. Kristina and China seemed to be the best at sorting the cattle and then helping to move them down the arena, and also at taking up the wing position (the horse to the right of the pen, who keeps the cattle from slipping between the pen and an open space, and dashing back to their herd), or the hole position (the horse to the left of the pen, that effectively blocks that cattle from slipping between the wall and the pen, and running back to the herd. This horse and rider work alone, without the help of the other two horses/riders ,until it is time to run the cattle into the pen).
Lastly, and the most surprising of all, we had Amber and Waska, who had only been around cattle one other time. Honestly, we weren't expecting great things from Waska, because he is 1/2 Arab and 1/2 Saddlebred, and I don't know about you, but we have never heard of either of those breeds being "cowey." So...you can imagine our great surprise, when he and Amber approached the herd of 14 steers, and Waska dropped his head down, pinned his ears back, and started cutting them! Totally unbelievable!!! Gail even came up to Amber, not once, but twice, and said that she needed to get him around cattle, because "she had herself a really cowey little gelding there." Obviously then, Waska and Amber proved that they were capable of doing any of the positions that were asked of them, either sorter, holder, sweeper etc... 
In retrospect, team penning/cattle sorting definitely works better if you have a horse that knows, or likes what it is doing, but the riders skill level, as well as the difficulty or ease of the cattle that you have to sort, is really what makes up a good team. We will definitely be doing this again!!! Oh...and just so you know, whoever came up with the one and a half minute time limit sucks...lol!!! I think that you should have at least three minutes...one minute per cow!!
This was just one of those things where I got a phone call from Amber, who said that we had the opportunity to ride in this clinic, and that she would pay for half of the cost as a birthday present.
Even though I supported Obama, I do not think for a minute that John McCain is a bad guy, and I feel that he truly is sort of a maverick/renegade Republican, but I also feel that if he would have been elected, some of the key issues that I want changed, would not have been changed. This being said, I was very impressed by his eloquent speech last night, and I hope that he continues to play a part in our government. (To me, what is so sad about last night's election, was that I agree with some of the issues that both of the candidates put forth for change, and I just wish that we could have a "somewhere in the middle" political party. Why does everything have to be extremes?) I also realize, and I hope that those of you who voted for McCain realize as well , that I will not agree with everything that Obama does, and that it will take a long time for our country to get out of the mess that we are in, but I think that if we try to work together to find common ground, we will be able to accomplish this much more quickly. Anyway...I am excited that my my husband, my children and myself were able to be part of this historic election, and only time will tell what the consequences of last night's election will be... either negative or positive.
This is the back of one of Michael's little cousins. She is just a tiny little thing (18 months old), and I just wanted to scoop her up and take her home! How come I didn't think that mine were that cute when they were that little? Probably because I was too tired and stressed out to enjoy them...lol!!!
Hope that you all had great weekends!
