I KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!

Sometimes Camping is just exhausting!

Aunt L Was there when I woke up.  I really like my Aunt L.  She's a Real Cowgirl.

And Nana had a New Helmet and New Boots Ready!

 

Hey Nana! It Fits!  Now Where's the Boots?

 

Okay, got the boots on but I'm still a tad tired.

 

But I perked right up when Dad showed up with a horse.  Daddy took me for a short ride. It was scary at first, but I wanted to do it.   The very first thing I said the next morning to my Daddy was Ride the Horse! 

 

And I wasn't scared at all.  I liked it...a Lot!

Grandpa rode Ratchet and Daddy & I rode Fizz. Charlie the Schnauzer went too!

I did other fun stuff too, like swinging in the swing Grandpa put up for me in the tree.

Digging in the dirt was a hit too.

 And what's camping without s'mores????

Yeah Horse Patch Camp was a lot of fun.  But how did Nana know I about ready to ride a horse? (Hey, Nana's been down this road with quite a few kids, she knew.)

And now a word from Nana.  Horses are big AND scarey.  Never force a child to ride a horse.  They have to want to do it. And please please never put your child on a horse - ANY horse without a properly fitted equestrian helmet.  Head injuries are the #1 serious injury from horseback riding. I know, the old photos of my kids-no helmets.  But now I am older and wiser plus the helmets are more available, better built and reasonably priced.
My granddaughter's helmet was a small dial-a-fit.  Don't put your child on a horse with dangling jewelry, tied hood strings or anything that can hang up on the saddle and prevent them from getting off if they need to in an emergency.  Don't put laced up boots on them, slip on type ropers are the best so small feet can fall out. 
Never let your small child walk up to a horse alone and NEVER let them walk behind a horse.   

Make Safety a Priority -- and Now Let's Go Ride!

Valentine's Day

   I read in the news today, that the average person spent $60 for a gift for their honey!!  SIXTY DOLLARS - are you kidding!  Wow.  Hubby's never been one to do much for Valentine's Day especially if it's in the middle of the week.

 

The Snowmobile Trail going down the hill to our Trailer.

  It was nice Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday this year so Hubby & I could spend it together.  We drove from Sixty Miles North of Nowhere to Somewhere and ate a late lunch at a nice restaurant.  Then we went up and checked out the trailer on the mountain.  It had over 24" of snow on it so Hubby hiked through the drifts and shoveled it off.
  The snowmobilers were out in force and zooming around.  It looks like fun sorda.  Hubby says we need to some a couple of snowmobiles.  I'm not sure I'm into being cold and wet but I guess maybe one of these days we will find out.
   Stopped at the feed store and when we got back to Sixty Miles North Of Nowhere dropped it off for the cows and looked for the elk but didn't see them.
    At the end of the day, I felt like I had gotten my $60 worth of Valentine's Day. 

More Summer 2009 Photos

One of the things we did last summer was have several family picnics on Casper Mountain. Oh those were so fun and it's about the only time we get together to see exended family. We are thinking of setting a date for each month in 2010 like 2nd Sunday of each month.
Here's some photos of the last one in September which was rainy but we had fun anyway! So we set up the canopy outside the trailer door and it worked well.

Now there is something very frightening in this photo. It's called Pine beetle and it's hitting the forests in the West hard due to global warming. It doesn't get cold enough in the winter to kill the beetles (requires it to get to 22 below zero). They are predicting in the next 5 years 90% of the pine trees on Casper Mountain will get killed by the pine beetle. I find that very very disturbing and wonder what the future holds for us. Also Colorado is now experiencing Aspen die off (the gorgeous yellow trees in the photo) and they do not know what is killing it. That worries me also that maybe we will lose ALL the trees. They do have an insecticide program for pine beetles but it's very expensive and all the forest cannot be treated. But we will treat the trees on our small lot but it won't help the wonderful vistas we now have.

I can only hope that some day our granddaughter will get to enjoy Wyoming and her mountains the way we have. So much of it and the way of life is disappearing. One of the things I used to love when I was a kid was going up to cow camp for the summer. Now a lot of ranching families do not do that anymore. I'll post more on it on the next posts.

Merideth