What happened to July?

Man, this month is half over and I haven't posted a thing. It's not because I haven't been doing anything; it's because I've been trying to do everything. My oldest son got married on the Fourth; that kept us quite busy for a while. I've had a young German midwifery student living with me for three weeks, sort of a job shadow thing, only she shadowed every aspect of my life. She was a delight. If you've never taken a complete stranger into your home, I would recommend you try it. It was a very enriching experience. I've spent an inordinate amount of time on Craigslist looking at horse trailers and trucks. I promised my husband I would wait and not do anything crazy. It's weird how reading classified ads is addictive. My husband and I have had two lovely dates at the Mt.Charleston Hotel which included a good three mile hike in the morning. Once we hiked to Mary Jane Falls and the next time to the top of Cathedral Rock. In all of this, I have seen my horse everyday, except when we were out of town for the wedding.

Calico is doing great. She had her annual vaccines last week, and I was surprised to see she recognized the vet immediately. She hadn't seen him in three years, since she lived out-of-state for a while. She also had her hooves trimmed and and will be fitted for hoof-boots tomorrow. This week I'm finally getting her Brand Inspection papers updated. I want everything to be ready for when I enter our first ride. We've been doing a lot of arena work and walks around the neighbor hood, but I haven't taken her on the really rocky stuff again since she was tentative about going out last time I tried. I want to wait until she gets her boots. We trotted on some trails yesterday. She seemed very willing and we had a great time. I had planned to enter a novice 30 mile ride in Fallon in October. Now I have two women due around that time, so I'll have to see if there is another ride that we could do before the end of the year that is not too far. IF I feel our conditioning is on track, and IF I can find or borrow a horse trailer, and IF no one needs me to attend a birth, we might make it to a ride. The main thing cutting into my conditioning schedule is heat. It's hot here by 7:30 am. I mean hot. Last night we had a big thunderstorm, and it cooled things off a little, but I don't know how long that will last. I sent my camera to Rome with my son and his bride. They'll be back at the end of the month and I'll be able to post photos again. Ride on, folks.