Vacation!

It seems weird to have just started and have two weeks off, but my contract is for 11 months, so I'll take two weeks now and two in May. Not a bad thing, just weird timing. There's a ton to do at work before classes start, but I'm determinedly not feeling guilty about it.

And we rode yesterday! I'd say about 8 miles, although I didn't end up riding quite all of it. I could definitely tell Sunny hadn't been ridden in 3 weeks when I first tacked up, but he settled quickly enough - too lazy to do much else, silly boy.

T and the vet trailered over. M came along, too - I wish I'd remembered my camera. He didn't show too much interest in the horses last year, although the year before he was really excited about riding and did lead-line with Sunny. Probably the only kid in CT that has a blue ribbon in lead-line from the South Dakota State Fair. We were lacking a horse quiet enough for him to ride by himself, so he rode behind T for a bit, but that didn't last too long. His legs were getting pinched by the saddle - conveniently so, given the grin he was sporting. Ultimately we ended up rotating who walked and led him.

It was a goregeous day for a ride. Who'd have thought it would be August 1 and only 75'! Just enough breeze to keep the bugs off. Today's supposed to be much the same, and I think we're all going again.

After we rode we collected some big buckets and picked choke cherries. We ended up with almost 4 gallons, so T and I were up 'til nearly midnight boiling and straining. We have lots of juice for jelly - YUM! We missed the choke cherries last year. You have to get them quick, otherwise the birds get there first. But with all the rain this year the crop is bumper enough to feed everything.