Nothing but Sunshine

This last week, with both bathroom projects wrapped up, house painting completed, and only a few minor odds and ends of projects left to accomplish, it finally got hot.  Really hot. 

For those of you that routinely experience temps in the triple digits, I can only say... I really, REALLY don't envy you! 

I convinced my folks that since home for them was also experiencing unusual highs, and they don't have AC, they should stay a bit longer and enjoy ours.  Mornings being semi-cool were designated pony time

I rode Sunny a couple of times, but since the extra hands were available and Mom was having such a good time riding Sunny, the last few mornings I tacked up Thunder and joined her.

Waiting with my dad while I finished getting Sunny ready.

At first I think the boys were a bit in awe of all the hands brushing and petting and fussing over them.  With three of us working they got lots of attention.  Which they thoroughly enjoyed.

I initially thought that since Thunder's been ponied so many miles beside Sunny, he'd want to just fall in and walk right along with him.  Not so.  He was fine with being solo right from the start. 

 We stayed at a walk, doing lots of bending and circles.

Yesterday morning we laid out some ground poles to walk over for something new to do.  Sunny's been-there-done-that, but Thunder stepped through gingerly at first.

He's still figuring things out - which is pretty clear in most of the pictures.  But he listens and stays focused on me, chomping away at the bit and doing a lot of slobbering, which is good.  I have him in a mid-weight copper-mouth eggbutt snaffle which seems to suit him.

We did have one "interesting" moment when he swatted at a fly on his chest and managed to get one of the running martingale straps in his mouth, but neither of us panicked, he stopped and I got off and readjusted

Sunny was quite pleased to be doing big circuits of the field, and my Mom was thrilled to be back on a horse.

It's been fabulous to have them here, and I'm so glad we got to play a bit at the end of their visit.  They say you can't pick your family, but I couldn't have asked for a better one!

Two weeks vacation, a duck, etc.

It was a wonderful, very busy two weeks. a cousin and her husband stopped by on Memorial Day on their way out to the Hills. My folks were here, which would have been fantastic regardless, but we also managed to accomplish an amazing amount. Kitchen cupboards cleaned and reorganized, flowers planted, trim painted, a large section of gutter replaced along with three living room windows.... The list goes on and on.

My sister was here for a long weekend with my new niece - my first chance to meet her, and she's as precious as her pictures. She's already 8 months old!

We also did farm chores for two sets of friends which included the excitement of escaped cows/calves on two separate occasions - both my mom and dad got in on the fun of herding the escapees back where they belonged. No pictures of that, but it was exciting.

Unfortunately, the one thing the two weeks didn't include was much horse time. Grooming and fussing, but I didn't actually get my butt on a horse until this morning. It was only five minutes bareback in the pasture with a halter, but Sunny seemed as pleased with it as I was. Too bad it's back to work for me in the morning and it will be Saturday before I can get back out there.

Let's see... we also looked at a couple of acreages, ended up with an orphan mallard ducking, test pulled a horse trailer that I think just might be THE one, and spent the last two days dog-sitting (and slipping in some much-needed napping!).

Short duck video...