"Brian, what are you doing tied to Meg's pole?"

A quote from family guy, had to just record it somewhere.

Cottage

We spent Saturday and Sunday at the cottage and it was fantastic! We did some work that C & G have been unable to do (vacuuming, mowing etc), but mostly swam, snorkeled and relaxed. We really needed a weekend like this. I haven't felt so good in ages.



Well, I did feel good, until I saw my husband getting the brick oven/grill ready for cooking our dinner, that is.






Hazel aka "the littlest hobo". She has no idea we are watching in this picture, she is just exploring on her own. I swear this dog is so independent, as long as she's outside, she will occupy herself.








Some kind of mushroom. Of the belladonna family, we think.










A little snake friend. There was a skink running around too, but it was too fast to get a picture. Both were gorgeous and made my day.

Sun-dried tomato pesto pizza

Homemade dough (of course) topped with this lovely pesto made from sun-dried tomatoes. Pizza was also topped with mushrooms, yellow pepper, arugula and TONS of feta. Super yummy.

Now, it's off to the cottage. yipee!

No more wild salmon

Sasha sent me this...

from washington gov't website:
Hybridization - The risk of escaped Atlantic salmon hybridizing with native salmonids is low. Research has demonstrated it is very difficult, even under optimal laboratory conditions, to cross-breed between Pacific and Atlantic salmon and produce viable offspring. Should this rare event occur in the wild, the offspring would be functionally sterile and incapable of reproduction.

but, if farmed pacific salmon escapes in the pacific (or atlantic in atlantic)

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0616_030616_farmsalmon.html

This is a very interesting article. Sorry, I don't know how to make it link. I'll have to figure that out another time.

Not exactly free willy.

On the way to work this morning I heard about 30,000 or so atlantic salmon that escaped from their open water pens in BC. I guess I can scratch pacific salmon off my list of "best choices" now.

The guy on the radio says atlantic and pacific can't cross-breed. I wonder if that is true.

Train the Trainer

I forgot to mention, I am starting lessons again on Monday. I checked this place out close to 2 months ago, it met spec and then some. I am SO happy to be starting lessons. I can't imagine what it will be like to 1) have a horse that does what you ask, 2) have someone critique your riding. It'll be bliss. I will probably show up an hour early like a little girl, lol. Do you think they will all laugh at my new boots, hat and jodhpurs? Probably, but I don't care :) Mwhahaha.

Canada Day in the Country.

I must have been the only person heading OUT of town yesterday. I had the day off work, so I took the opportunity to go to the farm and work with Cherokee. My brother-in law, his wife and kids were visiting from TO so I was unable to ride on the weekend (the weekend was a blast though, enjoyed it entirely!)

It was a good day, not quite as hot as last week and, best of all, I had a newly mowed hay field to ride in. This is a big deal since little dude is barefoot and a little sensitive on gravel and the only place I've had to ride are the trails through the sugar bush. Great trails, but not great for really working on things. Plus, I felt I had donated enough blood to flies and mosquitos for one month. So, I got to pay attention to my form, dude's form, and work in eights, circles etc. Very useful. I didn't realize before that riding straight was an issue with him since on trails there isn't much choice. More to work on :-/

I wish I could upgrade this guy. Not that he's got it bad at all, but there are quite a few issues that I am just not able to deal with. I've tried, and I'm learning all the time, but working with him at most once a week is just not enough. Sigh. It's a shame because he really could be quite a nice little pleasure horse. Instead his owner is afraid to ride him and I'm the only other person making him think/work etc.

Last night Sasha was a bit exasperated with all my worrying and finally blurted out that he didn't understand why I felt so bad about all these animals that are not mine, nor my responsibility. It's just not about that, you know? It's about the animal. He knows that, he just hates to see me get all worked up about things I can't change.

Plus side? I know at very least little dude has a forever home as a pasture pet. He has plenty to eat, semi-decent pasture (supplemented with hay). I know he will never end up anywhere that would treat him badly or anything. The worst "crime" here is being under-used and hence not very marketable, which would be bad, except that he will never be sold.

Oh, and the standing-for-mounting is going much better. Not perfect, but much better. For the record, smack to the chest worked WAY better than all the longeing in the world. Still, it is very hard to do even basic stuff with no arena of any kind, no round pen or indeed anywhere "safe" to work. Just big wide open farm and lots of cows :)

Enjoy the pics of lil dude after a good workout and shower.


With Hazel, who had an even better workout since she ran beside us the whole time. I W-T about 97% of the time, but that translates to a lot of running for a dog! Hazel still thinks Cherokee is just a big dog. The horse doesn't know what to think, but I can say Hazel has been the best trainer when it comes to de-spooking this crazy horse.



After cool-out, a shower and some "luxury grazing" (i.e., grazing on lawn that isn't pasture for anyone), set free to roll away. He often rolls while I'm still holding him, but he gets distracted by new patches of grass easily! I've noticed he prefers rolling on hills. What's up with that??





Doesn't this just look satisfying?







Hup!










And now for more food!