Week 2 Recap

In retrospect most of these pictures are 'visiting the barn and horses', because almost every morning this week I've toddled down to said barn to help brush down horses and chat with the wranglers. This morning (Saturday) is the first that I've slept in past 6:15...but the mornings have been really awesome. I love going out where it's light but the sun hasn't risen over the mountains yet, and there's usually a slight briskness to the air and the wranglers are jingling (bringing the horses in)...it's just gorgeous. Plus I'm starting to learn the horses names--slowly, but still.

This one below is Copper, Emily B's (or EB, as she shall now be know) horse. Apparently he's a turd and no one else likes him because he's something of a one-person horse and doesn't do well in a string being ridden by different people, but EB loves him to death. There's a rumor that Nick (head wrangler) may be giving him to her because he does so much better with her than other people.

I also may or may not have some sort of a deal at some point with EB--she does leatherworking (pictures to follow) and makes bags, saddles, bracelets, chaps--you name it, she's probably made it. So I mentioned to her that I would draw Copper for her if she made me a bag...at this point I just need to get a picture of him with his headstall on, and the time to work on said drawing, but it's been put out there for consideration.

 

Headstalls in the back of EB's leather-working 'shop' (basically a little room in the back of the barn)--she brings her sewing machine and leather from home and has an actual business. It is so freakin' cool.

Hand-stamped headstalls...

So Sunday afternoon after most of the guests had arrived, Moriah, Jeaner, and I all wandered down to the barn to see what was going on there and found EB and Charissa stamping bracelets for Kids' Club. After we had been there for a few minutes chatting EB looks at us and says 'pick a word'. After we had done so she stamped these bracelets and handed them to us. Mine was 'rose' because I couldn't really think of a word off the top of my head, and I mentioned later that in retrospect I wish EB had picked a word for me (for Jeaner she picked 'fierce' and for Charissa 'redeemed' with 'don't forget' burned in the back). 

So on Thursday I'm back in the shot, soaping and oiling my boots while EB is re-stamping some bracelets, and she hands me a new one that says 'beholder'. Apparently because I've been taking so many pictures the saying 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' is EB's saying for me. It is so cool...I haven't taken it off except to shower. :P

Lining up the stamps...

...and the bracelets in question...

This is what the kids get at the end of the week--it's so cool to see them running around with these on their wrists on Fridays.

Moar headstalls!

So this, my friends, is jingling--there's 3-4 people on horseback and the ground running the horses in from the back pasture. If one goes out early enough (6ish) they can watch the jingling in question.

Cowboy Casey, wrapping a bosal. Iris (one of the grey horses) has a very sensitive mouth so they ride her without a bit--I think she's on Darron's string, if I remember correctly.

Almost all ready here--I may or may not have tried to climb on the fence at a different point and knocked part of it down. *cough* In my defense the fence IS quite shaky in that area.

Paprika, the ever-angry roan--from what I've been able to observe he's more or less at the bottom of the pecking order, poor little guy. 

Aw, see, that's a better face. He's not sour ALL the time, just a good deal of it.

The list of the fallen! Most horses are donated at various stages of their lives, so when they die, whether it be of old age, disease, or being put down, their name goes on the wall.

There's the man himself--Cowboy Nick, taking one of the newer horses for a spin. 

EB was trying to get Copper to lope on the right lead, but he was stuck on the left. It was a little funny to watch, but I know how frustrating that can be...hence the turd-ness of Copper. XD

Jingling everyone back out...

"If I died would you carry me home?" The eternal question...Copper was a very good boy and didn't budge the whole time EB was goofing off on his back. It was pretty great.

Ellie the Russian! I really love how this picture turned out, because the horse's eyes are soft, his ears are pricked, no one blinked, Ellie is smiling--it turned out AWESOME.

Heading out to feed...

Morning pics! The snow is almost melted off of Longs for now, except for bits here and there. During the day you can see the wet patches where the melting snow is running off the mountain.

Getting a little artsy here, I guess? The wood floors in the barn are really cool.

Oh yes, so apparently there are (were) fires near us. This one was a little scary because we (by which I mean I) thought it was just a cloud, but no, that's smoke. O.o I've never been that close to a fire before...there were rumblings of wondering about evacuation, but it was put out by the next day. 

Our speaker for the week giving a chat at fireside...

The sunset was beautiful framed by the lovely smoke. O.o

Riding lesson! 

Heading back from jingling on Oakley...

...and taking Oakley on a few laps around the arena. Apparently Oakley needs to lose some weight. XD

Cowboy Nick trimming Brownie's hooves--this kinda took me back to my farrier-assisting-days. :P 

The sunsets aren't usually this intense, so this was AWESOME.

Getting everyone ready on Friday morning--I think this was Firecracker. After Darron tacked him up he started going off about how much he loves Firecracker and was singing 'And IIIIIIIII will always looooooove youuuuuuu' to the horse. XD

Sugar, I think? And Charissa and EB, of course. 

Remington! He's this big Appaloosa/Andalusian cross, and he's so cool-looking. I love how bigger horses look with their thick heads and necks and feet. Gah.

I know this is blurry, but Rem and Brownie were checking each other out and it was hilarious. 

Cooking wrangler breakfast...

Spencer! He was only here for the week, but he was a pretty cool guy. (Even if I couldn't remember his name for the first couple of days. ^^; )

On to the portraits! I was taking pictures of EVERYONE yesterday, but especially in portrait format. This is Anna Jean (or Jeaner) and Alijah, her little brother. They're both awfully sweet people...Lij is like a little brother, really, and Jeaner is just awesome. I've asked advice from her so many times that I can't even count.

EB, trying to brood.... XD

David! Finally got a good picture of him...

Kas, EB, and Charissa...

Jordyn and Kas...

Oh yeah! So this week there were these guys filming a promotional video for the ranch, so they were around every corner lurking with their cameras and booms and equipment. It was pretty cool.

Anna, daisy-chaining!

Cowboy Casey, being cool...

...and Cowboy Darron being....um....I have no idea. O.o

Moriah!

Finally got a picture of our brave housekeeping crew--I handed the camera to Darron, and immediately regretted it as he took 30 pictures (all right, all right, I exaggerate) of us in various poses. Case in point: 

Yeah. He was going 'one...two...'*click*'...three...'*click*'...seven...'*click*'...twenty-one...'*click* He seriously got over a dozen pictures before I wrested my baby back.

Siblings picture! Lij and Jeaner and Jordyn and Cameron--separate families, but still siblings.

Photobombing time! (Good grief, I've taken SO many pictures. O.o)

The ever photogenic Nick G!

All right, I guess Cody is kinda photogenic too...but don't tell him I said that. XD

Another brave wrangler, Luke, being engrossed and candid--

--until he saw me. *sigh* Candid photos are better because people look natural. For some reasons cameras make people want to cheese it up.

Kas being pensive...

...or not so pensive?

EB giving her cowboy poetry--I think there was a new one this week.

And then there's Lena, Cowboy Don's daughter. She is seriously so adorable (and vicious--don't let her start wrestling 'cause it gets SERIOUS O.o).

And then there's Cason, who is just adorable all the time. :P

Oh gosh--so yesterday we went to Pearl Street in Boulder, and it was SO much fun. Oh man. Basically it's just a brick road with shops and street performers, and they all do a variety of different things.

Take this guy for example--I was seriously intrigued and came back to ask for a poem. There was a bookstore less than a dozen feet away, so I asked for a poem about bookstores, and in a couple of minutes he had it whipped out.

His little typewriter was so cool--it was from 1917, and SO tiny. I love it. Makes me miss my script typewriter back at home.

There's the case...

...and the poem! I emailed this picture to him at his request--I guess he likes to save all his poems in one form or another. I don't blame him at all--it was pretty dang cool. Even the paper was awesome.

The tea shop! A couple of us went in and did a tea ceremony, which was SO much fun. I can't believe I've never done anything like that before.

Tea set for sale, I think...

At first it was only Jake and I in the teashop, and we wanted some other people to come with so we wandered back outside to find everyone watching this guy. Never seen a one-man-band, so it was definitely interesting.

Okay. So this was my setting--mine was called 'blue stone' or something, and was oolong pearls that had been soaked in licorice and ginseng. It sounds gross, but it was really amazing. The ginseng woke me right up--and I didn't even add any (or rather, much :P) sugar to the tea.

Annie was sitting across from me (note to self: get a picture of Annie) and took my picture because apparently I don't have hardly any of myself. XD

The tea was HOT, man. This pose was harder to hold than ya might think...

Jake and his milk oolong...I've had milk oolong before, but his reminded me a bit of coconut milk. I don't remember mine ever tasting that good.

Mah tea...

My impulse purchase! Okay, so after the tea thing we went to the bookstore down the street, and it's a triple-level building with an old ballroom and all sorts of cool stuff. I was geeking out all OVER the place because of all the books--bookstores have this weird effect on me where I want ALL THE BOOKS. ALL OF THEM. But I restrained myself until I went onto the second floor and saw this. It was $40 well-spent, because it has TONS of drawings, photographs, comments, maps, Bilbo's contract--I kinda was freaking out until we got back to the Pickle.

(Oh yes, the Pickle is the big green van that some of us drove in. The others say it's ugly, but I think it's beautiful in its own way. I'll get a picture sometime.)

And on the way home Amber kind of made a discussion topic of '5 qualities you want for your future spouse' and the three of us up front (Darron, Ellie, and me), after everyone had listed their things, basically discussed it until we got home. XD It was very enlightening, especially when one of the guys (I think it was Cameron) mentioned that he likes it when girls go au natural (no makeup) and that 'messy is cute'. That made me feel better about only washing my hair once a week. XD

Anyway...suffice to say that I haven't listed everything by any means, but that's pretty much how the last week has been. Between physical journaling, Facebook, and blogging I'm hoping to get as thorough as possible about the summer. See ya'll next week!