Michael's Adventure Days 2 & 3

There really wasn't too much excitement on the trail (I guess that's a good thing). It was very windy and cold on Sunday, but the weather was quite nice today (Monday). They rode 26 miles on Sunday and 15 miles today. Michael even sounds tired when I talk to him, but he is having fun and so is Dad. T-Bone has been a fickle eater...NOT like HIM at ALL...poor guy, he might loose a few pounds (but I do hope he endures the rest of the ride ok). Three and a half more days to go.

Michael's Adventure: Day 1

For those of you who don't know, Michael left this morning with my Dad (riding T-Bone & Nugget) for a seven day horseback ride from Williams to Phoenix (about 160 miles). This is a traditional Bill Williams Mountain Men ride which has gone on for decades, only men allowed. My Dad invited Michael to go along and asked to use T-Bone.

This morning was a cold and windy, yet sunny, start to their adventure. Nugget promply began bucking as Michael put his foot in the stirrup to get on. Hopefully not a sign of how the ride is going to go.

Michael gave me the update for todays happenings. They rode about 28 miles, gotta love GPS. Nugget calmed down not too long into the ride. Nugget tends to walk much faster than T-bone so he would hold Nugget back for a while to be with "T" and my Dad, then let Nugget stride out for awhile.

Before they left, I gave my Dad the rundown of T-Bone's quirks, as he has many I have come to know and adore him for. Apparently he forgot the one about T-Bone loving water. I had told him to only let him drink from the water holes and if they had to cross it, to keep him moving because he loves water. Well, Michael said he was not far ahead of Dad when he heard him start to yell. T-Bone had layed in the water and gotten Dad's gear...and Dad, soaked. Michael said he got a picture of Dad ringing out his socks...I will share that when Michael gets back.

I will keep posts throughout this week of updates about his ride.

Milestones

I have completed my last class for my Associates degree. It was an online math class, which I hated! Thanks to Anna for numerous hours on the phone helping me through the problems. I love ya sis! (You don't really have an instructor on online math classes, it is almost like a free-for-all, read and learn the textbook and you'll be fine. Yeah right, who likes to read math textbooks?)

Anyhow, my Associates in Criminal Justice will be officially complete on Sunday when the class ends. But I know I passed the final, and thus the class, that is one thing that is good with the online math format...instant grading.

WoooHooo!!!! After a break and saving money so I can forgo student loans, I will be working toward my bachelors.

What have we been up to?

Well, once again it has been awhile since I posted...then again, very few (ok...2) people ever leave comments regularly so I don't know if more than two people are ever reading it. Anyhow... we have been busy getting the horses ready for the long treck from Williams to Phoenix, so we have been doing a lot of riding.

Other than that, Michael's friend RJ, who he served in Japan with, dropped in after seven years. He is still in the Marine Corps and fits the profile, but they enjoyed hanging out for a day and catching up on life.

Michael and I went to the service for my 8 year old second cousin, Holly. No one knows for sure why she passed away, but she was definatly one of God's precious angels. She had such a sweet personality and loved butterflies. Her younger sister couldn't understand why her mommy was crying for Holly, she said "I don't know why you are crying, Holly is with (Great)Grandma and Jesus now"



We were watching my friend Tonya's dog, Azul, for the day and my strange cat Jade can't seem to let go of any of her curiosity until she has totally satified it. She kept taunting Azul, slowly batting at her. Then she would lay on her back and grab Azul with her front paws. Azul was so good, she didn't know exactly what to do...she looked so worried. In this picture, it looks like Jade is giving Azul a description "he was about yay-high"