Weekend Pictures

In preparation for participating in some Silent Sundays, Skywatch Fridays, and Wordless Wednesdays, I have been trying to get my camera figured out to maximize it's and my potential. Here is what I have from yesterday and today. I was going to try and get some action shots of my friend Jordan's Dalmatian, Krash. They participated in an AKC dog show this weekend in Lewiston and I headed down there with a friend to cheer them one. We got down there, but things didn't go as planned and Krash's day in the ring was short. This means no pics of him. Bummer.

Lovely Snow

Well, the weather man was proved wrong yet again. It wasn't supposed to snow until late Sunday, and it wasn't supposed to stick, at all. I swear, the Palouse has its own mind about what it is going to do for the day. It certainly never takes the weather people's opinion into account. Here is what I woke up to this morning and of course it's snowing harder and faster now. Since I am stuck in Pullman this weekend anyway, I guess I will just sit back and enjoy the snow's graceful, silent beauty.

Friday Fun!

Being able to watch everything that goes on below my apartment is sometimes quite entertaining when I have nothing better to do, like tonight since my flight was cancelled because of the dense fog that has settled right on top of Pullman. From my vantage point on the side of the 'hill,' I get to see the cops waiting for speeders and then watch as they catch 'the big one.' This evening, I saw the same officer pull over two different trucks.

Thank you sir, for doing what you have to to keep our roads safe. I see way too many accidents, like this one just before the second truck got pulled over this evening.

I didn't see it happen, but it wasn't good. The orange car in the middle of the picture was completely crushed on the other side and I never saw the driver exit the vehicle. I believe s/he left in the ambulance. The other car in this collision is in the ditch behind the police car on the far right. Neither vehicle was able to drive away afterwards. Unfortunately, I see this all the time because there are four major businesses who have their entrances all in the same 50 feet of road off of Stadium Way, the main WSU access road. People coming onto Stadium Way from Main Ave blast up the hill, not giving turning drivers the time they need to safely move out of the way. I would like to give a shout out to the ONLY vehicle who stopped after the accident, in the small SUV next to the orange Neon. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

And here are just a few pretty pictures from this morning after most of the freezing fog had lifted. If I hadn't needed to get going to work I would have gotten some AWESOME close ups of the ice structures, but that's the way things go! Enjoy!

Back in Pullman

Well, I made it back to school today after a very uneventful and laid back winter break. The record snows and rain in the Seattle area kept me inside and away from riding but three times during the three weeks I was home. My mom and I decided to try a snow ride on Jan. 3rd, which is actually pretty risky for us since our mare Starlett has some arthritis in her front legs that make her susceptible to falling and slipping quite easily, even when it's not cold out. Here is Starlett and my mom before heading out, as well as Mercy tracking some unidentified animal prints:
Miss Cedes, of course had to take it a step further and decided a dip in Lake Sawyer sounded like too much fun to pass up! Luckily, at the last minute she discovered the uneaten grass on the bank and decided that swimming in low 30* weather was not as good of a deal.

Then, on the 4th, we trailered over (I'll discuss this later, it is quite honestly a miracle that both horses now get in the trailer, together!) to a friends indoor arena. My mom rode Starlett for a while then let the a good friend ride her the rest of the time. Mercy and I worked mostly on bending and moving the hip and shoulders over in preparation for loping on the correct lead. Since the facility had some trail course obstacles available we tried the bridge. It was REALLY scary at first! Mercy decided that rushing one step over it and then diving off the side was the best way to finish this lesson. I disagreed. After working on slowing down both of our movements, she was successful! I think she was so proud of herself that she decided that standing on the bridge was more fun than just walking over it. What a pushover! :)

Our last ride was on Saturday. We just went for an exploratory ride, looking for storm damage on the trail to clear the next time I am home. We ran across a downed tree that was just too thick to cut with the mini saw we carry with us and had to turn around. Considering the record breaking storms we have had recently, I am surprised that was the only time we had to try another trail. We got a little loping in on our usual loping spots, but Mercy had quite a bit more energy than I wanted to deal with on our "relaxing ride," so we kept it at a walk the remained of the time. We had fun observing the ever changing forest, but it was wet and cold and I think we were all happy to get back home.

I am still planning on writing up a formal introduction, but it is going to take some time. So for now, I hope you enjoy these pictures I took outside of Colfax this afternoon as I was almost back to Pullman!