Taiga Packing

I've been going nuts completing oodles of projects around the farm that I want to share, but as they're all in a state of partially-complete, today's post is meant to tide you over and kill you with cute.

A couple weekends back, my little quaran-team of humans I've interacted with since the chaos began headed to spend time in the Sinks of Gandy at our family camp. It's possibly the most remote place in West Virginia and thus is a great place to spend time right now!

While my brother and Leslie went fishing, Dave, Kate, Taiga, and I headed out on a 24-mile bike ride.

Forest Service road along Gandy Creek

So in love with this weather and sunshine!

It was a GORGEOUS and perfect day to be out.

While Taiga has completed 17 miles with energy to spare in the past, she became foot-sore on the mixed dirt and gravel roads during the first 13 or so miles of our trip. Dave opted to sprint ahead to get back quicker so he could get the truck and come pick her up, but in the mean time, I wanted to see if there was a way for me to carry her so she could have a break.

I definitely did not have a plan and honestly had no idea if we could make it work. But with a little help from Kate (who never questions my crazy ideas like this), patience from tired Taiga, and some creative use of Taiga's webbing leash, we made it work!

Look at this happy little bitch

Amidst constant giggling, Kate then captured media of the first mile or so of our venture.

Ridin' Dirty

Her little feet tucked in slay me

She was LOVING the sites and smells here. So much livestock and a light breeze to carry the interesting smells make for a happy little husky

What am I doing with my left arm? Trying to relieve the increasing pain and numbness in my left shoulder/arm of course!

I ended up carrying Taiga like this for a solid 3 miles or so. She LOVED it. She took in the sights for a bit, and then put her sweet little chin on my shoulder and took a nap. It was the most adorable thing ever.

I'd have continued carrying her for longer, but the setup was NOT comfortable for me. My left arm/shoulder was in a world of pain from restricted blood flow and it was hard to breathe with a dog trussed so tightly to my body. Not to mention, the very large majority of this section was a very steady uphill!

Once I couldn't continue, we moseyed at Taiga's pace until Dave picked her up. (It was amazing how much easier the uphill was when I could breathe lol)

All-in-all, it was a FANTASTIC day. Taiga was plum tuckered by the end and slept for two days straight. A tired husky is the BEST kind of husky!

Manic Monday | A Photo Dump

Another Monday, another helter skelter manic photo dump. Because why not? These photos cover the period between April 27 - present.

Kate ponying Q so she could join our evening outing. Grif was too lit to let me pony and he and Q fight a lot these days lol

The sunset was so pretty, albeit windy and cool, so I pranced about with the ponies being silly

Tried to get a good photo, but Stan just wanted to eat. I'm not kicking him here, legit balancing and holding his nose away from the ground with my foot hoping to encourage him to NOT eat the grass and instead pose for a photo. Horse heads are heavy, y'all. lmao

Well, Grif looks cute.

LOL Q

Bless these patient, good creatures who put up with my bullshit

Q is over it already

LOL Q...again

I love them

TA DAAAA

Trying to get back into a regular climbing routine. But then I tweaked my hand and my progress has stalled again. 

Venison ramp burgers!

Finally made Grif a headstall for his favorite bit. 

Beta biothane from Two Horse Tack, rivets from Amazon, and buckles and keepers from Weaver Leather. Easy project! Will add snap on browbands eventually.

I was letting this old man on the bed while I teleworked for a weekish. He loves looking out the big window. But then he tweaked his neck getting on/off. Sooooo no more bed time with a giant dog TV window. 

I finally put a dowel rod under my grooming shelf thinger for all of my sprays bottles

I'm doing the sourdough thing. These are sourdough crackers. THEY ARE AWESOME. I definitely had them for dinner exclusively one night lol

I'm also making bread. This was my very first loaf. It was delicious.

Dave is the happiest ever with all of this fresh bread. My subsequent loaves have been ramp bread.

Dave smoking a cedar board so I can have a smokey old fashioned

The cedar smoke takes this drink to the next level

And done. Not a classic glass for an old fashioned, but we only have one glass for bourbon in the whole house. Dave has broken all of the others... Life with my husband, y'all.

Morning bath, tea, and reading.

Nomming fresh grass

Bored waiting on Q and I to finish our ride. I submitted a video of both horses to the Online Riders Collective for feedback. I'll share more about that whole experience when I get the feedback videos back! I submitted Griffin's to Boyd Martin and Phillip Dutton and Q's to Lauren Sprieser.

A screenshot from Grif's jumping portion. 

And then on Friday night it did this. 

Because reasons.

There are two seasons in Canaan, July and not-July.

And in case you wondered, it will also snow in July here. 

Nothing like snow on May 8 and 9.

Cozy fireplace vibes.

The next morning.

Convinced this is a bunch of bullshit.

But not too much bullshit because their hay nets were iced closed and they got free hay for the first time in months.

This cat is the sweetest and kindest and coolest and I love her.

Hiking in Canaan yesterday.

The editor of this WV magazine knows I can be counted on in a pinch for photos. She messaged me asking for the hi-res version of this photo from the hiking trip Austen and I took last fall. Little did I know it was her choice for a two-page spread! Taiga is a super star!

Liz's Barn Babbles | Dressage is Hard Yo

A couple weeks ago, Kate and I drank a bit too much wine and this video was born.

Please feel free to lend me your horses' judges marks in the comments. I feel its only fair they get to judge [abbreviated] human dressage.

And remember folks, don't take your horses for granted. This shit is hard.

Witchy Q

Words. I have them, but I can't string them together today.

So, instead, have a video of me mocking Q from Monday evening.

I love her so much. Mare faces and all.

Manic Monday

First off, thanks to Holly and Amanda for setting up the Zoom call Saturday night. It was a ton of fun to hang out, watch the KY3DE stream together, and see everyone's faces! I think we ended up having around a dozen people? Regardless, I loved the change of pace and getting to completely nerd out on horses with y'all.

My husband walked by the Zoom call a few times saying this and giggling to himself as he listened to our horse nerdery.

Amidst a Zoom-heavy weekend (I had two virtual baby showers yesterday), life continued par the quarantine course in my neck of the woods. Which is to say, Dave played video games for hours a day while I puttered around the house and yard playing with plants and animals. Oh, and I made my second monthly trip into civilization to fetch groceries for humans and animals. I was really happy to see a lot more people wearing masks than I had on previous visits; employees at the grocery store and Tractor Supply all had matching masks on!

At any rate, I don't have much more of a narrative to add. However, I do have lots of photos and short stories to share. I'm going to dub this "Manic Monday" due to the complete lack of focus on any one thing for more than a moment.

Trillium erectum

Trillium erectum

Bog off Canaan Loop Road

Sunset husky play

This dog is so sweet. We've been enjoying her snuggles more than ever now that we're home all the time

And this old man is just so happy to have me home all the time. He lies behind me as I telework every day.

Ride With Your Mind Essentials...and pandemic essentials.

The last sunny evening we enjoyed. There is snow on the ground this morning.

Sunrise light before the clouds settled in one day last week. Look closely in the front field to see the beginnings of XC jumps

Beautiful evening light on our way to get ramps

Lots of ramps for making ramp pesto! I also dropped some off to my neighbors. When I dismounted to set the bag on their porch, Grif took the opportunity to leave me (and their lush, grassy yard) and head home on his own. As it was only a quarter mile, I walked laughing to myself the whole way. I found him waiting in his stall for me upon my return.

My most favorite beer. A tripel sour that rings in at 9.5%

Imagine hot tea instead of coffee in that mug and this is basically my life.

I'm still waiting on my window shade to show up before fully debuting the "complete" tack room, but I LOVE my new jute rug! I had an Amazon credit/gift card to use before the 15th so I opted for this lovely rug. It is WAY NICER than I had imagined and is really perfect in this space.

With the return of migratory birds, Norah was gifted with a homemade clown collar to lessen the likelihood of bird kills. This design has been scientifically proven to lower the probability of cats killing birds. Bonus, it looks REAL CUTE lol

She really didn't seem to mind it at all when I put it on. Continued her usual love fest.

Except by the next morning she'd ditched the collar, killed a vole, mouse, and chipmunk AND was lightly skunked. Little girl may have had some feelings about that clown collar after all lol! It was also a very rainy night; I was impressed with her bounty amidst the weather.

The horses showed a lot of interest in the dead when I was removing them. So I let everyone smell them.

I've let them smell a lot of interesting dead animals through the years.

Nothing tops letting them sniff bear blood after we dressed out a bear years ago though. They sniffed cautiously and then went wheeling and bucking across the field at mach speed. 

And after my post about hypothetical stimulus check spending, Fox Rider shared that this Kerrits Coaches coat was on one of the FB equestrian groups. As I've literally lusted after one of these jackets since 2017 and knew that if I was ever able to find one in my size that was new or in good condition, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. Annnnd I didn't. And I ended up having THE BEST online purchase experience of my life. The chick who was selling it was SO SWEET. It fits perfectly and kept my warm and dry on a short ride with Miss Q in the rain. Seeing as my forecast is nothing but rain all week, this jacket came at a perfect time. Thank you, Fox, for helping this happen!

And to close out Manic Monday, I'll leave you with a beautiful sunset and a Civil War era cabin that my neighbor had rebuilt on his property.