Skip to main content

As the season changes........................

It's been a long week.....My horse has been slowing not doing so well since the first of January...The vet said he was between 24-27 years old....he slowly stopped eating and had been very depressed....I bought Jeeves about 11 years ago....way before I ever started hiking we rode horses...at one time our family had 4 horses and we rode on weekends during the summer and into the fall...riding horses is how we started seeing some of the Methow Valley..besides from drives in the car....I remember the first time we rode up in the Beaver Creek area, Twisp...nice easy area with lots of views to go horse riding.....We thought we were in horse riding heaven...lots of open space....Through the years Jeeves was always the kid horse...the easy one to ride....loved to go....easy to load....and an easy keeper.....had a little bit of a stubborn streak that showed up when an adult was on him but nothing to terrible....as he got older and our activities started to change towards hiking....the horses were used less and less....but every time the nieces and nephews came to visit there was lots of time spent in the horse pen taking turns riding Jeeves and the other horses.....Early early spring of 2012 we sold one horse...then very shortly after that we lost a horse very suddenly.....our sweet mare Teko...then last October we decided to put down a horse, Dakota....so we were down to Jeeves....I got to spend 4 months with Jeeves all on his own.....it was good times....felt like when we first got him.....he wanted lots of attention....followed me around....always curious what I was doing.....calling out to me when I entered the barn yard....1st of January he started acting very depressed....then slowly went off his feed.....started not being interested in his apples then stopped eating carrots......I called the vet....decided we had some teeth issues that needed addressed.....well the news was worse than that....Jeeves had a failing heart and bad kidneys.....so I had to make the decision of whether to make him continue in pain for awhile longer or let him go.....it was hard...he had lived a long good healthy life....not easy to let them go.....February 13th, 2013 was a sad day.....very very rough....lots of tears....we had good times together in the 11 years....learned a lot of good skills and how to appreciate a beautiful animal....you don't really own a horse...it owns you.....Jeeves was beautiful animal in appearance and in personality.....I couldn't have ask for a better horse to learn and grow with....I will miss him terribly....the barn yard is a lonely sad empty place right now.....



On another note...I am posting some pictures from our last Sun Mountain Lodge, Winthrop snowshoe trip.....since this visit the snow in the area has melted like crazy off the hills and mountains...spring is on the way.....It just might be time to pack the snowshoes away till next winter.....



































Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Cutthroat Trail.......Snowshoeing North Cascades Highway

I have a confession to make, I have been having some winter blues. Not sure if they can be officially called winter blues due to we have had little to no winter. I have been very impatiently waiting for the snow to arrive, it comes, blows through, makes the ground white, then its gone. The last few days we have been sitting at temperatures in the 40's. What is up with winter. One thing I can say for sure is I am very thankful for the few trips we made up highway 20 before the silver star gate was closed. Our trip to Cutthroat Trail was back in November, when we had visions of winter coming to the valley very soon. The snow was nice and fluffy and deep. Pleasant day to get out and enjoy it, one of those days where your not sure if the clouds where going to allow the blue sky to show it self or not. We parked right off the highway with a couple of other cars and Snowshoed up the road to the trail head. Wasn't very long and more hikers, cross country skiers, and furry ...

The Places We Can Go

Life goes on, things change, storms of life come and go.  One thing that always remains the same is the feeling and quiet peace I feel from being in the mountains.  This was a spur of the moment overnight trip.  It was so needed and such a beautiful time.  Left the house around 2:30 PM, traffic was so slow heading up Hwy 20, lots of folks heading out of Mazama.  Arrived at the trail head a few minutes before 4 PM, and we were off down the trail in a few minutes.  Three quarters of a mile down the trail a bee or some kind of flying ant decided to bite my nieces eye lid, talk about hysteria for a moment.   I was pretty sure our trip was over, but we were able to move on with a very cold creek soaked multipurpose face mask.  The sun was sinking fast and the wind was howling by the time we reached the top.  Made some quick decisions on the best place to park the tents, and we set up camp.  It was truly an incredible evening, hiked aroun...

Carlton Complex Wildfire, Pateros Washington

The last few weeks have been crazy busy. I spent last weekend moving my animals back home to a mostly burnt out barn yard. We had a small patch of trees and garden space that escaped the fire, which was where my dog pens were located. So they were able to return to a fairly normal life. The horse pen was kind of a hit and miss burnt area, since there wasn't a whole lot of vegetetaion in it the fences took most of the heat. The metal panels got a nice rusty color to them, with some serious scorch marks. Besides my horse having red smudge colored marks on his nose from the fencing he seems to be adjusting to his return home. We have found temporary living close by so it has made taking care of my animals easier, and a stress off of where we be this winter. The town is slowly getting the debris removed and homesteads cleaned up. Lots of piles of rubble and cut down trees piled up in the city lot areas. I understand that Okanogan County and the Confederated Tribes Of the Co...