Heads Up

Thought I'd let y'all know that I'll be in Alabama for training in January, then will be stationed there for the next two years.

1 Down, 99 To Go...

In Germany, you're not considered a real rider until you've been thrown from your horse 100 times. Well, I'm 1% of a real rider...

We were out, having a nice ride in the fall air a few weeks ago, when Dixie decided to jump a fallen tree. Dixie's a jumper, so I'm generally well prepared for her leaps, but at the time of her jump, I was complacent because she had been so well behaved. She took a big prep step, throwing me to the back of the saddle, then upon the landing I was thrown to the front, hit the saddlehorn, and flipped over her shoulder. Luckily, I grew up getting thrown around, so I know how to fall without getting hurt too bad. As I rolled out of my flip, Dixie turned and looked at me, as if to say "What are you doing on the ground?" I did better than my brother, who fell (not thrown, fell) off his horse twice that day.

In Other News: Thanks, Video Games

On this ranch, you learn by doing. Well, I needed to clean up some poop, so I hopped in the big (expensive) green tractor and was confronted with this set-up:

I had no idea what to do, but I've had to learn enough games and use enough joysticks that I was able to quickly figure it all out.

That might look like a lot of manure, but it's only one of three piles!

Catch-Up

It's been a while since I've been on. Other than fighting some internet problems, I've been doing a lot of traveling and entertaining. I was in Denver last weekend to drive a float in a High School Homecoming parade and then stayed for an extra couple of days to pick up some friends who flew in from IN. A quick story (in pictures) of what we did while they were here:

We logged the woods (with our bare hands)...

It dumped 3-5 inches of snow...

We did a little skeet shooting (look closely, you can see the pigeon exploding)

And even chopped some wood

Snow!

It's hard to see because there's only a light dusting, but I woke up to the first snow fall of the year. Flakes might have previously fallen, but this is the first time there was any type of accumulation. The snow quickly burned off and fall showed up again.

While I've been here, I've learned that it's a different type of person that resides in rural areas of Colorado...

Out here, they don't bother with fixing roads, they just warn drivers:

And the drivers are warned because apparently they need it. Who made the mistake that necessitated the following sign?

And what do you do when you can't get a license to build a residence? You build a barn and live in it!

Cattle Drive

I still haven't quite figured out how to properly ride a horse, but we needed to get some cattle off the National Forest and into the corrals. Luckily, Dixie is a horse at her best when she's working cattle, so I didn't have to fight her too much. Instead, we were able to work together and even pulled off some fancy moves when a stray calf took off!