On the sixth day God turned to the Archangel
Gabriel and said: 'Today, I am
going to create a land called Montana.
It will be a land of outstanding
natural beauty; a land of beautiful lakes,
each one full of fish.
It shall have tall majestic pines, peacefully
flowing rivers, landscapes full
of Buffalo, tall grass, and eagles, beautiful
blue skies, forests full of bear, elk
and moose, rich farmland and fair skinned
people.
God continued, 'I shall make the land rich in
resources so as to make the inhabitants prosper
and they shall be known as a most friendly
people, people who practice being nice every
day.'
But Lord,' asked Gabriel, 'don't you think
you are being too generous to these Montana
people?'
'Not really,' replied God 'just wait and see
the winters I am going to give them.'
AND
Wind chill should put us at 30-40 below tonight!!! Yeah. Time to put the long johns on!!!
It was truly BEAUTIFUL today!!! It got to about 25 degrees today and that is above zero! The sun was out for the majority of the day. Of course, our driveway is close to impassible because of all the dense drifts over the top of it. The weather has not been on our side, so we haven't been able to get the tractor on the semi and the semi back down here from Scobey. Maybe this freezing rain/snow storm we are supposed to get tonight will hold off another day? Probably not.
So I took the opportunity to work with Luna today and of course, Rio hung around and watched. He was probably laughing to himself about Luna having to do all the work. He was probably thrilled that he wasn't the one having to do the work.
Everything is so white, it just looks like an ocean of snow. All the ditches next to the roads are so full that they are even with the road. You wouldn't even know that there was a ditch. This picture is taken about 12 feet from the front of the house looking south west towards the highway.
This is a picture off my porch!
Jake is tolerating the winter pretty well. I think he's probably gained 5 lbs! He mostly stays in the barn though now. He's happier and I sleep better, without waking up to his ransacking the house.
This was before they knew I was coming out to work with them!
Luna stands so nicely tied! She's a pretty good girl. I have to add - most of the time. :o)
Rio keeping an eye on things.
Luna eating snow. Maybe this is how she froze her lips together.
Such a gorgeous boy!!!!
Whoops, we got some hay stuck in our mane.
Dang her, I probably took 20 pictures before I got one timed when she was looking right at me.
Picturesque!
I'm not that much taller than her. I was standing on one of the many thick drifts in their corral.
Luna did some good work today! Snow drifts work well, to teach her to slow down, think about where she puts her feet and trust me to not ask her to go somewhere unsafe. We worked on yielding the hindquarters and forequarters, backing when asked with a slight shake of the lead rope, giving to pressure, and picking up feet. Picking up feet has been going well, but she is not as willing to pick up her right front and back feet as she is her left feet. We'll keep working on it!! She is not scared of anything. This can work for me and against me. It will work to my advantage later, because she won't be scared of things that young horses usually are scared of. BUT, because she is not fearful, it makes it challenging to convince her that when I ask something of her, I mean business and I want it now. She is a smart cookie! She remembers lessons from time to time and her attention span is getting longer!
Look at that gentle, soft eye.
She has the cutest head! I don't think her head will get as big as Rio's. Let's hope so anyways! That might be highly unattractive for a girl. But, it won't matter how cute she is, if I don't do my part and to ensure she has a good mind.
I'm sure she is going to have a good mind, a big heart and be a hardy Montana horse.
Odin and I had our 2nd weekend in a row, where staying home, relaxing and doing nothing was an option!! So, of course, we enjoyed every minute of it.
Even Scardey Cat enjoyed the down time...
Today, it actually warmed up above zero and then above 20 degrees!! So, we headed outside for some fun in the snow. Here's our little house!
My ever curious pony! "What's going on, guys?" He loves to stick his head through the top of the gate. I don't know why.
Calli would not be left out of the action!
Now there are two Nosey Nelda's!
Isn't it cool? The camera caught their breath!
Calli found a nice nest!
Odin decided to get out the 4 wheeler and see what kind of fun, or I mean trouble, we could get into.
It didn't take too long. Its good in snow, but once the snow is above the frame, it gets just as high centered as anything else!
We finally got the 4 wheeler out in the pasture, but not very far. Luna and Rio had to come out and watch. I can just imagine what was going through their minds.
A couple of nights ago, I went to feed the horses and Luna seemed to have frozen her lips together. I've never heard of that before, EVER, but all Odin and I can figure is that she was trying to get at grass underneath the snow, but instead of digging for it, like a normal horse would do, she just decided to stick her nose in the snow and froze her lips together. She is no worse for wear and today, she seemed to have the digging first, part down!
Odin and I finally got the 4 wheeler unstuck and took it to the drive way, hooked up an old vehicle hood to it and took turns dragging each other around. Who thought an old hood could be so much fun!
Calli is ready to go. That is her "spot" on the 4 wheeler!
Calli even went for part of a ride.
Of course, our fun ended with a few chores.
Man, Calli had a good idea. The hay was pretty warm.
These are pictures from yesterday. It snowed pretty good!
Odin and Calli hanging out on the bale.
Luna is still taller in the hips than the withers, but she's growing really well. She's got a little extra weight and a REALLY thick coat to get her through the winter! I think her withers will grow soon enough.
Ever inquisitive, she found my water hose to fill their trough and had to investigate!
Well, it sounds like we are still in for lots more cold and snow! Stay warm, wear lots of layers and don't run out of hot chocolate!!
This was a statue of Benny Binion in the lobby of the South Point where we stayed. It was a huge statue.
Half way through our trip we moved down the strip to stay at the Luxor. Because it is shaped like a pyramid, there is nothing under the rooms. Each floor hangs out farther than the last. The elevators even move side ways, not straight up and down.
The Statue of Liberty outside the New York, New York.
The Excalibur.
The younger lions at the MGM Grand.
We went up the Eiffel Tower outside the Paris.
The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Here's the Eiffel Tower.
The water show at the Belagio.
Inside Ceasar's palace.
The M & M shop.
Inside the Venetian! My favorite!
This was outside the Mirage or The Wynn ... I think?
This guy did all these paintings in 10 minutes with all spray paint.
