Happy 4th!

Today is the 4th of July.

A day to celebrate the birth of

an amazing Nation.

Even though our nation is having

some difficulties right now,

we are going to pull through.

But in the meantime,

we enjoying spending the morning together.

We all got to have the day off.

(Well, Kyle had to work next door...)

Rod and I started the day off

feeding all the critters.

We built a new fodder system.

(not this morning)

Notice the chicken wire to keep

Penny and her sisters (also named Penny)

OUT of there.

She is VERY interested in what's in there!

This is the tray we fed this morning.

Looks good!

Has a good root mat.

The girls love love love it.

Then we decided to take the horses for a ride in the preserve.

Andy has a boo boo.

A hematoma on his knee.

There is no heat

and it doesn't seem to hurt him.

Cj has some teeth marks.

I guess they were feeling their oats last night.

(They have been pasture mates for 10+ years

now and they STILL fight all the time...)

I gave him a little Bute (horse Tylenol)

in his breakfast to help with his arthritis in his

hip and any soreness he might have in his knee.

(Also tested, no lameness or anything else)

Cute, though.

So anyhow, we went riding.

It was pretty hot out there.

But we had a good time.

Andy was feeling silly,

he trotted nearly the entire ride.

(normally he ambles...)

(and eats)

He still ate, but then picked up a trot

again - didn't want to get far from Cj.

And then he tried to buck me off.

My hat fell off my head.

And I didn't LOOK very graceful,

hanging onto his neck,

but at least I didn't hit the ground.

Stinker!

Anyhow.

Then I got all packed up and headed

across the state to the west coast

to teach this weekend.

I wanted to leave early,

I was worried about long weekend traffic.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha

I drove for about 3 hours and for the majority of

the trip, this is what it looked like.

I was all alone.

It was nice!

Kyle downloaded a bunch of music to my iPod

for me, so I cranked up the tunes,

rolled down my windows,

and ROCKED.

And now I'm in my hotel bed.

Heading to sleep.

Hopefully I'll have a bunch of students

tomorrow, ready to finish up this class.

Happy 4th everybody!