my first day

My mom always took pictures of us on our first day of school, so this is kind of like that.  And just as an aside, I started my job today, May 1, in snow.

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I am, again, wearing 3 to 4 layers.

Today was Linde's day to feed, but I figured that since I need to learn how to do these things, I'd get up and feed with her.  She said she would knock on my door around 7:30/7:45, so I set my alarm for 7:15, to ensure I was up with plenty of time on my first day.

Linde woke me up around 7:30.  As it turns out, you have to turn your alarm ON to make it go OFF.  Happy first day.  

She wasn't too concerned and waited for me, so I met her down at the barn and we fed.  Then we met Dan - the bossman - in the dining room, with the new cook (her first day, too!) for breakfast around 8.  

We had a little "guest satisfaction" orientation, clipboard orientation, and you'll-get-that-info-later orientation.  And then.......

Well, then....

Umm.....

Did I mention today was my first day at Sundance Trail Guest Ranch?  

The only hitch was...There. Were. NO. Guests.

So you remember I told you that I spent the last 3 weeks working with Justin and learning how to train horses?  Pretty glad I did that!

Linde had a couple of horses she wanted to work and I asked if I could try out what I had learned.  And what do you know!  For the most part it worked! 

Then Cookie made us lunch.

Can anyone tell me why some days my point-n-shoot takes great pictures and other days it's completely grainy like these?  Grrrrrr.....

We were supposed to get guests around 2 and I didn't really have anything to do between those times, so I helped her bake...COOKIES!  (Now you see why she is so aptly named?  Aside from the fact that ranch cooks are usually called Cookie.)

She's reeeeeeaaaaaallly excited about her bowl.  It was her first day after all.

The guests arrived around 3 and brought their own horses, so once we helped them unload and showed them to their room it was 4...time to feed again.

We fed the horses, got the dining room ready for supper and then had a moment to relax.  I joined Wrangler Sarah in the Parlor where she was doing some knitting, since she doesn't start work until the 10th.

Take a close look at Wrangler Sarah's feet.  Seems, she's growing paws.

Eh.  It's just Irie.

I tried taking my first day photo with Irie, but here's what she thought of that.

Booooooorrrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggg.

Oh this is sooooooo embarrassing!!!

I can't believe this.

Oh fine, if you take it from that angle.........