working in a winter wonderland

I hope you're singing.  You deserve to be singing Christmas songs while you're sitting in your 75 degree weather.  Ok, fine.  I take it back.  I'm not bitter, I promise.

But you know what?  The hot tub doesn't feel nearly as good in 75 degrees as it does in 35 degrees!  

And it doesn't matter if you get hot.  The snow will cool you down.

And you're still grinning ear-to-ear when you've got snowflakes as big as your head!

And you have moments of ingenuity!  For instance, Wrangler Sarah wanted to enjoy her adult beverage, which required a bottle opener.  But of course, we didn't have one and she didn't want to get one, because, well, it was cold.  

So I - please mark this down on your calendar, as we will be celebrating the anniversary for years to come - I told her to use the bent horseshoe nailed to the support beam.  Those horseshoes are handy things I tell you.  They make guh-REAT hanging hooks and I hope to have about a dozen myself here sometime soon.  

Anyhow, as I was saying, I told Wrangler Sarah to use the bent horseshoe to open her adult beverage.  And may I please show you the following picture as proof of my common sense moment?

That's right, she is enjoying her adult beverage because I had a very rare common sense moment!  Please mark this day down on your calendars.  Amen.  

first group - weekender

Dude season hasn't yet officially kicked off yet, so we're still doing weekenders and B&B people.  We had a weekender group of 14 and an unrelated couple who came in on Friday and left today.  

 

With weekenders, we offer a Friday afternoon ride, two on Saturday, and one on Sunday morning.  No one arrived early enough on Friday to ride, so we didn't do that.  

On Saturday, I was given "the kids," who are all Seniors in High School...and they were amazingly sweet!  They could have seriously eaten me for lunch.  But they didn't.  Thank you, guys!  

Which reminds me, maybe I should be teaching high school math after this....

What was I talking about again?  FO-cus.

Only 3 people wanted to go on the Saturday afternoon ride, while the others rested, went to the shooting range or hung out in the jacuzzi.  So, for practice, I got to lead that ride, too.  Don't let me fool you; Slim and Linde took turns riding drag (at the back) with me, so I didn't get lost.  Or lose riders.  Or let them get out of control.  Or any other thing that could possibly go wrong.   

This is Slim.  I have to take everyone's picture in the kitchen because it's so much easier to catch them there than outside.  I don't want to look like the slacker who's not working because she's taking pictures all the time!

And this is Linde.  She is very serious when it comes to this kitchen stuff.  I'm sure I'll catch her smiling soon! 

Anyhow, as I was saying...  

My first group was absolutely awesome.  I enjoyed them immensely.  And I successfully got them to this great overlook and safely back home with Slim and Linde's help.  For today, that's all that counts!

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.

\

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.........