Work

When I say I have to go to work, I mean I have to go to work...not school. For the first 2/3 of the summer I was teaching swim lessons (and I still have the random private lesson here and there), but I also have finally gotten on with the Zapata Ranch here in my backyard.

Many years ago (think 1600's), the area was settled by ranchers. The Zapata and Medano ranches were purchased by the Nature Conservancy and now are managed and run as a small, family oriented dude ranch. It covers over 100,000 acres and is populated year round by one of the largest Bison herds in North America.

I help bring our guests through the area on horseback and of course, manage the herds!

I can't think of how I'd rather be spending my school days off...

Springs Trip...Part 2 (a little delayed...)

Finally I am getting up the posts for our Zoo trip. The Colorado Springs Zoo is small, but it packs a great punch! It has great hands-on for kids and it was just the right size for little ones.

We fed the Giraffes.

We fed the Budgies.

We played with the Chickens ('cause they are so much more fun than at home).

We pet the baby Wallaby.


We watched the fish swim (Wyatt is not that much taller than Tanner. He's on a ledge!).

We crawled through tunnels.We loved the Lemers and took one home after laying down on it in the store and giving it kisses.

Belated Birthday Post

Some of you may have realized that Wyatt turned 1 on the 15th! I've been really caught up with school and work (more on that later - they are different).

We had a Barnyard theme birthday with handmade invites (super cute, sorry no pictures!), brisket, bbq beef, beverages (yum!) and a cake I made. Yes, I made it (though I ordered the decorations as I just didn't have the time).

County Fair

Every year at the end of July the PRCA Ski-Hi Stampede Rodeo and Carnival comes to town. Wyatt wasn't so interested in the Rodeo. The dirt and rocks surrounding the arena however...that's where it's at for a baby.


We had fun! We rode the train, the carousel, played in the duck pond and won a giant hammer to chase the cat around with!

Can't wait until next year!

Doing the Chores

Ringo is being ridden! Yeah! I've pretty much spent the majority of my summer messing with this colt on the ground, hauling him around and basically just letting him get used to daily life around here. I finally decided with the summer wrapping up he needed to be ridden so I called a friend and we started getting on him and now he's walking and trotting out a on a lunge line with a rider. I know I could probably be moving faster with this horse, but I have the time and we're doing well moving slow. So far so good!

Wyatt helped feed a bottle calf the other day and then decided that watering is his chore. He's so funny - he holds the hose until it over flows and then starts trying to move it, but that requires lifting it over his head to get it out of the water buckets and he loses his balance and falls over. Then he grunts while he struggles to stand up and hold onto the hose at the same time. It's so stinkin' cute.

Visit to the Springs

My girlfriend asked me last week if I'd like to take the kids to the Springs overnight to shop and go to the zoo. She has a son who's 3 in November and a son 4 days younger than Wyatt.




We're having a blast!

Oh yeah! And Wyatt's walking on his own! And yes, that's a baby shiner on his right eye where he faceplanted into a chair going after daddy's drink the other day. Lucky it's more of a scrap than a cut and it barely bled and Wy only cried for about 3 minutes. For some reason I think this is just the start of it...

Zoo tomorrow!

That Time of Year Again!

And it's even better than ever because Wyatt LOVES to watch them spray the fields! This is the power pole 50 feet from my front door. And the plane is only about 10 feet above the wires as he crisscrossed the field in front of my house. The week before he did the field across the street. We sit on the front lawn and watch the show! The pilot always sees us and always dips his wings as he passes by! Wyatt clamps and laughs! It's so cute!

Awesome for sacking out the horses too. Not many places a person can live where a horse will get used to a plane 20 feet over their head. Mine don't even look anymore.

Who?

Me that's who - hanging out in your tree. I think your cats got all the mice though and I'm not taking on your geese for the chickens - so I'll see ya later!

There's a nest down the road that a pair of Great Horned Owls raise their young in every year. I think this is one of their youngsters from last year because he's not real big yet. Kinda cool as long as he doesn't try and dive bomb the chicken coop!