In Bloom and On Fire

The ground cactus are in bloom right now. They really brighten up the desert landscape in some areas.

On the flip side, all the fires burning around here are filling our valley up with smoke. I miss firefighting when the fire season is this bad. The picture was taken driving West into Alamosa this afternoon. There is very little visability

Too bad my MIL is certifiably crazy, 'cause the plan was to have her watch the baby when I went out on fire. But she burned those bridges when she cursed him to hell for being baptised. The bad mother I am... Just another reason to pity her I guess. Nobody sane does that.

On the positive side, I wouldn't be working at the Zapata if I was on fire instead. I'd be making a lot more money though...oh well.

Ringo gave me a hard time today in the arena. I said left, he said no, I said yes, do he said make me...and walked backwards to the destination he wanted to be in instead, namely next to the herd.  I had to problem solve that.  It required dismounting everytime he refused to walk forward after getting him to stand, making him bend to the bit, walk in the direction he wanted, remounting and trying it again. After an hour he decided it was easier to go where I wanted him to rather than face the hellion pushing and pulling him around from the ground. Yeah me. Round two tomorrow.