Overcast!

Today I woke up to a wonderful sight. An overcast sky. FINALLY the weather has broken. The radio people say winter's attack is over, and it will gradually warm up. Last night with Baasha, I noticed it a bit - I could take a deep breath and it didn't hurt. Besides overcast being Seattle's "default" sky and making me feel at home, I'm anxious for a nice cleansing rain to wash away the snow and road salt.

But mostly for me, it means getting to go cut more blackberries - oh yay! And take pics cuz you really have to see the width of some of those vines. I may lose the fight with some of them. But not all of them! My property being under snow, making it impossible for me to work out there, it's like giving a child a toy for Christmas and not giving him any batteries to make it work. My husband laughed when I related that metaphor to him this morning.

I had another lovely ride in the snow yesterday - almost three hours in those big scary woods where I was very careful to watch every intersection, trying to burn each one into memory, due to getting hopelessly lost there not long ago. At one point Baasha argued with me, but I trusted MY instincts, and this time I was right. WHEW. He cantered up the steep snowy hills like a billy goat, gripping into the snow which was getting a little bit slippery and I was holding on for dear life. Every little water bar where water crosses the roads was scary for him, they do look different all iced-over and with snowy cliffs on each side. He refused to walk over them politely. He had to drop his head, stare at the scary trickle of doom, and then SPRING over it suddenly. I hate it when he does this. I took to just grabbing his breastcollar every time, cuz I knew he wasn't gonna quit after the 5th one. What was really funny was running into a lady on a chestnut, and her mare was just terrified of the water bar in front of her. The lady sprung off, and stepped over it, and tugged on her horse. Her mare, convinced that this would mean certain death, or at least wet feet, leapt away from her, up onto the hillside, and scrambled through the brush, and then down the snowy bank on the other side of the water bar. No wet feet for her! I laughed, and so did the lady. Then she said something in German I didn't quite understand, and I told her we're just happy to follow, but we'll pass if you like. And no wet feet for Baasha either. I got scared when he slipped on landing and almost crashed to his knees. I thought for sure we were leaving a trail of blood on the snow after that, but he was OK. Yeesh.

Later, we watched with interest as a group of workers (in orange overalls) pushed their service vehicle out of a snowdrift. Then the truck got traction, took off, and drove away as fast as possible up the hill. All 7 or so men had to walk, and they were laughing and talking quite loud, and Baasha was listening to them intently. We found that little creek where I had led him earlier for a drink, and I took him down again to the water. He took a sip, and then looked up. All 7 men in orange were up on the bridge over us, leaning on the rail, looking down at us. I smiled at them, they smiled back. Baasha got nervous about having an audience and wouldn't drink anymore. Oh well.

I got tired of trudging through the snow and got on to ride up one last hill, and he trotted gayly along. His tail was straight up like a banner. Happy tail! I looked down and UH OH, he had that wavy pattern on his coat that means he broke a sweat. I made him walk. He was panting. I felt guilty, and realized I'd be in the barn with him a long time, trying to get him dry. A good rubbing with towels and lots of brushing, he was mostly dry an hour later.

And now we have a lovely overcast sky, and MAYBE tomorrow I'll get to go visit my Christmas present.

Here are some pics I found in my inbox from a couple years ago. It's my Princess Buttercup, captured with my cell phone camera. It's either Taylor Mountain or Fall City, not sure which. What a pretty mare. I just noticed all the brush and such she's standing on. What a good trail horse she is to stand where I left her, with fallen branches between her front and rear legs. (Amazingly, she's still for sale, what a horse problem America has!)