Well, I rode Fred, who was first to the gate.
We had our All One Mule 4th of July Parade in Folsom.
Fred and I rode out to the Folsom Schoolhouse and back.
We waved to 3 vehicles, 12 people, and passed by 5 farms.
At one of the places the kids came out to see us and wanted to pet Fred.
I convinced a 9 yr old to take our photo.
The day was perfect with perfect flawless weather.
When I got back home I went for a hike to check on the wild yellow raspberries.
The numbers are greatly reduced perhaps to winter kill?
Belle, the spook dog came to 'watch my back' for me. She stayed within 10 feet of me and if someone else would have been anywhere near me in the woods ... she would have alerted and run off to hide.
My day was peaceful and spent the way I love best. Riding and hiking. Who could ask for a more perfect day?
The Berries are not quite ready...
And the views from Fred's back as we rode the ridge were awesome.
One last note. All these photos were taken with a crummy point and shoot pink pocket camera.
You don't have to have pro equipment to find nice shots!
It began in 2007, but no one took the photos of the first solo parade ride.
Badger and I continued to do this even when he was ill with Equine COPD in 2009.
2010 was his last year, we did a lot of walking in this 'parade' but still we did it.
In 2011 I took out Badger's little half sister, Sunshine. She actually did very well, but I had my eye on a younger bay mule in training.
By 2011 I started riding the people challenged mule almost exclusively as my steady ride Badger was no longer safe to ride. His daily life was a struggle to breath and he was humanely put down.
Opal then took over, she actually enjoyed it.
Last year we really got decked out for the ride. Opal loved being 'gussied' up. She also never minded going away from home solo like Badger.
Last year was one of the most memorable rides as we were waved to and the 5 houses we passed...people wanted to come out and pet her. Opal ~ so people challenged ~ would only back away and snort while I explained that she really had a hard time trusting people.
So this year, Siera is up. She still can be a bit of a scatter brain when it comes to certain things, but she needs to fill some BIG hooves.
So in the memory of Opal & Badger, Siera will do her first ....
All One Mule 4th of July Parade in Folsom, WI.
And may you enjoy your holiday also!
Never expect the expected.
Wake up each day and enjoy what you have.
Wake up each day and be prepared to work.
Most of all, enjoy the simple things in life. The bounties of the garden.
Like calves, beautiful horses, mules, and donkeys. And Dexter Cattle.
Hounds barking for breakfast.
Or ones that are just plain silly.
Beautiful sunsets.
And so at the end of the day, I remind myself how lucky I am.
It isn't hard is it?
Morning dew and rain always seem to attract my eye.
I took some photos over the past couple of days and they ended up being very simple shots.
Meaning ... lots of 'negative' space.
Not sure why I decided to do things this way.
Perhaps it just felt right.
An early just after sunrise walk is wonderful. So much to see while the rest of the world sleeps.
It is like having a 'kingdom' all to yourself.
Except for the black birds that scolded me, I had a very beautiful beginning to my day.
Last night after the third or fourth rain shower flowed through, we had rainbows appear in the eastern sky.
I ran out barefoot to capture some shots.
It was quite beautiful and to the naked eye, I could count several of the primary colors.
We were lucky enough to have a double rainbow!
The sky kept changing so rapidly before the heavy clouds moved in and gave us an early night.
I was pretty happy with how the FujiFilm FinePix HS30 EXR handled the panoramic scenes. This was converted to B&W for dramatic effect using Corel PaintShopPro Ultimate 6X, along with Topaz plug in Filters.
I then used CS2 to take the same photo and edit the color version to see what I could do to make a striking difference. The rainbow colors inspired me so I took a 'rainbow' gradient and swiped it into a blank layer above the color photo.
I changed the layer to 'Overlay' and reduced the opacity a bit.
It was a fun exercise in manipulation of photos.
Here is the original:
The effect may not be exceptionally realistic, but using gradients can help a 'edit' colors in a most interesting way.
Then there is the texture and lettering edit.
I decided to take a decent sky photo and just mess a bit with it, adding textures, colors, and finally text.
I think the rainbows last night inspired a little creativity in me this morning!
Off I went seeking the little wild strawberry. When the kids were here Lily and I couldn't go by a plant patch without trying our luck in getting some of these sweet little beauties.
So yesterday I went off alone and picked some for 'Grandpa' who said he missed out on them.
While looking for the little strawberries I kept coming across cool little fungi all over in the woods.
On my second trip out for the day, I went looking just for fungi.
With the rains we've been having, the woods are bursting with fungi, if you can get down into the forest floor to find them.
The last fungi above is often referred to as Coral Fungi. I don't know what the others were.
I was excited to find what I believe is 'Stinkhorn'. It was broken, but still worth the shot.
It was the first day in a week that I'd had time to myself to go wandering in the woods.
I do miss the grands, they were so much fun!
But I also miss the quiet time I get once in a while to wander about the forest and look for neat things.
When I got back, my husband said to me...'Geeze, I thought you got lost out there!'
I smiled and handed him the wild berries and all was well.
The end of the day was worth dodging raindrops for!
The week in review.
Lots of friendships were made and tested.
The kids spent 7 days here and watched a movie for the total of 1 hr 26 minutes. Other than that they did not watch or ask for TV.
They played all day outside.
They braided ropes/played hide n' go seek/built forts, and did old fashioned kid stuff, including playing catch and keep away.
Once their was tears and there was much laughter.
Our weather really co-operated and we had a pretty nice week.
The girls made friendship bracelets.
We have drawings and the girls wrote plays. They even had us act out the play for them!
So we come to a rapid close as everyone goes home to some very kid-sick parents.
The grandparents are sad to see them go and yet looking forward to a few days of rest and recovery.
Even Morris is worn out from all the play with the kids.
He deserves a medal for his patience and his watchfulness.
I think Camp has come to an end.
