Sundance School Day 2

I've had this mule for a while. So the purpose of taking her to the round pen first few times are to learn a bit more about her actions when separated from the rest of her pals.

I stood in the pasture with a halter and lead rope. Sundance spotted me and walked up quietly. I just scratched her ears and rubbed her neck a bit before haltering her.

I took her out the 3 line electric gate. This was something she had done a few times before but I wanted to see how she'd do with the the distractions of the other mules and of the two donkeys on each side of the lane.

She watched everything calmly and stared intently at the hot wires I'd dropped on the ground. They snapped and she respected them but didn't freak out. I held her rope and put the gates back up. She softly snorted and again watched with great interest.

Maybe she was trying to figure out how to move gates on her own?

We walked down the lane to the shed and she looked around. She'd never walked this way before so the piles of metal that my husband had stacked in the weeds were new images for her to process. She did and decided they were nothing of great concern.

I walked with her into the round pen. We did the customary warm up and a bit of lunging. I will see many trainers lunge their animals over and over and over again. A smart mule doesn't see the point in the lunging. If the mule is friendly he/she would rather just spend time close to the trainer and only move off if made to.

Sundance did a few laps and then stopped at the gate which I expected. I snapped the lunge whip and she gave me a curious glance as if to say..."So? I know you won't hurt me. I have no fear of you."

So I decided to make that an uncomfortable place to stop. I grabbed the old beat up plastic sled and tossed it in front of the gate.

SNORT! It was some sort of monster.

We worked on trust after a few minutes of lunging.

Oh that blanket! It was a killer blanket again. She scrunched up her back each time I approached her with it and trotted off.
I didn't punish her for it or make her run around the pen. I waited until she stopped and then approached again.

After 3 tries, the blanket was on and she sighed.

The point is trust. I want Sundance to trust me not to put her in danger. I want her to accept what I do with her. I want her to think about it. I could hurry her training along by saddling her and letting her buck it out and lunge the crap out of her, but that is not my way.

I tossed another old blanket into the round pen. It too was some sort of strange mule eating monster. Sundance avoided it as she walked and trotted around the round pen.
So I moved it.

Here I ask without any words, "Sundance do you trust me?"

I ask her to step forward onto the killer blanket. Note the sled behind her which is no longer a purple mule eating sled.

And...

Apparently, the blanket wouldn't kill her. I could lead her over it. Her concentration was on me and not the blanket.

I took this moment to work with her feet. She picked each foot up for me and let me pick them out.

I added my version of 'Rope Games' and Sundance seemed totally unconcerned.

One of the particular things I've noticed about her is that if Sundance has a new item introduced on her body, she plays statue until she figures things out.

Here she stands with the rope draped over and between her ears. She is thinking about it. She let me put the rope on her like a girth and just stood still with her ears flickering back and forth.

School Day 2 was over.

I left the pen and we walked out into the yard and around another lane back to her pals.

No excitement here. But it was interesting to observe her reaction to new items.

Perrot State Park

Not pronounced Parrot...but think of the French Perroooo....

I could hardly believe it.
I had a full day to myself.
No one to answer to but Charlie.
I'd planned on a day of doing some exploring.  What I didn't want to have to say is...
I'll be back by 'such and such' a time.

I packed myself a lunch and some apples. Packed 3 bottles of water and a small Gatorade.'

I figured I knew how to get there, it couldn't be hard at all as Highway 35 went nearly right to it.
Well. I got that sort of wrong. I did take a wrong turn but after a little 'whoops, mistake' and a turn around. I got it right.

I headed to the trails...

Terrain trail difficult at times....

Well, I like trails like that. It tends to be less crowded.
I decided to try going to the Perrot's Peak first.

This part of the trail was a bit rough and not groomed like the other more popular trails. I could see that there was on going work in a few sections. 

I liked it though, it reminded me of the trails in our woods.

I only know that I started at about the same elevation as the river and ended up about 450 feet above it when I stood on the rock out crop.

 This is looking southwest down on the Mississippi River

This was looking North a bit to my next climb, Brady's Bluff. This would be the back side of the bluff.

And then a look down to the spot I was standing on.

My thought at this time was that it would be fun to sit here on a nice fall afternoon or morning and take in the colors of the forest below. A sunset view would be incredible from here also.
Since it isn't an easy hike up this trail, it wouldn't be crowded.

Even a foggy morning would be neat.

I stayed a bit before moving on, to catch a breather and some air movement. My little thermometer was reading about 86 degrees and it was humid.

The trail coming off the peak was much nicer but quite long. I dropped back to the valley floor and followed a hiking/cross country ski trail that was flat and wide. I opened my strides and covered ground quickly.

Covering ground quickly was important here. The bugs were out in full force. I passed by some older people that were walking slowly swatting and sweating. I said hello with a big grin on my face.

I think they picked up their pace when they saw the crazy ol' lady with baggy hiking pants, a backpack, with purple and teal colored streaks in her hair, hiking like she'd just stolen something!

When I got back to the junction I could have chosen to walk out to where my Subaru was parked and then head up to the short trail, or take this trail which was longer and take the short trail down from Brady's Bluff and walk back to the car on the road.

I decided to take the longer trail up.

I'm glad I did, it was mostly shady and fascinating as the Conservation Corps had done such a neat job of making a trail.

I found a bench that may have been about halfway up the bluff and was still in the shade so I stopped for a snack and a selfie...
I may look miserable, but actually I felt great.

Stairs and railing to the goat prairie...
I saw no goats.

The heat was on in the Goat Prairie and I paused only slightly to catch my breath and look at the wild flowers.
On the second Goat Prairie I did take a 3 shot hand held panoramic of the river.

Note the haze. Some of the haze I heard an expert weatherman say was due to the heat. Plants give off moisture to keep cool and that creates a blue haze. I wondered if the rest of the haze was humidity and smoke from the wildfires.

I made it to the shelter and set up my camera [which really was not co-operating well] to try some infrared shots.

It isn't perfectly clear as I was shooting sort of blind. The light was so bright and I was trying to avoid the people climbing up to the shelter.
I popped a few shots off and then sat down in the shelter in the shade to finish my water.

A young couple came into the shelter after the other folks had left. I told them not to sit on the other side of the shelter as we had company peeking out from the cracks in the logs.

Yes I used a long lens. It could have been a rattle snake, although I am no snake expert.
From what I understand these snakes do inhabit the bluffs of the Mississippi but aren't often seen as they are very shy.

I talked with the young couple a bit and they handed me a bottle of water as they saw me putting away two empties. I was grateful. Even if I took the short way down, I had a long walk on the park road to get back to the Subaru.

Here is the view that everyone hikes up for. Trempeleau Mountain. I was more impressed by the boardwalk/trail that was built for the short trail.

Would I go back? Yes.

I hit the park road and power walked back to the Subaru. I grabbed out my sandwhich and a Gatorade and sat at a picnic table and had a picnic and thought about my
Big
Adventure.

What a great day.

Meanwhile Sundance Started School

Here is Sundance with my old mare Cheyanne. This is Sundance at a few days old.

Mom was 26 years old and we used her to tease a Jack Donkey to see if he'd breed a mare.
My husband assured me that no foal would result.

Ahhhh, yup! Cheyanne was a good mom and a year later she drifted over the Rainbow Bridge.

However we had another mule from her that nearly matched Sunshine.
She has grown into a very beautiful and correct looking mule. She is in the middle of the pack and her sister is the other sorrel with her head down.

Let's say that one thing or another has prevented us from really getting her started. She is great with her ground manners and handling. We just never got to the next step.

So I decided last night to take the dive into our first 'session' of school. Working with an animal can be as boring as watching paint dry. And that is exactly how you want to be.
No explosions or kicking.

This ratty old blanket was a monster, or she would like me to think it was a monster. I tossed it in the round pen and she made a wide berth. Then she came back and poked it with her nose.
She has pulled this blanket off the rail other times she has been in the pen waiting for a trim.
So I knew she wasn't really afraid.

She was more concerned with her pals out in the pasture. Oddly enough her sister never brayed or paid any attention to Sundance leaving the pasture. Fred however, brayed and paced and cried out a mournful song.

The blanket became no big deal. However her attention did wander towards the gate.
She didn't get worked up at all. Just stood and looked until I asked her to move along.

Then she trotted [no line on her then] around as I asked her too. She even stopped and walked into me when I stopped asking her to move.

She wore the blanket in various ways while doing this. Sometimes the blanket slipped off and she didn't seem to be bothered by it.

Our session was very short. About 15 minutes long. I just wanted to get a feel for how she'd react when asked to work.

She is mature enough to figure things out. And believe me, she is a thinker.

When I work with one of my mules, it is a long and slow process. I do have a friend in Missouri who has made quite a name for himself as a trainer. He is good. However I like to work with the ones I've raised as I think I understand their character better.

Does that make sense?
Anyway, I feel that Sundance may just well be the last mule I train anyway so I may as well take my time with her and enjoy it.

I feel it takes months and perhaps a few years to develop a good working relationship between mule and trainer...or rider.

I hope to have some more on this as we go along.

Patchy Smoke and then Patchy Fog

For real, that is what the LaCrosse NOAA service sight said last night.

I was wondering what Patchy Smoke would look like. Last weekend there was Canadian Wildfire smoke obscuring the night horizon while we were watching for the Perseid Meteor showers.

Just before I went to sleep last night, I went out with Charlie and noticed the crescent moon was a deep orange.
Ahhh. Smoke.

Charlie woke me up right at 5 am. I looked out the window and had my first surprise of the day. Little Richard was outside my bedroom window grazing. He was loose.
I walked out in bare feet and a t-shirt and walked him to the 3 electric line pen. He went like a Prince.
I'd been asked if I'd sell him recently and I said no. He could be a pain in the butt, but he does a good job at grazing areas I have a hard time mowing by hand.

There was a faint light in the sky while I watched Charlie do his business and we wandered back to the house to have coffee.

The sky was very dull and at first I attributed it to the fog. I gathered my camera bag stuff and keys. Charlie wasn't letting me out the door without him.
He even tried to help me with my socks and boots...

I plopped him into the 'car seat' and we set off to the ridge. The sky and fog had an unusual dullness to it.

Generally if it is foggy and the sun has risen, the fog has a brilliant color...this morning?

It was as if someone had wiped all the colors from the sky.

Yet the sun was already up....

So this must be what partly smokey and partly foggy means.

I felt the sun looked rather strange, almost like a red full moon rising.
Except I knew that it was the sun.

Doin's

 

These photos were taken when my Gang visited. We enjoy access to this stream in a few places.

My very own Awesome Creek empties into this stream known as Black Bottom by those who have lived here for eons.
Readscreek by those who are new or have only been here for one generation.

Odd how things are known to locals by one name and to older locals by another.

Saturday was HOT.
So Lil' Richard got a bath and I'd bought some temporary hair color at some point...yeah...

The result was a 'painted pony' that smelled like blueberries. After a few mornings of dew, the blue faded away. That is a shame, it was pretty neat.


I'd purchased some squirt guns at Wally World for a couple of dollars before the Gang came. Since it was so hot last Saturday, we made the trip to the creek. After all any visitor needs to check out Awesome Creek and the 'Beach'. The Beach is a new name for the area that was reformed by the bulldozer.

I'd done an experiment by placing two large Thrift Store Teddy Bears on a Beach Chair. I placed a Trail Cam facing the Teddy Bears.

These coyotes tipped the chair over and that night a raccoon moved the brown colored Teddy.

We went to 'The Beach' and the kids grabbed the squirt guns and the adults sat on rocks and chilled out. We watched the kids and the dogs play.

And the battle between sisters was on...

Sunday morning promised to be another scorcher...it was. We'd gone early to the Double J Bridge and enjoyed the cold water and the views.

And ... that is the rest of the Kenosha Gang weekend.

Rabbit to Bear

Rabbit to Bear: "I see Hope down there. Shall we jump in and grab some?"


Bear: "Yes, please!"

Hope is a wonderful thing.

Color choices for Fair

I'm just going to go ahead and do this fair photo...thing!

I've never liked my work judged but here are some choices.

There is a category called Water Scene.
Here are some choices:

I like all three of them.

It could be classified as a Water Scene or Winter Scene. I'm conflicted!

For the Roads/Trails category, hands down, I chose this one.
It would have worked well for a BW shot too, or a Winter Scene:

I have a choice for the Flower category.
My thoughts are this.
A pretty flower is a pretty flower.
However, a flower that has something going on??

But it isn't really all about the flower at all in this shot.

So...

This is my choice:

And I have to work on Nature, Reflection, Weather, Autumn Scene, Summer Scene, and Spring Scene.

So many choices!