Scrambling to catch up

In the continuing struggle to access photos for a post, today's images are brought to you through a new work-around. I uploaded them to Ravelry (thanks to the $5/year I pay for the privilege) from my phone, opened Ravelry on my laptop and took screenshots of all the photos, then opened each screenshot to date, label and file them. Will the whims of technology shut this avenue down, too? Only time will tell!

Anyway, now I can share a couple photo-heavy outings that happened in June. The first one was a hike to Valley of the Giants on June 13. The last time we went was at least 15 years ago and it can be tricky to find/access; fortunately Rick's field assistant has gone recently and knew the route – and its limitations. (The last bridge had washed out, adding an extra five miles to the hike.) The foxglove was blooming like crazy along the drive in!

On June 28 I went on a trail ride at Willamette Mission State Park. It was a gorgeous day for it, but there was some unwelcome excitement as well. One horse in our group parted company with his rider twice (the first time part of our group tracked him down and returned him; the second time a nearby farmer found and reported him). In between those two events, a horse from another group dumped his rider and thundered past us; that horse wasn't recovered until the next day. All's well that ends well; neither riders nor horses were hurt, and Stella kept her head when riderless horses galloped by.

the horse on the right is the two-time runaway

Stella is always in the lead because she walks so fast

In keeping with the 'wild West' theme the previous story might have invoked, I have to share some of the beautiful longhorns I drive by every time I go to town. One day they were hanging out near a driveway so I had a safe place to pull in to get some shots.

Next, Independence Day! Since it was a Saturday, we went to church as usual. Someone brought a festive (and delicious!) cake for potluck. That evening we built a little fire to roast veggie weenies and marshmallows, ate watermelon, watched fireworks from our deck, and set off a few of our own on the driveway.

this is the same fire pit we have

amazed that my iPhone can capture this much at distance and in the dark!

The 4th of July was also the beginning of the Tour de France/Tour de Fleece, and I've been spinning along on this interesting blend:

As always, I've collected a bunch of scenic shots taken around the place or while walking Poppy down the lane in the evening or riding Stella at the end of the day.

One last thing I keep intending to mention. For quite some time my Blogger Reading List has been flooded with posts from a foreign-sounding blog I don't follow. I've never clicked on any of them for fear they are some sort of computer Trojan horse; it sure is annoying to have to scroll and scroll to find posts from legitimate bloggers. Have any of you on Blogger experienced this?

That's it for now from . . .