Buried

I was going to post on Friday evening with outtakes from my Instagram 'F' alliteration, but that (obviously) didn't happen. Sabbath was a busy day, but Saturday evening I had the house to myself for a few hours and thought I'd post after cleaning my tack. Nope. Sunday 'show day' (you'll have to head over to my Dances With Horses blog to read about that) pooped me out.... Then this morning we woke up to forecast snow, a fitting visual for the mental and visual avalanche that occurs when I wait too long to post! Guess I'd better grab a shovel and start digging. ;-)

I posted this sweet photo of Blaise on Instagram for Fiber Friends Friday.

But there was lots more to the laugh-fest love-fest!

Bing and Blake

Bette

Bernadette

Lastly, Sarai and her teefers!

Thursday's, Friday's, and Sabbath's sunrises below.

The last two were taken Sabbath morning, minutes apart, before and during 'fogrise'

Sunday's sunrise was obscured by gray clouds and drizzle. Thankfully, by the time I loaded up Lance and took him to the county fairgrounds to compete, that had stopped.

The last time Lance and I ventured into the dressage ring was three years ago, when my dad came to watch for the first – and last – time. Rick came yesterday, bless his heart; if we can get his big-boy camera to communicate with my MacBook (they don't like each other; never have), I might have more photos to share than just screenshots from an iPhone video. 😕

Today we are in a winter wonderland again. That's pretty wacko for the Willamette Valley at the end of February! (And yes, this is climate CHANGE; the polar ice caps are melting in record-setting mean temps, which is throwing the planet's weather patterns off their normal tracks.)

After suiting up in my polarfleece balaclava and insulated overalls to do chores, I decided to do something I haven't done in ages. I jumped on Lance bareback and rode in the snow!

Silly boy wasn't sure whether to spook at the snow sliding off the rail, or eat it – so he did both. 😆

Whew; I think I've dug myself out. You're up-to-date now on . . .

Putting the horse before the cart

On Wednesday, August 29 I pulled Brian out of school a little early so he could help prep Claire and the cart for his second class at the State Fair, 'Draft Horse Junior Cart, Drivers 18 & Under.'

Same routine: hitch, warm-up, enter, and show. This time the five entries were made up of three Clydesdales, a Belgian, and Brian's Shire. In a bit of a gimmick, the youngest "driver" was just 18 months old, sitting on the lap of her very experienced mother (who used to drive for the owner of the Shires).

Brian did a great job of driving Claire, but held her back a bit since she had been quite fresh during warm-up and the judge (different from the first) preferred the flashier entries. Brian placed 4th – and no, the baby driver didn't win, even though she waved her chubby hand at the judge during the line-up. 😆

Since Brian's class was at 3:00, we had time afterwards to stroll around, eat fair food (falafel!) and take in some sights. In my next fair report, I'll share a few of my favorite things!

That's it for State Fair report #3 from . . .

Rolling out the State Fair reports

Because of our family's increased involvement, and therefore attendance, at the State Fair this year, I have a lot of photos to share. I'll post them in groups to break things up, starting with Brian's first driving class on Sunday, August 26. Since he won this event I guess you could say I'm sharing the best first, but that's the way it goes when it occurred on my first day at this year's fair!

This year the wagons and carts were kept in the Livestock Barn near the exhibitors' stalls, so that's where Brian's team was hitched. Katie rode shotgun for him, as she has for several years.

From there he drove to the warm-up arena, where I got shots of all five teams – the Shires (Brian's team), the Belgians, Clydesdales, Percherons (perfectly mannered for their young little driver!), and a second team of Clydes.

I then hurried into the show arena so I could capture each team approaching the ring.

And there they all are, lined up for the judge's decision.

Once the placings are announced, everyone else leaves the ring so the winner can do a victory lap:

And here's a close-up of Brian with his blue ribbon and prize – a handcrafted afghan in most appropriate colors!

That's State Fair report #1 from . . .