A Boy and His Horse

Okay, so the horses don't belong to him - what I mean is the boy and horses, any horses. He has been looking forward to this summer because Karen Nelson has agreed to teach all of the kids to ride. Josiah L-O-V-E-S horses. He has read every horse book that he has been able to request through the state of MT library system - most non-fiction - on training horses, riding horses, horse breeds, the whole gammit. He is now, officially, in horse heaven.

There are 6 horses at the ranch. Dreamer and Tina are old faithfuls - anyone can ride them. Zippy is well named - he is spirited. Mocha is a sweet horse but has not been ridden much - not what you would put a kid on without help. Becky is just being broken this summer. Karen Nelson has ridden her a few times, but she is not ready for anyone else. Lily is the newbie - three years old and big. Karen is working with her this summer. So there is a lot of horse activity going on at the ranch.

Last week, everyone went riding with Mrs. Nelson and had a great time. When they were done, she told Josiah that he could go ride bareback by himself if he wanted to. So, he took off on Mocha (he likes Mocha) for a ride while we were all hanging around outside. She was being stubborn and would not go anywhere he wanted her to go - she wanted to go back to the hitching post with all her buddies. He stuck to it and made her get moving. It took a long time, but he finally he got her across to the other end of the archery field where she couldn't see the other horses. For another hour, that horse fought him off and on, but he didn't give up. She threw him off twice and bucked once (he was able to stay on that time, he says due to some instruction Karen had given him that day). It was great that he was alone, because he had no choice but to get back on and ride. If he had been with other people, it would have been easy for him to give up or be afraid. When he got back he was so excited - he had a great time. When you get thrown off a horse - TWICE - and can talk about how great it was, you know that you have a thing for horses. Yesterday Karen gave him the green light - he can go to the field, choose a trusty steed and ride whenever he wants. Now he is living the dream.

Elisha turns 11

How can it be that this girl is eleven? She has gotten so tall lately and she is such a lovely young lady. Elisha is sweet and fun and creative. It is a joy to be her parent. Everyone loves being around Elisha. She is a good friend and a beloved sister. Elisha loves to read (LOVES it!), write poetry, daydream, and draw and she has an imagination that never stops. She is a little Mommy to Micah - that little sister adores her. I don't know what I would do without her.

On her actual birthday, the Westlake family was in town from Bozeman for the Babe Ruth State Championship. They were with us for dinner and cake. Then on Sunday, we went with the Miller family to Lake McDonald in Glacier to swim and picnic for her celebration. It was a perfect day. We love our sweet girl and are thankful that the Lord has entrusted her to us. May we celebrate many more years of birthdays.

Glacier Grown Weed Control

I have a new "favorite" noxious weed....flixweed. We spent two days trying to rid the shop pasture of the nasty stuff. We don't spray, so we are weed control. We were a little too late getting to some of it this year, so next year, we will take care of it. We are also on the napweed - thankfully, we don't have too much of it - just in certain segregated areas. We've been digging that stuff out too. I guess if you have to do it, there isn't a better place to be. Look at that view!!

Summer in Montana is.....

......kind of like a train wreck. Not in a gory, violent kind of way, but in a chaotic, breathless, out-of-control, wild kind of way. First of all, summertime is glorious here - beautiful, warm, sunny, fresh, happy, perfect - and the great outdoors is calling your name from 5:30 am - 10:30 pm while the sun is out to play. So, you stay up extra late (because at 9pm, it feels like it is 3pm). Then you get up and have to hit the floor running, because you slept in later than you should have, but not long enough for your exhausted self. Then, you run off to some new adventure. Everyone is exhausted and grouchy (little kids on little sleep is kind of like a melt down waiting to happen all the time!) but having such fun that you just cannot stop. We keep saying that we all HAVE to go to bed early "tonight" (any night - one night......please!), but it never happens. It feels like chaos, it looks like chaos, but it is oh-so-much fun. Summer doesn't last too long here, so you have to take advantage of it and live life to the fullest while you are able.

Oh, Say Can You See?

We spent our Fourth of July in Plains with the Olsens again this year (and the Mackos - their friends from CA that are co-owners of the river house). It was a great weekend. It was nice meeting the Mackos finally - we thoroughly enjoyed their company and are happy to have some new friends!

We went into town to watch the fireworks show (and set off a few of our own that night too) and almost got the kids killed by foolish people not paying any attention to what they were doing (fire plus fireworks plus alcohol equals dumb). We got out of there quickly and retreated to our fireworks watching spot. The next night we put on a show of our own - Shawn Olsen and Brad Dunham are pyros we have discovered. The show was better than any other I have ever seen. They were the real deal.

The river was so much higher than ever before and we couldn't launch the boat in the usual places. We had to drive up the Flathead River before it merges with the Clark Fork and put in there. The current was so strong that it made things a little difficult. We did have a great time. Windsor, the Olsen's Viszla, decided to go into the river while we were all out on the boats. The current was so strong that he couldn't get back. Praise God that Mike Macko decided to go towards our little shore and saw him floundering in the water out in the middle of the river. We have no idea how long he had been out there, but he was completely spent, had a nasty cut on his leg and was just not himself the rest of the day and night. He would have surely drown had Mike not been heading that direction and seen him. We were all so thankful - we love Windsor.

Other highlights include: a hayride on the John Deere (minus the hay) to the swimming hole, a giant slip and slide, s'mores, waterskiing, tubing, great food, and a surprising number of mosquitos due to the very wet spring we had! It was such a fun weekend. You can view the photos here!