Ketchup

What did the Daddy tomato tell the Baby tomato when he walked too slow? Ketchup (Catch-up) Sorry, I know it's corny, but hey, that's about where I am sometimes lately!  I feel like I've fallen down on my writing, partially because I haven't been ready to write about work yet, and partially because, well, I've been too lazy to get the computer out and set it up at night to do some writing.  So, this post is just that, a catch up of what I've been up to for the last month!  I've got two other posts in my head that I hope to get done this week, we'll see if I stay motivated or not!  HA!  

Angie decided a couple of weeks ago that she wanted to ride the horses up into some of the lakes above Red Lodge, so we planned up a girls day trip.  I loaded up with Angie, her friend, Amber, and Star (her dog, also female) for a day of riding up Lake Fork Creek.  I can honestly say that I've ridden more since I've been out here, than I have in a couple of years before that... and I haven't even ridden that much!  

 We started out to find Lost Lake, which we thought was about 4 miles up the trail. To get there, we had to pass Broadwater Lake, (Which as far as I could tell was just a really wide spot in the creek)  There were a lot of places where the trail was pretty narrow or on the edge of a ledge, but it was a really fun ride in.  We almost missed the trail up to the lake because it was so inconspicuous!  Thank goodness Amber was working the hand held GPS!  

Angie packed her folding fishing rod and once we got there, we chilled out on the banks of the lake for a while and she drowned worms.  That's all she did... not a single bite!  I guess she should have been fly fishing, because another guy who was fishing that way caught a big one!  Star probably covered half again as much distance as we did, she would run ahead and then run back to us the whole time.  She took a swim in the lake, but it was a bit too cold for me to be getting in!

Lost Lake

 On the way back down, we almost had a wreck!  I kept feeling my saddle slip to either side, but I couldn't believe that the mare i was riding had blown out so much when I cinched her up... evidently, I didn't hook something quite tight enough and the whole front cinch came loose!  Thank goodness she didn't pitch a fit!  That was the worst almost accident all day.

We found this sign on the way back out the trail, and realized that we had covered about 10 miles on our ride!  (Talk about a bit of a sore back/backside the next day!) If we hadn't found our turn off, we would have ended up at Keyser Brown Lake (14 mile ride)  

Lake Fork Creek

 We packed in water to drink, but fogot to grab snacks, so by the time we made it back to Red Lodge, we were starving!  We stopped at the Red Box Car for a quick supper.  Angie & I both ordered the Indian Taco, which is like a taco salad on top of fried bread... two words... YUM YUM!

Several of my other days off from work have been spent hanging out with Jeannie & the Girls.  I'm so thankful for the family that I have out here.  They've welcomed me in and made sure I had a place to stay/sleep wherever I end up for the night!  I especially love the door decorations on the spare bedroom at Jeannie's house ;-) !  We've done quite a lot of different things... made pesto, canned beets, irrigated hay fields, gone shopping, got hair cuts, and whatever else we could think to do!  

Setting Irrigation Dams
 

Lucy... well, she's loving it out here!  I mean seriously, how could you not when you get to do all kinds of things like ride horses.  (BTW... Addison's horse, Hanky, is known for letting dogs ride behind the saddle... otherwise I don't think I would have thrown her up there!)  She's learned a couple of new tricks (maybe actually some manners rather than tricks) and stays out of trouble because she's cute!  

 And last, but not least... I got a "Tattoo".  My friend Nicole's daughter, Cortlin, thought I should get an airbrush one at the fair, and of course I had to get an owl!  She went back later and got her own!  It was kinda fun to do, but it seriously didn't look very much like a tattoo... Don't worry, Mom... it's gone now!

I'm sure there's a lot more I've missed... but you'd probably be bored by more!  Until Next Time!