Rocky Mountain Horse

This is a video of the horse we are looking at. The owner, Chris is riding him. Bob and I both rode him after that. I guess I am spoiled with riding Foxtrotters, but his gait didn't seem as smooth as I would have liked. I should explain that he had ice balls on his hooves and we took him away from his breakfast and the other horses.

The Undaunted Book Review

The Undaunted by Gerald N. Lund

My rating: 2 of 5 stars Books that are 800 pages should at least warrant the energy to prop them while reading. I agree with many of the other reviews. This could have been a winner if edited to 150 pages and maybe added photos of the area. Better still, read the original account from the library. The story is fascinating and inspiring and doesn't need fictional embellishing. I liked the footnotes better than the "dialogue". Didn't like the way he wrote in barely readable accents or the attempt at late 20th century jokes. I really liked "The Fire and the Covenant" but this one just didn't carry emotional impact. The love story was only mildly interesting and very predictable. The journey didn't even START until page 523 and the parts where I would have loved more detail were glossed over. Totally skip the first 250 pages and you won't miss anything. View all my reviews >>

You Raise Me Up

Mayflower showed me how to use Photostory 3, so I quickly put this one together. Now, that I watch it, it can use major tweaking and POSSIBLY MORE/DIFFERENT PHOTOS. Particularly looking for "stands on mountain" types. Be sure and scroll down and pause the playlist, so it doesn't conflict.

Thanksgiving Weekend Activities

It was kinda fun setting the tables up...
We were able to fit the 20# turkey into a 14" deep with a regular 14" for a lid.
Keep on checking it. Had to add a little water.
Some of our guests...
Was so busy during the dinner, didn't get any photos of the food or people eating. We had the usual fare...turkey, stuffing, yams, fresh cranberry sauce, garden corn, rolls, mashed potatoes from our garden, gravy and Frog Eye salad. After dinner, the kids watched "UP", then played a game.
The next day was Dodgeball at the church. We had chicken stew, cheesy potato soup and Tuscan turkey pumpkin soup along with various desserts.


Jane and Tris check our new horse boarder, "Doc".
Cute little Nutmeg...
Jane loved her ride on Shrek.


Later on, Jane rode the fake horses at JT's.

The video shows Uncle Joe giving the under 10 set a few dodgeball rules...

Antelope Island Again Nov. 7

Turned out to be a beautiful day for a ride! The ride was planned by an Ogden area "Horse Meet up" group. Bob and I went and we took our new boarder, Doc the paint and his owner, Robyn. Here is a photo of Robyn and Bob just starting at the White Rock Bay trail.View of White Rock Bay.
Me on Wayfarer and Bob on Shrek.
Robyn and Doc.
We met a new friend, Judy H. from West Haven and her horse, Buck.
Absolutely gorgeous scenery and ride up on the Elephant Head trail.

Judy and Robyn chat at a lunch break...what a view!
Cowboy Bob has a story to tell about the huge "dinosaur" tracks on the rocks.




We even came up close and personal with some bison.
Heading back to the trailhead. Great ride! Many bikers were on this trail today. For all you bikers in the family--this is a great trail.

Clam Chowder

Modified from a recipe from Bratten’s by Judy.

1/3 of a celery bunch, cut, chopped, sliced. (about 1 ½ cups)

½ of a large onion or one small onion, diced

1 cup carrots, finely diced or grated.

4 potatoes, peeled and chopped

3 cans of chopped or minced clams.

Fresh thyme, about 2 – 4 Tbl. of the fresh leaves. Or dried Thyme if the fresh is unavailable.

1 Tbl.Spinach flakes (optional)

1 tbl.Parsley flakes

1 t. All purpose seasoning

1 cube of butter

½ c. flour

Approximately 3 cups of milk

Salt, pepper, to taste

Prepare vegetables and put in a large pan with the juice from the clams. Add seasonings. Simmer until vegetables are done. (about 20 mins) Remove from heat.

Prepare the white sauce by melting the butter on a low heat, add the flour, stir well, then add 2 cups of milk. Slowly cook until mixture begins to thicken. Do NOT boil or it will burn. Add another cup of milk, then add the white sauce to the veggies. Add the clams and stir well. Add more milk if needed to be thinner. Warm to serving temperature.

Antelope Island 2009 Bison roundup

Upon hearing that the Bison roundup (or buffalo depending on who you talk to... It's a Bison Roundup, but you eat Buffalo Burger.) was today-- we finished our manure mucking chores and headed out to the island, hoping for a chance to ride anywhere we wanted, as happened last year when we got to ride South of the ranch. We just about didn't do it when we found they had changed their policy and required a $25 permit for anyone to ride this weekend. It permitted us to ride anywhere and to actually herd the bison if we wanted. Workman's comp even applied if we were injured because it was a State run event. We found the round up group half way to the Ranch, but the herd was pretty much stationary and the riders were just sitting around. I read in the paper this morning, there were over 200 riders. I also found out that the bison were "very stubborn" and were grazing and drinking at a siesta when we saw them. We also read that three horses were gored by angry animals.

Some of the trailers parked at the ranch...
That didn't look like too much fun, so we went down to the ranch and rode toward Sentry Peak.
The trail was much softer than I remembered--appeared to have been "graded" and widened in most places.
Looking north. This was an attempt at a self-portrait. This was my first ride with my "good" camera. I retired the old one, due to a scratched lens.
We were able to ride a trail that is usually off limits to trail riders and we spied this multi-pointed buck staring at us.
Then a doe...she's just in front of that middle bush.
A nice vista with the Oquirrh mountains in the background.
This trail eventually led to the beach on the other side, but hadn't allowed enough time. It would have been another hour of riding.
I thought these rock formations in the background were interesting.
I love this shot.
More interesting rocks on another trail that is usually off limits.


Can you see Salt Lake City downtown?
This guy missed the round up.
Birds on the Buffalo.
After our ride, we put the horses in the trailer and drove to the west side of island at White Rock Bay. We spied these bison out on the beach. No food, no water...maybe they just like hanging out on the beach like we do.
White Rock Bay.
We grazed the horses for an hour while we waited for the sunset.




Memorable ride, beautiful sunset...yes, I am ready to go back again next week!