I'm excited about...

Last weekend the weather was nice and I felt like doing something horsey, so I went out and put a surcingle on Isis and a sidepull bridle and we tried driving!  She is not a happy horse with a saddle and a person on her back, but she seems to like to be doing something, just not with someone on her back.  Pony rides are okay, but not real riding.

Anyway, all hooked up, a slight correction and off we went!  She does drive!  Now whether she was ground driven when trained or she was trained to drive I don't know, but she walked off and around the pen four times with out much trouble.  It was great!

Then on Thursday, Jenn came over and we tacked her up again.  Same thing she walked off just like she knew what she was doing.  Both Jenn and I drove her.  Each time whoever was not driving would walk along side the driver and we talked and stumbled and made noise and Isis never showed any signs of not doing what she was suppose to.

I plan to work her again tomorrow, Sunday and see if she is still going well.  If so, then I plan to hook her up to something to drag around, maybe a tire.  She'll need to have a full harness on for that, and a whipple tree.  Greg will have to make me the whipple tree, but that is an easy do.

I have a nice little two wheeled cart in the barn, that is just waiting for a sweet pony to pull it.  Here's hoping that happens, maybe even before the new year!  I will work Isis in steps to be sure that we are both comfortable with what is going on.

For now here are a couple of pictures of Jenn and I driving Isis last Tuesday.

Pretty Driving Pony!

 

 

Here's a video as well:   



http://youtu.be/LCQZyyA7WL0



Vacation Part 2.

After spending four nights at Lake Margrethe, we picked up camp and headed down to our usual fall campground at Reedsburg Dam Campground.

We had to adjust somewhat as our favorite site was occupied!  Our second choice turned out to be just as good if not better.  There were three other campers there when we got there.

Our view one morning from the campsite.



When we weren't fishing we took some day trips.  One of the trips took us to the Fireman's Memorial in Roscommons.  I got my dad's name added to the wall this year, so I wanted to see it.  Two weeks before, Jenn and Pat with their firemen friends attended the festival and saw the name then.

Over view of the Memorial.

Wreath sent by Flint Township for my Dad and his friends on the department.

Gerald "Jerry" L. Sherman, Flint Township

Reading the wall was a trip back in time for me when I found a group of men all who had been on the department when my dad was.  Names that I hadn't heard in a very long time came back to me.  Memories soon followed.

Very glad there is a memorial to these men who gave their time and some even their lives to protect people and property.

Other day trips included a trip to "Arnie's"...a mega craft shop that carries everything for the crafter as well as a place with free wifi and coffee for the partner of the crafter.  Hours can be spent there as well as plenty of $$$$$$$$.

Other activities at camp are campfire cooking.  That is one of my favorites.  I enjoy baking on the fire using my reflector oven and my dutch oven.  One meal was put in the dutch oven before we left and was all ready to eat when we got back from our trip.

The start of biscuits and gravy one morning.

Gravy is ready, just waiting for biscuits to brown a bit.  Greg is writing in our journal.

Another activity around camp is relaxing...





I wish that the next pictures were clearer, this was just a really pretty scene across to the next camper...



The moon was full and all you could see was the glow of the tent and the moon, it was cool.

Need to work on my photography skills, and maybe a better camera.  I didn't use flash, so that is why it is fuzzy.

Unfortunately all our fishing and I came up with nothing!  They weren't biting much at all.  On the last day before heading home I did catch two Pike, but both were too small to keep.  One was close, but not good enough.

The one fishing story I have is this.  One evening down at the dam I was fishing off the west side near the abutment and I could see a fish, really good sized, just sitting there.  He was watching my bait, but he wouldn't go for it.  I tried everything I had in my box!  I did catch a nice sized Bass, but again not big enough.  He would go after the bait/lure but never strike it.

The next night when we took our walk down to the dam, someone else was fishing in the same spot.  I asked if they had seen the fish...yes, but he wouldn't take the bait!

The next morning Greg had taken the dogs for a walk there and talked to a gentlemen who fishes there plenty, we have seen him every year since we started going.  Greg mentioned the fish and the gentleman replied "Yeah, I've caught him a couple of times, he's not big enough to keep, but he is always there!" 

Crazy fish stories anyway!

Now here's our hunting story...Friday night when we took the dogs for one last walk around before bed, we saw lights in the trees across the water.  Lots of movement and flashing going on.  There are no cabins or roads on the other side, it is all state land and open to hunting.

We went to bed and the next morning at 7:02 AM all hell broke loose....gunshots and gunshots and gunshots!  Crazy war movie time!  Every direction there was BANG!  POW! POP! KABLUIE!

Come to find out it was opening day of waterfowl season!  And everyone and his brother was trying to kill as many duck and geese as he could!  It was CRAZY!

I talked to one group of hunters, three guys and a young woman.  How many did they get you might ask...ONE DUCK!  That's right only one and the girl, who had never hunted before got it.  You go girl!

I never saw one bird fall from the sky, we sat and watched and saw plenty of birds and heard mucho shooting, but I NEVER SAW ONE!

As for the lights in the woods the night before, that was hunters setting up their blinds and spending the night in their spot, so no one else could move in.

All in all we had a good trip.  It was most always cool, night were pretty cold a couple of times, but we have heat.  Had some nice color starting and some sunny days.  10 days away was really nice, but now it was time to go home.  Besides the food was running out and without fish we were going to STARVE!  Now I sound like one of the TV shows we watch...Yukon Men.  We even bought some store eggs...EEWWW!

Our plan for next year is to go a bit earlier, less hunting, maybe a bit less rain and warmer.  We'll see!

Onward and Upwards!

Vacation Part One

Vacation started out wet and cool, the first four days were spent at Lake Margrethe, which is just west of Grayling.  We had  a wonderful site and for the most part were the only ones in the park.  Most campers came and left, just staying overnight.

Fishing wasn't bad, other then the wind and rain.  Caught a few small pans and one or two keeper sized.  We always caught something when we went out. 

This would have been a good lake for swimming, the deep water came quite a long way from the shore and the bottom there was sandy.  After the drop off the bottom was mucky and weedy.

Our first night we went into Grayling to pick up a few things and also had Albe's Pasties, Yummy!  We did a lot of day trips as the weather was mostly cool and damp.  We saw our property we had east of Frederic on one of the trips.  The owner's have a large modern house built pretty much out in the middle of the field.  They are using the drive we made.  Nothing outstanding just a house in a field.

On one of the trips we went looking for somewhere else to camp. Goose Lake and Long Lake Missaukee, really close to Lake City, and Pickerel Lake which is northwest of Grayling.  We were not impressed with any of them.  Goose and Long Lake looked very brushy and just not inviting to us at all.  Pickerel might have been okay, but we decided to stay where we were.

I had taken my foraging books along to try some wild foods if we had the chance.  Right in the park there was an apple tree, it had just a few apples up high, but I managed to pick two.  There were no bad spots on them and except that they needed just a little more time to ripen, were very good.  I wish I could have been there to pick them when they were ripe and also been able to get up to the top of the tree where most of them were.

While at camp one day I fed some of the ducks and a couple of gulls.  I had just a couple of slices of stale bread and they seemed to enjoy it.  Wasn't the first time they had begged food off the campers.

Ducky friends.



Artsy picture.

Dad is over there!

Doggy nap time.

   The 2nd rainbow went from the north shore to the south shore and it was a double!           

On Monday, after four days at Lake Margrethe, we broke camp and headed to Reedsburg Dam State Forest Campground.  Lets hope for dryer weather while we are there!