Back in WY

Well the girls and I are now back in WY, with the border collie herd, the whole fam is back. I was not that excited to come home to the amount of snow we had had, but by the time I made it home Friday afternoon it had melted quite a bit and warmed up quite a bit. Still, 84 to 44 is just not that fun. I so missed my horses though, and my cats, and my church. This week was kinda normal. Starting the week in flip flops and ending it in snow boots isn't really normal I guess, but nothing crazy happened. The puppies grew and got cuter I think, and the girls grew and got cuter for the most part too I think.

I have to end this week by doing a little tribute to my buddy "Paint" or "Snake" as I never called him...he broke his leg on April 2 and we had to put him to sleep. I haven't blogged about it until now because it didn't seem real until I got home. I'm so bummed I wasn't able to say goodbye, but Scott said it was as bad as he'd ever seen. We have no idea what happened...maybe he tried to turn and run and play and fell, we really don't know...I'm just so sad. He was the first horse I roped on that really showed me the way to do it. He'd always put me in the right spot. He did try and buck me off about every time I roped on him, but I still loved him. He wasn't a really affectionate horse, in fact he'd often avoid it. He would hold his breath if he thought you were going to pet him and try not to move, as if to try and be invisible. But as the years went on, and he suffered through the scratches, pets, and kisses, he learned to tolerate and even like them I think. He would often get "lost" in the scratches between his eyes and let his eyes close for a little bit. He would also close his eyes and I could pet over the top of them and he would drop his head and relax. I loved kissing him right by his eye, so I could watch his expression soften. Sometimes I'd even catch him following me after I'd pet him as if to ask for more only to stop the second he thought I noticed. I'm very grateful to him for teaching me, and letting me rope on him. I'm really going to miss him. I love you Paint buddy, I'm really gonna miss you. You were a very good friend to me, and you even let my girls ride you and love on you too. You were never a snake to me, I loved you, and I always will love you.