Samantha and the Butterflies

It was early Spring 1993 and California had just come through an unusually wet rain season which had been preceded by drought years. Wildflowers were abundant and the wild grasses were high. I was outside one afternoon when I saw butterflies, lots of them, and all flying from south to north. I was fascinated because I had never seen so many at once. They came on and on, fragile wings carrying them northwards.
Due to the conjunction of drought and then heavy rains, and temperatures being just right, there was a rare mass hatching of the Painted Lady butterflies. They hatch out in the desert of extreme Southern California and northern Mexico, then fly northwards. There were not just thousands of them, but 100,000's of them. This was truly a once in a lifetime event. The entire migration lasted a little more then a week.
On a sunny afternoon, at the height of the butterflies, I got my good gelding Cloud Dancer and saddled him, then got the coming 2 year filly, Samantha to pony with us. I had been taking her along since she was a weanling. Once we were away from home, I turned her loose to run and romp and follow along. With no vehicle traffic on the back dirt roads or the creek bed, this worked very well.
We were up on a high ridge, in a big open meadow when we found ourselves in the midst of a heavier then usual clump of butterflies. Samantha was about 30 feet from me and I saw her through a cloud of butterflies. It was one of those shining golden moments that will remain in my memory.

Rabbits Make Noise!--Who Knew?!

Actually I have known for a long time that rabbits do make noise. They scream when captured by a predator and are about to be eaten. But last night I heard something I have never heard before, in 25 1/2 years up here.
I was filling up a horse water tub and my mind was off in la-la land when, from behind me, I heard a {{noise}}. I came back from la-la land long enough to note I had just heard a strange noise then I was back into la-la land. Then again, a {{noise}}. This time I turned around and saw only two rabbits grazing on the sprouting weeds about ten feet from me. I turned back to watch the water and once again, a {{noise}}. I turned again, and again saw just two rabbits eating. This time I kept my mind in the present and stayed turned. With no warning, one of the rabbits jumped up in the air, mostly straight up but somewhat in the direction of the other rabbit, while making the {{noise}}. The other rabbit moved and the jumping rabbit took over his grazing area. Picking up my jaw, I realized that this was a dominant move and noise, designed to move the lower ranking rabbit.
Oh my, how to describe the {{noise}}. I really can't do it justice. Sort of like "fffttt", but not really with a moderate pitch and loudness. Sort of like an old stiff nylon coat rubbing, but not really.
Is this something all rabbits do? or just this one rabbit? Will I ever again hear it? Or was this a one time blessing? These were the wild cottontails doing this dance and song.
Rabbits--how interesting.

Cold Overcast Morning

The Coming of Nova, The Dog

It was August, 1989. It was hot and I was crabby from the hot. I was finishing up the morning chores, the horses were all watered and settled for the day and I was heading for the house, when a ruckus came up my driveway. The ruckus turned out to be an Arab mare in flaming heat and she parked herself by the fence of the first stallion she came upon. I turned around to the tack room, got a halter, got her captured without injury to me, her or the fence, and into an empty corral. I then recognized her as belonging to a neighbor a little more then a quarter of a mile down the road and around a couple of corners which put them within view of my place and not that far in a straight line. It was way too hot to return her now so I got her a tub of water, some hay and left her there in the corral.

That evening, after I had finished my stuff and the sun had set, I took the Arab and myself on a walk to her home. The person who owned her was an absentee owner. Pancho had bought the 10 acres on the creek (only seasonally wet) but lived in East L.A. He had renters out here who took care of his animal collection as part of the rent deal. I got to the driveway to find, oh joy, the Drunken D’s in their car. The Drunken D’s lived on out the road about a mile from me and earned their name each and every day. You could smell them from yards away. They jumped out of their car, yelling that they were so glad to see I had Cece and she was safe. Turned out the renters had pulled out with no notice so Pancho had the Drunken D’s feeding for him. Of all the people on the mountain he picked the absolute least reliable. They opened the gate for me and I took Cece in where there was hay waiting for her. Guess the D’s thought she would magically reappear? They offered me a ride home which I declined as I wanted a long and healthy life.

The next morning, I went on down to Pancho’s to check the animals and sure enough everything was out of water and had no feed. I fed rabbits, chickens, Cece, goats, all sorts of fowl, and petted the lonely dog while feeding her. Note that last one; that is what did it for me.

The next morning, I was at the barn setting out hay for that night’s feeding and the lonely dog comes trotting up the hill, greeting me as a long-lost friend and with the attitude that of course I am glad to see her and that of course I love her. That was her attitude with which she greeted people her entire life. I was hooked, of course. I fed her, petted her some more, named her Nova & had to go on to work. She was waiting for me with the rest of my dogs when I got home and stayed all weekend up at my place. That was the weekend that Pancho rounded up some friends and removed all his animals. Guess he did not miss the dog.

Nova did not spend all her time at my place at first. She continued to check out Pancho’s place and another neighbor’s place. At that time the other neighbor did not know where she lived but they enjoyed her. And that made the setting for one of the famous Nova stories that they tell to this day. Seems they were having a barbeque when Nova showed up. She got petted by all and was happily enjoying the attention. Just as the steaks were ready, she jumped up, grabbed a one pound porterhouse off the grill and took off, leaving laughter behind. They had been calling her Thicktail, because she did have a thick tail, and when they found out that I had adopted her, they just had to tell me their Thicktail story about her and the steak.

Nova was with me for nearly 16 years, passing on at age 19. And she was correct—everyone was always glad to see her.

No Home Telephone

There is no dial tone on my home phones today. Verizon can't get out to fix until Wednesday. So I'll have no computer Sunday and Monday at home. I'll be back at my store on Tuesday. Everyone have fun while I'm gone!

Prehistoric horses at Borrego Springs

These photos were taken Thanksgiving Day when I was at my parents down at Borrego.

For more information on these sculptures see
www.galletameadows.com

Not such a good ride, or "Lil'Red, you are being a nut!"

I knew we would not have consistency yet but I did not expect the near meltdown of yesterday. At morning feeding, I saw that Lil' Red seemed a bit hyper so I planned on ground work first. He was fine doing the ground work, so I saddled up & got on & we started out good. But once out a ways, he started into wanting to turn for home and when he was not allowed that, he would want to blast off in any direction, also not allowed. He just would not settle at all and this was the hottest he has been for me. We made a big loop that gently headed in the direction of home. Once home, instead of heading for the tack room, we went to the arena and worked on thinking, breathing, giving, stuff like that. Took a while, but he finally gave one big breath and sigh and offered a stop and was able to stand still. Once I was off, instead of going to the tack room, I untacked him out at the far end of the arena then we went on a walk. Once he was dry and cool, we went to his corral.
Lessons learned--more ground work needed for him in general; when I observe high behavior in the corral, push him harder in the ground work to see just how high he is and deal with it in the arena or round pen instead of under saddle on the trails; I'm a better rider then I thought I was, as he showed me yesterday, but I am coming 58 years & stopped bouncing a long time ago & would prefer to avoid certain antics.
This time of year, although the weather is grand, is frustrating because the days are short so I have no time for horses except for non-store days. Oh well, he is only coming 7 years now, so there is time.