Spring Break Horse Camp

March 22-26 was Spring Break here for the public school children. For the past two years, Miss Ky has participated in the Spring Break Horse Camp at Sac River Stables, and wanted to do so again this year. Reed joined her for the first time this year, and loved it!
Fortunately, they are all about safety, and take great measures to ensure the children have been properly trained before turning them loose on the horses. That meant that with Reed being the newby on the block, he never rode without a counselor directly with him. And they were always required to wear riding helmets.
A couple of days it rained, one day most of the day, so the campers rode in the inside arena. This didn't excuse them from their daily chores, however, of feeding the animals and scooping poop. I thought perhaps Ky would have grown tired of that but, if so, it failed to "disenthuse" her from participating. (I coined a new word and kindof like it, don't you? I'll bet you know what I mean, anyway!)

Because Ky is older and has had some experience "under her belt," she was allowed to ride solo this year in the indoor arena. She still had a counselor with her on the trail ride. (Not surprising what with the litigious society we live in, yes?)



As evidenced by the following photos, Ky has grown considerably over the three years that she has participated in spring break horse camp.


My d-in-law Sara told me that after I dropped Reed off on Friday (the final day of the camp), he said, "Mommy, I'm kindof sad." She asked why and he answered, "Because I think I'm really going to miss horse camp tomorrow." The camp is thirty minutes one way from our home, so I spent two hours every day just driving them to and from camp. It would not have been worth it had they not enjoyed it so much.

Having grown up on a cattle ranch/farm in WY, and having learned to ride a horse almost before I learned to walk, I truly love horses, so our grandchildren come by it honestly, even if their horse-riding experiences are, from necessity, slightly more conjured or artificial. I thought this would be a good place to include some of my favorite people/equine photos. Pictured in this first photo are my sister Lynda and me (with the straw hat). We look pretty happy to be on our horse, don't we? See what I meant when I stated earlier that I learned to ride almost before I learned to walk?
In this next photo are my Mother and my sisters Donna (L) and Sharon (R). They both still love to ride and, in fact, Donna has spent many hours (and, I'm afraid, a few bones) breaking horses. I think we've all convinced her to stick to her horse-whispering and riding for the rest of her life. We like having her around too much for the risky stuff!
These next three photos feature three of my favorite cowboys: my brothers, Mike, Joel, and Bobby. They elicit many fond memories!


Finally, the cowboy featured in these last two paintings (yes! paintings, not photographs!) is my cousin Steve. The artist is Steve's wife, western artist Ann Hanson. I love Ann's artwork as it also stirs many fond memories of life on the ranch.
It has been fun to see my love for all things equine being shared by our grandchildren. Gingersnap also loves to ride but I guess has outgrown Spring Break Horse Camp and is on to preparing to take her driver's test. Go Britt!

My Take on "Afternoon Delight"

If you are someone who neither loves the smell of bread fresh from the oven, nor drools over it when it's warm, slathered with butter and maybe some homemade strawberry jam, you will not appreciate this blog. But, as for me, and my family--well, you can blame my Mother. I was raised on homemade bread.

Actually, it was Daddy who was first raised on homemade bread, and having little desire to switch the store-bought, "white fluffy stuff," he took pride in taking credit for teaching Mother to bake bread. Well, she was a star pupil! She raised our family on it. And, my sister Donna took a precious video of Mother baking her last batch just two days before she died. Mother literally rose from her sick bed, announced that she wanted to bake bread, and asked to be transported to the kitchen in her wheelchair. Ingredients were placed on the table before her and she proceeded to mix her bread and knead it in a large, stainless steel bowl on her lap. My son Jon and I were in WY at the time and were blessed to be participants in that experience. It will be forever etched in our memories.

At the end of 2009, I purchased a Nutri-Mill (grinder, for anyone who might not be familiar). I opted for an electric one. With travel and the bustle of the holidays, I had not had a chance to even open the box, and I decided it was high time I tried it out. Fortuitously, I received an email last week from a friend through whom I order the steel-cut oats we love (mixed with Canada's Red River Cereal) for breakfast. Lynn was hosting a bread-making demonstration. I decided that was just the shot in the arm I needed to get going, so off I went. I have baked bread on many occasions and for many years; I had yet to grind my own wheat. I came home armed with confidence and eager to give it a try. Alas, with a weekend full of Reed's basketball games and other kiddo-commitments, the bread-baking got put on the back burner. But, yesterday afternoon the time was right!

I unpacked my Nutri-Mill, acquainted myself with the machine, gathered my ingredients, and went to town. I don't have a Bosch (like Lynn and other members of my family use) but my professional-grade Kitchen Aid mixer has a dough hook and plenty of power to accommodate a two-loaf batch (she didn't even break a sweat so I don't think I'll burn her up any time soon).

Mid-afternoon, I took the loaves from the oven and, while the bread was still warm (of course!), I sliced three slices and headed downstairs to share the treat with my hubby (he LOVES homemade bread). He liked my version of "Afternoon delight." :)
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I commented to him that I thought I might start saving for a Bosch, and maybe buy one by the end of the year. Not only would it allow me to make 4 loaves at a time (enough to share with the kids) but I would likely get the food processor attachment inasmuch as the food processor I'd used for years died a few months ago. Steve's comment was that if I continued to bake homemade bread, he just might need to buy me one for Christmas. Hmmmmmmmmm..... Sounds like a win-win situation to me!

Often when Mother baked bread, she would save some of the dough to make hot scones when we got home from school. Hot scones with butter and honey are one of the best DESSERTS ever! We always felt well cared for and loved when Mother baked bread for us. Our grandchildren are eager participants when it comes to sampling homemade goodies, as well. And it makes me feel good when I know that bread made from wholewheat flour is so healthy for them. Ky wanted to test it out with a piece of toast with her breakfast, and happily gave her stamp of approval to use Nana's bread for her sandwich in today's lunch. (Paula has to be at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. and Jon to work a little before 7 a.m., so Jon drop Ky off each morning at 6:40. She has breakfast with Nana and Papa, gets ready, and practices her piano. We have scriptures and prayer together and one of us takes her to school. Jon pays me her lunch money--that I use for an allowance for Ky--then I make her a lunch for school which is far healthier than the school lunches they serve.)

I think the bread was an all-around hit. Mother--and Daddy, too--would be so proud.

NOTE: Due to my own experience, and because some other member of my family (or yours) might have a similar situation, I want to add a note about allergies. Although I grew on my Mother's bread (mostly white when we were younger), as an adult, I could not eat Mother's bread without getting a severe migraine within half an hour of consumption. It was so good that I was a slow learner, but after 4 tries and 4 migraines, I declared, "I may be a SLOW learner, but I'm not a NO learner," and I gave up trying it again. Thanks to my sister Lynda, who thankfully loves me enough to do some detective work and figure it all out, we learned that the difference in the bread Mother was baking (at least in recent years) and the baked goods I make without problems is the yeast. Mother used SAF and I am allergic to it, I've learned. As long as I use Fleischmann's or Red Star, I have no problems. I'm so glad Lynda figured that out. (And, I might add, she baked with yeast I could have when we were in WY together. I hope she knows how much I appreciated both that and her figuring out what the problem was.) So, if you have trouble tolerating a particular kind of bread, you might consider what it is that you could be allergic to.
Two of our eager bread samplers, of course, are Reed and Ky. The picture of rosey-cheeked Reed was taken immediately following his second basketball game on Saturday. The picture of Reed and Ky was taken after the games when we took them to
eat. It's not the best picture of Ky but I included it because it reminded me that she loved the new top I got for her on Friday so much that she "begged" to wear it on Saturday. Why not? And the black hat she's wearing is one she bought recently with a little spending money she earned for getting such a great report card. Way to go, Princess! Like I've said before, "We're not proud or anything." :)