Yee...Haw...!!!

...Cowboy gets to go Cowboying~away from home!

It almost feels like Christmas to him! He is sooooo durned excited!

He needs this break, I agree. We just never get to leave home!

(Except MY trip to the Daughter's & Sister's..but that wasn't WE!

This time won't be WE either! It'll be HE!).

I'm so frugal and with gas prices the way they are, as far as he has to go, I was draggin' my feet. Then, ol' tight-wad me, stepped back & counted back to how long it had been since he left this place~over night~that was last August, for one night to attend my Uncles funeral. Now had sad is that!!! Feeling guilty, I went and opened up my private 'emergency purse strings'....

....Here ya go, Cowboy. Go and have a blast!

This time, every year, some good friends gather their calves for weaning, about 800 head, which they range in the North Cascades by the Canadian border. The terrain is rough & rugged. I used to help when we lived there, but my nerves, maybe it's my age :( would stop me now.

It gets really~really WESTERN!

If you have a GOOD horse & he can "read' cows, all you need to do is hang on! The Ol' Paint I used to ride was that way...scared the livin' begeezes out me many times! He had NO problem jumping the brush...like 3-4ft high stuff on a steep hillside nonetheless, if he figured that'd be quicker than the way I'd choose! And he was always right! Cajun would not let me look for trails going down rock slides or pine covered drops....Oh no!..He knew what we were supposed to be doing, what the job was & where these cattle were to go~he was NOT caring about any second thoughts I might be having in any given situation! He needed not, and he waited not for directions from me! Oh, yes, I was dumped a time or two (?) and it didn't hurt too much at the time but I'm sure it was pride and anger that'd get me through the rest of those days!

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Hubby loves going up there..they have a cabin in the mountains, corrals, everything a Cowboy needs ...and they don't need plumbing, or indoor cooking facilities, or even running water....just bare minimum stuff. There is a cistern on the slope to provide gravity fed water to the corrals for the horses & stock, water for the makings of coffee, for a cool drink for the cowboys out of the troughs...and maybe even a good dunk if women folk aren't around! And always...provides for a welcomed cooling off for the stock dogs as there is little time for them to plop in a creek during the day. It is non stop for them!

It's a good thing Cowboys don't need much to survive! Because it ain't there!

Just lots of clean fresh air, tall tall trees and rock bluffs (even some mountain sheep if one has time to notice), timber rattlers (that'd be snakes in case ya don't know!!),

deep coulees, steep climbs, (or drops depending on which you are headed),

and spectacular views!

Oh how I wish I could go along...I could take some great pictures for you! (yea, yea...I know, my camera & I are not the best for that...don't remind me!) I do love the mountains, the fresh smell of the pines, the wildlife that traverses the countryside, except for the cougars & bears. I don't care to see them up close & personal! (These ranchers DO have problems with them).

We've been talking about going up there and staying several weeks. It would do us both some good, we say...get away together! That's all we ever seem to do is talk, and not act upon.

One of these days....we will...

Fall is a great time to be there! Cool, cool nights, warm days and the vibrant colors of the changing seasons are awesome!

Oh well, there is lots to accomplish before tomorrow arrives. He will be taking 3 horses, so they need to be shod which he's doing as I type:

(I just snuck out there to take this...he hasn't a clue I was there!)

...find, clean, pack the bedroll, saddlebags, even a winter coat, gloves & longjohns!! High in the Cascades...it's not too unusual to start a day with warm sunny skies & then have the temperatures plummet with a squal overhead! (It even dropped to 34* here last night! Yikes!) Clean the cooler, started making bunches of ice, dust off dutch ovens & re-season them. Raid the pantry & freezers, for a Cowboy DOES need to eat! And this particular one LOVES to eat!

(on the way back from getting the pix of him, I stopped & gathered these..guess what I'm making?? Yep...Zucchini bread, in small loaves so they fit in saddlebags for "on the run" lunch!)

Hmmm...aside from shoeing the horses...think the rest is my job!

How's that always happen? I don't recall him packing and readying my bags when I left.... ;)

T'is... Ok... though, because I get to witness the child-like glee in him!
It has been a year since he's gone anywhere for more than one night (which like I said, was last August)....He did get to help them gather last year, same place, same time, doing the same thing ...imagine that!

He deserves this trip, the time with friends & doing what he loves best!

Am I excited??? For him Yes...for me? No!

Let's go back a bit.....

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............to be Continued

(need to go get the Zucchini breads going...)