A Beautiful, Very Good, Perfect Kind of Day

This morning when we went down to the barn to do chores, it was already in the low 50s.  Unheard of!  We rode after breakfast, at 9:00 or so and I was comfortable in a tee-shirt.  I wasn't sure how Winston would be from an energy and soreness standpoint after our trail ride yesterday.  I needn't have worried; he was ready, willing and able.  He was nice and forward, stretching and stepping under at walk.  I did notice that as we came up behind Brett and Flash, his energy level ticked up a couple notches.  Once we were past them, he slowed waaaaay down.  So, we had to work on "this is time to work and pay attention to ME, not playtime with Flash."  After trailering together for lessons and our long trail ride yesterday, Winston has clearly bonded with Flash.  They aren't buddies, but Winston looks to Flash for security.  Father Figure Flash. 

That picture was taken after we rode, in the afternoon.  In our schooling this morning, we worked a tad on canter.  I asked, he went, he started to slow down and I noticed -- ah-HA! -- that I was clamping my legs against his sides.  Oops.  As soon as I released and draped my legs, using my seat to follow the movement, voila!  very nice forward canter.  Maybe all those "tantrums" when I asked him to canter had more to do with my kneess saying "yipes! slow down!" while my legs said "go."  Coulda been me.  Don't you hate that?  90% of the time it's us. 

After lunch, I attacked the lavender plants by the viewing stand.  They really should be pruned back every year to look their best but somehow I never get around to it.  I prune the fruit trees, then the roses, then whatever else catches my eye -- and it doesn't seem to be lavender.  I filled the dumpster and Brett had to smash it down with the tractor bucket.  The lavender went from looking like this:

To this.  I hacked it all the way down to the ground.  

A few hours later, Brett came up to the house and told me that Bella had gone missing.  We saw her wander down the road and over to the neighbors at lunchtime but Brett said he couldn't find her anywhere.  I grabbed my camera and went looking.  First I had to admire the daffodils and poppies blooming everywhere.  They are my two favorite flowers and I have planted hundreds of both. 

Tuffy and Finessa showed me where Bella was -- outside, between the pasture fence and the road.

Jackson who had a very good day and was able to spend it in the pasture, woke up from his nap and came over to see what we were looking at.

Bella tried to jump the fence to be with me but couldn't quite get over.  So, she ran up to the driveway and came over the usual way.  I had to run to catch her coming over the entry fence -- she's a speedy little goat and I'm a 50-something woman who wasn't ever speedy and certainly isn't now.

I sat on the rocks with Bella for awhile.  She was busy dining on weeds, grass, dry leaves and sticks.  Goats eat such a varied diet.

While Bella and I were busy taking pictures and daffodil inventory, Brett was on his lawn tractor mowing the slopes.

Pizza, salad and wine are on tap for dinner tonight.  Camille and I tried a new pizza dough recipe and method for baking last night while Brett was gone watching his nephew swim in the PAC-12 finals.  I was going to take pictures but the baking part wasn't very graceful or pretty -- Camille about wet her pants because she was laughing so hard when I tried to "slide" her pizza onto the hot stone in the oven.  It kind of scrunched up and the toppings went over the edge... Hopefully, I can do a prettier job tonight for Brett.  Or maybe I'll just give him an extra large glass of wine before dinner and then he'll be too happy to notice.