The place was awash in little girls this afternoon.  I think I counted seven, at one point.  A couple of them were even ours.

Here is great-granddaughter Liliana on her gaited pony . . .

Here are some spectators.  Can you tell which one has been on a horse lately?

Liliana’s little sister Isabella was not impressed.

The sun was really bright . . . but it sure lit up Isabella’s red hair!

I think it’s true; there is a natural affinity between little girls and horses.

We had some excitement yesterday.  I was going out to catch Kitty — Marion and I rode out again — when I looked up and saw a couple of deputies headed down into the river bottom.  One appeared to have a gun drawn.  There were eight or nine of them searching the brush.  They were apparently looking for the renegade deputy who had escaped from custody earlier.

Needless to say, Marion and I went in the opposite direction.

Just a couple of hours ago, we learned they had captured that deputy, who was wanted on a variety of charges.  He was said to have brandished a firearm at a group of little girls.  He was found in Oildale, all right, so maybe he had passed by.  It’s a relief that he was caught with no harm done to anyone.  But it was a weird episode.

Things are never dull around here . . .

 

For months, it’s been too hot to ride in the afternoon.  Today, I tried it for the first time this fall.  It was great.

Kitty and I followed Peaches’ plumy tail — and muddy paws — east along the trail.

The dried grasses were a wonderful golden hue.

We can’t escape signs of the drought, though.  This old cottonwood had lost several large branches lately, doubtless due to drought stress and wind.

If you look closely, you can see Xena examining the left-most branch.  I’m glad we weren’t around when it fell.  It’s nature’s way of pruning, though, and inevitable.

We didn’t stay out long, but it was very promising for future rides.  It won’t be long before it’ll be pretty chilly for riding in the morning.

There was an exceptionally large and beautiful sundog in the western sky last night.

A sundog, if you don’t know, is a patch of rainbow iridescence in the clouds caused by light refracting through ice crystals.  They are called sundogs because they appear to faithfully follow the sun in the sky.  There are usually two, and there were in this case.  The other, though, was behind some trees and didn’t seem as bright.

My cell phone wouldn’t capture the full range of colors.  This was actually much more colorful than it appears here — a patch of rainbow.

Here are the real dogs, waiting patiently under the sky “dog” for me finish fooling with that darned camera and throw the ball.

So I did.

Well, not actually bathing.  I did wash Bella-the-pony’s tail, and groomed the rest of her.  By the time I was done, her tail was clean, and her mane was silvery-sparkly . . .

But the rest of her, frankly, was just furry.

Then I turned her out in the exercise arena, where she had a wonderful time.

And she looked good, coming . . .

. . . or going.

And, for a wonder, she didn’t roll even once!

I looked out of the window this morning, and saw Gena (left) and Xena (right) enjoying a nap on the old sofa.  It’s set out in front of the office to be picked up for disposal, but they’re making good use of it.

Now the trouble with this is that one — or both — of them is the reason it’s going to the dump.  You can see the cozy little nest Gena — or Xena — has excavated on the left-hand side.  As a dog bed, it’s great.  As a place for people to sit — not so much.

Gena is sitting in the hole, but I think Xena has the guiltier expression.

And, though I hate to mention it, I have seen Skip the neighboring pointer lifting his leg on the sofa, too.  It’s definitely time for it to go.

Right now, there are two white plastic chairs where the sofa was.  There’s not much they can do to them.

Is there?

We had some very small visitors a couple of days ago — some of the latest crop of great-grandchildren.  Here are Weston (left) and Colin (right) checking out Weston’s present.

Weston figured out the correct thing to do with wrapping paper right away.

Colin doesn’t seem so sure about it.

Babies are such fun.  You have to wonder what they are thinking about this strange new world.

Weston is grandson Andrew’s and Ciera’s child, while Colin belongs to grandson Brian and Janet.  Aren’t they beautiful?  If a little blurry — great grandma was snapping her shots too fast.

We did get that promised rain, and a pretty good one, too — maybe a tenth of an inch.  It was nothing, though, compared to the downpours all around us.

The humidity was high after the rain, but I was still surprised when I got up this morning and peered through the window.

There was fog in every direction.

It had lifted a bit by the time I took this shot.  There are two horses there, if you look closely.

When we rode later, it was nice to see the plantings at Panorama Vista looking so happy.

Peaches just enjoyed the puddles, gross and muddy though they were.  Xena disapproves — though she had tried a smaller puddle herself.

We had been smelling smoke pretty strongly for a day or two.  Today, we heard that one of the stables downriver had a haystack struck by lightning during the big storm Wednesday night, and had other damage caused by the strike as well.  That would account for the smell, which wasn’t quite like woodsmoke.  No people or animals were injured, but a haystack is a big loss for a stable.  That’s why ours are spaced so far apart, though we never thought of one being struck by lightning.  Hay fires are not uncommon — though very hard to put out — but lightning is not the usual cause!

 

It was a lively night.  Thunderstorms are not so common in Bakersfield that we take them for granted.  This was a good one, for here, with house-shaking thunder and searing bolts of lightning — but almost no rain.  I was reminded of the old song, “This Ole House”.  Our house, too, “trembles in the darkness when the lightning walks about”.

Before the storm, yesterday’s ride was really enjoyable.  Here are a few snaps . . .

Marion and Janie with the Panorama Vista plantings in the background.  The drip irrigation is bringing the young trees along nicely.

Marion getting ready to take our picture.  Look this way, EZ!

The picture Marion took.  Canada looks like he’s flirting with Kitty.  It looks a bit misty, but that was actually dust from a passing vehicle.  The air was so still that it just hung in the air.  Of course, that was before the storm.

Heading home . . .

There is a possibility of more thunder and lightning this evening.  We’ll hope there’s some rain with it!

 

The weather’s beginning to change.  It’s cloudy out, and the temperature wasn’t bad today.  Marion, friend Janie, and I got out for a ride today..

But before that — there was a sunrise!  Many people were up early enough to capture it — and so was I. It started out spectacular . . .

But stayed lovely as the sun rose.

The day came quickly, pearl and gold.

It was beautiful to the southwest, as well.

Later that morning, we had our ride — but more about that tomorrow.

It’s been one of those weeks when it seems like there’s something that has to be done every day — but none of it’s interesting.  Banking, grocery shopping, check-up at the doctor’s (I’m healthy again) . . . nothing to blog about.  I’ve looked around at some old photos to use as placeholders . . . there are some interesting ones in the Critters category.

Here’s what happens when a winter coat comes in at different rates for different colors.

This Appy’s white hair grew faster than the brown, making for 3d spots.  Very interesting, if weird.

Here’s a really fleabitten grey . . .

Here’s Marion’s good mare Minka scratching in her own unique way . . .

I hope something interesting (but not too interesting) happens soon, so I can post some new pictures!  This post is just to show that I’m still here.