A Day in the Life of....

Someone asked me the other day what my life was like here at camp. So here is a list:

1. My life now revolves around feeding 30 horses, morning and night, EVERY DAY.
2. I break a sweat before 8 am every day.
3. I work hard every day in the hot sun, doing hard horse tasks I've never had to do before, like stacking hay bales, corral maintence, driving dump trucks full of manure, ect.
4. I can throw hay bales around like no other.
5. I ride by the skin of my teeth on young horses, badly-behaved horses, green horses, ect. Sometimes I shake it up and ride Sweet P, who is well-trained but still is a handful herself.
5. I trail ride. A lot.
6. I party. A lot.
7. My daughter is officially hooked on horses. It is bad news if she goes to the corral and doesn't get to ride a horse.
8. At the end of the day, the horse staff and I run screaming off the dock, fully-clothed working in the corral, just to get cooler faster.
9. Lilah, Nick and I put in quality time swimming in the lake as often as possible. Lilah loves to play in the water!
10. I take showers, but never really feel clean.
11. I am constantly sun-burned and tired.
12. My bed, my shower, and my time-off are elusive items I'm beginning to question the existence of.
13. Living at camp is like a cross between camping, college, and Shasta.
14. I have a hard time imagining the upcoming winter months, and Nick and I still haven't decided where we'll be.
15. I am having a blast and have made lots of new friends and new memories!!

And finally,
16. I drive hill-billy red-neck trucks around town while completing job duties:


17: I get dressed up with the rest of the camp staff at the end of each session. This was our last "Tattler" night, which is the last night of camp each session. Each Tattler has a theme, and it's very special for the kids. In this picture the theme was "Candyland", and I was the lollipop princess. I'm in the very back...

Horse Staff 2009

Go Team Blue!!


Go Team Yellow!


(this was not planned.... ) :)

Evening Trail Ridin'

Pictures of Friday night's trail ride over to a nearby lake (which will remain nameless, he-he) This was the Dude's first water experience and he pretty much got right in! I had a former student visiting, and she got to partake with us. We had five horses & riders all together -- lots of fun splashing around!

Horsin' around in the Corral

Now that I have two camp sessions completed and under my belt, I feel like I'm getting a fuller understanding of my new job, which in many ways is a lot different from my last job. Here are pictures from our "trail riding day", in which we take the kiddies out on trail rides.

Here is my staff member Courtney, ready to take my horse out on the trail. I have had to tell people to back off of his use. He's such a nice guy that everyone wants to use him, but I'm trying to keep him on semi-retirement while at camp!




Group shot of just some of the horses ready to go. I couldn't get all the horses in one picture!

Uh, did we forgot something here? Like a rider?!?! This picture cracks me up -- in all the chaos someone walked away from "Whitey", and he stood at the mounting block for at least ten minutes until I noticed no one was holding him. What a good boy!

I am working crazy hours, and I am thankful Nick brings Lilah down to the corral to hang out with me on the weekends so that I can see her! I'm also thankful I have a great horse staff who are willing to jump in as baby-sitters and treat it as part of their job duties! Here Lilah draws all over the lesson board with Hannah.

I also have a project baby! I love (horse) babies, and "the Dude" just turned 3 this spring. I started him under saddle, and this picture was taken right before I took him out on a real trail ride. He is very laid-back, hence the name "the Dude", which is taken from a movie character in "The Big Lebrowski". Currently I am teaching him to give to the bit and how to steer, especially at the trot. He is coming along, and I'm having fun working with another baby!

Doesn't he look like a ball of fire? :)

Happy 4th of July!!

We had a great holiday in the country! We went to a 4th of July BBQ party at a farm-home outside of Madras. We took the horse staff, as well as a couple extra camp staff. We drank, played games, sat in the hot-tub, watched a thunder-and-lightening storm, and ate yummy food. When it was time for fireworks, we drove into Madras and watched the local show overlooking the high-school. Lilah was a good girl all day. She took a brief nap with our friend Rosie, then was awake to watch the fireworks. The fireworks made her a little nervous at first, but then she became entralled. It was a great day!


Me with Becki (L) and my assistant director Beth (R):

Group shots of the girls!

Can you see Lilah between Hannah & I? :)

Lilah helps Becki play poker:

and eats ice from the beverage container:

I Fall IN!!

It was bound to happen and finally it did --- Lilah fell off the dock into deep water at camp. Nick and I were right with her when it happened. We were all dangling our feet in the water, and Lilah kept scooting further and further off the dock, despite our "be careful" warnings. She scooted right off the edge and went in. Interestingly, her reaction was surprise, followed by anger. She was not scared at all, but she has exercised greater care when on the dock since then.

(Lilah also likes to brush everyones' hair now!!)