A Collection of Madcap Escapades: The Ninth Month

I was planning to take Booger to her first hunter pace today, so of course it's been pouring down rain for 48 hours straight. I guess I'll take this opportunity to do September's photo dump.

Jess took this awesome photo one evening when she, Tara, and I rode together.

Another photo by Jess from the same ride.

Bow season has started in the valley so the trails are only open 10-3. This means trail riding will be a weekend activity for the next several months. But we snuck in some lovely golden hour rides to close out the summer.

This was our last month in the office. I brought Julio with me frequently. Everyone was calling him the office emotional support dog. I think he's going to be the saddest of all about the lack of office going forward.

He has a dog bed and several rugs to choose from, but he likes the cold floor.

NeighborFriend™ joined me for a couple trail rides after work. I rode Booger and she rode Lucy. It reminded me of the good old days when we rode our horses together daily.

A photo of the overhang that the horses have constant access to. I was trying to explain to my non-horsey co-workers why my horses don't get stalled, and how they have shelter in bad weather.

Originally I was going to put these photos in my Rescue Wagon post. Then that post ran away with me and I was going to do a separate post, but now I'm so far behind that I'll never catch up if I don't consolidate. Two weeks after Lucy and I had our fall, Eryca and I revisited the far side of the valley. We ended up doing thirteen beautiful miles together. It was completely uneventful and lovely.

There was some water in the creek, but still not much.

Lilly with a view of the valley.

This is a super fun stretch of single track.

We accidentally stumbled upon the detour I was trying to find on that fateful ride. We turned at the beginning of the field at the top of Carter's and I spotted the outdoor arena, which is now just a flat grassy spot. That trail dropped us right at the bottom of the hill by this big, fancy indoor that doesn't get used these days. It's a really cool short cut that gives us faster access to the far side of the valley.

I finally managed to do this stretch without any bushwhacking. Plus I was able to pull up one of my old hunter pace maps on the AllTrails app and use it for navigation while on the go. That has been my goal with recording all these rides, and it felt like a big accomplishment. Or maybe I'm a dork.

I love looking out over the broom corn.

Looking back the way we came.

More dried up creek bed. I still can't get over how bad the drought was this summer.

Lilly leads the way up the Jungle Trail.

We went up to Dev and C's for Labor Day weekend and had a blast.

Julio continues to enjoy his favorite park every chance he gets.

"Ma, enough photos, I wanna gooooo!"

Another ride with NeighborFriend.

My co-worker brought his dog, Daisy, in for a visit. I loved her.

This is Booger's favorite trail.She thinks it's dumb to have to wait for the Boy Horses.

The boy horses.

The rump rug fly sheet made a huge difference for Felix as far as the horse flies went.

We had the most amazing moon rise that night and this photo does it absolutely no justice.

This was supposed to be a margherita pie. They forgot the tomatoes and mozzarella. So I guess that makes it a plain pizza with basil. It was still tasty, but I chuckled about having to pay extra for the "specialty toppings".

It's harvest time which means riding by lots of big tractors. I love watching them at work.

Emily had a pig roast for her birthday and I got to see my friend Frankie for the first time in way too long.

Feeding horses in the dark.

I tried to get a picture of the parking lights on the truck and failed miserably.

A gift from someone at the office.

Mike stopped by in the work van while I was cooling Lucy out.

Love those long September shadows....

Mike is giving Fran's old trailer a makeover so I can safely use it for future adventures.

It's nice having a real ring...

Being stuck at home during the week means lots of dressage and jumping.

Jack came to visit.

My delightfully witchy girl.

On our anniversary, Mike and I explored a new trail head that he recently discovered. It connects to the Amwell Valley trails, but is actually part of the D&R Greenway. It's cool that the two are now connected, but this trail would need a lot of TLC in order to be passable on horseback.

Mike power washed the trailer. I wish I had a good before photo.

Anniversary dinner.

Broke 182k miles on the Rav.

The company we shared our building with makes displays for corporate events. I want this one in my ring for jumping. LOL.

My happy place.

Fast asleep with his pillow and his pig toy.

I feel like I take this photo of this tree every year.

Gunner being naughty.

Lucy getting her feefs trimmed.

Julio is an engineer.

Supervising the cheesecake cutting.

I came in to find Booger's eye squinting and running. Ah! I think she rubbed it on something and had a tiny cut on her lower lid. Thankfully the globe was unaffected. I put her in a fly mask for 24 hours and it looked completely normal the next day. Phew!

The clouds over the ring were pretty wild.

Julio commuting home.

I rested this paddock and it came back so nicely.

Mike and Julio watching baseball. It's very serious.

Dawn and Dean came to ride and we did eleven awesome miles. I'll have to do a separate post about that one.

Mike picked up a lawn tractor with a plow so he doesn't have to snow blow the driveway this year.

It also has a wagon!

Separate entry coming about this too, but Eryca and I did the TTA hunter pace and got the best time out of all the teams!

Dog walking at Cedar Ridge.

There were little signs of fall everywhere.

Every time I see these, I think of Carlos eating them on our trail ride and gagging at how bitter they were.

Before.

After.

He even did the lug nuts.

Enjoying the fall breeze through the open windows.

Noes to toes while I work from home.

The office officially shut down. I'm happy to be working from home again, but the closing is very bittersweet. I'm going to miss seeing everyone on a regular basis. I work with some really awesome people.