trail riding and stuff

I am having lots of fun trail riding. It is not too hot at 7:30 in the morning. Wiz is enjoying it too and getting very brave and didn't even spook the other day when a hawk flew back and forth in front of us. He loves to slosh around in the water whenever we cross some or go the the little beach place in the woods. We have been riding around a retention pond by a newly cleared area where some housing will go up and he is cool with that. We saw mommy and daddy ducks swimming in the pond with several babies in between them. They were swimming in a very straight line. Super cute!! Today there were some ducks standing around on the edge. Also, some strange rustling off in the woods on one of the trails so we quickly turned off into another area - . Also working on going slowly up and down the banks of the creek we have to cross. He wants to just run at it! Nooooooooooooooo

Today, I also worked on getting W into the wash rack outside the front barn. It is out in the open and is a U shape. The object is for the horse to be tied in there and stand to be hosed off. Finally got W to walk in there and stand by me but would not be tied and would not be washed in there.

Yesterday, I took the neighbor's dogs in the pool with me. One at a time since neither will actually go in by themselves. Last year, they were frantic in the pool. After watching the dog physcology show on TV and copying what he did, I can now gently coax one of them in and hold her til she is calm and then she will quietly swim back to the steps. I think she finally realizes that she should go to the steps and not try to scramble up any old edge. The other one will get on the first step on her own but then I have to pick her up and carry her in the rest of the way. She, however, did completely relax in my arms and let me hold her belly out with her back up against me and her head resting off to the side on my shoulder!! Cutie! She has no idea yet about swimming to the steps to get out. lol

Have a brilliant (I hope) idea for my duck shoe needlepoint. I'm back to the lace idea for the background after messing with some alternatives. I think I can take some thin white crochet thread to form the pattern and then needlepoint over it in white floss! We shall see.

Going to Florida in two weeks. I'm going to take some knitting and let my mother watch. She taught me how to knit when I was about 9-10. The whole time I was growing up, she had and unfinished pair of mittens in her bureau. She had started them in college and I think they just needed the thumbs but she never finished them. I remimded her of this the other day on the phone and she said, "I love you very much." Oh dear, that is a long sentence for her and she hardly ever says anthing without some prompting. If I can't tell if she still has the phone to her ear and can hear me, I start saying, "10, 20, 30" and she starts counting by tens up to 100.