In which our best-laid plans don't work out, and Fiddle becomes a tripod

"A day off! Let's go riding with Patty and Sirie and Dory!" said Maddie.

But when we got up in the morning:
Bahhhh.

The roads around the farm were in pretty good shape, but the roads leading to our favorite trailheads are in the shade, and they don't get enough traffic to warrent the salt-and-gravel treatment from our hardworking county road crews.

We started out anyhow, but hadn't got far when we got a phone call from Patty: "We just hit black ice. We don't want to keep going. Other ideas?"

Well, a motion to go out for lunch is always in order so we did that first.

Then, we went over to Fish Creek so that Dory could give us a Really Hard Lesson:But then Fiddle....stopped.

To pee.

And then took a few steps.

And then...stopped again.

To pee. Again.

Yes, it's true. At the end of freakin' December, less than 10 days from the shortest day of the entire year, my mare is in full-blown heat.

When Fiddle is in heat, she doesn't want to walk. She doesn't want to trot.

What she wants to do is eat bon-bons and watch sad movies.

And pee. Again.

That's how Fiddle got assigned the task of acting as the Universe's Largest Living Camera Tripod.We stood in the center of the arena. Fiddle peed. I took pictures. Sigh.

Neither of us was very happy, but we agreed that standing in the center of the arena in the sunshine was a lot better than standing just about anywhere else in the pouring rain.I'm glad I got one good picture of Bev and Ariana (below). They're both so sweet, it's easy to shoot right past them.

Speaking of sweet, here's somebody who is too sweet to be my real sister, so we just pretend. (Patty, I mean. Shade isn't anybody's sister--he's a gelding).

Madeline loves riding Sky!

Nikki was having one of those sub-optimal days that 13-year-olds have frequently. She won't believe us if we tell her that we all understand about those days. But we do.

Life gets better, Nikki. I promise it does!

Speaking of something that is sub-optimal, check out the non-roundness of the trailer tire!

Could be worse: we aren't at the side of a busy road. It isn't dark or cold. Heck, it's not pouring rain.

There's even an air-compressor on site!

Hook that puppy up, Sis!

Hold on. I hear air hissing OUT faster than I hear it pumping IN....

You think the NAIL sticking out of the tire might be part of the problem?

Sigh.

Get the PRISTINE spare tire out of the trailer dressing room. I've had this trailer more than 5 years, and the spare tire has never done more than act as a drying rack for my soggy mittens. I guess that's pretty good, right?

Roll the trailer up on the Jiffy-Jack. (We learned the hard way with a friend's rig that the little plastic editions aren't worth the broken ball-point pens they're made from. We cracked her plastic jackstand in half the first time we needed it! The metal one works fine.)

I've lost track of the number of times that Maddy has changed trailer tires for me. Several times, anyhow. She has skills. That's a good thing.

Maybe I'll get to ride on the trails next week. I hope so.

Meanwhile...somebody pass me the bon-bons?