In which I share all the other goofy photos and stuff from Home on the Range

Luna likes road trips. Road trips are where you gets to be on the couch (truck seat) for lots of hours, and sometimes they give you french fries. And when you get to the place, people say "Oh, what a pretty doggie."

Luna likes being pretty.

Mimsy likes being in the middle of activity. She wants to be a Quad Dog!

Alas, she's afraid of the engine, and the rolling, and the wind. So she sits on the quad when it's parked.

Back in the rig, Jim discovers what happens when you leave an entire box of granulated sugar in the camper for the winter: it turns into a brick. He had to chip sugar out with a screwdriver!

Ryan brought his new standardbred to the ride! Whiskey is going to make a terrific endurance horse.

Ryan did the 25 miler with Whiskey on Saturday, and she did great. Whiskey not only did well on the ride, she had plenty of energy left over to pester Fiddle after the finish line.

I'm sure you can just imagine how popular that was with Miss Grouch Puss!

Whiskey gets to do the 50-miler at the next ride, I think....

We decided that Bailey needed a little "piratin' up." The eyepatch is a nice touch.

Paul (Jim's evil twin, pictured below center) and his horse Pete finished 2,000 miles together at this ride.

That's the most miles ever achieved by a paso fino (although apparently there are some other paso finos that are hot on their heels)!

Lon and the other "drill team girls" came out to volunteer, and they ran an excellent vetcheck. Go Girls!

My former junior left my grand-junior at home with daddy, and brought Pepper out to HOTR to do 50 miles. They look very pretty in their bright orange gear!

Mona Thacker is in her 70's now, and she is one tough cookie. She'd have ridden 100 miles at HOTR if there had been a 100-miler offered. As it is, she only got to ride 75 miles. Here she is at the 50-mile vetcheck, looking fabulous:

Meanwhile, back at the SS Illegible, Jim and I are concocting something amazing

 

for the annual team beverage competition.

The other teams brought some fabulous drinks, but (as always)

the PIRATES WON.

We cheated, of course. We always cheat. We're Pirates. What did you expect?

The first year, the contest was for the "best margarita." We brought rum grog, and won.

The second year, we brought rum grog again, but when I saw who the judges were, I ran back to the rig and added another 5th of rum. I've been drinking with those guys for years--I knew what they'd like. We won again.

This year, the weather forcast was for cold, rainy, and horribleness, so instead of bringing a fruity icy drink like all the other teams, the Pirates brought Hot Chocolate Cannonballs.  We won again. 

MMMmmmMMM. Nothing like hot chocolate + marshmallows + coconut rum on a cold night, don't you think?

Yeah. It was good.

Life is, you know.