I do not pass judgement on those who are constantly texting or constantly on Facebook – this is their choice. But it is not my choice. I do wonder, though, what if they, for one day, set their phone aside and didn’t communicate with anyone? How would they feel?

I haven’t seen our phone around in a few days. I think I left it in the glove compartment of the car. It’s not important.

Well, we are making headway around here. Today, after a lengthy ride on the Grizzly Camp trail with our dear friend Terri Mielke, we looked at trip maps together. Last year she went on a trip in the Bob Marshall Wilderness area. It was fun, comparing routes.

The first year for this cherry tree

Seeing as we did the ride early (so as to avoid ATV traffic) we had time to burn in the afternoon. I cleaned out one of the two hay sheds. I was blown away by the fact that I did not do this before I left. I simply stashed horse gear in the empty space. Today I sorted it all out and then swept up the loose hay. This took some time. Then I went and picked more cranberries. Pete is going to make juice when I have four full containers. Right now I have two. Last night I went for a walk with Tinni and Ryder on the trail, and picked one container full.

I don’t know what prompted me to do this, but I cleared out the weeds in the area adjacent to the horse pen. This was a huge job, and I am not yet done. The cow parsnip is seven feet tall and the trunks are four inches in diameter.

I took a break, ate dinner, then consolidated wood, moving old pallets up to the woodshed along with the branches the horses stripped of bark. Tomorrow we will cut and saw this all up, and then move the wood in the shed to one side, in order to make room for wood that Pete’s cut in the past few days.

Hunting season begins tomorrow, so I am going to have to shift horse gears. I don’t feel as though being on the trails will be safe during the weekends. So I’ll get out early during the weekdays. And I’m going to do more agility with the horses. I set the August course up yesterday.

Tomorrow we are also going to get hay. It will be a good feeling, after less than two week’s time, to have the hay- and woodsheds full again.

Next: 234. 8/23/19: A Conversation with Ryder