Clearing Our Trail~

Farah's high opinion of herself isn't daunted in the least by her new mask :-)

How absolutely Wonderful to wake up to cloud cover & cooler temperatures!  Even with no rain, the cool breeze really helped to clear out some of the smoke from the fires.  I sat out for a while with my tea & called Mom.  After lunch I decided to bite the bullet, saddle Farah, get my hand pruners, big loppers & head up to the trails.  Since I hadn't used Farah's new bug mask when I should have - I decided to try it out on her today.  She loved it!  It was cool, but a lot more humid - so we still had bugs, but not nearly as many! 

There was a trail here...

By the time I'd walked up to the top, took off my helmet & got started, I was already dripping.  Farah was enjoying herself - helping to clear away the brush.  If I didn't work fast enough - she would push on the middle of my back - then reach around me to grab another bite that I'd missed.

Water...

Someone had been up & marked where the water line was put in several years ago now.  Scary - thinking that the development might happen...  But last I knew - this section was still for sale.  Time will tell & all I can hope is that I'm not shut out.

Everything falls on us~

Once we were out of the first trail, the rest I could do from the saddle.  Farah hit her walk & I got pretty good at getting the branch cut on the first pass :-)  We practiced backing, side-passing etc. all with the guise of clearing trail!

Blooming Hardhack

At the power lines, I called Butch - he was only to Snohomish, so we went ahead & did our short loop through the pretty little forest.

Into the Little Forest

We made a quick stop, Farah grabbed some grass & I enjoyed my Rainier Cherries!  I can't get over how dry & hard the ground is now.  Even in the dirt areas - with dust over the top, it's rock hard.  Still water in the wetlands, sweet relief, since I'm sure the aquifer that they feed is also the one that supplies our Well.  Nice end to a very hot week - now - can we have some rain please?