Hay you Say?

Gray, wet, nasty morning on the Snoqualmie Pass~

A week or so ago, Butch said;  "Call Everett & see if he has any hay left."  "What!" I say...  Why do we need more hay?  Well, it seems that three ton was not enough to hold our gold girl over the Winter!  Lucky for us, Everett had enough stockpiled & was willing to sell us another ton.

Kachees Lake

Grandson Ben was up for the trip, so this morning - in the rain we headed over.  I'm always amazed at the difference in the weather from our wet side, to the dry side of the state.  The sunshine was very welcome, but the wind was blowing something fierce.  I was a little surprised that the rivers didn't have more water flowing, since so much of the snow on the pass has melted.

Toward Ellensburg

I always enjoy the drive, at least when the weather is decent.  It wasn't that cold, but the howling wind sure made it feel colder than it was - the chill went right through me.

Butch, Ben & Everett~

Ben loves climbing up to the top of the hay barn - so he gets the job of pushing the bales down to Butch.  Everett handles the supervision & we catch up on the news of the day, while watching Butch & Ben work :-)  Always such fun to visit & head home with those nice bales of good hay!  Now, if our 1,080 lb. mare can mange to keep from eating it all until June, we'll be happy!

Saddle Epilogue~

Kachees Lake

The water level in the reservoir was down - from our last trip over Snoqualmie pass in April~

Kachees on April 12th

This was a mufti-purpose trip - to pick up another load of hay.  First cutting this time & probably the only cutting, Everett's water will be cut-off the first of Aug.  Second cutting isn't usually ready to bail until the first part of Sept.  Farah was with us too, so that Everett could fit her for a saddle tree & proposed new saddle.  I'd also asked him to access the fit & lack of workmanship in the saddle I'm returning to McClintock.

Ben bucking hay!

It was HOT!  104 when we arrived & still going up!  Ben was a great help!  The bales were just a little lighter, they were so dry, enough that a ton was 22 bales rather than 21.  Once the truck was full, we all hurried into the air conditioned saddle shop for a cold pop!  Farah was in the barn, able to roam from stall to stall, where she cleaned up any & all food stuff left by Everett & Carolyn's horses!

We came to several conclusions.  The first - the McClintock saddle is being shipped back today!  Even the tree itself - was not the same kind/type of tree that was in Linda's saddle.  Linda's saddle has stirrup slots, in the bars, which is what gives me the tremendous freedom of movement in the fenders.  We considered the option of new sheepskin on this saddle...  With the age of the saddle, craftsmanship etc., the leather would not hold up & we'd basically end up with a tree.  Regardless - it would be very time consuming & costly to make it look as good as it should.

We pulled out books of trees, trying to find one that would match Linda's saddle.  We couldn't find one, which may be part of the reason I didn't get one!  It seems that they are just not being made by any of the major saddle tree manufactures.  Everett referred me to Rod Nikkel's Saddle Trees, so beautiful that they are works of art & priced accordingly.  After sizing Farah again for a tree, with plenty of wither clearance/pommel height - we were ready to head home.

Yesterday, Butch helped me to re-fit Linda's saddle with all my stuff.  My new Supracore Coolback Endurance sized pad had arrived last week from Riding Warehouse at a really decent price & two-day shipping for $5.  It fits perfectly under the saddle, so - I'll be hitting the trail again soon (hopeful that the heat clears out?) & so happy to be!

No Snow~

Kachees Lake - But we do have water~

We'd planned to go for hay today.  Ben was with us to help out & we were looking forward to the road trip.  Forecast was for snow on the passes, but when I checked the pass report - it was for;  "Bare & wet."

Broken sunshine~

It was mid-40's cool, with fluffy clouds overhead & a light breeze.  It was smooth sailing all the way - we made good time & arrived before noon.

We've arrived!

We love going to visit with Everett & Carolyn, now good friends.  We'd been burned on the last load of hay we'd bought from the grower near Yakima.  The first load from him was wonderful, the last - over half of the bales were full of weeds, dust & the price had gone up.  It was too dusty to feed Farah, so we gave 20-bales to Linda's neighbor for his small herd of Jersey's. 

Bales coming down!  :-)

That ran us short & with Farah going through three-ton a year, we didn't want to run low.  We were lucky that Everett had second cutting left for us to pick up.  It always smells so good in the hay barn!  Now the growers are worried that with the water situation, they may only get one cutting this year...

Ben on top :-0

Ben got to climb on the bales & found a squished snake to scare me with :-)  It wasn't long until we were all loaded & on the road home.  We had to stop at our favorite restaurant in Cle Ellen for a late lunch/ early dinner!

Ben helped unload up at the barn, 100-lb bales are tough to fit into the space we have for them.  When Farah saw Ben run down the hill, she came running up from the pasture to greet him!   Finally - it was time to take Ben back home :-(  We'll all look forward to going back in a few weeks & Ben wants to go with us again!  What a Grandson!