Good morning all,

Here are some more photos, hope you aren't getting tired of them!

View of Cliff Palace from start of tour



 

Start of trail down to Cliff Palace





Just above Clif Palace





Climbing up into Balcony House





the Balcony of Balcony House behind me





Some of our tour around Balcony House kiva



Spruce Tree House



View from my ticket booth, Friday of Summit



Summit ticket booth



Pat with Ryan and Bonnie behind him



3 bears across from cabin

That's all for now, hope you enjoy them!
Debbie

Ok, let's try to get some photos on here!

Chimey Rock from below. The ruins are on the flat top mountain on the left.



view of Chimey Rock from the ruins.



Looking back on path we just hiked, standing on the ruins



Looking down into a Kiva



Me on the top, photo taken in May 2012



View from the top, looking NW

 I'll put some more on here tomorrow of Mesa Verde.

I'll just end with the most beautiful horse on the ranch, even if he only has half his mane left!

Gabriel - Sept. 2012, Parelli Ranch

Hi everyone!  Sorry I haven't done any entries for awhile, I can't seem to assist this blog from my cabin with the laptop.  Summer is almost over and I'll be heading home soon.  It's been a great summer, Gabriel and I had lots of fun playing and learning.  But we both are ready to go home.

All my photos are on my laptop, not here, so I will have to post them later.  In May I went on a tour of Chimney rock, about 15 miles from here.  It was a vigorous walk/hike but very interesting.  Then 2 weeks ago I went to Mesa Verde.  That was fascinating.  Went on 2 challenging hiking tours.  One of Cliff Palace and one of Balcony House.  I want to ride on the Silverton train out of Durango but I'm running out of time so don't know if I'll make that one.  It's supposed to be really beautiful, esp. now that the leaves are starting to turn.

Yesterday evening I saw a mama bear and 2 adorable cubs up near my cabin.  I took some photos and then just sat there with binoculars and watched them for awhile.  It was so sad, they were digging thru the garbage that had been dragged off towards the woods by other bears and eating plastic wrap and paper.  Anything that smelled like food.  It's going to give them a tummy ache.

I went to the hot springs in town last nite, for the first time since I've been here.  I went with some friends and we had a good time.  I still smelled like sulfur this morning even after showering after soaking and swimming last nite!

I'll post the photos soon, hope you all are well and see you soon!

Debbie

Hello everyone!  I know, it's been awhile, but 50 hour work weeks and a demanding pony to take care of doesn't leave much time to do anything else!

Here is a link to where I am going after I finish this blog.  I have been wanting to go see this, one of my interests and it is so close to me!  About 14 miles away.  If I get any good photos of it, I'll post them later.

http://www.chimneyrockco.org/mainnew.htm

Gabriel has finally settled down and does not spend his days pacing his paddock.  He was losing a lot of weight doing that, but now is gaining some of it back.  He has more horses up around him now, all the instructors and their assistant instructors brought horses in on Friday.  The 18 student horse we have here so far have their horses down in another area.  We have 33 new horses and students coming in tomorrow, busy check in day!  Those horses will be visible from Gabe'e pen, but not real close.

Gabriel and new friends.

Here are a couple more photos of the view from my office.  The first one just barely shows the mountains in the distance, and the second one I  tweaked in Photoshop to make them a bit more visible.

Some of you were asking how high the snow can get here in the winter?!  Here is a photo of one of the rental houses for the people who come in the summer for hiking and fishing and the ones who come in the winter to ski.  It's not a joke, there are a lot of houses around here like this!

Work is going well, it helps to have really nice people to work with and the students have been lot of fun so far.  Sitting at a table for a meal with them can be very entertaining!  They are from Sweden, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, UK as well as from all over the U.S.- Texas, New York, etc.  The accents, terminology, food preferences, etc-fun!

Dancer at Pams in Eugene

Mom, I need some pics of my kids at your house please!

Well, not much else to say.  I need to go take care of Gabe, eat some lunch then go off to check out Chimney Rock.

I now have internet in my cabin (hurray!!!) so I can Skype, do email, surf the web - don't do a lot of this since I still spend a lot of my day on the computer at work.  But the newest thing I discovered yesterday, streaming TV shows!  I have been able to start watching back episodes of some of my favorite TV shows that I have missed since I left home!  It's been fun.  And now mom can start deleting them off here DVR that she was saving for me until I get home in October!  I watch all of the free shows, then when I get to the newer ones that they want to charge me to watch, I will just wait a few weeks to watch those for free too.  So far I am caught up on Eureka and Castle, think I'll see if I can watch Dancing with Stars tonight.

I get good phone reception around most of this place, so feel free to call me sometime.  If I'm working and can't talk at that moment, I'll either not answer or let you know.  Just keep the time change in mind, I'm an hour earlier and get up at 6am, so am in bed asleep by 9:30 or so.

Miss you all, ttyl!
Deb

Well, it's been awhile since I posted anything.  I don't really have internet service in my cabin, once in a while I can get my email, but not often.  I have been so busy I haven't taken any new photos.  I finally snapped off a few today.  It was kind of cloudy so don't know how well they will show up and I'm not taking the time to photoshop them.

Right now I am sitting in the clubhouse, watching a Parelli Level 4 Finesse DVD that Greg was watching when I came in to make my dinner.  Salad is sitting beside me, ready to go up to the cabin to eat ( couldn't find any salad dressing down here.)

Work has been fine, Sharon and I share an office, Ann is right next door.  Ann has a 15 year old Akita mix "Buster" and a 9 month old mini Doxy "Stella" that come to the office with her, so I get a dog fix!   I have been putting together student packets for the first 3 courses, starting May 7th.

Gabriel is taking some time to settle in.  He spends alot of time pacing the perimeter of his pen.  I can see him from my desk so have been keeping track of him every day.  Tonight I took  him into the "arena grande", which is 300' x 300' and turned him loose to play.  He spent the first 30 mins grazing all the grass along the fence line, then rolled and rolled and rolled in the deep, soft, damp dirt  (we had a big rain storm last nite.)  Then he finally ran around and played with me a little.  He just needed time to play like a horse out of his pen.

It was very warm and dry here the first 4 days, then the last couple have been windy and cool, and the big rain storm last nite.

I will try to put a couple of todays photos up, then call it a nite.  Hope you are all doing well, I miss my buddies back home, 2 and 4 legged!

Debbie

This was me the first day Pam and I got here, but I just got it off my camera.

Gabriel at the place we stayed for 3 days, before moving onto the ranch.  My apartment is upstairs, behind the big boat.  The mountain in the background is called "broken off mountain", original, huh?!

It is really a sheer cut on this but it isn't showing up to well

.

View from my desk, Gabriel in middle of pic, VERY tiny!  Clubhouse in foreground with red roof.  I walk from here up to the horses and back about 5 times a day.

View from my desk, to the left of the previous photo.  It isn't showing up, but beyond the farthest ridge that you are seeing, are absolutely breathtaking snow covered mountains, part of the rockies.

View from Gabriels pen across to my cabin.  It is red roof just above the lower left side of the big white arena cover.  It is a looooong way to walk and uphill all the way.The club house is in the foreground, my office just to the right and behind it.

Gabe and Chance in thier muddy pens after the rainstorm last nite.

view from my cabin looking over to
Gabriel.  He is about in the middle of the photo, but to fare to see it.

A zoomed in shot of the previous photo, Gabe in the middle of photo, just to the left of the tack room.

That's all folks!

Finally on Parelli Ranch!

Well,  Gabriel and I are finally moved on to the Parelli ranch.  He is in a large pen with his traveling mate "Chance" right next to him and I am in my little cabin.  I have spread out and taken over the whole cabin, since I am the only one in here for now.  There may be another person in here later, but I don't know where she will put her stuff!

The cabin is about 12x14, has 2 sets of bunk beds.  One for sleeping in and the other 3 for stowing my stuff!  It has lots of rustic shelves, a hanging rod across 1 corner, electricity and a propane heater!  There is a hose right outside and hopefully tomorrow the porti-potti will be set up close!  It's a long hike down to the lodge bathroom! I have a little refrigerator (thanks to Sarah) and a small microwave, so am all set for times the  kitchen is not open (like most of this first week.)  After that, all meals and snacks should be available in the lodge.

Greg's cabin is right next door.  He and I took our 2 ponies for a long walk all around the ranch.  Lots of grass eating for them so we have their vote of approval on the new digs! I got to play online in the "big top" covered arena, sooooooooooooo cool! Tomorrow after work I plan to ride Gabriel around this place and really check it out.

I don't have a very strong internet connection here in the cabin, and it keeps kicking me off so Skyping is not working at the moment.  Maybe I can get it better tomorrow. Some sort of booster is on the roof and some dsl cables are hanging inside, just not long enough to reach my computer.

tty'all later,
Debbie

Day 3 & 4

Hi  everyone!

Well, we finally arrived in Pagosa Springs at 7pm Thurs nite, all safe and sound.  We are staying in a little private apartment and the horses right outside in a small arena. The horses were happy to have a big open pen to play in.  We were happy to have a soft bed and some shut eye!  We had driven from Delta, Utah to Pagosa Springs, CO, 445 miles.  Gorgeous country!  We both wanted to unload the horses and go riding across the landscape more then once!  Chance, the horse I hauled out for Greg, another summer worker, started the trip NOT loading OR unloading from the trailer, just to hard for the poor boy.  By the 3rd day, he was loading and unloading so well,  we unloaded them for an hour rest and grazing in a big open field we found for our lunch break.  After lunch, they both hopped right back in, ready to go.

Arch just outside Moab, Utah

Maybe we could go for just a short ride from here!

We are north and east of the Grand Canyon here

Today, (Friday) we slept in (soooo nice), then drove 4 miles over to the Parelli ranch and had about a 2 hour personal tour from Ann (my new boss and Pams old Parelli instructor.)  It was awesome, my cabin is very cute,    the barns and horse playgrounds are incredible, I can't wait for Gabriel and I to try them all out! Then we spent about another hour walking around and exploring on our own, went back up to the employee cabins to look again.  So far, I will have the cabin to myself, that could change later.  Greg will have the next door cabin to himself.  I can drive the truck right up to it to unload all my stuff (hurray!) and then leave my truck parked right in front of it, walking down and up to the "office" and clubhouse (meals, showers) everyday. The cabin has electricity, 2 sets of bunks, a long pole and hangers (yippee, I didn't know if that would be available), some shelves, a little rickety desk and a chair.  Outhouse will be close right outside, not set up yet, showers down the hill, and  with the little frig and microwave I brought with me it will be perfect!

Now Pam and I are sitting in a little cafe, having a snack and accessing the internet (no WiFi or cell service where we are staying. We went to the hot springs here in town and looked at them, but they are now all privately owned and maintained and expensive to use, so that and the fact that it is about 70' and SUNNY, we decided not to do a soak today.  We found out about some up in the woods, a few miles out of town, that we can ride the horses up to, that are free.  Maybe I'll get a chance to go look at those sometime.

I'll drive Pam back to Durango tomorrow to fly home, then Sunday, move both horses and myself onto the ranch, where we will live until mid October.

Pam multi-tasking, blowing bubbles and driving!

Chimney rock, just west of Pagosa Springs

"the Big Top" arena facing Pagosa Peak

View down from my cabin

My new home!

Which one?!  (the right one)

Pam, finally here!

Going up the drive way to the ranch in the distance

If you have enjoyed this blog, leave me a message at the bottom of the page!

Thanks,

Debbie