Friday, November 28, 2008

A Raven and his Horse



Friday Novermber 28 2008

The Raven loooooooooooves his horse Stormy.

Stormy loves his Raven.

Sometimes they go off for rides. Stormy thinks he feels light as a feather.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

A Raven in Colorado



August 1 2008

What's the first thing the Raven sees when we pull into the family's driveway in Colorado Springs? A bear!

It's beautiful in the foothills below the Rocky Mountains.


Lots of wild birds around - the Raven checks out the bird feeder.


And the baby pool! The nieces didn't mind sharing with him.


The Bird takes on the nephews at pool.


The raven tries on a Wizard Hat.


One of the Raven's favorite places is Garden of the Gods.
The endangered peregrine falcon nests on this rock cliff in the spring.

You can see Pikes Peak from Garden of the Gods.


Garden of the Gods was privately owned, and was donated by the owner to the city of Colorado Springs on the condition it would always be available as a park to the public.


It's a great place to climb. (or fly if you're a Raven).


As we all know, the Raven is a Starbucks drinker, so we went to visit nephew Matt, who works at a Starbucks.


The Raven had a breve.

And, what the heck, he was on vacation, so he had another.


Then, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain zoo!
The Raven got to feed the giraffes!


The zebras are cool.


Funky monkeys!


Cool boa.


The gorillas were very entertaining, although the Raven was kind of sad they had to live in cages.


But - best of all - was a RAVEN!! This Raven gets to travel around to schools and meet school children when she isn't hanging out at the zoo.


We both love the Raven

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

A Raven in Silver City



Monday July 21 2008

Connie's friend John from Seattle came to visit us here in Owyhee County. We all drove up to the old historic ghost mining town of Silver City to look around.



It's at 6171 feet in the Owyhee Mountains.



Many of the old buildings have been bought and are being restored (and are required to be restored to look like they did in the 1800's).



We almost sat on this private house's porch, it looked so inviting. Notice the Raven on John's shoulder (John was thrilled to meet the Raven).

There are a number of the big buildings that have been restored, lots of mine shafts and very old cars that the Raven tried to drive.

One of the favorite stops was the restored Idaho Hotel and Bar , which, lucky for us, was open, and we got ice cold beers from the brass bar, and where the Raven played a song on the old piano.

Ridin' With an Aussie



July 19 2008

Back home in Idaho, back in the saddle in Oregon!

The Raven went to the Bandit Springs endurance ride in Oregon, just in case I could find a horse to ride. I didn't, but, a special circumstance came up. Melissa, whom I'd met last year in Australia, was at Bandit Springs to ride 100 miles. Melissa had not met the Raven in Australia, because by that time, the Raven had disappeared in Brisbane, : (

However, Melissa (and about half of Australian endurance riders) had heard of the Raven and his exploits, and so here at Bandit Springs, Melissa was thrilled to meet Raven II. She offered to take the Raven on the endurance ride with her!

Whoa! The Raven riding endurance with someone other than me!? It made me kind of nervous, but the Raven was all for it, especially with a visiting Australian, so, at the second vet check, I tied the Raven bag onto Melissa's saddle and stuffed the Raven in the bag ... and off they went!

The Raven had fun riding on the big paint.

Melissa was very protective, always worried the Raven might fall out of his Raven bag on the trail, so she kept reaching back to check on him. At one point Melissa reached back and didn't feel the Raven, and she started to panic, until she found he'd just slipped down in the bag. So, just to make sure he wouldn't fall out, she stuffed him way down in the bag, and cinched that bag tightly. (So I wouldn't have to go searching on foot in the dark for the Raven!)

Throughout the day, on into the night they rode. I waited anxiously for them at the finish line, which they crossed about 11 PM.

They had so much fun together, maybe this could become a habit - the Raven racking up more endurance miles with special Aussies - a cultural endurance exchange!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Pink Flamingo



July 26 2008

The Raven went to the Pink Flamingo Endurance Ride.

He got to ride Rushcreek Mac on the 25 mile ride.

Mac got all decorated in pink ribbons - it was a fund-raising ride for breast cancer.

The pink flamingos on Mac's butt were the Raven's idea.


The Raven hopped in his Raven bag, and off we went on the ride.

Mac takes a rest and eating break at the vet check.


Normally, it's just the horse that gets a final vet check. This time the Raven got a vet check at the end of the ride, and both Mac and the Raven passed!