The Emerald City; Part One.

We took Keegan, Nicky and Amelia to McCord air force base so they could fly home to Oklahoma on a C-17. First we took a little detour to one of my favorite places, Seattle. I love so much about the Emerald city; it's weather, Pikes Place, the waterfront and the fact it's full of liberals like me.

Many wonderful world changing things have come from this area such as Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and my favorite fashion..the Grunge look!

Here's a look at Seattle through my eyes. But first of all here's Brad and me with Elliot Bay behind us.


Welcome to Seattle's Waterfront. That's the Seattle Aquarium on the right.


We didn't have time to go to one of my favorite places, Pikes Place market, but here's how to find it.


Take her to sea Mr. Murdock...






More piers.


A cormorant.


A family of sea otters floating on their backs...

which turned out to be seaweed...it was getting dark and my eyes are not what they used to be.

Plants growing in unusual places always get my attention.





I wish our climate in Eastern Washington was as mild.


Brad, far from the sagebrush of our inland desert.


Stay tuned for part two.

Fun times at the farm.

My granddaughter Amelia is a wonderful little girl. She is very sociable and has a sense of humour (proper spelling, lol) that is incredible. AND SHE LOVES HORSES. Well not so much in real life because they are so big, but she loves to hear songs about horses and look at pictures.

Here she is running away from Echo.


She's also very cute and looks very good in pink.


All the cats except Patches were scared of her. They thought her squeals were what baby humans did right before they go in for the kill.


Right after this was taken she squealed and Patches ran off. Amelia can make signs for many things and is pretty clever. We were laughing so hard when we were waiting in the pick-up for her mum and dad. She was waving like a beauty queen, blowing kisses to people and pretty much doing anything she could think of to keep me laughing. The more I laughed the funnier she became. What a girl!

My son Keegan, his wife Nicky and Amelia were here for four days. Keegan is 34 and in the air force. Nicky is an Englishwoman like me. Amelia is 2 1/2.

Amelia visits the farm.

Amelia traveled all the way from Altus air force base in Oklahoma to Fairchild air force base Washington in a big C-17 transport plane. She brought her mum and dad along because she's only little. She couldn't wait to get out and see the farm.



It's been along time since somebody so small was on the farm. Dandylyons was pleased to see her because she can remember when William (now 21) was the same size. The rest of the animals think Amelia must be up to no good with her curly blond hair and pink clothes.

To be continued:

Echo is like a big toddler.

I haven't been posting because every time I start to write about Echo's progress he does something to throw me right off writing a progress report. He was leading so well but then decided he wasn't going to cooperate anymore.

Last week I was leading him into the other corral and he decided that for a horse to go through a gateway he has to be dragged...every time! He's like a toddler who can walk but wants to be picked up and carried. He puts the brakes on at gateways and yet he wants to go through! Like an enabler, I started to pull him again and he's all happy because I think it gives him some kind of weird confidence. He was like, "pull harder, I'm a big lad" and I thought 'what the hell am I doing'? I unclipped his lead rope and told him "lets not but pretend we did". I walked off down the alley into the big corral and stood the far side of it. He snorted his way through the gates, tossed his head happily and did a jaunty trot to me, bumped his nose on my shirt pocket for a baby carrot. We went on to have a perfect leading session around the big corral.

The next day he refused to go through the gate (three faults) and I refused to pull him. Once again I walked off and waited the far side of the corral. This time he cantered right to me and asked for a treat. The day after that I only got halfway before he caught up with me. OK, I figured if we keep this up we'll be going through the gate at the same time one day soon.

His leading lessons were going very well for a while. We pulled off a very tricky change of direction (lol) and Echo gave a huge sigh like he'd been really concentrating hard as we cut across the center of the corral and went in the other direction. I just rolled my eyes and thought that if he thinks that was hard wait till we tackle something really hard like backing up..ha ha. It was about then that Wildairo showed up and said something about if I spent as much time with him as I did that dope we'd be going third level dressage by now. And that was when Echo decided he didn't want to walk around anymore and put his brakes on and wouldn't move no matter what I did.

I do know one thing though, Echo loves to hang out with me in the big corral. I want to take him for a walk in the big pasture but I haven't got the nerve up get. If he was to bolt I know he'd run right back to the corrals and wouldn't do anything silly. Wildairo still hasn't been brave enough to explore further than about five or 10 acres. The silly boy probably thinks there's not even a fence out there.

I always try to add a picture, so here's a picture flash back. This is Echo on the day he came to live with us. He's saying hello to his old friend, Wildairo from the 'hood.


The first time he snorted at me.

Bobby and Tommy Two Tone.

Most mornings Bobby and Tommy Two Tone like to play. Although it can get pretty rough T2T doesn't mind.

I took these pictures the other morning when Bobby didn't want to play. (Her leg is bandaged because for some reason there's a spot she licks raw and I want it to have a chance to heal).

A few kicks to the head didn't get Bobby in the mood to play.


Being a pest couldn't even get Bobby's attention.


So Tommy Two Tone gives up and goes in for a cuddle.








Once the paparazzi left them alone, they had a nice nap.

Poor Echo.

I noticed Echo's bottom lip was hanging down when I went to visit him. When I got closer I noticed he had bloody froth coming out of his mouth! He kept opening his mouth and was acting like something was caught in it. I thought it could be a baby tooth that was coming out and cutting his tongue. His teeth felt OK so I felt under his tongue and that's when I discovered the problem. One side was packed with seeds and bits of food. He'd been trying to get it out but couldn't. That poor boy. I got it all out. At least I hope I did. I'll have to keep checking to make sure he doesn't get an abscess from a seed. If this had happened a few weeks ago I would have had to put him in the chute to get at his mouth and it would have been pretty stressful for both of us.

After I got it out he seemed to be fine and I think he was pretty grateful.

Happy thoughts.

I really love Echo! I'm so lucky to have found a horse so perfect for me. I mean it was just plain luck. I was the only bidder on him in the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) wild horse internet adoption. I had no idea what kind of personality he had. At least when you adopt a horse from the corrals you can see the horses interact with each other.

He's been a bit of a challenge, but it's been so rewarding. It was his sweet disposition that kept me looking for different ways to tame him and not to give up. Yesterday, when Echo and I were walking slowly around the big corral like a couple of old friends, I was thinking about how amazed I was that I pulled this off.

I had low expectations and always thought I'd have to hand him over to a professional to get him halter broke. Now I'm starting to think that anything is possible.

I have been letting him into the big corral and leading him around it. At first I had to drag him by his head to get him moving. Swishing the lead rope at him was out of the question because he'd bolt. Then we progressed to me just having to jiggle the lead rope and make the clicking sounds. Now all I have to do is to start to walk and he is right with me. My buddy.

Yesterday I was able to lead him out of him corral down the alley and into the other corral. It wasn't easy but we did it. I had to drag him through the gate of his corral then he walked down the alley OK but he put his brakes on again going through the gateways.


I had to pull him slowly through step by step. It was a bit funny to say the least, but we did it. After wards he looked so pleased with himself and seemed to see me in different light. I guess he thought conquering the gateways made us a real team. I reached over and stroked his neck and he didn't mind at all.

Snow today. I hate it.

Echo and I did very well today.

Today I was alone on the farm (as far as humans go) and it was such a warm day I thought I'd make the most of the good weather.

I shut the pasture gate and let Echo into Wildairo's corral again. I thought I'd give him another leading lesson. The trouble was he wouldn't move his feet. He would not budge! Then it occurred to me I couldn't get him back into his own corral. I can walk up to him and attach his lead rope, but that's useless if I can't lead him. I tried waving my jacket over my head to push him through the gate and he got (surprise surprise) over excited. He only cantered around a little bit but it was enough to make me worry he could get out of the corral because there are some low spots on the rock wall. Wildairo has never challenged the wall but Wildairo can be led if he got out. I know I tend to worry too much. I called Brad to see when he was coming home and he said he would be home very late because he was a few hundred miles away.

I noticed that Wildairo's bucket still had a lot of alfalfa in it from the night before and Wildairo was nowhere to be seen! Wildairo was finding enough to eat without the help of humans and the thought of Echo escaping with him was pretty scary so I dragged irrigation pipe over to the lower spots on the rock wall and with the help of baling twine, made it look more formidable. Echo just stood and calmly watched me. The chances of Echo getting out were slim to none but like I said, I worry too much.

Echo explored the bigger area. (Cell phone pictures).


He kept going down for a roll. He was really enjoying himself.



I tried leading Echo again but he was being stubborn and wouldn't move. I tried something different; I put all my weight on the rope and just lay into it. It must have really been hurting him and after awhile he stepped towards me and then stopped again. I kept repeating this over and over till he decided the only way to avoid the discomfort from the halter and the lead rope fastener under his chin was to keep following me and not stopping. We had to repeat it when we changed directions.

After awhile he was leading really good and acting so calm and laid back. Wildairo never relaxes like that. I was really pleased. What I think is so weird is that when I first tried leading Echo he led good and then for some reason he decided not to cooperate anymore.

By the way; when I was tying irrigation pipe to the rock wall (very attractive) I saw Wildairo just the other side of some rocks and he was grazing like there was no tomorrow. He knows it'll be covered in snow soon and is making the most of it.

What a good day it turned out to be.

Leading lessons.

Sunday I locked Wildairo out and opened the gates so Echo could go into his big corral. I gave Echo the opportunity of being led like a big boy, but he wouldn't budge. So he had to be lured down the alley and into the other corral with hay like a naughty cow.

I was interested to see if he'd let me approach him in such a large area. Well, before I could walk up to him, he walked right up to me and I was the other side of the corral, near the building. I was very pleased. No silliness at all!

I was showing Brad what a little stinker he is about leading and Brad thought he'd give it a go. First though Echo had to do his kissing ritual. Brad was a bit nervous about having a horse all over his face but he soon understood Echo is just a kissy face horse.



Echo likes to stand perfectly still with his nose as close to someones face as possible. If only there was a competition or event for only that....

Anyway. Brad tried his hand at Echo leading and discovered what I had, Echo only goes around and around on the same spot. So Brad came up with his own cunning plan. He would go around and around in bigger and bigger circles until Echo wasn't going in circles anymore, (except around the globe I guess).

Around and around they went. Brad mentioned a few times he was getting dizzy. At one point he announced what every loving parent hates to hear, "I really think Echo is incredibly *beep* stupid". I of coarse pointed out all the thing's that put Echo into the really clever category.

The following went on for ages.





Echo really wanted to get to the main event.


Hugs (sorta) and kisses.


If you ever see a horse advertised for sale with the following description;
'Dark bay (eggplant) sturdy 14:2hh BLM mustang. Good kisser'..you'll know it's Echo.



Brad did manage to get Echo leading around the corral, but it was difficult. What really helped was when I walked behind Echo..that seemed to really get him going. I was laughing to myself with visions of someone always walking behind Echo smacking him in the bum with a stick to keep him moving!

It was getting dark and Wildairo was pounding on the gate because his world had been turned upside down. He'd been banished from his own home and because Safeway was out of Bran Muffins, he was muffinless on Bran Muffin Sunday!



Then thing's got exciting. Wildairo pounded on the gate and at the same time Bobby went nuts barking and Echo attempted to launch himself into a low earth orbit. Brad was hanging on to him really well and I was yelling for him not to let him go. Brad was about to control him and I remembered how his breakaway halter is kind of stretchy and I remembered how once Wildairo's halter went in his mouth and how he panicked. So I yelled for Brad to let go. He said that he almost had him and I think he was having a bit of fun. I know I should have kept my mouth shut but in the excitement I decided to go on the side of safety first.

Echo raced back to the safety of his own home. When we got to him he had broke out into an all over sweat. He really scared himself but the good thing about Echo is that he avoids scaring himself so it was a good lesson in keeping his cool.

Cows on the lawn.

Echo is continuing to improve. He even approached me for a kiss when I opened the gate. That is a far cry from not too long ago when he would stand at the far side of the corral snorting at me. I try to spend time with him at least twice a day. We have been also working (hanging out) in the moonlight. He really enjoys company at night now that Wildairo is out and about.

Today I was able to go from one side of him to his other repeatedly without having to go through the nose wrestling and dancing around ritual. I hold onto his nose band and when I'm at his side stroking him if he starts to turn I shout out, "Eyes front soldier"! That makes him behave.

The other morning when it was down to about 10 degrees F (-12 degrees C), Brad got up and announced, "Cows on the lawn". I always enjoy a little cow action first thing. I went out in just my jammies to take these pictures. It wasn't until my camera malfunctioned I realized how cold it was.

Our normally calm cows are different creatures when they are on the lawn. They know they shouldn't be there.





I saw the ring leader mooing out orders and quickly snapped her picture as evidence.


It was about then I realized it was my own dear Dandylyons!

The next morning I was awoken by whispered moo's coming from below my bedroom window. I let Brad sleep a bit longer and then told him, "Cows on the lawn". He leaped into action. I watched him from the comfort of my bed as he walked in circles around the house below me. The cows were just staying ahead of him and his cow chasing stick. Around and around they went..man and beast. I snuggled for a while longer before I went down to help. Soon as the cows saw 'back up' arrive they walked right back into the meadow. Later we saw a large family of deer on the lawn and watched them as they mangled the electric fence...mystery solved.

I like it when the cow mow down the weeds around my garden, I just wish they wouldn't cover the lawn in cow pancakes.

Echo gets a working over.

Brad was kind enough to take these pictures of me working with Echo today.

Echo is better about his right side, but still had to have a reminder to stand still.


I'm trying to get him used to being touched. He's fighting the urge to bolt.


This is his bad side.


I have to keep tapping his nose band to remind him not to step away from me.







This is what he likes to do.


Notice it's a full nose squashing smacker.


Another thing we like to do is check teeth.


The arrow is pointing to one of his loose teeth. The two the other side are loose as well.


The tooth below the one with the arrow came out. Echo knows I collect his teeth, so being a good little boy he dropped it in his empty feed tub for me to find.