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.