These Are A Few of My Favorite Things!

Please sing to the tune of "These are a few of my favorite things" from the sound of music!

Concho's of silver and copper sunflowers

Visions of riding the trail for 5 hours

boots, spurs and hat trimmed in cowhide for me, these are a few of my favorite things!

Indian blanket with stipes of all colors

Leather tooled saddle that out rides all others

Fringe covered stirrups all covered with bling, these are a few of my favorite things!

When the cows bunch,

Then one calf runs,

And were feeling sad...we simply remember our favorite things and then we don't feel...so bad!

So cowgirls...how many times did you have to go back and forth before you could sing the verse all the way through... before you "cowgirled the fuck up" (25 cents in the cuss jar) and could do it RIGHT??? I'm sure it was less than it took me to "compose" it!

The Desert Rose!

Back in the Saddle Again!

Being a lucky cowgirl that is fortunate enough to be a "snowbird" and escape the worst winter in the PNW in 40 years is such a blessing in my life especially when my 12 Pony Cousin's were all snowed in for 7 days and then flooded out for another 7 days! We live a life in paradise down here in the desert and I have just about everything I need in my life...except that The Boy has been missing in action!
The Boy and I met each at my former desert stables 9 years ago... when he was just a Boy! It was our 2nd season as "snowbirds" and the 1st year we had taken "George" ( 1st horse soul mate) to the desert with us. As a "newbee" to the stables I did not know very many people and most like barns, everyone already had a riding buddy...or 2 and other than a hello, no one really thought to show the new girl the ropes around the place. About 6 weeks into the season I notice this Boy leading a bay Arab around the stables. He had a friend with him and was showing off his "new horse"! Well one thing led to another and the "newbee's" became friends and started riding together. We both had "issues" with our 4 legged friends and leaned on each other for advice and even babysitting each other's horse's when one of us was traveling! "Our Boys" became as good of friends as we did and we shared many happy trails together. Both of us have since lost "Our Boys" but now both have great horses in our lives...well he has a mule! The Boy and I have remained great friends even though he moved out of state for a few years. We were lucky enough to see each other once or twice a year and now he has become a "snowbird" too!
This season The Boy only had a few rides before he was scheduled for double hernia surgery! The Bossman and I planned a great 3 hour ride to welcome him back in the saddle and The Bossman made sure to have plenty of fresh OJ on hand! Here are the ride photo's featuring The Boy!


The Desert Rose and Cowboy Soul Mate, The Boy!






The Doc ( The Boy's partner in crime and love) The Boy and The Bossman! The trailer tack room became the BAR! My mimosa is on the step!

The Boy and Sweet Pea! ( one of the 2 mulettes)

The Boy and Sweet Pea get ready for Lunch...yes, BLT's!

Next years Christmas card photo! The Doc and The Boy!



The Boy and Sweet Pea at The Old Watering Hole!

Great to have to you...BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN!

The Desert Rose!

First Ride!

Do you remember your first ride on a horse??? Some of us can remember the very first moment we were mounted up, others have heard stories of our first "horsey" ride. The lucky ones will get to see pictures chronicling their rides on "Equs" as they grow up and learn of the wonderful experience of being with horses. Were you 5..15...35...50??? Whatever your age when you were treated to your 1st ride...I bet you remember it!

Maybe you were only 5 months old and you only got to "pretend" you were riding your horsey in your crib at Zsa Zsa's. You had your little pony mobile over your head, your cowhide crib bumper pads at your head and the retro "cowboy" bumper pads all around you! You didn't care...in your little dreams you were riding the broncs and "little cowboying up!"

But maybe your 1st memory was actually in the saddle! Oh how you laughed as your horsey galloped away from mommy!

But maybe the next Time you rode....it was a real horsey~!

Yes...Zsa Zsa was there but only cause SHE needed to ride with you!

And even though Zsa Zsa did not want too...you went FASTER!

And even with that SILLY hat you had to wear...you felt you were flying!

Zsa Zsa...I can do this by self!!!

But sometimes you want to "cowboy up" and where is Jesse when you need him????

A shopping cart somehow does not fit my image!

Ok....MOMMY! This is NOT want I meant when I said I want to ride horseys!

Zsa Zsa...I expected more from you!!!

Well...maybe it's not as fun as I remembered!!!!

Whatever your memories are of your 1st ride...we wish you many Happy Trails!

Your Desert Rose!

The Pre-Ride!

As a PNW and a DESERT cowgirl I belong to 2 great riding clubs. Both have their own unique style and RULES! As a cowgirl I know all rules are meant to be broken...except "the rules of the trail!" I was asked last year by our desert "trail boss" to be on his committee to help select the trails for the 08 /09 season and be available to lead/pre-ride a trail. The desert club is very diligent about pre-riding any trail that has not been ridden by someone in our club when it is not in "our backyard". Our "backyard" trails are the ones that many of us ride on a regular basis as opposed to others that as a group, we only ride once a season. This is the longest, hardest ride of our season and has a history in this club for being an event not to miss! I "cowgirled the fuck up" (25 cents in the cuss jar) and said I would pre-ride this trail which means I would ride it before the club ride and then again with them! (12 hours plus in the saddle for this cowgirl on top of our Sunday ride in between them.) However I am a very wise cowgirl and would never go on a ride this long without a "trail buddy"! I wisely select The Bossman to be my "trail buddy"! Not just because the Bossman will groom and saddle Jesse. And not because of the fresh OJ mimosa's he will make before we mount up. Not even because he convinced The BIGFOOT to take us to the staging area and drop us off in the wee hours of the morning! I picked him because we have such fun riding the trails together!Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Jesse!

This picture was taken after the usual toast to "Happy and Safe Trails" before we hit the trail. as you can see Jesse was impatient and did not want to pose for our "photo opp"! Had he remembered the Bossman's rule" no mount till the bottle is empty" Jesse would been more careful not to unseat mom! Little lady tried several times to convince me to let her have a taste. Had it not been in a glass goblet...I would have let her have some. Then maybe I could have laughed at the Bossman trying to mount a "Drunk Lady"! Oh the places I could go with that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There we go...much better to listen to mom BEFORE we start the 8 hour trail ride! Yes...you heard me, 7 hours in the saddle, one hour stop for lunch! Here are so photo's of the ride before the lunch stop 3 hours later!

A look back to the staging area and the highway!

This is where we are going! Up and over...and up and over...up and over!

Jesse loves to follow Little Lady! I go where he goes!

Our last look at civilization for many hours!

Hay Bossman...keep your eye on the trail!A hidden Palm tree oasis!

And with only one..."potty stop" 3 hours later we arrive at the picnic area for lunch!

Look in the far back ground...see the tie rails...Jesse and Little Lady! Below are some other pictures of the picnic area.

Old abandoned earth mover that was used to make the dirt road in the next photo.
This is a road that was made in a "fools Foley". Kinda like the "road to nowhere"!









Some trail head signs!

Jesse and little lady each had 2 bottles of water before we had our lunch. Then after our usual "BLT smorgasbord" we give the kids 2 more bottles of water each and then they get lunch! Carrots, frosted shredded wheat, apple and oat cookies...oh my! As I start walking back to the tie rail I hear the nickers...they both know that they have a lunch in the saddle bags too! It took us 3 hours to get to this point...can you cowgirl up with us for another 4 hours???

Now...what you don't know is that this ride combines 4 different trails to get "The Big Ride". We will now start our 2ND trail!

A brief look at the valley below to give you an idea of how high we are. We round a bend and are back in no man's land!

This is looking down the trial from the saddle, the next 2 pictures give you a birds eye view of being on Jesse and looking ahead and down!

This segment of the trail is about and hour and a half long which will be followed by a short crossing thru a dry wash to get to our next trail. However at the end of the dry wash segment Jesse was short stepping a bit and we decided to go ahead and give him some bute for the steep 2 hour decent home. The Bossman dismounts and gives it to Jesse...I stay mounted. Other than a tiny refusal...he took his medicine with out incident. We now start the big decent... the valley you see at the bottom on the Mt's. is where we are going, the stables is at the bottom of the Mt's.

As you can see the sun is now setting behind the Mt's. and we get the 1st phone call from the stables checking on our status! They thought we would be there by now!!!! With no more light and some pretty steep switch backs on the trail this is our last picture to share with you. Besides next time I ride these 2 trails I will make a horror story of it for you all. The desert riding group will be taking a different way down the Mt. than the last 2 trails...which will cut about an hour and a half off the ride but requires a trailer ride from the "backyard" staging area to the stables. The Bossman and I rode right in! The 2nd where the fuck (25 cents in the cuss jar!) are you call came as we hit the wash behind the stables, only this time the caller said I can see you from here...you are on your own. Now...this is what I love about our stables...they were looking out for us and did not want o leave for the day till they knew we were home safe! They have been known to go out for a after dark rescue up into these Mt's. Glad we did not need to use that service this time!

The Desert Rose!

Earthquake!

All of us living on the west coast have one big fear... way at the of back our minds. Even when we think it is so far back we have forgotten it, we see a headline while standing in line at the supermarket! "California to fall of the North American Continent!". Or "10 magnitude earthquake predicted for California!" and of course my biggest fear,"Monster Seahorse swallows up California!"


Our winter home as "snowbirds" is in the California desert along the San Andreas Fault. This fault runs along the mountains on each side of our home. If you are up on a high point in the valley and look at the mountains you can actually see the darker shadow of the fault along the middle of the mountains. I see evidence of this all the time on our rides.

As the 2 shelves's of the earth move against each other far below the surface, up here we feel the movement, hear the rumble and see the evidence of rocks falling down the cliffs or...your bar glasses falling off the shelf above your bar!

Most of the time these small quakes are hardly noticed by anyone except the very sensitive earthquake monitors that register each and everyone of them for the scientists that study and track them. I do have a great sense of movement...and notice them when people with me do not. I think my Sissy's were here once for a small one, we were laying out at the pool and we felt a sway for a few seconds. I think I had to point out to them what had just happened. So imagine my surprise last night while I was downloading pictures for a new blog and I felt the vibration. Then heard the rumble. Then saw 2 lamps wobbling. It was about 30 seconds from the first vibration to the end. My husband and I disagreed to the size of it...but I believe I was closer to the mark...!

On January 8Th 2009 at 7:49pm a 4.5 magnitude earth quake hit 2 miles SSW of San Bernardino, CA. We are about 50 (give or take) miles east of that! And we defiantly felt it! So...for all you west coast cowgirls out there I expect your help in looking out for the "Monster Seahorse" that may one day swallow us all up!

The Desert Rose!

The "Origional" Pony Cousin's!

I have just finished reading my cousin's post over at "Middle of the Road" and I am inspired to write about the Pony cousin's. As the matriarch of (our age group) our cousin's, she has been nominated, voted for and elected to be our leader for life! I will...however, take full credit for infecting the Pony Cousin's with the horse bug they have all been bitten by...this time around. Several of them grew up with horse's and shared them with all of us cousin's who did not have a horse of our own. And even in their late 30's (yes...I am being kind) a few still had a favorite pasture pet or 2. Horses in our family were passed around quite a bit as they found a new purpose in life going from one family pasture to another.

Several years ago I invited the "Good Time Cousins'" (former name) to all come to the desert for our annul get together. We had been getting together for about 10 years or so...rotating the cousin host city. We have traveled as cousins to all three west coast states to be together. With a date picked for the "Good Time" cousin's to arrive in the desert...my sister's came down ahead of time with me to help get ready for the cousin's arrival. I had many activities scheduled for them... but near and dear to my heart was a trail ride/picnic. Most of the cousin's had not been on a horse for years even though they were terrific horsewomen and the rest...well they were never really attracted to horses...they just wanted to be with the ones who were.

In my pre plan I had scheduled a ride for my "sissy's" (childhood nicknames for each other). This was to get them more comfy with horse's so that they would be able to enjoy the big cousin ride. My stables in the desert has rental horse's and great "cowboy" guides and I had a ride with "cowboy Bruce" scheduled for the sissy's! They enjoyed their ride... even with some angst. The cousin's finally arrive and we begin our fun. Shopping, the farmer's market, bfast out, lunch out, dinner out, and then the BIG RIDE! I had emailed them all ahead... asking them to not embarrass me by NOT wearing "cowgirl attire". Boy oh Boy...did they Cowgirl the Fuck up or what! ( oops...25cents to the cuss jar!) All had boots...some brought hats...all had dressed the part that I had hoped for...it helps make the ride... ya know! There had been many (too many) emails about what kind if mount each of them wanted! They all wanted a "nice" horse! Hee Hee! They were so naive! One wanted to know if there would be a mounting block...I told her the cowboys would happy to mount her! One wanted too ride the stable owner's roping horse that had thus far broken a bone on every cowboy that had ridden him! Finally we are all mounted up for our ride. We had a wonderful ride with cowboy Bruce and Jesse and the Desert Rose rode drag (not... drag queen)! Unknown to the cousin's... "cowgirl courage" is also a big part of the ride along with the "cowgirl outfit". They were all instructed to freeze 1/2 bottle ( water bottle) of Margarita mix and in the morning before the ride to add the POISON of their choice! Well...no one objected! I had my BOYTOY make up 10 individual bags of Horse D orves that would be eaten at the picnic grounds. There was only one "incident". I had asked cowboy Bruce to remind all the cousin's to look out for the "Palm Trees", and how to instruct your horse not to hit your knee with one. Apparently one cousin wasn't listening, or...had her "cowgirl courage before she should have!

WHAM...there goes another palm tree in the knee! This cousin had a war wound she could talk about for weeks!

Well...the next thing I know... they are have all gone home...but this one is taking riding lessons and that one has leased a horse... one buys a horse, on and on it goes. "The Good time Cousin's" evolved to the PONY COUSIN"S ! My "sissy's" loved their rides sooooooo much that...they helped me clean house after the cousin's left and BEGGED for another ride! Of course...I took them on another ride...this is what I do...infect ANYONE who might be brave enough to mount up! The spread of the PONY COUSIN'S to the next generation is another story...but well worth the wait!

The Desert Rose!

The Rose Bling Parade!

The Desert Rose's last blog featured my PNW granddaughter the GRAND Rose! For our ride we carefully selected our "Cowgirl outfits'. As you all know, Cowgirl outfits require a certain amount of "Cowgirl Bling" and the Desert Rose lives for BLING!

The Desert Rose and The GRAND Rose will model Cowgirl Bling for you now!

First we start with the Cowgirl boot, well heeled, spured if you feel the need! Some will be tooled, some inlayed but always dusty!

The Desert Gold Dust

The Desert Rose



Yes... I have Names for all 8 pair of my chinks

Chinks protect from the cold & the thorns that hide in the desert brush and the PNW blackberries. Golden Elk on their maiden ride and the faded reds from yesteryear! (2006)

Notice the tooled, yellow, hair on hide, fringed cowgirl belt pouch??? The Desert Rose never rides with out one. Some have a pouch on each side of the belt, some have zippers to hide treasures. Great for carrying, chapstick, cell phones and anything a cowgirl may need on the trail.

The Cowgirl neck Bling sometimes can be real jewels, see the diamond horse shoe? Or the Desert Rose designer bling, a birthday gift to The Desert Rose from Jesse. Then again...you can wear a cow skull adorned with a rose and hopefully smell like one too! Aonther great way to cover up fron the cold and wind is a wild rag. The wild rag comes in extremely handy when the desert wind blows in a surprise attack!















The Desert Rose and The GRAND Rose have selected cowgirl shirts to compliment the chinks! Notice black, vintage cowgirl belt and the red cowgirl bling blet with large silver buckle???

And Wa La! You have the best dressed desert riders of the day! Now... you ask where o where did The GRAND Rose get all her Cowgirl Bling??? She went shopping in the Desert Rose's closet!

The Desert has been called a "clothes horse" but if you saw the closet(s) you would say I am a clothes hore! Not to long ago...I was at a PNW playday. While in the restroom a lady in there said "wow, you are really dressed up". I said yes ...it's fun to do. She then said..."well...I just ride PNW style" and though I wanted to say....yes I can see that by your purple hoodie sweatshirt, kelly green trutleneck beneath, red wool socks hanging over your boots and the orange baseball cap....that you do, I simlpy said...I can see that!

The Desert Rose!