how many cowboys does it take to change a light bulb . .. .or shoe my horse

It has been sometime since my last entry and it would take too much time to catch you all up, so I am not going to try. I had to take some time off in Holbrook, with the Eliasons, to let my blistered feet heel up enough to get moving again. So after a few days, during which Kristy took me to see the new temple in Brigham City (forgive me on spelling please) and to the Tremonton fair, and of course over fed me . . . . Strip and I got to Malad, where I need to find a farrier to replace her worn shoes. One of the back shoes had been replaced by a reluctantly kind man, Jesse, while I was at the Eliason's, so now I needed 3 more done. I had a few numbers to call and was awaiting responses, when a group of cowboys showed up at the fair grounds to buck some horses. They kindly offered to reshoe her after they were done and I gratefully accepted, calls were mad to ones Dad to bring tools and shoes and I sat down to watch them get bucked off several horses. As the sun dropped down below the horizon, they loaded up the horses and circled the trucks. The shoes were brought out, tools appeared and a box of nails were produced, all covered in rust. It had been some time since the Dad had used any of them, but the young men were determined to make it all work out and they got down to business. The first foot #1 cowboy rasped the nails and pulled the shoe, there was some discussion about trimming, but it had only been 4 weeks since our last shoeing so it was decided to just smooth out the foot and set the shoe. Cowboy #2 grabbed the rasp, and attempted to smooth the foot, apparently the rasp was extremely dull, so this took some time. He was handed a shoe that he held to the foot, it needed shaping. Cowboy #3 took the shoe and sledge hammer and used the fence to widen it a bit, then he nailed it on, remarking that the rust on the nails would make them stick better, several grins followed this statement. Cowboy #2 rasped the nails off the second front foot, and tried to pull it, Cowboy #4 took over the pulling, then looked at the foot and the rasp and laughed, Dad offered a second rasp, without as much rust on it and he took it and shaped the foot a little, he was handed the shoe, the general opinion was that it fit, so he started to nail it on. The hammer broke. Dad grabbed a fencing tool and took over nailing the first 2 nails in(he was cowboy #5), Cowboy #3 finished nailing it on and then cowboy #2 cut off the nails and clinched it. One foot left, cowboy #4 rasped it and pulled the shoe, it was at this time that one of the young men, all about 25, asked where I had come up with the name Strip. Now I could have told them it was from her registered name, Sunset Strip, but I chose not to. Instead I told them, many years ago, when I was younger and much thinner, I used to be a stripper and she was in my act. This information was absorbed in silence and suddenly everyone was sitting up a little straighter, one of the men breathed a soft "wow", and cowboy# 6 jumped in to finished nailing on her last shoe. The Dads were both laughing very hard, they realized I was kidding, I am sure they told their sons that I was.... maybe. Either way, it takes 6 cowboys to shoe 3 feet on 1 horse. Not a bad job, though you can tell that 3 different people clinched the nails as none of the feet look the same that way, but they were good to my girl, entertaining and all wanted to shake my hand before they left, I don't think it has anything to do with the image of me and Strip swinging on a pole...

And then there were 2 . . . and we really do go in pairs

So once again, a long time has passed since my last posting. I have been trekking through non service and internet area for over a week now. Strip and I climbed a few peeks, and as said in the last entry, met up with some great friends made on the first trip. After my last post, we headed down into eastern Oregon, Unity, Ironside, Brogan, missing Vale and ending up in Nyssa. I was on my way riding and walking into Vale, Strip has been rather sore in her knee since her last shoeing and then aggravated when a driver cut incredibly close to us causing her to spook hard on it. So I was walking her at least half the distance each day, slowly working my way to Cindy's in Nyssa, hoping to take a break there. That was also the place where I would be losing Jessica and the car. It has been nice having them both in their own ways. The car, carries all our gear and keeps Strip from having to work as hard, as well as carry extra feed for her. Jessica brings us water in the day and when I am exhausted and Strip is tired, walks her for a bit to give us both a break. While I appreciate these things, I also really enjoy the solitary portions of the trip and with the convenience of the car I have not gotten into what I was looking for on this trip. So it is with mixed emotions that I say goodbye to both. I think Jessica has had some fun with us, learned a lot about her state and gotten exposed to places, people and situations she never would have. Strip and I are hanging one more day at Cindy's before heading off for Adrian, then Idaho and who knows what else. As some of you might have suspected I am not sure where this trip is taking me, so far I am following my old footsteps, happily reuniting with friends made on the last journey, but I don't know how long that will last. The last year and a half have been hard on me. Returning from the last trip and trying to pick up the pieces of my life was a total disaster. I have come to the conclusion that I need a major change. So Strip and I are off and walking, for now me on the ground mostly. I need to lose weight, and she doesn't need to be caring all my gear and me, and I am not in a hurry. I am savoring my time out here. Appreciating the good and bad, laughter and pain. Hopefully I will come up with a plan, if not, then I wing it. And in case you were wondering, when I stop to answer natures call, so does my horse, that whole girls going in pairs thing seems to cross species, go figure.