Deer Me, Those Are Strange Boots

So I'm sitting here in Eastern Washington wearing a fleece jacket at the end of July.  It's not warm.  I just got off the phone with friends in New York and they told me about their trip to Maine last weekend where it was much cooler at 98 degrees.  I just imagine nasty stink when I think of that hot and humid in a city.  Sweaty, oily, grimy, pollution, stink.  I am not complaining one bit about wearing clean smelling fleece.

Gus is having a terrific time here.  He's been hiking every day with me and not one bit of cheat grass in his paws.  Of course, it wouldn't be fun without a trip to the vet which is what we did last Thursday because he would start his motorcycle at all hours of the night and look slightly alarmed at his lack of control.  Vet determined that he probably has slight nerve damage due to the tumble with the fierce Mama Deer.  He is on low dose pain meds that make him stumble around like a zombie until he falls over.  It's pretty funny, so I might slip some into DW's drink.  While I was there, a baby Jack Russell Terrier got his cast off his broken leg (deer attack), Dachsund got 42 stitches out (deer attack) and the vet told me he wrapped a Lab's broken ribs and put down a German Shepherd the week before because of deer.  Needless to say, Gus hardly leaves the deck.

I found these pictures of the boy and thought it ironic that he fought his first deer at five weeks old.  Wasn't he cute??

Not so cute; cheat grass removal surgery.

I just booked a trip to Wickenburg, AZ to go back for the sixth time, I think, to Rancho de Los Callaberos, a dude ranch with a golf course.  We'll go for six days and I will ride, probably twice a day.  I hope I get Hoser, he's the little Mexican horse that I've ridden every time and we team penned and set the course record.  He must be over 20 now, so maybe not in service.  Denny rode a horse I called Sherman as in Tank because he was a Draft/QH cross.  What I like best about the Ranch is that you can actually gallop the desert trails.  What I like second best is watching all the weird groupies that hang out there while someone dries out nearby at the rehab place.  David Gest (who married Liza Minelli) showed up once and sat behind us.  The Colonel asked me if we should ask him to join us because he looked lonely.  He didn't know who he was.  Dude shows up for dinner in sunglasses and is really scary looking.  No, we will not ask him to sit with us, no, that is not happening.  Some female rappers' posse was there once, too.  Talk about out of place.  Kinda hard to ride in spike heels.