Washington Trip

My best friend of 14 years got married in September so Mom and I flew to WA for the wedding. The wedding was beautiful and so was the bride. :)

While we were there Mom and I decided to go whale watching. We took the ferry boat from Anacortes, WA to San Juan Island. Neither of us had ever taken a ferry before so that was pretty fun too.

We did some research before hand and decided to do a charter boat instead of a cruise ship or larger boat. We went with Maya's Westside Charters and Captain Jim. There were a total of 8 of us on the boat (including the captain).

First we saw an eagle and some harbor seals sunning themselves then Captain Jim was on the radio getting the coordinates for a humpback whale.

The humpback whale was sleeping so all we got to see of her was her fin when she came up for air, then she'd go back down for 5 minutes then come up again. Still pretty cool.

Next it was off to find some orcas. They told us to watch for fins. I think I heard them before I saw them though. You'd hear a slap on the water or hear them as they exhaled. The first fin I saw was kind of surreal to me and I think I had a jaws moment lol I could picture a shark coming out of the water but thankfully it was orcas instead.

This boat came up while we were watching and I was amazed how many people they crammed onto it. I'm so glad we decided on a smaller boat.

The orcas were hunting fish when we were there and they were "porpoising" (see picture above). It was a blast to watch and amazing that they can swim so close together.

While they were hunting, Captain Jim put some hydrophones in the water and we could hear the whales talking to each other. You hear the splashing and them talking to each other in movies or youtube but it's nothing compared to in person. There are no words to describe it, it was just beautiful.

Captain Jim, Mom, Jeanne and me

Captain Jim is a retired school teacher, he was so informative and turns out he's a photographer too! He takes some amazing pictures. He made sure everyone had a good time and that he got to visit with everyone and get to know us. Jeanne was a treat for us. She is a friend of Captain Jim's and she studies the whales. She knew just by looking at the tip of a fin which whale it was and it's history. The stories she told!! I was eating out of the palm of her hand :) If you like whales and/or beautiful pictures check out Jeanne's blog.

Sneak peak. Just got back from vacation a couple of days ago :)

Post coming soon.

A horse is poetry in motion.

New Family Member

Introducing the newest member of our family! As of yet she doesn't have a name (please feel free to leave suggestions!). She's about 2 months old and is mixed with Siamese and a black cat. It's kind of hard to see her coloring in the pictures but she's all grey with a patch of white on her lower belly. She's such a sweetheart.

When we were introducing her to Bailey she ran right up to her, stopped within a foot of her face, made a "pssst" sound and turned tail and ran. She's definitely a spitfire too! Her favorite activity so far? Pouncing and watching her reflection in the mirror!

Is this love?

These two just loooooove being groomed on. Brush... teeth... doesn't matter. Apparently this day their tails itched.

A view from the other side

I forgot to check the lens on my camera before I went to visit the horses and had my zoom lens. The babies wouldn't stay far enough back to take a few pictures so I had to get creative. I took off running away from them in hopes that I could turn around and snap a couple of pictures before they caught up to me. Guess again. As I'm running I hear the clop clop clop of hooves running after me and I glance over my shoulder and they are both right behind me.

This is what love looks like. :)

Sunday Funday

Sunday we let Tabasco and Shoni out into the big field to graze, but they were more interested in running. :)

Tabasco kicked up his heals and Shoni jumped for joy.

Tabasco and Shoni did eventually settle down and graze. I went into the house for a while and when I went back out they took time out of grazing to come over and say hello. It amazes me how much these two love people. They just love to be near you get a get loved on.

Tabasco and his crazy mane lol We should nickname him Fabio

Catch up

Back to trying to catch up again.

It's been a rough year with for us. In March we had to put Whiskers down, April my Grandma H had a stroke, May my Grandma D passed away, June my Grandpa M passed away, and in July my Grandpa D had his leg amputated. I switched to the night shift with my job and have been working some overtime so there hasn't been much free time left for horse time.

Finally this weekend slowed down and we got to have some fun so I'll post the pictures later. :)

Hope all of you and your critters are doing well. Can't wait to catch up on your blogs!