We have worked the horses. They are all doing well. I had to put the muzzle back on Simba. They get a lot of grazing and turnout time in their “compound”. They are in a section close to where our campers are parked, that will be where the FEI horses will be stabled. There is a fence around that area. So the horses get to be “loose” to eat—we close all the gates going into that compound.
Today at 1 pm we are driving down to Lakeside on the Flathead Lake to do a fishing trip.
We get sandwiches before we leave. Sarah has given us some directions with a shortcut to bypass town traffic. That route takes us around Foys Lake, and past Herron Park, where the Rebecca Farm event used to take place.
We arrive at MoFisching Charters. Brach introduces us as our guide. He is 29 years old, of great humor, and much competency. Lucas has to wear a life jacket. The boat is nice, looks new, it is about a 24 foot little cabin cruiser built for fishing. Has depth finder, GPS, a cooler full of drinks, and lots of snacks.
We power over full speed to the place where he wants to start trolling. We are going to troll along a deep bank. The wind is up and the water is very choppy. He has four “down riggers”—two off the backsides, and two off the back of the boat. The downriggers pull the line deep down, as far as the fish are biting.
It was fun– it felt to be good to be out on this beautiful lake. Flathead Lake is the largest fresh water natural lake west of the Mississippi. It is 50 miles long and 18 miles wide at its widest point, and can average about 120 feet in depth.
Amanda is a water girl. Being out on the water kept a big smile on her face the whole time!
We got two big fish Amanda caught the first about a half hour into our trip. It was about 25 inch long lake trout. Teresa brought in a big 30 inch Bull Trout. We had to throw that one back because it is a Native Montana fish, they have it on an endangered list.
Back at the dock after a 4-5 hour trip, Brach fillets Amanda’s fish.
We grill it that night with lemon pepper—yum. Salad and hamburgers!
A big day planned for the next!
Rebecca Farm is transforming into the show grounds. More and more workers show up everyday. The course designer has put all the flags on the jumps. The areas are getting their final mow and weed eat. The dumpsters and port-o-potties are all placed. Tents are up for spectators and hospitality.
Sara and her husband Drew work early to late.
Saturday morning Brewster has planned a big day for us. We are going to go Zip-Lining over in Whitefish at the Big Mountain Ski Resort. I never knew of such a thing. Amanda is VERY excited! You have to be a certain height that Lucas falls just into—4 foot 6 inches.
We are supposed to be there at 8:30 am. We leave in two trucks. Later that afternoon, the girls and myself are going to take some of our horses to school over at Herron Park.
At the Big Mountain Lodge, we have two capable, assured guides. Lucas with his sweatshirt, sweatpants, comes in right at the minimum weight qualification to zip line. We are given our vests, helmets, and “rollers”. The vest/seat/jackets are the same that people wear when they parasail behind a boat. You kind of “sit” in it. There are strong carabineers that you snap onto the zip rollers.
We are off to the first, “test” zip for us. To go faster, you can hold your body in a streamline, body straight, arms close to the body, feet straight out front. To “slow” yourself you can spread out your arms and legs, like a “starfish”. When coming into the stop, you are to lean back, look up at the cable, and pull your knees up.
You come into a big long coil, kind of like the thing that’s inside a ballpoint pen so that you can click the point open and closed. This coil on the cable is about 15 feet long. It absorbs the impact as you come in at up to 40 miles an hour.
Wow! Lucas loved it. Brewster’s daughter, Cordelia who is 12 was a very good mentor for him. The kids helped all of us have courage!
We did 6 separate “zips”. They were scattered all around one section of the ski hill. We took a chair lift up, and then we would walk up the mountain to reach different zip platforms.
Please see my photos on facebook!
They varied from 1200 to 1900 feet in length, and we were “zipping” above the trees in many places!
Fun, fun. Thanks Brewster for getting that organized.
After that, the girls and myself came on back to the farm. We took Ready, Simba, and Slew boy over to Herron Park with one of Sara’s trailers.
Sara had given a call over there, we didn’t need to do much schooling, and even though there was a clinic going on, told us to go on over there.
It was disturbing for that organizer for us to be there, because even though we put our schooling fee in the box, she had rented it for the day. Anyway, we were able to get a little bit done.
Lucas, Jess, Brewster, Judy, his wife, and daughter Cordelia stayed at the Mountain to play. They took the chairlift up to the top and ate lunch at the restaurant. Then they went back down were the Alpine Slide was. They each rode down—it is a sled that you control the speed as you go down the mountain in a chute type thing that twists and curves.
They came on back, got suits, and went swimming back at Foys Lake.
That night we had a delicious dinner, my lemon pepper pork tenderloins, roasted peppers and Portabella mushrooms, macaroni and cheese, and applesauce, and salad.
Beth from Salt Lake City joined us for dinner.
We have “borrowed” a table from the farm and have it in the middle of my camper and Karen’s. Drew also loaned us a fire pit. Brewster had wood from one of his campgrounds he stopped at on the way, and they also got some wood from a county park on Saturday.
We have had campfire and S’mores every night.
Also the campfire keeps the bugs down. On Friday night when the mosquitoes were biting Teresa really bad during dinner, I said, “I will take care of this!” I got my can of bug spray and came out spraying!!
“No, No!” everyone screamed. I had my can of RAID that smelled good, I thought nothing of it.
Amanda got the can, and read the warning label. ‘If on skin wash with soap and hot water immediately, call physician. If on clothes, remove immediately…’
They wouldn’t let me finish my wine, because part of the spray landed in it.
Jess and Brewster got some proper people bug spray the next day at the grocery.
Saturday late afternoon Teresa and Amanda went to Foys Lake. They made friends with some people, and Amanda was able to ride someone’s jet ski—the kind you have to stand up on. She was very proud of her easy to learn proficiency at it. She was kind of sore the next day though. They had a blast, they really enjoyed the water. They came back just in time to eat up what was left for dinner.
On Sunday, Jess and Lucas had a play day with Sara and Drew’s two kids. Sara and Drew had a full workday and no sitter, so I volunteered Jess. Their two kids, 6-year-old girl named “Tommy” (a spitting image of Sara), and also VERY CUTE little boy “Zander” who is 4.
Jess, Lucas, Zander and Tommy took off about 9 am in Sara’s Sienna Van for a day of adventure! They went back to the Glacier National Park. They played next to McDonald Lake in the rocks on the edge of the water. They explored a rock shop. They went to the lodge, and Lucas played piano in the lobby. They had lunch and they went to the water park to do all of the water slides.
The girls and I jumped the horses, and Simba did a very excellent gallop set. Then we moved the horses up the road to the tent stabling.
Just in time. People and horses began arriving for the show.
It was nice the girls had plenty of time to get everything set up in the tack stall to their liking. The horses are all settled.
Today, Monday, will be a “rest day” for our horses. Karen and crew arrive today with horses via airplane around 12:30.