Lately...

First and foremost, let me tell you about the wonderful past few days.
Sylvain, Mag and Jeremiah headed out to the ranch on Tuesday but I decided to go hiking for the day with my roommate Adam.  Little did I know we would be doing the 15 mile killer hike to Frozen Lake in RMNP; the same hike I'd completed with my brothers five years ago.  In short, the hike was truly amazing; more beautiful than I remembered and somewhat less painful.  That doesn't mean I'm not still sore...
The next day was spent lazing around the ranch, talking to horses, and watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? with Jeremiah's family and a few friends.
Since I didn't do any riding the day before, Jeff and I took Samantha and Sherman out the next day to search for a missing cow in a neighboring pasture.  With a 300 steer operation, one missing cow doesn't seem like a big deal but when each cow is close to the $1000 mark, every one must be accounted for.  The ride started out sketch with ominous clouds closing in as Jeff and I prepared our horses.  A few bolts of lighting didn't scare us off as we drove the trailer away from the storm and into the pasture.  Considering Jeremiah and everyone else at the ranch had already clocked countless hours looking for the missing steer, Jeff and I had planned to spend a few hours searching.  As we approached the middle of the pasture and strolled over a hill, however, there was the steer, happy as a clam munching on the miles of green he had all to himself.  With the weather still holding off behind us, we started leading the steer in the right direction, alternating between putting pressure behind and to the sides of him.  Since all was going to plan, the weather decided to slap us in the face with the worst torrential downpour I've ever been stuck in.  About the point where every square inch of me was soaked to the bone, we lost the steer and called it a day.  The horses were spooked by the lightning, we were spooked by the horses, and it seemed a good enough time to get back to the ranch and dry off.  But oh, HOW FUN!!
No pictures today but I'll post the beauties from my epic hike and the latest and greatest from UMS when I get the chance.