A Month of Love from the Water Beings

February 2, 2024
Grace and Skye came back up the mountain, a river of clouds coming with them.
They'd been gifted a truckload of equipment. Literally. Judging by the clouds, they might be needing some of it sooner than later.

The clouds were moving swiftly, rolling, peaking, tumbling, making mountain shapes, river shapes, flowing fast across the sky. The wind was strong and the air was cold.

Grace took a moment to absorb it. Before whatever it had in store came to earth. 

"It's beautiful" Skye said. "And a little crazy. I bet we lose the internet."

"I wouldn't be surprised" Grace said, frigid fingers fumbling with the door. "Dang it's cold."

February 6
After 48 hours of rain, on the morning of the sixth, it finally snowed. 

It was a wet snow, too wet for taking out horses, and so instead, Skye finished her NaMoPaiMo horse from 2023, a bay brabant Deborah McDermott resin. She was particularly pleased with his eyes.

Grace worked on and off on her NaMo horse. The technique she was trying was...different.  She was attempting a mulberry grey for the first time, using colorful undertones of yellow and magenta.

"He looks like a decorator right now" Skye said.

"Right? We could have left the horn on and painted it gold."

The barn cats had come in...all four of them.   You could always tell when it was properly cold out.  Mousing was put on hold for a while in favor of lounging on Skye's bed.

Skye's wall hanging was also coming along.  It looked almost identical to its original version;  a very dark bay American Saddlebred.

"I think I'm almost done" Skye said. I ended up working light over dark again! I'm going to touch up the darks and the mane and tail and do the details and call it done."

"No white markings?"

Skye shook her head.  "I'm not that good at white markings."

"Okay."

For a while in the afternoon, the sun burned through the clouds and the snow quickly slipped from the tree branches to the ground. But then it began to fall again, soft, silent, steady.

February 7
There had been some snow overnight.  A mixture of powder, and wet snow that had frozen.  The big red truck would need digging out.  

"Whoa! Come back broom!"
Skye fell through a layer of crust, onto softer snow beneath.

"Guess Michelle Sepiol sent us shovels and brooms just in time" Skye said, pulling snow down from the hood of the truck.

There was a lot of snow.  The part that had become crust made the task of getting the truck uncovered without scratching it rather tricky.

"Let's take a break" Grace said. "Give it a couple hours. Let the sun melt some of this."

Grace started heading back to the house. Skye took few more swipes at the snow. It was heavy, but the layer that had hardened was thin, and if she hooked it just right she could pull whole sheets of snow off of the truck.

The girls returned late in the afternoon, as the cloud cover increased. The truck was mostly exposed. They cut away a little more snow in front of it, and gave it a go.  But the ice won.

"Now what?" Skye said.

"I think we'll be better off in the water."

"Man, look at all this grass. And it's only February."

"Yeah...no one is going hungry this spring" Grace replied.

And just as well that they'd gotten he truck loose, because as evening came, so did another storm.

February 8
A thick layer of fresh snow covered the landscape. Highlander's small band had become separated from Petrichor's herd, and they headed toward familiar territory, where the grazing would be lush.

The small streams were iced over. The snow was deep and difficult to navigate. The dun mare clambered up the snowy bank, away from the ice, but only momentarily.  The deep snow was challenging in its own right.

Where drifts of snow had covered the frozen stream, the going was easiest.  The dun mare looked for those easy passages.

The larger streams bore no ice. The water was cold and occasionally deep, but it would eventually lead them down into the relative shelter of a grass meadow.

Back at the ranch, Grace and Skye took a moment to get pictures of Skye's completed horses. She had started them for NaMoPaiMo in 2023. And now, finally, a year later and just eight days into February, they were done. 

Grace decided to take La Barilla to the indoor arena. Skye accompanied her. Ladyhawk's blanket made all kinds of swooshing noises as they road, but Ladyhawk kept her head. La Barilla stopped here and there to paw the snow, as if perhaps it would be enjoyable to roll in.

"Where do you suppose the wild horses are?" Skye asked.
"Hard to say" Grace responded. There was so much rain, and I think it rained harder in the lowlands than it did here. But then the snow came. So which way would they have gone? Up for the rain, down for the snow?"

Crazy's band made their way along a seasonal stream, northwest of the sheltered meadow. 

The mare Grace and Skye called Lady Godiva picked her way through the water, which was sometimes deep. The mud made from rich soil acted like suction cups around the horse's hooves, but there were also narrow sand bars which provided better crossing.

Following her lead, the herd traversed the sand bar, single file.  It was a quiet time in the forest.  The roads were likely closed.  The wet snow was not ideal for traveling, but they did so entirely unbothered.

February 16
Grace's current NaMoPaiMo horse was challenging her a little bit.  The girls examined it in the tack room.  It didn't look like a yellow and purple decorator model any more, but it wasn't exactly going along to plan, either.

"So now his two sides aren't even" Grace said of her NaMoPaiMo horse. "I'm not sure how they came out so different, but I think I like the lighter side better. So...now what."

"You could put the disappearing dapples back on the dark shoulder..."  Skye suggested.  "Or maybe when you finish the mane and tail...it will just all come together..."  It was always difficult when something went too dark.  There wasn't always a way to fix it.

Anahit and Lousin came in quietly, their mom in tow...welcome but wholly unexpected.

"This is our mom" Anahit said.
"Hi mom!" Skye replied.

"Hello, I hope we aren't...oh my goodness, what is this?"

"It's a horse Grace is painting" Skye volunteered.

"It's beautiful! I did not know you are an artist!"

Grace took a deep breath and got ready to say something along the lines of not really considering herself an artist. Skye jumped her lines.

"He's almost done. I think he's going to be amazing."

"I think you are right!"

February 18
The boss, Grace, Skye, Anahit, Lousin and mom gathered at one of the outdoor arenas on Redbird Ranch.  Clouds poured across the sky. The boss seemed almost apologetic about the new horses.   They were big, one a predominately white pinto, one a more color-balanced pinto, both lovely.

"Grace, is he a medicine hat?" Skye asked of the white one.
"Uh, yeah, he's very minimal but I think he's got color in all the right places."

There was a lot to take in. Sights, sounds, smells...the big white horse seemed to be absorbed with processing his whereabouts.  He was friendly enough...just in sensory overload. Grace wondered if the dampness of everything accentuated what he could smell. 

The second giant hay burner had a different approach to gathering information. He was more active, engaging with everyone and everything in his new surroundings. He had a big, loose stride and a kind face. 

Skye liked both of them. The sun broke through the gathering mass of clouds, illuminating the drafters with a sort of magical glow.

While the new horses had everyone's attention, Skye noticed the boss going in a different direction. She followed quietly as the boss circled back toward the turn out pen with a third equine. He wasn't flashy like the drafters. But he was a drafter too. He seemed to be taking in his new surroundings by...meditating.

"I can't explain it Skye" the boss said quietly, "but I am just in love with this guy. Like we needed another mule, right?"

Skye wasn't quite sure how to respond. 

"He's super chill" the boss continued. "You can pet him. Heck, you can probably ride him without a bridle. He's comfortable here. You can see it in his eyes."
His color was intriguing.  He had some characteristics of a mouse dun mixed with wild white markings and belgian shades of chestnut. And the calmest demeanor, and sleepy eyes. 

And then the cloud layer thickened, the sun retreated to the west, and the rain came.  Everyone retreated to their respective shelters.

Grace looked at her NaMoPaiMo horse, the paint still wet on his mane and tail.
"I really wanted to finish him tonight, but I'm making a mess" she said. "My hands just don't have it tonight."

"You've got like ten days to get it done" Skye reminded her. "You've got this."

Skye turned her attention to the english saddle that was sharing their space.

"What's the plan for this?"

"Did you see the girls' mom eyeing it when she was in the tack room?"

"Oh yeah, huh. I forgot about that."

"The last time...the only time we've used it is to school La Barilla on the long rein. The stirrups are still run up, and I swapped out the girth for one off of a bareback pad. It needs a new girth. And I don't think we have one that will work."

"And obviously mom doesn't ride western." 

"I'd say not by choice. People who ride english can usually ride western just fine. I just thought, you know, it would be nice to have a saddle ready."

"Totally."

February 25
Grace finished her NAMoPaiMo entry, a mulberry grey Andalusian that looked actually quite a lot like her reference horse. Skye hung one of her sheets on the wall behind the table, and fumbled with an LED fill light to get light in the horse's eyes for his "I Did It" picture. 

"Do I really need to be in the photo Skye?"  Grace still wasn't brimming with confidence on this latest piece.

"Yes please."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Look at me and smile."

"I can't. That light is so bright I can't even see you."

"Oh, oops...umm okay, then look at your horse."

February 26
Monday morning dawned cloudy and grey, but there was no wind, so the girls set out for a ride. A red tailed hawk circled them as the left the ranch proper.  Skye rode the new mule, which for now they had nicknamed Tex, and Grace rode La Barilla.  They were a bit of an odd couple as mounts go.

Grace was unusually quiet.

"Are you okay?" Skye asked.

"Yeah...I'm all right. I'm kind of tired. Like by the time I was done saddling him I was tired. We should trade mounts."

"Are you serious?"

Grace thought the idea through. Probably everything would be fine. But she was the only one who had ever ridden La Barilla...unless Skye had ridden him before, and if she had, Grace couldn't remember...maybe on the trail wasn't the right place for their first ride together.

"Sure" Grace finally responded. "Soon as we get back to the ranch."

It was quiet. Save for the hawk and the occasional songbird, nothing stirred. The air was damp and Grace felt a bit chilled.

"You know who I'd really love to ride?" Skye said. "That appaloosa mare. The fast one."

"Firebird."

"Yes!"

"I'm sure that would be fine. But can we do it another day? I'm pretty certain it's going to be raining soon."

In the turn-out arena, Grace held La Barilla steady while Skye got settled.

The saddle seat was a little big for Skye. Beneath her, La Barilla was active. Somewhat collected, slightly hesitant, forever a lot of horse. Skye wanted to shift her butt in the saddle, but she didn't want to set him off. His ears were flicking back and forth, waiting for a cue, any cue. Grace started to suggest Skye lower her hands, but she stopped.

In a few moments, Skye dropped her hands, and somehow found her place in the saddle.  Grace moved back, ever watchful, and let the two become acquainted, 

Skye was beaming. She was doing it. She was riding La Barilla.  The certainty of more rain kept the ride brief, but it was a good ride nonetheless.

At home, Skye was energetic and chatty.

"Do you think the boss would help us get some pictures of our models?  I think we should enter them in a photo show or two.  Are you going to sell yours?"

"Maybe? I mean sooner or later there's going to be too many horses in here, and something's bound to get knocked over."

"I'll make room in my studio! We can keep some of them there. And then rotate them!"

"Okay" Grace said, without a scrap of enthusiasm.

"You should rest" Skye continued. "It's gonna rain anyway. You can tell me you're okay, but your giant heart dog doesn't lie. You aren't feeling good."

And sure enough, Baron was right next to Grace.

And so began the rain.
                                                                                                       #