Tasunka, horse, was born May 1, 2007 sometime in the early morning. We knew The Gray would be having her baby soon and so we had her in a small corral next to Diego. When I went to check on her before school, here was this cute little garulla horse colt who had slipped under the fence and was in the corral with Diego. Mom and baby were visibly upset and Diego seemed bewildered too! I got them together and watched the baby start to nurse. That was his beginning. His end was on January 9, 2010 sometime in the early morning. Tasunka coliced and died. I wish I could say it was a peaceful end. It wasn't. Colic is a catch all term for innards getting all screwed up--literally. We could tell he was in pain although Matt gave him a shot to ease it for a while. Don't want to spend a lot of time on this. I only want to record that he was here and was a fine horse. On a positve note, he had never been ridden and went home with all his parts. We will miss him.

Tasunka

We had planned to take care of Tasunka's body--send him home properly, but first I needed to go exercise since I hadn't done it for a few days. While I was on my way, Matt called to see how I was doing since I was so upset. We talked for a while and then instead of one of our usual parting statements, Matt said. " I love you. Be good." Be good? Why in the world would he say that? It's not like I would go "postal" at Curves! He said he didn't know why he said it. Well I know. It was one of God's tender mercies.

My dad, who has been gone for over thirty years, was a cowboy. He loved his horses and I'm sure was heartbroken a time or two when his horse died. Anyway, when I would leave my parent's home, his standard farewell was, be good. Even when I was an adult he would say, be good. I know that this was God's way of letting me know that my dad was aware of my pain and wanted to comfort me.

Arizona Sunset

Beautimus, no?

Oops. It's not really an Arizona sunset because yonder where those teeny mountains are, is Califonia. I guess it doesn't really matter. This was taken on the rez, just south of Parker on December 26th

Outside my classroom backdoor

By the time I took the picture, the snow on the fence had melted. However, on the day it started snowing at 7 a.m. and didn't stop until 2:30, I took my ruler out and measured it--only 8 inches.

Muy Frio

It's cold!!!!

Well, actually it's rather balmy today- maybe 32 degrees---but in days gone by, rope me down and call me doggie, it was cold. One morning, when I got to school, it was 2 degrees. Alas, I had no camera for proof. The next day when I had my camera, the temp had increased significantly- up to a whopping 4 degrees.