Pete didn’t get a sabbatical. It’s taken some time for this bit of news to sink in. I’ve now digested it, and gone p-tooey. I had my hopes up – I very badly wanted to do Part II of Tolting the Great Divide. I’m not yet convinced that this is for the best, but I’m getting there.

Signy is expecting, and so it would be best for her if we are around. I was hoping that someone, somewhere, would step up to the plate and say “I’m experienced with mare and foal care, and have a shelter and large pasture for the pair.” But no one has. There’s also not a lot of pasture land here in Southcentral Alaska – and more and more of it is disappearing, going into subdivision developments.

If you think about it, it’s logical – farmers get more per acre from developers than they do from other

farmers. So, there it all goes. In a few places you see one house smack dab in the middle of a field. This hardly seems right.

If I am to do the trip, I must put forth the energy to find a way south, and a travelling companion – someone who is as resourceful and knows as much about camping as Pete. This is as tough a call as finding pasture for Signy. Maybe, just maybe, staying here this summer and working on this place will be for the best. If we do this, and sell, then doing a trip from a home base in the Lower 48 might be easier.

We might also get our farrier friend Chad to come up and do a farrier clinic. Knowing how to do our own shoeing would be a good thing. And maybe I’ll train Raudi and do the competitive trail ride.

Our taking time off will give Raudi even more time to mature. She did just fine this past summer, but could do better. She’s not yet bomb proof. Yesterday she was so full of energy that I walked her. On our jaunt we came across a moose standing up on a snow berm. It looked like an elk on a bluff, overlooking a valley. Raudi huffed, and chuffed, and spun around, so we went back the way we came. I saved the day by working with her on our new game, coming to Alys lying in the snow, with a broken leg. Then I put her in the pen and free lunged her. She enjoyed that.

I guess that fate has dealt us an unexpected hand. Life is too short, gotta make the best of it.

Next: 50. 1/25/12: Once in a Blue Moon