And on Wednesday he is heading out to sea... Getting in some Mike snuggles while they still can. Mike has been home for the last week working his way through a tedious set of instructional modules and taking online tests for certification in something I have no hope of understanding. Then yesterday he got his 'ship out' orders and he will be leaving on Tuesday for his first Gulf offshore well project. It will be good to start having those nice paychecks rolling in again but still, we will miss him and worry about him being out there on deep water. It will all be worth it when we can get settled into a more or less reliable routine instead of the long stretches we went without him being able to come home over the last two years. I'm always a little shocked and puzzled when women tell me how much they look forward to their husbands being gone on hunting trips and so on...Mike and I actually like each other and the separations are definitely not the part of our relationship that we enjoy! I want to be Ellie in my next life! We have gotten to have a couple of good work sessions with the horses and as always, I have been impressed at how quickly Mike grasps the fundamentals of horse training and how deep his connection to his horse is.
Most adults new to working on those levels struggle with it and for Mike it comes intuitively. Llego even tested him a bit and they worked through it. I'm always glad to finally see the 'challenge' in a young horse, it lets me know just what we might be up against in the future. With Llego it was so benign that it made me appreciate him all the more. Duffy in the spotlight. Don't you love that face? The winds are still blowing and the fire danger is still on red alert here. There is a new chance for rain towards the early to middle part of next week though, and we can certainly hope for a bit of relief from 9% humidity and skin scouring winds. At least we don't live down in the valley where it is even more relentless. What are you looking at?' Do you think they get tired of me constantly pointing a camera at them? And for me, my back pain is creeping back up because I thought I could make two weeks between acupuncture appointments. I was maintaining because I had an appointment scheduled for Monday, then got a call saying my acupuncturist would be gone for two weeks because her daughter-in-law had a baby! Jody, I'm thrilled for you and so very glad mom and grandbaby are well and healthy and I can't wait to hear about them...just hurry back please!