Reading the book I picked up a number of small hints that have made a difference in my cooking and they all have to do with patience (no surprise here). Dry the meat you want to brown before putting it in the pan; wait until the butter foam subsides before you put the eggs in for an omelet. Julia is solid, down to earth, and cooks simple food that is delicious. She is The Woman.
I enjoy cooking, or rather, I love eating good food. My mother hated cooking, but knew that good food = health, so she cooked. My grandmother liked to cook and always had something special waiting for me when I came to visit (and that was often). I enjoy cooking dessert, or baking, most: those lovely aromas. One of Julia's favorites was the Queen of Sheba cake, and I have made it a couple of times, and they have been devoured. Only one "drawback", it uses ground almonds. That means blanching almonds and peeling them. To me, life's a bit short for that kind of thing. But the cake is worth it.I went to Tucson yesterday to shop and bought the almonds, and Dan said when he saw them: "Ah, Queen of Sheba! Yum!" I told him that getting the almonds prepared was a pain, so he volunteered (no cook, he). So the almonds were blanched and peeled, yesterday, and today La reine de Saba is in the oven as our weekend treat. Bon appetit!
The Second Hideout is a little over 3 miles from our gate and has an elevation gain of 885 feet, so the boys did get to use their muscles a bit. I think I heard some minor grumbling as it is more fun to run on flat ground apparently. But we had a great ride, and let the horses graze at the destination. The grass is too good and juicy to pass up right now, especially because they are on dry rations at home.
So, we purchased a rock rake in hopes of being able to gather most of the large ones and remove them for landscaping purposes. Of course it improves the round pen as well. Some day, years from now, this will be the perfect garden spot: lots of organic matter and no rocks.
The horses looked on with some interest and Bueno made it a point to impede the tractor's progress at every opportunity, as if to say: how about going out for a ride again? Meanwhile, I wonder what's next for these boys. Featherbeds?
And then there are the plants that I put in that have decided to seed out and show up in elsewhere. The desert zinnia is one, and very pretty at that, as is the damianita. I usually do not tolerate plants in the gravel paths, but some of these are left in hopes that they will selfseed somewhere else, and then I can take out the plant in the path. Even the soaptree yucca shows up here and there in our previously razed building site. 
Another plant that is nice, but needs a strong hand, is perovskia. It is lovely, with pretty blue flower spikes and a nice fragrance, but after you have planted it once, it shows up everywhere. Our site still needing more greenery, I leave it in some spots, and declined to tackle this seedling which decided that sharing space with a pencil cholla might give it a good chance to survival. It was right.
Having done a number of concrete footing and slab jobs over the years, Dan decided he could level the site and set the forms himself. We would contract out the concrete work and have them finish the surface. Even with our cement mixer (a huge improvement over the wheelbarrow that used to be my mixer, plus hoe, plus elbow grease), it would take about 3 yards of concrete and that's more than I can mix in a day. 
It took about a morning to level and set the forms, a day to add gravel and rebar, and yesterday the cement truck arrived to pour the slab. Today the forms came off and Dan added gravel ramps. What an improvement! If we had known how nice it would be to stand on a level surface getting in and out of the tackroom, we would have done this sooner. We will finish it off by adding 2 stall mats for the horses to stand during shoeing, and build a step into the tackroom.
We had a great ride, longer and faster than our normal ones. I don't think that the horses will have any problem with these longer distance rides: their pulse rates were barely elevated when we got home. Nonetheless, Cody seemed to be whining "I am tired" toward the end, but then he has never been one eager to move. Bueno was ready for more. The one that needs the most training is me: I need more time in the saddle and get my knees used to riding with shorter stirrups. The minute I am off the horse I am fine, so it is a matter of doing it more and longer. Common, body: we are having fun!
Some of the blooms are tiny and unobtrusive, others shout it out, like this hedgehog cactus in our yard. But most spectacular are the banana yuccas right now, and there are so many in bloom right now.
We walked the path that we have made ourselves over the years, mostly on horseback, and now being on foot, we were able to move more rocks to smooth the path so we can ask the horses to pick up the speed without having to worry about them twisting an ankle or a knee. Dan, already having been stung once this year when he picked up a rock, was smart enough to see this little scorpion in a moist creek bottom.
One of my objectives was to get a good picture of an ocotillo bloom, as requested by Webb, and although not all the blooms are out, this one is a good representation. I took this on Ocotillo Hill (at least, that's what we call it), where we took a break. I was surprised to see the Indian Paintbrush already blooming too.
On our way back, and within a mile of home, we came upon this Gila monster. This was our first sighting; it made for a special ending to a gorgeous morning in the desert.
In the forest, the banana yuccas are blooming in profusion. Last year we hardly saw one bloom (it was a very dry winter), and now it seems like all plants have a stalk coming up. Also the ocotillo are in "velvet", with leaves all up and down the stems and a couple of them are already sporting blooms. Oh, happy hummingbirds.
Cacti are budded now, and I am amazed at the number of flowerbuds, in addition to the new pads, on the ficus indica in front of the barn. That is going to be some show! 
I saw this Bottle Evening Primrose on my walk this morning, and could not pass it up. Such a gorgeous time of year. 
So, the flowers I started from seed (the ones I got to sprout at least) are in the ground: calendula, bachelor buttons, cosmos, nicotiana, Mexican sunflowers. I also planted 6 tomato plants (all heirloom): Thessaloniki, Zapotec, Paul Robson and Amish Paste. I always have to take a picture of them as they stand so forlorn in their fortresses. It seems like overkill, but if it is like years before, they fill out their cages and then some. 
I received the sunflower seeds for the Great Sunflower project, and because I lost many to the various wildlife last year, I am starting all of them in little pots, and Dan has fortification plans for when they go into the ground.
We started off great, perfect temperature, no wind, and tons of California poppies to enjoy. It is beyond me why the poppies selfseed so well in the wild, but refuse to grow in my yard, or even when I seed them in little pots. Anyway, we were going along great, alternating walking with short periods of trotting when Buggs stumbled. It took me a little while to find out he hurt himself, but when he started to limp we immediately turned for home and walked home (on foot) the last 2 miles. Buggs is in his stall now, and favoring his left front knee, so it will be rest for him for a couple of days.
We did manage to ride 7.78 miles in 1 hour and 52 minutes, for an average speed of 4.1 miles an hour. Isn't a GPS a wonderful tool?
Meanwhile, I did a quick inspection of the landscape and found that our Schott's yucca is putting out two, perhaps three, blooms this year. The senna is blooming, but not all trees have leafed out yet. It was great to see signs of life on the Arizona walnut and also on the newly planted pecan tree by the horse buckets. I know it does not show much, but you quickly forget how small plants started out.
The seedlings are doing well during the day in the coldframe and I may plant the flowers in the garden next week. If the nights get warmer (above 45 degrees), I may put in the tomatoes as well. The soil does heat up during the day, but the night are still very cool, with a skin of ice on the birdbaths, so I want to be careful in not planting too soon.
Phil and Marsha's house is lovely, and has a breathtaking view of the patio right when you come into the door. Their situation is opposite of ours: we are on foothills facing east, they are on foothills facing west. I found that New Mexico had a different feel than Arizona, but it's difficult to put a finger on exactly why. 
We had a lovely lunch in Old Mesilla, at La Posta, made another quick tour of the yard and left around 3 so that we would be home before dark. It was great seeing Phil and Marsha again, and next time I will take Dan as he missed out on lunch at one of our all-time favorite Mexican restaurants.
To get a better feel for endurance riding I volunteered at a "local" (= 1 hour from the WD) ride. It was being held at the Lucky Pup Ranch, whose owner sold me my new saddle. Rather than being in the foothills of the Dragoon Mountains, where we are, this was in the foothills of the Rincons. The weather was absolutely perfect for the event.
So I was stationed in the outback, at a gate with a watertank and my job was to ensure the cows would not get out. I did have the opportunity to see the 50-milers leave and it was interesting to see the different horses, different tack, different ways of dress, and different attitudes toward the horses. Some people are out for the competition, others just to enjoy the scenery and have fun. After all, the motto of the AERC (American Endurance Ride Conference) is "the finish is to win". 
There was only one snafu at my post, and thankfully I was not involved. A number of the 25-mile riders misread the flags and ended up at the watering hole at the same time as the 50-milers who came from the opposite direction. No harm done, everyone was soon on their way again. It was very nice sitting out there all alone in the quiet and watching the riders come over the horizon. 
At lunch time, Heidi recalled me from my post as all the riders had passed by, and I spent the remaining time in base camp, watching the vet checks, the cooling down and the pulse taking. I think I can get the hang of that for next time.
In all, a fun experience. Everyone was very nice, and I got a better feel for what all the endurance riding is about. I was invited to participate in the next local event by Sonoita. They also have a 15 mile fun ride, and perhaps I will get up the nerve if I have enough time to work on Buggsy's and my conditioning.
