Bright Weekend

Last weekend was a rainy wash-out; this weekend was bright and mild. A little on the cool side, but it is October. The trees are not quite at peak and Harvest Moon is perfect.

We rode both weekend days, starting out late each day. As the days shorten we have to stop doing that!

On Friday evening he continued the exterior light upgrades with replacement parts and bulbs. Really does make a difference.

On Saturday I slept in, getting everything started late. Bright sunny morning, while out at the barn, doing this and that barn chores I noticed a fox running through the pasture, through the trees in the field and under the fence into the main greenway below the landscaper bins. Very exciting!

We parked at the trail head next to the train tracks in Marriottsville, going immediately into the Patapsco River, along the trail that follows the road, crossed Henryton and into the trail system. Beautiful Saturday, lots of walkers with dogs, a couple bicyclists and a group of riders that took the high trail. I like staying on the flat, sandy trail at the bottom. Great sight lines, you can really boot it. After talking with a couple that had a sweet little chestnut Pit Bull, who was better behaved with the horses than my own dogs, we let the boys open up.

We had lunch at the Woodstock Inn, running into friends that were on their way back out. One had recently broken her wrist. Her daughter had broken both wrists the last week of school in June. Is this contagious?

With the day waning, we hurried back, chasing deer through the open fields. I planned on going to a party!

Nothing fancy, I changed my clothes and boots and hit the road, getting there in time to eat crabs. Yum.

Directly after turning onto our road a fox crossed in front of the car. Close enough to the house, it could be the other part of the pair.

Sunday dawned bright and cool, with a breeze. We needed to ride the proposed route of our guided trail ride next weekend, so we headed out to Annapolis Rock, starting out at 11:30.

The horse trailers were everywhere. Along the roadway, in the 'hunter's' lot and every which-way in the cow pasture. Iron Bridge Hunt was there, with their hounds. We ran into a couple riders, not together, one with a Foxhound that briefly thought about going with us. She called him 'Baffle.'

Tagging with fluorescent green tape, we had a few false starts, not going far enough, going too far, overshooting our trajectory, taking down a couple flags, retracing our steps, and putting them on the correct locations.

We needed more time. I sincerely hope we do not get lost next weekend.