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Friday, November 21, 2008
Spring time in Lincoln

Some news of spring activities and plans for the summer.

It has been a wet and cold spring so far, and that is great!  We had no snow to speak of this winter, so every drop of rain we get, and the longer the snowpack takes to melt, the better!

Meanwhile, we are busy getting spring projects done.  I have been trying to wash/organize/repack all Iditarod gear, and get it back into storage until next year, fixing pasture fence that needs repair, getting horses back into training, and getting myself back into training! 

I have been riding my gelding, Toby, quite diligently since the first week of April, and we are off to our first Limited Distance event in Roundup, MT this weekend, where we will try to complete two days of 25 miles each day in the Bull Mountains. 
We are travelling with U.S. Equestrian endurance team rider Suzie Hayes (she was U.S. team captain for the World Endurance Championships in Dubaii, U.A.E. this past January).  She has been gracious enough to allow me & Toby, a couple of ROOKIES, to tag along with her and ask her all of our stupid rookie questions for the weekend.  I couldn't dream of a better way to get my feet wet in the sport, though!
Links to the endurance riding sport are www.aerc.org and www.endurance.net.
I'm also running about 5 days per week, and will be running the Governor's Cup Marathon on June 4th in Helena.  I'm using it as a "training run" for the 50 mile race that is my goal at the end of August ( see link for Elkhorn Endurance Run at www.elkhorn100.com). 

Doug has been pretty busy with his new post as IOFC president, spending as much time on the computer as I spend avoiding it! 
He also got his hydroponic garden going early this year, and the tomato plants are looking fabulous! (I'll try to send some photos later when it really gets going!  Last year, we had so many English Cucumbers we couldn't give them away/eat them/can them quick enough!).
Doug bought a wrecked 1950 Super Cub last year, and has been working on rebuilding it with a friend in Washington.  The project is beginning to wrap up, and he will have to go over and spend about a week on it, and then it will be for sale.  First, though, he has a date with "the guys" back in Minnesota at the end of next week for some serious Walleye fishing (beer drinking?). It's an annual trip, full of fish stories, (testosterone), Budweiser...I'm sure once in a while they catch something, but not one fish has ever made it back to the freezer in Montana!  It's ok, though...In my mind, it's good medicine for him after working as hard as he does all winter.

We have a total of 5 puppies on the ground so far this spring, with more to come within about 10 days...

Mel

Written By: dougswingley
Date Posted: 5/16/2005
Number of Views: 1846

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