Fourth of July....better late than never

We celebrated the fourth of July on the 3rd actually. The town of Midas has an annual tradition that we participated in on Saturday. For us, the day started with sleeping in until almost 7! What a morning. :-)

The Midas celebration kicked off with a parade. All except one of the "floats" were either on

quads, on foot, or on horseback. The parade lasted about 7 minutes through the main street, then they turned around and came back again. The most impressive participant was one of the buckaroos from another ranch who rode his horse and did incredible rope tricks. After the

parade he did a side display of rope tricks on foot as well.

The parade was followed by a community potluck at noon. The burgers, hotdogs, drinks, and ice cream were provided. I brought a blackberry cobbler, made with wonderful Oregon blackberries and Junction City honey I had brought with me.

After the potluck there was a horseshoe tournament, bingo, and a cake walk. They charge a small fee for participation in each activity to raise money for next years

celebration. Brian and Jesse (the ranch manager), paired up for the horseshoe tournament and ended up winning 3rd place out of about 20 teams. They received $20 for the win, but first place got $180!

I would guess there were about 80-100 people there. In addition to the 30 summer residents of Midas, a lot of extended family comes up every year to be a part of the day. No fireworks though. My guess is that the dry landscape just doesn't make it worth the risk. A fun addition to the day was seeing the hummingbird that had decided to nest under the eaves of the Midas saloon.

Brian ended up working both the 4th and the 5th, so no long weekend here. He has spent almost every day of the last 2 weeks on horseback though, and usually logs 7 or 8 hours each day in the saddle. I have spent 4 or 5 days of the last two weeks painting the house down at lower clover (all with a roller and brush). I usually start very early because the heat picks up and makes painting very difficult by about 11 am. I have a few more days of trim work to go then that project will be done. I also stained the decks at lower and upper clover last week...maybe I should recreate myself as a handy mam!

My walks up the driveway are getting earlier and earlier, most days I put in my 4 miles by about 5:30 am. The heat and the mosquitoes are starting to drive my schedule for the day more than I'd like, but it means the afternoons can be slow and lazy.