Is it time to relax yet?

18 days between posts.. that is unacceptable! I will try not to go so long, but its been a crazy couple of weeks. Christmas is over (as I sit here yawning..) Time to catch back up on life.

I finished all but 2 of the projects I had going.. One I didnt even get started, will save it for a ways down the road, I am just plum spent on the whole crafting and sewing issue right now. I have one other project that is 90% done, I need to finish it because I still intend on giving it as a gift this year.. It's hard to get motivated to finish it, I am so done in my head with all this! lol

I got some great gifts this year, will be making a trip to JoAnn's in the future to spend some gift certificate money; most likely will buy some material and quilting things.. I really loved making the hanging snowman quilt this year, want to attempt making a quilt for the bed, what the hell... didnt I just say I was so done with crafting! (yawn) Give me a month or so and I'll be back at it .

It was a nice holiday season, our entire family (mom's side) attended Christmas Eve this year, which was GREAT!! My uncle Paul even came, I think its been 20+ years since he's been to Christmas Eve. We played "Christmas Jeopardy" that I put together, it was a blast! Eric & Andreas dogs got into a berry tart that was left on the porch (to keep cold) and devoured the entire pie, it was quite hilarious to see how guilty they were.

Derek was out hunting yesterday and I had enough of just sitting around, so I saddled up Edgar and went for an hour ride around the neighborhood, the first time back on a horse since Halloween. It felt great to be out, Edgar enjoyed it too. While I was riding, I videod with my cell phone Edgar's head walking down the trail and then I sent it to Derek to let him know what I was doing! He said to me "I didnt give you permission to ride my horse!" lol

This week will entail getting caught back up on all the chores I have been putting off for the past 6 weeks.. I intend on getting ALL the dishes done (at the same time!) cleaning some floors that desperately need it, maybe do a little dusting and oh the laundry pile is ridiculous!! Then I'll focus on getting the horse club books all caught up for the year and try to start the new (yawn!) year fresh.

New Years Resolution: Hmmm.. I dont usually set one, I think I want to just enjoy another year of fishing, camping, lots of horseback riding, accomplishing more projects around the farm and maybe work on shrinking my figure a little, eat a little better and just work towards maintaining a better life. :) (yawn, stetch)

Tootles for now..

Tick Tock...

the good thing is that Christmas and time seems to be on the slowdown right now.. the days are taking forever to get through which gives me extra time to get my projects done! :) It probably feels like the days are so long because it is dark at 4:30pm so by the time I go to bed at 11, it's been darker outside longer than it's been light practically! lol

This has been the week of the "Deep Freeze!!" as the news likes to put it.. I just call it winter.. ;) I love this cold, I dont particularly enjoy being out in it for too long of periods of time, but it is dry and other than the damn static electricity shocks I keep getting, it has been great! I dont even have to put on muck boots to pick up apple turds, hard to complain right now. Okay the downside is that I will not be happy with my PUD bill in 2 months! There, I found the negative of this great weather.

I am happy to report I have completed 4 of my 7 projects! The last 3 are still very big projects and I am realizing I have.. OMG only 2 weeks til Christmas!! Shit! Maybe I was fooling myself above in thinking time slowed down... I need every spare minute to continue crafting and well when I have to deliver hay tonight, plans tomorrow night I cant get out of, horse club dinner Sat night.. well I guess Sunday is gonna be an all day crafting marathon!! I need to put a big dent in my projects! Seems that's all I talk about lately, but seriously thats what my life is all about for now.

Work for me has been okay, can't complain since I still have a pretty secure job as long as the company is open, I am 95% certain I will continue to always have a job! Because things are slower the boss did change/cut the insurance benefits to a cheaper plan which really sucks and I'm not at all happy about that, I now have to spend $2000 more per year and my copay went up $15 per visit... grrrrrrr That big change only saves the company about $1000/yr for the cost of me, which is frustrating and makes me want to look elsewhere. If I'm going to have shitty benefits and zero long term benefits, why the hell am I wasting my time here! But there are perks and job security is a pretty big one these days..

Dereks job is going okay, he has been put back on 5 day work weeks which is great since he had been cut to 4 days. Part of me is skeptical and wonders if they are doing it so he gets his work done faster so they can lay him off before January comes and his insurance kicks in... I know it's not the most positive approach, but if I dont think worst case scenario, then I'm not preparing myself for the what-ifs in life! :)

The new plan is to use some cash and build a fire-room off the back of the shop. We have most of the wood we'll need, we are building a room that he'll put a wood stove in that will vent all the hot air into the shop to heat it in the winter. This way the fireplace is not in the shop with the fumes.. We have been searching CL for a used wood stove, if you have one, do tell!!

Still Bogged Down..

Well I have finished 1 of my.. hmmm how many projects did I take on this year? Oh that would be 1 of 7 and then there is one more I'd like to try to do if I can swing it. I am 3/4 done with one of the other big ones, 9/10th done with another big one, 1/3 done with another and not even started on one, not even started on another, oh and maybe 1/2 done on one that must be done by the 12th! :) I think I can, I think I can.. finish in time!

whew.. Well Derek still has his job, for now :( We are thinking he'll be out of that job by Christmas unfortunately, but he's got a side job lined up that will consume all his free time once he gets laid off, which is good and he's got some other ideas floating around in his head, so we'll see where the road takes us next year.. Hopefully not very far from this house, but would love to go on a financial uphill road! lol We are trying very hard not to stress out right now, sometimes we are successful and other times we have slight meltdowns.

I think I might even be too busy with projects and stress to deal with decorating the house for Christmas this year. Plus we want to avoid large expenditures (like a tree) when possible. I'm not too upset about it, I just feel overwhelmed at the moment with all that is going on and I just dont want to deal with a tree, but I definately will miss the smell and glow of a beautifully decorated tree.

Oakley is doing great in his training with Luanne and Shannon. They told me to pull him off the internet this week, they are going to work him more on the barrels next week and get video of him and then they'd like me to up his sell price to $6500 next week!! WoW. I am super excited to have a horse worth that much, Shannon is a professional barrel trainer, so I am along for the ride on this and letting her tell me how to market/sell my horse. Derek & I are really excited to see where he might end up, can you imagine maybe some day I could be watching my horse on TV at the NFR! :) Shannon believes he has that potential to go all the way with barrels, so we'll see. I'd love to offer her a deal to train him and take 1/2 of what she can train then sell him for. Might be an option, we'll see where this road takes us.

Help, I'm drowing in projects...

I am starting to feel overwhelmed with the christmas projects I took on this year! :) I am making 4 gifts that take HOURS and HOURS each, I will be finished with 1 of 4 tonight, another one is maybe 1/4 done and the other 2 are not even started... I literally spend almost every spare moment crafting these days.

And then I decided to make another gift (completely different project)

And then I decided to possibly make another gift... for our annual gift exchange

And then I have less than 3 weeks to put together another craft project for our annual horse club christmas party that I havent started on..

What the Hell was I thinking!! ;)

I can say even though I am overwhelmed, I did find time to clean my house this past weekend, it looks really nice (well if you can look past the dusting that I didnt get to!) lol

We are doing a non-traditional Thanksgiving this year, which has many family members upset with me for not spending it with them and I dont have much to say, but that I am sorry we are being selfish this year and just going outside the box. Friday evening will be with the horse club and then Saturday evening will be with my immediate family for our own Turkey Dinner (although I think Turkey Lurky will be relieved to know we will enjoying Porky Pig for that meal!)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

(oh and ps, the horse has not sold yet, he is doing MUCH better in his training and has 1 person that wants to buy him but trying to figure out the how (is what I'm told anyways) and then another girl coming from Eastern WA within the next couple weeks to see him)

In Memory

"In Memory" © Kimberly N. Chastain

A thousand times we needed you
A thousand times we cried
If love alone could have saved you
you never would have died
A heart of gold stopped beating
two twinkling eyes closed to rest
God broke our hearts to prove
he only took the best
never a day goes by that you’re not in my heart and my soul.

I found this poem on the internet and I think it is about perfect for how I feel.

2 years ago my best friend left me alone to figure out a new way of living. I may not cry every day for the ache in my heart, but the tears are only a memory or moment away from the surface.

That Horse is on Drugs...

those are the words of a buyer that came out a few days ago to see Oakley; the first and second thing out of her mouth when she walked in the barn and saw Oakley with his head hung and back leg resting. Her attitude set the tone for them looking at Oakley, he didnt behave very well under saddle, it was clear when he was ridden he was not drugged, he's just tired from being worked so much the last 2 weeks!

We moved Oakley over to Shannon place on the Mann Rd in Sultan, Luanne now trains there and they are helping me to sell Oakley, Luanne is showing him to potential buyers and refreshing his training while he is there.

Shannon is very impressed with Oakley and thinks he would be a fantastic barrel horse prospect, so she and Luanne will be working him for the next few weeks on the barrels and Shannon has a couple buyers that seem very interested after he's been worked a few more weeks. We are super excited and hope things go well, we'd love to see him go to one of Shannon's clients. They are being super great to us in working with Oakley and doing all they can to sell him. We've had some interesting people come look at him from my ads.. you meet them all in the horse world! :)

The girls also have a contact for a friend of theirs that has a big 17h Standardbred Horse that she wants to lease out to someone to trailride him. He is right down the road from Oakley, so we went to meet the horse yesterday and he's a really nice guy! His name is "Red Horse" although he is a huge bay, but he is super quiet and might be a great fit for us. So within the next couple weeks, we'll probably go out and I'll ride him and see how that works out. If it is successful, then when Oakley sells, we would most likely bring him home and lease him for an un-determined length of time.

We have the option of possibly getting Blackie Smalls back as well, which was the original plan, but then this big horse came along and Derek likes the idea of him riding Edgar. So we are not 100% sure yet on the final plans, we have a couple options and need to figure them out. I am really hopeful that Shannon's contacts will love Oakley and want to buy him, it's not about the money, I just want him to go to a great home and get used to his potential. He's a good trailhorse but he could do so much more than that and if he could be a top barrel horse, I cant wait to see that. :)

4 Gun Slingin' Jack Drinkin' Bad Ass Chicks!!

Here are the much awaited pics of me, Andrea, Shana & Jen from this past weekend in Leavenworth..

There are 16 total pics, I picked 6 to show here.. This first one is my absolute favorite! I laugh-out-loud every time I look at it..

This one looking up is a tribute to Carrie, we are hoping she is looking down at us as we look up to her.

Enjoy the rest!

So Much going on..

So after we lost our little guy Briggs, we had to gear up for a camping trip! Yes we were going camping Halloween weekend in Eastern WA.. actually Benton City which is an hour south of Yakima. A long drive! We were taking the horses over for an annual Costume Winery Ride inwhich you can dress up on horseback if you want, follow a trail through trails & vineyards stopping at 5 different wineries to test the wines and buy some if you wish. If you buy anything they put it in a bag and someone in a vehicle picks it all up at the end of the day. We are not wine drinkers.. yes we were asked many times, why the heck did you go on a winery ride if you dont drink wine?? Well we had some good friends going, we heard the riding was really nice and beautiful over there, and we thought, well maybe we'll find a wine we like.. plus we just wanted a nice relaxing weekend away, too bad that didnt happen!

Well the riding was fantastic, it was beautiful and very nice trails through little mini-canyons and up on the hillsides overlooking the river and the vineyards.. Wouldnt it have been nice to have a pic to post right now of that.. more on that later. There were well over 300 riders so the wineries were quite busy. Derek & I opted out of testing the wine, just too crowded. We did go into one winery and they happened to have vinegars and oils to test, so we bought a bottle of lemon oil and then a balsamic vinegar. We did end up buying some wine w/o tasting it, but we gave it to another camper.. more on that later!

The weather was as perfect as it could be, very windy on Saturday which worked well because it probably reached about 70 degrees and with the wind, it was very comfortable to ride in.

The problem with the weekend.. and it was a big problem, is that within a couple hours of arriving on Friday afternoon, Edgar was laying down and he was not drinking. He then started rolling while on the ground, IMMEDIATE Red Flags went flying. Well the flag was flying when he was laying down, that is not normal for him so when he started to roll, I knew he was colicking! :( So we walked him and kept him up, spent a couple hours keeping him from rolling, called my vet who said "I'm not driving to see him!" She told me to give him some bute since that is all I had and the campers next to us had electrolytes which would encourage him to drink. Derek and I finally walked over to the registration area at about 10:30pm, they were still there and asked for the phone # of any local vets incase we needed to call one out. They indicated a vet was there camping and she volunteered to see any horses that might get sick, so we called her (and woke her up). She saw Edgar and told us if he was still down in the morning, she would give him some banamine which works better than bute.

At about 1am Derek went off to sleep for a while and I was supposed to wake him in a couple hours. I stayed outside and laid on 2 hay bales with a sleeping bag over me, not so I could sleep but so I could stay warm, it was in the mid to high 30's out there.. well then it started to rain! I pulled the bag over my face, laid there with the lunge whip and when I heard Edgar try to roll, I'd snap the whip to keep him on his feet or from rolling. It rained off/on for the next couple hours and by this time, the water had soaked through the sleeping bag and my legs were now wet, I was shaking and could not stop. So I decided I would wake up Derek and when I opened the camper door, he was dressed and standing! Good timing.. He took over the next shift and I was able to get maybe 2.5 hours sleep and just as I sat up to get dressed to take over, he opened the camper door! We just were in complete sync.. :) too bad Edgar was not in sync with us. Derek slept another couple hours while I watched the sunrise, walking Edgar every now/then. He was doing okay but not great so we took him to the vet and she gave him the banamine. He immediately seemed to feel better and he started drinking! Yeah.. The vet said to wait a few hours and then it would be ok and probably good to ride him. So we did the ride and he was great, he was happy to be out, eager to walk and overall attitude was like he was never sick the night before.

As soon as we finished the ride (Derek rode Edgar I rode Oakley), Edgar was on the ground within 30 minutes of having his saddle off, so it was back over to the vet who gave him another round of Banamine.. Derek went to bed at about 7pm Saturday night, he was exhausted while I felt pretty good that day. After watching Edgar, he had not rolled in many hours, but he was laying down, I finally went to bed around 10:30pm. Basically from Friday morning til Sat night in about 40 hours, I had 2.5 hrs sleep! Got up Sunday morning, Edgar looked okay, not great. He had stopped drinking and was not eating much, we loaded up and headed home.

Edgar normally would never allow someone to approach him while laying down, but the nice thing is I got a couple cute pics of Derek & Edgar.. I am really proud of Derek, this was his first horse camping experience and unfortunately it was not the best one, but he did so good with Edgar, made sure to keep him walking and it was nice to see he didnt expect me to do all the work.

As soon as we got home, he was back on the ground laying down and rolling. DAMN! I was getting frustrated.. Colic typically lasts about 12 hours, it had been 2.5 days of this. I drove to the vet and picked up a tube of banamine, he still wasnt drinking and not very interested in his grain at all. Monday afternoon the vet came out to see him, gave him more banamine. Wed morning he was still not pooping or eating or drinking so I drove him to the vet and she did bloodwork, Wed evening vet said based on bloodwork he had either an infection or a virus, we put him on antibiotics that night. Thurs morning, there was water missing from his trough, he ate his grain, ate his hay, he nickered at me for breakfast and he pooped atleast 3 times! Since I pick poo every morning and evening, I know he typically poops 4-6 times every 12 hours... It is now Monday morning, 4 full days on antibiotics and he seems completely back to normal (except that he HATES his twice daily dose of medicine) that he will be on for another 6 days.

So it is very unfortunate that he got sick and unfortunate it cost me over $500 out of pocket, but he is worth it and I'm just happy he is recovering. I was getting very worried that nothing was working.

I was so preoccupied with Edgar, I just didnt get a chance to take more pics other than just him laying down. Poor guy spent 80% of his weekend on the ground. Oh and the bottle of wine, yeah that was for the vet that was so generous and nice to us.

Well on our drive home, we talked about Oakley. He is a FANTASTIC horse! But right now he is not the best fit for Derek and he's not the best fit for me because when I ride him he gets sore and when he gets sore, he gets cranky! I dont blame him, but I dont want to ruin him either and if I keep riding him sore, he's going to turn into a really shitty trail horse while right now he is a good trail horse. I contacted Luanne (his trainer from the spring) put him on the market, had 2 immediate inquiries and took him to her for a week of refresher and for her to show him to potential buyers. The first 2 buyers were a no go, the first guy was a dumbass and the second girl said he was too much horse for her newbie husband... Oh well, over the weekend I had 4 or 5 more inquiries and another definate coming up from Oregon on Saturday to see him. He'll stay with the trainer another week for her to continue to refresh him and show him. He is doing great, Luanne is dissappointed we are selling him, so am I but I have to do what is right for us right now. We are asking $4000 and I am super excited if he sells soon. Not cuz I want him gone, but wow! I own a horse worth that much.. that is a first for me. Makes me feel really good about all the hard work I put into him. In a couple years he would be perfect for Derek but both boys need the couple years to get more experience under their belts before they are ready for eachother. If he does not sell, I will consider leasing him long term again and as soon as he is gone, we will get Blackie Smalls back. :)

So it's been crazy with that happening so quickly and I am forking out money to keep him in with Luanne for these couple weeks.. Good thing I got a bonus this month to cover the cost of these darn horses.. ;) I do hold some guilt and reservations about selling him because he was supposed to be the horse Carrie was going to ride. Her and I had every intention of her helping me train him and do all the riding on him on the local trails and up in the mountains with me, she was excited and so was I, I would have pretty much given her that horse, she told me I could never sell him and here I am selling him :( So I am thinking of her often as I make this decision but I also realize she is not here to ride him and help me work him and I cannot hold onto a dream that will never turn into reality.

Yesterday was Carrie's birthday, 28. To Celebrate her life we had our annual cousin's gathering. Remember last year we went rollerskating and bowling! This year we decided to spend Saturday in Leavenworth and spent the night over there. What a GREAT time we had, a perfect way to remember her and enjoy some time away. Shana, Jennifer, Andrea & I all went over in our truck. Rachel and Sophy did not make it which was dissappointing because this tradition I intend to keep with us cousins is one I intend to carry on for the rest of my life and I hope the rest of 'em do too! Carrie was a big part of our cousin's gatherings and hopefully the other girls appreciate how important this is to all of us.

When we first got there, we needed some german sausages in our bellies so we stopped here and had a bite to eat, while Shana had some words with the local statue! :)

We spent the day window shopping, bought a couple ornaments for gifts. Had to visit the hat store..

We then decided to get an old time photo, man was that fun!! The girl there was super nice, we did 3 or 4 poses and then she let us do a photo looking up to heaven towards Carrie.. we bought the CD so we'd have all the pics. I forgot to grab it today to uploads pics here, but will do that tonight. 4 gun slingin' Jack drinkin badass chicks.. What a blast! Went back to the hotel (which was very nice and cute) went out to the hottub for an hour and closed it down (9:30pm) and on our way back to our room from the hottub, my feet were having a panic attack and itched so badly by the time we walked the minute to our room, they were on fire burning and itching.. the girls were laughing at me (I dont blame them!) and I didnt mean to get snappy but it hurt to badly I think I snapped at them to open the F*ing door! Sorry girls.. :( I sat and itched and itched, Andrea suggested I run them under cold water, that didnt help much.. I finally just had to bear it, put some lotion on and about 15 minutes later they seemed okay. Derek thinks I had a chlorine burn and when I got out of the hottub and hit the air, it just reacted. Other than that, the water was nice and we met 5 great ladies in there.

We then got dressed and headed to a local bar in town to people watch! :) Jen Andrea and I mostly sat at the bar and enjoyed watching Shana have a great time dancing and singing charaoke, it was fun. Talked with a couple nice guys at the bar.. watched some drunk skank makeout with one guy over and over, then go hang on other dudes.. she was nasty. Then an even nastier chick came in with her boobs literally falling out of her dress, she had them pushed up so far that they hung over! EWWWW.. She came in with a guy and they too were all over eachother, she was grinding on his leg and then after about 30 minutes, they headed to the bathroom, together! They attempted the mens room and that didnt work when someone was in there, so they headed to the ladies room. We let the bartender's know about it, how gross.. They were interrupted by the bartender and the guy was zipping up his pants as he was being escorted out. It was hilarious and disgusting!!

After the bar, about 1am, we drove around trying to find a market open to get some munchies (oh I was not buzzed so I was ok to drive!) and do you know at 1am there is not one store open in that town! lol The grocery store closes at 11pm, Mcd's was not open, the gas stations all closed.. so it was back to the hotel to munch on taffy, but.. the taffy was missing! So we layed in the dark and talked for a couple hours, slowly dying off to sleep. Andrea fell victim to sleep first after only about 40 minutes, then 20 minutes later Shana fell victim and Jen and I stayed up chatting probably another 45 minutes or more.

We stopped at the top of the pass on our drive back to get a pic in the snow, found a random cross country skiier to take our pic. It was a really nice weekend and I look forward to next year....

I LOVE MY COUSINS! (oh and Andrea, I know you are a sister in law, but for the sake of our cousins weekends, you fall in to the category of cousin!) lol

Why does October Hate Black Goats??

One year ago almost to the day, we had to take Troy to Dr Andrea and a few days later he had to be put to sleep.. Today mom found Briggs, well what was left of the poor little guy.

I dont know what the deal is, but we owned 4 goats, 2 black and 2 brown/tan. Exactly one year ago Troy died, he was black and it was October. Today (well maybe yesterday) Briggs who is also black and its also October died. :(

We are very sad, it was unpleasant to see what was remaining of the little guy. What makes me nervous is that it is unclear what happened exactly. He was devowered, half of his ribs were missing, one leg was missing but his neck was intact from the shoulder forward, so whatever it was didnt leave any cuts on what was intact. Which makes us believe Coyote inwhich a pack may have either taken him down and had their way or maybe Briggs got sick and laid down and as he lay there unable to get up, he was attacked by Coyote or maybe Cougar. He was out in the far side of the pasture, not an area the goats generally hang out.. so it is a little baffling as to what really happened, and a lot disturbing for sure.

To help protect the 2 boys that are now lonely and I'm sure scared shitless if they were "there" when Briggs was attacked, IF that is what happened, they are locked in the small corral now as we all agreed (mom/dad/Derek and I) that whatever it was, probably would not come all the way up to the barn/corral. The hope is to get some temporary fencing up soon to bring them home where they will have the security of the horses around them.

So today is a very sad day.

Where's Waldo.... oops, I mean Piper!

I'm here, I'm here! Cant miss me in a crowd, I'm easy to spot.. :)

I turned 36 5 days ago. I think I remember my dads 40th birthday party from growing up, we had a big party at my parents, and I remember thinking Wow, that's a long ways away for me! But here I am! Okay not quite 40 yet, but I feel it approaching already and at the rate that time flies right now, it will be here next year! lol

A friend from HS started a blog that I go to, she calls it "Mama Abby's American Dream" inwhich she talks about and details 10 goals she has set for herself, which I interpet to mean that once she has reached some or all of these goals, she will be "living the American Dream" for herself. Seems like a simple concept/idea that one would think we all think about, but do we really? Of course her blog has my wheels spinning about what my "American Dream" life is. And even if I had an ultimate dream/goal, am I the type of person to get myself there?

I have "wishes" for myself, but I dont really ever set goals.. I dont think of life as a goal, I'm just living it and I don't think about how to get to what I really want out of life because the second my brain tells me something is unreachable, I flip the switch and decide it's not even worth starting. I think I've been this way my entire life.. call it lazy I dont know. I wouldnt say I'm a lazy person, just an out of shape (okay REALLY out of shape) one!

So I'm going to maybe try something different.. maybe I should consider how I can be living the American Dream and set some goals to get there. Might just be one goal to start with because this is new territory. I watch some of these reality shows and see the determination of some people and how hard they work to get what they really want in life, I've never had that drive or determination and I really admire those that go for it. I tend to think about 2 things when it comes to goals, that either they are unreachable for any number of reasons or I am one of those that actually thinks "what if it comes true and I/we make it happen?" Like it's a bad thing! I get in my own way and it's time I stop doing that.

So for the next few weeks or so, I'm going to be thinking about my Dreams and maybe consider how I can get there. First I'm going to set a goal of getting rid of this cough! lol I was sick the entire week of my birthday and this cough is hanging around, so lets get rid of that and get to steppin with some New Goals!!

Photo Updates

Some new pics finally... some random shots here

Miss Scout and her T-Shirt that Danielle gave her a year ago, she likes having it on in this colder weather, poor dog has no hair to keep her warm.

I found the BIGGEST apple I have ever seen in my life! No joke.. Our little tree produced some whopper (well bigger than whopper) size apples this year and we didnt even get to enjoy them. The tree never really produced anything worth eating in the past, usually the apples are really small and covered in spots, but apparently this year was different. I tried a bite of this apple, it had decent flavor but definately was over-ripe and too soft to eat.. no wonder the deer come by daily to see what has fallen off the tree. This apple is next to my size 11 shoe! My shoes are 4" across and this apple was atleast 5 1/2" and considering I am a women, we KNOW how to accurately measure things and keep them in perspective! A guy, heck he'd call it an 8" apple! lololol

Here's the 90% finished shed. The awning is perfect with a gate that opens into the pasture for easy in/out. The pics do not show the awning roof finished, but it is now. We also have the cart next to the awning in the corral so that we can load it up daily with the horse poop. It looks very nice and organized, unlike almost all of the rest of the place! ;)

Here's a pic of the corral, we spent a weekend spreading gravel around the base of the tree and up the fenceline as that was all dirt last year. Now that it is gravel, it drains and is muck/water and YUCK free!! Makes shovelin shit much nicer!! :) And the biggest bonus of all, is that the boys are back home, Yippy!! So up before dawn I am, pickin poo and feeding but I am really enjoying looking out my window and seeing the big kids staring back.

100 Hours!!!

I reached it, 100 hours in the saddle this year!! :)

I started off the year on Edgar with Derek on Smalls, then Oakley came back, Smalls went back to his owner, Edgar went lame for the entire summer, I ride my friends horse Bandit, Derek came off Oakley, I stop riding Bandit and start riding Oakley, Edgar gets better so Shana starts riding him, Derek rode Edgar and stole him from me and now Oakley is my horse.. What a year! And along those same lines..

I owned 2 saddles, #1 fit Edgar but not really me, #2 fits me very well, but not Edgar. Derek rides Smalls in saddle #2 and it does not fit, rides Smalls in saddle #1 fits okay, we buy saddle #3 which fits Smalls, we buy saddle #4 that fits Edgar and me, Oakley comes back, saddle #3 does not fit Oakley at all Derek is bummed, saddle #3 is sold, saddle #5 is purchased, in meantime saddle #2 fits Oakley well and since Derek stole Edgar from me and I love saddle #2, then I get to ride him in my favorite saddle, saddle #5 does not fit Oakley either.. so we have 1 saddle out of 4 that fits Oakley and 3 of 4 that fit Edgar, one of which is Derek's new saddle so another reason again that he has stolen my horse!

I do believe I may just start riding Oakley in a helmet when we are out on the trails though. The horse spooks every time I ride him! Something dumb and not always visible to me, and he'll go straight up in the air, all 4 feet off the ground with no warning. I have yet to come off, I must say my seat is still pretty good, but one of these times I will not be so lucky and i'm gonna hit the ground eventually if this continues, so I figured maybe it is time to put to use the helmets we purchased earlier this year. I honestly never thought I would wear one and I know accidents happen, thats usually when I hit the ground is when it is least expected, but since I know Oakley is not 100% solid, I'm thinking I should play it safe. Just dont tease me or laugh at me, this is new territory for me and it feels weird to think about it. Sounds dumb I'm sure...

As far as Oakley, its a little weird being stuck with the greenhorse! :( I hadnt planned for things to work out this way, but of the 2 horses we have, it definately is the way it should be. He is a bit too much horse for Derek, but I sure miss my big guy. :) I enjoy riding Oakley, he is athletic and fun to play with, I am excited about how far he has come along and how far he will go, I just hope this spookiness fades sooner than later. I thought I worked real hard to create a solid spook free horse and funny thing is, when I'm not riding him, he is pretty spook free, the horse will walk over anything! But when I'm on him, he forgets the fundamentals I taught him.

Yeah Garmin!!

OMG... So we have a Garmin Navigational System (GPS that tells us how to get from our house to your house) and it comes with a standard icon of either a car or truck on the screen. There is a website you can go to, to download other "vehicles" to your GPS, here are some examples:

There are LOTS more, they add a new one every month or two. You can actually go online and email them with suggestions so I emailed them a month or so ago that it would be cool if they had one or all 3 of my suggestions:

1) Truck pulling a horse trailer

2) A horse trailer

3) A Horse

So I logged in today and OMG!!! Look at what I found!!!!

I can't believe it, they went with MY suggestion.. :) Well I dont know that for sure, but quite the coincidence for sure if it wasnt me that made this happen..

So NOW I just need to figure out how to download the damn thing and get it on my Garmi System so the horse can show me the way to your house!!

Funny Story

Saturday after we dropped off Oakley at my parents house, we visited for a while and then started to drive home.. we had the horse trailer behind us as we need to get it in to Les Schwab for service this week. At the bottom of Spada I noticed a car behind us but didnt pay much attention to it.. I sat there for a few seconds waiting for a car to pass and then started to pull out and take a right. As soon as I started to go, I hear.. "WHOOP WHOOP" which was the sound of a police car siren! DAMMIT!! I didnt use my F*ing blinker, shit I cannot believe I am getting a ticket was my thought..

As the police officer was getting out, I take my seatbelt off and Derek says "Put your seatbelt back on!" So I did... then the officer walks up to the truck and says, "you are not in trouble, I just wanted to let you know a cat just jumped out of your trailer at the bottom of the hill!" WHEW!!! Oh it was JUST a cat, thank goodness.. :)

I asked her, do you recall what color the cat was? See if the cat was all black or orange, then I knew it would be one of the "barn" kitties that dont have names and probably would never come to ya if you called 'em. But she said, it was black... with white on it. Damn Norman! lol So we get out, the officer leaves and we head to the corner to find Normie. We are calling and calling, finally he peeps up and I climb down the ditch/drop off to get the cat, he runs right to me. But as I'm carrying him and get back up to the road, he starts to flail and freak out, I'm desperately trying to grab the nap of his neck but the bastard scratches me and takes off back into the bushes.. so I call mom/dad and tell them to come get their cat! lol I'm sure he could find his way back home, but was trying to do the nice thing. Mom/Dad get there and he finally makes his way back out of the bushes and again as dad is carrying him, he freaks out but this time mom was there to snag him good behind the neck and get his behind in the van before he could escape!

Fall has Arrived

Now that fall is officially here, the motivation to get back out and ride is hitting hard! :) This crisp weather is perfect riding weather, so for the next few months, I hope to add quite a few hours to my saddle hours.

First off, the signs that fall is here:
1... The thermostat in my house was changed from "off" setting to timed temperature control. Waking up to a 52 degree house Sunday morning, was a tad bit too cold! We dont have it set too high yet, 60 when we are home 55 while we sleep and are away at work, I'm not 100% ready to pay full price for a really nice warm house!!

2... Our first Frost of the year happened Saturday morning. :) We are experiencing typical fall weather, 30's to low 40's at night, high 50's to low 60's during the day.. What GREAT weather.

One can actually get motivated to work on outdoor projects in this weather. We spent yesterday building the awning on the shed, got it 75% done, will finish it this week. Once the shed/awning are done, we can move some things out of the barn that belong in the shed, get the barn cleaned out so we can prepare to bring the horses home this month. :) I am VERY excited to get the boys back home... I miss spending time brushing the horses in the barn while they are eating dinner. I wish my fencing was done so we could have the goats home too, due time due time..

We took the horses out Saturday morning to Lords Hill for a ride. We bought a new saddle for Derek (we had sold his other saddle to a lady in CA) and were anxious to get it out on Edgar for Derek to try the saddle and the horse! Derek and Edgar had a fantastic ride, although we only rode for about 2 hours, he felt very comfortable on him and is eager to get out again on him! Yippy!!!! Which means that officially Oakley is now my main riding horse and Edgar is Derek's.

It sounds like Blackie Smalls owner may not be doing much riding next year on him, so if that is the case, we may see if Steve/Angela are interested in letting us lease him again because at this point with Derek & Shana riding now, we could use a 3rd horse.. but you know what that means... we'd need to get a 3 horse trailer, which if things go well over the winter and we can set some cash aside, we will try to upgrade.

Duck/Goose hunting season starts up here in about a week, which means I'll be spending one day on the weekends to myself while my man is out shootin dinner.... (well not really dinner, Yuck, I dont eat the birds) I am looking forward to those days as they are great days to get household chores and projects done (I work harder when Derek is not around..lol) AND more time spent with Shana in the saddle!!!

Life's Good.... for now :)

Conspiracy Theory

So I watched this documentary the other day (yes it was at work!!) and it was very interesting. I went into it thinking it was just going to show me footage of what happened basicaly, but the film was really questioning what we all have understood of what happened. Here's some general information I gathered and I encourage anyone else to watch it as well and make your own conclusions:

From what I understood prior to the film, one of the passenger flights hit the pentagon, right? Well in this film, I see a pentagon that shows me it was imposssible for a plane to have hit it.. looks more like a bomb or missile! But if that is the case, what happened to the plane that was supposed to have hit the pentagon, where did it go?

The movie shows videos of people stating right after the planes hit the WTC's that they were NOT passenger planes. One guy states that the plane did not have windows and had a weird blue logo on it. Videos and photos show the plane with what appears to be something strapped to the bottom of the plane.. also in the videos of the planes hitting the buildings, there is a "flash" just as the plane hits, which does not make any sense.. what is this flash?

The president states that he watched the first plane hit the tower on TV, yet there was never any video on TV of the first plane hitting the tower, so how did he see what didnt exist. Another guy who owned the buildings, is recorded stating to basically drop the building... firefighters are recorded stating that they were hearing bombs constantly going off in the buildings.

The film never really divulges a "theory" other than that the facts we thought we understood, may not actually be facts afterall. It really had my brain spinning and I dont know what to even think, but it is definately worth watching yourself. I'm sure I'll just be another citizen who sticks my head in the sand about the whole deal, what else can ya do. You want to believe what you think you knew about what happened.. but what if that is not the truth???

Does life slow down?

Well the fishin has finally died off for Derek & I.. we turned over the boat to Harry and tried fishin off the bank a couple times, yeah I'm not havin any more of that! We walked about 2.5 miles the other day, I dont mind the walking so much, but what a pain in the behind it is.. So I told Derek that I am not fishing w/o the boat anymore, not to mention I totally slipped on the shoreline and fell front body in the muck and was covered in stinkyass dirt while I fished! :)

The horse club had our annual prize ride, which turned out as good as can be expected for a damn rainy day :( Shana & I helped flag the ride on Friday, what an adventure that was... I initially was thinking we were supposed to be there around 9:30am but plans changed Fri morning, and we didnt have to get there til 11am. Well we got there at 11:15 but plans changed again once we got there and we did not end up in the saddle and start riding out to flag the trail until 2:30. I have done the flagging many times before and it is a 5 hour job, so at this point I was a tad bit concerned.... Oakley did pretty well actually, the flags didnt bother him, he did forget his leg cues though and I had to school him multiple times, I guess I need to work him more on that to keep him tuned in to me. He was reluctant to go into the bushes to hang flags, so when we needed to get deep in the bush, I had Shana go in with Edgar, as he'll go anywhere you ask him to. It was great having Shana along to help because I knew I would not be 100% helpful while riding Oakley. BTW, Edgar appears to be back to 100%, YIPPY. I am still being cautious for a while, but I am relieved.

It was dusk, well beyond dusk really, and Shana & I are heading down the trail, Oakley stumbled real bad, went down to his chest, while I'm clinging to his neck trying desperately to stay on, both my calves started to cramp on me just as he recovered and I recovered as well. We got back to the trailers at 7:30 and it was almost dark, 10 minutes later as we unsaddled, it was dark!! I had to turn on the lights to be able to see in the trailer to put our tack away... It was fun though and we enjoyed it.

Got up super early (5:20am) on Saturday and spent the day in registration with Shana's help again, it was just a fun weekend. I'm so glad Shana enjoys doing this with me, I hope/plan to get her out riding Edgar as much as possible when Derek is not wanting to ride. :) Derek is going to try Edgar within the next few weeks and see how he likes riding him so that I can continue to ride Oakley. After 5 hours in the saddle on Friday, I am so happy to report that Oakley's back was not a tad bit sore on Sunday!! Amazing, I thought for sure he'd be sore, so although I still know I am too big for him, I am slightly relieved to know I am not hurting him, well the signs indicate I am not anyways.

The goat is doing well, he is at home, we had to bring the baby kids (Briggs & Stratton) to our house as well because Echo became depressed and stopped eating for 2 days. So now we doctor him in the barn and keep them stalled at night and they run around the backyard during the day. I am thinking by this weekend we can probably take them all back to mom/dads, Echo is healing up well. It may not leave much of a scar afterall, which is amazing for how badly he was injured. I'm really thankful for Andrea, he probably wouldnt be alive if it weren't for her help and guidance.

I've been sad/thinking of Carrie lately. Someone the other day (we'll just call him Mr Butthead) said to me during a random conversation when he discovered I worked in Monroe.. "that's too bad that Carrie's not around anymore for you to go to lunch with her" Yeah, thats too f*ing bad is what I wanted to say.. cuz I miss her only because we cant do lunch together.. he said it so casually that it threw me offguard and then the next thing he says "So hows Rob doing?" So I tell him that I think he is doing alright, I dont really know, I dont talk to him. I said that I let go of my anger towards Rob, the past is the past and I dont hold anything in anymore and mr butthead proceeds to make me feel like the lowest scumbag on the earth for ever being upset with Rob for anything. I left there and just started crying on my drive home.. Who is he to make me feel wrong for how I feel/felt?? So basically he was telling me that it was OK for Rob to treat us the way he did and feel the way he felt, but NOT ok for me to react to that and feel the way I felt. I was upset for 2 days about it, feeling guilty and upset at what a bad person I was. I dont hate Rob, I dont dislike him, it is unfortunate he is not a part of our lives anymore, and I DO honestly only wish him the best but I was very hurt by his actions and I cant apologize or change that. 2 days later I finally talked with Derek about what happened when I talked with (mr butthead) and he made me realize that (mr butthead) was very insensitive and maybe a little out of line. Mr butthead treated me like, oh you're just the sister, it doesnt hurt as much or is not as bad as a husband loosing a wife.. BullShit!! And that's exactly what this book says that I read off/on, that people push aside the feelings of a sibling loss. He never asked how I was doing? Not that I expect it at all, it is awkward sometimes, but if you are going to ask how Rob is doing, dont you think you should ask how I am doing as well?

So because of all that, I've been thinking of Carrie a lot more lately than I have in a while, had a couple meltdowns, but I'm alright. Just some momentary minutes of weakness which is just fine with me, I need them every now and then to bring me back to earth and remind me what life is really all about.

Echo Update

Echo had a visit with Dr Andrea tonight, I dont think he appreciated her help as much as I did ;)

Andrea said the white part we thought was bone was actually tendon. She did see/touch the bone, so it is exposed to the elements and because of that he has to continue with his penicillin shots for another week. Poor guy has multiple hard bumps on his neck from this past weeks shots. So Andrea scrubbed the area and pulled all the scabs off, cut the flap off and made it bleed like a sonofagun!

So he should be okay at this point, and most likely is Out of the Woods. I still have him confined and he will stay that way for atleast another week or two. He is putting about 85-90% weight on it now.

WORK UPDATE:

So my coworker Greg got laid off yesterday :( My boss Scott is Greg's brother and we lost a big customer and things have been a little slower the last 6 months, so it was not too much of a shocker, but a bummer for sure. Greg makes the days so much funner, maybe he'll be able to come back in the near future. I was assured today by Scott that I dont have anything to worry about, although I may have to start doing some packaging and shipping. I guess it cant hurt to stay busier for myself at work.

Updates

I made some progress on the house painting!!! :) It looks really good against the white, I'm very happy with the color.. This side of the house was a bitch to paint, mostly because this side of the house is the dog crap yard! So I was out there in shorts, steppin in dogshit left and right, climbing ladders, moving ladders, not able to avoid landmines, then I'd climb the ladder and get crap on the ladder step, then I'd turn around on the step to paint the house, my calf would push against the shit! I was NEVER SO HAPPY to be finished with this section and get in the house to shower! Normally I can get in/out of the shower in about 6-7 minutes, I spent 20 that day in there... I still have 2 sides to paint, but for now the publicly visible sides are done. :)

*** Graphic Image Alert *** Graphic Image Alert ***

Well Echo is still alive! He is doing really well as far as I can tell. His leg is still pretty nasty, the skin flappy is starting to shrivel up and is exposing the huge hole that is left behind, we got some pics of it. The white that you see in the pics in the middle of the wound, yeah that's his bone! I need to talk with Andrea tonight and find out what to do from here, his spirits are good, but I dont know at what point I could/should turn him back out to pasture. I'm worried about him getting dirt in that hole, at what point will he produce new skin to cover the bone? He started putting a tiny bit of weight on it finally...






So we thought after Friday's great catch, we would be done fishin for the year, so we took our boat to Harry on Saturday, who is going to build a custom duck blind on the boat for Derek. Saturday night we decide to fish on Sunday, we got up at 5am!!! yeah that is damn early. :) We thought if we got to the river at 6am, we'd beat out the majority of fishermen and find good spots to fish.. Oh NO. We were too late at 6:10am! So we drove out to the tressle and decided to fish off the dike, there was only one vehicle there, amazing! We didnt have to fight for a spot, but we did have to walk our asses a long ways to get where we needed to fish carting along fishing poles, coolers, cushion to sit on, fishnet, tacklebox... And it was an 80+ degree day.

So we are fishin, the 3 of us (Tyler was along too). There were 3 mexicans there when we got to the river, they appeared to have pretty good spots on the rocks, so we went way down river to avoid crowding in on them. We had somewhat crappy spots in this mucky slick area, but it worked. We start catching fish... Next thing we see, this mexican is at our spot staring at us, didnt say a word. We all were thinking "Ok, whats this guy doing?" So Tyler and Derek had walked down into the slimy area and there is lots of beach for this guy to go on, but when he realizes he will slip and sink in the slime and ruin his shoes, he decides not to walk down there. Tyler is to the right 10 feet from me in the slime, I am on a grassy patch and then Derek is about 10 feet to the left of me in the slime. We had a good thing going. So I cast out straight ahead and this guy has the nerve to stand in a grass patch 5 feet to my left with Derek only another 5 feet over from that and he casts out! Well this guy doesnt know how to cast and his line goes at a 45 degree angle towards Tyler, he is completely OVER my line! I'm just sitting there feeling very awkward. Tyler looks at the guy and says "There's a whole f*cking river to fish dude" or something like that. I reel in real quick to avoid this guy messing up my line. I'm thinking, okay he clearly sees he is overcrowding our already tight situation and he'll leave. So I hold my pole/line out of the water as he reels in. After he reeled in, he cast out AGAIN! same crooked throw almost crossing Tyler's line at this point. So I'm sitting there twiddling my thumbs, Tyler looks at me and says "Can you fish?" So I say, Uh No! I wanted to whip the guy with my pole, it was just plain rude and disrespectful what he was doing. Tyler just starred at him until he finally left, apparently Derek was a few seconds from throwing the guy in the river. Not to mention, he was using illegal hooks on his line! He and his buddies saw us catching fish and apparently even though fish were jumping ALL over that river section, they must have thought you had to be in our spot to catch 'em. He left but he came back many times and stood behind us with his friend or by himself, you could see that he wanted to fish right there on top of us but it seemed like maybe he was trying to weigh out his chances on getting his ASS kicked! It was just interesting.

We left that spot a while later when the fishin died off and found another spot off the river road in Snohomish.. Only came home with 6 fish between the 3 of us, we let a lot of fish go while in the slough, the fishin was so good there early on so we just kept the ones that appeared fresher.

Great Fishin!

Yesterday we went out fishin once again.. we keep saying (Okay this is the last time out, but then.. we go out again!) We were on the river at 11:15am and had our limit at noon!! Just can't beat that kind of day. :)

I HATE cats!!

I am debating a few things...

1) just shoot the cats!
2) tell the neighbor to take care of these 1/2 wild things before I do!
3) trap the cats and take them to the pound

They are pissing on our things on the deck, and it is PISSING me off!! It is absolutely disgusting to go out there to grab a pair of rain pants that were drying on the railing after washing them and now they are ruined because a cat had to back it's ass up to them and pee on them. There goes $25 down the drain.

The problem is the neighbor, they just let their cats run wild and breed like rabbits. I think I'm going to have to say something to them about it... The cats are invading my porch, my barn, my yard....

Goat Down.. Goat Down..

I found Echo hiding out under the barn yesterday and from where I stood, it appeared he had something sticking out of his leg, I panicked thinking he had a broken leg as he was not putting any weight on it and he wouldnt come out to me. I phoned Derek and told him we might need to shoot the poor guy :(

I pursueded him to come out with treats and realized what was sticking out was a big flappy of skin, he had cut his leg up real bad and part of his bone was exposed. By this time I had already phoned Andrea and after getting him into my horse trailer (a dry and fairly clean environment) I finally got Andrea on the phone to find out what to do next. I love my goat, but I just am not willing to pump a bunch of money into him like we did with Troy.

So we headed to Dels to buy some supplies, betadine, furizone, needles, syringes, tetnus shot, penicilin. I know I misspelled some of those words! :) Got home and cleaned it the best we could, its tough to try to scrub an area that you know hurts like hell and he was gettin pretty pissed. It had been there for atleast 24 if not 36 hours, there was no sign of blood really, it was VERY dirty though and I did not get it all out. Andrea told me to cut the flappy skin off, maybe another day! He was too irritated last night.

The good news, his spirits seem pretty good, he is eating and drinking, pooping and peeing. ;) He is living in my horse trailer for now and will stay there until he is all better, so the ride I was supposed to do tomorrow... well I told the ladies they would have to pick me up or I couldnt go. The baby kids are really upset that their big buddy is missing and they just cry and cry for him.

I really hope Echo makes it, I will try my hardest to doctor it myself and wish for the best. I was initially worried that Oakley stepped on Echo and did this to him, but his leg is cut so badly and scraped on the inside too, that it is hard to believe a horse did this. The goats have found a way under the big barn and who knows what crap is under that barn he might have gotten stuck in.. I know I'm not climbing under there to look! The old barn has a concrete runner down the whole length on one side and I was told that it was there to be filled up with animal bones from butchering etc... so I am pretty sure there are still bones under that barn.

Back That ____ Up! :)

See Derek and I have this routine with the boat. When we go fishin, he backs the boat into the water, I grab the boat line and wait for him to park the truck/trailer and then he jumps in, after he is settled, I push us off the shore and jump in. When we are finished for the day, he hands me the keys, I get the truck/trailer and back them into the water while he drives the boat up on the trailer and I drive us up out of the water.

I think it's awesome when I show up to back the trailer down the boat ramp, makes me feel pretty good to do so well in front of all these burly manly men! :) Well yesterday we are in line waiting to launch our boat and met a couple guys in front of us and then one behind us, it was a long wait, atleast 30 minutes. So anyways, when it came time to launch the boat, because it was soooo busy and packed in with boats, there was no room on the shore to hold the boat, so Derek wanted me to back the boat in the water with him already in it and when he hit the water, he'd just motor out and wait for me to park and come back to the shore to pick me up.

So the guy in front of me gets his boat launched and I back down the ramp. As I'm backing, my window is down and to the drivers side of me, I hear a guy say "Wow, I've never seen that before" Now my ego is feeling pretty good and I'm thinking to myself, he MUST be talking about me!! lol... Sure enough, I turn my head his direction and he looks at me and says again, "I've never seen a woman launch a boat, this is a first!" So I'm feeling all good and tingly inside, I am a fantastic backer if you didnt already know! lol

Then as I'm down with the trailer in the water, I look to my left and there is a lady looking at me and she says "I am damn proud of you girl!" I was like, woohoo what a great day! So I pull out of the ramp, head up the road, turn around and come back down to park the truck/trailer. Well the guy that was in front of me, he parks on the downhill, but I see a spot real close to the ramp, so I drive past him (he didnt notice) and park closer to the ramp. As I'm walking down to the boat, he runs up behind me and says "Now how did you get ahead of me?" I said "Well I guess I'm just a better driver!!" LOL I was laughing, he kinda chuckles and says, "No lets not say better, maybe just smarter". I didnt argue...

Derek said as I was backing down the ramp to launch the boat, he was in the boat and he said lots of the guys were complimenting my skills/abilities as a woman. It just feels good to impress and get compliments from strangers :) I told Derek I am a 75% package, if I was skinny I'd be a complete total package. hehehe Apparently (according to Derek) he is a 98% package!

It was such a great 3 day weekend, spending a lot of great time with Derek. We spent 2 days in the pouring ass rain and had a great time doing it, just enjoying our hobby and eachother. We ride in the rain and sun, we fish in the rain and sun, we camp in the rain and sun...

It reminds me that no matter the weather, just get out and enjoy life!!!!

2 Limits in 2 Hours

Yep, we went out again this evening.. in the rain! :) We had to hold up in Snohomish at McDaniels for a few minutes when the lightening and thunder rolled right over the top of us, we did not want to become lighting rods!

We went back to our favorite spot and within 30-40 minutes I had caught 3 fish, Derek zero.. He got the 4th fish, I think I got the 5th, then he caught the 6th.. by this time the fish are practically jumping in the boat!! They were rolling and jumping like crazy, it was insane. It was dusk and we commented we needed to get our next 2 fish real quick so we could get out of the water before dark and head home.. Derek got one on right then, but lost it, a few minutes later I had one on, got him in the boat and recast and BAM I had the last fish on the line. I do feel a little bad that I caught 6 tonight and Derek only got 2, but we had a blast all the same.

I counted and in 3 days of fishin, we caught 20 fish!

Here are some pics I finally took of tonights catches. Derek is holding the 2 biggest fish we caught, not sure who caught them, I think I caught atleast one of the big ones.. Then the fish before cleaning and after cleaning. Oh and I had to get a pic of all the fish eggs we collected in 3 days, there is a guy we met tonight at the river launch that is going to take the eggs..

Who Stabs Themself in the Back of the Hand?

I do!! ;(

I was clearing out the dishwasher on Thurs (had the day off) so I was home alone and our new filet knife, you know the VERY sharp one that we just got from Cutco, well I was trying to retract the blade and it just wouldnt budge so I was being pretty dumb and in the midst of my lack of judgement I guess, I actually stabbled the back of my hand between my knuckles, its a very soft area apparently! I'd say my cut was 1/2 inch wide and it was just pumping out blood at a very fast rate.. I was a bit concerned that I cut some sort of artery (I know, there are no main arteries in your hands) but in the moment and with all the blood, I was close to hyperventillating and/or panicking. I put a papertowel on it and finally it slowed enough to put a bandage on it. What a dumbass I am! I mean, who does that...

I told Derek that maybe some day I might actually want to start hunting for duck, maybe other hunting as well, I'm migrating that direction I guess but I'm scared to death that my clumsiness will interfere particularly while dealing with a shotgun! I know how to shoot the darn thing and am smart enough to know how to properly handle it, but what if I did a dumb thing?? Hmmmm... will have to think long and hard before I venture into hunting, which wouldnt be anytime this year anyways.

I got in a nice ride on Oakley on Friday, he is doing pretty well. I am thinking maybe this next year if Derek agrees, I can ride Oakley and he can ride Edgar, this would give me the time to put the miles on Oakley that he needs in order to be the best trailhorse he can be.

Saturday mid morning we headed to town with the boat, but we realized (after we were all the way in town) that we forgot the fish cooler, not too big a deal, but we also forgot the stringer which IS a big deal.. dammit, had to make a trip back home to grab that, how can we catch our limit if we have no cooler or stringer to put the fish in, they'd just be floppin around in the bottom of the boat otherwise! lol

I think we finally got on the water at about noon, headed down river a little ways, found a great hole and after about 90 minutes, the fish finally started biting. They were rolling all over the river, it is funny when fish are jumpin 4-5' from the boat. Derek caught 2, then a guy on the shore offered us one so we took it (no sense wasting fish!) and over the next hour or so, Derek caught 2 more and I caught 3, so we left the river with our limits of 4 each. It was actually nice to get off the river in the daylight! :) After we cleaned the 8 fish, we headed out the door to the Scherrer's Ranch to spend some time with friends watching a band play live music at the lake.. Stayed 3 hours then went back home to rest up for an early morning rise with another round of fishin..

Well when we walked in the door, life cant just be simple.. No we dont come home to 2 well behaved dogs, we come home to one great dog (Russell) and one stinker (Scout) who decided that she liked the smell of the fresh fish on the vaccum food sealer and proceeded to jump on the counter at her leisure and chewed on the sealing foam, chewed up the plastic piece that actually did the vaccuming, basically she ruined the sealer.. the sealer was a piece of crap anyways, it did NOT do it's job very well anyways, it oversealed burning holes in the sealed edges!

Sunday morning we woke up early, headed to Freddy's and bought a brand new Sealer, some breakfast, a couple fishing lures (had to replace the 2 we gave to a guy on the shore who needed all the help we could provide!) and then headed to the river. The weather seemed cooperative, we were optimistic we might have a nice morning and for the first couple hours, it was not bad. A little rain, put the ponchos on, but then the sun came out.. Well we (okay I) caught 3 fish!! Poor Derek had zero fishies at this point, we get back to our favorite spot and it just starts POURING.. not just raining, it was plain dumping on us! The guy we had given lures to the day before, he was on the shore again and informs us that he did NOT catch anything the day before.. so about 15 minutes into fishing the spot, Derek hooks into the biggest fish of the day.. the guy on the shore is saying, yelling (OH NO YOU DIDNT!) (I CANT BELIEVE THIS!) We are chuckling... it rained so hard, we were drenched and the boat was fillin up with water, I scooped a few gallons out and when we finally decided to call it quits and head to the shore to give our new friend a fish to take home to his wife, he was gone. I dont blame him, the rain was nasty.

Oh and did I Forget to tell you that when we dropped the boat in the water this morning, Derek heads up the ramp to park the truck, I'm just hanging out, just me and the boat... I look in the boat and see that the battery is almost underwater, the tackle box is floating! :) Derek forgot to put the plugs in the boat!! We got it all under control.. just an interesting way to start the day, but we left with 4 fish, so not dissappointing at all. I'm thinkin we might just have to make it out tomorrow.

It is Labor Day tommorrow (Derek has to work) and if its not raining in the morning, I'll be going riding and then when I get home, the hope is that the rain is away long enough to get our boat in the water when Derek gets off work and work on limiting out again!!! :) I LOVE this fishin business.. We've been givin fish away to friends/family, we've got plenty to share.

Annual Weekend of Hay is Finally over..

well almost over! :) Thursday we picked up my friends flatbed trailer (Thanks Amber & Jerod!!) Friday we drove to Spokane after work, had dinner with Dereks nephews Rick & Rob and their wives, Saturday Derek golfed while I spent it with Toni, Saturday night we went to the car races to watch Darryl race, Sunday morning we loaded up hay, Sunday ALL day we drove home (due to a 20+ mile 4 hour car accident on I90), got home at 10pm, worked Monday, unloaded 5 tons of hay into the barn after work on Monday, Derek had to go BACK to work after he unloaded the hay, and then tonight we are driving the trailer back up to Anacortes... So MAYBE tomorrow evening we can just go straight home after work and not have to do this or do that, we can just plop our asses on the couch, maybe cook a homecooked meal for the first time in over a week and just relax! :)

The trip with our hay this year was a little hairy! We had a nice flatbed trailer that easily handled the 5 tons of hay, however we discovered it's not exactly the best type of trailer to use for hay, the way it was set up it put a lot of tongue weight on our truck which had us in a V shape driving home, PLUS we realized AFTER we were on the road, that we probably had our truck overloaded by about 3,000 pounds and the weight was also over the ball/hitch rating!! AND our hay was loaded a hair crooked.. Lets just say with all this going on, it was a tense, stressful, sometimes arguing, LONG drive home! BUT the good news, we made it home safely, Derek & I are still talking to eachother, no flat tires, no loss of hay, nothing caught on fire, the hay is in the barn safe and sound (thanks to the help of Ted on that by the way, oh and my dads Awesome Supervisory Skills!) lol

I am hoping now that this is all done and finally taken care of until next year, my stomach will go back to normal, I think it was overstressed, I always hate having to haul hay across the state. Next year we might just take our small trailer and make 2 trips, ease up the load a little. It's really hard to not go all the way to Spokane to get hay, when I'm getting it at $65/ton! Its just plain worth the drive and hassle unfortunately...

The only bad thing about this trip is that I picked up the last of this type of hay from the farmer, so unfortunately as we unloaded it into the barn, we found 7 bales with a layer of slight mold on them, so I'm listing those bales on CL as Cow Hay. I could scrape the bales and I'm sure they'd be fine, it's just a bummer cuz 7 bales is almost 1/2 a ton, thats a lot of hay to have to give up but I think I have 1-2 tons more than I really needed anyways :(

Fishon!!!! Finally....

Yep, you read it right!! I FINALLY caught me a damn salmon :) Woooohoooo

We went out on Wednesday after work, we did not take the boat out, easier to just hit the bank with Tyler, he cleared a decent spot for the 3 of us. It was kindof a pain with having to deal with bushes for casting, but it worked and I caught a fish before Derek did.. hehe

In about 2 hours time I caught 2 (but lost one, the bastard found a way to come off my line AND get me snagged up on something underwater at the same time, I lost my lure too!) and then Derek caught 2, so we took home 3 nice fish. We tried to filet one, we kinda butchered it!! lol I think dad would be ashamed of that filet job...

Tyler caught the mammajamma of the day, he brought in a big 'ole daddy of a fish, the sucker was almost double in size the average salmon being caught, had to be a good 6 pounder!! I shoulda taken a pic, he was nice.

I'm a little bummed that we are getting hay this weekend, although it's gonna be a great weekend, I REALLY want to be FISHIN!! lol I think I'm addicted already cuz I just wanna be out there every day.. I guess I still have quite a few weeks of fishin ahead of me, they are really runnin up the river now, it is exciting.

Fishin & Ridin

We spent 3 days on the river in the past week, the Humpies & Silvers are runnin.. It was the first river excursions for the boat, it did pretty well although Derek & I both agree that we far prefer to have 2 in the boat vs the 3 we had on Thursday & Saturday (Tyler was with us). The boat handled well with the wakes as there were a lot of people out on Saturday and Sunday, most were pretty courteous, only a few jackasses.

Tyler was the only one to catch a fish on Thursday, he caught this little bullhead fish (above) and then later he caught the nice one shown below. He has a knack for snagging baby fish! I think he even had another on that he couldnt get in the boat. Here we are providing a nice boat for him to fish out of and how does he thank us.. by catchin the fish while we catch nothin!! ;)

Here's the "fish tale" of the weekend! We were anchored down on Saturday and I had my lure out quite a ways behind the boat and I decided I'd had enough of not catching anything so I started to reel in to put a different lure on. As I'm slowly reeling in, all the sudden my line was snagged straight down in front of me.. my brain was trying to process how this was possible but I felt no fish on my line, never felt any change in my line until I was "snagged". The guys asked if I had a fish, I was like "uh no!" So my line keeps dissappearing now towards the front of the boat, I am flipping my bail letting more line out as I dont want to break my line or my pole on this snag and my line just keeps dissappearing even though the boat is not moving, hmmm my brain is really starting to wonder what the hell kind of snag is this that goes upriver yet there cant be a fish, I never felt a bump or anything!

So about this time that I keep letting out line, the guys start to really question my "snag" which we finally realize is impossible to actually be a snag that I MUST have a fish and it MUST be a sturgeon! So then I finally feel a bump bump and I start to reel.. the only problem?? I'm not able to reel anything in, as I'm reeling my line is just spooling out from this fish taking my line, I keep tightening my tension down and this fish continues to take my line and I'm trying and trying to reel when all the sudden he just spits out my lure and I reel in a big fat.... NOTHING! I am convinced had the boat not been anchored down, this fish would have pulled us upriver, it was that big. We never saw it, but I could tell by the pull (once I even realized I had a fish on) that he was a mammajamma! Sturgeons can get huge, I think the minimum size you can keep is almost 4' long!! Wow, that would have been a great battle.

But unfortunately that was the most excitement I had in 3 days of fishing! :( Derek had 2 on his line on Saturday but never got them in the boat and same on Sunday, he had one on but it never made it in the boat either. I hear reports that the fishing is pretty good, we think it's still a little slow but I look foward to getting out as much as possible, I want some fish!! The fish should really start to come up river soon, there were lots out there, we saw them rolling and jumping all over the place, just didnt see a ton of them making it into the boats!

Shana and I rode on Friday up at Heart Lake in Anacortes with Wendy and Nikki. We had a really nice ride, got in 3.5 hours plus a nice lunch at Whistle Lake. I LOVE the pic of Shana on Edgar, she looks so cute up there on him!

I like the look of a horses head, heading down the trail..

The trails up there are really nice!

Lunch at Whistle Lake..

Unfortunately Edgar is still pretty lame.. I am SO DAMN FRUSTRATED about it.. I dont mind riding Oakley, just sucks that I have someone now to ride Edgar and he is still lame, I think he needs the rest of the year off. Oakley did okay, he had a shithead moment twice on the trail. First time we were heading up a very long continuous hill and about 4/5 of the way up, he decided he had had enough! He refused to go on and when I pushed him on, he threw his head up, bolted forward at a fast walk, starting walking from side/side.. Once we peaked that very long section, he went back to being his good 'ole normal self. But then on our way back (we went a different route) we were almost to the trailhead and heading down a really steep section. Shana got off Edgar as his shoulder really bothered him going downhill and Oakley started to throw a fit, he spun around on the trail and there was not much room to deal with a difficult horse, there was a dropoff on the one side, uphill on the other. Well I tried to get him to go down normal, but he was acting very dangerously with thinking about bucking and trying to run off the trail and spinning around, so I got off and lead him down as well. Once at the bottom I got back on and he was great for the rest of the ride back.

Oakley has his moments where it is just safer to get off. He is still young and immature at times, so instead of fighting him, I got off. Maybe that is letting the horse win, but when I'm staring at a cliff and my horse has ZERO regard for where he is stepping, it would be dumb for me to try to fight him. It was a long day packing my ass around, so it didnt bother me at all to get off for 5 minutes and walk him, his back might have been a little sore as well going downhill. I had a saddle on him that I think fits him about as perfect as a saddle can fit. ZERO dry spots when I got off him and the next day he was only a tiny bit sore, which is GREAT when he's packing a heavy load.

I started painting the house too a week ago, and well thats about as far as I got! About 1/3 done. It looks really good, I'm being very meticulous about it, maybe I told you the story already of firing Derek! lol I just havent had time to get out and paint more this past week or weekend with fishing opening. Plus I had my skin tags removed last week which was scary for me. I was VERY apprehensive about the whole deal but it wasnt quite as bad as I imagined, actually the few days after visiting Miss Lancelot were worse than having them cut off. I had one under my boob that irritated me the most, then the neck flappy came off and then a few under my armpits. The shot to numb them up was not too bad in all reality, but a couple of them did NOT get numb enough and I could feel her cutting my skin away!! UGGHH that was not real pleasant! ;) But now they are healing up real good and maybe in a week I can shave again and I wont have to be embarassed anymore about my flappies of skin under my arms. The neck one didnt bother me, but it was weird having it cut off though, because it has been a part of me for so long.. seems silly really to be attached to something so little, but for the first couple days it was like I lost a part of me... mostly because that one was visible to the general eye. I did NOT have my mini-me brain removed, it was too large for her to do at that appointment, maybe in the future, but thats gonna take some guts to go in for cuz they will have to stitch that one.. What would I ever do without that little extra brain, it's probably what keeps me functional! lol