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