Friday, February 27, 2009

Oakley's coming home..

I received a call yesterday, when I saw it was Amanda, I had a feeling something was up. My first concern was that Oakley was hurt (Amanda is the girl leasing him) so I braced myself for some really bad news, but then she asked me if I would take him back...

NO ~ He is not a bad horse and she's not returning him for anything negative, he just doesnt have the competitive edge she is looking for in a show horse. She was working him on gaming and had plans to maybe work him on cows and QH shows in the future, but he is just too laid back and I think maybe not enough challenge for her. Which is a GREAT thing for us!!!!

I'm a little worried... He is not quite even 5 years old, but he has been ridden a minimum of 3-5 days per week for 5 months, so he is in shape and ready to continue riding. He has never bucked, reared or thrown a fit in his training, so he should be OK for Derek. But there is a slight reservation about it, he is young so putting a green rider on a young greenish horse, is typically the opposite of what I believe.

What I do believe is that Oakley had a GREAT foundation put on him (a little self braggin there! lol), he has been ponied down very busy roads, down the trails, he's been worked extensively from the ground and now he's had 5 months of riding in an arena, so everything in me says he will be a good solid horse for Derek, but I keep going back to the young part.... I am driving down to Longview WA on Saturday (tomorrow) to pick him up. I decided to go all the way down there so I can watch Amanda ride him, she can show me where he is at with his training and what she has accomplished.

If Oakley is not progressed in training as far as I think he should be, then we'll pay to send him to a trainer for a month or two and keep Blackie Smalls until Oakley is done with training. If he seems good to go, then we'll have to take BS back on Sunday.. I dont have room for 3 horses for more than a few days..

So life has thrown us a new adventure. Derek is worried he will not bond with Oakley like he has with BS, he's got it in his head that Oakley is young, he's seen the childish side of Oakley for 4 years now. I'm hoping Oakley left me 6 months ago as a teenager and will return to me as a young man! :)

Danielle and Collin and Sobe are making the trek with me down south, should be fun. I actually am very happy about getting Oakley back, this solves a problem we would have had for next year since BS was only available to lease this year. I do believe Oakley will be a fine horse for Derek, Derek just needs to establish some confidence in Oakley. Pics definately to come shortly!! Oh, I need to take my camera tomorrow....

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Time to get more active!

If I'm going to work on getting my horse in shape, I guess I should do the same... Probably wouldnt hurt to try to become another shape, other than the one I am! lol

I started swimming again, water aerobics actually! I have not done them in over a year, since the pool in Snohomish closed, but I recently learned that Lk Stevens offers an 8-9pm class on Mondays & Wednesdays, so I started 2 days ago, going again tonight. I invited some friends, Molly & Kristen came on Monday, Angela also hopes to start up and possibly my cousin's wife Rachel. I pushed pretty hard and was sore because of it, but it felt SO GREAT to be back in the water!!! I bought a punch card, no backing out. On Saturday mornings they offer a class too, so if I dont have plans, then I'll swim on Saturdays too. If anyone else wants to join us, that would be great..

The days I am not swimming, I hope to get on the eliptical for an hour, just have to get Derek & another guy to bring the beast machine into the house.

I ordered Derek's birthday presents already, they are on b/o for 4-8 weeks, not sure they will be here on time for his bday even though it still is about 6 weeks away. I can hardly wait, this is the first year in a while I've been super excited about what I bought for him. :)

His job search has been slow going, he did go on an interview last week, he got offered the job of course (over his entire life so far, he has ALWAYS gotten the job he has interviewed for!!) but the job didnt pay what he needed and there was no guarantees they could get him paid what he needed anytime soon, so he had to pass. Work has been somewhat steady the last couple weeks, things seem to be improving, we'll see if that continues.

Well I should get some work done.. its almost 10am and I've done NOTHING the last 2 hours except pretend to work.. lol

Sunday, February 22, 2009

What a GREAT Weekend!

If I had a little more money, life would be pretty darn close to perfect! Okay, reality check... Things are not always great 100% of the time, but if I could have weekends like this every week, things would be pretty darn good.

Friday night we spent the evening with George, Rachel & Samantha at the new hockey arena in Kent, the Seattle Thunderbirds new home.. against Spokane. TBirds won, it was a good game, could have been great, but there was not even 1 fight!!! bummer..

Saturday morning we awoke to the alarm to go to this "huge" tack sale in Snohomish, it was a complete let-down.. :( Oh well. Ran some errands and then headed home, loaded up the boys and headed to Lords Hill for a really nice, warm day (mid-high 50's) ride with 5 other horse club friends. Got home, unloaded, a friend stopped by on a whim to chat for a few, changed clothes and went to mom/dad's for a roast dinner, played some cards, headed back home to watch the free UFC fights (although I did NOT make it, was asleep within 30 minutes!) .

Derek with Blackie Smalls, putting on a new breast collar
Derek & Adam

Here are a couple pics of our group (minus myself) from Saturday's Ride...

Almost done with the ride now... BS's face always itches when he gets sweaty, so Derek found a way to make BS happy! They both really got into it. :)
Sunday morning, slept in for the first time in a long time, fed the horses around 11am (a few hours late!) brushed them out, decided last minute to load 'em up and head down to the Dubuque PUD Station parking area, rode for 2 hours (we did a lot of trail clearing and rode some nice old loggin roads until we had to stop at a section that was full of downed trees). Came home, cleaned the house, got the BBQ heated up and enjoyed having Crystal, Aaron & their new baby Josiah over for dinner and chatting. Watched some TV and here I am.

Crystal, Aaron & Josiah (JoJo)
Like I said, if I had money to live a little more comfortably and I could have great weekends like that all the time, life would be great! :)

Oh did I forget to mention that Saturday morning I checked email and got a message from our lender that our refinance did NOT go through!!!! GRRRRR....... We've been working on this for 4 months now!! I am flat frustrated. These F*ing Banks are just pissin me off, I REALLY hope that the banks figure some shit out soon, so average Americans like myself can help myself to live a little bit more comfortably in today's economy. I got my tax statement last week and wanted to poo myself, our taxes more than doubled with this new house.... This should be an interesting year, and one can only hope we have hit our low and will rise up soon! Sorry, had to vent just a bit.
Oh and here is a pic of Edgar, not to brag, but he is such a Beautiful horse!!!!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

I never thought the day would come....

when Derek would venture out on his own for a ride! He called yesterday, he didnt have any work, which is a whole other issue :( he wanted to know if I would be upset if he went out on a ride w/o me. Of course I was bummed, here I was sitting in my office looking outside to a beautiful sunny 50 degree day, watching a movie while Derek is out riding the neighborhood and having a nice relaxing time. I never imagined he would get this into it... I thought he might enjoy riding enough that we would go camping together and ride the trails, I just never thought he would like it so much he actually WANTS to ride every chance he can.. amazing how life has changed in one year for us in so many different ways. I think this is our year for change and to refocus back on ourselves.

Back to Derek's work.. yes things have been slow. Not a good thing. He's been actively looking for a new job, but with the amount of unemployed people flooding the market lately, it's been a slow-go. He'd love to get into a new field of work, but has no training or education in anything else and we've relied on his pay, so breaking into a new field and getting paid well to do so, is going to be a challenge! I really want him to work for the US Border Patrol, I think he would love it. I have totally been into this new TV show on Channel 4 called Homeland Security.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Who needs a Chiropractor, when you have a.....

HORSE! :)

Almost every ride lately my horse has found something to spook at or jump away from. If you have never ridden a horse that spooked, you probably dont know what I'm talking about. But for those that do know, my horse likes to do a one-move jolt of my body almost every ride, which tweeks my back, sometimes cracking it, as it whips from one side to the other! Prior to yesterday, my back was aching a lot while I slept, but then I went riding yesterday and of course Edgar jumped when my friend Penny's horse jumped (chain reaction, horses are definately prone to those). I felt my back tweek/crack and last night.... I didnt sleep perfect, but I slept much better!

At the chiropractor we also sit in a "whobble" chair that rotates your back and loosens you up, try it... sit in your chair right now and move your hips back/forth and in a circular motion.. Well riding my horse basically does the same exact thing, so I get lots of Loosening Up while I ride.

Although I cant complain that my back is getting cracked for "free", I think I'd rather get it cracked the traditional way from the doctor... atleast at the chiropractors office, I dont have to worry about getting spooked right off the table and falling to the ground! Well lets hope not anyways! lol

Sunday, February 15, 2009

No More Escaping!

Poor Poor Scout!! We finally got around to electrifying the bottom of the fenceline in hopes that it would persuade Scout that she does NOT need to leave our yard. :( Poor girl, we turned her out in the yard and stood on the porch watching her, sure enough within less than a minute she had touched the wire.... She yelped and ran with this sad sad look on her face straight from the fence, onto the porch and into the house! And she would NOT come back out... We coaxed her out finally with LOTS of praise and I walked around the yard with her following me to show her the yard was not one big electric bowl. She was happy to go back in the house.

When I went out to feed that evening, I opened the slider and she was eager to go outside, no zaps on the fenceline though, which was good. I really hope 1 time was enough to teach her. I'd LOVE to let her have her way and run free, but I have to protect her and keep her safe and the only way to do that is to be sure she cannot get out of the yard. I think she learned her lesson and she is not showing any fear of going outside.
Derek & I got in a nice ride on Valentines Day!! :) He even held my hand for part of the ride.. ahhhh. We rode at Bridle Trails in Bellevue, nice trail system there. Spent the evening at home, eatin dinner and relaxing watching a pretty dumb movie called "Idiocracy". It has Luke Wilson in it from 2006, pretty lame movie, but cute in some respects I guess.
We were supposed to have a doggy play date today, with John & April's dog Yogi, but they had to cancel at the last minute. We thought it would be fun to let all the Jack Russells run around together, maybe another weekend. George & Rachel did come up though. We suprised Samantha with her very own helmet and saddle so when she is here, she can ride. I put her name on the helmet and got some cute pics of her, she is a camera ham, she may just grow up to be a model, she knows how to pose and does it well. What a doll. She's learning how to brush and properly care for the horse, she had a nice ride on Smalls.
Presidents Day is tomorrow, I have the day off. hmmm sleep in, relax, maybe organize more of the craft room.. or get up to an alarm, go riding.. I guess we'll see in the morning how I feel.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A sign that things are settling down...

I have decided that if you base things off my blog, then you must realize that maybe things have finally started to settle down in my life! Life has been on the "down-low" lately, laid back, not a lot of craziness and change and drama and problems... :)

I want to post for my followers to keep you entertained, but I guess things have just been kinda boring lately, nothing too exciting to write about. I could tell you how my dishes are piling up, my laundry is scattered (clean & dirty) around my house, the floors need cleaning, I started to work on the garage cleaning/organizing it, we've been getting out and riding on the weekends, spending our evenings with our butts in front of the TV, work is all the same for me, work is slow slow for Derek, the dogs are behaving, horses are staying in their pasture...

I wish I could post some drama or excitement or something entertaining, but truth is.... It's kinda nice not having all that going on at one time, nice to be boring every now/then. Stay tuned, I'm sure the adventures will pick up soon.. spring is coming, I think..

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Saddle Time...

Derek has established a goal. I think he just picked this # at random, no rhyme or reason for it, it just sounded good to him. He intends on riding 100 hours this year! It is doable, but we have a lot of work to get there. He loves his horse Blackie Smalls, they are a perfect match for eachother. Derek used to really like Edgar and wanted Edgar to be his horse, but now that he has Smalls, he sees the quirks in my guy Edgar and wants him no - more! Whew, thank goodness, for a while there I thought I would have to consider giving him up to Derek.

So although it is not a lot, we have conquered 5 hours of saddle time already and plan to add more this weekend...

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Remind me again why I own 4-legged animals...

If it's not the dog getting out and running around the neighborhood, it's the horse! Someone pulled in the driveway this morning, apparently my horse was out. I dont know if he was out on the road, he had to have been close to the road anyways for someone to see him. By the time I got outside, he was hanging out at the neighbors nextdoor to us. I grabbed the grain, Derek grabbed the rope and we put him back in his pasture. He had busted through the non-electrified hotwire.. grrrr So instead of worrying all day about him, I just took the time to hook up the hotwire this morning before I left for work. When we put in the fencing to bring the horses home, I didnt think I would need to electrify it, I thought I had a "great" horse that would never test his boundary, apparently I am eatin dirt, cuz I was wrong! lol

So I'd like to see him try to get out now! He'll be in for a rude shocking awakening. Now that I have hotwire hooked up, I think I'll run hotwire around the bottom of the yard fencing to keep the small 4-legged mutt in as well, she'll be in for the shock of her life too next time she tries to escape and dig out of my yard!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Let there be light!

Happy Ground Hog Day, well whatever that means anyways.. lol I dont know if the groundhog saw his shadow or not, I can only hope that winter is on its way out.. I typically love the wintertime, but I'm thinkin as I age, I might just be starting to enjoy the warmer weather more and more... Is that a sign of old age?

I think I am just so excited about riding with my husband! and just getting more active this spring/summer, that I am itchin for the brighter, longer, lighter, warmer days! I am very excited to see that Derek is not only loving the riding, but he also loves just going out and being with his horse, feeding him and grooming him almost nightly. I just sit and watch him and smile, how can I not! To see someone else enjoy what I've enjoyed almost my whole life, is exciting!

So the light.. well PUD came out and installed a light in our yard!! Yeah.. so for those of you that complain it is too damn dark at my place at night, well problem solved.. It doesnt really light up the entire parking area, but it is light...

Oh and I was just informed that the damn hog saw his shadow.