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???