Friday evening we had company over, Yvonne & Brooke. They had come over from Spokane to have Derek repair Yvonne's car that Brooke had dented last summer! :) They are the wife and daughter of my x-coworker Greg. I miss having Greg around the office, he now has a job over in Spokane so it is very unlikely he will ever come back to AWS :( bummer...
I had planned to bake up some cinnamon rolls on Friday evening for our annual horse club Dessert Auction on Saturday evening. I had 2 frozen uncooked batches leftover from the ride a couple weeks ago; however the dough was not rising as fast as I expected it to and come 11:30pm, I said to heck with it, they're goin in the oven! They rose up just fine while baking, but did turn out a bit browner/darker than mom's batches, my oven must run a little hotter.. I hope they tasted just as good, they looked a little overdone. My house smelled really good at midnight though!
Saturday the girls borrowed our truck and went shopping at Alderwood for the day while Derek finished up with the car. I decided to take advantage of the weather and the free time to go riding with cousin Shana.. :) I had already months earlier convinced her to help with our auction, so it was super easy to get her to come over earlier so we could get the horses out. She is really happy that she gets to continue to ride Edgar! We decided on Lords Hill, it was close and easy. I opted to ride in Derek's saddle to give it another try. I am happy to report that Red had ZERO soreness after our almost 2.5hr ride!!!!!! I was using Shannon's very thick wool pad (I have already ordered my own, that was a big ouch) but I am relieved to know that Derek's saddle was a great fit. For now I will ride in his saddle and he'll have to ride in my old saddle until I can find a saddle like his to buy for myself and give his back. Gerri, you cannot take Red anytime soon cuz I dont want to fight saddle fit on a new horse for a long time to come, I feel like this has been an ongoing battle for about 2 years now between the 4 horses we've been riding over the past couple years.. lol
We had a great ride, I am still getting used to Red out on the trails. He is pretty solid but he has his little ways.. My biggest issue is getting used to his wayward feet! His feet are huge bells.. they actually are the same size as Edgar, which is a size 3 shoes, but his feet are shaped much different and I feel like on the mucky trails, I am riding a horse with skiis on his back feet. He really slides around a lot in the simplest of mucky areas. I will feel his left back leg cross over to his ride side and his right back leg cross over to his left side.. maybe it's not as exaggerated as it feels, but it's a lot of movement. So when we are on slight downhills I sit much tenser than I probably should and he tends to not rate himself going downhill, meaning he has this really big stride and can walk pretty fast at times, so when going downhill he walks like he's on a flat area whereas I want him to slow down and take smaller steps to avoid any chance of him falling by taking large steps that will cause him to loose his footing.
So we are going down this hill, it is hardly mucky at all, just a little slick from recent rains. Anyways, he is walking a little faster than I want, I'm in the process of asking him to rate himself down to a slower walk and his back legs start to go. I literally think of bambi on ice, legs just going any direction. I dont know if that is how it was, but he was sliding and he couldnt get his back end to stop, and I probably pulled up just a little (I know I did NOT jerk) but his head went up and his back end just dissappeared, I screetched.. I'm sure Shana was up ahead thinking what the hell is going on back there.. lol As I am screetching and thinking oh crap what's going to happen next, I am pretty sure he was basically in an almost sitting position, I was leaning way forward to keep from coming off and after what felt like eternity, he figured out his footing and did not go over.. once he stood up he was pissy and wanted to walk out right now! I wanted him to remain calm and collected, so we had a little 3 second "issue" moment of him feeling like he wanted to be a terd and get cranky, he was trying to veer off the trail into the brush and didnt want me on his face at all, but I didnt give in, he needed to remain collected and we walked out of that and I gave him big pats when his attitude went back to relaxed. ;) It was a little unnerving for sure, I dont like feeling so out of control and I am hoping as time goes on, he will start to learn to rate himself in mucky situations and will start to learn better foot placement for better stability on icky trails. If not, I will continue to show him the right way by asking him to slow down and using my legs (a lot) to keep him where he needs to be on the trail.
Gerri, I do not want you to think I am complaining because that is NOT what I am doing, just talking through my trials and experiences that he and I need to still work out. :)
After the ride, I had walked him up to the truck and tossed his leadrope end into the bed of the truck while I uncinched him. He stuck his head into the bed of the truck and before I knew it, he had his halter hung up on part of the truck bed railing. OH SHIT! he pulled back of course in a panic, his face was basically "tied" to the truck. He pulled back and then realized it got him nowhere, so he stopped moving with full tension on the halter, I tried to unhook him but it was just too tight.. then he started pulling again but quickly stopped and dropped his head just enough for me to quickly unhook him.. WHEW!!! Boy did I feel like a big dumbass! Poor guy, he was a little spooked after that (I dont blame him!), I rubbed him and talked to him, apologized up and down for my mistake.. I was happy to see that he did not go completely bonkers in the situation, he could have made it a whole lot worse, injuring himself and the truck. Aside from 2 mishaps, Shana & I had a great time and it was fun getting out with her again, I invited her to come to the ladies ride with me later this year.
After our ride, we cleaned ourselves up and headed to the dessert action, which went really well. Eric & Andrea came and brought Tony & Amanda with them. Heck I hadnt seen them in well over a month, my brother that is! Dena (my aunt) & her fiance Paul came as well, bringing friends and then my parents were there. The people that I brought in for the auction, including ourselves, bought 25% worth of the sales! and my guests totaled 45% of the non-horse club attendees.. :) I am proud of those numbers. I always invite all my friends/family in my email database because you dont have to like horses to LOVE dessert!!! and I think it is fun for anyone AND we are a great club that I am pretty passionate about. I may not always be on the top of the political ball, but I do my part I think.
Yesterday (Sunday) was a downtime day for us, just ran a couple errants, OH we did take our bikes in for a tune-up, they have not seen the light of day in atleast 3 years.. but I really want to start riding a couple nights a week atleast down on the Centennial Trail, so we should get them back by the weekend. Yeah! and I am super excited for our trip to Easton next month.. I want time to speed up so I can get to all these things I want to do, yet it needs to slow down cuz 40 is approaching way too damn fast..
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
This one's for Gerri!
So Gerri has a new blog (reminder that Gerri is Red's owner). Anyways, she has started a blog about getting back into horses and her adventures, experiences, joys, freedoms etc.. I really enjoy her writing style, she is a kick in the pants and her posts keep you wanting to read more. I can only hope that mine has maybe the same affect on my few followers.
I just watched the movie Julie & Julia (or is it Julia & Julie) I guess it doesnt matter, but it was a cute movie about blogging and cooking. It was inspiring how a blog turned Julie's life around and opened a new door for her, not that I expect or ever think mine would. But it does make me want to keep this interesting for those that take time out of their day to actually see what we are doing! :) I wish more people I knew would blog, not only does it give me something to do during the day when I am suffering from a lack of workload, but it allows me to be in a small loop on someone else's life. There are PLENTY of blogs out there to read, this is true.. but it's not the same if there is no personal connection with the writer.
I just read Gerri's posting which brought tears to my eyes. I can just feel the love and passion she has for her horse and it makes me realize how grateful I am to have met her. I can feel that she trusts me with Red and that is a really nice feeling. Her words were quite powerful to me and showed me that although she misses her horse, she knows he is in good hands and she sees that I do appreciate this opportunity to lease a great horse.
After only a short couple of weeks, I dont see the big head, long legs, short tail, non-Quarter Horse build of a horse. I see a big handsome bay gelding that is bringing a lot of joy in my life right now.
I just watched the movie Julie & Julia (or is it Julia & Julie) I guess it doesnt matter, but it was a cute movie about blogging and cooking. It was inspiring how a blog turned Julie's life around and opened a new door for her, not that I expect or ever think mine would. But it does make me want to keep this interesting for those that take time out of their day to actually see what we are doing! :) I wish more people I knew would blog, not only does it give me something to do during the day when I am suffering from a lack of workload, but it allows me to be in a small loop on someone else's life. There are PLENTY of blogs out there to read, this is true.. but it's not the same if there is no personal connection with the writer.
I just read Gerri's posting which brought tears to my eyes. I can just feel the love and passion she has for her horse and it makes me realize how grateful I am to have met her. I can feel that she trusts me with Red and that is a really nice feeling. Her words were quite powerful to me and showed me that although she misses her horse, she knows he is in good hands and she sees that I do appreciate this opportunity to lease a great horse.
After only a short couple of weeks, I dont see the big head, long legs, short tail, non-Quarter Horse build of a horse. I see a big handsome bay gelding that is bringing a lot of joy in my life right now.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The drowning Story
I am going to share the laughing/drowning story as told by my cousin Shana and then my version will be at the bottom! :) We were camping at Salmon La Sac outside of Cle Elum, WA with our 4H group I think it was. 4H was a lot different back in the day, atleast our club was because most of the parents were backcountry riders, so our adventures were out on the trails. Enjoy...
OK, the river story... Shelly and I (age 12 or 13) were swimming our horses in the river. Shelly's horse went under a downed tree that stretched way out into the water. In doing so, Shelly got swept off of the horse and into the river.
I, very gracefully and intentionally of course, dismounted and swam to her in an attempt to save her because she was sort of freaking out. I got her to another downed tree that was at river level and connected to the shore. Each of us was on a seperate side of the tree so we were facing each other (I'm not remembering how we were on different sides).
Anyway, as we clung to the tree/log, her face went blank. She was staring right at me but she looked dazed. Next thing I knew, she disappeared! She lost her grip and floated under the tree and past me. I'm looking for her, yelling for her but I don't see her. Finally, out of nowhere, she pops up from under the water, standing in only about 2 feet of water but about 30 yards down river. I floated down to her and "drug" her by the hand back up stream and back to our log.
I told her to shimmy along the log back up to the shore but she was frozen in fear! I could've made it but I wasn't going to leave my friend there! Finally, we hear something from the shore. Perhaps someone to save us? I look up and it's my cousin Piper. Sitting on a horse, LAUGHING HER ASS OFF!
Shelly's yelling "Help! Help!" And you were just laughing hysterically! Just sitting there, horseback, laughing your ass off! I yell at you "Go get help!" and I don't know if you couldn't hear me or what but seems like you sat there laughing for a long, long time.
To this day I don't remember if you went and got Dave or if he just happened to be there, or if he heard the cries for help! But out comes Dave Huber on Rosie (his horse at the time) and he rides out to us, puts Shelly, maybe both of us, on his horse and he grabs Rosie's tail and Rosie took us all back to shore (maybe he had to come back for me? Or maybe I climbed the log to shore? I'm not actually remembering how I got out, but I was never really worried for myself, I knew I could get out!)
Either way, as I remember it, you watched the entire rescue from shore through slanted, teary, laughing eyes! It doesn't sound as funny in type, but it's one of my favorite stories! Although my very favorite Piper story I think will always be the gas siphon/lawnmower story!
Piper Back In: Okay, so my version... I cannot really recall the situation vividly in my head like Shana can, all I remember is that I was 8 or 9 years old and it was FRICKIN HILARIOUS!! lololololololol
As a side note so you dont all think I am the worst person in the world, remember I was only about 8 years old so I was not old enough to comprehend the seriousness of the situation and to this day... We both laugh about it! The 'river' may be more like a swift moving big creek, or maybe it is a river.. either way it is a shallow river at many points. I have since redeemed myself in stressful situations and can remain calm and collected, I do not laugh in the face of disaster! :) Shana has held that potential drowning against me all my life and we enjoy recounting our varied versions.. Although I must say I dont have much defense because my version only recalls "laughing my ass off" as she recalls!
The lawnmower story is another funny one. Heck Shana & I have quite a few funny stories together.... some should be told and others will remain in our own heads! :)
OK, the river story... Shelly and I (age 12 or 13) were swimming our horses in the river. Shelly's horse went under a downed tree that stretched way out into the water. In doing so, Shelly got swept off of the horse and into the river.
I, very gracefully and intentionally of course, dismounted and swam to her in an attempt to save her because she was sort of freaking out. I got her to another downed tree that was at river level and connected to the shore. Each of us was on a seperate side of the tree so we were facing each other (I'm not remembering how we were on different sides).
Anyway, as we clung to the tree/log, her face went blank. She was staring right at me but she looked dazed. Next thing I knew, she disappeared! She lost her grip and floated under the tree and past me. I'm looking for her, yelling for her but I don't see her. Finally, out of nowhere, she pops up from under the water, standing in only about 2 feet of water but about 30 yards down river. I floated down to her and "drug" her by the hand back up stream and back to our log.
I told her to shimmy along the log back up to the shore but she was frozen in fear! I could've made it but I wasn't going to leave my friend there! Finally, we hear something from the shore. Perhaps someone to save us? I look up and it's my cousin Piper. Sitting on a horse, LAUGHING HER ASS OFF!
Shelly's yelling "Help! Help!" And you were just laughing hysterically! Just sitting there, horseback, laughing your ass off! I yell at you "Go get help!" and I don't know if you couldn't hear me or what but seems like you sat there laughing for a long, long time.
To this day I don't remember if you went and got Dave or if he just happened to be there, or if he heard the cries for help! But out comes Dave Huber on Rosie (his horse at the time) and he rides out to us, puts Shelly, maybe both of us, on his horse and he grabs Rosie's tail and Rosie took us all back to shore (maybe he had to come back for me? Or maybe I climbed the log to shore? I'm not actually remembering how I got out, but I was never really worried for myself, I knew I could get out!)
Either way, as I remember it, you watched the entire rescue from shore through slanted, teary, laughing eyes! It doesn't sound as funny in type, but it's one of my favorite stories! Although my very favorite Piper story I think will always be the gas siphon/lawnmower story!
Piper Back In: Okay, so my version... I cannot really recall the situation vividly in my head like Shana can, all I remember is that I was 8 or 9 years old and it was FRICKIN HILARIOUS!! lololololololol
As a side note so you dont all think I am the worst person in the world, remember I was only about 8 years old so I was not old enough to comprehend the seriousness of the situation and to this day... We both laugh about it! The 'river' may be more like a swift moving big creek, or maybe it is a river.. either way it is a shallow river at many points. I have since redeemed myself in stressful situations and can remain calm and collected, I do not laugh in the face of disaster! :) Shana has held that potential drowning against me all my life and we enjoy recounting our varied versions.. Although I must say I dont have much defense because my version only recalls "laughing my ass off" as she recalls!
The lawnmower story is another funny one. Heck Shana & I have quite a few funny stories together.... some should be told and others will remain in our own heads! :)
Monday, March 22, 2010
Early to bed and Early to rise..
Okay I pretty much fail at the early to bed part. I did manage to get into bed by 9:30 on Friday night, which is 1.5 hours earlier than normal, but I was getting up 1.5 hours earlier than normal. Amazingly it worked out and I awoke feeling pretty good Sat morning. Why would I wake at 5am on a Saturday you ask?? Well Derek & I had to drive to Ellensburg for some BCHW training for the horse club. It was the annual training and meeting over there and it was a great day. I got some great info out of my Treasurer class and Derek attended the President/VP class (since he is VP of our club). He really enjoyed the class, I was suprised at how excited he has been getting lately and how much he really wants to get involved.
We've been trying to come up with ideas and ways to maybe incorporate some new concepts into the horse club, give it a more current vibe, attract in some new members. Not 100% sure everyone is on board yet with our suggestions, but we'll be talking about them in the coming months because we are pretty confident that this is a positive direction to go. Derek was really glad he went to the training and was able to meet other chapter members, hear what is working and not working for other clubs...
Sometimes I feel like this can't be real. How did I go from having a husband so passionate about softball, retire from that and start almost a second life involving the horses and preserving the mission of BCHW. When he first started riding, I was not sure he would even enjoy it. I hoped he would, but he exceeded my hopes and then some. I have always had a supportive husband, he lived and loved the country life. But now he LIVES the country life to the fullest! Riding is not our hobby, it is a lifestyle. He enjoys all aspects of what that entails; Cleaning the barn, shoveling poo, brushing dirty horses, renovating pastures, building fence, being poor! lol
Something he said to me the other day, something along the lines of "Riding takes away all stress, I think about nothing else but just enjoying the time while I am out on the trails or brushing my horse, when I ride I dont think about my daily stresses and concerns, it all just goes away even if only for an hour, but is a break from the daily grind". I said to him "Welcome to my world!" I am so proud that He Gets It!!! I have felt that way for years, when I ride whether alone or in a group, it is like there is nothing else on earth that exists. Time just stops and I am able to let go of life for a couple hours. And now that Derek sees and feels the joy and love and passion I have had all these years, how much better can life get? Okay life could be tons better with tons more cash in our wallets, but if we are gonna be poor than atleast we are happy poor! ;)
After our training, we spent the other half of the day going to a couple feed stores in Ellensburg looking for some tack. What a bust.. oh we did find a horn bag, a cantle bag Derek wanted and a leather strap. On our way home, we drove up out of Cle Elum and down to Salmon La Sac, a camping area I went to as a kid. I do believe that the Cayuse Horse Camp there is where we were the year that I laughed on the bank as my cousin Shana and her friend were drowning! Another story.. another time! lol We wanted to check it out, but there was still lots of snow in the campground, so we were not able to get a good feel for the camping. It seems like a nice place to go, might have to consider. As you are heading to the camping area, it is a dead end road basically, and the last town you pass through is Ronald. We stopped in at a old town General Store, thinking we might find something interesting. What we found was old nicknack crap that has been on the shelves for years, some things that maybe were supposed to be antiquey but were really just old crap, some misc camping/food type items that I would question the date on and a creepy guy behind the counter that if you enter the store alone, you might worry you wouldnt make it out alive!
Sunday we took the boys up to Mann Rd and got in a 2.5 hr ride with Adam & Tracy. Mostly rode the logging roads, we did get on one trail that was VERY muddy and boggy, we finally turned around because we had come upon a downhill that was far too slick to attempt to ride down. Oh well! I was riding in Derek's saddle, wanted to see if it fit Red better than mine. It definately felt better, Red is built slightly downhill and I am now 99% sure my saddle (although still hard to believe) is too wide for even Red. So when that saddle was on him, being too wide would rock me forward even more on him and put so much pressure on his shoulders. With Derek's saddle, I felt pretty level. He was a tiny bit sore on one side of his shoulders after the ride, but NOWHERE near how sore he was the week before. And I am not sure if it was residual soreness from before or truely new soreness. This morning he was still just a little bit sore on the one side is all.. so I think I need to ride in his saddle again. I will again give him the week off, I want him as fresh as possible between rides so I can really make a determination on saddle fit.
I will also try one other saddle we have on him, my other Tucker Saddle. I think that one will be too narrow but will set it on him and see how it looks. He did great on the ride, I rode in a Wonder Bit this time and I think that works well on him. I get the whoa and I get side leverage and he seems content in it. He didnt stretch his neck out like he has before and he didnt over-play with the bit in his mouth, he kept his mouth fairly quiet actually which is good because the less he pays attention to the bit, the more he pays attention to the trail. We did get a little bit rained on yesterday, it was actually quite muggy, we all were stripping down before we even got in the saddle.. NO we were not naked! :) Wouldnt that be funny to see.. Hmmm maybe not so funny! lol
Russell had some company yesterday, his friend Brownie came to visit. Brownie belongs to Tyler's girlfriend Cathy. He's a cute little dog and they enjoyed exploring the yard together. The great part about having Tyler and Cathy over last night is that Tyler wanted to show Cathy our vaccum cleaner (we have a rainbow) and how the room does not smell of dust when you use it, so he vaccumed my very dirty carpet to show off the vaccum to her and it was GREAT! Derek told him we have a toilet scrub brush he could show off to her as well.... lololol
Ah the start to a new week.. lets see what adventures we can find next!
We've been trying to come up with ideas and ways to maybe incorporate some new concepts into the horse club, give it a more current vibe, attract in some new members. Not 100% sure everyone is on board yet with our suggestions, but we'll be talking about them in the coming months because we are pretty confident that this is a positive direction to go. Derek was really glad he went to the training and was able to meet other chapter members, hear what is working and not working for other clubs...
Sometimes I feel like this can't be real. How did I go from having a husband so passionate about softball, retire from that and start almost a second life involving the horses and preserving the mission of BCHW. When he first started riding, I was not sure he would even enjoy it. I hoped he would, but he exceeded my hopes and then some. I have always had a supportive husband, he lived and loved the country life. But now he LIVES the country life to the fullest! Riding is not our hobby, it is a lifestyle. He enjoys all aspects of what that entails; Cleaning the barn, shoveling poo, brushing dirty horses, renovating pastures, building fence, being poor! lol
Something he said to me the other day, something along the lines of "Riding takes away all stress, I think about nothing else but just enjoying the time while I am out on the trails or brushing my horse, when I ride I dont think about my daily stresses and concerns, it all just goes away even if only for an hour, but is a break from the daily grind". I said to him "Welcome to my world!" I am so proud that He Gets It!!! I have felt that way for years, when I ride whether alone or in a group, it is like there is nothing else on earth that exists. Time just stops and I am able to let go of life for a couple hours. And now that Derek sees and feels the joy and love and passion I have had all these years, how much better can life get? Okay life could be tons better with tons more cash in our wallets, but if we are gonna be poor than atleast we are happy poor! ;)
After our training, we spent the other half of the day going to a couple feed stores in Ellensburg looking for some tack. What a bust.. oh we did find a horn bag, a cantle bag Derek wanted and a leather strap. On our way home, we drove up out of Cle Elum and down to Salmon La Sac, a camping area I went to as a kid. I do believe that the Cayuse Horse Camp there is where we were the year that I laughed on the bank as my cousin Shana and her friend were drowning! Another story.. another time! lol We wanted to check it out, but there was still lots of snow in the campground, so we were not able to get a good feel for the camping. It seems like a nice place to go, might have to consider. As you are heading to the camping area, it is a dead end road basically, and the last town you pass through is Ronald. We stopped in at a old town General Store, thinking we might find something interesting. What we found was old nicknack crap that has been on the shelves for years, some things that maybe were supposed to be antiquey but were really just old crap, some misc camping/food type items that I would question the date on and a creepy guy behind the counter that if you enter the store alone, you might worry you wouldnt make it out alive!
Sunday we took the boys up to Mann Rd and got in a 2.5 hr ride with Adam & Tracy. Mostly rode the logging roads, we did get on one trail that was VERY muddy and boggy, we finally turned around because we had come upon a downhill that was far too slick to attempt to ride down. Oh well! I was riding in Derek's saddle, wanted to see if it fit Red better than mine. It definately felt better, Red is built slightly downhill and I am now 99% sure my saddle (although still hard to believe) is too wide for even Red. So when that saddle was on him, being too wide would rock me forward even more on him and put so much pressure on his shoulders. With Derek's saddle, I felt pretty level. He was a tiny bit sore on one side of his shoulders after the ride, but NOWHERE near how sore he was the week before. And I am not sure if it was residual soreness from before or truely new soreness. This morning he was still just a little bit sore on the one side is all.. so I think I need to ride in his saddle again. I will again give him the week off, I want him as fresh as possible between rides so I can really make a determination on saddle fit.
I will also try one other saddle we have on him, my other Tucker Saddle. I think that one will be too narrow but will set it on him and see how it looks. He did great on the ride, I rode in a Wonder Bit this time and I think that works well on him. I get the whoa and I get side leverage and he seems content in it. He didnt stretch his neck out like he has before and he didnt over-play with the bit in his mouth, he kept his mouth fairly quiet actually which is good because the less he pays attention to the bit, the more he pays attention to the trail. We did get a little bit rained on yesterday, it was actually quite muggy, we all were stripping down before we even got in the saddle.. NO we were not naked! :) Wouldnt that be funny to see.. Hmmm maybe not so funny! lol
Russell had some company yesterday, his friend Brownie came to visit. Brownie belongs to Tyler's girlfriend Cathy. He's a cute little dog and they enjoyed exploring the yard together. The great part about having Tyler and Cathy over last night is that Tyler wanted to show Cathy our vaccum cleaner (we have a rainbow) and how the room does not smell of dust when you use it, so he vaccumed my very dirty carpet to show off the vaccum to her and it was GREAT! Derek told him we have a toilet scrub brush he could show off to her as well.... lololol
Ah the start to a new week.. lets see what adventures we can find next!
There's no Vampires in our barn!!
Just incase you ever worried that vampires might shack up in our barn, well worry no longer... Gerri gave us this tub of garlic that is fed to Big Red, to help detract mosquitoes from him as he is sensitive to normal fly sprays and boy let me tell ya, I think the entire neighborhood is vampire free! Whew that is some damn strong garlic.. :) lol
I also have to find him a good "natural" flyspray, I found a sampler spray that smells very heavily of citronella, so there are some quite strange smells in our barn these days. I did learn the other day too that we can detract flies from our home and barn by hanging ziplock baggies 1/2 full of water with 3 pennies in each baggy. Hmm.. not sure if it works, but worth a try!
I also have to find him a good "natural" flyspray, I found a sampler spray that smells very heavily of citronella, so there are some quite strange smells in our barn these days. I did learn the other day too that we can detract flies from our home and barn by hanging ziplock baggies 1/2 full of water with 3 pennies in each baggy. Hmm.. not sure if it works, but worth a try!
Friday, March 19, 2010
If gassing doesnt work...
then Drown 'em!!
Those pesky moles are back.. Last year we thought we had rid the yard of the damn things and the holes started popping up again this year. We first tried the gum trick, put some juicy fruit down the holes and that seemed to have done the trick, but then WHAM, 6 new holes overnight a couple weeks later. So Derek found a tailpipe contraption and gassed their chambers for 30 minutes... We thought that had done the trick, but then again a couple weeks later new holes arrived.
So last night we gassed 'em again for 30 minutes and to finish it off, we figured if they passed out and didnt die from the gas, we'd get the job done with drowning them. We filled up one section that only took a few minutes to fill the hole. The hole in the picture... heck we had the water going for 15+ minutes full blast on that hole and I dont think it was close to filling up, so there are some serious chambers going on down around that tree!
I also had Derek take a few pics of me and Big Red. I gave an article to our horse club Newsletter Editor to introduce him to everyone. I think the headshot is pretty cute, EVEN IF I am in it!! :)
I took one of Edgar too.. he's such a stinker, when the camera comes out, he always leaves! He did stop to look back at me, I'm sure disgruntled because I had interrupted his dinner..
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Not to rush the year, but....
We are waiting on Christmas.. Already!
We emailed with Jim, a WA breeder of Boykin's in Eatonville and he is going to breed his female with Earl and pups will be ready around Christmas. Earl is a Boykin that came from back east and is a great hunting/working dog down in OR that has video posted on YouTube. Derek and I have been very impressed with Earl and are super excited that we will be getting a puppy out of this dog!
We will get pick of the litter as well, which is AWESOME. I wish the timing was a little better, but we cannot be too picky on the con's because there are far too many pros to this situation, particularly since there are so few breeders in our area. So Merry Christmas to us!!! lol
Something else we are waiting on is a yeah/neay from our lender. See our lender took bailout money and because of this they have to offer to us an option of getting a Loan Modification on our current mortgage. We filled out all the paperwork and sent it in, we'll know in 10 days or less what the status is of our eligibility. We could really use the relief on the mortgage, basically the program lowers your interest rate and locks you into a new 30 year loan. NO FEES WHATSOEVER! If we do not qualify (not sure why we wouldnt) but anyways, if we dont get this program, we have been talking recently about options again. I want to stay, there are so many cool things I want to do to our place but it's tough being maxed out on your loan.
We havent ridden again since this past weekend, wanted to give Red some time to be sure he was not still sore, Derek was amazed yesterday at just how much Edgar is now shedding! I had warned him that within days of being wormed he would start dropping his hair rapidly and I dont think he believed me! lol He does now..
Derek cooked us a traditional (well probably Americanized or Safewayized version) of an Irish Meal, Corned Beef and carrots and potatoes and cabbage. Well we boiled the shit out of it, the potatoes were mush, the cabbage resembled nothing like cabbage, the carrots were alright and the flavor of the beef was okay, but OMG the fat on that beef was just gross! We both finished our meal feeling like AGGHH.. The meet was very bizarre there was soooo much fat in it.. We decided that our first traditional Irish meal would be our last traditional Irish meal! As we lay in bed disgusted with our meal, we concluded that next year our St Patty's Day dinner will be a big fat bowl of Lucky Charms! mmmmm.....
We emailed with Jim, a WA breeder of Boykin's in Eatonville and he is going to breed his female with Earl and pups will be ready around Christmas. Earl is a Boykin that came from back east and is a great hunting/working dog down in OR that has video posted on YouTube. Derek and I have been very impressed with Earl and are super excited that we will be getting a puppy out of this dog!
We will get pick of the litter as well, which is AWESOME. I wish the timing was a little better, but we cannot be too picky on the con's because there are far too many pros to this situation, particularly since there are so few breeders in our area. So Merry Christmas to us!!! lol
Something else we are waiting on is a yeah/neay from our lender. See our lender took bailout money and because of this they have to offer to us an option of getting a Loan Modification on our current mortgage. We filled out all the paperwork and sent it in, we'll know in 10 days or less what the status is of our eligibility. We could really use the relief on the mortgage, basically the program lowers your interest rate and locks you into a new 30 year loan. NO FEES WHATSOEVER! If we do not qualify (not sure why we wouldnt) but anyways, if we dont get this program, we have been talking recently about options again. I want to stay, there are so many cool things I want to do to our place but it's tough being maxed out on your loan.
We havent ridden again since this past weekend, wanted to give Red some time to be sure he was not still sore, Derek was amazed yesterday at just how much Edgar is now shedding! I had warned him that within days of being wormed he would start dropping his hair rapidly and I dont think he believed me! lol He does now..
Derek cooked us a traditional (well probably Americanized or Safewayized version) of an Irish Meal, Corned Beef and carrots and potatoes and cabbage. Well we boiled the shit out of it, the potatoes were mush, the cabbage resembled nothing like cabbage, the carrots were alright and the flavor of the beef was okay, but OMG the fat on that beef was just gross! We both finished our meal feeling like AGGHH.. The meet was very bizarre there was soooo much fat in it.. We decided that our first traditional Irish meal would be our last traditional Irish meal! As we lay in bed disgusted with our meal, we concluded that next year our St Patty's Day dinner will be a big fat bowl of Lucky Charms! mmmmm.....
Monday, March 15, 2010
It's that time of year..
when I will start posting more often because the days are longer officially now, the weekends are nicer and there's so much to do!
I took Friday off from work, I needed the day to prepare/make the cinnamon rolls for our horse club annual Cinnamon Roll Ride in Arlington. This year was finally the year I would basically do them myself (with mom's guidance) so I was excited to attempt this venture. I had planned to spend the entire day there, however I received a call earlier in the week from Shannon (who is training Oakley) voicing some concerns over his mouth and that she felt I really needed to get him to a vet to get his mouth/teeth looked at. Shannon was worried he had a cracked tooth, he was shaking his head and acting funny with his head/mouth when she was riding him with a bit, so to rule out any issues, I scheduled a vet appt for Friday at noon.
I decided I might as well take Edgar along too since I knew his teeth needed to be filed down as well. Here are a few pics of the boys, doped up (or should I say down with their heads hanging). The contraption on the face is what holds their mouths open, I was able to look inside and see where the vet was going to file down, see what the problems were with both horses and then see the results of his work. I took the boys to Pilchuck, the vet was really GREAT and it was Dental month so I got a good discount.
I took Friday off from work, I needed the day to prepare/make the cinnamon rolls for our horse club annual Cinnamon Roll Ride in Arlington. This year was finally the year I would basically do them myself (with mom's guidance) so I was excited to attempt this venture. I had planned to spend the entire day there, however I received a call earlier in the week from Shannon (who is training Oakley) voicing some concerns over his mouth and that she felt I really needed to get him to a vet to get his mouth/teeth looked at. Shannon was worried he had a cracked tooth, he was shaking his head and acting funny with his head/mouth when she was riding him with a bit, so to rule out any issues, I scheduled a vet appt for Friday at noon.
I decided I might as well take Edgar along too since I knew his teeth needed to be filed down as well. Here are a few pics of the boys, doped up (or should I say down with their heads hanging). The contraption on the face is what holds their mouths open, I was able to look inside and see where the vet was going to file down, see what the problems were with both horses and then see the results of his work. I took the boys to Pilchuck, the vet was really GREAT and it was Dental month so I got a good discount.
Edgar was pretty jagged on his teeth and really needed the work. Normally horses should go in every year, both boys hadnt been to the vet for a teeth checkup in 3+ years! :( bad mommy, bad mommy.. Edgars teeth were filed down nice and although Edgar previously indicated no issues with his mouth, he should be able to eat a lot better now.
Oakley had minor issues with jagged teeth but enough that he probably was sore when the bit was in his mouth and raking across his teeth. He had some bruising on his inner cheek on one side. He too is all fixed up and Shannon already notices a difference with his behavior when she rides him, even though she has yet to put a bit in his mouth.
Speaking of Oakley, she took him out this past weekend at Mann Rd, she had a friend ride him that had never been on a horse before and she is just so amazed at what an awesome horse he is. She told me I did a really great job with him and she is excited that she knows for a fact that she can market him to anyone, she would sell him to a child or an old old lady.. :) Sounds like she's got some people coming out to see him, it's just a matter of the potential buyers having the cash we are wanting for him. We all agree its best right now to shoot really high and see what happens. I keep telling her if she can get more to go that direction, I certainly will not complain about having a fat wallet!
Speaking of Oakley, she took him out this past weekend at Mann Rd, she had a friend ride him that had never been on a horse before and she is just so amazed at what an awesome horse he is. She told me I did a really great job with him and she is excited that she knows for a fact that she can market him to anyone, she would sell him to a child or an old old lady.. :) Sounds like she's got some people coming out to see him, it's just a matter of the potential buyers having the cash we are wanting for him. We all agree its best right now to shoot really high and see what happens. I keep telling her if she can get more to go that direction, I certainly will not complain about having a fat wallet!
I do occassionally feel guilty about selling him because in a couple years, he really would be a great fit for Derek, but Derek has lost confidence in Oakley from the mistakes Oakley made last year. It was not Oakley's fault, he had never been trailridden before last year, it was my mistake for allowing Derek to ride him so soon. But Derek does admit he learned some things about riding from Oakley and what he learned has helped him to trust Edgar even more. Technically at this point, there is no reason not to trust Oakley, but I know for Derek's confidence to continue to grow, he needs to continue with Edgar (plus Derek now realizes as well how fun it is to ride big horses!) lol Derek and I are a true power couple on our big ass beasts!
Even though I had to take the boys to the vet in the middle of the day, I was still able to do all the steps to making the rolls.. we prepared the bread and as it was rising, I went to the vet and when I came back from the vet, the dough was ready to turn into rolls.. It was pretty easy and fun and they were very NUMMY!!!
Even though I had to take the boys to the vet in the middle of the day, I was still able to do all the steps to making the rolls.. we prepared the bread and as it was rising, I went to the vet and when I came back from the vet, the dough was ready to turn into rolls.. It was pretty easy and fun and they were very NUMMY!!!
The ride on Saturday was very well attended. I think there were about 35 that RSVP'd for the ride, most were supposed to be bringing horses and about 1/2 ended up coming with horses. The weather looked questionable that morning, but it did not rain 1 drop on us. It was a really nice 2.5hr ride. Edgar and Red were well behaved, We started with 10 in our group which dwindeled to 8 after an hour and then dwindled down to 5 for the last hour of our ride. Red did threaten to kick Edgar one time, but overall he was not as pissy as he has been in the past. It was a lot of fun and he rode okay in the hackamore.. I'm still not 100% lovin his bridle situation, working on it.
When I pulled Red's saddle off after the ride, he was extremely sensitive/sore in his wither area. I have NEVER had a horse get sore there before. Typically the horse will be sore on the top of their back, above their flank. But he was not sore there at all (which is great!) but I was really concerned when he was so tender where the front of the saddle sat on him. Red is built slightly downhill and I think the weight of me and the saddle rocks forward on his shoulders more because of this. I really need to get a much thicker pad on him (I plan to buy one this weekend and if I dont find one to buy, will order it online). I may also add some front cushion/support under the saddle over his withers to level things off a little. And I will be riding in Derek's saddle to see if there is a difference in fit.
On Sunday, he was not very sore at all in his withers which was GREAT! I was VERY VERY happy to see him drastically improved over a 24hr period. We took the boys out on Sunday and spent some time just brushing them.. good bonding time for both of us, got them both wormed so they should start dropping their winter coats rapidly. I am concerned about the saddle fit just a little, I really want either my saddle or Derek's to work out so we dont have to go through this.. it's a big bitch to have to deal with saddle fit and I think I am just going to continue to love Big Red! He is super sweet, I am getting to know his personality and he's just a nice horse.
In the mornings when I am preparing their grain mash, he sticks his neck waaaayy out into the isleway and flaps his lips then if he's really impatient, he'll rake his teeth on the stall wall! lol Now Edgar, when he is impatient, he talks to ya and nickers at ya and then he'll grab ahold of the extension cord on the outside of his stall and flip it just enough to let you know he wants to be fed right now! :)
Sunday was basically a lazy day.. well not really I guess, afterall we did brush the boys out and that takes a little elbow work these days with all the dirt they seem to find! I did take my cousin Marc over to meet HotRod, they are considering leasing him for a while to see how it goes. There was supposed to be a late afternoon meeting at our house for the horse club Ladies Ride later this summer, so I spent the afternoon cleaning the house and then mowed the lawn. And as I sat down to relax, the meeting was postponed to another day.. Oh well, my house needed the cleaning anyways! Derek spent the afternoon working on Adam's tractor implement, getting it torn apart so it can be sandblasted.
In the morning on Sunday, I found a dog on Craigslist in Snohomish (my parents have been keeping their eyes open for one) and I thought he looked like what they might want (a small-med size dog), I forwarded the link and a couple hours later dad sends me a pic from his cell phone of the dog! I told him "You better stop over with your new dog!" And they did.. lol The dog doesnt have a name yet, it is about 2 years old is their best guess, the previous owners rescued the dog from a shelter and only had it 3 months, their daughter who begged for a dog decided she didnt like taking care of the dog as much as she wanted to the dog. Anyways, he is a mutt, looks kinda like a scotty type dog crossed with a beagle maybe.. not really sure! My parents didnt like the name his previous owners gave him and he didnt know it anyways, so hopefully in a day or so they'll come up with a good one to fit. He immediately got along with Russell, poor guy was being violated by our dog and he didnt growl once, he just jumped around in a goofy manner and ran around the yard with a big ole smile on his face and tongue hangin out. I hope he and my parents bond well together, he is cute and his temperment seems ideal.
This post is never going to end.. And soon enough I am going to start posting about Derek's new project. He bought this chevy luv truck a couple years ago I think it was and has been slowly searching for parts for it and he's just about got all he needs. He found a bed for it, a motor and a rearend.. so now it's just a matter of getting all the different parts put together. I want to post pics of his progress, I am trying really hard to remember to not only have the camera on me, but to use it!!
When I pulled Red's saddle off after the ride, he was extremely sensitive/sore in his wither area. I have NEVER had a horse get sore there before. Typically the horse will be sore on the top of their back, above their flank. But he was not sore there at all (which is great!) but I was really concerned when he was so tender where the front of the saddle sat on him. Red is built slightly downhill and I think the weight of me and the saddle rocks forward on his shoulders more because of this. I really need to get a much thicker pad on him (I plan to buy one this weekend and if I dont find one to buy, will order it online). I may also add some front cushion/support under the saddle over his withers to level things off a little. And I will be riding in Derek's saddle to see if there is a difference in fit.
On Sunday, he was not very sore at all in his withers which was GREAT! I was VERY VERY happy to see him drastically improved over a 24hr period. We took the boys out on Sunday and spent some time just brushing them.. good bonding time for both of us, got them both wormed so they should start dropping their winter coats rapidly. I am concerned about the saddle fit just a little, I really want either my saddle or Derek's to work out so we dont have to go through this.. it's a big bitch to have to deal with saddle fit and I think I am just going to continue to love Big Red! He is super sweet, I am getting to know his personality and he's just a nice horse.
In the mornings when I am preparing their grain mash, he sticks his neck waaaayy out into the isleway and flaps his lips then if he's really impatient, he'll rake his teeth on the stall wall! lol Now Edgar, when he is impatient, he talks to ya and nickers at ya and then he'll grab ahold of the extension cord on the outside of his stall and flip it just enough to let you know he wants to be fed right now! :)
Sunday was basically a lazy day.. well not really I guess, afterall we did brush the boys out and that takes a little elbow work these days with all the dirt they seem to find! I did take my cousin Marc over to meet HotRod, they are considering leasing him for a while to see how it goes. There was supposed to be a late afternoon meeting at our house for the horse club Ladies Ride later this summer, so I spent the afternoon cleaning the house and then mowed the lawn. And as I sat down to relax, the meeting was postponed to another day.. Oh well, my house needed the cleaning anyways! Derek spent the afternoon working on Adam's tractor implement, getting it torn apart so it can be sandblasted.
In the morning on Sunday, I found a dog on Craigslist in Snohomish (my parents have been keeping their eyes open for one) and I thought he looked like what they might want (a small-med size dog), I forwarded the link and a couple hours later dad sends me a pic from his cell phone of the dog! I told him "You better stop over with your new dog!" And they did.. lol The dog doesnt have a name yet, it is about 2 years old is their best guess, the previous owners rescued the dog from a shelter and only had it 3 months, their daughter who begged for a dog decided she didnt like taking care of the dog as much as she wanted to the dog. Anyways, he is a mutt, looks kinda like a scotty type dog crossed with a beagle maybe.. not really sure! My parents didnt like the name his previous owners gave him and he didnt know it anyways, so hopefully in a day or so they'll come up with a good one to fit. He immediately got along with Russell, poor guy was being violated by our dog and he didnt growl once, he just jumped around in a goofy manner and ran around the yard with a big ole smile on his face and tongue hangin out. I hope he and my parents bond well together, he is cute and his temperment seems ideal.
This post is never going to end.. And soon enough I am going to start posting about Derek's new project. He bought this chevy luv truck a couple years ago I think it was and has been slowly searching for parts for it and he's just about got all he needs. He found a bed for it, a motor and a rearend.. so now it's just a matter of getting all the different parts put together. I want to post pics of his progress, I am trying really hard to remember to not only have the camera on me, but to use it!!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Hoorray for Spring!
and longer days.. Well not quite long enough, but getting there minute by minute every day. Daylight savings is this weekend, which is GREAT. It already stays fairly light out til almost 6:30.
Now that I have a horse to ride, there is time to come home after work and get an hour ride around the neighborhood in. Derek & I did that yesterday, it was a nice cold day and I was anxious to ride. Now that Red is home, I just want to ride ride ride.. it's all I think about practically! I am trying to talk Derek into going camping for his birthday weekend over in Easton, but he's not really biting on the idea.
I decided to try Red in a hackamore instead of the english bit he was in. When I was riding him before, he would respond, just not very well at times. When we were going through these big mud patches, when he was in the lead, he wouldnt slow down to look at them, just powered through. Which isn't terrible, but the bit was not giving him any bite to pay attention to me. He seemed to do pretty good in the hackamore.. There is no bit in a hackamore, it is just based off of pressure and although you don't have as much side control, I definately had more whoa control.
After riding him in that, I was happier than the bit, but not 100% satisfied, I think I may try riding him in a halter around the pasture a few times, see if I can get him to comprehend pressure on the nose and get some response there, I think that will make him respond better when I put him back in the hackamore. He didnt throw his head around like he did with the bit and his mouth stays quiet so he focuses on me more.
He seems to be settling in well, which makes me happy. He comes to the barn when he hears me. This morning is the first time I saw any aggressive behavior at feeding time. See the horses enter their stalls right next to eachother. Their doors are side by side and not seperated and then the divider between the stall is open so they can reach across to eachother and this morning he was a little pissy and grumpy, didnt like Edgar so close to him. There was some threats of kicking (although he'd only hit the wall if he tried). Red finally realized if he walked to the other side of the stall where he is fed, Edgar is not too close! :) Silly boys.. I'm glad we have the ability to seperate them.
Oh and some good news about the other animal in our life.. Russell! :) We put him on a GlycoFlex supplement, per Andrea's suggestion because his hips were getting really bad with shaking. Every time he would play for even just a minute or two chasing a ball, his back leg would shake like a twig in the wind... Well he's been on for 5 weeks now and there has been no shaking going on! We've played with him for 20 minutes and he still doesnt shake. I am so happy.. He does still shake his leg when he's outside and gets cold but we are so relieved that it is working, the little buddy is going to be 11 this year!
Now that I have a horse to ride, there is time to come home after work and get an hour ride around the neighborhood in. Derek & I did that yesterday, it was a nice cold day and I was anxious to ride. Now that Red is home, I just want to ride ride ride.. it's all I think about practically! I am trying to talk Derek into going camping for his birthday weekend over in Easton, but he's not really biting on the idea.
I decided to try Red in a hackamore instead of the english bit he was in. When I was riding him before, he would respond, just not very well at times. When we were going through these big mud patches, when he was in the lead, he wouldnt slow down to look at them, just powered through. Which isn't terrible, but the bit was not giving him any bite to pay attention to me. He seemed to do pretty good in the hackamore.. There is no bit in a hackamore, it is just based off of pressure and although you don't have as much side control, I definately had more whoa control.
After riding him in that, I was happier than the bit, but not 100% satisfied, I think I may try riding him in a halter around the pasture a few times, see if I can get him to comprehend pressure on the nose and get some response there, I think that will make him respond better when I put him back in the hackamore. He didnt throw his head around like he did with the bit and his mouth stays quiet so he focuses on me more.
He seems to be settling in well, which makes me happy. He comes to the barn when he hears me. This morning is the first time I saw any aggressive behavior at feeding time. See the horses enter their stalls right next to eachother. Their doors are side by side and not seperated and then the divider between the stall is open so they can reach across to eachother and this morning he was a little pissy and grumpy, didnt like Edgar so close to him. There was some threats of kicking (although he'd only hit the wall if he tried). Red finally realized if he walked to the other side of the stall where he is fed, Edgar is not too close! :) Silly boys.. I'm glad we have the ability to seperate them.
Oh and some good news about the other animal in our life.. Russell! :) We put him on a GlycoFlex supplement, per Andrea's suggestion because his hips were getting really bad with shaking. Every time he would play for even just a minute or two chasing a ball, his back leg would shake like a twig in the wind... Well he's been on for 5 weeks now and there has been no shaking going on! We've played with him for 20 minutes and he still doesnt shake. I am so happy.. He does still shake his leg when he's outside and gets cold but we are so relieved that it is working, the little buddy is going to be 11 this year!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Edgar & The Mariners Moose!
Big Red's nickname is now the Mariners Moose.. goes well with Edgar! :)
The plan for Saturday was to ride the boys at Mann Rd, help Shannon with some video, go to a jewelry party then off to the 4H pre-sale to look for some much needed larger tack... Well on our drive out to meet Gerri, she called and said Red was missing a shoe... grrr Not anyone's fault, just a bummer because that changed everything up.
We picked up Red, then headed to Shannons (she no longer needed video either) and visited with her for a while, wanted to talk to her about Oakley as an offer had been made on him by a 73 yr old woman! She was very impressed, however we were not impressed by the offer especially considering he has not even been listed yet. So we talked it over with Shannon to get her opinion if she felt that was all we could get for him and we all concluded it wouldnt be fair to take the first offer on a horse we havent even put up for sale yet.. She thinks if a 73yr old comes out and doesnt even ride him, is that impressed just watching her ride him bareback in a halter then we should invest a little more time and effort into him and see what happens. If we try for more and it doesnt work out, then so be it.. we get it that times are tough, but we also know times are not tough for everyone out there and he is an awesome horse! Shannon's been taking him out on the trails, he just isnt doing anything wrong and he is gorgeous!!! :) And its not that I'm being greedy, however I only get 1/2 of whats paid, that's the deal we made and we'd like to try to get a bit more in our pocket and would like to see Shannon make a bit more as well. She's got the resources and we've got the time.
So.. back to the weekend... While at Shannons, Derek was able to play on the tractor and drag the indoor and outdoor arena, he loves playing on the farm! I gave Red his shots while there, we then loaded the boys back in the trailer (they'd been standing around for an hour) and headed home. As soon as I got home, I had to unload Edgar and put him in the pasture, and me and the Russ drove up to Arlington to meet the horseshoer so they could put the shoe back on. Just as I pull in the shoer's driveway I get a call from Danielle and she says to me "Who's driveway are you pulling into?" lol I laughed and said "follow me in". She was headed out to see her horse which is just a couple minutes down the road, how funny she was right behind me and I didnt even realize it. She knew it was me when she saw Russell hangin his head out the window.
I followed her to her horse after Red was done so I could see where he was boarded. Stayed there only about 25 minutes, I had to get on the road and head home to get to the jewelry party. I realized while driving home I would literally pull in the driveway the same time my mom was due to pick me up. AND I wouldnt have time to change or even put Red in the field and watch him to be sure he was settling in. It would not be fair of me to leave a brand new horse on the property w/o being home, if something went wrong, Derek would have to deal with it alone. So I had to cancel the jewelry show.. I was bummed, I had wanted to go.
Red of course settled in just fine! It was like he lived there forever, he drank water, went in/out of his stall.. he was content. He did kick Edgar when I was leading him through Edgars side of the pasture. Red stopped to take a bite to eat and Edgar got right up on his butt. I dont think they will have a love/hate relationship, I think in a couple weeks, all will be happy. For now, we keep them seperated just to be sure nothing goes wrong. They trailer GREAT together and we can tie them right next to eachother; they both could care less.
While Derek worked on one outdoor chore, I decided to prune some of the VERY low hanging branches on the apple tree.. I cut anything off big or small that was eye level or lower to the horses, Red was oblivious to all the falling branches around him.
Angela picked me up at 7 and we headed to the 4H tack sale, I did not find any cinches and there were LOTS to look through, just nothing big enough.. found a really nice blanket and a nice fly sheet, but people wanted $100 each for them.. I can buy them new for less than that. I did find a pad for Derek and a $2 rusty feeder I will use for the goats, which is perfect! :) So I left content, wish I had found other useful items, guess I'll have to buy brand new.
Sunday we woke early and loaded the boys up, headed to Lk Cassidy to meet Barbara V to ride the Centennial. Got in a solid 2 hour ride, Red did good. I am not 100% happy with his bit, he doesnt have a lot of stop with it, I might try to switch him up a little and see if I can find something he responds better in. He was a little lazy and tripped a lot, nothing like going down tripping and he got grumpy once again for the last half of the ride at the other horses and did a lot of ear pinning. I dont know if he is the kicking type, so I am going to be cautious about it.. I definately make him pay attention to me when he gets pissy, and I dont let him get cranky, maybe he'll learn to get over it over time.
As soon as we got home, we started up a fire and FINALLY got ALL the scrap wood burned!!! YEAH.. I was SOOO happy and excited about cleaning up that big mess by the shed, it was a terrible eye sore! We spent quite a few hours with the fire, I drug those cut branches to the fire as well and got all but the 2 biggest (undraggable branches) burned.. Just minutes after I had put all the branches on the fire, it started to rain, what perfect timing! Felt like a very accomplished weekend..
I am bummed that in about 2 weeks we'll be moving the horses to summer pasture.. I will greatly miss having them around. But it will give us a chance to get our pastures done, I hope everything works out and the pastures are flattened out like we hope it should work. 12-18 months of keeping the boys off, its going to be tough to start over.
I would have posted some great pics for ya, but I forgot my camera at work! It is supposed to rain ALL week.. we have our annual Cinnamon Roll Ride this coming weekend, I'd really like to see it clear up for Saturday, the trails will be wet and slick AND there is the slight threat of snow this week as well.. should be interesting.
The plan for Saturday was to ride the boys at Mann Rd, help Shannon with some video, go to a jewelry party then off to the 4H pre-sale to look for some much needed larger tack... Well on our drive out to meet Gerri, she called and said Red was missing a shoe... grrr Not anyone's fault, just a bummer because that changed everything up.
We picked up Red, then headed to Shannons (she no longer needed video either) and visited with her for a while, wanted to talk to her about Oakley as an offer had been made on him by a 73 yr old woman! She was very impressed, however we were not impressed by the offer especially considering he has not even been listed yet. So we talked it over with Shannon to get her opinion if she felt that was all we could get for him and we all concluded it wouldnt be fair to take the first offer on a horse we havent even put up for sale yet.. She thinks if a 73yr old comes out and doesnt even ride him, is that impressed just watching her ride him bareback in a halter then we should invest a little more time and effort into him and see what happens. If we try for more and it doesnt work out, then so be it.. we get it that times are tough, but we also know times are not tough for everyone out there and he is an awesome horse! Shannon's been taking him out on the trails, he just isnt doing anything wrong and he is gorgeous!!! :) And its not that I'm being greedy, however I only get 1/2 of whats paid, that's the deal we made and we'd like to try to get a bit more in our pocket and would like to see Shannon make a bit more as well. She's got the resources and we've got the time.
So.. back to the weekend... While at Shannons, Derek was able to play on the tractor and drag the indoor and outdoor arena, he loves playing on the farm! I gave Red his shots while there, we then loaded the boys back in the trailer (they'd been standing around for an hour) and headed home. As soon as I got home, I had to unload Edgar and put him in the pasture, and me and the Russ drove up to Arlington to meet the horseshoer so they could put the shoe back on. Just as I pull in the shoer's driveway I get a call from Danielle and she says to me "Who's driveway are you pulling into?" lol I laughed and said "follow me in". She was headed out to see her horse which is just a couple minutes down the road, how funny she was right behind me and I didnt even realize it. She knew it was me when she saw Russell hangin his head out the window.
I followed her to her horse after Red was done so I could see where he was boarded. Stayed there only about 25 minutes, I had to get on the road and head home to get to the jewelry party. I realized while driving home I would literally pull in the driveway the same time my mom was due to pick me up. AND I wouldnt have time to change or even put Red in the field and watch him to be sure he was settling in. It would not be fair of me to leave a brand new horse on the property w/o being home, if something went wrong, Derek would have to deal with it alone. So I had to cancel the jewelry show.. I was bummed, I had wanted to go.
Red of course settled in just fine! It was like he lived there forever, he drank water, went in/out of his stall.. he was content. He did kick Edgar when I was leading him through Edgars side of the pasture. Red stopped to take a bite to eat and Edgar got right up on his butt. I dont think they will have a love/hate relationship, I think in a couple weeks, all will be happy. For now, we keep them seperated just to be sure nothing goes wrong. They trailer GREAT together and we can tie them right next to eachother; they both could care less.
While Derek worked on one outdoor chore, I decided to prune some of the VERY low hanging branches on the apple tree.. I cut anything off big or small that was eye level or lower to the horses, Red was oblivious to all the falling branches around him.
Angela picked me up at 7 and we headed to the 4H tack sale, I did not find any cinches and there were LOTS to look through, just nothing big enough.. found a really nice blanket and a nice fly sheet, but people wanted $100 each for them.. I can buy them new for less than that. I did find a pad for Derek and a $2 rusty feeder I will use for the goats, which is perfect! :) So I left content, wish I had found other useful items, guess I'll have to buy brand new.
Sunday we woke early and loaded the boys up, headed to Lk Cassidy to meet Barbara V to ride the Centennial. Got in a solid 2 hour ride, Red did good. I am not 100% happy with his bit, he doesnt have a lot of stop with it, I might try to switch him up a little and see if I can find something he responds better in. He was a little lazy and tripped a lot, nothing like going down tripping and he got grumpy once again for the last half of the ride at the other horses and did a lot of ear pinning. I dont know if he is the kicking type, so I am going to be cautious about it.. I definately make him pay attention to me when he gets pissy, and I dont let him get cranky, maybe he'll learn to get over it over time.
As soon as we got home, we started up a fire and FINALLY got ALL the scrap wood burned!!! YEAH.. I was SOOO happy and excited about cleaning up that big mess by the shed, it was a terrible eye sore! We spent quite a few hours with the fire, I drug those cut branches to the fire as well and got all but the 2 biggest (undraggable branches) burned.. Just minutes after I had put all the branches on the fire, it started to rain, what perfect timing! Felt like a very accomplished weekend..
I am bummed that in about 2 weeks we'll be moving the horses to summer pasture.. I will greatly miss having them around. But it will give us a chance to get our pastures done, I hope everything works out and the pastures are flattened out like we hope it should work. 12-18 months of keeping the boys off, its going to be tough to start over.
I would have posted some great pics for ya, but I forgot my camera at work! It is supposed to rain ALL week.. we have our annual Cinnamon Roll Ride this coming weekend, I'd really like to see it clear up for Saturday, the trails will be wet and slick AND there is the slight threat of snow this week as well.. should be interesting.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Driving from the Law..
Yesterday I was on my way home from work, just meandering home.. I don't think I was speeding much. Anways, I am about 2/3 along on Dubuque Cut-off Rd to my next turn and I look back in the rearview and I see a police car WAY back there with his lights on and noone between him/me. I think.. Shit! Was I speeding, was I not speeding.. Hmm, is he after me?? So I realize at this point that I have crested a slight hump in the road so he cant see me and I made the decision to speed up.. If only I can get away from him and in my driveway, he'll never see me again!
As I turn onto 44th, I dont see him behind me but I'm still worried so I continue on 44th at a faster than normal speed.. As I round the last corner to my house, I see he was just starting his turn onto 44th and his lights just shut off.. OH CRAP! So I really sped up because I only had a few seconds lead on the guy.. I rush down the road, FLY into my driveway, park the truck, jump out, and just as I'm opening the door to the house, he drives by.. whew! I made it.. My heart was racing, I dont know if he was after "me" but it sure felt like it.. lol
Probably NOT the smartest thing to do, in driving hella-fast to get in my driveway before he saw me, I would say it was definately not a shining moment in my life.. lol But I just panicked and it was so incredibly dumb to even think he was after me, he was sooo far back when I first saw his flashing lights, but he gained quick. I can only assume there must have been a call in our neighborhood and in reality I'm sure he was not after me...
As I turn onto 44th, I dont see him behind me but I'm still worried so I continue on 44th at a faster than normal speed.. As I round the last corner to my house, I see he was just starting his turn onto 44th and his lights just shut off.. OH CRAP! So I really sped up because I only had a few seconds lead on the guy.. I rush down the road, FLY into my driveway, park the truck, jump out, and just as I'm opening the door to the house, he drives by.. whew! I made it.. My heart was racing, I dont know if he was after "me" but it sure felt like it.. lol
Probably NOT the smartest thing to do, in driving hella-fast to get in my driveway before he saw me, I would say it was definately not a shining moment in my life.. lol But I just panicked and it was so incredibly dumb to even think he was after me, he was sooo far back when I first saw his flashing lights, but he gained quick. I can only assume there must have been a call in our neighborhood and in reality I'm sure he was not after me...
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Feeling Guilty
The more I think about calling Big Red "goofy" the more I feel bad about that. I have always had this preconceived notion in my head what the perfect horse looks like and I strive to always find that in the next horse I buy. But I wasnt "looking" for Red, he just came along at the right time and he's the right horse for me, right now! :) I am trying really hard to get over in my head the idea of what my perfect horse looks like because looks don't matter, disposition and experience is what is important. I need a horse I can get on and go anytime that is going to be a rock solid trail horse. A good companion for me, Derek & Edgar. Derek is riding the horse he should be and I need a nice horse to ride along happily down the trail because that is the focus right now, Derek & I just getting out and having fun riding together. We now have 2 horses we can do that with, no matter what breed Big Red is.
And the more I look at his pic, the more I realize I am the goofy one for allowing myself to be concerned with how he looks because it doesnt matter what anyone else thinks anyways, it only matters that I think I am going to love this horse and he's gonna be my big 'ole pal that I will learn to trust 100%. I am now open to accepting that he is not a Quarter Horse and I'm okay with that!
And the more I look at his pic, the more I realize I am the goofy one for allowing myself to be concerned with how he looks because it doesnt matter what anyone else thinks anyways, it only matters that I think I am going to love this horse and he's gonna be my big 'ole pal that I will learn to trust 100%. I am now open to accepting that he is not a Quarter Horse and I'm okay with that!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Big Red
This is Big Red! We were slightly rushed before the ride so I didnt get a chance to take pics when he was clean.. so this is the best you get for now. We hauled up to Mann Rd to ride, went out with his Owner Gerri (who is pictured with Red) and then Shannon (who is training/selling Oakley, actually she rode Oakley on the trails that day) and then Shannon's son and 3 of her friends came along. A good size group and Red was not a bit worked up.. he was cool and collected, you would not have known he'd only been ridden a handful of times in 2 years by the way he acted. He has a nice walk on him, he'll po-dunk down the trail when he's in the back, but he also will walk out very well and keeps up nicely.
His only issue was that he got a little grumpy at the end of the ride towards the other horses, but I'm not at all worried about it. :) He didnt threaten to kick or anything, just pinned his ears. He loads up in the trailer well and I'm excited to get him home this weekend. If the weather is good, we'll ride again at Mann Rd on Saturday, take some video of Oakley while we are out there, help Shannon video Oakley at the arena as well, along with some of her other horses she is selling and then bring Red home at the end of the day. Gerri is such a nice person, I am glad I met her and I hope she is as happy about this as I am. I think so.. I told her if she was at all uneasy with me, she could change her mind, but Red and I got along really well and although I had to spank him a couple times to remind him he had to walk through the mud and not around it, Gerri completely understood and encouraged me to make him mind! :)
It was funny though.. I have to tell this story. So Friday night we had a social gathering with some horse club members at Alene & Jon's house.. It was movie night, we watched Flicka and even though it is mainly a chick-flick, we all made it fun enough that the guys enjoyed it too! Anyways, so I had emailed Arlene and a few others earlier in the week to see if anyone was up for riding with us on Saturday. I didnt hear back from anyone that could make it on Saturday which was no biggy, we ended up with a good size group as it was. Arlene had asked about Red and I had mentioned he was a very nice horse, but that he was a little goofy lookin! No offense to Big Red or Gerri, but he's got very long legs, a half-eaten tail, thick arched neck and a huge head, so sometimes he kinda looks like a moose! lol
See I'm used to a Quarter Horse type look.. this standardbred thing is all new to me and I love my classic Quarter Horses.. so to me, he looks a little different than what I am used to. Now under saddle, he looks different and his oddities do not stand out so much. So anyways, the point of the story is.. We were riding along, only about 15 minutes into our ride and I am at the back of the line on the trail. Up ahead I can hear that we've run across riders heading towards us and as they are getting off the trail, I can hear Arlene's voice up ahead.
So Shannon and her friends and son are all ahead of me, then there was Gerri (Red's owner) then me and then Derek taking up the rear. I speak out and say "What are you too good to ride with me Arlene!" I was just teasing, I thought it was great that we ran across her and Jon and Sara Jane. What was funny is that as she is off to the side watching me pass, she says out rather loudly "Oh Piper, he's not goofy looking at all!!!" OMG, I was so embarassed, here his owner just heard that and I was backpeddling just a little.. I didnt want Gerri to think I thought her horse was ugly or I didnt like him.. lol
Gerri made a comment that he was not the most elegant looking of horses, or something like that.. and we just moved on and I tried to change the subject. I wasnt upset with Arlene, and although I was really embarassed, I thought it was pretty funny. :)
I was going to take Edgar out on Sunday and ride with Danielle, but she couldnt get out to ride and Derek & I were both a little sore from riding the day before. Not my legs or butt, but my back was really stiff.. takes a while for my back to get into the swing of things again. We took a lazy day and stayed home. Actually I had loaded this game on our laptop that I had played/finished at work. I thought Derek might enjoy it, and 4 hours later he looks up and is like.. "damn, its almost 4pm already!" I just laughed at him.. a few hours later he got back on the computer and finished the game. He's not normally a computer buff like that, but it was a good game that kept you intrigued from start to finish.
I am so excited to get Red home.... :) OH and Shannon has a tractor with a grader type implement on the back of it, she said we could borrow it to level out our pasture this spring, and while we have it, Derek will spend one day working on the pasture and then 2 days repainting it for her as a thank you.. so I am excited that we have a means to redo the pasture, but the bummer is that means 1 more year of keeping the horses completely off it. We will wait until we move the horses to their summer pasture (which should be by April) and then we'll level the fields and install the permanent fencing...
The Olympics just finished up yesterday.. I've never really sat and watched them much, but I did discover the ONLY way to watch them is to record ALL of the airing episodes and then fast forward through 90% of it! It was awesome, I was able to watch what I wanted and skip the rest. The frustrating thing about the Olympics is sometimes random events are just thrown in here/there, so if you dont record it all, you might just miss it. I can't wait til the summer ones come in 2012 so I can finally for the first time ever, catch all the horse events! :)
Monday, February 22, 2010
Forgot
I forgot to mention in my below post that our good friends George & Rachel had their baby Saturday morning around 3am, little miss Emily Ray Millington! Here she is with her big sister Samantha and then proud pappy George. I cant wait to see her in person.. :)Also, this past weekend (Fri night actually) I found a craigslist "deal" and bought over 70 yards of fabric (worth atleast $600) but I got it all for $125. There are about 30 different patterns, wide variety. It is great stuff to use down the road for projects and quilts and whatever else I may come up with to make. I have decided too that I want to make a denim and flannel quilt for our spare bed, that will be quite the project but I'm looking forward to doing it down the road. So if you or you know anyone that is throwing out old denim jeans, I'll take them!
Mowing in February??
Since when have you had to mow your lawn in February in the state of WA??? :) Well that's one of the things I did this weekend.. the grass is really starting to sprout with all this 55+ weather we've been having for over a week now. It was a last minute decision, but it sure looks nice, I just cannot get over that it is only February... 
This past weekend was dedicated to fixing the floor in the horse trailer. We had been planning this for a few weeks, as it was the first free weekend Derek has had in a long time! We could feel that the back end of some of the trailer boards were getting very weak and with hauling 2 BIG horses, we feared a leg would go through, so we got to work, invited my dad over to supervise and got this project conquered! :)
You can see in the above pic how the boards look rotted. We initially thought it was just a few boards but after pulling the mats up, we realized the entire back edge there was very weak and the whole floor would need replacing, not just a couple boards.
Since the front section of the floor was in great shape still, we (well I should stop saying we because Derek and my dad made the executive decisions! lol) anyways, it was decided that we (oh the hell with it, it's just easier to say we) we cut about 2/3 of the floor out, leaving the top section alone.
Then the guys started pulling up all the screws to get the rotted boards out. The good thing is that most of the boards are still 100% okay, so if we cut about a foot off the rotted end, we'll have some decent 7 foot boards to use for other projects.
After the boards were out, the guys took the trailer to Marysville and welded in a new support brace up at the front so that there would be sometime to screw the new boards into. By the time the guys got back from buying the wood and welding in a new brace, we had just enough time to cut the floor boards and get them in the trailer. Derek and I finished up screwing in the boards on Sunday afternoon, the new floor looks so nice! Yeah, too bad I got preoccupied mowing the yard and riding my horse (I mean Derek's horse!) that I didnt get a chance to take pics of the fnished project, but I'm sure you can imagine what 10 2x8's layed out on a trailer floor look like! lol
The project really only cost $85 for the wood and then $25 for the screws.. Not too bad and I feel SOOO much relief now that I know it will support the horses completely again. After the trailer was done, I mowed the lawn and Derek started working on cleaning up the boat from his camping trip last month. It was still full of muck. I had just enough daylight to squeeze in a 45 minute ride on Edgar, I got back in the driveway at 5:30, with maybe only 10-15 minutes to spare on it not being too dusk to be out riding down the road.
We also bought last week a pressure washer, a much needed tool for our property, so Saturday I was able to wash the trailer mats and also the front walkway which had a slight green hue to it! :) The next nice weekend we get, we need to clean the deck and wash it as there is more of that green growing on it as well. It was a very productive weekend and i'm looking forward to hopefully more nice weather down the road because it feels great to get shit done around the place! lol
Thursday we get shoes put on Big Red and either Sat or Sun we'll take him out for a trailride.. looking forward to it! And I know Derek is excited to get back on Edgar, they are just a great fit for eachother and I'm so happy that things are working out..
Friday, February 12, 2010
Here are a couple pics
Here are a couple pics.. Finally
JoJo when I babysat him a few months ago, he enjoyed petting Scout
Miss Scout snuggled up to Russell as she usually did to keep warm
Here's the blankie I made for George & Rachel's baby that is due in a few weeks! My very first blanket ever, I think I did a great job and it was soooo soft. I wanted to keep it but it was obviously a baby blanket so it would have been weird to have it laying around the house, people might ask questions! lol
JoJo when I babysat him a few months ago, he enjoyed petting Scout
Miss Scout snuggled up to Russell as she usually did to keep warm
Here's the blankie I made for George & Rachel's baby that is due in a few weeks! My very first blanket ever, I think I did a great job and it was soooo soft. I wanted to keep it but it was obviously a baby blanket so it would have been weird to have it laying around the house, people might ask questions! lol
Time for another post..
I'm told I am not on here enough! :) Sorry to my followers.. I always feel bad just blah blahing about the boring parts of our lives right now. Not that life is overly boring, just nothing exciting going on.. No softball injuries to post, I havent come off any horses lately (knock knock on wood).. no critters dying (Thank Goodness!!)
So life is in a lull for now. I did think about posting those pics.. that's as far as it got as you can tell. I will do my best (I know blah blah same story I always say) to remember to do that tonight. I really need to get in the hang of bringing my camera with me to places and start taking pics of the things happening..
for instance, Big Red! I mean, duh! I was just out there a week ago, it was a beautiful Saturday day with the sun shining and I forget to bring the camera to introduce you all to him. I rode him briefly last Friday night in the arena, then Saturday we hauled Edgar up to the arena so Derek could ride while I rode Red. We rode in the arena a while then out in a big field. Got 1.5 hours in, but a lot of that was just sitting on the horses and chatting. Red hasnt been worked much in 2 years, so he was a bit spooky. He was nice to ride, I wasnt 100% relaxed on him since he was acting a little skittish. He is as round as a barrel, so my saddle doesnt sit firmly on him, it wobbles a bit which made me a little uneasy as well. I think my saddle fits him well, he's just so darn round! :) I might have to invest in a nice pad to help stabilize my saddle.
So we filed our taxes on Jan 31st, which was a Sunday. I did them myself online, it was much easier than I thought it would be and it only cost me $30! Well we had our refund in our bank just 5 days later on Friday! Amazing... Most of the refund will be used to pay for our property taxes, bummer. But atleast we got a refund large enough to cover them darn taxes.
Now that the panel truck will be done this weekend, we plan to focus on riding. The following weekend we have to fix the floor in the horse trailer, there are some weak boards that need replacing before we can haul 2 huge horses in it! Once that is done, the weekend after that we will take Edgar and Big Red out on a trail ride. The trail ride will really tell me how much I like Red and then most likely after that ride I will bring him home. He's a nice horse and will most likely work out great for what we are wanting right now. I'm sure in time I will really grow to love the horse, the more I can ride him and get to bond with him. He's big though, I never imagined I would look down on Edgar!
Oh and quickly on the dog issue, the breeder in OR, we are not going with them because they breed for smaller Boykins. The breeder in WA we were 90% sure we wanted to go with and would have pups in July ready to take home, well we opted not to go with her either. She is a very nice person, but her dog is not hip certified and the male (owned by Jim) she was going to breed to scored low on the hip test for us to be comfortable with. Now Jim, I've been talking to him a lot, he is in Eatonville and owns the male I was just talking about, however he has a female with a good hip score and he was thinking on breeding her to Earl (dog) down in OR that is very well trained, a great gun dog.
I dont know if this link will work, but here goes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woLZRv3hfuc
If you click on that link or copy/paste it, you have to fast forward to 2:30 and you will see a little brown dog do a retrieve.. very cute dog! That is Earl! So if Jim breeds his female to Earl, he wants us to have pick of the litter.. EXCITING. The only bummer is that he is not breeding until the fall, so we are looking at getting a Thanksgiving pup. Which we cannot be too dissappointed, with these breeds, you sometimes have to wait a while for the right dog. So for now, we are waiting to hear from Jim, he wants to talk with Earl's owner and confirm plans etc.. But for now we are keeping the fingers crossed because we feel this could be a great dog. If you want to see cute Boykins, try some of these links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-fqMeNR8sk (this one is hilarious!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7zAA7DfPi0&feature=related (this is is short but very cute)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDjSBpREPnQ&feature=related (dirty dog!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGgShEjwwZQ&NR=1 (one last cute one of 8 weeks pups)
So life is in a lull for now. I did think about posting those pics.. that's as far as it got as you can tell. I will do my best (I know blah blah same story I always say) to remember to do that tonight. I really need to get in the hang of bringing my camera with me to places and start taking pics of the things happening..
for instance, Big Red! I mean, duh! I was just out there a week ago, it was a beautiful Saturday day with the sun shining and I forget to bring the camera to introduce you all to him. I rode him briefly last Friday night in the arena, then Saturday we hauled Edgar up to the arena so Derek could ride while I rode Red. We rode in the arena a while then out in a big field. Got 1.5 hours in, but a lot of that was just sitting on the horses and chatting. Red hasnt been worked much in 2 years, so he was a bit spooky. He was nice to ride, I wasnt 100% relaxed on him since he was acting a little skittish. He is as round as a barrel, so my saddle doesnt sit firmly on him, it wobbles a bit which made me a little uneasy as well. I think my saddle fits him well, he's just so darn round! :) I might have to invest in a nice pad to help stabilize my saddle.
So we filed our taxes on Jan 31st, which was a Sunday. I did them myself online, it was much easier than I thought it would be and it only cost me $30! Well we had our refund in our bank just 5 days later on Friday! Amazing... Most of the refund will be used to pay for our property taxes, bummer. But atleast we got a refund large enough to cover them darn taxes.
Now that the panel truck will be done this weekend, we plan to focus on riding. The following weekend we have to fix the floor in the horse trailer, there are some weak boards that need replacing before we can haul 2 huge horses in it! Once that is done, the weekend after that we will take Edgar and Big Red out on a trail ride. The trail ride will really tell me how much I like Red and then most likely after that ride I will bring him home. He's a nice horse and will most likely work out great for what we are wanting right now. I'm sure in time I will really grow to love the horse, the more I can ride him and get to bond with him. He's big though, I never imagined I would look down on Edgar!
Oh and quickly on the dog issue, the breeder in OR, we are not going with them because they breed for smaller Boykins. The breeder in WA we were 90% sure we wanted to go with and would have pups in July ready to take home, well we opted not to go with her either. She is a very nice person, but her dog is not hip certified and the male (owned by Jim) she was going to breed to scored low on the hip test for us to be comfortable with. Now Jim, I've been talking to him a lot, he is in Eatonville and owns the male I was just talking about, however he has a female with a good hip score and he was thinking on breeding her to Earl (dog) down in OR that is very well trained, a great gun dog.
I dont know if this link will work, but here goes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woLZRv3hfuc
If you click on that link or copy/paste it, you have to fast forward to 2:30 and you will see a little brown dog do a retrieve.. very cute dog! That is Earl! So if Jim breeds his female to Earl, he wants us to have pick of the litter.. EXCITING. The only bummer is that he is not breeding until the fall, so we are looking at getting a Thanksgiving pup. Which we cannot be too dissappointed, with these breeds, you sometimes have to wait a while for the right dog. So for now, we are waiting to hear from Jim, he wants to talk with Earl's owner and confirm plans etc.. But for now we are keeping the fingers crossed because we feel this could be a great dog. If you want to see cute Boykins, try some of these links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-fqMeNR8sk (this one is hilarious!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7zAA7DfPi0&feature=related (this is is short but very cute)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDjSBpREPnQ&feature=related (dirty dog!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGgShEjwwZQ&NR=1 (one last cute one of 8 weeks pups)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Something to look forward to...
Derek and I have decided that maybe for our 20yr anniversary, we will renew our vows.. and it is right around the corner... Damn are we getting old or what!! :) This year will be 14 years, so only 6 more to go AND we thought maybe we would do it in Hawaii on the beach or something... We've never been and although it would be nice to go between now/then, if we dont get a chance then our first trip to the tropical land will be for a much needed vacation and to revow the next 20 years. I think it would be cool to renew every 20 years.. so that's my plan!
No.. we do not have a 2nd dog yet! hehe We did settle on a Boykin Spaniel, well not settling as in a bad thing, we just came to the decision that this breed is the breed for us. We've (okay I've) been talking with some breeders online, trainers etc.. trying to figure out who we want to buy a dog from etc. I did find a couple WA breeders, one will have pups ready mid July.. another guy in OR will have pups this summer as well, he already has 8 people on the pre-paid waiting list! We are excited and I think Russell will be happy too.
He's been pretty funny, we now take him almost everywhere.. He went to the board mtg with us, but he did stay in the truck since it was at a restaurant. He enjoys hangin in the truck, we bought him a bed thing that sits between us in the front of the cab, he's happy as a clam.
Derek's job has been stable so far, which is great news! He's almost done with that panel truck project we've had in the shop for many months.. okay not almost done but almost done with phase 1.. lol But when this phase is done, Harry will take the truck home, get it put back together and drive it a while with primer on it, eventually it will find it's way back into the shop for its real paintjob.
The both of us are so ready to start riding again! Its been basically 3 months since we rode last, this weekend I am going to ride Big Red. The owner, Gerri, she calls him Red or Red Horse.. I like calling him Big Red, even though he's not red in color at all, I'll have to ask her how he got his name. But he's big and I'm super excited about getting him home eventually.
Oh and I finished that blanket I was working on, I didnt post much info about it on here since I was not sure if the friend I made it for would be reading up, but it turned out so good! Not to brag at all, but I just wanted to keep it.. it was so soft and pretty.. lol I did take pics and when I get home will try to remember to login and repost with pics.. I was proud of myself for doing a pretty darn good job on it, but I do think I am retaining a slight kink in my neck from handsewing for 4 hours on the edging piece that had to be hand sewn! I wake up a tiny bit stiff in the neck and I now realize it is a sewing hangover. lol
Oh and I had this crazy dream the other night, Derek was drilling screws into my eyelids, stomach and toes! He was pushing really hard on the drill, apparently I have tough bones.. I wasnt upset or scared and he wasnt angry, but I did walk funny with screws in my toes... lol I cant remember why he was doing it in my dream, my coworker says I must feel like I'm getting screwed over in my life somehow but I dont think I feel that way about anyone.. it was just weird and I had to post cuz I found it funny as well, very random!
Oh and one last thing before I sign off for another week.. Oh wait I have to sign back in later to post some pics! :) This movie has been out in the theatres for quite a while actually and I really had NO interest in seeing it.. Avatar! The previews didnt seem very appealing, something about sci-fi and weird creatures and battle scenes.. But then I just kept hearing over and over again that it was amazing and that seeing it in 3D was the ONLY way to see the movie. Well I decided that I better go check it out and take advantage of seeing it in 3D on the big screen and was I not one tiny bit sorry I did! Derek and I came out of this almost 3 hour movie just feeling in awww.. there were parts of that movie that were so magical and fairytale-like, but not dumb fairytale. Even Derek wanted to be in Avatar land.. it was mystical and magnificent and beautiful at times with a great story. The colors were amazing, I was just blown away with how much I truly loved that movie and many times had wished I could transport myself there. It made me feel like I was in heaven at times and I imagined that that is what heaven would be like when I get to go and see Carrie. Sounds dumb maybe to others, but the magic tree and the water they swam in and how the tree branches lit up as they ran across them.. that is what I want my heaven to look like.
No.. we do not have a 2nd dog yet! hehe We did settle on a Boykin Spaniel, well not settling as in a bad thing, we just came to the decision that this breed is the breed for us. We've (okay I've) been talking with some breeders online, trainers etc.. trying to figure out who we want to buy a dog from etc. I did find a couple WA breeders, one will have pups ready mid July.. another guy in OR will have pups this summer as well, he already has 8 people on the pre-paid waiting list! We are excited and I think Russell will be happy too.
He's been pretty funny, we now take him almost everywhere.. He went to the board mtg with us, but he did stay in the truck since it was at a restaurant. He enjoys hangin in the truck, we bought him a bed thing that sits between us in the front of the cab, he's happy as a clam.
Derek's job has been stable so far, which is great news! He's almost done with that panel truck project we've had in the shop for many months.. okay not almost done but almost done with phase 1.. lol But when this phase is done, Harry will take the truck home, get it put back together and drive it a while with primer on it, eventually it will find it's way back into the shop for its real paintjob.
The both of us are so ready to start riding again! Its been basically 3 months since we rode last, this weekend I am going to ride Big Red. The owner, Gerri, she calls him Red or Red Horse.. I like calling him Big Red, even though he's not red in color at all, I'll have to ask her how he got his name. But he's big and I'm super excited about getting him home eventually.
Oh and I finished that blanket I was working on, I didnt post much info about it on here since I was not sure if the friend I made it for would be reading up, but it turned out so good! Not to brag at all, but I just wanted to keep it.. it was so soft and pretty.. lol I did take pics and when I get home will try to remember to login and repost with pics.. I was proud of myself for doing a pretty darn good job on it, but I do think I am retaining a slight kink in my neck from handsewing for 4 hours on the edging piece that had to be hand sewn! I wake up a tiny bit stiff in the neck and I now realize it is a sewing hangover. lol
Oh and I had this crazy dream the other night, Derek was drilling screws into my eyelids, stomach and toes! He was pushing really hard on the drill, apparently I have tough bones.. I wasnt upset or scared and he wasnt angry, but I did walk funny with screws in my toes... lol I cant remember why he was doing it in my dream, my coworker says I must feel like I'm getting screwed over in my life somehow but I dont think I feel that way about anyone.. it was just weird and I had to post cuz I found it funny as well, very random!
Oh and one last thing before I sign off for another week.. Oh wait I have to sign back in later to post some pics! :) This movie has been out in the theatres for quite a while actually and I really had NO interest in seeing it.. Avatar! The previews didnt seem very appealing, something about sci-fi and weird creatures and battle scenes.. But then I just kept hearing over and over again that it was amazing and that seeing it in 3D was the ONLY way to see the movie. Well I decided that I better go check it out and take advantage of seeing it in 3D on the big screen and was I not one tiny bit sorry I did! Derek and I came out of this almost 3 hour movie just feeling in awww.. there were parts of that movie that were so magical and fairytale-like, but not dumb fairytale. Even Derek wanted to be in Avatar land.. it was mystical and magnificent and beautiful at times with a great story. The colors were amazing, I was just blown away with how much I truly loved that movie and many times had wished I could transport myself there. It made me feel like I was in heaven at times and I imagined that that is what heaven would be like when I get to go and see Carrie. Sounds dumb maybe to others, but the magic tree and the water they swam in and how the tree branches lit up as they ran across them.. that is what I want my heaven to look like.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
I spoke too soon..
We are still considering a hunting dog, however we are now considering other breeds of dogs and not just the Brittany. Although we really like the Brittany, we are not 100% sure yet that they are the best water dog, we are getting mixed reviews on that issue. So we are also considering the Boykin Spaniel, sounds funny when you say it to fast! :) It is tough though because the part that sucks about this breed is that of ALL the breeders I have found, I have not found one West of probably MO! All the breeders are back east so if we go with this breed we would either have to buy a pup sight unseen or we'd have to fly back ourselves to see them in person.
This is going to be quite the task to find the right breeder, the right dog etc.. It's not as easy as just finding a breeder and picking the cutest one like we did when we bought our little Jack Russell puppies! :) When trying to deteremine if the dog will be the best hunting partner possible, its a little more complicated than picking the cutest one..
Here's a pic of a 12 week old puppy from a breeders site.. AHHH
This is going to be quite the task to find the right breeder, the right dog etc.. It's not as easy as just finding a breeder and picking the cutest one like we did when we bought our little Jack Russell puppies! :) When trying to deteremine if the dog will be the best hunting partner possible, its a little more complicated than picking the cutest one..
Here's a pic of a 12 week old puppy from a breeders site.. AHHH
Thursday, January 21, 2010
We've made a decision...
For a long time, Derek has wanted a hunting dog. We've talked about it off/on over the years and we've just not been ready to take that leap and committment to that type of dog. For a while, he had wanted a German Short-Haired Pointer (very beautiful dogs) but they are not typically a water dog, so retrieving ducks on the pond would not be it's strong point. So he gave up on that idea and decided a chocolate lab was the type of dog he wanted. Of all the labs, chocolates I have to say are much prettier dogs than the black or yellow but I've never been a big lab fan. Eric has a chocolate lab (Hudson) and he is a great dog, but I just still wasnt keen on the idea for ourselves.
Now that we've decided our next dog will be a hunting dog, we've reopened the idea to maybe a different breed and I discovered that the Brittany is a great option. They typically are a little smaller than a lab and can work as a pointer and water retriever, and they are beautiful dogs! :) So we are pretty certain that this breed will be our next dog.. Now the question is, How long til we wait to get another dog? We'd like to get through the summer with just Russell, but it's gonna be tough I have to admit. Maybe as the weeks go on, Russell will stop howling and realize just how spoiled rotten he is being treated right now!!! I mean the dog sleeps with us every night! ;)
Now that we've decided our next dog will be a hunting dog, we've reopened the idea to maybe a different breed and I discovered that the Brittany is a great option. They typically are a little smaller than a lab and can work as a pointer and water retriever, and they are beautiful dogs! :) So we are pretty certain that this breed will be our next dog.. Now the question is, How long til we wait to get another dog? We'd like to get through the summer with just Russell, but it's gonna be tough I have to admit. Maybe as the weeks go on, Russell will stop howling and realize just how spoiled rotten he is being treated right now!!! I mean the dog sleeps with us every night! ;)
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Russell, Russell, Russell
The poor guy is making me feel awfully sorry for him! I came home the other day from work and as I stood outside the front door, I could hear him in the house howling :( Which is something he just never does... I felt so sad for him, he was sitting up on the back of my recliner chair, his new found favorite spot to be. He about broke my heart when I heard him crying in the house all by himself. Last night as we packed up the camper for Derek's hunting trip this weekend, he sat in the house howling! ;(
When he does things like that it makes me want another dog to keep him company, I think the guy is lonely and sad during the day when we are gone, but then a bigger part of me enjoys the idea of having just the one dog so we can take him everywhere we go, he'll get to go horse camping with us and run errands etc... With 2 dogs, its double the hassle but manageable with just him. So it is a dilema in trying to figure out what is the right thing to do. We have talked a lot about our next dog being a hunting dog, which we are not quite ready for and in the meantime poor little Russell has to suffer, thats what my thoughts are telling me anyways. Maybe he is a happy little dog, but maybe he's not happy and misses having a friend around.
The other night we went out with the cousins to Red Robin and then the bull riding in Monroe, had a great time! There were 9 at dinner and 13 to watch the bulls.. When we got home, Russell was in the driveway!!! Scared the crap out of us to pull in the drive and see him wandering around... He was pretty wet so he'd been out a while, but we'd been gone for hours so not sure exactly how long he was out for and where he may or may not have gone. It just scared me so bad that 2 weeks after loosing Scout, here Russell is out wandering alone and who knows if he was in the street or not... The front gate can be tricky and if you dont push it closed, it sometimes pops off the latch if you just swing it closed and walk away.. we think one of us didnt pay attention or a visitor came while we were gone and didnt shut it properly. We now have a spring to put on the gate so it doesnt happen again.
When he does things like that it makes me want another dog to keep him company, I think the guy is lonely and sad during the day when we are gone, but then a bigger part of me enjoys the idea of having just the one dog so we can take him everywhere we go, he'll get to go horse camping with us and run errands etc... With 2 dogs, its double the hassle but manageable with just him. So it is a dilema in trying to figure out what is the right thing to do. We have talked a lot about our next dog being a hunting dog, which we are not quite ready for and in the meantime poor little Russell has to suffer, thats what my thoughts are telling me anyways. Maybe he is a happy little dog, but maybe he's not happy and misses having a friend around.
The other night we went out with the cousins to Red Robin and then the bull riding in Monroe, had a great time! There were 9 at dinner and 13 to watch the bulls.. When we got home, Russell was in the driveway!!! Scared the crap out of us to pull in the drive and see him wandering around... He was pretty wet so he'd been out a while, but we'd been gone for hours so not sure exactly how long he was out for and where he may or may not have gone. It just scared me so bad that 2 weeks after loosing Scout, here Russell is out wandering alone and who knows if he was in the street or not... The front gate can be tricky and if you dont push it closed, it sometimes pops off the latch if you just swing it closed and walk away.. we think one of us didnt pay attention or a visitor came while we were gone and didnt shut it properly. We now have a spring to put on the gate so it doesnt happen again.
Friday, January 15, 2010
I've been thinking about that track..
The train track.. yesterday I said we were still on track and basically we were just onboard and going where the train of life takes us. But that got me to thinking! Am I just a follower in life? Do I just go with the flow, jump on the train and go where it leads me?? I kinda think I am and for the past few months, I have been internally talking to myself about that subject and maybe not the train part, but that I am not a big self-starter in life.. I pick the easiest route and follow it. I mean, I will start projects here/there, I do get motivated and get things done, I'm not necessarily lazy, but when it comes to the "big" things in life, I think maybe I am the type of person I wish I wasnt.
This morning on the radio while they were discussing goals and new years resolutions, they said this quote:
"If it's meant to be, it's up to me."
I am thinking maybe I will try to be more like this with my thinking and change things because I can! I do a really good job and always telling myself "I cant, I cant, I cant". If I refer back to the train, instead of jumping on a train and following it where it leads me, maybe I need to jump on that train and work my way up from the caboose, through the cabins and into the engine and take that train down the track I want to go! ;) It might be a long process, it is not so easy to try to change "who" you are.. and not that I want to change who I am completely (I kinda like a lot about me) but some areas of me and my damn head could use some change and maybe a new direction.
This morning on the radio while they were discussing goals and new years resolutions, they said this quote:
"If it's meant to be, it's up to me."
I am thinking maybe I will try to be more like this with my thinking and change things because I can! I do a really good job and always telling myself "I cant, I cant, I cant". If I refer back to the train, instead of jumping on a train and following it where it leads me, maybe I need to jump on that train and work my way up from the caboose, through the cabins and into the engine and take that train down the track I want to go! ;) It might be a long process, it is not so easy to try to change "who" you are.. and not that I want to change who I am completely (I kinda like a lot about me) but some areas of me and my damn head could use some change and maybe a new direction.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
A week of Adjusting...
The most exciting thing happening to me lately is that I went to Les Schwab yesterday to have our brakes checked and an hour later they told me they could not get a few lugnuts off the wheels! Apparently whomever put the last set of tires on the red truck (before we bought it) torked them so tightly that I now have to pay Les Schwab to get them off! Some of the nuts are now stripped so if I get a flat in the meantime, I'm screwed! ;) Pretty sad that that is the most interesting thing going on lately...
The house does not feel as empty and quiet as it did a week ago, but our hearts are still missing Scout every day and the character she brought to our lives. Russell still sniffs me up/down every day when I walk in the door so I believe he is still looking for her. We have been spoiling him to no end to help him adjust and not feel so sad. There was a while there where he was pretty depressed and showed little enthusiasm even for his ball, which if you know Russell, that thing is like doggy crack! There is no question, he now sleeps in the bed nightly, he goes with us to run errands whenever possible, he gets to go out in the big kid pasture every morning and evening to explore and eat horsey turds, and he gets to play a lot more ball now than he did before. So the ball has once again become the crack it used to be!!! When Scout was around we didnt play as much with him and the ball because he got a lot of excersize running around the house with her, but now that it's just him, we make sure (okay I should say he makes sure) we play ball every day! :)
Although I swore off projects for the short-term, I've decided to take on a new project! I can hardly believe it myself, but I really enjoyed the sewing wall quilt I made so I am now attempting a blanket and will definately post pics when it is finished. I have 4 fabrics I will cut into 4" squares. I sat down on the computer last night and designed my pattern so I would know how many squares to cut for each color.. I am adding some character to it by making it not quite symetrical.. is that the correct term?? basically the pattern is slightly random, but slightly similar.. very hard to explain but I'm excited that I came up with it on my own. See 2 colors will have 32 squares each, one will only have 27 and then the 4th color will only have 9 squares on the blanket.. I need to really get going on it so I can get it done in time.. lol that sounds a whole lot familiar! It HAS to be done by the 28th of this month, so I guess I have 2 weeks.
Derek and I both have switched over to basically a water-only based beverage intake! :) Every now/then we may throw in a little juice or flavored water, but I am trying really hard to only comsume water and I'm happy that Derek is as well. It will save on the cost of all that soda and it is so much better for us. Since the 1st, I've had maybe the equivilant of 1 soda and even when I drank a few gulps last weekend, I started to feel like it tasted kinda gross..
When I eat something I know I shouldnt, instead of just feeling guilty about it, I now feel gross/icky inside which I think will help me curb my appetite for the wrong foods. In the past I would eat the bad shit, love it and then felt guilty but that didnt help in the long run to keep me from eating it. But if I eat it and minutes later feel like I want to ralph it up cuz its sitting nasty on my tummy, well that feeling will help me to rethink my eating habits...
Shannon has started working Oakley on barrels this month, she has now taken over the training and selling of Oakley.. things just moved this direction which is how we had hoped it would go. She has the experience, knowledge, clients and ability to get him where he needs to be. She is confident in that he will sell when she feels he is ready to be marketed. I have pulled his ads offline and allowing her free reign on this deal. We made her an offer that should make it well worth her time to put into him. In the meantime Edgar has been hanging out just being a horse lately. I've ridden once in the past 2.5 months, I am itchen to go ride Red and for Derek and I to get back in the swing of things on our horses.
He's been pretty busy working out in the shop lately, he's working on an old 1938 panel truck that has been consuming his nights after work and atleast 1 day each weekend. He is very proud (as he should be!) of his work and its nice to see his hard work pay off every now/then! :) I think there are still a couple more weeks of work to be done for this phase anyways.
I still have a job and Derek still has a job... life is still on track! Wishin the track I was on put me in a luxury train suite instead of the caboose, but I guess we each pick our own track and follow it where it leads us.... ;)
The house does not feel as empty and quiet as it did a week ago, but our hearts are still missing Scout every day and the character she brought to our lives. Russell still sniffs me up/down every day when I walk in the door so I believe he is still looking for her. We have been spoiling him to no end to help him adjust and not feel so sad. There was a while there where he was pretty depressed and showed little enthusiasm even for his ball, which if you know Russell, that thing is like doggy crack! There is no question, he now sleeps in the bed nightly, he goes with us to run errands whenever possible, he gets to go out in the big kid pasture every morning and evening to explore and eat horsey turds, and he gets to play a lot more ball now than he did before. So the ball has once again become the crack it used to be!!! When Scout was around we didnt play as much with him and the ball because he got a lot of excersize running around the house with her, but now that it's just him, we make sure (okay I should say he makes sure) we play ball every day! :)
Although I swore off projects for the short-term, I've decided to take on a new project! I can hardly believe it myself, but I really enjoyed the sewing wall quilt I made so I am now attempting a blanket and will definately post pics when it is finished. I have 4 fabrics I will cut into 4" squares. I sat down on the computer last night and designed my pattern so I would know how many squares to cut for each color.. I am adding some character to it by making it not quite symetrical.. is that the correct term?? basically the pattern is slightly random, but slightly similar.. very hard to explain but I'm excited that I came up with it on my own. See 2 colors will have 32 squares each, one will only have 27 and then the 4th color will only have 9 squares on the blanket.. I need to really get going on it so I can get it done in time.. lol that sounds a whole lot familiar! It HAS to be done by the 28th of this month, so I guess I have 2 weeks.
Derek and I both have switched over to basically a water-only based beverage intake! :) Every now/then we may throw in a little juice or flavored water, but I am trying really hard to only comsume water and I'm happy that Derek is as well. It will save on the cost of all that soda and it is so much better for us. Since the 1st, I've had maybe the equivilant of 1 soda and even when I drank a few gulps last weekend, I started to feel like it tasted kinda gross..
When I eat something I know I shouldnt, instead of just feeling guilty about it, I now feel gross/icky inside which I think will help me curb my appetite for the wrong foods. In the past I would eat the bad shit, love it and then felt guilty but that didnt help in the long run to keep me from eating it. But if I eat it and minutes later feel like I want to ralph it up cuz its sitting nasty on my tummy, well that feeling will help me to rethink my eating habits...
Shannon has started working Oakley on barrels this month, she has now taken over the training and selling of Oakley.. things just moved this direction which is how we had hoped it would go. She has the experience, knowledge, clients and ability to get him where he needs to be. She is confident in that he will sell when she feels he is ready to be marketed. I have pulled his ads offline and allowing her free reign on this deal. We made her an offer that should make it well worth her time to put into him. In the meantime Edgar has been hanging out just being a horse lately. I've ridden once in the past 2.5 months, I am itchen to go ride Red and for Derek and I to get back in the swing of things on our horses.
He's been pretty busy working out in the shop lately, he's working on an old 1938 panel truck that has been consuming his nights after work and atleast 1 day each weekend. He is very proud (as he should be!) of his work and its nice to see his hard work pay off every now/then! :) I think there are still a couple more weeks of work to be done for this phase anyways.
I still have a job and Derek still has a job... life is still on track! Wishin the track I was on put me in a luxury train suite instead of the caboose, but I guess we each pick our own track and follow it where it leads us.... ;)
Monday, January 4, 2010
Bye Bye Scout
Our little bean, Miss Scout died tonight. What a really shitty way to start the new year. We recently had expanded the dogs yard. Tonight, she was out with Derek feeding the big kid (Edgar) and running around and when he came back in the house, she went out the front door and when I got home a few minutes later, she was not around. We immediately went outside calling her name and walked towards the road. When we got to the road, we started to head one direction but a neighbor kitty corner to us called to us that she thought our dog just got hit by a car. We looked up that direction and just a driveway up from us, she was laying in the road. We ran to her, but she was already gone. The car that hit her had stopped up the road a ways, but never came down so it had happened seconds earlier. I dont blame the car at all, I think when we called her name, she darted out in the street to head home and the car just couldnt stop or didnt see her, it was already 5:30 so it was dark out. She didnt suffer I am so thankful for. We buried her in our yard under a tree.
Russell was pretty confused, after we buried her, he was digging at her grave and then he stood ontop of it sniffing around trying to figure out what was going on. He is upset and of course Derek and I are very upset as well. She was a fantastic dog and I dont know what the hell we do wrong to loose our animals, but we loved her so very much and things will be unbearably quiet around here.
I am posting all the best pics I have of her, there are a lot because she is just so darn adorable!!
She enjoyed camping with us!
Derek keeping her toasty on Christmas morning 2008
We like decorating too!! Or maybe we just like being lazy on the decorations :)
All snug up in the blankey
We love to play...
but I'm not ready to get up yet! :(
If I roll over all cute like, can I just go back to bed.. pleeeaaasseeee!
this is where we belong!
PeakABoo
Pretty Kids!
Nappy time
Hey, what's your name?
Did I get caught doing something wrong?
A peaceful moment
I'm a great lapdog
The family relaxing
Scout and Samantha
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