Memorial Weekend

Well it was not looking to be a very promising weekend of good weather! We had accepted an invitation to go to Beaver Creek with Scott/Barbara for the holiday weekend, they were taking their young green horse and wanted it to be a low-key time and since Red had never been highlined or ridden on steep trails yet and it would be Derek/my first together real mountain camping experience, we thought that what they were looking for was exactly what we were looking for. It was us/them and then their brother in law for the weekend. Beaver Creek is just outside of Twisp.

When we left the house Friday morning, it was raining.. pouring actually! It rained off/on over the Hwy 20 pass and as we came through Twisp, the weather seemed to be clearing up.



Initially we had planned to get a short ride in on Friday afternoon, but by the time we finished setting up (around 4pm) it was time to gather some wood, get a fire started, think about dinner, socialize.. As we sat around the fire, it did rain on us for a while and then let up and quit before we went to bed. When we first arrived at camp, we realized that one of the camper vents was so old and brittle from the weather, it had cracked so Derek had to climb through one vent to Duct-Tape the top of the other vent, looks like something we'll need to replace.. and we also discovered we need to re-seal the windows as just in the drive over, the front cabover window leaked enough to soak the edge of my sleeping bag... The vent Derek is standing through actually is broken too and needs replacing, but atleast that one does not leak! :)


The boys all settled on the highline. Red took to it very quickly, he did great although he never did realize he could still lie down on the line.

We awoke to dry weather on Saturday morning, got the horses loaded up with lunches and rain gear and headed out at about 10am.
The ride started out nice, the area is rolling hills and mountains with some great views. We first rode to "Death Valley" which is an area so named because of all the carcasses that can be found down there most years, this year it must have been a good year for the deer because I didnt see any. An occassional bone here/there is all. After we rode through the valley shown above, we started climbing and soon realized we were riding the edge of the Pipestone. The pictures I attempted to take do not do justice to the steepness of the area, everything in pictures appears flatter and easier than reality! :) This picture below, we are looking down into a much larger valley, to the right of us is the Pipestone which is really BIG huge rock cliffs.
Here is a part of the edge of the rock cliffs. In some areas, you are literally riding a foot or so away from the edge, very invigorating at times.. heart stopping at others.. at times you could look straight down to the left through the rocks to the valley below.
Still on top of the Pipestone..
Here we are with the main rock cliff behind us. You can see by how Edgar is standing, just how steep it is.
As we continue on riding the edge of the Pipestone.. You can see the trail ahead that follows the edge of the rock cliffs. Very beatiful trail to follow.
We have just ridden to the end of the Pipestone, standing on the top of the biggest cliff on the other end. I took this picture and then in the picture below put in a yellow trail marking that gives you an idea of where the real trail was along this entire section. There were areas that were VERY uphill! Actually at one point, Barbara had indicated it helps to grab the mane to keep yourself leaning forward on the really steep areas, well this one section we rode up, I grabbed mane and half way up my grabhold of mane pulled right out, Red was working so hard to get up the climb that he jerked his neck forward and my whole handful came out! I didnt know how he would react to such steepness, I would say of the entire weekend, that was my least favorite moment, but definately worth it for the rest of the riding.

We are still standing at the same place, just now looking the other direction to the valley below that we will be riding to.

This picture below is very dissappointing because basically after riding the cliffs, we came out to an area above this lake and ran into another group of riders. We decided to venture away from that group and head straight down to the lake and follow a trail that had not been used in a very long time! This hillside here is actually very steep and it was interesting following it.. I think the fishermen in the lake were probably in awe of these 5 horses forging a new trail down this hillside because standing back, you clearly cannot see that there is a trail there. We all joked about the "pop" factor of our undies unplugging at the bottom of the hill.. lol I asked Scott what he would consider that hill to have been on a scale of 1-10 (1 being easy) and he said he'd call that a 9!

The rest of the ride that day was pretty laid back and easy in comparison to the first half. We had lunch overlooking the lake, got sprinkled on just a bit but not really enough to warrant putting on rain gear. I did put my rainpants and poncho on, realized quickly that was a mistake because there were sun breaks inbetween the sprinkles and when that happened, I felt like I was inside an oven! :) We rode for over 4 hours that day, the horses did really well. I realized that Red needed constant guidance on the trails, he tends to venture off on occassion and when on the steeper trails, he is a little careless with his feet placement and he really needs my legs to help guide his legs to keep us both safe. He was not trippy at all, which was great because sometimes he is very lazy as well and doesnt always pay attention.

I was very impressed with Derek that day, riding on the edges of hillsides and cliffs did not bother him at all and he never was uncomfortable with anything we did that day. I think at times over the weekend, he and I both may have been comfortably uncomfortable. That is how I like to put it.. we were pushed to about the max of our zone and mostly because we both had not been in those situations before on our horses. I've ridden very steep trails, but not on Red. I dont know how Red will react to things yet, I dont trust him 100% yet so there are some miles he and I need to establish before I can have confidence in him to get me from A-B safely! Edgar did awesome.. that horse was a real trooper for Derek and didnt give him any worries or concerns or issues the entire weekend. He really couldnt be any better of a horse for Derek to be riding and Derek feels the trust in his horse that he will keep him safe.

This here below is our watering hole just across the road from our campsite, we led the horses down here multiple times a day for fresh water, even though we brought water as well. It was nice to get the horses out for walks in the early morning or late afternoon, there was a potty about 5 minutes down the road, so we took advantage of that as often as we could by stretching the horses legs while we used the potty.

We awoke again on Sunday to even nicer weather! Look at the sun shining through the trees at the creek! It probably only reached maybe 70, it was not quite warm enough to be in just a t-shirt, definately perfect riding weather. This picture below is after we rode up to a watering tank, a great view!

Scott was not too thrilled to have his picture taken, but it was too funny that this was the only rock in site to use as a mounting block! :)

We contined on past the tank along a pretty decent trail that was not always for the faint of heart! :) Stopped at a nice spot to sit and eat lunch.

Derek eating his "MAN"which! So called because of all the meat he loves to have on his sandwhichs..

Our view.. On the ride up to this spot, we saw an airplane flying circles and realized "smoke jumpers" were practicing and jumping out of the plane, we were about 15 minutes too late to have had a perfect viewing of that from this spot. We did see some hangliders that jumped off a hillside lower than us. The hillside they came off of, was the same hill that a group of horses were running on, they seemed to be spooked by the rather large "birds" that were soaring around them! It was really neat to see them all running (although they were quite a ways away).

I just thought this log and wild flowers were really pretty.. These yellow mini-sunflower looking plants were all over the mountain!

Derek most likely has a handful of Bacon flavored sunflower seeds in his mouth! :)

The trail back from lunch..

This was towards the end of the ride, Scott was looking to see if there were any trails that way. I wish the picture had been clearer.

When we started out on our ride Sunday, we rode up behind our camp up to a drainage ditch, which was WAY up high above the campgrounds and VERY steep. The ditch part was OK but it hadnt been used in a long time by horses, so it was overgrown with a lot of sagebrush. So more than half of that section, was riding on the very edge of the ditch on ground that liked to sluff off, the ground was soft. And the horses (Red in particular) did NOT like having the sagebrush on his legs, so I really had to work very hard to convince him that he should risk his legs to save my life! It was pretty hairy up there. We followed that for atleast 30 minutes. When we were almost to the end, Scott's horse did a young green dumb thing and all I will say is that I have never been so impressed with one's ability to avoid disaster and I will never question whether or not Scott can ride! :) It's his tale to tell if he so chooses... Barbara and Rick did not see it as they were in front but Me, Derek & Scott all had to change our undies after that one!

After lunch on our way back, we went a different direction and headed out to this sloping meadow and back up into the hills. On the way up the hillside (again on a pretty steep trail) Red was acting a bit more persnickity than earlier in the day, he was irritated and working hard at not staying on the trail. Well as we climbed up, I'm really guiding him with my hands and legs and up ahead I hear Scott say something about Blue Flowers.. I wasnt paying much attention because I was entirely focused on Red. Well apparently just as Scott had said something like "these blue flowers are really pretty, Piper do you know what they are called?" Well all he hears is me yell out "Fucking Horse!" lolol Derek who was inbetween us, says to Scott "Well apparently they are the Fucking Horse Blue Flowers!" It was hilarious to someone who was not me! At that moment, I was pissed off obviously at my horse because he had stepped completely off the trail onto the downhill slope, all 4 feet off the trail, I dont know where the hell he thought he was going to go, but I quickly jabbed him with my leg to sidepass him back up onto the trail and yelled out in frustration "fucking horse!" ;) I can laugh now at the way the situation unfolded but I was having a moment with Red and was trying to stay alive!

We did A LOT of up/down riding in 2 days, got in 9 hours in the saddle and the boys were tired and sore by Monday morning. We decided not to ride on Monday because they had worked their tails off for us for 2 days and their backs both were sore. And although I had a few moments of frustration at Red, overall he did really good for me. I just have to really pay attention when on the tuffer trails and really focus on keeping him centered. The good thing is that he knows his leg aids VERY well, so a little leg keeps him ontrack but it does somewhat suck that I cant just sit back and relax in areas where one really should relax! ;)

I did ask Scott since he had indicated he wanted the weekend to be relaxed and low-key, I asked if that type of riding was his idea of Low-Key? Because if so, then I wasnt sure I wanted to know what his idea of non low-key was!! :) He said Kelly was doing so well on Friday and Saturday's rides that they felt comfortable doing a little more difficult riding.. whew cuz I was worried that maybe his idea and mine were completely skewed.. I'm not sure Derek and I were 100% ready to jump in 2 feet with the hard riding we did, but we both left the weekend happy with the riding we did and happy we pushed ourselves to go with the flow and just do it.. It allowed us the chance to really see the capabilities of our horses and where our "line" is on the type of trails we will do in the future. I think that the trails we rode, we'd ride again (except maybe the drainage ditch unless it was cleared out and we didnt have to ride the edge).

We both really enjoyed Beaver Creek. Scott indicated that he and Barbara cannot seem to get club members to want to go there. After spending a weekend there, I have no idea why! One can do VERY VERY easy easy riding there.. I would say a green horse and green rider could do a lot of good riding without ever going near the trails we did. And I hear there are maybe even tougher trails than what we did, so there is something for everyone.. The best part (okay not best but a definate great thing) was that the traffic over Hwy 20 going over and coming home was fantastic! We did not hit 1 backup at all, infact we were the backup most of the time! lol I hear there was a 27 miles backup on I-90 on Monday's return and I'm sure Hwy 2 had a large backup as it always does.... From our house it was a 5 hour trip and that was taking it pretty slowly.

We returned home to Russell who was very upset with us for leaving him behind! :) We look forward to more riding and pushing the horses a bit more on our rides to keep them in shape and ready for the next mountain to climb.

Havent missed much..

The rain is really putting a damper on things, although Saturday we were very fortunate and it did not rain at all on our Dutch Oven Cooking Day!

The horse club put on a day of instruction and cooking with Dutch Ovens. Derek and I had always had the impression they were a pain in the ass to deal with so we took the opportunity to learn and spend the day with friends and food! :)

The information, food, learning, cooking, socializing.. was all GREAT! Derek and I each cooked a seperate dish and we realized in the process how we would spice up the meals differently for the future and how EASY it was! Here are some of the things we ate, ALL out of Dutch Ovens:
Cinammon Roll type bread
Cheese Pizza Bites
Chicken & Rice
Chicken & Dumplings (2 versions)
Awesome Potatoes
Meatloaf (Fantastic!)
Veggies w/Cheese
Apple Cobbler
Chocolate Cherry Cake
Pineapple Upside Down Cake

THAT was A LOT of food to sample!! We all were stuffed and enjoyed de-bloating in front of the bonfire!

We made plans to ride on Sunday however we awoke to pouring rain... by 2pm the sun was out, but we had already made other plans to go Dutch Oven shopping! No we did not buy one, just wanted to shop around at the sportsmans store to get an idea of the cost, but we did buy our Fishing Licenses, the time/season is upon us. We have not figured out yet how to balance out fishing, horse riding, bike riding, cooking/cleaning, yard work and other numerous projects to get done.. Nothing to figure out when it is raining all the time though!

I've had this dilema for the past 2 weeks, our club was also hosting a Brand Inspection Day this past weekend. Basically you take your horse to the inspector, he looks at your paperwork that proves you are legal owner of the horse and creates a lifetime card that you carry on you at all times when hauling your horse, so if you get pulled over, you have WA State approved proof you own the horse. Your horse does NOT have to have a brand, it actually is much simpler if the horse does not have one. Well I found out that because Edgar DOES have a brand and because I did NOT know who branded him, I was unable to get the inspection done. Bummer! I have been researching for the past 2 weeks trying to find the ranch that branded my horse which is quite the project.

Basically I have had to email each state I think he might have come from individually and contact the brand dept for that state and ask them to research their brand books to see if Edgars Brand was registered in their state. I did find his brand in CA and OR, 2 different ranches have the same brand.. very common. I did not find the brand in any other states in the West. The dept's could only send me addresses, no emails or phone #'s. About 10 days ago, I sent 6 letters off to the 6 different addresses I could find online for the 2 ranches that might have branded my horse, never expecting to get a response.

Yesterday I get a phone call and I noticed it was an out of state # and almost ignored it, but thought.. well MAYBE it was a call about my horse! Am I GLAD I answered that call.. Sure enough, it was the ranch in OR and the ranch manager said that my horse came off that ranch and they branded him!!! WHOOHOO.. I was overjoyed! He didnt have email, so basically I have to mail to him a letter indicating what I need from them, they will write it up and sign it and mail back to me so I can then get my horse inspected and get legal paperwork through WA State to haul my horse! :) Chances are even if I haul out of state, I will never get pulled over, but it is worth the $85 cost to be safe and not sorry.

And the other great news is that although the ranch manager was not there when my horse was there, he does know someone who was and will try to get me some history on my horse, maybe even find out when he was born etc.. I'd love to know who his sire/dam are if possible as well, but I'd be happy just knowing what year he was really born.. I HATE not knowing the exact age of my horse. Okay sorry Derek, I keep calling Edgar MY horse, but we all know he is YOUR horse! :)

My first clue was that it was glowing...

We recently changed 3 of the 6 bulbs in our kitchen, I know.. Exciting! For a few days, the one above the island flickered every now/then. Well Wednesday evening, that bulb was dimming rapidly.. We looked up at it and it went from dimming to almost an orangey glowy type hue.. Didnt think much else of it.

So as I'm standing at the kitchen Island slaving over Mac-N-Cheese with hamburger added, I hear a really loud POP explosion, then next thing I know, glass is shattered EVERYWHERE! That bulb popped itself out of the socket, fell inches from my face onto the counter and literally shattered inches from my body all over the house! We found glass shards well over 10' away! I felt very lucky to have not gotten cut, I'm glad I was wearing long sleeves...

Scared the shit out of me!!! (okay not literally on that) but I did scream, who wouldnt! Derek was watching TV, he heard the scream (obviously) and thought I cut myself. What a mess....

So the next time you see your bulb glowing... TURN OFF THE F*ING LIGHTS, FAST! lol

now I'm just pissed....

Okay, so the auditor apparently did not just shrug off that $6,000 difference (I think I was dilussional that he would just take my word for it) lol

He came back at me yesterday with an email saying I understated our taxable sales by 84,000 and shorted them sales tax of $6,000+ BS BS Bullshit! Sorry, but there is no way that is possible... there is just something off with the reports then that were sent to him, which are NOT the same reports I use to calculate my tax return..

So now I am going to sit down and AUDIT the report that I sent to him and find out WHY it is different than what I do every month and I am still 95% sure that my way of doing things has been right and that this other report is wrong somehow or his conversion of that report calculated incorrectly...

Well I cant complain much, gives me a big project to work on and I enjoy these types of work projects because I feel very accomplished when I am done.. I am on a damn mission to prove this guy wrong, will let ya know when I do!!! :)

Time to stop stressing!

I have been stressed for the past 6 or more weeks.. I got a letter in the mail from the Dept of Revenue at work and we "won the lottery" as the auditor told me! Well the auditor with the warped sense of humor came out this past Friday and I was panicky up until that day. Not because I felt I was doing something wrong, but I've been doing this job for 13 years with no guidance other than what I learned when I started the job and what the year end accountant occassionally tells me to do.. I had all the paperwork pulled that he had requested, it was organized in a box, I made comments on missing items etc.

After an hour or so, he was asking me questions and showing me where we did not report/pay $6,000+ in sales tax! I called out a big fat BULLSHIT on him and immediately worked from the defensive and demanded that he not bull me over and he WOULD listen to what I had to say about that!!! I was not about to accept I had made errors like that... Basically the reports I sent him didnt fully match up what was filed, well there ended up being glitches in the report transfer and I physically showed him HOW I do my monthly tax report, HOW I am CORRECT in paying ALL sales tax at the end of the month etc.. After a few minutes, he seemed to change the subject and move on.. lol

He did tell me in front of my boss that I was in his top 10 list of companies to audit because of how organized I am, how easy I can get things to him and how I do my job!!! I was super excited that he paid me such a big compliment and that the head honcho boss heard it, although that doesnt really mean much other than he now has heard others think I am great too! lol Now where's my damn raise that I havent seen in over 3 years??

He was able to get in and get out by about 2pm on Friday and he'll email me later with a few minor requests but all that stress had me so bound tight, I could hardly function at home.. It was a great relief when the guy left the building and that afternoon, I called Derek and told him I wanted to go for a drive after work, just to clear my head and come down from my weeks of tension. We ended up exploring Sultan and Monroe, areas neither of us had been to.. With the co-pilot of Russell. :)

The plan for the weekend was to get started on the yard landscaping, maybe squeeze in some riding. Saturday morning Jennifer and I went to downtown Snohomish, had breakfast (gossiped of course) and walked the antique street fair. It was nice to hang out with just her, something we havent done in a really long time. After the fair, I was supposed to help Derek on the yardwork, but we were going to have company over for a last minute BBQ so while he continued with developing a bark-bed, I cleaned up the house. We ended up going out to a very late dinner instead of BBQ. Sunday morning we woke and started working in the yard, set a goal and reached the goal just as the sun was starting to blaze through.. it was getting pretty warm out.

We changed, hooked up the trailer and headed out to get the horses. Stopped for lunch and as we got in the truck to drive towards Lords Hill, the sky went from sunny and nice just minutes earlier, to dark and questionable! :( As we drove, BIG rain drops started hitting the windshield. Well when we left our house, is was approaching atleast 65 degrees if not warmer, so we had t-shirts on, no jackets or raingear. We sat the trailhead parking lot under the trees holding the horses for 10-15 minutes, hoping the rain squall would pass by and after that time realized it was just going to rain, dammit! So we loaded up the boys and headed back to Roger's place and sure enough, as we unloaded and walked them to their pasture, the rain stopped and the sun came out, literally that is how it happened! ... and not that we are only fair weather riders, but we were not prepared for rain and didnt want to get soaked. So we put the horses away, went home, unhooked the horse trailer and then went to Home Depot and McDaniels to look at landscaping materials! :)

GRRR.. frustrating day but we did get a decent amount of bark-area cut out and I am excited to put bark in it this week, it will look really good. The rest of the evening we spent cooking up some yummy BBQ chicken and potatoes, watching the Survivor season finale and ending the evening pissed off at the Survivor Jury for being bitter A-Holes that cant seem to appreciate the BEST PLAYER EVER!!! :)

Saddle Saga...

So I went through all that saddle saga for nothing! I assumed that a Wide tree saddle would fit Red better than the narrow tree saddle I already had, so I went in search of a new saddle, sent my money off to CO and hoped for the best.. I did get that saddle I found from a private seller thank goodness, but I've ridden in it twice, the first time for 4+ hours and Red's back was very sore afterwards, so then I rode in it one more time a week later for 2 hours and again his back was really sore.. Damn! So I went back to my narrow tree original saddle and he is not sore at all after I ride in it.. I've ridden him 6+ hours in 2 days and ZERO soreness.. Wish I had realized this before I went through all the hassle. Oh well, I hope to make an extra $100 on this other saddle, just sucks having to now sell it.

Derek is finally un-stiff from his softball weekend, we did get out and ride the horses on Saturday at Mann Rd again.. really enjoying riding there. When we got home from riding, I had to shower and head down to Seattle for our Cousin's Night at Shana's place. Went to bed at 4am Sat night, woke up about 8am.. left Seattle around 10am, got home and showered then delivered a kitty to Everett and then drove up to my brothers for an all day BBQ for Mother's Day, got home at 9pm and was exhausted! It was a non-stop weekend and I'm still recovering today..

So back to the girls night.. :) We had a great evening, It was Shana, Jennifer, Sophy, Andrea & me. We drank some, ate some, played some Apples to Apples, sat in the hot tub at midnight for over an hour, chatted, laughed.. just had a good time together. Sophy & I stayed in the hot tub a lot longer than the other 3 girls and when I got out, these are some of the images I found on my camera..

That's my bottle of Malibu she's "holding" there! :)

THIS LAST PICTURE WAS REMOVED.. I FELT IT WAS PROBABLY TOO EMBERASSING TO MY COUSIN SHANA TO KEEP IT POSTED! IT WAS A FUNNY PICTURE, BUT A LITTLE OVER THE TOP... :)

3 kitties found..

3 days later, 3 kitties gone!

Thursday after work, Derek informed me that the barn was slightly in shambles.. I had asked him to get something out of the barn before I got home from work, so when he was out there, he heard a scurry scurry scamper of something attemping to run/scratch on the hay room floor.. so he walked over there, a scared kitten ran from our haybale bag, Derek saw it was wet and sniffed.. realized it was cat piss and I could just imagine his eyes getting big, ears puffing up, face turning red, fists clenching...

The hay room had 9 pallets laid down and then sheets of plywood over the pallets to keep hay from getting on the ground, this method makes it really easy to sweep up and keep clean. We had some bale bags and a few other things in the hayroom along with a bunch of loose hay. Well lets just say that when I got home, ALL the pallets were propped up against the wall, the plywood boards were still somewhat attached to the pallets, the haybags were flown in the middle of the barn isle, buckets thrown about... And 3 kittens were now buried and hiding somewhere in the loose hay that was now on the gravel floor.

The plan: catch 'em and figure out later what to do! lol

So we did capture the 3 little kittens, a grey male, tabby male and calico female, they had been born/raised under the pallets. We tried to capture the momma with a big fish net, but she was too quick! lol I thought if I could catch her, I was going to take her to the shelter and let them fix her and find a new home for her. The neighbors have WAY too many cats that they let run free and breed like rabbits.. I call them the free-range cats! I dont mind having a couple around to keep mice out of my barn, but the 1o+ is just too many.

We put the kitties in a dog crate with some hay and food/water and left them overnight in the garage til we could come up with a plan. They appeared about 6 weeks old, healthy looking and not scared to death like some wild kittens would act. I called Shana and she said she'd been just thinking the day before that she wanted a new kitten, so the grey kitty is now with her and his name is Dane (after Dane Cook). I took him down on Saturday to her and within 12 hours, he had come around and wanted attention and cuddling..

Sunday morning I listed the calico on Craigslist and within 15 minutes, she was gone.. we delivered her to Everett on Sunday as we had to drive to Arlington anyways.. When we got home the tabby who prior to this was not quite sure yet about humans, well he'd been left in the garage alone all day and when I got home, I was his best friend! I called Kathy (from the horseclub) as she wanted the tabby and he went home Sunday night with her.

Russell, Derek & I were all happy the kitties had found homes so quickly. I didnt mind them, but what a hassle and I felt guilty leaving them in a crate all day.. Russell could smell them and it was driving him crazy to know there were these "things" in the garage! And well Derek is allergic and although it didnt affect him at all, we both were relieved to not have to worry about them anymore. They were cute little buggers and I had a slight notion at one point that it would be fun to keep one, but now that they are all placed in new homes, honestly.. I dont miss them!

Nothing like being caught...

in a hail storm! The day was cloudy yesterday and although the clouds did appear as potentially thunderous, I wanted to take advantage of the "nice" weather and lunge the boys for some needed excersize. Derek met me over at Roger's place, the plan was for him to lunge for 15 minutes at the trot then I would lunge Red since we had just one lungeline and whip on hand. After about 5 minutes or so I began to wonder if we would have the dry weather for much longer, I better come up with a plan! So I rigged up my dogs retractable leash with another leash and proceeded to lunge Red with that.. lol

Actually the retractable leash was a great idea... I should invent one for just this use for horses, it would need to be a little more durable for a 1000 pound horse vs 40 lb dog! ;) After a few minutes, the sky opened up and I was very thankful to have my hooded sweater on. Derek worked Edgar a few more minutes to reach his 15 minute mark then went and stood under a 12" roof awning while I continued to lunge Red in the pouring hailstorm for another 10 minutes. Red was not a happy camper about it, he looked beautiful though all slick and wet. Derek just stood there trying to keep the hail from hitting him in the face and we both laughed alot about what was going on! It was crazy but for some odd reason, I actually REALLY enjoyed lunging Red in the hail.. There was just something really elegant and peaceful about it, the positive attitude, watching Derek try to shield himself, shaking his head with a grin on his face, laughing at ourselves, it was for me one of those moments in time that I felt at peace with all that was around me.

Before the storm, we had spoken with Roger who indicated my little WhooDeeKnees had escaped the day before :( Bummer! They did what I thought was unthinkable for them, they climbed on some wood (that part I knew they would do) but then they jumped over the fence off the wood (that part completely suprised me). Roger moved the woodpile, and although I am certain they wouldnt have found another way out, I would rather take them home than have Roger & Diana worry and fret about it. Those damn goats! They were 100% PISSED OFF that I led them out in the thundering (still 15 minutes later) hailing storm!! Thank goodness I still had the goat cage on the truck, we loaded them up and drove them in the hail to my parents place. As soon as they were unloaded, they ran to the corral to get in the stall for shelter.. lol There is plenty of grass in the square corral for now, so not sure I will try to "pimp" them out to another home.. we'll see. Mom/Dad plan to re-fence their property completely, within the next month or two.. After that happens, we are buying more goats!!!

lol.. I know I bitch about the bastards in one paragraph and by the end of the paragraph I am indicating I want 2 more of the WhooDeeKnees!! :) (and we have names already picked out!)

Does this look like May?????

I'm pretty sure May is supposed to bring Flowers, not Hail! I know this is no ND hail storm, but this is a lot of hail for sure.. And while we are gawking at the snowy type conditions, check out the terrible gas prices!! :(

Softball and horses..

Didnt think I would be saying those two words in the same weekend anytime soon! Last week Kevin (coach of RCC softball) called and said he was short some guys for a tournament this past weekend in Federal Way and wondered if Derek was free. He felt bad for calling and asking, but he thought it was worth a try. Well we changed our riding plans then from Saturday to Sunday and drove down to Celebration Park for a day of ball....
One of the positive things about this tournament that set us in the mindset and direction of saying "yes" was that the first game was not til 12:40 which meant we had time to sleep in AND go visit George/Rachel before the games! We had not met little miss Emily yet, who was born about 2 months ago; it was great to spend an hour with them Saturday morning before we had to head to the tournament. Emily is a doll and we are really happy that she seems to complete their family.. We will miss camping/fishing with our friends this year but look forward to the years to come.

The softball guys did not know we were coming down, so when they saw me first, they assumed we were there to watch... When I indicated that oh no.. Derek was playing, they all lit up and had to check him out in uniform for themselves! :) His arm was rusty to throw, his bones were crackin' with every step, and he forgot the time/labor involved with just getting his uniform on and all the 'gear' that goes with it, including knee braces and pads and such. lol

He played in all 5 games! Pitching 1/2 the time, playing a little first base as well and then a few innings in the dugout. His pitching was top notch as always, I dont think he will ever loose that feel of throwing the perfect pitch. They won their first game, 10 minute break.. won their second game... hour break.. won their third game... 15 minute break... won their fourth game... 15 minute break... Won the Final game to WIN the tournament!! :) Of course I volunteered to keep score, it's what I do! I enjoyed being at the park and watching Derek and the guys again, there is a part of me that really misses it. We both did not miss the long drive and long day and feeling of being exhausted afterwards... although I know Derek was a lot more exhausted than I was! Derek was given an All-Star shirt for coming out of retirement to play after 2 years off, he pitched great games that definately helped them win.

We talked quite a bit before the tournament about how we both felt about him playing again. I would support his decision if he opted to get back into ball.. I would never stop him from doing what he loves. But I have to say I was really worried that once he played again he would realize what he was missing out on and we would have to give up this new life we have taken on the past year or more. We had a great life with softball, but he and I both have really enjoyed the camping and fishing and riding we are now doing and I am not ready to loose that! After 5 games of play... there is no more concern that he is ready and willing to go back to that lifestyle anytime soon! As much as he loves ball and misses the guys and playing, his body just is not feeling the same vibe..

As we drove home, he realized it might have been a mistake to play so hard, run so hard... By the time we reached the truck to drive home (a 5 minute walk) he was already stiff, sore and ready to fall asleep! I was worried he would be too stiff to ride his horse the next day, as we had already made plans with Shannon to ride with her and her son Clay on Sunday at Mann Rd.

But he sucked it up and was able to get on his jeans and boots. He did need a little extra help getting his foot in the stirrup once he got on, but otherwise the ride helped loosen up his back. His legs are mostly what are sore. We rode up to the lookout over looking the Sultan valley, what a great place to stop and eat and just take in nature and the surrounding land. It was really great to get out with Shannon and talk with her, she is still super excited about Oakley and will be listing him very soon. I appreciate that she is taking great care of him and that she sees the potential in him that I always knew was there. She rode him on the ride, what a gorgeous horse I own!! I just love that horse... :)

Red and Edgar have been doing pretty good at their new pastures. The ground is too wet up at the top side, so we moved them down to the lower section (still seperated). I think with all the grass and wetness of the ground their feet were a little more tender than normal. I will continue to check them daily for health issues, it is a lot of grass they are on and I still worry. So far so good. I also moved the goats to the same place, they had finished their duties in Mukilteo and were ready to come home. Roger who owns the pastures, offered to let the goats come stay with him, so we are seeing how that goes. They have great fencing for goats, but it is older fencing and although I know it will be safe/secure, I just dont want the boys standing on the fencing or rubbing against it too much.. so I am watching that as well, I dont want to take advantage of the generosity of Roger & Diana! :)
Here's a pic of Edgar with the goats before I moved Edgar to the lower dryer pasture.

And then Red on the other side, looking at Edgar as though he is insane for allowing these goats to be so close to him!
And of course this is the chaos I speak of when referring to the goats being mischevious and causing issues with fencing. They will do anything to get to the greener side of things.

Lumberjack Derek

In another life, Derek was a logger! Long ago when we first moved into the Marysville house that my parents owned (we rented) there was this lone apple tree in the front yard. Not a bad tree, a cute little tree. From the beginning Derek had a hate-hate relationship with that tree. Not sure why he hated the tree so much, he just didnt like it! Derek had mentioned to my parents that he had wanted to take the tree out, open the yard for a better lawn, but the answer was no.. Not a maybe, but a NO! :) Well the parents wanted the tree pruned, something you should do every year... Let me give you an example of what the tree looked like to begin with:

Okay, now Derek volunteered to prune the tree and the best tool he thought for the job was a chainsaw! Typically you prune with... Pruners! nip some branches, easy peazy! Well I came home to this!
Oh he pruned it all right, sawed off every branch til it was nothing but a 5 limbed stump! Quite commical actually, but I am fairly certain my parents (mom in particular) did not find this very funny.. at all! Now that the tree was nothing more than a stump, it eventually was completely removed.

The yard was much better to deal with, it did open it up and we replanted a nice big bush in the corner to compensate. So years later when it was appropriate to finally joke about the situation, we now tease Derek about his pruning abilities and he is the first to come to mind if anyone wants/needs a tree taken out! :) He took down a really big tree 2 years ago on our property and then I believe he took out one of his x-boss's trees as well.

Tyler asked him to take out 8 trees at Kathy's house, so this past Saturday we went out and finished that job. These trees at Kathy's all ran parallel to her house and were within striking distance to the house, so the guys had to cable the trees off to ensure they fell the right direction and all 8 trees managed to fall perfectly, avoiding any of Kathy's existing fence posted, 3 other small baby trees, and the house... Derek did a great job and Kathy was very thankful, and I'm sure she was relieved to be able to breath again when that final tree hit the ground and not the house! :)

Here are some pics of Derek taking out the trees. At times it hailed, at times it was clear and then after a while it just continually dumped rain on us, we left her house drenched and in desperate need of a shower.

Here's also a picture of Russell, he was being a baby at this moment and begging me to lift him up on my shoulders! :) Isn't he the cutest dog ever!!!!

On Sunday the weather was very cooperative so we headed to Lords Hill to meet up with a few others for a club ride. There were 5 of us to start on the ride, 2 riders left us half way through so Wendy Derek and I had a great day exploring. Red is getting much better with his feet, he slipped once and his behind went down pretty much to the ground, but he's learning.. He was a little sore this morning on his back, but we did ride for 4.5 hours! This week is supposed to be crappy and rainy all week, so not much opportunities to ride.. I will be moving the boys to their other pastures Tues or Wed this week, I will be bummed to not see them in my pasture every day.

Funny Story

The other day on the radio, they had asked listeners to call in and indicate what they had maybe posted on FB that they regretted and could not take back before it was too late.. Some funny stories called in, but it got me thinking about my funny story that happened long before FB!

It was my first "real" job, working for the Snohomish School District. I had just graduated HS, Derek & I were still new in our relationship by maybe a month or so and all was going great. The department I worked for had I believe 5 other ladies working in it, the room was actually my old 6 grade classroom as the District Building was the original Central Elementary School.

All the ladies were off at a meeting, so I was the only one in the room and either I had finished my projects or I was bored or maybe I was just slacking! But I went to one of the computers and typed up a letter to Derek.. It was a letter stating my 'feelings' after our first 5 or 6 "times"! I was a sentimental 17yr old at the time, I wanted to let him know what each time meant to me, because he was my 1st. So it was a big deal...

Well I finished up my little letter and hit print.. I sat staring at the printer! And I continued to stare at the printer.. and then I just kept staring at it.. wondering where the HELL was my letter! The computer said it printed. I went to reprint and it was only then that I realized there were MULTIPLE printers connected to that computer! This was way back in the day, OMG 19 years ago and I didnt know much about network printers. I knew at that moment my letter went to some other printer in another department of the district building and I had NO way to get it or even figure out where it went.. So I retreated to my desk and hoped with all my might that it went into some cyber world..

I dont recall if it was that day or the next, I'm pretty sure it was the next day, my boss Eleanor called me into her office.. SHIT! I was on the verge of crying, literally. I was so embarrassed, I knew exactly what I was going in there for. She set the letter on the desk and asked if it was mine? See, I had not signed it but there was no mistaking that a teenager typed this letter. I fessed up of course and said I had done it on a break and when I hit print, I didnt realize it was going to another printer besides the one next to the computer. They handed me my letter and asked me to keep from typing out these types of things at work.

I am sure I cried many times over that, I was mortified! I could hardly drag myself back to work. I am pretty certain even though my boss was fairly firm, straight faced and to the point, she was giggling inside at me. And not sure if she told the entire office or other deparments but it felt like everyone knew and were laughing quite histerically at me, heck I would! I can laugh about it now, but it has got to be one of my most embarrassing moments in my life!

Cant escape the Gunfire or the ducks!

Yesterday we decided a ride after work was definately in order! The sun was shining and why not take advantage, plus I had wanted to get my new saddle on Red. The saddle seemed to fit just fine, I'll ride in it on Sunday too and after that 3+ hour ride, will have a much better idea on fit. As we are saddling up, in the distance out of nowhere and suddenly, we heard gunfire! You have GOT to be KIDDING! We just looked at eachother and shook our heads.. What the Heck! We both realized it was atleast not coming from the direction we were going to ride, just a weird coincidence that it would be going off just as we were getting saddled up to ride.

After we did our loop, we rode down this gravel road and up ahead was a lone duck in a fenced pasture.. Red stopped in his tracks..OMG what the hell is that! His head was way high, he was alert and standing at attention. I think had the duck spread his wings and flapped, Red would have quite possibly exploded straight up! I urged him forward and as we got closer there were more ducks, but they were retreating to the barn. There was also a lone pygmy goat hangin out by the barn. Red relaxed a little and we continued on. When we turned around and had to walk back past pasture, the ducks were all over by the barn and the little goat was now in the barn with his head sticking out of his barn door.. Then another goat appeared in the barn door. Then a 3rd. The third goat decided he was very brave and he wanted to see what this big horse was all about so he squeezed his fat belly through the door and started trotting towards us.. Oh shit! Red did NOT think that was funny! He bolted, spun, tail sticking straight up/out. I grabbed the horn, I had heard he hated lamas or maybe it was alpacas.. either way I was not about to get dumped on this gravel road. A couple more goats followed suit and were heading his direction. Red acted like he was under attack and was not having any of it, so I calmly kept him to a walk and kept going. I wanted to get off and force him to stand next to the fence, but I was cold and decided we'd save that for another day! Sounds like Red needs to be exposed to my goats.. cant wait to get them all home and together so he can learn to accept other small animals. Funny that it takes Gunfire to spook Edgar and all it takes with Red is a little duck! :)

Birthday Weekend

Happy Birthday to Derek!! He turned 37 this past Friday.. To celebrate and to do something different this year, we opted to go to Silver Ridge Ranch for the weekend, we needed a mental break and I knew he would love the trails over there...

I was hoping my saddle would show up before we left town on Friday, Derek actually drove around Snohomish looking for any UPS drivers to go up to, incase they had my saddle! :) He didnt find any.. I had procrastinated on ordering Dereks birthday present so it was not here on his birthday, so I gave him a temporary iTunes giftcard to tide him over for his real present, although he loved the iTunes, so it was a win-win. We had made chili a couple days prior to take on our trip, it was our first ever attempt and it turned out pretty good I think. Not as creamy of a chili that we are used to eating out of the can, but it was pretty darn tastey.. good enough to be comfortable feeding to others.... Maybe a little regretful taking chili on a weekend where you are confined to a small camper with no air flow to move the fumes during the middle of the night... PWEW!

As we were driving through Carnation, my dad called to let me know my saddle was at the house! Darn, we missed the delivery by less than an hour.. Oh well. The weather Friday was terrific, mid 60's and after helping Tyler set up his tent (he has a cast from wrist tumor surgery), we were finally able to sit and relax. I realized in setting up his tent how glad I was to have upgraded to a camper.

We did then get the boys out for a nice 1.5hr ride along the creek. On the way to the creek, we were following some very fresh bear tracks on the trail under the powerlines.. claw marks and all.. :) Derek really liked the trail, the creek was beautiful and the only issue was a downhill creek crossing that Red did not want to cross at first.. I think he was going to jump it, so we backed up the hill and tucked in behind Edgar and he easily walked over it.. Oh I have to say that I put a rope cinch on Red, I had found it in my old tack trunk and I also borrowed a breast collar from Penny, between those 2 things, my saddle was a lot more secure when mounting. It still moved some, but not nearly as much as it did before. I really feel the cinch made most of the difference and am very happy I can continue to use my new pad. Red also was walking out well and was not slip sliding away on the trails. They are fairly dry trails, but the few downhills we did encounter over the weekend, not one slippage of his back legs...

So my dad allowed us to take as much of his wood as we needed that was down by the firepit, the wood we took had been cut into rounds more than a year ago, so we anticipated it would burn fast as some of it was very dry and falling apart.. so we took lots! Well Friday night as we are burning the wood that Jon/Arlene purchased (which was super dry and dissappearing rapidly) well we started to throw on the wood we got from dad, and it was not burning at all! We finally after about 30 minutes pulled the one log out and the fire hadnt even broken through the outer layer.. Derek split it and the inside was wet wet wet.. No wonder it wouldnt burn.. So then he went over and grabbed the piece that was so dry the inside fell out and it was a hollow tube.. they broke it into pieces and OMG, that damn wood refused to burn as well.. So then we put the 1x6 old fencing board on the fire from dad's stuff.. do you think it burned up quickly like normal 1x6 wood should.. Nope! it slowly burned. I sent dad a text at about 10pm and told him this wood was "crap!" lol The next morning he saw the message and responded that it must be the altitude! We all laughed.. We left that shit wood for the next camper to use.. We figured they would be thankful for this big pile of nice wood, made us look good for leaving it behind, little do they know.......

Friday evening about the same time I sent off that text to dad, I get a text.. a random text that you forward around and around about women etc.. It was an Eastern WA # but I had no idea who it was from, so I text back and said "Who is this?" I got a response "This is Christine, I own Charlie Horse".. Charlie was the last horse Carrie sold, about 6 weeks before she died. I actually sold Charlie for Carrie, he went to this very nice girl, he was her first horse if I recall correctly. Mom Carrie & I delivered Charlie to Christine who lived in Omak, it was a fun girls day on the road, around the beginning to mid October. I had wondered a few times if she still had Charlie and how she was but lost her information, so I was glad she randomly sent me a phone text.. I told her about Carrie, she was upset of course and welcomed me to come see her and Charlie anytime I was in the area, so I actually would love to take her up on that and stop by if I ever get that way...

As we saddled up Saturday for our ride that day, the weather looked fairly nice but questionable so we packed the horses and prepared for rain. I drew up a map for Tyler and Kathy so they could find their way to the lake and/or the creek trail.. they took the dogs with them (Russell and Kathy's dog Brownie) and opted to drive around vs hiking, it was great that Russell had company while we rode. As we headed out, we could hear lots of gunfire in the distance.. my gut told me they were shooting out at the lake and most likely shooting out towards the water as there are many trails that follow the lake for a long ways.. As we get to the lake, we realize we are still a little ways off from the shooting, but close enough to be a little uncomfortable. I should have just turned us around and went off another direction, but that slight stubborn streak in me, wanted to follow the lake trails because they are really nice trails! I wasnt about to let some gunfire ruin my weekend, dammit! Jon/Arelene seemed ok with it, we followed the trails hoping we would eventually see the shooters so we could be positive they were shooting away from us.. If we could just get behind them... We did hear atleast one ricoche bullet but no idea again which direction it was heading. I did vaguely recall Derek saying he was not comfortable heading towards the shooters, but I didnt listen :( We finally came up right behind the campsite of the crowd, there were a lot of them there for the weekend and they seemed to have taken a break finally from shooting. The horses all seemed okay, they were "aware" but not worked up. We did ask the campers and confirm the direction of fire, which was out towards the water. We rode past them down the beach quite a ways and got off, tied up and ate lunch. Just as we were eating, it started to rain a little, and then a few minutes before we were ready to head out.. damn, the gunfire started up again. Not sure why this time it was different but Edgar was NOT a happy horse! He became VERY spooked, he wouldnt stand still, he was pushy and almost aggressive with his behavior. He didnt want to listen to Derek, Edgar was on the verge of exploding. I actually took over for a few minutes because I feared that Edgar might do something really dumb, Derek immediately went into defensive mode and I dont blame him because this was a completely new behavior he had never seen from Edgar, me either actually. We could not get him cinched up, definately could not get his bridle on, Derek was unable to put a water bottle back in his pack.. it was a little nutso! So we started to lead the boys away as calmly as we could. Dollar (Jon's horse) seemed to be OK, so Jon got on after a few minutes of walking but I was not going to get on until Derek was safely on. I offered to trade him horses, but he was not in the mood to consider trading, he wanted to work through this with Edgar and get the hell out of the area. We made it back into the woods at which point Arlene opted to get on her horse CK who seemed fairly calm by this point. We told them to just ride ahead because Edgar was really almost out of control nervous and I did not want him causing the other two horses to get upset. I figured we'd hook up with them down the trail after a while.

I led Edgar for a while and every time he thought about calming down, more gunfire would go off. Now by this time we are as far away as we had been before lunch when Edgar was just fine.. so I really dont know what burr climbed up his ass. I handed Red over to Derek so I could try to get Edgar bridled. Well every time I attempted to bridle, Edgar flung his head up knocking my arms out of the way, then he'd dance around. At one point he actually flung his head which caused me to have to take a step back and being in the woods and not on any designated trail, I stumbled, fell to my back and Edgar was walking right at me!! I almost panicked because he was NOT paying attention to me on the ground whatsoever.. I started to slightly yell at him and shook the leadrope saying HELLO ASSHOLE, I'M DOWN HERE AND NOT IN ANY MOOD TO GET RUN OVER!! I finally was able to get my balance and get up, he got a few spanks. I was not spanking him in frustration, although I was slightly frustrated, but he was acting a little dangerous with NO regard to me and that is NOT ok! I was still completely shocked at how bad he was behaving, this is the Steady Eddy type guy, the one you should always be able to count on.. Who was this beast that took over??

I kept breathing calmly and finally he relaxed for just long enough to get the darn bridle on him.. Derek led him down the trail a little longer and as we were walking, I see Tyler and Kathy driving down the beach, so I walked Red back out of the woods to let them know what was going on, just to catch up for a second.. by this time, nothing else seemed to be working to calm Edgar. We told them we couldnt chat long, just needed to get on our horses and get moving. Derek got on Edgar finally and started walking around and I was leading Red over to a big log, had him step over it, but then he kept going, so I turned him around and stepped him over the log the other direction, he then backed up off the log so I got him to come up sideways next to the log and just as I did that, Derek comes over and says "Quit talking to Tyler, we gotta f*ing go!!" Well I wasnt just standing around shootin the shit, I was attempting to mount my horse who was much calmer than Edgar, but slightly worked up in all the commosion. I got on and told Tyler, sorry but we are outta here! We headed back into the woods to find the trail away from the gunfire, Derek at this point was very aggitated and pissed off. He and I were not in any position to be chit chatty.. I was not upset with him, I was proud of him for wanting to work through with Edgar and not being afraid of him. I could see he was not angry at Edgar or me, but he was angry and frustrated at the situation we were now in. We found our way to the gravel road and took the first trail in, attempting to ride away from gunfire. I knew the trails fairly well, so I knew how to keep us going in a direction to get away. There was this trail that would take us up an old logging road to a nice lookout.. we would be climbing and since Edgar was in no mood to walk, he was jigging quite badly, maybe if he had to work, he'd tire out and relax. So on the way up the hill, he was still slightly trotting and Derek wanted to be in the lead. I rode quietly behind, just watching my poor husband ride this bouncy damn horse. I offered many times to trade him, I would gladly attempt to work that jiggyness out of Edgar but he was adament that he do it himself..

As we rode up, we came across a major washout and could go no further, bummer! It used to be a great trail. So I rode past Derek so I could get behind him and turn around, he says "What are you doing, I want you in front of me!!" Well I suppose I was supposed to read his mind to know on the way down, he'd want me in front.. I let that little spat go and quietly got in front of him, every bone in my wanted to snap back at him at this point because he and I were not communicating really, he was in no mood to chat. As we approached the bottom I decided maybe he would take some tips on what I would do if I was riding Edgar to get him to start walking again.

I was happy and very much relieved that Derek wanted to listen and take my advice so he did. We stopped at the bottom of the hill and he would tightly circle Edgar in a very calm manner and then ask Edgar to stand still. If Edgar moved, then he would circle and circle and circle again.. then ask for a stand still. We did this for quite a while and it helped. Edgar was not jigging as badly but he was not 100% calm either. We were headed towards the woods, back to the creek trail. As we rode, Derek started to talk a little about the lake experience and prior to lunch and how he was upset with me for not listening to him. I was just so set on showing him these great trails, I didnt want to let a little gunfire ruin our day! :( And again the horses rode before lunch with tons of gunfire going off and they were all fine. I have no idea why Edgars attitude changed for the next round.

As Derek was somewhat snappy at me, I started to cry as I rode behind him, I had ruined our weekend, ruined his birthday, what a disaster.. I was just very upset with myself about the whole thing. Oh and by the way, we never did run into Jon/Arlene.. they had rode ahead on their own which I am glad for because Edgar was such a turd that I wouldnt have wanted him to be around any other horses. So anyways, like nothing could get any worse or the shit hittin the fan anymore.. just as we are a minute or so away from entering the woods.. BANG BANG!! Right infront of us.. somewhere in those woods, someone just fired off 2 or 3 rounds.. SONOFABITCH! Zero gunfire had been happening in the woods and now all the sudden as we are headed that directions, towards safety that we think, more gunfire which was even CLOSER than what we experienced at the lake.. Now I was pissed.. Derek who was in the lead immediately turned his horse around and had this look of "ARE YOU F*ING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW!!" I knew better than to even speak a word.. I just cried as I rode along. Every now and then Derek would stop Edgar and do the circle exercise because he still was not walking...

After another 20 minutes of silence, Derek finally stopped Edgar, waited for me, grabbled my hand, apologized for snapping at me and we started talking again. I was not mad at him for snapping at me, I blamed myself and I knew he was in a situation he had never been in, Edgar was not acting normal and he was trying to cope with that and learning how to deal with it all. I apologized for everything that had gone wrong that day. When we got back to camp, Jon/Arlene's horses were already put away and they were sitting with Kathy and Kathy's yearling she had brought along on the trip. Edgar FINALLY was standing still at camp.. We decided we wanted to keep the horses out a little longer to end the ride on a more positive note because Edgar jigged all the way until we got to camp. So we told everyone we would be back in a bit, but the horses were not done for the day. We follwed a trail that follows the road and I-90. Edgar was walking!! He seemed pretty relaxed actually. We came across Tyler and Kathy on the road, chatted for a few seconds, told them we'd be back at camp in about 30 minutes. Derek and I joked and laughed about random things and now that Edgar was relaxed, Red was not so relaxed! LOL.. He was a bit jumpy with the I-90 noise and distractions.. As we rode back into camp the 2nd time, he actually spooked and humped up just a few feet from our trailer when a tractor started up.. silly horse! What a long day that was...

We both were happy and relieved to be back on the ground, safe and sound. The horses were back to normal. I spoke with Miki who owns Silver Ridge, she told me the shooters are not supposed to be out there, that it is not legal. Especially the one in the woods.. But then Tyler and Kathy said they ran into a ranger that day and he said it was completely legal as long as they are being safe and responsible, but that they do monitor the situation to ensure safety. Well I dont know about you, but the more I think about it, the more I feel it is completely unsafe! I have ridden my horse on the other side of the lake, in the direction of the gunfire. I know they were firing at targets.. but the ONLY thing behind those targets, was air! and below the air was water and behind the air and targets was a huge lake and a shoreline across the way with other trails.. And then there is the ricoche, where do those bullets go? Derek says a bullet can travel 1-3 miles! The shooter in the woods, the area he was at, there is not a safe place to shoot in there... I have ridden that area a lot... There is a creek and trails, thats it! I am going to put together a letter and write to the ranger district in that area and also encourage Miki of Silver Ridge to do the same. I am all for going out and shooting at targets in a safe area, but that area by the lake is used by hikers, bikers, ATVS, horses.. NOT a safe area to shoot and although I do plan to go back to Silver Ridge, if this type of gunfire activity continues, I might reconsider and Miki as an owner of the camping facility, I'd think she would be very concerned if people were opting out of her campground because there is too much gunfire in the area.. so maybe she should work on getting the shooters out of the lake area as well. And it has NOTHING to do with the way our horses reacted. I am OK with what happened with Edgar.. It sucks that it happened and he was so reactive to the situation, but that is on me. I obviously need to desensitize him more to gunfire so my issue is not about my horses.

As we sat around the campfire Saturday night, Derek and I were able to laugh about our behavior and make light of the situation.. which was great that we did that because neither of us wanted to dwell on it.. it was what it was!

In our campfire conversations, Arlene was talking about a horse she owned or looked at, can't quite remember.. Anyways, she says the horse seemed to have hock issues. Tyler is standing, stoking the fire and he stops.. looks at Arlene with a very puzzled look on his face and says "Hockey Shoes?" LOLOL We all busted out laughing.. He just looked at us like we were crazy and we explained it was Hock Issues.. not hockey shoes.. lololol It is still very funny!

Sunday morning we all packed up early, it was a beautiful morning. The sky was clear and it clearly was going to be a 70 degree day. I had wanted to get on Red and just ride around the airfield bareback once, but unforseen circumstances came into town the day before and I was unprepared, so we just loaded up early and headed out by about noon.

We did eat lunch before heading home, for whatever reason, Derek decided an MRE (Military packaged meal) seemed more appealing than a tuna sandwhich. So he ate that while we all had normal meals. We keep a few of them in our camper so we can take them out riding with us, they are a good thing to have incase you ever get lost out in the woods and need it for an emergency source of food. Russell was a really good camp dog, sometimes we put him in the truck and as long as the door was open, he'd just sit there.

We got home and reluctantly got everything unloaded, camper back off the truck and to the chairs we sat to do a little catch-up on a few shows. Derek then spent a few hours uploading his iTunes music while I snuck off to bed.. I was exhausted. Overall it was a terrific weekend, just wish we could have stayed another day. Instead of a birthday cake, Derek had wanted a rice crispy cake and from now on, that is his cake of choice! :)

Saddle Saga..

Well I found a saddle for Red.. did I mention that before? Found it on TackTrader which is a website for individuals selling anything from horse property, to horse trailers, to saddles, to halters etc.. A pretty popular site that is a spinoff from their horse advertising original site Dreamhorse.

Since I rode Red in Dereks Wide Tree saddle, that seemed to fit very well, I went in search of my own Wide Tree Tucker Saddle and found one in Colorado! I didnt really want to buy one out of state, but I went for it. With shipping it was $925, about the best price I could find anywhere online or locally for that saddle, so I jumped on it. The saddle looks great in pics, my concern is that I wont get what was pictured, or it will have a broken tree or a million other what-ifs!

So I sent off my money via Paypal and the next day as promised, she sent me a UPS tracking #, unfortunately there was a slight mix up and she shipped the saddle to my home instead of my work. See at work, the saddle guaranteed would be there by 10:30 which is our daily drop off time. Now that it is coming home, I have NO idea what time it will be there and considering we are heading out of town the day it is supposed to be at my house and I had wanted to take it out of town with me.. well it sucks!

Then I had the idea, maybe we can intercept the delivery and have it set up for Will Call in Everett on Friday instead of delivery to the house, so the seller of the saddle tried to do that and apparently if we did that, I wouldnt be able to pick up til Monday! What the Heck! I dont get it, so she canceled that option and now the UPS status says "exception" instead of "on time" and now I have no idea if it really will be out for delivery tomorrow. My gut told me not to worry about it and not try the intercept and I didnt listen, I just hope I dont pay for that when the saddle doesnt show up tomorrow. I should know in the morning, the status should say out for delivery if it's coming. Here's a pic of the Saddle in my saga...

I need to unwind..

Some weeks I just feel so bogged down with "stuff".. unexplained stuff that to the outside world probably seems so trivial and dumb, but there is too much floating in my brain lately and for the past 4 or 5 nights I literally wake up during the night with a headache and a brain that feels like it just cant relax. Not sure what exactly the anxiety or worry or stress is about these days..

I have really been wanting to get Derek to Silver Ridge Ranch in Easton, there is great riding, great camping. So I suggested we go for his birthday weekend, a little early in the season for camping, but it is a nice place to go that will not overwork the horses and will get us in the mood for our camping season. Well the trip is coming up and just a week ago, the mountains were getting hammered with SNOW! There is snow at the campground now and although yesterday's forcast was calling for very sunny skies for the weekend, the forcast now calls for rainy days.. bummer. So I think a lot of my stress was in making a damn decision, do we go: do we cancel. Well we are going.. rain or shine. Jon & Arlene are coming along and so are Tyler & Cathy (who will go hiking instead of riding since they are non-horse friends).

Then we decided to make this a chili weekend so we are making our first batch of chili tomorrow, I've never made it before.. I surely hope it turns out!! ;) My brain currently is full.. I can feel it pushing itself against my skull, trying to escape. I procrastinated on ordering Derek's present so it will not be here by Friday and that sucks. I just sent a lady $925 on paypal for a saddle with the very high hopes and expectations that she ships out today a saddle that is not broken and is exactly what is advertised so I'm freakin out just a little over that..

The goat situation was stressing me way too much as I was getting upset that they were cooped up so much, I finally came up with a solution to that problem and we are pimpin them out to local Craigslist followers that need brush clearing, so that is one problem solved for now anyways. I think clutter is getting to me, I'm trying to get more organized, we finally spent this past weekend working on the garage, got it 100% better even though it is not 100% but it works for now.. We can actually walk in there, park the bikes, we are not tripping over shit everywhere.. We still have a weekend or two of organizing between the garage and the shed but it's been started. Speaking of bikes, we did ride 3 days last week.. actually come to think of it.. that is exactly when my headaches started!

I'm not just saying that to get out of excersize, but my first headache came exactly a week ago on our 2nd bike ride, my head just started pounding. 2 days after that on our 3rd bike ride, I actually had to stop my bike and put pressure on the back of my neck to alleviate pain I was having which helped cease my head pain.. Ever since that 2nd bike ride especially, I am getting daily headaches, maybe that is my problem. Maybe it is not stress or worry afterall, its just a pounding head which feels a lot like stress when in reality has nothing to do with stress.. hmmm Last night I took 3 asprin (grrr, I could not find any ibuprofen which is my much prefered drug of choice!) lol but I had to take them to eliminate my headache and hopefully keep my head clear through the night, it 1/2 worked... I am one that typically never gets headaches, maybe only a few each year so to have one daily, I can see why I feel so bogged down now. I find it interesting that it took me writing about random thoughts to figure out my issue..

But I am still worried and stressed about other little shit.. the horses for instance. I went to a damn grass seminar which was actually great, but it has me all freaked out about putting the horses back on grass this spring and whether it will cause them to colic etc.. The grass at my parents is lookin soooo good! I need to get them moved over there and stop feeding hay, but I cant just send them over and turn them loose, they could get very sick.. so I worry daily about how to section them off, where to put up temporary fencing, how to get them out for an hour a day easily when I dont live there, how to keep them from having vet visits.. Funny growing up, we never worried about anything and the horses were fine every year.. now as an adult I try so hard to do things "right", why can't I just be a kid again with no worries.. lol

The lender is (excuse my language) "dicking" us around on our remodifiation process.. I sent them the paperwork a month ago and well, they just dont have it logged in yet.. they are WAY backlogged with paperwork and have no clue when they will get to me. I will bug them WEEKLY about this until it is resolved. The crap the banks are pulling was even on the news last night, the news was reporting that it might not be a bad idea to just stop paying your mortgage! NEVER thought I would hear a financial planner say that could be the best thing to do. We are not that desperate yet, but I suppose it works for some to get their attention..

We did get in a ride this past weekend as well as garage cleaning and picking up some sticks out of the pasture. Just Derek and I at Lords Hill for a couple hours, it was a great weekend with lots of sun. I am still struggling with saddle slippage with Red, maybe the thick pad was a bad idea, too thick makes for a less secure saddle even though the thicker pad does provide better shock absorption. I think when I get my new (used) saddle, I'm going to try a really thin pad and see how that goes. Technically if the saddle is truely a good fit, a thin pad should be just fine. We'll see, I'm so confused sometimes..

I am excited to get away for the weekend.. I really need some downtime and I suppose if it rains the entire weekend, well we'll just be riding in the rain then. :) I wish a few more had wanted to come, they probably dont want to go camping this early in spring, but I'm a camper, I dont care if its going to be low 30's at night, I'll have the dog to keep me warm, the fresh air to clear my head and a fire to stay warm by.

We reclaimed our bed!

When we lost Scout 3 months ago, we immediately allowed Russell to sleep in the bed with us every night.. before, it was a weekend only deal but we felt super sad for Russell and did not want to make him sleep in his dog bed all by himself so we just allowed him in ours for 3 months straight! Now, he is a pretty good bed dog, but he still takes up room. Last night we decided enough was enough and he's a dog... so we opened the dogbed door and he walked right in, took his treat, looked at us with an "Are you sure you want me to sleep here" look and went to sleep! Not one whine or whimper out of him, he took it like a man, I mean dog! :)

I'm sure he's known for a while that his "luck" would run dry sooner or later and it was nice that he did not complain about being demoted to dog status again. He definately is a lonely guy though and I wish December would come faster! We have made plans with the breeder of the Boykin's, so we'll be putting a deposit down on our pup this summer for a Christmas puppy.

We took Schwinn and Blue out for a ride around Lake Tye the other day.. In the Rain!! It was alright actually. My behind was a lot less sore than the first time we rode them, so that was great. We might try to get out again tonight, if it's not SNOWING when I get home! Yep, it is supposed to snow tonight... although right now it is just super windy and blue skies. This weather is almost depressing. I like WA weather, but I'm motivated to get out to ride Red and Blue (haha) and the ground is just mucky and saturated; the blue skies are far and few between these days. I'd really appreciate some better weather as we have plans coming up that I dont want to have to cancel..

We posted on Craigslist to try to find a temporary new home for the goats.. I actually got 3 responses so far of people that want some land cleared and the free use of the boys. It would be nice to find them a better place than the small corral at my parents, they are pretty irritated that they have no freedom, it is their own fault though, they did such a great job of clearing stickers, they created a path right to the fence free road!

And finally an interesting tidbit about Red.. I am wondering how long he was kept a stallion because that horse has 2 poop piles in his pasture and he ONLY poops in one of those two spots! It is a little bizarre, I'm not complaining I wish ALL horses knew this trick.. I've known horses to poop in one spot in a stall, but not out in a pasture. I miss riding, I have not even been able to use my brand new pad yet.. sad.. but riding is on the agenda for the weekend as well as cleaning up the garage... hmm we'll see how that goes!

Sore and tired...

That is how I feel this monday morning. We actually opted to take Schwinn and Old Blue out yesterday instead of Edgar & Red. Schwinn and Old Blue have been cooped up for a few years in the shack, but we got 'em tuned up and ready to ride and ventured down to the centennial trail on Sunday afternoon. It was not quite the relaxing ride we are used to, we had to put quite a bit of leg work into the ride especially since it was a very windy day; we had a lot of head-wind to fight. But we got a good 45 minute ride in and it felt great to be back out there. My legs were a bit jiggly afterwards and my ass is still quite sore today :( We hope to take Schwinn and Blue out a few times a week, rain or shine and eventually we think it would be fun to ride them to our meetings in Lk Stevens...

Yesterday was Easter and although we did not intend on going anywhere for dinner, of course my mom cooked a huge ham and called at 3:30 asking if we'd come help eat all this food she made! Good thing we dont plan ahead too much, so we were able to postpone our chicken salad dinner to go eat her ham and scalloped potatoes, which must be an Easter tradition meal because I heard of a couple others that ate the same thing.

Do Not Touch the Remote..

I was reminded today of a funny story, thought I should share. :) Maybe over time I will continue to post some of the funny or bizzarre or questionable stories of my youth! Won't that be fun.. lol

I was talking with my dad this morning while he waited for mom to get some bloodwork done at the clinic and the subject came up of porn on the cable tv! Odd subject for a daughter/father discussion. We had been chatting about movies that were out, that can be ordered through your cable company and I think he mentioned that there were a lot of porn flicks you could get, although they are not $4.99! I then told him this story, although I'm sure I've told it to him and mom before...

A LONG time ago, Derek and I were living in our apartment in Snohomish. Mom and dad had to go out of town for a softball tournament with Carrie and it happened to be Eric's birthday weekend. So we decided we would take him and a few of his friends out to Alfy's pizza and then back to our place to watch movies. I think the boys were spending the night too, there were maybe 4 kids. I am trying to recall Eric's age... hmmmm He had to be turning maybe 13 or 14.

So anyways, back at our apartment we left the boys alone in the living room to watch whatever they wanted and after a while we realized that they were flipping back/forth over the porn channel because back in the day when you did that, you would get a quick second of picture before it scrambled itself, so they flipped over that channel a hundred times or more! Derek and I looked at eachother and came up with a great on-the-fly birthday present... We quietly phoned the cable company (cuz that's how you did it way back when) and ordered that channel. A minute or more later as we spied on the boys, they flipped over the porn channel and realized they were getting more than a seconds peak worth of picture! They all gasped and one or more said to the remote holder "WHAT DID YOU DO?" as they realized they had not done anything different they all started saying in slow motion almost "DO NOT TOUCH THAT REMOTE!" They just kept saying it over and over, like the remote was the magic wand that suddenly granted them their wish.

It was Frickin Hilarious!! They were so dumbfounded by what was happening, they had no clue how or why they were getting this channel all the sudden, they figured it was a glitch with the remote, but they soon realized something was up as we were laughing our asses off and of course they now knew we were behind it all... So we left the channel on and went to bed knowing the boys would be up for a very long time!