Wenas BBQ Flats

Memorial Weekend, we spent over at BBQ Flats, outside Selah WA. We had not been to this area before, arrived Thursday afternoon and came home Monday. 5 days of relaxation, riding, spending time with friends, eating, enjoying nightly fires and just plain down time!
We prepared Edgar for the trip, gave him his "hopefully will help to not colic" paste, loaded up Red, the dogs and headed out of town. Well Edgar never did come to a full-colic but he definately had an upset belly at times, spent some time laying down on Thurs and Fri, looking at his belly, he quit eating.. he got a dose of Banamine on Thurs and Fri, which seemed to keep him stable. Saturday morning he seemed fine but as Derek helped Sara Jane I was holding Edgar, he started acting really odd, he appeared to be cramping. 5 minutes later he seemed fine.. so Derek got on and about 15 minutes down the trail Derek had to get off because Edgar was cramping again and contemplating going down. After a few minutes, Derek got back on and we had a nice 4 hour ride with no more instances. Very odd.. Very frustrating! He seemed to be crampy after he was given his grain (which he is normally fed twice/day) so I quit giving him the grain for the remainder of the weekend. I will call the vet, talk to her about what happened, see what other ideas may come up. I'm wondering if he has ulcers that flare up when we go camping.. Really not sure. Was thankful to have not had an emergency vet visit once we got him home, but still concerned for future camping trips.

Our setup at camp.. clearly Edgar is down and not feeling great. We had our potty-room between the camper and trailer (hard to see since it is green) and then a screened in shelter to the right of the camper, we hung out in there a lot with the dogs, we called it our living room where the dogs could roam free supervised since they figured out how to go under the screen if we were not paying attention! :)

BBQ flats is a great area to ride, lots of up but you can do gradual climbs. Derek, Sara Jane & I rode out Friday, got our bearings from the map we had, the ride was okay, a little rocky and boggy the first half of the ride. Saturday we had a great ride, able to navigate the map a little better, did a really good loop and Sunday we went out with Jenny, Becky, Tamara and Eric for a good ride. The first half of that ride was good, with some cross crountry type riding, the second half was not as great.. ran into a lot of boggy areas and we eventually broke away from the group to avoid those areas since our horses were working harder than we wanted them to and we wanted to avoid potential injuries to muscles etc.

As we rode out Friday, I had said to myself "I hope we see some wildlife". There is lots of elk in the area. Well as we were getting back on the horses at lunch time a coyote jogged down the hillside not far from us.. My heart skipped a few beats, I was waiting for Derek to come over and help me get back on my horse when my brain went into slight panic mode and Derek had to calmly talk me back to reality! :) Saturday I bravely told myself I wanted to see some other form of wildlife.. We saw a single Elk on the ridge over from us... Sunday I hoped again for wildlife and we came up on a few deer. So nothing overly exciting like a big pack of Elk that others had come across, but I was satisfied!

The weather was perfect.. 5 minute spotty rain showers on Thurs/Fri with sun breaks, a tiny bit of hail on Friday, thunder storms in the afternoon. Saturday we got caught in a big hail storm while out riding, lasted about 20 minutes.. us 3 huddled the horses under a tree to get out of it for a little while.. Sunday was perfect, overcast/sunny no rain or hail. Sunny on Monday as we left. I would definately go back and look forward to it.

This was our weather for most of the weekend Happy to be home, but definately looking forward to our next camping trip. The dogs did really well, suprisingly. Took Ellie about 24 hours to get in the camping groove, but she quickly learned to sleep soundly and relax when we were away. Russell did most of the whining. We were able to do some off-leash work with Ellie, I was happy she listened 90% of the time! :) A few times she slipped away from us when she knew she was going back in the camper.. But I was proud of her.

My back did GREAT all weekend, we had to walk the horses to water multiple times a day... the riding was good, got in 11 hours in 3 days, our butts were a little sore since we've not had much saddle time this year so far. But I woke up Monday hurting so badly with lower back issues, I couldnt even put on my shoes! I was in tears and felt really bad for Derek because he had to do 80% of the work. I helped where I could with easy things.. It's taken a week to get back to almost normal.

Heading out on Saturday's ride with Derek & Sara Jane & I

One of the cabins you can find out on the trail, the only one we found. This one is about 15-20 minutes out of camp.

The start of the hail.. We quickly realized it was more than a few minute passing of hail and sought shelter under a tree.In the middle of the hail storm, huddled under this measely tree!

This is about 15 minutes after the hailstorm.. We rode down out of the clouds and found a great little spot to have lunch. Lots of animals tracks leading up the watering hole.

Heading out Sunday for our group ride.. 7 of us

A little hazey out, but a great view of the valley.

Lunch Break on Sundays Ride. Jenny & Becky toasting a great day!

Cooper Update

Apparently Cooper is doing very well still with training! Always nice to know your hard earned money is not being wasted.. I wonder if that's how parents feel of their college bound kids. :) Trainer is happy with his progress and feels he has good character and disposition. We are happy but miss him very much. I think Ellie misses him too, she is so much more playful with us now, she has more bound up energy now too. I finally picked up the "dogs" yard, filled the lawnmower cart with rocks, sticks and plastic the dogs had dug up from the mound.. was able to mow that yard area for the first time all year!

The other night Ellie was very restless in their crate, so I let her outside.. she did not want to come back in the house; considering it was midnight I was not about to argue with her, so I shut the gate in the entryway and left her there for the rest of the night. At some point later that night, I vaguely heard our bedroom door rattling.. didnt wake up enough to comprehend that there was no breeze in our bedroom to cause the door to rattle! lol I just let it go on for a while until finally I woke Derek and asked him to get up and check the door, well he found miss Ellie sitting outside our door waiting to come in. Yep, she jumped the entry way gate! And the next day when I left for work and shut the gate behind me, well we came home to Ellie in the wrong side of the house, so she officially learned to jump out. Damn!!! So now she gets her way and has rule of the roost while we are gone at work, we'll see how well she does. I know Russell is super happy, I'm just concerned Ellie will get into more trouble than she knows what to do with.

Dexter's cut/stitches are doing great. I have not spent much time with him lately, I'm a little concerned about being able to cut the stitches out, if he will let me get close enough to him to do it. Got the vet bill in the mail the other day :(

Called in Backup

Thursday evening as I was looking at Dexter's cut, it was pussy and very swollen so I opted for backup help and hauled him in Friday morning to see Dr Dana. She asked me to be there at 6:30 am! Yikes.... I realized he probably wasnt missing a chunk of skin, he most likely just cut himself and it parted ways creating the big opening. As Dana cleaned it all out, she asked if I wanted to clean daily or stitch it up.. duh, that was a super easy answer, Stitch! No way was he going to let me clean it out like that w/o being drugged daily! :)

Even under sedation, he didnt want his naughty bit region touched, kicked the wall as Dr Dana felt him up, and yes indeed she found 2 dropped bits.. YEAH! Whew thats one future vet bill that will not cost me as much as surgery if he hadnt been dropped.

Here's his pretty pink stitches! 9 I think total.
Its a bit of a challenge every day to put an anti-bacterial spray on it, the fighting him twice a day got old very quickly and we were getting nowhere, so I now spray the solution in my hand and wipe it on his face, which is challenge enough! All the while doing this with no halter on him, just a rope around the neck. I'm staying positive and using it as a learning experience for him to learn to lead and be handled without a halter.

What now!

As I approached Dexter to halter him this afternoon, he seemed a bit spooky. He really did not want me to put his halter on and I struggled to get him to allow it. I thought "Hmm.. this is an odd setback, what the heck is the deal today?"

He was a bit jumpy, he was throwing his head up in the air, being overly flighty and sensitive in the face when I was leading him out of the stall and working him around in the barn isle. Since I dont have an arena or round pen, most of my work with him is in the isle or out in his corral, but its much nicer in the isle because the bugs dont seem to come into the wide open barn space, but they sure can get nasty and gross in the pasture and corral. So anyways, I was working on desensitizing Dexter with a plastic baggy on the end of a stick basically, he was doing okay, but I still was perplexed at how jumpy and sensitive he was on the leadrope.

As I worked on his left side for about 5 minutes, I decided to now work his right side. And after a few circles around me, I noticed something not quite right about his face.. It looked a bit odd, so I stopped him and immediately felt sick that I had not taken a few seconds to stop and wonder why he had been so sensitive and unwilling to be haltered. No, I just put him to work.. Poor kid had a huge cut/chunk of missing hair and skin on his face, just under the damn halter buckle! NO WONDER he was so sensitive, that halter was touching up against raw flesh..

Yes yes, very gross details, but thats what it is.. just a huge (bigger than the halter buckle) area, clean edge chunk missing from his face. I called out Derek to come help me, took the halter off immediately and just used a rope around his neck. We searched that stall and corral and found zero evidence of what might have happened, so maybe I am left to believe one of the other horses bit him?? I really have no idea, its big enough that the chunk missing should be somewhere.. mystery may never be solved.

We opted not to call in backup (the vet) because he was eating normal and it doesnt appear he broke anything. It certainly was painful for him, we had to really fight him to doctor it, flushed it with some irrigation solution and then spent another 5 minutes fighting him to try to get him to stand still long enough to goop it up to keep bugs out and infection away. That was not working, I finally told Derek to grab ahold of his ear and twist as hard as he could.. Well that worked! Finally I was able to even touch his face to get the goop on him. Poor poor kid..

So it's a minor setback as I will be unable to halter him for a week or two. It will need lots of time to heal and scab over before I can let anything put pressure on it like a halter. Which is OK I guess, he will learn how to be led and handled with a rope around his neck I guess! :) Unfortunately I think we will have to continue to "man-handle" him via ear twisting to doctor him up... for a stallion, he's sure acting like a sissy!

Mini Crisis Overcome

I get home Friday not to find any disasters with the dogs this time.. no, the problem was out in the pasture! I had about 15 minutes time between getting home and needing to leave to head out to a meeting and what do I see.. Red out in the pasture where Oakley is supposed to be and Dexter in the corral that opens up to the pasture and Oakley out in the pasture as well... hmmmm Not where they were for their morning feeding, thats for sure!

Here is what I gather happened. Dexter's stall door was shut all the way but not latched properly. Edgar, who gets bored, was lipping the door through his stall window and got a bit pushy and pushed it open a couple inches.. So then Dexter sees this opening and explores it, bolting through (which meant he had to of half jumped over his feed tub which somewhat blocks his stall door. The door was only open just enough for him to get through. With Dexter getting out of his stall, he now is in Red's corral. Red musta chased Dexter out of his corral because the temporary fence poles were all askew and wire was way out of place leaving openings for Red and Dexter to now get in with Oakley. Red took the opportunity to find his way to the green pasture. Who knows if Oakley may have also chased Dexter, but 25 minutes after discovering the mess, all horses were back where they belonged!

The next morning I saw that Red had minor swelling on both his back legs, not sure what that is from, he seems to have cut one of his back legs a little on something, probably all the running around and being silly. He's not lame so I'm not too worried at this point. The next morning the shoer came out for a fresh set of shoes, Jon was nice enough to get Dexter's feet done. It was a bit of a "panic" session as Dexter was pinned next to the horse trailer to get him to stand still. Once Jon had his feet up, he was just fine, its just the approach and initial touch from the shoer that was the biggest issue. He's still not okay with such bold movements. I'm working on it with him, but again my broken record keeps saying.. slow slow slow progress. :)

He is easier to catch these days, hardly even backs away from me in his stall, I have been exposing him to fly sprays and now water from the hose on his legs, also working on getting him to move around me in a lunging fashion via just hand movements and getting him to stop based on hand movements as well and when I shake the lead at him as he is standing, he will back away. Very good progress, he is a quick learner I think the biggest struggle is just getting him to relax with movements and touch still. I might try putting a baggy on a stick and just working that all around and over his body for a few days.

I did a string test from his knees to his coronet and it says he should reach 16.2!! I'm going to try it one more time with a different type of string, see if I get the same result. If so, then I am SUPER Excited because supposedly this is a fairly accurate indication of his full grown height.

I rode Red and ponied Edgar around the neighborhood the other day, Saturday I think it was. As I rode past one house, 3 dogs were pacing the fenceline and making Red quite nervous. I was intently watching as one dog in particular seemed very eager to get out and sure enough he climbed out in the corner of the yard. It was a husky and he immediately went to circling the horses, he definately was considering nipping at their legs, I was yelling at the dog and just stayed put in fear that if I started walking away, he might get more aggressive with the movement. He was coming up to their legs and touching them, I secretly wanted one of the boys to kick him, but the owner came out and it took him a few minutes to catch his dog as it circled away from him, weaving in and out of the horses. A lady down the street had come out and was even yelling at the dogs as she heard the commotion. I safely got out of the situation, hoping the owner has rectified his inadequate fencing. If it happens again, I wont be so nice next time and will have a conversation with him because the 3rd time, animal control or 911 will be called. I know I put myself at risk riding down the road on my horses, but I should not have to endure the added danger from his dogs getting out and acting so aggressively towards the horses.

Derek called down to Cooper's trainer yesterday for his first update.. our little Coopidy Coo (as we call him) has impressed Butch this past week with how quickly he is picking up on training and seeming to love it! He says Cooper is just like his daddy (which is awesome cuz his daddy Earl is a champion dog and Butch did his early training too!). We are so proud of Coopey (another nickname we gave him) and miss him and his obnoxious antics.. He's not obnoxious in training at all, Butch says that is normal for him to act differently at home vs out on the "job". We only wish that they had videos we could watch weekly of our boy and his progress.. We dont get to see him for a couple months still.

Lost Priveleges

Since Cooper went down to OR, we've (okay I've) been letting Russell and Ellie have rule of the roost of the house while we are away at work. Every day I come home and find something different. Actually when we went down to OR we left the dogs free to roam and came home to a shredded magazine and an empty chips bag.. both had been left on an end table.. Of course Ellie is the ONLY culprit here to blame.. I'm sure Russell shared in the eating of the chip crums, but he never gets into things left on the end tables.

So Monday morning, I put things up thinking all would be good. Came home Mon Tues and Wed to minor things moved.. My sandals were pulled off the chair and set in the middle of the living room, stuffed ducks had been moved to living room, a cowboy boot from our entry way moved to living room.. Nothing chewed up, just moved - almost to say "look at how good I was for NOT destroying these things that I could if I wanted!"

Well then I get home Thursday afternoon and am welcomed with a wiggly Ellie who is so proud of herself, smiling (if she could) and wagging herself all around, mouth as full as she can get it with bread! She musta had 2 or 3 pieces hanging out her mouth and she pranced and danced all around me, just so very proud of herself! Out in the living room is another chip bag and 1 slice of bread still inside the bread bag.. Now both of these were on the kitchen island when I left for work, the bread was UNOPENED and the chips were basically crumbs.. Russell is sitting in the chair hoping I dont see how BLOATED he is!! LOL

I am 100% certain that Russell ate about 80% of that bread!! he was SOO incredibly fat with a rock hard belly, he waddled as he walked.. :) I'm sure Ellie ate some and I KNOW she was the culprit once again because only she has the ability (or desire) to jump up on the stool and then onto the counter to pull these things off... So because of her, they have lost their house priveleges and are now treated once again as... dogs! Confined to the front entryway while we are away and not able to nap in luxury on the couches and chairs.

Dexter is doing really good. Progress is still quite slow, well it feels slow anyways. I am now able to clean out all 4 of his feet, can walk behind him feeling fairly confident he's not going to kick me, catching is getting easier and Derek can even go up to him now too. He wants to like us, he will follow us around but he's still pretty leary of a reached out arm, so instead of touching his neck prior to catching him, I now just hold the halter up to his face as I approach him and let him put himself into the halter.. it works pretty good, actually a lot easier to catch him that way. I was able to get my hand back to his naughty bits area, but he was too uneasy with it for me to feel if he has "dropped" and I'm not sure I even know what the heck I'm feeling for! Okay well it's pretty obvious I'm attempting to feel for his balls... but I've never really felt a horse up like that before so not sure if I'll realize what I am or am not feeling once I am able to even reach up there.

Not so Expensive

That's what I have learned this past week... If I hire someone to come in and clean, it will cost me about $75 per cleaning. Well I might just consider it once a month as I still havent found the happy balance yet. :)

Derek and I have been a bit unsatisfied with the name Tucker for the colt. It wasnt fully sinking in with us, so as we drove down to OR on Saturday, we contemplated all the way down and most of the way back on a new name. Sometimes these things just take a while.. As we ran through a list of characters from TV shows we like, then on to gun brands, off in another direction then back to TV characters, Derek just snapped out quickly, Dexter. YES! That is it.. The colts new name that we hope to register him as: "Blue Driftin Dexter" Whew, I feel so much better! Kinda suits him if you watch the show at all. Well all but the murderer part.. LOL

We were driving south on Saturday to take Cooper off to College, Parkdale Kennels in Rainier OR. He got sick before we even left Monroe, spent half of the rest of the trip panting and the other half laying quietly in his kennel. He did great! We waited about an hour for the trainer to finish up with some of the dogs in training and just watched. Cooper was curious, anxious, quiet and drooling at times! I got some GREAT pics of him.

He is such a BEAUTIFUL dog

Standing outside the office, the kennels are in the same building in the lower level.

He will be training in these fields

Waiting patiently

As they took him away from us and into the back room to the door to the lower kennel level, he sat his butt and refused to walk, scared mostly of what was behind that door! A lot of dogs were barking from the kennel area. He was drug through the door, we looked away and then looked back at the door to see him now facing us and clawing at whatever he thought he might be able to grab to get away from going down into that kennel area. Poor kid, he was just scared and we felt sad for him. But happy because he is going to have fun once he figures it all out and is put to work. His instincts will kick in and he soon will be itchin to get out to work. Exactly what he needs, a job! Things are a little quieter at home, okay a lot quieter but Russell and Ellie seem OK for now as they now play more with each other.

Sunday we had to go get Oakley from the lady that was going to lease him. Because he's outta shape and was barefoot in the hinds, he didnt pass his vet check for soundness, but I'm not worried. He will head up to Amber (a good friend of mine) on Saturday, she's going to lease him for the summer, get him in shape and love all over him. He looks good, he was happy to be out in some real dirt again to roll. After much debating on whether we should burn branches or go for a ride that afternoon, we didnt really come up with an answer and Derek headed into the house as I brushed and shaved up the horses. It was a very nice day outside. Derek finally came back outside and we got in a ride around the neighborhood.

Spent the evening at Eric's house for a BBQ for his birthday, nice relaxing way to finish the weekend. I always enjoy going to their house and seeing what is new and changed. They have a cute house with a great country feel interior (there's always some new decor items to google over), a cool country garden, and soon a cute little hen house! :)

Progress

That which has been a 6yr thorn in our side, has now been completed.. well 95% anyways! Privacy fence finished. Pasture fence finished. We still need to finalize it all by cutting off the 4x4 post tops, but otherwise it is secure and un-passable by horses or dogs!! Not sure if we will still get the deer in our pasture, I'm hoping the apples still draw them in and they are able to jump over. Once we get all the fallen trees out of the pastures and branches burned, we can move forward with daily turnout.. I'm sure the horses will love it!

Progress with Tucker has been slow, but steady. I cross tie him in the barn which allows me a lot more freedom to move in/out from him. Someone taught him to tie, he handles that part just fine. I can now pick up his front feet although he doesnt let me hold them long, and I can somewhat pick up his back legs. He's still very jumpy and unsure about being touched at random. I intend on building a temporary round pen to work him in, it is desperately needed to move forward I think. I'm planning to utilize the Monty Roberts method on him, hoping it gets him to want to join up with me and think of me as his alpha instead of being so shy of my interaction.

Our horse club had a Dutch Oven Day again this past weekend, BEAUTIFUL weather we had for it!! We all should have been out riding instead of cooking.. oh well, I suppose just maybe we will get another 60+ day in our future and maybe we'll get lucky and it will fall on a weekend, although the snow level is supposed to drop to about 500' again tonight.

I struggle with trying to find the balance of my evenings with working Tucker, needing to ride Red and get him in shape (soon!), cooking dinner, cleaning, laundry and spending some down-time with Derek watching some shows and off to bed by 9:30.. There just isnt enough time to do it all. I am failing with Red, cooking, cleaning, laundry and sometimes getting to bed by 9:30! LOL Ideally I would love to hire a housecleaner to come in every other week and take care of all the chores I just dont have or make the time to do, how expensive can it be???

Nothing Stays the Same Part II

Yep, things are changing again, just 24 hours later! :)

So Oakley did not pass his vet check.. He appeared stiff in his hind end, vet indicated could be suspensory issues with his back legs. Janet did a lot of thinking and decided she wants to ride now and not have to rehab a horse so she is sending him back. I dont blame her, she doesnt need to spend her entire summer with an out-of-shape horse that should be brought back up slowly. So I will pick him up within the week.

I did call the vet this AM to get my own clarity on his opinion. He indicated that the suspensory issue was just something he threw out there as a possibility but not something he focused on and that the puncture might be causing some lameness, his feet are not shod in the back, that could be the problem, his angles are off on his feet, he doesnt have the muscle mass in his hind end from not being in shape.. ALL of these things could be contributing to why he was lame in his back end and vet said if he is just "legged up" (basically just in shape) that he might very well pass sound in a few months just fine! THAT is what I believe is the issue, so I am MORE than happy to pick him up and move on.

I really like Janet and hope to remain friends with her, but I know Oakley is sound, his videos from 8 months ago clearly show him sound.. the problem: He sat for about 6 months with little work.

So I got on the phone this AM and have some options, one of which is my friend Amber is considering leasing him for the summer. She would keep him at her place and ride him, love on him and her inlaws would ride him as well. They live in the backyard of some GREAT trails up there at Heart Lake, it would be perfect to send him up there. I trust Amber very much.

We have options though which is great.. One of which is to just keep him and let others ride/lease him until we are ready for him to be a regular fixture at our place. He is a great horse and its tough to want to sell one that you dont always have an easy time finding or affording down the road.. Janet has found a horse to ride for the summer, she expressed interest in re-considering Oakley after he is established as sound, but would we sell or lease?? Who knows what the end of summer will bring for Oakley!

Nothing stays the same

A girl that was interested in Oakley a while back who has since purchased a different horse, forwarded someone to me that has been looking for a horse for a while. I was pretty reluctant to show him to anyone just yet, he is at his worst and looks like shit; underweight, nicks all over him and a puncture wound on his back leg. This lady was eager to see him, she loved his videos online and was heading to a clinic in OR in a week and thought maybe she could take him to try him out at this clinic. So against all inside of me that was embarassed to show him to anyone, we met her at a public arena in Redmond.

Her name is Janet, she is an exceptional owner and rider.. She has won lots of money and awards including the 2009 Oregon Foundation Quarter Horse Ranch Versatility. She's looking for a solid horse to use out on the trails and to do the trail challenge courses with, maybe work some cows etc. Exactly the type of home I would have hoped to find for Oakley. She was able to look past his weight and nicks and wanted to give him a try, although she is not hauling him to OR this weekend, he's just too out of shape for that much work.

I had a momentary lapse and self destructed in devaluing my own horse when we had to set a price on him. I think I felt so guilty for how bad he looks now that I allowed myself to get talked out of a bit of money for him. For now Janet is doing a 6 week lease and will determine at the end if she wants to A)buy him for $5,000 B) lease him on a long-term basis or C) send him home. I'm okay though with the offer she made because she is such a terrific home that I am staying positive. I met a new friend, I hope to ride with her and Oakley in the future and watch them progress and see just how far she can take him with what she does! Plus.. I know I could get him up to weight no problems, but do I really have the time to get him in shape when I cant even get my ass on my own horse these days. lol

And I have the colt to work with now too. :) He's coming along great. Very SLOW progress, but he is learning to respect me. I was able to approach him and catch him from his right side the other day, that is a HUGE deal because he has been very leary of even wanting me on that side when he has a halter on. So that is progress... I have been able to touch his back legs with the whip (used as an extension of my arm) and he has not kicked. I have brushed him almost all over, started picking up his front legs. I dont trust him and I dont think he trusts me just yet. I also hung a bunch of hay strings on his stall door, yes it looks pretty silly and odd, but I want him okay with random things touching him.

We settled on a name, his new name is Tucker! Derek won the battle in picking the name, of course. :)

Derek's 38th bday was this past Saturday, clearly we didnt end up out of town on our camping trip to Easton, had to cancel it with all the work Derek has been doing lately and with the added horse stress.. just wasnt feasible to get away. Instead we had dinner with Jen/John & Sean/Sophy on Fri night.. We all went back to Jen/Johns place and had some really great conversations mixed in with a few shots, finally left at 3am! It was just really nice to have some bonding time with them all. Spent Saturday night out to dinner with my parents, Eric/Andrea and Crystal/Aaron. A laid back kind of day, worked on our fencing too.. paying my dads x-workers to finish it off with the wire, it will be nice to have that project thorn in our side completed.

Things are looking up for us a little, the hard work of fighting the bank paid off and we are signing new loan documents tonight and I'm sooooo ready to start fresh. Now if we can find a way to add some hours to the day so we can finish some other projects, that would be ideal. Cleanup has slowly started at the Fecht household.. once the fencing is done, we can clean up all the excess wood, get some dump runs out, and clear up the shit outta our shop, shed, driveway, pasture, garage, yard and anywhere else it may be stored... lol

Back/Forth

I go back and forth in my mind about the decision to bring home this colt. Maybe I am over-stressed with Oakley, the colt and our mortgage issues, my brain is full! Its not like the colt costs a lot to have him around, but it is added cost and one more project in our never-ending sea of a busy life. I do have options with him, its not like I have to keep him, I can always work him and sell him next year as a 2yr old.

He is turning out to be quite the project, that I will say! He's a lot "wilder" than I initially realized and basically I have to treat him as a wild horse. He does NOT like to be touched much. He kicked at me twice yesterday when I was close enough to pet his butt.. I actually thought he was enjoying it, I was brushing his butt and he moved his rear closer to me.. Red does the same thing because he wants me to keep scratching it! But not the colt apparently, as he kicked at me.. I quickly realized I needed to start out much much slower.

I previously had thought I would wait to re-halter him until he was 100% approachable, but determined after yesterdays kicking episodes it was much safer for me to have a halter/lead on him when handling him. That way I can control his head at all times and his rearend, so if he swings towards me with his butt, I can get ahold of his face and manually pull him around which means his butt has to go the opposite direction of me.

I spend 15-20 minutes every morning haltering and working with him as well as handling him every afternoon. This AM when I attempted to run my hand down his chest to his front legs, he tried to bite me. I immediately reacted as the "alpha" and let him know that was NOT okay by "biting" back with a pop from the leadrope and "charging" after him to get him to back away from me. He might be half wild and scared by his new experiences, but I am still the boss and I'm not going to "baby" him. The plan is to teach him to respect me and my space in a manner that he understands and that will yield me a respectful horse down the road.

He shows signs of wanting to follow me around, he is just so uneasy with any touch right now, it is going to be a long and slow process! I'm certain that he is biting and kicking out of fear, and not because he is an asshole.

Maybe part of my anxiety about him is my own fear of the "what if". What if I cant get him to accept and trust me, he is the biggest ground work challenge I've had to deal with and a small part is afraid I will fail, so my brain says "you cant fail if you dont try". Bad brain bad brain, that is the wrong way to think so I am attempting to supress those thoughts and move on! because What if I succeed.. What if he turns into a 16H+ easy going, well built, well bred, good looking horse! :)

Started the day with 2, ended with 4!

Well I havent had much exciting to write about lately until today! :) I did another work party yesterday, this one w/o the horses.. we cleared a trail that had been logged over 2 years ago up at Victoria Tract PTF. I was really impressed with how many non-horse riders were there to help, we accomplished the trail clearing goal much quicker than anticipated.

Derek has been working a lot of OT, today is Sunday and he worked yesterday and today. :( I feel bad that he doesnt get much of a break, although the money is really good, I just hope he can hang in there until the company slows back down. We hope to get some projects finished with the extra cash, like our fencing!!! That is probably #1 on the list right now especially with our new circumstances.... He finished the cabinet, it turned out great and the guys at work were all impressed (and I'm guessing a little jealous too).

The dogs have all been great, we've been babysitting my parents dog Sarge all week as they had to drive back to ND, my dad's brother Wayne passed away. So the household has been a bit crazy, Sarge loves to run and he and Cooper wrestle around a lot. My dogs are super jealous of Sarge's feeding though, they go nuts to lick his bowl when he is finished!

I know I know.. everyone is bitching about the rain! But it is getting ridiculous. I dont normally complain much, but it is almost a bit depressing this year for some reason and if you live here, you know what I mean! We had to cancel our trip to Easton next weekend, we were going to take the horses and Russell to go camping for Derek's bday but he has to work and it was a bad time for him to take a day or two off work with his boss out all week. I think they appreciate he was willing to compromise. So now we have no plans yet for his bday, I'm not even sure if he is working or not on the day.

I got a text from Shannon on Friday asking if I could pick up Oakley on Saturday. When we got to her place, she was on the verge of tears.. she felt really bad for not having him sold and asking us to take back our horse. I told her no worries! The possibility of her taking him back in another month is still there, but i'm not counting on it. We kinda have room for him, we created a seperate corral behind the barn for him, but we also still have pasture options at my parents or at Roger/Diana's place if need be.

We have been talking about our options with Oakley and what to do.. We dont need a third horse, but he is a great horse. We called Tracy and asked if she might be interested in riding him because her mare is having hoof issues that will take a few months to recover from and she is out of a trail horse and we hardly have time to ride the 2 we got! She was very interested, so that is great.. it would get him out on the trails and keep him in shape! Whenever we get a free day soon, she's going to give him a try and go from there. I may still put him up for sale, just all depends on how things play out.

As we were driving out to Shannon's, we passed a blue roan horse that is about a mile from her place.. I mentioned to Derek that I LOVE blue roans and Derek joked, said his favorite is a red roan because well.. thats what his horse is! :) We get to Shannons place and are chit-chatting with her about who knows what and she says to me "Hey I gotta show you whats in my arena". As we walk over I see a 10mo colt, she got him on a trade deal and doesnt want him. Guess what color he is?? Blue Roan!! Sometimes the world works in mysterious ways.. so she proceeded to attempt to "sell me on him", talking about his great legs, responsiveness, movement, breeding lines, potential future height and good price. I was ho-hemming about it, what the hell do I need another horse for? As she was leading him around the arena, Derek and I quietly chatted and decided that we would take that colt by golly! I'm not sure if it was her persistance that she really wanted me to have him or my desire for a project or the potential that this guy might just be 16H when he's finished growing or what.. but we loaded that colt up and took him home!

He is basically a range baby, born w/o personal human interaction and is very scared and nervous by human touch. Shannon had a halter/lead on him 24/7 and he picked up how to lead with the minimal work she put into him, he is pretty responsive. As Derek led him to the horse trailer, Derek stopped at the back of the trailer to let the colt sniff it out, and that colt walked past Derek and jumped right in the trailer on his own.. Just the way we like our horses to load! He hauled home quietly as well. We got home and said "Where the hell are we going to put him?"

Since he is still pretty nervous around people and is NOT easily catchable, he needed a super safe area where he could not jump over, under or through any fences while trying to get away from human interaction. So we put him in Red's stall and closed it off completely. We left Red in the corral section with no stall access. We left Edgar in his normal corral and put Oakley in the new corral. It was dusk as we settled them all in, I took the colts halter/lead off of him and left him loose in the stall.

I was anxious last night as I played on the computer, wanting to go out and visit my new project.. So at about 11pm I headed out to the barn! :) Well things were not as hunky-dorry as they were when I left them earlier. When I went out to the barn, the colt was circling around in his stall, he seemed very nervous and anxious as well. As I walked over to the stall door, from the outside corral I see Red CHARGE that stall, MOUTH WIDE OPEN, TEETH OUT and he slammed against the stall, teeth literally racking across the metal bars! Oh shit, the colt was freaking out! I was calm, but internally a little freaked out by the anger and furry of Red, he kept wanting to charge that stall.. So in the late hours, I'm out there yelling at Red, trying to calm the colt with nothng more than my voice and wondering how I'm going to switch things up to alleviate the stress of it all.

I moved Oakley into Edgars stall/corral, moved Edgar over into Red's corral since I knew he would NOT charge the colt and then put Red in the corral behind the barn. Red had no way to basically see/charge the colt from that area. Things started to settle down, I was just about to get the colt to let me touch him, when Edgar accidentally touched the hot wire and bolted, stirring up everyone all over again. They finally settled again, I brushed Oakley for a while and then was able to get the colt to let me touch his left side only. This morning all seemed pretty good with the horses. I decided to give the colt the corral section as well as the stall, so I had to move Oakley and Edgar in together. Edgar is a little grumpy at Oakley, but they used to share a stall just fine together at feeding time, so I know it will be okay.

Red got PISSED again, because now that I moved Edgar, he couldnt see him and he spent his morning running around, rearing up and being a butthead instead of eating his breakfast. I was able to get the colt to allow me to touch him again on his left side, used a brush on his neck, he's good with touching his face (not his ears) and his neck, but once I move beyond his neck to his back, he gets nervous and moves away. I am doing this all very slowly. For now as I initially approach him, I have to do it facing away from him and backing up to him. I think he feels less threatened this way, it is non-confrontational. The colts name was Stone, but Derek does not like it, so we are in the process of trying to come up with a new name. It will be interesting to see just how much he lightens up when he sheds out. :) I LOVE projects like this so I am excited to have a colt to do some groundwork with. I was frustrated with Red last night, but I knew this about him, that he can be intolerable of new horses.. I was so glad there were metal bars between him and the colt! Yesterday morning I had 2 horses and now I have 4!

Yeah for Spring Weather!!

Cooper is scheduled for College.. We take him to OR the end of April! I'm excited but a little bummed, just not sure what we'll do w/o our LBD (little brown dog) at home... I'm going to miss him alot. We've had no further Bad Dog experiences with him, he's been so good that I have wanted to spoil him and let him up in my lap, but I have restrained myself.. It has not been easy on my part.

All of Dereks work in the shop is paying off, his custom cabinet is 90% done! It looks really great and I'm happy he was able to turn his concept into reality, although it cost a bit more than initially planned, it should last a very long time! The only thing left to do is paint it. He's going to paint all of it except the doors, they will be stained to keep the nice wood look.

Our horse club held a WorkParty this past Saturday at Mann Rd. 4 members walked in with bladed weed eaters and then I was there with a horse to ride in to work on a couple different areas. At first I was the only rider and I thought I might be working alone. I wasnt afraid of the work to be done, just my over-active mind worried about what critters might try to join me if alone! :) Rachelle informed me that because noone else in her group but her was "packin" that she would not be givin me her gun, I was on my own! LOL Thankfully another lady showed up with her horse to help me out, she is from Traildusters and it was nice getting to know her and having her help. I am sure I wouldnt have finished it all w/o help. I opted to take Edgar that day since I was packing in a saw, loppers, bucket, raingear etc.. Red doesnt really like having so much flopping around on him just yet. Mary and I worked really hard.. we filled 6 big sink holes in the trail with river rock and sand, then cut out a good sized tree, manhandling it to then get it off the trail, then cutting another smaller tree out. We spent a good 3.5hours of working, my arms are pretty sore from all the rock hauling and sawing. It feels really good though to have accomplished the 3 tasks Jenny sent us out to work on. We got back to the trailers about 30 minutes before the other group walked out.

The weekend before, Derek & I drove over to Ellensburg for the BCHW Rendezvous, we bid on a couple items, watched a clinic, browsed the vendors. Oh there was a guy there that had invented a feed box for horses that eliminates hay waste problems. Edgar is a real turkey when it comes to wasting hay, we have a whole routine of trying to keep him from getting his hay on the ground where it then gets stepped on and he refuses to eat it. This feeder box can be made to fit an entire bale, so one of Derek's next projects is to replicate the idea and make 2 for our barn. The guy was selling them very reasonably priced and I'm glad for the idea but thankful for a crafty husband who will be able to make them for our horses. Red doesnt really need one, he eats up every last nibble, but this will allow us to set out an entire bale and not have to feed them for another 4-6 days! :)

I think I mentioned before that Derek is now on a bowling league.. oh yes I did.. well he never did get that yellow ball he wanted, it is out of production and he was unable to find the weight he wanted for himself but found another he is satisfied with. It was funny at league 2 weeks ago, the team they played against asked if his ball was new.. not because it looked new but because they could smell it! LOL Yep, Derek discovered that his new ball smells like blueberries I think it is.. Smells pretty darn good, he spent the rest of that evening sniffing his ball every time he picked it up. :) He's been having up/down games with his ball as he learns and adjusts to it, but had a great game of 266 last week! Only 2 frames that he did not get strikes.. I am looking forward to his 300 game!!

So much for braggin...

Yep, just when I brag about how great Cooper is, he goes and messes it all up with a VERY BAD DOG moment! I allowed him up on the couch with me Friday night (spoiling our good boy), he was laying behind me on the top of the cushions. As I sat there almost motionless watching some TV, he sat up and growled.. I thought "hmm, must be hearing something I dont hear" which happens all the time with the dogs :)


So I reached over and pet him, he then growled again and barked, looking off in the distance of who knows where.. So I pet him again, and he once again growled and barked but then he lunged a little at my hand.. basically telling me to leave him the hell alone!! I immediately realized he was barking and growling at me.. OH HELL NO! I grabbed his neck and drug his ass immediately to the ground yelling NO.. BAD DOG.. NO GROWLING.. etc. and then proceeded to attempt to annoy the hell out of him by pulling his legs, ears and forcing him to stay in the lay down position. Once he was on the ground, he softened his eyes and turned into "cute puppy mode" and was not showing any signs of aggression or annoyance at all that I was putting him through.


We were told due to his age and growing hormones, that he's going to start testing his boundaries so we have decided he is no longer allowed to be anything but a dog! :) He lost any priveledges of being on the couches or chairs with or without us. He is a floor dog, end of story and he can sit and be sad that Ellie & Russell are sleeping in luxury on the couch cushions.. lol


It was nice to hear from other dog folk that he is just testing us and that it's not necessarily a trait of his that will turn into anything serious. Mr Couch Diva will learn his roll in the pecking order of our house. He tries hard to be good but the past few days he's been sneaking around the couches and chairs, lurking and waiting for that moment we wont notice him quietly jump up on them and fall asleep. For the most part, when we see it coming, he listens to us tell him no and he stays off and once he's up, 80% of the time he'll get off when we tell him to, the other times we have to drag him off.. so far no further growling instances. I bought him a cushion for the floor (yep still attemping to spoil him) because he seems SOO dis-satisfied with the carpet, but he's not even the one using it!


Did I mention before that our washing machine had a fight with the wall cabinet a week ago? Well the cabinet won and busted the knob on our machine, I believe also breaking the timer which is a $100+ part. Found a 2yr front load washer on CL (not one of the super fancy ones but a decent one), got it hooked up and running last night.. seems to do a fine job although Cooper thinks we've added an alien to the laundry room, he was quite upset with the new washer and sure that it did not belong! maybe because he could see the clothes moving all around.

I spent this past Friday baking rolls for our annual Cinnamon Roll Ride with the horse club. Well I killed my yeast with the first batch of dough and around noon realized I needed to make another trip to the store to buy more supplies to start a second batch.. My yeast was more cooperative the 2nd time around, but then some rolls over-rised, I over-carmelized, I over-baked.. grrr Not a great roll making day for me. I need more practice, maybe I should cut the recipe in 1/4 and make just a couple batches until I really get this thing down pact. But I have to learn how to do this on my own and perfect it.. as much as I know my mom probably wanted to be there with me to help out.. I will never learn if I dont just bear down and do it alone. Of course noone complained, they all thought I was silly for being so paranoid, but they were pretty darn hard when eaten cold! lol and when you cant pick off a nut because there is too much caramel type stuff and its baked into hardness.... reheated, they were pretty nummy.

I decided not to take my embarassing rolls to the dog club potluck dinner, we wanted to impress our potential new circle of friends so I smoked up some delicious ribs and we had a great time. It felt a little awkward going to a potluck of 20 or so, knowing only 1 person.. but they all were inviting and we had a really good time. I can be so shy and reserved in situations like that, but because the lodge we were in was all open, you had nowhere to hide away. It was in Monroe, and although the outside of the building looks nothing like a hunting lodge, it actually is very nice inside, almost like a big apartment with a bunch of rooms and beds for guests, decorated with the lodge decor. It was nice getting to know some of the people and we also talked about other interests besides our dogs, one lady has probably been to our horse club prize rides in the past.

Sunday was Derek's only day off again, not that he had time to relax as he started to build a custom cabinet.. this thing is huge, I cant wait to take pics of it, he is doing a really great job. It is for work so he has a place to store all his tools and paint guns, books, supplies etc.

Long gone are the days of coming home and plopping in front of the TV for hours and hours. Most nights we only get an hour of TV time, which is nice to take some time away.. makes you realize you are not missing out on as much as you think you are when you dont get to watch your shows.. we still have them recording, I'm not ready to give up entirely on watching TV, but have found we are now selectively weeding some out as our DVR fills up and we have to make room for the shows we really think we cant live without, even if it takes months to get to them! A month ago our DVR was empty, now it is 80% full.. I'm not sure what we'll do when we have no shows left to weed out, I guess we'll just have to come to grips with the fact that life has to come before TV.

"What a good pup, he's so well behaved... "

That's what we heard on Saturday afternoon... Cooper was a bit out of his element as we took him on his first outing to a Hunt Test Practice in Monroe. There were only about 10 other dogs there, we didnt introduce him to other dogs since they are all there to train, not to socialize. We took Cooper mostly for the exposure of being out and about and the people. He sat and watched patiently at times, other times he was just sniffing around, but he was not his normal obnoxious self! After his initial shyness of greeting new people, he would get excited when they pet him.. He is turning into a really good dog and although he loves to cause business and is still quite the monster at times, he's pretty good too and it showed. He WAS the cutest dog there of course!

A new friend of ours, Anne, who is part of the Cascade Hunt Retrieval Club, pulled us aside and got a dead duck for us to work Cooper a bit. He was all over the bird when it was thrown, he went right to it, but was unsure what to do at that point. He mouthed it, plucked feathers, attempted to drag or pick it up a few times.. He did eventually grab it a few times and attempt to drag it to Derek. After about 15 minutes he was distracted by the train so we quit, you are always supposed to stop with the dog wanting more, never practice til they are bored.

I originally had planned to take Cooper by myself as Derek had to work, but he was able to finish early and get home in time to go with. His new job is going great, the only drawback is the long drive. He really likes his job and that his co-workers all seem happy and like their job too. Unlike most other places where the guys all hate being at work and their employer. He's been getting overtime every week, hopefully it will help to get some projects finished this year around the farm! :)

Derek & I went out for a ride on Sunday at Mann Rd. We initially where riding with 4 others but Edgar was pretty amped up after having gone 4 months unsaddled, so we broke off from the group and had a nice quiet 2 hour ride. Felt good to be back out with Derek too.. My own ManTracker!

My cousin Marc brought over his pup Elvis on Saturday late afternoon. While he took some wood out of the pasture, his kids Jasmine and Caplin played in the yard with all 4 dogs. Marc actually got to our house a few minutes before we got home, so when we got home, Ellie was hiding under the deck and would not come out until I had the kids take Elvis on top of the deck where she couldnt see him! lol I leashed her at that point and we worked on acquanting the dogs to each other and 15 minutes later they were all running and tumbling together.

A friend of ours that is moving out of state, owns a lot up at Cowboy Campsites. CC is a big chunk of property where you purchase a section to be used as your private camping lot. The property borders the Harry O trailhead up out of Sedro Woolley, so there is tons of riding. Many have built small sheds and corrals on their lot, trailer parking pads, permanent fire pits, etc. They are not very big, but you are ensured a place to camp any time you want to get away to that area, as it is a very popular trailhead in the summers. There are some serious money issues going on with CC, so it may not be available for much longer. Our friend is care-leasing her site to us for the summer, we'll see how it goes. It may not be a site we utilize as much as we'd like due to mainly just being busy, but we will take responsibility of it for the year and hope to enjoy it many times.

And to end the weekend on an even greater note, the guy that hit us 2 weeks ago, came through with his promise to pay up and forked over the cash we asked him for to fix the truck. What a relief!

Mayday Mayday.. we've been hit!

Lets start this past Saturday on a positive note.. Derek had to work (okay thats not so positive, but it is nice his first week on the job and he was able to put in 10 hours of OT!) so I woke early to play on the computer and get some much much needed cleaning done for the day (okay.. again cleaning is not so positive.. what part of this is good so far.. lol) Anyways, the plan was that we were going to have some horse club friends over for Movie Night that evening and I had the entire day to get some chores done, deep cleaning time! As I sat and checked mail, I noticed at 8am a very light light snow was falling.. yes that was the positive note I intended to start on.. LOL I know I am in the minority, but I just cant help but smile at the sight of snow.. I love it and my dogs love it!

I spent the next 5 hours taking my time and cleaning, I even took the vacuum apart as the suction wasnt working so great and got it working better.. deep cleaned our bedroom.. The house was as clean as it was gonna get and at about 2:30 decided I should take a shower and head off to the grocery store and Papa Murphys. At this point, we had already canceled the movie night, there was very little interest from people in coming plus with the all-day snow, it was just safer to reschedule. Most of the snow had not stuck too much since it still was so very light all day, but I knew it could get worse as the night drug on.

So I head off to Monroe, the roads were 50% clear with patches of snow dust, not super slick but definately still drove carefully. As I was heading to the store checkout, I get a call from my aunt Dena.. her and Jennifer are in Downtown Snohomish at a wedding dress store and invited me to come down! I was super excited to be invited... When I got to Snohomish, Derek had just gotten to Snohomish as well on his way home from work, so he picked up my refrigerator groceries and headed home. I told him I would pick up pizza when we were done.

So I saw BEAUTIFUL Jennifer in 2 different dresses she had set aside and was debating. She looked amazing of course. We 3 decided to head to Mardini's and have a late lunch and chit chat for a bit before heading home. We never get to spend much time together. The snow was now coming down pretty good but not accumulating much. We had a great time and decided we had better all head home, it was now dark and snowing still pretty good.

I picked up the pizza and headed home. Now if you know Snohomish at all, I decided to go past Emerson Elementary and ventured down that BIG hill towards Centennial Trail. I made it down that hill just fine, zero sliding. Roads seemed pretty decent with a heavy dusting on them. I was in 4WD of course. I turn onto Three Lakes Rd and took a mental note that there was maybe an inch or so on the center line with still just a heavy dusting on the main part of the road. I get up to the S-Curve hill section and a van ahead of me stopped and started backing up. I was confused, assumed he just didnt want to take the hill with his 2WD. The car infront of him attempted to turn around in the road and got stuck with her front end on the side and her ass-end sticking out in the lane. So I decide, hell I can make this hill no problem.

What I should have done and I'm pissed for not doing, is stopped, got out and walked up around the corner where I couldnt see. But I didnt, I stepped on the gass for a little momentum, passed the car that was now stuck, got into the curve and realized 2 vehicles were STOPPED up ahead in the middle of the hill. One 2WD vehicle was in the right lane and the other dumbass was in the middle of the F*ing ROAD! So I have NO choice but to stop. Now I am on the straight section, I have made it through the curve in the road. I decide since I am now in the middle of the road as well, I should back up and get into the driveway on my left and turn around. I put the truck in Reverse, took my foot off the brake, I had NOT even put my foot on the gas pedal yet when all the sudden I was moving!!! I was not moving backwards, nor forward, NO I was SIDEPASSING (NO SHIT) straight towards the edge, which normally would be no big deal, however on the other side of that edge is a HUGE DEEP DEEP RAVINE!!

It was one of those Slow-Motion moments.. as I was sliding, I had ZERO control of the truck, so I unbuckled my belt and felt my life was over.. Internally I was sure the truck was headed over the edge into the ravine and I was going to die. I opened the truck door, prepared to jump out. THANK GOD, as soon as we hit the edge, the truck stopped. I sat there for a second, unsure what to do. I knew I was in no condition to try to move the truck. The car I had passed was only about 15-20 feet behind me. If she wasnt there, I could have backed up using the traction of the edge and gotten out of the situation, but with her back there, I had no options that I could see. The road was a sheeting of ICE.. It was absolutely the worse condition I have ever seen a road before. I shut the truck off, turned the flashers on and got out. I have NEVER shook so bad in my life.. I was trembling, almost hyperventilating.

I called Derek and told him I was stuck and unsure what to do. There was no way the car would make it safely so he said he'd see me in a while, he was gonna walk the probably 3.5+ miles to get to me. He then called back and said he would ride his bike to get to me faster! I told him good luck in this shitty condition!

So as the lady and I stood there looking at our perfectly fine vehicles stuck, we talked a little of how panicked she felt for me when the truck was headed for the ravine! The reason the truck headed that direction is because the road is sloped towards the ravine, so when I put it in reverse, 4WD made zero difference, the slope was so great and road so icey that it was out of my control. I would have made it up that road JUST FINE if the damn idiots in 2WD were not blocking the way.

As she waited for her son and I waited for Derek, a guy in a Bronco decides he's going to pass us and head up the hill. Now at this point, we should have stopped any vehicles from attempting to pass us until the hill was clear, but you dont always think of everything when you are a bit shaken up. I really was not shookin up from the snow at all, I knew I could handle the snow. But when my life flashed and I thought I was headed off into the ravine, that is what scared me. I know it sounds overly dramatic, but that's how I felt at the moment. The feeling of having NO control and just waiting to stop or drop....

So the bronco sees he cant get up the hill and stops... He stops on the curve part and decides he's going to back up into this driveway we are standing in. He does the EXACT same thing I did, as soon as he took his foot of the brake, he sidepassed towards the ravine. Well unfortunately for him and for the lady with the car, her car was completely blocking his path to the ravine, so we watch in agony as he slams into her drivers side, mirror parts flying! He too was in 4WD and now we all just stood there wondering what the hell to do now.

A guy in a 4WD truck comes up, stops, gets out and a little abbrassively says to us.. "Well I can get you 3 out. Would you rather wait for the cops, get a ticket and pay a tow truck driver to get you out or would you rather have me get you out now?" Seemed to be a good plan, it wasnt really my decision because my vehicle was uninjured and I knew if he pulled those other 2 out, Derek would be able to back out of the situation.

So the guy gets in his truck and I have NO idea what his exact plan is, but he pulls up a little further in the curve than the bronco did and stops! GODDAMMIT!! Why the HELL did he do that.. Was he planning to turn around in the driveway so he could use his back bumper to pull the car out? So as he stops and puts it in Reverse, well his 4WD did the EXACT same thing my truck and the bronco did.. so he is sliding and this time I knew I was going to take some damage. He hits the bronco, and then his front end slams into my rear end, I was a bit concerned the force would push my rear end off the edge and into the ravine, but there was not enough force . I was PISSED!

About 15 minutes later, I see Derek flying down the hill on his bicycle! A couple people were like.. "look at this guy on the bike!" lol He was going pretty fast with no ability to really brake on the ice. So now we all stand there wondering what the hell to do now. The guy that was going to save us all, called a buddy to come with a wench truck. A policeman eventually showed up, he parked at the top of the hill and walked down. Told us he was not going to issue any tickets, he had far too many other flipped cars and worse scenarios to deal with, but he did call a sander truck to get there ASAP or else he was going to close the road. He stayed with us until the sander showed up and we were all cleared out to ensure nothing else happened.

Once the sander was there, he spent a lot of time dumping as much sand as he could around our vehicles and got the hill 1/4 sanded up and then left. Not sure why he left and didnt finish sanding the hill, maybe he ran out of sand? The car was pulled out by the one guys buddy and I dont know where that car ended up, maybe the lady or someone drove it off. Then the bronco was pulled out, then the ford and then Derek was able to drive our truck out w/o any assistance. I jumped in and we easily cruised up the hill (which had been cleared of previous dumbass's for atleast 30 minutes at this point).

Oh no, story doesnt quite end there.. As we get to the top, the one police car was blocking any traffic from coming down the hill and up ahead of us was a car and a tractor. The tractor was stopping and talking with drivers headed the opposite direction of us and blocking us from going anywhere. We knew cars would be coming up that hill behind us real quick and if we didnt keep going, they would have to stop on the hill back there.. So we were getting VERY aggitated at this point, we just wanted to get home. So as the tractor moved forward, the car in front of us slowly crept forward and we stayed in the same spot. We were waiting for the car and tractor to get far enough ahead that there was a free lane to pass them in so we could get going and make it up the little incline w/o having to stop mid hill. As we waited, a cop car pulls into our lane, flashing his lights and was face/face with us. We could not back up, the ford truck was behind us. So I get out and head up to the cop and said to him "Where do you expect us to go?" I was not very friendly, I mean seriously.. WTF was his problem! He was very Assholey with his demeanor, he sat way back in his seat, head up all snotty like, didnt roll down his window until I was standing at it! He said "Well I wasnt sure why you werent moving and what you were doing?" OKay I am thinking, then why not GET OUT OF YOUR DAMN CAR and WALK a few feet up to ask us!! Lazy Asshole.. So I say to him "well we are waiting for the tractor to get out of the way so we can get up the next little hill and get home! As soon as he is out of the way, we will be on our way". So he doesnt really say anything, I dont recall what he did say, but I ask him again "where do you expect me to go? I cant back up." He says "cant you back into that driveway?" Now mind you, this driveway he is referring to is steeper than the hill we just came up and he wants me to pull down that driveway? WTF asshole, why would I do that. So I tell him "NO I cant pull into that driveway, I dont want to get stuck, I just want to get home!" I was getting really snippy by this point, this guy was the biggest dumbass idiot cop I have ever experienced.. I said again " as soon as the tractor is out of the way, we will move forward and get home, OK" He then closed his window and backed up into his own lane. He didnt smile, never said, okay have a safe drive.. nothing. I just shook my head, I guess you dont have to have common sense to be a police officer!

So we put it in drive, cruised past officer dumbass, passed the car that was creaping along and as we are in the middle of the road ready to pass the upcoming tractor, a damn stray dog was in the road. This same dog had been down visiting us earlier when we were on the side of the road, some kids said it was a stray and unsure where it belonged. So as we are approaching the dog, it decides its a good time to cross the damn street to be with the kids that were walking along the road. Derek puts on the brakes (we are on the hill/incline now) and I start yelling.. pardon my language.. "FUCK THE DOG>> FUCK THE DOG!!!" At this moment (because Dereks window is down) a girl starts screaming from the left side of the road.. well the dog must have backed off at the very last second because we did not feel a thud and Derek had opted not to attempt to stop.. NO WAY were we risking another accident over a dog.. I'm very sorry to those that may think we are wrong, but my life is a little more important to me.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, we made it home safely and curled up with our children and enjoyed a little downtime in a very clean house!

That was quite the evening. Come morning, the roads were slush and driveable again. We headed off to the 4H tack sale, found a couple items that my friend Molly graciously offered to put with her things so we wouldnt have to spend 1-2 hours in line.. we had a nice lunch, headed home and spent Sunday relaxing and catching up on some TV time that we havent had all week with Derek working 2 jobs.

Oh and did I mention 4WD Ford truck driver that hit me is uninsured! Of the 3 people that have hit us over the years, all 3 have been uninsured.. but I have ALWAYS collected! Ford dude promises to pay cash for damages.. I'm off to get an estimate today, we will see how loyal to his word this guys really is.

I still LOVE the snow, it just reaffirms that I hate stupid people! :)

Thanks Gerri!!

I almost forgot.. Want to give a big shout out to Gerri! Thanks so much for trusting that Red is in a great home with me.. :)

Gerri (who I've been leasing Big Red from) called last week, I started to worry as she wanted to talk about Red and I thought maybe she wanted him back.. Well I'm sure she would love to have him back if she had the time and ability to ride/work with 3+ horses! ;) She called to ask how it was going, if I was happy with him etc..

She decided to sign him over to me, so I now "own" Red! I knew while leasing that he would be mine (most likely) as long as I wanted him, but I always told people he was Gerri's horse and always had her in the back of my mind with the decisions I made regarding Red. Not that anything will change now that I own him, but I really do feel the difference in my head. I think this will help me form a better/stronger bond with him, I already feel like I look at him different when I go out to feed, I know I sound like a cookey-bird! I am very THANKFUL to Gerri for the Great Horse I now own and look forward to lots of miles on the trails in the time to come.

Productive Weekend

We got a lot done this past weekend.. not really anything you would notice if looking around our messy house or out around the house! :) A week ago we had a tack cleaning get together with some horse club friends, it was nice to have company to clean the green off the leather! Yep, it was getting a little overdue to be done.. thats what happens when it sits in the trailer all winter with basically zero use!

But it's all clean and ready for use...

Derek put in his notice after his interview and left on really good terms from that employer. He actually is working part time for them after he gets off work from Seattle... makes for a long day, but he really didnt want to burn any bridges and the extra money doesnt hurt. The good thing is if it doesnt work out with the new job, he still has full time employment options at his old job. But things are going really good at the new place. He really likes the job and the people he works with. I think this is a good fit.

We had gone back/forth all week about what to do about a commuter car. (oh my gosh, I can hear my favorite commercial on the TV in the other room.. dancing rat things in the Kia commercial.. hahaha) Anyways, we had contemplated fixing up the little black truck Derek bought long ago, it is currently in pieces, the bed is not attached, the gas tank is sitting on the shop floor, the motor has never run since we bought it.. You know how a project truck looks! After realizing it needs a whole lot more than just a new motor (needs a new interior as well), Derek quickly realized on Sunday that his fixer upper project was a lot more work than he has time or money to do right now. We had been keeping our eyes open for a little cheap commuter car in the $2k range, but well you know what ya get, crap!

I loaded up Edgar on Sunday to go ride at Mann Rd, Derek was going to go but the last time he started a new job on a Monday, we rode on Sunday the day before and he had that really bad accident on the trail, so he decided it might not be a good idea to ride the day before a new job again! lol He hasnt ridden since October and although I'm sure Edgar would be just fine, thats a 4 month vaca for the horse and who knows if Edgar would act out of character and have a bad day! It was a whopping 30 degrees as I saddled up that morning, but the sun was shining and it was a fantastic ride! We rode for 2.5 hours, the trails were OK, a bit frozen in areas, mucky in others but Red & I had a good ride. We did come across a downed tree that was at my chest level, that was interesting to duck under.. almost had to get off, but I sucked up what I could, bent over and made it through unscratched (twice even!). As I was untacking I get a call from Derek that he is going to Speedway to look at a little car that just came in.. I told him to NOT make any decisions w/o me! An hour later as I'm driving home he calls and says I need to meet him at the dealership, he made a deal to buy the car... lol

So goodbye green truck, hello baby car.. We are the proud owners of a 2007 Chevy Aveo5. Its a little hatchback, similar in style to our old Kia but its a bit smaller than the kia and oranger too.. haha.. yep its that burnt orange color, which isnt too bad actually. We got a damn good trade in on the green truck (only $600 less than we HOPED to get cash for it if we sold privately) and then paid an additional $2k for the car.. free and clear, best kind to own! It has only 60,000 miles on it, gets probably 30+ highway miles, so should be a good commuter. Derek already has plans to pimp his own ride and add some style to the car. Here's a pic of what they look like new. Oh and I did not meet him at the dealership, I drove home and dropped the horse off while he brought the green truck home to clean it out, then we drove down to trade the truck over. The green truck was on it's last leg anyways, it had over 190,000 miles, leaked fluids daily, passenger door was broken and you could only open from the outside, tailgate handle was busted, mirror covers busted, gas guage didnt work, windshield wipers ONLY worked on super fast mode.. the list goes on. Our new little (as Derek calls it: GoCart, I call it Go-Car-T) is very basic, no a/c, no power locks or windows, no CD, just a stick shift, working heat, clean and cute!

Cooper had surgery yesterday to fix his herniated umbilical.. he's doing good, you wouldnt even know he had surgery. Its hard to keep him quiet and calm, I admit I am letting him play a bit more than I should. But it snowed today and him and Ellie LOVE LOVE LOVE to run and play and jump in the snow, so how could I resist! He is now in quiet time, bored out of his mind, he's trying to find things to get into as I have him seperated from the other 2. We are supposed to get a lot more snow tomorrow, I hope Derek doesnt have to deal with stupid people on I5 tomorrow or he might not make it home!

So riding and the new car is not all we did this past weekend, that was just Sunday! Derek had me sell his softball bat and bat bag on ebay 2 weeks ago, that was the sign that he was officially retired.. He sold them so he could buy himself a new bowling ball.. So we got up Saturday morning, headed to Edmonds first to buy a scrap section of carpet for the dogs.. our front entryway was getting disgustingly trashed from the dogs coming in/out all damn day with muddy paws.. It was stinky and gross. So I found a carpet remnant to put in that area.. who cares if the carpet gets trashed. After we bought that, we headed to the bowling lanes to buy his new ball! Here's a pic of what he ordered, yellow is his favorite color! The ball will have his name on it too, the only problem is he got a call today that the ball was discontinued (well the size he wants is) so they are trying to find the same ball elsewhere.. I hope they find it, we both love the ball and it suits him well. Went to Costco after that and purchased my mom's birthday/mothers day gift, yep its 3 months early but I think she will LOVE the gift and I wanted to ensure it was still available so bought it now.

We've been also a bit stressed lately regarding horse shit! Yep, our horse manure.. having the boys home year round means more poo to deal with and we are running out of low spots in the pasture to dump it. So we found a dump trailer in Kent to go look at, drove down Saturday afternoon and bought it.. its just a cheap little $350 thing! Nothing fancy.. Just big enough to load up the horse shit for about 2 weeks and take to a friends house who wants it for compost. After we bought it, we had to go a couple miles down the road to the Mclendons Hardware to buy an adapter for the lights. As we are there, my dad sends a text that he wants me to stop and buy a lazer level in Kent and wonders if we would call the guy. He says something like "I dont know what area of Kent you are in, but the guy is across the street from a Mclendons" Haha.. We were across the street, how perfect was that. When we left, as we were driving the trailer home, it was bouncing all over the damn road, 30 mph and this thing was swaying like crazy.. well shit! How the hell were we gonna find the backroads to get home... We found a Home Depot and loaded up 720 pounds of concrete (one can always find use for concrete) and the trailer traveled perfect after that.. apperently it does NOT like to haul empty.

So I think that officially wraps up the past couple weekends.

Finally, some updated pics!

I finally took the camera out and got some pics of our kids. Actually I should say the weather has been cooperative enough (barely) to get outside to get some shots.


We got a new camera a few months ago, one that hopefully will take much better/clearer pics, especially of our animals since they never stand still for photos, this camera makes it possible to get decent pictures without blurred legs or faces! lol

Not alot happening, Derek is at an interview today. The bummer is the job is in Seattle but it could be a good job to move into. We would quickly have to come up with a new commuter vehicle!! It's been 2 hours since his interview started and I still have not heard from him, so I am guessing it is going well. :) OH YEAH.. while I was uploading pics for this blog, Derek called, of course he got the job! :) Sounds like a great company, one he can hopefully maintain longterm employment with someone that takes care of their employees... !!!

Well here are the pics:


Lazy Days are spent just like this!



or like this!


or even like this... :)

He's almost too cute for words... You can barely see on top of his head the waves which have now turned into a little mohawk, he's getting pretty curly.

Back when we had snow.. Ellie LOVES to play in it

Precious Children

I love our dogs!

just chillin (well mom enforced anyways!) lol

I turned the horses out (not at the same time) to stretch their legs a bit.. Red loves to show off!

Edgar is a little less showy

He's just that good!

Yep, I'm gonna brag on Derek for a minute! He's been keeping his eyes open for a new job for quite a while... I have always been proud of him, in his entire 38 years of life, he has been offered a job from EVERY interview he has ever been on! That is impressive! Last month, he was offered a job over the phone, they didnt even need an interview to want to hire him (although he declined the job). I just think that is worth bragging about.. :)

An Involuntary Moment of Silence

As I walked out of Subway a short while ago on lunch break, I noticed that while I had been inside ordering a sandwhich, motorcycle cops had come up and blocked Tye Street from Fryelands. Unable to now leave the parking lot, I just stood there.. it only took me about 10 seconds to figure out what I was witnessing and it left me motionless and thoughtless to anything else at that moment. My heart immediately felt an overwhelming amount of sadness and I was very suprised to feel so much hurt inside and tears in my eyes.

Probably 40+ motorcycle cops slowly passed by me, headed from the Prison a mile + down the road, towards Everett for the funeral. Those in the parking lot area just stood there and watched in silence. I was feeling under control of my emotions until I saw the hearse and then reality of the situation sunk in. I saw her American Flag covered coffin, the black limos carrying the family, the police cars, aid cars, other family and friends following in their personal vehicles. It all became overwhelming and I cried...

This was the motorcade for officer Jayme Biendl, the prison guard killed by an inmate. I had known about this story, anyone with a TV knows about it (in WA atleast). Derek & I had briefly talked about it, the bullshit of how it could happen. I think we didnt talk a lot about it because it just brings about anger at our system. It seems insane that a prison guard has no way to protect herself and that she is not allowed to carry a GUN! Call me crazy, but I think there is something seriously wrong with our system when an inmate can so easily kill a guard. Maybe if we ran prison's the way a criminal should be treated, this wouldnt happen... anyways, back on track.

My point was that I hadnt spent much time "thinking" about this prison guard, I felt sad for her family and for her, anger that it happened, I heard on the news this AM that her funeral was today, but I didnt dwell on it or have feelings of such sadness until I saw it and was able to put my own reality on the situation in seeing her coffin. I think we can tend to get a bit numb to the bad things that happen to people when we watch the news daily, if it doesnt hit home or does not have a personal tie to your life, you can tend to forget about the human side of it, the reality of life. Atleast that is what happens with me and I was thankful to have seen this motorcade today, to have seen her body pass by me, to remind me again about all the things I am thankful for. To be reminded that the things I hear on the TV news are real and not just another "show" that I watch every night/morning. Reminds me of the loss in my life and to continue to work to have more compassion and understanding of those around me.