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.

Hello Blog.. Remember Me!

Writer's block.. that's my story and I'm stickin to it!

Just havent been motivated to write lately, feeling like my life is a bit dull and who wants to read about dull. Well I just got a bummer text.. :( Shannon (Oakley's trainer) is having some personal issues in her life and unable to continue with Oakley so he's coming home by this weekend. I am not upset with her at all, she did a GREAT job with him, I will do my best to get him sold and on to a great new home.

We manage to find ways to keep busy though. We went out bowling a couple weeks ago and had a great time, we are really looking forward to getting on a league at some point this year. Derek is going to let go of his softball past by selling his bat to buy a new bowling ball, never thought I would see that day.

We had Ellie spayed a couple weeks ago, even though she would have super cute puppies it is just one more thing to not have to worry about. I was busy for a week straight of developing our new horse club web site. That was an interesting adventure. Learned some new things in the techy world when it comes to domain names etc.. well maybe I didnt learn much but figured out enough to get our site up and going. Wendy and I spent about 9 hours on it one Saturday, didnt quit til 2 in the morning! Now dont be thinkin that I'm all smart about websites, we did not create this from scratch, it is an established website that we are utilizing and tweeking with all our club information, pictures and layout etc. I'm really proud to have it up and running, and hope to gain some new members and friends from the website.

Riding... well I did get in one other ride in January at Bridle Trails in Kirkland. The weather today is perfect for riding, but instead I am here typing away. Man, I am just feeling blah about this Oakley situation. I am somewhat excited to see him and have him home, bummed that I dont have the facility to sell him and will have to haul him to do so, thankful that Shannon did her best with the situation and feeling guilty that maybe he was extra burden on her. So lots of emotions rolled into me today.

Cooper, he's just as obnoxious as ever. He goes through phases, some days he's a little angel and most other days you can just see the devilish look in his eyes which is not scary, its actually rather adorable and makes us laugh when he rolls his eyes back and looks at ya. Derek is starting basic obedience now with him, I am the teacher. I saved all my paperwork from my classes so every week I will teach Derek the new lesson. I am hopeful that this will settle Cooper down a bit and get him to grow up some, he is so crazy that you cant even pet him without him licking you all over and being a darn puppy. Which I guess he still is considering he's only 4 months old!

I am VERY thankful that he is pretty much potty trained now, that was a very tough couple of months to deal with. He has been house potty free (KNOCK ON WOOD, cuz I know now that I am bragging about him, he's gonna piss on my floor) but he hasnt had an accident in a few weeks and although he still likes to sit at the back slider door to go out, if we dont open it, he will march his little hiney out the front doggy door!

Unfortunately we have taught him the pleasures of being a lap dog, but are trying to curb that a bit and teach him that he cannot come up on the couch or chair if people are on them. We also have to keep the spare bathroom closed because he LOVES the bathtub! Which is a great sign because the only thing we do in the bathtub is bathe him, we are confident he loves the water! On a couple occassions when we've left that door open, he will go in there, in the almost pitch black, get his nose under the 2 shower curtains and jump in, just hangin out in the tub, probably waiting for the water to magically turn on! He is quite the character. Although I am looking forward to him learning a few manners with the obedience and college he will be headed off to in a couple months, I hope he does not loose his personality with his maturity. In the mornings as I'm headed off to work, he bolts out the doggy door and sits on the bench waiting for me to open the front door, come outside and pet him goodbye!

I know there was a point about 6 months ago when I wondered how on earth I was going to deal with having 3 dogs, now I cant imagine NOT having 3 dogs! When you have 2 dogs, it feels like thats all you can handle. Now with 3, it feels like adding a 4th is piece of cake.. this must be how it happens with other people cuz once we crossed the line with 3 dogs, what's the big deal with adding another dog or two.. lol No we dont have any plans for dog #4 or 5.

Oh and in my quest for beauty, last week I decided to have my eyebrows waxed by my hairdresser... It hurt a bit, didnt feel great I must admit but I was very suprised the next morning to find I was just as red and swollen around my brows as the day before when they had been done! I tried to cover it up with makeup, but that didnt help a whole lot and I went to work for the next 2 days with red puffy eyebrows! The redness didnt really go away until 5 days later, they are a tiny bit scabby, some little bumps still exist and now a week later, I still do not look 100% normal in that area! I dont know if I reacted to the wax or the ripping out of hair, I think it was the ripping that I reacted to, Derek says wax. Who knows, but what I do know is that I will never attempt that beauty trick again, it will be plucking or bushy brows from now on! :)

Happy New Year

Well we made it to midnight this year... barely! We headed off to bed at 11:50, watched the space needle celebration for a few minutes after the stroke of New Years and then promptly went to sleep.. yep thats the exciting Fecht's for ya! :)

I did manage to get in a ride over the weekend though, it took MUCH self-convincing to get out and go. Not that I didnt want to, but its tough to get motivated when its just plain cold! Wendy, Kathy, Molly & I headed out to Mann Rd and had a really nice afternoon ride in about 28 degree weather. I had not ridden since Red was such a jackass at the Winery Ride, and he of course was back to normal and we enjoyed our leasurely jaunt in the woods. I was a bit suprised with the frozen ground that he did not slip and fall, we rode to the river and had to get through some thick broken ice puddles, interesting...

On New Years Eve Derek and I headed down to Cabelas for the day, we had a couple exchanges to make from Christmas gifts and Derek had a gift certificate to spend. It took a couple hours, but we finally managed to spend every penny we needed and walked out with 3 bags of goodies. On the way home we stopped at Beth Western and spent more than anticipated on a new pair of boots for me. No I was not able to find any cute girl boots that fit, I again had to go with mens, but I like them just fine and am happy to be back to slip on's instead of lace ups. They were very comfy from the second I stood up in them.

Not much news with our puppy children. Cooper finally had his 3rd round of shots, so he is ready to get out in the world. He is doing a lot better about his poddy business still, he had one mistake this past weekend. We still watch him like a hawk, he's not 100% ready to be trusted and he doesnt always go to the front door so we are still up/down a lot with him and bootin him outside when we think he might have to go. I'd say though we are finally past the frustration puppy phase. Russell still doesnt love Cooper, he will not play with him yet at all, someday I hope that changes.

I have goat in my throat..

That's what I said after eating a piece of cheese! I knew I should have listened to my better judgement when I was talked into trying a piece of this Feta Goat Cheese. I was at my parents for our day-after Christmas family gathering to exchange gifts with Eric/Andrea and my parents. They had this cheese from the lady that they bought their goats from and it didnt look funky, so my curiosity got to me, I caved and tried it. The initial flavor was not terrible, I was chewing along and it was okay, but I certainly wouldnt call it great, but then... I swallowed! That's when the overwhelming flavor of GOAT hit my throat and I honestly felt like I'd just licked a goats ass because the flavor in my throat was exactly the flavor of a stinky goat and I quickly chugged down some of Derek's soda then popped a cordial cherry in my mouth, meanwhile gasping that I had goat in my throat!!

My parents & Derek of course thought I was insane, they'd never heard such nonsense before and were probably plotting behind my back to have me institutionalized and we all had a great laugh! Well... 45 minutes later Eric & Andrea show up and I'm explaining this nasty experience to them and Andrea says "OMG I can taste the EXACT same thing when I eat goat cheese" HELLO>>> proof that I am not crazy! We all laughed, but I was very relieved to know I was not crazy.

Christmas was great this year. I made a few sewing projects and hope to do more gifts that way in the future. The table runner I made turned out really well, atleast I think it did. In the Schwartzenberger family gift exchange, Derek and I were victorious in getting the one gift above them all that I wanted which was one of gramma's paintings of a snow covered tree, matted & framed. It looks perfect on my wall and I'm really happy to have been successful in getting it because I just love it.

Derek had been bugging me for a week straight about my gift from him. He wanted to give it to me early and I was having none of that! He finally convinced me to open our gifts Christmas Eve.. he brings out this long skinny box and I said "What, did you get me a gun?" I was only teasing, but yep, it was a gun! An over-under actually, very nice and heavy. I have not shot this type of shotgun before and although it was not on my "list", I am happy to have my very own gun. :) The plan for the future was that I would hopefully eventually start grouse/pheasant hunting with Derek.. you dont have to sit miserably in the cold and wet like you do for duck/goose hunting. And we want to start going to the trap range on Friday nights to get Cooper accustomed to gunfire, no sense going unless we plan to shoot, right? :) So now I have my own shotgun for trap and maybe bird hunting in the future. Oh and I got some pink ear protection as well.

I think things might finally be headed in our direction atleast a tiny bit! We got a letter from the bank and we are FINALLY in the loan modification process.. It only took us 1 year exactly to get to this point, but it couldnt have happened at a better time. I had already had to skip my Dec mortgage pmt because we were falling behind and then just yesterday we get the letter stating our trial period payments start Feb 1st and if we make those 3 payments on time, then we should get moved into a permanent new loan. I am SOO relieved, although not 100% out of the woods yet on this loan, but many promising steps closer now. Things needed to move this direction in order for us to stay in our home, it was just getting too hard to make the payments every month.

It has been hard to get motivated to get out and ride the horses this fall/winter. Not sure if it's the weather, the money stress or simply no time. I think a combination of it all.. I am still not overly motivated but I have now made plans to ride on New Years Day with others, so there is no backing out now! It is going to be cold, high in the 30's for the day, but no rain!! I heard that Dec has only had 3 days without rain, it's been a bit depressing. I am actually relieved Christmas is over and it's time to move on. I took the tree down 2 days after Christmas, that is not normal for me but I was feeling so overwhelmed with clutter and stress, it had to go.

2011 will be our year to get organized!! We have talked lots about it and plan to clear out all the crap we dont need or that does not belong to us, get the shop set up, the garage organized, the shed finished.... We want to focus on so many things next year that in order to do so, we have to get things squared away at home first. We have no great plans to celebrate bringing in the new year, other than probably falling asleep before the ball drops! lol Who knows, we have 2 days before that happens, so maybe some last minute plans will come about.

Happy New Year

I'm no longer the ditsy blonde..

now I'm the ditsy auburn chick! lol Yep, you read it.. I went WAY outside my comfort box and died the blonde hair brown, ended up with auburn color.. Derek has stated over the years that he very highly (hates) my overly blonde hair.. I've not been a huge fan either when its soooo blonde, but after a few weeks, its get to the right color. My natural is just not very pretty, a dishwater (confirmed by hairdresser) color.. yuck! Derek asked me long ago, why not try brown.. so I've thought about it off/on, but never had big enough cahoonah's to try it.. well this time around Derek was with me when I bought the dye and he said "go brown!" Well OKAY! :) Should I have left the color in a little longer? Probably.. But oh well. I now have a very deep redish brown color and it's growing on me. I kinda like it darker, but I NEVER EVER imagined I would EVER have a red type color on my head.. that part still shocks me as I'm sure this change will shock many family members on Christmas Eve this year!


Derek thinks I should do some highlights, but that is a bit fancier than I can imagine with the do-it-yourself package and I cant see spending $50 to have a professional do it, I already spend $35 every six weeks keeping it short. So please dont laugh at me when you see me, I'm a bit self conscious about it, but I am starting to get used to it and kinda like it. I have found that I can get away (atleast I think so) with more colors of eye shadow etc with the darker look! So I may be doing more experimenting with my makeup now that I am not just bleached blonde..


Ellie and I finished our basic obedience Monday night and scored 100%! Yippy!! She is awesome. The other 3 dogs had taken their final test the week before and I could have as well, but Ellie was not 100% cooperative that night, so I wanted one more week to practice with her to ensure a perfect score... plus I knew none of the other dogs would be coming the following week and she would have less distractions, therefore allowing her to focus on me and she did exactly that, with zero faults! I was really excited and proud of her and myself. It was funny, the trainer said "okay now you can stop working with her 30 minutes a day, but definately still work her". Shit, I havent worked her 30 minutes a day in... well practically ever! She gets too bored, so in the beginning I did (2) 5-10 minute sessions per day and the last few weeks I've only worked her a couple times a week because she picks it up so quickly and once she got over her "testing me" phase, it was just cake walk to her.

I'm pretty much ready for Christmas, finished up wrapping presents today and finished my sewing projects. I made Derek & I new stockings! I already hung them up, so its no longer a suprise to Derek. His is hunting themed and mine is Christmas themed. They are pretty cute if you ask me! I think Derek really likes them and I cant wait for him to see the rest of the presents I got him, I did a good job this year on finding great gifts. :) I am completely perplexed though at what he has gotten me.. this is what I know:

1) he left the house on Saturday to go shopping at "stores" with $200 in his pocket.
2) many many hours later he called me telling me he needed another $160.
3) he spent $300 on my main gift which was via a private individual.
4) the item is over 30 years old, cost $350 new appx 30 years ago, today used would cost $800 and new would cost up to $2000.
5) he then had to drive to Bellingham on Monday to get something else he needed for this gift
6) he's been in the shop "working" on my gift.
7) he is completely jealous that I am getting one before him.
8) he found 2 rolls of pennies in my gift dating back to 1959.
9) he wanted to spoil my Christmas and give it to me this past weekend, but I refuse to let that happen.
10) I have N.F.I. what the hell this gift is!!!

I dont want to know, I hate ruining suprises, I am just so curious.... Cant wait to find out what it is! :)

Oh, so Derek had an emergency visit on Monday! He is JUST FINE now... He woke up to some sharp pain in his chest, like a muscle cramp under his ribs and at times felt like it was his lungs. It did not go away and at 8:30am he decided he was not sure if it was just a muscle issue and started to have some anxiety and near panic attack, worried he was having a heart attack or blood clot in his lungs. So I met him at Monroe Valley General and he was checked in. Over the next 3 hours with most of that "waiting", they ran a chest x-ray, tested his blood to ensure no clotting and ran a few other tests on him, they all came back just fine. Before they determined it was just a muscular issue, they shot him up with Morphine! never asking if he wanted drugs, just injected him. He was on fire, he was so pissed off about it. I dont blame him, there was absolutely NO reason for the Morphine!!! The pain was not so great that it required heavy drugs and if they had just waited an hour longer for the testing to come back to realize it was muscle spasms/pain, they could have given him a muscle relaxer instead.. But no, they sent us out the door with a Vicatin perscription (that they refused to let us refuse!) and instructions on heating/cooling the area. I'm glad he got checked out and all was okay, with the history of family and friends over the last few years dying, he was really worried something was seriously wrong and he still struggles with deep breathes, sneezing or coughing and its been 3 days now.

As we were checking into the hospital, the old hag taking his information without skipping a beat says to me "Are you his mother??" WTF old Bitch! I wanted to jump across and slap her.. wake up and take your nose off the computer screen to see that I CLEARLY am not old enough to be his mother.. dumb broad. She chapped my ass and had me in a tizzy the rest of the day. Maybe it's the new hairdo color.

Well Happy Winter everyone, welcome to longer days!!!

I know.. it's been a while!

:( sorry for the delay in getting a post out there... It's been a little hectic non-stop these days.

Where to start.. We flew Derek's parents into town for Thankgiving, we had wanted to get away but couldnt leave the animals. They came to town during the coldest Thanksgiving week Western WA has seen in over 40 years I think it was! We had a small Thankgiving gathering with some of Derek's family at our house, it was cozy and HOT! With the heat cranked up to 75+ while Bob & Nouna were in town, we all were sweating as we ate down our dinner. Dawn had to borrow a pair of Derek's shorts, she was so warm. We normally keep the heat at 62, so 75 was a pretty big adjustment for us.. BUT, it was worth it to have them with us for a week.

I got these great pics of Bob with all 3 kids!

Speaking of kids, Cooper is growing... rapidly!!! he has outgrown his small crate and has to curl up to sleep in it now, until we can get a larger one for him to sleep in. He's getting a tiny bit better at slowing down, but I do mean tiny! :) He sits on command, thats about it for now.. He has far too much energy and too short attention span to work on much else. We could force him to start listening but I think it's okay for him to be a puppy for a little while longer because in just over 3 months, he'll be sent off for some real hardcore training. We keep him on leash in the house now, a training technique we learned at my obedience siminar we went to. He still has the occassional poddy mistake (pee only) but he's now up to about 20 minutes between poddy breaks.. He also is now treated like a little man and gets to spend his days with Ellie and Russell in the front yard! He learned the doggy door in about 2 minutes and so far after 2 days of him having access to our entry way and the yard, he has not poddied in the entryway. :)

This method is also helping to mellow him out because now he has Ellie to play with and run around the yard, all-day-long.... So at the end of the day when we get home, he no longer has this built up energy. We are finally getting into a rhythm and schedule with him, makes it a bit easier to handle it all.

The horses still sit untouched for the most part.. drowning rats is all they are with the record rain we've been getting! We have our christmas tree up, although it's not 100% straight, we just cant seem to get it to not be crooked.. oh well, makes it more unique I guess. lol and its a big damn tree, it has quirkly lights with 2 colored light sections and 2 white sections... segregated tree apparently! And a small section of lights went out.. but ya know what, I dont care. I am not going to get worked up becase my lights are not perfect, I think I finally have realized little things like that are not so big a deal... there was a time when I would have been fanatic about having perfect lights on a perfect tree!

Ellie is really doing great too.. we are almost done with obedience, I think just 2 classes left, or maybe just 1.. hmm tonight might be graduation :( She did really well with her pre-test and scored 100%! Yeah!!

I am very excited for christmas, I got Derek some really cool gifts, I love to give presents, and always wish I could do more for my family and friends. I'm fairly certain my December mortgage is going to be late this month, well crap its the 13th and I havent paid it yet, so I guess it's late.. :(

My cousin Jesse just got engaged this past weekend as did his sister Jennifer 2 weeks before that! Very exciting and happy for them all, not to mention their mom, my aunt Dena has been engaged for over a year now.. sounds kinda funny when you type it out.. maybe they should plan a triple wedding.... haha

I know for having gone 3 weeks, it should be a more exciting post but other than taking care of Cooper and having the folks in town, its just been hustle and bustle to prepare for christmas.

We got a new camera so I've got some random pics of the kids..

This is Russell just hangin out in Derek's chair.. no he's not being grumpy, he just lays that way sometimes with a snarl.

Here are a couple of Ellie

Cooper running (his face looks kinda animated in this pic, like a cartoon puppy!)

Oh and then Derek and the kids all hangin out together.. Cooper is probably about 2 seconds from attempting to squirm his way out of being held.. :)

I love when Winter comes early!

Snow and frosty mornings.. I cant complain! Not a lot of snow, but enough to satisfy... for now. I am very much looking forward to the "colder and wetter" part of winter as long as the colder and wetter happen at the same time :)

I got some more pics of Cooper and Ellie and uploaded another video of Cooper with his first Duck! Derek went hunting and brought some birds home on Saturday, Cooper was all over that duck.. follow the link to see the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glsJpFTMkpA

He's doing pretty good. Only 1 potty accident in the last 6 days and it was not our fault, the little turkey marched in the house after having spent 30 minutes outside and peed right away! :( He is starting to enjoy his crate time, last night when he was tired he wouldnt even come out.

He and Ellie just LOVE eachother and love to wrestle and explore the yard together. He is helping her to overcome some of her timidness in exploring new things. I put her up on the table the other day so I could trim her butt hair up a little and she was stiff as a board, panicky! Yes I trimmed her hair because it's long and poofy and occassionally her "business" gets caught in it! lol

I know these pics look like fighting, but it's all just playtime!

Russell.. well he still pretends Cooper doesnt exist. As long as Russell gets some occassional ball time and the puppy steers clear of him, he could care less what the other two are doing. I thought he might get jealous of the puppy playing with Ellie, but so far no... Russell and Ellie still play daily as well running wild and crazy all over the living room!

Ellie likes to babysit Cooper when he is in the crate.. she's such a good girl with him, very patient but not afraid to let him know when he bites down just a bit too hard.

I spent the weekend being a home-body, babysitting Cooper while Derek went hunting both days, cleaning house top to bottom in preperation for the in-laws coming, and finally learning how to use my slightly over-complicated sewing machine! I LOVE my new machine, dont get me wrong.. but it took me a bit just to figure out how to sew a straight stitch.. lol It's all computerized so it took some practice. I was able to get a project done, Derek's xmas present and it looks great. Now I just need to come up with more projects so I can sew sew sew..

More Cooper

Here is Cooper with his bird wing.. he was REFUSING to give it up! Once he had it in his mouth, he was not going to let go and as soon as he did, he was immediately scouting all over trying to find it again.. He is VERY birdy and I should start taking pictures of Derek when he looks at his pup because he just glows with excitement! Not to sound too corny or anything.

I took a video last night of Cooper in the kitchen with his wing and just how determined he is to hold onto it and then I edited in a bunch of short videos we took the first day we had Cooper home when we introduced him to the other 2 dogs and how quickly Ellie took to him.. She is pretty funny! She likes to take care of him and is always checking on him when he is in his crate.

I tried uploading the video to the blog, but after trying for HOURS, I finally just put it up on youtube.. here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjWEoythvfw

We decided that we are not staying outside with Cooper long enough for him to finish his potty business. Even though he pees once, we have learned that doesnt mean he finished emptying his bladder, so we now stay outside until we've seen him pee 2-3 times and then we are able to bring him in and allow him to roam around the living room with the other kids.. Last night I watched him pee 6 times in less than 10 minutes!

After he was playing with the wing, the only toy he was really interested in was this soft un-stuffed weassel thing and he didnt want to let go of it, was treating it as if it were his wing.. not really chewing, just proudly carrying it around and laying with it and not letting Ellie have it back! :) We are so excited for him to grow up just a bit more and turn into a teenager when he can have free roam of the house and we are not so paranoid about what he is getting into.

We are so thankful for this opportunity to own such a great dog and to have been lucky enough in finding Jim and getting pick of the litter.. Clearly it was all meant to work out just like it has.

Cooper aka Tasmanian Devil

Cooper at the breeders house.. just after he had a bath.

Cooper and his momma Remi

Cute little shit! I wish it wasnt blurry, otherwise it would be a perfect pic

This little guy is Derek's pride & joy!

We picked up Cooper on Saturday and he reminds me of the Tasmanian Devil for a couple reasons.. 1) He spins around when he is excited, he'll be walking/bouncing along and then just do these circles out of excitement and when he is ready to poo, he does what the breeder calls the "Boykin Spin".. he runs around looking for the perfect place and when he's almost ready to do his poo business, he does about 5 or 6 360-spins! It is really funny..2) He is a little devil child! This dog does not know the meaning of "relax" unless he is in his crate. Outside his crate, he just is non-stop from one toy to another, then to your toes, your shoes, jeans, hands, face, furniture, cords.. His attention span on any one item is about 20 seconds max and then he's off and running to the next thing that grabs his attention. He spends a lot of time in his crate because this pup also is a constant pee'er.

We take him outside, he pees.. then we bring him in and he plays around for a few minutes and NO exaggeration, 5 minutes later he will spin around and run off out of reach and squat! GRRR.. that is frustrating, Cooper has already had more accidents in 1 day than Ellie had in 1 month! I dont think he is emptying his bladder when he goes outside, obviously! I am really hoping within a week he will start to act normal with his peeing, he really should be able to go 45 minutes at this point, heck he'll lay/sleep in his crate for well over an hour. I think it's just the change, the stress and excitement of his new life.

Ellie took to him immediately! It was amazing.. No screaming or fear whatsoever. I am sooo proud of our little girl, she is intrigued by him, wants to play and he tries, but he's still a bit wobbly. But I know within a couple weeks, all hell will break loose and we'll have dogs flying around the house! :) Ellie is a bit sensitive though and we have to be careful because when we say "NO" to Cooper, she hunkers down and comes over as if to say "I'm sorry, what did I do?" She's being very cute and we keep confirming to her and petting her tons telling her what a Good Girl she is!! Where is Russell you ask?? Well he's hanging out on a chair or attempting to play ball with us, basically just ignoring the fact that we now have a new pup in the house! He really could care less, shows no interest... Which is fine, in time he will bond and play with Cooper, but for now we are happy to just love him and let him know he's still a Good Boy too.

I planned a 2nd doggy play date at our house on Sunday, probably should have avoided less chaos with the new pup, but Ellie still needs the work. We kept Cooper in the crate while all the dogs ran around. Basically just Sarge, Skye and Jake came to visit and Ellie only screamed a couple times, she took to the dogs much quicker and really was interested but not quite ready to play with them. We are slowly creating a social dog.. did I mention SLOWLY! :)

Saturday night was terrible.. OMG! We went to bed around 11, Cooper is in his own crate at Derek's head level and Cooper woke up 6 times between 11pm and 8am.. Derek took him out 5 times and I did it once, the good thing is he did pee every time and then after only a few seconds of whining would go right back to sleep. We pulled his water at 6pm on Sunday, poor guy kept licking the porch steps after we took his water away from him, but it paid off because we were in bed at 10 Sunday night and he didnt wake up til 2:20!! and then he woke up again when Derek got up at about 5:45. What a relief... I dont know how long Derek would have handled 5 wake-ups per night if that had continued.. Since this is Dereks dog and he wants to create a very strong bond, Derek does 85% of the work. After just 1.5 days I can already see the bond developing. When Derek takes him out to potty and Cooper does his business, he immediately runs to Derek for praise. When I take him out, after he does his business I change my voice, tell him Good Boy in a sweat tone and he just ignores me, heads off to explore..

I feel bad that he spends so much time in a crate right now, but I keep telling myself its only short term until he learns to not potty every 5 minutes! It really makes me see how easy it was with Ellie, I am just amazed at the difference between them. She would potty outside, come in and play for a short while, lay down and sleep and wouldnt have to go back outside to potty for another 30-45 minutes.. Not Cooper.. I have YET to see him actually stop! He has not worn himself out and just laid down to sleep, he is cookoo crazy when he gets in the house. I suppose if we let him run around pissing all over for an hour, he might actually lay down and crash... for now we will be playing out on the deck a lot, us bundled up in warm clothes. That way he and Ellie can be pups, he cant destroy anything, he'll have his toys out there and if he potties on the deck.. who cares! :) During the day he is out in the garage in a big kennel where he will stay until he is really bonded to Derek and he is ready to hang with Russell & Ellie in the front yard.

I am convinced that 90% of the reason Derek wants him in the garage kennel is for bonding reasons and so Cooper does not escape or get into trouble in the yard while we are away, he is an explorer... but I think 10% of it is that he is afraid some eagle or hawk will come down and take his precious pride and joy! :) I laugh internally because I can see the contradiction between Ellie and Cooper.. Oh I see.. its okay for Ellie to explore and get into something and get taken by birds, but Cooper.. oh no! :) LOLOL

I know.. its all about dogs! But we do have other exciting news... We had wanted to "get away" for Thanksgiving this year and thought about flying to AZ to spend it with Bob/Nouna.. but we just could not figure out how to make that work with 2 horses, 1 spoiled rotten dog and 2 pups. So after some thinking and contemplating, we decided to fly them here instead! Yeah, we dont get to get-away but it is just not feasible at this time.. the sacrifices we make for our children! :) So we are super excited to have them with us for an entire week and some of Derek's family will actually be coming to our house for Thanksgiving this year.. We will be crowded but cozy in our home.. I think I need to borrow a table or two! lol We have never hosted an event/dinner with Derek's family.. ever. So this is exciting to be able to plan this, I just hope I can find time to get the house spotless, while trying to train Ellie (who is doing great by the way with our obedience training) and also dealing with Cooper.

Cooper

4 more days until we go pick up Cooper!! We are getting pretty excited. Jim sent me that picture of Cooper with his daddy Earl. He should look a lot like his daddy and has a lot of bird scent instinct. Elroy, the owner of Earl really likes our pup and says he should be a great fit for us.

Ellie and I continue to do pretty good with her obedience.. she really doesnt listen much to Derek though, I keep telling him he has to do leash work with her for her to respect him, I think she looks at him as low-man on the totem pole! :)

This past weekend was our annual Cousins Carrie Celebration, although this year it didnt have much Carrie vibe to it. Not sure why.. We went to a comedy show, it was pretty fun but I just was not feeling it so much this year. Yesterday was her 29th Birthday, I've been thinking tons of Carrie lately, thinking how unreal it sometimes all seems.

Who's killin the dog??

That's what my neighbors were probably wondering last night! Some of us thought it would be fun to get our dogs together for playdates and the first one was at our house.

Wendy and her dog Patch were the first to arrive and Ellie was TERRIFIED at first! She ran and ran and screamed bloody murder.. It was completely safe for her, she got chased a bit, more of a friendly chase really.. Patch just wanted to play with her and was probably curious as to the big noise coming from the little dog! It took her a while to warm up, she did not become 100% comfortable but it was a good start. It is a really frustrating situation, I want a dog that just loves other dogs, so I really hope this helps in the long run and she gets over being afraid and timid. It's definately going to take some weekly work on our end.

Wendy took a couple pics, of course the dogs hardly stood still for clear shots, it was a lot of effort to get this pic of them all! :)

Angela & Roxie, Barbara & Sky, Piper & Ellie & Russell, Mom & Sarge, Wendy & Patch

Okay, so it might not have been BEES!

Dr Bridges was out and saw the scabs on Edgar, she doesnt think it was bees because none of the bumps were anywhere that rain could not get to, such as under the belly or under his mane. She says it is a form of rainrot fungus.. ewwww! I've seen rainrot before and it didnt look like that, so I dont know what to think, she thinks he is lacking something in his diet and needs a supplement.. $$$$$ of course. I'll come back to WHY she was even out in the first place a little later. :(

This past weekend was the annual Winery Ride in Eastern WA. We went last year, which was in Benton City and that was the first time that Edgar Colicked on us. This year the ride was moved about an hour north to Zillah WA which was nice for us. The location was good, big open field as usual. Our horse club group of friends included Wendy & Jan, John & Barb Scherrer, and then Adam, Tracy, Josh & a friend of Tracy's. We were able to all park around eachother which was really great. We had an awesome potluck on Friday night, which turned out to be a much better dinner than the $25 catered one we paid for on Saturday night! Our catered dinner was cold, not very tastey at all AND the part that irritated me the most was that there was no drinks provided.. well if you drink coffee or tea, then there was something, but since I dont drink either, we were left having to drown down the dinner with our own saliva... I was pretty disappointed that they decided not to provide anything to drink..

The entertainment was okay.. when you were eating dinner and listening to him sing his karaoke (yes he had a computer with the lyrics) he sounded okay as the background music helped drown out the slightly off-key singing.. but once we left dinner and headed back down to camp, we could really hear his voice off in the distance and not so much of the background music.. OHH not so good! Was almost comical how "off" he really was, but I know those that went up and spent the evening dancing, didnt seem to care and had a really GREAT time!! So much so, that Wendy met a new "friend" who is a boy, who was sure to leave her with a few kisses to remember him by as she packed up and headed out Sunday.. He happens to be the owner of the vineyard that hosted the ride.. seemed like a nice guy and I hope it turns into something great for Wendy, she deserves it! :)

There were a couple other disappointments, one was the porta-potties.. the darn things were so crowded inside with the seat, mens urinal and hand washing station, that you had to sit sideways to reach the seat.. and not much room to do your business! And the stock water that was provided Friday night was taken away on Saturday night, so those that came unprepared had to walk a pretty good distance with their horses to get to water. I always bring my own water, with the troubles we've had with Edgar, I like to be prepared. The good thing with our horses is that they are not finicky water drinkers, if they are thirsty they will drink.. trouble is keeping Edgar healthy so he wants to drink!

Last year we had tried to rig up a highline pole, that was about 70% successful and 90% PITA! This year, Derek built us some trailer ties that stick out from our trailer, so it is like the boys are highlined to the trailer. It allows them room to move around, lay down safely and was a lot cheaper than the ones you can buy. They are pretty close to being a perfect little fix and will get lots of use in the future. :)

Now, on to the boys.. As soon as we pull the horses out of the trailer Friday afternoon, Red was amped up! He came out of the trailer snorting, head up and a bit prancy. He soon settled down, when he had food infront of him to eat. It was a 7+ hour ride for the horses, since we had to wait for our horse-poolers to show up in the morning and then had a few stops along the way. We had given Edgar a dose of UlcerGard prior to hauling him and that seemed successful as he was colic-free through the weekend. For the drive home, I opted not to give him another dose. The shoer had recommended that treatment to try, seemed to work well.

Saturday morning, Edgar was calm as usual. Red seemed calm as usual as well.. that is until I got on! Then it became a whole other story.. I could feel all this energy inside him, I really felt like I was on a ticking time bomb.. He reared up slightly when Edgar walked away from him, he was prancing, he was flighty and I only put about 5% leg into him before he would over-react. He was a plain 'ole SHIT who was afraid of his own shadow! Poor John, his horse was acting up as well when his horse's companion walked away, his horse reared up, his back legs gave out and he was almost sitting, about went over backwards, John bailed before any serious injury happened. John was okay, thank goodness, but when his horse went down, Red went sideways and spun around. Almost all of the horses were amped and being stupid at this point, people's nerves were twinging and we all just wanted to get moving. We finally did and I spent 80% of the ride, wondering when I was going to get dumped. It honestly was that bad with Red... I was really disappointed he was such a turd! He was jumping/spooking when I coughed, or when I raised my hand, for the entire ride. When we stopped at the first winery, I had to keep him walking cirlces around Edgar. Since many horses (not just those in our group) were full of extra energy and prancy, he was reacting to that a lot.. see he is the type of horse that if another horse even looks at him wrong, he jumps away from them, he's been like that since I got him. So when a horse prances by him or turns their butt towards him, he about jumps out of his skin and when you have over 300 horses going all different directions, some calm, many not.. well he just didnt know how to process it all and he was unable to relax for the entire ride.

I had to keep constant pressure on the bit to keep him walking calmly, I had to ride next to Edgar the entire time because he got really upset if Edgar was too far away from him. Normally I would not allow him to be so attached, I would force him to walk away from Edgar, but since his back was humped up for most of the ride and there was chaos everywhere, I decided it was safer to just give him something stable and solid to use as guidance. The bad part of this ride was that there was a lot of work going on in the apple fields that we were riding through, many workers out doing their thing, tractors and big trucks constantly going past us.. well he was NOT a fan of those tractors. More than once he freaked out and spun circles when a tractor came up by us. At one point, we were riding on the outside of the apple orchard in an isleway between the road and the trees, with about 20' drop down to the road.. a tractor came down an isle and he freaked, spun around to run the other direction and realized there was a cliff there, thank GOD he stopped, I saw my life flash. The tractor stopped, then the workers were moving the ladders right there was well, so he was way over stimulated and I thought it might be my day to come off the big red horse! But we managed to stay on the entire 5.5 hour ride. I was a lot frustrated overall, but it was probably the biggest ride he has ever been on, it was a long haul AND he's been cooped up in the sacrifice area at home, so the combo of all three things made for a crappy riding weekend..

Derek on the otherhand again, was on the steady rock solid Edgar and was able to enjoy his ride. The only part he did not enjoy was my very short nerves that day, I will admit I snapped a few times at him, not intentionally. His nerves were short as well and it was a challenge at times to not just resort to being mad at eachother, but we ended the ride positive and still talking to one another, so that was an accomplishment! lol

To add to the stress of the weekend, we decided to bring the children with us as well! Glutten for punishment.. But it was not that bad. Ellie actually was far more behaved than Russell, he has become such a bastard.. he doesnt listen for shit! Now that I am doing things the "right" way with Ellie, really makes us realize how much crap we let Russell get away with and what a spoiled monster we created!!! There were a lot of dogs there, we took the dogs for a walk on Friday night up to registration, she was doing a lot of barking! She did NOT like all the other dogs, they just pissed her off.. She did more barking on Friday than she has done the entire 3 months we have had her.. seriously. :) She slept fairly well with me in the bed, it was her first time ever not sleeping in the crate, Fri night we were up 2 or 3 times with her and Sat night she only got up once.. that was pretty darn good. While we rode, we put them in the horse trailer and as far as I could tell, I dont think she spent that time barking.

Fri night she was introduced to Moe, Adam's Aussie. She wanted nothing to do with Moe, she barked and snapped at him many times. Saturday night she hung out with us after dinner and was slightly interested in him, only snapped a couple times as he reached his paw out to scoot her little butt over to him.... he's a bit of a horny old man! :) By Sunday morning, she was ready to play with Moe. Unfortunately there was no safe off-leash area to turn them loose.. too many horses and moving trucks.

Whew, I'm still not done with this story! We loaded up Sunday and headed home. After the not-so-great weekend, we decided we would not come back the following year. We enjoyed camping, and spending time with friends for sure.. but I'd rather spend my money on going somewhere else that is not so chaotic.. much better riding that way.

We pulled the boys out of the trailer and put them away, Edgar immediately acted as though he wanted to roll.. I just assumed it was because he needed a good fresh roll, which is pretty typical after a weekend of not being able to. We went in the house, unpacked the camper, watched a little TV and 2 hours later went outside to feed the horses. Edgar jogged around the corner, buckled his legs and acted as though he was going to lay down.. now I realized this was NOT just him wanting to roll.. SONOFABITCH! Edgar was clearly colicking. I grabbed the banamine, gave him a dose and then we walked him for 45 minutes as he kept attempting to lay down. It was a pretty aggressive attempt, he would start to speed up, his body would cramp and twinge, his legs would buckle, he would walk like he was loosing function of himself, we'd keep him up then he'd continue to walk calmly for maybe another minute and start all over.

After 90 minutes of no-relief from the banamine, I called the vet. She was over an hour away, so we just continued to walk him. As we waited for the vet and walked him, he seemed to be getting better, he would lay down and not attempt to roll so we let him lay there. But then his cramps started to get bad again and he was almost violently attemping to lay down and would immediately go into a roll.. so we struggled but were able to keep him up and walking. The vet had phoned and asked if it would be easier to just meet at her clinic, I told her it was not at all safe to haul him the way he was acting. When she finally arrived, he was back to having smaller cramps and laying down calmly. She gave him a shot to help alleviate the cramping, took his vitals which were normal with only slightly elevated blood pressure. 30 minutes after the shot, he was still cramping so she tubed him and filled him up with water, electrolytes and some other stuff. He fought that pretty good, gave himself a bloody nose but by the time she was finished tubing him and watching him another 30 minutes, he was on the road to recovery.. By the time she left, his cramping appeared to have stopped and he was finally slightly interested in his grain. We watched him for another 30 minutes, then I allowed him to graze on the grass for an hour, watched him for another 20 minutes and then went in the house.. 2 hours w/o any cramps, yeah! At midnight I went back out to the barn, he was tired and not quite himself, but I gave him another round of banamine and felt secure in heading off to bed.

Woke up and called the vet, he was still not quite 100% but seemed out of the woods still, so he got one last round of banamine, his grain (which he wasnt too interested in) and then a tub full of really soaked hay. Monday evening he again snubbed up the grain and went straight to his hay (although he didnt initially eat his grain, he was eating it all up by the time the next feeding came around). This morning, he nickered finally at me, ate his grain first and had normal poop piles.. I think he is 100% now.

What a pisser this is! I was pretty upset that he had colicked this badly again. After a lot of internet searching yesterday, a lot of communication with the vet and others online about the situation, there are 4 things I am going to do different. 1) I am going to give him a dose of Tape Worm wormer incase he has them. He is given a wormer every 2 months, but tape worms require an additional dosing with a different type of wormer. 2) I am going to start him on either a daily general supplement and/or an ulcer supplement. The vet says ulcers would NOT cause him to cramp so badly, but I am not convinced that he doesnt have ulcers that may have contributed to the 2 smaller onsets of colic he showed over the summer. 3) I am going to continue to give the dose of UlcerGard paste prior to long hauls. 4) I am going to start hauling him with hay. It is VERY possible the major bouts of colic are because he was hauled such long distances w/o any feed. That is a big disruption in their digestive system. He is used to either grazing all day or having almost free choice hay, so to put him in a trailer for 6-8 hours w/o hay, could be the problem. I had previously thought hay could cause horses to choke while hauling, but the vet, my shoers and other reputable haulers, all provide hay.. so I guess that my idea of "better to be safe than sorry" may actually be "my safe has now become my sorry"! :(

So that is the weekend in one big nutshell. :) I am hopeful for Edgar, I have to stay positive because we MUST find a way to keep him healthy, he is the perfect fit for Derek and I dont want to have to sell him.

On a positive note, Ellie last night finally showed great progress with her obedience pals. She did not growl or snip at all!! and within a minute, she became submissive and rolled on her back when the other 2 dogs approached her.. a GREAT sign!!! Then all 3 girls were allowed to run loose around the room and she was so cute as she thought about playing, but was unsure.. she occassionally came to me and I had to walk away from her and encourage her to go play. This is all so great, but now that she realizes they are her friends, she is much more distracted in class which gives her more opportunity to learn to "leave it".. all in all, she is doing great and I love the time her and I spend together.

BEES!

I forgot to mention, a couple weeks ago when I brought the horses home, I noticed Edgar had hundreds of bumps all over his body.. they didnt seem sore to him, they were just everywhere from his neck to his tail, with the majority on his rump. I called my vet to get her opinion but she was out of town, I thought maybe he had some sort of reaction to mosquito bites, but even that didnt really make sense.

The bumps all started to scab over, it definately hurt him to pick at the scabs. The shoer came out this past weekend and he immediately said "Bees!" They start as bumps, then scab over, then the scabs come off and you are left with a little bald patch of hair. He said this time of year, the bees get pretty aggressive and irritated and may have been hunkered down in a tree he rubbed against or just passing through his pasture when they hit him. Poor guy, he has hundreds :( I can only imagine he must have been running around bucking, no wonder his leg is taking so long to heal up from being lame. I just feel bad that he had to endure that.

Lets Go, Heel, Stay, Come, Here, Down...

Yep, those are the things we are learning in our obedience classes so far. 2 classes down and I am really enjoying it.

I was so proud to not have to carry Ellie into our 2nd class, she walked in on her own, although she did an army belly crawl through the doorway! lol But she did it and she was not quite as timid, she didnt growl or attempt to bark at any other dogs, she did whine a lot as she was begging me to save her! She kept jumping up on my legs and looking up at me and when I'd kneel down, she would hide under me.. it was VERY cute.. but very wrong! Trainer says I should ignore her, make her stay off me and not allow her to hide, I need to show her there is no reason to hide. One of the other dogs "Lady" tried to play with her and she snapped at Lady, almost into fight mode, I pulled her off and said NO.. trainer says I need to get her exposed to LOTS more dogs!!!

So who's up for some doggy dates???? :) I'd like to get her exposed weekly to dog playdates, I was informed of some local dog parks, might check with the horse club too, see if others want to get their dogs together with me. She's not going to hurt anyone, she just doesnt know how to play with other dogs or that its okay. By the end of the night, she actually was trying to play with "Lady" and acting like a puppy. I think living with the old man Russell, although they run and play daily, she forgets how to be a puppy infront of other dogs.

She is doing really good though with her commands.. she's not perfect yet with them all, but the trainer says that the first 2 weeks, the dog typically does not pick up much on it.. well I have the smartest one so she's doing GREAT! Atleast I think she is. We are having to change up our ways just a bit to conform with these new techniques, but it makes it better for us and the dogs down the road.

So the horses got in with each other the other night, we've had some stronger winds the past few days and not sure who did what, but one of my t-posts was bent over and the wire all amuk! Last night we electrified and I hope to not have this issue again. It needed to be electrified anyways, as Edgar has been rubbing on my t-post caps and stretching my perfect pretty fence out!! :)

Friday was my 37th Birthday, had a nice day with Derek out to lunch, then to see the movie Secretariat (which we both loved) and then to my parents for a great home cooked meal and some games.. The rest of the weekend was just blah.. nothing overly exciting and come Monday we both are sick! :( scratchy throats, achy head.. Lets hope it goes away before this coming weekend.. cuz we have plans!!