Made it!

I made it through my first week back from vacation... *sniffle* I'm not crying anymore. (much)


The weekend looks good... lessons Sat and Sun on both red-headed horses, Sera and Rosso.

Barn cleaning... always a nice introspective couple o' hours with horses, shavings and stalls. (and a minor work out as well - bonus!)

Swimming over at Mrs. Kravitz's house.

Helping a friend put together a drip irrigation system so I get a preview of what to install at our house.

My sister is hosting a birthday party this weekend for herself and her daughter. Baby is 2 this year. She invited about a million people and while I went last year I am really uncomfortable around large crowds of her friends. I feel "on display" and defensive.

I get introduced and people's eyes widen and they say, "YOU'RE her sister?" Yeah, yeah. We were estranged for a couple years and I absolutely know there are two sides to every story. I don't want to know how I was portrayed. I made the monumental effort last year to attend and this year decided I don't want to.

I responded to her invite by saying I was uncomfortable in the larger party scene and if she would give me other dates she was available, I'd love to come to Denver and spend some time with her on a much smaller, more intimate level. Maybe we could do lunch or take the baby to a park to play?

She never responded.

I'm not going to fret about it. The ball is in her court and if she chooses to blow me off? It's totally fine with me and I don't have any hard feelings. I have plenty o' things to keep me occupied, content and happy.

Just sayin' my first reaction was to chase after her and get a response or to come to the party anyway to show I was still making an effort for our relationship. Meh. Takes two people.

And really - I'm not at all upset or miffed. I guess my point is that I was able to step back, look at the situation in an unemotional way and decide it was now her responsibility to respond and my responsibility to get on with my life over here. In other words, "Let it go."

Ha! Lookit me actin' all grow'd up! Yay! We'll see if I can keep it goin'. grin.

Now y'all go off and have yourselves a most fabulous weekend! Tell me what mischief or fun you found when we all get back on Monday! Deal?

Goals...

I had a good ride on Sera last night. I read over the Second Level Dressage tests and we can do all the movements but I worry about my brain retaining the tests! Especially learning four tests that all have similar movements in different orders... they can jumble up together in my brain.

Showing is friggin' spendy. It's giving me a little heart burn to tell you the truth.

I will enter the Cheyenne WY show August 7 & 8 for sure. Not positive we can swing the Estes Park show... that show nickles and dimes ya to death! It closes August 8th which gives me time to think on it.

Anyway, with three weeks til Cheyenne, Sera and I practiced the downward transition from medium canter back to collected... sometimes she likes to keep going strong and the downward transition is u-g-l-y. She was good last night tho!

We worked on our simple changes (canter to walk and from the walk back to canter). We did them down the long side, through diagnonals and serpentines, in figure 8's. She is pretty solid there.

Practiced our backing... she can come up above the bit, shuffle without clear footfalls or go crooked.

And I practiced sitting the medium trot. Hoo boy. That's a killer. Maybe the judge will be kind because she/he will be doubled over in laughter?

Now I'll begin to memorize tests and put it all together... a true test to see if she's on the aids and ready for whatever I ask of her!

After riding, I brought Toe out in the front pasture (near the chickens that he wants to eat... figure they are a good distraction!) and practiced our heeling, sits, downs, 3 and 5 minute stays, figure 8 heeling, swing, stand.... would be great to get his novice obedience title this fall/winter along with his tracking title! Then we can move on to rally ... agility.... and a hunt title.

After having our big ol' Booker dog and I got SO burned out with showing. The conformation ring wasn't my thing and the obedience work I was doing became less and less fun and more and more negative for me and Booker. When you aren't having fun anymore, what is the point? Too much time, money and work goes into it. No reason to be miserable!

I wanna have fun with Toe and experience a little bit of everything. Keep things light and positive. Whatever we really enjoy, we can pursue further. I know tracking is on my list of things to continue with.

Thought it might be fun to get basic titles on him in events I've never done before; see what they are all about.

What are you guys working on this summer? What do you hope to accomplish? Tell, tell!

Milk and vaccinations....

It was goat kid vaccination day yesterday. Furry Husband usually holds them and I stick 'em with the needle. They jump and I usually have to stick them more than once, always fearing I'm going to stab my finger...

I had a light bulb moment.

We only have 3 babies to vaccinate.

I pulled one out and while Furry Husband held the baby on his lap feeding said kid it's evening bottle o' milk... I snuck up and vaccinated. The kids didn't even flinch.

They were too busy slurping milk and snorting like piglets... nom nom nom....

Everything comes to an end....

Vacation is over.

Can you hear me sobbing?

It was a such wonderful week I wish I could have a summer break like when I was in school... 3 mos... heck, I'd even take 1 measly lil' month.

Ah well. Back to the bricks to earn my paycheck that affords me the horses, goats, chickens, dogs, cats etc. etc.

We headed to a Rockies game Thursday. Nuthin' says summer like beer and dogs in a ballpark. Our buddy got tix from his Coors rep so we had great seats 13 rows up from the field in foul ball territory. (yes, we drank Coors beer. I don't think you can drink any other kind when you are in the Coors seats. It's the law.) I told the fellas it was up to them to catch any foul balls and protect my face. heh.

Furry Husband left Friday morning to play in the Colorado Disc Golf Championships, leaving me to my own devices. (He came in 5th place - way to go Furry!)

The Colorado Chicken took her mare on another trail ride. Sera was holding her head funny and her ears were flat out sideways like helicopter propellers. She didn't feel like she was going to spook or like she was hurting but she was so funny with her head. ?? I would stop her, pull her face toward me and scratch it thinking she had a big horsefly or something on her nose.

Turns out it was the grasshoppers.

She was highly offended by them pinging off of her chest, legs and nostrils. Who can blame her? I hate bugs that jump out at you... and you all know that in grade school I went to Christ Child Camp (gag) where some poor girl in a neighboring cabin put on her panties with a giant friggin GRASSHOPPER in the crotch... sent her screaming and running around the camp grounds... and gives me the willies just to THINK about a grasshopper anywhere near my naughty bits.

I had a great lesson on Rosso - we are making strides on our partnership, trust and my fear issues with the giant red gelding... I'm beginning to LIKE him vs. looking at him like he might kill me.

I had a fantastic lesson on Sera the next day... she is coming back into work wonderfully. Maybe a show or two in August? Will we get 2 scores of 60% or better to get closer to my USDF Bronze medal? Fingers crossed!

Toe ate another damn mushroom... we tried to make him vomit with peroxide but he has a cast iron will and he is a complete food whore. He decided he would KEEP that mushroom in his guts. He was fine. Tho' we had our neighbor Mrs. Kravitz check on him (she is a top nurse at the CSU vet hospital so she knows her stuff)

She called to say, "There is something wrong with Toe. His tail keeps wagging and it won't stop. I think his tail is seizing."

Funny Mrs. Kravitz! See why we love her even tho' she watches us with binoculars?

Conifer Disc Golf

This is the first tee.... see the basket alllllll the way up there? Heckuva climb! 1/2 way up my legs said WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Such a beautiful day - mountains - blue sky - and lots of trees... so glad I don't actually play disc golf and can just hike and watch! (and of course ooooooo and ahhhhhh at Furry Husband's disc prowess like a good wife-y)

Another basket through all the pines... do you see it?

Me and The Toe....

Oh, the wildflowers were gorgeous...Colorado Bluebells, Indian Paintbrush, Penstemon, Yarrow, Alpine Daisies, Columbine... everywhere. Toe was hot but I made him lie in a sunny patch with Indian Paintbrush for a pix... I love that there are little pine cones scattered at his feet. Such a CO setting... Colorado Toe!

Furry Husband, disc golf bag and Toe-ster....

There was one little hole in the ground potty mid-way through the course and being who I am, I take every opportunity to pee when it presents itself!

I walked in and a little bird flew out a hole in the window. I stood on the box covering the hole in the ground because I suspected....

And lookit! How cute!

After 20 baskets of disc golf, we were all hot... Toe refreshed in a mountain stream ...

And it makes him have funny, skinny, chicken wing legs!

We packed a lunch and had a picnic before heading back down the mountain. Once home, a little storm blew in and by 7pm it was gone. I saddled up my mare and had a wonderful ride. I'd say it was a PERFECT start to our vacation!

VACATION!

Today is the first official day of my vacation! Furry Husband has 2 weeks a year and if he doesn't take them, he loses them. We are spending 1 week in September with his Mom in IL, and he took this week off. I thought... why not? I have the hours in my vacation bank, will be fun to have our little "stay-cation" and get some things done around here!

Yesterday we cleaned out our bunkhouse. We have this outbuilding with heat and electricity but no running water. Since our house is something like 800 sq ft, we use this outbuilding for storage...and it gets so full o' crap! So full in fact that I avoid going in there for fear I will never be seen again.

We pulled everything out and went through it.

We ended up with a station wagon FULL o' stuff to take to Goodwill, a giant trashcan full o' junk to toss out and some things I put on Craig's List or Ebay to see if we could make a little moola. (After all, I have my eye on 2 horse shows in August and Toe needs a portable, lightweight car kennel....)

2 book shelves

1 GIANT wire dog kennel (we have 2!)

1 telescope

1 set of small Toe size Utility obedience articles (I don't wanna take that many lessons or time to get to the Utility level!)

1 portable room swamp cooler

2 sets of snorkeling gear (let's face it, after the honeymoon, we are not ever going snorkeling again, we'd rather see wine country in Spain, France, Italy.... )

1 diecast collector model Ford Thunderbird 1955 car

1 chicken/bird egg incubator

1 weight bench

It felt great to clear stuff out AND find some things we'd forgotten.... like our SKY CHAIRS! Furry Husband hung them up and we literally hung out sippin' a cold one last night .... aahhhhhh.

Today we are headed up to Conifer and Bailey CO... Furry is gonna play a round or two of disc golf in prep for his state tournament this weekend and I'm taking Toe to hike around and enjoy the mountains.

Maybe we'll stop off in Pine at the beautiful open space park where we were married and head up to the ol' Buck Snort Saloon for a cold beer just like we did back in the days of yore....

Old friends...

A friend from high school contacted me to let me know she'd be in CO for a family reunion thing and could we get together.

I haven't seen Becky since our 20 yr reunion and then it's so crowded and you want to talk to everyone, it's hard to get any 1 on 1 time to catch up. I was excited to have her come over!

We went to lunch at Beauregard's in Wellington. (named after the owner's dog... pictured) Furry Husband and I an Beau's...

Too bad Becky came when we had SO much rain... see the lake forming in the horse pens? Sera Sue looks quite disgruntled...

Becky is milking a goat! Bet she never thought that would happen in her lifetime. She woulda laughed me right outta the room in high school if I told her one day she'd milk a goat.

Bottle feeding babies... and evidently having more fun than would be considered "normal".

Whoa! Chocolate goat!

Ewww - another lake forming in the goat pen...

It was great to see Becky and catch up, she knows she's welcome at our house any time, such fun! She doesn't look much different to me than she did in high school but I know 20+ yrs have passed and while we are friends... now we are "old" friends!