Home Sweat Home

No that is not a typo...I generally don't mind the heat in Arizona, but dang, the humidity has been crazy since the day we got here. I'm sure my animals believe they are in hell. It seems to be a tad better today, for which i am truly grateful. The trip through the mountains from Payson were gorgeous and I am glad I was not driving. Watching TC in front of us while my friend Jamie drove our truck was enough to make me a nervous wreck. It was all those twisty turns and steep mountain passes, that just had me feeling a tad ill. We made it safe and sound though and boy howdy was everyone ready to be done with the traveling. The dogs have pee'd on every single blade of grass in the yard, the ponies rolled and had a nice long drink. Then I settled them in with some dinner and all was good. The next day I just left them in their pens to rest. Sassy gave me a bit of a scare. She was laying down a lot which I expected, but then she was sweating so much more than the rest of the horses. Then I went out to spray her with fly spray and she wouldn't get up. I nudged her with my foot and she still wouldn't get up. When I grabbed a rope she finally did move, but it had me wondering what was going on. On the one hand, she is a lame horse who just spent 2 full days in a trailer. On top of that she is in a new place with much higher temps, and a ton of humidity which could have been the reason for the sweating. On the other hand, 2 very real signs of colic, as we all know, are intense sweating and wanting to lay down a lot. But since I didn't see any other signs of distress, agitation, or pain, I decided to just watch her. We ran to town for a bit and when I got home she was still in the same spot. Simon and I got her up and haltered her, and I got out my trusty stethascope and listened to her belly. I could hear nice gut sounds, and gave my expert medical diagnosis of, "She must really be tired." I have given everyone some pasture time and some arena- run around time- which seems to make a big difference. I see that every other horse in the hood has on fly masks, and since I don't want my ponies to feel left out, they all have them now too, and too my amazement they are leaving them on. They have made friends with the neighbor horses too. Last night I went to catch Killian and Sassy from the arena and put them away for dinner. Sassy didn't want to be caught so I grabbed Killian and left her there. She squealed and ran and raced like an idiot and then went and stood at the gate to wait for me. Tee hee. The dogs are doing pretty good. They spend their days sprawled out on the tile floor. Old Butchy seems to be a bit depressed, but he could just be sore and tired as well. The two legged family members are fairing ok...mesquito's love me, I do not return the feelings. slowly but surely we are getting our house unpacked and inside. We work a little, then rest, then work, then rest. No big rush on any of it. I am using my sons computer and internet, and I cannot wait until I have my own, so I can blog from home, AND have a little time to go back and catch up with everyone. I will have some pictures soon of the herd in their new home. Take care everyone.

So far

We have made it as far as Grand Junction, all 4 legged and 2 legged travelers are fairing pretty well so far. Dogs have been good horses even better. Everyone is eating and drinking tonight. Danny didn't care to drink out of a bucket so didn't really hydrate until I put water In A tub in his stall but he drink a good amount then so I'm happy with that. Oddly enough, the one that I thought would have the most trouble was sassy and she has been hauling like an old pro. She drinks at every opportunity and has just been a dream. Danny was pretty stiff when we unloaded him so I may give him a touch of bute tomorrow. Now I/we are all ready for showers and some shut eye. Tomorrow we hit the road in the wee hours as we have more miles to travel than today. I want to thank everyone for the nice comments the last couple of posts that I have Not been able to respond too. Once we get settled I will Go back and do that. I will say to cnj that sitting down and getting to visit sounds great. I look forward to it. Hope all is well with everyone.

God works his magic

We made it back to Casper safe an sound but not without a few mishaps.

Once again TC decided to take a short cut. This time through durango and Silverton. It was truly the most beautiful place I have ever been through. I was begging to stop and explore but TC, ever the adult, said we did not have time. He did assure me that we would be back someday and go just for fun.

As is the tradition with our short cuts, this particular one added 3 hours to our trip. It literally took us from 2 pm to 5 pm to get a mere 50 miles over those mountain roads. Buyer had a great time and that is all that really matters.

At this point we decided to spend the night in Grand Junction. A good thing too because as we pulled into town we noticed the pick up truck was chug chug chugging. A sure sign that we probably picked up some bad fuel at that little gas station along the way.

Since we knew that we wanted to lay over in GJ with the horses I thought this was a perfect time to locate a pet friendly hotel to accomodate us with the dogs. TC suggested motel 6 as they always take dogs. We found one and checked in...ugh! Will not ever stay there again.

The next morning we drove to a lube shop and had them change out our fuel filter. The pick up ran slightly better but still not like it should. But TC was confident that it woul get us home. While all this work was being done I was on the phone and on the Internet trying to locate a hotel close to fair grounds that would let us bring in 4 dogs. The "hotel strip" is on one side of town the fair groundson the other. Not cool! I did not care for the thought of not being able to easily check on my ponies.

We went to the fairground and I spoke with the gal there. I rented my stalls and she showed me where to go and where to park and the warm up arena where I could turn them loose to kick up their heels for a bit. They supply the shavings and the clean up. Totally worth the 20 dollars per horse.

Then came my answer... The KOA is right next door. I managed to secure the last cabin they had left. The gal said that it was a bit pricier than the other cabins, 79 dollars, still less than a hotel room. But most important is the gate between the properties making it walking distance to the barn. Perfect!

Now here is how I know that God had a hand in this. If we had not had to stay in GJ until the lube shop opened we probably would not have taken the time to secure those stalls or the cabin. I would have just secure the stalls over the phone and then searched for a hotel on the other side of town. The cabin was the only one they had left so I doubt it would have been available had we waited.

God knew that we needed this peace of mind on our next trip and he made sure we took the time to get it. So cool.

We also had made a quick stop in Holbrook and spoke the the fair grounds manager there. Jose was his name. A weathered old cowboy who showed me some nice big pens. He said, " stop in here before you head down through the mountains into the valley. It is a twisty turny road and those ponies will need a break before hand. If you need to spend the night it is 10 dollars but for just a few hours it will be free.".

As we made our trip down last time I watched the temperature everywhere we went. The 2 hottest spots were Moab and then once we left Payson Az. So those are the places we need to be traveling through in the early am or in the evening. I do not want to hit Mesa (Phoenix) during rush hour traffic. So having that ability to lay over in Holbrook is perfect.

We have new tires and new axles under the trailerand new brakes on the pick up. We have a service truck full of tools that I will be driving which will make any breakdowns less stressful. We have done all we can do to prep for this trip. I have turned the rest over to God and asked him to take care of us.

Now I am getting our house ready for the renters. I have been scrubbing, painting, and fixing things for 2 days. I,ve gotten the basement done, and most of the upstairs done. They hardest part will be the kitchen which i have to finish today. Tomorrow is all about getting dogs bathed, horses rinsed off and then sprayed down with the good fly spray and
Getting the horse trailer loaded with all the feed and stuff.

It has been busy busy and I am ready for it to be over. I have not really been able to look at anyones blogs so I have no idea what is going on with everyone. I just pray that all is well with my blogging buddies. I will catch up with you all soon.

Random 5 Friday

I'm a little ahead of myself but will be driving super fast on Friday, to get back to WY and pick up ponies,  so here we go!
Linking up to Nancy @ A Rural Journal   some good stuff going on over there...go check it out.

1.  I have redefined the word sexy...but will do a whole post on that later.

2. The scariest part of driving from WY to AZ is going through the Navajo Indian Reservation at night.  They let their ponies run loose EVERYWHERE!  In town, out of town and after dark they seem to like to congregate on the edge of the highways.  I almost hit more than one.  Seriously freaked me out.

3. The cell service inside our new house is awful...I think that might be a good thing!

4. Holy moly! My son said he missed me!

5. I purchased an audio book from hoofprints.com.  It is called Healing Shine, by Michael Johnson.  OMG! probably one of the best books I have ever heard in my life.  It is a spiritual journey of a man and a horse, and how this horse teaches him to "listen" and "ask", while he is attempting to teach the horse to rope.  I strongly urge everyone to go and buy the book now.  I think the audio version is a touch better simply because it is read by the author which gives it a whole extra level of intensity.


Until next time folks!

Rolling?

Well we are sitting in ihop waiting for
The feed store to open. We were supposed to leave early but realized we forgot to buy dog food yesterday.

So hopefully we will finally be on the toad in an hour.
This is my firs time posting from my phone. We will see if it works.

Random 5 Friday

It's that time again and if anyone wants to participate, jump on over to Nancy's blog "A Rural Journal" and join in.  It really is quite a bit of fun, and there are a whole list of other blogs who are doing it too.

*psst come on, everyone's doing it...just try it, you'll dig it, I swear*


1. My favorite color is green.  No matter where I live there is always at least one room in my house with green walls. When I started my current-but-almost-over job, I insisted that they pain my office green. Everyone else has off white.  This way it is always summer time in my office. (I'm gonna miss my little office)

2. (This one comes as an after thought of my comment on fracking from Nancy's 5)
TC is the absolute love of my life. One of things I love most about him is that he is a man of his convictions. He owns one of the larger gravel hauling companies in the state of WY.   While everyone else in the state us running around kissing the asses of the oil and gas companies, he does not.  He will not haul gravel for them, he will not "hot shot" for them.  Against his better judgement, he tried working for them one time, but it did not go well. They made the mistake of trying to tell him how he was going to manage his trucks and his drivers.  Huge mistake!  He finished the job for them, collected his money and then shut the door on them.  They are constantly calling trying to get trucks from him. He refuses.  His company has built almost all the roads for all the wind farms in WY. (He loves wind farms), he hauls road base and hot asphalt for the hwy construction and repairs going on around the state. He says there is plenty of other work to do without giving in to those @#$%##%#@$@#$.   He does not like oil and gas companies, he does not like how they totally screw over all the "mom and pop" companies that haul for them,(by running them 24/7 until they drop and then making them wait 3-6 months for payment) and he will not help them tear up and ruin the state where he was born and raised.   I love that. (ok so I realize that fact wasn't so much about me)

TC changing a tire on one of his trucks.
Am I the only one who thinks this is sexy?

3. My maternal grandparents were awesome.  We called them Beau-coup and Granny.  Beau-coup played the guitar and was quite good. He was a "picker", who did not really focus on chords but on picking out the melodies. My Granny played the ukulele and I recall that when he would sit down and play pretty soon she'd grab her little ukulele and come join in, and she would sing with him. It was so cool, and I think it is one of the reasons I enjoy Jalan Crossland  so much, because he is a picker too. There is nothing I love more than listening to a well played guitar.

Beau-coup and Granny

4.  I managed not to come to work today smelling of fly spray and horse poop...of course I had to be 15 minutes late to make it happen.


5. My horses are getting fat, my dogs are already fat, I'm pretty fat myself.  I suspect there might be a connection, but can't prove it for sure!  LOL

Look at the ass on that mare!

The Light Bulb Moment and Blood Sucking Gnats

The fact that I am still working until this Saturday is really putting a damper on getting stuff packed and loaded. By time I get off work, take care of what ever errands need to be run, get home and do chores and fix a quick dinner it is after 8 pm and I am pretty much done for the day.

The only time I am truly motivated is in the mornings when I get up, and so I might get a few things thrown in a box, but then it is the morning chores and time to get ready for work.  So you can see that things are progressing at a snails pace.

When we didn't have any time constraints there was no pressure, but of course I had to fix that by asking one of my bestest girlfriends to fly in from Oregon to help us drive the horses and dogs down. She has been wanting to visit us, plus wanting to visit her son in Mesa, and this way she can do both. I, on the other hand liked the idea of having an extra licensed driver, one who can actually see to drive at night (which I cannot) and who can take the wheel if one of us suddenly feels like we cannot keep our eyes open. Plus one more set of hands to keep a hold of canines or equines is always a plus.

So with all that in mind, she is flying in on the 24th, but then she can only be gone a week and has already scheduled her return flight home from AZ.  That means that we have to be down and back with the second load before the 24th.  To top it off, rather than flying home for trip #2, TC has decided that he wants to bring one of the pick ups that we left down there, back to WY. It rarely gets driven, and if it is just going to be sitting, he'd rather it sat inside his fancy schmancy new garage (along with his classic cars) than in the worlds hottest sun.  It does make sense, but it means that we have to be out of here with load #2 no later than the early hours of the 16th. We are looking at no less than a 5 day trip now for sure.  Truthfully we'd like to be gone the 15th, but I don't see it happening.

MK will be here at 7:30 am on the 15th to trim everyone up, pull Killian's shoes, and probably pull Sassy's as well. (Still deciding if I want him to throw the clogs back on). So we surely are not leaving until after that.

So anyway, there we were drinking our coffee and discussing our "plans" and suddenly it hit me!  The light went on in my dark closet and suddenly all pressure was gone.

We are not selling our house in WY. We have a huge garage that already has cars and stuff in it, which our renter is perfectly OK with sharing with us. We totally trust our renter not to mess with anything of ours that is left behind.  TC will be making trips back and forth no less that every 2 months to check on his company.  Plus we have a 40 foot shipping container at his business that is specifically for storage of non-business related stuff.

IF I DON'T GET EVERYTHING LOADED, IT IS OK.  WE CAN GET IT LATER.  Duh!!!

(head towards the light Cindy, it will be ok!)

Now it was time to get moving so I went out to kick the horses out to their perspective pastures.  I have some fly spray I bought at the local feed store. It says it is good for 14 days.  So I sprayed them 2 days ago.  This morning when I turned Danny loose in the far pasture he ran straight to the loafing shed and hid there.  Trax followed suit. I tried to kick them out to eat. Then went to the grass took 2 bites and ran back to the shed being followed by swarms of blood sucking gnats. There were groups of about 20 flies riding on their backs.  I'm thinking that crap stuff doesn't work like it says. It works for maybe a day, but that is it.

I looked over to the redheads, they were having the same issues.

So I mixed up one last batch of spray and took a string out with me. I started with Killian. He acted like he was going to run, but then changed his mind. I draped the string over his neck and sprayed him down.  When I was done with him he just stood there. I turned around and there was Sassy asking for her turn. I draped the string over her neck and sprayed her down too. Then they headed out to graze.

I love how they believe that if the string is on their necks, they are stuck.

I went to the next pasture where Danny and Trax where hiding in the shed.  I figured I'd better do Trax first.  I draped the string on his neck, he moved as close as he could and dropped his head.  He didn't care for having his ears sprayed but he didn't bolt either.  When I turned him loose he made a beeline for the grass.  Danny came to me for his turn. I didn't even put the string on him. He stood there anxious to get some relief from the pesky bugs.  When I was done he looked back at me as if to say, "More please?" so I sprayed him some more. When he felt he was sufficiently saturated he bounced off to join Trax.

I went inside and looked at the clock.  It was 7:45, I have to be to work by 8.  I had just enough time to throw some make up on a brush my teeth.  I sit here at my desk now reeking of fly spray.

On the bright side, I won't be bothered by flies today....or people.

As I left for work I looked toward the pasture and this was what I saw

Happy ponies chowing down.

The joys of moving

Well our almost-a-three-day-weekend has finally ended. Naturally I did not spend much time celebrating Independence Day, I sorted and packed stuff. Loaded big stuff onto the semi, tried to figure out what goes and what gets gone.

Sunday TC started to help with the sorting. Its only right, after all it is his stuff too.  So far when I have come to an area of "his stuff" I box it all and put it in the keep pile. It is not my place to decide what he wants and doesn't want.  But as we were cleaning out our bedroom he started sorting. For TC it is more like going through every single picture and piece of paper. Pretty soon I had to crack the whip.  This is no time for reminiscing. Its a picture, so you keep it, if it is an old receipt from 10 years ago...the warranty is gone, throw it away.  Some of this stuff has been boxed up so long, he forgot he had it.  That's fine, he can reminisce when he unpacks it. (I hopefully will be working)

When we first started planning this move, he said, "We will not take much furniture expect for the beds and the antique stuff we can't replace."

Then it changed to, "If we don't take it, we will have to spend a bunch of money to buy more."

After 2 days of loading a few things, "Use it all for firewood, we will buy stuff down there."

We gave away our bedroom set (except our super awesome bed)

We are giving away the worlds heaviest entertainment center.

We gave the couches to my son who has none. Although we did get some different ones from my neighbor (I don't understand it either)

I have gotten all of the nick nacks packed, and most of the kitchen stuff, all of our bedroom stuff (living out of suitcases now) but it still seems like there is so much to do.  I've got till the 15th to have it all done. I have 7 days.  I have to work 6 of those 7 days.  Oh this sucks!

On the Ewwwwww side of it all.  When we removed the bedroom set it exposed an underworld of dog hair and grossness that I probably knew existed, but managed to ignore until now.  The dogs like to sleep in our room. I try to put beds down, but they always want to sleep right next to TC's side of the bed. I tried to put the bed there, but he kept tripping on it in the middle of the night, so the dogs ended up sleeping on the carpet.

Our headboard connected to side drawers which completely covered the carpet in the corner.

The carpet under that furniture is a lovely shade of white.

Where the dogs have been sleeping...Oh My that is anything but white!  I don't know that I will ever get that clean.   Who in their right mind puts white carpet in a house in the country?

The dogs are each reacting to the commotion in their own way.  Mason feels that it is his job to mark the path by sleeping in the middle of it.  Smarty feels that it is his job to unpack my boxes as fast as I can pack them.  Butch wanders around the house with a worried look on his face.  I seriously think that he thinks we are going to leave him behind. What is worse, is that he will be left behind for 5 days.  I should have known that he is the only one smart enough to recognize what is happening. The other 2 are oblivious.

Pretty soon I will be shutting off the internet at my house, so it will get kind of quiet here at Herdlife. But that is not for a few days yet.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

First trailer ride for the entire herd

Saturday we took all four horses in for the health certificates and Coggins tests.   This is the first time we have attempted to load all four horses at once.  It went a little like this....

Danny, "Um no thanks I do not care to get into the trailer."

Me, "Well then you can stay out side of the trailer and do some work."

Danny, "Well ok then, I guess I will get inside."

Danny get the first stall so he had plenty of room to turn around to come back out. Plus that gets him far away from Killian.  Then goes Trax.

Trax, "Hm, I wonder where we are going this time?  I didn't have to have a bath or anything."

Danny, "I don't like this, I don't like this at all."

Before I got the panel shut, Trax reached over and laid his nose on Danny's back as if to say, "It's ok, old man, I'm here."  Then Danny calmed right down.

Next came Sassy, "I do not know this trailer, I will not go inside."

Me, "Sassy you will go inside because there are mare eating  monsters out there."

Sassy,  "Monsters!!!!  Ok, where do I go?"

I was having trouble getting the final panel shut before she tried to back out again, but I just kept clucking her forward and kept one hand on her butt while I fought with the pin that keeps it from extending. Once I got it in place, she was fine.

Killian, "Um, you expect me to ride in the back?"

Me, "Yes Killian, it is the biggest stall and you are the fattest biggest horse."

Killian, "Oh my, it is quite roomy, isn't it."

We shut the doors and headed on our way.  It was about 90 degrees out. But we did not have too far to go. 
When we got the vets I left them all inside for a bit but opened the jail bars so they could get their heads out.

Danny tried to stick his head out but bumped it on the top of the window. From then on he only stuck his nose out.  Sassy, having the smallest head, had her whole head out and was looking around. Of course if I tried to get a picture of it, she would pull it back in. 

Then came time to unload everyone.  Killian backed out like a champ, but then he is a "been there, done that" sort of guy.  Sassy started to back out until he back foot hit air, then she kind of freaked out. With the rear tack it was a tight squeeze to turn around but being the smallest horse she could have done it easily if she had just taken her time. Instead it was more of a cutting horse spin and bolt, with me just barely getting out of the way in time.  (silly mare) Trax, of course had no issue.  Then came Danny.  He has the most room for turning around and has developed a method of pivoting on one hind leg while his string halt leg goes up.  So I thought it would be no problem. But he bumped one of the panels which sort of scared him and he kind of bolted out as well. 

There was a hitching rail right next to us, so we tied them all to that, where they waited quietly. 

The vet came out, took some pictures, drew some blood and did the health checks.  I was holding Danny when she took Trax's temp.  His little tail was just swishing back and forth I could tell he was trying to warn her to get that thing out of his butt or someone was going to get hurt.  She got her reading just in time. Obviously I need to work on that with him.  Killian didn't care for having his blood drawn, but I covered his eye with my hand and then he was fine.

Then the tech went and tried to take Trax's temp a second time, not realizing that it had already been done. She wasn't very smart either because she was not standing in a safe place and Trax was just about to kick her, when I told her to move.  He needs a sign on his butt that says 'exit only or else"!

I want to insert here that this is not my regular vet. I went here because they were running a special on what I needed, and they were closer.  This particular vet has seen Danny in the past, to give him acupuncture treatments (which did nothing for him).  At one point when I was walking Danny to the spot where we did the photo's I saw her watch him and frown and shake her head.  I can't help but wonder why she shook her head?  I mean does she think that I should be doing something different for him?  I mean after all, this horse has the best life imaginable.  He is healthy and loved, has everything a horse his age needs and then some.  it kind of bothered me, but then this particular vet bothers me almost every time I go there. So I guess I will consider the source.

Anyway, when it was all said and done, everyone loaded up pretty easy and it was time to go home.  I am really proud of my ponies. There was very little fussing, and no bad pony antics.  Sassy pawed the mats a little when they were waiting to be unloaded, but not terribly so.  There were no ugly faces from Killian when they were tied at the rail, no pulling back, no nothing.  they were perfect angels.

When we got home, Killian backed right out, but even though we were backed up to a hill I could not get Sassy to back out of the trailer. The minute her foot touched air she jumped forward and froze.  Nor would she turn around. She kept looking at me like she wanted me to "fix it" for her.  We tried everything, but she would not go. Finally I got smart and unpegged the wall to the tack room. by squishing it over I was able to give her just enough room to turn around without hitting anything and out she came. Danny decided that he was not going to risk bumping the panel again so he chose to back out as well. Have you ever seen a horse withe double stringhalt back out of a trailer.  It isn't pretty, but he is actually quite good at it. 

So all in all my trial run was good. The pick up handled the weight ok, and the trailer pulled just fine. We have new axles coming for the trailer, which should make it pull even better (one of our tires is wearing funny).  I do need to invest in some super duper fly spray, something that actually works, because even though I just sprayed them that morning, they were still driving them nuts. Does anyone have any recommendations?

We have started getting furniture loaded into the semi, and have set our next date for leaving on the 15th.  Now I must go, because to meet that deadline, I have a lot to do.

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday!

Danny says, "hey let me outta here!"

"I think she tricked me with the monster story"

"A trailer ride that doesn't involve me having to work or get a bath! perfect!"

"I'm sweating, can we have some air please"

Random 5 Friday

I am really starting to love Fridays.  It is pretty easy to come up with 5 random things about myself, or about life in general.

Oops almost forgot the link to A Rural Journal


1. As I type this there are ducks flying over head and quacking. I can hear them even though I am inside...or maybe that is someone's ring tone.

2. When I was 20, I was driving in Sierra Vista, through a residential neighborhood.  It was a pretty decent neighborhood so I was totally unprepared when an older man, who was severely intoxicated, threw himself in front of the pick up truck I was driving. He literally dove under my tires.  I could not stop in time and ran him over with both sets of tires. I did stop and ran out to get help and screamed for some one to call 911. I sure I must have killed him, so imagine my surprise when he got up off the ground and brushed himself off and said, "Well that didn't work so well."   The police came and checked him over, he was fine besides being beyond drunk, so they took him in for public intoxication.  When they asked him what had happened, he told them that he was trying to commit suicide.  They let me leave without even a ticket.

3.  I have a very odd rubber worm fetish...(ack! Get your mind out of the gutter!)  What I mean is that ever since I was a young girl if there are rubber fishing worms around I can't help but bite them all into little pieces.  I am slightly better now that I am older, I can stop after one or two, but there is still something about the way it feels to bite them that I enjoy.  Avid fishermen...hate me!

4. As I type this I am seriously nauseous, I can't decide if it is from having red velvet fudge and Red Bull for dinner, nerves, or a stomach bug.

5. Last night we went to Casper Event Center, to see the Jalan Crossland Band play one more time and to watch fireworks. We left before the fireworks started.  I have never been a big fan of fireworks. They are kind of boring to me...kind of like air shows.  (which in my mind are a complete waste of time)

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful 4th of July!

She Ran

Sassy Ran today!  It's the first time I have seen her do that in a while.  I know some of the reason she hasn't, is the heat, and some of it is the fact that she is uncomfortable a lot of the time. But today she ran and bucked this morning. Her and Killian both.  It gave me hope.

Wheels

I have started 4 blog posts in 2 days, but have deleted every one....no real info anyway, just a lot of blah blah blah.

There has been a lot of sadness going around lately. So much loss, and my prayers and thoughts go out to all those effected.

In other news, my horses are getting uber fat!  Sassy is going back on a diet especially. She eats until she is ready to explode if given the chance to graze.

I finally got my books packed...so far that is it, but I expect to really bust some butt on that this weekend.  Great way to spend 4th of July. So much to do!

I had sold my jeep so we would have more money for the move,  but decided that I needed to replace it with something else before I spent all the money.  I managed to run across this for a lot less than what I paid for that stupid jeep (that scared the crap out of me every time I drove it).   So I still have money for some of the moving expenses and have me a really nice little ride. Best of all, it has new tires and runs so good I don't think I will have to do anything to it for a long time.

My "new" wheels  - GMC Envoy.

I've got an appt this Saturday for all four horses to get their health cert's and Coggin's tests.  I found a vet who was running a special, so I'm actually getting it all done for a very reasonable price.  This will also be a nice little trial run to see what happens when I put all four horses in the trailer.  Of course Danny and Killian will be at opposite ends.

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy 4th!

Liebster Award

I have been nominated for my first Liebster Award by one of my most favorite young ladies of the world, Marissa at Horseshoes and Hearts.  Thank you for that Marissa. I will do my best on this although my mind seems to be pretty much mush these days, so we will see what comes out! 

HOW TO ACCEPT THE AWARD: The Liebster Blog Award is a way to recognize blogs who have less than 200 followers.  Liebster is a German word that means beloved and valued.  Here are the rules for accepting the award:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and include a link back to their blog.
2. List 11 random facts about yourself.
3. Answer the 11 questions given to you.
4. Create 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate.
5. Choose 11 bloggers with 200 or fewer followers to nominate and include links to their blogs.
6. Go to each blogger's page and let them know you have nominated them.

Here are my random facts :

1. I can type almost as fast as I can think, but am also dyslexic so I always have to go back and fix stuff. Thank goodness for spell check!  

2. I cannot add in my head to save my life.  In fact I suck at all math.  In spite of that when I was taking college courses and had to take math classes, I got A's and B's in all of them.  I cannot explain why.  One thing I know for sure, in my job Excel is my friend. 

3. When I was younger I was very artistic, I could draw and paint very well,  but some where along the line I lost that talent. I am not sure how or why.  Lack of use I guess. 

4. I always wanted to be a singer. 

5.  I lose my keys, glasses, phone, purse or bank card a minimum of 10 times a week.

6. I have a secret passion for western dancing- but have no clue how too. 

7. My favorite Christmas song of all time is Jingle Bell Rock

8.  If I could eat gravy at every meal- I probably would. 

9. I used to make "Indian Spirit Charms" out of the seed pods from a cats claw bush. I would wrap them with leather and add feathers and beads, so that they could hang and looked rather devilish.  I called them "Devils Heads" and would sell them for about 20 dollars each along with a great story about how the American Indians would hang them by the entrance of their dwellings to ward off evil spirits.   I actually made pretty decent money with them....hey, maybe I should start that again! 

10.  My favorite fruit is peaches, and my favorite veggie is avocado. 

11. I rarely ever drink soda. My reason is that I do not really care for the carbonation.  I do like Red Bulls though and usually pour them into an empty water bottle and shake them up till the fizz is gone.  Or I'll open them and leave them in the icebox for a day or 2 until they go flat. I do not like to do that with regular soda's though, only Red Bull.  Oh and I really love to mix Red Bull with some sort of berry flavored slush...mmmmmm yum! 

11 Questions from Marissa: 

1. What is your biggest accomplishment with horses?

Answer:  That would have to be, hands down, the work I have done with Trax.  I am just blown away on a daily basis at how hard he tries for me, and how far we have come...most of it in the last year. 

2. Do you have any hobbies apart from horses that you love?

Answer:  That would have to be riding motorcycles, and going to yard sales and auctions in search of treasures. 

3. What is your ultimate goal that you are working towards with your horses?

Answer: The goal for me is to improve my equitation. When I watch my video's I can see how sloppy I am.  My goal for my horse though is Ranch Versatility. 

4. What is your favorite tv show?  

Answer: Even though I would just assume never turn on a TV again, I am hooked on a few shows.  Orphan Black (BBC), Covert Affairs, American Pickers, Franklin & Bash, Unnecessary Roughness, Castle..shows like that.  I abhor anything with "gratuitous violence.  I don't mind knowing that people get killed in the shows, but I don't need to see every gory detail of it as it happens. 

5. What kind of music do you listen to?

Answer:  My musical tastes are pretty broad, everything from bluegrass, old country, new country, some hip hop, dance music, and even some heavy metal.  I used to be quite the head banger but I'm over it now.  But since my son plays in a heavy metal band, I like that I can go and watch him play and tell the difference between if they are playing well or just thrashing around.   I say that musical tastes make a full circle. 

6. What is your personal love story? (With a husband/boyfriend/ex? If you don't want to go that deep, with a hobby? Or more obviously, with horses?)

Answer:  My personal love story is with TC. It was a relationship that started in the most unlikely way, through the most unlikely circumstances. It bloomed into the most amazing friendship, and we are both head over heels in love. 

7. What is your favorite love story? (Movie, books, etc?)

Answer: It is a little known story about a guy named Sparky and a girl named Sam. It is not written in any book, or on a movie script.  It is written on the sands of time, and only those closest to them, knew of their undying love for each other.  It was love at first sight, that was never allowed to be, yet they never stopped loving each other, from their opposite ends of the world. There was a connection that no distance or no passage of time could break.  The night of his death she felt a soft breeze consistently brushing her cheek, in spite of the fact that there were no windows open. When she awoke the next morning she knew something was wrong.  An hour later she got the call.  Sparky had gone on without her.  To this day she loves him like no other and it seems as though always at a certain time of year, she will feel the breeze upon her cheek when she sleeps.  When she does, she smiles, and lets the warmth of his love wrap around her for just a while.   I still get a little teary eyed over those two. They were/are so dear to me. (Yes it is a true story) 

8. What is the most important thing to you when looking at a horse boarding facility? (Obviously our horses care is the first and foremost thing.  So lets skip that one and be really picky and selfish. So basically what is your favorite thing at your barn that you couldn't live without, or the thing you most wish you had. Lighted arena? Indoor Arena? Covered tack area? Trail access?)

Answer:  I have never had to board, so I'm going off what I looked for when we were searching for our perfect horse property to buy.   First and foremost was proper housing for the horses, with ample room to move around, shelter from the weather, preferably the ability to go in and out at will. Second was for mental health.  Grazing is as much mental as physical so have a pasture to be able to be turned out on was huge.  Next was an arena or area to ride and train without having to load up and haul.  Third was access to trails. Fourth was bad ass tack room.  

9. What is the most lavish thing you have ever had at a barn? Or, considering a lot of us board at something that is awesome for the horse and not so awesome for us, what do you wish you had in your wildest barn dream? (Air conditioned riders lounge? Heated tack area? Showers and lockers for riders? Couches?) 

Answer: The most lavish thing I am about to have is my lighted arena and my tack room.  I am very excited about that! 

10. I think my questions have been pretty awesome, but I'm seriously running out of steam.  Did you guys like my questions?

Answer: Yes your questions were pretty good- original. 

11.  Who is your hero and why?

Answer: This is the hardest question of all.  It depends on how you define "Hero".  I would consider many of the women who write the blogs I follow to be my hero's. I wish I could be more like many of them.  Anyone who has successfully beat their addiction is a hero to me.   There are a few young women I have come to know who are absolute hero's to me. They are driven and dedicated to achieving their own dreams and to me that is hero worthy.  People who take risks...they are hero's too. 

Okay, my nominee's are 

Sami Jo at Steady Hoofprints

50+ Horses

Tish @ Forever Home Donkey Rescue

Nancy @ A Rural Journal

(let me just say it is tough to find 11 people who haven't already done this)

The Dancing Donkey

Ashla Piwape

40+ Cowgirl "Loving Life"

CNJ at Show in Style

My 11 Questions for them are:

1. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

2. Do you have a bucket list and if so, name one thing off of it? 

3. When you aren't doing equine stuff- what is your favorite past time? 

4. Your favorite guilty pleasure?

5. Tell us about the love of your life (2 legged or 4 legged, past or present)

6. What goals do you have for your and your horse(s)

7. Do you have one ride of your life that was the most memorable? Can you tell us about it? 

8. Dogs or Cats? (or both)

9. What is your first reaction if you see a snake?  How about a mouse?

10.  How do you feel about roller coasters?

11.  Favorite Movie of all time (I know, lame but I am running out of questions)