Not Much To Tell

I haven't been a very good blogger lately. Not only have I not been posting, but I have done even less commenting.  I do still go through and read every one's blogs when I get a chance but, my comments are usually pretty short unless I feel that I have something really useful to say.

I don't really have much to talk about here. All the ponies are over their reactions, and actually ready to ride again, but right now...this week anyways, there just isn't any time.   There just seems to be so much to do. I have a very special visitor coming in 2 days and I have much to do to prepare for that.

I have not seen my real dad since my oldest son was under 10.  Jesse just turned 30, so that means it has been over 20 years.  That is a long long time to go without seeing one of your parents.  It is my fault we didn't see each other, not his.  I was not in a place where I was willing to let anyone in my family see me for half of that time. The other half, I was just too far away.  Of course we have talked and we email, facebook, and stuff like that.  But now he is coming, I get to see him for one day, and then he is leaving for CO. He is bringing his wife who I have never met.   Suffice to say, that I am more than a little nervous.  I want everything to be perfect.  I want the house to be spotless, the dogs to smell good (she is not a dog person at all), the horse pens to be spotless, and the horses to look like show horses.  I want my kid to control his potty mouth, and TC....well, I'm not worried about him.

I'll never get it all done.  I have to keep telling myself that life will go on. I have nothing to be embarrassed about. My house is nice, it isn't filthy (most of the time) and my kids are awesome.  The dogs can stay outside.  (My dad actually loves labs- so he will like them)

I am making a Mexican Food Dinner of Shredded beef (build your own burritos) Spinach Enchiladas, rice, beans, and what ever else I can come up with.  My kids are all coming over after work on Friday.  I am taking Friday off, and will probably take my Dad and his wife Karen, to one of the museums, or maybe the Olive farm...or something.   It'll be fun, once I relax and quit worrying about everything being perfect.


In other news, Mason has gone crazy.  He is like the gigantic man who can't stop eating.  We tried to switch dog foods because the Purina Pro Plan is just getting so expensive and the bags are getting smaller and smaller.  I used to feed Pedigree, with no issues, so I thought we could go back to that.  I was wrong.  Mason has gone on an eating rampage. He is still getting the same amount but thinks he is starving all the time.  He has always been one you had to watch when it comes to leaving the lid unlatched to the dog food. Or if you leave a paper plate on the end table that had food on it, he will eat the food and then eat the paper, but he has never ever gotten into the trash.   In the last month he has eaten a complete bag of beggin strips.  Ripped open an unopened bag of dog food and ate himself sick, gotten into all the trash cans 4 times. (there is a lid on our trash can too)  We switched off the pedigree, to one of the higher rated dog foods on the market called Authority, over a week ago, maybe even 2 weeks now, and he is still out of control. We have to watch him constantly and we can no longer leave him in the house if we are gone.  That sucks during the hottest part of the day.

I have spoken with a specialist in the past about his eating disorder.  It was suggested that there is a slight possibility that he has a small tumor in his brain which is blocking his ability to feel full.  It would also explain why he cannot hear, or swim.  (equilibrium issues)  I find myself wondering if perhaps it has gotten worse. Although that would be an odd coincidence that it happened just at the same time we tried to switch dog foods.

More than likely, he was feeling hungry all the time on the cheap food, and got into the trash. Now he knows its there, and a new habit has developed.  This has been reinforced by the fact that two people who keep coming home to the mess (I'm always at work) don't quite grasp how to stop a dog from doing things.  TC's plan is to just throw him out, and make him eat outside.  He thinks that Mason understands that he is being sent outside because he got in the trash.   Simon's way of dealing with it is to yell alot and then leave the mess for me to clean up because it is my dog.

I can probably break him of this but it helps to catch him in the act or for me at least to be the one to walk in after the deed is done.  I will have to get really mean about it too.  I don't like it, but I'm afraid he is going to eat himself to death.  He has never bloated from one of these binges yet, but the older he gets, the more likely it is.    If I can't break him of it, he is going to find himself living in a crate a lot when no one is home.  Not my favorite option either, but I know it doesn't hurt him and at least he would be inside where it is cool.

Moving on....

I've been doing a lot of saddle swapping lately.  Not always in my best interest, but the goal is to find a saddle that fits all my horses.  Well I did find one, but it is way out of my price range. However I did manage to trade off the Circle Y Flex Tree for a Circle Y Show saddle very similar to the one I use all the time.  I am not sure if it is going to be wide enough, but we will give it a shot.  It is newer and quite a bit lighter.  However it was not in the best shape, so I had to take it home and do some work to it. Since I was doing that one, I ended up doing 3 out of 4 of my saddles and am really impressed with how they are turning out.   I actually am going to do a blog post very soon on the method I have come up with. Once I have my total finished project and have refined the method.   I will do step by step by step pics of the last saddle.  It needs the most work I think anyways.

Wait let me retract that statement.  The saddle that needed the most work was Trax's saddle. Holy Moly that thing was a mess.  Filthy dirty, squeeky, and dry dry dry.  It occurred to me that the last time I took a week and did all the saddles really well, that one never got done.  That means I have not done it since I bought it.

Shameful....Just shameful.

However, wait till you see it when it is done. Oh Boy is it going to be pretty again.

The saddle I really want is at a saddle shop in Camp Verde AZ.  It is also a Circle Y (of course- must by all the circle y's)  I tried to work a trade, but you know how that goes.  Oddly enough, the guy at the store wasn't much interested in the saddle I had just bought, but he was really interested in my old one.  I had to laugh because I know that it is held together in spots with drywall screws, and not even all that well.   However, at this point it is still my favorite, and I am not willing to let it go until I find one that I like better. That means, find one, take it home, ride in for a month, decide it is better, and THEN I'd be willing to let mine go.    He also had another one there that was older, but in gorgeous condition, and more of what I am really looking for.  It is also more in my price range. At the very least. I know I will be able to sell the one I just bought at a profit, and go buy the cheaper one if it comes down too it.

I call this entire endeavor "The great saddle trade escapade"!

I did make an interesting discovery though.  Last fall I bought an old Colorado Saddlery saddle at a yard sale.  It has (had) EZ-up stirrups on it, that will actually drop down with the flick of a button for easier mounting out on a trail.   I thought it was just an old crappy saddle, not worth much of anything at all.   I have never even put it on a horse. It was so cheap I couldn't pass it up.

It was one of the saddles I cleaned and conditioned on Sunday.  Oh My Garsh!  It is actually an extremely well made saddle, and in much better shape than I ever noticed.   I have tried to contact the company for identification off of the serial numbers but have not gotten an answer yet.   It is very heavy, but some people don't mind that.  I took off the EZ-ups and will put regular stirrups on it. Then I will try it on the horses to see if it fits anyone.  If it does, then I will keep it. If it doesn't then it will go up for sale.  I think it will fetch a nice price now that it looks like the beauty that it really is.  Granted it is older so it will never be a top dollar saddle, but I believe I can make a small profit off of it.

I had such a good time working on those saddles.  It was so relaxing and what a neat thing to see them come back to life again.  I wouldn't mind doing that for a living, although I doubt one could make a whole lot off of it.

Speaking of making money....I got a call on the boarding business today. These folks have 4 horses, and do barrels, and western pleasure.  They are coming tomorrow morning to check the place out. That would actually almost put me at max capacity with just one client.  THAT would be awesome!   So keeping my fingers crossed for this to work out. Especially since they don't want to move in till August, which give me time to finish getting my big pens divided properly.  (as opposed to temp fences)

For not having much to say, that was sure a long post!