Wednesday, March 25, 2009

I need help finding the light of the day

I was already having a somewhat frustrating day, we are planning to go camping soon and there are no sites at the campgrounds our friends had in mind, so we found another campground but it was not in the same town, still on the ocean though. It is Samantha's Bday weekend and she wants to go to Westport and nowhere else, so George & Rachel found camping at an RV resort outside of town which is OK. There are a few trees, but unfortunately they have no winter camping spots for us non-hookup folks, so we'll be in the more expensive sites. Which isnt a terrible thing I guess, if we use the hookups we can plug in a heater because it will be wet and cold this weekend.. :) a sliver of light in my cloud today. I still think the other campground would be better because we can walk to the beach vs driving and the sites are more private like camping, not just a skidrow of trailers, but this is what they want, so we'll deal with it and I'm sure it will all work out..

But I was feeling bummed about the whole thing and then my mom calls and says my gramma is not doing well and going downhill rather quickly. Her Alzheimer's is taking over more and more and they are calling in hospice now. So my eyes teared up and I asked my mom if she would go with me to see gramma tomorrow after work, I was crying as I asked this not able to really speak. I was just overcome with sadness, I know this day has been coming for a while with her disease but it is now hitting home as becoming more real. I miss my gramma, I have not seen her in a long time. FAR too long, but going to see her is something I am not at all comfortable with. She doesnt know me and I dont know what to say to her, so I dont go. But I dont want to miss an opportunity to see her one last time, so I need to go the sooner the better. I know I will cry uncontrollably when she does pass on, I can feel it.

Gramma O was a great inspiration to me, she is someone I admired and looked up to. She provided me with opportunities over the years to spend time with her and learn about what is really important in life. She taught me to enjoy the basic things in life and how to cherish the great outdoors from the back of a horse. Gramma Ollie is a beautiful lady who has the softest skin around and I will forever cherish her in my life. I know she is not gone yet, but I feel better having said this.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Whew..

No Leak! Well not in the wall anyways. The floor molding behind the toilet was wet and I was convinced there was a leak in the plumbing.. I called Barry and gave him a little attitude on my voicemail message last week, he brings out the worst in me. So when he showed up today and looked at the baseboard and indicated there was not going to be a leak behind it, it was condensation build up and possibly a leak in the toilet bowl that was the problem, well I didnt believe him and told him to remove the molding.. Sure enough, it was not wet behind there! He is sending a plumber out tomorrow morning to be sure the toilet bowl is sealed properly, otherwise, there are NO problems with our plumbing!!! Which is a great thing, I was very worried. I feel a tiny bit bad that I had some attitude when it ended up not being a big deal, but oh well... Cant change how I acted now.

Barry did say this morning as we were chatting about Reality Homes and how things are going etc that we were good customers and he enjoyed working with us.. yeah, right! I said to him "well I'm sure I was a bit demanding at times" he just kinda did that nervous laugh type thing where he knows what I am saying is true, but doesnt want to tell me that I was probably a bitch at times! lol But he was an Ass at times, so we are even.

TV's back.. da na nah...

Okay, that is silly!

Derek & I have not lived TVless in our bedroom for many many, oh many years, if ever. When we moved back into this house, we opted to keep TV out of the bedroom because Derek wanted a flatscreen and well we cant afford one of those and I was more than happy to keep it out, because most of the time it just resulted in bickering at night when one wanted to sleep and the other wanted to watch a little late night TV. So for 8 months now, we've lived JUST FINE w/o the TV, although I will admit that we both missed our morning news.

We dont normally make time for the news and for the past 8 months, we've pushed ourselves to stay up later just to get in a little news time, whereas before, we'd turn on the TV in the morning and just listen to it while we got ready for work.

Well Dena had to go and advertise a free TV! Although not a flat screen, just a basic big normal black TV, we took it.. :) It now is in the bedroom and we enjoyed our morning dose of news, I just hope the bickering does not return with the TV! I did not miss those light night scwabbles.

Gotta go.. the contractor/builder guy is here to find out WHY we have a LEAK in our BATHROOM!!!!!!!!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Saturday Night 8:30, where were you?

Oh me.. I was sleeping! In bed, lights off, snozzin logs!


Friday night was our "Passion Party", there were 21 girls at my house. Well 22, cuz one girl showed up briefly and then left, a friend of a friend kinda deal, I didnt even meet her! It was fun, busted our tails all week to get the house spotless. The night ended at 2am, Shana Andrea & Rachel spent the night. Slept for not quite 5 hours, on Saturday relaxed for the most part but did have a wedding shower to go to at 1pm. I just crashed though when I got back, I was feelin the pain of exhaustion and lack of sleep and Derek was trying to get me off the couch to go in the bedroom, he couldnt hear the TV over my snoring! I am a terrible snorer... I should try breathing strips or something, it is embarrassing! Well, not in front of Derek I dont care if he hears me, but what about when company comes over... :)


Poor little Scout, we learned on Friday just how great of a dog she is! We had ordered pizza Thursday night (you know how it is, you clean your house/kitchen spotless and last thing you want to do is mess it up). Well, I had put the door on the doggie door so the children could not get out when the pizza got there. Derek calls me on Friday afternoon, I didnt take that door back off! The dogs had been stuck in the house ALL day. They didnt get their morning poddy and had held it for a very long time. When Derek got home, he couldnt figure out at first why Scout was whining so badly and wouldnt leave the doorway. She was soooo good, she didnt poo or pee in the house at all, she held it like a big girl dog.. So did Russell but that is to be expected, he's just that good of a bastard! lol


We got in another ride today, this time at the Mann Rd in Sultan. It poured on us of course, but we rode for almost 3 hours and had a good time. The horses needed the excersize :)


Here's a cute pic of Samantha on Saturday morning petting the VERY dirty, Blackie Smalls. He was really enjoying it. When Samantha learned that BS would be returning to his owners soon, she was very upset and wanted to be sure to be able to say goodbye to him. She's not super excited about Oakley coming back, she really likes her Blackie Smalls! I think she is less enthused about Oakley because he bit her once by accident this past summer. She had apples in her hand and juices from the apple, so when she tried to feed him a chunk and with her tiny hands, even though they were flat, he accidently grabbed her hand instead of the apple. So we'll have to slowly get her comfortable around Oakley again.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Cinamon Rolls & Riding

This past weekend was the annual Cascade Horse Club Cinamon Roll Ride. The tradition started a LONG time ago, I was pretty young. The club would have a breakfast ride, all gathering to eat a nice hearty meal inwhich Grandma Ollie would bake her famous cinamon rolls. After everyone was done eating, they'd head out on a horse ride. I dont know how many years these rides went on for, but I did go on the ones that started at my aunt Julie's place. The breakfast ride ended for many years until I mentioned bringing it back.

The first ride (3 years ago) we purchased cinamon rolls and rode out at the Pilchuck Tree Farm. That was the first club ride I took Edgar on, at the time I was just borrowing him to decide if I wanted to buy him. It rained a little and the rolls just didnt cut it! The following year I decided we needed home-baked rolls so mom made a batch of rolls for the ride and again we rode in the rain, but this time full of real rolls :)

So this year, the week prior to the ride it was BEAUTIFUL out! The weather was clear skies, sunny and just very nice spring weather... Friday mom and I spent the day making the rolls.. nice and goooey!!! Derek and I went to bed Friday night thinking... "if it's raining, we are not riding. We will deliver the rolls, socialize and go home." Saturday morning I woke up, it is pouring out :( I get a phone call that everyone is still showing up but with no horses. I'm thinking okay, no problem. Then Derek decides if we are going to drive all the way up there, we are riding! lol So we bundled up and headed out the door, although I'm sure the horses thought we were nuts.

I didnt count, but I think about 20 people showed up JUST to eat those rolls! Everyone was standing around in the rain, having a great time and sure enough, we were the ONLY ones to have brought our horses! lol After some eating/socializing, we saddled up and told everyone to enjoy the rolls, we were riding. We were accused of being young enough to have the gumption to ride in the rain! It rained about 50% of the ride, 25% was drizzling & 25% was actually rain-drizzle free. We had a nice 2.5 hour ride, a little slick and we did run into snow in places, but we chose our trails carefully to avoid lots of muck and snow. When we returned, our trailer was the ONLY trailer in the parking lot which is a very rare sight for this parking lot on a Saturday afternoon. I was really glad we rode.

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning and working on laundry. 7 loads later and we are still not 100% caught up! lol The spare bed is stacked almost to the ceiling of all our clean clothes!! I told Derek his job this week is to get that stack put on hangers into our closet while I spend the week doing the deep cleaning of dusting, mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms... I'm having a girls "Passion Party" on Friday night and I want the house as spotless as I can get it. It needs it anyways...

OH AND I am soooo HAPPY! We finally just sucked it up and bought cabinets for our laundry room!!! I now have real cabinets in there and I just love my laundry room now. It's funny how a simple cabinet can change your perspective on a room or your house in general.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

A Very Interesting Ride in the Snow

It's 3pm yesterday afternoon and Derek calls asking what the plan was for the day (after work he is referring to). Well I have to leave for swimming at 7:30, I asked if he was wanting to go for a ride and if so around the neighborhood or Lords Hill or ?? Long story short, I left work at 3:10 (thanks to Greg for covering for me!) and headed home so we could load up and get in a quick ride at Lords Hill.

We get there, all saddled up and on our horses by 4:20. which would give us 2 hours to ride. Well for those that have not been to Lords Hill, the entrance/beginning of the trail is a downhill little section. Okay, back up... Let me say that as I saddled my horse, he seemed fine. After he was saddled and untied I moved infront of him from his left side to his right side and touched his neck.. I dont know what the heck, but he started freaking out, backing up and rearing. Nothing out of control, but it was very weird. He was acting like he wanted to "blow up". I checked his saddle tightness, if I tighten him too quickly, he does this, but the saddle wasnt too tight, I dont know maybe he thought it was too tight and when he moved it panicked him. I have to be a little sensitive with my horse. I have a 3 step process of tightening his saddle to ease him into it or else he gets upset and being that we think he might have sight issues in one of his eyes, I work a little slower around him.

So anways, after that little mess I get on and he still feels like he is uncomfortable under me.. he seems extra sensitive to my legs, so as we are walking through the parking lot, I put both legs into him and de-sensitize him a little to get his spooks out I guess. As we get to the trail entrance, we see that the hill still is full of snow, nothing deep, but a thin layer of snow/icey type condition.. Crap! As we start to gingerly walk down the hill, Edgar's back legs keep sliding a lot and he is not wanting to keep going. He takes a few more steps and slips more, so I stop him and I can feel that his body is shaking and he has that feel of wanting to blow! He just didnt know what to do and I think it was scaring him that he had no control over his own legs. So I immediately jump off and decided to walk him for the first 1/2 mile! There are 4 bridges to cross in that distance and I decided it was safer to stay off of him until I was past anything slick. Derek and Smalls did just fine, slid a little, but Smalls wasnt bothered by it. 2 of the bridges still had an inch or more of snow on them, 2 were clear. So after the 1/2 mile, I got back on and we worked our way through the trails, avoiding any down hill areas that might be snowed over still. We did have to back track a lot and get very creative on our ride to find a way to avoid the snow as it was just very slick and even on the flat areas where there was snow, it was icey underneath and the horses would slip.

As we finished our ride, I did ride him all the way back to the trailer, across the bridges and just took it very slow. It is mostly uphill/flat on that section back. So what was supposed to be a fun relaxing 2 hour ride, turned into a challenging 1.5 hour ride. It was still nice to get out, but not sure I will go back there if there is snow on the ground.. just too difficult to ride in.

Monday, March 9, 2009

I need my daily job to take a break!

Have you ever looked forward to Monday to go back to work, so you can have a break from working so hard on the weekend.. lol

If you work a physical job, you probably think I've gone crazy.. but for all you desk jobbers.. especially those that cant afford landscapers and cleaning ladies and labored employees, you may just know exactly what I'm talkin about. :)

Friday started with an early evening ride around the neighborhood, got in just as it turned to dusk. Sat morning started out with breakfast in a completely ramshackled kitchen full of dirty dishes, we cooked what we thought would be easiest and require the least amount of dish duty that morning.. lol Then we moved to the garage and spent 1/2 the day cleaning it completely up. We moved all the shit out that does not belong, swept (OH Yes, we were able to sweep) organized the shelves, really went to town on that room and it felt so good to have it finally done. Unfortunately, now I have Boxes of STUFF in the house I need to deal with. So does it count if you just move some things from one room to another?

After the garage was done, we unloaded 250 2x4's and 2x6's and stacked them very nicely inside the now clean garage. They needed a dry place to go before they get ruined.. no sense wasting all that lumber. But there is STILL room to move around and accomplish things in the garage even with all the wood. Okay, then it started snowing.. as it was snowing, we loaded up 900 pounds of scrap metal we had laying around. And I'm NOT exaggerating on the weight, we actually took the metal into town to recycle it and we collected a $27 check for 900 pounds of metal! whoopie!!! took the flatbed to town and pressure washed it, stopped at Lowe's to buy some supplies and then finally went home to relax.

Sunday morning we loaded some crap into the green truck for a dump run (although we never made it to the dump that day), constructed 8 saddle racks for our tack room, installed them in the barn, purchased some stall mats and installed them in the barn, delivered hay to Oakley, loaded up the camper onto the red truck, took a breathe and realized we had just enough time to go for a 1.5 hour ride around the neighborhood as our reward for a hard weekend worked. It was dang cold on that ride!! Oh then I had to come home and finally tackle 1/2 my dishes (that's all that would fit in the dishwasher).

So come Monday morning, I awoke feeling refreshed and ready to go sit on my A** and take a break! :)

Thursday, March 5, 2009

OMG! It's Official... I'm getting old

This morning as I'm looking into my mirror and looking closely at my bangs I just hacked away at (they were getting too long too quickly), I see this shining bright single strand of hair that is curled out, sticking out like a big sore thumb! I pluck it and hold it up to my hair to compare color and that puppy is WHITE! or maybe silver, either way, it was not dark blonde.. lol I dont even have any light blonde color/dye left in my hair, so that is all natural! :( I started to look to see if I could find others and after plucking another one, I decided I didnt need to find them, finding one was depressing enough..

So I guess today (03/05/09) is the downhill to old age, a marker in time when the hair starts to change... I think I need to go get some light blonde dye. But in all actuality, I am not upset about it, just more curious at how quickly these things will spread. Are they going to breed and multiply like rabbits or will they take it more easy like elephants.. Only time will tell.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

AAAHHHHHH!!!!!! :(

I need a punching bag right now! grrrrrr I am so mad..

I bought a dog pooper scooper upper and 17 ounces of dog shampoo that ended up costing me $155!!! I was running some errands (personal and work) on company time, heading back to work at about 4pm.. trying to get done so I could get home. As I'm leaving the feed store and pulling up to Hwy 2, I see a single dark grey car coming from my left and a line of traffic behind it, so instead of STOPPING, I step on the gas to get out and take a right... And of course as my foot is starting to press on the gas, I realize that grey car is an unmarked police car... I wanted to die and of course he punches on the gas and approaches me with the red and blues shining!

So I spent $30 on products and now will spend $125 on a G*DAMN ticket!!! It really makes you realize the difference 30 seconds can make. If I would have just hesitated in the store a little longer.. I was flaming hot mad, still am.
So little Miss Daisy, little miss perfection I will try to become behind the wheel.. GRRR

Monday, March 2, 2009

That Darn Derek...

Derek has been out looking for a new job for a few weeks now, putting his resume out there. He doesnt always get a call back for the position he is applying for, but when he does.... he gets the job! Every Time!!!

It just amazes me. Ever since he was a teenager, he has walked into an interview and walked out with the job. Literally. In the past week, he has had 2 interviews, including today and sure enough, the amazement continues. Unfortunately he had to turn both positions down as they were not paying him enough to quit his current job. I just think it is great that he is personable enough to get the positions. Heck when I am unemployed, takes me FOREVER to get a job, I get the interviews, but not the jobs... I must not be that great in person.. lol

He's going to College!!!

I'm packin the trailer with hay, gettin some cash outta the bank and sending my young boy off to college tomorrow... :)

I phoned a friend from back in my growing up years, I ran into her last year at Lowe's in Monroe, heck we practically lived there with building the house. Found out she was training horses and working as a shoer/trimmer of horses too.. So back then, I took down her #. Today, I remembered I had her #, so I called her up.

She lives in Snohomish at a place I drive by every day on my way to/from work! She puts a solid 30 days of riding on the horse, she is experienced and I know her which is a great relief. You hear all these horror stories of trainers that get abusive with your horse to get results and I dont have to stress about that. She has arenas, trails, trail obstacles, a track, pastures, round pen, all of the above to train/work him in.

So I'm loading him up on Tuesday to take him over to her place. She'll have him for 30-60 days, I may just let him stay for 60 just to get a little more solid training in him. I am SOO excited that I thought to call her, I really think she is going to do well with Oakley and he'll be exactly what I am looking for when he returns. It does kinda suck to spend any money on training, especially with the economy in such question and Derek's job being a bit unstable, but ya know what, ITS WORTH IT!!!! :) Once he comes back from training, we will have 2 very solid well trained horses we can take most anywhere...

Sunday, March 1, 2009

What to do...

He's home... It was a long drive yesterday. When we arrived, Oakley looked really good, he is fit and trim, although I must say he is not under-nourished by any means, but he is underweight for my liking. He's looking like a nice show horse, but I like my horses with a little more bulk, so for now while he is here, I'll be working on adding a few pounds.

I was able to watch Amanda ride him and realized how eager I was to get him home and give him a try myself! Here she is on Oakley yesterday.
I did ride him yesterday for a few minutes in the driveway, he is lacking some basic skills but proficient in others. He does not have any bend/give or suppleness in his face/neck/front end etc.. He braces himself when you ask for a whoa, a basic concept he should be better at. You can certainly stop him, but he feels "green". He does know his leg aids very well and it felt good to be on him.

Derek and I talked all night about what to do, Derek feels very comfortable around Oakley, but we both realize Oakley needs some more training before he is ready for Derek. Today I decided to get on again, rode around the driveway, out in the back field working on bending and giving, backing and stopping etc. He is slowly getting better, I think Amanda probably was not firm enough and focused on other areas. Derek decided he wanted to give him a try, so he got on and walked a few circles in the driveway and felt very comfortable on him. Plus he looked good too! lol He practiced a few things he saw me doing. In reality, Derek could ride Oakley as it is now out on the trails. Oakley is far enough along for someone with basic skills to ride him, but he is stiff and down the road, its better to fix it now.

I got back on and decided to head down the road, by myself and do the loop trail in our neighborhood. I was gone about 40 minutes or so. Oakley did really good on the trail. There was one paved road/hill he was refusing to go down, but we worked through it slowly. He wanted to have a tiny attitude, but I remained calm and relaxed and therefore he did as well. He has a nice walk on him, I got him over 3 puddles with some effort, but no fighting.

I think what we are going to do is find a trainer in our area and send him off for 30 days at which point we'll return Blackie Smalls to Angela and Derek will ride Oakley. If problems arise on the trail with Oakley, I can always get on and set him straight while Derek rides Edgar. Derek doesnt really like Edgar, I think because Edgar is not personable, but he would be fine to ride him.

So there it is. We are still sligthly in limbo on the plans, but I think we'll spend the money and send him off, one month aught to do it. Here are a couple pics, one of me and one of Derek. Obviously I am too big for him, but he can handle me for now while I work on some basics with him until he goes into training or another plan emerges..