I SURVIVED

WHOOOO! Here I am, back at home, 1200 miles and 5 days later. I can't tell you all how terrific all of the children were. "Are we there yet" got a little old after a while, though. The snow on the way home was a chilly treat.

The baby did fabulous. He got fussy after the first 200 miles because he was hungry and dirty, but a clean butt and a full gut and he was happy as a lark. He threw one hissy the entire visit because he hates turkey. Who knew? He got a bit fussy about 40 miles from home because he was hungry. The rest of the trip, he was an angel. Smiling, happy, and willing to go to anyone. The best thing about visiting the in-laws? You stand up, make the announcement "WHO WANTS TO HOLD THE BABY?" and you aren't going to see him for the rest of the trip!!!

The other two kids were great too. They looked adorable at the wedding. Only my son.... he walked down the isle and yelled "HEY LOOK I HAVE A PILLOW!!!" I will no doubt plaster pics all over this blog when I get them off the acer. Even the baby was spiffy in his new sweater vest. I think we clean up pretty good!

The animals survived without us. I'm pretty sure Baby saved her bladder from the last two days so she could express her gratitude for us coming home because my entire porch and half my driveway is sopping now. I can hear Keno whinnying at me for some food. Time to go and start the chore of unpacking. It's off to the Dr. tomorrow because I now have two sons and myself who are sick. Wish my pocket book luck!!!

Happy Survive-the-inlaws Giving!

Well, I'm fixing to leave on a marathon trip to the in-laws. First stop, Paris, Texas.. 400 miles away. We'll celebrate Thanksgiving with the in laws there. Then on to Kansas for a wedding vow renewal, another 300 miles away. Happy 50th anniversary to my husband's grandparents! THEN, we get to drive 514 miles back home, where I will no doubt collapse from an overload of in laws, football, turkey, and 3 screaming and tired children. Wish me luck.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there!

Playing Catch Up

Well, it's been a century since I've posted last! Things got quite insane there for a while and now I've slowed down just a moment to update all... 7 of you that may or may not read this.

Item#1. We have sold John, the project. We are sad to see him leave, but hopefully, he can have a productive career in another home.

Item #2: I am now part of the American workforce, of which I am not real happy about. I work in an internet help desk. There I get all sorts of pissed off people who either know more about their problem than I know about fixing it or people who seriously have no clue where the start button is. It's a job, and for that I am thankful. However, if money fell from the sky, the world would be a happier place.

Item #3: The boys are growing up quite nicely. Their pictures are at the top. I don't believe they'll be ready to even begin starting as two year olds, but they really have mellowed out and become great little pocket ponies.

Item #4: Keno is very sick. He lost a TON of weight and quit eating for a while. He's probably dropped 100 pounds or more and looks like a skeleton. We moved him in with the boys and he started eating about 3-4 days later. I'm happy to say that he's feeling good enough to run the boys off his food now without me having to pen him up separately. Hopefully, he'll turn around and be over whatever mystery illness he came down with.

Item #5: It's my son's 4th birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday Little Man!!

Random thoughts: Anyone ever roped a cow and had it lay down and refuse to move afterwards? Ours does.. touch him with a rope and he acts like a fainting goat! It really is quite annoying. He broke out of his pen this morning after an exhausting attempt to get him in there in the first place just yesterday. Driving him back to his pen was.. shall we say... a lesson in creativity. BTW, all this blabber about farm animals has pegged me the hick of the office. If they only knew..... :D

And the winner is......

ME!!!!

We just got Keno's blood test results in today. He is, in fact, a horny old gelding. What a relief! Hopefully, the mares won't go into season anymore this year. (Yea right!)

In other news, we had a fantastic Labor Day. My dad knows someone with a house on Buffalo Springs Lake. He gave us permission to use his place whenever we want. We got in for free and cooked out at his house. Hamburgers and hot dogs were delicious, as was the chips and dips, and don't forget the COOKIES!!! Man, the cookies were the best part!!!

The kids swam and then they guys and the kids went down to do the paddle boats. My mother and I stayed at the house with the baby. It was so peaceful. Nice cool breeze, tunes wafting in from various boats, the neighbors playing with their kids, and the fish jumping high in the air. It doesn't get much better than that! Well, back to the grind. I should have a training update on John soon! Stay tuned!

Happy Trails

toooo ME! So, for the first time in a month, we rode!!! YAY! Since it had been awhile, I made my husband be the crash test dummy. I wanted to ride Keno, and given his behavior yesterday, I wasn't about to just jump on.

I can hear you all now. Behavior? What behavior? Oh yes, I forgot to blog this. My little cranky gelding has been breeding my mares. His blood test is pending, and for his sake, I hope he's just a horny old man. No frankenbabies for us. Anyway, he went in for his blood test yesterday and went completely nuts. Dallas, who is in heat, went TWICE as nuts and into the batshit crazy zone. So, we decided not to ride yesterday.

Today, they were less crazy so we gave it a shot. Keno was a bit snotty at first. However, hubby put him on a cow and it was like the light flickered on. He LOVES chasing the cows. YAY COW! He got some zip in his step and seemed extremely grateful. Afterward, he was very very tired. Time for me to ride! Okay, so it sounds bad, but I only walk so it's good he wasn't fresh.

Then we saddled up Blondy. We were told that she doesn't tie, but.. she fell asleep tied while hubby was working Keno. Anyway, she saddled without a flinch. Riding, however, was another subject. She's as sound as she could possibly be and we couldn't be prouder. We almost cried watching her move out. No ouchiness at all! However, going forward was OUT OF THE QUESTION. As was turning. Or backing up. She almost fell over sideways, but eventually she learned that he wasn't about to let her weasel out of it.

And, we strolled around the pasture without a hitch. Although Keno was insistant that we stop and go see his lady. Or.. stop. And Dallas was delerious with lust. She broke down the coral to get to us. Came RUNNING straight at us, and then bucked. I bailed. She turned and winked. And peed. And winked. Ugh. So, we decided to go down the block.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. So pleasant, except for the constant screaming. How DARE we seperate the herd. And HORSES! Look mom, other horses. But, no one protested. They both did splendedly and we turned back when they started getting tender. It isn't easy to go from a flat dirt pasture to asphalt and rocks and hills. Blondy got a bath, they both got treats, everyone got hay, and the world was pleasant once more.

We like it so much, we might just do it again next week! Oh, and gaited horses ROCK!

I'm skinny

Ok, so not skinny like I can fit into a zero (BTW, I have NEVER been able to wear a zero) but skinnier than I have been in almost 5 years! WOOT! Before I was pregnant with my first son, I weighed in between 160 and 165, always up and down but never more than 5 pounds. After pregnancy, I lost down to 175 and I got stuck. Then, slooooowly I creeped up to 185 and said THIS IS ENOUGH. I starved myself, ate nothing but salads for 2 weeks, worked out every day (even if it was just a walk). I felt horrible, hungry, tired, and weak, but I lost 10 lbs in those 2 weeks!

Then I found out I was pregnant AGAIN. Grrrr. I gained that first 5 in a week. Then I gained all the way up to 216 even though I promised myself I wouldn't gain more than 25 lbs. For all the math challenged, that's 41 lbs. Weight management FAIL. I've never gained less than 40 lbs with a pregnancy. Now I know what your thinking. YOU WERE PREGNANT. Yea, I was pregnant, but you seriously don't need to take in any extra calories until you start breastfeeding.

So, after the birth of the baby, I immediately dropped 20 lbs! Then, I was back down to 183 in 2 weeks. Yep, 33 lbs gone. But for 3 months, I hadn't lost ONE pound. Not one. Then one day, I stepped on the scale and I weighed 175! I was sooo excited. I started eating less, taking walks, exercising, drinking just water and I gained ALL of that back. Right back up to 183. Soooo frustrating.

I thew my hands up in disgust and said the hell with it! I'll just be fat. I still walked. I still exercised some. But I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I drank tons of cokes. I stepped on the scale this morning. 173 BABY!!! I guess the key is to not trick your body into thinking it's starving. The metabolism slows down and your body leaches all fat to preserve itself.

So, that's my brag for the year. Cookies for everyone!!!!!!

Projects, Projects, and MORE Projects

So, just like the title says, I've lost my ever loving mind! With the nearing of school, and the possibility of only two children at home at a time, I've decided to do "spring cleaning"... which turns more into late summer cleaning, and then eventually fall cleaning before I throw my hands up and scream. So far, 3 trash bags down, 7 rooms to go. I only have 8 rooms. WHY do I have so much CRAP?


So, for project #2, I spoke of him before. Big John is now catch able, but just barely. You can, however, walk up halter less and pet him all over. Such a lovable goof, but knee issues, switching children who are staying with grandparents, and the crazy 4 on 4 off schedule haven't allowed for a first ride yet. He is a quick learner though and only give the "leave me alone" face when cinching him up. BTW, we FINALLY moved the hot wire. The horses can now stuff their faces with all the grass, careless weeds, and occasional branch of wild alfalfa they can stand.


Project #3, is to get the boys started with ground manners up to saddling. We figure, the earlier they learn all of that, the easier it will be when it does come time for that first ride. They won't be started until AT LEAST next year, maybe the year after that, but learning everything else won't kill them. Timber is coming along nicely though. We can catch him easily, and while he's still a bit skinny and skittish, he's a love.

FINALLY, project #4 is a cookbook!! NO, I'm not a great cook, nor do I love laboring over a hot stove to produce a gourmet meal 3 times a day. However, I AM sick and tired of losing my index cards with my favorite recipes on them. My Memaw isn't alive anymore to write them down again for me, and my mother isn't too pleased that I call her in a panic trying to find them either.. So, I'll have a collection of our favorite recipes color coded, indexed, referenced, and imaged so I won't have to lose anything else, or spend half an hour flipping through our 300 or so cookbooks trying to find one that sounds good.

So, off I go. To play with the baby, finish my homework, clean my house, complete my project, and slowly go insane. Take care!

When the going gets tough

the tough.... get a new horse. Well, he's more of an old horse coming back home. Okay, so a young horse coming back home. GAH.. so proper. :D

We bought Blondy and Timber from a breeder for the price of a breeding. Looooooooooong story short, Blondy was a owner relinquish for breeding fees. We bought them last summer when Timber was only 2 months old. It was a win-win really. Blondy was going to become our riding horse, and Timber was a terrific weaning buddy for our other colt.

We decided to sell Timber to a family member for his daughter. They were so excited and we were still going to help them with him. (worming, trimming, shots, etc) They've had him for 8 months now. He's started acting like a pain in the ass stud and it's waaaaay too hot to geld him, so they just gave him back to us. So, now he's in our pen... geting the crap beat out of him by Keno the grumpy old cuss. We're looking forward to having him around. He's always been a great little guy.

In other news, we now have hay to sell (anyone want some alfalfa?). We have a broken hotwire to repair. We have fences to move (so that broken hotwire isn't actually the end of the world). And... we still have a colt to break because hubby's knee gave out last week. Back to the trudge through life.........

Projects, Crashes, and Hormones.. OH MY!!

Well, this is the first chance I've really gotten to sit down and blog in like.. a week and a half! Boy have I been busy.. but I guess it makes the time go faster.

Take a look at my most favorite painting EVER! It is done in pointillism, which is amazing. Have a look. Really, its only relevance to today's blog is that I wish I were there. I'd be the lady with the little bitty dog.

Lots of stuff to tell. Little of this, little of that. First on the agenda:

We now have a new project. His name is John and he's a 15.2 HH bay quarter horse with a sweet looking blaze. We are planning on breaking him and selling him as a roping prospect. We do this from time to time for money and for experience. He will be the 4th one we've started. We are looking forward to it and I'll share his progress here.

Second, the day after we got John, my husband got CREAMED in a car wreck. He's fine but my poor car isn't. Stupid driver didn't even LOOK and then refused to talk to my husband. What is wrong with people? So, we're just thankful that our children weren't in the car at that time. It could have been very bad. Also, the more I deal with car insurance, the more I LOVE Progressive. They are so helpful. Love them. Love.

Third, my poor Baby (the rat terrier) has an incontinence issue AGAIN. We've done this off and on for a few years now. You might remember we gave her an antibiotic shot for her bladder infection, but she started wetting her bed again, so back to the vet. They've put her back on hormones to see if it will clear up then. Anyone ever heard of puppy menopause? Apparently, it exists and my poor Baby has it. GAH!

So, now I've got to get busy cleaning on my very neglected house. (Yea, I'm bad like that) I've already forked some hay over to the girls and John (because left unattended... 2 mares can kill an entire round bale of grass in 2 weeks flat.. or less if you don't grain 2x a day). And.. I get to plan next weekend's agenda (this time it's Tuesday through Friday) which includes moving some hot wire for new grazing, scratching the tilling because my dad so sweetly did that today (stupid stickers.. anyone got a remedy for goat heads PLEASE let me know), taking the fish tank out of my living room to make room for the playpen that we moved last weekend, going to the library, homework, and maybe some SLEEP if I'm lucky!! Everyone take care!

The best things in life

Are FREE! Well, most anyway. If you have an affinity for fine Italian footwear, then you're on your own. I just thought I'd do a blog today about the many fun things that are free and have the added bonus of being terrific memories.

Anyway, Wednesday my mother had to go to Amarillo on a business meeting. Being her first business trip ever, she was understandably nervous. It also happened to coincide with hubby's off day so we all (kids too) decided to go with her. We dropped her off at her meeting and went to the zoo.

The zoo is free! While the Amarillo Zoo is pretty laughable at 15 acres, the kids had a blast. My husband and I thought it was pretty lame (pretty much everything does after the Ft. Worth Zoo), but seeing the look on the kids faces was priceless. Their favorite exhibit was the monkeys, which we watched pee in the water. Gross! The kids thought it was hilarious. We on the other hand, were thinking that the last thing in the world we'd want to do was be the zookeeper in charge of cleaning the monkey exhibit!

There were also real wild mustangs (with saddle marks... wearing halters.. and begging to be fed some grass). There was a rare miniature pony, and some not so miniature *cough*standard*cough* donkeys. Of course, there were goats and sheep! Another rare and exotic animal. Then we saw the coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and.. wait for it.. skunk. Yep. We could have just walked out to the barn, which now reeks of skunk and mothballs. But, the kids had a BLAST and that was all that mattered. For our lame trip to the zoo, we gave 3 bucks as a donation (cause that's all we had) and took away 2 very excited children blathering about bears and monkeys. Trip well worth it.

On this same day, we decided to go to the AQHA museum as well. We'd been there once while my daughter was in school because we had to register the boys. We decided, what the heck! It's free for all AQHA members and their families and it has a hands on learning center, mechanical pony rides, several mini movies, and a hall of fame. Not to mention some very huge (anatomically correct!!) statues of former champions and racers. The kids thought it was awesome (their words, not mine). It's always worth a trip if you want to experience an air conditioned outing.

There are other completely free and fun things to do here as well. The library has story times, musical performances, science experiments, entertainers and even free shot clinics and computer classes. Of course, you can always just pick up a book, go to the children's center, and let them play quietly while you catch up on your reading. I encourage you all to check out your local libraries. They have wonderful programs during the summer.

Of course, never under estimate the power of running around outside. While we do have the horses that provide hours of entertainment, they kids have just as much fun running around the yard and under trees pretending they are in the jungle. Grab a few toys and head outside!!!

When in doubt (or it's seriously crummy weather outside), go to the mall. Our mall has an indoor playground, a food court, wishing fountains, Santa and the Easter bunny, and a pet store. When the weather sucks, we walk around, window shop, throw money in the fountain, play with the puppies, and let them run free in the playground.

So, I hope no one has anymore doubts about fun and FREE things to do! I'm off to take a walk!

Award!

I got an AWARD!!! YAY! Well, actually I got it from TWO people so thanks to Beckz and Phnee!!! So, now I have to list 10 honest things about myself. Here goes:

1. I am completely and hopelessly addicted to caffeine. I tried to NOT drink some yesterday and I had a massive headache until I drank TWO cokes.

2. I love 80's movies. It's a passion. 16 candles, Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing, Princess Bride, Loverboy, Can't Buy Me Love, Lucas... you name it, I probably love it. The 80's were the BEST for movies.

3. I love the oldies... songs that is. Not that old people aren't great, but the songs!!! Even the new songs are mostly samples from old songs. Plus, you have all the great dances.. the twist, limbo, mash potatoes.. LOL!

4. I love ketchup on my mashed potatoes. There. Said it. Proud of it. My whole family thinks I'm nuts, but really, is it any different than ketchup on your french fries?

5. I have a taste for children's books, the mini novel type. My all time favorite is My Teacher Flunked the Planet. They're simple, fun, clean, and have morals. YAY! Seriously, who wants to read their novel with a dictionary?

6. I prefer fast food.. to well.. anything. Taco Villa is my weakness. I can even eat it when I'm sick and can't manage to choke down chicken noodle soup. Salty, fattening, cheesy heaven... mmmmmmm.

7. I hate soup. HATE IT. HATE HATE HATE!!! I have no clue why either. I just prefer to not drink my food.

8. I hate going anywhere by myself. Short of the bathroom, I like to have at least one person go with me. I've always been painfully shy and terrified of society at large and having another person with me makes me feel better.

9. I am a wallflower. Betcha didn't see that one coming. *wink* Really though, unless I know you, I'll keep my distance. Even in a room full of people I know well (like our annual family & friends Halloween party), I'll migrate to the back with one or two people and park there the entire time.

10. I am musically inclined. Well, playing instruments anyway. You wouldn't want to hear me sing. (My kids tell me they don't either) I played the clarinet, the tenor, and dabbled on the piano a bit too. My high school music teacher had me on the track to the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra by the time I graduated, but fate had other plans for me.

And.. that's my 10!! Yes! Now, I'm supposed to send it to 10 other blogs.. but I don't know 10 other blogs.. so I send it to EVERYONE!! WOOT!

SKUNK!!!!!

It was about 10:00 last night. I just happened to con my husband into going out to take the fly mask off Keno and feeding the boys. I noticed some chicken eggs that were smashed outside the barn and hubby said he had seen them that morning, but didn't investigate. So, I trudge to the barn to see how many we had left and there was a.... SKUNK!!!!!

Talk about your back peddle. I didn't know I could run so fast in reverse! I ran smooth over the husband and halfway out in the pasture while hubby tried to get out of my way and ran for the shotgun.

Unfortunately, 4 shots and we couldn't hit him. I DON'T like varmints in my barn thank you very much. Afterwards, we threw an ENTIRE box of mothballs under the barn hoping it would deter him from coming back. It was no use though. He came back for the others sometime during the night and the nest is completely decimated now. The chicken has retreated to her old nest and is futilely trying to hatch her last batch of duds. I feel sorry for the chicken so fixing the coupe is now on the priority list.

Now that the excitement is over, I can go over the events of last night. Husband has said that skunks really are pretty and now I can admit that he was kind of cute, but I'm not planning on making him my pet or anything. Although, my mother-in-law had a descented one as a pet. NO thank you.

See y'all for the next country adventure. I'm off to the supermarket to stock up on tomato juice!

Reflections

This morning I received word that the long awaited death of my cousin has finally happened.

Sounds pretty morbid huh? Well, she's been practically vegetative for the last 7 or so years. It was only a matter of time. She and her son were in a horrific car crash that left her virtually comatose and her son with some minor brain damage. Unfortunately, she was DOA, but in some sadistic twist of fate, all emergency workers are required to try and revive victims when they arrive. So, instead of meeting her maker that night, she's been living in a nursing home. She improved at first and then slowly backslid. 7 years of bed sores, feeding tubes, IVs, therapies, and prayer finally led to one single IV and the advice to prepare for imminent death. This morning, she passed peacefully. Unfortunately, the son she was in the car crash with was to be married this morning. Thus, one life ends and another one begins. Life, huh?

So, on such a somber occasion, I chose to reflect on my life. Like the picture? It was one of our colts taking in his first sunrise at our house. Truly breathtaking. How many times do we take the sunrise and set for granted. We always assume there will be another one. We have too much going on, too busy, too tired, you name it and we fail to take in a spectacular scene that happens twice a day. What would happen if we all decided to watch the sun rise and set everyday. So many truly peaceful wonderful experiences could happen. But, nose to the grindstone, we ignore the most beautiful scenes in the world and all we had to do was look out a window.

For the past 26 years (and yea, I seriously had to count how old I was!) I've been living life full steam ahead. My mom refused to let me move up a grade when I was in the 2nd grade. She did it for my own good, to let me have a chance to mature. I didn't see why then, but I do now. I made a point to get good grades. I cried when I got my first B and begged for extra credit when I saw my first C. I ended up graduating with honers a year early and marrying that summer. (Yes, math gurus, that would be 17 and married) I got pregnant at 19, had our first baby at 20, and switched to a work from home job. Our second son came 2 years later, along with various problems in life. I finally started college. Life was going infuriatingly fast.

After seeing how fast life was spinning, I decided to slow down a bit. I cut school part time, spent more time with my kids, went trail riding, and generally started enjoying every minute of downtime I could get. Then, another monkey wrench. Pregnant.. again. I was not a happy camper, but my newest little bundle of joy has proved to be a blessing. He's growing so fast, it just pounds in my head how fast the time flies. Just yesterday I was BEGGING for my pregnancy to be over. Now my sweet little newborn is now a huge 3 month old, and he's only getting bigger. You know what they say about time, it marches on.

So, in memory of Sue Crawford, who's life was over way too early, I encourage everyone who has bothered to read this blog to take some time to reflect on life. Time passes way to quickly. Appreciate it while you can! Take care everyone.

Murphy is a Jerk!!!

You know that whole Murphy's Law thing?

I ought to slug ol' Murphy right in the kisser.

Everyone, meet Keno. My 20some odd "kid broke gen-au-wine pure breed palomino pony". In all actuality, he's a 20something champagne colored gaited mutt with the attitude and energy level of a 2 year old colt. He's in better weight now, and on better (and hotter) feed so he magically perked up. Imagine that. I would have a newer, better pic of him, but good ol' Murphy decided to trip me and let me fall in a pile of recycled hay (if ya know what I mean).

He started out okay. We found out that our "kid-broke" old man is actually a spunky little feller who's barn sour as hell but steady. He rides great (when you're not having a conversation about how the barn isn't on the road map) and he's really a great smooth little guy. So, we figured for my husband's last off cycle that we'd go for a ride. Then.. Murphy. I REALLY HATE him.

The first day (he's off for 4) was 4th of July, so naturally we went to the city fireworks show and then planned to pop some of our own. But, the show was delayed an hour and a half (try explaining THAT to a 3 yer old) and when we finally got back home.. it was raining. Yep. Stoopid Murphy.

Day 2 started off with a thunderstorm. Then we purchased shots and wormer for the horses (and forgot to give them), a trim for the palomino founder mare (who is still lame from angle changes), moved some fences for grazing, a trip to the store, and a movie. Then.. another thunderstorm. Because, when it finally cools off enough to ride, it rains. Curse you Murphy.

Day 3 started off with a trip to the registration office (to take care of that expired registration from the whirlwind trip). Then the Library where we caught the tail end of an Andy Mason concert, and lunch. By then it was 3000 degrees outside so everyone took a nap and I read my new book. I highly recommend it. (Thanks chat buddies!!). So, it cooled off and we went outside to find.... a lame horse. YAY. Keno is lame! And his eyes are swollen but we can't figure out WHY. There is no heat in the leg, his hooves (although a bit thrushy) are okay, no fever, no wounds. His eyes are puffy for no good reason. He's also a bit tight in the gut but not really colicky. So, a nasty shot of mineral oil and no riding today. Getting kind of sick of Murphy.

Day 4, ANOTHER rainstorm. And... Keno coughs. And coughs. And.... well you get the picture. He has pus coming out of his eyes and he's still lame. So, we clean out the stalls and prepare to give him a good ole shot of penicillin and some stall rest away from his annoying yearling pasture mate. NO WAY JOSE. Keno is hell on wheels when you bring out that needle. So.. Hi Ho Hi Ho... off to the vet we go, where we drop him off because there are no available appointments for the next 2 days. Then, coming home we decide to trim my uncle's yearling. He's decided to turn him out in a 20 acre pasture knee deep in hay grazer with a herd of goats. You CAN'T catch this colt and he doesn't have a halter on if you happened to get next to him anyway. Scratch that. Home for another movie, another book and bed, worrying about my baby. $%($&%($&^#$(%&* Murphy.

So, Keno is home now. He's no longer lame but is still just a tad off. He has ALLERGIES!!! He's allergic to weeds and flies. Dirt lot pony here we come. F U MURPHY.

BTW,off topic, I Haz an Award! BUT.. how do I pick it up?

Happy Updates

Recently one of my whopping 4 followers told me I needed a happy post. Well, I finally have one!!! But first, you must know about the kittens I was socializing. They are from the litter my outside cat had. I raised Callie from a baby and turned her loose to be a barn cat when she was old enough. She's done a great job at picking off the mice and snakes around the place. But before we could get her put in a cage to be fixed, she had these little guys. Cute huh? There is a 4th one we still haven't caught and we've named her Lucy, because.. she's illusive. Get it? Yea, kinda corny.

Anyway, these cute little critters were born underneath my front porch on April 22nd and I got to witness my first ever live animal birth. It was quite amazing. When they were 6 weeks old, we took them from Callie because she wasn't even letting them eat solids yet. (She's STILL nursing Lucy) There were two boys (one black and the orange) and two girls (the other black and Lucy is a grey tabby). The boys warmed up right away and we found them homes quickly. They went within days of each other. But the other black, she's a different story. She was very standoffish and downright mean.

However, once the boys left, she immediately decided that she needed new friends, so she became loving and sweet in a matter of hours. Doesn't she look like a doll? She liked playing in the extra fish tank ornaments. Anyway, I finally found a home for her after several emails from different people. It was difficult meeting with her new owner, but with the news I just received, it was well worth it. I'll share some of the email here.

"I want to let you know about the kitten, she is an absolute joy! ..... she has really lightened things up!She still has her ball and her toilet paper roll, as well as mice and lots of other stuff...tonight her favorite things are the fruit loops I gave her...she is hopping, jumping, and meowing at them. Thank you so much for her. So far her name is 'Mija' (mee-ha) I keep calling her baby girl so i decided to use the Spanish I am studying and give her a Spanish name!"

Doesn't it sound perfect? I just love hearing happy endings and updates from the animals I've placed in new homes. So, there's only one thing left to say. Congratulations Mija!!

Windshield Wiper Words of Wisdom

Remember when I said that it seems like something epic happens every weekend around here? Well, this weekend was no exception. It started out like every other weekend. We vowed to move the hot wire so the horses could get new grazing. We were going to celebrate our anniversary with a night out, dinner and a movie. We were going to trim hooves, take a ride, get a new phone because my husband's is fried, go to the library, go shopping, and maybe even clean! We also have to go worm and give shots to a colt we sold to my uncle (but we still take care of his vet and farrier care) Then, I found out that my mother and I had to make a cake for my aunt's 70th birthday Sunday, and there was a dinner Saturday night. Sounds busy for two days right? Well, our weekends are 4 days long thanks to the 4 on 4 off night shift my husband works.

Friday was great. We ate Mexican food and listened to a Mariachi Band while we ate. Then, we went to the drive through and watched the new Transformer's movie and Star Trek. The Transformer's was kind of disappointing. The plot kind of stunk and the language was bad. The Star Trek movie was surprisingly good. We aren't die hard Trekkies, but it wasn't a bad double feature at all. Then, we received a text message that my husband's mother was going to be in town Sunday and wanted to see the kids. Alright, one more thing on the list.

Saturday started off OK. The lady that wanted our last kitten we had been socializing had to cancel that morning and reschedule for Sunday because of a health emergency of a friend. We had the cake made and were eating lunch. Then we got the call. You know, the call that says your weekend just went to hell. My mother-in-law's father had just passed away. To make an extremely long story worthy of a best selling novel short, she's actually my step mother-in-law, but she has earned her place as a a blood relative in my book. We love her to death.

So, the decision was made. We were driving 400 miles to Paris, TX so we could at least be there for the viewing. The funeral was Tuesday morning, and my husband had to be back at work that evening so we would have to drive back Monday night. Two loads of laundry, one grocery store trip for diapers, a vehicle swap with my parents (an expedition is more comfy for 5 than a trail blazer), a frantic packing instruction, and one million instructions for pet care later, we were on our way.

Why is it, that when you are in a hurry to get somewhere, it rains? Why is it that your windshield wipers work.. until it rains? Here in West Texas, having your windshield wipers crack out is a common occurrence. It's so dry and windy here, they just don't last that long. I guarantee you that if you did a survey, over half the cars here would have windshield wipers that didn't work well enough to pass inspection. Rubber just doesn't stand a chance around here.

Our trip began with a 3 hour drive through pouring rain with semi-working windshield wipers (and really crappy visibility). Then we got pulled over for doing a whopping 6 miles over the speed limit and then we found out that the registration had been expired since April. Apparently, this newbie felt sorry for my husband who had a wife and 3 small children in the back of a car, in the middle of the night, with another 5 hours left to go to get to a funeral. He let us off with a warning to slow down and get our car registered. Yep. GREAT trip. Good thing the kids slept most of the way.

Long, sad, funeral type story short, we had a very short visit but they in-laws both thanked us for coming on such short notice. It was the very first time my mother-in-law and my grandfather-in-law had seen the baby, so I believe they were happy. Driving home.. more rain, more bad windshield wipers.

And, we're back to now. The hot wire is still where it was. The horses feet look terrible. They haven't been ridden. My husband's phone is still fried. There are no library books. My house is a wreck. The colt is still unvaccinated. I missed my aunt's 70th birthday and the kids didn't see their Nana. But... we were there in a time of need. Thus is life. Moral of the story? Always check the damn windshield wipers before you take a trip!

Izzy's (very long) story

Alright, I promised the story of Izzy, a crazy TB mare that wormed her way into my heart. This is Izzy when we first got her. Looks great huh? Yea, didn't think so. They said she had GAINED weight. Yep. Gained. Gotten FAT in fact. Yep. FAT. So, we'll call this the fat picture. (I wish I were so fat)

Anyway, Izzy's real name is Isabel which is a very proper and lady like name. Doesn't fit her in the least so Izzy stuck. She was purchased at the back of the race barn as a cull by the father of the people we bought her from.(got that?! :D) She obviously never made it to the races because there is no tattoo. They were going to use her as a broodmare for paint crosses. She was halter broke, but as far as they knew, never ridden. They ended up gelding the paint for a riding horse, so Izzy was thrown by the wayside because they didn't feel comfortable breaking her.

When we went to see her, she was hard to catch, but pretty obedient when you finally caught her. She was just the biggest love bug and cookie hog we had ever seen and she wormed her big way into our hearts immediately. One problem though, she WOULD NOT get in our two horse. Wouldn't fit if we could get her in there!! So, we purchased her and had to wait for a week while they found a trailer we could take her home with.

Well, the time rolled around and she FINALLY was in our driveway, but completely freaked out from her long ride in an open top stock trailer.. tied BACKWARDS. She was tied that way so she wouldn't get rain in her face. Yep, drug through a thunderstorm in an open top stock trailer. When they untied her, she spazzed out, flipped over backwards, and got her halter stuck in a prong meant to hold a canvas top. We were terrified she'd kill herself or break a leg trying to get out of it, but she managed with only a scrape to the side of her jaw. She went immediately to her pen for some r&r and hay to munch on. The picture above was taken the next day.

Well, she gained weight and healed quickly so we started the breaking process. She had no clue how to lunge, but picked it up quickly. She took saddling in stride, although she didn't like the bridle. By the end of the first day, she was riding. Doesn't she look great? Almost like an old pro.

Well, the VERY NEXT DAY, I awoke to the worst sound you could imagine. It was like a crash, metal clank, and thud with screams. My heart sank. Well, you can imagine my surprise when I see this huge thoroughbred limping past the front gate. I thought maybe my husband had let her out by mistake so I called him. Nope. Didn't let her out and I'd better catch her and put her back in!!! Well, as I walked further into the pasture, I could see EXACTLY why she got out and why I couldn't put her back in. Half the coral had been torn down and standing next to it, was a donkey. Not just any donkey either. The exact same stud donkey that had gotten out the year before so he could try to breed our old gelding. (Yes, gelding.. completely skipped the pony mare and her filly)

There he is, the menace to society. That jack (or jerk) knocked down a cable and hot wire fence, three barbed wire fences, another hot wire, and half a coral to get to my poor Izzy. Apparently, he bent the coral panels bad enough to pin her and she jumped. She managed to slice her neck open, both her back flanks, down her sides, and then I saw the worst part. She had gashed her leg all the way down to the bone. It took us 20 minutes to catch her and then we lost her because the damn jack tried to breed her while we were holding her. So, we let go and she ran. It took another half an hour to catch the ass and his owner had to drag him home.. literally. Then another half hour to re-catch poor Izzy because she was so wound up.

The next day, Izzy was put onto the only trailer we could find that she would fit in (an open top that was only 5 feet tall) and hauled to the vet. Diagnosis: she might be lame for the rest of her life. The cut severed muscles and nerves. There is no telling if they will grow back. So we did hydrotherapy and crossed our fingers. Finally, in June, she was sound and ridable again. We began the slow process of breaking her to ride all over again.

We did several rides around the cotton fields and she was a star. By October, she was in her first parade and she was terrific. We took her on a trail ride through Palo Duro Canyon and she was better than the other horse we took, who had more training than her. Her only obstacle was a water puddle that grew teeth. She decided that running through a tree was her best option and ... well... at least mud is softer than rocks. The next week, we took her to the local roping and she pushed cattle. She LOVED pushing cattle.

As it always does, life happened. Our little packer pony took ill. It turns out she was allergic to the new weeds that sprung up in the pasture. Rather than make her suffer while we tried to kill them out (took 2 years BTW), we sold her to a lady who happens to live by my uncle. She's living happily as a packer pony for a 7 year old girl. So, obviously we were in need of another packer pony and I found one. Only, she was just a tad out of our price range and she was in foal as a 3 in 1 package. Well, that meant saving more money and needing more space.

We took a good hard look around and decided that Izzy would be the one that needed to go. As our tallest and calmest horse, she would be easiest to re home. It took awhile, but we finally found her a home where she'd have a friend and a family willing to send her to the trainers. Last I heard, she was re homed again. I wish her well. Even now when I go to the auctions, I still look for her.. hoping to get her back. She was definitely one of a kind. BTW, if you see her.. I want her.. k?

The most uneventful vet visit EVER

Yep, this one was... normal? I'll have to get opinions on what normal is though, because it seems like for the first time in.. well, as long as I can remember, that the vet visit was pretty calm. We walked in, checked in, got the awesome waiting spot, waited uneventfully for an hour, got seen and medicated, and left. I'm still in shock!

The awesome waiting spot is this half wall boxed in area separate from other animals and can be locked if necessary. Most people use it for nervous cats not in a carrier or for a very sick animal or multiple pets. However, it was the ONLY spot left so I snagged it. It was soooo great. I let my puppy off her leash. (BTW, my puppy is 8 years old :D) I gave my toddler her leash to play with, and held the baby until we were seen. It sure beats what normally happens, which I will get into in a minute.

When we were finally called back, the tech held my puppy (while I stared on in amazement that she didn't protest), showed us into a room, and promptly took her to the back to persuade her to pee. However, my dog is NOT okay with peeing on anything but grass (and I whole-heartedly agree). So, she got a needle in the bladder. Poor baby. Afterwards, she got the ever elusive treat from my toddler which she nommed with relish. Prognosis, "We don't know" ended with an antibiotic shot good for 14 days and I am just fine with that because I was not looking forward to playing hide the pill for the next two weeks. We're just keeping our fingers crossed that her kidneys aren't spazzing out due to another hormonal imbalance again. So, $150 and one very pissed dog later, we're home again and life is once again good.... for now.

On to the "normal for us" vet visits. We've never been minimalists when it comes to animals. We don't have just one dog, we have 3 or 4. We don't have just one horse, we have 3-6. See a trend? Anyway, we usually keep everyone on the same schedule for shots so it gets a little insane when you try to wrangle them all in, although we don't try this with just one human. On a "normal for us" visit, we load all the dogs (or horses) up and wrestle them out of the car. Wrestling a golden retriever, a corgi/collie mix, a dachshund, and a rat terrier is not just the easiest thing in the world. But, it was much better than dealing with the biggest chicken dog this side of the equator.

He is gone now, but this lab/chow mix used to drag us under benches in an attempt to hide. He was always a strange dog from the beginning and only bonded with my husband, myself, and my mother. Every vet visit was an event which ended with him peeing and even pooping all over himself and completely stressed out to the point of passing out. The best visit EVER was when his nose started bleeding at home 20 minutes before the vets closed. This also coincided with us fixing to load him in the car to be taken to the boarding kennel because we were going to Florida for the week. The vet visit entailed driving at 90 miles an hour to get there before they closed, muzzling the chicken dog, sitting on him while they took his blood (ever tried to manhandle a 90 lb freak of nature in panic mode?), dragging him out from under the bench so they could medicate him, and ended with us signing boarding papers for the week so they could monitor him. He had erlichia. Yep, just another normal vet visit.

I could tell hundreds of stories about our adventures. I could talk about the trip I took for a routine gelding. It isn't easy to load a stallion while you have a broken leg, so I took my father along who hasn't been around a horse regularly in 25 years. This particular visit came with a phone call saying that he was crypt and they would have to drug and flip him to finish the procedure, which shot my bill up to $600 (and I did almost faint after that). Or the time my crazy TB almost killed herself and earned a mad dash to the vet's office to be sewn up. (I'll tell her story in another post because it really is a great one). Maybe the fatal visit after chicken dog attacked my elderly dog and we ended up putting her down.

Normal: nor-mal/Pronunciation [nawr-muhl]
–adjective
1.
conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.
2.
serving to establish a standard.

Well, I guess I have established my normal, so from now on, this vet visit goes down in my books as the most abnormal visit ever. Take that "normal" people!!

Farewell to Chirp and Tweet

Having chickens is a completely new experience for me. I've always wanted them though, and being in the country.. I CAN!!! So, we got a bunch of game chickens from a friend. 11 to be exact: 3 hens and 8 roosters. Nice mix, huh. Well, it didn't take long for them to start disappearing. Some of the stupid ones flew in the pen with the dogs (they are free range) and some just... mysteriously disappeared without a trace. So, now we're down to 1 rooster and 2 hens. Well, you can imagine my excitement when the hens hatched out some chicks!!!

Our first hen hatched out 11 babies.. and now we have one left. I was devastated when 8 disappeared in one night. The other hen is a bitch and a half and will try to kill you if you even THINK about looking at her babies. Well, she hatched out 5. I found the 5th one at the bottom of a feed barrel. Poor thing fell out of the nest and couldn't get out. So, I faithfully took him to raise in my tub, except for one problem. The feral kittens I am socializing. Yea, NOT a good mix, so my wonderful mommy took him. We decided to take all but one chick to raise for the hen because of the last disaster of a brood. THAT was fun and one pissed off hen later, we had one baby chick. She had already lost 2 of them the first day out of the nest.

The days passed and my chat buddies (see post below) came up with chirp and tweet as names. Nice... non-gender names since I have no clue what sex they were. Sadly, a few days later, we lost chirp. He just.. failed to thrive. I'm pretty sure he was the one I scooped out of the bottom of the barrel as his beak was a bit splintered. The second, however, was just as strong as ever. He grew so quickly, and would follow my mom around. Sooo kyoooot.

On Father's Day, we went to my parent's house to celebrate and I brought my dog along, not thinking that it would be a problem. All of the sudden we hear SCRAPE... followed by desperate chirps and screams. My dog had decided to go for the baby chick. There was only one small puncture wound. Tweet was a bit shaken, but doing fine. Until today. My mom came over with little Tweet in a towel to show me the huge abscessy looking thing on his breast, which I have found out is a breast blister. Little Tweet has Staph and an advanced case at that, so rather than see him suffer, we ended his short little life.

Today, my dog has been acting like she now has a bladder infection. GREAT. So, tomorrow, I get to drag 3 kids and my little anti-social menace to the vet for a check up. Moral of the story? Just let mother nature raise chicks from now on.

Dirty Little Secret

Yes, that's right. Feel free to sing the song. I have a confession to make though. My name is Proudmomma and I have an addiction to forums. Not just any forums though, horse forums. I guess it's a nasty side effect of equine-itis. It started out innocently enough. I put up a thoroughbred for sale on the internet and in the newspapers. She was the only horse I ever fell off of, but that wasn't why I sold her. I'll have to blog about her later. She's got a great story. (BTW, if you haven't figured it out by now, don't ever give me free reign writing. I'll bore you to death for hours!)

I put her up on a site called Horseville and in my no so trusty sales site savvy, I stumbled upon their forum. There were only a handfull of active posters and even fewer active posts, but I became intrigued immediately. It was my first look into the horse world outside of my little town and I LOVED it. LOVED. I don't have many peeps here, so I got to know some on that board. Made me feel spechul and stuff. After the first blow up drama thread, I was hooked. I had to check back every couple of minutes to see if anything new had been posted. I was.. well.. addicted! Then, it happened. Someone linked me to my very first blog (clarification: the first I've ever read): http://fuglyhorseoftheday.blogspot.com/

Back then, the Fugly blog was much different that it is now. It was solid posts on people being idiots and involving horses. It gave new meaning to the word snark and I loved it too. From there, I found my second absolute vice, the FiSH board (Free-Speech Horse forum) but it was called the Fugly forum when I found it. It was my new crack, a much more fast paced and snarky place to visit with hundreds of people posting all the time. I spent all my spare time there. Eventually, I got on 6 more forums and actively posted on all but one of them.

Now almost out of control, I had to put my foot down. I started visiting some only once a week or so. After I found a chat room, it made it easier to give up a few more boards, but I was spending most of my time chatting! I LOVE to chat. Live conversations with (what I hope are) warm bodies about whatever happens to be on the mind at the time. I don't get that at home so it was my little outlet. But once again, it started controlling my life. I HAD to know what was going on, who was chatting, what the topic was, etc. So, once again, the foot went down. I have now banished myself from all of them... or for a while at least!?

And yet, here I am... with my own blog. Kinda ironic huh. I have no dilusions that I am going to be the next J K Rowling though. Well, name any successful female author EVER and I'll make sure to take note of another person who will be more famous than me. In fact, I've only given one person a link to this blog. (hint hint!!) So, for the one person that might read this, stay tuned. I'll post interesting stories of all the horses we've owned and maybe even the epic chicken adventure. :)

In the beginning......

There was a young urbanite. She was raised primarily in small cities and towns and rarely had more than a city lot for a back yard. Bugs were her nemesis and she couldn't see going anywhere without indoor plumbing and air conditioning. Then she met a young cowboy and fell in love. Thus begins... the rehab of an urban transplant.

Story fit for a fairy tale book? Mmmm.. maybe not, but it's true. Now I live on 7 acres in the "semi-country" which to me means between the city and BFN. We have neighbors and paved roads, but we live off well water and co-op power. As an added bonus, no one can look through your bathroom window from next door! However, now I have to deal with wildlife that I've only encountered on TV. For instance, did you know that if you don't feed the chickens at the same time everyday, the rooster will come knock on your front door to remind you? Me either, but he does. Every morning. After considerable crowing.

However, a few years after moving out here, my husband gave me a disease. I call it equine-itis. It is the assurance that we will always be broke because the horses need food, shots, and that really cool double bridle we saw on ebay! Add three children to that, ages 5,3, and 2 months, and you have a three ring circus.. a really poor one! So, stay tuned because it seems that something epic happens every weekend.