My New Year's Wish for you

Hi All, been exceptionally quiet here hasn't it? Not by choice, you know that is just not me!

My Internet connection has been on the fritz since Christmas day. You see when you live out here in BFE your choices are limited. I had dial up and it was painfully slow, DSL is nowhere near this locale, satellite is just to darn expensive for me to play so that leaves this air card thingy. It had been working well, not high speed but beat the crap out of dial up. Until......the past week, it sucks not being able to blog or worse than that, read your blogs. But, it appears I am back in action today at least.

Did get to go and visit Frankie on Saturday and he is progressing so well I cannot believe it. I did sneak a quick ride on him after Cory was finished and boy is he athletic, I mean the boy can collect up like no body's business. I think I could lope him in a tea cup! He was pretty winded so I did not push him much just wanted to see the difference from the last time I rode him which was before Thanksgiving.
I see great things for this boy!

I also got to see Harley and his new girl while I was there. Abby is doing a great job with him and I bet he is wishing he still lived here! She rides almost everyday and is one tough little gal. I gave her a sign that I made with Harley's name on it, she was so gracious you would have thought I gave her a gold bar.

I neglected to tell you that I was voted President of the Indiana Ranch Horse Assoc.
earlier this month and that is keeping me busy. I am securing facilities for our shows next year and working on show bills and budgets. Fun stuff! I am also cramming for my upcoming judges seminar and test in February for the American Ranch Horse Assoc. The convention is in Lexington Ky this year.

Before I leave you to tear down yet another Christmas tree, (I am on number 5) here are my New Year's Wishes for all of you:

1) Keep your saddle tight!











2) May you enjoy many a good rides and have fun!










3) May you always have good friends near!











Thanks for being my blog buddies this year and may you all have a happy and healthy 2009!

Random stuff

Judging by reading some of your posts weather is affecting us all in some way or another. It has been crazy here, ice one day, then snow , then rain. Wednesday we were iced in, no school and the whole enchilada. We busied ourselves around the house as best as we could. The kids and I cleaned up and out the toy room. We managed to discard two bags of crappy or broken toys and get four bags to donate to school/goodwill. It felt good and I am teaching the fellas about sharing.

Little devil kitty "Annie" had plans of her own.....











Here she is sizing up the Christmas tree, ready for an all on attack.










And she just could not help herself. After destroying these ornaments she thought it best to climb the tree, all the way to the top. She is at the very active stage now and systematically destroying my house.

The next day the weather turned to rain and this was created in front of the horse barn.








Yep, a giant rut or trench or wash out. Whatever you call it, it just means more work for me.

But for the kids it means......FUN!









The weather actually was nice enough to play outside while Mom cleaned the barn.
That picture above was taken from inside the barn looking out. It actually reached 55 degrees that day! I could not resist letting them get trashed in the puddle
after being pent up for days in the house.












Tank enjoyed having his blanket off for the day. Him and Jane enjoyed the semi warmth even if there was no sun.












Today, Carson and I went to see Frankie. He is doing so well, Cory is really happy with his progress as well. Carson insisted on having a ride after Cory finished schooling him today. He loves , HIS new horse!










But, I must say the weather is moving in again and tonight we are supposed to get the coldest air of the season so far. We are still hoping for the white Christmas,
I mean if it is this cold shouldn't we at least get snow??

Happy trails.....

Things I learned from a donkey named Jane

OK, I must fess up. I am in love with the donkey. She is the sweetest thing EVER!
I have never had a donkey, never known anyone with a donkey, don't know much about donkey's. Here is what I am learning.

Donkey's are like old soul's, they just are wise and calm.

Donkey's fur comes down their tail about six inches then the tail hair starts.

Donkey's like to talk.. Jane talks to me every time I approach it is sort of like the sound of wheezing under one's breath.

Donkey's teach patience... This morning I was in a rush as always, trying to get a million things done before the kidlets got out of school. I was leading Jane to the pasture hurriedly and when we approached the gate where it is churned up and hardened and ice covered she just stopped. She gave me the kind knowing eye as if to say, slow down it is slippery here. I of course gave her time to pick her way across the jagged ground then turned her loose. I needed that lesson. I need to slow down and chill out.

Donkey's teach tolerance... Even when I can't seem to get that halter over those enormous ears, Jane is tolerant. She stands there just gazing at me as if to say
"I know you are trying your best here and you will get it".

Donkey's teach me that it is OK to be different. Although she is small and furry and makes funny noises I have learned different can be a blessing.

Thank you Candy for allowing me to borrow Jane and for letting her teach me so much.
She is a true Christmas blessing.

Happy trails......

The busy bee

Yes that's me the busy bee. Only it is winter and bees don't hang out in this cold white stuff that is flying around here at my house.

I had all good intentions of getting back sooner but stuff just kept popping up.
I did the tree decorating at the car dealership and it went well, I forgot to bring the camera and sorry to tell ya I am not driving all the way back down there to snap a photo. The owners wanted a vintage kind of tree so I found some old fashioned bulbs and really cool old car ornaments to decorate it I even managed to borrow a hub cap from the service area for the tree topper. It came out cute.

The second part of the job was to decorate the owner's mother's house. When I arrived at a beautiful old stately house a small frail woman opened the door and stole my heart. Her name was Marge and she was quite lovely and so was her home.
She had the tree and all the trimmings, she just could not do it herself and apparently neither one of her children could find the time. How sad.....

I did spend a lovely morning with her putting up her tree and decorating just the way she wanted it. I felt like an impostor, I mean there I was putting up ornaments her kids had made her way back in elementary school. I tell you after having tea and cookies at Marge's insistence, I left and cried my eyes out all the way home.
I had such raw emotions from that experience. I really miss my Mom at the holidays and I guess the fact that they were to busy for her just made me sad. But... I am thankful that the Lord let me brighten her day and provide her with a nicely decorated tree.

OK, enough of that and onto horse news.

I went to see Frankie on Friday morning and I forgot the dang camera again. I guess I need to tie it to my neck these days. Anyway, Cory has taken over the training of Frankie as he says Mike is spoiling him. I got to the barn before Cory so I groomed him and discovered in fact he is spoiled. He would not pick up any of his feet for cleaning without me nudging the fetlock with my boot. This led to a training session of my own on how to pick up our feet and stand nicely. Cory rode him and he was very responsive, he is working on getting him in frame and coming back to his hand.
Cory calls this stage putting a face on them. He explained what and why he was doing what he was working on and I enjoyed watching. I will not ride him for about 30 more days, but I do not mind the weather stinks being so cold and all.

The next news I have followed that Friday afternoon. I told you Tank was lonely and depressed and off his feed slightly right? Well, he was and I had to do something about it. So...... our family has grown again, at least for the near future.

What did I do???

Well , I borrowed Jane...

Jane is well, she is .....

PRECIOUS











Yes! She is a donkey!

I borrowed her from a good friend and she is just adorable and my kids love her!

That is my Christmas card up there y'all . Seriously.

So Jane now joins our family until well, not sure I guess as long as we need her.

Happy trails..

New profession?

Good morning all. Had a post in mind today but a early evening phone call changed my outlook today. I was gonna tell you all my winter woes and basically whine about how I hate winter, instead I will tell you what happened.

I was just sitting down to dinner with the family when my phone rang. Usually I would not answer but for some reason I did. It was an unfamiliar voice and I was almost sorry I answered, trying to instill some values on my kids here. But I digress.....

It seems someone from the home tour last week was impressed with my decorating abilities and told someone else which led them to tracking me down through the gal that organized the home tour. You still with me on that? Anyway, this gal wanted to know if I was interested in decorating some businesses and a home for $$$$MONEY!

Now I don't know about you but some extra cash around here is always welcome, I do have that horse in training and it is Christmas time. So without to many other details other than where to start I agreed to do it TODAY! Yes, I had my day all planned out , but duty calls and since the kids get out of school at 10:45 I must work quickly.

So much for my lesson this morning, sigh...... will have to try for tomorrow.
Hang in there Frankie, mom is coming to see you soon!

Off to put on my elves suit and ears!
Happy trails....

Catching you up

OK, I should be doing something productive around here like finishing signs or doing the never ending laundry, but thought I would catch you guys up.

I neglected to mention to you that we have a new member of our "family"

I would like you to meet "Annie"









Annie is an orphan around 6 weeks now, we found her in my very back barn on the property. Hubby went out around the 1st week of November and found her on the ground cold and crying, her eyes barely open. I climbed up in the loft cautiously since it is mostly rotten wood and lots of debris and found her siblings (3). She had fallen through a hole in the floor down to the lower level, some 10 feet onto concrete. She seemed OK, so I nestled her amongst her siblings and left them.
I watched each day and saw the mother cat come and go to the barn, I checked the babies once each week to make sure they were well. After two weeks, the farmers
combined the corn next to the barn and I did not see mommy cat, I began to worry .
The next day I heard meowing from the barn while I was cleaning stalls. I went to investigate and found only Annie crying her eyes out, the rest were gone. I left her there thinking the mom may be moving them. After an hour passed and she was still crying I went and rescued her we bottle fed her and now she is drinking from a bowl. Not sure what happened to the rest of them......

Getting on to the house tour, I am working on the video and these stills will have to hold you for now.



















This is the tree in the living room, it was every one's favorite. Yes it was 9 feet tall and big!

Here is a close up shot of the decorations.





























Here is another tree in the dining room










It has white magnolias and gold snowflakes on it.







Now a shot of the mantle



That is a preview of some of the house and just meant to tide you over, more to follow.









On horse news, Tank is depressed and lonely but I have found a solution. A gracious friend is loaning me her donkey mare "Jane" to keep him company until Frankie comes home in the spring. Travel arrangements are being made and I will keep you posted.
Should be interesting I have never dealt with donkeys. She is 15 or so and a real sweetheart, a standard donkey not a mini. Of course we will take pictures and share when she arrives.

Well, off to the workshop for a few hours until I get to cold out there .....32 and snizzling right now. (That is snow /drizzle for those of you in the warm climates)

Happy trails.....

We have a Winner!!!

Hi All, sorry it took me so long to get back with the winner of the contest.
Busy weekend with the home tour (yes I have pictures!) and then the ranch horse show.

Thank you all for playing along and having some fun with me.

The winner is ........

imagine a drum roll....

K at All Horse Stuff! I am awarding an honorary second place to Jamie at Seatbelt for my saddle. These gals really did their research and discovered the clues in my older posts.

So ladies for all you hard efforts I am awarding you the ultimate cowgirl goodie basket! Please email me your addresses at Imaslider2@yahoo.com and I will get those babies in the mail to you in time for Christmas!

In other news I am still behind here with being gone all weekend and am diligently working on sign orders so everyone will have them in time for Christmas presents.
Called Mike and should.... cross our fingers have a lesson on Frankie later this week. Will be back soon with pictures and such.

Happy trails....

Catching up on the MEME

OK , so Jamie at seat belt for my saddle had tagged me for a meme last week and I am finally getting to it. It is a fun game of tag to tell you six things about me you may not know. hmmmmn...... You all know all there is or so it seems.. I will have to dig deep here.

I am supposed to tag more people but I don't have time for stinking rules right now.
So all of you feel free to be tagged and post six things about you that I may not know.

Let's give it a go:

1. I am the person always walking the wrong direction in traffic, like at the mall.
I refuse to be "one" of the masses. I AM Different!

2. I had never had professional riding lessons until I bought Harley, just sort
got on and rode.

3. I tend to not be able to tell people NO, I have this need to please everyone.

4. I LOVE to bake, the holidays are fun because I have an excuse to make yummies
all day long.

5. I am in the process (a long one) of writing a book on my not so ordinary life.

6. I have an inherent fear of ICE, don't know why just hate walking out on frozen
water or anything of the like's.

Well that is the best my sleep deprived brain can do this morning. Hope you learned a few things you did not know.

Onto other business, the home tour for the owner's went well last night and now we just have this evening. It is scheduled for 6 - 9 pm and costs folks $10 for the tour of 6 houses, the proceeds go to a local historical museum here in Hope. I will try to video tonight and see if we can get it to post here on blogger.

As for the contest:

You guys are so......close. All horse stuff is the closest! Yes I ride a Western saddle but which style?? There is a post on it back there. Making you work I know but it will be worth it , I promise!

OK off to bake the last of the cookies for tonight's refreshments!

Happy trails....<

Contest update

Oh you guys are good! NO one got it quite right just yet. PG you are close as well as Missy. The answers are in the past blog entries if you care to search.

Just a quick update before I start showing the house to the folks whose houses are also on the tour tomorrow. I have spent the day cleaning and arranging and picking up after my kids again..and again...

I am going to try and make a video of the house for you guys to see but I am challenged at this techno stuff. Wish me luck! See you tomorrow.

Cowgirl Christmas Contest

As I was frantically cleaning the upstairs rooms in prep for the home tour this morning I had an idea: A Christmas Contest for my blogger friends.
So now, in between batches of baking cookies for the refreshment part of the tour I am running in here and blogging a few lines at a time. Here is how the game will work:

A simple game (like me) where you answer some questions about me and whoever gets the most right gets a wonderful basket of goodies from ME! It should be easy for you since I am such an open book and share absolutely everything here in my blog.
If you get stumped read back through some old posts and you will find the answers.

I know there are several lurkers, (like me) who read my blog but never post.
Here is your chance to let me see who you are.

Ready?

Here we go:

1. How many horses have I had in my life? (hint between 1-20)

2. How many siblings do I have?

3. What style saddle do I ride? (i.e. roping, trail etc.)

4. Where was my one week riding trip to this past year?

5. Finally, what is my new horse's barn name?

Good luck everyone, contest ends Friday night at 9pm EST!

Happy trails...

Welcome back.....smack....into winter

I'm home.........

After driving more than 26 hours with all the crazies we made it!

Guess what? It is snowing like mad! So much for sunny and 80, I miss Florida!!

Today I went and fetched dear Tank from the babysitters house, oh yeah I meant to tell you guys it looks like he won't be leaving me after all. His trip South just isn't in the cards this winter. He is lonely here and wondering where Harley is.
I managed to get the trough de iced and filled and got the heater working so he has nice warm water when he is out. Not today, it was snowing and blowing and just plain gross.

I did manage to get most of the mountain of laundry done and got that last Christmas tree purchased and in the stand tonight. That makes 5 and I am not putting one more up! I really have to bust bootie this week and finish the decorating for the home tour which is Friday although the other home owners are having thier tour on Thursday. I have a million pictures to share with you when I get around to downloading them.

Haven't seen Frankie and am anxious to get riding him although this stinking cold weather does not motivate me to go outside much. Besides Mike and Cory are at the NRHA futurity until next weekend. I am working the ranch horse show this weekend anyway so busy I am. Wish me luck this week playing get it all done.

Jamie I will get to that MEME soon! thanks for the tag.

Happy trails....