October 2012

She will also be socially appropriate, hold her tongue and thoughts to herself, and stand still...we have until May to do this..................Ima has such a happy spirit we just need to keep her on track................she inertly already knows horses.............it's just "there".......don't even ask me, it's just divine. No other explanation.

Yes Graymare ... please pray this cold away for me. Maybe you could get Ima to work on it and she might handle it in wharp speed!!!! LOL You just have some fun with those girls.

Graymare, sounds like a good barrel horse might do for Ima too. Or maybe an endurance horse and an 8 hour ride. LOL

Carol, I hope your cold goes away VERY QUICKLY!

I had to work this morning, but was happy enough to drive home through the gorgeous leaves. This is probably one of the better color years we've had for a while. Lots of different shades of orange, yellow, and red. It was just beautiful. Some trees are already shedding a lot of their leaves.

When I got home, I went next door for LIttle Miss Scarlett's first birthday party. heh heh heh I got her a rocking horse. There were three other toddlers there who thought it was a wonderful gift and one of them was on it almost before it hit the floor. I took my camera and took just a few pictures - maybe 400 or so. rofl Now, I have to sort through them, ditch the bad ones, edit the good ones, and put them on a web album for her family. This camera is one that does continuous shooting as long as the button is pushed down. Thank goodness for digital cameras; one could never do that with film without spending a huge fortune on film and processing.
When Scarlett's cake was served she was very dainty about it, just poking in one finger and her thumb and then to her mouth. She hardly made any mess at all. It was the first time she's had cake or anything similar, but based on her expressions, I don't think she'll turn it down the next time.

Carol, hope your cold gets better fast, do what my mom taught me, take a hot toddy with lemon and honey, wrap up in a blanket and sweat it out overnight it has always worked for me no matter how bad the cold and if you have a little wiskey to put in your hot toddy all the better (for medicinal purposes only)

well, I think we will be seeing cooler temps soon after all theese rain storms pass the cold front will come through, drying us up and cooling us down, yaaaa hooooo, I will be able to leave the windows open at night and not use the air conditioner so much, and I only have one more payment left on my truck in November and Iwill be breathing a little easier, it will free up much needed funds, Kent is no better and there is no end in sight for his waiting for S.S.I another 4 to 6 months even with a lawyer, we take things one day at a time,

I hope everyone has a great weekend Clara is in Arizona ,Tuscon, so is another day away from Texas a few minor problems but nothing serious, a flat tire on the horse trailer,

I think Briggy needs a huge prayer warrior effort ... She had surgery and then was allowed to come home (I think) last Saturday. She finally posted this morning, but not much. This is all she said.

"This will be short - no zip nada strength. I am between the louneg chair and potty. Weak. healing. Missing you.
briggy"

Not good me thinks. So, can we put up some prayers for her please.

Prayers all around as needed!!!!!

Oh gosh, CAROL...........prayers for sure. I've been wondering when we would hear again..........prayers for strength for her from here.

Somebody was asking about me? I've been trucking this week, and someway or other that O*^&%#$%$ JINX found me and stayed on my case the whole time.

Was supposed to leave on Tuesday morning...did NOT as the trailer brakes would not release and I couldn't move. Finally got that problem taken care of and got away Tues. evening.

Wednesday seemed to be OK UNTIL I noticed the air guages for the suspension system were screwy. Lost over an hour crawling around under truck and talking to boss on the phone. Also noticed that I had a tire that was low. Went up the road to nearest town to get tire serviced and the truck tire center was NO LONGER THERE from many years ago. Finally had to drive on further to a truckstop...waited 3 hours to just get inside the shop. 5 bay garage and only 2 trucks in it. I could see people inside store goofing off. My "growling" didn't do anygood. I ran out of hours whle waiting to get tire fixed and had to quit for the day.

Thursday seemed to be OK...I made a "new best friend" with HOOCH. He is a golden retreiver. He liked that I gave him a whole box of Milk Bones. Traffic snarl to beat ALL SNARLS just below DC on my way back south. I had to "cheat" my log book just to get 15 minutes to truck stop for the night. My average speed for miles driven was UNDER 45mph. I was tired when I got parked.

Friday...had a serious (shut it down NOW!! hydraulic leak) while I was unloading. By time I got that fixed and truck unloaded, I was then running right on edge of NOT making my final deadline to get reloaded and start for home. I made it...barely. While making a final delivery for the day/week and 30 minutes from home...my cottonseed hulls load someway/somehow jammed and would just dribble off truck instead of FALLING off like normal. Took me over 2 hours to get unloaded when it should have been 30 minutes. I lied to the log book again and came home. My time ran out while I was unloading at a dairy farm. Technically/legally I was supposed to spend the night at that farm!!

Told Carol when I got home that this week was a good reminder of WHY I retired 2 years ago. Boss was nice...didn't fuss at me for anything...and "understood" I was probably NOT anxious to get out again next week. OH...I about forgot...Truck has a water problem and I had to watch that constantly and refill water in radiator 3 times on Friday. We are afraid its going to be big money to get that problem fixed as it seems to be internal the engine. NOT my problem, but a headache nevertheless.

Whoever asked about me...that's my story and I'm sticking to it

Love to all...Rick and a very subdued SNOOP

Carol
Big prayers for Briggy!!! What kind of surgery did she have?
I hope your cold goes away fast.

Ellen
So far our leaves are just starting to change. We should get a hard frost tomorrow night, though. We covered up our beautiful dinner plate dahlia this evening. I hate to see that one die. It is covered in huge red flowers.

Graymare
Is Ima's sister older than her? She sounds like a potential great kid. Smart parents to get her into horses.

Tree lady story, part 2:
Donnie was on the house's roof painting around the clerestory windows. Two cars pulled up next to the big maple tree and two guys got out and started talking. Donnie could hear what they said: "Yep. This is the tree I hit. Guess I drank too much and was going too fast. I don't know why I ran off the road."

I am surprised Donnie didn't fall off the roof straining to hear them, LOL. It was a woman being questioned by the police. Our theory is that the guy took off and let his girlfriend take the rap. I hope she learns something about her boyfriend's charactor....or lack of one.

We now have the house and garage painted except the peaks. I have to paint the white trim on the garage, too. This is the first time we have actually managed to have both buildings the same color. We would paint one, decide we hated the color and then paint the other a different color. The garage has been three different colors. We both agree we like the new color. Finally.


RICK!!!!!
Good thing you posted. I was about to arrange a posse....

Briggy has had long time on-going kidney problems. One kidney is just about useless but the other one was doing fine until recently. She had surgery again, to try to clear the 'good' kidney. She's really been through a lot over the last two or three years, trying to get them working well.

Rick, when are you going to retire again, PERMANENTLY? You don't need those kinds of headaches.

I'm not sure when I'm going to "retire" again. At least I'm not working as many hours since two more people were hired, although I'm still doing a lot of the manager's job - as is Rosie who has taken on the role of acting manager. We still haven't heard anything about when our manager will be back. No contact whatsoever. Very strange.

Ark, the tree story about the girlfriend being left holding the bag reminds me of a pickup truck that went off the road in front of me on slick roads, and flipped upside down. What I heard from the people and what they told the police were two different things. Not my problem. I was only giving the couple a warm place to sit and wait until the police got there. Whichever one was driving was going way too fast for the icy/snowy conditions. I knew they were going to be in trouble when they passed me about half a mile before they spun out.

Here's a video you will enjoy. http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Y5XJbSqwriM?rel=0

Update from Betsy this morning on Briggy ..... not good news!!!

Wellllllll....I've tried for several days to go see Briggy and she has declined
a visit. She sounds very weak and says
Paul is standing guard over her. She won't look at the horrendous incision she
was given but does believe her
kidney function is improving. She reports that she was sent home without
antibiotics which I personally think was
not a good idea. But then her mind is foggy and she's very tired. Our Briggy has
LOTS of healing to do. So, yes,
please continue the prayers !!! I think the b'day cards is a great idea, but
would hold off on the phone calls. I
don't think she has gotten on the computer at all since coming home. sigh. This
is by far the roughest recovery
since I've known her...

Prayers for BRIGGY....I need to look up her snail mail..................she needs cards of encouragement.


ELLEN, I'm trying to get Ima to slow down.......so, yest she got an Arab that has come in for trial. The mare is 7, VERY well show trained, scared of everything........but guess what, not IMA. I told her yest we had some serious training to do with this nervous nellie....Ima was SO excited. We haltered the mare, took her to the roundpen and then unhaltered her and let her be. Ima was to just watch and see what happens.....after everything settled, I gave her the halter and lead and her assignment was to catch her and bring her to the center. It sure took her awhile. I did nothing, said nothing, and just let her
think it out.......what a little miracle before my eyes. Naturally, in human fashion she kept going to her to try to catch her. That mare knew every trick in the book. Just before Ima was discouraged, I told her to go sit on the ground somewhere and wait.....sure enough, after a few minutes the mare went to her. I told her to skip the halter and leave it on the ground and just drape the rope gently over her neck and then slowly stand up....It made me teary it was so sweet. They both just stood there and Ima patted gently and hugged etc and was so proud she could barely not jump and down. Then, of course, came an apple. So we just accomplished step one of our training program......sometimes we have to wait........kids have to learn that. Everyone else at the barn chases the mare down to catch her so the mare thinks it's a great game.....IMA has a new way and still wants to be a horse trainer. I was amazed at her concentrating on the mare.

I flunked my handstand but got praise for trying. Both Rolling and I shaved our armpits.........Ima asked both of us.

Good day and God bless.

Briggy's snail mail .... and she has a birthday later this week.

Diana Blackmer
8515 Lock Lane
Warrenton,VA 20185

Thanks CAROL, my card is ready to go...........

Hopefully CB is in TX with horses off the trailer and in their corrals.....................

Somebody show up...................

RICKSTER, hope you don't have many trips left and that retirement is right n your town there fiddling at your place..............

God bless. Everyone have a good evening.

Ima sounds like a great little kid. Now I want to see pix of that head stand.....;-)

It rained all day today and was cold, too. No painting and minimal horsey stuff here. We did go see a cute movie, Hotel Transylvania.

Clara called several times today and at the last phone call they were only 3 hours away from there new home in Texas, they are all travel weary, but fine

ARK, we can't take pics...........these kids are minors in the "system".....but a good tripod handstand was pretty neat. Names are confidential.........So, while I can tell about the kids, and be part of the program, I do not have publishing rights to put them on our board. It's like being a school teacher.

Glad CB is almost home...............

ugh! we r alive! horses in their pens d0ing fine. we both have food poisoning...harry got fluids they couldnt get iv in me tooooo dehydrated...bedrest and fluidsssss lots and lots... will post more...blowouts.. dead horse...broken windshield and gold plated gas can...

carol feel better soon and briggy hums your way! rick lad ur ok!

Oh my gosh, CB! What in the world happened? The last we heard from Sunny, you were doing okay with only one day to go.

PRAYERS for you & HARRY as you recuperate CB................Brother.

Anybody home??????????????? Waitng for a report on CB.............

well, missy muleytude didn't want to load when we left...took us awhile...finally left...about noonish on Thursday....went well, until we got to AZ on Saturday. We had a flat tire when we woke up that morning, got it fixed, bought a new rim as it leaked around the rim somehow...brand new tire. Got on the road again and went about 20miles and the SAME tire blew to PIECES!...ok, now we had to put the spare on alongside the interstate and get to a bigger tire store near Tuscon, waited for 3 hours to get a new tire mounted and on...threw all the dogs into my car in the AC and kept water to the horses...busy town! Got back onto the interstate and went a ways and thru it all hubby forgot to watch his gas gauge and ran out of gas! Yes he did! my big bad truck driver! LOL So he took the car and got gas in a gold plated gas can (24.99) ((gas in CA was up to 5.09 a gallon..)) so I stayed and walked the dogs a nice long walk around and water the horses more...and checked them good..then back on the road and stopped in New Mexico at a nice rest stop and pulled all the way to the end and camped and got everyone out and exercised them and back in and settled down for a long winters' nap and realized we were very NEAR a train track...all night long train track! gads! Got up early and was off again...and we made some good time and was really tired...slept in the car that night..and we ate at Burger King in Texas and by the time we found our way to the property we were both dang sick! Criminy! Hubby did better than I did...I threw up and came out the other end...last night and then today...felt like crap...but we got the horses in their corral pens, and the doggie fence up, took a shower and had a light din din....I'm not eating much...bouillion, and tea, soda...but am doing better

The horse was in NV on open range...evidently a truck hit a yearling and two other horses were standing right there along the road over him....I stopped to see if he was gone, cuz I had my gun with me...but he was...so then I tried to chase the other horses back off the road so they wouldn't get hit...it was so sad to see them try to get the baby up to go with them....so sad.

The last 80 miles going thru oil fields, flatbed runners came barreling along, pushing us off to the berm...and flying around us throwing rocks at us and my windshield got cracked in three places...speed limit is 80 mph even for trucks.

But we all made it...horses, goats and dogs are doing fine and settling in...tomorrow we go pick up our pick up from the mechanics and going to bring the big fifth wheel camper in from the storage lot on base...and getting it situated, unload and stack the hay we brought, clean out the horse trailer.....and get more sleep...I feel fluid and sleep deprived...getting old!

Graymare, you are going to have soooo much fun with those girls...

Ellen, good your hours are getting cut some so you can enjoy your retirement too.

Hummin for Briggy!

ARK, what a mess for that girl that took the blame for driving into the tree......glad your painting is all done...and ya like the color...we have so much work to do here I don't want to think about it right now...maybe later I can handle it!

Did I mentione that we had a heavy frost here last night.COLD...figures!

CB, I'm glad to hear that you are all recovering from the trip and will be able to get settled pretty soon. I'm sure it was hard to see those horses in NV. Your insurance company will probably pay for your windshield, so that should help a little bit.
As for the frost, keep in mind, that's probably about as much white stuff as you'll see all winter. That should make you happy.

Today will be a better day CB...drink plenty of juice, inhale your new fresh air (minus the potato trucks), and rest.............................if I recall, you only have one trip left..................Wooooooohooooooo!
Almost done..........................

We have empty barn week for fall break at the barn.....................kids are on home visits (those that can) and we are simply taking care of horses there and molding as a team for the kids........I have sure made some great friends. Most of us are retired so we talk of the old days and we have horse story after horse story as we are working. Ima asked me to take care of her horse (she chose the white Arab mare) so I was told to brush her and sing to her...............so I do. White Mare is beginning to look happy..............

Everyone have a good day..............God bless. Prayers for ALL.

CB
Wow. I was really hoping you would break with tradition and have an easy and very boring trip.....nope...;-)
Get some rest and get well from your food poisoning.
I am sorry about the poor yearling. Sad...

Ellen
Tell me your weather is dry and warmer!! It has been raining and in the low forties for the past couple of days. I am already tired of winter.

Graymare
I wanted to see pix of your hand stand!

ack...still suffering from the FP..but am feeling better at least, hubby is doing much better! His appetite has returned to normal!

Horses dogs and goats all seem to be doing well...not even one swollen leg in the bunch..we did a lot of stops to rest for sure...they are all settling in nicely

later taters...we leave tomorrow to head back...got lots to do today

Must see movie / video review. MONARCH OF THE GLEN is set in "modern" Scotland, but deals with "clans", "castles", "kilts", evolving love stories, lots of humorous sub-plots and has some of the finest outdoor scenery shots I've ever seen of Scotland. We have recognized 2 or 3 places that we have actually been to...particularly a small church and cemetery set high on a mountain. A word of warning...This WAS a BBC television series and covered 7 seasons. There is something like 18 discs in the set. We found it in our public library. I give it a 5-star review. GET IT!!

Rick.