September 2013

Welcome to September! Hopefully life will settle down to a dull roar and we can get to more important things.....like posting here and letting us know how you are doing!  

It's a pretty day here. Donnie is getting ready to trim horsey hooves, we have already cleaned the barn, fed the horses, taken Annie to church, done our weekly grocery shopping, and had breakfast out. Sundays are busy around here.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day!

We don't usually travel in groups anymore, we use to, when competing more, but we just like to go out in the back woods and camp and ride now....not too many folks out there want to do that and we are doing it for several months at a time....any takers out there!

It does suck, cuz you don't know if you will be able to find a tow truck ifn ya need one or not. I think it stinks that now tow companies are coming up with this and don't want the liability...they use to do it and not think twice. I guess they have been sued tooooo many times unfortunately...they are worried about the cost of their liability....but with so many of them changing their ways of hauling or what they will haul, it makes it rough on those of us wanting to travel like I'm doing. If you aren't along a interstate where there is competition , they aren't doing it anymore. The world is changine and not all for the good.

I don't know how to put pressure on these tow companies to get them to change their minds. It will have to be a group effort on the whole of horse owners....maybe they will hear us.

Well, am going out to dinner, first time in a long time..but a couple that bought two of my puppies asked us to join them so we be gone....later alligators,,,a shower has my name on it. .

You're right CB, very difficult to get help or tow trucks to those areas.....and, you have to realize quite possibly no cell phone service either.

for sure on that....every place I've been off the beaten track since I got my new phhas been good for cell service and my net book works too, it has its own phone number built in....but ifn I change phones or servers...it may not work. We will take two trucks/rigs when we travel, to me it makes sense, if we break down, we have another rig that could pull the trailer with horses....with a lil planning...it will take more money for gas, but at least we'll know we have a way. And being in remote areas, it looks like there are more people than two old fogies in camp...safety in numbers. We just want to putt putt around the states, camp for 10 days or so at each campground for horses, and move on up the road to the next one. There are a lot of free camps I've been looking at on the internet. We only have a plan to make it to PA for State Fair in September than we need to hightail it back here for winter months. The next summers trip will find us heading to Idaho for grandsons' graduation, and then traveling around Idaho, OR, WY. That is the game plan....hope we stay in good health and can do it.

Dinner was ok last night, a rundown looking building that the food was spose to be great, but I've had better enchiladas in other run down restaurants! LOL The company was good tho and we enjoyed ourselves. Nice to get out!

Today hubby is on his mean lean riding mower and busily mowing the head high grass! It really needed it. I'm being a slug...playing with the pups and deciding what to have for dinner....something easy and quick...microwaveable....yeah, that sounds good to me!

My neighbor came over saying he'd learned a new trick. He had Casey with him. He'd had her outside, and wanted her to come back to him to go in the house. She wouldn't come when he called her. After 8+ years he's never been able to teach her to come when she's called. So this time, he just said, "Let's go to Ellen's." She stopped in her tracks and headed straight for my house. They came in where I picked her up. When they were ready to go, I told her to go home. She went to the door and headed for her house. Silly dog.  

Your shoes can tell you your age, try this and see:

1. Take your shoe size.(only whole sizes)
2. Multiply it by 5.
3. Add 50.
4. Multiply by 20 ...
5. Add 1012, or 1013 if your birthday has already occurred.
6. Subtract the year u were born
The first digit is your shoe size while the last 2 digits are your age...

That's for us w time to waste........LOL

It works Graymare ...   LOL

GRAYMARE:
Wow, that did work!   Who thinks up these things?

CAROL:
 How are you and Ice doing?  Is it still so hot?  

CB:
 Good luck with your travels.  I would check into USRider.  Lots of endurance riders who travel long distances swear by it.  It is cheaper than gas for two vehicles....

ELLEN:
 Been swimming?  We have had lovely weather, right about 80 degrees most days.


Well, Ivan has an issue.  He does not trust blimps.  We live about 2 miles off the end of the local airport and he sees jets, helicopters and small planes all the time with no problems on his part.  The Good Year blimp freaks him out.  He will stare at it until it is long gone.  He is sure it eats horses.   I think it is the slow moving the blimp does that makes Ivan question its intentions.  There has been one around here off and on the past few days.  Today I caught it and Ivan on the camera.....You have to look close to see the blimp, it was getting pretty far away by the time I got back to the house and got the camera. In the middle photo, Ivan is down near the fence line,  fourth fence post from the right, watching that blimp.  He ran back while watching it over his shoulder.

  

Click on the photo to enlarge it.  That is Areion in the foreground in the middle photo.  
Want to see the difference in dapples around here?:

 Ivan and Areion

ARK, read US Riders contract .....if you are out of range, you find a wrecker and pay them and then they will reimburse you up to the distance they will pay for and you have the rest to deal with money wise ....plus you have to find one to tow you....this is a good insurance if you are not off the beaten track or off major roadways like we would like to be. There are lots of places we won't be on anything other than a dirt/gravel road, so to be safe I think we will have to eat the gas. NONE of the insurance companies will guarantee they will find you a tow. But at least they will if you are on good hwys with cities near, and that is a plus. But I do know some places that is several hundred miles inbetween even on interstate hwys, where it would be hard to find a tow. So we will just cover our own arses in this situation. But I did want horse owners to be aware of this problems...and wish we could change it. Would hate to see folks get out there and realize their insurance will not tow the horse trailer with horses in it, I think a lot of us are under the assumption they will like they did in the past, but no more.  

Hubby saw the knee doc today, and he told him he will do the injections in a month, but when it gets to hurting tooooo badly then they will set him up with knee replacement. I guess he thought I was fibbin to him when I told him that....cuz he said wow....like he heard it for the first time today!  Sorry guys, but I have to say this "MEN!"

Happy September ya'll...Wonder what happen to my other post????

WOW summer is over already. My favorite season is on it's way. FALL...yipppeeeee the cooler weather has returned.

We had our Viet Nam Purple Heart cookout last Saturday. It was a blast. Lots of good food and good friends. When I look at those guys I can't help but wonder how they survived that war and they are the lucky ones. They have each other to lean on. The tragedy of war is what no one sees unless you know a veteran.

That was our last big party of the year. I hope...I'm partied out.

CB: There used to be a travel book with places to stay overnight with your horses. In case of break down someone would come and pick up your horses. Of course, that was a long time ago and it's probably not even in existence any longer. I can't remember what the name of it was. CRS...LOL Maybe you could kind of make your own by looking up stables along the roads you are going to travel on, phone ahead and make plans just in case. Back around here I would contact The Paper Horse, it's the local horse activities magazine.

ARK: What a scary thing a blimp can be. LOL Ivan sure didn't like that shiny object flying in the sky. Can't say that I blame him. Areion sure is doing well under saddle, she is going to make a good trail horse. Love the different dapples.

Not much else going on here. We are doing some touch up painting on the house and getting things winterized. The garden is about finished , the veggies are in the freezer and ready for eating. I'm glad that is over with, so much work but we will appreciate them later.

Love & prayers for all.

Trudy, I have that same problem with my posts disappearing off the board, and when I come back its just not there! Gremlins, I spose....but it is aggravating, and then can't remember what I said! 

There is an overnight stabling guide, but if you look the majority are on a well traveled road, or right off of one. Some of the places we arewanting to go are out there.....we have pretty solid horses under us, so we are hoping for no accidents on the trails....but I know you never know! But
its something we have been looking forward to. Wish we could find another couple who just wanted to tool around with us, as there is safety in numbers.

I have to in on the 12th for a radioactive test on my stomach....I have to eat oatmeal that has the glowing good stuff in it.....hmmmmmmm......I don't know about this....will I glow when the lights are out?  gotta love modern medicine....at least I get to eat before this test. LOL

The humidity was only 19% yesterday...woohoo....NICE....even if it was 100 degrees!

WEll, y'all have a great day.

ARK, I love the dapply horses....

Ohhh, how nice it is to have a big lake all to yourself, doing 50 miles per hour. No boat traffic AT ALL, no waves, just speed, and it feels great!

y:wavy:  you speed demon, you! Giver he!! Ellen and have fun!

TRUDY:
I always admire folks who put out a good garden and then have their own veggies all winter. I wish I didn't have such an un-green thumb. You sure are a party animal!  ...We have the most wonderful apple tree in our yard that has made bushels of apples this year. We have given as many away as we can stick in people's cars, fed them to the horses, and dumped a tractor bucket full over the fence where the deer can get to them. We eat them, but haven't tried preserving them. They are wonderful apples, some old fashioned kind, that tastes like a cross between a Granny Smith and a sweeter kind. I guess we should figure out how to fix them. Unfortunately, I don't care for apple juice or apple cyder. How does one go about drying apples? Too bad they don't freeze.

ELLEN:
All the tourists are gone from the lake? The best time of year!   Our best time of the year is from mid-May until mid-August when all the college students are gone, somewhere on the order of 50,000 of them. Little traffic, no lines to wait in, etc. They're back now. It's nice living around here in the summer, though. We are near 2 universities and a community college.

Ivan and I had a very nice lesson today. We took a step back and practiced very slow trotting and learning to keep his head towards the inside of the arena somewhat, not looking out of the arena. We just worked on things that had gotten a little sloppy. Areion did really nice during her lesson. Lori trotted on her!   She is picking up on cues pretty fast. Cantering comes next week. Both horses were not spooky at all. I called VDOT on Tuesday morning and had the dead deer removed that we think was causing all the upset with the horses last Thursday.  

Ark, when I was a kid, we had several apple trees. My dad did spray them a little bit, but there weren't too many good eating apples, but lots of good ones for making cider. Somewhere, my dad found an old cider press, so we made cider. Lots of cider. It really was good.
There is probably a way to dry them without a dehydrator, but I have no idea how it's done.
It sounds like the good lessons are happening more and more.

The first day I moved up here 7 years ago, two different neighbors told me "You're gonna love it here in the winter." I wasn't so sure about that. They also said that in the fall, you're glad to see the summer people go, but like seeing them come back again in the spring. They were right. For the next two or three weeks, there will still be a little bit of boat traffic on the weekends, and some of the permanent people will be out now and then. Then, they'll start pulling out the boats and piers, getting ready for winter. Since we live here, Travis doesn't take the boats and piers out until the middle of October. Getting the piers out is about a 20 minute job. Just takes a little muscle. I can help, but I sure can't do it myself. I'm very grateful for Travis.

ELLEN:
 Travis is a wonderful neighbor!  I am glad he is a year round resident at the lake.


Areion's lesson, Number 7:


Lori first taught Areion that bucking when asked to trot or canter on the lungeline was a no-no.  That took about three times.  Then when Lori got on Areion, she didn't buck at all.  They spent a fair amount of time trotting and Areion did very well!  


   



Those who have lost posts:
I don't remove posts, so you aren't getting them here.  I suspect some of you may be using the "preview" tab and then forgetting to press the "Send" tab when posting.  Be sure to double check that you have pressed the "Send" button!

BTW:
 Has this forum outlived its usefulness?  Should we abandon it?   Facebook seems to be more interesting to most foops now.  I am sad to see that a private forum is not used and we will have to post our private conversations on such a public place as FB.   Any thoughts here? Foopville seems to be a ghost town these days..... 

I'm terrible...I never preview my posts, that's why there are so many errors in spelling and what not....so no, that's not what is doing it.....I hit the send button, but when I come back on it isn't there.....and you know me, I havn't a clue....about anything puterized....BUT I do know that I want to stay here on the site, I post on facebook too, but I always come back here! to keep up with our old buddies.
I don't do well with change, kind of like us right here even if we are few in numbers!

Lousy....move to Texas and I was fine until today, and my allerigies hit with a vengeance, can't move my eyeballs without it hurting.....ackkkkkkk...

I don't know what is blooming at this time of the year here, but its definitely something my body HATES!

Come on ya foops and foopettes, lets post more! Keep in touch!

Lets keep , t may work out some way!!! Aggravating because it is so simple!!!!

 

I will try to before cut off.

Way back my friend worked in northern Montana. He was soon to retire and brought his horse home to his dads place here in southern Indiana.

He took couple weeks and hunted place for his horse each night. He never got any turn downs and only had to pay for hay once or twice. Mostly fair grounds and when he asked they helped a lot. Yes I believe we still have that???? Gosh good memories last good don't they:D  

Gosh Ark .... I sure don't want our forum to go away ....  I don't always have much of interest to contribute, but I always check in ......  I read on facebook, but honestly .....  I rarely post .....  because then I get a notice EVERY time anybody says anything there.....

Hi all,
ARK - OOooooh, please don't close down this Forum - just when I've found you all like-minded horsy folks again!    And I'm not on Facebook.
Like Carol, I often dip in and out and enjoy reading the posts, even when I don't have much to say.

But this time it is a very quick dip and gone for a week! I've been really, really busy preparing Zaristo and myself for a big trip!
We (my TREC Partner and me) are leaving tomorrow morning to travel to Wales (in the British Isles) to compete in the British National TREC championships.... 
It means travelling across the Irish Sea by ferry with our horses in their trailers!!! And all their gear!!!
I have one little suitcase, Zaristo's stuff has the rest of the space. No kidding!

When we get back, I'll post on here and tell you all about it. Yeehaw, off we go.....! 

I hope we stay here............... 

I vote we stay here! I have a Facebook account that I never use, so I would lose touch with everybody if this went away.

Long lost relatives got here last evening. We've talked and gabbed, doing our best to catch up after a lot of years. It's been good to hear what they've been doing, and how their lives have gone.
They are staying at a nearby campground in a nice 40 foot Class A that has plenty of room. They'll be back over here tomorrow. They love the jetski.

ARK: Lets' stay here pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I'm not a facebook person either. Not enough time in my crazy life to mess around with facebook. I'll try to post more often, I promise. I would miss everyone if this forum goes away.