February 2017

ROSE:
That was a very cute baby in your last photo! Have you been riding lately?

CB:
I don't think we will get weather quite as warm as yours, but by Monday it will be in the 50s again. We are supposed to have snow on Sunday...ewwww...but it won't last long.

Today it is 52 degrees and I rode Ivan and Areion! Lori really is a good, and patient, teacher. My horses do great. I am the weakest link... Ivan and I continue to work on turns with him giving easily. He is stubborn and I am slow at getting the correct response. Lori rides him and gets the right response instantly. He takes a lot of pressure where Areion takes almost none at all. So I have to be very careful about applying too much rein and leg aids with her. I did a better job on her than I did last week, I think I am finally catching on to how sensitive she is.

ELLEN:
I am glad your wrist is healing so fast! I think I babied mine longer than I should have.

GRAYMARE:
Been riding lately? Are you still getting so much rain?

Gotta go put the herd to bed......

ARK, currently dry here, no rain until next week, according to the experts.

I love the teefers picture of Aerion.  I've always thought that pic is a riot.

I went to a mule clinic today.  There is a big sale on Saturday with mules hauled in from TN.  The participants in the clinic are from all over, most from California, Nevada, & Utah..............the clinician, Ty Evans, is excellent.  I also walked over to watch the sale mules.............these are high dollar, for sure.  Anyhow, fun. Ha, I'm tired.

Wall removed from our bathroom, so now the electrical & pluming can be done.
TL is doing the pluming, SIL is doing the electrical.  Bathtub is ordered.

ROSE & CB, can't wait for more pics...........

Everyone have a good evening.  God bless.

Nope, haven't ridden lately, darnit! Cross won't be ready till early May and Missy, the mare I love to ride has always had another rider lately. But soon I think.

CB, I'll try to post the Savory Meatloaf Recipe, but the recipe doesn't include the glaze which is just ketchup or chili sauce and brown sugar mixed (to your taste).

GRAYMARE
That teefer photo isn't Areion, although it sure looks like her! I snagged that off of Facebook the other day. Areion had a small white snip on her nose and a tiny star. I love smiling foal pix!

Today I tried to get a smile out of her, but no luck, she doesn't do it anymore. A scratch on her withers was all it took when she was little. Areion was so good today. I am fairly nervous riding her...after being dumped twice... but she put up with my feeble attempts to ride her like Lori does with no objections today. If I ever get my act together, she is going to be a very fun ride.

Happy Groundhog Day. Wonder what the furry little rat will forecast this year. 6 more weeks of winter, I'm sure. He never fails to forecast that. That rotten Punxsutawney Phil. I heard on the news yesterday rooms in Punxy are going for $450 a night to see the little rat this morning.

Yesterday was a big day for me. My grandson Aaron and his wife Courtney had a little girl. Cameron Leigh, she weighed 6 pounds 8 oz, 19 inches long at 9:34 AM. She came a month early, but has all her fingers and toes and is healthy. Thank God. Courtney had a rough pregnancy and we were very worried. Aaron was so excited, he went to his car and cried. Big strong man couldn't let anyone see him cry, but he could tell his Grammy. That makes me a GREAT GRAMMY and my son a Grandpap. Now that is funny. My boy is really getting old. LOL

It was also grandson Brandon's 19th birthday and my girlfriend Barb's birthday too. I won't tell her age but she ain't a spring chicken anymore. We went out to dinner with Barb, Jill and Mr. Penny (who turns 91 on the 15th). I was the youngest person at the table.

CB: We had snow & ice so we didn't get to attend the funeral for Kimber. His wife is really taking it hard. Her son is staying with her until Sunday. I don't know what she is going to do with the farm. I doubt she will stay out here by herself. Congrats on your new horse. Praying he works out for you.

ROSE: Love the photos of Cross, what a beautiful horse. I'm kinda partial to those spotted horses. I always thought they are the Corvette of the horse world. They stand out and catch your eye.

CB, here you go, from old Betty Crocker Cook Book.

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon or 1/4 teaspoon dried sage leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 garlic clove or 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg
3 slices bread torn into small pieces.

doesn't call for onions, but I love onions so I added 1/2 cup chopped onions. Mix all together, put in pan, bake at 350 for 60-75 minutes. Recipe calls for ketchup poured on top before baking. Robin does a glaze of chili sauce and brown sugar and spread on before baking and I really like it.
Enjoy!

Rose, that looks like a really good recipe, and easy. I just might have to try that.

Phil probably saw his shadow here too. It's mostly sunny today, but still pretty cold and windy.
New baby great-grands are wonderful! Happy day for you, Trudy.

Huge CONGRATULATIONS Great Grammy.........glad all is well.  She was a big baby for a month early. Also, the older we get the more fun birthdays become..........way more jokes to play on the birthday king or queen.  We've
started paying "pin the tail on the donkey"...........we really laugh.  And "charades" is beyond funny.

Ummmmmm, looks like yummy meatloaf ROSE. I'm busy with my new crazy pressure cooker.

Well, the ole hog is still saying winter for you folks..........today we had luxurious weather......ur time to shine so to speak...........I sure know, summer will be here soon.

Hope everyone had a good day........God bless.  Prayers for ALL.

I get to spoil Harper this evening as mom and dad have an awards banquet to go to, and jessi has won nco of the year for her division. Her picture is posted as you walk into the hospital...my buttons burst sometimes!
Trudy yay on newest addition! Baby was good sized for being early, 2 of mine were 6.6, and 6.10 full term and i was a flippin COW! 1 was 8.5 and i gained the least weight with her! Go figure....as long as they are healthy!
Dwatted weather has gotten cold and breezy here....but warmer than the kids in idaho!

Today was the first time since mid-December that I stayed with the little girls. They couldn't wait to show me all their neat new Christmas toys. They got a dollhouse that is over 4 feet tall, and about 6 or 7 feet long. It takes up most of one wall in their playroom. They also got two tents, and a variety of other toys and dolls.
What they are about to find out is that they are getting a new family member in about 7 months.

Aha....jessi won top honors for nco of the wing going up against other divisions for the year...she knew she had won for her division but she didnt know sgd had won for the wing! She was pretty stoked!
Harper ran a fever all night and just wanted to cuddle....poor kid, this teething stuff is hard on gramma, and Harper!
Have a great weekend y'all.

Ellen, tell your neighbors, congrats on their news. Hope all goes well. How is your cousins doing...?

Well, here it is, 3:45A and I'm now awake.  Fire sirens woke us up as there is a huge house fire what seems about a mile away.  I woke like a shot and went outside to see how close it is......it appears about 1/2 to 1 mi away.  I could see the flames in the sky from in my driveway.  It makes your heart sink.  Now it's down to smoke and almost gone from site here.  I'm sure our local news will have the report at 6A.  Prayers for those people. That's a terrible thing to see in the night.

Then I took my food collection to the end of our driveway as the Boy Scouts are having a food drive today.  They usually collect around 7A.

Then the horses heard the door and whinnied for hay......LOL,
not that they are spoiled. I marched out to the barn and tossed a flake to each. Then the steers down the road gave a holler for their hay.  Ha, I'm not sure if the neighbor got up or
not.

Now I'm typing to you while waiting for some coffee to brew.
I'm going to drink my coffee and read my book, Perfect Horse,
then perhaps doze off again leaving Rex to manage the house.

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

CB, congratulations to your daughter. She has been an outstanding officer.

I haven't heard anything new about my young cousin for a couple of weeks, but will this weekend. No news is good news, I guess.

House fires are just horrible. I hope everybody got out of the house safely.

GM, have you heard anything on fire, i hope all are safe.

Going to go load.things from storage tha im taking to kids in idaho....my storage is a mess ....not looking forward to this chore.....

Heading to ideho...this week....

CB, cause of fire unknown, started in attic, family all got out, one dog burned but in hosp, 4 kids, all fine.  Fire was about 1 1/2 mi away.  It sounded like a kazillion sirens for a short time.  Horrible.
Relieved family is fine.

Gads CB, isn't the weather in ID awful this time of year?

Yes, still cold, but not brutally below 0 or nuthin too bad. Have to do it now....no choice....bought a truck camper. Couldnt find one we liked for as cheap anywhere. I just happened to put boise rvs by owner and up popped 3 like we wanted and could afford. If we r keeping the horses we.needed a camper on the pickup to travel. Gonna give it a last hurrah! See how it goes. How our body parts go...lol
Truck campers sell fast here becuz there are fewer of them in this area, and for double what we paid for same camper....so down the road we could resale it and do ok if we decide ok, thats it, no more horses.
We could get our newer bigger camper monday, but we r headed for idaho instead, so it will stsy up there.for a week longer....
My life is so cornfuzeled.

Glad humans are ok, hope the doggie heals too.
Fires are scary. My cousins lost 3 kids in a fire, 5 got out and the parents. So sad. I was a teenager and my mom was her aunt, but for dome reason ethel collapsed on me and i held her tightly while she sobbed. Awful....a memory that haunts one.

Ark, where for art thou? Everything ok?

The big rodeo, 4H, ffa, fair is going on in town. Kids live about 8 blocks from coliseum, and we could barely park to feed their horses last evening.....wiw, never seen it that crowded. They have a huge parking lot and cars, trucks, trailers were parked all along streets in every direction for a mile or two. We didnt go....we went other years tho, its a good rodeo and the animal barns are full of sheep, goats, pigs, llamas, cows, horses, plus a huge fair\carnival with games, food, rides. Its a big event here.

Getting my hay for a few months in tuesday and leaving for idaho on weds morning.

Lonely

Sniff...everyone must be watching the game....

CB:
Nope, didn't watch the game. Someone has to watch the other channels. I only watch the superbowl for the commercials anyway and they are easy to find on the internet.

We are fine, just busy, busy. Our weekends are always shorter than the amount of time we need to get done what we want. We got a load of sawdust in the barn and re-bedded the ponies, so they are happy. Donnie trimmed Areion's feet, so I am happy! We got our shopping done and laundry put up. Busy, busy...

Lori and I are taking Ivan and Areion to the New River Trail tomorrow for a trail ride. We haven't been there in awhile and I want to put a few miles on both horses. It's my lesson for the week. It is supposed to be sunny and 62 degrees Monday!! I hope the horses behave themselves, they have been pretty good lately. Daisy won't be happy, though. She will still have the ponies here, but will be the only big horse here. That was the nice thing about having 4 horses, someone always had a companion. Areion hasn't been on a trail ride in some time and we decided she needs a break in her training tomorrow.

GRAYMARE:
I hope the folks whose house burned are okay. What a nightmare. We have a volunteer fire department here, so they are called out using a fire alarm that can be heard for miles. It sounds just like the alarm that went off when I lived in Miami during the Cuban missile crisis, third grade, and we had to practice 'duck and cover' under our puny little school desks. I am sure that would have saved us... Anyway, the fire alarm always makes me think of that.

ELLEN:
Congrats to the neighbors! And you have more to babysit! How's the dog that caused your wrist problem?

Hope everyone's team won in the game today! (Who won?)

Great game.........I wasn't for either team.  Interesting.  Atlanta outplayed New England like mad until 2nd half........Atlanta ahead 28-3 late 3rd quarter.  Then New England started playing football.
The game went into overtime.  What it really could teach young children is "never quit"........It was a couch jumper, for sure.
My gang had a Superbowl party and it was a great one..........no other super bowl game like it in history.

Back to reality....................

God bless.  Prayers for ALL.

Sad circunstance, but a nice way for an old cowboy to leave this world. My daughters and sil are transporting cowboy from funeral home to the cemetary. His last ride. Using a wagon and team thru town. Nice touch for a last ride.