OCTOBER 2019

OOOOOWWWWWEEEEE ZOWIE!!! ELLEN, you're a good sport. Glad it went well. Not that you could
be a poor sport............rest and get better!!!

We have a new Mexican restaurant here and I met the blah blahs there..........oh brother,
I thought it was great and three of them gave it a thumbs down........Just shows you we're
all getting older.......years ago we would have thought it was the greatest. One of them
even complained about the chips & salsa. We're a funny group, that's for sure

I saw on the news that there is now a college degree in drone operation and flying...........WOW. A new career path that I never thought of. Our world is changing so fast I'm out of touch. Ha, I'm
in charge of manure moving............LOL

Everyone have a good evening.............

All is well this morning. No problems at all. I will continue to eat softer food for a few more days so I don't stir up anything I don't want.

A little over a month ago, my cousin brought two friends here. Both are nice ladies, but one of them is NOT fun to eat out with. She has something bad to say about every single meal. She is a good cook, but apparently thinks that she is the only good cook.

A friend has a daughter who spent a tour of duty in Iraq flying drones. Not the little ones. The BIG ones. She just retired from 20 years in the Navy. So, I guess there could be a career in drone flying.
The smaller drones are being used in a LOT of TV shows now. HGTV and DIY use them all the time to get overhead shots that they can't get any other way. Amazon is beginning to experiment with delivering packages with drones.
I saw a show where one guy put 4 heavy duty small drones on a platform that he stands on and flies all around.
Drones are probably here to stay.

ELLEN, I'm no cook, but everything I cook always seems good to everyone that eats it.
Interestingly, I have 3 friends that think they are chef quality, whatever that is. Anyone that
cooks a meal for me is a great cook, I think. Or, if I go out for a meal, I never complain..........
gads, we're so spoiled.

How is your tooth space doing?

Have you had snow yet, CB?

Everyone have a good day.............glad for your good rain, ARK.

GRAYMARE:
 I agree with you!  Anyone who cooks for me is a wonderful cook and I eat it with no complaints!  Unfortunately, that doesn't happen often enough.  Sometimes I wish there was a nice filling pill one could take that left a pleasant aftertaste of whatever dinner that pill represented.    
 I did read recently that young people don't cook as much and don't know how.  Home Ec should have been kept in schools, it taught a lot of life skills.  Eating prepackaged food or going out all the time has got to have had an impact on the health of our society.  I actually hated the cooking section of Home Ec, I liked the sewing part, but still remember some of the dishes we made in class.  

ELLEN:
  I think drones are here for good, too.  While the idea of floating around on a platform supported by drones is interesting,  I don't think I will be in line to do it for awhile!     Landing could be iffy....

CB:
 Snow?  Nooooooo!!!!!!!  We are just now getting a little fall weather after a prolonged, hot summer.  No snow for me, thanks!!

Our carpenter has shown up today, with his new girlfriend.  Both are working on the arena fence.  We haven't told him his job will be over when the fence is done yet.  The hay building is going to be built by two older guys who have built other barns.   They said they could do it in a month and it has already been a couple of weeks.  

I rode Ivan last night and he was so sweet.  I think he will be fine for our trail ride on Saturday.



Beautiful day, low 70s, blue skies, low humidity!

I agree that too many younger people don't know how to cook.  That's why those home delivery meals are so popular.  All the ingredients and instructions are in the box.  I guess if they pay attention, they might learn to cook from that.  
I was in 4-H for 11 years and as the years progressed the requirements got more complicated, but I learned.  Since I don't have to cook for a family everyday like most people, I'm not good at being able to get a whole meal on the table without some stress, but nobody goes hungry.
The woman who didn't like the places where we ate out and didn't have much good to say, did at least complement me on the bacon and eggs for breakfast.  I guess I got the egg cooked the way she liked them.
I really think that most of those critical people are more interested in making themselves feel superior than in the quality of the food.

Ivan looks like a happy camper. He is just the horse you've been wanting for so long.

My tooth "hole" is just fine.  I don't know why I was so lucky, but I did not have any pain at all.  AT ALL.  NONE.  I didn't take any Tylenol or anything else.  I've been eating softer foods just to avoid irritating anything.  The doctor's office nurse called yesterday afternoon to see how I was doing.  I'm guessing she doesn't often get the answers I was giving her.

ELLEN:
Did they tell you at the dentist to not suck on straws because you might pull out the clot in the former tooth's hole? It could become dry and not heal well. They probably told you, though.

I think you are right about some people wanting to build themselves up by knocking others down. Kind of sad, really. Negative people aren't much fun.


Our carpenter, and girlfriend, worked 7 1/2 hours on the fence today! I can see them from the house and they didn't take too many breaks, other than a tour of our creek and peacock pen. He did more in one day than he did altogether before today. He says he is coming tomorrow.....okay. Since he asked to be paid today, I suspect he won't show up. We shall see.

We have a big load of firewood coming at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. Gads, that's early.

You are probably right about Ivan. He is the riding horse I have waited on for a long time. When he is in a good mood, he is incredibly fun to ride. When he is dragon mode, life becomes a precious thing.... Luckily, his good days are more often than his bad in recent times. Age agrees with him.

Yep. They told me not to use a straw for a few days. When we went to lunch I didn't order a milkshake. LOL (I probably wouldn't have anyway.)

Carpenter must have been trying to impress his girlfriend today. I hope he brings her tomorrow. (snicker)

I'm going to spend a lot of the day with little Nora while Mommy goes on a field trip with Lilah. She's easy. She usually sleeps late, has a later breakfast, a later lunch and a nap. I'm taking some knitting.

Nobody posts on Saturday...........I hope ARK had a good ride.

Today was beautiful in AZ.......93 with a breeze and sunny.........it turned hot at 4P, by 5:30 P
it will drop to 80, and on down all evening.

The little grandchild across the road got a new bike with training wheels.......he was really
cute snuggling to learn.........the rest of the afternoon was kids riding by. We had horses in
the morning riding by but they were finished by around 11A (75-80 out).

A good day to look out the window............

Yesterday, I went to Ohio to watch a Pumpkin Show parade. My cousin and her husband were the grand marshals. They have participated in all the town's activities for the last 60 years. They raised their 4 kids in Bradford. Now, 6 grandchildren, and 3 1/2 great grand children later, and 62 years of marriage later, they definitely deserved to be grand marshals.
For a small town, they managed to get fire equipment from all the towns around. If there had been a fire, it wouldn't have stood a chance. There was a whole group of antique tractors, and another group of old cars.
Small town America at its finest.

Sounds fun ELLEN............Glad you enjoyed it..........

ELLEN:
 I love those kinds of parades.  Sounds like a lot of fun!

GRAYMARE:
 I did have a good ride....although it got cut down in size.  After months of almost no rain, it started raining right after we got there.  It looked like it was going to stop, so five riders and horses took off into the woods.  Then it started raining again.  I was wet anyway, so didn't really mind going on, but some of the others got cold, and soaked, so we turned back.  We got in about an hour ride, which was much better than no ride.  The sun broke out on our way home.  I was wearing a helmet, so probably felt warmer than the ones without helmets.  We are discussing a new date to try again.  
 Ivan was wearing his hackamore and did pretty well.  He knows he can push thru it, though, so I was careful where he was in the line-up.  If he had been first,  I probably would have had some problems slowing him down.   We didn't get any closer to the head of the line than second.  With the cool rain going on, you wouldn't think we would see any bikers, hikers or dogs.  We saw them all.  At least I had a warm horse to sit on!  Those folks were soaked and chilly.  
   Ivan didn't spook at any of those things, but when one of the ladies pulled out her clear plastic rain cap to put on her helmet and gave it a shake, Ivan jumped straight up in the air and back onto the path in front of the bike we were making room to pass.  Who cares about a bike when there is a plastic bag monster!  Luckily, he regained his marbles almost immediately.  It was a short ride, but fun despite the rain.

Ark, it's so nice that you have people to ride with, and good places to ride.

Yesterday, they had a birthday party (a week later) for Scarlett. I gave her one of the old fashioned Lite Brite things. This evening her mother sent me a picture of a boat that she had made with it. She loves it.

Today was a very pretty day, but not warm.

Nly snow in higher elevations...we can see it on the tops of the high peaks...but it did get really cold for 3 days and nights....in teens with wind chill at night. It has warmed back up now to flannel weather day time at least.
Hubby is busy building things....tool sheds...horse shelters...tack room...workshop next...he fills his days...i went thru my last trunk out of storage...so now ill be bored...i dont help him build...i stay entirely out of his way...much nicer that way. Lol

I work with Dabby each day...i think it may be time for saddle and rider. We shall see what happens anyway. Hes doing so well on voice only.

Since it got colder outside the bulldogs are snoring more on their dog beds inside....and teddy my lil giy spends his time on my lap under a blanket...he minds the cold. He is spose to be chihauhau and maltese...weighs 7 lbs.

Not much happening here...i see my neurosurgeon tomorrow....whoopie...not.

We aren't close to snow yet. Some areas not too far from here have had morning frost, but not here - yet.

The geese keep trying to come ashore, but I discourage that. If they only ate and didn't leave "presents" they would be more welcome.
Some leaves are changing color and beginning to drop, but we are a couple of weeks from having to deal with them.

We had a heavy frost this morning. It was a surprise, no one predicted it. Luckily, we had moved our plants under the porch's roof and they are okay. The leaves should start turning here now. Tomorrow we have a lot of rain coming. We need it!

No carpenter today. He worked hard yesterday and got a bunch done on the arena fence.


ELLEN:
I wish my riding friends lived closer, they are all over around Blacksburg. It takes me 45 minutes to get to Pandapas Pond, so it is a production. But, I am lucky to have someone to ride with on occasion!!

CB:
I dread winter. Stay safe getting on your new horse!!

Cool pumpkin ARK............Isaiah is a dunn paint.

The evenings are cool now and darkness comes early ......Fall is really here. The moon is currently
still full and gorgeous. It's almost time for trick or treat. The churches around here have
treats in a trunk or big festivals for kids so trick or treating is out.

CB, good luck at your neuro Dr.........hope he has good news for you.

I've been raking all the old hay droppings around the barn and bagging them up.
I'm almost finished. VERY time consuming as it's been all summer. There's not much but
it's all the little stragglers that wind up on the ground.

Everyone have a good evening............

Hi again. I forgot to mention that in Walmart they have all kinds of accessories for
Insta Pots..............

It is raining...a lot! I cleaned the barn around the horses and gave them hay to eat instead of going out to pasture. It's pretty chilly out to get wet. I think we've had over an inch so far. The grass is singing! :-)


CB:
Good luck at the doctor's office! You are sounding pretty good. Harry sure works hard!


Donnie and I went to see the new Downton Abbey movie on Monday night. We really enjoyed revisiting all the characters in the show. I think there were 4 people in the theatre, so Monday's may become our new date night.

GRAYMARE:
Have fun cleaning up the hay! Not my favorite job, but it sure is nice when everything looks clean afterward. Do you feed alfalfa hay? My fat horses can't have that, but I do give them a scoop of alfalfa pellets in with their beet pulp mash. I did take some alfalfa hay when we took Ivan to the 25 mile rides to entice him to eat. It smells soooo nice! I wanted to pour milk on it and eat it myself.

Pirkko is HOME! Ron called me on Monday asking if I would go with him and drive. I was happy to do it. She has a 2x2 inch "flap" with 34 staples on her head where they removed the tumor. By the time we got home, I think both of them were exhausted and I'd bet that both of them are asleep in their chairs by now.
I am so glad she is home.

ARK, I feed grass hay and beet pulp and lite pellets that are 1/2 alfalfa and 1/2 grass..........

Little Nora is so cute now, learning lots of new words - most of which I can't understand. I need a translator. LOL

I got the tractor loaded on the trailer and delivered to the repair shop. The blade belt gave up into little pieces.

Cloudy dark day for most of it. That's the part I like the least about fall and winter. When Indy Ap coined the phrase "perma-gloom" she really hit the mark.

We had a pretty day today, but it is still a bit windy and chilly.  Last night the wind was really bad and our biggest, and possibly oldest, tree on our property fell to earth.  The maple was about 5 feet across at the base and about 75 or 80 feet tall.  This is the third old maple we have lost since we have had this property.  The tree was right behind and between the barn and arena, down at the creek.  Luckily it fell toward the arena and not the barn since all the horses were in the barn.  It took down some smaller trees and branches off the walnut tree next to the arena, squashed some wire fencing we were going to replace soon anyway, but otherwise didn't do any damage.   It broke off just above its roots.  Since it is on a very steep bank, I am not sure how we are going to be able to get it out of there.  It is huge.   We liked the tree, it is too bad it has fallen.

I always hate to lose trees. We've had some storms around here that have taken out big trees from time to time.
Is there somebody around who uses wood for heat? They might come clean it up in exchange for the free wood.

I had to take down 5 dead ash trees. Travis cleaned up the wood to heat his barn. It saved me a LOT of money. Anybody who cuts the trees and takes the wood away charges a lot.

Oh brother ARK........that is a huge tree.............good luck trying to find someone to get it out.
Thank God it didn't fall on the barn. You'll eventually get it out.........

ELLEN:
We actually use firewood for heating in the winter, but this tree is so big, I don't even know how you cut up a 5 foot trunk. There is a lumbar company about 10 miles from here that we may call and have them evaluate the tree to see if it would make good lumbar. We don't know if it is solid or not. If they want it, we'll sell it to them and keep the scraps for firewood. The limbs are bigger than most of our other trees. We'll end up with a lot of firewood.

We had a dead ash tree that also fell during the same storm. It's only about 6 or 8 inches thick, so won't be hard to clean up. All our ash trees died at once when whatever was killing ashes went through our area. A larger one is beside the arena and we are going to have to get it cut down. It's a nice size tree, I wonder if the Louisville bat company needs any more ash wood?

GRAYMARE:
If a restaurant serves bad tea, Donnie remembers it forever and the place has a bad mark in his mind. Maybe your friend has that opinion about something she didn't like at the Mexican restaurant.


We are taking Ivan to Pandapas Pond Park tomorrow morning! Hopefully we will get a longer ride in than last week's rained out ride. I hope Ivan is in a happy mood!

Ark, the emerald ash borer is what got all the trees. If you peel off some of the bark you can see the tracks made by the bugs.
I've wondered what the Louisville Bat Company will do. They have their own ash forest in Pennsylvania. There is an injection that will help save ash trees, but it's expensive. Doing a whole forest would make the bats a LOT more expensive.
We used to take the school kids to Louisville Bat Company on field trips. It's a very interesting place to go.