NOVEMBER 2020

November 2020 came in like a lion today. The wind will blow you away! The leaves left on the trees won't be there much longer.

Here's to a pleasant November!

It has been very cold (35°) and windy all day today. There are a lot fewer leaves left on the trees. It was blowing so hard all day that it actually removed some of the leaves from my lower yard, but piled up a LOT of them at the end of my sidewalk. Tomorrow is supposed to be milder, and later in the week, downright warm. Maybe I'll get those leaves shoveled out of the sidewalk area and let them blow on further east.

Oh brrrrr. Our wind blew today, but warm, of course.

ARK, be sure and tell ANNIE her picture was the biggest hit of the day..........

Tomorrow is trash day and the week for big trash pick up.............the street looks like a junk yard.

There is still no prediction in sight for rain here..........

I wish all foops health and happiness and laughter.

No Trick or Treaters here either. Saturday was a fantastic day. Spent the morning getting the last few things out of Bill's house. My nephew and a friend of his came over to do the lifting and loading into my pick up. The heavy bench in the basement either was built in the basement or put down there before the house was renovated in the 1920s. No way to get it out of the basement because it can't make the corner at the head of the stairs. No big loss in my opinion. We did end up taking the wood burning stove though. It is currently in the back of my truck because I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to get it out. One thing is for sure, no one is going to steal it. It's too darn heavy. I'm thinking I'm going to end up using the front loader on the tractor. In the mean time it's going to stay in the truck. A little weather isn't going to hurt it.

Sunday was windy cold and had a few flakes of snow fall. The snow melted as soon as it touched ground. I spent the day weed whacking sticker vines along the fence in the woods and making sure the perimeter fence was secure. I then took down the electric fence between the horse pen and the woods and let the horses have run of the entire 5 acres. The horses wouldn't go into the woods. They just knew there was a fence there. I convinced Tiberius, Sophie and Monster to cross over and they took off crashing through the woods having a good ol' time. Poor Lily kept running the "fence line" calling for them to come back. I was finally able to convince her it was okay to cross the imaginary line. Sophie picked up on going back and forth pretty quick. I ended up having to lead both Tiberius and Lily across at feeding time. I ended up putting their hay out on the dividing line to trick them in to crossing it after feeding. I did the same thing this morning. They were more comfortable eating this morning. Silly horses.

I just heard on the news the 2/3 of Americans are suffering from election stress disorder..................
holy cow, I can't believe how out of control all of this is...............they're boarding up windows in many cities,
people yelling & screaming, and crowds everywhere not wearing masks.............

I want America back to peace & love................

Am I the only one sick of listening to politics?

ROSE, any news on your new best friend yet................???

Went to ER today with a friend and just got home about hour ago.........have to unwind. Friend is fine.........she has a port
and had to have it repaired........she thought they may have to take it out...........with covid, everything is scary.

Have a great evening friends............

Everybody must be completely worn out from the election. What a mess!

We are having some really nice fall days this week. I got out and ran some errands. I went to Harbor Freight to get a circular saw for "Little" Alex for Christmas. He's 17 and much too old for toys. I started getting him tools a few years ago. These are not top of the line tools, but they will do until he is and adult and can buy his own. He has most of the basic necessities of tools now.

Don't forget the Breeders Cup tomorrow and Saturday. It will be on FoxSports 2 starting at 11:00 EST. At 2:00 it goes to NBCsports.

Tools. What a great idea ELLEN.

I had to have my car towed in to the dealership Monday. Thursday it started a little hard, but the weird thing was that all of the dash dials, quivered as it started. Never had that happen before. Friday when I left work, it really started hard and again the dials all quivered again, but this time longer. Strange. I made a mental note to call the garage Monday morning. Didn't drive the car on Saturday. Sunday morning tried to start the car and it wouldn't even turn over. A little rrrrr, rrrrr of a dead battery and a LOT of dial quivering. Tried to jump start it and that didn't work. Monday I called the garage explained what had happened and I swear I could hear the guy roll his eyes when I explained the quivering dials. I told him I thought it was more than just a dead battery, I've had lots of experience with dead batteries over the years. Again I could hear him roll his eyes. Got the car towed in. They checked it out. It's a dead battery. Won't hold a charge need a new battery. I asked if he was sure that was all it was? What about the quivering dials? Just a dead battery, oh, and I need a new drive belt and anti freeze flush. Fine do that too. Had to order the belt but the car would be ready Tuesday. Tuesday rolls around and I get a call from the garage. Hello Ms. DeHoff? I'm sorry but there is a bigger problem than we thought. We put on the new belt and installed the new battery and when we went to start the car it fried the new battery. It was the alternator and yes the dash dials all quivered. Was was ready on Wednesday.

Indy, it was your turn to roll your eyes.  You were right, he wasn't.

I had to have a new alternator and battery a few months ago.  They weren't at all shy about charging a LOT for it.

Just came back in the house after mowing over the leaves in the lower yard. It was all clean and green. BUT, the leaves are still falling, and it won't be long until it will look like I didn't do anything. Easy work with the tractor.

The day at the races was uneventful, sort of boring without the fans screaming................

The Nascar race in Phoenix will have a lot of fans.......with face masks on. I would assume there will be plenty of screaming.
Then we gave a Cardinals football game here on Sunday with limited fans with masks............

Focus on the positive, eliminate the negative and don't mess with the in-between.

Nothing new here..................

I didn't wind up being able to watch as much of the Breeders Cup today as I'd hoped. My neighbor hauled my golf cart to a tire place to get inner tubes put in the tires, and then we went back a few hours later to pick it up. Then, the mowing. I did see a couple of the races. There were some surprise winners.
I do plan to be pretty close to the TV tomorrow. Hog Creek Hustle will be running again. He was bred by my friends in Lexington. They got a nice trophy for him last year. They aren't too hopeful for this year, but that's why they run the races.
She said that owners and breeders are allowed to attend the races. They didn't go today, but will tomorrow. This will be an easy one for them since they only live about 10 miles from Keeneland.

Keeneland really is a beautiful facility.

ELLEN:
 Keeneland is a beautiful place.  Good luck to your friends' horse!  What is his barn name,  I can't say I like his official name .  
  Nice idea for the boy's Christmas presents!

GRAYMARE:
 I am tired of politics, too.  Haven't gotten much sleep worrying over it.    I want a boring president.  Living in 'interesting' times hasn't been much fun.

INDYAPP:
 Your rolling eyes story is funny!   Hearing them on the phone is hysterical!  Sorry about your car troubles.  


I finally had a nice ride on Ivan today!!  It's been weeks since we've been on a trail ride.   We went to Pandapas Park and rode with my friend whose TB has been a bit gimpy.  He had on boots, and walked slow, but did fine.  We took way too much time doing 5 miles!   But the weather was great, skies deep blue, no wind, upper 60s, and Ivan was incredible.  I let him pick the path and the speed (at a walk, he can buzz along at a walk if he wants to.).  He followed the path thru the woods without getting  off of it, and didn't walk too fast for the old geezer TB we rode with.  I rode with an extremely loose rein and let Ivan do the thinking.  He told me when we had bikes coming up from behind us, didn't spook at the yappy/snarling dog five feet from us,  pulled off into the grass at his usual pee spot, did his business and walked back onto the trail.  He loaded into the new trailer like he had owned it all his life, instantly.  I think I'll keep this horse.  

Ivan in the creek.

Ark, it looks like you had a really great ride. Much better than me riding the tractor.

My friends don't own Hog Creek Hustle, but they were the breeders. When the yearlings are sold at auction, the new owner usually names them. But, if that horse races well, it makes the next crop of babies more valuable. So, at the Breeders Cup, the breeder, the owner, and the trainer get the trophies.

Its a beautiful day at Keeneland............Hog Creek Hustle didn't make it this
year...........The big race will be a good one................hang on.

By the way, ARK. great picture............

Bob Baffert did it again. It was a good race, although I was hoping for Tiz the Law to win it. He wasn't even very close. I think maybe he matured earlier than the others to win the Belmont and then the other caught up.
The horse that stumbled out of the gate and lost her rider was fine. I texted Brandi who said the outrider got her safely, and that the jockey was okay too.

Monomoy Girl was entered in the Fasig-Tipton sale this evening.  She brought a mere $9,500,000  She was bought by Spendthrift Farm. They plan to race her again next year.
That would scare me to death. $9.5 on the track where anything can happen? Don't think so.

Hope she doesn't colic................Gads, too much money for my wallet..........

Wow.  I can't imagine having that kind of money to basically bet on a horse.  Hope it works out for them.

Hanna is coming this afternoon to work with Areion.  She is doing pretty well with Areion.  She came Saturday and had Areion jumping over a small jump with enthusiasm...





Hanna will be here again this afternoon. I think she is going to bring a western saddle to see how Areion likes it. I don't have one, so it will be interesting.

Ark, she looks really good going over the jump.
I'm guessing she won't pay too much attention to what saddle is on her.
My first horse didn't care what saddle was on her - as long as you showed it to her first. It was weird. A friend was trying to put a strange saddle on her and she was resisting. I told him to show it to her and let her smell it for a few seconds. He thought I was nuts. But, as soon as he did what I said, she stood like a statue to be saddled. She did the same thing with new brushes or any other equipment. That was 50 years ago, and even then I thought it was a little silly, but with her, it worked.

ELLEN:
Ivan is like that. If I take the time to show him something, he will accept it to be put on him. If he sniffs it, touches it, and I give him a treat for it, then he is fine about it. I don't expect Areion to have a problem with a different saddle. She is more trusting in general than Ivan is.

Hanna came today and Areion was really good. Hanna said she really likes riding Areion. She didn't bring the western saddle today, but will soon.

ARK, Aerion is doing very well............I look at the soft leadline. It's not taking any real
push or effort from her trainer. Very natural.

ROSE, any word on your new mount? We're all excited.

It's sunny & cool here, birds still singing, horses munching..........all is well.

We went from summer to winter today.  Yesterday was in the high 70s.  This morning was 36°!  

A friend and I are going to a sewing shop today.  Good company and a nice thing to do.  

By the way, I saw the orthopedist on Monday.  I am ahead of expectations and won't need to see him again until February.    It's back to real life, although a step slower for now.

It's now Thursday: The leaves are DONE for this year. They are ground to dust, lying on the yard, waiting for rain to turn them into compost and grass fertilizer for next year.
Neighbor/Handyman Kent blew them down the hill and I ran the tractor over them until there was hardly anything left. It really is amazing how a HUGE pile of leaves can disappear into a tiny spread of dust.