January 2013

ARK...She is making "locker bags" approx 9-10 inches wide by 30 inches long with shoe laces for ties. The flat panel has 8 small pockets between 3 & 5 inches wide and about 4-5 inches deep. The bags are tied inside your locker to provide additional storage space. She made the first one for herself many, many years ago and this has developed into quite a little home industry. There is a nurse that used to work with Carol...and is now in Hickory...says she can "easily sell" a 100 of these bags in a new unit in the hospital there. So...this has been keeping Carol quite busy...all the cutting...pinning...sewing!! I'll try to send you a pic via you email and you can post it here. I've yet to figure how this photo site works.

Later, Foops,

Rick

Rick, one of our customers at the store brought me a pattern for a casserole carrier. It is super simple to make and works really well. I made several of them for Christmas gifts. Tell Carol if she will show me how to make the locker pockets, I'll show her how to make the casserole carriers.

seven days and counting down, I plan on being at the scooter store as soon as they open to return the loaner and get my new bright yellow scooter, complete with lights, turn signals, headlight and red lights in back for night riding, my doxie will love being to run at night with no interuptions from people walking with dogs and golf carts speeding by, my dog has already lost 3 lbs. in two weeks and has a lot more get up and go, she even sees me go down stairs to where the scooter is she gets excited and full of life no more lazy sleeping all day dog, and I am getting out of the house more going to the clubhouse to get the mail every day and just say hi to anyone around, my next step will be going to either Universal Studios or Seaworld, here as a resident buy a one day pass and get the rest of the year free that is pretty reasonable seeing as it now costs 93 dollars to get into Disney and they don't offer residents the buy one day get the year free, you get a 10% discount on specials or can get packages but seeing as I have close family members that work there I get in for free, so I plan on being very busy this year and getting ready for us to travel across the U.S to visit over 50 group people and my hoofer friends in the west and friends I have known for years, so look out everyone we are comming your way in the future hope to meet each and every one of you we can,

Rick, that sounds like a big OUCH to me! Hope all goes well. Those locker bags sound pretty neat.
I havn't seen Snoop around here, he must have headed to TP or Sunny's place. We were in the high 70's today!

ARK, sorry your weather is so yucky! Come on down to Texas, its been 1uite good here this week and next week is spose to be good too...wahoo!

Sunny, yahoo for you!

Ellen, wish I were talented ....you make so much...wish I had the knack.

Silver D, you should have come this week to Texas...its nice! Glad you had both your boys at home...its always great to have the kids around. I enjoy being here with Jessi's family...miss the other two in Idaho tho.

Well, I'mm ready for a nap..sweet dreams y'all.

Well another mini foopfest complete successfully!!!!!! Talked and yakked and had a great lunch at Cracker Barrel. We came across a huge dilemma in our attempt to discuss everyone!!!!! Our dear friend Ugly has gone AWOL for way too long .... Does anyone have a contact number for him????? We need to see if we can find him .... or does anyone remember his real whole name? Was is Royce? maybe???? Anyone remember or know.....

Had a great time discussing Syd's adventures with the girls she is mentoring and some of my stuff .... lolol hers is serious stuff, mine is goofy ..... I ordered custom made boots and now figure I MUST be sent to the bridge with my boots on....... hahahaha

This is just too much fun to keep in contact face to face like we get to do ..... serious discussions and then monkey business for dessert .... just doesn't get any better.

CArol, yes those mini foop get togethers are great fun! I've tried to meet the elusive Graymare several times but never works out with her schedule...she is BUSY gal! so it is really nice to get to see each other when you can. Did your weather warm up yet, ours has been beautiful this past week, no complaints here!

If I could find my address book I have UGGUMS address there...his last name was Hobbs and he lived near Tyler TX I believe it was. I miss his posts also. He is a character to meet in person as I had the pleasure several times while hubby was driving cross country trips in the big rig. I wish we could get him to post here on our board again....someone told me he posts on AMMI sometimes? when I asked about him months ago. I hope all is going well for him and BARBI.

WEll today is get Cinny out now that she has gotten use to moving with her new shoes on, and check her out...keep your fingers crossed. Tomorrow is a club ride at the State Park, and I'm hoping she will be ready to rock and roll.

My GD Splotch barks at the birds every morning, he doesn't like them getting into his food dish and waterbucket...and they are out there earlier and earlier it seems...big black birds..they arn't even pretty like our magpies in Idaho were...but hubby says the birds have to go! he is going to start poppin' them...they make amess all over everything....and I mean a mess! We have tried to put up scarecrows, tied jugs on top of the fence to blow in the breeze....anyone have any ideas here I am open to suggestions....our vehicles are covered in the stuff and we can't use the water here to wash them as it leaves such a mineral deposit, dulls the paintjob right down and the windshields get cloudy...everyone uses car washes in town. Even the county and city water do that...not as bad tho...evidently the car washes have filters cuz it doesn't do it.

Hi Everyone. As, CAROL said, we had a great time. Fish Fry!!!!!!!!! MMMMMMMMMMMMM!

We talked horses and kids as that's what I'm into right now. If I can teach my 3 anything, it's the only disabilty in life is a bad attitude. I have 2 boys and one girl. The girl is the challenge. the two boys are older and catching on to social skills and manners. The little girl doesn't nec see that that is for her. She also gets away with a lot as she is very pretty, VERY smart, and manipulative. So, what better teacher than a horse?

We have enough time to meet a couple more times. And I think we decided on Fridays as the fish fry is so good

Now, I will say I can't WAIT to see CAROL in her brand new boots. They sound like a dream says me in her beaten up ortho barn sneakers.

I have to get going as I have a class. Later gators.

God bless.

Sleeping puppy...watch it all!!

http://www.wimp.com/sleepingdogs/

Hey ARK...come on down. High today is supposed to be 77. Beautiful, cool morning....I have a lesson this afternoon, ought to be perfect weather for it and my whitish horse can rinsed off afterwards.

Winter in north Florida can be a good guess at the best, downright cold one day and warm the next. Never as cold as it gets up there except once in a great while. I remember one time when it was 17 but that was years ago.

Looks like the saddle club that I worked so hard to get the county to finish the arena for is going down the tubes. Makes me sad but I've done all I can plus some. Members want the club but don't want to do anything to keep it going. Then you have the members who think everything is their way or the highway. I'm going to be working on intro dressage with Casper and the heck with the horse club. There are two or three other open show clubs withing easy driving distance of me should I get the urge. Won't be joining any but may go show. I want to explore the ACTHA competitions also.


Off to clean up Casper for our lesson. Y'all have a great day!

rode today on Cinnamon checking her out....and then Jessi worked her a bit more but at a faster speed, and so far so good...

we are going on a trail ride tomorrow with the riding club...which has had its own problems...we are having a meeting tonight to iron some of these out.....our may be going down the tubes also...we'll see how it goes....but there are two other riding clubs available to join in town so we will see...these problems started last year, when the treasurer ran off with about 20 thousand club funds....so they don't have enuf money now to pay power bill or have arena worked up by someone....grrrrr...just when I thought this club would be loads of fun...we'll know more after tonight.
Anyhoo we are going to the San Angelo State Park tomorrow for some good ol trail riding and fun get together. yahoooooo.....so looking forward to it.

CB. WOW. $ 20,000? Isn't that called embezzlement/theft? Gosh. Well, that will be a saga.
That's horrible.

RICK's PIX of wife, Carol's, sewing project. Click on photo name to enlarge:

yes....she has chargss against her...its going to be long and drawn out....and in the meantime, the club can't get a tax number, so has to pay taxes on everything, had the power turned off and had to get it back on...the water shut off.....it was a mess a few months ago...and now members are worried cuz supposedly the club owes money to IRS....I don't know....anyway, we will ride as a group and join the other saddle club in town It's a real shame.

But I'm still looking forward to riding tomorrow ....that hasn't changed.

Y'all have a great day tomorrow...have some fun.

TALLYPAM:
I would absolutely LOVE to come down and do an Actha ride with you. Won't be this spring, but maybe I can be ready to travel that far with Ivan by next year....One can dream...
I really like the Actha rides, I have been on eight of them so far. Got ditched on the last one, so it didn't count, but still had a good time. That would be quite a trip for us hauling a horse trailer. I am not sure how Ivan would like that. Well, actually, I do know how Ivan would like that.
Sorry about your horse club going under. Ours did also. No one seems to want to work on hosting events, just going to them. Those hosting them get tired of it after awhile. Our club lasted about 5 years before interest seemed to stop. It was fun while it lasted.

CB:
Wow. Doesn't your horse club have enough horses to form a posse and go after that robber? Sounds like hoosegow time in the ol' West to me.

You asked awhile back if I was going to be on blood thinners long. Apparently so. I went to the cardiologist a couple of days ago and he says I have to stay on them. Drat. I have decided to just try to be careful and not live my life in fear of bumping my head or falling off my horse. So today, I whacked my head on the chicken house door . I find it hard to plan my mishaps ahead of time, they just happen.

GRAYMARE:
Do you still have the same little girl in your horse activities or is this a new one? How long are the kids in the program?

CAROL:
Pix of your new boots would be great! Glad you had a fun time with GRAYMARE! Foopfests are fun, it is amazing how well internet friends can know one another, especially after so many years together. I loved the KC and KY foopfests, and the mini-foopfests, too.

SUNNY:
Not long now! You will be speeding along on your own scooter soon. The Disney trips sound like fun. What do your relatives do that work there? I saw a program once that showed the underground workings of Disney, it is really a complex place. Have lots of fun!

INDYAPP:
I look forward to your descriptions of your horsey class! I would love to do that. It would do Areion a world of good. I tried to get her into the Chris Cox colt starting demo last year when he was in Lexington, VA, but we didn't get chosen. It wouldn't have hurt my feelings if he did all the work of starting her!

Our snow melted a little today. It was actually sunny and above freezing here for the first time since last Monday. That was when they had the inauguration in DC. They were so lucky with the weather, the very next day it turned bitterly cold and has stayed that way all week. Our horses wore their blankets all week, but they will come off tomorrow. The temps are supposed to rise all the way to 60 degrees on Tuesday!

Today Donnie discovered that the snowblower will throw horse manure quite a distance....

my SIL works at animal kingdom, my daughter's MIL works at the haunted mansion in magic kingdom and FIL works behind the scenes making the compost they use for all the plants, trees and shrubs on all the disney properties, they have worked there 15 years plus, so they get all the perks of the job plenty of comp tickets snd each of them can bring in 2 people on there I.d so I can go anytime I want to any and all parks they have, so I plan on going as much as I can 5 days and counting till my freedom

Ark, I read Donnies discovery to Harry and he had just taken a mouthful of lemonade....it left his mouth in a spray as he laffed out loud!
Just be careful if you cut yourself on those blood thinners...get help and take care of it immediately, K, you probably know this already!

Went riding today and it was a nice time! There were 14 on horseback and 3 at camp that had the hotdogs ready for us when we got back. Cinnamon did great until we were almost back and she started limping...drat!

Not sure what I am going to do....sigh.....

sweet dreams y'all I am pooped....wore a tank top to ride today, it was downright warm! Beautiful for trail riding tho...and beautiful for a cook out and the kids rode and then ran around and played while the adults sat and talked and made plans for next ride....I just have to get Cinnamon fixed! if there is a fix.

ARK...two places close to my house have ACTHA rides each month. They swap months so there is one at one of the places each month. One is about 25 miles away and the other about 70. Just got to get Casper "grown up" enough to be ready for the challenge of them. He's coming along quite nicely.

Check out RO Ranch and 3Y Ranch.

Syd ... I talked to a couple here in the park who had boots made a couple of years ago ... gave them RAVE reviews. Said after wearing them for a year, they went back for a couple little tweaks which were done ... no fuss. While they were there a cowgirl type came in with her 20 year old boots and she had the suede on the top which had gotten worn looking. She wanted it fixed up ... not a problem says the guy ...... They said those boots looked really good and had been worn a lot for 20 years. They said they can wear those boots and its like no shoes on at all because they really FIT their feet .... now I am all excited.

Carol, how long will it take for them to make your boots? I'd sure be excited about those too.

TALLYPAM
You and Caspar will have a good time at the Actha rides. You are lucky to have them so close by and so often. The closest one to us is in Ivanhoe, VA, which is about 45 or 50 miles away, but is a very nice ride along the New River in the mountains. The best run one I go to is in Lexington, VA, at the Virginia Horse Center. Those folks know how to throw a good ride! It is a fundraiser for the therapeutic riding center there and they do it twice a year. If you don't want to start out doing the obstacles, just go as a "buddy rider". I do the obstacles, but know that Ivan won't be great at all of them, so don't worry about it. Do you have a riding partner to go with?

CAROL:
Where are your new boots made? They sound wonderful! You know that ELLEN is a boot collector. She is going to want a pair!

CB:
I hope you figure out Cinnamon's lameness issue so you can do lots of riding this year.

SUNNY:
Wow. You have relatives with interesting jobs! I think I could get into going to the Animal Kingdom again sometime. My sisters and I went one year and had a great day there. Hope you have lots of fun!


Our snow is working hard at melting off. It was really nice out today, but the mud is so thick and gooey, I had a hard time keeping my feet in my muck boots and pushing that wheelbarrow. The horses had to stay in the arena, it is just too muddy everywhere else. The arena is saturated, but the footing is good. Tomorrow is going to be 60+ degrees!!!!!! Then Friday the high will be 28 degrees ....I am so ready for spring. Ivan and I have a riding lesson scheduled for Wednesday, but they say it will rain. Nooooooooo!!!! I wanna ride!

Ark, does that mean that your eyes are good now? That's good news!

Ages and ages ago, I did have a pair of custom English field boots made. I loved those boots, and still have them. Naturally, they aren't as pretty as western boots are. Just smooth black.

Ellen E & INDY - sorry but I just had to laugh a bit at the image of your horses spooking, only cos I've been there myself. I'm sure my heart rate and bp max out when it happens!

CAROL - I was only a Foopette (also called a NEWBIE) at the time we met in MN, but loved putting a face to the person when we finally met up. I felt we had so much in common with the love of horses, I'd known you for ages!
Now if all FOOPS ever have a 'Gathering', I'd certainly visit for that, wouldn't it be great?

ARK - if you were here last Sunday, you'd know we CAN get snow in Ireland. The North of Ireland gets some snow storms through the winter, but here near Dublin on the East coast, we don't get much, the occasional fall.... except last Sunday, of course when I was standing out in the middle of a gallops race track all day, helping out at a TREC Practice event!!! When the weather decided to throw horizontal sleet, snow, wind, rain, sun (yep, that too)at us, all in the space of 4/5 hours. Riders and horses were OK, kept on the move. Friend and I shivered. But we went to a cosy Irish Pub after, for a Pub Grub dinner to warm us up & avoid cooking at home cos we were soooo tired (resisted the Guinness and whiskey - driving ).

CB - your talk of TX weather is definitely making me think I should have visited now, especially after last Sunday! I'm already planning the summer visit but I know it'll be the opposite by then... verrry hot. Right now, though, I'd like a bit of that heat.
You were asking about bird pests and how to keep them away. Here, I've seen people hang strips of silver foil (think you call it aluminum) around the place, so they twist and sparkle as they catch the light in the breeze and that seems to be a bit of a deterrent. Might be worth a try.

I was sorry to hear that yours and TP's Saddle clubs might close. But it's the same over here with helpers, it always seems to be the same people who keep things running, and after a while, they burn out. I've been on committees too over the years - dressage, riding club, now TREC - and although TREC is quite new to Ireland, I can see the same pattern appearing with it too, same people helping out. But like you say, there are other clubs around, so I get to go to plenty things that other people are running too.

So horsy-wise, it's all starting up here again, next weekend I have TREC training (I'll be the rider this time!), next Monday is dressage training, and the following Saturday, a TREC Competition, first of the year. Here we go.....

OHHHHHHHHHHH MAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN....we are so dang sea sick....



wind, camper not blocked up yet....rockin and rollin here ALL DAY LONG DUH! I've been bouncin around all day...

CB:
That does not sound like fun. I get seasick watching a movie about boats, so know I would be sick in your camper right now.

ELLEN:
I am not seeing flashes now, but my eye appointment isn't until next Monday, so I don't know for sure how my eye is doing. However, my riding lesson is canceled because of the rain coming anyway. I was going to just walk Ivan and work on stuff like sidepassing and such, but I guess that won't happen now anyway. Ivan keeps looking at me and wondering why we aren't working. He follows me around the barn while I am cleaning it. I suspect I could teach him to use a manure fork for the right treat.

SILVERDANCER:
It was 64 degrees here today! Really pretty, but the mud is beyond belief. The remaining snow melted off overnight, making more mud. The guy who hauls off the manure trailer got stuck and had to go home and bring his tractor to pull out his truck, which was pulling the manure trailer. It looked like a train out in my poor torn up pasture. It is going to be even warmer tomorrow, but 100 percent chance of rain and lots of wind. Great. More mud, only with wind.
I love all the activities you are doing with your horse! I would love to do the trek stuff. I hope to take dressage lessons with Areion in the future, she moves so pretty.


I am so sick of doctors. Never in my life have I spent so much time going to them than I have in the past 6 months. Today when it was so pretty, I was getting my rat poison levels checked at the doctor. It's fine. Next Monday I go to the eye doctor , Tuesday to the cardiologist in the morning and the regular doctor in the afternoon. None seem to know what to do with a TTP patient and push drugs at me without checking to see if I should have them. Thank goodness Donnie is researching everything for me, he found one drug that states it shouldn't be given to TTP people that the cardiologist wanted me to take. Death by doctors. Now there are two more we have to research and the cardiologist says he doesn't know much about TTP people and we should check around about the drugs. What are we paying him for? Did I mention I am sick of doctors? So I have asked my regular doctor, the hematologist doctor, and the pharmacist about these drugs. I've either gotten no answer or have been told to Google it when they didn't come up with an answer quickly.

Anyway, I feel fine, just ticked off with these guys. Thought I'd share, thanks for listening.

ARK...Aren't you the one that got seasick watching The Perfect Storm? Also, I have surely missed something along the way.....what is TTP and when did all this occur?

TALLYPAM:
Yep, I got seasick watching "Perfect Storm" at the theatre and had to rush to the bathroom because I was close to recycling my popcorn. My stomach was heaving along with George Clooney's boat. You have a good memory!

You must have been out of Foopville during late July and August. I came within a whisker of dying. I spent 16 days in the hospital after getting food poisoning from a taco salad served at an Actha ride by a group of 4-H kids. The food poisoning turned into a raging intestinal infection that was treated by several antibiotics. My immune system was compromised and the infection turned into TTP. This stands for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and is a disorder where the body attacks its own blood platelets. It took a week in the hospital before they figured out what was wrong with me. My blood levels took a severe nosedive and I was transferred from the local hospital to the larger and better equipped hospital in Roanoke. There they gave me transfusions and plasma exchanges and saved my life. It was not fun. The ailment is in remission and hopefully will not return, but there is no guarantee. Then a month later I had an atrial fibrillation attack over a weekend and landed back up in Roanoke again for another couple of days. About 60 percent of TTP patients end up with cardiac complications. TPP is very rare, not well understood by most doctors, and without proper treatment is 95 percent fatal. I seem to have recovered better than most, but still have fatigue and have to be careful not to overdo or bang my head on something and cause a bleed from the bloodthinners I have to take for the Afib. They would prefer I didn't ride, but I can't give that up.

Poor Donnie and my sister Annie had to take care of our place for about 6 or 7 weeks before I had the energy to even go down to the barn. Daisy and Areion were boarded elsewhere for 5 of those weeks to make it easier on everyone. I 'do' the barn now, but that is about the extent of my energy until I take a nap, then I can do something else. The barn stays relatively clean, my house looks like a bomb went off in it. Priorities.

So that's the lurid tale of how I spent my summer. I don't recommend it.


It is pouring rain here and has been since about 4 pm. I got the barn down just as it started. It was nice and warm, mid-60s, but now we have storms rolling thru. It will be cold tomorrow. No riding lesson again this week, but the snow is gone anyway.