March 2014

ELLEN, Mama was raised on the range so water is just same ole same ole.  Eli was just clop clop clop right behind her………he needs to know water for when he heads to the mtns to pasture in 2 yrs as he will be drinking from streams.  It didn't seem to phase him as Mom just taught him it's nothing.  It's an easy place to learn about water…..not deep, not boggy.

SVET had this sentiment posted on Facebook and I thought it would be appropriate here also.

Well, pffffttttttt! I've had the worst time posting these photos!! Wrote a long message and it disappeared while I was groping to get the pics. Can't seem to manage Picture Trail, or the new computer, either -- or the antenna and Roku arrangement I've substituted for the DirecTV I canceled last week -- or... I am going more than a bit crazy. In any case, I took the photos above on Wednesday at the lake I pass on my way to the supermarket. I was too late to capture the full array of colorful ice-fishing shacks -- all home-made, many ingenious, each unique -- because the owners have already hauled many out in advance of the March 31 deadline. But there were two old duffers there fishing at open holes when I arrived, and I ended up chatting with the one you see here. He walked off some distance to another hole to get and show me the rainbow trout he'd just caught -- and he ended up offering it to me! I had to decline because, as I told him, I didn't have the foggiest idea how to skin and gut it -- but I was touched by his generosity. He and his buddy, he said, have been coming, from about 25 miles away, about once a week to fish, and they were there that day to haul their own shack out. You can see it, and their truck, in the distance. The ice, he showed me with his dipper, was still about two-and-one-half feet thick. It was a beautiful day and he made it a spectacular one for me!

Graymare, Eli is so welllllll put together, he makes me drool! You have a great lookin' foal there!
We had WIND here all day, hubby came running in said to look out my window, I did and there was a huge dust devil encompassing all the neighbors houses that you couldn't see...It was tall and wide....like a tornado but was all brown with dust and then the wind shear off of it hit our camper, we thought it was going to tip it over! wow!

Trudy, my grandson Kyle came in the front door without knocking in the winter time, he had a ski mask on and brown coveralls....Buffy my Great Dane took him right back out the door! Kyle can scream in soprano! I called her off, but it sure scared the big strong football player...LOL....as soon as Kyle took off his mask, she was fine..."oh, I know you" and laid down.

Beech, that was a neat picture ....there are so many things people do when they live in different states...its neat to see.

85 and Windy....wow....

sweet dreams Y'all

BEECH
What great pix! The fish is beautiful. They stock rainbow trout in some streams in this region. I wonder if it is the same kind of trout? It was nice of the man to offer you the fish. Would have made a tasty dinner! How long does it take that much ice to melt?
You did good on posting the photos! If you want to make sure you don't lose your post, type it into an email and then copy and paste it here.

GRAYMARE
Nice shot of Eli in the puddle!! He is so cute. It's great he can play in it while he is little. You would not believe how long it took me to get Ivan to cross puddles...

Today I loaded both Ivan and Areion into the trailer on the first try, closed them in, and they stood in there cooling their heels until I let them out. Then they backed slowly off the trailer! Lori said she couldn't believe how good they did.   

Lori brought some yellow caution tape that was strung in strips like a curtain to see Ivan and Areion's reactions to it. The wind was howling and it was fluttering around as it lay on the ground. I rode Ivan up to it and he reached down and picked it up! Areion checked it out and then ignored it. I tossed Lori's noisy bag of cans up on Ivan's back, he barely blinked. So that stuff is going home.

If the weather cooperates, we are taking both horses to the New River Trail on Sunday. If Areion is good, we may take her to SC with Ivan, just to experience the hoopla of the ride camp. I have 2 stalls reserved there and a campsite. Only 2 more weeks!  

Beech, those are great pictures. Your ice is thicker than ours. A few times through the winter I see some ice fishermen out on the lake, but I have yet to see any of them catch anything.
I think our lake ice is less than a foot thick now, but serious melting is only just beginning. You need to post more pictures so you get more practice doing it.   
Let me know how you like Roku, once you get it figured out. DirecTV keeps raising their rates and they've just about reached my limit.

Ark, sounds like you've done a good job of desensitizing with both of them. Are you getting your own backside and legs toughened up for the long ride?

BEECH……glad you are showing us the best parts of New England…..it is so pretty there.

ARK, have a great time and enjoy your ride!!  We can't wait to hear about it.

Eli is catching on to the entire barn area…..and right now they're out in the arena.  He gets out there early and eats/nurses.  It's so cute to see him mouth hay and grass.  He wakes up and then runs a couple of laps as fast and powerful as those legs carry him.  Man, he's a good athlete………….flying changes are effortless, turns on a dime,  he looks smooth (I'll find out one day) and loves to explore his surroundings.  Otherwise, all he does is eat and grow………………
beats watching T V……………...

ELLEN
Probably not as much as I need to not be extremely sore the day after the ride. Ivan and I have been doing some fast trotting for a mile in the arena, so I hope that is toughening up my poor muscles. I suspect it will be my back that suffers the most after 5 or 6 hours in the saddle. I just ordered a sheepskin saddle cover to make a softer landing for my hiney  .

Rain is on its way here. I hope it passes thru quickly so we get to do our Sunday trail ride. It's been difficult to get in enough off property rides because of ever cranky weather.

ARK - In the post I lost, I said how much I've been loving the Eli pics, and your descriptions of his antics. Do keep both coming!

And, CB, I said that it was a good thing I'm not close to you or I'd be stealing one or two of those pups. Reminds me of the student I had, years ago, who wrote "It's a doggy, doggy world" instead of "It's a dog-eat-dog world." I always wondered what she was thinking. But now I see that you definitely live in a "doggy, doggy world."

ARK, I'm taking your advice and composing in Word before posting. And I continue to be in awe of all you've done and are doing with Ivan and Areion. I know I've said it before, but, if I lived closer, I'd be sitting on your fence rails, soaking up inspiration from dawn to dusk. And, if I had money , I would surely hire Lori. I am envious beyond measure. Alas, though I fight the truth in my heart, my head (my lungs, actually) tell(s) me that my riding days (the horse ones) are over. So I'm living through you vicariously, and love hearing the blow-by-blows, with pics, of your adventures. And I don't think, given all the time you've put in in the saddle this winter, that you'll have any trouble with your own endurance on the upcoming ride. I'm really looking forward to hearing all about that.

ELLEN, as somebody who's just weathered a tech crisis, maybe you can hold my hand and smooth my fevered brow! I am spitting nails over what seems like a tech version of Job's boils. I finally got so exasperated with DirecTV for raising its rates while giving me more schlock that I don't want or need that I screwed up my courage two weeks ago and canceled. My plan was to get by with a local antenna, either indoor or outdoor, for the three network channels, and use the Internet for the rest. In the meantime, because my computer guru told me it was time, I bought a new computer (withWindows7) and paid him $150 to set it up for me. Since then, for TV, I've had fairly good luck with an indoor antenna, and decided to supplement that with the Roku($80). (I live on a quarter of a shoestring, I should add.) But it turns out that my Internet speed (as far as I can figure this out) is too slow to yield much on either the computer or the Roku. So I called the guru's office for advice, thinking maybe I just needed a new router. No, she said, call your ISP first and see if the DSL is OK. THREE HOURS LATER, including three disconnects, the last of which left me hanging in the middle of a completely unfamiliar screen, I finally got straightened out (I think) by a second person, a very rude woman who insisted upon starting all over again, despite my insistence that we were in the middle. And guess what! While the computer seems to be working (though now, thanks to the first ISP guy, it's disconnected to an earlier computer that gave me my own network) it still won't stream videos. My ISP is the execrable Fair Point Communications and I've spent the rest of the day researching Metrocast as a substitute... Which takes me back to another memory from my teaching days: "'Execrable?'" said a student, before I could answer."That's fancy for s#$%y."

Sorry, folks, didn't intend to go on this way but maybe somebody has some suggestions. (I'll understand if one of them is Shut Up!)   

Beech, the latest technology is great IF it works. Unfortunately, it seems there are a lot more ways for it to go wrong. My problem with going with an antenna is that I hardly ever watch the three major networks. At least 95%+ of my TV watching is what would be considered cable or satellite. Please do keep me up to date on how well Roku works for you once you get the other issues resolved.

RICK:  That's me....LOL LOL

Rick, we like your pictures, but we'd love YOUR words. What's going on in North Carolina?

ELLEN: In ONE word..."NOTHING".    

THIS, dear FOOPS, is WHY I said "NOTHING" in above posting  

RICK Do you know the old joke: Preacher to congregation: "You people need to think more about the hereafter!"
Old timer in congregation: "What are you talking about, preacher? I'm always walking into a room and asking what am I here after!"

Something for ARK and also reminding her to take her Fabreeze spray!

      

We finally had a nice sunny day into the 50s. Little Miss Scarlett and her daddy were out on the 4 wheeler. Both were smiling.

RICK:
I could have gone all day without seeing that photo!   

BEECH:
You are very kind. I feel like I am the absolutely slowest learning rider/trainer on the planet and would LOVE for you to live next door to cheer me on! Come on down! I am sorry that your health isn't letting you ride anymore. You must miss it.


It rained all day Saturday, then Sunday we woke up to a new half inch of snow. Will it ever end? The snow wouldn't have stopped us from going on our trail ride, but the 60 mph wind gusts certainly did. We are going to try to go on Wednesday to the New River Trail for our lesson. It is supposed to be sunny and 75 degrees then.   

We found some hay today! We looked all weekend for some. The pickings are getting slim, but we found 150 bales of pretty nice stuff. No johnsongrass anyway.....It will arrive this week. The horses seem happy with the sample bales we brought home. This should do us until Donnie can cut our hay....IF the weather ever cooperates! Our pastures are starting to green up, but our spring is late this year. I just saw the first daffodils starting to bloom this weekend.

This evening we dashed off to see "Noah" at the theatre. Got there on the dot of 7 pm and found out that they started it at 6 p.m. because it is a little long.    No movie for us!

We have had to spend a ton of money to re-roof our house. Work scheduled for tomorrow (3/31/14) but the roofing crew called last week and wanted to do it today. 8 guys here when I got up at 830 and were waiting on "go ahead" because of weather. Finally got started around 945/1000 and stripped old roof...made some plywood repairs....and new shingles down on house and half of garage today. Would have had the rest done if weather ad not been so iffy. Till be back tomorrow and have job completed in short order. This was 40 "squares" of shingles. Obviously NO NAPPING today with all the noise going on. Hopefully this will be the last roof we'll ever have to put on this house.

Love to all,

Rick...really wanting some warm weather!!

Rick, it always amazes me how fast a whole new roof can be installed when the crew really wants to work. It's a nice secure feeling to know that the roof won't leak and that you don't have to worry about it.

Ark, I wondered if you rode yesterday. I was watching the NASCAR race at Martinsville, and they were talking about how windy and cold it was.

Over on some acreage near us they are building 2 custom homes….that has amazed me………..
these are big monster homes on acreage that is up the way………The machinery and rapid coordination has fascinated me.  I went over to one of them one day and cruised through…….
the guys are going to bring me some dirt in a week or two so I'm happy.  Fortunately RICK, you only have to miss one more nap………and then you will rest free of worry of leaks etc…………the cost of everything today is becoming out of site.  A loaf of bread is CRAZY!  Milk is becoming CRAZY.
A gallon of grass is CRAZY. 

And, movies, too…………..you made me laugh, ARK…………you have officially joined the over the hill
time telling club…………Did you just pretend you were going out for dinner instead?

LOL, here, it's barn time now……..we have barn time, horse time, breakfast time, laundry time, etc………………..no need for a clock.  Daylight or dark works for us.  If it's daylight we're busy, if it's dark we're asleep.

Everyone have a good day………..

          A gallon of grass is almost like a gallon of gas, right?