October 2016

Wow! What a mane and tail! I see a lot of Show Sheen or conditioner being used on that horse to avoid tangles.

Sniff....my house got loaded on a flatbed today and taken away.....

Pretty horse, I wonder if the weight of that beautiful mane will cause neck or shoulder issues, but pretty to look at for sure and a lot of work...

Oh CB, I'm so sorry.............I don't even have words.

I am glad you & Harry are alright..............

CB
Maybe it is a blessing in disguise that your camper was demolished without you being in it......An inconvenient disaster, but it could have been so much worse. (((((((Hugs))))))) I hope a much better one comes your way.


Has anyone watched the latest Tarzan movie with Alexander Scarsgard? Wowzer! The man invented muscles! We just watched it this evening. Very entertaining....

CB: When it rains for you guys it certainly pours. Glad you both are OK.

WOW what a mane on that horse. How much work would that take to maintain?

ARK: How's the new truck? Ours has 800 miles on it. George is finally taking it out of the garage. They hauled my old girl (97 Cougar) outta here on a flat bed on Friday. WWAAHHHHH Her tranny is leaking. Not a good sign at all. Praying it isn't anything too expensive to fix, I LOVE that old car and want to start showing her next year as a antique. Stopped at the car show to see my friends Donna & Freddy with their show car. He won second place with his Camero. He says it's a lot easier than showing horses. LOL

Another extra busy week has flown by. Spent 3 mornings at church setting up the Veterans Day display and putting the photos on poster board. People are going to be surprised this morning when they see the display. Made a trip to Sam's Club for candy for Trunk or Treat, $90 worth of yummy chocolate and I can't eat a piece of it. Darn.

My friend Ashley was rushed to the ER, her dad found her passed out on the floor Friday after work. Spent the afternoon with her yesterday at the hospital. She is not doing well.

Have a blessed Sunday everyone.

Oh dear TRUDY, prayers for your friend.  Please accept my sincere apology for missing your birthday.  I did not have power or computer access since Matthew visited!  He stormed through here unbelievably strong.  Folks say about as bad as Hugo.  I just know that there was only a small tropical storm warning for Florence/Darlington area this far inland.  Matthew fooled everyone!!!

CB, so sorry about the camper and your mare.  Hope Harry is healing, goodness, so thankful you were not onboard when she went nutso.  And btw, even if I had left my animals here and the horses at the barn, I still would have lost 5 big trees, over a half acre of chainlink and privacy fence, and the electric box and all attachments torn off the house.  Damage so bad in places in North and South Carolina that my adjuster can not even get here till the 26th.  It cost $500 just to have the electrical components put back to the house and just got power back yesterday afternoon.  Both these counties are declared Federal Disaster areas and most surrounding counties.

ARK, love that pretty new truck and all the bells and whistles!  Again, so grateful you only have sore muscles from your emergency dismount!  Please continue to be extra careful.  

ELLEN, I am so grateful that we are having cooler weather, I would have truly been miserable w/o power, no ac and no fans.  As it was, just opened all windows and stayed reasonably comfortable.  Absolutely no restaurants, fast food or convenience stores open for 3 days and when some did reopen it was cash only!  
Guess who didn't and never has had cash???  But I will tuck back some cash for emergency purposes and will accumulate a portable camp cookstove and top of stove perculator, and a small generator!!!  I've learned the hard way!!!  3 days w/o coffee is enough to cure/cause many ailments!  Haven't bee able to catch up on NASCAR, so update please.  I'm rooting for Martin Truex, so very proud of him, his beautiful fiance, and his team!

GM, Hope you are totally enjoying the mountains.  Miss visiting with you!  What's going on with you?

Stinky Inky has been turned out with the mares and that naughty little booger (who is not so little anymore) tried his darndest to nurse his mommy, she has no milk whatsoever, it's been 3 1/2 months.  He struts around those mare like he is somebody and the darn mares just let him act like a heathen.  They will teach him some manners if he gets too uppity!   On the other hand, sweet, calm and loving Cross is now totally responding to verbal direction  But he'll only canter when made to do so............(my kinda horse)  He comes right up when you call him!

All for now, hugs all around!

Hi all..............sunny & nice here today. Pleasant morning, the horses happy to see me, Rex happily barking & running with the neighbor dogs.

ROSE, wow, you sure have been through it. We had 2 hurricanes while I was in RI, both left huge amts of damage on the coast line but at my house (1 mi away) we had tree damage etc but nothing to the house or barn. It's very strange to put horses in the barn and go in to the house, praying all will survive. Our only major inconvenience was loss of electricity for 5 days..........but, I had filled the bathtubs w water as we had warnings as Matthew did. The news on both radio and TV gave specific instructions for preparing. We used that water for toilets and washing and had stocked drinking water..........we got along fine as we could go shower at Terry's company. The only loss we had was food in the freezer and refrigerator. We were lucky. I was amazed at the coastal damage..............You seem to have far more destruction and loss in your state.........sounds devastating. Keep us posted on getting repairs, insurance, etc..........praying here for your progress.

Here I am whining about losing an old truck camper, I'm sorry, rose. I'm glad horses r.alright, and you too.
We r staying at jessi til end of month and then we will go to missouri, bring the big camper down to stay in. We will be fine.o

ROSE: No apologies necessary, I'm just happy to hear you are safe and sound. That storm fooled a lot of people. My friends who live in FL were spared this time around, they didn't even lose power. Getting a generator is a good idea, just having a little light and water makes the big storms bearable.

My friend Ashley has kidney failure. What a horrible thing on top of her Lupus. The hospital tried to insist she is anorexic and when she refused to play along with the shrinks, yesterday they sent her home. She has to go back everyday for blood work and to run scans on her kidneys. WHAT???? This so called health system is a nightmare. God help us.

George & I have been working on the Veterans Day display at church. We are putting photos of all the Veterans at the church and set up a POW/MIA table along with the flags. It looks really awesome. The church is going to honor a Gold Star Mother of a young man who was killed in Iraq. She has a heart breaking story of losing her son.

Love & prayers for all...

On Sunday, my cousin's wife called and suggested that I come on down to their house to see their friends from North Carolina. They have become my friends too. I had already planned to go on Monday. So, I loaded up and headed down there. We had a very nice visit and the wife and I swapped knitting stories. Exciting, huh. But, we both like to knit.

Rose, Harvick won the Cup race on Sunday, but since there were lots of people around, I didn't get to watch all of it or collect any details about it.

In some areas, the leaves are really changing color, but right here at the lake, it's mostly still green with a few spots of color. Cottonwoods have lost all their leaves now. The last two days have been summer - 80 and sunny. I think tomorrow we'll start seeing the temperatures dropping a little, but not nearly as cold as it usually is this time of year. I shudder to think what's going to happen this winter that will balance all this out.

A bit cooler here today....but still shorts, tanks, flipflops weather.

Found hay reasonably priced, good for a few months now.

Saw my new doc, lots of blood work tomorrow for me.

Jessi was in charge of a hospital exercise yesterday while we were there....2 airmen were screwing off, and she readily told them, (I was in waiting area right next to them) they would stand when she spoke to them, and the two of them would be relieved of their security post with someone that could follow air force procedures and that they were not rssponsible and handling security measures and needed more training in this area. She replaced them, and marched them to her office. Tough gal, but she will whip them into knowledge and shape. They have to know what to do and keep people, civilians and uniformed safe. She takes her position seriously.

CB, good news on Jessi. I'm sure you're very proud of her. You should be. Are your horses at her house, too? If so, that's a good thing so they are near you. Hope all is going well. I'm sure you are glad you got some good hay. Good luck on your blood work tomorrow.

I voted today and sent my early ballot off................

Prayers for all.

We have one horse and he is at a stable that boards....I am looking for something older and steady. My mare went to the trainer who evaluated daisy and rocky for us. Stable is 3 miles.from one campground, 8 from the other. For now we r at jessis, as we r homeless when our camper blew over. We will go up on the 28th to bring the bigger camper down, if that one blows over I'm done....just done....kaput.

CB, I'm thinking some hurricane tie-downs for your other camper might be a good idea.

I don't think a campground will let us do that.....

No, they probably won't, but you could do it wherever you live. A long time ago, I lived in a mobile home and had the ties for it. Fortunately, they were never tested.

We will be living in campgrounds in our camper.....when we settle down and stay put, it will probably be a senior.apartment somewhere. For now, traveling is in our plans, always wanted to do it, just had other things getting in the way....we will spend the winter here, dpring, head to idaho and then to alaska, to pa, nc, sc, fl.......just so much to see out there and folks to meet up with...

Did the early voting today. Will be SOOOO GLAD when Nov. 9th gets here and hopefully we all can have a break from such rancorous political ads for a few days at least.

My life be to all,
Rick

RICK, we sent in our early ballots, also..........brother, the caliber of this campaign has decayed to the point everyone I know has "had it"..................

Hay delivery here tomorrow so we will be set for quite awhile.

Our weather has been good with cool mornings, birds singing, horses munching, etc...........

Nothing new............I called a friend today and her husband put a new message on their machine: "We're out for awhile so call again. We may or may not remember to check our messages. If you're calling to request campaign money, drop dead."

I'm not sure I have it totally correct, but I think so. Our whole gang called sev times just to hear it.

Everyone have a good evening.

I'm back on my America kick..........as an American I'm like many I know, realizing that our two Presidential candidates were/are so decadent compared to what America expects, and we all wonder how, in 2016, can this be the best we can do.

Still proud to be American despite our world image & problems.

I know this isn't an acceptable topic so the silence is understandable.

GM, I agree. I just hope we can keep us all safe.

I love our country, warts and all.

I m saving my vote for election day. I want to fully experience the day, sort of like not opening gifts until Christmas..... ...but not as much fun.... I hope life becomes more civil for us all. I am sick of the hatred everywhere.

We hauled Annie to Charleston, WV today, the end of her yearly visit. I am exhausted, her 'vacations' wear me out. We handed her to my other sister who took her on home to Northern KY. I think Annie had a good time. Tomorrow, I hope to have a slug day.

TRUDY
I got your photo, just haven't been on my computer to get it posted. Will try to do that tomorrow.

On a happier note that typifies America.... The Chicago Cubs won the pennant for the first time in 71 years! I'm not a Cubs fan and I have no idea when I last watched a baseball game all the way through. They play Cleveland in the World Series starting Tuesday. They haven't won a World Series since 1908.
It was fun to see the people in the stands, a lot of older people, fathers with sons, everybody dressed in Cubs gear. All of them cheering their brains out.

Like all of us, I am ready for this election process to complete/end.  I love our Country, in spite of all the problems, like CB, I just want us all safe and to return, In God We Trust, to our heritage.

ARK, I hope you can/will, when you have a moment, put a picture of Cross's first show here.  He got a fifth place for his first ever show.  Such a calm and good boy.  Felt so bad for him, trotting into the ring, towards the judge and he just froze.  The judge was built like the guy who used the whip so freely and on top of that was wearing a cowboy hat, like his abuser.  James encouraged him and Cross went on, but James could see his hesitancy, but he was a good boy!  I am a proud mommy!

Robin showed Nikki's stallion, Prize, and they did extremely well, especially at a show where most folks had never seen a Gypsy Vanner horse, they took 3d against some beautiful horses.  Prize was very good for his second showing.  Both boys will show again on Nov 5th at a Marsh Tacky Show (SC's state horse)

The insurance adjuster for my Matthew damage will be here on the 26th and I sure am hoping my fence damage and tree/stump cleanup will be covered.  I would really like to mow one last time for this season.  Pee Dee Electric Co-op will set up a new security light pole and rerun my electric service on that pole (right now the line is resting on top of my shed).  Pee Dee has been wonderful during this crisis.  Very special thanks have been given to my neighbors/friends across the street.  They are both employed by the local Country Club as chefs and they have brought me meals every day, I haven't had to cook at all and Artie is the one responsible for getting all my trees chopped up for disposal and enable me and the dogs to walk around out there and the electric company also!

Inky is doing very well in the pasture with the mares and he has a new love interest and playmate.  Annie is a coming 3 yo and they play well together and keeps him from pestering the preggo girls.  Those pregnant mares really love and tolerate my heathen little boy, but then again, he's usually well mannered around them.

Guess I'd better start my housework for the day.  Hugs all around!

Well a nice weekend spent with kuds\grands. Celebrated our anniversary with a shrimp dinner...and cake. We also found the premonition spit.for our camper, and get this room for our horses too. What a nice anniversary present. We love it, and 250 a month. On outskirts of tiny town, 6 miles.from jessis. Yay.
Congrats, Rose.
Ark, you have my permission to be a slug....lol.
Weather is almost hot today....whew....took baby harper for stroller ride, was sweating!