January 2017

Shopping for campers can be fun! There are so many different arrangements and amenities available now. A friend had one that was BIG and had 4 slides. It also had a fireplace and a washer and dryer, and lots of other toys.

CB, have a great time camper hunting tomorrow..........that's so fun from the 12 footers to the big ones with everything.  You will find just the right one somewhere.

GRAYMARE: You betca I'm happy with the Steeler big win. I wore my Terrible Towel Steeler scarf to church yesterday. Since they won, I'm going to have to keep wearing it. Us crazy Steeler fans have that crazy superstition stuff we do in the playoffs. George was like "oh no" when I got it out of the closet. He knows what is coming.

CB: Have fun looking for a camper. They sure have come a long way since the old truck slide in camper we used to use when we showed horses way back in the early 80's. 5 of us jammed in there, sometimes more over a weekend. It's a miracle we didn't murder each other. Those were the days...memories....

It's 9 degrees this morning. BRRRRRRRRRR

I'm off to Perkins this morning for a meeting with my Barnabas group leader. Yes, I'll be wearing my Steeler shirt, gloves, hat and Terrible Towel scarf.

The lake is frozen so Travis took the two little girls out on the ice for a little while this afternoon. He used to play hockey, so he gave Scarlett one of his hockey sticks that is taller than she is. Daddy was showing her the proper techniques for doing a slap shot. Lilah isn't as excited about it because her hands got cold. Mommy is there taking pictures.
I took a few pictures too.

We are going to have a bit of a warm-up for the next few days.

ELLEN:
I bet the little girls look very cute with the hockey stick! Pix would be great to see!

CB:
Find a trailer? There are sure some fancy ones out there. This should be a good time to buy in the middle of winter. I hope!

GRAYMARE:
Still raining? I bet you have some great spring flowers this year. California is sure getting its share of rain and snow. I hope it cures their drought.

TRUDY:
Congrats on the Steelers win! Football, right? The DNA test is sure strange. I hope the antibiotics cures the problem.


Well we have sure had enough cold weather. It was 5 degrees this morning and got up to 27 or 28 degrees this afternoon. It felt almost balmy. After tonight, the cold will go away....finally. I haven't been off this property in days. The snow is still here, but will leave when the temps get up in the 50s Weds-Friday! My riding lesson is scheduled for Friday in the hopes the rain will hold off and the arena will be okay.

The horses spent all day out in the field, digging thru the snow for grass. I had hay for them at the barn, but they preferred digging for their dinner. It is one of the few times they get to spend as much time as they want in the field, when we are covered in snow. They seemed happy.

Rain, gloom, rain - but not as cold. We might lose the lake ice, which is a surprise. There is a fairly large area of open water on the north shore, across the lake from me.

ELLEN:
Wow, your lake didn't waste any time starting to melt. How thick is it near the shore? It is warmer here today, too, but covered in snow and clouds. The snow has just started to melt a little, it is 40 degrees right now! I am going down to take the blankets off Ivan, Areion and Daisy in a few minutes. They shouldn't need them for the next week or so at least. They sure look pretty out there in their colorful blankets! Ivan is purple, Areion is red, and Daisy is green. Ivan inherited Kazi's purple blanket, I didn't get him a new one last year. He used to be the blue horse.

Donnie turns in his dissertation this Friday!! He is still editing like mad, but it is basically ready to go. In two weeks, his advisory committee meets to grill him on it, then it is over. Done. Finished. ( ) His main adviser sent it out to a couple of top guys in his field, one in CA, one in Hong Kong. They both sent back really good reviews. They want him to present it at a conference in a few months, I think he said in PA, but I could be wrong. I told him a more southern conference location would be nice....but by then it probably won't be cold anyway. Donnie won't know how to act after that paper is finished. He has spent years getting up before 5 a.m and working nights on it. Maybe he will actually get some sleep!

After all the rain we've had today, the ice near me is probably still close to 6 inches, but it will start thinning. It has rained ALL day. We are having a lot of high winds right now, so that will weaken the ice even more where there is open water. At the moment, the temperature is 47°, and will be low 50s tomorrow.
Big congratulations to Donnie for being at the end of a long journey.

I made some chicken and dumplings in my new pressure cooker a couple of days ago. I only made a few dumplings, so there was a lot of broth and chicken left. Today, I added another can of broth, a can of cream of chicken soup, a can of cream of celery soup, and some noodles and let it go for another round. It was perfect when it was done cooking. Some of it went into the freezer for future meals.
I think I'm really going to like this pressure cooker.

MMMMMMMM.  ELLEN.  Too bad we all couldn't drop in for your chicken & noodles..........good thing to cook on a rainy day.

Oh boy , ARK.  What a relief to be finished with the stress & work of Donnie's dissertation.  I realize he did the work but it's nice to see how you backed him and supported his work.  Obviously, defending it will be stress, but he already has some positive feedback from experts in his field.  YAY DONNIE!!!  It's just getting through the steps..........

Today was tractoring manure.......woohoo.  I still so enjoy all this
horse "stuff"............hoodathunkit...........

God bless.  Prayers for ALL.

No camper this trip....going to save some more for down and get one that fits our wants and needs, i just dont want a ten year payment. We found the style we want, tho, and had a good time, which was also important.
Weather is warm, 81 tomorrow...not complaining...

CB, could you get a canopy and screen room to add on to the camper you have? My cousin has one for his camper and it really adds a lot of nice bug-free room for nice days. It wouldn't be all that expensive and could be transferred to your new camper when you get one.

Ellen, our main problem is not having a slide, it makes the space to get to bathroom an obstacle course with the dogs. And with yoshi being a big overgrown bulldogge puppy, he would probably destroy anything screen....like my screen door he jumped thru already....we need a camper in better shape to go down the hwy, too. This one was a stopgap and fairly cheap until the house sold.
But when ya gotta go in the middle of the night, it is step very carefully over legs and heads, step inbetween...when half asleep....someone should video me!

ELLEN, still raining?

CB, glad you now know what you're looking for.........hey, temps improved, that's a good thing.

ARK, riding lesson today?

BEECH, send us some funny New England humor...........how is your new shop?

TRUDY, you & ACE still covering ground out there n the mornings?

Because our temps are good here in AZ, Rex is my car buddy and
travels on all errands with me.  He thinks he's king of the road.
Well, LOL, he is.............

GRAYMARE
Nope, riding lesson is on Friday this week. I wish it was today, though, it will be 65 degrees today!! I may just crawl up on Ivan to stretch some muscles for tomorrow. Everything is very soggy with the melting snow and later rain, but it feels like spring. My kind of weather. Rex probably does think he landed in a doggy paradise!



I just started reading Donnie's dissertation. I am the last check grammar person. I found two little problems on the first page! I may be needed after all! Some of it is going to be hard reading for me, it was written in academic speak. It is my mission for the next day or so, though. I am VERY HAPPY to do it!!


I am almost caught up on barnlot cleaning. The ground has thawed enough to get the doo up. Everything was pretty solidly frozen for several days.

It's been raining since yesterday. Although at the moment, it seems to have let up for a while. The temperatures are going to drop all day, so anything else that falls will be freezing rain, and then snow. Not much else going on around here.

Im glad we r not in missouri, it looks like icy weather headed that way.
Its tank top weather here in tx....last two days. I am not complaining. Wish i could ride....

HYSTERICAL.

Quote :

<http://sundown.me.uk/ technology/mercedes-aa-class. mp4>

It must have cost a fortune in batteries to make that skit. Ooooo. 52 mph.

Since it was Mercedes, it was pennies to them.........8)8)  Or, prob not Mercedes at all.........some computer whiz kid...........

Anyhow, I thought it was a real funny ad.

Also, CB, I thought you have one horse............you could ride him, right?  Walk around a bit and smile, etc.......you don't have to go for hours or anything...........I'm hoping you're feeling fine now............

Rocky is hubbys horse, i tried him on for suze 2 years ago and we did not click at all...he rides for hubby great but for ne there r buggers behind every rock and fence post, and he lives to back up with me even when i dont ask him to.....no im not willing to give him another whirl....i brush him, pick his feet, feed, pet....hes fine....i get up in saddle and its buffalo me time, he does it well.

Well, phooey, CB.........I thought I had a good idea...........
I guess for now you have to groom & enjoy.

Everyone have a good day.........

It was almost 60 degrees today when we had lessons here! It was warmer than they said it was going to be. Lori rode Areion with only a lightweight bareback pad the entire time and Areion did great! She had a minor spook one time when Spooky the Cat came dashing across the arena at her, but other than that, she was Ms. Mellow. Lori can stick to anything and didn't have a problem with it.
Ivan was good, too. We are working on him not cutting corners and dropping his shoulder on the curves. I think I am the weak link in this, he does great with Lori. So we did it a bunch until I almost had it right. It was fun, despite my lack of coordination with all my body parts in a curve at a trot....


Donnie turned in his dissertation to his committee, but can still do typo corrections and such. So I have been busy reading it and trying to find the little overlooked things that he missed. It isn't much. I am about a third of the way thru his paper and have found a dozen or so things he said would have been somewhat embarrassing to find after the committee meets. I could not have written this paper, some parts, I can barely read this paper.

It's been an "interesting" day. This morning, Casey wanted to go out about 5:15. So I took her out. When she was done, instead of going back into the house, she decided to go wander around. She won't listen when she's called. I was playing cutting horse and trying to head her off at the pass. With all the snowy roads, they have been spreading sand and salt. I took a quick step, the loose gravel and sand slid and I went with it. So, I have spent the whole day at the hospital, getting my broken left wrist put back together. A plate and some screws.
One handed typing is decidedly slow.

Oh crapola, Ellen...did you ever catch up with the lil rascal.

Ouch.

A retractable long leash is nice for the lil ones. Hope it wont be too painful.

We have been slugs all day here....i like being a slug sometimes, lets me recharge my batteries.

I caught her a couple of minutes later. Most of the time I can get her to come right back with the promise of a treat. This morning she decided to be hard headed and wouldn't listen. If she were mine, she would get a lesson with a shock collar. Well, if she were mine, that lesson would happened years ago.