February 2017

Graymare, Rumor Has It! I fell asleep before it was announced last night, but they were replaying it this morning. All the dogs in that final class were gorgeous.

It was fun to see Ellen..............Rumor was really something.  The Irish setter went reserve (gorgeous) and I also liked the boxer.  Rumor has "it".......the mysterious aura that makes her stand out just in her being..........I don't usually watch all of it.  Ha, I fell asleep night before during the herding group which includes my own breeds.........I only watched last night to see Rumor.


I need to get going.......breakfast with the blah blahs.


Everyone have a good day.........God bless.

I really liked the boxer and the Irish Setter too. Both had that "presence" that says, "I'm special."
I heard on the radio this morning, that they had retired Rumor last year, but when they heard who was judging this year, they decided to bring her back for one more year. She'll go home and have puppies now. I guess dog handlers shop judges just like horse show people.

Well, we have Rex, Ace, CB's bull dogs, Rose' dogs etc and now Shadow...........all Bests In Foopville.


I don't know all the dog names in Foopville or I would've listed them all
according to group...........LOL:  couch potatoes, barn bums, fetchers,
chasers, truckers, food snobs, manure eaters, wiggle worms, mudbags etc.................it would be hard to judge those groups.  Rex could fit in any group on any given day.  I guess that makes him a Groupie.


Everyone have a good day.  God bless.

Yoshi, the monter pup, and odie, my sweetiepie.

Still in idaho.
Had to have tiedowns put on truck for camper....had electrical probs wit truck, spent day in shop, picked up camper, loaded great,.but realized when we drove away we would have to beef up our coil springs, so another day in shop getting that done. All the rolling  caused a camper seam to separate, so now.that needs to be fixed before we can go....acccccck. its cold and windy here today...brrrrr. i like my winters in texas please!
Roads and 1 interstate closed still, so we go a lil farther to even get home.

CB
Hope no more delays happen! Traveling in wind and bad weather is the worst.

ELLEN and GRAYMARE:
I missed the big dog show. I guess I should get more involved in doggy pursuits since I am now a dog owner. I did read the book, "A Dog's Purpose", and really liked it. Hope that counts! My sister, Annie, says she loved the movie, but I haven't seen it.

Shadow, whose name is continually debated, is getting more comfortable here. He is eating better, we worried about him the first couple of days because he didn't seem interested in food. I think it was probably nerves on his part, he now eats just fine. He also barks at everything just fine... He is quiet in the house, but every truck, tractor, any vehicle with a trailer, roosters, moving horses, etc, get his full barking attention when outside. Any suggestions on getting him to stop barking all the time outside? We haven't tried anything yet, we don't want to make him afraid of us, but it is annoying. If I am beside him, he is okay, but if I am more than 10 feet away, he will bark.

Donnie wants to change his name, and truthfully, Shadow doesn't seem to respond to his name. Nothing decent has been suggested so far, though.

Kumquat gets along fine with him, although is leery enough not to be caught too close. ThunderPuff is still hiding in the bedroom, but has ventured out into the livingroom and kitchen a few times. Shadow is in the t.v. room. ThunderPuff is convinced we have brought a monster into his house. Shadow seems to like cats, but is big and probably a little too rambunctious for them.

He doesn't 'come' when called very well, so has to be on a zip line in the yard. Cactus Jack would like to nail him, so I keep them separated in the barn lot. Awww, the joys of dog ownership!


It is cold here today, compared to our 60 to 70 degree days recently, it's only in the 40s with the wind howling. Cold. It is supposed to be back in the 60s again this weekend, though! We are scheduled to take Ivan and Areion back to Pandapas Pond Park on Saturday for a trail ride. Lori is bringing a bit to try on Ivan, who wants to run thru his hackamore with regularity now. Hope it works!

CB, stay safe......Texas will be waiting.

ARK, the movie A Dog's Purpose is wonderful  Great photography,      you will cry & cry.

Later gators...............

Snow, snowwwww...snowwwwwwww.

CB, I know you don't like the snow, but I hope you'll stay put until the roads are clear of it. Have a safe trip.

Ark, have you seen any of Cesar Milan's shows, or his books? Maybe he would have some ideas about teaching Shadow to come when he's called and to stop barking. It will be nice when you get him trained to what you expect of him.

Trudy, I'm beginning to think that your groundhog doesn't know what he's talking about. It's going to be in the 60's for the next week. My tulips are up about 3 inches now. I just hope they don't get their little heads bitten off with a frost.

Ellen, roads r clear and dry, but snow from the side of interstate to the tops of the mountain peaks, an expanse of bright whiteness as far as the eye can see.....pretty but looks cold.

Here is it, February 17th, and the temperature is 61°! I see a pontoon across the lake at the launch ramp. He just happens to be a three-doors-over neighbor, and will be the first boat on the lake for this year. The weekend weather is going to be like this, so I expect there will be more boats showing up in the next couple of days.

Wind, windy, more windy, windeeeee as chit! Slow going as we r bobblin with the truck camper on board.

I'm back again. Crazy Internet..I'm sure Verizon is sick of me...and I'm getting sick of them too.

ELLEN: The stupid groundhog never gets it right unless winter sticks around. I'm actually happy when he gets it wrong cause he usually picks 6 more weeks. It's going to be in the 60's today. YEAH...

ARK: I have that book on my hold list. Can't wait to read it. Hope it isn't as sad as Marley and Me or Racing In The Rain. Those were real tear jerkers for me. Animals stories really get to me. It is more difficult to train a dog that isn't food motivated, but you'll figure Shadow out, it will just take extra time. How old is he? I think I missed that.

GRAYMARE: Ace pretty much fits into all those categories except for the food snob. That dog will eat anything, after a through inspection of a strange food item. Labs are notorious for their non stop eating habits.

CB: Stay safe driving in the snow and wind.

Wednesday night we went out to a birthday dinner for Mr. Penny he turned 91 years young. God bless him.

My grandson Rod cut the top of his thumb off at work on Weds. OUCH He had surgery Thursday morning and is doing OK. They cut skin off the heal of his hand to replace the top of the thumb. In fact, he is off to Motorama today in Harrisburg. Just to watch not to ride. His mother is more freaked out than he is.

Got our taxes done and filed yesterday. Yeah that's outta the way for another year.

Enjoy the warm weather. Ace & I are taking long walks today.

ELLEN
I saw Cesar's show a few times several years ago. He's a cutie . I will check him out again. Thanks!

TRUDY
It's going to be 66° here today! This is winter? While I hate cold, and especially snowy, weather, I wonder how the bug situation will be this summer. We aren't really having a typical winter this year.

I gave Areion a partial bath yesterday so Lori won't have to ride the dirtiest horse today. At least her mane and tail will look nice! We are going back to Pandapas Pond Park today with Ivan and Areion.

Ark, have a great ride.

Trudy, ouch on poor kids finger, kids bounce back quickly tho.

Ellen, i wonder if the lake will freeze again....

We r still battling wind trying to inch our way home...with some rain thrown in for good measure of course. Been a long drive home....

CB, I don't think we'll see any more ice on the lake.  There might be some small patches in the mornings, but it won't last long.  The temperature is going to be in the 60s for the next week and won't get below freezing at night.
I know this sounds goofy, but the water looks like spring.  It must be something in the ripple patterns that gives a different look.  I started noticing the differences a couple of years ago.
Assuming no other problems, will you get home today?

Yesterday, I cooked some country style ribs in the pressure cooker.  They were very nicely done, and literally fell apart when I took them out of the pot.  They tasted really good.  Most went into the refrigerator.  This morning, I decided that since I was eating breakfast later, I would reheat a couple of pieces in the microwave while the bread was toasting.  
My microwave is now clean.
I put a couple of pieces in the microwave for one minute.  At about 30 seconds, they EXPLODED all over the place.  I ate brunch and then cleaned up the microwave.  I had to work for my brunch, but it was good.

Rain all day here.  Just rain, no big storm......maybe California's wild rain hasn't hit here yet. Horses in & dry.........of course, not happy.  They like being out.

Hope everyone had a good day.

GM, my guys like standing out in the rain, unless its really cold.
We have had miserable WIND and rain all the way, will be home tomorrow, Ellen. Just cant go more than 50 or 60 in this wind, gusts up to 35 mph. Creates havoc with truck camper.
Some idiot driving a semi ran us and a motorhome off the road today and then yanked back into hus lane, luckily berm was hard and supported our weight. When we did go atound him, he was eating a big bowl of instant moodles and yackin on cell AND driving. I called his arse in but they never did anything. Reckless and endangering others. The jerk. Hope karma bites him!

New mexico has peaks in a row that look like pyramids, i put a pic of some on facebook and also of snow along our journey. Had girls trying yo post pics here but couldnt do it.....whewwww, not just me, makes me feel a lil smarter...lol...but wish i knew how.

Really POURING now & has been for about 2 hours...........43 out in the barn so glad they're in and munching hay...........no lightening or bad wind......just heavy rain.  Weather news says rain all night.

It sounds like CB is almost home.....that's a good thing.

God bless.  Prayers for ALL.

TRUDY:
 I didn't think the book, A Dog's Purpose, was all that sad.  I liked it a lot.  GRAYMARE saw the movie and said it had some sad in it, though.  The book was very interesting, told from the dog's point of view.

CB:
 Be careful out there!    I wish cellphones would turn off while inside a car.  

GRAYMARE:
 Wow, you are colder than us!  It was 66 degrees here, although was overcast all afternoon.  It never rained, though.  My horses like to be out in a warm rain, but will run to the barn in a windy, cold barn.  Cactus doesn't do 'wet', so is always first to the barn if it sprinkles.

Speaking of Cactus,  he beat up on Shadow today, who laid there and let him do it.  I thought sure he would run from Cactus, but he didn't.  We'll have to be careful about those two.  We let Shadow run around the barn pasture while the horses were up on the hill pasture.  When the horses came back, Shadow greeted everyone, which was okay until I think Areion kicked him.  I heard a smack.  Shadow was a little too personal with her.  Then Cactus got to him.  It was a hard day for learning the ropes for poor Shadow.   We took him with us for the ride today to Pandapas Pond and Areion didn't offer to kick at him, so either a lesson was learned, or Areion figured she had made her point.  

I had a WONDERFUL ride today, the best in awhile!  The bit worked great and Ivan didn't mind it.   No head shaking or getting huffy or anything from him.  He slowed when I wanted, trotted as fast as I wanted, and never tried to push thru it.  He and Areion both were very mellow, it was great to not fight with him over the bit.  It is just a full cheek snaffle bit, but is a little fatter than his old one.  We went about 8 miles.  Donnie and Shadow hung out at the trailer together.  Donnie said Shadow didn't seem to mind the gun fire from across the highway like he did last week, so maybe he is going to get over that phobia.  Or maybe Areion and Cactus just knocked some mellowness into him....  He was very good anyway.  (He did rip the zipper out of his new bed though...sigh...)

 We ran into 5 other riders, all of whom we know.  Three are endurance riders, two are ladies I ride with sometimes.   There were more joggers than anything, everyone was outside today. Fun day!

ARK & TRUDY, A Dog's Purpose movie makes you cry because it''s happy & cute with only a bit of sadness...............REALLY heartwarming.

Great pics ARK.........it sounds like Shadow is learning...........he's probably wondering what all of those "other guys" are.  After living
with an 83 yr old lady, I doubt he's seen much of the world.  I'm thinking he's one happy boy.

STILL raining...............we need every drop here in our state.

Everyone ave a great day.

Rollin, rollin, rollin.....not there yet.

Glad the bit worked well, Ark. Sorry shadow got clobbered, glad he is ok.

Home, horsies brushed, showered, fed, birthday party for oldest grd dtr...now collapsing....

CB, glad to know you are home safely. You can relax and take it easy in your newer bigger RV.

Ark, it's really fun when you can ride and the horses are enjoying it too. I hope Shadow has learned a lesson or two and will understand what needs to happen when he's around the horses.

Today was kind of funny. This morning my neighbor called and wanted know if they could bring over some ribs to be cooked in the pressure cooker. His wife had bought a box of ribs at Gordon Food Service, thinking they were cooked. They weren't. So, they had about seven slabs and didn't really know what they were going to do with them. He put a rub on them, cut them into manageable sizes and we put them in the pressure cooker. There were so many we had to cook them in two batches. When they came out of the pressure cooker, I mopped on some Sweet Baby Rays and broiled them for a few minutes. They told me I could have some since I did the cooking. I took one piece to taste them. Ray has much better BBQ sauce than I made.

Sounds yummy ELLEN.

I'll bet you're glad to be home CB...........

Where are Rose, Beech, Indy, & everyone?

Rain on & off all day..........glad for all the free water.  I never thought about the gift.....we are swamped and it seems it's over now.........
The barn bums are loving the extra hay........