November 2019

Ark, I'm so glad you have a place to ride, with or without leaves.

We still have some leaves on the trees, but they are covered with snow this morning. It looks and feels like January. The major part of the storm passed by last evening, but we are getting more than usual lake effect snow this morning. Most schools are on a 2-hour delay.
I feel sorry for the guys who will have to take out the many docks that are still in the water, including mine. That water is going to be COLD.

The truck has come and gone........................YAAAAYYYY!

Now we can meet friends for lunch.................

Donna, I hope you are reading here. What's going on with Oak Island? Have they actually found something big?
I watch the show every week, and it is apparent that there was a lot of activity on that island for hundreds of years. People from everywhere seemed to have had Oak Island as a destination. They've shown pieces that came from Spain, England, the Mideast, and other places too.
The complicated building and construction that was done is amazing. It does make me think there could be something of value there.
The Lagina brothers have spent a FORTUNE on digging up whatever might be there.

Friend Sherry came over this afternoon. I fixed lunch and we watched three funny videos. It was good to laugh. Jeanne Robertson is a really funny lady.
It was a good way to spend a cold afternoon.

Wish I'd been there Ellen......Jeanne is hysterical!!!

I had no fun today rearranging "stuff" cleaning the porch..........I had a bright
time talking to the horses.............they were busy eating grass so they didn't have
much to say except more oats please..........they'd been fed this morning so
I ignored them............

Later.........an addendum...........the moon tonight is as bright and full as a
reading light..........the horses are at rest and rex was glad to go with me
It's cool and pleasant.

We also watched a newer Bill Engvall video - Just Sell Him for Parts. That's funny too. We laughed all afternoon. I'm beginning to get more fun out of my Amazon Fire Stick.

We haven't seen above freezing temperatures since Sunday. There is still a lot of snow on the ground. We are hopeful that we'll get some slightly less cold days next week. I hope to get the leaves cleaned up then.

Well the moon looks nice here, but it is soooo cold!  It never made 40 degrees today, it was 16 degrees this morning.  ewww.... The pony heated water bucket was frozen.  It must have a glitch.  I replaced it with Kazi's old one.

Our new carpenters showed up and began work on clearing the new hay building area of the poor maple tree that fell last month.  Most of the tree missed it, thankfully.  
  I think they are going to work out.  Tomorrow they plan to dig the post holes for the hay building's structure.   I'll take pix in the morning before they  plant any poles.  

Tomorrow Donnie and I are going to some kind of class for his upcoming knee replacement.  It's 4 hours long!  I don't know what they are going to do in that length of time, but spouses or partners are requested to be there.

ELLEN:
Glad you are having fun in the frozen north! We had spits of snow, but nothing stuck here. Donnie saw cars at work that commuted in from further away that had snow on them, though.

I called to make a catalog order this morning. What a trip.......I dialed the 800 #. Then I
waited and waited and waited and waited. 11 minutes. I finally got a foreign speaking agent
and started my order. She couldn't spell or understand, that part took forever, 12 minutes.
Then she added more "deals" she had especially for me. I said, "no deals"...........
she then pursued no shipping fees for the good deals. I stated I already had no shipping.
With that she offered a cash back club that I could join. I said "no thank you" very
politely. She then pursued in more detail. I finally said "just cancel my order." Again politely.
She said "you can't do that". By now I got my feathers ruffled. I said " you must not know how, as I can and will cancel". She finally understood I was ordering one item only, no shipping, and my
total was $21.00. I was on the phone 34 minutes..........I need another cup of java.............
and horse time.

I have no intention of another order........I will take the time to order from a computer.

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

All too often, companies just don't realize the value of good customer service - that does not include an attempted upsale. That annoys the heck out of me.
I guess I've gotten spoiled by the internet because I order almost all of my Christmas gifts online. I will go to the local Harbor Freight to get Alex a recip saw. At 16, he's at an age when tools are better gifts. They aren't top of the line tools, but they'll do until he can get through college and can afford better ones.

RICK asked that this be posted.  It's a bit small, but is what arrived in my email from him.





Better check that girth!!

OOOPS!!!

Other than that, how was your ride?

Next time, don't forget to check your cinch.

RICK:
Good catch on the photographer's part! I haven't seen a saddle malfunction quite like that in a photo before. Kazi's saddle zigged once when she zagged and I came off the side because of a loose girth. You can be sure I checked it every time after that and started using a breast collar to keep the saddle from slipping as much. The ground gets harder every year....

DOT:
How are the fires doing in your area? Seems like half the world is either burning or in a terrible drought. I hope they have contained the CA fires.


Our new carpenters are doing good work! Today they dug all the hay barn's posts' holes and removed a dead tree that could have fallen on the future barn. That part was a little exciting.....The guy climbed about 15 feet up the tree to cut the upper part while three of us pulled on a rope to make the cut part fall where he wanted. Luckily it all worked well. I wasn't sure it was a very good plan at the time. It was a big dead ash that died when all the ash trees died. That should be the last tree to be dropped in that area. We will have lots of firewood if that tree and the maple tree that fell last month get chopped up.

Donnie and I went to a 4 hour pre-surgical class yesterday. It was really interesting and well done. Beside the RN who told us about the medical aspects and the kind of help the caregiver would be doing, they had a dietitian and physical therapy people talking to us. They did a good job.

Too CUTE:

https://youtu.be/6XQtd9cTGFM

Einstein is a cute little guy. I saw him on TV as a foil grown mini. He's still a cute little guy, only a little bit bigger than when he was born.

That is a cute little horse! I haven't seen pix of him all grown up. I wonder how tall he ended up?


I just watched a very interesting documentary on the 2019 Tevis Cup endurance ride made by a Japanese film maker. The narrator spoke Japanese, but the folks interviewed spoke English. The photography of the 100 mile ride was great! I wish they had subtitled the narrator's part, I am sure there were lots of things he said that would have been interesting.

https://vimeo.com/365649587/9693fff50f?fbclid=IwAR0fy9kiiFD9IldeTWTdrbRPldZssBkz2DT9ZqmqXMbsUt1sZ1RE2nwFZX8

A little bit of online research says that Einstein is about 24 inches tall and weighs about 80 pounds.

ARK............thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! That film of the entire Tevis cup was
great. It brought tears to my eyes............

GRAYMARE:
Me, too! I thought they did a wonderful job on the documentary. Made me wish I didn't live 2000 miles away and getting a bit long in the tooth.... I am glad you enjoyed it! One of my vets who works at Virginia Tech and comes here occasionally completed the Tevis about 20 years ago. She loved it, got her buckle, but said she'd never do it again. It's a tough ride.


ELLEN:
Thanks for looking up the little horse! Wow. My collie is taller than him. I bet he is cute, and very spoiled!


Monday is going to be busy. Our original guy is supposedly coming to work on fences, the two new carpenters will be setting hay building posts and spreading the floor gravel around after the truck dumps it, and I have to go give blood right after lunch. Donnie is getting a truckload of wood shavings for the barn and will empty it after work. Busy, busy....

Rain coming in tomorrow........I got set up to day so I won't have to work in
the rain.................hay & feed all lined up............

TL broke his arm..........that's a kink in the ointment..............but with time, it will heal.
Right now, no cast or surgery, just a special sling..............and TLC.............

Everyone have a good evening.........hope the gang shows up.

I can certainly sympathize with the broken arm. It was not quite 3 years ago when my wrist got to spend some time in a cast and sling. I'm left handed, and of course, I broke the left wrist. Makes doing a log of thing very interesting.
I know with your TLC, TL will do well and be good to go soon.

I think we missed a birthday.............HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLEN............
best wishes for sure.

You didn't miss it. It's today. Thank you!
75? How did that happen?

Happy BirthdaY Ellen! Hope you have a great day!

Well we finally picked up our newer rv yesterday...it pulls so nice. Its 2 tons lighter than our other one was and i like the kitchen better. Now we just wait until hubby has his surgery so we can hit the trails again.

Windy here today...storm split...half went across our mountains and half went thru nevada...we are getting high winds....but no snow forecasted...but after last snow...i dont trust weatherman.

GM sorry about your hubbys arm...hope he heals quickly.

Rick..glad you can drive again!

Hi to everyone!

Happy Birthday,  ELLEN!!!