August 2012

Rick, where are you? We haven't seen you much lately. How much longer are you going to drive?

Any word from CB? They should have gotten to their place in Texas by now.

I'm not even sure what "day" it is...but right this minute, I'm down for the evening at my favorite truckstop...just south of Petersburg, Va. I'm headed north for my 2nd trip to mushroom farm in PA.

How much longer...I've asked to be "relieved" of duty starting this coming week. Emergency and the real odd, occasional trip. I can't believe just how crazier it has become out here in the two years since I retired...and NOT just the 4-wheelers either! That's the sad thing for me as a "professional" driver to have to see / admit.

Thanks for asking. Now, I gotta figure out where the summer has gone!!

Love to all..Rick and Snoop

Rick, I know what you mean about the disappearing summer. I've had to work a LOT more hours than I ever intended to do. My manager got sick/had a meltdown about the 3rd of August and won't be back until at least September 3rd. The other two gals who work more hours are both on vacation. That leaves a girl who was only hired about a month ago, manager's husband who has a full time job, and me. I've been doing the best I can to keep things going, but I'll sure be glad when the others are back and can work. I plan on taking more time off.
This will NOT happen next summer!

Ellen
Wow...your part time job really took over your summer. I feel like I have missed most of the summer, too. Between cracking the rib and then this weird illness, this has not been my favorite summer.

Rick
I will be glad when you are retired again!!


Kazi's farrier from VA Tech came here today and did her feet and Ivan's. Ivan was so good. Earlier in the day I walked Ivan through some obstacles in the arena to see where his mind was after over a month of doing nothing. He seemed to work extra hard to do every thing right. he even stood still when I sprayed with flyspray when he usually hates that. I think he has missed working with me.

Ark, it is so good to hear about your working with the horses again. Sounds like your recovery is moving right along.

finaly I have some good news to report Kent's brother paid our condo fees so we owe nothing just our electric and for now I am covering it Kent got turned down for S.S.I and medicade but the reason is not clear they did not mention the stroke and they said that he wouldn't be out of work for 6 months or more but he has already been out of work 6 months and still can't work so his brother Dr. Scott is going to help him through the paperwork on the apeal it will still take time but we are safe for now and hopeful and thank you all for your thoughts and prayers I am positive they helped Kent has a S.S.I lawyer to help with the apeal also he will lose 25% of what is owed to Kent when he finaly gets it but it will be worth it he can pay his brother back in full so we can breathe a sigh of relief I am still going to get a trailer to be safe and prepared for anything

Ark - same comment as Ellen E - great to hear you're feeling well enough to want to get out and work with the horses! And you keeping fit with all the riding and working around your yard must have helped a lot with your recovering... but make haste slowly, as they say!

My old neighbour fell and broke her hip a couple of weeks ago but is making a great recovery, i'm glad to say - only after it happened did I learn her age. She is 94! And to think that every day she walks to our nearby village (about a half mile each way there and back), pushing her Zimmer frame like a pram at high speed! Even in hospital after her operation, she was already walking round the ward within 2 days. This lady is quite something, nearly always refuses a ride, says she needs the exercise, so I'm pleased she will be home next week (although she'll have to take it easy for a while).

Rick - I have to confess to being one of your awful lady drivers who multi-tasks while driving - although only occasionally. I blame it on the annoying lack of signposting here in Ireland. Anyone who posts on here and has visited Ireland will know what I mean. The main roads are not so bad but as soon as you get onto the secondary roads and particularly the little country roads, there is nothing! So my bad habit is that I can be seen sometimes driving with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a map (yea, very naughty I know). I do have a SatNav, but when I'm on these back roads it just doesn't 'know' my destination route.
No-one here knows why signposting is so bad (non-existant). Everyone moans about it, but it never seems to improve! Is it supposed to be part of Ireland's 'charm'? That you can get lost and chance upon a pretty little road through beautiful countryside? Anyway, no signposts, that's my excuse!

CB - are you in TX yet? Did you pass near Austin? (that's where my son is). And is it still hot there? Looking forward to hearing all about your trip, hope it went smoothly.

Sunny - great news! What a relief for you both after all that stress and worry.

Great news Sunny!!!!! Now if the SSI can get sorted out!!!!((( )))

Ark .. glad you are getting out a bit. Be careful though.

Ellen ... sounds like the shop ate up your summer. ackkkk

Today is SPECIAL...I am now semi - semi retired...again...kinda / sorta maybe possibly.

I brought the truck home this afternoon late and will "move out" my stuff before returning it to the yard tomorrow. Boss HAS BEEN kind and gracious about my working and I appreciate that. I just let stress get to me too quickly, I guess. The arrangements now are...Vacation fill - in....."emergencies"...the "odd trip" that just doesn't fit with regular stuff...IF I GET BORED and want to get out for a while. I understand his "position" in trying to keep a business running successfully...and he understands my "retirement" desires, etc. We'll just see how it goes.

Silver...we have made 5 - 6 trips to the UK...England, Wales, and Scotland. I am a "country boy" and most of our travels have been out in the rural areas like you describe. Sure, getting lost "47 times" in two weeks this May was a bit frustrating, but we DO laugh about it now. And our observation at times in some of the cities...signage just NOT always where we expect it to be. Carol does a wonderful job of map reading and telling me where to go next, etc. She has been to Ireland in years gone by...I've yet to make that trip, but DO want to see your country and some of its scenic treasures and delights. Your driving habits would be a lot scarier here on 70 mph highways where people are exceeding the speed limit and then somebody is texting. etc. I urge you to use due caution...!! Now, I'll admit I often refer to the road atlas/map while I'm driving, but try to do so when I'm out in the "open". Week before last, I saw a motorist had a laptop computer open in his lap and was actually using it. As a commercial driver, I am "prohibited" from using a handheld cell phone while driving. I noticed this week that the state of Maryland has signs posted along the highway: NO texting & NO handheld cell phones. Its the law.

Sorry...I don't mean to preach...I just let my emotions get ahead sometimes....PLEASE FORGIVE

Love to all...Rick & Snoop

GOOD MORNING FOOPS..............

I have been peeking in on my iPad from time to time to see how ARK was making out. Have had company and the summer has just flown by. Beautiful weather and theere is always someting going on. I am heading to Maine next Friday with Susan and the Granddaughters. We went to NH last year and decided that we didnt want to spend hours driving for no tax so Maine it will be. Their tax in not anything like ours,

ARK, glad to see that you are making great strides in recovering. Did Donnie ever get the text I sent him when you were in the hospital? I had a cell umber for him that you had given me a long time ago and tried sending him a text. Thought he probably did texting since he was a "teckie" .


Nothing much new around here, enjoyed the summer. Even got Tommy Girl out to a horse show a few weeks ago. Carly, CIndy's daughter, had her knee operated on the end of June and was not able to do everything she wanted with her gelding so Tommy got hauled out of the field and three weeks later she was showing at a BIG show here in N.S. She did really well, placed in all the classes, mostly thirds but that was wonderful considering that nobody has ridden her for at least two years, proabaly more. Carly was thrilled with her. There is anther one in Sept. that she thinks she will go to and Tom has her girly figure back, looks great and working wonderful. She is quite a girl!

Today I promised myself that I as staying home and doing househld things that I don't get done during the week.

You all have a great day. Stay safe and don't overdo ARK. RICK, glad that you and the boss came to some agreement.

I missed what you are doing for "part time" job, ELLEN. Sounds like more work than you wanted.

Later folks.

a feew more hours and we'll be back home in Idaho....which will feel nice after fighting with the cars ACthere is none! what a HOT trip back it was! whew....so we are quite tired and cranky and very Hot! Will tell about the trip after I get charged, battery is very low!
Sweet Dreams Y'all.

CB
Glad you checked in! Stay safe....and dont get too hot.

Donna
I am doing better. My blood pressure is high for the first time in my life. Hopefully this is a temporary side effect of this weird disease. I see the doctor tomorrow and will ask. I do feel stronger every day.

Silverdancer
Your treks sound wonderful! I would love to do that. Yesterday I sat on Ivan and we walked around a bit. Just bareback without even a halter. He seemed happy to cart me around a little.
We watched an Irish movie yesterday..."Into the West". We enjoyed it. Lots of scenery and horse action.

Sunny
I was so relieved to hear your news!! Hopefully Kent will get his SS straightened out soon.

Carol
Has it cooled off enough to ride yet? Fall is sneaking up on us. I dont even want to think about winter.

Indy, have you seen or heard from HT recently? Nobody seems to know where he is, or how he is.

OK, battery is charged and I'm feeling partly recharged! We got back to Idaho Saturday night...and someone came by today to look at house, so we were up bright and early cleaning and unpacking etc...and then we went to get the pony from kids' house to bring her home to keep muleytude company so they can ride together to Texas and I can work with her...and then out to dinner with larry and a walmart run and then home to feed everyone and get hubby off down the road to NV...whew....I need more recharging I think!

Ellen, I hope you get less hours so you can enjoy your lake! and Rick congrats on the re retiring!

ARK, good to hear you are feeling better, just take it easy tho....you have been thru a whole lot of crap, and it will take time to get all that "oomph" back. give it some time and just start slowly...we don't want to have you back in the hospital. Ya heah?!

Silverdancer, no we were in San Angelo, went out I 10 and up 67

Trip was quite uneventful...so glad! It was hot and the dodge did overheat a bit, we would just take it easy, go a bit slower...saw a wild horse herd in NV and a wild burro herd who looked pretty pitiful in the heat, they were in Beatty Nv. Saw some reservation horses, one mare was about at deaths' door, and had this beautiful lil golden buckskin foal on her side, I wanted so badly to stop and give her some water and feed...grrrrrrrr....makes me so mad to see them like that. Got to kids' house on Wednesday and had a full day in a half days' time, had lunch and babysat the 3 grand daughters, and went to bed early, next day, parked the camper on the base lot, had lunch, got a new battery for my Kia, hubby tried to fix the AC and broke it but good, I wanted to kill him, before it was working on 2 at least! So it was a very hot trip back. I sold one puppy and Jessi got a puppy, so I have one left to sell and I'm keeping one of them. Left on Thursday afternoon and got home last night (saturday) and I do definately need to be recharged! Poor hubby having to drive for 5 hours back and work tomorrow..he is exhausted too Lot of miles in a week. Truck took $1048 in gas, car took $185 ....sure wish we could pull the horse trailer with the car!

We had a small rain storm tonight...got the ground damp and the wind blew and now there is heat lightning....fires are still going strong and they say they will burn until we get the first snow fall...they are just trying to protect as many homes as they can and towns too....crazy!

Well, thats' my trip in a nutshell...oh we saw roadrunners! they are a lot smaller than I thought! We are so glad this trip was basically uneventful...hope they all are.

Donna, good to see you here...love to hear whats going on with you.

NamcyLee...where are you?

Dawn, great news! so glad for you and Kent.

CB Glad your trip was mostly uneventful, well, not counting the lack of AC. That was rough.

ELLEN, I spoke to HT yesterday. He has a lot going on. He sold the house and barn/arena to a young couple and the hay field to a neighbor so he is working like mad packing stuff up. He will be moving back to TN to be close to his sons and grandkids. I'll miss him, but I think he's doing the right thing. Closing on the properties are set for late September so like I said he's working hard. I just hope he's not pushing himself too hard.

D.

Thanks, INDY .... for the HT update. Would you mind sending me his number?

rangell27028@yahoo.com

I just kinda/sorta wanna rattle his cage for the heck of it...its a "guy thing".

Thanks again...

Love Rick & SNOOP....who has got to go start mowing the grass.

The only thing that was a bit exciting, on our trip, was we stopped at a very full rest stop near Phoenix, late at night and got the pups out in their play fence. Hubby was in the truck getting their food and I was watching them using the headlights of the truck to see...it was around midnght...when I heard what sounded like a gunshot...and then the drt sprayed up around my feet and hit my toes or so I thought...and dove for the truck to get my gun...thought if someone was shootng at us, wanted to be able to shoot back...then we noticed the smoke at the front of the truck and waited a few more minutes, and got out and saw the lightbulbs n the headlight had exploded and threw glass from the bulbs into the ground around my feet and I actually had little shards of glass stuck in my toes...yegads...One of the pups had a cut on bottom of his paw too....it really flew with force.

CB - glad your trip was mostly uneventful, apart from the fright of the bulb exploding, that is. It does sound exhausting having to deal with the heat though, bad enough without the AC giving up on you. Glad you also got another 2 puppies a new home.
When you said you were in San Angelo and hadn't gone near Austin, I looked up a map of TX to see how near they are, in case we have a chance to meet up sometime when I'm over there. They don't look too far apart- only 2 inches on the map, haha.

RICK - don't worry, when I looked up the map of TX to check on San Angelo, I wasn't driving at the time! Seriously, I agree with you about your high speed highways, no way would I take a risk of checking my maps if I was driving on those. But from your various trips over to my side of the 'pond' you seem to have experienced the same frustrations about the signposting (lack of...), so you know what I'm talking about.
The worst thing I ever saw here was when I was driving to work (in the old days) and saw a fellow in a car alongside mine shaving his face as he drove! And I have seen woman putting on makeup - but usually when stopped at traffic lights, must be to avoid getting the lipstick all over the face.

ARK - I've seen that movie you watched, 'Into the West' a while back. Really liked it too, lovely scenery and story, though the kiddies Irish accents were REALLY strong! Was it an Irish Draught Horse or a Connemara, do you remember? Ijust remember it was a lovely grey.
Isn't Ivan amazing! Just walking around quietly without any tack on him and letting you enjoy it all again.

I'm off to Scotland tomorrow for a few days (my uncle is 96 on Friday!), then on to France for a 'Reunion' holiday for a few more days with my Scottish school friends I grew up with, so I don't think I'll be able to post or even check in here for a while (no laptop, ony a desktop computer here at home, unless I can use someone else's and remember my password!).
But i'll enjoy reading and catching up with all your news when I'm back.
Hope everyone stays safe and well in the meantime.

Nikki, the horse Jessi took to Texas is suppose to be part Connemara...she is a tough agile old gal at the ripe age of 26 or more...who knows for sure! She still has all of her teeth too....but her back is getting swayed pretty good, as they use a special pad on her now...she carries the kids all over the place and is still going strong...running in playdays with them still also.

Silverdancer, two inches isn't much when you are in Texas,...LOL Would love to meet up halfway. have car will travel...

ARK, how are you feeling?

Ol Man, where are you? I miss you! Come out come out wherever you are!

Cleaned out the computer and cleaned me out as well. Been reading, just haven't beat my way back into the forum.

ARK... make haste SLOWLY on the recovery.

CB- they sent all your smoke here. Finally rained enough to clear the air.

Sunny PHEW! keep on hanging there girl!

Rick- the roads have been getting worse. Law change here, and it hasn't helped squat. People drive all over the road talking or texting.
I actually had a touron texan try a u turn from a merge lane. (late night, no phone) He stopped broadside when he found a concrete barrier between him and the direction he wanted to go. He left NO WHERE for me to go except T-bone. Loads of paperwork. Managed NOT to set off the airbags on either vehicle. Old Touron was thinking, since I punched in his door.... free air tickets for him and wife home, free flatbed to texas for a CRV... He SAID so to the Highway Patroller, and myself. Then he got the ticket.....
Accident cam cleared me. not speeding either...GPS documented that.... Just not fun out there anymore...

Ellen= my summer went bazooka also.

Gotta get

AP

CB
Wow...I never heard of a headlight exploding like that. I would have had to change my undies, LOL.
I saw the doctor today. Good news: my hemoglobin is up to 11.6 with 12.2 being normal. It got down to 6 at my worst when they started giving me blood transfusions and plasma exchanges. So I am doing very well! The Dr said he thinks I am over it and just need to regain my strength. I have official permission to be a barn bum and ride Ivan! I have to have blood tests once a week for a couple of weeks to make sure the readings stay good just to be sure......:-)

Silverdancer
Have a great trip!!! Where in Scotland are you going?
I am not sure what the breed of the two horses that played the kids' horse was. They were interchanged frequently during the show. One of them was spectacular...a very pretty mover. I suspect the other one was better with kids. I sort of got into spotting when they made the horse switches, LOL.

Indyapp
Thanks for the update on HT. I hope he lands in a happy place.

FOOPS...what APPY wrote is TYPICAL of the mindset of folks today who live "faultless / blameless" lives and are looking for a quick / "free" ride out of an insurance company. I'm glad no one was hurt, but really glad that a commercial driver (APPY, in this case) was exonerated on-the-spot by the cops. All too often, the cops are doing their jobs w/o regard to any sort of common sense...just out to raise revenue. I absolutely HATE feeling this way, cause when I started driving years ago, I just "knew" that the cops were my friends. A few still are.

I'll put my soapbox away now...

Love to all...Rick

Ark, that is such great news that you are 'over' the illness and that Ivan can go back to work! I'd suggest that the next time you go to an ACTHA ride you pack your own lunch. Did you ever hear if anybody else got sick after that ride?

Ap, it's good to see you again. Some drivers are complete idiots. Sure glad nobody was hurt in the accident caused by an idiot.

Sunday, I was riding home, doing the speed limit and a bit more. A car just couldn't wait to pass me, so I moved over and made it easy for him. Then I had to put on the brakes because he turned at the next intersection, about a quarter of a mile from where he passed.

Just throwing a pet peeve out to see if anybody else has seen this: Young mother with two little kids in the grocery store. She is pushing the cart with one hand, baby in the cart, second child tagging along. She is holding the phone the whole time she goes up and down the aisles. I just want to scream at her, 'put down the $*&%$(*&% phone and TALK to your children!'
I've seen that several times, and it makes me mad everytime.

One of my pet peeves is when kids MISbehave in the grocery store or department store...and parents arn't allowed to smack their bottoms....I was in the bathroom at Wal Mart the other day when a Mom brought her little girl in, and she smacked her bottom one time, and sat her on the changing table and talked to her about running off, that some stranger would snatch her and she wouldn't see her Mommy again...and by now Mommy was crying...guess it really scared her....and another lady came out of a stall and was going to report her...I told her when I stepped out that it would be her word against mine that I didn't see a thing! She left in a huff and the Mother thanked me. One swat on the behind doesn't constitute child abuse to me, it says to me, this needs to be printed on that childs mind they did something wrong, and not to do it again...and that Mom cares alot for her child. Child didn't even cry...until Mom started crying then she started crying. She was about 3. The world is full of weirdos sick weirdos...we have to protect our children against something bad happening to them...we have to get it imprinted in their young minds not to something that will put them in jeopardy as best as we can. We lose too many innocent children to sickos never to be seen again. That would literally tear my heart out! I do not know how parents function when that happens. At least when a child dies, there is some closure, heartache also, but closure.

See Rick we all have our soap boxes...I'll step down now.

SNOOP here: Did Rick start a soapbox rally? Is this "rage cage" of sorts?

Jinx is whisperin' in our ears to have at it...tell our pet peeves since his idol Rick did it...he says we can do it too! Honest Injun! He must have been in the sun a lot this summer he was sportin' freckles all over! Yep, now I'd have to say my pet peeve is not having Jinx show up naked on my doorstep ...but he was covered and I mean COVERED in freckles! Ya gotz to get control of that lil booger, Rick!