The Move is DONE!

I hope to never have to move again. What a ghastly ordeal. We finally have everything out of the old house and will never have to go back. Now our efforts can be put into the lake house and getting it livable. That includes getting the water trenched in so we aren’t stuck using the camper bathroom and kitchen sink. Then we’ll be doing the ceilings in the great room and media room where the leaking occurred before we bought the house. While the weather is nice the roof needs to be finished. It will be nicer than when the guys replaced the front that was leaking in 90-100 degree weather.

Finished my fingerless mitts yesterday. They only needed the ends woven in and I had procrastinated that for almost six months. Funny that it only took me about 10 minutes to weave them all in. I also have the top done on one of the matching socks and had planned to do the Jojo heel pattern, but can’t figure it out. Just looking at it, I knew I’d end up frogging, so went online and found a regular heel with the number of stitches I’m working so will do that. Both kids want mitts too so might do those as stocking stuffers for Christmas with matching socks. Of course they both want green, camo for Alex and lime green for Heather.

This weekend is my first Red Hats & Purple Chaps-MoKan, Purple Posse meeting at the Louisburg Cider Mill. I think there will be about 20 ladies there. A few are unable to come this weekend but are interested in our first event. I’d like to line up a despooking clinic but need to find a stable and trainer. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous so maybe we’ll do the corn maze! Below is a picture of the Queen Mum of the RHPC of Indiana, the original group. Aren't they gorgeous?

Driving home yesterday I saw a truck with a large tooth on top. Weird. Traffic was moving at a fast clip so I couldn’t get a quick picture to post. I’ll look tonight to see if it’s still there.

Hope to get in touch with Kim and ride this weekend. I really miss getting in the saddle and spending time with her.

Moving Stinks!

The kids start school tomorrow and we're still packing up the house to get everything moved. I remember when we moved into our current house I swore I wouldn't be moving again. But the city encroached on us with over 5,000 new houses in just in our neighborhood and it's time to get back to the country.

As I pack, I start to wonder why I have more books than the local library, more sewing machines than the store, and clothes that there is NO WAY I will ever wear again because the style is, uhm, so 90's!! Talk about a good time to start putting things on Freecycle!

Kim let me know about a trail ride in Missouri over the Labor Day holiday. I just sent off our deposit and really look forward to going. Course Wally said we have to be completely moved in order to go...can you say INCENTIVE!?!

He is buying Kim's horse Sage who is also Clementine's mom. She's a beautiful paint who has been used for trick riding. I think the two of them will do great together. Now we're a family of paint horse riders. I always have loved a well colored horse.

Now I just have to get the vet up to do Dakota's vaccinations, coggins test and health certificate. Kim had his feet done last Thursday so we're ready to go!

Happy Day & Busy Weekend

Yesterday I met my riding friend Kim at the pasture for the horses to be trimmed and shod in preparation for a trail riding event Labor Day weekend. I got to ride Dakota around the small field while we waited for the farrier to arrive. Most of my friends know I have adored Dakota from the moment I laid eyes on him. And he does beautifully on trails with a nice little smooth trot and canter, with a sure foot and decent manners.

Yesterday Kim told me she had decided to sell Dakota! I cannot begin to explain how excited I was. Wally gave me his blessing and I told Kim I wanted him. I am the happiest gal on earth! He'll stay at Kim's pasture for awhile, and since Kim and I ride together, that works fine for both of us.

I haltered and led Clementine and messed with her feet. She is growing and behaves so well...and still loves to have her rump scratched. I hope to get Heather out to the pasture so she can groom her, do fly spraying and work on some of her ground training.

We should get moved this weekend, or at least the majority of our move completed. The kids start to school next Wednesday so we have a clear deadline to meet!! What we can't get into the house because of the remodel, will have to go into storage, but we need to be living in one house versus this crazy back and forth business. So this weekend will be BUSY! No horse riding or fun unless we get a quick break at the pool.

This morning I saw a great bumper sticker. "Despite the high cost of living, it still remains amazingly popular!"

Why Aren't Weekends Relaxing?

Seems that once the weekend rolls around there should be some down time…time to get rested, relaxed and ready for the next week. But that just doesn’t ever happen! I had a nasty migraine on Friday that caused me to miss work.

I still had to make a covered dish to take to the pot luck at Linn Valley to feed military visitors and their families who came for Community Days. I cheated and made a tomato salad (cubes of fresh tomato, finely diced onion with low cal Italian salad dressing poured over the top). Must have been good, one gal came by and wanted to know my recipe because her husband loved it. Those who have eaten my cooking know that most times no one is ever going to ask for my recipe!! It's hard to mess up fresh tomatoes though.

We were up early Saturday morning and I hurried to the Community Center where I was put to work making BBQ beef sandwiches for the lunch sales. After an hour and a half of that I drove one of the other volunteers to the Club House to retrieve her car, then raced back to the Community Center to sell raffle tickets. I was relieved from the raffle table after about an hour so I could go judge the hot dog eating contest. Luckily it wasn’t a hot dog puking contest and Jonathan won with 5 dogs and buns downed in 5 minutes. The other guy only got down 3 and looked a little green. It was close to 100 degrees so that might have had something to do with his unhealthy color.

Right after that, the big Chanook helecopter took off. I was within 50 feet of it and got good video with my phone camera. After it got up off the ground about 25-30 feet, the wind gusts from the rotars were so strong they almost knocked me down! I'll post the video here later.

At 3:30 we started the tear down and clean up, so by 4:30 when we got back to our house, we were beat! Wally shampooed the carpets in the kids’ rooms and they came out decent. Now I just need to patch the nail holes, sand and paint Alex’s room, and fix the plaster in the corners of Heather’s room, spray bleach on the ceiling and wall where the roof leaked, sand and paint. Hopefully I can get that done this week so over the weekend we can get their furniture moved. The ceilings and carpets in the front part of the house will have to wait until we get moved.

To top that off, Alex seems to have gotten Lyme Disease! He has the big bulls eye rash on his upper back, he has a fever, and is extremely lethargic. I took him to the urgent care clinic Sunday noon as soon as we got back to Shawnee and the doctor wouldn’t even look at him. She said they don’t diagnose Lyme Disease, but she’d be happy to see him in her office on Monday. Well he can see his own doctor on Monday! DUH!

Rodeo Kids was cancelled for Sunday because of all the rain. I’m fine with that. We had so much other stuff going on all weekend, it let us take a breather Sunday afternoon. It’s almost better to get back to work so I can rest!

The Weekly News

I just realized it had been a week since I showed my face here! Okay, things have been busy. I’ve been riding the bus which eats up two extra hours a day. Hubby and son were gone and are now home from Boy Scout camp in Wisconsin. Heather bought her first horse, a 3-month old filly named Clementine (a/k/a Zippy Texas Missy). They are so cute together! Clementine will stay at Kim’s pasture with her mama for awhile. She’s not weaned yet and it’s good for her to be with the rest of the herd to learn manners.

I sold my featherweight sewing machine to Nancy so have the money for the down payment on Chase, one of Kim’s geldings. Then I noticed on the new school website yesterday that the kids start back to school August 13th! Holy Cow! That seems really early! So we have to hurry and get the lake house livable and get moved in time for school. Two weeks from yesterday!! That means my horse down payment has to go to trench in the water so we can actually live in the lake house. We were short (read BROKE) this month because Wally doesn’t get paid if he doesn’t work. Ouch. Next month I’ll be able to get my money out of our account for my horse down payment. Having a place to live with running water is more important. Maybe. No running water means no dish washing or doing laundry…hmm, thinking.

This weekend is the big Community Days event at Linn Valley. I volunteered to work. Since I’m a full-fledged member of the community now, it is important to do my part to make it the kind of place I want to live. All the work shouldn’t be done by the same people all the time or eventually they burn out and no one gets to have fun. I think I’m working at the BBQ for lunch, then I’m selling raffle tickets for awhile and after that, judging the hot dog eating contest. I only hope the hot dog eaters are not hot dog pukers because I didn’t sign up for hazard duty!

Sunday we will go to Rodeo Kids in Independence. We had a great time there last Sunday, watching all the kids go through their riding drills. We’re going early this week so we can trim some low hanging tree branches above the bleachers and in the parking area. I’m taking a big Igloo drink cooler of ½ strength Gatorade and ice, and a great big jar of dill pickles. Those are good for replenishing the salt lost sweating in this Midwest summer heat. I may do hot dogs in the crock pot so we can all eat after lessons are done. Hopefully someone else will bring chips and cookies. The kids are all so cute riding. Heather wants to ride the drills this week so I hope Kim has a horse she can ride. I think Tank would be just her speed if he goes!

Summertime & Crazy Gas Prices

It is definitely summertime in the midwest! Wow! Nineties every day this week. Almost too hot to ride horses. I hope to sell my recumbent bike or featherweight sewing machine to get the money for a horse, now that I’ve discovered riding really makes my messed up back feel better. What were the odds of that?!? I can’t ride the bike because of the pelvic fracture from last September…my weight seems to be distributed right at the fracture point and it doesn’t feel too great. No sense in keeping such a beautiful bike if I can’t ride it.

Heather and I scouted out the riding trails around LaCygne Lake at Linn County Park. There are three trails, ranging from 6 to 22 miles. I can’t wait to get out and ride those! There were deer everywhere and they weren’t afraid of the car at all. I even saw a few places where the horses can go out into the lake and swim. That will be fun!

I drove by a gas station by our house in town yesterday and the price is up to $4.16! Yikes! Once I get through this week, I’m back on the bus!!

Horse Crazy

I love horses. I always have. Horses have been a part of my life since I could coerce “Santa” into bringing me one when I was 5 or 6 years old. I rode before that whenever the opportunity arose and had horses until a few years ago when we moved to town.

Recently I decided to try riding again. My lack of time in the saddle may be one of the reasons I’ve grown a butt! Anyway, I found a great gal with too many horses to ride all herself (really—who wants to ride alone all the time anyway?) who Heather and I can ride with. How exciting is that! Tonight I rode Alpo, Kim's husband's horse. Kim rode Dakota. He’s has the most amazing colors! Don't you agree?