~Been Awhile~

It's been far too long. I have been busy but also my life hasn't been to interesting as of late. Beau and Roper ran off last Monday and Roper got something stuck in his foot. That cost us a trip to the vet and about $100. We never did see if anything was in his foot but eventually he stopped limping. We bought them new ID tags and when they ran off yesterday someone called us. Definitely worth the money. So all the "children" are home safe now.
I've ridden Midknight once last week and once this week. The first time I rode him he bucked like heck. That was FUN! He didn't get me off though. Then this past Tuesday I got on him again. I could feel his muscles tighten under me, his head was up, his nostrils flared, I knew he only had one thing on his mind. I decided not to press my luck. I got off and clipped a lunge line to him. He stepped off into a brisk trot and then with a lunge forward and a leap into the air he threw his heels to the sun, a very stunning display of what he is capable of when bucking. I was most thankful that I was not on him at the time. He ran a few laps one way then the other. After he'd settled down a bit I got back on him and had a great ride. We trotted and Cantered both directions without a problem. I haven't ridden as much as I'd like to this week and today it's raining. Oh well always next week.
My latest obsession has been shopping on eBay. Not that I didn't shop on eBay before, believe me I did. But without having friends to hit the stores with here I've found myself bargain hunting on that great flea market of the web. Where else can one browse Saddle pads and Jessica Simpson shoes at the same time. I am currently hunting a denim skirt for church. I've found a few I like now I have to get the best deal and sneak them into the house around Chris. I say sneak but it's not like he doesn't know. I mean the account shows every pay pal purchase. (darn online banking) So I must resort to my best "honey, look how much money I saved though" and "I really do need a new skirt". This doesn't work as well with saddle pads and polo wraps considering I really do have enough they're just the same boring ones I've had for ever, and I wanted new ones. Chris, however just rolls his eyes. I love him. The only problem I'm running into is not having a job. Not having a job to wear all those new shoes to, not having a job to pay off bills, not having a job to rationalize spending more on shoes, purses, skirts, whatever the current "thing" is. I've been filling out applications so much that I'm sick of writing my own name. Whatever the "right" job is I hope it works out soon. With the grass growing we need a weed eater, grass seed for the horse pasture, and all kinds of other homeowner expenses. Cross your fingers that nothing breaks until I get a job.

~Churches~

We have finally found a Church we really like and we've been going regularly. http://messiahbaptist.blogspot.com/

We are very happy with it. We went through some interesting situations to get here though. My story pertains to one church in particular. (The name has been omitted to protect their identity)

We showed up there a few Sundays ago, walked in the door behind a man wearing a cowboy hat. I should have taken that as a warning and left. Not to say there is anything wrongs with cowboy hats I own several. We were greeted by one older talkative man and then the Pastor. He informed us that a most of the congregation had been sick and there was some antibacterial hand gel in the back should we need it. (I could have walked out right then) Chris though we should give it a chance though. I believe I have talked about this experience before well, this is the rest of the story.

One day we were on our way home from a Team roping or some other event and noticed our mailbox had a slight lean to it. Chris got out of the truck to investigate. All he found was a track from this same church. We assumed the mail lady bumped the mailbox and that the track had blown away and was resting against the post. We had received some info in the mail and thought it could have been that something fell out. (clumsy mail lady)

A few days ago I was visited by this pastor. There he informed me that it was he who had hit my mailbox and didn't leave a note. The track was his way of letting us know who'd done it. I was flabbergasted standing at the door looking my culprit in the eye after more than a week of blaming the poor mail lady. He did not offer us a new mailbox or any help fixing it merely another track and an apology. I didn't know what to do, roper did however. He marched right out that door and peed on the man. I could do no more than watch in horror/laughter.

The moral of the story? trust your dog's instincts about a person or a parson as the case may be.

Laughing.

I'm really learning a lot about the little things in life that make it all worth while. Like having a horse nicker softly at you, or a Dog lick you in the face. However being licked awake out of a wonderful dream isn't so pleasant. Roper's true meaning in life is to jump on our heads and lick our faces. Every time I get on the computer he's not far behind waiting to climb in my lap and wash my face. Then of course is Jesse he prefers to climb his 160 pound body onto the bed and nudge or just flat out squash me off the bed. He has an enormous head and he loves to use my too full bladder as a pillow thus forcing me off the bed. As I groggily make my way to the kitchen for coffee(what makes me human) there's Beau trying desperately to get me to the door so he can go out and play ball.( Because even at 5 o'clock in the morning playing ball is fun.) Of course where Beau is there the other two are also. Jesse's favorite thing to do is walk right in front of me and then stop because he has no idea where "we" are going. Every time he does this I am reminded of something my mother always said. you see, we (me and my sister) use to do the same thing to her. She said "someday you will have kids and they will do this to you." No, I don't have kids in the literal sense but she was right my "kids" do it to me. (how did she know that?)

My morning routine includes feeding the horses and dogs. The horses are first and that soft nicker is the polite reminded that they are hungry. It quickly turns into loud whinnying and thrusting of every one's head over the stall door. Then Kristo shows his impatience by pushing against the stall door trying to break out. After I feed them I turn them out. Elvis of course is first, Kristo and Midknight do not like this one bit; and they show it. Midknight by pacing and Kristo by bucking and rearing. (yes, in his stall) Then they two go out to play in the field. Next I feed the dogs.

Lately the dogs have been running off during their morning out time so I have been making them wait until I go out to feed the horses. They don't like it. They were being obnoxious this morning so I put Jesse and Roper in the garage. Chris called and I told him where they were and he said "be careful, Jesse has been known to not be able to hold it." So I blame him for what happened next. I got off the phone and got changed, and headed for the garage to let the pups out. There I found Mt. Everest and one of the great lakes. So I laugh because there's nothing else to do. I am so blessed in my wonderful husband. He's willing to clean up all the mountains and rivers. Thanks Honey!

Amazing!

I got to ride today and it was Amazing!! I worked Kristo first and he did a great job! He walked, trotted, and even cantered on the lunge line with hardly a misstep. He got a little frisky but settled down in the end. I put him away and pulled out old faithful, Elvis. he did really well lengthen his stride and we even got a few steps of shoulder in mostly shoulder fore though. At any rate it was better than we had been doing so I'm happy. I can't wait to work Midknight tomorrow. maybe Kristo again too. I love my horses they keep me sane!

Overslept!

This morning I awoke the first time to Chris leaving for work instead of our usual morning coffee and Bible reading he and I both slept through the alarm. He finally woke up at 6 and was rushing around getting ready for work. As he was leaving I offered to walk him to the door I was pulling some sweatpants on because the house was cold when I scratched my leg with my own fingernail. I don't know which nail, or how it happened I was still half asleep all I know was it hurt like (well u know the rest). I then went back to bed only to be awakened by Jesse jumping off the bed and the sound of Roper trying to hurl. I ran to the door to let him out but it was too late he couldn't make it. I then tried to get him out of the house and he ralphed again. on the kitchen tile. I shuffled all the dogs into the garage and crawled back into bed. I was awakened once again by my phone ringing, Steph called to chat. It was then that I realized it was 11 am and I was just waking up. This was bad my poor horses hadn't been fed, neither had the dogs. I rushed around to get them all fed, then Chris came home for lunch and I've been on the phone with Steph all day. So lets just say my productivity has been around nil. I am now trying to recover as Chris has PT today and Steph has class so I am left to my own devices which will be Riding, cleaning house, and working out.