Tuesday

up at 6am!

Mary was also up, and we conversed over the coffee pot in mumbles and grumbles :)

Left at 6:30 in the middle of a torrential down pour! NO joke. It was raining ELEPHANTS and RHINOS, not puppies and kittens!

Directions and Coffee in hand, I head out.....

Made it to 35 N no problem! I'm on that road all the time at Mary's place!
Made it to exit 227, Slaughter Lane no problem....well marked...

COULD NOT FIND MOPAC EXPWY...not there.....
Drove till I found a mom and pop (looked like an old shed) convenience store and asked directions. Apparently the road I passed about 10 miles back while still on Slaughter WAS MOPAC, but labeled LOOP 1! YIKES! got back to loop 1 (at least I was on the correct end of town, or so I thought!)
I drove to where SHOULD have been the address according to the map.....nadda! It was a BIG open field.
HUMMMM
Got out paper work and called the AFO where I was supposed to be....explained where I was.
Was told "oh, you are on the wrong end of town!!"
Keep coming on Loop 1 till you get to Braker Lane.....at Braker say on feeder road through the light, we are on the right, can't miss us! I'll let Bob (guy giving class) know you are going to be late." CRAP! Wrong end?? Darn Google Directions!
Ok...so, I was told I had about 15 miles to go...not so bad, right? It was 8:10 when I talked to lady at the AFO. I figured for sure, even with traffic and weather, I'd be there by 9!
WRONG ANSWER!
I drove 4 miles in one hour! Apparently when it rains during rush hour on Loop 1 traffic is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY slow.
Called AFO at 9....umm where is that road, I'm at X exit?
"Oh my, you are still on other side of town. Traffic must be terrible. I'll tell Bob"
9:15 I pulled into AFO parking lot.
Found BOB's Class.
about 15 mins after me...in walks someone else. Nice to not be the only one late.

Class was fun! Learned lots! Bob is a mess! Very funny. Makes this BORING information as fun as possible. Doesn't make you feel stupid for wrong answers. Reminds me of a cartoon character but I can't put my finger on which one.

Headed back to Mary's at 4:30. Made 15-20 mile drive to where I got lost at in 30 mins! 30 mins! Took be an hour and a half plus that morning in traffic.
No work out for Cas. He got his teeth done today by Dr. Huffmann from Retama.
So, we dinked around with the other horses a bit. I ran two errands in town before I got back to Mary's. Cas' clip on his lead broke, so I got a new clip. Also, ran into Hobby Lobby in San Marcos to get some stuff for my niece's homecoming mums...there is another story in itself. TEXAS homecoming mums. Will post, with pics when they are done :)

Got to bed late - to be up early!

Monday PM in review

Monday......
Seems soooo long ago!

Left office at lunch time, 12:30
Headed home to finish packing, eat a quick lunch and head to San Marcos
Left home about 3
Arrived San Marcos 5:30

Mary was happy to see me, not sure about Casper though!
Mary tacked up Cas and to the outdoor we went.....

Not sure what I expected. Dr. Wells did Chirio and injected left hip......so I was hoping for better.
Supplement doesn't seem to be doing trick. Cas is still really 'snap, crackle, pop' like a bowl full of rice crispies with milk just poured on them. Talk to Mary, I think we are going to cancel the joint supplement and go with monthly adaquane injections. About the same price, and SHOULD work much better :)

So.....Mary starts out with him on the lunge. I see a bit of a difference. He's pushing with his hind end, getting his legs nice and underneath him....driving.

Mary gets on.......after about 10 mins of bending and flexing he is pretty soft and supple in his neck....

a bit fast in his gaits to start.....then after about 30 mins Mary asks him to jog. and when I say job people, I mean J - O - G - S- L - O - W. His neck is LEVEL with his top line (big smiles there) he is collected, with a pleasant expression on his face, other than a 'are you gonna whack my mouth' look once in a while. It was sooo nice to see such progress. 4 or 5 weeks ago he was not that soft/supple/relaxed.
Mary and I even started talking about the SAN ANTONIO stock show for his 'under saddle debut'. :) WOW!

Finished up in the barn...headed to the house.....got to bed late....10:30 or so...
Up at 6am Tuesday to head to Class in Austin... YIPPEE!

Weekd end stuff

Friday night saw us a Jen's house.....

Saturday found us in Port Aransas taking care of one of our clients' horses (8 horses and 2 donkey's) - then back at Jen's finishing up

Sunday found us running to Angleton to BCSO to check out a potential Catahoula Rescue foster dog - then some errands were run, met some friends in town around dinner time, trimmed one of friends' horses and finally made it home about 7pm to move the big square bale, let the dogs out, make some dinner and, CRASH.

Pretty busy but 'boring' weekend. No horse stuff going on.

OH, leaving this afternoon for training in Austin and to see Casper! YAY!
I will prolly not be around again until Thursday 9/24....so hope everyone has a great week! :)

Lunging Mosquitoes - 9/17/09

LOL, Just kidding!

Lunging Ransom, who was wearing mosquitoes?
NAH!

Lunging Ransom who was wearing lots of mosquitoes through his BUG SPRAY.....
YEP!

Jen had some stuff to do last night so I told her I'd run by her place on the way home and Lunge Ransom for her. She is working hard to get ready for a show on 9/27 and we didn't want to loose any momentum!

So, tacked Ransom up, black polos, blue pad, surcingle, side reins and off we went.
*noted that on his right side he was very sensitive to brushing...with stiff bristle and softer. Almost like he was saying 'umm that hurts, stop it, stop it, stop it'. *

Went down to the FAR END OF THE ARENA - his least fav of the two ends
Started going left....walking - no side reins
He took off into a canter and I let him get it out of his system.
Changed direction
Now going right - no side reins - walk
Again, takes off cantering......dadadum, dadadum, dadadum.....
Changed direction again - added side reins on 8 - now going left
Worked on transitions - walk/trot - trot/canter - canter/trot - trot/walk - walk/canter
Ransom was moving very nicely this way. Mucho impulsion, holding a nice frame, going some where...yay pony!
Right side, however....not so much.
He didn't want to hold the trot...he preferred to canter. So, canter we did....lots. Worked on transitions this way too, same as above. He was much better by the time we stopped and got carried back to the trailer to un-tack by the mosquitoes! It was nice not having to walk all that way back to the trailer!

Un-tacked, hosed him off.....did some cookie stretches....and turned him back out where he started eating grass right away. It has rained here...we have grass now! :)

FRIDAY fiLL iNs

1. My car is filthy! I feel like I live in it!!

2. Casper's vet visit, including teeth floating and shots is coming up next.

3. Lately, things seem CRAZY, but that's NORMAL around my place!

4. In the bathroom with the door locked is one of my favorite 'hiding' places.

5. What happened to the good 'ole days when a dollar went somewhere and people treated each other well??

6. My show outfit getting done in time, my mom getting here with out issue, and having enough money to go to the horse show with CASPER the end of next month is not impossible!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to showing Jen how to poultice Ransom's legs, tomorrow my plans include day trip to Port 'A' (working, not pleasure) and Sunday, I want to CHILL, RELAX, TAKE IT EASY (yeah right!)!

Casper Update

M. Wells - chiro extraordinaire/DVM
Paid a visit to my MONSTER today.
Actually, Mary just called and talked to me for a few mins.

Casper had something wrong with his 'butt' (for lack of a better work cause he used the fancy technical terminology) that was keeping him from being able to reach forward and thru with the last part of his canter stride. Sorry, best way I can describe it. It keeps them from being able to pick up a lead and follow thru with the stride all way.
So, Mr. W is going to inject this area.
We are going to give him Today, Friday, and Saturday off.
Mary will ride him on Sunday....
and I will get to see him MONDAY NIGHT! I'm so excited about that!
Mary said Casper was trying to grab the phone from her while she was talking to me.
I said he just wants to talk to him Mom! :) I miss him!

Jenn's Hauling Service

At your service!

A friend of mine broke down hauling her horses to Corpus on Sunday. She was stranded. Had no way to get back home (Victoria). So, after checking my schedule I decided I had time to go pick her up after work last night (Wednesday).
Got up at 6am to feed my critters....to work by 8:30. Left work at 5. Got to Corpus at 7. Left Corpus with trailer and horse in tow around 7:30/7:45 and got back to C's house around 9:15ish.
Unloaded horse, put him away in his stall.
Unhooked trailer
Hugs and Thank You's and I left about 10pm.
Got home about 11....let dogs out and CRASHED! Exhausted!!
Didn't open eyeballs until alarm clock went off at 6! YAY!

Show Clothes Cometh!

Ok, I did it. I ordered a CUSTOM show outfit. jacket and pants.
I have looked around for OVER a YEAR and have NOT been able to find ANYTHING I can afford.....until now!
Check on Connie Colvin's THE WINNERS FIT prices look VERY reasonable, product looks great!
I should have outfit in about 4 weeks, just in time for my Halloween day show with Casper!
Connie's price are amazing. I can't stress that enough! The least expensive CUSTOM I have found any where else is $500.00 just for the jacket, a PLAIN one I might add. Lambskin and 'bling' would be extra! YIKES!
I will keep you posted on the process...I should be getting photos during the making of the jacket.

for the Dressage Priness in Training!!!

Potential Fabrics for my show jacket

Fabric option ONE

Fabric Option Two

Either way, pants will be plain brown, jacket will have about 200 swarovski crystals for that added BLING!!

NICKELBACK 9 - 12 - 09

Back in June, Jen and I got tickets for ourselves and our DH/SO to go see Nickelback in concert. IN a word...... amazinglyawesomefantabulous!!
(feel sorry for the spell check machine on that one).

We started out the afternoon with a quick and comical (Notre Dame vs. Michigan) lunch/dinner at George's Pastaria and Devine Catering. Hands down the best Italian Food I've had since leaving up state NY! If you are in the Houston area and on the hunt for Great Italian....George's is my suggestion! If the tall, dark haired Italian gentleman is watching football while serving you, please root for the other team as your experience here will be very FUN!

We got there a bit after the concert was scheduled to start, but that was ok. No one was really interested in seeing the first two bands, although we did get there in time to hear a bit of Hinder! Photo above!

Got some Concert T shirts, grabbed some drinks...and went off to find our seats. Thank goodness we'd paid good money to get under the covered part because it threatened to rain all evening! Better safe than sorry!

On to Nickelback. WOW. Their music is really great. Their performance was amazing. The lighting and effects were awesome! Flame throwers, firework like explosions, fog......and there is a BIG BANG that starts it all and makes you jump a foot in the air! I know I did! Jen and her SO laughed at me. They had seen them a few months back in San Antonio and knew what was coming. I did not! Yikes!

The Drummer - Daniel Adair - amazing, totally amazing. Amazing doesn't even begin to put a dent in it. Between songs he performed a solo that totally rocked the Woodlands Pavilion. My arms would have been ready to fall off, but he kept going and going, and going....like the energizer bunny. And, he's for sure nice to look at! Yummy eye candy! Photo above and Below.

There was a bit more alcohol involved in the whole production that I would have liked. I think the lead singer, Chad Kroeger forgot that the NORMAL PEOPLE that attend his concert have to get on the road and DRIVE home. In addition to the gigantic rolling table of beer that was brought out and passed around the first 10 rows "the PIT" there was a case of ice cold Grey Goose vodka that was passed around as well. Please have ID if you want the Grey Goose, was all that was said. So, a bit too much drinking going on.

My DH snagged a t-Shirt that was shot out of the "t-shirt cannon" much to the dismay of the little teenybopper girls sitting next to us.

Chad, to the surprise of EVERYONE in attendance grabbed a stool, an acoustic guitar and busted out with the first 1/2 of Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places". EVERYONE in the crowd was singing along, loudly, I might add! It was very entertaining! Over all - truly a great event. Will for sure go see them again.

Unfortunately, they aren't going to play in the US anymore this year. This concert was their last in the stated. They are headed to Australia, and Japan to finish out the rest of the year! Will be looking them up in 2010!!

I leave you with the lyrics from the Hinder song I enjoy, and got to hear/see while waiting in line at the t-Shirt Booth!

"Lips Of An Angel"

Honey why you calling me so late?

It's kinda hard to talk right now.

Honey why are you crying?

Is everything okay?

I gotta whisper 'cause I can't be too loud

Well, my girl's in the next room

Sometimes I wish she was you

I guess we never really moved on

It's really good to hear your voice saying my name

It sounds so sweet

Coming from the lips of an angel

Hearing those words it makes me weak

And I never wanna say goodbye

But girl you make it hard to be faithful

With the lips of an angel

It's funny that you're calling me tonight

And, yes, I've dreamt of you too

And does he know you're talking to me

Will it start a fight

No I don't think she has a clue

Well my girl's in the next room

Sometimes I wish she was you

I guess we never really moved on

It's really good to hear your voice saying my name

It sounds so sweet

Coming from the lips of an angel

Hearing those words it makes me weak

And I never wanna say goodbye

But girl you make it hard to be faithful

With the lips of an angel

It's really good to hear your voice saying my name

It sounds so sweet

Coming from the lips of an angel

Hearing those words it makes me weak

And I never wanna say goodbye

But girl you make it hard to be faithful

With the lips of an angel

And I never wanna say goodbye

But girl you make it hard to be faithful

With the lips of an angel

Honey why you calling me so late?

I leave you all with this......

Always Remember

Never Forget

Friday Fill Ins

1. That's a _ terrible way _ to be.

2. _ Hay, grumpy CRAB; I'm over here!

3. The possibilities include: _ include.....humm I seem to have forgotten!!

4. _ Yankee Chili (not texas Chili, it just has meat and beans!!) _ is one of my favorite cool day recipes.

5. How will you know _ what time we are leaving on Saturday?? Not till J and R call and say "we're on the way!"

6. _ Cloudy with a chance of meatballs _ and a stormy sky.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _ getting home EARLY!! _, tomorrow my plans include _Nickel Back!!! _ and Sunday, I want to _ get my sewing machine and start making stuff _!

9 - 11 - 09

ON the 8 year "Anniversary" of 9/11/01 I feel compelled to post a few pictures and ask everyone....
Do you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when the terrible attack was made on our country?
I do....
I was in Poolesville, Maryland. It was my day off. The rest of the girls were out in the barn doing chores. I was sleeping on the couch. The phone kept ringing, and ringing, and ringing. It was the mother of one of my co-workers. She wanted to know if we knew what was going on. We didn't. I turned on the TV...and then ran to the barn to get my friends and co-workers. We all sat, in awe and watched.
That's where I was......where were you??

My Turn - 20 questions!

I think it's more like fill in the blank..but ok here goes!

1. My ex ... isn't speaking to me, can't blame him i guess.

2. Maybe I should ... concentrate on getting my insurance license so my boss will HUSH!

3. I love ... the fact that CASPER is ok, my mom is coming in October and I will be taking Cas to his first show with her here!!!

4. People would say that I am ... a nice person.

5. I don't understand why ... people are so mean to animals.

6. When I wake up in the morning ... I'm happy to be happy!!

7. I lost ... lots of things...wish I could find 'em!!

8. If I had my way ... my dog Tucker would live forever because I can't stand that he's getting older and I'm closer to being with out him.

9. My past ... was a WHOLE LOTTA FUN!

10. I get annoyed by ... people who can't plan accordingly!

11. Parties are ... more enjoyable at my house because I don't have to drive home!

12. I wish life was not ... so hard sometimes!

13. Dogs ... are truly man's best friend.

14. Cats ... have never been my favorite critter.

15. Tomorrow... is FRIDAY! YAY!

16. I have a low tolerance ... for ignorance and tardiness.

17. If I had a million dollars ... I'd share with friends and family but keep enough to be comfortable!

18. I'm totally terrified of ... trying things for the first time, I hate it!

19. My spouse is ... (you caught me on a good day) working very hard trying to pass his TCLEOSE so he can be a peace officer.

20. My life is ... BUSY!!