MDH Christmas Party

Kylie and I went to the momsdaughtersandhorses.com annual Christmas party yesterday afternoon. It was so fun. Good to see everyone and talk horses, which is always fun. Kylie had fun playing with the girls, decorating cookies, and making Cookies for the horses to eat. The gift exchange was as fun as always - my first gift was a stuffed animal horse in a purse (which got stolen) and then Kylie ended up stealing it back for her :) all in all a good time, here are some pics:

On another note - we went got hay on Saturday - 2 ton yeah now we can wait a couple months to get more. We also delivered some hay for starsandstripesequinerescue.com to some people in need. I can't donate money right now but I can sure donate time to deliver hay! The people were very appreciative and you could tell they love their horses. Now they can keep them and not have them end up in a terrible situation. All in all a pretty good weekend.

What a depressing post that last one was! I do want to say that before we took that road we tried to do all of the right things. We sold our house last spring (at a loss) as we could rent for half of the payment of the house. Our rental is actually nicer then our house was and the horses still have 5 acres to play on. We also sold anything that was paid for except the horse trailer (which is not worth much) and cut back wherever possible. It was a hard decision to make but in the end it came down to our trucks and four wheelers - our pick ups being 61% of our debt. We did not run up a bunch of credit cards - actually last year we paid off an 8000 credit card and I cut it up. All of our others were under 2000. Anyway not that I needed to justify but after reading the post it struck me that there is no mention of how we got there except that Dwane has not found steady work. ON a good note starting January 4 he will be working for Stimson in Plummer (which means staying at his brothers during the week) for 6 to 8 weeks and then hopefully his dump truck will get busy as they did have driver quit and he will be moved into a permanent position at that time. So hopefully next year will look better then this.

As for the ponies they are doing good. Dwane gets to feed 3 times a day since he is home - I told him instead of feeding extra at feeding time give them an afternoon snack since it is so cold out. They are fat and sassy and I am a fair weather horse person so besides being fed - looked at for ouchies - watered they have it pretty easy all winter :).

Upheaval

I haven't felt like posting in a while. Life is kind of in an upheaval - Dwane is not working at all anymore and it has become pretty difficult. Unfortuanately we had to bite the bullet and file bankruptcy - which means we both have to find new vehicles, I have found a car but we still have to find a pick up. I guess the good thing will be (if there is anything good out of this) we will be debt free when it is over. Anyway trying to work through and get back on track but have not been very talkative about life so on to more positive.

The horses are doing good even in the -8 degree weather. Their blankets are keeping them warm and they now have the trees to get out of the wind. But they are going into winter fat and sassy. We have to go get hay this weekend - good thing is it went down to $125 a ton and it is the best grass hay I have ever used. The horses just love it and the guy said he would have hay for most of the winter. He sells it until he gets down to about 10 ton and then saves that for spring to make sure he has enough for his cows then sells his excess. I am hoping next year to get all of our hay from him in the summer. Hopefully Dwane will find a job and then we can buy all of our hay at once like last year. That was nice putting 10 ton of hay up all at once and not worrying about it - this year a ton a month is all I can do. Anyway enjoy your horses they are what brings happiness - the simple things that is what I am going back to.

New Saddle

This is my new saddle! Thanks to my Dad. It has been on lay a way most of the summer - I gave up coffee (well almost) and started taking my usual coffee money to put on it. My Dad sent me money for my Birthday and I told him I was going to put it on my saddle and then I should have it out by Christmas - Two days later I received a check in the mail for the remainder amount owing and a Merry Christmas from my Dad! Now all I have to do is figure out how to get the stirrups shorter.

On another note took another ride at Farragut this weekend hence the above picture :). Last weekend rode around the house, the weekend before we went to the Newman Lake Game Preserve. That was okay but not enough trails to warrant trailering from my house. Kylie went, it was her first ride since the Autumn taking off incident. She did ok but she was whiney from not enough sleep (we picked her up from a sleep over on the way there). She rode Ben and did fine. My friend from work who has not ridden in 15 years rode Autumn and had a blast. I feel like I have to try and ride every weekend as the cold is fast approaching and I don't like to be cold :)

On another note this is a picture of Tidbit now Zeb. He was a rescue from a couple years ago that I took in as a yearling. When he was two he went to his new home in Wenatchee. This is him now as a 4 year old in training. It is so nice to see that he ended up in such a great home. And thanks to Linda - I can now put pictures on here! Thanks for the advice Linda.

I got to go riding again this last weekend. I went to Farragut with Andrea and Candee. It was alot of fun - Andrea rode Ben and Candee brought her own horse - I of course rode Willow. The weather was perfect warm with a light breeze. It was alot of fun. I really need to remember to get some pics one of these rides. Willow wasn't too sure what to do after some horses passed us, she kept walking out so fast like she was trying to catch them. Then we climbed a few hills and she slowed back down. Only one mishap at the end of the day - while unloading Ben my friends dog heeled him when he was half out of the trailer and he came flying back in, but I just bent my thumb back and it is pretty sore. The dog is no longer on my good list :)

Sure wish I could figure out how to post pictures on here. There have been some good ones.
On another note I went to Farragut after work with my neighbor yesterday. I still had my friend's three horse and it has dividers in it (where my trailer does not). So I called a neighbor I met recently Candee and asked if she wanted to go to Farragut. When I got to her house her horse has not been in a trailer for 2 years - on the opposing side Willow has never been in the trailer by herself so she was a little nervous for the beginning of the ride. After getting Candee trapped - got the mare in and attached to the quick release and she pulled back and to the side trapping her - I am now a firm believer in the quick release tie downs as that was the only thing that saved her - well worth the money I paid for them. Anyway she loaded up and we got the door closed and once she figured out she couldn't go backwards she was fine. We rode for about 2 1/2 hours a couple new trails, there are so many there but they all circle back around eventually. It was such a perfect night for a ride, not to hot, nice breeze blowing. My legs are not happy with me today with that being my second long ride in two days but it sure was fun. I wish I could go out every day, if only I didn't have to work :).

On a good note Dwane is going to look into a union job my old neighbor just called him on. He may have to go out of town for a couple months but $25.00 an hour would be hard to pass up, especially since he will not have to pay to stay there. They will let him use their camper while he is there. So fingers crossed, once he gets in there will be other jobs closer to home, did I mention the beginning job would be in Boise?

Long overdue update

I know it has been a long time since I have been on here. I just could not make myself write about how my summer has gone. First the horses are all good - but until yesterday I had not ridden since June. I really needed their feet to be done and finally was able to find a new shoer and get them done. First I guess I will update my ride from yesterday. I finally got Dwane on a horse. I got Ben back a couple weeks ago as Sam has moved into her new house and does not have fencing up and wants to get down to a couple horses. We borrowed my friends 3 horse trailer and we loaded up and went to Farragut. Dwane on Ben, Kylie on Autumn and me on Willow - all was good till about half way through the ride. Kylie had gotten a little too comfortable and when Autumn spooked at a motorcycle she was not able to pull back fast enough and Autumn took off like a bullet. She was all out and my heart just dropped (Dwane is in the background yelling) I am trying to follow and calm her down but not make Autumn feel like she is being chased. Kylie finally got her reins up and pulled her back down to a walk and then a stop. She was pretty scared - but got back on. I did take Willow's halter off from under her bridle and put it on Autumn under her bridle and ponied her, I did not control Autumn she had the ability to go in front of Willow and I made sure Kylie knew that the only time I was going to stop her was if she took off like that again. By the end of the ride Kylie was back in control and paying attention the whole time. We did have one incident with Willow - the rope got caught around her butt because I wasn't paying enough attention - I always knew if she was going to buck it would be hard - one jump and I was up over the saddle horn and basically sitting on her neck - but she stopped instantly when I pulled back, if she had taken another jump I would have been on the ground. Other then that it was about a 3 hour ride and we had fun.
Prior to this Dwane got fired from his fill in job - some weeks he would work 3 days some 2 days and some not at all - so it was not a job I loved anyway. I just could never depend on what he was going to make from week to week. Which made it very hard to catch up. The guy was a jerk too and expected them to drive whether it was legal or not. He got a $150 ticket the week before because his log book was over an hour and he got stuck there for 10 hours or would have been if I had not found another driver and went and got him. Anyway he did start a new job today so just need to keep our fingers crossed they keep him busy. It is very frustrating as I really wanted to go to the MDH playday but was too broke to go-it has been a long time since I had to watch my pennies this closely and I have to say I don't like it :).

Kylie and I went to the Reardan parade this last weekend. We were riding with our online group momsdaughtersandhorses.com. It went well considering both horses had not been in a parade before. Kylie did good, she got a little nervous while we were standing there as Autumn would not stand still. Willow stood really well up until the time we went in the parade. Then it was back and forth sideways all the way through. We were going to stay and let Kylie do the barrels but I had not gotten to bed until 12 the night before and was up at 5 am to get the horses going. I actually called my dad and told him thanks for getting me to all of those rodeos and parades when I was younger. When you are little you do not realize how much work it can be to have everything you need. He thought that was pretty funny. Hoping to take the girls to Farragut this weekend. I had wanted to go on Sunday but did not find anyone to go with me :(.

St Maries Weekend!

We took the horses to St Maries over the weekend - about 80 miles south of my house where my husband's brother lives in the mountains. We took the horses down on Friday. Saturday morning we got up to go ride and Haley wanted to go. Haley is 13 and in the past has been terrified of the horses but there was another 13 year old girl there and she was going. I could not believe how well Haley did - not only was it her first trail ride - her first ride out of a pen of some kind. She was walking over logs (not by her choice if she said she didn't want to do something our lead person headed in that direction) crossed creeks (Autumn even jumped some of them) and she took it all in stride (for the most part :)). Willow learned how to cross water on this trip. The first thing going out of the ranch we were staying at is a creek - when our leader saw how Willow wouldn't go - we crossed the creek 7 more times before we got to the top of the hill. All in all a great ride about 3 1/2 hours.
The next day there were only 3 of us. Kylie went with and she did really well also. Autumn jumped a few creeks and Kylie stayed on like a pro. We didn't ride as long (it was a little warmer). Unfortunately Monday morning we did not get to go on a ride. I was feeling a little under the weather (although self induced) so we loaded the horses and headed home. It was great to get to go on some more rides and Willow is doing really well. Not sure why I was so chicken before. She does need some work on going out by herself but should be great.

More and more riding! Tuesday I took Autumn for a short ride and when I got back Kylie had her boots on and ready to go. Our front yard to the side is not mowed (couldn't mow it if we wanted to as the neighbors dogs have recently dug holes) with trees on it. I had Kylie do some circles around the trees and stuff. Haley came out and actually wanted to ride - so I let her ride for a little while. Haley did really well - was not nervous - which is good with her history or being so scared to come near the horses. After she was done Kylie hopped back on and asked if she could trot. I let her trot some figure 8's and she did great! It is really fun to watch her grow - she just looks like a natural on a horse.

Next outing was Saturday - one of the guys from work Brian - his wife had not ridden in seven years and wanted to go. I was nervous at first not knowing what kind of experience she had but she hopped on like a pro and we had about a 4 hour ride at Farragut. I really like the trails there and look forward to going on more. We actually found a few hills on the Sheriff Posse ride. Willow did really well on the ride too.

This weekend we are planning on taking the horses to St Maries for the whole weekend. I am hoping to get to ride at least once a day. We are also taking the four wheelers but my main focus will be the horses. Dwane's brother hates to ride (won't go near the horses) but he can just stay on the wheelers. His fiance' wants to ride with me and her dad has horses and wants to go too. I am hoping Dwane will finally go on a ride and see if we can get him riding with us.
I was also talking to the gal that I was keeping my horses at and I think we are going to start trailering to Farragut and using the arena with some barrels and poles, different obstacles to work with Kylie and for me to work with Willow. She wants to ride Willow so that someone else other then me has ridden her. I hate to say it is a good idea but makes me all nervous :). I remember when I was young I had a black thoroughbred mare that no one had ever ridden but me - I think she was about 5 the first time someone else hopped on her (I had had her since she was 2). It happened to be my step brother who thought he was a horseman - let's just say he didn't have a clue and it drove me nuts watching him yank her around because she didn't steer the way he thought she should. But I know she will listen to how I tell her to ride so I need to get over it :) Other then that just looking forward to more riding yeah!

Lots of horsey activity in the last week! Thursday night I rode Willow for about a 1/2 hour. She did well. We worked on stopping and turning. I also worked on riding up and down the fence line and turning with her hind end. It was interesting as she was not impressed with the fence line work. I have really been trying to feel more (I don't know if that makes sense) but be more tuned to her movement. I have not done this in the past as I was just a rider - riding my horse. I have been reading the Mugwump Chronicles blog and really like how she talks about tuning into your horse.

Then Sunday we went on the Sheriff Posse's ride at Farragut. Sam and Katie went with me. Katie rode Autumn and Sam rode Ken's horse (a friend of hers). We had a good time. Willow did great. She only got nervous when some people on gaited horses came up behind us and would not back off. Crowding up behind her even when she was noticeably uncomfortable, so we let them pass. She also did not like the big mud puddle. Of course Sam had to turn around and watch (waiting for me to bite it or for Willow to leap for China) we got her front feet in the middle of the puddle and the back on the edge (went through it sideways) we will have to work on water :). All in all a great ride and I am excited to go there more. The trails are nice they all circle back into each other and mostly flat. Not alot of hill climbing for my out of shape horses! Although I know they were tired when we got back.

Pictures from MDH Easter Ride 04-09

Not working - I will try later.

Kylie and I had such a good time at the momsdaughtersandhorses.com's Easter egg ride. Kylie rode Stubby for the last time, as he goes to his new home at the end of the month. I really debated on keeping him for this year and letting her transition into Autumn, but I or Sam found him a good home. The decision would be to keep him and hope to find him a good home later or let him go with his little buddy Simba where he will have company and a couple four year olds to love on him. At my house he is always in a pen by himself and where he is going he will be pasture buddy with Simba. They get along great, you should have seen Simba throw a fit when I put Stubby in the trailer. Kylie will be getting a new saddle as her pony saddle will go with Stubby. I really think she is ready to move up. On to a new adventure with Kylie and Autumn. I am still nervous and might see if I can get Andrea to come out and give her some lessons on Autumn. Andrea really helped her with Stubby and I think it would be great for her to have someone not hovering and letting her go. I did let Kylie ride Autumn in the arena after our ride and she did really good.
At the beginning before our ride we were all riding in the arena to get the horses warmed up and ready to go. I was ponying (spelling?) Stubby off of Autumn and she decided to be a butt so I let Stubby go, Kylie rode off like a pro. She did very well keeping Stubby in check around the other horses and paying attention to what she was doing. I was very proud of her. I did have Sam pony her on the trail ride, but I think she would have done just fine, for her first ride out like that I figured better safe then sorry. Sam rode Ben and he was a trooper. We were only out about an hour and a half but it was all of the horses first ride out and I didn't want to overwork them. Anyway I look forward to more rides in the future!

I can't believe it has been over a month since I have been on here. Where does time go? Work has been crazy busy, which is good. Last month we killed the previous years total in sales. The girls have started their spring sports - Kylie is in Soccer and Haley is doing track. We do have a Momsdaughtersandhorses.com ride coming up this weekend. I am very excited and hope that the weather cooperates. I am going to take Autumn and Kylie will be riding Stubby. I was going to just ride Ben but he is more of a follower and I will need to be in the lead with Kylie riding Stubby. Ben is wierd about being in front sometimes and it is Kylie's first trail ride with other people. Sam might ride Ben if she is not working. The horses are still all spread out. We did talk to one neighbor and we can hook into their fence. It does need repaired before we can do it, but they said they would help and split any costs to fix it up. The other neighbor we talked to their son and he said he didn't see why not - the neighbors on the other side is hooked into their fence, but to ask his dad. Which we have not done, but that would mean we only need to fence the back and front (and fix the other neighbors fence). That would be a tremendous savings. The neighbors who's fence needs work is all for putting a gate and running our horses together (I think not, too much liability) but they seem really nice. So if I can get Dwane to get busy the girls will be home soon. I have a feeling he doesn't think it is a big priority but I do. The pasture where the girls are - they have a dog and she is heeling the horses and making them really not like dogs. Dwane hasn't personally seen it so does not believe me, but I have seen her do it and I don't like it. But they are helping us out so hopefully they will just be home soon! Happy spring riding to everyone.

I have been a bad mom to the horses lately and not seen much of them. Hopefully the weather warms up and the snow melts, then we can get the horses home and I will be back in the game.
As for life in general it is fine. My dad is still here until Monday. I found a Schnauzer dog for him on craigslist (he has wanted another one for a long time) and we went and picked her up yesterday. It is nice to see the light in his eyes again. She is 7 and a little timid but her owner (this ladies great great g-ma) passed away. So she was taken out of her forever home - her companion dog given away - and put in a household with alot of other dogs and a 4 year old little girl. I think she is starving for the quiet and attention she is missing. I am hoping she attaches to dad quickly.
On another note I was reading on a website about people shooting their horses because they were losing their homes and felt they had no other alternative. I have to say something on this as we are in the middle of a forclosure - but I knew it was coming - you have to know it is coming if you are not making your payments. I planned a way to make sure my horses are okay, yes it helps that I was able to buy 10 ton of hay last winter, but I can gaurantee that they would not go hungry. Even if I had to swallow my pride and ask someone for help they would not go hungry. There are resources out there you just have to look. So the excuse that I just didn't have the money to me is wrong. I made sure my animals were taken care of first, well second after my kids, but they are like kids to me. I took the time to find a place that they would be safe and a place to live where I could have them with me asap. Anyway just had to put in my two cents as I just wonder what people are thinking sometimes. There is no way I could sit there and watch my horse starve to death. When their ribs are sticking out and you can see there back bone there is a problem. I won't even start about the people who plain just don't feed them enough and think it is okay or use the reason that they are just old. Look at Stubby, he was very thin when I got him - took him to the vet had his teeth fixed and found a feed that he could thrive on. I have also had horses that are hard to keep weight on and it makes it more difficult - sometimes they looked thin but no bones sticking out - there are situations where you can't do anything for them - that is when you have to think about putting them down rather then letting them starve to death. Ok now I am really done!

It has been an incredibly long week and a half. Thursday February 26 my dad called me and told me my sister Sondra passed away. He was very distraught and I thought there was no way I would be able to go back and help him. Unfortunately I never got to know my sister very well - she is from my dad's first marriage - there are 3 brothers and were 2 sisters. I do know my brother Bob very well, but the rest I have never really kept in contact with. Friday at work I was racking my brain trying to think of how I could go to the funeral and started checking on flights. Dwane encouraged me to go and his mom was gracious enough to lend me the money for a plane ticket. My dad also helped by telling me that he would drive me home, so all I needed was a flight down to Nebraska. My work was really good about letting me have the entire week off and I have enough vacation and bereavement time to cover it. So Sunday morning at 6 am I flew out of Spokane headed to Omaha, NE. The flight was uneventful and by Sunday at 12:45 I was heading off the plane meeting my dad. He was very happy to see me. I got to stay until Thursday when my dad and I started driving back (it was alot easier to fly). I got to see all of my aunts and uncles that I never see. The only part I really had a hard time with was the viewing (I have never been to one of those), think those should be prohibited. I know I have alot more ideas of how I want my funeral to be. My mom had us throw a kegger (I know wierd but that is what she wanted). Anyway, so I am now back and getting into the groove. My dad will be here for a couple weeks.

So Much for Time Off

Work schedule changed again :) Now we will be working shorter days 5 days a week, but that means I get off at 3 on a couple days a week, so that will be nice.
Every person at my house is sick - except me. Did I ever say I am not good with sick people. I briefly (I mean like 4 hours) worked at a nursing home, I couldn't do it. I really respect people who work in nursing homes, daycares, hospitals, etc. I could not do it. I don't deal with blood well or when people get sick. When I was growing up if you were sick you stayed in your room and slept it off that was just how it went. Dwane thinks you need to be up and around when you are sick and I couldn't disagree more. Anyway Haley has Laringitis, Kylie has a high fever, and Dwane is coughing and upset stomach - so I am staying away as much as possible :).
We have our house on the market. I am repainting some of the walls back to white this week. I taped off 2 rooms last night and will do more tonight (good way to stay away from all the sick people). Hopefully I will paint Friday and be done before the weekend so that I can unpack at the new house. I haven't touched a box in the garage for about a week now. We were supposed to go to my mother in laws so I could paint but since the rest of my family is sick and she cannot be around any type of sickness we will be staying home.
All of the horses are good. Strange not having them right there. Stubby loves his new pasture mate Simba, they won't even eat unless they can see each other. Ben likes his new shelter and is living the high life with Sam. The mares took a full day to find the feeder - actually Dwane had to go catch them and lead them back over to it and then they didn't lift their heads out of the hay for a day and a half. Prince is looking great at Cheryl's house, him and the gelding he is with are buddies. SO all is good in my horse land!

Time Off

We have started a new schedule at work - we are working 4 - 9hr days. Since we had to take a time cut of 4 hours a week this is the only thing that makes it better :). Now I only have to work 4 days a week (for a while anyway). This week I had Tuesday off as it was Dwane was off too, so we got the interior of the old house all cleaned up (although it does need painted pretty bad). I still have not decided if I will paint or not.
On the horse side, I am supposed to move Ben and Stubby out to Sam's this weekend. Hopefully we get my neighbors trailer out of the snow bank. If not I will just be moving Stubby as they cannot both ride in my trailer. There is no center divider and I think that Ben would crush poor little Stubby. I did score on some grass pellets for him this week. We bought in bulk which worked out to be about $5.50 for a 50 lb bag - I was paying $15 to $16 per bag at the feed store. We are actually thinking of buying another bag and Stubby will set for at least a year. It is a good thing we have saved all of our grain bags for a long time as the bulk bag is one 1500lb bag. Other then that unfortunately still not alot of time spent with the horses.
Saturday we took the fifth wheel to Great Falls, MT to deliver it. Kind of scary selling something over the internet and then delivering it that far. But it all worked out and we met a very nice family who will get alot of use out of it. We then turned around and drove all the way home as part of the deal was to trade it for a welder and the welder was in the back of the pick up. No stopping for us :).
Sunday we went to Dwane's mom - Sue's house. She is doing okay. She will be on oxygen forever now but at least she is not hooked up to a permanent breathing machine. If it comes to that point she won't ever be able to come off. She has decided to move into Dwane's sister (Nannette) house. We are going this Saturday to help her pack if they ever make up their minds. Nanette called yesterday and asked if it would be better for her to move in with Sue, but they have 4 people in their family and the house is really not that big. We will see how that one plays out! I hope there are no family squabbles. It is amazing my mom was always worried about my sisters and I squabbling. We never did, we banded together and made her last months I think pretty good. Even after she passed away we did not fight about anything it was great. Her fears were based on when her mom (my grandma) passed away her sisters did not get along right down to arguing over the color of the casket. Anyway we will see how that goes.
Tuesday my day off was spent cleaning the house we moved out of. I swear I am never going to get the new house unpacked but it is all in the garage :). Now all we have to do is move hay and a few things in the shop and the all important getting the horses moved. Well to their temporary house until we build fence, what a mess :(.
Haley has a basketball game tonight in Kellogg. She really likes basketball now, which is good as I never thought she would. Kylie is on the honor roll and has an assembly on Friday. She is such a little smarty! I am very proud of both of them!

Back to Basics

I think that I need to get back to the basics in my life. Spending time with my daughters and my horses. The rest of my family is still important, Dwane's mom is important, but I cannot let it consume me. I was really doing well with the horses last fall, ready to ride, ready to take on whatever. Kylie was riding, Haley showed more enthusiasm for riding (even though she really had not done it but she was interested) and then it all fell apart. I have barely looked at the horses much less spent any time with them in a while besides to feed. I think it would help if I just took some time and spent it with them. The girls also need to get out there no matter the weather (well as long as it is not too cold :)
We are headed to Great Falls, MT tomorrow to deliver our fifth wheel camper. A couple from there bought it and will give us gas money to deliver. So off we go, yeah I can catch up on bills (how fun). I was trying to make it a trip for Dwane and I to get away, maybe even grab a motel on the way back and veg. But it looks like it will be an over and back thing so that we can go see his mom Sunday. Which means another trip to St Maries, I guess I shouldn;t complain I have not been down there since Christmas. Spending every weekend almost down there for the last 12 years has burned me out. This is the longest I have gone without making that trip in years, probably ever. I was hoping Dwane's friend would go with him so I could unpack and get the other house cleaned up. They were busy so I get the privilege. I absolutely hate riding with Dwane on icey roads, he drives too fast. Scares the crap out of me. I have panic attacks, it is no fun, maybe I will take a big sleeping pill and have him wake me up when we get there. The girls may go to friends houses or to Uncle Johnny's still not decided on that. Anyway that is what I will be up to!

Bad Feeling about 2009

I have a really bad feeling about 2009. I thought 2008 started out bad with Dwane's Stepdad passing away the first week. Dwane's mom is now in the hospital. She has COPD in her lungs? I have not done any research on it but from what I understand it is a terrible thing to have. She finally quit smoking in October but unfortunately I think it was too late. Reminds me of my mom, who the day they told her she was terminal she never took another drink of alcohol. Why then? Why not the five years before when they told her she was getting Cirrosis (not sure on the spelling). She never believed them. Sue (my mother in law) never believed she could quit smoking but she did after she was put in the hospital and told that she would keep coming back to the hospital on a monthly basis if she did not quit. She got sick the other day and my brother in law Johnny told her to go to the doctor, but again she was worried about the expense. Now she is in the hospital and has her dogs in a kennel because no one takes care of them right. If they put her on a breathing machine she will never be able to come off of it. As it is right now she only has 10% use of her lungs, which is making her panic which is making it worse. I really don't know if I can deal with this right now. Sounds selfish, but it seems like yesterday (even though it has been 7 years since my mom died) that I had to deal with a long illness which is going to end in someone dying. Now the expenses are huge. The family is looking into moving her into my sister inlaws house to watch her closely. Sue is already struggled the last year as her husband who passed away left her in a complete bind. All of his life insurance policies were accidental, the biggest policy he had went to his children, his son was terrible to Sue and threatened to sue her. She is just now getting straightened around and now this. Anyway that is how my day is going and this is all in the last two hours.

The house is moved - well into the garage at least! Everything is out of the house and into the new one. The shop is 3/4 of the way moved. The horses are at the old house but I go by every morning and evening to feed. Plus my neighbors are watching them. We spent most of Saturday moving stuff to the new house. I was not prepared as we had a few incidences with the rental company and were not sure if we were getting the house. Anyone ever try to get insurance for your house with a Doberman mix for a dog? Well they have this list of no no dogs - here are the ones I remember - Pit bull, Akita, Chow, German Shephard, Stafford terrier?, Rottweiler and Doberman. I had to get my own rental insurance for $300,000 of liability that did not exclude my dog. I looked on the internet and did a search - no one, I called an insurance broker - nope - I call Allstate (who I have insurance through) - nope - then at a last ditch effort I ended up on a State Farm website - guess what? No dog breeds excluded. So if you are looking for home owners or rental insurance for a dog that is banned try State Farm. Only $20.00 a month and all of my contents are also covered and a medical policy if someone tries to sue me :).
I found out on the Thursday before we moved that all was good, so I was not packed. Not alot of motivation when you don't know what is going on. Plus we told the person we were renting from 2 x that we had a dobi mix, once in an email.
Then on the first day in the house - Sunday - I was unpacking and thought "I'll throw a load of laundry in" no problem - until the washer overflowed all over the kitchen and on the new carpet -YIKES. We did get it fixed, I don't know if it was frozen or the drain hose was kinked wrong or what. It was a mess though. After all of this I am tired and still need to unpack:(. But starting next week we are working 4 - 9hr shifts at work - so 3 days off a week :) Yeah. (except missing 4 hours a week but it is better then not having a job). Now all I need to do is get those ponies home.

About a week and a half until moving day, actually less then that a week and one day. I am still arranging to get the horses settled until this snow melts and we can build fence. I think we are going to go with t-posts and hot wire for now. We are just renting so I don't want to build anything permanent like the other house. We are also going to look into getting a couple portable stalls that way if we do move we can take them with. I really have to buckle down this weekend and pack. The poor horses have been neglected, we only visit to feed.
On another note from reading blogs - the mugwump chronicles (linked on fugly's blog) I read about Laura Crum and her books. So I went on Amazon and ordered a few of them. They are great - Haley really enjoys them too. It is nice to have a book to discuss with her. They are not really long either so makes for nice light reading. They all center around a vet named Gail. I have read one and a half so far and really like them.
I packed half of my books last night. I cannot believe how many books I have. Probably 10 boxes so far and only half done. But I love to read!
Haley is accepting moving more. I really tried to explain she should feel lucky we found a nice house in the same school district where we can keep the horses. One family that we know lives just down the street, I called them last night and asked if they were going to put a for sale sign in their yard because of the new neighbors. They seem excited to have us moving in the neighborhood.

Rescued Horse Visit

Hi everyone! Some of us from the club went up to see the horses that were rescued in Springdale Sunday. Sam and I rode up together and then Alisa, Katie, Kaleb, Theresa, and Gracie came up together. We were going to play with the babies but by the time we walked around and Cassie introduced us to all of the horses that were rescued and their horses it was getting later. I was able to take up blankets donated by Andrea in Post Falls and Theresa brought up some straw bales. The yearlings to two year olds are bouncing back fast. They have done a good job on working with them as they were able to walk through them. They are looking healthier then the pictures from just a week ago. The mares are looking better but still pretty thin. But if they are pregnant it will be harder for them to bounce back. It was great to meet Pam and her daughter. They are working very hard for these horses. Theresa is going to adopt one of the babies, really cute little black and white one. The little one in the pictures on Linda's blog http://beautifulmustang.blogspot.com/ in the house is my absolute favorite. If I was in a better position I would take her in a heartbeat.
On another note I went out and saw Sam's new place on Sunday too! It is really neat! She is very excited to move in. It will be nice to have such a great barn! and pens, and sheds, and etc! She is going to take Stubby until the weather is better. She is also going to take Ben so that Ralph can learn to ride on him. I think it will be a great match. Then if I want to go riding over here I will already have a horse here :) . Other then that just starting to pack - I took 8 bags to goodwill out of the dreadful closet. Look I finally get the stupid thing cleaned out just so we can move :) Other then that 2 1/2 weeks and we move - still not sure how happy to be, but it should be good!

In the middle of my own financial crisis but my horses will never go hungry. I do not understand the mentality of some people that can sit and let their horses starve. Some of the people from the group I belong to (momsdaughtersandhorses.com) are going to Springdale to help in any way we can with 33 starved horses. They were rescued by some people (Fantasy Farms Thoroughbreds and Shephards Way Horse Rescue) and moved to a ranch. We have as a group donated a ton of hay (or the money for one) and there are 4 or 5 of us that are going up to help. Anyway just needed to say how I do not understand this and more later on what happens this weekend!

Major Change

How do I explain this one? Guess just say I am moving at the end of this month. It is only a couple miles away and I will be able to take the horses with me (well as soon as I can finish fence) The sides are fenced but the back and front will need to be fenced. I may try and get some panels to make a couple pens until we can see where to fence (with the 5 feet of snow). It is a very nice house (nicer then I live in). Granite in the kitchen and bath - a little smaller then my house - no extra rooms, like the office and big laundry room that I have now - My room will be way bigger with a walk in closet - but the girls rooms will be a little smaller - the living room and kitchen are alot bigger - it has a wood stove - on 5 acres - there is a shop and a 2 car garage. So that is my news, we will be trying to sell our house before the bad men come and take it (haha I know it is not funny, but sometimes you just have to laugh). The girls will be in the same school which was a major goal of mine.
Now just have to pack and get everything together. I really wasn't planning on moving again, thought we were in our forever home! Isn't life so fun. If Dwane even had the inkling of a job I would be able to stay, but so far not alot popping out there. I don't care what they say about mortgage crisis there are still companies that do not work with you. Some people say that they will once you are seriously in trouble and about to forclose but I have animals and cannot wait to get a 30 day notice and then try and find something. Yes I have checked into several avenues and this one seems to be the best solution. At least I will save 1,000 a month by renting this house, how many people can do that, rent a nicer house for 1/2 your house payment. Well in this market I guess it is probably not that odd. That is where we are at!
I will be happy if this snow keeps melting! Really tired of plowing and shoveling. The horses are standing on at least a two foot tall slab of snow with 5 foot everywhere they have not trampled down. The pony has a little path all the way around his shelter and a path that Dwane shoveled to his water. My brain is now blank - everyone have a good day!