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.