Monday Morning Meme

I got this meme from over at Karen’s.  Won’t you play along too?

 

1. When you are having a bad day, what do you do as a little ‘pick me up’?

Hmm…  I like to climb in the tub with a good book.  Or take a long drive with the music blaring.  Or, I go to the barn and spend time with my horse, Casey.

2. How long have you been blogging? Who is your target audience? How often, if at all, do you think about quitting or taking an extended break?

I’ve been blogging off and on for about 3 years.  I had another blog once upon a time in a land far, far away.  I don’t do anything with that blog now, no one who followed that blog is aware of this blog and I’m ok with that.  I don’t really have a target audience.  I write for me, I write what I please and have never thought about the audience much.  I have quit one blog and moved on to another.  There was a 9 month period of non-blogging in there.  I just simply didn’t have anything to say.  Do I think about quitting?  Well, I have with this blog early on, but then I got a couple comments and that’s good enough for me.  Besides, if I quit, how can I know I’m famous for blogs about moose poop?

3. Think back over the past year. Tell us: five good things that happened in your life, three bad things that happened in your life. Now go through your blog archives and pick five posts that you personally liked/resonated with you, or, you would like to share with your new readers. Link to them, please.

Five good things:

1. CP got a new job after 5 months of unemployment.

2. We moved to a wonderful, new house.

3. We adopted Copper.

4. Casey, ‘nough said.

5. Christmas didn’t suck for me this year.

Three not so good things:

1. Drama with the kids on my birthday, but I guess that’s what can happen with blended families.  Needless to say that the attitudes and disrespect from them made my birthday unpleasant.

2. Doodle and her mom moved away from the local area.  We don’t see Doodle as much as we used to or as often as we like even with joint custody.

3. While CP was laid off, the house we were renting was foreclosed on and we had to move, which was extremely difficult and resulted in the rehoming of a couple of our dogs.

I don’t have many posts so I’ll pick these:

Alaska Stories, Moose Droppings Alaskan Style

Common Myths about Alaska

Something Old Made New Again

 

4. It’s a new year – a new beginning. Please finish this sentence: I will work very hard to make the following three things happen in 2009:

I will work hard to make the following three things happen in 2009: That Dude get the schooling and education services he needs for his ADHD, that transitions for Doodle are supported by CP and I (especially now her mom is having a baby), that I find some of my own personal happiness.

A Birthday Memory Revisited

So, according to my kids, I turn “old” today. It’s not the best time of year for me. Instead of focusing on all the negatives, I’m going to share a couple wonderful things that have happened to me on this day in history.

First off, my beautiful Freya (pictured above) was rescued from certain death at a shelter in Alaska. I adopted her just a few days later. I think I shared this story with you before. But for those of you who don’t know, I’ll tell it again.

Five years ago in Alaska, my now ex-fiance and I decided to get a dog. In reality, I decided to get a dog and he just wasn’t going to say no. Of course, we lived in an apartment at the time so we were looking for a small dog. I was surfing around that Christmas looking to see if a small dog would find it’s way into a shelter up there and need to be adopted. No such luck! Small dogs rarely make it to the pound there. Just big dogs.

However, on this particular night, I stumbled across the Last Chance page. This is a page where adoptable dogs are listed at one of the shelters a week before they’re due to be euthanized. Pretty Freya was on that page. She was scheduled to be destroyed that day. Being late at night, I knew I couldn’t call the number listed next to her picture. I began to hope that Alaska was like Washington and the dogs set to be destroyed on Christmas would be given a reprieve for a day. (No such luck!) So, when I woke the next morning, I called the number. No answer. I tried later that afternoon. Still no answer. Then, the next day, bright and early, the phone rang. It was the head of a rescue group in the MatSu Valley in Alaska. She said that Freya had been rescued and that yes, she was still up for adoption. I was so happy and relieved that I cried. That beautiful dog was alive! I made plans to go meet her the next week and she soon came home with me. To this day, Freya is my heart dog. She and I were meant for each other.

Then two years ago tonight (morning really- it was after midnight), as I was checking out at the grocery store, I bought a bottle of wine. The cashier carded me and didn’t even comment on it being my birthday. Now, I had just spent a good chunk of the night at work arranging a bbq at work as the person that was going to throw it called out sick. (Yes, I arranged my own bday party essentially. ) I was feeling pretty bummed about that and the cashier not even saying anything about my birthday. As I went out to my car, this shiny object next to it caught my attention. Upon investigation, I discovered it was a balloon, rain soaked but inflated still. More, it said “Happy Birthday” and had a picture of Scooby Doo on it. I brought it home and once it dried off and warmed up, I discovered it was fully inflated when it floated up to the ceiling. Now, was that the Universe trying to tell me that things are looking up? That I’m not forgot about?

Later on that day, I wrote the following for a blog I had long ago and far away:

“Every year since I can remember, it’s snowed on my brother’s bday (Jan 7th) here in WA. Even if it was just two flakes falling out of the sky! Never has it snowed on my bday during my lifetime here. Three white Xmas’s, but the snow would melt before my bday. All I ever wanted for my bday here in WA was snow. Well, a friend of mine just called to say it’s snowing! Snow mixed with rain, but it’s still snow! Miracles do happen! And they’re happening to me today!”

And two years ago something additionally wonderful happened!  CP, who I had not met in person yet, sent flowers to me at work for my birthday!  It was the first time in 11 years I hadn’t had to buy my own flowers.  And, it was the start of something wonderful.

That was a magical birthday and the start of a new path for my life.  I hope this birthday will be just as magical and wonderful!

Happy Birthday to me!

A Very Doggie Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Let it snow! Oh, wait! Please don’t!

 

Freya

Here my pretty Freya is posing for the camera and happy to have snow.  That’s Copper peeking around the dog house.  Please note the level of snow around the smaller dog house.  It is not protected like the larger one is by the roof line.  (Note: Copper drug his dog house out to that spot a few days before the snow.)

Then we had this:

Please excuse the dog pee.  Copper really, really had to go!  Note the layer of ice on top of the snow.  It’s about 1/4″ thick.

Next we have:

Last night:

And this morning:

On top of that, the power went out last night until the wee hours this morning.  According to the news, there are still 30,000 people in my area without power.  Fun, huh?

I still can’t get to Casey and there’s another storm rolling in due to hit tonight, calling for another 5-10″ of snow.  I know I say that I miss Alaska, but Alaska is prepared to deal with the snow and the state doesn’t shut down for this little bit.  Doesn’t help that my gloves and cold weather boots are at the barn, where I assumed I’d need them most often for riding…

Equus Libris/Casey’s pedigree

WATCH COWBOY ZIP G, QUARTER HORSE, 2001

WATCH COWBOY ZIP blk 2001 QUARTER HORSE

ZAXON* sor 15.1H 1983 QUARTER HORSE

ZIPPO CASH BAR* ch 1978 QUARTER HORSE

ZIPPO PINE BAR* sor 15.2H 1969 QUARTER HORSE

ZIPPO PAT BARS* sor 1964

THREE BARS

1940

LEO PAT

sor 1949

DOLLIE PINE* sor 1960

POCO PINE*

b 1954

HOBO SUE

b 1951

WYONA DOLCASH sor 1969 QUARTER HORSE

DOLLARS CASH sor 1957

SCHOOL CASH

buck 1954

HJ SHOW STAR

pal 1950

NICKS BUSY BEE b 1957

NICK W*

buck 1946

HJ SAN FRAN

b 1950

WYTRO CUPIE DOLL ro 1973 QUARTER HORSE

SKIPS SQUIRE sor 1969 QUARTER HORSE

SKIP 3 BAR ch ro 1960

BAR MOUNT

sor 15H 1956

SKIPPERETTE

ch ro 15.0H 1950

SKIP IRISH sor 1959

SKIPPERS KING*

ch 1954

CHERI MAC*

b 1948

MAMAS PINKIE ro 1968 QUARTER HORSE

ROAN BAR* rd ro 1955

BAR NOTHING SPRINGER*

ch 1944

BARMAID REEVES

ro 1947

COO COO SUE ch 1949

DON ELGELO*

pal 1941

PATSY C

pal 1944

WATCH TONYS BUFFY buck 1989 QUARTER HORSE

WATCH JOE TONY sor 1980 QUARTER HORSE

WATCH JOE JACK* ch 15.2H 1970 QUARTER HORSE

TWO EYED JACK* sor 15.1 1961

TWO D TWO*

b 1957

TRIANGLE TOOKIE*

cham 15.2 1951

WATCH JO MOORE dun 1961

JOE M MOORE*

buck 15.1H 1955

WATCH POISE

sor 1946

HARLA TONA buck 1972 QUARTER HORSE

HARLAN* buck 1951

HANK H*

ch 1942

DIXIE BEACH*

buck 1930

JU TONA IMAGE b 1963

STAR HAVEN

ch 1958

JUDY MITCHELL

br 1954

MISS SPICE DECE gr 1980 QUARTER HORSE

MR CHUCKAWAY REED gr 1977 QUARTER HORSE

CHUCKAWAY grul 1961

WONAWAY

grul 1957

MISSY DEL

b 1956

RINGS ABELL REED sor 1970

SALERO REED

ch 1956

PEPPER BELL

ro 1950

SWEETIES GINGER buck 1969 QUARTER HORSE

JOE FLOSSIE br 1960

R JOKING*

b 1949

BILLYS FLOSSIE V

blk 1948

LITTLE SWEETIE buck dun 1953

BILLIE GREEN

buck 1942

GINGER L

dun 1935

* - Photo Available

 

So, what’s he actually bred to do?

Monday Morning Meme

 

 

 

 

It’s Monday and time for a meme again!  I got this from over at Karen’s.  Won’t you play too?

1. It’s the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature is stirring … except you, you can’t sleep, and it’s 3:00 o’clock in the morning. What do you do?

I’ve never experienced this except as a kid.  As a kid, I snuck out of bed only to find my dad asleep in his chair, half way done stuffing my brother’s stocking.  Needless to say, I figured out who Santa was that year.  To avoid getting in trouble, I just snuck back to bed and eventually fell asleep.

Now, I’d probably wake up my husband, the Corporate Prince, and talk or at least let him know I couldn’t sleep and why I was going downstairs to the couch.  If I went out to the couch (then kids can’t sneak!), I’d probably quietly watch tv until I finally fell asleep.

2. What is the one attribute that you have that your significant other struggles with? Why do you think he/she struggles with it? Now tell us one attribute that your significant other has that you wish you possessed.

CP and I have very different styles of communication.  I think he struggles with understanding me and fully grasping that I mean what I say and I say what I mean.  In that way, I’m very different than most people in his experience.  I think I’m pretty simple, but I find other people with different communication styles to be frustrating myself.

CP has charm and wit and is capable of playing the inner political games that happen in most work atmospheres.  I don’t have a grasp of that and I find inner politics to be difficult for me.  Also, he’s light years smarter than me.

3. What advice do you have for your next door neighbor? (This would be a good time to air your grievances – or – praise something about your neighbor). Begin with: Dear Neighbor, There is something I’d like to tell you …

Dear Neighbor,

I really hate it when you decide to run up and down our little street with your toys.  Your snowmachine and four wheeler are loud and obnoxious and really disturb the peace and enjoyment of our neighborhood.  More, no one is impressed.  And it’s still illegal to be running those toys on public streets.  There is an appropriate time and place for your toys.  Let’s really focus on the time.  Late at night and early in the morning is not that time.  Nor is this the place, ever.  Please show more respect for our neighborhood by not disturbing the peace of everyone else here.

Thanks!

Oregon Sunshine

4. If you could live yesterday all over again, what would you do anything differently?

Umm…  no?  I don’t think so.  Yesterday was pretty good.  I baked myself silly!

 

You Are Biscotti

You are a very direct, honest person.  You don’t have time for dramatics or emotional pleas.  You feel most comfortable in the intellectual realm, especially with science and technology. You are good at understanding difficult subjects. Understanding people? Not so much. What holiday cookie are you?

Another boring day

I haven’t posted since Monday because I’ve not had much to say.  It’s snowy/icy/a big mess outside here.  And all the stupid drivers make me crazy.  So, I’ve been trying to keep my grumpy self to myself and not inflict myself on anyone.  

Snow, ice, cold weather…  Oregonians really don’t know how to handle this weather.  School has been closed all week.  ALL week.  Including the days when we only had a dusting of snow and the roads were fine.  

There is exactly one bridge that goes over the river to where Casey is boarded.  That bridge has been closed all week so I haven’t been able to see him.

Copper decided that the cable/internet wire looked like a tug toy this morning while CP was here working from home.  I am very grateful CP didn’t turn the puppy into slippers, was able to MacGuyver the cord enough to make things work again, and arranged to have the cable guys out at 8am tomorrow morning.  This time though, snow be damned, CP is going to have them route the cable appropriately so that it’s not coming out of the ground in the middle of the walkway, 3′ from where it plugs in.  They can re-route it across the house up far enough that it isn’t an available chew toy.  Darn teenage puppy!  And darn lazy cable guys!

And to top it off, Little Dude is sick.  He has a stomach ache of unknown origin.  

That’s my Friday so far!  Hope ya’ll are having a better day!

Monday Morning Meme

Here’s a meme I got from over at Karen’s:

 

1. What is bothering/stressing you out right his minute? Is this problem something you can solve on your own? Or will you simply have to ride the wave and see how it turns out? In the meantime, how are you coping with the stress – how do you unwind?

At the moment, we have glare ice on the roads from a snow storm that blew in yesterday.  Today is also payday.  We’ve been out once, because we were in dire need of dog food.  It was nasty and people were being stupid.  Of course, Oregonians don’t drive well in snow and are even worse in ice.  And the city, who had almost a week of warning that this was coming, wasn’t really prepared.  Even the main road hasn’t been sanded.  Idiots!  But, we will have to venture out again in a little while, and that stresses me out.  The big plan as CP is working from home today, is that we will go about 2pm, when the sun has done all it can do to melt the roads and we will quickly grab groceries and then come home again.  I am trying to not think of all the stupid people driving today that don’t know how to drive in these conditions and am focusing on Copper’s enjoyment of his first snow!  It’s so fun to watch puppies experience their first snow!

2. When was the last time you made a compromise with someone? Tell us about it. How did that compromise turn out?

Well last night I made a compromise with Dude.  It snowed Sunday evening and many neighborhood kids were out playing.  He really wanted to go out to play, I wanted him to finish his dinner.  So, we had a win-win as he scarfed down his dinner in order to go out and play in the first snow of the year.  Maybe it was more in his benefit as it bent many rules.  First, he doesn’t get to play outside after sundown.  Nor does he get to play outside after dinner on a school night.  However, he’s in luck as school is closed today!

3. What modern day convenience would you be willing to give up forever? Why would you give up that particular convenience and how would you give it up?

I have no idea!  I don’t use a deep fryer ever, so I guess I’d give that up.  Besides, deep fried foods aren’t good for you anyways.

4. If you found yourself locked inside a public restroom stall, what would you do? Climb over the door? Or crawl under the door? Tell us about the worst public restroom experience you’ve ever had.

If I were locked in a bathroom stall, I’d crawl under the door as I’m afraid of heights and don’t really have any upper body strength.  I can’t think of a worst public restroom experience that sticks out to me.  No funny stories, nothing that everyone else hasn’t experienced at some point or another.

Equus Libris/ Evaluation Day

Last night, as snow levels lowered and storm warnings were issued on the weather report, we became concerned that we would not be able to make it to Casey’s evaluation today.  Well, it rained all night, but never froze.

Casey’s feet had been trimmed this week.  Our farrier, who is also Assistant Trainer at our barn, Kerry, says that after a couple more trims, Casey’s feet will be great!  That means normal.  No more too short, no more lopsided.  No need for shoes, no gimp.  I am ecstatic about that!

Then, we had Kerry climb aboard and warm Casey up.  Now, Casey hasn’t really been rode in 2 years.  After a bit of “No, I don’t feel like it” and “I don’t really want to” and a couple snorts, poops and hops, Casey was off.  He crow hopped a couple times, but never offered to buck.  After warming him up, our trainer and BO, Tasha,  hopped aboard and tried him out and tested his huntseat and dressage abilities.

Here’s what we learned:

-Needs work on his lope

-Appears to have reining training.  As in, after a bit of reminders, was offering to put his butt in the dirt on a gentle “whoa”

-Is on the lazy side, which isn’t necessarily bad

-Moves off the leg, doesn’t have a clue about neck reining

-Doesn’t have an extended trot, and probably isn’t suitable for HUS

-Probably has been shown in walk/trot classes

-Can sidepass and do flying lead changes

-Can turn on his forehand and haunches

-Does not longe and doesn’t know how to.  He was probably always round penned

-Is suitable for WP, Trail, Reining, chasing cows, etc.  Maybe for dressage, eventually, and only lower levels if I really want somewhere in the future

-Has a big motor.  However, he doesn’t use it.

So, Casey will be getting 30 days tune up in January or Feb, as finances allow and we’ll be starting lessons with our trainer, Tasha.  I am excited that we finally have a direction and now I need new tack as I have English and Dressage tack from previous horses.  Tack shopping!  My favorite kind!