Firecracker Monday

We got a little bit of snow in the mountains to our east.  Go figure.  I'm grinning ear to ear that I'm not still in Nevada this winter.  It was 5 below zero today with plenty of white stuff in my old town.  They've been getting hit with snowstorm after snowstorm since October.  The only place I want to see white is on my horses.

The sun came out long enough this afternoon for me to take

A Little Bit of Something Each Day

It seems there's always something getting in the way of me being able to work with the horses, but now instead of just saying, "Oh well, the sun has set and I didn't get in any horse time today again," I am keeping a horse training journal and pushing myself to do something -- anything -- with at least one horse each day, and just feeding them or encouraging them to poop in the manure wagon

Happy Puppies

Midge mongering the stuffed bunny we got the dogs for Christmas.  We won't let the dogs eat the real bunnies outside, so now they have the next best thing.  Note the bare feet in Arizona in December.  Thankfully, the scorpions are in hibernation along with the rattlesnakes.



Scrappy begging for a chicken tender.  He rarely plays with toys, so I knew he'd appreciate some food.



I got an

A Little Bit of History

My plans to share more pictures and stories about my visit to the cattle ranch with Mikey's family got thwarted by my illnesses, my horse's hoof abscess and the holidays, so now I will return to my regularly scheduled programming.




The Fourr Ranch is located in the northwest corner of the Dragoon Mountains at the entrance to Fourr Canyon just outside of Benson, Arizona. It was established by

On the 4th Day of Abscess, My True Love...

This is what I saw when I looked out the window after the horses had eaten their breakfast and had their blankets removed.  Gabbrielle started laying down when she got her abscess, and I guess the other two horses decided that the warm sand was pretty comfortable too.

On the 4th day of abscess, my true love gave to me a horse that actually cantered.  Shhhhhh.  Don't tell the vet.  I'm

Oh, Mercy Me!

I had promised to share some pictures I took of Mikey's daughter Mercy from our weekend at the ranch.  The camera just loves that girl.  Mikey gave me permission to post pics of her family, in case you're wondering.  So, here goes...



These puppies were skittish when we first arrived, but Mercy was able to charm them and pick them up.  Once she did, Mikey started examining the pups and picking

Gabbrielle Update

Gabbrielle has been wearing a poultice for nearly two days now and still no improvement in her limp.  I bought a bag of Epsom salts for soaking in, and then came to the realization that there was no way I would get this horse's hoof into a bucket of warm water and salts.  She's afraid of buckets, even though I occasionally feed grain out of them.  I set a bucket of water beside her and she

Minor Progress

The vet's assistant called me in the morning and set up an appointment for mid-afternoon to come take a look at Gabbrielle.  She called again in mid-afternoon to say they would be an hour and 15 minutes late.  I forewarned her that I have no light inside my barn, so hopefully they can get here before dark.  I do have a couple of floodlights that point at the barn, but it's not enough light to do

My Poor Baby

I've been slow to post pictures and stories of my ranching experience, because I got walloped with some kind of virus that has been attacking my face and body in new ways each day. I keep thinking, "Surely, this too will come to an end," but so far recovery just hasn't been in the cards for me.

My husband had scheduled a boat trip as an anniversary gift this past weekend, and I was determined

How Ferdinand was Caught

Gathering cattle at the Fourr Ranch was an interesting process. Bob and Donna, the owners, were short on staff the weekend I was there. The only people they had on horseback were themselves, Rodney, Wade, Mikey, and Mercy. Derik handled the cattle on foot in the pens. Janis and I did our own thing racing around in the Purple People Eater taking pictures. Throughout the weekend Janis, Derik

In a New-To-Me, Yet Very Old Land

This past weekend I met up with Mikey's family and followed them in my truck down to the Fourr Ranch just outside Dragoon, Arizona to photograph the cowboy/cowgirl lifestyle of gathering cows.  Up until this point, my experiences of the ranching lifestyle were limited to memories of nearly being gored by a bull on a relative's South Dakota farm when I was 4-years-old and having my brother grab my

The Jackalope Has Struck Again

I took an extra long walk out in the desert this morning, and had multiple jackalope sightings.  Of course, it blazed past so fast that I couldn't lift my camera to my eye before it was gone.  But I'd swear that thing is bigger than my Corgi Midge, and it was stalking me.  It ran in front of me several times as I walked in a large loop covering three miles.  Here are some pictures I did get:

Serious Work

First off, I apologize.  I had to turn comment verification back on because some annoying anonymous user, probably a bot, keeps leaving comments loaded with links advertising crap.  It's been hitting one of my posts over and over, so I block comments from that post, and then it finds another post to pick on.  I'm hoping that if I leave comment verification on for a while, it will go away all

Guess Who Came to Visit?

Mikey and Monte from A Horseshoeing Housewife / Postcards from Arizona blog!  She hasn't blogged since her wedding, so I know you all would be excited to see her.  We've been trying to get together for a while, but don't live that close to each other, so I really appreciated her traveling the distance to come ride with me and Bombay.

Monte is an awesome horse.  Mikey told me that Monte is

Are You My Mother?

A couple of ravens have joined the herd.  I was cleaning stalls this morning and one of them sat on the fence cawing right beside Bombay.  Bombay gave it a little nudge with his nose and it didn't move.  A short time later he was drinking out of the water trough and the raven swooped over his head missing him by just a couple of feet.  It's wings went whoosh whoosh whoosh, and he didn't even

A Game Plan

On my morning walk I found the place where Bombay had his hissy fit...





I even found scuff marks in the dirt where he started bucking...



Here's an example of the gates we have to ride our horses through when crossing roads...



When you consider that my horses spooked at every sign on the sides of trails I rode back in Nevada, it's no wonder they struggle with these gates.

I've been

Bombay's Play Date

Sunday morning Cut-N-Jump brought her mare Solis over to my place for a ride.  I locked my mares up in the stalls so that they wouldn't hassle the new girl on the block.  Bombay was on full alert, excited to meet our guests, while Solis was a perfect lady, very well behaved.






My mares did a bit of screaming and that didn't ruffle her feathers.  CNJ and I tacked up our horses and rode in the

One Pissy Mare

Thanksgiving was great.  It went very smooth thanks to each person chipping in.  My husband cooked the turkey, I made the side dishes, we all set the table, my daughter washed the dishes, my son carved the remainder of the turkey for leftovers and wiped down the table.  I didn't have to ask anyone to do anything.  They just did it.  I have a really awesome family, and am thankful that we all

Caught Ya!

I've talked about the "bluff" where my property line ends and how people are constantly driving, walking or bicycling up to it and looking down at me while I'm working with the horses.  Drivers often hit the dead end and turn around there, despite the road having plenty of warning signs on it that it is a dead end.

So, today I was busily cleaning house to prepare for Thanksgiving when I noticed

Cone Concoctions

After walking my morning mile, I lunged Gabbrielle.  She started out great, but then got bored and started bolting and pulling my arm out of its socket.  My husband wants to buy me a round pen so that she can't do that, but I want her to just learn to be light on the rope and only change gaits when I say so.  It's going to take a lot of corrections and praise at this point to get her to that goal

A Nerve-Wracking Ride

In Nevada, Sunday was my best horseback riding day because the neighbors were in church.  In Arizona, Friday is my best riding day because most neighbors are still at work, but my husband is home to help out with my nervous Nellies.  Half the houses on my street have been empty all year, but with each week more and more new neighbors filter in, and I never know what to expect.

I rode Bombay in

Dr. Doolittle Gets a Little Red in the Face

You
know, I have got to learn to trust my instincts. Us animal people are sensitive folk, and when we sense something, it should never be ignored.  All week I'd been
getting the feeling that someone has been watching me, but when I
looked around, I never saw anyone. So, the other morning I was having a
chat with Lostine about her nervousness regarding taking walks around the neighborhood, and
I

Scheisters

I don't know what is going on, but there has been a major influx of scheisters coming out of the woodwork this week.  First off, the same Anonymous person (probably a server) had left dozens of advertisements for drugs in comments on two particular posts I wrote in the distant past.  At first, I just moved the comments into my Spam folder since I'm moderating them.  But these obnoxious comments,

A Day in the Park

I went to see Cut-N-Jump compete in her arena driving trials this Sunday.  Here are my favorite pictures of her, her pony Kat, and her hubby:




The salute at the beginning of a dressage trial. 




I think I know what CNJ was thinking here, but I won't repeat it.




A lucky shot between hazard trials. 




Preparing for a turn.

And here are some of my other favorite photos from the day:




 

A Twist of Fate?

Something fascinating happened to me this weekend.  You may recall that I am working on my novel this month with the help of NaNoWriMo.  With the NaNoWriMo dashboard, you can select your region and keep in contact with other writers in your area through a forum and emails.  I originally became a part of one region and then discovered that there was another region closer to where I live.  I found

U-Turn Tracking

I'm trying to make good on a promise to my old doctor to walk a mile every other day.  It turns out that from my house to the end of the street and back is exactly one mile.  So far I've been doing better -- more like one or two miles a day.  These walks are giving me a chance to learn subtle things about my new neighborhood.

There are houses lining one side of the street, and public desert

Pushing Ahead

After giving the horses their breakfast, my husband and I debated on how to spend the day.  We decided to scrap our original plans in favor of working with the horses.  I had lunged both Bombay and Gabbrielle the day before.  Bombay hadn't changed one iota despite me not working with him on a lunge line or under saddle in over a year.  Gabbrielle hadn't changed either, unfortunately.  She was

A Relaxed Visit

While watching the horses through the window enjoy their new sand dunes, I became aware of some movement between the deck and the gate to the horse paddock.  Right before my eyes, a coyote laid down in the shade to enjoy watching the horses too.  My experience with coyotes is usually having them come through at night in packs, whooping it up over fresh meat and waking up everyone in the

We Survived

I was worried how just my one neighbor and I were going to organize getting all three horses over to his place before sunrise.  If we left any horse behind for a second trip, there would be a lot of whinnying and calling out, which would wake the neighborhood.  I think most people are already out the door to work by 6:00 AM, but I didn't want to take any chances making a racket if just one

Happy Halloween

I found this interesting spider in my garden.  It looks more like a tic, but gross enough for Halloween.  I know it will be a while before a lot of readers have the electricity to visit the blogosphere again.  I hope everyone survived Superstorm Sandy without too much damage.

I finally had that elective surgery I've been in need of for a few years now.  My old doctor and I were making plans

Desert Macros

Surveying the Land

I took Midge for a walk around the barn and noticed something shining off in the distance on the unused part of our land.  After putting her back in the house, I walked out with my camera to investigate.  This is what I found:







That was one big ass snake.  The front of the skin was still bulging as if it had just shed recently while going down the hole.  Well, needless to say, that creeped

Baby Bunny Surprises Me

Baby Bunny, which I've decided is her name, (she understands the rhythm of the four syllables, and the repetitive B and Y sounds), continually manages to surprise me.  For a while there I thought I had lost her to a coyote.  They've been out most nights, and I sometimes hear rabbits screaming, followed by coyotes howling as they fight over the carcass.  After one exceptionally raucous episode,

Wings and Petals Macros

With my Nikon D300s, Capture One, and Photoshop:




















With my point and shoot Canon PowerShot SX10 IS and no editing:
















These next three photos are of a giant swallowtail butterfly.  This is the biggest and most elusive of the butterflies who visit our flowers.  Usually, as soon as I walk outside to take its picture after spotting it through the window, it flies up

Hoofers

The horses received their third barefoot trim and thanks to monsoon season ending, their hooves are finally hardening up, although the farrier said it could take up to a year to get them into the desired shape in which they can travel on any kind of surface without pain.

He had such nice things to say about my horses.  He said that Gabbrielle is one of the smarter horses he's met.  She's

Why I Admire Horse Groomers and Other Digressions

Lostine was looking a bit ragged and the two grays had brown manes and yellow tails, so I promised all the horses that I would clean them up soon.  I went out to the barn at 9:30 AM to start the process of trimming, bathing and grooming three horses and didn't get back into the house until 2:00 PM.  Fortunately, the dogs didn't pee on the carpet, but they were squealing to go outside as soon as I

Slapping Hand on Forehead

Short and sweet, my @$$!  Everything I've read about hiking Silly Mountain suggested that it was a quick and easy hike up to enjoy the view, and a quick and easy hike back down to the parking lot.  I've been waiting for my husband to get a few hours off from being the main person on call at his office so that we could go hiking.

Last night I researched the Internet to find out if there were any

A Satisfying Day

We had a mild storm come through that lowered the temperatures enough for me to make some progress outdoors.  My husband and I are planning a hike on Silly Mountain at some point here.  Start with the short and sweet.

I was having a decent toe day after all the swelling went down and I could feel the bones rattling around under the skin.  Gross.  After cleaning ALL THE MANURE out of the barn

Good Morning

I'm mobile again after breaking my toe.  Now I can appreciate having athletic shoes with that stretchy netting cover.  I used to just wear a slipper when I had a broken toe, but if I went outside in a slipper around here, I'd break the rest of my toes on all the rocks.  I went out and took pictures at dawn:



I thought this was the crab spider that has been hanging out on my porch, but this is

Just Wiggle Your Nose

We often talk about how sensitive horses can be toward their humans and the various forms of communication we work out between us in order to coexist and serve each other.  I've talked about the herd of wild desert cottontails that feast on my haystack each morning and evening.  There is one bunny in particular who I have bonded with on a very subtle level.  She's the only one who doesn't run off

Butterflies and The Jackalope

The previous owners of our new home planted a row of flowers before they left, and the flowers have grown so much that they appear to be one long bush cascading down our retaining wall.  For several weeks now the flowers have been attracting butterflies of all sizes and colors.



When I walk outside, I walk through a cloud of butterflies.  Today I noticed that there seemed to be less of them,

Horse Walks

I've been taking the horses for walks when the temperatures are bearable, leading them a little further out of their comfort zone each time.  They have very clear lines on where their comfort zones begin and end.  Once outside the zone, the head goes up, the tail arches, the breathing and heartbeat speed up, the legs become lead-filled, and the snorts begin.  The worst part is that they stop

Harvest Moon Rising Tonight

Now you can see what visits your home at night... 




Either that or go out and cut some more hay for hungry horses.

Waiting on Fall

I was hoping that once fall arrived we would turn an obvious corner here in the desert, but so far it has just been a subtle slope.  We've been bouncing back and forth between day time temperatures in the high 90's and the 100's.  The only noticeable difference is at night because the night time temperatures are now dropping below 80 degrees and our air conditioner is running less often.  Some

The Long Ride by Lucian Spataro Jr., Ph.D.

Many of the books I have reviewed on this blog are books I picked out to read and felt were good enough to spread the word.  Occasionally, I receive requests from others to review books.  Somewhere along the line I got on a list to review romance novels and had to correct that in a hurry since romance is as far from what I want to read as you can imagine.  The last book I was sent by a

Hay There!

The horses got their hay delivery today.  It's a good thing because they were getting worried.  We were down to two bales of alfalfa and three bales of grass.  These guys were so great.  They unloaded and stacked everything while I cleaned up manure.  If it were me, I would have popped a hernia after lifting the fifth bale.

Poetry by Maxine Kumin

I've been reading WHERE I LIVE, New & Selected Poems 1990-2010, by Maxine Kumin, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1973.  I met her many years ago when she visited my alma mater for Writer's Week and wrote letters to her a couple of times, and she very generously wrote back.  I have always enjoyed her poetry, not just because of Kumin's superior skill with words, but because her poems

Can You Identify These Weeds?

Weed #1:  These yellow flowers have taken over our property in central Arizona this past month.  The horses were grabbing them up by the mouthful as I walked them past, so I'd like to know what they are called and whether they are poisonous to horses.



Here's a bundle next to one of the tires that the previous homeowners left on the property for us to dispose of, and then next picture is a

New Hazards

Now that I'm taking the horses out for walks to introduce them to their new surroundings outside of the barn,  I'm running into a new problem:  Poisonous plants.  The contractor who built my barn warned me that pretty much everything that grows in Arizona is poisonous to horses.  With the generous amount of rain we've had this summer, all kinds of weeds, flowers and shrubs have sprung up.  One of

A Weekend with Family

I had a nice weekend with family.  On Saturday my husband took me out to breakfast for my birthday, and the kids came home from college on Sunday.  My daughter baked me a cake and the kids each brought presents.  My son gave me a Stephen King book I saw him reading, and I said I wanted to read it when he was done.  My daughter gave me a couple of CDs by While We're Up, the band her talented

Test Run on the Trails

It was a gorgeous day.  My husband and I took Lostine for a test run or test walk off the property onto the trails.  I picked Lostine because she's the oldest, easiest to handle and most experienced.  It's been nearly two years since I've worked with horses on a regular basis, so I didn't need a big challenge.  I'm in really poor physical shape having been cooped up in the air conditioning all

WTH? 2

I totally forgot to mention in the previous WTH post the huge black tarantula-like creature I found on the floor when picking up my backpack to vacuum underneath it.  It's not a tarantula, because it is hairless, but it's the same size and has these crab-like legs that are longer on the sides than toward the front.  I researched it and I think it was a Tailless Whipscorpion.  It scared the heck

WTH?

Tonight my husband called me out to the garage. He had been hearing noises and thought a storm was moving in, but it turned out that he just forgot to close the garage bay door. When he walked into the garage and turned on the light, this is what he found:






There is no way that toad under my car took that dump and left behind that huge puddle of piss. So, apparently, a coyote got in and

Scrappy Follows His Nose

Being a very old and fat dog resembling a sausage with a head, four legs and a tail, Scrappy didn't handle the heat from this summer very well.  When I took him outside to do his business, he'd only walk out a few feet, find his spot, then turn around and go back inside panting heavily.  One day I tried to walk him to the mailbox at the end of the driveway and the old man couldn't make it, so I

Gray Hairs Gone

I made it to my three-hour hair appointment despite the pouring rain and flooded roadways.  The experience of having a new hair stylist got me thinking about how hard it is to have to change everything when you move out of state.  I had the same hair stylist for 15 years in Nevada.  She never raised her prices on me during all that time.  I looked forward to my appointments with her because she

On a Cooler Evening

Happily, Gabbrielle is moving fine now.  She probably just bruised her legs while trying to get away from the dump truck.  Once a wind picked up and the sun set, the horses had a rumpus party on the pile o' gold gunk.  They were digging at the sides of the sand pile, so I climbed to the top of it and stood up.  Bombay's head was lower than my feet.  I kept urging him to climb up there with me but

Gabbrielle Needs a Change of Shorts

Yes, that's "a change of shorts", not "a change of sorts".  You know me.  I have to tell the whole story.  It all started when Lostine began limping regularly.  The farrier assured me that she didn't have an abscess, but considering all the cracking and creaking in her knees and hocks, she probably has arthritis.  I ordered some MSM with glucosamine chondrontin and have been waiting for the

The Done Signal

When I was a child, my mother used to get annoyed with my father for signaling that he was done eating his meal by shoving his plate aside.  Usually, the rest of us were still eating, and my mother felt pressured to interrupt her own meal to get up, remove his plate, rinse it in the sink and put it in the dishwasher.

That behavior never really bothered me, probably because I was a kid and

Another Appointment With the Best Farrier in the World

I got up at the crack of dawn to get ready for the horses' farrier appointment.  It had been 8 weeks since their last barefoot trim.  Lostine had been limping around for a few weeks, and Bombay started limping the day before.  I'd seen all the horses stubbing their toes, stumbling and limping.  I told him we either have to cut the toes shorter so they can roll over them better or trim more

Activity at Dusk

Things get busy around our place at dusk...




The bunnies come out and begin their shenanigans.  This one is running under my horse trailer.



This one was hopping between Lostine's legs.



The birds are molting or fighting or something, because their backs are all bloody, missing feathers, and really gross.



This is Mrs. Lizard who lives under my haystack.  I used to call her Mr. Lizard

A Stolen Life

Though the book has been out for over a year, I finally read Jaycee Dugard's memoir titled A Stolen Life.  You may recall that she was kidnapped at the age of 11 from a neighborhood close to the area where I lived at the time.  While her resurfacing at the age of 29 made international news, her story gained plenty of air time with the local news throughout the 18 years that she was missing. 

Out and About

I have a number of lizard buddies around my place.  This guy likes to scale walls to eat crickets.  There's a smaller lizard that runs beside me each time I walk up and down the porch stairs, and a bigger lizard living under the haystack that I call "the dinosaur lizard" because he reminds me of a Stegosaurus.   He's a funny guy because he likes to hang with the bunnies.  We saw a huge lizard

Book Review: Twisted Tree by Kent Meyers

I stumbled upon Twisted Tree by Kent Meyers while shopping at a Borders bookstore that was going out of business.  The horse and prairie on the cover caught my eye and I loved the title, understanding that it probably was not just a reference to a place or thing, but symbolism for the plot.  Us creative writing nerds get excited over subtleties.

However, once I read that it's yet another book

Transitions

Despite all the frustrations and
headaches that Santa caused me, I at least wanted him to receive some
credit for referring me to a property manager, so I let him do that
much. The property manager and I had a phone conference in which she
explained to me what putting a house up for rent entails. I asked
her to outline my expenses and she said repeatedly that they don't
collect any money until

A Long Silence

After hiring Santa Claus to sell my
house, I expected to get occasional calls or emails with updates on
how things were coming along. When I sold my mother's house after
she passed, I had a real estate agent who contacted me at least once
a week, more often every other day, whether he had news or not. He'd
call just to tell me that no one looked at the house that week.



When the house hadn't

The Hay Handler

You may recall me writing about the differences between Northern Nevada horse hay and Central Arizona horse hay.  In Nevada I could get a flake of alfalfa, grass or mix that was packed so tight that I could just pick up a slice, carry it to the horse paddock, and throw it over the fence in one piece.  However, the hay in Arizona is much drier and looser.  If you try to pull a slice off a bale, it

What Level of Education Does Your Agent Have?

Real estate agents need to be licensed,
but for all we know, some of them may not have made it past a sixth
grade education. It was starting to look that way with Santa Claus.
When I realized how badly my agent and the buyer's agent botched
communications regarding my house, I decided to search for it on the
Internet to see how and where it was being advertised. I had seen it
on my real

An Offering

Our house wasn't even on the market one
week and we received a full price offer. My real estate agent told
me that this couple loved the house and they really wanted it. I was
skeptical. I had no reason to be skeptical beyond the fact that the
offer came suspiciously fast and without any bartering. Nothing is
ever that easy, especially when it comes to real estate.



The wife seemed to be

On The Market

When making the choice to move, it was
more important to us that we find the right property first, and sell
our old property later. Moving is expensive and difficult, so you
don't want to be forced into whatever you can find that's available within 30 days
while your current house is in escrow. Plus, if you are buying and selling, you somehow have to get escrow for the house you buy to wrap up

In the Interim

Thank you for the supportive comments
left in my last post. Here's what's been happening over my short break
from blogging:




Lostine went lame, and so did I.
I jumped off the haystack, rolled my ankle, did a couple of
somersaults and limped around for a few days. Just when the ankle
started healing, I was walking around on pallets getting hay when
the water began overflowing in a water

Maybe I Should Charge Rent

This past week we have had dozens of these inhabiting our porch.  We have to be careful not to let them fly indoors each time we open the door.

My husband made an attempt at snake-proofing our porch by stapling plastic mesh around it.  That way we can walk along the flagstones without worrying about something venomous or rabid jumping out and biting our ankles.



Within just a few hours, some

Ransacked

My son has been in training this summer with new-to-him coaches in Arizona. He's really happy with his experience and enjoys pole vaulting three evenings a week. I realized that he didn't have many days left of training, so I wanted to go watch him perform in a tournament and take some photos of all the vaulters in action. I love sports photography, and the warrior-like attitude of these

Extremes

It's time to compare weather patterns between Northern Nevada and Central Arizona.  When I first let people know I was moving to Arizona, they all said the same thing:  "You don't want to go there.  It's really hot there."

I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, "And you think I don't know that?"

When you forfeit every penny you own to get out of Dodge, the last thing you want is people

On Watch

And Mikey was just saying in her comment that my posts were starting to sound like I'm more relaxed...

Why am I on watch? Weeeeeeeeell, my husband took the dogs outside on leash to just go to the end of our driveway to pick up the mail, and I heard a ruckus of dogs barking. My husband came running back in the house with the dogs just seconds later, all out of breath and said, "There's a

Lost and Confused

I went to the feed store today and was taken off guard by not only road construction, but cops posted in every intersection with their red and blue lights on. Drivers were confused by the flashing lights, and no one would go when the traffic light turned green. I suspect they were worried they would get a ticket if they made a left-hand turn from the right lane.

After getting stopped by the

The Revolving Door of Desert Wildlife

It seems that the wildlife around our new home in Arizona comes and goes in shifts. First, we had all the scorpions and coyotes, then we had all the bunnies and quail, then we had all the snakes, and now we have a new visitor to our porch at night. My husband heard a different noise outside and found two of these with the help of a flashlight...







It's a Sonoran Desert Toad or a Colorado

Interesting Weather Photos

A big wind blew in and our patio furniture began collapsing and blowing away.





The horses got enveloped in bursts of dust.





Dark clouds moved in, swirling at a rapid rate.




A haboob or dust storm moved northwest, ruining my son's pole vault tournament in the east valley of Phoenix.




A partial rainbow appeared above the horse paddock.




Dust was even blowing through the

What's at the End of Our Rainbow?

I was out taking pictures of a rainbow and both my husband and I had been sitting on the porch watching the sunset for a while.  Then my husband got up and walked over to the edge of the porch to check on the drip system.  I heard a loud, sudden explosion that was like a sprinkler going off and turned to see my husband running backwards.

While he had been checking out the drip system, he

Time to Get a Pitchfork

Believe it or not, I still haven't finished feeding the bales of alfalfa/grass mix to my horses that I trailered in from Nevada.  I've been alternating between feeding that and feeding the new Arizona grass and alfalfa to slowly acclimate the horses' digestive tracts to the change, even though they were eating a completely different Arizona alfalfa and grass bought from different suppliers at the

Just Pretend I'm Farting

Once it started feeling like the moving process was wrapping up, I
needed to take care of a few things with my family members, like get us caught up on our dental cleanings and cavity fillings (which are years overdue thanks
to us being ridiculously busy and me losing our good dental insurance along
with my job back in 2010), get up-to-date prescriptions for our glasses
and contact lenses so

More Weirdness

I guess it's just a weird day worthy of many posts. The majority of windows in my new house face the barn and horse paddock, so I have the privilege of being able to watch my horses from just about every room. I rely on them to alert me when someone or something is on our property. They have such good senses that they pick up little tiny animals way off in the distance that not even I can

Weirdness

I signed up for a recycling service at our new place, and the customer service representative told me that the recycling pickup is "every other week on the first and third Wednesday of each month."

Well, that comment baffled me, because it could be one or the other, but not both, because May had five Wednesdays in it, so if pickup is every other week, then by June it would no longer be the first

Who's the Dog Walker Now?

Remember how my dog walking neighbor in my old house drove me nuts with her constant presence on my property?  Well, I have become that woman.  Only I stay on my own property.  I probably walk my dogs ten times a day, and then my husband takes over walking them out at night to do their business.

We usually walk them in front of the house at night and in the mornings, and then walk them in back

Tying Up Looose Ends

After being in bed sick most of the weekend, I had a little more energy this morning.  My biggest problem is that I can't inhale deeply.  It's like someone dropped a brick in each lung while I wasn't looking.  Yogi Breathe Deep tea loosens things up a bit.

I was too weak yesterday to attack the messes that Midge made during her thunderstorm freakouts.  Even the local newscasters were talking

Now I Know

Now I know why all the houses are built up high on plateaus in my new neighborhood.  We had gray-out conditions this afternoon.  The thunderclouds sat so low on the ground that the visibility was very low and rain was blowing in at a horizontal angle.  I took these pictures during a clearing of the clouds, because otherwise everything just would have been gray.



Temperatures dropped from

A Welcome Visitor

Apparently, wishes do come true -- at least for my husband.  When we started seeing rattlesnakes and evidence of rattlesnakes around our back porch, my husband said he wished he could find himself a king snake and give it control of the domain.  So, this evening I was feeding the horses and heard my husband yelling something.  I ran up to where he was standing, expecting something terrible, which

My Little Pony -- Think of the Colors!

My son came home with a fresh haircut and coloring, created by his girlfriend.  I'm sure glad she took over giving him haircuts, because there's no way I could make him look this good.  I'm guilty of giving him bowl cuts throughout his childhood.  The colors and shine reminded me of "My Little Pony".



I'm driving my son crazy because we've discovered that he has quite a talent for cooking. 

Regional Pronunciations

When I lived in Nevada, we could always tell the "outsiders" (otherwise known as tourists, newbies, or transplants) from the "insiders" (otherwise known as locals or natives to the area) by the way they pronounced Nevada and Genoa.

Outsider pronunciations:
Nevada = Second syllable rhymes with "ha ha". Broken up like Nev-ah-dah. (Politicians, CNN and other national news stations pronounced it

The Aftermath

Note:  Sorry for the long post.  It started being about my dog, and then I wanted to add in the rattlesnake story, by then I had to vent about my lousy real estate agent, and then I got a phone call that turned my life upside down, and then my daughter delivered some upsetting news, and it just kind of ended up being a really crazy day.  Could we have a do over, please?

MIDGE AND THE BOOM BOOMS:

Gabbrielle Learns Nice-Nice

Long-time readers may recall that when my gelding Bombay was young, he used to bite.  He'd bite the hand that feeds him and chomp down on my husband's belly if it was in the vicinity.  So, I somehow taught him to lick instead of bite by saying the command, "Nice-Nice".  I think it was a situation where he licked me once and I gave him all kinds of praise, so he kept licking and I kept saying, "

Lucky

I hit the jackpot with my new farrier.  I talked to every horse owner I met about farriers in the area, studied local horse magazine ads for farriers, and collected business cards off feed store bulletin boards.  If someone had a website, I visited it and researched his or her philosophy.  One thing I knew was that I did not want a farrier who was going to force me to shoe my horses on every

Going Without

I can deal with microwaves, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, and refrigerators breaking down, but the two things I absolutely cannot go without are the septic system and well water.  Ever since I started living in rural communities, my homes have been on septic and private wells.  Each time one of them fails, it's beyond just being a short-term inconvenience.  It throws us into survival

Here We Go Again

We finally got below triple-digit temperatures with a monsoon on the way, so my daughter and I decided to do a little geocaching just to get out of the house.  We drove to our first destination, and the batteries in our GPS died.  Sigh.



This is one of the reasons why I prefer letterboxing over geocaching -- no batteries required, but there aren't many letterboxes in my neighborhood and I'm

Bombay Teases Me

Here are the kids waiting for breakfast after I hollered at Gabbrielle for banging the water trough as soon as the first light cracked on the horizon this Independence Day holiday.  They are like prisoners who bang metal trays against the bars when they want something.

It's really difficult to sleep in on a weekend or holiday around here because of the horse's banging and kicking, and because

Accounting for Advice

Many readers have been giving me advice on various issues over the years, and I don't always follow up to let people know if I heeded that advice and if it worked.  So, I wanted to take a few minutes to describe the results of trying out some recent advice.  I don't recall who told me to do what, sometimes several people said the same thing, and sometimes the advice came from readers while other

I Spy Mischief

The horses didn't need their fly masks for the first three days they were at their new home, because there was not much manure attracting the flies.  But today I did see them rubbing their eyes to get the flies off, so I attached their freshly washed face masks to their heads.  (Cut-N-Jump's custom fly masks made it through the delicate cycle in the washing machine just fine, and then I hung them

Homecoming

Guess who's finally home?



The barn owner gave me permission to pick them up as early as needed in order to avoid the heat.  My plan was to put Gabbrielle in the trailer first, then Bombay, since Gabbrielle is the best loader and Bombay the worst.  Plus there is a little more room in the second slot to help with Bombay's claustrophobia.

Then I was going to come back for Lostine.  If I had

A Night in the Life

Fiasco #1:

Some clouds moved in around 6:30 last night and cooled things off, so I hooked up the horse trailer to the truck and drove it down to the new hay barn.  My husband and I moved all the hay bales out of the trailer into the barn while the wind got stronger and stronger.  Before we knew it, our hair and faces were coated in dirt and all our topsoil was blowing into our neighbor's horse

Go See MiKael

Just a quick note asking you to visit MiKael's Mania if you haven't already.  She needs 250 votes by midnight on June 30 in order to qualify for a generous grant that would help her Arabian horse breeding farm in hard times.

Day 10 of Construction

Our horse facility at our new house is just a few inches shy of being complete.  The contractor ran out of material to finish capping the point of the roof, but will be back to finish it when he picks up his tractor.



We were over $7,000 over budget and 4 days past the original time estimate to complete the project thanks to the county permit and inspection process.  The guys almost made it

Time to Post

No, I don't mean time to post to my blog.  I mean time to post my liability signs whether anyone else likes it or not. 



I was talking to my contractor today and he told me that a whole crew of horseback riders cut through my property riding along the perimeter of the fence he just erected while he was welding the gates to my barn.  I said, "And their horses didn't spook?"

He said, "Well, a

Random Hassles

After hunting for scorpions with a black light and finding none, my husband woke me up twice last night when he found one scorpion on the porch and another on the bathroom floor right in front of my medicine cabinet. He shined the black light on it, and it turned yellow-green under the black light.

My husband wanted me to get up and come look, but I told him if I got up I wouldn't be able to

Day 6 of Construction

The stall "walls" are constructed.  Having my husband in the picture gives a good perspective on how large the stalls and hay barn are.



The contractor is a whiz at welding.  This is not a kit, but totally custom.  I was expecting him to buy pre-manufactured gates and install them, but he's making them from scratch.



He showed me how I can open the gate outward into the aisle of the barn,

The Scorpion Hunt

I went outside with a black light flashlight just after it got dark and searched the property for the glow of scorpions, but found nothing.  I even searched the garage.  I thought perhaps it was too early for them to come out, so when Midge woke me at 2:00 AM to go pee, I tried again.  (We increased her insulin dosage just slightly, and now she's on a more normal bathroom break schedule.)

Again,

Day 5 of Construction

Before showing the day's progress on our horse setup, I wanted to mention that I believe all the problems at my old house are now resolved.  The painter who broke my ceiling fan, didn't finish painting, and lost a screw to my door handle said he would return last Thursday to fix everything, but didn't.  I had to start nagging him again.  He said, "Something came up and he'd get to it later,"

Day 4 of Construction

Part of the frame for the mare motel went up today.



They are bringing in a concrete truck in the morning to fill the holes and set the posts.



They also put the roof on the hay barn and attached most of the top rails for the fence.



I look at all this space and can't believe I'm going to have all that land to ride on...



Plus 22 miles of trails across the street.  It sure beats being

Day 3 of Construction

I was wondering how the guys were going to be able to get themselves up 16-feet to put the panels on the hay barn.  Pure genius and probably safer than a ladder.



Unfortunately, because of the permit process and the way in which the barn was engineered, it's costing me a few extra thousand dollars to pay for the rebar and an exhorbitant amount of concrete.  Oh well.  At least I know the barn

Back to the Drawing Board

When my husband got home from work and saw that the hay barn was going to block our view of the mountains, he put a halt to the project.  He had our son hold up a pole that was close to 16-feet long while we sat on the porch, and I discovered that the hay barn wasn't going to cut off our view of just the foothills like I originally thought, but our entire view of the mountains, which would

Breaking Ground

Yesterday morning I awoke to find a tractor in my backyard. I managed to sleep right through that delivery, but this morning once the grading process began, I definitely knew it. Two construction workers cleared all the bushes and most of the rocks from the area where I am putting the horse paddock, 4-stall mare motel, and hay barn.  Then they staked out where everything is going to go.

A Bit Dusty

This morning I picked up Bombay's bigger fly mask, made with love and great skill by Cut-N-Jump. I really appreciated her making another mask for him when his head turned out to be considerably bigger than that of most Arabian horses.

I got a chance to meet all of her horses, which included quite an array of breeds and genders.

Then this afternoon I stopped by the boarding stable to put

Unusual Encounters

I'm legal by the hair on my chinny chin chin.  I took my last car in for a smog check and it passed, probably since I drove it for 16 hours straight, sometimes at speeds of 75 mph.  This was my mother's car, and it didn't pass inspection once when she let it sit in the garage for several weeks.  The registration expires tomorrow. This car was old enough that I could afford the two-year

Sloppy Work

Lesson of the century learned: If you have to live out of state while having your old property fixed up, hire someone you know you can trust to manage the process on site. I flew to my old home to inspect all the work that had been done on it since I moved out, to pack of the last of my belongings, and to drive the last car back to my new home. When I arrived, this is what I saw...



The

Gratitude

My horses and I are grateful tonight. Wait, who's that red-headed lady in the background of this next picture?  Her ponytail could be the twin to Lostine's forelock.



That's Cut-N-Jump! She made these fantastic fly masks for my horses as a welcoming gift.  Lostine looks good in purple.  She got purple butterflies on her mask.



Gabbrielle put up a little bit of a fight over letting me put

Calm

Despite me not doing much with the horses beyond grooming them and occasionally exercising them at their boarding facility, I'm finding that their stay there is worth every penny.  Just having them in a different environment is a form of training.  They become stronger, smarter, more confident, and calmer with each new experience.

The other day I was mongering a hug from Bombay when someone

Untrustworthy

I'm learning that I have some untrustworthy business partners.   I hired a painting crew to paint both the exterior and the interior of my old home.  I pressured the owner of the painting company to paint the exterior as soon as the weather cleared up, before signing a contract for the interior, because I wanted to witness his business practices first hand and see if he did a good job.  I was

Oh, Bombay!

My gelding Bombay has a knack for destroying mesh fly masks and fly sheets.  Cut-N-Jump said she was making my kids some fly masks, and I had to warn her about their bad behavior around anything they can get their teeth into.  Lostine is good, of course, but Bombay and Gabbrielle make a game out of undressing each other.  You'd never know they are brother and sister... sort of... Bombay's

Scenes From: SMLDM

Scenes from the Superstition Mountain Lost Dutchman Museum in Apache Junction, Arizona:

You Want My What?

Permission?  You want my permission?

In another post I had written about some some horseback riders who rode through my property with bad manners.  In the case of one rider, she squeezed between two vehicles on my driveway, and then rode along the northern perimeter, despite my neighbors to the north putting up signs asking riders not to go that way.  She also had a dog off leash, which would

A Visit with My Buddies

My daughter and I were out running errands, trying to fix our latest problems caused by other people's incompetence, and decided to stop by the boarding facility to visit our buddies. The boarding facility owner had asked me to turnout the horses when I do come to visit, because she wants them to stretch their legs more often than just on the days she is able to do it. So, after we

Bumps and Dips

The foothills of the Superstition Mountains are filled with roads that have bumps and dips, which are right in line with how my circumstances have been unfolding, practically on an hourly basis.



After freaking out about the fabulous timing of our car's electronics going on the fritz, I thought, "Well, at least we should be getting a big fat check at the end of the month when the house sells."

And So It Goes...

The day started off well. I met Cut-N-Jump and the real estate agent/hay farmer she introduced me to, who helped me find my new house, at a great Mexican restaurant for lunch. We sat for three hours and talked about hay, horses, food, exercise -- you name it -- over cervezas and in my case, fish tacos, rice and re-fried beans. I was hoping to watch Cut-N-Jump compete with her horses, but show

Horsey Heaven

I was able to take a break from Midge's potty party to visit the horses. They were excited because the boarding facility was booming with activity over a three-day holiday weekend. Some people were driving a draft horse up and down the street from a carriage. I'm sure that was a totally new sight for my guy and gals.  Gabbrielle is a bit on the skinny side with being fed half grass, half

Enslaved by Dogs

Midge had a $250 follow-up appointment regarding her diabetes and eye infection, another full day in the vet hospital for them to monitor her glucose levels.  She really hates that place.  When we drive her to the vet hospital, she rolls down the back window and tries to jump out, so we have to lock the windows.  Then she climbs all over us and doesn't want any of the staff touching her.

When

Scenes From Another Geocaching Adventure

My daughter and I covered the all the geocaches in the southwest quadrant of the public land across the road from us this morning.  None were particularly challenging, because people really only have the choice of hiding them under a pile of rocks or a piles of logs, but we do enjoy the hikes.





















One of the things that I really appreciate with this new neighborhood is not having

From the Inbetween State

This is one of two horses who live up on the hill above the arroyo.  Their knickers and whinnies will have to suffice until I can get my horses onto my property.  I haven't given up yet.  I just keep reminding myself that because of the move, we are going to get walloped with all kinds of additional, unexpected expenses that are going to thwart my plans and make me go over budget, but some day

More Money Down the Drain

Literally.  I received news that a main pipe under my old house in Nevada is cracked and needs to be replaced.  I keep wondering how much longer I'm going to have to fork out cash to repair a house that will no longer be mine after June.

The day before I left for my new home in Arizona, I noticed water running out from underneath the house, across our new concrete walkway and onto our lawn. 

Some Fun Comparisons

I've noticed a few differences between Nevada and Arizona over the past couple of weeks.  Of course, these are just first impressions and generalizations, but they are something I've observed.

Busiest aisle in a Nevada supermarket:  The check out aisle and any aisle in the parking lot.
Busiest aisle in an Arizona supermarket:  The ice cream aisle.  (Despite this, everyone seems to be skinny.)

First AZ Geocache Hunt

My husband and I started off the morning updating our contact info for all our accounts and on all the websites we use.  When I got to Geocaching.com, I did a quick search to see if there were any geocaches hidden in the equestrian trails across the road.  Sure enough, there were several!

My daughter volunteered to go on a quick hike with me to find the three closest ones.  We came to an area

Pictures

I took two walks today and took pictures with my point-and-shoot.  The first walk was at noon, so I didn't get the best lighting.  The second one was at sunset.  But first, I wanted to mention that Scrappy is starting to feel at home...



 And Midge can open her boo-boo eye now...



Here's an example of the hiking / horse riding trails around my new house...



There is some construction, but

The Latest News

I was looking for a picture to upload with this post, but couldn't find any.  I need to get out and go on a photography expedition to have more visuals for the blog.  We're still unpacking and having trouble making everything fit in the new house.  Every day is filled with phone calls, text messages, errands and appointments.  I haven't had much of a chance to enjoy my new surroundings beyond

Monster Encounter

We seem to keep experiencing fairly rare sightings this week. There was a Gila Monster in our back yard.







The focus on this one isn't good, but it's the only shot I got of its banded tail.



From what I read, these creatures are an endangered species and not only is it illegal to handle one, but very dangerous, because they are venomous. They are slow moving and easy to catch, but can

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

This offer we got on our old house is turning out to be a thorn in my side.  I'm realizing that I'm just not up to weathering the stress of one more real estate transaction this soon.  When I was selling my mother's house, it was painful because I lost a buyer due to a harsh home inspection, I was having to pay all her household bills despite having lost my job, and I ended up losing hundreds

It's a Good Thing I Slept in my Clothes Last Night

I got up to go eat breakfast and found Scrappy, my little black Chiweenie, wagging his tail by the front door.  Standing by the back door usually means he's got to go #1 and standing by the front door means #2.  I opened the front door and walked outside with him, expecting the usual -- a lot of sniffing around bushes in our yard until he finds the perfect spot.  I was in my bare feet and he was

Ups and Downs

We finally got our first full grocery shopping expedition done this morning, which is a good thing because I was getting tired of drinking water and eating fast food.  I was astounded when the lady bagging our groceries welcomed us to the area after I mentioned that we just moved here and needed an application for a discount card. 

I then drove over to the home of one of my Nuzzling Muzzles

The Journey: Part 4

Obviously, my fingers are feeling better now, because the posts are coming fast and furious.  I found the right kind of hand lotion to do the trick.  I knew I had some.  It was just a matter of opening the right box...



I swear, this was a really classy house when we bought it, and we haven't even been here a week and we've already trashed the place.  Anyway, I know some of you are anxious to

The Journey: Part 3

The drive from Northern Nevada to the Phoenix area of Arizona was relatively uneventful, save getting accosted in a gas station in Blythe by a beggar who claimed to be out of both gas and money.  You always have to wonder about people like that.  How did they get into the situation of being stranded, assuming they are telling the truth?  Didn't they plan ahead?  Do they survive through

The Journey: Part 2

You may recall that one of my problems with traveling last week was the timing of a certain visitor who is in the habit of completely incapacitating me for at least four days in a row.  Despite getting all the warning signs and pre-symptoms, the visitor never came.  I suspect that my body and mind had been under such intense stress that even Aunt Flo didn't want to be around me.




This is the

The Journey: Part 1

I am officially and physically in my new home.  I decided to title this "Part 1" of the journey to the new home, because I have so many stories to tell, but am a bit handicapped at the moment and can't share all.  First off, I have pictures on my camera, but can't find the cable to upload them to my computer.  There are a lot of things I can't find because the entire house and garage are filled

Taking A Short Break

I'm taking a short break from packing to tell some funny stories.  Yesterday my husband was cleaning out the garage when that annoying little boy who the old woman next door babysits came riding up on his bike.  He had one of those professional snake catching devices that Mikey has and said, "Since I am an experienced snake catcher, I would like to look for snakes over there in your bushes."

My

Lots of Good News

My husband got the job offer he wanted for the salary he wanted, so he will soon be employed in the state we are moving to, which means that we can call that our primary residence for now on.

The real estate agent said that our local market is finally picking up.  He listed a house on Friday and has already had three showings.  That kind of activity was unheard of last year.  We've been telling

Countdown: Two Days

Two days before the movers arrive.  I can't believe how sore I am at the end of each day from bending and lifting for hours on end.  Today I strained my wrist.  I also am starting to get the lung infection that my husband and the painter have, and yet another eye infection.  Midge isn't doing well.  She stopped eating today.  I'm hoping it's just her neurosis about the increased activity around

Exterior Done

The painters finished painting the exterior of our house.  The body is a little lighter and the trim a little darker than before.  It looks clean.  No more flaky paint.



See those clumps of hay in the foreground of the picture above?  That's all that is left of my haystack.  My friend had a crew of young men come out and haul it all over to her place.  She wrote me a check for the hay, but

Countdown: Six Days

Six days before the movers arrive.  I got over my bug well enough to do a lot of packing today, but my husband came home from work sick.  He says he might not be able to leave for the new house first to meet the movers when they deliver if he doesn't recover.  He has a lung infection caused by having to use a blood pressure medication that makes him cough (because he left his other blood pressure

We're Trapped

The painters showed up again today and I thought they were just going to scrape, sand and nail in nails, and then leave before the storm moves in, but they sealed me and the dogs into our house by stapling plastic over all the windows and doors, except for the front door.

The head painter is sick.  I avoided shaking his hand, but now I'm sick with a sore throat, swollen glands, chills, nausea

Who's the Annoying Neighbor Now?

After having to listen to the sounds of weed-whackers and lawn mowers all day and night yesterday while my gardeners were here, my neighbors got to listen to the sound of pressure sprayers blowing the old paint off my house all day today.  Apparently, the guy had a difficult time of it, because the job was expected to only take a couple of hours, but he's been putting in a full day trying to

My Property Dropped Its Drawers

How's that for a title?  Yes, my property is naked.  It exposed itself.  Three gardeners came by today and weed-whacked everything in sight.  I promised my son I'd take pictures.  He'll understand the significance, because he knows how everything looked before.  Just imagine tons of clump grass, piles of moldy hay, weeds of every sort including tumbleweeds, mounds of manure, and grass about three

Off Topic, But Interesting

Sunday morning at 8:00 AM I was working on my computer and my husband was in the shower.  I heard and felt a large boom that shook our house.  My first thought was that something had hit our house.  My second thought was that my husband had collapsed in the shower.  I ran to him first, but he was fine.  I asked if he fell into a wall or something.  He made the sound of him falling into a wall,

Cleaning the Paddock

I spent the morning spreading manure, emptying water troughs, pouring rocks neatly in a pile, coiling extension cords, etc. in the horse paddock to get it ready for the gardeners and potential home buyers.  My friend came over to tell us that she's been taking care of the annoying neighbors' horses while they are away, and she asked another man who was taking care of their place if he could help

Tackling the Garage

This weekend I have been attempting to clean out the garage, a task I've been dreading and hoping my husband would do.  Digging around in the garage means dealing with black widow spiders, mouse turds, lost of dust, tripping over things, getting scratched, and dripping sweat.  I have contemplated just boxing up what is in the house for the movers, and leaving everything in the garage behind for

The New Accommodations

I picked up my husband from the airport this afternoon and he delivered more pictures taken with his iPhone. He visited the horses at their new accommodations twice. The first time he just parked in the street and watched them eat. The next morning he got out, and he said Gabbrielle was lovin' all over him. Lostine came over to say a quick hello, but Bombay was too far off in the distance,

Pictures, as Promised

My husband sent me some pictures from his iPhone of the new house. These are his sleeping accommodations...

I think it is funny that the master bedroom is yellow, because we keep trying to paint the rooms in our old house beige and they always end up yellow.  This is HIS walk-in closet...

This is one side of HERS walk-in closet with window and shutters...

My husband is worried that I might

Oh, So Far Away

I admit that every morning at the crack of dawn I still feel the impulse to go outside to feed the horses.  Then I remind myself that they are 760 miles away at a boarding facility.  At sunset, I still have the urge to go put them in their stalls and blanket them.  When I look out the window, I see them waiting by the gate, and then I realize it is just their freshly washed blankets hanging on

I'm Psychic!

Either that or I just have common sense.  You may recall that when my annoying neighbors began hauling in all those windows and sliding glass doors and piling them up inside the horse paddock, I predicted that the horses would cut themselves on the broken glass.  I even reported the neighbors for endangering those animals.  Did anyone do anything about it? 

No, of course not.

So, I stopped by

Having the Right People on Your Team is Everything

On last report, the horses are in good health and spirits after their day and a half haul out of state to their new temporary housing.  The owner of the boarding facility sent me a photo she took with her mobile phone to show that they arrived safe and sound at her place.

Since I can't haul Bombay around the corner from my house without him going Kamikaze on himself and my trailer, and Rick

Monday Morning

I told the horse hauler to call me if he had any problems with my horses.  About an hour after he left, I was cleaning stalls, and my mobile phone dinged.  I got a text message.  "Oh oh.  That's not good," I thought.  He said he'd call me in the evening unless there was a problem, and this was early afternoon.  The message just said hello and it was from someone with the same first name as the

Goodbye, My Loves

I spent the morning grooming, clipping and exercising the horses. I walked each one and "explained" what was about to happen by passing pictures of a big horse trailer pulling into the driveway, them loading into it, and driving off from my mind to theirs. I showed them a new place with other horses, and then us coming to see them in a few weeks.

They seemed to understand what was going on.

All Stretched Out

My original plans for moving were to move both our stuff and the horses the weekend after escrow closed.  However, then I heard about potential complications in closing escrow, so I planned to move the horses the next week after escrow closed, and move our stuff two weeks after escrow closed to leave room for problems. 

However, I was having difficulty finding a moving company that I could

Rest My Weary Soul

Or maybe the title should be "Rest My Wary Soul", because I don't trust anyone or anything anymore.  Even though we lost our discount price with the moving company when the other customers postponed their move, my understanding was that the company could still move us within our time frame, just at a higher price since we had to pay for the round trip instead of half the trip.  So, my husband

Keep It Together

I feel nauseated from this roller coaster ride I've been on for the past few days.  Between the moving sale and the charity pickup, I had to keep a close eye on the furniture in our front yard, because my annoying neighbors kept letting their dogs loose, and they'd make a beeline for our stuff and try to mark their territory on it.  My husband was out there with a chair looking like a lion tamer

The Next Hurdle

We made it through the moving sale, and as you can see, we didn't sell many of the big items...






The majority of our customers were senior citizens only interested in buying books and toys for their grand kids.  In past yard sales, I could sometimes get rid of furniture if foreigners showed up with just the shirts on their backs, but they never had money, so I often gave the furniture away

Just Lovely

I made an offer that couldn't be refused (I thought) to a potential home buyer.  Our house isn't on the market yet, but I knew there was a buyer in the area who wanted at least an acre of space, but had a budget that was less than what we wanted to ask for our house.  I told my real estate agent that if he is interested, he could have our house "as is" before I start fixing it up for his budget.

Foiled Again

My husband took the day off from work for a video conference job interview, and also to help move all the heavy stuff out onto the driveway for our moving sale this Saturday.  This morning started out warm, bright and beautiful.  I laid out a bunch of tarps and began piling boxes of books and toys on them just to get a head start two days before the sale.

Of course, my nosy neighbor had to come

I'm Getting Excited

I think this is really going to happen.  I haven't allowed myself to celebrate too much about moving out of this hell hole, because nothing is guaranteed, but today the title company put all our paperwork together and is shipping it to us for signing.  In exactly one week we, along with the bank, will be home owners of a new home.

I was boxing up stuff all day and piling garbage bags and moldy

A Very Satisfying Day

The vet and her assistant come by to do the works on my horses.  I figured I'd end up having to work three separate appointments into my schedule, but this vet managed to get it all done in one morning.  She gave them a physical first.  Everyone was good except for Gabbrielle who had never had a thermometer up her butt before.  I suspect she'd give any stallion a run for his money.

Then the vet

I'm Keeping the Vets in Business

First thing in the morning I found myself scrubbing another pee stain out of the carpet.  I've been closing the back bedroom doors since Midge seems to think that is her bathroom, and now she's going in the hall outside the bedrooms.  I don't understand what her problem is.  She's been treated with two rounds of antibiotics for a urinary tract infection, and one round of antibiotics for an

Crazy Weather

Despite updating my ad for my moving sale to show that I postponed it until next weekend, dozens of vehicles pulled into my driveway an hour before it was supposed to start before I cancelled it.  I was in the shower and my husband said some man came to the door wanting to know if we would let him in early.  Sigh.  We had no intention of letting anyone into our house to begin with.  This was

Ahhhh, Life

Life has gotten in the way of me being able to live my life.  I had to cancel our moving sale, because my husband had an emergency at the office and had to work late, and I can't lift 90% of the items we want to sell to move them onto the driveway.  Also, the weather forecast is now predicting high winds in addition to rain and snow for this weekend.  However, the huge storm for next weekend has

The Week of a Million Phone Calls

I had another week of a million phone calls, emails, meetings, and errands with very little progress on packing or hiring a mover.  Twelve more days until escrow closes.  I made an impulse decision yesterday to advertise for a weekend moving sale, simply because the weather forecast said some wind and rain this weekend, while a huge storm is moving in next weekend.  I only have three weekends to

Pigs, Deer, and more Pigs

Photo borrowed from gianthamster.com. 
I am so looking forward to seeing the TV show episode of "My Crazy Obsession" about the lady who keeps a capybara as a pet.  I've always been a big guinea pig fan and thought the ultimate exercise in guinea pig fanship would be to own a capybara.  
The herd of a dozen deer came by tonight.  We watched them eat all the buds off our trees and the patches of

Logistics

Thank you for your input on the moving process in previous posts.  Your comments allow me to put some things into perspective.  I tend to think better while asleep than during the day, so each morning when I wake up I have at least a couple more thoughts in my head I didn't have the day before.  This morning I awoke with some logistical problems.

Things have to happen in a certain order or I

Questions for my Readers

Alright.  Time to get down to the nitty gritty. 

Over the past several weeks it has been nearly impossible for me to get a few minutes to start packing for our move.  The phone calls and unexpected problems are relentless.  Literally, every hour I get slammed with a new dilemma that I, and supposedly only I, can solve.  I spend so much time running around fixing things that other people broke

Huh?

I received a really odd phone message today.  It was Midge's old vet's receptionist calling to tell me to bring Midge in to have her urine retested for a third time and to put her back on antibiotics.  Say what?

The first time I brought her in, the doctor tested her urine, put her on antibiotics, and then charged me somewhere around $250.  She told me to bring her back for a follow-up

Being Observant

When working with horses it is always a good idea to keep your eye on the horse at all times, because the weirdest things can happen and horses are very good at giving off subtle signals when their behavior is about to change.  The other morning I was removing Lostine's blanket.  She's a fairly safe horse, so I never worry about her behavior toward me when we are both in a little 12x12 box. 

What's Up with Midge?

Ever since Midge finished her two rounds of antibiotics to treat her urinary tract infection, she hasn't been the same dog. If she's not a nervous wreck from all the noises in the neighborhood and the phone ringing off the hook, she's listless. A few days ago she started having accidents on the carpet again, only this time instead of bloody pee it was diarrhea and vomiting. She also has been

Oh Deer!

Last night the dogs were barking at the fence. They found about ten deer in my neighbor's back yard.



Gabbrielle was fascinated...

Lostine was interested until I came outside, and then she just wanted to eat...

Bombay was just perturbed that more trespassers were coming around in his space...

Don't you love how I can't get a single picture of my horses without my neighbors' crap in the

A Parting of the Clouds

In half an hour I will have signed the last of the legal papers for the refinance of our current house, which means one less lender pestering me for blood.  Hallelujah!  Now I can start playing telephone tag with contractors who can fix up the house instead of me signing and scanning papers all week.  I actually found a minute to bring some boxes in to pack up more knick knacks.  I started

Still in a Holding Pattern

We are still in a holding pattern with the contract on the new house.  Normally, a seller and buyer agree to some terms, the seller has a 10-day inspection period to look at the house and negotiate repairs or back out of the deal.  At that same time, an appraisal of the value of the home is being performed, and if the appraisal comes in below the contract price, the buyer can renegotiate the

Midge's Thundershirt

Midge's Thundershirt arrived today.  So far it's been a complete waste of forty bucks.  First off, I followed the measurement guide on the website so that I would order the correct size.  However, this shirt is way too small.  The scratchy side of the Velcro just barely reaches the end of each attachment and is left open to chaff on her skin.  Hopefully, her fur is thick enough that she won't

Three Realizations

I had three realizations today.

I was trying to muck out stalls in 80 MPH winds and as I shook the shavings off the fork, they blew all around the stalls in a blizzard of wood chips only to settle in the fresh water I had just poured in the troughs.  Gabbrielle had such severe fits in the high winds that I had to shut myself in her stall to avoid getting plowed down while she raced around

Every Which Way the Wind Blows

It comes as no surprise to me that as soon as the younger couple moved out of the house next door (The Calling Card Creeper and The Chain-Smoking Woman), my horses miraculously stopped "escaping" from the horse paddock.  I forgot to pick up a new locking mechanism this weekend, so nothing has changed with the gate locks.  This couple seems to get shuffled back and forth between relatives, living

A Virtual Toast for Mikey and Wade

Mikey and Wade from the Postcards from Arizona blog are headed for holy matrimony next weekend. My family and all the critters on my ranch want to wish them love, joy, and that awesome future together that they deserve.

Bombay says, "May you share lots of laughter."

Lostine says, "May you live long and prosper."

Gabbrielle says --  Gabbrielle!  Put that silly smile away and just give me a

Deep Breaths

I've decided that Fridays are my enemies.  For some reason, everyone and his brother decides he must call me, email me, text me, IM me, or come to my door on Fridays.  I literally feel like I'm being dumped on.  I'm busier just trying to run my household than a medical receptionist is running a medical clinic.  It's ridiculous.

I've decided that once I move, I'm going into super-secret hermit

Suspicious

Yesterday I walked outside to clean stalls and found that the horses had broken into the round pen.  I hollered at them to get out there, and said out loud something to the effect of, "Geez, every time I turn around there's another problem!"

I ducked under the fence and chased them out, locking the gate behind them.  I turned around to see my nosy neighbors crouched down by my fence watching me.

Fenced In

I spent the day painting fences and fence posts to try to "freshen up" the horse paddock.


I got most of it done before the annoying neighbors came out and started working on their fence. It astounds me how they get everyone and his brother over at their house to work on this project, yet it still takes weeks for them to finish it. I watched a guy across the highway erect a fence ten times

Critters and Cameras

We've been having all kinds of critters visiting our property lately. Of course, there's the deer...

And we've heard coyotes close by each evening, so hopefully the neighbors are all keeping their cats and dogs indoors. Baby birds are all about and nesting in our awnings. Bunnies are digging under my fence to take shelter under the haystack, and I saw my first mole, be it dead, on the ground

Bombarded

Yesterday was a crazy day.  I've decided that touch screen mobile phones are the bane of mankind.  Every time I am trying to conduct business over my phone, someone else has to call.  My phone is so obnoxious that it beeps repeatedly when I get a second call.  The person I'm speaking to can't hear it, so she keeps talking, and I can't hear her beyond what I catch between the beeps.

Then the

71 Degrees F

The sun came to visit today and was kind enough to bring its warmth. I knew it was going to be a great day weather-wise, so I planned to spend it with the horses. About three weeks ago we finally broke out of that three-year reign of cruddy weather every Sunday, and now the snowstorms are hitting us in the middle of the week instead.

I started off cleaning stalls, and much to my dismay my

Book Review: Crib Notes by Winter Prosapio

I recently downloaded Crib Notes by Winter Prosapio down to my Kindle for a mere 99 cents. I know this author through her blogs, and I know that she is a gifted writer. I also admire her for her clarity of mind, so I found it humorous when she addressed within one essay the inevitable decline of one's brain power that occurs during motherhood. She is still light years beyond me in staving off

Day By Day

I'm taking things day by day, still trying to get the house ready for a new tenant.  I can only get a little done each day, because, much to my dismay, having a home in escrow is the equivalent of working for a banker 40 hours a week.  Every day the lenders need more documents.  Stupid me.  I thought that once they got all their documents in that first week, I could actually start doing home

On Guard

I've been creating lists of all we have to do in order to move, but not getting a whole lot done because I'm still getting bombarded with phone calls, emails, text messages, and paperwork regarding all the legal processes involved in exchanging homes.  Literally every day our lenders and accountants, and we are working with two of each, notify us that they are missing some documents, and we have

Horse Perception

Sorry about having two posts in one day.  I had an interesting thing happen with Gabbrielle and wanted to mention it while I have time.  She a very affectionate mare, always looking for hugs and kisses.  I went in for a hug, and she startled me by snorting and jumping away from me.  I figured the annoying neighbors were around and did something to spook her, so I tried to hug her again, and she

Stinkage

People have asked why I'm not jumping for joy over moving to a new house.  It's because I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Historically, whenever I make a large purchase, something bad happens and I regret making the purchase, because I end up needing the money for something else, like a big vet bill or hospital bill or repair bill...  Also, I can rarely enjoy blessings before something

Cleansing

We finally got some snow this winter after being promised some for several weeks. I feel sorry for all these pregnant robins who thought it was spring...

Though I can't stand the cold anymore, I do love the way a fresh snowfall seems to quiet everything down and cleanse the neighborhood. There's less traffic on the road, less construction noises, less trash to look at. I've been seeing

A Quick Note

I've been buried in legal paperwork this past week and have had both phones ringing at the same time.  Our real estate agent is worth her weight in gold... or maybe I should say she's worth my weight in gold, since she's a skinny little thing and I'm almost too big for my horse.  We spent several days negotiating a deal on a house in Arizona, and the seller kept coming back with counter offers

One Foot In Front of the Other

I've been trudging ahead.  My apologies for being absent from your blogs.  Never ever ever try to settle an estate, pay taxes, refinance a house, buy a new home, and try to fix up the old home for sale all at the same time.  Even if you had ten clones, there wouldn't be enough of you.  I got both phones ringing at the same time, emails coming through with forms to sign, and people coming to the

Lots of News

House Hunt:  I spent literally all day and night yesterday getting paperwork together for a home loan approval and finally got the pre-qual form late last night.  Now I'm in the phase of investigating this home a little closer and possibly making an offer.  Turquoise Pants is still living on the porch next door sucking on her cigarettes and staring at me all day, so it feels great that I'm one

What I Learned From Watching The Amazing Race

Originally, my plans for Monday, if I didn't find a house were to go letterboxing and geocaching to help me get to know the areas around Phoenix better.  If I did find a house, I planned to meet with a lender either in person or over the phone before leaving for the airport.  However, it got to be nearly 11:00 AM and my real estate agent still hadn't contacted me with a list of lenders.  I was

Sunday's House Hunt

A lot happened on Sunday, and the Internet it really slow in uploading pictures here at the hotel, so I'm only going to share some of the more important pictures.  Otherwise, enjoy the story of our adventures.

The first house we visited had a horse paddock, breezeway and tack room, but it was way up high in the mountains.  There wasn't a whole lot of space in the house, and the distance to

A Day at The World Wildlife Zoo

I promised my husband I would post this last night, but I fell asleep before the pictures finished uploading. I took the kids to The World Wildlife Zoo in Litchfield Park. It gave me a chance to do something with them other than house hunting and eating, and it also allowed me to meet my son's girlfriend. Here is a medley of some of the animals we saw:




Oops!  I don't think we were supposed

Saturday's House Hunt

The real estate agent, my kids and I all met up north of Phoenix to look at a horse property short sale. This was the first one I'd seen where the home owners kept the house and property clean and didn't attempt to destroy it on their way out.

It was a beautiful home, open, airy, light, no funky smells.  The first thing I noticed was that all the horse properties were surrounded by beautiful

Friday's House Hunt

I'm sitting here in my lovely hotel room with the sliding glass door open listening to the sounds of city traffic, honking, crosswalks beeping, and boisterous voices while I try to air out the disgusting smell of perfume that smacked me in the face when I walked into the room.  But it doesn't smell any worse than some of the short sale homes I looked at today.  My olfactory sense hasn't been this

False Impressions

I took Midge back in to see the vet, because my Corgi still seemed anxious and was urinating more than normal... and normal is a lot for her.  The doctor instructed me over the phone to not let her urinate for a few hours before her appointment, so that they could get a decent urine sample.  The poor dog was running around nervously panting because she needed to pee so bad that I took her in a

We Finally Got Something That Was Promised

Yup. The weatherman finally came through for us. He's been promising snow off and on all winter, but I think the last time we got it was October. We've just gotten to the point where we ignore snow forecasts because they always end up being a few gray clouds drifting past.

Our haystack that was already drenched with rain was hanging in there. We lost a few bales to mold, but most of the

No Love Lost

No love lost here in the neighborhood, because there never really was much.  Last night I needed to clean stalls, put the horses away, feed and blanket them, but the annoying neighbors had a ton of people over at their place all hanging out next to my barn.  There's a woman living with them who I call The Chain-Smoker, because she comes out onto their front porch every five minutes to smoke, so

Before the Storm

It seems that our nicest days are always the day before a storm is expected to move in. I took advantage of it by riding Bombay, who was killing me with his boredom. You know how people tease you by trying to block you from getting where you are going? Bombay does that to me while I'm walking around the horse paddock shoveling manure. He anticipates the next pile of poop I'm going to scoop

Pups in the Sun

I woke up yesterday morning trying to decide whether to do a photo shoot at the animal shelter, because it was such a nice day, or whether to work on my novel. The county decided for me by bringing in more heavy equipment to do road construction in front of my house. I started loading my car up with photography equipment and ran out of the house without finishing my make-up, drying my hair or

Earplugs, Please

These pictures pretty much sum up how my week has been going. The truck traffic outside was more obnoxious than usual. I looked out my window to find this truck blocking the end of my driveway...

And this truck blocking our mailboxes...

There were tractors and other machinery parked all up and down my private drive. The county employees who were supposed to working on the road were all

Poor Midge

Over the holidays, Midge was restless and panting, drinking a lot of water, and spending more time outside despite the cold.  I was about to take her in to see the vet, and she instantly got back to being her old self.  We figured she probably got into one of the kids' Christmas chocolates and had some chocolate poisoning from which she recovered.

Then over the past week we've noticed that she's

Please, Somebody Send Me a Good Luck Charm

I'm in a crabby mood.  My junk yard neighbor had a U-Haul truck filled with more junk spew its contents all over his property this weekend.


He's had pickers coming and going at all hours buying junk from him ever since.  I decided to report him to the county again for running an illegal, unlicensed business.  I spent hours phrasing the letter of complaint just right, and then my black ink

Moving Questions

I'm taking a quick break from my semi-productive efforts at preparing the house to be put on the market.  For those of you who have experience moving, I've got a few questions.

We are in a situation where our house is stuffed to the gills with furniture and clutter.  I want to install new flooring and fresh paint, but that means moving all the furniture and stuff someplace else.  I'm not willing

Another Adrenaline Burst

I'm trying keep my Facebook page all business.  Sometimes family or a friend posts something hilarious about sex or burritos or dog poop and I desperately want to respond, but know that my comment will be blasted all over the place, and that would very unprofessional.  Also, being on Facebook means getting invited to events.  I rarely accept social invitations mainly because I can rarely keep my

Off Topic, But...

Is anyone else being driven batty by excessive phone calls containing political messages and surveys?  We have been getting calls at least every half hour throughout the day and night.  I think it is indecent to call private homes after 8:00 PM, yet the calls keep coming long after that.  I find it so ironic that our politicians tried to protect our peace, quiet and privacy by creating the

Horse Work

I had to alter my weekly schedule, because it just wasn't working out for me. We've had so many 3-day weekends lately when the stores are all closed, and something always has to break down or someone always has to get injured or sick over 3-day holiday weekends, so that come Tuesday morning when the stores and doctor offices reopen, I need their services. However, I could never get these

Things That Scream in the Night

Last night was absolutely bizarre.  I've been having problems with my dogs going nuts every time I let them outside.  I used to be able to let them out into the backyard and they would get right down to business and maybe sniff around a bit, and then they would quietly return to the backdoor to scratch it or bark once to let me know they were ready to come back inside the house. 

Now literally

The Hunt

After soliciting the help of a real estate agent to assist me in finding a home I can live with, she was only able to find one home that fit my criteria, and it's a short sale.  It was a newer, really nice little horse ranch that looked awesome until I saw the taxes and the fact that it is in a flood plain (which means expensive flood insurance) with a huge natural wash running through it. Also,

The Training Process

In a comment achieve1dream asked how I trained Bombay not to bite, but to lick instead.
I had to think about it, because we're talking something that happened maybe ten years ago. If my memory serves me well, I offered him my hand and watched him closely. As soon as I saw or sensed that he was about to nip, I'd say, "Ahh, ahh, ahh," like "No, no, no," and pulled my hand away. I'd then offer

Rich Moments Around the Ranch

It's such a nice day, I thought I'd go outside and take pictures of the horses.  They are all a mess, but there's not much point in grooming as long as there is mud on the ground.  Here's Bombay itching and Gabbrielle taking a stroll in the background...

Gabbrielle licking a remnant of a salt lick and Lostine pigging out in the background...

This was about 30-seconds into my photo shoot, and

A Follow Up

Sometimes I write blog posts and forget to mention their resolutions.  My blogger friend achieve1dream is really generous in commenting on almost every post I write when she gets time to read them, so sometimes she makes a comment on an old post and that reminds me that I never followed up on the subject. 

I'm like a rubber bouncy ball, only staying in one space or mind-set for a short period

My New Profession

I'm a deer chaser now, by profession.  The deer have been coming around so often that the horses complain by kicking their stall walls, which triggers the dogs to run for the door barking because they've come to associate the horses kicking with deer being in our yard.  I let the dogs out to do their business, and they can sometimes chase off the deer, but usually the deer just stand there and

The Home Search

Every couple of days I've been searching real estate sites for a new home in the areas my husband and I are considering, and all it does is get my blood pressure up.  I find a potential home with horse facilities on a few acres within my price range, and then I look at the aerial view of the neighborhood and see my current neighbors living right next door or across the street.

If there aren't a

Look What Blew In With the Storm

Really big rats.  Lots of 'em.






Ten to fifteen inches of snow is due to fall over the next few days.  It's been spitting on and off.  Thanks to those who shared the brands of their favorite coats in the last post.  Keep adding comments if you haven't bragged about yours yet.  Hmmmm.  Maybe I can make a deerskin coat. 

Come Register On The Coat Brag Book

I've been struggling with my coats this winter.  I had to throw out two coats that I loved that belonged to my father, because I wore them until they fell apart.  I think he got both of them in Alaska.  Ever since I've been trying to find the perfect coat. 

I tried wearing one of my mother's complimentary cruise ship coats, but it was gathered at the waist with elastic, and it kept pulling my

We Got Water

Well, I don't know if Reno got enough rain to put out its fire, but I got enough to flood my horse paddock...



It's a good thing that I didn't bother to vacuum and mop the floors yesterday, because I had to walk through all of that and track the mud in the house this morning.  When I came outside I found that either Bombay or the high winds knocked over the wheelbarrow filled with hay.  Here's

Reno Fire Update

I don't know how long this link will be available, but you can go here to see some amazing photos of the fire.  If you are patient while flipping through the gallery, you'll see pictures of horses being rescued.  An equine hospital and horse training facility and stables had to be evacuated.  All the horses got out safely there, but it was reported that at least one home owner lost a horse.  The

Wildfire Affecting Livestock

A wildfire is burning out of control in the valleys and mountains between Carson City and Reno with up to 80 mph winds pushing it along.  A gust of 122 mph was recorded at Slide Mountain.  There are a lot of ranches in this area.  Animals north of the fire are being evacuated to the Reno Livestock Events Center and animals south of the fire are being evacuated to Fuji Park in Carson City.  Law

Yay!

Yesterday was amazingly productive, so I'm feeling better about the size of my To Do List.  The handyman worked really hard to get the job done in one day and to get it done right, so our kitchen molding is up and now our kitchen looks finished.

The job I gave him was nearly impossible in my eyes.  We had something like one and a half inch molding, and you couldn't attach it to both the cabinet

Pressure

When it comes to life, I've bitten off more than I can chew.  I just do the best I can, and it doesn't help when others criticize me.  I always have to wonder about those people who do criticize me for not surrounding myself with perfection.  What kind of life do they have?  Do their only responsibilities include cleaning house?  Here's all that I've got on the burner at the moment:

1.  Trying

What Happened to the Holiday?

Seriously, I'm starting to think that holidays should be banned.  First off, when I was working outside the home, the companies I worked for rarely let me actually take holidays off from work, so I've never benefited from them.  However, all the people you need on holidays, like vets and plumbers, do take their holidays, so you can't get any service.  If you have an emergency and have to run to

This is Why I Love My Horses

When the neighbors pile their junk right up against my fence, the horses mark their territory.

Like a Cartoon Snowball Rolling Down a Mountain

Our home improvement projects have been slow going.  Part of it is that I just have so many daily chores and they pretty much eat up my entire day, and part of it is that every little, simple task always has to snowball out of control into dozens of other tasks.  Every time I start a new project, I regret it because we always somehow end up in a worse situation than we were in to begin with.  I

Burn

Someone suggested that I contact equestrian organizations in Arizona to get the skinny on the best equestrian neighborhoods and places to trail ride.  So, I did.  I sent emails out to four of them, and so far one response came back.  The man said that the best person to answer my questions is a real estate agent and he forwarded my email to one. 

Great.  Just great.

The whole point of me

Drought Panic

My husband read an article that because our area still hasn't had any rain or snow this winter, it is expected that there will be a hay shortage this year. There already is a hay shortage because many of our local hay farmers shipped their 2011 crops to Japan at a much higher price than the locals pay. Because our hay farmer did that, we asked if he would save us one block of alfalfa/grass mix

It Was Nice While It Lasted

I have gotten so used to tourists speeding past my house that I don't even blink an eye at it anymore.  However, today I looked out my window to find that a sheriff's deputy managed to pull over two drivers speeding in opposite directions at the same time in front of my house.  That takes some raw talent.  I was impressed.

I grabbed a bag of gourmet popcorn and enjoyed the show as he wrote out

Just What The Doctor Ordered

I came home after a photo shoot to find Lostine lying on the ground. When I approached her, she stood up and then stretched her front legs out in front of her and her back legs out in back, so I knew she was colicking. I started my usual process of administering ProBios and Bute. (I know Banamine is better for colic, but our vets out here rarely hand that out.) I walked her around the

Ummmm

I'm at a loss for a title for this post.  My To Do List has been pushing onto a second page of my college-ruled legal pad.  One item on that list was to clean out our refill all the water troughs in the barn.  I'd been meaning to do that for days, but one thing after another kept getting in the way.  So, when I went outside with the intention to clean those water troughs, I was determined to not

Adjusting the Responsiveness of Our Horses

One of the things I love about my new truck is how it handles.  It accelerates in a pinch and brakes gently, but quickly.  It turns into parking spaces with ease.  There's no fighting for what I want like with my last truck.  When I drive down the highway or freeway, it's like I'm flying on a couch with very little effort on my part.  Even when I don't have the truck on cruise control, it feels

The Process

While in the bookstore, I picked up an astrology book and read the first few lines of my horoscope.  It said something to the effect that the first part of the millennium has not treated me well, but 2012 will change everything for the better.  It said that all the bad things that have happened to me since 2007 were just motivators to move me into a better environment.

Hmmmm.  2007 was when

Weird Morning

This morning I had a photo shoot bright and early, only the sun didn't come out bright and early to wake me up.  When I did awake, I was running late.  I saw a shadow move along my bathroom floor from the window, and it bothered me, but I didn't see anything outside.  I fed the dogs, then let them out into the back yard to do their business.  I went out a different door to feed the horses and

Mr. Peeper's New Tactic

Hopefully, this is the last story about my neighbors' guests for a while.  I wish it would just snow just long enough to send them plowing their way back to California to get some warmth.  This morning the dogs across the highway were barking non-stop again.  These people own a whole pack of dogs, and it's really loud and disruptive when they get going.  They stay quiet as long as strangers don't

The Shock of Straying From the Hermitage

I've hardly left home this past year.  I got laid off from my job in 2010, so didn't have a job to drive to on a daily basis.  I drove to Los Angeles several times to settle my mother's estate, but I never really drove around here.  I went to the local market once a week or the bank or the hardware store, but that was about it.  Then yesterday we had to drive my son to the airport.

I have a

Strange Lights and Calling Cards

After writing that last post I went outside with a flashlight to look around for the guy who's been trespassing on my property at night and leaving calling cards.  The dogs had been going outside repeatedly and barking toward the north.  It's very dark in our neighborhood, so someone could be standing 50-feet in front of me and I wouldn't see them.

I went out the front door and walked through

It's Always Funny in Sillidelphia

I know the television show "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" has been around a long time, but I've never watched it until yesterday.  I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.  There was this one episode in which the characters were dealing with the recession, and they found an RV camped out on the sidewalk in front of their bar.  They freaked out, because they knew that one RV would to attract

Starting Off the New Year on the Right Foot

A couple of things happened to thwart any plans for a trail ride, but I didn't let those stop me from working with my horses at home.  I returned to clicker training, and there was no problem with the horses remembering that the click is a good thing.  I have no problem with them coming to the halter when I've got my clicker, but I'd better have that clicker and my fanny pack of treats with me,