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