Christmas Eve Ride

So Monday they said the weather was supposed to get nicer, well it was still -17 in the morning and I thought I still should ride but called the arena and they were booked so then went and had lunch with my friends.  I needed it after a rotten weekend.  That was good and by the time I go home it had started warming up but was almost dark.

Then Tuesday I got up and they said high of -1!!!  Wow so I waited and waited and got everything I needed done and finally right after lunch I went out and got Jess and away we went.  I had no big intentions just wanted to ride down the road and maybe if still early enough go into the field on the way home but there was a deep spot on the way to the gate so wasn't sure about that.

But about 1/4 mile out I was taking pictures and thinkin it sure was nice out and first time I ever got to ride at Christmas and Jessie kinda wandered into the ditch, snow was up to her knees and no never thought twice about it that's not too bad.  Then she took another step in and all the sudden it was almost up to my saddle!  Ooops little too deep. She tried to lunge and about as close to a buck as she could get just to get out.  We were almost to the other side and she turned and come back.  I had no real control, I ended up behind the saddle, lol.  She kept trying to lunge forward and was not getting anywhere and I knew if she did get free she would left me behind and run home.  So I kept a hold of the reins so she couldn't lunge forward and she stopped and I got off and stood on the road and then she got out.

(the spot where it happened, don't look like much)

She was pretty worked up (for her) and so I didn't want to quit then and so I reorganized the saddle and got back on and we kept going down the road.  She was pretty wary the first little while but it was good on the road and she finally relaxed and so we headed home.  I looked her over pretty good when we got home and she was fine so that was a hard workout for her even if not the traditional way.

Kali is kinda loud when I am out there, she calls even when she can not see us, and Jess never calls back but still kinda ruins it for me I like peaceful but still enjoy going out, maybe if I can ever get into the pasture I will pony her out but not until I know.

 (Bailey wishin I was takin her)

(Kali being silly waiting for us)

I didn't get to ride the 25th or 26th and so yesterday I got out again.  It was another nice day and so the down the road we went.  She was watching but it had just been plowed so it was easy to see where the edges where and she never even went anywhere that looked slightly deep.  But was a good ride.  I would like to trot some but am afraid it might be slippery so just walking it was.  Got cold again today so back to the arena tomorrow.

Christmas Scrooge

This year I am not enjoying Christmas, maybe cause it seems like we have had 6 months of winter already even if its only been 2 and I know we have at least 3 more months before it starts getting decent out.  I dunno but sure is kinda getting in my way, hate when its in the middle of the week too cause so hard for me to organize everything seems like its just a waste of a whole week not just a day or 2.

I have got my tree up, have for a couple weeks now but that is all the decorating that got done, no outside lights, no indoor decorations, never even got my super cute gingerbread house made.  But I did do some Christmas baking, including this cool red and green velvet cake.

But at least I will have something to keep me occupied during the last 3 months of winter, I guess I am going into the winter series of cutting as long as its not super cold and stormy, so starting January 11 and every 2 weeks is a show, 6 shows, ending in March unless one is cancelled they got a make up date in April.  That should keep me occupied for a while, with riding and lessons and shows, hope it isn't -20 everyday though, that gets old.

And after my lesson on Saturday I was about ready to pull Jessie's blanket and turn her out, it was bad.  And I know bad lessons come with the good but it was like I forgot everything I ever knew, and even Doug told me I need to be a better rider.  Ugg.  I know he took that back and said more meaner, no not meaner, stricter, when I wanna stop I have to make sure I wanna stop at a specific spot and make sure she does it.  I know all this but I had no focus, not sure if its cause everyone was there or what but not good.  It all started when i got there and he said I should always call before I come cause he had sick cows and we couldn't work them.  I misunderstood, I thought he said he would call if I shouldn't come.  But that's OK I am glad I went and met another couple people who ride there and one girl who is gonna show winter series too....hope shes not in my class cause her horse is way better than mine!  She just got her down at the futurity sale in Texas, pretty cool horse.

I guess for Christmas Eve we are headed down to Brooks for Neil's family and then home and chores Christmas Day and then too my family and my sister wants me to go boxing day shopping so we might do that too, got a few things I need and its kinda tradition but that means 3 days of no riding unless its super warm in the morning and I can ride out, almost was warm enough today but never got there till after dark, so I am holding out hope for tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday

Power Out?

Tuesday our bulls had knocked out a power box that was in the shed where they are, it put the power out to their waterer and the pump house but everything else was working.  Neil fixed up a couple wires and it was all good.

Then last Wednesday morning we woke up and there was power to half our house and not to the other half, that was weird, all breakers were on and not blown, was weird, fridge and stove didn't work, freezer did but washer didn't. We thought maybe it was in the house but Neil went out to the shop and his air compressor worked but his lights by the welder didn't.  He called his dad to see if he had any ideas and he said call the power company, so we did and he come out and thought it was either the transformer was toast or a burnt cable.  He did a bunch of tests and turned out it was a burnt cable, not sure how it happened but it needed to be replaced and so he climbed the pole and got to it.  Took him a little over an hour and then everything was turned back on.  Sure nice to have the furnace back again.  I sure love electricity when it works.

He come to our door and said thanks for calling him in the daytime, lol.  He said he was out over the cold weekend and his truck resets at -40 and it did so he had no idea how cold it was but he almost froze.  A lot nicer today in the light and only -13.  Hope that's all the electric trouble we have this year.

Winter blues

I went down to Great Falls last weekend with my sister and mom and sisters friend.  We were all gonna travel together but then Neil wanted to come so me and him were gonna take my truck and get new tires while down there.  Then we got all this crappy cold weather and he had to stay home and feed cows and make sure we had water.  Can't expect neighbours to do chores when its so cold out unless its an emergency.  So I went down with my truck and got new tires anyways.  Kinda a long ways to drive by myself but I had an enjoyable ride just crank the music and sing along. 
Got there Friday afternoon and stopped at the first tire place I saw and they said not a problem getting tires and less then a hour later I was out of there with brand new tires :).  I was still waiting for everyone else so I just went shopping and got a few things off my list before they came.  When they got there we got our hotel room amd ate and shopped some more. 
Was a late night but we only had a couple days and lots of stops so had to fit it all in. 
In the morning it was -33 and so cold but I started the truck and we went for breakfast then started truck again and it wasn't too bad.  I sure love my auto start on my truck!  I dropped them off at target and since I was there the day before I went to the western stores and was dissapointed they didn't have my jeans in my length and hardly anything else I wanted.  I am so picky now about what I want its not as much fun to shop anymore when I can't find it. 

But that was quick then to the awesome electronics/book store we always find something we want there and a neighbor asked me to pick up some fabric at the crafts store. And then the mall.  That was nice not having to go outside between lots of stores.
The hot tub at our hotel was getting relined which was sad cause I sure wouldn't mind sitting in it for a while.  But none the less we had a lot of fun.  Sunday we did some last minute stops and then headed home.  We always stop in Shelby for lunch and then home.  My sister travelled with me to the border so she could claim some of my purchases cause I was over with the tires. 
I got home and unpacked my stuff.  Showed Neil what I got and am happy I got lots for Christmas but still have a few things to get.  I was really unprepared for going cause I was in Calgary till Wed then dentist Thursday and left Friday morning.  We knew weather was gonna be kinda cold but it was supposed to warm up by Sunday.  They were kinda wrong on that one.  Still isn't very warm out and boy is it windy.
I am so tired of winter already I hate going out.  I hate being stuck in snow and all I wanna do is ride but I can't make my ponies travel that far in such cold weather.  All I wanna do is curl up and sleep till winter is over. 
I should be cleaning the house and putting up the Christmas tree but don't even wanna do that.  Have no motivation to do anything and then my internet is crappy.  And today the power is out in half our house and not the other half.  I just want warmer weather back.  I dunno if I can deal with 3 more months of this.

Snowed In

On Monday I had an appointment at the dentist in Calgary.  I wasn't too thrilled to be going down to downtown Calgary just to get a root canal done, but that's where my dentist sent me so I was going there.  But a storm was predicted for Monday so I figured I better go on Sunday in case roads were bad.  I stopped at Chars for coffee on the way and then off to my sisters.  Sure is handy she lives there and lets me stay.

Sure enough it was pretty snowy and windy overnight and into the morning but I was only 9 minutes away (in good weather) from her house so I left an hour early since i had no idea where I was going or where to park or what the roads were like.  I found it easy, love the GPS on my phone.  got parked and in the building.  Then had no idea where to go, was harder to find it inside then it was to find the building, so I called them and she told me past the bank across the +15 and they are on the right.  I was laughing at the bank, cause after all I was in bankers hall, lol.  But I did find it and was there half hour early, oh well, better early than late.  I got in early and he was really a cool doctor, took more x-rays then told me exactly what he was doing, and as he was working he kept talking to me.  If it wasn't for my jaw getting sore from being open so long, I coulda had a nap.  I like there were a lot less power tools than a filling, i actually preferred it even if it took longer.  And the weird rubber things they used to fill the holes were neat too, I wish I coulda watched.

Afterwards had paid parking till 2 so shopped around a bit then headed back to Heidi's cause it was obviously not getting better so I decided to stay another day. I had planned for this and brought an extra day of clothes.  I kinda thought it was gonna clear off by Tuesday morning and I would head home and hope it was nice Wed to ride....haha.  On Monday night the RCMP closed all the roads out of Drumheller, you had to have special permission to leave town that's how bad all the roads were.And so roads looked bad on Tues morning and so I stayed put.  My sister worked but they had 3 people on and no one was coming in so she left them working and came home after 6 hours.  She brought lunch and we played video games all afternoon and evening, it was a lot of fun, been a while since I didn't have anything I could do.

 (the worst corner)

 (how most roads were)

 (our gravel road, looks icy but just super sunny)

But this morning I got up and the sun was shining and the wind wasn't blowing so I looked at all the weather reports and roads looked pretty good, so after 11 (I waited till all the rush hour traffic was gone) and headed out.  The roads were really well clear through the city and then out of the city was good till I got to the Beisiker corner.  That corner is notoriously bad for snow buildup and it lived up to its name again.  From there too Rosebud was pretty good with spots where there was too much snow and no room in the ditch that is was piled up on the road.  But it was still passable and not slippery.  From Rosebud through Drum and hom was all clear.  Our gravel road even had very little snow but our Texas gate was snowed it but soft so I made it through and our yard probly had the worst of it.  Neil plowed it all out the day before but he said 4 foot drifts from house to shop. I am glad he cleaned it out so I could get in.

 (the bulls shed, wish my ponies had a shed)

 (frosty hungry bulls)

 (the cool snow by the windbreak...with Kali in the background)

 (Kali not sure what shes doing)

( Not much wasted feed for them, kinda wish there was more so they could lay in it)

 (Jess in the sunshine, wishin she was out in the field)

(Razz, Disco and Belle out in the pasture eating grass under snow)

I went out to see the ponies and how they handled it, and they were fine, I think kinda wanted out but things will get back to normal around here soon I hope.  Lots of blown snow, but I don't think much new stuff fell.

Baring my soul

So this is hard for me to do but since I rarely back down from challenging stuff here I go.
On Facebook going around is a list of things that people dont know about you.  I have not been asked to do it which is good cause I dunno if I want it all out there but it got me thinking and so you guys will have to suffer through it.

1.  I love my community and the lifestyle and the people and while everyone is nice to me I feel like I dont fit in.  I have no real friends near me cause I have only been there since 2001 and everyone else already had friends.  I have tried and I always feel like an outsider.

2.I feel guilty a lot about not wanting kids.  Not that I hate them but have never really wanted them.  Sometimes I think I am being selfish but thats how it is.  I feel even worse cause I know people who want kids and cant this is hard. And my hubby knew this but I still think he woulda liked some.

3.I have always wanted to ride and cut.  Ever since I was little but we grew up poor and I knew it wasnt possible so I never even asked.  We couldn't even have a dog so how could I have a horse. I sometimes think I should he happy to just ride and work cows and I love that but when I think of never cutting again I feel a part of me dying so not gonna happen I hope for a long time.

4.I love trains and helicopters. Have only taken a train trip once and never been on a helicopter but I love them like Sheldon from big bang likes trains. ..well almost lol.

5.I am more emotional than I let on.  I dont know why I think it is hard to let people see how I'm feeling but its been that way my whole life. I suspect part of it is I was always kinda a little different and didn't wanna let everyone know how much I didnt fit in.

6.I am not good at anything.  Everything I do is a challenge.  Sometimes I wish I could find something I am just good at.  Not that I havent tried, I have so many hobbies I could be busy for hundreds of years but still all are hard for me even when I dont act like they are.

7. I cant jump.  Never could. When I was about 2 my mom caught me standing on a little golden book (about 1/4 inch off the floor) and saying yump yump and trying to jump off it.  At least I come by it honestly when I say I cant jump.

8. I hurt all the time.  My hips and down my left leg to my knee always hurt. I can not remember the last time it didnt hurt.  Except when I ride I dont notice it.  Unless its more than 4 hours then it aches but not otherwise.  It does hurt after I ride though.  And I have done pretty much everything I can to fix it and I have found regular chiro and massage help but not a cure.   Neither was physio or drugs or the stretches a sports trainer gave me.

9. I love food.  Especially sugar.  I think I might just die if I could not eat sugar anymore.  Even though I know its not what I should eat if I dont I never feel full and am snackin all the time.  Specially chocolate and peanut butter, makes my mouth water just thinkin about it.  But I dont really like to eat baking.  Cookies are OK but cake naw.

10.  I hate housework. Both cooking and cleaning.  But worst of all is vaccuming.  Dont know why but I think it's the noise that irritates me.  Its a good thing I like to eat or I probly would never cook.

Not sure that's all but thats all for now.  And still second guessing posting this but I am gonna hit publish so I wont think on it any more.  Sounds like I need a therapist.  And probly do.  I think most people do at some point in life they just wont admit it.  And I wont either for now.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Reminds me of that song, I would sing it for you but if I am like Neil says you wouldn't recognize it anyways so no singing for you today (lucked out on that one I thinks)

Anyways now that I am back from what I thought was gonna be warm weather but wasn't in Texas I can get back on my real life.  I spent Wednesday catching up on what I missed while gone, reading mail, doing laundry, unpacking all that fun coming home stuff..  But by Thursday I could take it no longer and hooked up my trailer and loaded up the ponies and away riding we went :)  I took both Kali and Jessie again, they are gonna be my winter riding ponies I think.  And on the way there I got a notification from my truck that I had a low tire, so I stop and sure enough i can hear air leaking out but not real bad so I drive to the tire place and the fixed it for me.  So much easier that way that me having to change it then bring it in.  I dunno how we survived without all these gadgets on our vehicles (and phones!)  But if it hadn't been notifying me I woulda waited till after I rode then it woulda been real flat and I would have to change it before driving.

First up was Jessie, shes so awesome as always :)  and yet kinda goofy at the same time.  The arena was freshly worked and some spots got a little more water than others and were a little weird feeling, not slippery but just deeper and she tried to pussyfoot through them, made me laugh at her but I just kept making her go through them till she acted like they were not there.  Had a really good ride, only about 35 minutes cause she is pretty out of shape but gotta start somewhere.

then Kals, what a goober, when you pony her she is super speedy and raring to go but I lunged her and could hardly even get a trot out of her and then when I got on lazy lazy lazy.  I wish I knew how to motivate her to actually move out when I ask, never had a horse like that before, sure hate kicking them every step too.  She will move but only as mush as she has too, it kinda makes for a long ride even when it was only about 20 minutes.

Then yesterday I went for a lesson, i was kinda nervous had lots of questions but it was good, only on the flag cause he was in the middle of setting up an alleyway so he could work cows in his arena and hadn't finished it yet but that was good enough for me.  I like the flag cause for some reason I am better on it, it is kinda predictable but still helps me to learn.  he was riding a 2 year old and was talking through what he was doing while working and that actually really helped, made me think I am at the same stage as she was, lol.  Oh well gotta start somewhere.  Had coffee afterwards and lots of talk, I always leave there feeling like I learned something...and not always about cutting I really like going there.

 (some ponies were wishing they were in getting grain and hay)

 (some ponies are all blanketed and happy to be in )

(even the bull wanted in)

He was asking if I was thinking of going in the winter series and I had earlier  this year cause a neighbor was gonna to so that woulda been fun but she works all the dates they are so she isn't and I am not sure if I will either.  I hadn't planned on it but Doug goes to them all and it might be good practice if the roads are not bad, it starts in Jan so I have a little bit of time to get my horse back in shape, sure would like to do something this winter, as much as I love the arena I am riding in it is lonely.  I should find something I can do with Kali, I just don't know what she will like to do besides be lazy.  Ugg makes me want to sell her for sure now perfect for someone who likes slow and lazy cause she fits, lol as long as she has a friend shes happy.

Fort Worth Stockyards

After watching a few good goes in cutting we needed a break, as much as I love watching I would rather be out there and after seeing so many good ones we were kinda fallin asleep...oh another 214, hmm.  Sad really but that's how it is specially when we never heard of the rider.  So we headed out to the stockyards again, it was daytime and we were hopin to get in a few pics and more shoppin.  We did both :)

We wanted to go to Leddy's just cause its historic, wasn't too impressed with their stuff, real expensive and only a couple things I even liked in there, but now we know.  Then on down the street to the Sean Ryon shop, he warned us at the trade show he was pretty empty but we needed to see just to say we been there.  And he was right, lol.  But it is also the Luskys shop and lots of nice stuff in there, I got a vest and my friend was lookin at Jewelry, never bought any but she loves it, me not so much, well I like it I just don't wear it so no point in buying more.

We also hit a few touristy places and got a t-shirt for Neil and a magnet for my sister that she asked for.  I got a sign for the wall that I had been looking for something like it for a while and that's about all.  The we were hungry so we went back to the Cattleman's to have another slice of pecan pie.  We split a burger before that and it was pretty good too.  I am sure all their food there was good.  But the pecan pie was amazing!

Then on back to more touristing, we stopped at a museum that was neat and then we realized it was time for the trail drive, which we almost missed, saw the tail end but then went over to where we could see them in the pens, big horns on them they are not young ones.  And then on the way down i slipped right beside the watch your step sign (of course)  and now got a bruise on my butt.  But was worth it I should watch more carefully I guess.  Was kinda slippery on the wood cause it was kinda drizzly all day but not too cold.  When I got home I was telling Neil I got a bruise after looking at the longhorns and he thought I got poked in the butt, lol husbands!

More Cutting

We been heading out to the cutting every morning and this morning we decided to get gps lady to direct us there from our hotel instead of just randomly driving through all the fancy neighborhoods and by the university and hoping we eventually find it, lol.  Sure was cool to see some of those houses though!  Wow they were big.  Haha we stopped at Starbucks on the way and it was still under 10 minutes from our hotel and we had been spending up to half hour to get there!  Oh well made for interesting trips :)

We saw Winston Hansma go a couple times today.  Boy was he sure a nice rider.  We see his brother Gerry all the time in Canada and we saw his brother Paul the other day but I think from what we seen Winston by far is the nicer rider.

Also saw a few names I recognized, I am amazed at all the people I dont know, I knew there were a lot of cutters down here but still to hardly know anyone is kinda hard.  We saw Phil Rapp, was not as impressed as I imagined since he is an $8 million dollar winner, and we saw Lindy Burch, she was kinda cool I have to say am glad we saw her.

Also found a young stud we sure liked, and his oldest foals are 3 this year and they sure seemed nice and smooth, looked easy to ride, his name was Metallic Cat.  Might have to keep my eye out for some of them in the future.

Oh shopping, those were all Nettles stirrups Shirley, a friend bought a pair there with the leveler in them that keeps her stirrups level at all times, I kinda wanna try them out.  Was funny we went there and they were still setting up and we asked for someone who can tell us about them and the guy says well I make them what can I help you with, lol.  And I really really wanted to see the Rios of Mercedes boots and see what the hype was about, boy they are a nice boot.  But $$$.  Same friend wanted a pair of Anderson Bean boots and ended up getting the Rios, I wanna see if she still likes them after wearing them for a while.   I am thinking of getting a shirt from the CR Ranchwear, they are sure nice, she makes them and they have a little glitter on them, I tried on some and they didn't have my size in the shirt I really liked but we are going back tomorrow and hope she brings more.  We talked to the gal that makes them she does a really nice job.

I do agree I wish they would say where in Canada they are from, was interesting to see Cody Smith down here with a horse, did not know he was coming down.  And turns out Doug was asked to come down and ride so he come in Wednesday and rode the horse on 3 cows for practice then showed it Thursday!  And he said he wasn't nervous, I cant imagine doing that.  He didn't score well cause apparently he had his rein hand high on the neck and they thought he was reining so deducted some points but said she was a nice horse.  Kinda makes me sad we didn't see him that day cause we were in Oklahoma.

Tomorrow back to cutting for a bit then over to the stockyards in the daytime and hope to see a cattle drive and the train and all the other touristy stuff before going back for more pecan pie.

Thats all I know so far, but only one more day till we have to leave :(  Will sure miss it, but I guess maybe have to come back next year for longer :)

Lost in Fort Worth

We made it down to the futurity building today.  Boy it is cool but confusing, we even had GPS lady confused!  LOL she kept telling us to make a u-turn then make a left turn before we even moved.  We headed through a super old rich part of town, wow some of those houses had old money in them!  Amazing!  We had her going around in circles and finally we just asked and it was super easy.  After we got parked and went in the wrong building and saw the sales ring, kinda makes me sad we aren't gonna see any sales cause they don't start till Dec 9th.

Then some nice man pointed us in the right direction and away we go through all the barns and in some other door and whew there we are and boy it was exciting.  A lot of nice ponies out there.  I was actually kinda disappointed cause I was told it was so much better than what we got in Canada but didn't think it was, but then we got thinking they look like our four year olds and there were no real dinks so they are really good!  We even saw the high scorer of the day and he was cool!  I got a video of part of his run.  But I am not uploading it now, maybe when i have more time to waste, too busy here!

We were there not very long and who do we see but Doug!  Of all people he had a good chuckle about it and told my friend to buy a really nice horse and take it to him for training and she could pet it and maybe when it was 8 she could ride it!  It was hilarious, we sure laughed at that!  It wouldn't have been a hardship to take a few of them home we saw some we really liked :)

After we saw lots and went in the trade fair even though it wasn't really open sure was a lot better than the AQHA one, whew!  I was pretty sure it would be but...

And then we headed over to the Fort Worth Stockyards, boy was that entertaining, once again GPS lady tired to get us lost cause we had to take a detour cause of construction but she of course did not know and so we drove through some interesting areas and then finally made it there.  It was dark and kinda rainy and so we looked in a few places but not a lot was open and so we ate at Cattlemans and had the best pecan pie ever and then we went back to our hotel.  if we have more time we might go in the daytime if the weather clears up a bit.  Or we will have to go again next year :)