Friday Foto

Sunday Stills (Barns 4-25-10)

Here's a barn that I pass by on my way to my Mother's house. I love the character of the old building.This barn was in South Dakota. I took the photo on one of my road trips.What is the design on the front of this barn? We saw many, many barns with it in the Dakotas.
This barn was in Kansas. Doesn't it have character?

For more barns, please visit Sunday Stills, here.

Sunday - song: Sunday, artist: David Bowie, album: Heathen

Friday Foto

Friday - song: Friday on my Mind, artist: David Bowie covering the EasyBeats, album: Pinups

Bowie video day (When the Wind Blows)

This video is a promo for the animated film When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs. It's a bleak little film about an old British couple facing a nuclear attack.

Sunday (4/18/10 Potluck)

First, Happy Birthday Ed!!

For more Sunday Stills, please visit here

Sunday - song: Sunday, artist: David Bowie, album: Heathen

the little green wheels are following me

Today was Nadia's 27th birthday! Last year we had a celebration with cakes and decorations and... oh my! Visit the links for the story. Funny, Yalla! wasn't even born yet and it snowed! This year I kept it kind of "low key". After buying the "new" trailer this morning, I spent the afternoon playing with my horses. First I ran them.

My horses always pair up. Scout and Nadia run together
and Annie and Yalla! run together.
The neighbor's horse, Apache, likes to stand by the fence so that she can feel like she's part of the herd too. I think Yalla! is inviting her to play along. She had fun running up and down the fence with my little herd. See her legs and tail at the far left?
Then I groomed them all. I don't know when they will ever be shed out completely. Annie is the most shed out and I still get lots of hair off of her. I braided Yalla!'s entire mane but I didn't have anything to tie it with. Her neck must be growing because it sure looks long, doesn't it?I decided to ride Anne properly with the saddle and bridle. She was just full of "it", as she always is. I've been thinking that I should rebreed her to get her calm again. lol. If only I could arrange for a home for the foal before I see it so I won't be tempted to keep it. I think Annie makes such an excellent mother. Until just a couple of months ago, I seriously wondered if she'd ever run around again because she was so laid back all the time. Now, she's jittery and flighty and always ready to run and buck, like she was in the old days.

Today, when I rode her, she tossed her head and pranced a lot. Whenever I cantered her she wanted to buck but she did settle down into a nice enough lope each time before I slowed her up. She is willing to stop and almost stand still now and she'll usually jog really nice and slow. She has great turning power and I love to be able to set her up from point to point. I'll pick a spot and ride to it and then ride to the next spot and so on in circles, serpentines, squares, and lines. (She must exactly step where I intend for her to step.) She willingly walked and trotted over ground poles and we even jumped the log! (I keep thinking that I should try running barrels with her. I'm just not as brave as I once was. I certainly think she's got both the speed and the agility.) As a reward, I decided to take her out to eat some grass. I also wanted to take her over to the new trailer. When we drove up earlier, I saw that she got all psyched up about it.

I haltered her and Yalla! and we headed out the gates to the fields. Except that Yalla! wouldn't come along. She tends to balk when I'm leading her new places. She's only ever been out of the paddock area one other time. She didn't want to go through the gate or near a little trench that is getting dug (so I can get electricity back to the barn again.) Fortunately, since we were at the gateway, so I wrapped the lead around the post and we played tug of war for a few minutes. Annie was wonderful on the lead and she ate for a while and then patiently stood with her head in my arm while we waited for her errant daughter to make up her mind and come along with us. I had the upper hand though because I had the long whip with me. I reached over and began tapping her rump. Yalla! was being really stubborn, standing with her legs planted, her eyes half closed, and her neck and head stretched out fully. Finally, she lunged forward and, with a little more coaxing, she came through the gate next to the trench. I tried to let her know how happy I was that she had moved forward. Then she found out what a joy outside can be as she began grazing the new grass with her mother. I found it interesting that she reached under Annie's belly as if to nurse, for just a second, like she needed the comfort. I've seen her do that before too and Annie doesn't seem to mind at all. We wandered around for a while and ended up near the trailer.

Coincidence? Ha ha, no! I didn't ask them to load because I could tell they were both nervous but I did wait until they each touched the trailer, Yalla! sooner than her mother. I rattled the metal a little and I saw that they didn't jump too much. Then we went back to grazing for a while until I took them both back to the arena. Annie ran full out to the other end of the arena with Scout while Yalla! hung around as I haltered Nadia and led her out to graze, hoping she could come back out too, I'm sure. I let Nadia's rope loose and went back inside the arena to catch Scout. I called him and, because he saw Nadia grazing, he hightailed it back to me at a dead gallop. I haltered him up and led him out of the arena towards the grass. I grazed them both with a rope in each hand and I could tell they were really enjoying it. Nadia so loves fresh grass. She refuses to go out in the mornings until she eats some grass along the way first.

Again I wandered towards the trailer. Since it was still hooked up to my truck, I opened the middle partition and the rear door. I led Nadia up and right in. She is such a sweetie when it comes to loading. I took her all the way to the front and gave her cookies and then backed her out. Then I let her go off to graze and asked Scout to come up with me inside. He stepped up with his front feet and then, reluctantly at first, but cookies always win, stepped up into the trailer completely. He hurriedly backed out and raised his head, bumping it on the roof. Oops! I can see that I'm going to need to use those leather and foam helmets I bought the horses when I was trying to trailer train Annie. It always amazes me how low horse trailer roofs usually are, especially in the older trailers, and I have small horses! I knew I needed to get him back in so I cajoled and offered cookies and he stepped back in slowly, but completely. I let him back out and made him come in again. I could see that he was going to load up okay but backing out is further than he expects and he gets in too big of a hurry so he kind of rushes. I'm going to have to work on that, but I think he is getting the idea of keeping his head down.

I think I'll buy some floor mats and change the window panes to clear. One of the panes is cracked and they're green plastic that you can't see out of. I think I will also check into some brakes because it doesn't have any and New Mexico law requires them on 3000 lb trailers so I don't think I'd be legal with a full load. I also bought a chain for the hitch because it doesn't have one of those either.

Overall, I think I'm gonna be real happy with this little trailer. Ahem, happy birthday Nadia, hope you like your present!

the little green wheels are following me - song: Ashes to Ashes, artist: David Bowie, album: Scary Monsters

I'm looking for a vehicle, I'm looking for a ride

For a long time I've been looking at getting a stock trailer so that I could haul all four of my horses on a weekend trip to my mom's. She has fenced fields for grazing and I have my cabin up there. This week, I found one for sale. It sounded perfect: older, bumper pull, four horse, and in my price range, $1,500. I've been looking for years to buy one under $2,000. I called him and he said it was in good solid working condition and he had just put in new floor boards. In conversing with him he said he'd even take less so I offered him 1,200. He accepted and told me that he'd replaced the bearings in the wheels and that he'd even take 1,100. I said SOLD. He even offered to deliver it since he lives a couple of hours away. He really wanted to sell it quickly since he'd sold his four horses and was moving. So this morning I bought myself and my horses a present.
I have brand new tires and wheels on my other horse trailer so I plan on switching them out. This doesn't have any tack room but I never used it in my old trailer and it would just make it heavier and longer for pulling. I'm really jazzed that it's actually not much longer than my current horse trailer. The sides are open so I'm hoping the horses will load easily. There is a swing gate divider in the middle. Here's a view inside with the divider open.

It's funny, my two horse trailer is a 1971 Hale and this is a 1972 Hale.

I have a question: if I'm hauling only two horses, is it better to put them in the front and leave the back open or put one in front and one in back? Also, there are no feeders, should I bother with hay bags?

What do you think? Good deal?

Oh yeah, I think my sons were as excited as I was. We stopped afterwards at REI sporting goods to look at shoes for my son and he locked the keys in the truck so we had to call roadside service and get unlocked! What an exciting morning!!

I'm looking for a vehicle, I'm looking for a ride - song: 1984, artist: David Bowie, album: Diamond Dogs

Friday Foto

Amazing

I was amazed at the sky this morning. I did not edit these photos in any way. Isn't it gorgeous?

Amazing - song: Amazing, artist: Tin Machine, album: Tin Machine

The Time of My Life

I wanted to share this book offer in case anyone was interested in reading the book by Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi. It has some really good reviews on Amazon. The price is $15 for the book, $10 for the poster, and $20 for both, with free shipping, and all the proceeds go towards the Arabian Youth Program. It's a pretty good deal. To order, just click on this link.

I remember seeing Patrick riding in an Arabian show on his stallion, Tammen, around the time of this poster. Lots of people went crazy, hollering as he rode by, and his horse spooked.

Once, I took a magazine with this picture of him and his horse to work to show all the ladies I worked with. Everyone ooohed and ahhhhed except for this one lesbian who smartly replied, "the horse is nice."

It was so sad for me when he finally lost his battle with pancreatic cancer because my husband also died of pancreatic cancer just a couple of years ago.

He sees the sign and

it was getting time to be replaced, don't you think?
Now I'm legal! :)

The hearts filthy lesson

A couple of weeks ago my son went to the doctor's office for his physical so that he could again go to work this summer at the Boy Scout camp as a trek guide. This time, however, although he was cleared for work, the doctor recommended that my son see a cardiologist for his heart. They had run an EKG on him and found his heart to be beating irregularly. When my son told me this, I thought, how could he be sick? He just turned nineteen! He's been healthy all his life! He runs up mountains!

In fact, I probably would have forgotten all about it had it not been for a message on my answering machine reminding us to make the appointment because the referral had been approved. So I did.

Today, we went to see the heart doctor.

The plan was for my son and I to meet up at the hospital and go to the appointment together. I left a meeting at work and drove around looking for the hospital. Meanwhile, my son drove in from home and he got lost too. Don't laugh, there are two hospitals in town that are on parallel streets just a few blocks apart. I knew it was just a stone's throw from the freeway but I couldn't remember whether it was on Lomas or Central? When I asked at work where the hospital was located, my fellow worker told me Lomas. And for some reason, on my note, I had written Lomas. I turned off on Lomas and it wasn't where it was supposed to be. Don't you hate when that happens? Anyway, I called the doctor's office and they told me it was off of Central. Figures! I had told my son, Lomas.

I called him and found out that he was way off course. So I got him turned around and as I parked my car several blocks from the hospital in the nearest parking place I could find, I guided him to the right place. Thank the lord for cell phones! Yes, he had it on hands free while we talked. As I stood on the street side and told him to make a left at the light, right, etc. a parking space opened up right there in front of me. I was getting really antsy by now, worrying that someone would come along and take it before he could get there. And we were already late! You don't ever want to be late for a doctor's appointment even though you usually have to wait forever to be seen, right? Anyway, he finally showed up and got the space. Yay! We hurried in to the hospital and asked where the office was located. Seventh floor. Funny, looking at the elevator, a number popped up on the top of the door, s1, only it looked like 51. Just as I was thinking that, the man standing next to me asked,"Are there really 51 floors?" Everybody chuckled. We don't have any buildings with 51 floors in the whole town!

When we got to the receptionist she asked the name and said, "you're late!" Okay, we were ten minutes late. She said she would check to see if the doctor would still see my son or if we'd have to reschedule. He said he would see us after his regular patients and it could take up to an hour to be seen. She gave us a clipboard and told us to fill out the new patient paperwork. We had barely gotten started when they called us. Yay!

First, they ran a blood pressure check on my son and it was about 119 over 70 or something like it. The doctor listened to my son's heart and asked why we were there? We told him that we had been told he had an irregular heartbeat and that they recommended we get it checked. He asked what my son thought. Trevor said that he often noticed it felt like it would skip a beat and he was worried because of what the other doctor had suggested. "Yes", this doctor said, "it was irregular, but not abnormal". He called it Sinus Arrythmia. The doctor said that young people in excellent health often had irregular heartbeats. He said it happens when the heart rate slows down and it actually performs a double beat to catch up. Unfortunately, with the computers generating the reports solely on numbers, there are often misdiagnoses. I was so relieved that I couldn't really tell you word for word what he said, just that everything was fine! The doctor was very nice though and explained that if you felt like your heart was pounding through the roof after very little or no exercise or you had trouble catching your breath, there might be cause for concern. Trevor, however, was in excellent shape and the doctor was actually delighted to hear that he had hiked about a thousand or so miles in the Pecos Mountains over the past few years. (I've logged a few hundred, myself. ;) ) He did warn him off cigarettes though, saying that they are so very bad for one's health.

I wonder about health care. Sometimes, when you have insurance, you just pay the deductible and do whatever the doctors recommend, all in the name of preventative health care.

My Mom is 82 and refuses to go to the doctor on the belief that they'll find things wrong with her and put her on all kinds of pills. My Mother-in-law, 85, on the other hand, goes to all kinds of doctors all the time. She has high blood pressure and diabetes and survived breast cancer.

What is the right thing to do? For my son, I'll take him to the doctor. For me, I don't know. I've yet to see a doctor about my knee and when I had my finger x-rayed and nothing was broken, I never made the appointment for the MRI that they recommended. I still can't fully bend either my finger or my knee, but I'm not going to do surgery either. I guess I'm just like my Mother.

The hearts filthy lesson - song: Hearts Filthy Lesson, artist: David Bowie, album: Outside

At her Side

Just for fun, I decided to compare some photos of Annie and Yalla! The first photo was taken this week. Yalla! is ten months old and she still has her winter coat while the other photo was in September when Yalla was about three months old.

Besides the obvious fact that Yalla! is very much taller now, I am fascinated with both their ears. They look so cute and little with the winter fur and so long in the summer picture. One thing's for sure, Yalla! has got some wild coloring with the bison look in the first photo and that mask effect in the second photo.

At her Side - song: God Knows I'm Good, artist: David Bowie, album: Space Oddity

Sunday Stills (Hands 4/11/10)

Today's Sunday Stills challenge is Hands.

And they turn

I spent the afternoon with the horses today. I groomed them and then chased them. They all really enjoyed running.
Notice I finally got all the clay beads out of Annie's mane? Now if I could only wash it. Maybe tomorrow...



Then I rode Nadia bareback and ponied Yalla! She was reluctant at first, stopping and balking, so I had to bring along the long whip. A tap on her backside every time she'd stop and she decided to come along properly soon enough. We went around quite a few times and when I got off, my legs were white with horse hair.

Here's Annie in her "show" trot.

And they turn - song: Amsterdam, artist: David Bowie

Not nothing new

I took my camera out this morning to get some shots of the horses eating. The sun was wrong and they're not that good but here they are. First, here are Scout and Yalla! Yalla! is buddies with everybody. She follows Nadia around all the time and likes to hang out with Scout over the fence.

I'm really glad that Yalla! inherited the short little triangular head from her daddy and like Nadia. Annie's head is longer.Look at that bushy forelock Yalla! has already! She's going to be my mane and tail horse!

Notice the tufts of hair under Nadia's belly? Whenever she walks, loose hairs fly off. I'll be glad when they are fully shedded out.See how long Yalla!'s tail is already.Yalla! has turned a dull brown but she still has lots of thick baby/winter fur. I wonder what she'll look like this summer.

Not nothing new - song: Mass Production, artist: Iggy Pop, album: The Idiot