Je ne sais quois

Last night I had the honor of judging a Prince and Princess contest in a neighboring town. I had to choose winners from 64 (mostly) cute children. It started with the 2 & 3 year olds. There were 8 children lined up next to the stage waiting to get their chance at stardom. The first little girl marched right up those stairs and looked the MC in the eye and honestly answered all of his questions all the while flashing her dazzling smile. 'Wow' I thought, this is going to be great! But the next 7 children either refused to walk (so they were carried) or refused to talk due to excessive crying. So needless to say the adorable little girl walked away with the tiara. It made me think of show horses (which I'll admit I do a lot). Sometimes in the show ring you see horses who looked not at all happy with their surroundings who faithfully plod around and grudgingly do their gaits. Then sometimes if you are very lucky you get to see a horse with that something that makes you stare and not be able to look away. The horse that says "hey everybody, look at me!!" and prances around the ring in true peacock fashion. I've seen only a few who truly gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes. Now our little 3 year old didn't make me cry, but she did hopefully teach the other parents something. When you're hot, you're hot, and when you're not...Now if only I could bottle it!! I could afford any horse I wanted!!

Pool Improvement?

Well today I bit the bullet and got the silly pool open. I drove back to the pool store for some sand to fill up the filter only to find out they had run out. So I then drove all the way to the original store (30 mins away) for some. I got there just in time as they were on their last pallet of sand. Thank goodness I had a pal willing to employ her brute strength to get the bags open! We got the filter ready then took a quick Mexican lunch break and my Dad helped me finish the operation. This year I actually put everything together correctly the FIRST time! I can't believe it! We were standing there watching it run like new and I said to my Dad "this is kind of scary!!" he said he was going back in the house before it broke! haha. So tommorrow back to the pool store for hopefully the last time this week (it'll be the 4th time), and onto new and improved chemicals to keep our water sparkling!! Bring on the sunshine!

Pool Frustration

Well it is nearly July and we haven't opened our pool yet. Rarely does it live up to it's proported 'oasis' namesake. Most often the best description is 'pain in the butt'. It regurarly shuts down power to the entire house due to a circuit overload, and costs big $$ to keep clear (which it RARELY is). So this year I've been procrastinating like crazy getting it open. Tonight we drove to the pool store to see about maybe getting some new equipment to stop some of these problems, but of course in true fashion the store closed 30 minutes before we got there. So tommorrow when we go back, I intend to request a full service opening. In other words, can I please pay you to do all the work?? This is America, right?

GPS woes

For my birthday I requested and recieved a new Garmin GPS so as to never get lost again. Ha. Today I was in a BIG hurry to get home and see my Aunt whom I hadn't seen in at least 2 years. I knew my usual route wouldn't work because of dreaded road construction. So I decided to take an alternate route that I knew should not have any slowdowns. So I boldy defied the automated voice in the Garmin and proceeded to blaze my own trail. The wrong way. Instead of a leisurely hour drive home I instead took a lovely tour of Eastern Kansas. I live in Missouri! But thank goodness for little favors as in there were no police officers doing their duty and I was able to put the pedal to the metal and get home only 30 minutes late. I got to see my Aunt and visit for a minute before she had to leave, and we headed back home. Back to dog and horse sitting for a couple more days!

Wild & Crazy

This morning I saw a (somewhat) rare sight. My pretty boy was strutting his stuff!! He wasn't out of his stall yesterday (due to my Birthday celebrations) so I arrived bright and early this morning (after feeding my pals horses). I could tell as soon as I arrived that he was rearing to go! When I got there he was happily munching on his hay, but by the time I dug out his replacement leg wraps (there is a bit of a fungus problem, but THAT is another story) and came out of the tack room he was standing at his stall door with his ears up and his eyes bright. So I brought him out and wrapped up his legs and slapped on the velcro boots and off we went. I decided to take him outdoors as there wasn't any mud and the stable was hosting a day camp in the indoor arena. It took every bit of his self control to wait until I told him to go and BOY he was 12 years old again!! Kicking and bucking and running and...snorting. We've had a bit of a problem with this noisy habit in the past. It seems as though other horses who are supposed to be working think that when Apache breaks into this breathy song that it's time to play!!! I did mention the day camp, right?? Well after about 3 minutes of this stomping and blowing I could hear the poor instructor attempting to regain control of her group. Did I mention Apache LOVES to disrupt other horses work?? It is definitely near the top of his priority list. I let him run himself out and after about 10 minutes he did. We calmly walked out the round pen gate (stud chain firmly in place) and he proceeded to bend his head down and graze as if to say "My work here is done". Thank goodness I ride the troublemaker as opposed to having to ride NEXT to him...

Birthday!!

Well it's my birthday today, and now I officially round up to 30. Bleh. But I do still love birthdays! What's not to love? Everybody is really nice to you and you get stuff! I still don't understand why some people hate birthdays and even lie about when theirs is. As far as I'm concerned older=wiser. And I'm all about getting as wise as possible! On another note I've been doing some dog sitting for a friend on vacation. She's the coolest dog ever, her name is Minnie and she's a Miniature Pinscher. I may not be giving her back...haha! The cats on the other hand are NOT amused with this new addition. Normally I have one wrapped around my legs and another around my head when I sleep, but last night nobody would come near us. They just sit in corners and glare at me. Well I'm off to enjoy my day!

The Big Hoe Adventure

Tonight I did something I said I would never do again. Hmm it seems I may be making a habit of that! I hoed up our garden. For those of you not familiar with this particular form of manual labor, it involves using a garden tool to turn or till the soil thusly eliminating weeds. In years past my Dad has kept the garden thriving all by himself but this year has brought it's own surprises and challenges. No longer can he toil all day in the hot sun without feeling the effects, no longer can he lose himself in the physical work of gardening. So if I want big, juicy, and healthy tomatoes (which I DO) then it's up to me to maximize vegetable growth while minimizing weeds. Last week I came home to find him nearing exhaustion in the garden while hoeing up some weeds. I took the hoe and told him I would do it, and without much arguement he let me. Ha, I worked harder in 10 minutes turning over that solid ground than I had in a week! The next day I was a mess of blisters and aching muscles. I swore no more hoeing for me, that was it. So of course I come home today to find the garden once again filled with all manner of undesirables. And of course I pull out the trusty old hoe (it's literally older than me by a good 20 years) and got to work. I've got the icy hot and neosporin at the ready...

Green Bean Memories

Well I just got finished cooking lunch, and boy is my Grandma laughing at me from heaven. Today my sweetie has a bag of garden fresh green beans which he requested for lunch. Well I know how to cook a green bean, the problem lies in the prep work. Snapping, that's right removing the stem end and breaking them into more manageable pieces. When I was a little girl my Dad would always grow lots and lots of green beans for canning. My Grandma would stay with us in the summer and help out however she could. It seemed like we would always end up in front of the TV watching a Royals game snapping away at a big ole bucket of beans. Now when you are 8 years old, there are about a million other things you'd rather do than snap beans and watch the Royals. But also when you are a kid you have to do what you are told. Invariably I would end up watching her snap unbelieveable amounts of beans into the bucket, and talk about days gone by. Her life was nowhere near easy but she never once complained, always putting her faith in the Lord to see her through whatever life dealt her. She's been gone for about 13 years now and it's funny how things remind us of the past. Well I hear a car in the drive so I better get these beans cooled enough to eat. I think Grandma would get a big kick out of me snapping beans and thinking about her.

The Most Fun!

Yesterday morning I had more fun than I've had in a LONG time! It really wasn't anything Earth-shattering, I just rode a different horse. In fact I rode a horse I spent several months riding last year. BUT: this time I knew a little bit more about what I was doing! I showed up for a group lesson (which I haven't done in over a year) to ride Raven. She is a very cute black American Saddlebred mare. We have a bit of a troubled history, in Dec '06 I fell off this same cute horse and broke my tailbone and gave myself a concussion. But I never let my fear overtake my passion, in fact I finished my lesson with the aforementioned injuries, and competed in a show less than a month later. But back to the future: I wanted to ride her because my dream is to own/show my own ASB (saddlebred). Currently I show a NSH (national show horse, 1/2 arabian, 1/2 saddlebred) named Apachee who I love, love, love. In order to 'test' myself in accordance with my dream I rode Miss Raven. Who was definitly a challenge to collect and keep going. I'm a bit embarassed to admit I've grown accustomed to 'push button'. So I finally had to work a little to achieve the same thing. We worked both directions at a trot, trying to figure each other out. Then Melissa asked if I would like to canter her, of course I said Sure! Well once we finally got the lines of communication open, that girl TOOK OFF! It was the most exhilarating experience!! Each step felt as though we were launching off the ground! So we stopped and turned around for the other lead, WOW even better this way!! Whew, I was pretty sweaty at the end, but it was definitly worth it. I hopped on my own show horse and away we went. I think he was pretty happy that Raven had 'warmed me up'...once he got over his jealousy at having to share me. So the lesson is to take risks and try new challenges. It could end up being the best day in a LONG time!