Morning Call Ranch

It's Izzy!

2009-12-09T10:11:00.002-05:00

Saturday evening we got a puppy! She is a West Highland Terrier, a breed of dog that I have always wanted and just as sweet and loving as she can be! She is 11 months-old, so we don't have to deal with the difficult puppy stuff that we really don't have time for right now.

The boys are completely in love with her already and the second one of them sits down, she will jump up into their lap, so it's mutual.

She is such a princess and we are spoiling her dreadfully already. She's quite afraid of Aly, but Rusty is her pal - she is smaller than either of the cats. She keeps Daisy right in line and runs around between Daisy's legs since she is so much smaller!!

In the past, we have not allowed any dog on the furniture, but as you can see, Izzy is breaking all the rules and we just love to snuggle with her too much to fuss...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T08:00:00.002-05:00

CMTPA Finale Favorites

2009-11-03T07:14:00.001-05:00

I'm a couple of weeks late with these, but here are some of my favorites from CMTPA's Season Finale...

More Farmington Fair Favorites

2009-09-23T10:30:00.000-04:00

Team Penning at the 2009 Farmington Fair

2009-09-22T07:24:00.001-04:00

KEEP CHECKING BACK! I WILL BE ADDING MORE PHOTOS!! For now, here are some of my favorites...

9th Birthday Party

2009-09-14T07:42:00.001-04:00

Everyone was able to make it to the party and we had a great time!!

Family Reunion

2009-07-26T08:07:00.015-04:00

Yesterday afternoon we drove down to the farm where my mother and her sister grew up. Way back when they were young, (Hee! Hee!!) their cousins would come up from New York and Massachusetts to spend time each summer at 'The Farm'. The last Saturday in July is now the day for our annual family reunion and members come from all over the country to attend. (Here my blog posts from 2007 & 2008.) It's always so great to see everyone!

Each year we celebrate the milestones in our lives with a yummy cake....

and ice cream!

My niece (center) especially loves to see her girl cousins!

Another family tradition is the 'Egg Toss' and 'Egg in a Spoon Race'. Always hilarious!

Those sweeping fields are great for flying airplanes, but the wind was a bit too strong this year, so they crashed and burned.

The boys bounced so much on the pogo stick that we thought they were going to pass out from heat stroke! Even Dad took a turn!!

Here's the crew heading down the hill, up the road, and through the woods on their pilgrimage to the family cemetery. The children are always interested in hearing more stories about their ancestors. We won't let them forget...

See you next year!

More Mini Fun

2009-07-12T20:45:00.005-04:00

We had lots of family here today to celebrate Dad's birthday. Not that he felt much like celebrating #39, but at least we had a good time visiting! The minis got a lot of attention.

Our oldest showed 'em all how it was done, and then almost everyone took at turn at the lines!

BJ thought it was so exciting and tore around their pen like a wild thing! Look at him jump!!

He is too little to drive, but my nephew still got to take a ride.

Look at that grin on Grammie's face!! And away she goes...

Our youngest figured that he could drive her anytime, but the fish might be biting, so he headed for the brook...
Nice brook trout!!

Many, many thanks to my sister-in-law for taking these great photos!

Minis!

2009-07-06T09:20:00.006-04:00

A friend of mine needed a temporary home for her mini horses. Since our older son has always wanted minis, I agreed to take them for a couple of years. If he does well with them, we'll look into getting him some of his own later on. For now, the boys are lovin' them!!

Grooming Sierra, the mare.

BJ, the gelding, is Sierra's companion and just a really loving pet. He appreciates a lot of attention!

Our oldest has learned to harness and drive Sierra. He doesn't like to put her tail through the crupper though - it's yucky!

Look, Mom! I'm a horse!!

Heading off for his first drive...What FUN!!

Little Brother gives it a try...

Did you notice the dogs in the middle of everything? They really didn't know what to think of those horses at first. It was wicked funny!!

Baseball

2009-07-01T17:59:00.005-04:00

This year the boys have been playing in the Rookie League, because even though they are different ages, it's the first year for both of them. They really, really like it and are doing very well!

In the dugout...

Ready to bat...

Running to first...

Yay! I made it safe!!

Down, buddy.

Waiting to run to second...

There he goes...

Waiting on third....

Running home!!

What a cutie!!

Deer Run Elk Farm

2009-06-27T17:44:00.006-04:00

After the boys' baseball game the other night, we stopped for a quick visit at the elk farm. The owner was feeding them their supper, so it turned out to be a great time to see the elk. The boys were fascinated and really enjoyed hand-feeding them. They were also able to (very carefully!) rub the velvet on the bulls antlers. It is incredibly soft!

He talked to us about some of the trials and tribulations of raising what are realistically, still, wild animals. There are more than 50 in the herd right now, with a few fawns. We actually got to see one of the fawns, which he said was unusual because the cows usually hide them back further in the pasture while they come up front to eat their grain.

He has to watch himself around all of them because they will kick or butt him, but he is particularly careful around the bulls. Even when they aren't in rut, they can be dangerous. When they are in rut,(breeding season) they are deadly. Last year several of them were killed as they battled for the cows. (He hadn't intended to have so many in the pasture, but a buyer fell through.) In the past, a bull has picked him up and tossed him out the gate. The left a scar the length of his back to remind him to always be vigilant!

Aren't they beautiful?

McLaughlin Gardens Field Trip

2009-06-19T21:32:00.005-04:00

The 2nd and 3rd grade classes took a field trip to McLaughlin Gardens in South Paris this week. I didn't have to work until later in the afternoon, so I was able to chaperone.

We saw some beautiful flowers...

Iris

Peonies

Anemone, aka 'Wind Flowers'

The cupola on top of the beautiful old barn.

Petting the rhodies...they're fuzzy!

I couldn't believe it when my picky-eater son volunteered to eat a violet! He didn't like the taste, but he swallowed it anyway...

Time to go home...

Birthday Party!!

2009-06-08T07:18:00.007-04:00

Happy birthday to you; happy birthday to you; happy birthday to you, and you, and you; happy birthday to YOU!!

Yesterday afternoon we celebrated 4 birthdays in one big party! The boys all got right to work - building swords, grilling, and replacing the gas regulator on the camper.

My sister-in-law and I photographed some of Mom's gorgeous flowers...
Peonies

Impatiens in the wagon wheel planter that we gave her for Mother's Day.
Clivia

My nephew danced the 'Macarena' for us! He's quite the performer!!

Too much partying!
Almost as tall!!!!

YUMMY!!

I don't think he really wanted socks for his birthday. ;-) Too cute!!

Another game and tree trimming

2009-01-25T13:22:00.002-05:00

Throughout the last couple of weeks, we've been watching the guys from Lucas Tree cutting off all the branches that overhang the electrical wires running up and down the road. We love to see them come along, because not having branches near the wires keeps us from losing our electricity during winter storms. But, one of our greatest worries right along has been the wires up our driveway. Friday morning, one of the workers walked up to the house to apologize for the inconvenience, but they were going to have to cut down/trim the trees along our driveway. He was a bit taken aback when I said, "Yay!" (I just wished that I could ask them to completely clear the sides of our driveway!) The only catch was that they had to wait a half hour or so, 'cause I needed to take the boys to school. It took them a couple of hours, but they did a great job clearing and now we can see even more of that beautiful stone wall that we have been slowly clearing. 2 of the trees that they did have to take down, happened to have electric fence insulators in them. They cut just above them, leaving tall stumps for fenceposts, and a stack of firewood. Even better! That'll keep us warm for a while...

Yesterday morning the boys had another basketball game. They played much better this time and the teams were pretty evenly matched. The boys played really hard and had a fun time!

Yesterday morning, Dad sold the snowmobiles. It was hard for him, but we just haven't ridden them at all this year, and we don't anticipate having the time later on this season. If we do, we can always rent machines and not have to store, register them or maintain them. At this point, we decided that it would be wiser to have the money in the bank.

January News

2009-01-21T13:21:00.008-05:00

Just in case you were wondering, I haven't been posting much because we have been keeping very, very busy! January has been a very snowy month, and a month for major changes in our lives. Namely, I got a job! The strange part is that I don't actually start working until February. So, even though I have made this big, life-altering decision to return to the work-force after 10 years of staying at home, nothing has really changed! And, I'm a bit stressed about it since I'd really like to get started with this new routine. I'm not sure when I'm going to have time to work, and do all the other things that I usually do, but I am very much looking forward to the job. Last week I was extremely busy getting ready for the Horsemen's Conference. It went well and was a fun day spent talking about horses.

We've been trying to get out and enjoy the snow as much as possible. Although sub-zero temperatures have kept us indoors quite a lot. Here is a series of photos of the boys trying to down-hill ski on their cross-country skiis! Too funny!!

The latest portraits of Haley...

...and Daisy.

Daisy thinks that snow is the best thing ever! It doesn't slow her down a bit...

...she rolls in it...

...plows through the deepest drifts with a big 'ol grin on her face...

and, of course, it tastes great!

Look at how rough they still play! I know it looks vicious, but they're having a great time...

Piggie is getting really, really big. He's still very friendly and loves to play with the boys. He comes running whenever someone drives into the yard, hoping that they will come visit with him. It's funny to watch him trying to attract the dogs', or the geese's attention, in the hopes that they might come play with him...

The boys have played in 2 basketball games so far. They have learned so much already it is incredible! But, they have lots more to learn. They're having fun though, and that's what is most important!!

The boys have also been helping Dad to split and stack firewood...

New England Aquarium

2009-01-21T09:13:00.002-05:00

On Monday we took the boys down to the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts. It was an awesome trip! We met my brother and his family and we all had an absolute ball together. Our oldest thought the seals were the best part of the day. Our youngest loved watching the electric eel killing and eating its prey. To each his own, I guess. My favorite were the penguins and Dad's favorite was a huge school of fish.

We rode the subway into the city, which was an exciting new adventure for the boys. They thought it was amazing. I didn't think it was so amazing when we got onto the train to leave the city, along with about a million other people - it was standing room only and I'm not that comfortable in a crowd. Oh well.

We left the aquarium and walked a couple of blocks to Panera Bread for lunch - it was super yummy! We were actually looking for a Subway sandwich shop, so Dad popped his head into a Dunkin' Donuts and asked where 'Subway' was. The guy gestured down the street, so we headed off. A block or two later, when we still couldn't see any sign of the restaurant, my nephew commented that maybe the guy thought we wanted directions to the subway! It was hysterical because he was right, that's probably exactly what that guy thought, 'cause that was where he sent us!!

Family Christmas Party

2008-12-29T08:35:00.001-05:00

Saturday was our big family gathering with my nieces & nephews, along with all their children & spouses/fiances, from the other side of the family. We started holding it here at our house, a few years ago, when it became apparent that we were outgrowing my parents' house! This year there were 29 attendees - 22 of whom spent the night - and 4 dogs! It was an awesome time!! We snacked all afternoon and then my niece and I made pizzas for supper. The kiddos all really liked their gifts and the Yankee Swap for the adults got rowdy, as usual! I was finally able to give Grampa his Christmas present, a photo book of last summer's camping trip. We stayed up really late playing Catch-Phrase, Pictionary, and Rock Band. The kids all got along great, visited with the horses, played with Legos and had a dance party before we finally got them all tucked into their sleeping bags.

Most mornings our boys climb into bed with us before we all get up and start our day. Yesterday morning they brought along 6 of their cousins!! It was really funny!!

About 9 am, our 300 bale hay delivery arrived. Our guests were all happy to pitch in and get it stacked in the barn. It was much more fun than just doing it by ourselves! Everyone laughed and worked off some of the junk food from the previous day. Part-way through, my brother-in-law decided to build a hay fort for the kiddos. He also made a maze! They were thrilled and had a blast taking turns going into it! Some of the adults checked it out too!!

Hairloom Treasures

2008-12-26T09:46:00.005-05:00

The hardest part of Christmas (and birthdays!), for me, is keeping gifts a secret. Sometimes I find a gift that is so awesome, it just about kills me not to tell the recipient all about it ahead of time! Such was the case this year with this gift. Remember our horse, Moonie, who passed away last summer? Well, a week or two before, I snuck over to the farm while my mother was at work, and cut off a hunk of Moonie's tail hair. (Grampa, you did a great job keeping quiet about that!!) I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it, but I had read that lots of other people make keepsakes out of horse hair and I knew it would be great if I could come up with presents for my family members.

A couple of weeks ago, my mother handed me this newspaper article and lamented the fact that we didn't know about this before. I tried very hard to hide my smug grin and not let on to the fact that I had a stash of Moonie hair! I contacted Giselle Rec and she was more than happy to make up some jewelry for me in time for Christmas. She made a bracelet for my sister, keychains for my mother & sister-in-law and zipper pulls for my boys and my niece and nephews. And, of course, I just had to have a bracelet too! It just about killed me, but I didn't tell anyone about it until Christmas Eve. (I just couldn't wait until morning, so we stopped in and gave them to my sister & mother a bit early!) There were tears when they realized that the jewelry was made from Moonie's tail and everyone is just thrilled to have a piece of Moonie to keep forever. Thank you so much, Giselle!!

I photographed the items on an old picture of Moonie that I took way back in 1987, which my husband & I enlarged & framed for my sister's birthday gift. My sister & I modeling our bracelets...

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-25T23:56:00.001-05:00

Christmas Morning was spent here at home, opening our stockings and presents to each other. Santa brought us all sorts of goodies, and we were all quite pleased with our gifts! This year I was determined not to leave a mess behind, so I got everything picked up right away. All the while baking cookies for later on, downloading pictures off the camera, editing them and uploading them to the Internet. Shortly before noon we headed to my parents house to celebrate the holiday...

My sister and her husband were there, along with my brother, his wife, and their 3 children, my aunt and uncle, and of course, my parents. We had a fantastic, noisy, FUN time opening all of our gifts to each other! And eating!! There was lots and lots of eating...

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T22:35:00.000-05:00

We spent Christmas Eve with Dad's parents, his sister, her husband, and their 4 boys. We started out down in the cabin behind their houses, toasting marshmallows to put into S'mores, drinking hot cocoa and munching on shrimp. Then, the boys started out on the scavenger hunt that Grammie had put together. It led them all over the property, ending up in the basement, where the presents were hidden. Once the boys had found the gifts, we gathered around the Christmas tree to open them. In the evening, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of seafood chowder, followed by cheesecake.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

2008-12-23T10:34:00.006-05:00

...and the busiest! We're finishing up several projects for Christmas and trying to get the house prepared for the festivities. The boys started vacation this week, so they are helping me a lot. We're just about ready. I'm anxiously awaiting a couple of packages that contain gifts though. I really, really, really hope that they will be here in time!! Dad brought us home a very pretty 2 pound block of milk chocolate the other day. Yummy!! But, just about the last thing my waistline needed...

One of the projects that the boys and I are working on, (And look, I can write about it because the recipients aren't likely to read this blog!) is little fabric mice, filled with catnip. Each year our pets give gifts to the other pets in the family. This year, this is what Aly is giving her brothers, mother and other kitty friends. While we were trying to stitch up the mice this afternoon, Aly got right into the middle of everything. She thought it smelled heavenly! She rubbed and rolled and rubbed some more and made a royal mess of all the fabric and thread...and got catnip everywhere!

I stitched this for our youngest, it seemed appropriate.

The boys participated in their school's Christmas Concert last Thursday. They really didn't want to get up there in front of the crowd, but they both did very well.

Last week, our oldest dug me a path to the horse pasture. The next morning, all 3 horses were standing on it, just as if they couldn't go out into the snow. He got a real kick out of them using it!

We've gotten more than our share of snow in the past week. There's more than 2 feet on the ground at this point. CRAZY!!

And cold....brrr...it's been well below zero degrees Fahrenheit most nights and even during the days it hasn't gotten above the teens in a while. Really, that's too cold for so many snowstorms, but I guess Mother Nature hasn't noticed. The horses are wicked fuzzy!

Daisy woke us up barking, in the wee hours of Thursday morning. That was highly unusual, but Dad just figured she must have really needed to go out, so he grumbled and dragged himself out of bed and to the front door. However, when he opened the door, she put her tail between her legs and scooted back into the bedroom. So, he looked outside and there were firetrucks, with their lights flashing, down at the end of our driveway. Apparently they had woken up Daisy and she thought we should know about them. It turned out that the cabin up on the hill opposite us had a chimney fire. The bad part was that the fire department couldn't get any trucks up there! Our neighbor ended up letting them use his snowmobiles!! Anyway, they got the fire put out and no one was injured and there wasn't any property damage. But, the guy that lived up there decided that maybe it would stay a summer cabin after all, and he moved back to town...

Christmas in West Paris

2008-12-07T08:56:00.010-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, West Paris held its annual Christmas Fair, followed by a parade to the Christmas Tree down by Town Hall, and a tree lighting ceremony. The Cub Scouts planted the tree a couple of years ago, so they were asked to lead the parade, behind a firetruck that lit the way. Once there, one of the Scouts got to turn on the lights! They had a wicked lotta fun!!

Santa gave the reindeer the night off...they need to conserve their energy for Christmas Eve...

During the craft fair they sold popcorn to raise money for their pack....

It wasn't just children that got to share their wish lists with Santa and Mrs. Claus...

Meanwhile, I traveled with my parents to New Hampshire for my nephew's engagement party - congratulations T & J!! It was a fun gathering of lots and lots of family & friends.

My cactus is in bloom...isn't it beautiful?

Today was a crazy busy day! One of their friends stayed overnight and then 2 more friends arrived late this morning. They kept each other entertained and they had a fantastic time! They played outdoors until lunchtime and then they went ice skating on the beaver pond afterwards. I don't know how they can fall on the ice over and over again and just keep trying. I can't!

This morning they read the book that my second cousin, Heath A. Roberts wrote, The Day the Frogs Went Hopping Mad. You should look for it, it is a great story and they thoroughly enjoyed it. The 3 of them took turns reading pages...

I took our visitors home at dark. When I was coming down the hill just before our driveway, I saw a critter in the road. He looked right at me and when I swerved left to miss him, he ran left. So, I swerved right and unfortunately, he changed direction too. At that point I realized that I was definitely not going to be able to avoid hitting him. So, I said, "Here's your last chance - DUCK!" and drove over him. But, I heard a thump, so I figured he was a goner. About halfway through that encounter, I realized that it wasn't a skunk or raccoon that I was 'dancing' with, but a 'possum! How unusual!! Unusual enough that I decided to turn around and go back to take a look at the carcass because I knew that Dad wasn't going to believe me.

I turned the car around and headed back up the hill. Lo and behold, there was the 'possum - still wandering around in the road! Yay! I hadn't killed it!! I'd say he's gonna have a heck of a headache, though! Anyway, I followed behind it for about 25 feet up the road, as he was looking for a good place to climb the snowbank and escape from that dangerous place. As soon as I got home, I told Dad all about it - and he did find it hard to believe me. But, I know what I saw - and actually, he was really cute! We decided that he was probably holed up for the winter, but our neighbor was out cutting wood today and must have disturbed him.

This evening, our youngest gave me a gift. He said it wasn't for any special occasion, but just for being the "Best mom ever!" I almost cried. He gave me one of the quartz crystals that he found when he was mining this summer. He asked that I put it in a setting someday and make jewelry with it. I'll have to do that someday. It was a pretty special moment. He was very happy about having such an awesome weekend!!

Farrier

2008-12-03T20:35:00.002-05:00

The farrier came this morning to trim all the horses' hooves. I don't know if she noticed, (After all, she only sees them once every 6 or 8 weeks!) but Dad & I saw a huge improvement in their behavior! Not that they are ever bad for the farrier, but apparently they could have been better, and today they proved it. One of the things that Chris Cox talked about in that clinic a few weeks ago, was not micro-managing your horse during vet & farrier visits. We're so worried about them behaving, that we don't let them breathe and then they get all worked up, which is exactly what we didn't want, and yet it was a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Now that I've learned to leave their heads alone, I just kept the lead rope in my hands, but with no tension whatsoever, and they all stood quietly and looked around, without moving a muscle while she worked with their feet. It was AMAZING!! I was so proud of them. In the past, I would have kept pulling their heads back and telling them "Whoa!" all the time, whether they needed it or not. Just to make sure that they knew. Of course they know - I need to give my horses a whole lot more credit, I guess!!

Before she arrived I worked for a while with Lily. Then, I dropped the lead rope on the ground and she stood still while I walked over to the tack room and got some grooming tools. You could totally see in her eye that she was expecting me to take her somewhere when I returned, but I didn't, I just started brushing out her mane. She stood there quietly while I combed and braided it. After about 10 minutes she did test me and started to walk off, but I simply grabbed the lead rope and disengaged her hindquarters a few times. She figured out really quickly that it was much easier just to stand still and be patient. Dad couldn't believe it, especially since he was working nearby with the chain saw - a wonderful test!

Delay...

2008-12-01T07:08:00.002-05:00

We got another couple of inches of snow overnight, along with some sleet, so the roads are a major mess! School has been delayed for 2 hours...

The boys are happy, though. They had a great Thanksgiving Break, and they're not terribly anxious to get back to school.

The other night Dad presented us with an early Christmas present - Guitar Hero World Tour! It's similar to Rock Band, so we can all play together as a band. Very cool!!

Yesterday afternoon the boys discovered an awesome feature that they didn't end up having time to play with - you can record your own songs! Our oldest has composed his first song and right now they're out there playing in the rock studio and getting it to sound the way they want it to. It's a ballad about their favorite Pokemon character, Spheal. Too cute!!

Christmas Trees

2008-11-30T21:10:00.013-05:00

Yesterday, Dad's parents, his sister, and her boys, came up to harvest Christmas trees from our property. We had a great time visiting and they even took home our gerbils. She called this evening to let us know that they are all settled in and seem happy. Her sons are thrilled with them! We're just so happy that they have a better home, one where they'll get lots and lots of attention. Anyway, that made 6 boys plus a couple of inches of snow on the ground - what does that equal? Snowball fights!!

Daisy & Haley just thought it was great to head out into the woods with such a big crew!!

Hey! The woman with the camera is off-limits!!

Look at this bizarre tree...

Here's the one we should get!

Grampa's ready to cut down the tree that Grammie picked out...

Mission accomplished...

This morning we went out and cut down our own Christmas tree. Ours was much closer though. It was one of a pair that were growing right beside our driveway, on the South side. During the winter, they block any sunshine that might shine on the driveway, and create a huge patch of ice on the driveway. So, they were on my list of trees that need to go! The tops will make beautiful Christmas trees, and the extra branches around the bottom will make wreaths...

First, the boys wanted me to see how sturdy the ice on the beaver pond is now. Daisy certainly isn't afraid to go out onto it!

Oh no! She's snatched his Santa hat!!

Here comes big brother with another one...

Any excuse to climb a tree...

"Can you see me now?"

Dad is starting to saw down the tree...

That was too much like work! Time for something a little bit noisier...

He cut a wedge out with the power saw, and now the boys are finishing it up with the handsaw, so that they can say that they cut down the tree this year...

Still sawing...

Timber!

It's lying exactly where there won't be an icy patch this year...

The boys are measuring where Dad should cut it so that it will fit into the house...

Almost there guys! Is it heavy yet?

Another beautiful Christmas tree this year! Thanks guys!!

I can't wait to bring it in and decorate it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-28T17:43:00.003-05:00

We had a great day yesterday. Lots of yummy food, (Okay, too much yummy food!) and great company. The weather was even nice enough for the men-folks to help Dad finish up a few farm projects and the kids could run around and play. My niece even got a quick ride on Kitchy, which pleased her immensely!

Today was a bit of a disappointment though. We were really looking forward to a visit from some old friends of ours, but alas, it snowed again so they weren't able to come....

That 'S' word!!!!@%$#@#$!!!!

2008-11-25T19:31:00.004-05:00

What a mess outdoors today!! We got about six inches of heavy, wet, sticky, snow this morning, before it changed to pouring rain early in the afternoon. All of that, plus wicked wind; enough to knock ya over, for goodness sake....The boys made 3 snowmen before the bus arrived this morning. Yes, they had school anyway! But, the bus came from the opposite direction this morning 'cause he couldn't get up Stearns Hill. Yikes!

We moved the horses to their other pasture because it offers better protection from the elements. They were grouchy and wanted to go back to their regular pasture. So, for most of the day they stood by the gate, hunched up against the wind. Go figure!? But, by this evening, when the weather was terribly nasty, but I had to go out and feed them anyway, all 3 of them were huddled together under the roof of their little shed. Dad stayed busy today cutting wood and feeding the wood boiler, so at least indoors it's nice & toasty!

Poor little piggie! He really didn't want to come out of his little house this morning!! Daddy ended up coaxing him out with food, and when he saw his new neighbors, the horses, well, that was worth running around and playing for a few minutes. But, then it was back into the house and we didn't see him for the rest of the day. He even ate his supper in there!

The horses didn't think much of him...I told him not to take it personally, they're always shy at first....they settled down after a bit...

Daisy didn't remember what snow was, and really didn't want to go out this morning. She got all upset, raised her hackles and growled at it. 'Course that's about how I felt too...

DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH!!!!

2008-11-22T08:09:00.002-05:00

Who needs TV?

Yesterday afternoon, in honor of our guests, Aly caught a red squirrel. Then, Daisy stole the squirrel, (Before it was dead, mind you!) and ran around playing with it. She would toss it and shake it. Whenever she would drop it, the poor thing would try to run off and she would catch it again. Our guests may never come visit us again...

It gets even better!

This morning, said squirrel is a tasty, frozen treat! (The temp. overnight was in the teens!) Daisy is out there playing with it and gnawing on it. Dad thought that this should be recorded for posterity and took the camera out with him. And, since I do have a sick sense of humor, I thought I should share it with you all....

Aren't you lucky?!

Rodents

2008-11-19T07:05:00.008-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I spent time with some of the boys' pets. They always like to get calendars for Christmas, featuring these cuddly little creatures, so we had a modeling session. ;-)

This is Cuddles, another wonderful hamster. She loves to be handled and snuggled. Aly thought I might need some help getting her to hold still...

Here's Inky Mo, all grown up! I don't think I've posted any photos of her since she was a baby...

We've decided to get rid of the gerbils. The boys just ignore them because they can't snuggle with them like they do their other pets. It's not fair to the little guys to be bored all the time. Although I'm not sure how bored they are - they sure do love to tunnel and shred paper products!! I put their picture on Uncle Henry's last night...

Why Kitch?

2008-11-18T08:30:00.007-05:00

Doesn't Kitchy look great in his new bling?!

After posting yesterday's blog entry, I realized that probably some of you were thinking, "Why would she ground-train Kitch? He seems like such an accomplished old horse." Well, he is, but he's also a big boy and we struggle with respect issues. The only time I've ever needed to do ground work with him was last fall he nearly ran me down charging out the pasture gate after the mares. I didn't know really what to do, but I did know that was a huge safety issue and I needed to do something to remind him of who is the boss. I caught him and took him straight to the round pen, where he ran around me a few times and then hooked up and followed me quietly back to the gate, which we walked in and out of several times, until he could do it right. I realized at that point that the ground work helped a lot and it didn't take much of it to get his attention. On the way home Sunday evening, I decided that since he seemed so responsive to ground training during that episode, Kitch would be a good 'guinea pig' to test out my newly learned skill. Now, I've seen it work and I'm more confident and ready to work with Lily & Tillie.

I was so impressed with Chris Cox's clinic on Sunday, because the whole point of disengaging the hindquarters is to get their eyes on you! I've been wanting to take Kitch on my walks up the road since he's getting terribly fat just standing around in the pasture, but I couldn't take the chance of him pulling or pushing on me and hurting my back. After that simple little lesson we had yesterday afternoon, I was able to take him for a walk up the big hill and back down again without any issues, at all. Just amazing!! He didn't even try to hurry past me going back down the hill and towards home. This is how Kitch acts after I've worked with him several days in a row, not after just one....And he was huffing & puffing just as much as I was when we got to the top! ;-)

I'm sure that my sister is sitting there reading this thinking, "I told you so!" She has long been telling me that I should do more ground work with all of my horses, but I've always been too confused and therefore I've never been able to get the results I was looking for when I tried it. That would make me terribly frustrated, and those lessons never ended well. Therefore, it's always been a whole lot more fun to just hop on and go for a ride, even knowing that it could be a better ride if I just learned how to get their respect better on the ground. So, D, enjoy it while you can - YOU WERE RIGHT!!!!

A couple of weeks ago, our youngest came home with a registration form and announced that he wanted to play basketball. This was surprising because each season we ask them if they want to join the school teams (football, soccer, etc) and they always say, "No!" Even though they do enjoy playing the games whenever they have a chance. We haven't pushed them since sports are such a huge time commitment. I signed him up and asked his older brother if he wanted to play too, but he said that he really didn't. Last night was the first practice. It turned out that big brother didn't like just sitting there watching and since the team needed another boy, he's playing basketball this season too! They came home drenched in sweat and grinning from ear to ear!! Even the little guy made a couple of baskets and he couldn't have been more proud!!

2008 Equine Affaire

2008-11-17T09:49:00.008-05:00

My trip this past weekend to Equine Affaire in Springfield, Massachusetts was AWESOME!!!! The shopping was incredible - there were hundreds of vendors - and I learned a ton from the training clinics. The breed demonstrations were interesting and I saw a few breeds of horses that I've never even seen in person before. Each breed was paraded through the arena in full tack and their riders wore the costumes that you would see if they were competing. When it came time for the Quarter Horses, there was a little boy that ran a barrel pattern and a couple of ladies that demonstrated reining patterns. Then, I saw something that made me sick to my stomach, a Western Pleasure ride. The movements that they make those horses do are so unnatural - at the trot he looked like he was stumbling and at the lope he looked like he was lame. And yet the crowd was cheering because that's the way he's supposed to move. I thought it was awful!!

I, of course, have seen and read plenty about Fresians, but this was my first opportunity to not only take pictures, but also touch them. I think he made these girls' day...

Since we live in the 'Dark Ages' up here in my beloved countryside, we don't have RFD TV, so I have never gotten to see all the horse training shows that so many other people have watched and learned from. This was my first opportunity to watch these top trainers work with horses. Sure, I've read their articles, books and websites, but it's just not the same. I was enthralled!

The first clinic that we watched, Friday afternoon, was a clinic taught by Chris Cox about improving the canter. There were 2 women that he worked with, one of them was riding a monstrous half-draft that was just plain spoiled. He was used to pushing people around and getting loved on anyway. He couldn't be cantered without running away. It turned out that yes, he had respect issues which were exposed when Chris worked with him in the round pen, but also, the rider would immediately clench up and lean forward whenever she cued for the canter. This would make the horse nervous and cause him to speed up and get out of control. The other rider wasn't having quite as much trouble and once Chris corrected her seat, she and the horse were able to relax and lope.

On Saturday morning, we watched Clinton Anderson work with a real bully of a horse. He did lots of groundwork with him and it was neat to see his methods and how well they worked. Plus, he is extremely entertaining and funny!

In the afternoon, he did a demonstration with his own horse, Mindy. They danced for us to several really rockin' tunes - it was amazing! Then, he discussed some of the training methods that he used with Mindy and even practiced cutting - on a member of the audience!

She was well rewarded though, and became the most hated woman in the coliseum when he offered her a ride on Mindy!! What a lucky, lucky girl!!!!

That evening we watched an obstacle course competition and at the time that we had to leave, a woman from Maine was the leading rider!! Woo! Hoo!

We bought a whole bunch of blingy conchos - I got some for me and also some for Kitchy's bridle. I'll have to have him model them for you tomorrow. Dinner that evening was at the 99 Restaurant - we had a great time visiting!

Sunday morning I watched Julie Goodnight give a clinic on lead departures and improving the lope. It was extremely informative. I've read a lot of her articles and her newsletter and website are my favorites, so it was great to see her in person.

Sunday afternoon I watched another Chris Cox clinic - this time he was working with a barrel racing horse that was extremely disrespectful and even dangerous. Somehow his teen aged owner has been putting up with his antics without getting seriously injured, and even competes with him successfully. Chris started out the clinic by just leading the horse around the arena while he described to us some of what he was planning to do and why. Mostly, he just wanted to give the horse a few minutes to demonstrate how awful he was to lead - pushy, nippy, pulling.

The first thing he taught that horse was to disengage his hindquarters. After 2 tries the horse was doing that perfectly - a fast learner. Then, he rubbed all over him and mounted him and laid all over him; doing nice things to the horse as long as he stood still, but getting after him and making him disengage again if he budged. Again, the horse figured it out quickly. So, within a very short time, Chris had the horse ready to ride and we were all thinking about lunch and what we were going to buy next...

Then, Chris asked him to disengage his hindquarters again, and the horse blew up! He started rearing, striking out and attacking Chris!! The good news is, Chris was hoping for that, and ready for it. As far as he was concerned, the clinic would have been a failure if the horse had trained that easily, because he wouldn't have been able to show us how to deal with such a dangerous situation. And he knew, deep down, that this horse was a time-bomb waiting to go off!! Chris didn't give him an inch. That would have meant that the horse had won. He used the end of his lead rope to smack him across the chest and just once, on the end of his nose. And as soon as the horse's front legs hit the ground, he would make him disengage the hindquarters again. They had several battles, but Chris won them all!! It was incredible!! After that he taught him to yield his front end, although that caused another battle or two, but they were shorter lived. I think the horse knew by that point that he wasn't going to get anywhere and it wasn't worth the effort. Eventually Chris was able to loop the lead rope around the horse's neck and the horse would follow him anywhere.

Chris earned himself another fan with that clinic. His ground training method is so clear and concise. I hope to be able to use everything that I learned this weekend to improve all of our horses!

This afternoon, I worked with Kitch because he's been kinda pushy lately. (Mostly just because he's been out to pasture for a couple of month.) He picked up the disengaging the hindquarters really quickly. Except I wasn't able to do it without the lead rope in my hands. I was able to stop swinging it at him, but if I looped it around his neck, he knew I didn't have it and he locked his butt - brat! We'll keep working on it. He did great and I was very pleased. He's not easy to lead when the mares are whinnying at him, but this method gave me the means to get his attention back on me and I only had to ask him to disengage his hindquarters once going down to the bus stop. After that he was very respectful on the lead rope and just followed along behind me quietly. Since that was the first time that I've taken him away from the mares in a couple of months, it should have been a wrestling match. I'm so happy!! 'Course now I don't know what to teach him next, so I guess I have some books and videos to buy....

Basket for Grammie

2008-11-13T09:01:00.003-05:00

Last weekend Grammie asked me to make her a new egg collecting basket. Not an actual 'Egg Basket' because she doesn't have that many hens and it would be too big, but rather something smaller. Here's what I came up with! Isn't it pretty? I hope it's what you were looking for, Grammie!

Aly thought it looked interesting...

Finally, after almost 4 years of trying, (I can't believe she's that old already! I remember when she would fit in the palm of my hand!!) I got a portrait of Aly...

Later on, Aly went into the bathroom to watch her favorite show on our 'Cowboy TV'. She watches that fish for hours and hours...

Tomorrow, bright & early, I leave for Equine Affaire!!!! I cannot wait!!!! I'm meeting some of the team penning girls and we are driving down together, bunking up in a couple of hotel rooms (there are like 8 of us!) and partying all weekend, while enjoying all the awesome horsey stuff that will be there. It's going to be amazing to see several of the top trainers in the country demonstrate their techniques and browse through all the products that the many, many vendors will be selling. Yippee!!!!

Dad and the boys are going to be on their own for the weekend....I wonder what kind of trouble they will get into.... ;-)

Veterans' Day Parade

2008-11-11T20:21:00.006-05:00

Dad had to work today, so I took the boys to march with the Scouts in the Veterans' Day Parade. It was frigid and the wind was blowing around snowflakes, but it was fun nonetheless. And the prayers and tributes were touching, as usual.

Odyssey

2008-11-09T19:05:00.003-05:00

On Saturday my parents came up to visit us. Dad kept Grampa busy fixing the front door and working on the wood boiler house repairs. Grammie & I took the boys & dogs for a walk up the hill - great exercise! Then, they both helped Dad to shore up the roof of the garage where we want to put the piggie for the winter. Their help is greatly appreciated!! So, we took them out to dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant. It was a wonderful meal and we all left feeling uncomfortably full.

After all of our automobile research, Honda Odysseys were one of the vehicles that we were really interested in. Unfortunately, because they are so well-liked, there aren't very many for sale, and the ones that are for sale are out of our price-range. But, Dad found one yesterday and immediately e-mailed on it. Somehow we were first in line and the guy called us first thing this morning. We packed up the boys and headed for Topsham.

We had to stop 3 times for me to get out and walk off the back pain, so it took 2 hours to drive there. The couple that were selling it, also have 2 boys, one of which was celebrating his birthday. Our boys were invited to join in the festivities! Which, I thought was wicked nice. They had a great time and Dad & I had a really great visit with their parents. They were very nice people and the Odyssey was just what we were looking for - albeit a bit older ('97), with more miles (158,000), but it will give us a good idea if this is the type of vehicle that I need to be driving, without spending a fortune on a new vehicle.

The very first thing that I was able to do, before even getting into it, was to push a button and raise the driver's seat several inches up off the floor - that got my knees level with my hips, as opposed to higher - a definite step in the right direction! I drove it around their neighborhood for a while and decided that I really liked it. Dad started negotiations and for less than the advertised price, the guy threw in a set of almost-new winter tires and a 4-place trailer hitch bike rack!! PERFECT!!

Now, the big test - the long drive home. I was very comfortable driving it, but by the time we hit the really bumpy roads in our neighborhood, my back was starting to feel tired. After driving over those bumps, even though it rides ever so much better than either of our Saturns, I was feeling a bit of pain. However, when I got home and went to get out, I was able to stand right up and walk away with being hunched over in pain. Whoo! Hoo!! What an improvement!!

So, even though it's not as cool, or as pretty a car as I had hoped to get, and it's so not any of my favorite colors (it's blue/green), it should keep me from aggravating my back until it goes into spasms, and that's our objective right now. The boys love it because it gives them tons more space...

This week...

2008-11-07T16:31:00.007-05:00

...has been busy! I'm still recuperating from my back injury, but I stepped it up a bit by really starting to exercise more. I started walking up and down our road on Monday. Whewie!! Boy, is that a hill!! I didn't make it to the top until Wednesday morning. But, I've done it every day since then, and it is really helping to strengthen by back. I can feel the difference. I'm still not able to sit for very long, but I'm getting there. I drove my Ion for the first time today and it still hurts to sit that low and push the clutch. Our search for a more comfy vehicle for me to drive has been tough, but we're really looking hard this weekend.

Tuesday, as you all know, was a very important day in history. It was also Cub Scout night, so Dad took the boys over to the polls during the meeting. They were able to see the ballot, go into the booth, and really experience how voting happens. They will never forget this election. The Scouts also invited a couple of deputies to the meeting to discuss law enforcement with them. The boys all got fingerprinted and enjoyed learning about the law. Of course, they also liked seeing men wearing weapons. They were fascinated and disappointed that they weren't allowed to touch.

I decided to get a head start on making baskets for Christmas presents for the teachers this week. And, while I was at it, I made a few more too! It's been a while since I did any weaving, and it was really fun!!

This afternoon I took the camera down to the bus stop with me, and stopped to check out the beaver pond. They've done a whole lot more work down there...

Daisy thinks it's GREAT!!

We got a lot of rain overnight. The boys just had to ride their bikes through the puddles....

And the horses just had to roll in the mud...

Bulbs & Braids

2008-11-03T16:07:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so the boys and I spent the morning planting spring-flowering bulbs. We naturalized crocus all over the lawn and placed daffodils around the bases of the trees. We also planted some daffodils & hyacinths around Lazy, the horse statue in front of the house. They will look so cheerful come spring! Our older son helped me plant a bed of garlic. One of our neighbors gave it to the boys, along with candy, on Halloween, so they are very anxious to see it come up in the spring.

In the afternoon, I braided orange ribbons in the horses' manes & tails. Today I put on their orange blankets. I also put one on Lazy. Daisy & the horses were very curious about it and the boys & Dad thought it was hilarious.

Video

2008-11-01T08:35:00.004-04:00

I just added a video to my post from October 30th, about the team penning finale. If you have a minute, go check it out!
"Can you see me now?"
Nate the Great & Sludge

I'm never one to miss a photo op and since the boys were more than happy to show off their costumes one more time, here are some photos that I took this morning...

They got all dressed up again to go to a Halloween Party at their grandparent's house. Dad is going with them, but I'm afraid that I'm still not up to such a long drive - too much sitting. This being more or less confined to the house is getting old...

Daisy & Aly watched the modeling, but chose not to join in...

Too bad! I took their picture anyway!!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T15:28:00.005-04:00

This morning dawned frigid, with a heavy layer of frost outdoors and ice covering the water tubs and puddles. I dressed in a heavy turtleneck and fleece sweatshirt and went to school to help with the party in our younger son's classroom - and COOKED!! The room has these huge South-facing windows that soak up all the sunshine and heat the room. The temperature in that room was in the mid-80s. HOT!! It was a great party though, with way too much sugar - but the kids had a blast. We made tissue paper ghosts and marshmallow spiders with pretzel legs.

Dad and the boys are out visiting the neighbors. They got all dressed up in their costumes to go 'Trick or Treating'. Big brother is Nate the Great and little brother is a soldier. (Shocking, I know.) I thought Haley should go too, since she looks like 'Sludge', Nate the Great's doggie sidekick, but Dad didn't think it was appropriate for her to beg candy. Oh well. I made her get into the pictures anyway.

And then Aly decided to get into the pictures too...

Almost Halloween...

2008-10-30T17:01:00.011-04:00

The boys have each had a Halloween Party to go to this past week, so here's a sneak peak at their costumes - no need to wait 'til tomorrow! ;-)

Yesterday they had dentist appts. The younger one for sealants on 3 new adult teeth and the older one to replace a filling that the hygenist popped out during his cleaning a couple of weeks ago. Now, the really irritating part about replacing that filling was that it was in a baby tooth! And he's already lost the matching tooth on the other side!! But, as far as the dentist was concerned, we would be terrible parents if we didn't replace that filling - we would be threatening the health of all the surrounding teeth. (Whatever!) So, we've been nagging our son to please keep wiggling that tooth and perhaps he could get it to come out before the filling appt. No such luck. But, when the dentist got ready to put the filling in, he called me into the office and asked if I would mind if he took an x-ray to see if the adult tooth was close to erupting because this tooth was wobbly. I agreed. He decided that it really didn't need to have a new filling - he could pull it instead. And, for a whole lot less money! YAY!!

I haven't been blogging this past month because I really hurt my back again, so my time spent sitting at the computer has been severly limited. And I had so much to tell you before that happened! The previous weekend, the first weekend in October, I took Kitch to the Team Penning Finale in Leeds. We borrowed my parents camper and spent the weekend....

Kitch did really well. I planned on him being slow because he hadn't run all year - WRONG. He was sooooo overexcited to be there, it was all I could do to control him. But, therein lies the difference between he & Tillie, he wasn't fighting me or being scary, just FAST!! DAMN can that horse RUN!! I had forgotten and people were shocked. Some of them had never seen him before, so they were very surprised. We had FUN!!

Our very first run was in the Pro-Nov division, which combines the experienced riders with less experienced ones, like me. TOUGH, tough, tough competition. I only enter that class once in a while, but the Canadians needed another novice to make up a team - father, son, AWESOME penners, and me. I was scared to death! The son went into the herd and cut out his cow and started running it down to the pen, I actually saw the next one and Kitch went right in and we cut it out, with the father holding back the herd. By then, his son was back to do hold-back while he cut out our third cow and we penned them!!!! In like 45 seconds or something crazy like that. I was beyond psyched!!!!

Our 2nd run, in the callbacks, wasn't quite as quick, and this time Kitch and I only did hold-back because I wasn't in the position to get the cows, but we did spot and helped a lot to control the herd and stop the trash cows. So, it's not like we were just standing there goofing off. We penned 3 again, and I really wish that I could remember how fast it was, but I can't. Doesn't matter - it was fast enough for 5th place!!!! YEE HAA!!!!

(Here's a picture of me with that father/son team that I rode with.)

The thing was, I started to keep track and during our first 6 runs we penned 3 cows FAST. That is an amazing record for me!! We also did well in the Novice class later in the day on Saturday, but the competition was fierce and we came in 6th - just seconds from the money. People were amazed because they didn't know that I could ride that hard. I'm not afraid to push Kitch to the limit and he always comes through for me. He's BIG and FAST, which just blew them away. Of course, he looks really old - without muscle tone his sway-back is worse than last year, and he already has a pretty thick winter coat, so he was covered in sweat and grime all weekend. Doesn't matter though, he's a good boy.

'Course he was EXHAUSTED. Poor pony!! On Sunday we entered only 1 penning class - a buckle run. I figured there wasn't much chance of us winning it, but if we didn't enter, then there was NO chance. The bad part was that Kitch was just plain too tired. We went into the herd several times during the course of our 2 runs, and the cows just kept beating him. Granted, they were really tough and even the top penners were having a hard time Sunday morning, but I could just feel it in Kitch - he couldn't do it. He didn't have the energy that I felt on Saturday. And he was just as frustrated as I was that the cows kept scooting around him and heading right back into the herd. Oh well. At least we tried.

Sunday afternoon we rode in the Novice 2-Man Ranch Sorting. Much less running and Kitch did very well at this event last year, so I was optimistic. Until our first run, which lasted all of 20 seconds when he locked up and wouldn't stop the cow that was running right at us as we blocked the gate. Now granted, it wasn't entirely our fault, my teammate was pushing that cow at us and she shouldn't have, but I was very certain we could stop it and Kitch failed me. Not only did he lock his feet when I asked him to leap forward at that cow, he threw his head up, which he usually only does when I pull on the reins. If he had even kept his head down and eyeballed that cow it might have stopped him. It was very weird and I was bummed.

And then we did 2 clean sweeps in a row!!!!!! All 10 cows out of the pen in less than 90 seconds!!!!!!!!!!! I was beyond thrilled - I've NEVER done that before, and to do it twice in a row was amazing. During that first run we got the last cow out of the pen in 75.81 seconds, which put us in the lead going into the callbacks. I was really, really nervous sitting there waiting for our turn. (The callbacks go in reverse order.) I wasn't sure we could do it again because we blew it on our 4th and final run in the first go-round. In the end, we got 7 cows out in less than 90 seconds, but by going slowly and being careful, we didn't get all 10 cows and we didn't stay in the lead. 4th place wasn't bad though and I was very, very happy!!!! Plus, we won even more money for that class than we had won the previous day, so when it came to checking out at the end of the weekend, I was well under budget, even though we rode more than I had planned on. Pretty cool!!

Here is a video of a successful run in the Novice 2-Man Ranch Sorting....

That next weekend was when I hurt my back so badly that I couldn't even get out of bed. The spasms were unbelievable. During the week I had spent way too much time sitting in front of the computer uploading & editing all the photos from the penning. Then, on Friday, I rode Kitch to Norway for my hair appt. It was a really, really great adventure!! Riding through downtown South Paris was wicked fun - we totally freaked people out!! On Saturday we did some landscaping, although not too much 'cause my back was sore. But, the straw that broke my back was riding in the car to Auburn that evening for dinner. My Ion is horrible for my back and I really need a different vehicle.

I adore my chiropractor, she actually came out to the house to adjust my back on that Sunday! She's just amazing - she popped me back into alignment and I could move again. Although, I had to keep moving, because as soon as I would stop, my hips would seize up again. Very frightening. I ended up only taking short naps for the next 2 days and getting up to walk for a half hour every hour or so - it was exhausting. Fortunately, I only experienced one more really, really bad spasm after she adjusted me. And, now I'm on the road to recovery. It's just such a slow process and since this is the second time this year that this has happened, I'm being really careful. Sitting is what always causes this, so I'm not spending much time on the computer....

Another Cover Photo!

2008-10-06T13:12:00.004-04:00

I'm so pleased that The Horse's Maine decided to use another one of my photos on the cover of the October 2008 issue. YAY!!

Piggie!

2008-09-17T19:47:00.002-04:00

Our little piggie is such a happy fella! He is busily doing what piggies do best - rooting! He has a nice, big pen which is full of grass that he is digging up and munching the roots. Daisy thinks he is really cool and visits with him frequently. He's a bit nervous around the boys...I can't imagine why....

Today I went with the 4th grade class on a field trip to the Maine State Museum in Augusta to see 'Bug Mainea'. Not really up my alley, but what do you do? The kids loved seeing all those horrible creepy crawlies, and I just tried to stay far enough away for my own comfort. ;-) All the other museum exhibits were very interesting! After an hour or so, we went across the parking lot to the State House, where we were able to tour the Flag Room (They have the 8th Maine flag!) the House of Representatives and the Senate. The boys decided that they are going to be politicians because the chairs are super comfy! They couldn't believe the damage that the gavel of the President of the Senate had done to the top of the desk/podium - enough so that a small piece of wood had been screwed into the top to provide a new surface for pounding!! There must be some really heated arguments in that room....

Daisy's check-up...

2008-09-16T19:45:00.002-04:00

I took Daisy to see the vet today. She needed her annual vaccinations. The first thing they did was ask her to step on the scales - she tipped them at a whopping 90 pounds!! What a BIG girl!! Unfortunately, the vet felt that was too heavy and she needs to lose weight. But, she felt that the only thing we needed to change was her diet - no more puppy food. Apparently, just because Iams says that you're supposed to feed it until your dog is 2 years old, doesn't make it so. They just want to sell more puppy food! Finally, we can feed her less expensive food. And she likes her new food just fine... ;-)

Farmington Fair

2008-09-15T16:20:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we got very wet at the penning at the Farmington Fair. Oh well - it was still a fun chance to ride and laugh with friends! My parents came to watch with some friends of theirs, and they got to see a good show...

I had one ride in the Pro-Nov division and Tillie was awful - rearing, spinning, fighting me, she even fell down onto her knees, and yet somehow we were still able to help out our team mates, sweep the cows into the pen and pen three in 53 seconds!! It was amazing and my team mates couldn't understand why I left the arena in tears. I was so scared!! Those that were focused on the cows during our run didn't see her almost fall in the mud, but those that did couldn't believe that we were okay. My dad hollered "Where the heck is Kitch when you need him?!" He was upset to see Tillie acting like that, understandably so. One of my friends offered the use of her extra horse and I actually decided to take her up on it. I thought it over and figured I was less nervous about riding a strange horse, than I was about riding Tillie back into that slippery, muddy arena, fighting with her some more and actually getting hurt.

After all this time, I guess I'm done being stubborn....Tillie is not a penning horse. At least not right now. She's doing so well with everything else - trails, arena work, (Soooo improved since I've really been working with her! People actually complimented me on how well she was going during the warm-up yesterday!) not much spooks her, she's much more relaxed around the cows than she was when I first started with her and she's so sweet and gentle with the boys. There's no reason to keep forcing her to do something that she obviously hates. Well, other than the fact that it's what I want to do...

I had a great time riding Opal, my friend's flea-bitten gray horse. Dad wasn't around to see my nightmare ride on Tillie, or to participate in my decision to ride Opal. I was sitting on her chatting with her owner when he returned from a walk about the fair with the boys. I told her to watch his face when he realized that I was on a different horse. I knew what was going to happen - he was going to see me up on a flea-bitten gray and just think it was Kitch. And that's exactly what happened, so he did a big double-take and we had a good laugh at his expense! Sorry, Honey...

She had brought Opal to this event for another girl to ride because her horse came up lame. So, she rode Opal in the first 3 events and then Opal was available for me during the Novice class. She was a pooped pony though. She was a penning horse up until 2 years ago when she became a little girl's horse, so she wasn't used to that much running! What a good girl though!! It was so nice to ride a well-trained horse. She had a bit of attitude, (I couldn't blame her!) sort of like "Make me!" But, once you cued her, she would do exactly what you wanted. Wonderful collection - I would bump the reins and she would tuck her head right into her chest. It was awesome!!

She ran her little heart and legs out for me...'course the other girl won money with her earlier in the day...but I had a blast penning on a horse that didn't hesitate or fight me...well, not too much anyway...she was awfully tired. ;-) Several people complimented me on competing so well on a strange horse and that I must have been having fun 'cause I was grinning from ear to ear!

'Course the poor horse was probably very confused - as if switching riders wasn't enough, but we have the same name! (Although very different builds, as you will see in the photos!) It's been a long time since I knew someone with 'my' name, and it's been hilarious. 2 quick stories:

My youngest son was in the porta-potty at Leeds and while I was waiting for him, I chatted with this other woman. When he came out, he asked who I was talking to. I said 'my' name and he got this really confused look on his face! He thought I meant that I had been talking to myself, but with different voices!! My sanity was very much in question, as far as he was concerned...

Again, the 2 of us were standing at the rail chatting, this time at the Windsor Fair. Another girl comes walking by and says 'my' name. We both turned together and said "What?" (It couldn't have been more perfect if we'd practiced it!) She lost it!! She threw her hands up in the air and then placed them on her head like it hurt her. Totally blew her mind!! She couldn't even remember which one of us she had wanted, or why, for a few seconds. We were rolling on the ground laughing!!

Birthday

2008-09-15T15:16:00.000-04:00

Saturday was our youngest's 8th birthday! He wanted everyone to come up and fish with him at his favorite pond, Moose Pond. It was a blast! We had 4 kayaks and 3 canoes out on the water. My brother caught a fish and Dad caught 5 fish! A bass, a perch and 3 pickerel. Even though he didn't catch anything, the little guy had a whole lotta fun!!

Afterwards we went back to our house for lunch, cake & presents. He was extremely happy with all of his gifts! He blew out the candles on his cake, but then he was having so much fun with his cousins, that they never even came and got their cake & ice cream! ;-)

Pig Scramble!

2008-09-12T22:55:00.005-04:00

This morning, our youngest announced that he was going to catch a pig at the Oxford Fair Pig Scramble. After all, tomorrow he will be 8 and too old.

As soon as school was over, I picked them up and we headed for the fair. The weather was a bit wet, but we didn't let it dampen our spirits! We were so excited about whether or not he would be able to actually catch a pig!! They're quick, and squirmy!! And also, there were a lot of other kids signed up - too many - only 12 would have their name drawn. We were really nervous that they wouldn't even call his name!

Finally, the time arrived and they called his name. Phew! That's one step closer, now he just had to actually catch a pig...12 kids...only 10 pigs...

They set the baby pigs free, gave each child a burlap bag and told them to go catch some pigs! What a crazy, hilarious sight!! Piggies running every which way, kids diving on them and missing. Our son got a bit frustrated after falling multiple times and missing pigs, but he got back into it. The look on his face when he grabbed for one and actually snagged its leg (Just like I told him to!) was priceless! He was just as shocked as the piggie, but he held on for dear life until someone came to help him put it into the bag. He was sooooo proud!!

(I wish this picture was better, but with the lighting in the arena being so poor, I couldn't zoom in. This kid in blue isn't our son, he's against the back wall holding the pig by its leg.)

As soon as he could, he called both of his grandmothers and told them all about it. He even put the phone up to the bag so that my mother could hear it grunting. Too cute!

Then, because we wanted to spend the rest of the evening enjoying the fair, we put the piggie back into the pen with his siblings, only this time he was decorated with Ike's favorite number, '7'. We watched some of the Demolition Derby and then our favorite, the bullriding!

Busy as beavers...

2008-09-09T13:13:00.008-04:00

I was just sitting here, organizing photos, when I realized that I never showed you this 7+ inch brook trout that our oldest caught a week or so ago...oops! He was pretty darn proud, since he hasn't caught nearly as many fish as his little brother this summer. There were also some really gross shots (That I didn't realize that they had taken with my camera!) of the fish-cleaning process. I could have done without seeing those!

Sunday morning they spent a couple of hours building a super-tall (that's a 5-foot tape measure.) Bionicle.

We have some new neighbors! A beaver couple has take up residence in our little pond - and they are expanding their new home!! The boys and I think it is soooo cool, but Dad doesn't. He is very concerned, rightly so, about the fate of our driveway, which is downstream from the pond. I just hope that we can manage to find a balance where we can get in and out with our vehicles and the beavers can have a happy home. They've done such a lot of work, in a short amount of time - it's really neat to watch. We've seen them a couple of times now - they're huge!! Of course, never when I have my camera out, after all, it's a 'wildlife repeller'...

While waiting for the bus this morning, our oldest taught his little brother how to make an Origami cup. They love making paper projects like that.

Look what I learned to do today:

Make my own leather poppers! I love to make my own lead ropes and reins, but buying the poppers made them cost-prohibitive. I always thought they looked so simple that surely I could make them myself, but I never got around to figuring them out. A little 'Googling' took me to this book, I got down some old reins that needed a new job and ta daa - poppers! Not only that, they're black, which I could never find for sale anywhere. So, I made myself a pink lunge-line, a black mecate and a purple lead rope for Lily!!

Well, the little guy just came into my office with a bloody mouth, holding out another tooth! That's 2 this week. On Friday, after his doctor's appt, we went to Wal-mart to fill his prescription. I came out of the ladies' room to see him standing there with blood all over, holding out a tooth!! Not the best place to lose it, since everyone was staring at us as I got him cleaned up, but he was pretty proud. Now, he's missing both top front teeth and is running around chanting "I'm bery, bery, bery, bery, bery happy that I got that tooth out!!"

Really?!

2008-09-08T18:56:00.000-04:00

So, I got another phone call from the school nurse this afternoon - my youngest had a 'tummy ache'. I couldn't believe it - surely she didn't think I needed to come and get him again?! I asked to speak to him. "Are you sure you're sick?" "Oh yes, it's awful!" "There are only a couple of hours of school left, can't you make it?" "I don't think so." "How 'bout I come pick you up at the end of the day, so you don't have to ride the bus?" "Okay! I'll be fine!!" The nurse came back on the line - "It's a miracle!" "No, he just hates to ride the bus. I'll see you at 3."

A weekend at home...

2008-09-08T09:09:00.004-04:00

It was so nice to just putter around home. We didn't get any major projects finished, but we accomplished several small tasks. I got the house decluttered and dusted, and did a really thorough vacuuming. I love my new vacuum cleaner! Dad spent quite a lot of time out in the pasture with the chain saw. He cut down several dead trees, delimbed some of the trees that we actually want to keep in the pasture and thinned out the clumps of trees. Lots of firewood!!

Sunday afternoon Dad's parents came to visit, bringing a couple of our nephews with them. The boys were all very happy to see each other and settled right into playing together. Later on we went to Billings Dam Park in South Paris for a treasure hunt.

TGIF

2008-09-05T20:06:00.002-04:00

What a crazy week! The boys have been sick with colds and feeling miserable. I've ended up going and getting them from school several times. The youngest has been suffering from headaches and fever, as well. I took him to the doctor this morning - yup, it's another ear infection! It was kinda humorous. The doctor listened attentively as our not quite 8-year-old told him all the symptoms and the fact that he was certain that he had an ear infection. When he finished, the doctor turned to me and asked if I would like a second opinion. ;-) He then proceeded with his examination.

After a trip to Wal-mart to fill his antibiotic prescription, we went home and found a message from someone selling a kid's saddle. We picked up big brother from school and headed to Farmington. The saddle is brand-new and will be much safer than my beloved old one, which is falling apart at the seams. That one can finally be retired! Even though we were all exhausted, as soon as we finished supper, our youngest insisted on having a ride on Kitch. He pronounced the new saddle great - even said he would like to ride in it all day. Considering how stiff the leather is, I think he would actually regret that statement, if put to the test. ;-)

Windsor Fair

2008-09-02T19:39:00.005-04:00

What a crazy time I had at the Windsor Fair team penning on Friday! Being secretary for the club can be a busy, busy job!! I only signed up for 5 rides - 1 in Pro-Nov and 4 in Novice. I took quite a few pictures, visited with lots of friends, and enjoyed the fair. The Pro-Nov ride went well - Tillie was very calm and well-behaved, but we didn't have a very good run because the cows were tough.

Tillie was perfectly calm about being tied up in a stall with all the other horses, some of them drafts, who don't intimidate her a bit. ;-) Until later in the day when she thought I was asking her to back out (I wasn't!) and met resistance when she ran out of rope. She started pulling back, rearing up over and over again, and when she flung her head sideways, she got me right on the nose. I still can't believe she didn't break it! Fortunately, I was fine, except for a cut on the bridge of my nose, and she immediately settled right back down again.

Shortly after lunch, I noticed that Tillie's hay bag was empty, so I walked out to the truck and brought back an armful. As soon as I walked around the corner she started nickering to me. I walked into her stall, unhooked the haybag, bent over, stuffed the hay into the bag, rehung it and stood up. This is what I saw....

"I'll have what she's having!"

When the Novice class started, I was really looking forward to some good runs - Tillie was not! She was AWFUL!! Out of control - spinning, bucking etc. Her usual nonsense - wish I knew what set her off. She was also spooking at everything, even though she hadn't been bothered before.

However, during our 3rd run, even when she was fussing, I was able to position ourselves to be helpful and get our job done in the hole, and we did well enough to qualify for the callbacks! I still firmly believe that it was my teammates that did so well during that run, not me. I was psyched to be riding in the callbacks, but really feeling the pressure. I so wanted to do well for my teammates and have a good run. I was so scared by Tillie's behavior thus far, and really concerned about our last run. But, we pulled it together!! We had such a great run that I was in shock!! Tillie did fantastic!! And, when they were announcing the awards, I couldn't believe it when we came in second place!!!! YEE HAAAA!!!! One of the girls asked the president, as she was handing us our awards, "Can we do a Victory Lap for second place?" The president said she wasn't sure, but then they asked me if I had won anything yet this year and I said "No". They all laughed and yelled "Definitely time for a Victory Lap!" The 3 of us galloped off around the arena, me hanging on to my hat 'cause I wasn't expecting that and had the stampede string undone...it was wicked fun!!

Moon Beyond

2008-09-02T17:14:00.007-04:00

I'm sorry this post is so long in coming....I wasn't sure what to say, and I needed to dig through some old photo albums to find pictures to scan in...

Last Thursday we put down my 33 year old mare, Moon Beyond, aka Moonie. She was a Standardbred harness racing (pacer) horse until we found her at age 11. She had broken the canon bone in her left front leg and was being retired. According to her previous owners, the jockey heard it snap, but she never limped until she was leaving the Winners' Circle. That's heart for you! For the first few years that we owned her we had to keep her in padded shoes, but after awhile she was perfectly comfortable barefoot.

Moonie & I when we first got her in 1986...

Her early years on the track created only one real problem - she was clumsy! After spending all that time on even footing, Moonie tended to trip over her own feet alot. The littlest bump or rock was cause for tripping, and sometimes even falling!

Moonie in the spring of 1987...

With my sister in 1989...

Her heart and love for speed never left her. In all the years that I rode her, we rarely trotted or cantered. Moonie much preferred to pace! You haven't ridden anything until you've ridden a horse at a fast pace. Instead of bouncing up and down like you do at the trot, you bounce from side to side. It's awful! And awfully funny - I learned that it is hard to hold on when you're laughing!!

Meeting the babies in 2000...

I finally stopped riding her when she was 27. She just wouldn't slow down and the boys were too young for me to keep her in condition. We'd go out once a month or so and she would exhaust herself. She became a pasture pet and kid's mount. I don't think she minded a bit! She kept my parents' lawn mowed for them and was an ice-breaker. It was amazing how many people knew her from driving by and seeing her out there. More than once people stopped to report that she was loose! Nope, she never left the lawn - all it took was a string across the driveway to keep her in. And people knew that she wasn't the friendliest of horses. Whenever someone would stop to pet her, she would always turn her back. We joked that that was another reason we called her 'Moonie'. She was fine once you caught her, but she rarely offered to come up to people.

With Jeb, February 2006...

As the years progressed, her health deteriorated and we thought that we were going to lose her a few times. She developed Cushings disease, which is extremely common in horses. It caused her to grow a super long fur coat in the winter, which would take longer to shed out and look terrible into the summer.

Last winter was especially hard on her and we knew that it would have to be her last. My father gave her medicine 3 times a day from December to May. Finally, spring arrived and her health improved. This year's cool, wet weather was perfect and she had a great summer! We dreaded the end of August though because we knew that her time had come.

With my father, September 2006...

As always happens, the dreaded day finally came. Our vet came out last Thursday and explained what was going to happen. I was able to hold her head and give her kisses right up 'til the end, at which point he took her for safety's sake. Once she was on the ground, I told her 'good-bye' and petted her. She was so peaceful and the event was so easy and quiet that I stopped crying. All I felt was relief. There are no more words to express what she meant to me, to all of the family...we'll certainly miss her...

Good-bye Moonie...

Last Day of Summer Vacation & First Day of School

2008-08-28T07:06:00.003-04:00

The last day of summer was beautiful - warm & sunny, so the boys asked if we could hike up The Pinnacle. I thought that was a great idea! I decided to ride Tillie & lead Lily because they really need the exercise. Tillie needs to be in shape for tomorrow's penning at the Windsor Fair! We saw lots of toads, for some reason. The boys picked up trash and returnable bottles along the way. And even found a couple of treasures too! We had a lot of fun!!

Yesterday they started school. 3rd & 4th grade!! It doesn't seem possible!! They were not happy to be going back, but they bravely got onto the bus anyway. And when they got off in the afternoon, they both happily reported that they had had a good day! Yay!!

Kezar Gorge & 4 of the 5 Ponds

2008-08-25T07:27:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we drove over to Waterford, made a quick stop to pick up lunch at Melby's Market & Eatery (Italian sandwiches, of course!) and went to Kezar Falls Gorge for a treasure hunt and picnic lunch. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were horrendous! The gorge/waterfall are amazing though, but tough to photograph properly. I wish that I could have spent more time there with the camera, but the bugs drove us out.

We made the short drive back up to the unnamed portion of the 5 Kezar Ponds. We launched the canoe and kayaks and we started paddling around while the boys fished. A short while later, we saw a loon and started to get closer for photos. All of a sudden another loon appeared and started chasing the first one! They went all over the pond and then into to Middle Pond!! It was bizarre!! And 'loony'!! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!) We followed them under a cute little bridge to Middle Pond.

Almost immediately, Dad caught a pickerel! Smaller than the one that he caught on Moose Pond, but good sized. He released it and we continued onward to Back Pond, again traveling under a little bridge.

On the other side of this bridge, we could see the bankings underneath us as the water went from really shallow to really, really deep, very suddenly. Dad watched a little fish chase his lure, until he pulled it into the deep water and the little fish decided he wasn't brave enough to go into those waters!

On Back Pond we discovered a mother loon & her baby. And truly, this young one looked to be about a week or so older than the one we saw on Shagg Pond! It was really cool to see how it was developing and growing. On its belly, it is starting to grow the white feathers, and the head is getting elongated. I would love to go back to Shagg Pond and see how big that baby loon is getting...

On the back-side of the pond, Grammie, Grampa & the boys disembarked for a quick swim and some more kayak practice time for the boys. Dad stayed in the canoe to do a bit more fishing and caught a couple of baby bass & a sunfish. He could see some good-sized trout looking at his lure, but for some reason they just wouldn't bite it - smart fish! ;-)

After a while we started to head back towards Middle Pond, where we spent a bit of time near the bridge as Dad caught another baby bass. This time, after getting into the unnamed pond, we paddled left, away from the boat launch, and into the Mud Pond Fen. We saw quite a few turtles, (One baby that couldn't have been much more than a couple of inches long!) a Great Blue Heron and the boys had several bites, but nothing that would stay on the line long enough for them to get it into the boat. The leaves are just starting to turn red on the maples, so it was very pretty.

Here is a definition that I found online: There are two kinds of peatlands in Maine. A fen is one where water flows through, bringing precious nutrients and carrying out undesirable acids. A bog is an isolated system with no flow-through stream, where nutrients come in intermittently via wind and rainfall.

The end of a great day...

Twitchell Pond in Greenwood

2008-08-24T09:29:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we went canoeing/kayaking on Twitchell Pond with my husband's parents. The water was so clear that except for at the deepest points, you could see down to the bottom. Which is how we could tell that we weren't going to be catching any fish - because we couldn't see any! But, it was a really bright sunny afternoon, so we also knew that they were hiding in the shadows. When we paddled over to the shadows, we could see lots of schools of baby fishes! It was pretty cool and they were just dying to get on our hooks! It was fun to watch them attacking the lures as they moved through the water. A couple of them were unfortunate enough to actually get hooked, but we returned them to the water asap.

After a while, we found our way to a sandy beach and disembarked for a swim. A vehicle drove up and a couple of kids jumped out and headed for the water - it turned out to be a friend of our younger son, and his sister! The kids had a blast splashing and visiting!! They also hopped into Grammie's little kayak and learned how to handle it.

Uncle Jim

2008-08-23T08:17:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was my Uncle Jim's funeral. Uncle Jim was a real character and it was great to hear everyone sharing stories - some of them were hilarious!! 30 years ago he had moved to Montana to follow his Western dreams. He was an avid outdoorsman and it was mentioned more than once that he had died and gone to heaven on Earth when he discovered Montana!

After the funeral we enjoyed visiting with family members and then we headed to Scarborough. We made a quick stop at the Downs so that the boys could watch a few races. Dad bet on one race and picked the winner! Afterwards we stopped at Army Barracks so that our youngest could pick out a new Army hat. Then, we went to my parents for supper and my brother & sister-in-law's house to swim. Whew! Long day...

Moose Pond in West Paris

2008-08-19T18:43:00.005-04:00

Last night the boys asked if we could get up early and go fishing, so we did. We arrived at Moose Pond, just up the road from here, at around 7 am. We got the canoe on the water and paddled out into the pond. It was gently sprinkling rain. The mist was rising off the surrounding hills and it was pretty neat to watch, although tough to photograph. Dad and the boys were casting fast & furious, but getting no action. Suddenly, they started catching fish like crazy! Dad caught a pickerel and 2 small bass! #2 caught a bass while Dad was still taking his second one off the hook, and a sunfish! They were having a ball. The rain had picked up a little and when the wind changed direction and started blowing more, I started paddling for shore, while they continued fishing. Finally, Dad began to realize that the rain was now pouring down and none of us was prepared! All 4 of us started paddling and we left a huge wake behind us - we were flying!! The boys thought it was great fun!! They were soaked and shivering, but laughing hysterically....

Weekend with my parents...

2008-08-18T16:32:00.000-04:00

Grammie & Grampa came up to stay with us for the weekend. We had a great time!! They were a bit concerned that all the noisy animals, particularly the 'honkers' aka geese, would keep them from sleeping, but they slept fine. They arrived Saturday afternoon, while I was helping to get the team penning event off and running at the Skowhegan Fair, and they had a good dinner waiting for me when I got home. We built a campfire and enjoyed sitting around it chatting late into the night....okay, it was 10 o'clock, but it felt late! ;-)

Saturday morning we ate a breakfast of brook trout, (caught by Grampa & the boys the previous evening!) scrambled eggs, baked beans, and blueberry muffins (picked by Dad & the boys!). Scrumptious!!

We gathered our things and headed for Shagg Pond in Woodstock, about 1/2 an hour away. We drove through some gorgeous farm country on the way! Shagg Pond is a small pond, which doesn't have very good fishing. We didn't catch a thing, but I got some awesome photos of a mother loon and her chick!! I couldn't believe it!! I also couldn't believe that I was trying to take them with my second-rate camera because I don't dare bring my Sony out in the canoe. Oh well.

That afternoon we decided to explore another pond - North Pond in Norway. It looked really small from the boat launch, but we soon discovered that the more you paddled, the more pond there is! It sort of meanders around and in and out of all sorts of little ponds. A wildlife haven! We saw a whole bunch of mallards, a pair of cormorants, a kingfisher and other songbirds, and an eagle's nest.

After paddling and fishing for a while, everyone was getting tired and bored, so we ended back towards the boat launch. Our youngest started fishing with his new frog lure, which he had been asking me for weeks to take him to Wal-mart to buy because his grampa had told him to get one - we finally bought it Friday night! He was casting it out and then reeling it in at lightning speed, so I told him he should slow down. He did, and the next time he cast it out, we saw a fish strike at it! He cast again, and by golly, that fish actually grabbed hold!! He immediately started struggling against the weight of it, so Dad started to take the rod. I told him to let go because it was so important for the little guy to do this himself. He was really working hard and that fish was fighting for his life!! He wound the line around the weeds and did his best, but if there's one thing I know about my younger son, he is determination personified!! He got that fish out of the water and we couldn't believe our eyes - it was a 16 1/2 inch bass!! Holy moly!!!! He was ECSTATIC!! We got to shore first and he couldn't wait to tell Grammie & Grampa when they returned to the boat launch.

On Monday, despite the boys' urging that we go fishing again, we hiked up to the Pinnacle. (You may remember it from this post on October 17, 2007 and this post October 21, 2007.) The weather was perfect for hiking, although it was too hazy to see the mountains in the distance. Oh well. The 3 dogs, Daisy, Duke and Haley had a blast - especially playing in the big mud pit that Daisy found! Our oldest was developing blisters on his heels where his hiking boots were slipping...so he took them off! Cringe-worthy for most of us, but he runs around barefoot so much that his soles are tough! He waded right into the mud with Daisy - YUCK!!

After our hike we were starving, so we drove into town to enjoy the lunch buffet at the Great Wall Restaurant in Norway - the best Chinese food at a great price...

Playing the ponies...

2008-08-15T16:13:00.001-04:00

Friday morning, Dad took the boys to work with him. Shortly after they arrived, his parents came and picked the boys up. They took them bike riding, geo caching and swimming. They had a blast!! Boy, were they tired out when we picked them up that evening...

I drove down to meet Dad at work in the middle of the afternoon. Then, we headed to Scarborough Downs! I was psyched because I have always wanted to go there and just never had the opportunity. It was great!! We bet on 9 out of 10 races, and even picked the winner a couple of times. We didn't bet very much money because we didn't want to lose much, but we had fun. During Race #9, we got to watch the 5-year-old stallion, Kerogen make history - he trotted the fastest mile ever recorded by an aged stallion in the state of Maine while contesting the $7500 Open-class event, stopping the tele-timer in 1:58 flat. The best part is that Shawn picked this horse as the potential winner and bet on him! Good call, wouldn't you say?! There wasn't much of a crowd, so we were able to lean against the fence beside the track, which is what I enjoyed the most....

I can't believe I'm posting another video...

2008-08-13T20:33:00.002-04:00

But, my sister responded to the team penning video that I sent her this morning with this adorable one!
http://www.maniacworld.com/twin-baby-moose-in-sprinkler.html

13th Anniversary

2008-08-13T10:33:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was our 13th wedding anniversary. We celebrated with dinner at Margarita's - yummy! The Pomegranate Margarita was delish and so was the Black Bean Enchilada plate. We shared a plate of Fried Ice Cream w/chocolate sauce for dessert.

Here's a team penning video you should check out:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v259/triplechick/?action=view&current=cowboys_0001.flv
It's pretty awesome, although you should turn down the sound first if you find Kid Rock offensive. Personally, I LOVE this song, and Kid Rock wants to be offensive, so I try not to be bothered by it...

Lack of Internet...

2008-08-10T10:33:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to my nephew and his bride!! They were married on Friday - best wishes!! We are looking forward to the reception at the end of the month...

Thanks to all the rainy weather that we have been experiencing, my Internet connection has been offline all week. We're really looking forward to all the sunshine that the weatherman is predicting next week!!

Our brook is no longer a brook/stream/creek or whatever else you might call it..it's a raging river!! Where there used to be a pretty waterfall, is now rushing water. It's crazy!! The boys are frustrated because I won't let them go near it right now. I may be overly cautious, but when there is that much water, with that much current, I don't want them too close...

Tuesday we went down to the family beach on Sebago Lake - the kids had fun swimming, but my sister-in-law and I froze! It wasn't raining, but it was chilly. There were several family members visiting, so it was great to see them! We brought my nephew home to stay overnight.

Friday evening my horse-crazy neice came up to stay with us - I love sharing the horses with her! She and my youngest had a grand time riding Kitch for a while that evening - until I told them that it was dark and we really should let him go to sleep. ;-) In the morning we put them to work, helping us build the fenceline up the left side of the driveway, using riding as a reward - it worked and they were very helpful! Then, they rode Kitch for a couple of hours before lunchtime. He is so amazingly quiet and good for the kiddos. They are getting confident enough that they want to trot, a lot!

More mud than mud season!

2008-08-04T07:15:00.006-04:00

We've had sooooo much rain this summer, and it's raining again today! Crazy!!

Sorry I haven't been posting, our Internet connection hasn't been working...

My youngest and I were thrilled by Big Brown's performance yesterday afternoon - he won the Haskell Invitational!! Yippee!! We really wanted to see him prove himself, and he did - that Belmont loss was so weird....

Dad & the boys went to Fun Pack Weekend on Saturday. They had a great time, as usual, and they said that this year was one they would never forget, because - our oldest got sick in the middle of the night, thunderstorms meant that swimming time was cancelled, the trading post closed before they could buy their souvenirs, and they weren't allowed to drive the truck into the campsite, so they had to carry their stuff a long ways in order to get packed for the trip home. I'm just glad that overall they had a great time - they both did well in archery and bb gun shooting, as well as the other activities that they participated in...

Since I had the day to myself on Saturday, I went to a few yard sales and both the Paris Public Library and the West Paris Public Library (the castle library) were having book sales, so I was able to pick up some great books really cheap!! I got 2 awesome army books that our youngest is devouring, and some great fishing anthologies that both boys and Dad are very happy with. Our oldest is harder to please, but I hope that once he starts reading the books that I found for him, he'll discover that they are good stories. At this point he has looked at the covers and decided that he's not interested. He loves to read, but he's particular....

Later in the day I went to Pet Quarters in Auburn to pick out some goldfish for the tank in the bathroom. (our beta died last week) I also did some shopping at Fashion Bug. Unfortunately, Pet Quarters didn't have any goldfish, so I had to drive to the Kennel Shop in Lewiston. Every single time I make that trip, I get lost! This time was no exception, although after only one wrong turn, I saw it! Yippee!! There's another Fashion Bug right next to it, so I picked out a couple more items, and then went into the pet store for a couple of comets (a type of goldfish). Hopefully they'll do well in our tank! Aly is very pleased that her favorite tv show is back on...

I was a bit concerned that it was starting to get dark and I was anxious to get home. Unfortunately, I got lost again!! Now, when I say "Lost", I don't actually mean it. Obviously, I could always turn back around and start over again (Which I would NEVER do! On purpose, anyway!!) and I know that when in Lewiston, you just keep driving up the hill and then when you crest it, you'll start back down, cross over the river, and be in Auburn, at which point I know the way home from there. However, you DO NOT want to be heading through the middle of Lewiston after dark. Some of those neighborhoods are frightening - lots of hoodlums were hanging out in the streets, staring at me. Let me tell you, those are the quickest stop-sign stops that I have ever done! If I wasn't afraid of being obvious, I would have floored it and shot through that area - I was very, very nervous! (You want to put me in a survival situation? Drop me in the deep woods, not the city!) The funny thing was, the person who stared at me in amazement, like "What the heck are you doing here?!", was a police officer that crossed my path! I almost waved him down and asked for an escort, but I decided that I was braver than that and besides, I did have both dogs with me. Surely they would have fought off any muggers, right?! Finally, I made it over the river and headed for home...and I only saw a few things that I wished I hadn't...like the guy with his pants down on his hips, like a certain group prefers to wear them...only instead of the usual boxers showing, it was a g-string!! Aahhh, my eyes!!!! I so did not need to see that...but, I did have to share it with you all! ;-)

Anyway, we made it home safe and sound. I got the horses their supper, talked to the boys on the phone, gave the dogs their new monster bone to chew on, and went to bed. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, I woke up to Haley growling. Fortunately, I didn't open my eyes. She had hauled the bone into the bedroom and was warning Aly not to enter the room, or even look at the bone. Well, Aly is used to sleeping with me and had decided that she was going past regardless. The next thing I knew, Aly runs for the bed, Haley jumps, snarling at her, Aly launches herself, and lands on my closed eyelids!!!! Then, not feeling safe, she jumped off again....OUCH!!!! I got up and went into the bathroom, turned on the light and wished that I hadn't...I looked like something out of a horror movie....blood was running down my face from the 7 cuts on my eyelids, cheeks and forehead!! I turned on the cold water and let it run over a washcloth, and spread that cold washcloth over my eyes and went back to sleep. I was not a happy camper. Poor Dad couldn't believe it when he came home and saw my face!!

Okay, you're gonna have to wait for the photos...

2008-07-28T16:29:00.003-04:00

'Cause I've spent hours on this darned computer already, and I need a break! But, I wanted to pop in and say "Hi!" and let you know what we've been up to...I'll add photos as I find the time...

Friday afternoon my parents came up for a quick visit. They brought Amato's Italian sandwiches with them - the BEST!! My oldest and I were thrilled!! The youngest ate his usual PBJ. ;-) He finally had an opportunity to show Grammie & Grampa how well he is doing riding Kitch, even trotting and going over obstacles. They were duly impressed and he was so proud to show off his skills.

That evening we headed over to Leeds for the Ellis River Riders Game Show that was hosted by my team penning club at our arena. It was a wicked lot of fun!! I really wished that I was riding, but Tillie just isn't there yet and of course, Kitch, is now my son's horse, so I didn't want to get him all fired up by racing him.

Saturday was our annual family reunion at my aunt and uncle's house. There was a good turnout and we had a great time! The weather was beautiful and the kids had a ball playing in the fields. We brought airplanes as usual. One of them flew way up over the trees and 2 fields over!! We thought it was a goner, but somehow Dad managed to find it when we walked over there to the family cemetery. We sure missed our great-aunt, who wasn't well enough to make the trip up here, and our great-uncle, who passed away recently, but it was a good time, nonetheless.

On Sunday we went back over to Leeds to watch some penning and compete in the sorting. Tillie was in a bad mood. I should have known that when I went to get her from the pasture and Lily was sporting a perfect hoof print on her ribcage! When I started riding her, she just seemed jumpy and wasn't really listening to me. Because of that, I did an extra long warm-up with lots and lots of trotting. Finally, I asked for a lope - and got a BUCK! Bigger than usual, huge leaps and kicks, head down and 'let's get you off', type bucking!! I got her stopped, collected her, trotted for a bit (Disturbing some poor guy who was trying to take a leak out behind the tractor!) and asked again - same thing, only with a bit more determination behind it this time!! Okay then. Now what? We were giving the guys quite a rodeo show and I wasn't too happy about it. We kept at it 'til I finally got a short, but reasonably smooth lope out of her, then took a break.

When the Open class broke for lunch, I was the only one in the arena warming up, which I figured was good because I didn't have to worry about watching out for any other riders, but bad because I was in the spotlight. Nothing to worry about though. Other than being chargy and trying to grab the bit, she didn't buck, so I loped her a lot, in the hopes of getting rid of some of her energy.

Finally, the Novice Sorting Class started and I figured we were going to do great since we did so well last time. Riiight!! We did way more bucking than we did sorting, but somehow we still managed to get 4 cows out and not kill the other girl that was riding with us. I felt so bad to have such an awful ride - she may never want to ride with me again. I came out of that pen really upset and apologizing all over the place - to her and also to all the other people that had signed up to ride with me. Fortunately, they're good sports and supportive. The next girl that I had scheduled to ride with, leaned down and whispered in Tillie's ear for a minute or two and told me that it wouldn't happen again....

And it didn't! We had a good ride, but unfortunately really tough cows, so we didn't make the callbacks. I did another ride with a girl that was also having horse issues, but we worked together and she was very happy with his performance on that run, so she thanked me for helping to boost her confidence. I'm still not sure I deserved that, but it felt good! And Tillie behaved even better. Our last ride was with the girl that we did so well with at the last sorting, and we did great again!! We made the callbacks and this time we had a great run in the callbacks and ended the day in 6th place!! Yippee!! That wasn't 'in the money', but it's an improvement for us, so I am thrilled.

By the end of the day, Dad and the boys were impatient to get home, and I was starving and exhausted, but Tillie wasn't quite done yet. After all, she had decided that she was in heat and that meant being as difficult as possible. She refused to get into the trailer...and everyone had to drive past us on their way out...so it was beyond embarrassing...especially since I find that harder to deal with than the bucking because I have no tricks up my sleeve to make her go in...it was awful!! Finally, instead of making jokes at our expense like everyone else, someone actually stopped to help, and with grain as an enticement (I didn't have any with me! I won't make that mistake again!) she got onto the trailer. ARGHHH!! (And, I know, none of them was really making fun of me, 'cause they've all 'been there, done that', but me with my inferiority complex found it hard to take. Oh well.)

Today was spent at the library, uploading all the horsey photos that I took this weekend. (http://www.morningcallranch.com/) The boys read lots of books during that time and I actually had to drag them out of there. They do love to read, just like their Mom. We enjoyed ice cream cones on the way home, which was a nice treat!

2 lost teeth...although not really lost!

2008-07-22T09:45:00.003-04:00

Dad bought the boys paddles at Wal-mart. He helped them sand off all the rough spots and then they used a black permanent marker to draw on their chosen design and covered them with more poly. Too cute!!

Yesterday afternoon, our youngest had an appt with the dentist for a filling. While his mouth was numb, we asked the dentist to please pull the 2 bottom front teeth for him. They had been hanging on by a thread for a month or more, and just wouldn't come out! And they made it painful for him to bite into his food. No problem, out they came! Our son was so proud of himself. He was very brave!!

Biking, birthday, cars, cars and more cars...

2008-07-21T08:51:00.008-04:00

Saturday was the 30th annual Paris Hill Founders' Day. Each year, on this one day, Bob Bahre opens his garages and displays his antique car collection. It's AMAZING!! There are so many one of a kinds, it's incredible. They are all either painstakingly restored to perfection, or original, cracked leather and all! It's a point of pride with the team that almost all of the cars are in working order and actually get driven occasionally. They would consider it a real shame for any of them to be in a museum collecting dust. They have numerous awards for many of their cars and this is truly considered a world class collection. He also has a handful of carriages on display, including the one that was used during the filming of Gone with the Wind! His collection of Packards is the finest in the world - he owns one of each model. He also owns one of each of the Mercedes Benz SL line...

Dad's parents met us there, enjoyed the cars with us, and then accompanied us on a bike trip. We drove to The Storekeeper's, in Hebron, and headed North to Buckfield on the old railroad bed trail. We encountered something that I hadn't considered - sandy terrain. It was definitely not a fun ride - way too much work!! We only made it 2 miles before we had to give up and turn around. Dad called and ordered us pizzas, so they were waiting for us when we got back to the store. That was a great reward! We shared a Greek Pizza, which was delicious, and the boys shared a Hawaiian Pizza with their grandparents.

Yesterday we went to my nephew's 10th birthday party. Where do the years go????

It was a fun gathering, as usual. We had his favorite - chicken patty sandwiches, french fries, chips, potato salad, an amazing sword cake and ice cream. Yummy!

Natanis Point Campground

2008-07-18T14:56:00.005-04:00

Above is a slideshow of my favorite photos from our camping trip this past weekend. It was so hard to choose!!

Why didn't I keep a journal during the trip? I took a notebook, but I just never stopped long enough to write in it! Now, I'm going to try to remember, using my photos as a helpful guide, all of our adventures...

We left home at around 11:30 on Saturday morning, with a truck full of gear, topped off by a borrowed canoe. (17 foot - Old Town Tripper) We needed to stop in at the post office to ask them to hold our mail, so Dad decided to drive North on Route 26 until we reached Route 232 in Rumford Point, at which point we turned right onto Route 2 East. We continued on Route 2, through some road construction, until we reached Route 27 North in Farmington, and then we were on the road to our destination! We stopped for lunch at McDonald's in Rumford Center, and wondered where everyone else was and whether we would see any of them on our journey.

We did! In Industry we saw my parents at a gas station and pulled in to jokingly ask them, “Where are you going?” We continued the trip together and arrived at Natanis Point Campground in Chain of Ponds Township, around 3 pm.

Our campsites turned out to be even more beautiful than we had expected! We were surrounded by water, which was perfect for the kids - they could fish and swim to their hearts' content. And the bigger kids could canoe and fish as much as they wanted to as well! Because of the proximity of our sites, the kids could run between them for visiting and yet we were a bit apart from the rest of the campground, so we didn't need to worry too much about being too rowdy - a good thing with this rowdy crew! And there were plenty of roads to ride our bikes on - up to the bathhouse, down to the store, or around the loop to check out the other campsites for future reference.

The weather was good, although really windy at times. But, if you weren’t comfortable with the temperature or conditions on one site, you could always go to a different one. Because of the way the sites are arranged between the ponds and on a rise, they each varied greatly – it was kinda weird. Things were a bit damp on Sunday, but the only heavy rain was during the night, so we never got particularly wet, except for when we were swimming, of course…

That evening, after getting camp set up, we all traipsed over to Grammie & Grampa's camp for steak grilled over the campfire, corn on the cob, baked potato and biscuits! Does it get any better than that? Everyone was stuffed at that point, so we ambled off for some more fishing and those of us that were renting canoes walked down to the store to get them and paddle them back. Then, we moseyed back for Dad's birthday cake, Chocolate Marble Bread with Ganache, and ice cream. When it came time to sing "Happy Birthday", it was just as well that there weren't any other campers nearby! ;-)

Sunday morning we got up bright & early - around 5 am! We hadn't gotten a very good night's sleep - the wind had picked up and the roaring was like a freight train coming through camp! Fortunately, everything was adequately tied down, so nothing had blown away during the night. Dad got the coffee going and I started the Sourdough English Muffins. A couple of hours later I was frying bacon and eggs to put on those freshly cooked muffins!

The boys spent that morning fishing and playing in the water while Dad and I battened down the hatches. We were not prepared for rain, and it sure looked like that was what was coming. We borrowed a gazebo and more tarps from my parents and constructed a much better shelter. All the while, dough was rising for our bread for lunch. About 10 am Dad started charcoal to heat the Dutch oven and at 11 we put the bread in it to cook. The first loaf was ready in time for lunch - I made tuna to put between slices of fresh bread. Unfortunately, Dad had trouble getting the oven hot enough for the second loaf, but that worked out in the end, as you will see.

Sunday afternoon we took a bike ride around the campground and found our way to the Beaver Bog Trail. That was really cool and looked like a great place to watch for moose. Daisy thought it looked like a great place to swim, preferably after knocking Grampa into the drink! Luckily, Grampa is steady on his feet and stayed dry!! After hiking back up out of there, we found the trail to the beach on the other side of Natanis Pond. It was a really steep incline, but we decided to go down it anyway, not releasing Daisy & Duke until after the coast was clear. Boy, didn't those dogs have fun playing in the water! They had us rolling with laughter at their antics!!

That evening, it was my sister & her husband's turn to make supper - Barbequed Chicken, Corn on the Cob, Pasta Salad, Biscuits and chunks of Sourdough Bread that had finally finished cooking. YUMMY!! Again, everyone was too full to think about dessert yet, so Dad & I went off to the showers. When we returned we roasted marshmallows for S'mores...

We turned in early and hoped for a good night's sleep. However, Daisy got very sick during the night. Several times Dad had to get up and let her out of her crate and out of the tent. It was awful and we were extremely worried about her, especially when she wasn't better in the morning. She was a very sick puppy!! Finally, she was able to keep down a Tums, some steak and carrots. We also switched her water to bottled water, thinking that perhaps it was because they recommend boiling the water from the campsite, and yet she was drinking it straight from the tap. We also wondered if there was something wrong with her food, and switched her to Duke's food. I guess we'll never know for sure what made her sick.

Monday morning Dad cooked his sausage and egg bake in the Dutch oven, and we fried up some brook trout that Grampa had caught at home. We slathered the biscuits and English muffins with butter & jelly and finished them up. After breakfast I started more bread for lunch, but this time we were able to cook both loaves at once so that we would already have bread for Tuesday's lunch as well.

Later on that morning, everyone, including Daisy & Duke, got into their canoes with fishing gear and we paddled from Round Pond over to Natanis Pond to spend the morning catching Yellow Perch. Not particularly appetizing fish, but it was a whole lot of fun anyway! Daisy did great in the canoe, probably because she still wasn't feeling well. She sure thought it was some exciting when Dad caught a fish, and almost leapt into the pond after it when he tossed it back in - YIKES!!

Back at camp, we finished up the tuna salad for our sandwiches. Naptime! A pair of juvenile Northern Flickers came through camp, so I was sure to photograph them - even crawling so close to them that when something spooked one of them, he hit my head during his escape! It was amazing!! The other critters around camp were a chipmunk, whose hole was located right under one of our hammocks, and a red squirrel. They sure kept Daisy busy trying to catch them!

Most of Monday afternoon was spent playing/fishing on the beach and in Natanis Pond. The kiddos discovered that over by the bridge it was sandier and no more than chest deep for several hundred yards out into the pond - wicked cool as far as they were concerned!! Dad & Uncle J took their fishing poles out and stood in the shallow water while casting out into the deep part where the bottom of the pond drops off. Supper that evening was at my brother & sister-in-law's camp - Chicken & Dumplings, homemade bread, and Cherry Pies, roasted over the fire, for dessert.

Afterwards, we all piled back into the canoes for a paddle across Round Pond and up the river that runs north out of it. We were hoping to see moose, but we only heard one blowing at us, although even that was pretty cool. We did see a beaver, and boy hasn't he been busy out there! It was a perfect evening to paddle, the sunset was incredible and the moon was full. It was beautiful!! We returned to camp by following the beacon that Grampa set up for us - I don't think they were worried yet, but it was getting pretty dark by the time we made it to shore. After the kiddos and grandparents went to bed, the 6 of us shared a bottle of wine and talked late into the night.

Tuesday morning, my brother and my sister's husband left camp around 4 in the morning to try their hand at fishing in that river we had found the previous day. Six+ hours later they returned, with a few trout, sore muscles and stories to tell of all the many portages they made and the exploring that they did!

Meanwhile, I made pancakes and bacon for breakfast, and Dad started the Bean Hole Beans. Then, we hit the beach again, much to the kids delight! At one point, I was heading back to camp to get something, when this car drove in. "Boy, don't those folks look familiar!" I thought to myself. Sure enough, it was my cousin and his wife! They own a camp up in that neck of the woods, and Grammie had told them that we would be camping there. They decided to take a drive over and visit with us. It was great to see them and we all sat around in lawn chairs, chatting, for a few hours. Well, all of us except my brother-in-law, who laid flat out on his back and snored! I guess that's what happens when you head out fishing so early!!

Lunch was chicken salad on my sourdough bread from the previous day. Then, we enjoyed another nap while the kids played. All 5 of them got along so well all weekend! They had a blast and can't wait to do it again!! Later on, my brother, Dad & I took the kids for a bike ride along the Around Pond Trail. The trail was great, although a bit challenging in a few places, and the views were incredible! We had thought it wasn't going to be very long, but it turned out to be a 10 mile loop back to camp!! It took us a couple of hours, but even my 5-year-old nephew did GREAT! We took plenty of breaks and had a wonderful time!! When we came to the road, we lined up, alternating adults and kids, told them to stay on their side of the white line and that whenever we hollered "Truck", they were to hit the ditch! Those trailer trucks do NOT slow down for anything! They are hauling goods into and out of Canada on that road and the faster they can do the trip, the more they can haul. By being careful, we were able to stay safe and that was by far the easiest part of the trip - good pavement and mostly downhill.

When we returned to camp, Dad & I finished cooking the Bean Hole Beans, I made Corn Sticks in the reflector oven, Devil's Food Cake in the Dutch oven, and the kids roasted hotdogs over the fire for all of us! Another scrumptious meal, if I do say so myself!! After which we went fishing at the brook we found during our bike ride and moose hunting, unsuccessfully, at the local DOT maintenance facility.

While we were putting the kids to bed, my brother suggested that we go "Hornpouting". Hornpout are also called Brown Bullheads - Adult bullheads are usually about 10 inches long and weigh less than one pound. You cast a baited hook on the bottom of the pond, which they have no trouble finding because night-time is their usual time to eat. It was a first for all of us except Dad, who had done it as a kid, and my brother-in-law, who had caught catfish down South, although hornpout are a bit different and much smaller. We tossed some of the leftover bbq chicken into the pond, which attracted the shiners & minnows, and then used worms on hooks to catch the hornpout! It was really fun, although it got really cold!! Supposedly they are good to eat, but we put the hornpout into a pail with water so that the kids could see them in the morning and then returned them to the pond. The kids were fascinated - boy, are they ugly fish!!

After all that cooking, Wednesday morning's breakfast was CEREAL! ;-) We spent the morning packing. When that was finished, Dad and I took our boys for another bike ride around the trail we had done the afternoon before - it only took us an hour! It was great, again! Then, while Dad loaded up the truck, the boys went swimming again. We gathered everyone in front of Natanis Pond for a group photo, got into our vehicles, took photos of the convoy and headed south. Lunch was at the Pines Market in Eustis, we stopped for a minute to see the bateau at the Dead River Historical Society and did some shopping at Nowetah's Museum and Indian Store in New Portland - that was really interesting, particularly her antique basket collection, which was right up my sister-in-law’s and my alley, since we’ve spent so much time weaving baskets together!

This really was the best trip – being out-of-doors, surrounded by my family & wildlife, with lots of fun activities, or the option to rest, and cooking/eating delicious food…in a word…AWESOME!!

Back from camping!!

2008-07-17T21:21:00.002-04:00

Yesterday evening we returned home from a 5 day, 4 night camping trip with my family. It was the best camping trip ever! ( And I've taken some pretty good trips before!) Our 4 sites were all located right together, so the kids could just run all over the place. On either side of the sites were 2 ponds, so the canoeing, fishing and swimming were non-stop. We also bicycled on some fantastic trails and went moose-watching, unsuccessfully. (Although we did hear one blowing at us, which was pretty cool.) I'm still working on ALL the photos, but as soon as they're ready, I'll get them here for you to see, along with more details about our trip...

Team Penning Extravaganza!!

2008-07-08T16:09:00.005-04:00

We had a great weekend!! After the Turner parade, we took the boys down to stay with my parents for Friday night 'til Saturday night, and then Dad's parents would have them on Sunday. They had fun - biking, fishing, and playing with all of their cousins.

Meanwhile, Dad & I spent the weekend at the OK Corral for the Team Penning Extravaganza. Tillie did GREAT!! We didn't win anything, and we only made the call-backs (top 10 after the first round) once, but that's because the competition was FIERCE! There were some of the top riders from Canada and New England there. Tillie and I didn't miss a single cut, we got our cow every time, and we didn't make any mistakes - I was just so proud of her. She remained calm and collected - except for one bucking episode - and yet we rode HARD and FAST!! We really pushed it and other riders noticed and commented on how much she had improved. Yee haa!!!!

The above pictures are from the team penning - see the ones where Tillie and I are sweeping the cows into the pen? Look at her ears pinned back as she chases them into the pen - she is determined that they will do what she wants them to do!

These pictures are from the 2-Man Ranch Sorting. The only run that we were disqualified on was our call-back run, which was extremely disappointing, but not our fault. I felt bad for the woman riding with us 'cause she knew that she blew it. I told her it was fine - we're there to have fun and I'm not going to worry about it. It could just as easily have been me! During our qualifying run in the first round, we sorted more cows than I ever have before - 8! And it was sooooo close to being 9 - I could hear Dad yelling at me to hurry as I was driving that cow out of the pen, but I just couldn't get him to move quickly enough to exit the gate before the time ran out. It was an awesome run - and so much fun!!

Look at how relaxed she is settling the herd...

Turner 4th of July Parade

2008-07-05T05:21:00.005-04:00

I got to ride in a parade yesterday!! Ever since I was a little girl, the horses have always been my favorite entries in every parade. I've always hoped that someday that would be me. The team penning club was invited to ride in the Turner parade this year! I rode Kitch and it was really fun!! He was very nervous, unfortunately, the same as he was during the Wagon Train ride, but he did fine.

Once a year, a gentleman that lives in the center of town opens his trophy room to the public for a couple of hours. Dad & the boys were able to go in and it is amazing!! This guy has hunted all over the world and brought back his kills to be stuffed and displayed. The boys even got to have their picture taken with him. They were quite enthralled by all those critters. Even though it's too bad they're all dead, it gave them an indication of the size of all the animals that they have read about or seen on tv. Our youngest was particularly scared by how large the crocodile was. It sure made his hero, the late Steve Irwin, seem even more incredibly brave!! Hopefully next year I will be able to see them...

Family BBQ

2008-06-30T07:40:00.003-04:00

Yesterday afternoon we drove down to my parents house for a family gathering. Lots of our extended family came and we had a great time together! I saddled up Sasha so that everyone, big & small, could enjoy a ride around the pasture - she was a very good girl. Grampa & my brother manned 2 grills and put out some delicious hamburgers & hot dogs. Everyone else brought salads and chips to nibble on - always a treat. Grammie baked 2 cakes - one for each of the graduates, my nephew that just graduated from high school and another nephew who just graduated from the University of Maine at Orono. Congratulations!!

Before we left home, the weather cleared up enough for Dad to take the canoe that he just finished patching for her inaugural paddle. He put it in our little farm pond, which is just big enough! The boys thought it was great!! (I know, they don't have their life jackets on, but they ran down to the pond without them and we really didn't have time for them to go back and get them. The pond is so shallow that they could stand up if they did fall in. Just this one time we let them go without them.) They had a blast helping Dad paddle the canoe around! They found lots of frogs eggs.

Daisy learned about getting into the canoe. The biggest thing we need to teach her now is to stay in...

Ace came home yesterday. He wasn't a good fit for the guy who thought he was going to buy him. The guy is a beginner rider (Which he didn't tell me!) and yet he thought that he could train Ace? Oh well. The boys are thrilled!! I hate for them to get their hopes up though. Dad really wants to sell Ace...

Wagon Train Ride

2008-06-29T11:22:00.002-04:00

Well, unfortunately we didn't have the best weather for this year's big Wagon Train Ride, although there was a good turnout. Yesterday we did the 8 mile loop, and although it was misty, it was warm and we didn't get terribly wet. Dad rode Kitch, I rode Lily and the boys rode in the covered wagon. Unfortunately, something was bothering the horses, so several of them were very naughty, Kitch included! Dad did not have a very good time. Finally, we traded horses and Lily was a good girl for him. It was not fun riding Kitch though, he really was being a jerk!! I didn't get any pictures because I didn't want to take a chance with my camera in the wet. And I'm especially glad since I ended up riding such a difficult horse - not safe for the camera...

Last night, at the pot-luck dinner & campfire, we finally met the couple that raises horses up the hill. We've missed connecting with them several times over the course of the last 3 years. We made arrangements to take a trail ride this morning, depending on the weather, and she would show me a trail that I hadn't ridden on yet. I saddled up Kitchy, switched his bridle to the twisted wire snaffle and put on my spurs. I was much better equipped to get his attention! That makes all the difference to a horse that needs to know who is in charge and we had a very pleasant ride. 3 of us headed out around 9 am, even though it was lightly raining. However, a couple of miles into the woods, a severe thunderstorm rolled in! I called Dad and asked him to meet me with the horse trailer and we hurried back!! It was a bit scary, but Kitch went into 'take care of your rider' mode - he was really cautious and so well-behaved. I was pleased, but drenched - clear to my skin!!

Fish Tales

2008-06-27T21:08:00.003-04:00

Yesterday the boys had another good day with their friends. The first thing that the boys did was to help me with the horses - they couldn't wait to get out in the pasture! Then we all headed out to the brook for a swim and then we went upstream to fish - look at what they caught!! The older boy is quite a fisherman, which makes him my youngest son's hero. He helped my son catch 3 of his own!! On the way up from the brook, I verified that the older boy did indeed know how to clean fish. The little guy asked me to clean his fish, but I reminded him that I had warned him that if he wanted me to take him fishing, he would be baiting the hook and cleaning any catch HIMSELF!! Mommy does not do gross!! He dug right in and cleaned them himself, with guidance from the older boy....

After lunch we saddled up the horses and rode for quite a while. They said they could happily ride all day long!! Our youngest has been riding Kitch a lot, he's working towards a new saddle. Our older boy keeps helping him with his mounting and dismounting - and they also practice pretend falls - hopefully they'll be more prepared than I am...

We lost Mr. Piggy last night. He was really old, but he had been healthy right along, so I guess he was happy. The boys had so much fun playing with him over the years...they will be sharing some of their stories in an upcoming post...

Dad finished the deck this evening! Finally!! It looks awesome and I can't wait to get it all decorated and ready for relaxing...

Tuesday

2008-06-25T09:32:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was the first day of babysitting our son's best friend and his older brother. Their mom got a job this spring and is trying to earn as much money as possible, so she had asked me to watch the boys this summer. Since all 4 of the boys get along great, I thought "Why not?" So far, so good! As soon as they got here, the older boy started right in helping me with the horses. And this is a kid that has never been around them before. Yet, every time I looked for him, he was out there petting them. Talk about 'love at first sight'!! Both boys rode around the round pen for a while, which was a first for them and they really enjoyed it. We also went out fishing in the brook, which they all loved, although we will be leaving Daisy home next time. Every time they dipped their lines, she would come splashing by - she was having a BLAST!! But, I'm afraid there were no fish for miles and miles....

First Day of Summer Vacation

2008-06-23T19:07:00.003-04:00

It was a good day - fairly quiet. The weather wasn't great, gray & rainy, but the boys worked hard at picking up some junk in the basement. In the afternoon we went to the dentist for a final check on the tongue frenectomy - almost healed - ate a late lunch at Subway and picked out some books at the library. We learned about a new program that rewards the kids for reading, so they are looking forward to earning lots of prizes!!

Yesterday afternoon Dad's parents came up for a visit after church. Later in the afternoon we headed to town to see Kung Fu Panda - the boys (including Dad!) LOVED it - and then we ate a yummy dinner at The Great Wall, of course.

School's out!!

2008-06-22T06:59:00.002-04:00

Every year it's the same thing - finishing up teachers' gifts at the last minute. Remember how pleased I was to get an early start on them this year? Well, I still hadn't finished them by Thursday evening, so I was up 'til 11 weaving baskets.

Friday morning I got up at 5 am to start baking the goodies to put in the baskets - Jelly Donut Cupcakes and No-Bake Cookies. They were ready in time for the boys to put them into their backpacks and get on the bus! Then, I did chores and got ready to go to the my hair appt in town. I had a great visit with my stylist and some other friends that were there - she had a 3-ring circus going on - literally 3 of us in various stages. It was funny!

After my hair was colored, I headed over to the school for the annual end-of-the-year awards ceremony and staff vs fifth-grade softball game. The boys had fun playing with their friends and saying "Good-bye" for the summer. We stayed 'til just after lunch and then headed across the street to the town office to register the truck & trailer. Then, we drove to the Paris Public Library to pick out some reading material, got some cash from the bank, grabbed lunch for me at Burger King and hit the road - headed to Double G Ranch in Lebanon!

What a long drive....too bad there isn't a good tack shop closer to home!! We had a successful shopping trip - although I had to pry our youngest out of the saddle that he fell in love with!! He really wanted to bring it home.

On the way back North, we stopped in Portland to pick up Dad and then went to Saco to check out the new Tractor Supply. I picked up 2 great new Western shirts to wear team penning! Then, we drove over to Cabella's to check it out! What a store!! As much as he loved it, our youngest was still anxious to get to "his" store - The Army Barracks. Once there, he picked out lots of new clothing and had a blast checking out all that cool stuff!!

By that point it was 8:30 and we still hadn't had supper! We were pretty grouchy, so we pulled into Wendy's, but unfortunately lots of other people had the same idea, and we had quite a long wait. Oh well. Finally, we were on the road home....but, we didn't get there until 10:30 - what a long day!!!!

I got up bright & early Saturday morning so that I could start calling back all the people that had called me the evening before about the team penning clinic that was going on that day. We piled into the car and followed Dad in the truck over to Turner to pick up a load of hay. The boys stayed with Dad and I drove the short distance over to the OK Corral in Leeds to get everyone signed in for the clinic. It was a big group of riders!!

After a couple of hours I headed for home again and we spent a quiet afternoon at home, working on the garden and the boys played with Kitchy. He's such a good boy! They crawl all over him and practice their mounting and dismounting skills over and over again and he stands there like a rock. Our youngest started trotting last night - Kitch didn't get all excited and quick, but was trotting so slowly that the little guy had a hard time keeping him going - perfect for learning!! We've set up an obstacle course in the round pen and they had fun going over and around things. Even our oldest rode around for a few minutes - a major feat to get him back in the saddle! I was thrilled!!

At about 6 am this morning, our youngest woke us up with the reminder that Dad had told him that if he woke up early he could go fishing for breakfast!! Poor Dad. But, he dragged his butt out of bed and they headed for the brook! A short while later they returned - they were successful!! Trout & eggs for breakfast - it doesn't get much better than that!!

Range Pond

2008-06-19T15:25:00.002-04:00

Today the whole school went on a field trip to Range Pond Sate Park. The kids had a ball playing games on the beach, climbing all over the jungle gym and, of course, swimming!! It's a real challenge to keep track of that many kids, but I don't think we lost anyone...

Hoof trimming

2008-06-18T09:23:00.002-04:00

Bright and early, Kitch got saddled up for the ride down to the bus stop. His little boy is so proud to show off his riding skills to his classmates! We discovered Kitch does have a weakness, something that actually spooks him - extra loud bass on a car radio. Fortunately, my son had gotten off before that vehicle went by, but Kitch almost ran us all over trying to escape - NOT good!! I got him under control, but I haven't seen him get that upset since we first got him and he was always trying to intimidate me - he was rearing up at me, striking out, and everything! Darn teenagers!!

While we were still waiting for the bus, the farrier arrived, but fortunately Dad was still up at the house, so he got Lily out of the pasture and held her for her pedicure. She rested her head on his shoulder....

They were all well-behaved for the farrier and we enjoyed a good visit while the horses got their, much needed, trimmings....

Dig Gems

2008-06-17T21:18:00.002-04:00

Today I accompanied the 2nd and 3rd grade classes to Western Maine Mineral Adventures. It was a blast! Each child was able to fill a bucket from the dirt pile and sift through it, looking for gems. We discovered that our youngest is a "Man Mining Machine". He just kept sifting and searching and sifting and searching. We found lots of really pretty green tourmaline, some of it gem quality, some quartz crystals and other neat minerals. We'll definitely be doing more digging this summer!!

This evening Dad rode Tillie, I rode Lily and our younger son rode Kitch. He is doing great with Kitchy, even when Kitch is being a brat - he takes command and makes Kitch mind him. It's wonderful for his riding confidence! After I took the saddle off, he remembered that he forgot to practice standing up in the saddle. I told him to just take off his sneakers and get up there bareback. He actually did it!! He was grinning from ear to ear!! Lily, on the other hand, was a total pain in the butt - she needs a ton more work than she is getting! Lots of wet saddle blankets, as the cowboys say...

West Paris Old Home Days

2008-06-16T20:37:00.010-04:00

Friday evening we returned to town and enjoyed the start of the West Paris Old Home Days. There was a great band playing at the Fire Station, craft & food vendor tents were set up, and after dark there was a pretty spectacular fireworks display.

Saturday morning the boys marched in the parade. They both did a great job. Our youngest was so proud to march that American Flag right down the length of Main Street!

One of our friends from Scouting built this barrel train for the occasion! It was awesome!! He pulled it, full of kids, all over town, with his lawn tractor, which later in the day WON the lawn tractor pulling contest! Mounted on its hood was a trophy from 2006, the last time it had won the competition. The boys were duly impressed...

We wandered around town, enjoying the fair and visiting with friends. The funniest part was when the gentleman from the local camera club walked right up to me with his business cards and asked me if I wanted to learn how to use my camera! Poor Dad had to bite his tongue. ;-)

Our friends from the Wagon Train were there with their team of Belgians, which they drove, pulling a stagecoach, in the parade and then they gave rides around town throughout the day - we couldn't wait to take our turn!

Afterwards we went to view the model trains that were set up in the Grange Hall. They were amazing!! They boys couldn't believe all the details - and that so much of it was hand-made.

Then, we watched the lawn tractor pulling contest for a while. The red tractor came in 2nd place. With its front in the air, and its seat pushed back a few inches, it had excellent traction. The interesting part was that the winning tractor, (Owned by our friend in Scouting!) didn't have to resort to wheelies to get the job done. ;-)

The boys had a ball on all the blow-up rides that were there and then we walked over to the Fire Station so that they could go through the "Smoke House".

Inside, a fireman talked to them about making sure we have an emergency plan, including a safe meeting place. He was impressed that the boys told him that we planned to meet at the garage. However, he was concerned that we didn't have a back-up meeting place, since most garages are close/connected to the house. Dad & I were outside, and though we could hear them, they couldn't see us - we were laughing - because our garage is about 500 feet away from the house. If they both catch on fire, we're in really big trouble!! Then, he showed the boys how to check the door to see if there is fire on the other side, and then they crawled through the smoking room, ran out the door and met up at their prearranged meeting place.

Yesterday we went to my brother & sister-in-law's house for a Father's Day Cookout - BBQ chicken, potato salad, tossed salad and lots of munchies, followed by coffee/chocolate chunk ice cream pie covered in chocolate syrup - it doesn't get much better than that!!

Field Trips

2008-06-13T19:19:00.004-04:00

This week I went on 2 field trips with the boys. The first one was on Tuesday - we went to Lollipoppa Farm, on the other side of Stearn's Hill. They are an organic farm, so it was right up my alley. ;-) We ate a yummy lunch of fresh salad picked from their garden and mini-pizzas from scratch. Before returning to school we went to the West Paris General Store for ice cream cones. Our oldest and I had Chocolate Moose Tracks - YUMMY!! The only other choice was chocolate, which our youngest doesn't like, so we got him an ice cream sandwich instead. He was perfectly happy...

Today Dad and I chaperoned a hike up to Berry's Ledge - it provides wonderful overlooks of West Paris. The hike was for the second grade, joined by their pen pals, second graders from Hebron. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

Afterwards, we waited for the kids to finish out their school day, by enjoying another ice cream cone. ;-) Then, I had an appt with the chiropractor and our youngest had an appt with the dentist, who also checked on our oldest's frenectomy - he had the underside of his tongue cut to help facilitate his speech - it is healing properly.

Here are a couple of pictures of Cuddles, our new hamster, rolling around in her exercise ball. Daisy could watch her for hours!!

Oh WELL...

2008-06-12T20:12:00.002-04:00

Tuesday afternoon we experienced some incredible thunderstorms!! Hail that was grape-sized, enough to cover the ground so that it looked like we had a couple of inches of snow! They were bouncing off the poor horses' backs, because it was too loud on the roof of their shelter, so they thought they could escape by running out into the pasture. The lightening was flashing like crazy and the thunder was wicked loud. Then, we got HIT!! Or at least lightening struck really close-by...and fried the pump in the well. I was horrified when we didn't have any water!! I can happily go without electricity, and other creature comforts, but I've gotta have access to water!!

The next morning, Dad called up Goodwin's Well-drilling and they happened to be coming to our neck of the woods. Within a couple of hours they had our pump replaced, so we should be good, barring any more lightening strikes, for another 20 or 30 years. During their time here, Dad said they received many, many more calls from people whose wells had the same problem! Freaky, huh?

Tuesday evening the boys finished up their Scouting year with an awards ceremony. Our oldest received his Bear and our youngest received his Wolf. They worked really hard to earn them and we are very proud of them!

During the well fiasco, Dad had to move the wishing well away from the well cover. Seeing it gone, cemented the idea that had been floating around in my mind - I didn't want it there in the middle of the lawn anymore! This morning, I dragged it away, moved Lazy (the horse statue) closer to the well cover, and planted a bed of Rugosa roses (my favorite!!) to disguise the well. It looks so much simpler and prettier now...

Tragedy...

2008-06-03T08:58:00.000-04:00

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/268344-3/LewistonAuburn/Auburn_girl_dies/
This was one of the mini horses that I showed in my Memorial Day post last week. We get our hay from this man. He just started keeping the minis last year and has had so much fun taking them out for a drive every day. Why, oh why did this have to happen???? It seems so unneccessary and I'm having a really hard time handling it. My hands are shaking as I type...

A weekend at home...

2008-06-02T22:22:00.006-04:00

We don't get nearly enough of them. It was nice to work on some projects around here. The boys and I spent Saturday getting the office cleaned up and rearranged. It was raining, which gave us the perfect opportunity to put together all of their old puzzles to make sure that all the pieces are still there so that we can give them away to younger children. That was fun!

That evening, after the clouds had cleared, our youngest decided that he wanted to ride Kitch! So, we saddled him up and after a few minutes he told me to let go of the leadrope, he was going to ride by himself - and he did! The next morning he couldn't wait 'til breakfast was over to get back outside and ride some more. He rode so much that he wore out his mommy getting horses ready for him!! He rode all three of them, although Tillie only for a few minutes because he thinks that she is too big and strong for him...

He rode Lily until Lily got impatient and hot to trot! He decided that he really likes big, old, lazy Kitch. We're just as proud as can be, both of our son and also of Kitch for being such a good teacher!!

This evening he went for another ride on Kitch and Kitch decided to get a bit unruly. He took off at a rapid walk (not quite a trot) through the bushes, headed back to the girls! The little guy wasn't listening to me and kept trying to get him to stop, pulling for all he was worth on the reins. Well, Kitchy just pulled right back and continued on his way! They finally cleared the trees and so I hollered out "Grab hold of one rein and pull him right around in a circle!" So, that's what he did and by golly, it worked!! He was more than a little bit shook up, but he was feeling pretty brave for hanging in there and getting Kitch stopped. I decided it was time for some fun to clear the air! So, I told him to follow me, but I made it tricky and kept darting around - he was laughing like crazy and having a ball! Me too! Except we decided that it was kinda like chasing cows at team penning! Me, a cow?! ;-) We ended the ride on a very good note, which is so important right now...

The boys were calling to a flock of geese the other night...

This afternoon I picked the boys up at school and met our oldest's best friend's mother there. She brought her son's hamster for my son to bring home. Apparently her son is allergic to the hamster, but she knew that we would give her a good home. My boys are thrilled - she's another sweetie, like Ralph. Her name is Cuddles. Her markings are so similar to Ralph's, but she's tan instead of gray. She's adorable!!

I guess it's been awhile since I took a photo like this - Daisy looks HUGE beside Haley!!

The boys found a little visitor in our garden...

I'm goin' PRO!!

2008-05-28T20:07:00.002-04:00

Today I set up a website through ShutterBug where you can purchase prints from my photos! The address is http://morningcallranch.shutterbugstorefront.com/ Please check it out and let me know what you think. So far I just have team penning photos up, because I know that there are some riders that would like to purchase prints.

Memorial Day

2008-05-27T17:03:00.014-04:00

First thing in the morning, Dad went out into the pasture and cut down a dead tree that had several little trees clumped around it. "Why?" you ask. Because now that those little trees had leaves on them, they were blocking our wireless Internet connection. As you can see, Tillie was really concerned about that noisy chainsaw!

Peep-Peep is doing very well with her adopted goslings....

Here is the tent that the boys spent the night in. They wouldn't pose for me, but Daisy would!

After breakfast, Dad & the boys dressed in their uniforms and we all went downtown to participate in the Memorial Day Parade. (I didn't participate, I just took lots and lots of pictures!) We are fortunate enough to live in a town that honors veterans and pays tribute to them....

Now this is the kind of mini-van that I want!!

These miniature horses did great in the parade. Those little girls were so proud that they got to ride behind them!!

After the parade we headed to Portland to bicycle around Back Bay. We met my husband's parents and a cousin at Payson Park, where we unloaded the bikes and then headed off. My new bike went great! I love having all those many, many gears to choose from - very handy on the hills. We rode all the way down to the Old Port and then back around the other side of the bay to the park. The wind blew a gale, which made for hard pedaling, but it was warm and everyone had a great time. We rewarded ourselves for doing all that wonderful exercise by stopping at McDonald's for ice cream! ;-)

Afterwards we drove to Standish, going through South Gorham on the way, so that we could show the boys this neat covered bridge, and the farm where my grandmother grew up...except that I wasn't sure which one it was! It's been a loooong time since I last saw it. Oh well, we discussed it with my father later on in the evening, so now we know which one it is, and next time I'll get photos of it...

The boys came up with this idea for a new family tradition - we visited Great-Grampa's gravesite, where the boys put up the flags that they had brought to honor him with. They miss him very much and they will never forget him, nor the service that he did for our country.

Ace is gone....

2008-05-25T20:18:00.004-04:00

Well, they arrived around noon today with their horse trailer. Ace was determined that he was NOT going into that trailer though! He's such a funny boy. He never gets upset, he just gets stubborn. He would stand just as close to the ramp as possible and stop and take a nap. It took us about an hour and a half to get him in and then once he went in he was perfectly calm and quiet. I think he just got hungry enough to go for the hay we had put in there. It was very frustrating, but we all knew that it was going to be a challenge to get him in and that helped us to stay calm. He'll be much better off now because they have the time and knowledge to train him....

The boys are camping on the lawn tonight. Dad helped them get the big, old army tent set up, they've got Daisy snoring away in her crate and a nightlight lantern, so they're all set! Happy as clams!!