On This Last Day Of 2008...

I may not be the most important person in your LIFE.



I just hope that when you hear my name you smile and say THAT'S MY FRIEND!

You Gotta Try This!

I'm gonna call it "Morgan Corn" because Randy's mom made it for Christmas dinner but as far as she knows it doesn't have a name...

Easy and Inexpensive and YUM!!!

5 pounds of frozen corn - I have now had it with both yellow and white corn and I much preferred the white...

2 8oz. packages of cream cheese

1 7oz can of chopped green chiles

a handful of grated cheese

Just cook the corn on the stove per directions on bag... Randy added some sugar to make it sweeter. While the corn is cooking, wire whisk the cream cheese and chiles till well blended. Fold in the hot corn till well mixed. Put in a baking dish and sprinkle the grated cheese over top, and bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes, just long enough to melt the cheese...

This makes enough for a LARGE family or pot luck so if it is just for a small family and you don't want leftovers, cut it in half!

I Quit!

Ok not really but I wanted to! Good thing yesterday was such a good day, today was NOT. Walk into the office to find the phone system not working... it's not the service provider, it's the old system we have...

Long story short, I don't even have a manual... the main office faxes me a couple of trouble-shooting pages and when that doesn't work I am told to just figure it out myself.

Yeah. Right.

Don't call service, it's too expensive... Just. Figure. It. Out. Yourself.

Can I go home now?????

Oh well, at least it was quiet at work today lol. And for those of you who are wondering, no - I. Did. Not. Figure. It. Out. So tomorrow will be really quiet too!

Did not let this get me totally down though... got home to an extremely happy chihuahua, Darci almost wiggles herself inside out when she sees me... then went out to dinner with Mary and her visiting sister...

Riding and a Special Gift

Unbelievable, I actually got Lindsey out of bed to go on a ride with me...
Some really cool rocks at the lunch stop...
Our hostess with the mostest... Vicki went off this horse just a couple of months ago, she was the third person I knew to crack her helmet in less than two months... which is why I started wearing one! But Talon was being a very good boy today :)
Lindsey scoped out "skeleton hill" - got a couple of not-to-bad skulls and - get this - A PELVIC BONE! Which of course we have to take to my friend Mary since she broke hers...

Back at the house, we got to see 8 adorable shepherd pups, just a little over 2 weeks old...
On the way home we stopped to take Mary her new pelvic bone... first we showed it to Buck - see, Buck, this is what you are NOT supposed to break!!!
And Mary has the best attitude and a greet sense of humor... even for whacky jokes like this!

All in all a very good day :)

One More Does It...

Yup a fourth load today... but that was it. Thank goodness the low spots are all filled in because even if they weren't... I AM DONE IN!

Well, at least the front driveway - there is a lot more work to do in the back but we are going to ignore that for the rest of the day and tomorrow - WE RIDE!

Three Loads!!!

Of sand, that is. Shoveled INTO the trailer by me, and shoveled OUT of the trailer by me... (well mostly - Lindsey helped with the first load and boarder Chuck with the last...)

I am one tired girl. But the muddy low spots in the driveway are almost gone... and Chuck's horse has a dry place to stand!

Merry Christmas!

And now we know what Sherman asked for when he sat on Santa's lap... I guess he was tired of this:

Because now he has this:

Although apparently he hasn't quite got the hang of it, guess he is used to a too-small bed!

And Rocket gets blue...

And Darci of course gets pink!

The beds were big enough I didn't get one for each, Radar and Vada will have to figure out who they want to share with...
Aaahhhhh... he figured it out!

For you late Santas... WALGREENS! On sale for TEN BUCKS! (Regular price $30!) WOO HOO!

Christmas Eve Pageant

For the third year we were invited back to do the Christmas Eve pageant at a local church. We get there an hour early because the donkeys need to practice walking down the aisle of the church. The floor changes under their feet several times - blacktop to concrete to carpet to tile to different tile... and each change is a WHOLE new experience! But first... we see Lamar the camel in the parking lot!

So me and my helpers have to get our picture taken with him. Randy is the short one... then me in the red shirt, Mary in green and Elaina last.

Now the donkeys are unloaded and brushed and off we go toward the church... Mary Ellen has been visiting Randy so she brought her... and I brought Ellie Mae, who is with Elaina, and Becky Lynn with 6-day-old Timothy... who STOLE the show! The littlest donkey was the biggest hit!

Pictures inside do not turn out well so we didn't even try this year. But once we have practiced a few times, we wait outside in the grass as the people arrive and everyone has to stop and play with the donkeys :) including the pageant participants!

We really enjoy doing this pageant every year... even if we have to dress up!

Oh No, Not Again!

It's raining.

Myhorses are STILL standing in soup from last week. I can't feed without my rubber boots...

Now this is a desert and YES, we do need the rain. But geez!

A chance to dry out in between would be nice...

Sherman Pictures :)

Sherman had quite the weekend. We went on TWO rides... Saturday on the toy drive ride out at Estrella Park, and Sunday at the Goldfield Ghost Town in Apache Junction. Just thought I would share some cute pics of my boy...
Saturday he got to ride on Paint Mare with me. We also ponied Luna and they did good, not biting each other!





The four of us... Paint Mare, Luna, me and SHERMAN!


Then on Sunday he got to ride on Katie...
Hold on Sherman, we're going up a hill!


During our snack stop Sherman got to come in the "front seat"


Back in town he had to stay in the trailer while we ate lunch, but then... we took him to town!
First thing, typical man, he picks up a saloon girl!


Then he ended up in jail!


Then he got to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas


I think two days of riding tuckered him out!

As Promised...

What good mamas these little donkeys are. I am so happy to see how they take care of their foals! And some of what I thought was mud on this little one's legs was actually SPOTS!

Fingers crossed, someone is seriously asking about him...

Mary is Home :)

Thank you all for your prayers... Mary was released from rehab today. She still has a long road ahead of her though, so keep those prayers coming. I was over there tonight and it's late so I gotta get to bed. More baby donkey pictures tomorrow I promise :)

Born in the Soup!!!

Well, actually, his mama's pen is the dryest we have... thank God! I came home from work tonight to find this:

A view from the top so his spots show up

I forgot with John Henry so had to get the "in arms" photo! He weighs about 27 pounds...

I think Becky Lynn is proud of her boy


It's too late and too cold to clean him up and get him all wet, so we dug the foal blankets out of the barn and double-blanketed him for the night.

If he doesn't tell me different, I think I'll call him Noah ;)

Good Grief!

It has been raining for three days here. Pretty much solid... Everything and everyone on the ranch is sloggy. (Yes sloggy is a word - my daughter Andria made it up when she was little and didn't like her cereal in the milk too long - it's sloppy and soggy put together!)

We need the rain. Badly. But geez not all at once like this. It doesn't get a chance to soak in and do much good... There are a couple of dry spots on the ranch, a few of the minis have high spots under their covers that are still dry, and where we put up the carport to park my Jeep it's dry. And in the house! That's about it... luckily the foaling pen has a good spot too. Not totally dry anymore although it was yesterday... but not muddy or standing water! I'm hoping for a spotted jennet foal for Christmas but right now also hoping that Becky Lynn holds off for a few days!

Randy is in Vegas working all week and the girls leave tomorrow for a trip with their dad. So it will be me and all the critters in the mud! However Randy says it is snowing in Vegas so at this point - I will take the MUD!

Not My Usual...

...but this year it will have to do.

This is the front porch. Colored lights and chili pepper lights.


Usually I also do white lights along the WHOLE front of the property, plugged in at two separate locations, each side going from the corner of the property to where the gates meet. When you open the gates, the lights open!

BUT - usually I have my lights up the weekend after Thanksgiving. That was when Mary's accident happened and even before that I was just too busy... things have not slowed down any so Christmas is getting the short end of the stick this year. We haev already down-sized a lot from what I used to do when the girls were small but lights are always my big thing no matter what...

At least I got them on the porch finally. Oh yeah, in the wind and rain and dark last night!!!

Unbelievable...

By way of history, about two and a half years ago in April, some friends took me on a river trip over a long weekend. Randy was our driver, seeing us off then towing their truck to the other end where he was to leave it and go home, so we had a way home when we were done. However during the towing, friend's truck (being towed) blew a tire and tried to flip, almost flipping Randy's truck as well but luckily coming off the tow bar before that happened. Randy then left the friend's truck and drove all the way home to get our flatbed car-hauler trailer, and another friend to help, and headed back up to deal with the friend's truck which had rolled... by this time he was running on empty and although he has hooked up the trailer a billion times he must have forgotten to latch it... They had it on the truck in Wickenburg and Randy tried to catch a nap with the friend driving, they stopped in Wikieup and NO TRAILER!

Went back to look for it, no luck, ended up just driving to where the rolled truck was and somehow getting it up and home again. Then Randy had to drive all the way BACK up to our getting out place to pick us up...made a report with the Mohave County Sheriff in Kingman and they have diligently followed up with us by paperwork each year to make sure the property was not recovered but basically that was it and we were out a trailer.

This was when we found out insurance only covers a trailer ATTACHED to your insured vehicle and we got separate insurance on our remaining trailers... we counted ourselves lucky that the unattached trailer had merely disappeared and not killed or injured someone, and although it still frustrated us, hey, what could we do?

Yes there is a point to this lol, but you needed background.

This morning Randy headed to Vegas, his company is opening a new store there and as merchandising manager he is responsible for set-up... so off he went not planning to be home until next weekend.

Mid-morning I get a call from him... I say hello, he says I found my trailer.

I say WHAT and he says again I FOUND MY TRAILER!!!

Seems it was parked in someone's yard, right off the highway, in Wikieup... so he drove to Kingman, talked to the Sheriff's office, they said to go back to Wikieup and meet an officer there, and sent him off with copies of the report and file. So he met with the sheriff and the serial number matches and even though no one was home the sheriff told him to take our trailer He is so unbelievably happy... the license plate was removed and the wiring all torn up but HE GOT HIS TRAILER BACK - almost 3 years later!

Un! Be! Lievable!

Doggie Therapy

Took Mary's dogs down to rehab for a visit again today, and this time I remembered the camera. Pictures speak louder than words...




We also took her truck so that the therapist could work with her on getting in and out. Soon as her rear hit that seat she hollered "THROW ME THE KEYS, I'M OUTTA HERE!" She was so happy to be sitting in her truck, even if she couldn't go anywhere, that she asked me to take a picture of her smile...

It looks like we could have her home as soon as Thursday... so keep your fingers crossed :)

Typical Saturday?

This morning we took pups to the shot clinic - nothing abnormal about that. But on the way home we saw...

Yup that's Santa!

This afternoon we did a birthday party. We've done birthday parties for this family twice before... they now have FIVE girls so I'm guessing we will be going again. Today's birthday girl was Jenna, here she is on Foxy.

Because mom said there would be a few big kids we shanghai'd Paint Mare who stood in the trailer eating while the two minis worked... then we put them away and the very patient big kids got their turn. The birthday girl could not talk mom into riding but we did get her dad up there...

It took a bit of doing but we also got a family portrait of mom and dad standing in front of the horse with all five girls "riding". Did not get one of those with my camera though, we felt we should both be hanging on to the horse since we had a first-grader, a kindergartener, a 3-year-old, a 1-year-old and a 4-month-old aboard!

Carefree Christmas Parade

We were part of the first ever lighted Christmas parade in Cave Creek/Carefree. Except for one draft horse pulling a wagon, we were the only horses (and donkeys) in the parade. There were 23 total minis and ponys and donkeys!
Betty Jean and Madeline, bows and tinsel and bells...

Ozzie and Mary Ellen with Tammy's pony Ginger, all dressed up and waiting to go

Foxy was gorgeous as usual... led by Leisa, ridden by her daughter Ceara.

My mini friend Beth's daughter Anna, with dog Noelle, driving Dream.

Rose's grandtwins Katelyn and Briana - wow look at the ponies their grandma got them! And she didn't bring me one :(

Sabrina with Holly, and Fawn with Sunshine and granddaughter Kenzie aboard

Just a few pictures - so next year you have to come watch in person :)