The Saga Of The Purse

Last week at Midweek Fellowship my friend Mary came in with the the COOLEST new purse... I immediately admired it and asked where she got it, and she said "Matt's" which is Serenity Farms Feed and Tack in Wickenburg... AND, she said, HE ALSO HAS A BLACK ONE. Well black is my color for purses and the one I have is looking pretty ratty... so I immediately called Matt and told him to stick the black one behind the counter for me, I would be coming Sunday and get it then. Yes that was immediately! Despite Mary saying "Don't bother him at night" I do have his cell phone number and he likes me, so I KNEW he wouldn't mind...

Fast forward to Sunday and at 2pm I am still in Black Canyon City (it's all that MONKEY's fault lol) so I call Serenity and tell the young man working the store that I won't make it after all but DON'T SELL THAT PURSE! He assure me it is behind the counter with my name on it and they will hold it until Randy or I can get up there...

Fast forward again to Wednesday, Randy decided not to make a special trip up to Serenity since he had to go pick up Charlie on Wednesday morning anyhow... son once we have Charlie loaded we head for Serenity. Randy went on in ahead while I parked the truck near the hay we needed. Walk in the door and Matt says "Susan I am SO SORRY!" I look at him all startled and he tells me that one of the boys SOLD MY PURSE!!! However he assure me that I don't need to go look at the others, as soon as he found out he had already ordered another just like it for me and it will be here in a couple of days...

Well I am so bummed, because on the way out the door this morning, I picked up my old ratty purse and THE STRAP BROKE! But Randy convinces me to be patient and as soon as Matt calls he will run up to Wickenburg and get my new purse...

So all day Wednesday I am carrying around my broken purse in a plastic grocery bag (the height of fashion I tell ya!) and when I talked to Mary I had to whine about it all.

More fast forwarding to Monday night, Randy and I are waiting at my office for Mary who is running a few minutes late, we try to meet up and ride together into town for Midweek Fellowship to save fuel and spend some time together since her work schedule is so horrid now. She climbs in the Jeep and hands me a gift bag over the seat, telling me it is an early birthday present. I am quite puzzled as it is still well over TWO MONTHS until my birthday. I read the card first as I try to be polite like that ;) and I also say, "Gee could it be my purse" and she says no. BUT IT IS!!!!!

That stinker bought my purse and convinced Matt to fool me too, she even made up the excuse and story for him so I wouldn't buy a different one! AND THEN I find out that when Randy went into the store, while I was parking, MATT TOLD HIM TOO! So they were all 3 in on it and fooled me good.

But I guess I don't mind, looky what I got {big grin}

Meet Charlie!

Well Mikey may already have met Charlie... I know that Wade has! Yes that is a halter and catch rope on him. Poor Charlie was a roping donkey :( until a nice lady got him last summer in Idaho. She brought him "home" to Wickenburg and although he has come a long way in the time she has had him, he has not come far enough for her to risk her own health trying to load him and take him back up for the summer with her... she is almost 70 and Charlie does NOT lead! In fact Charlie probably doesn't even CATCH unless you have at least two people... the weird thing is, Charlie DOES load easily into the trailer - IF you can get him close to it!

So Charlie came to live at Painted Promise Ranch this morning, and we hope to teach him that not everybody ropes! I'd love to be able to take that catch rope off of him and find him a forever home...

Mixing It Up

Sorry no pictures... my bad! Today I let Seth and Abner out of their small pen and into the arena with "my" herd. The back of our place is mostly a big arena, on the left (east) side is a long narrow pen (where the boys were staying) and on the right (west) side is a smaller "paddock" which has the individual pens or stalls, where the "big" herd eats their dinner, on the north side of that. Since Fred, the rescue donkey who is adopted but boarded here, is on a strict NO ALFALFA diet, and I procrastinated too long getting hay last fall and was forced to purchase a mix that includes alfalfa, I have been keeping Fred in the small paddock, along with Trooper for a babysitter - ahem, I mean company - because alone, Fred tries to break through the fence. My girls - Paint Mare, Katie, Luna and Skeye - get breakfast in the arena.

So first I opened the gate between the paddock and the arena. The girls immediately think "woo hoo dinner" and into the paddock they go, and heading for their stalls. The "boys" - Fred and Trooper - immediately EXIT the paddock simply because they are not usually allowed in the arena so of course that is right where they want to be. From time to time if someone is around during the day that gate does get opened after breakfast has been consumed so they know very well that the "other boys" - Seth and Abner - are in the east side pen...

Then I went to open the gate from the east side pen into the arena.

Abner was first. There was no hesitation, no doubt, that gate was open and he was going exploring! And surprisingly, to me, Fred did not bother him! However Trooper was dead set on showing Abner that HE was the boss!!!

In the meantime I go around behind Seth and begin shooing him toward the gate. Seth is not so sure about this change. He walked up to the gate and stopped. There is a low bar tied to the fence to keep the minis from going UNDER the gate which they could otherwise easily do, and it's not easy to remove, but it's so low I didn't think they would have a problem hopping it, and Abner didn't even blink an eye, he just HOPPED like a little bunny - too cute! Seth however saw it as a major barricade and there was no way he was going to make it. So I asked him again and he decided he was going back to the other end of the pen... I headed him off, back toward the gate and asked again, wondering if I was going to have to get a halter and lead, but this time he gave the same little bunny hop and over he went! So I shut the gate quickly because Fred was thinking maybe he should come IN the east side pen and see if they had left any food or anything else interesting...

Meanwhile poor Abner is being told in no uncertain terms that Trooper is THE BOSS. Abner is no softy though, and he gives as good as he gets... I watch for a while to make sure no one gets too serious and I guess Trooper finally was satisfied that Abner got the message as he wandered off, and was totally ignoring both the "new boys" by dinner time. The weirdest thing to me is that he never even bothered with Seth...

A Family Tree

So today I finally got time to go to ancestry.com and mess around a bit. I was quite intrigued after our talk on Saturday and getting to "meet" some of my ancestors via photographs. My great-great-grandfather, James, came to the United States from England at the age of 7. I don't think I had ever even heard of him. I did know that my great-grandfather's name was Jesse... I got to see several photos of him too. And I was disturbed by one old photo of a couple who were distant relatives, don't recall the name offhand but on the back it said "Mr. So-and-So and wife".

What?

Yes, that's what it said... "and wife".

And yes that was with a lower case w...

Well anyway.

In response to some comment I made about not knowing who these people were, Norma said "Well, Susan, let me introduce you to your family!" And, she DID! I am really glad that Norma is interested enough to put this together... I would not have the time even if I did have the knowledge! So I just wanted to say "thanks"...

:)

Monkey Business

Mikey put a camel on her blog so I am countering with...

A MONKEY!



Ok so this is not such a good picture of me {eyes rolling here} but isn't Tyra cute?!?!? I called Randy after that and told him I had just gotten hugged by a monkey...

"What?"

"I said, I just got hugged by a MONKEY!"

"Oh no, NO MONKEYS!"

To which I replied, don't worry honey, they are too much like human kids! It was fun to visit with Tyra but I MUCH prefer my donkeys and my doggies!!!

PS - her "big brother" Mikey actually reached out of his cage and PULLED MY HAIR!!! All I did was pick up a piece of monkey chow out of his bowl and try to hand it to him - very carefully as I had been warned that he bites... the little sucker scared me!!!

Frazier Horse Camp

Today we took a drive up to Tonto Basin to visit my dad and his wife Norma. We had a really nice visit and I got to learn some things about my ancestors as Norma is doing our family tree. Plus I got to go through half a box of the two big boxes of pictures my grandma left... so yes we will be making another trip {AT LEAST} to go through the rest of them...

We had another purpose to our visit as well and that was to check out the Frazier Horse Camp. We had actually planned a ride there THIS WEEKEND only to call and find out they don't take reservations. What? Yup you heard me right - THEY DON'T TAKE RESERVATIONS! Well I for one am not going to drive 2+ hours with my horse in the trailer hoping there is an empty spot when I get there! Especially when the camp only has seven spots!!!

I found this very interesting... see the second paragraph?
In case you can't make it out, it says: "From October 1 to April 30 Frazier CG is open to users with horses only..."

OK today is still only April 25th and what do I see?

Gee, an RV - and NO HORSES!

Gee, an RV - and NO HORSES! (Do I hear an echo???)

I see they can be used as overflow parking for the next spot over as well!

So if anyone else wants to call and question this policy...


Because we really really would like to PLAN a ride up here! The key word being... PLAN!!!

Puppies Everywhere!

Because I like dogs, my little 4-year-old volunteer Ginger brought me this last night:

Isn't it adorable? It's a "cupcake critter" - and I guess they don't make them look like donkeys ;)

Thanks so much Ginger! I ate the back half last night... had to save that cute little face as long as possible!

Then I had promised more pics and vids of the pups so I did that last night. All I can say is, it's a good thing I do NOT make my living as a videographer lol.




And some still shots...

Ty curled up with Darci's pups

The little girl

The little boy

Ok so I did NOT take this one... probably why it turned out so good ;)

Aaawwwwww

Ty "babysitting" lol

Family portrait!

And another including Ty



I just can't seem to get a GOOD shot of this little guy, he is WAY more adorable in person... or would that be, in pupson?

Caught him in a yawn though!

And the little girl climbing mount shin!

Exploring the knee while Ty chews on her...

Darci is doing her best to ignore "the kids" playing

Passed out again...

Bittersweet Memories

Today my Justice would have been five years old, if he had lived.

I miss him terribly still. So this is a very hard day for me and rather than {whine} about it, I will share these:



















It's hard to believe with 22 other equines, 11 dogs, 2 cats and assorted babies and rescues coming and going, but I still miss my Justice every day.

Pardon me while I go have a good cry.

The Lord Works...

in mysterious ways. Last night at The Valley Remnant we found out that Gary's folks are turning over "their" church to him. His mom is unfortunately in hospice in the last stages of, I believe, her FOURTH bout with cancer... and she will not be coming home this time. So his dad said, it's time.

I am so sorry that Gary has to lose his mother for the right thing to happen. But wow, are we all SO EXCITED that Gary finally has a place for The Valley Remnant! We Got Wednesdays will still be our motto but we will now also have services on Sunday...

This first Sunday will be when Gary's dad makes the announcement to the "old" congregation and there will be some hard feelings, so although I won't commit to every Sunday, I am giving up a possible ride to be there to support him. I woudl ask that you please keep Gary, his parents - his entire family - and The Valley Remnant in your prayers during this transition period.

Farewell John Henry!

Thanks to Randy for his help in getting the registration photos taken... isn't John Henry a cutie?


And here he is with his new "mom", Carole, who picked him up this morning.


Farewell, John Henry! God bless and good luck, Grandma will always love you...

I miss him already!

"My" Room

You will remember that Lindsey moved out in January. For a variety of reasons I waited a bit to start on her room... mostly because we needed a place to dump a mess while we did another room in the house, and now that room is done and the stuff is back in it... that is Randy's room so it doesn't get to be in the blog lol.

My plan has been, for a long time, to make Lindsey's room "MY" room. A place that would stay clean, and a place to sleep with no snoring...

Well thanks to the breathing machine I can now sleep with my husband so I don't need my own room. But I am still gonna put it together, it can be a guest room or whatever...

As of tonight it has been totally stripped, repainted and new tile on the floor...



The walls are a really light shade of blue, something with Heaven in the name but I forget lol. But sometimes they look more purple, depending on the light...

Now, for furniture :)

Got To Ride!

Well it wasn't Chevlon but a bunch of folks got together at Emery Henderson Trailhead and rode the Black Canyon Trail today. (pics to be added)

Did I say a BUNCH? There were THIRTY SIX of us!!!!! Well, 37 if you include Sherman ;)

Got home in time to have a nice cool shower and a nap with Sherman, we were both worn out from the sun... then do some clean-up before trash is picked up tomorrow and do a little training ride around the yard with Luna, she was such a good girl! Bright spot of my evening! Then feed everybody... and although I RARELY watch TV, I didn't want to miss the Hallmark movie about Irena Sendler... such a brave woman at such a horrible time in the world. Wow! Spent much of the movie cuddling with Darci and her two pups AND Ty - yes FOUR chihuahuas on my lap lol. Just gotta love my 4-legged kids anyhow huh?

Unbelievable

My riding/camping trip got cancelled so today turned into a big day for getting things done. Thought I was gonna sleep in so set the alarm for 6:30... rolled over wide awake to see the clock at 5:45... so got up and fed and cleaned up some stuff and got ready and we were on the road by 8am. Off to Buckeye to take a look at a colt born about 3 weeks ago... he just looked way too much like Justice. Couldn't stand not going... but nope it's not him. Sad but relieved, sure don't need another big mouth to feed right now! Then it's off across the valley to Queen Creek to pick up the trailer and hay from Lindsey's house and we had made arrangements to take the kids to lunch while we were there - Hilary was spending the day there anyway and TJ lives so close. Andria of course is out of state so out of range, so the only one we were missing was Alex. But things went really downhill there... her dad decided to show up to do some yard work, unannounced and unplanned and unexpected... so even though he was off to Home Depot to pick up a few things when we got there, I WAS NOT ALLOWED IN THE HOUSE. It seems that the wicked step-mother has forbidden Lindsey to let me in "their" house. {{PS that post a while back about my internet stalker? Guess who?????}}

Now granted her dad did buy the house and he is helping her with expenses, but she earned herself a full ride scholarship to college which he now does NOT have to pay for... so why shouldn't he do his part? What his wife has to do with any of it is really beyond me, since she doesn't work it's not like it's HER money... she's living off him just as much as Lindsey is. But what hurts the worst is that Lindsey refuses to say anything, just lets them dictate to her to treat me like some kind of pariah...

To add insult to injury, when I fed for her last weekend, the wicked stepmother told her she'd better check her hay afterwards to make sure I didn't steal any while I was there... Lindsey's reported response was that since I don't feed alfalfa I wouldn't take it. Which sure makes it sound to me like she was saying that if the hay WAS what I feed, I WOULD take it...

Well you can bet your boots that's the last time I drive an hour and a half to go visit her if I am not even to be allowed in the house. I honestly believed I had raised all my girls better than that, but apparently money talks louder than love and dad beats me hands down in the money department.

Well she has made her bed and she is the one who has to sleep in it. I don't and I won't. I got myself out of that house YEARS ago and I can't be thankful enough. I have apologized to the girls that I let a liar fool me into becoming their father and I can only hope that their experiences with him will protect them from being a sucker like I was...

I feel so sorry for Lindsey that she is under his thumb like that but if she won't stand up for herself, well, it's her choice. All I can do is continue to pray for her - and if y'all don't mind sending a prayer her way I'd appreciate that as well. She just doesn't understand that she doesn't HAVE to let him do that... doesn't HAVE to let the stepmom dictate to her. That woman watches every nickel he spends on his girls because that's one less nickel for her!

Oh, and you might add Hilary to your prayers as well, because the way things are going she is going to end up in the same boat as her sister.

As for me, I am so lucky to have Randy!!!!!!!!! No amount of money is worth putting up with abuse, and now matter how little we may have from time to time, I wouldn't give up the true love I have found with him. If the stepmom wasn't so evil herself, I'd actually feel sorry for her... because she will NEVER have what I have.

So anyway off we go after lunch to stop by Randy's folks' place and pick up his Jeep, which was left there yesterday when his dad helped him pick up the Dodge. It's all fixed now and able again to haul the big trailer so we can get ready to put the Ford up for sale... and either live off that money for a while or pay off some bills. Then we went by Dan & Mary's to visit with JoJo the orphan foal and Blue Bell her adoptive mother. Look - nursing!!!

Look! Nursing... with warning to gelding in next pen STAY AWAY!!!

AAWWW, family portrait!

Just look at this filly... have you ever seen a more unfriendly, shy, people-hating horse??? {{yes that's my attempt at sarcasm lol}}


Dan says even if the nursing thing doesn't get to 100% (they are still having to supplement), it's such a blessing to have Blue Bell accept the filly to raise, and teach her to be a real horse... bottle babies can have all sorts of behavior problems because they are TOO friendly... Blue Bell stands guard over the filly every time she lays down.


Just down the street from Dan is Richard's place, I don't know why I didn't get the camera out again but I had to stop and see his crop of TEN mini horse foals! Richard is where I got my very first minis... and just around the corner from there I stopped at Christina's who I know through AZCBR, she was selling some pony halters which fit the BLM-sized donkeys pretty good, and I can never seem to find enough of them. So now I have a good selection and when Christina realized who I was {donkey rescue} she not only cut the cost, she threw in some extra!

Then off I went home to do some more chores and we finally got "my" room painted, WOO HOO! So tomorrow hopefully we can start with the tile...

I did get a lot done today but all in all, I'd have rather gone to Chevlon. More fun, less heartbreak...

Bruise Update

This is a weird thing to post I think. But, it's a lesson learned and it IS my life... so here you go.

The flash really fades them out but boy are the bruises coming up on my knees and shin...






The two hoofprints on my neck are more distinctly two than the first time I posted. And fading fast thank goodness, because they look more like hickeys than ever! Geez...

They still hurt quite a bit especially to the touch... and I can't seem to stop poking at them!

However I did trim both Timothy and Jeffrey yesterday with minimal fuss... as well as Ozzie, Holly, Sunshine and Betty Lou!

If I had my druthers I'd have enough money to pay someone else to do it {ahem *cough* Wade} but financial reality what it is, this is one of the things that must be done that, for now, must be done by me. So I cowgirl up and get it done. Do I enjoy it? Not really. But I do have a feeling of accomplishment when it's done and I'm glad I am able to take care of my critters. It's a small price to pay, really, for the joy they bring.