Bye Bye Baby...

So okay I didn't actually shed a tear, but yeah my eyes were swimming... we had to take Andria back to town today, so that she could fly home with her husband. It's been a whole year since I was able to see her, and it might be a whole nother year till I see her again... damn it where IS that winning lottery ticket?

Miss you, punkin!!!

Flying Bullets!

I am quite disturbed to report that we were shot at today!!!

Went for a nice relaxing "Black Friday" ride in Morgan City Wash out by Lake Pleasant - what better alternative to the shopping hordes? No way was I getting into that mess...

We figured being a holiday that we'd have to share the parking area with shooters and ATVers and it was true. Once we got down into the wash and away, we had a lovely ride...

Until we were almost back. Just a hundred yards or so from the place where we exit the wash to return to the parking area, suddenly there are gunshots AND THE WHINE OF A BULLET as it passed through the middle of our group!!! We all scattered, a couple folks dismounted, and we started yelling... more shots were fired, then it was quiet. The one man in our group quickly rode on to the road and up, to tell the shooters that there were riders in the wash... one gal was on the phone with 9-1-1 and the Peoria Police were sent out. As we finally exited the wash and headed up the road for the parking area, we saw there were FIVE groups of shooters... 3 of them were shooting properly, into a hillside so they knew their backdrop. One pair of men off to the left was shooting off the top of a hill {shudder} and of course there could have been any number of people in the area to the other side - in fact if we had been able to park where we first intended, we'd have been riding right through there! The group that actually DID shoot at us was a family with young children, they were shooting into the trees and bushes, which means they couldn't see and didn't know their backdrop - which was the wash in which we were riding!

We are so lucky none of us or the horses were hit!!! Parking and riding near shooters is always annoying, they leave a horrible mess between the empty shell casings and the trash they use as targets. And gee whiz do you think they would pick up after themselves? HA! And of course the noise affects the horses, luckily mine aren't too bothered, they just flinch, but some horses get really upset, and it could easily cause a rider to be dumped and hurt! Most of the time, once they see us, they will pause and let us go on by, but sometimes we run into some real jerks... just like the ATVers, most of them are polite but not all. But I've never really worried too much, especially since my horses handle it so well, since I watched Randy teach our kids to shoot and I know that the number one rule is KNOW YOUR BACKDROP!!! Foolish I know, but knowing that bullets can kill I assumed that anyone out shooting would be following, at the very least, that number one rule...

Anyway we've never untacked and vamoosed quite so quickly after a ride, but we sure wanted out of there today! And as we left the area, Peoria Police were inbound - I sure hope they gave those idiots a wake-up call!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been depressed for 2 days and today I figured out why... because as I requested, Andria let me know when she arrived in town... which was Tuesday at about 4:30. Since, because of her plans and my life, I didn't get to actually SEE her until about that time today, once I did see her I realized that knowing she was here, and I was MISSING her, for 48 hours, was depressing...

So I'll throw it off and enjoy her visit, short as it will be. Tomorrow we ride, us four girls, like we used to :) Yup the younger girls are willing to get out of bed early to come and ride with their SISTER {they won't do it for just their old mom} - should be a great day, we haven't been able to ride all together since San Diego in June 2009!

Bad, Bad Blogger...

I can't believe how long it's been... seriously! Where did the last 2 weeks go????? I've been so busy but I kept meaning to go back and recreate... well at this point, all I can say to that is HA! So let me try and catch up here..

Been riding, yeah, lots!!! Not as much as I would like but it gets dark so darn early now... last week I did get a couple weeknight rides in because the moon was large and coming up at the right time... had our big fundraiser poker ride from my place, Kim from our riding group is self-employed as a dog groomer, had to have shoulder surgery - no insurance and no work for 3-4 months... we raised over $300 but wow the stress getting it all set up, and then the weather on the day of the ride... it was all worth it though to hand her that stack of bills and see the tears shimmering in her eyes... had me tearing up too! Made my final payment on my new horse Glory on Friday morning about 8:30, and Friday night about 8:45 SHE DUMPED ME! Well honestly it wasn't her fault, we were at class in the arena and there was a woman walking her dog on the path outside the arena, she came out from behind a bush in her BRIGHT ORANGE JACKET with her BIG OL' DOG right as we came around a turn, Glory jumped sideways and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stay on top... the teacher and my classmates say it was a very elegant fall, kinda slow motion, they all thought I was actually going to right myself and then finally *plop* but even though I didn't fall hard, it really got me... see I was having visions of Tammy's recent accident and I remember thinking "Please God no it's NOT my turn!!!!" I did get back on and do another exercise but I was pretty shaky and sore so after that I quit class early to go take some Aleve, love that stuff! Still sore but getting better all the time...

Winchester, the lil jack born 10/14, guess he thought I wasn't fast enough with the feed bucket, he raced by and kicked out and HIT MY KNEE! Tiny hooves but they still hurt!!! Both he and Mathilda are eating with their mamas, but Emily Ann, the "orphan" we are bottle feeding, is not at all interested in eating "big donkey" food with her pals... she is however playing with the mare-and-foal supplement, and the calf manna, but I have to give it to her at night - if I give it to her in the morning, the darn bird eat it all - and they poop all over her feeder! Just bought my FOURTH bag of milk replacer powder and I pray it's the last... it's expensive and it is a PITA to deal with that bottle. However I AM quite thankful that I have the igloo bottles and don't have to use little bottles and feed multiple times a day!!! I keep meaning to get new baby donkey pictures but I can't seem to get it done...

Part of the problem is that Randy had a second carpal tunnel surgery on his dominant right arm on the 17th, so he is one-handed... which means I am doing all of my own chores and most of his too. I can't say much but the day at the VA Hospital was just horrid... major stress and a real bummer. Sad to see what our veterans have to put up with to get their care... an anesthesiologist called in sick last minute which wasn't their fault, but it threw a HUGE wrench in the schedule and wouldn't you know it, the worst of the fall-out landed on Randy...

Also I have been cleaning up the yard. We have a bunch of "project material" that we are never going to be able to use now that Randy is more limited, so twice now I have loaded the flatbed with approximately TWO TONS of steel - by myself - to be hauled off for scrap. Sometimes I am not sure if I hurt because of getting dumped or because of the loading... but the yard is really coming along!!! Now to sucker someone into digging up old fence posts for me... THAT I just can't bring myself to tackle!

Gearing up for the Cave Creek/Carefree Lighted Christmas Parade again, it will be December 11th. That is also the date for the second fundraiser for Kim (see above) so I will have to leave early to get to the parade... and a LOT of my usual helpers won't be coming this year as they will be at the fundraiser. It's a good cause and I don't blame them but I was almost afraid I was going to have to cancel, having only 4 folks including me... then I sent an e-mail at work, and another to my friends privately, and finally put it on my facebook... NO MORE thoughts of canceling, and best of all for my blogger buddies, MIKEY is going to participate! And of course Mercy... Wade, having had enough of little donkeys and horses, is going to take pictures... I can't wait to read Mikey's blog post about the parade!!!

I am rather depressed this week too. Part of it is, my oldest flew into town last night but she is at her in-laws' place and I won't see her until tomorrow night - that is 48 hours I am missing with her!!! But I will have her all day Friday, and we are supposed to go riding and, I hope, have our traditional Macayo's dinner... she loves that place and claims there is no decent Mexican food in Salt Lake City... and I am feeling seriously trashed by my youngest, she FINALLY came by last night and picked up her dresser, I should be happy that she seems to be dealing with her life as it is now but I can't help it, I want her to be sad that she isn't home with me, I want to hear that she was wrong and she is sorry... and I really, REALLY want to hear that she has dumped that loser, @$$hole boyfriend of hers... I have to keep reminding myself to be thankful that I finally, FINALLY have peace in my home... and concentrate on the plans we have for making changes inside the house! It will be a long slow process and a lot of work but if we ever get it done, it will be SO NICE...

To all of you cooking out there for Thanksgiving, don't hate me, I don't have to cook a thing! Randy signed up for a relish tray for his family gathering and, although I may have to chop some veggies as he is still one-handed from his surgery, I plan to sneak in a lil ride with Laurie on Thursday morning before we head into town. Would rather stay home than do the in-law thing but hey, the food is always good :)

I am sure I have forgotten half a dozen things at least that I was going to tell you, and of course there are NO PICTURES {embarrassed} but I've got to rush off again...

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

Tammy Update...

Thank you all for your prayers! THEY ARE WORKING!!! So keep them coming...

Tammy is home from the hospital and making GREAT STRIDES every day... I saw her on Monday and it was still pretty scary, she did open her eyes, look at me and say "hi Susan" which gave me shivers... but every time she moved or someone touched her, she said OW OW OW!!! And she was having short term memory loss, and not much appetite...

I haven't been able to go see her since and won't until Friday afternoon, but reports are that her memory is better, her appetite is better, the bruises are already starting to turn yellow...

As she gets better, so does her husband - so do her girls - and so do her friends!!!

Scary Sunday...

Keeping up with the alliteration for weekend...

Started off with a glitch, I don't watch the news so I totally missed that it was daylight savings time switch again... and my alarm clock is radio-controlled. Which is great for Arizona storms when the electricity goes out in the middle of the night, once it comes back on my clock resets itself and I don't lose my alarm... However twice a year, when the rest of Mountain Standard Time changes and Arizona does NOT... yup I have a problem... {sigh}

I did manage to make it to the ride in time, since it was a surprise birthday ride for our friend Tammy it was important that we all be there EARLY, before she got there...

She was so happy to see us all when she drove in! And we had a lovely ride... until near the end. :(

We kept ending up in 3 bunches... the faster horses, the mediums, and the pokey ones, which were basically Tammy and her 2 girls. Savannah is 16 and staying with mom deliberately, to help with lil sis Melanie who is 8 and was being ponied. Kandace also stayed with them and was helping with Melanie. We were getting close to the trail head and planned to head for a great Mexican restaurant, El Encanto Dos, for lunch, where a couple of non-riders were meeting us with a birthday cake... I looked back and saw we had spread out pretty far, and the last 4 riders were out of sight. We stopped to wait and as the middle group caught us, Tammy's horse - with an empty saddle - and little Melanie, holding on for dear life, came running toward us. Both horses were safely stopped and caught up and Melanie was terrified but not hurt... I headed back to see what happened. I found Kandace off her horse and on the phone, Savannah off her horse and trying to hold it AND look at something... but where was Tammy? Then I spotted her, on the ground behind a bush, SHE is what Savannah was trying to look at but couldn't get close enough with the horse. I asked her, do you want me to take your horse so you can check your mom, or do you want to take my horse and I will check your mom? She said she needed to see her mom so I took her horse and backed off... It would take forever to describe events as they happened and I'm not sure how much detail should be posted on a blog so I will just say that Tammy was air-lifted to the hospital. All of us were quite upset, and all pitched in to unsaddle and get things situated and get both girls taken care of and all the horses home and get Savannah to the hospital to be with her mom until her dad could return - he was out of state for work which was why he had asked us all to surprise Tammy with her birthday ride... (she had been told it would be just her and the two girls!)

I won't keep you in suspense, praise God she is going to be okay, she has a concussion and one fractured lumbar vertebrae but the doctors say she is going to be just fine. Of course she has bruises and scrapes and cuts as well. If it wasn't so scary it would be funny, her helmet actually CAUSED several minor injuries - the strap cut behind her ear and caused bruises, and the broken visor cut her face... BUT that is a small price to pay for saving her from a fatal head injury! The doctors said if she had NOT had her helmet on, she would no longer be with us...

I would ask my blogger friends to please add Tammy and her family and friends to your prayers... her husband feels responsible for setting up the ride, Kandace in particular feels responsible that she was not able to keep Tammy safe, and the girls of course are quite upset.

As my husband always says, it's a dangerous game we play. And just like with motorcycles, it's not a matter of IF you will crash, but WHEN and HOW BAD...

And yes, in case you were wondering, I DID have my helmet on!!! I didn't wear one for years, even after Katie tripped and fell with me and I hit my head on a rock. Well I didn't get hurt, just a sore spot... not long after that, in a very short period of time, THREE of my friends had bad spills where the doctors said, if it wasn't for their helmet, we'd have lost them... so I went and bought one. I wore it most of the time but sometimes "cheated" when I was on my good old girl... but with the youngster, and the new, unfamiliar horse, I did wear it. Once our friend Lynn lost her battle with cancer in July, though, I figured now that she was in heaven where she could see me ALL THE TIME... there would be no more cheating, because she would know... And I have been very faithful about it. In fact I bought a second helmet so there is one in each trailer and I wouldn't accidently forget to load it... I owe it to my family and my critters, who without me here to take care of them would be scattered to the four winds...

Super Saturday...

Picked up a newbie to our riding website on the way to the ride today, nice to meet Tina and her lovely lil gelding Gunner... a group of us rode out from Wild West burger joint on Lake Pleasant Road, a little east then under Carefree Highway and off to the north and east... lovely ride as you will see...

Can you spot me in these pictures?

Here's a hint...

LindaK and her new horse Riley YUM


Keith demonstrating the stepover for the horses... who all went through just fine after that

Except for Gunner, it was his first so Keith lent an extra helping hand...

As we headed back I thought my phone was ringing, but there was more than one bray... yup we heard wild donkeys, unfortunately the brush was so thick we didn't catch sight of them. We would have loved to go looking for them but we were already running long and getting warm - and hungry! - so maybe next time.

I hear this place has the "best" burgers... well I'm not a burger junkie so you couldn't prove it by me, they were okay, thick! But personally I prefer a chicken sandwich or, if it HAS to be a burger, Lenny's is it... anyway... we didn't see any wild donkeys but we did find an @$$ in the restaurant!!!

Afterward Keith, who has been following my truck conversion with great interest, jumped on the opportunity to take a spin in the parking lot... next thing I knew, KEITH AND MY TRUCK WERE GONE!!!

See what happened next: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWVk80aIcvs

Gunner was sure I must have ONE MORE CARROT for him...

An awesome day...

Fabulous Friday...

Took Luna out to Morristown this morning with Mary and Buck, LindaK and Logan, and Pat and Playboy... we had an awesome ride!!! Kicking myself that I didn't think to invite Mikey... but we will be going again and as soon as a date is set, I am sending Mikey an e-mail...

Anyway we have done a loop out there a few times, we didn't think we'd have time today so started out backwards and were just going to find the water tank and then come back... but once we found the tank, the next part of the trail is the most fun part {bushwhacking!!}, and the last part (well last if you are doing the loop backwards) is the most beautiful part... so we ended up doing the whole loop after all. LindaK took some pictures and as soon as I get hold of them I will add them here... I think two somebodys were late getting home but I was in plenty of time to get ready for class...

And, took Glory back to class tonight, she did great again. We got to canter which she loved... I guess she only REALLY hates the arena if she has to go slow!

And now it is really late and I am riding again in the morning so it's off to bed!

What's a Mom To Do?

Lindsey came by my work today to borrow my hoof nippers for her lil guy Bijou... Hilary came with. I wasn't sure why but Linz said Hil brought her while their dad was working on HER truck... She didn't have much to say and when they were leaving Linz kept hugging me goodbye (hint hint) finally Hil came over and gave me a hug... I hugged her back and said "I still love you, even when I don't like what you are doing" and she said "I love you too, I told you that when I left".

So far as I know she still doesn't have a place to live, just staying a night or two with a friend here and there... which makes me so uncomfortable! I just keep reminding myself, she is an adult now, and, chant it with me...

There Is Peace In My Home
There Is Peace In My Home
There Is Peace In My Home

Eventually there will be peace in my soul too, but it would sure help if I knew she was settled somewhere...

Empty Nest x Two Weeks...

Wow the time is flying... been a week now with absolutely no contact :( but I just have to learn to deal with it and hope the kid comes to her senses before too long. AND, trust in her sister to let me know if anything happens... In the meantime, we are slowly but surely making progress on the house, and although the slow part is quite frustrating, we will eventually get there and it will be SO NICE! Trying to concentrate on that...

AND dealing with EVERYTHING outside on my own... doing ok with it though, the pens look pretty good and gee, how strange, I really DIDN'T forget how to scoop poop {eyes rolling} - seriously, it's really a peaceful chore and good reason to spend more time with the critters...