Monday, April 23, 2012

busy but bittersweet weekend.


Last weekend went by too quickly. I absolutely hate that we only have two days off. I wish every weekend was three days, or at least, we had a 3 day weekend once a month. Like Canada, I miss that. OR better still, have spring, fall, summer and winter breaks like in Sweden. Everyone has a week off each season. Now THAT would be spectacular. When I lived there I just couldn’t believe that everyone had week long breaks throughout the year.

Anyways Friday we loaded up the horse trailer…with furniture and misc stuff from our garage at our old townhouse. Boring. BUT  it is very useful to have a horse trailer with a ramp to move stuff with. If only we had it months ago we probably would have gotten a lot more done, faster than we did. Saturday was cold and drizzly and windy. I had the unfortunate task of unloading the trailer, alone. BOOO! But I found some horse stuff that I’d been wondering where in the heck it was hiding. I’ve got that barn so packed full of tack I could have a string of horses tacked up. We are actually looking for another horse or pony. If I could go out west to the place where I got Piney and get another horse with Piney’s personality and temperament, I wouldn’t hesitate to rush out there and pick one up. I mean another free Thoroughbred? Sure! But I really won the thoroughbred lottery with him. Of course he isn’t the prize for most other people riding thoroughbreds, because he is lazier than any horse I’ve ever encountered and it takes, a lot, I mean A LOT to get him going. His need for speed, fizzled out years ago. But he is perfect for me and for most of the people that I have riding him….absolute beginners.  He’s forgiving, and sweet, and he isn’t going to take off with you. I’d take another Piney in a heartbeat. But I fear that the next one I get from out west, would require a bit more work. And I’m really not sure I am strong enough as a rider to ride a hotter Thoroughbred, well not without an arena. I’ve ridden hotter Turd-breds before, but it was in the arena, with my riding instructor holding my hand the entire way. We’ll see what happens. I really do love Thoroughbreds and free is a pretty good price. I think I need to own up to my riding abilities and realize that I’m a much better rider than I give myself credit for.
Saturday night we cleaned up and headed into town. A good friend of ours is headed to Afghanistan for another tour of duty. We barbequed, and ate way too much. Fricken people brought all really good salads and dips.   So I ate and ate and ate. I made a cake batter dip that I saw on Pinterest. (recipe here) Wow. I wanted to just use a spoon and eat it, so did the other girls I was with. We held back the urge. About 9 oclock we all had to have a cup of coffee…since when did we get so old that we need a cup of coffee before going out on a Saturday night? Pre bar drinks used to be booze. Lots of booze. If you had coffee, it had better have booze in it. Getting old sucks.

The night was bitter sweet. It was a lot of fun getting everyone together, but at different parts of the night I was flooded with waves of sadness. Our friend is leaving behind his year and a half year old son, and his wife of 3 months. He is my husband’s really good friend, and I’ve gotten to know both him, and his wife pretty well. Right before we ate, his wife said a prayer and she broke down crying. My guts were being ripped apart hearing her. Later on in the night, I was sitting across from her and she was talking to me about him coming home and that she wanted me to be there to photograph his homecoming.  She stopped talking, her eyes were filling with tears, and she just reached over and squeezed his hand. I assured her that I would be there at the drop of a hat for her. She has been having a really hard time with her friends not pulling through for her lately. Hearing that broke my heart. We aren't like totally bff's or anything but I want to help her out any way I can. Tonight we are doing a military family photo shoot. My friend, who is a professional photographer, and I are going to take some photos of them that we can send to him when he is over there.  He leaves in less than a week. I still can’t even believe it that he is going back and will be gone for over a year.
Ok, I’m super depressed now…NEW TOPIC! Sunday, I woke up bright and early and started raking up the grass clippings that I had raked into rows last fall. I gathered them all up and dumped them neatly in a nice big pile on the edge of the yard. Hubby came out and informed me that I should be burning them. Great! Thanks for letting me know AFTER I killed myself getting that done. I also found a couple wood ticks crawling on me and a few on the dogs. I’m getting their frontline tonight. I am going to apply some to myself lol YUCK. And then my dog found a dead mouse, and my hubby found another dead mouse. I’m glad they are dying, but I’d rather not deal with their disgusting, yet adorable little corpses. When I see them I shudder then I feel bad because they are cute. But I cremated them both in the burn barrel. Because of my yard work out, I can barely move. I wore myself out big time. I am getting to old for this. So I am currently in the process of hiring a lawn boy…Not sure how my hubby feels about it, but he will learn to adapt.

I’m sure ya’ll are dying for some horse updates. So here we go. I haven’t ridden in forever. It’s always one thing or another. But I did have a little lesson for the boys yesterday. I wanted them up in the front corral so they could mow it down a bit. So I grabbed Piney and he came along just fine. And was happy to be up there. And then there was Duke. You’d think he was training for the Kentucky Derby the way he was galloping around the pasture when I got back to him. I couldn’t even get near him. His buddy was gone and his world was crashing down upon him. He was freaking the eff out. When I did manage to get a halter near him he blew past me and continued doing his laps. So I decided now was as good as time as any to be weaned from his “brother”. He kept galloping, and calling out to Piney, who was happily munching on some grass not even noticing he was alone, not once returning his call. Eventually Duke calmed down and went about his normal life. Hubby wanted me to get Duke and put him with Piney so he would calm down, I told him that he needs to learn that being alone isn’t going to kill him. And it didn’t. I might try to separate them a few more times to get him used to the idea that Piney might be going on trips that Duke isn’t invited too. But that horse is way WAY too buddy sour. He needs to snap out of it. He’s also become a complete ASS to catch. I have no idea what has snapped in is brain, but it’s next to impossible to catch him, even if Piney is right next to him. We have a list of things we will be working on.

So yeah that’s about it. I need to start riding, but I have too much to do. Wah! Maybe once my lawn boy starts I can have more free time to ride ;-)

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