Hooray!! But a little sad, too….

November 9, 2009 at 4:05 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

Last night I put my old, nasty, smelly, torn-up loveseat at the curb :)   It’s the same one that I posted a picture of a while back-Bandit has efectively destroyed it.  It was about 12 years old and it ws developing holes in the fabric from use, so he exploited one of the holes and started tearing it apart.  The arm on one side was down to the wood!!  He doesn’t destroy anything usually, so I wasn’t too pissed, but he did get a good yelling at.  Anyway, he has been working on it little by little over the past month or so.  I had pretty much resigned to sending it out to the curb piece by piece, but it was getting to be kind of nasty looking beyond what I could handle so this is it. 

I was getting ready to mow my lawn when I just happened to notice my neighbor outside putting up Christmas lights-yes, Christmas lights LOL!!  I asked him first if he felt weird putting up Christmas lights while his neighbors were mowing their lawns.  We laughed for a minute then I asked if, since he was out, he could help me move my loveseat out to the curb.  He helped me and it was out there for about an hour when I heard some noise outside.  I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but when I went past the window a little later, I saw that someone had moved the loveseat up my driveway-kind of weird.  I went out there and moved it back and it stayed there throughout the night.  It better be gone when I get home.  I emailed my garbage company and got confirmation that they take 1 large item per pickup.  Anything more than that requires special arrangements.  Now, if you have read my blog for a while, you know that after one specific day of dealing with my garbage company I have decided that 90% of the people employed there earn the company a tax credit because they hired the mentally retarded.  I don’t have a lot of faith in the company.  I’m a little nervous that I’m going to get home from work and the couch will still be at my curb.  We’ll see soon. 

If that couch is still at my curb, it will be a little upsetting, honestly.  The decision to get rid of it wasn’t easy.  When my husband, Mike, and I moved in, we bought those couches first.  I loved them and they were really pretty for a long time.  I have many pictures of me and Max laying down together on them.  Rocky and Mike are in some of the other pictures.  I have some baby pictures of Jake laying on them too.  And now I have some pictures of Bandit in his spot as well.  Now that 3 of those listed have passed away it’s a little difficult to part with the couches.  I was just looking through some pictures the other day, as a matter of fact,and I saw some of Mike sleeping with the dogs and it brought back a lot of memories.  It’ll be 10 years next August that he died, so I guess it’s a bit of a milestone. 

Aside from that, the couch was only HALF a couch now, and it smells like nothing I can humanly describe.  The musty, wet dog, dirt, whatever was outside that came in on dog fur stench is disgusting, as much as I have any attachment to that couch.  Now maybe I won’t be so embarrased to have other HUMANS in my house.  So, in a way, I’m sorry, Mike, that I have GOT to dispose of this gross heap of wood and shredded fabric that used to be a cute little starter-house loveseat, but since it’s outside, the house already smells better and at least I still have the other couch.  (That’ll be joining its counterpart in couch-heaven within the next few months, though!!)

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What a Week

November 6, 2009 at 9:55 am · Filed under Daisy, Stable Stories

Well, it’s been a wild week :)   We found some VERY interesting things out about a few of the other people at the stable, but I won’t go into detail about them much here because they are quite sensitive issues.  I WILL tell a story about how I was involved in one, though-

I was finishing up with Daisy and putting on her blanket when 2 cops and a lawyer walked in the stable.  The big cop looks at me and says “Are you xxxxx?”  (Taking out the names to protect people).  I said no and I haven’t seen her that evening at all.  He says “Well we’re trying to serve her a summons and she keeps avoiding us.” I was like, “Well, she’s here in the afternoons and early evening sometimes, but like I said, I haven’t seen her tonight.”  He says, “We were just at her house and a woman there told us she was here.”  I repeated myself that she hadn’t been there tonight.  He asked me what she drives.  I responded “I know it’s an SUV type but I don’t really know for sure-neither of us have been at this barn very long and I don’t know her that well.”  He interrupted me as I was speaking (again-he was a jerk) and said, “like a Cherokee??”  I said “maybe, but I’m not sure what it is-I know it’s darker, maybe maroon.”  He looks at the people behind him and says, “that was her.”  They went on to tell me that she had been beaten by her boyfriend or husband or whatever a while back, then she filed a complaint then didn’t show up for court.  He kept asking me about her-who her boss was here, could they talk to her, etc.  I told them that she didn’t really “work” for these people, she jsut boards here and gives lessons off her horses.  He responded, “so she isn’t a head trainer or something like that?”  I kind of laughed and said “no!” (there’s no way this person is a head trainer….)  Anyway, bottom line was that they left saying that they were going to arrest her boyfriend tonight.  I haven’t seen her since, so I haven’t heard anything else, but I’m hoping to get a follow up to it all.  He seems very nice-I’ve met him several times.  I think that people just have their issues and it probably just escalated to that.  Either that or they hide things very well. 

The other thing involves the OTHER trainer at the barn.  I don’t have proof of anything so I’m not going into detail about it.  All I know is that #1 I don’t and never have liked her training style. #2 She seems like a decent enough person. And #3. The crimes in question are farily serious but wouldn’t apply to me or any of my friends so I’m just going to hang in the background and see what pans out.  If anything becomes proven, I’ll post something about it, but for now I don’t want anyone to get in trouble over anything I post here.

As far as Daisy goes, she was off pretty bad at the beginning of the week because I gave her a few days off.  Well, now I know not to do that.  I’ll be riding her daily and keeping her limber.  I’ve been massaging her muscles and stretching her out before riding and after just 2 days of doing that, she was a happy little camper last night.  Her ears were perked and she was happy to see all the other horses.  That’s not like her ;)   So I’m happy about that.  We’ll see how she goes tonight and the next several days to see if it’s really making a difference or if it’s just the past few days she’s felt good.

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Halloween Party!

November 1, 2009 at 7:43 am · Filed under Daisy, Stable Stories

OK-I’m glad I went to the Halloween party :)   We really had a good time.  I didn’t get to REALLY talk to people I didn’t know too much, but I feel a little more like we belong there now.  Not that I didn’t before, but now I can kind of remember faces a little better maybe.  (I’m SO bad with names and faces!!  i can meet someone 3 times and STILL not know their name or recognize them across a room!)  Diane and Kathie were there, so I hung with them most of the time.  I made my low fat banana-pumpkin bread, which apparently was a hit-anyone who tried it asked who made it and told me it was really good.  Most everyone dressed up, too-I was very surprised!  Even the vet that is seeing one of the owners dressed up like the tooth fairy-in all white and a tutu he looked pretty interesting :)   We didn’t dress up, but maybe next year I will…. 

We played a few games, too.  At the old stable, when they’d have Halloween games, there would be all like 5 year olds and the like rolling pumpkins across the arena or something.  Well, here, there were almost all adults, so we got to hit some booze and play some adult games!  The first was one where you tie a balloon on your ankle and try to pop every one else’s balloon.  That was amusing, but I, of course, had to screw it up!  I tied the balloon on, put my foot down from the chair I was using to tie it on, and stepped on it LOL!!!  Fortunately, someone else did the same thing about 15 seconds later, so I didn’t feel too dumb ;)   I chased Kathie for a minute, but she got me so I was out pretty fast.  The next one was an egg toss.  (You can see where this is going, I’m sure)  We paired up, got an egg, and all got in lines.  We tossed to our partner, of course trying not to break the egg, then got progressively further apart.  By about the 4th or 5th length, Kathie tossed it to me and it him my palm JUST right and splashed ALL over me.  I had egg on my pants and yolk dripping off my jacket.  We laughed about that the rest of the night!  I heard from a few people that egg doesn’t come off.  Well, let me tell you it isn’t true-I threw my jacket and pants in the wash when I got home and it all came out ok.  I can say, however, that egg is VERY cold and wet in 32 degree temperatures, then it gets cold and STICKY, then it gets HARD as a ROCK on whatever it has dried on.  It does come out, though.  :)

Daisy was a happy girl, too.  I took her out before the party and played with her in the arena.  I hopped over some ground poles and she followed me, then she took off running and bucking, tossing all her mane in the air.  When she was done running around, I put her on the lead line and we worked on her tricks.  She is bowing a little deeper now,but I want her to put her leg on the ground and go all the way down one of these days.  I also worked on her Spanish Walk a little bit-I had kind of given up on it, but she still remembers where we were.  She is now picking up her leg and holding it up in the air really high-she’s really getting it!  I had her walking forward like that a little, too-still not really pretty or anything, but she’s got the idea in her head now.  She was VERY proud of herself and talked to me about it the whole time-nickering and telling me that she deserved her treats for being SO clever.  We’ll probably do the same thing today.  I was planning on giving her the whole weekend off, but she still needs to keep moving so she doesn’t get stiff in the cold weather.

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Jake is a snot

November 1, 2009 at 7:27 am · Filed under Jake

Jake loves to take the stuffing out of stuffed animals.  It’s one of those gifts that God has granted him with-he can remove stuffing from a medium stuffed toy in about 10 seconds.  I have a soft pillow that I got as a gift a few Christmases ago that I just love.  The thing has lasted through the dogs playing with it-it’s been brought outside, taken upstairs, the victim of tug-o-war between Jake and Bandit, etc.  Well, a certain little black dog that shall remain nameless got an inch-wide hole in it a few weeks ago.  The pillow was taken away and put up on a table so I could fix it, but like most other things that need fixing around here, it sits and waits.  Last night while I was at the Halloween party at the stable, the pillow found its way back into the play arena.  I’m thinking that Bandit ripped it off the table because he’s the one that gets into stuff like that.   Anyway, this morning I’m having my coffee and sitting with the dogs.  Jake grabs the pillow and sees the hole in it.  He jams his nose in there and I say, “Jake-don’t do that or I’ll spank your butt!!”  He stops, looks up at me, thinks about it, then grabs the pillow and walks into the other room!  I look at Bandit, who is still laying on his corner of the couch and tell him that his brother better not be doing what I think he is.  I give Jake a few more seconds and I walk into the room Jake went to as he’s beginning to jam his nose back in the hole.  When he saw me coming, the nose came out of the hole and he put his head down like “I was a bad boy….”  I took the pillow away and he glares at me as I walk back into the other room.  The pillow is now back up on a table, waiting to be fixed again.

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Halloween

October 31, 2009 at 1:36 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

Well, Bandit pretty much scared away any trick or treaters so far.  I had them outside because I don’t want Bandit to freak out when people in weird clothes come to the door.  They were out for about a half hour and I hadn’t had anyone come to the door yet so I let them in for a few minutes.  As soon as I did, some kids started walking down the street and Bandit went nuts.  The boys are back outside again, but Jake is really upset-he wants to come in.  I hate doing this to them on Halloween, but I know it’s best this way.  We’re an hour and a half into trick or treating here and NO ONE has come to my door yet!  I don’t know if it’s the swine flu scare or what, but it seems like not as meany people are out this year.  I’d just as soon not have anyone come to my door anyway-All those little germ incubators running around spreading whatever they have door to door!  LOL!  At least it’s giving me time to clean the house.

I’m going to a party at the stable tonight, so I might have some pictures later on depending on how that goes.  I don’t think anyone dresses up their horses here, so Daisy is getting off easy this year :)   She’s getting the weekend off, too.  She was a little off the past few days so we’re just going to take it easy.  I think it might have to do with the weather changing so drastically the past few days.  It’s been up and down-at one point yesterday I think it hit 70 degrees, then by evening it was back in the 40’s.  She lets me know when she’s off.  The day before yesterday we were doing a lesson and she was giving me crap about trotting-usually the first sign that something is wrong.  Diane said we’d just see if we could get her bad lead one time at the canter and be done early to let her have a break.  I asked for the canter and she started refusing so I hit her with the whip-her ears went back further and when I asked a third time she jumped up into a really beautiful take off then bucked.  She hardly ever bucks with me, but I can almost always tell when it’s coming.  It kind of makes me laugh now, but little miss attitude needs to get over herself.  She’s getting her wish and having a couple days off, though.  It’ll be good for me too. 

Well, still no trick or treaters.  The dogs are outside and the cat just fell asleep next to my arm on the kitchen table.  I’ll head out to the stable in about 2 hours and give the horse a rub down then go see what these guys party like :)

OK-update-I just got a clan of trick or treaters.  One little kid coughing and a couple other older kids.  Across the street, there are some people that must be edging on 30 dressed up with pillow cases for candy.  I guess the age at which you start to feel like a tool trick or treating is over 30 now…..

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Daisy Pictures

October 28, 2009 at 11:28 am · Filed under Daisy

Daisy is always happiest when we go out and just play together.  These are some shots from one of those days in the summer when we were just hanging out.

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0824092Daisy

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Bandit Napping

October 28, 2009 at 11:18 am · Filed under Bandit

I got this picture of Bandit sleeping the other day and it just cracked me up-though I’d share :)   What kind of dog sleeps with his mouth open?

I guess he was relaxed....

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Pictures :)

October 25, 2009 at 12:48 pm · Filed under Bandit, Jake, Uncategorized

Daisies

Daisies

Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves

Jake Loves The Fall, Too!

Jake Loves The Fall, Too!

Bandit in the Sun

Bandit in the Sun

Jake Napping as Mom Plays on the Computer

Jake Napping as Mom Plays on the Computer

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Back up and running-Bonus flu advice:)

October 25, 2009 at 7:23 am · Filed under Bandit, Daisy, Jake, Uncategorized

So Bandit knocked my computer off the table last week and I thought he destroyed it. His legs got tangled in a cord and he took off-the computer went with him, at least until it hit the floor. I was surprisingly NOT mad at all. I guess I’m used to doggie things happening around the house! Anyway, it wouldn’t turn on for a while so I took it apart :) Yes, that’s right-I went in and unscrewed things, took out the memory, looked at the motherboard (but thought better of actually removing that), put the memory back in, then turned it on and it worked! For a few minutes at least. It kept freezing when Windows was running. I tried everything in the book to get it to work again, but soon realized that it kept trying to fix some index that wasn’t happening. It only froze while I was in Windows so I reinstalled Windows and here we are-good as new. Actually LIKE new, too. I’m glad I backed up all my stuff before it hit the floor because I would have lost a lot of information. I haven’t put all my files back on here yet, but it’s running, I got a better version of AOL, and it actually seems better than before.

Other than that, things have been pretty quiet around here. I’ve been working with Daisy a lot-planning on doing more today, Bandit’s pimple has pretty much gone down and is growing hair back, Jake’s leg looks good (as good as it will anyway), and Tabasco is coming out more frequently now. I don’t know what prompted her to come out more often, but she’s getting along with Bandit and she seems a little more at ease. Maybe it was the catnip-playdate :)

I started taking Lyrica for the pain in my hips, too. It works GREAT!!! I have had pain in my hips for a while now and we decided it was arthritis. A while after that started, the pain would go all the way down my legs. It was so bad sometimes that I couldn’t sleep-it actually hurt more when I was sitting or laying down. So we decided that it was a pinched nerve in my back. I’m not one to take drugs myself, but I was hurting really bad so I tied this one. Now it’s so much better! I find that it was really putting a damper on everything! When I got off Daisy before, I’d hobble back to the stall-now I walk normally. When I got up in the morning I would limp down the stairs and now I can just hop up and go. Muuuuch better :)

One more note to everyone here-go get your flu shot. This year has already been worse for our office than the peak of the seasons before! We have people coming in and throwing up about 2 or 3 times a week, and that’s for a cardiology office! I know that the flu shots are in short supply right now and they’re running out everywhere, so go out and see if you can find some somewhere. As far as H1N1 goes, if you can, get it. May as well be protected as much as possible. They do not recommend that you get both at once (mostly because if you have a reaction it’s harder to tell which one did it, but a lot of people have gotten both at once and are fine), and they do NOT recommend the H1N1 in the nasal mist form for people with any kind of chronic illness (heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc). The mist form is weakened viruses and the shot is dead viruses. Go for the dead. You don’t want to chance getting something where the weakened virus could come back somehow. Also, believe it or not, the hand sanitizers work BETTER at killing germs than just washing your hands. I personally have been using hand sanitizer, then washing my hands after that. When you use the sanitizer, use about a quarter sized amount, wipe all over your hands including under your nails and stuff, then let it air dry-don’t wipe it or wash it off till it had dried. Keep healthy, everyone! And if you’re sick, STAY HOME!!! Don’t go spreading it around-it’s going to be bad enough without the extra help. Plus, if you’re sick, your immune system is weakened, leaving you more susceptible to other viruses.

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My Computer Sucks

October 21, 2009 at 10:07 am · Filed under Bandit, Daisy, Uncategorized

I’m having some computer problems at home again. I swear that my house is where bad people who were reincarnated as laptops go to serve their punishment. I’ve gone through 4 laptops in a year. The first one had a coffee accident-I spilled a cup of coffee on it. It sizzled for a while-like literally made sizzling noises-then shut down for good. It reeked of burnt coffee….  I’m not sure what happened to the second one-it became possessed one afternoon and started shutting down on its own.  I’m pretty sure it was a virus, but I couldn’t get it to clean, so I brought it back to the store and they gave me a replacement since it happened within 2 weeks of getting it.  The third one (the replacement) was some sort of manufacturer’s defect (I think). It kept shutting down for no reason after about 5 minutes of being on. I returned it and got the one I have now-a different brand, since I had such bad luck with the ones before. This one has lasted almost a year, but two days ago Bandit got a cable stuck on his leg and took off, bringing the laptop to the ground. It turned off immediately. After taking it partially apart and plugging the different parts back in, I got it to turn on, but now if freezes up after a few minutes and I have to shut it off. I’ll have to bring it in somewhere to see if I can have it repaired. A laptop I had before all these was one from work-I still have it because it’s funny to look at. It actually still works, too! There are keys missing from various dogs walking on it and the screen is separated from the base and held on by just the cable that brings the image to it. It’s pretty sad looking.

Well, aside from all that, Bandit’s little abscess opened up when he scratched it again, but it’s since scabbed over and is growing hair back so I’m a lot more positive about it. All swelling is gone and it’s just healing now. I’m sure Jake had something to do with the initial boo-boo, but whatever. Dogs will be dogs.

Daisy is doing good, too-we rode last night and once she worked out of any stiffness from the weather and cold, she went very well. She’s been so responsive lately, too-and holy energy!! She’s the little energizer bunny lately. It’s so much fun to ride her when she’s like that. Oh-she did another one of those “dressage princess horse” moves again on Sunday. We were riding outside and it had rained recently so there were puddles on the ground. I made her walk into one-she took one step into it, yanked her head down to see because she realized her hoof was wet, sniffed the puddle, took a step out and to the side (despite my attempts to make her go into it), and walked around it. Well, she can’t do that at a show! I made her go through it a few more times, much to her dismay, but she did it. That’s my little queen….

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