Archive for November, 2009

Funny Story

November 24, 2009 at 10:25 am · Filed under Dating-Online and Other, Uncategorized

I just signed up for an online dating site again because it was free and easy to do so I figured what the heck.  Then I was reminded of several not-so-great dates (and those that fortunately didn’t make it to date status) that came of other sites I had signed up for.

One such date was a guy I met-about 35 or so, divorced with kids, non-smoker, drinks socially, etc etc.  The kinds of things that were reasonable.  He said he was about 50 lbs overweight-I figured it wasn’t going to be a big deal.  We talked for a while over emails and he seemed nice enough so I agreed to meet him over at the local Buffalo Wild Wings.  I got to the BWW looking forward to meeting him, wondering what he looked like, wondering what he was going to be like, etc.  I was there a little early and it was a nice night so I waited outside.  I was leaning up against the wall next to the door, watching people go in and out and wondering which one he was when I felt the earth rumble beneath my feet in a rhythmic footstep pattern.  This hulking man came around the corner-6 foot 5 inches or so and EASILY 100 lbs overweight, he rounded the corner with a grin on his face.  Okee Dokee…..  We went inside and sat down.  He scarfed a few wings as we talked about his ex wife and what a “crazy bitch” she was.  Apparently, she came down with kidney cancer  and she was getting upset with him coming home so late every night because she needed help around the house and he was going out almost every night after work with his buddies and drinking or whatever.  After enduring an hour or two of this beast, we left.  I didn’t call back….

Another one didn’t make it to date status.  I met him on Equestrian Singles-I still remember that.  He kept emailing me, and I responded, despite my better judgement because his profile photo was HIM WITH HIS SHIRT OFF FLEXING IN A MIRROR.  Yeah….  FYI, guys-don’t do the no shirt flex in front of a mirror for your profile photo unless you’re a professional body builder or something.  This guy was not.  HE appeared to have some form to his body, but he was scrawny and not very impressive.  NOT a good first impression.  I kept the email to him short-he had emailed me and I was doing him a courtesy by emailing him back.  So his second email to me was a statement that he hoped I didn’t mind, but that’s not a picture of him in the profile.  HUH???  Actually, this is that guy’s brother-confined to a wheelchair because of MS.  OK, you know, that’s false advertising!!  I’m all for equal rights , but HELLO-you’re advertising on EQUESTRIAN SINGLES.  Do you ride??  You can’t walk!!!  Maybe in a therapy program or something, but come on!!  I’m the kind of person who is at least somewhat athletic (despite the bad back), and I want to go out and DO stuff.  This was just not appropriate.  Plus you’re starting off on a lie.  Sorry, bub.  Not happening. 

There was the guy I dated for exactly 1 week.  He owned a jewelry store.  I did half confirm that.  We went out twice-he seemed nice enough.  On our first date, we went to a coffee store on a Sunday afternoon-I didn’t realize that the coffee shop closed at 3.  My Bad.  We were having a nice conversation, so I told him that I needed to go take care of my horse and he was welcome to stop by with me.  BAD MISTAKE.  He came over-we continued a good conversation.  We parted ways.  The next day, he showed up at the stable looking for me before I got there.  Ummm OK-why??  I didnt’ hear about that until later in the week, though.  I was there the next day when he showed up AGAIN.  We talked briefly and hung out for a bit, then we made a date for that Saturday.  I was starting to get a bit creeped out because he showed up unexpectedly, but he was really nice, so we made the date.  I had a show with Daisy that Sunday, so I told him that I would have to call it early on Saturday since I had to be up at teh crack of dawn.  He was fine with that-very understanding.  He brought me a little rose plant as “good luck” for the show.  Nice.  I told him on Saturday that I didnt’ want him to come to the show because it would be too distracting since we just started dating each other.  He asked if he could see me afterwards and I said it wasnt’ a good idea-I would call him and tell him how I did.  We went to the show and it went very well.  We got back to the stable and before we even unloaded the horses, he was pulling in.  We unloaded the horses, I got ready to go-trying to brush him off and get him to leave because now I was irritated.  We were getting ready to get in the truck to drop off the horse trailer at my trainer’s house and he said, “hold on-I brought you something.”  He takes out this NASTY looking casserole on a paper plate-enough for two people, mind you.  I said thanks, took it, and bitched to Diane the whole way back to her house.  I dumped the casserole in her trash and texted him that I didn’t want to see him anymore because he was too needy and stalkerish the next day.  I found out later that he had been to the stable several times looking for me the week we were dating.

Another one was the infamous alcoholic compulsive liar who stole from me and used my credit card.  I’m still working on recovering from THAT guy.  It’s not a joke, either, and I’m not exaggerating.  Again, despite better judgement, he was with me for a year or so.  During that time, I found beer cans in the toilet, and empty beer cans around the house, including on top of an entertainment center, behind couches, under couches, behind beds, in cabinets, etc.  I broke it off with him several years ago, and I found ANOTHER few cans just this year!!!  What a sad case that was.  He couldn’t hold a job because he got caught drinking while working at every place he was hired.  He had me drop him off at a job he lost weeks before just to keep up the lie.  He actually started off with our first date at a park-he brought some beer with in his coat pockets.  He told me that his car was in the shop and his house was being repaired because it had burned down-he was living with his friend at the time we were dating.  Well, it turned out there was no car because he got busted with a DUI in a McDonald’s drive thru (how the hell do you do that???) and his house had been repossessed.  He was currently living with his mom, who desperately wanted him out of the house.  He told me that he had a job working for a private detective-he was actually a cart boy at Piggly Wiggly.  LMAO!!!  What a loser.  He still tries to call me every once in a while. 

The stories go on and on.  I’m sure I’ll think of more later to add to this :)

So anyway, am I skeptical about online dating?  Oh Yeah…  This guy I just started emailing now seems nice enough, but I’ll be doing extensive checking to make sure he’s not a felon, arsonist, compulsive liar, closet gay (that was another online dating story…..), alcoholic, or loser of any other sort.  Ugh….  Why do I put myself through this???  LMAO!!!!

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Past Week

November 22, 2009 at 8:56 am · Filed under Daisy

Like I said in the last post, it’s been a really busy week.  I actually had Monday off, but I went in for some of the day anyway. There’s so much to take care of at work!!  Monday, before I went in, I stopped by a few stores to get some groceries and such.  One of the stores I stopped at was my local Jewel.  They had a Wienermobile outside the door and I couldn’t help but go take a look :)  

There were two girls working inside the thing-I guess they just follow it around everywhere and show it off.  What a job!  I can’t imagine driving around in a big hot dog then standing outside freezing while people stare at it.  But whatever.  To each their own ;)   It was still fun-I went inside and they gave me a weenie whistle to prove I was there. LOL!!!  The inside is pretty cool-there’s several seats in red fleece material with Oscar Mayer’s logo on them, then there’s a bench seat that faces the large door.  When I went in , I could only think of the infamous crashes that these weiners have been involved in-especially the one fairly recently where someone smased one into the side of a house.  That had to be interesting. 

The rest of the week blew by as I worked my butt off.  Daisy and I had several good rides, too.  I learned a lot about my leg position and effective, but not over-, use of my reins.  It’s amazing what you can get out of one little change like using spurs!  She’s been getting a really great rhythm and has been rounding more and more, especially when she’s outside.  I don’t know if she just LIKES to be outside more or if she’s relying on me more as someone to trust so she’s listening more carefully, but it’s a night and day difference sometimes. 

Daisy also got her first haircut!!  I was scared to do it, but her ends were getting really scraggly and it was starting to get to be too much.  I trimmed her up, then I used a feathering technique that I’ve seen my hairstylist use on me :)   It came out really good!  I didn’t take off too much, but in some spots it was probably a couple inches.  The couple inches were just stray hairs for the most part, though, so no big deal.  Here’s the picture of Daisy’s first haircut (by me anyway):

Daisy's haircut

Not too bad :)   I might clean it up a bit more, but I figure that in a week, it’ll all be grown out to where you can’t tell the worst areas of it.  Again, I think I like it anyway-I may just leave it.  I cleaned up her tail, too-you can see that in the picture.  It now goes about ankle-length and is more of a straight across cut.  That seems to be what a lot of the fancy dressage horses have.  The longer the better, but that straight across cut is in style.  If I was REALLY going to do that right, I’d have to cut it to about mid leg to hock length and I just can’t do that. 

One other thing, as a stress reliever, I’ve been doing my Tae Bo videos again :)   I need the exercise anyway.  The first time I did the one, I felt it in my shoulders.  The second time I did it, I was slightly sore for about a half hour then that was it.  I might need to get a better video.  We’ll see how it goes after a few more times.  It might be better to ease back into the aerobic exercise thing again instead of jumping right into something that will make me more sore.  We’ll see how it goes. 

OK-back off to ride Daisy! 

 

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More later, but for now……

November 20, 2009 at 2:07 pm · Filed under Daisy, Uncategorized

……it’s been REALLY BUSY!!  I’ve been working constantly and riding every night.  Work is very frustrating because we’re already taking in a lot less than we were in years past and more payment cuts are on the way according to Medicare.  It sounds a lot like many cardiologists will start refusing to see Medicare patients.  I don’t blame them!  If one group of people told Jiffy Lube that they were only going to pay $10 for an oil change versus the $20 that all the other groups of people paid, Jiffy Lube would tell the first group of people to take a hike!  We aren’t like KMart where we can just slash prices on services that are sub-par, you know?  Well, whatever.  Anyway, I’m getting sick of the healthcare industry as a whole.  It’s going down the tubes.  Everyone expects top notch care and incredible service, but no one is willing to pay for it. 

On the happier side of my life, Daisy is doing pretty well with the spurs.  She is sitll a bit resistant, but I think I’m trying too hard with my hands.  I need to be more in tune with her and give fewer mixed signals.  I’m going to work on that tonight.  I had a lesson last night and I think I may have figured out another way to do just that.  I guess we’ll see tonight!

I’ll write more later on-this is just a quick update since I haven’t had a chance to write at all!  If anyone has an idea for a new career for me, let me know LOL!!!  :)

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Long Weekend!

November 15, 2009 at 7:25 pm · Filed under Bandit, Daisy, Family, Jake

Daisy was good again today-I used the spurs again and she pretty much did everything I asked without a whip.  I think that I need 2 things, though-first, a little bit longer spur.  The ones I have are pretty short.  She’s already not really listening so I’m going to have to increase the size a bit to make them a bit more intense to make her listen.  Second, I’m going to need something I can use for shows.  The cool thing about this is that they are required in the upper levels, so it’ll look like we’re a little more advanced in a strange wey :)   I’ll have to find some fancier ones, though. 

I went out for dinner last night with Kurt, Vanessa, Kellen, Vanessa’s sister and her husband, and Vanessa’s friend and her husband for Vanessa’s birthday.  Kurt wanted something alcoholic so he ordered something called “Joe’s Drink”.  Sounds manly enough.  Nope-it came in a martini glass with all sorts of fruit attached to it and it was a reddish girly drink.  he was embarrassed.  That was probably the best part of the night :)   We had some sushi, too.  I have tried it before, but only a couple times and I hadn’t had any with real seafood in it since I can’t eat fish.  We had some with crab in it and it was very good!  I’ll have to explore this sushi thing more LOL!  Kellen was adorable-laughing and smiling the whole night.  It was SOOO cute!

One thing that was really cute last night was Bandit-I was getting ready to leave and he thought he was going to come, too.  I guess he really likes going on the weekends to see his girlfriend at Mom’s house.  He was very disappointed when I made him stay home, but he survived.  He’s really doing good-last time we were at Mom’s, he let everyone pet him.  He was shy, but he did it!  I guess he’s starting to really like the attention.

Lastly, Jake’s swelling is gone completely.  I gave him some Benadryl yesterday in addition to the regular stuff he gets and it seems to have done the trick.  Either the Benadryl worked or regurgitated wheat product is already part digested and doesn’t take as long to get though LOL!  Maybe a bit of both….

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Jake is Swollen Again

November 14, 2009 at 5:51 pm · Filed under Jake

Poor Jakey :(   His leg is swollen up AGAIN.  I don’t know what he got into this time, either.  I have a feeling that while I was at work yesterday or the day before, Bandit got sick and threw up and Jake probably ate it.  Ugh.  Dogs are so dumb.  And gross.  So that’s my theory anyway-I haven’t given him anything that would make him swell up otherwise.  Jake WAS sick yesterday because he was eating something outside, but I’m not sure why.  I guess it could have something to do with that too.  Updates later on…..

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Our First Time With Spurs

November 14, 2009 at 1:12 pm · Filed under Daisy

I was watching a video on the internet the other day.  It was for some rein thing they were selling, but regardless, they had some really good points on riding and training in dressage.  One point the person made was that he never starts his young horses out with a whip because you can’t use them in upper levels so you don’t want to develop a dependency with them.  I ride Daisy with a whip almost every time I get on her.  I was thinking about that because I CAN’T use the whip when we compete in finals classes.  I found that out the hard way one year-I rode my first class, then we heard an announcement as a reminder that riders can’t bring whips into the arena for championship rides.  When I rode in that championship class, I just about died trying to get her around, but we still came in third that year :)   Anyway, I decided that I was going to ride without a whip from now on and use it as it’s supposed to be used-as a reminder if you need it.  Well, I got on yesterday and Daisy immediately realized that there was no whip.  She pretty much took it easy the whole time.  She was much more relaxed, but I could barely make her move.  We trotted around several times to prove to myself that it could be done, then we called it good because she was listening to my aids without a whip at the end.  I went and got on again today.  We went outside and she was all happy because there was no whip and she loves to be outside.  We walked around for about 10 minutes to warm up since she hadn’t been out at all today, and I quickly determined that I needed a whip.  I was laughing about it to Diane and she kind of half kiddingly said “you need spurs!” I said, “You know what?  I do!” 

So I went in my tack box and pulled out a still brand new pair of spurs I bought when I first got Lucky-about 6-7 years ago now.  Still in the package, never used.  Daisy was thinking “Holy crap!  That was the easiest ride of my life!  Walking for 10 minutes then back in for treats!”  We figured out how to get them on me (the straps barely fit me), then we brought Daisy into the indoor arena.  I wasn’t sure what was going to happen because she is pretty obstinant when it comes to new things like this-especially if these new things involve any kind of work on her part.  Diane followed me in.  I think she had a feeling she should probably be there should there be a Daisy revolt.  I hopped on and we started walking around the arena.  I’ve never personally had spurs on before, so they felt a little funny-they push back when you use them, so you can really feel when you do use them.  (for the non-horse people here, you don’t automatically use them when they are on-you position your foot and leg to use them if you need them, but if you have bad leg position like turned out toes or heels up, they’re always on)  I was pleasantly surprised that I was controlling them very well-that meant that I have decent leg position at least :)   I brushed her sides with them so she knew they were there and I saw flickers of the ears as if to say “hey now, what was that??”

Diane had me pick up a trot.  I had resistance so I spurred her.  She resisted breifly then thought better of it and went into a nice relaxed stretching trot-just like I wanted!  We warmed up for a bit then did some work.  She did beautiful circles, bent very well, and flexed just like she was supposed to.  The back was swinging and free, and she was stepping up great!  She felt a little slow, but it was just because she was so freely moving.  We went in one direction and did some spirals to work on yielding to the leg and bending through the body instead of the neck.  We spiraled the other way.  Compliments were flowing!  Diane kept praising her for doing such a wonderful job.  She was gorgeous. 

I got off and we went back in since she was so good-only a half hour ride but the whole ride felt like we had been going for an hour and were winding down.  Usually after an hour of me trying to get her to listen she will give in and do what I want, but this time she just did it.  She got an hour long massage after that-she enjoyed it so much that she was falling asleep on the crossties.  Her head was down, her eyes were almost closed, and her lip was quivering because it just felt so good.  I’ve been giving her mini massages every day before we ride and a little extra on the weekends and it has really helped her a lot-she steps up more and she doesn’t go off as bad on her back leg. 

Anyway, back to the spur thing-I was thrilled that I could manipulate the spurs correctly and use them without jabbing her constantly (which is what I thought was going to happen).  They made me more aware of where my leg was on her by pushing back at me when they were touching her, so I think they actually improved my position-Diane at one point said that my leg was over the girth where it should be and she seemed happy about that.  Happier than she should be.  Meaning that I have my toes pointed out and my leg back normally.  Now I know it isn’t TOO bad because I’ve seen videos of myself go and the pictures from the show have pretty good position, but I always have room to improve. 

I’m really hoping that this is going to improve us both and make the whip unnecessary until we train new movements.  She seemed very willing to do what she knows-including shoulder fore and haunches in plus leg yields in both directions, so I guess the whip isn’t going to be as necessary as I thought it was!  I’ll have to watch more videos and get more tips since this one worked out so well.

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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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