Friday

This is the framework of my ugly porch. I thought Steven would be here today to put the siding on but he didn't come so it still sits there looking just like that. The sides towards the bathroom window and the side toward the living room window will have big windows. I still think its ugly but windows and flower boxes will make it a little more appealing. We will be siding the house this spring and it will match. Maybe anyway. I am trying not to be negative.

Bob should be home soon from his 5th. out of town trip this week. Three to Yakima, Moses Lake and Chelan. He said he would be traveling all next week too. I hope the weather is as good as it is predicted so I can get outside and do somethings. Need to really clean up the yard both front and back.

When I put the horses in I looked at Pepper and Dixie. They are going to take some vigerous grooming before we ride tomorrow. They are really big mud balls. The weather better be as good as they are predicting. My saddle got a good makeover this winter at Indiana Harness. Pat did a good job on it. Love my saddle, it fits me really well. And all but Dixie it fits well and I can make it fit her high withers with a good saddle pad. I wish I had bought the one I looked at in Albany. I did not want to spend that much at that moment. I have thought about it alot since and wish I had.

Have not seen baby Henry today. See his mom over in the far pasture so know he is well there. Bob said he was up with her at the water this morning and he was bucking and running. I am sure they were just resting over there.

Maybe tomorrow I will have more to say about the horses. Miss them. I petted Ravens poor lopsided upper lip today when I fed. It worries me. She eats OK but it looks really weird. Liberty is going down the road to Shannons one of these days for a while to have a mule baby and Shannon is going to get her riding. I thought she was going last weekend but she is still here. When I think about how she was when we had to run her into a small pen to finally get a halter on her and then "led" her with a bucket of grain to get her to our place and how she was so scared of being touched and now she is sweet and loving and wants to be handled. Just needs to get finished and get so you can ride her. She is a nice big mare. She will have a nice mule baby for Shannon.

Have a great Saturday.

Thursday

New baby Henry with mom Spot who was pawing dirt over her back into the air and his Aunt Candy that we think is going to have her calf in about a month. Spot is extra, super extra protective of her babies. He was born in the middle of a hail storm and then survived 4" of snow this morning. Cows are not really very bright.

This has been a very busy past two days. Yesterday Bob got home early and wanted me to go to town with him. We got the stuff to cover the new ugly porch and we went to Carl Jr.'s to have a burger and then went grocery shopping. I was so tired when we got home I crawled into bed. This morning I met my dear friend Kim for breakfast. She is a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines and had a layover here. I had not seen her for nearly a year and it was wonderful to hug her and sit and just talk. She is getting married in 11 days in Hawaii. Not her first, nor his. I am praying this is wonderful for her. He is a fisherman in Alaska all summer and she flies all over whever AA flies. Winters in Mexico and summers to Alaska. Love her like a daughter.

Came home and finished up some things I had to do for Marriage Encounter and then met some folks back into Airway Heights to give the stuff to then. By the time I got home it was time to do chores.

The horses are all great. I don't think they were thrilled with the snow but then who was. I don't care if we are setting records all that much. Ditto is so dirty. She is mostly white and rolls in the muck. We are going riding at Fishtrap on Saturday. I will ride Pepper. Bob is going to take the edge off Dixie for me. We were going down to Escure Ranch south of Sprague but the guys changed their mind. I am afraid of mud but it will be fun.

Am tired and Bob wants his hair cut. Have a great Friday.

Thankful Tuesday

An interesting day. My ugly porch is all framed in. Found a way it won't actually bug me forever and that is big windows and window boxes. Don't think that is too much to ask do you?

We have added to our critter family this evening about 6:30 in the middle of a hair storm. Spot had her calf out in the middle of the field with the hair falling. I felt so awful for her but she could have gone into the little barn. No way, right out in the middle of everything. Bob and I had been in a shed waiting and watching but she knew we were there and was very nervous so we just came to the house. She has had several calves so it wasn't like it was her first. She did good. We did not get close enough to tell bull or heifer but it is a good sized black calf. Pictures tomorrow.

The horses got fed today but not much else. It is so ugly out. They would have thought they were pegasus today with the wind blowing the way it is.

Today I am thankful for out first born, Steven. Steven is a very talented man. He got hurt last year on Fathers Day. He was after wood and somehow got his foot caught while a friend was pulling the log and it twisted the bone in half. He has not worked since. At least not at a regular job. He is kind of like his dad. He will do anything to make some money except things up high. He and heights don't mix. He is the one who is framing in our front porch, and then went on to frame in the bathroom in the barn. Thursday he will be back go do some other things his dad asked him to do. He was a good baby. He weighed 8 pounds when he was born and we had a hard time getting him here. He was active and curious as a little boy. He grew up and married Debbie who had 2 little ones when they married and they did not have others. He is a grandpa to 2 boys who live in Maryland. I don't always love his lifestyle but I do love my boy.

Have a great Wednesday.

Tuesday

Steptoe Butte

Along side the road outside of either Colton or Uniontown on Hiway 195. Am so glad the hiway had been graded before we went through.
Our Back Country Horsemen's exhibit. We took second place with it. Bernie Lionberger took most of the pictures.

A local Lewiston vet during the cold starting clinic. It was Saturday morning. It rained hard in the afternoon and night and the arena was like a giant lake so they had to cancel the finals on Sunday morning. This young horse was an appaloosa. She was not to excited about being there or being started. By the end of the hour and a half he had sat on her but she was getting ready to buck.

I thought I had uploaded a couple of other pictures but apparently didn't. There was a small bay AQHA that the lady worked with. I think she would have done anything Nichole wanted her to. Then there was the roan QH/Thoroughbred. She bucked and ran when he first went in the arena but gentled right down. He put a halter on her and got the saddle on her then did all the gentling stuff and by the end of an hour and a half, he had walked in the 60' round pen, trotted and loped both ways. He did beautiful. I don't know the trainers name - Dan or Don someone.

Today was a catch up day. Our son came out and started our front porch. I don't like it but Bob does. I could be really aggrevated about it but it wouldn't do any good.

It was so cold today but the sun was shining. That made it better. It is supposed to snow again tonight. Isn't it just hunky dory that we now have the snowiest winter EVER. EVER I say. See I had a reason to grump about it.

Hope you have a great Tuesday.

Sunday

We are home safe and sound. My pictures are still in both cameras. That is a job for tomorrow. I am tired, have a headache and want to crawl in bed.

Had a wonderful blessing today when Barbara from Serenity Gate came to the fairgrounds and we got to physically meet each other, not just via our blogs. She and her husband came and met Bob and I and we had a wonderful chat. Our husbands have alot in common.

The road home was clear but we were extremely thankful we did not have to come home until later in the day. There for 3 or 4' drifts along l95 at the top of the Lewiston Hill and toward Uniontown and Colton. They had graded the roads and they were dry but it would not have been fun earlier in the day.

Thought we might have a new baby calf by the time we got home but Katie got a little ahead of herself telling us. Spot is about ready but don't think its eminant. Don't know about Candy, will have to wait and see. The horses are all just hunky dorey. Katie and her dad took good care of them. Dixie gets mad at me though when her routine gets changed - like I am not there. She would not let me pet her face in the stall this evening. Pepper and Ditto were glad to see me though.

More tomorrow. Have a good Monday.

Thursday

Not much to write about today. Just an ordinary day in life of an older, tired Lea. Just have not been able to get back up to par since the weekend. Am weary.

We had our Mustang Club meeting tonight and it was OK. We keep working on Mustang Days. Andrea showed us the belt buckles that will be the high point awards for both Mustangs and the Open classes. They are very pretty.

Our horses are all shedding like mad. Ditto the old goof ball rolls every day when I put her out. In the deepest ugliest mud she can find. And of course you all know she is mostly white. The others go out to where it is sandy and there is no mud. Not the white horse of course.

I will be turning my computer off tonight until Sunday night or Monday AM depending on when we get home Sunday. We are headed to Lewiston to the Outdoor Show. Our Backcountry club is helping out. Sunday Bob is judging (one of the judges) a Dutch Oven Cooking contest. I am entering some photos in the photo contest. I have to frame them in the morning. Was too tired and got frustrated this evening. I hope to see Barbara from Serenity Gate there. In Lewiston.

I am seeing crosseyed so best say : Have a good weekend.

Wednesday

Sorry about yesterday. We went to a friend's home for dinner. She is Grandma Jean to about everyone that knows her. She is especially dear to us. We stayed longer than we had planned and I was really tired when we got home so just fell into bed.

Yesterday should have been my Thankful Tuesday so I am going to do it today. Today I am going to highlight our youngest son Tom. I am very thankful for him and his family. We adopted Tom and carried him out of the Maricopa Country Hospital in Phoenix, AZ. He was 5 days old. He was a sweet little bundle from day one and still is sweet. He was a wild boy from the day he could get around. I think he was 11 months old when he climbed to the top of our upright piano and jumped off. He did not hurt himself. He climbed, jumped, ran anything else he tried he did. When he was five he broke his leg and after 4 weeks they put a walking cast on it. The first week I think he had 3 new casts. One he waded in a mudpuddle and it melted, and the second two he brok the knee so he would ride his big wheel. He is a very caring man. He plays with his kids like he played when he was little. They ride 4 wheelers, they ride bikes, they climb trees - you name it, they do it. His 2 boys are Ryan and Seth and his daughter is Sheya. She is so like him it cracks me up. Tom has been worrying about his job but he is in management so he hopes it will hold out. Christy works for Quest in customer service. He has been a joy to us since we first had him placed in our arms. He has a problem with being adopted but there is nothing I can do about that. We don't have a problem nor do his brothers and sisters. Tom is my treasure of the week.

Katie came and worked with Abby quite a bit today. I was so glad to see her doing it. I think she is just overwhelmed with life at the moment. She loaded and unloaded Abby in the trailer and gave her a vigorous grooming. Abby loves her and would do just about anything Katie asked of her. Love to see that.

I have been reading lots of entrys on the Wild Horse and Burro Yahoo site this evening. Several of the horses that went home from Albany are sick with Rhino and colds. That is way too bad.

I don't think I have mentioned that I saw my friend Jaci in Albany. She had her yearlings stalled next to me in Reno last summer and we got to be good friends with her and also her mother Peggy. She is from Lagrand, Oregon. Her cousin is Matt Zimmerman who had a mustang and competed. He was in the top 10 but don't remember just where he finished. Jaci is finishing up her degree in Ag Business at Corvallis. It was good to see her.

Our horses enjoyed the sunshine today. At one point I looked out and they were all laying down in the sunshine and relaxing. They looked so cute all out there in a row.

Have a wonderful Thursday and if you are in the area, come to our Mustang Meeting tomorrow evening at 6.