The Second Day of Christmas

2 puppies playing..........................My version of the song. That is Skeeter and Bolt on my bed. Why did I put a white bedspread on? Not too bright huh? Oh well, it washes and they had fun.

I LONG for a sunny day. I get so down in the dumps with it this way. Hate it but can't seem to get on top of it. I love this time of year and its a struggle every year to keep a smile upon my face. I did get back to sewing today and got two more of what I am making done. Have a third one almost done. Would tell you but people read this that I don't want them to know what it is.

My good friend Tracey leaves tomorrow for Burns Oregon to pick up her Extreme Mustang Challenge horse for this newest of challenges. It will be in Albany, Oregon in March. That means she will have to gentle the horse and do all the training she can in 90 days. She did it last year also and then brought Sandy home to stay. You have that option, bring home with the adoption fees waived, or put the horse up for adoption and recoup some of what you have spent. I am planning to go to Albany to see her exhibit her horse. At least at this moment I am and it would give me another chance to see my uncle in Tigard, Oregon. Maybe if I justify it that way Bob will go with me. OR maybe someone from here is going and we can carpool and share expenses. That is a way off though.

Tomorrow I asked Tyler to get the Christmas tree box out. Don't know if I will put it up or not, I know it won't get decorated but want to see if the space I have allocated is large enough. I love our tree, it is just the right size and the lights are attached. That is the part that always made decorating the tree irritating to me.

And Joy, I do not have a green thumb. My Christmas Cactus always bloomed at Easter which I thought was odd and told it so. Last year it bloomed at Christmas and I was shocked. And I was again this year when I saw all the buds on it. It pretty much gets ignored the rest of the year. I water when I think of it. I think I will re-pot it when its done this time. Unless I shouldn't, I don't know. It looks too big for the pot. I usually kill plants quicker than you can snap your fingers. I had an ivy that I really babied and tended to the best of my ability. It was kind of a sentimental plant, someone sent it to me when Scott died and last summer, it died. Dead as a doornail. So no green thumb, just incredible luck.

Found a blog of a friend I met in Odessa in April on Beautiful Mustang's blog. Debby has a mustang named Wendy. We had fun riding that weekend. That was fun.

I will have to think of 3 things tomorrow to add to my silly song.

The First Day of Christmas

My Christmas Cactus is blooming. It is totally covered with buds. It looks like Christmas Day it should be in full bloom.

A long day but accomplished a bit around here. Tomorrow, I must, I MUST get back to sewing. I did a little shopping this morning. Went to Walmart in Airway Heights before it got crowded. I needed some wrapping paper, envelopes and such. Bob had a meeting in Deer Park this afternoon and Tyler was job hunting. Now he is babysitting for Christy till Tom gets home.

I am getting really tired of this fog. When it lifted a little today it was still very grey and dismal. I had to take myself by the neck and make me go do the chores. The barn horses were happy to see me. And Rusty always runs to the other side of the pen when I go in with her. She doesn't do that for Bob. We must get her pen moved to a higher place. That mud is driving me nuts. She can get to the round pen and that isn't muddy so she spends a lot of time out there.

Not much else happening.

Sunless Sunday

This is how Bob spent the afternoon. He helped our neighbor Shannon halter break her 17h mule. It was a sight. The mule got drug, threw tantrums but at the end of the hour he was walking along. He is really young - 2/3 I think. I did not ride. It was just too damp and foggy and I spent the day just piddling around. Cleaned my kitchen stove etc.

I am going to post here something by Baxter Black that I found in the November Horse Previews. It is a little long but worth reading.

Perspective

Robin's uncle gave her 2 dozen tamales. "That's too many" she protest.

"No, I've got plenty," he said "I bought 14 dozen from my neighbor's wife. Her husband's out of work"

Let's put our economic breakdown in perspective. Out of generosity and/or greed on both ends, we created the perfect tsunami of debt that has now come due. The tsunami tide is now going out and taking much of our accumulated wealth with it. It is rapidly becoming clear that the president and Congress cannot solve the problem. Therefore it is up to us to save ourselves. How? By taking responsibility for our own well-being and our own actions

Step one is to avoid spending another self-destructive though trying to point fingers and cast blame. At this point it doesn't matter to anyone except politicians and commentators.

Step two, turn off the television news.

Step three, reach out.

Together we need to find a new level of economic stability. At a personnel level, as a family, as a business, as a community, as a country. Some will be starting at the bottom, others further up the line. Reach out as an individual, as a family member, a neighbor, an employee, an employer or as a friend. Start each conversation with "How's it going? How can I help?"

For your own sanity, if you're in the limbo of loss, home, money, job.....go mow a neighbor's lawn, wash his car, fix her screen door. Keep your hands and heart and mind busy. Make your time beneficial to others. You won't be surprised to find how healing it is to brighten someones day.

Be part of something good. Start going to church again, help coach kid's sports, join the Lion's Club or Rotarian's. Babysit for someone, tutor a hard luck child.

Be thrifty but invest in your local economy as you are able. Buy Girl Scout cookies, don't abandon your contributions to missionaries, helping the downtrodden, don't discontinue funding needed scholarships, buying 4H pigs or helping the Red Cross. Keep tipping the waitress. Pass it along.

And while you are doing all that, fine tune your business big or little, feed store or farm, boss of maintenance man. Put in more hours. Work more efficiently. Get your mind right. Pull your share of the load. Put your fear in God's hands and pick up a shovel. The confidence we have lost in our politicians must be reinvested in ourselves.

Because we, you and I and Robin's uncle ARE America. We are expected to do the right thing, at home and abroad. Which is why, even in spite of our calamity, hundreds of thousands of immigrants, legal and illegal, continue to flood our borders seeking a better life. They have faith in our future. I have no doubt we will live up to it.

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen" Hebrews 11:1. Or....... in a nutshell, think positive.

This just struck my heart. Baxter Black usually is funny.

I did the chores this evening while Bob was our helping an older lady from church with a problem with a drain line. She is Grandma Jean to everyone. She sent a bag of peanut butter cookies to me. Now I HAVE to go eat them.

I am sad

Today being the foggy grey, drizzly day that it was, Bob said lets go down to the horse sale to see how things are on that front. Like the silly about horses that I am, I said sure. So we -meaning he Tyler and I went to Davenport about one or one thirty. Got there just as it started. There were a few really nice riding horses that went for around the 800.00 mark. Some in the 500.00 and down. There was a Shetland/draft pony I would have loved. He was a pinto and big enough that I could have ridden him. And he seemed to have a sweet disposition. The only other horse I really would have liked was a 2 year old palomino filly who hurt herself in the trailer coming - all superficial and would have healed but was so scared and bloody. I think she went for 150.00. THEN came the loose horses and they went for 10.00 to 150.00. I had to leave because the buyers were buying them and some had papers, most were young. None were thin or abused looking, I just knew who was buying them. I went out to the car and read the Horse Previews that was laying there. Just could not sit there or I would have embarrassed myself sobbing.

We got home and Tyler went to town to his brothers. Probably won't be back tonight because it is so foggy. Bob and I did the chores. Dixie, Ditto, and Pepper get put in. They stand at the gate telling us to hurry up. I had to pet and kiss them and get a good hug on them. Bob has been changing some fences and added on to the shed he and Tyler built this summer. I might ride Pepper tomorrow. Dixie is so full of vim and vigor I think I might just let her be.

Katie didn't come again today. That's OK. She is an inexperienced driver and I worry about her. She would take exception to that but you remember when you were 17 and driving for a year. You knew it all. Well she is no different.

Just listened to the Cougars lose their first basketball game. :(. Gonzaga plays tomorrow. I can curl up and watch it after I ride when we get home from church.

Let it Snow

Well, not really. However this little guy, the newest addition to our household thinks it snowed just for him. He belongs to Tyler and weighs all of 2 1/2 pounds. His name is Bolt. He is entertaining.

I woke up with a ghastly headache. Got up ate and took Tylenol and crawled back in. Slept a while and got up and have been just hunky dory. However I stayed in the house until this evening when we had to go to the store. I would not have gone shopping for anything this morning. Nothing I needed that bad. That would have been the case even if I had awoken with no headache.

A very lazy day otherwise. I should have got the sewing back out but that will have to come tomorrow. I watched Gonzaga play Maryland and win today and then turned on the WSU game and listened to the last 3 minutes. They won too. So sports wise, it was a successful day.

I should have taken a picture of the snow but didn't, and they say it will rain tomorrow.

Thanksgiving

Before carving. No leftovers though of anything. I wanted turkey sandwiches tomorrow. May have enough for one sandwhich. I guessed too close I guess. Tom and Chrissy bought the pies and there are some of them left. Guess I will just have to eat them.

Our son Tom and his three children came = Ryan, Seth, and Sheya. Our daughter Christyn came with her partner Wendy and her three children Nikki, Skyelor and Jadeyn. Our son Steve came too. Daughters in law Debbie and Christy had to work. They both work for AT&T in Customer Service. Debbie works from 4 AM to noon and Christy works from midnight to 10. Both are ghastly hours but for now they are thankful for their jobs. Steve has not worked since April or May and then broke his leg in a serious break on Fathers Day and just now can look again and Tom is the only one working on his shift. Just him and the boss. So both girls put up with it. Christy has a degree in accounting and she graduated with a 3.9 gpa and could not find a job in her field.

Our first snow today. Not much, just a skiff but enough to know we had snow. It was kind of fun to look out the dining room window with the snowflakes gently falling. Tyler went into his brothers this evening. Told him to drive careful and he said he always does. He is better than some and he drove all last winter. I just worry about him.

Thanksgiving Eve

Happy Thanksgiving

May your barns be filled with good horses

You homes blessed with peace job and abundance from the Lord above

May our Lord bless you with His good gifts throughout the year.

Cooked the sweet potatoes to candy in the morning and made sure the sacks of stuff were out of the turkey and washed it and got it ready to stuff in the morning. I just remembered I don't have celery. Quandary - do I go to the store now or pretend and don't use it. Oh well, I will have to think on that one. I made the other batch of cranberry/orange dressing and got that in the frig. I got the mess cleaned up in the dining room mostly. Before I go to bed will sweep the floor again to make sure I did not miss a glob of something and put the table cloth on. I put all the Christmas stuff away and I will throttle a grandchild (or child) that goes snooping.

That was the sum and total of my day. Katie came out but she is still peeved at me. She will need to get over it. I don't think she rode though. And she did help Bob with the chores. For that I was glad. He and Tyler built fence today. They are moving things around so the horses are out of the mud. I don't think he did much with Rusty today. Tyler did work with Liberty today though. She would like him to believe that she has forgotten all she knew. I don't believe her.

The grand kids will want to ride tomorrow so I hope its a nice day. Sheya in particular.

I would like to tell you the little intro was mine but it came today from the Mustang Heritage Foundation. All who read this, have a wonderful day with families and friends. What would we do without either of them.