Christmas In My Rear View Mirror

We are faced with about 20" of snow and freezing temps daily. I can't remember the last time we had snow for Christmas. I think it must have been in the early 90's when Doug and I were in college. I know I am among the few but I really love this weather. It is different and challenging but despite having to haul water for horses and goats and chickens it makes me feel alive and invigorated.

Christmas eve was spent in with at my aunt and uncles house with my family. They always host a beautiful dinner. Candles, good wine, lovely china and warm lighting...it is a lovely evening that can be topped by few. My grandma looked memorable in her new sweater and I enjoyed a glass of wine while visiting with my grandma about the price of hay while looking out on icicles hanging at least 4' outside the window. The roads were as slick as could be but well worth the drive into town. I try to rarely miss an opportunity to spend time with my family.
The girls were radiant in the dresses Hadley picked out this Christmas season. I try to get them something special to wear and they LOVE to spin around and show off at every holiday event. I was surprised Hadley broke out of the tradition of matching pinkish dresses and opted for something elegant in black and gold. It was a challenge to get them to settle down for a picture and after a couple of shots Kate was becoming something that resembled more of a burglar than a Christmas sweetheart.

Here and gone in the blink of an eye. Everyone's dreams came true. Well, at least for Hadley. She got the chest xray she had been dreaming of. She also got a blue "diamond" she had asked for but it was nearly as exciting as I think she had dreamed. Mostly because budget and dreams didn't necessarily match up. And lastly, she got her accordion and is making beautiful polka music. Ahhhh...life is good.

After the sunset on Christmas day, we rolled down to Betty's to fill our bellies with the traditional comfort foods. Doug's aunt joined us from town.

With Christmas already behind us, I spent Friday filling water troughs by bucket because our stand pipes are frozen. What a drag!! And then we got one unthawed but didn't have enough hoses to run to the troughs from its location so I hauled buckets with the pick up to fill up Cruiser's trough. Elvis will have to wait for another day, he has a couple days worth of water left. While I was filling their troughs I let them out on the pasture to romp around. Cruiser just looks like an accident waiting to happen. He just looks like he is trying to find trouble and I can't relax so he lives a more sheltered life than I would like. Elvis, on the other hand, has lived in countless situations from running with bucking horses in the mountains to life on the open range with other groups of horses so he poses little stress for me. He is tolerant of Cruiser and his obnoxious ways, just one more reason I love them.

After 32 days of work, Doug finally signed out for the weekend. Signing out means he lets the on call doctors cover his in patients and he can mentally let go of care giving. Even when he is not officially in the office he has their needs and concerns on his mind because he might receive a call regarding the patient in the hospital at any time during the day. That also means he needs to be of sound mind (no beer!) and within 15 minutes of the hospital in case he needs to go in. Whew!! He deserves a long vacation.

So we wrap up this Friday with disc 2 of our new favorite series, The Office. This is the funniest series since Seinfeld. Check it out. Because I just got turned on to it by my sister I am getting caught up with seasons gone by from discs from netflix.

Feliz navidad amigos!

Snow storm 2008

Well it hit. A day later than expected. I suppose we were more prepared? This morning we have about 15" of snow. That is, for your information, taller than any of my snow boots. The care of the animals is always the most interesting aspect of winter weather. I have been feeding the horses a little more than usual to give them something to burn with this weather. Last night when I went to feed I had to change their blankets because they were like conformed sheets of ice over their backs. I think what happened is the snow landed on them and their body heat melted it and then as the temps dropped the moisture froze again. But when I stuck my hands under the blankets I decided they weren't keeping them warm enough so I brought round 2 of the winter blankets. Thankfully I have an abundance of nice warm blankets so they will be fine.

The chickens have not left their little barn for days. I have to bring food and water to them because they usually free range for both. The goats have moved in with them and I leave it open 24/7 so they can come and go as necessary. The tough love of goat hay is temporarily on hold because I feel sorry for them. They don't seem to tolerate adverse weather as well as the horses.

My biggest challenge will come today. The water troughs are to the point that they need to be filled again. They have trough heaters which keeps them drinkable all the time so I don't have to break ice but the bad news is all three of the stand pipes are frozen and I can't get water where my horses are. So now I will have to figure out how to run miles of hoses from something close to Betty's house or our guest house to get them the water they need. It should be interesting. Wish me luck.

My little Subaru has scored even more points with me this winter. Last spring I bought a used Forester to beat the cost of diesel in my big truck and no matter how plain or simply equipped my little car is, it ROCKS in this snow! It gets around better than my little Toyota pickup and I am so tickled with it.

Hadley and Kate had their good friends Luke and Gavin come out a couple days ago, before the big snow hit, and they had a great time sledding. Gavin wins the competition of being the hardest core snow kid. He stayed out longer and was more content to sled all day long than any of them. Gavin is a fire cracker. The kids had a good time and then came in to enjoy some hot cocoa and a lunch before Luke had to head off to preschool. Sounds like they will be back later today for some more winter fun.

Feeding Frenzy

With the bitter cold weather, I have had a group of birds lingering around the deck off our bedroom waiting ever so patiently for me to fill the bird feeder so they could fill their itty bitty little bellies. So as soon as I got a few things done around the house I drug out the 40 lb bag of feed and filled the bird feeder. And then I waited. Patiently. With camera in hand. It was like a shark feeding frenzy when they throw bloody meat in the water, minus the aggression, or the water. Or the blood. My feathered friends flocked to the deck. The birds come in all shapes and sizes. Red winged black birds, starlings (don't tell Doug) and little finches. I love them all. And no, I am not turning into one of those wacko bird watchers.

This little fellow seems to have gotten himself into a bit of a predicament. Ummm...and I am a helpless bird watcher, committed to studying but not getting involved in the circle of life unless the problem is man made. Ok, not really but I don't know how I would catch him and chip that snow and ice off his beak. Maybe I can get Hadley, the bird whisperer, involved after school.

Half way through my window photo session I noticed the numbers were decreasing until they were eventually all gone. I thought I was holding perfectly still so they would not see me but I quickly realized what the threat was...not me but GRASS!!

This deck provides some of my favorite farm entertainment. Among other strange things I enjoy, one of my favorite evening past times is laying/lying (I can never remember which one it is) in bed with the lights off and the deck light on watching the different cats come in for their nightly feeding. When daylight is upon us you would think we only have 4 cats but in reality we have many more. Simple things for simple minds.

Now back to my obligations...

Let It Snow

If finally looks like winter! I am just like a kid, when I wake up and see a white covered world I love it! The weather pattern that came through was strange in the sense that we only got 2-3 inches but my parents, in town, got closer to a foot. They aren't more than about 10 miles from where we live but that made all the difference. Sunday afternoon we took full advantage of the fun. Doug got out the quad and the sled and the girls climbed aboard. With Okie in full chase, they had a fast paced sight seeing tour of the farm.

Hadley has a passion for angels so it was no surprise when she dropped down and went to
"flying".

The biggest challenge with the cold weather is caring for the animals. It is nice to have 2 horses because it makes it manageable. I was telling my mom that I recalled the winter Hadley was born, December 2003. It was SO SO cold and for some reason I had her horses here while they were in Arizona. Why I felt adding their horses to our herd was a good idea when I was 9 months pregnant still baffles me but none-the-less I did it. It was a long spell of snow and seriously cold temps and keeping water troughs thawed for all the horses to drink was not possible so they all got turned out together on the pasture and we kept one tank accessible. And to top it off, when I was in the hospital having Hadley, Doug's wonderful father (who has since passed on) would go down daily and care for all the horses. He was anything but a horse person but he had a heart the size of the moon and knew how much they all meant to me so he took great care of them.

Sunday evening when I went down to feed I decided to take a little extra time and I jumped on Elvis and took him for a spin around the pasture with a halter and his big heavy blanket on. It was a very warm and comfortable ride. Nothing warms you up like riding a horse in the winter bareback because their big bodies radiate so much heat up to the rider. And the quiet on the farm is so peaceful, no noise except their breathing and their hooves breaking the snow. Ahhh....

I wanted to share the picture below of a saddle my good friend, Coy Wilde, built this month. He has taken up saddle making with a master saddle maker down in Baker City, Oregon. This is his first work and it really is beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that he already has someone committed to buying it. In this picture it is lacking the finishing touches of sterling silver appointments but he will have those completed before too long. I love true craftsmanship in horse tack and Coy is well on his way. The entire saddle is made by hand, from the hand tool of the leather all the way down to the sterling silver engraving. It will be fun to follow his craft and see how he progresses.

The kids have made this Christmas season so magical. Hadley's wishes for a chest x-ray and accordion have expanded to include a pair of "new" ice skates. As if she has "old" ones?? And I am half inclined to indulge here but than I catch myself, where in the heck will she use them?? She tells me that her uncle Dean has a pond. Yes, he does but does it ever freeze solid enough that I would let my first born place a step out on it? No. And then she said we can pour buckets of water on the yard and let it freeze. I don't know. I am just a mean mommy but that doesn't sound like any way to spend time out here on the farm. So, as the big day draws near, I will have to subtly talk Hadley off the "new" ice skate train and redirect her to something more practical like an MRI or something.

"9-1-1 What's your emergency?"

What a great Friday. I got up leisurely and gathered the girls together to take to their grandma's for the day so I could head out on a mini road trip to pick up my side of pork in Prosser and then back to the Tri Cities for lunch with my good friend Cathy and a little Christmas shopping. I thoroughly enjoyed the day. I also picked up my year end awards from Cathy that she got from the banquet last weekend. I got a really nice, heavy stable blanket in the correct size (86). I also got a nice Kensington English saddle carrier that matches my hat box I rec'd last year and lastly a really fun pink floral hay bag. The women who buy awards for the state do such a nice job, how they are able to keep track of so many horses and riders and special needs is beyond me.



Arriving home after dark, I went down and spent some time with the horses feeding, cleaning pens, and moving more hay over in anticipation of the big storm blowing in today. I really hate the fact that my horses are so muddy and not ridden anywhere enough but I try to make sure I control the things I can when it comes to winter horse care. The chickens and goats were all tucked in along with the horses and I headed up to the house for a nice quiet evening with just Doug because the girls were staying over with Betty. What a treat! Doug brought home ingredients to make my favorite cocktail, a lemon drop. He makes them just the way I like them right down to the ring of sugar around the top. So with drink in hand, I sat down with Doug and the fire place and candle light and thought we would enjoy a nice adult filled evening with mature conversation. As we finished up our drinks, I notice headlights coming down the road. You must know something about me, I am exceptional at knowing who is coming and going on this farm and even fairly adept at identifying headlights as they get closer to the farm. I didn't recognize these headlights and when they pulled in and stopped in front of our house I didn't recognize the grill of the truck in the headlights. Doug said the truck had pulled out and then quickly drove down to his mom's so he hustled out the door to see what was going on. WELLLL.....after Doug returned I learned that a nameless 2 1/2 little girl had caused quite a commotion down at Betty's house. It seems Betty and her friend, Marcia, were making a pizza for dinner and they noticed the house was filling up with smoke. They checked the pizza and realized it wasn't near being done and decided their must be a chimney fire. Marcia grabbed the kids and headed for the patio to get them dressed and ready to go up to our house to escape the inferno and Betty grabbed the phone and dialed 911. It wasn't soon after her cry for help to the fire department that she realized Kate had re-toasted a piece of toast from the morning in the toaster set on the highest setting. Apparently it came out the size of a playing card and was black. HA!! Never a dull moment what that little muskrat. So much for a relaxing evening.

Major Bragging

Please skip this posting if you are not ready to read some big time bragging. But I just have to sum up how Cruiser and I did this year with very limited showing. I had big plans of going to a lot of shows. He spent the winter at the trainers so he would be ready to go when spring rolled around. But relatively early in the show season Cruiser was side lined with an abscess followed by another and then that pretty much took care of the rest of the show season!! So, with that said, I will recount our standings not including our local club because I already shared that in an earlier post.

Last night was the Washington State Quarter Horse Association banquet which I did not attend but my friend Cathy went and picked up my awards.

WSQHA High Point Senior Hunter Under Saddle
WSQHA High Point Novice Amateur English Equitation
WSQHA Reserve High Point Amateur Hunter Under Saddle

The Mountain State Quarter Horse Alliance (WA, ID, MT) year end awards look something like this...

MSQHA Reserve High Point Senior Hunter Under Saddle
MSQHA High Point Amateur Hunter Under Saddle
MSQHA High Point Novice Amateur English Equitation

Idaho state points looked like this...

IDQHA Reserve High Point Senior Hunter Under Saddle
IDQHA High Point Amateur Hunter Under Saddle
IDQHA Reserve High Point Novice Amateur English Equitation

Not too bad, huh? Cruiser and I have a lot of fun when we get to the shows with my friend, Cathy and her horse, Sky. Looking forward to 2009!

And the beat goes on

This is Kate doing her best Princess Diana pose. In her Belle dress, which is a staple in her wardrobe.

Morning on the farm

I took a little extra time this morning when I went down to feed and snapped a few photos of all the beloved critters that share our life. I am so grateful for sunny days this time of year. It is a real boost when we can get outside and spend some time in the middle of December! I love it. In addition to snapping a few photos I was able to put up an add'l fence to seperate a big pen I have so I can easily house my mom's two horses, Skipper and Keeper, when she heads south to Sedona, Arizona in January. Now we are all ready for our guests to arrive. My mom has great horses who will be fun to have around.

Sir Elvis taking a spin around the pasture.

Cruiser enjoying a morning play session in the pasture with his winter duds on. He is such a goof ball, note the long grass hanging out of his mouth in the first picture. And look at that trot. No wonder he is such a good English horse.
I shed their winter blankets so they could soak up some sunshine and roll and scratch their backs. They don't get to go out on the pasture very often so it is a treat when they are turned out.


The photo is a little dark but you can see the bits of blue in his eyes. I have never seen a dog with eyes like his. Typically they are all brown or all blue but he has partial blue in both eyes.

Is this not the sorriest looking chicken you have ever seen? I swear she is pretty when she has her feathers. She is moulting right now, the other hens have already finished their moult and NONE of them looked anywhere near this terrible. Poor thing, what an awful time of year to lose your feathers?? Her name is Uno and she is a sweet little thing. And now we can add homely to the description.

Just another day in paradise

December is in full swing and the excitement and joy Hadley is living is contagious. She loves winter, loves Christmas and loves sharing it with everyone. It helps that Christmas is closely followed by her birthday (December 30). She has been such a joy and so much help. As I am around other children I realize how sweet Hadley really is. She wanted me to play a ring toss game the other day and I did the motherly thing by allowing her to win. Well, she wouldn't have any part of it. She kept giving me another turn to try and get a ring over the post and when I finally did she said "Yeah! You won!!" Ummm...I thought little kids were supposed to gloat in their victories?? Not Hadley, she wanted ME to win so I felt good about myself. Sigh. My heart goes pitter patter.

Last night was our Northwest Quarter Horse Association's annual meeting and awards banquet. Doug was gracious enough to stay home and watch the kids. I was disappointed my mom was sick and couldn't join me because she always makes it more fun. I sat at a table with our treasurer, Tim Anderson, and his wife Rebekah. Rebekah is a fierce competitor at the open shows in our area and cleaned up in the year end awards. They are a really neat family and I always enjoy getting a chance to visit with them. Our table also hosted fellow blogger Dale McKain and his wife Kittee. We had an interesting conversation about goats (they have 4 Alpines) and how my goats have been taking me for a ride on the fool train. Apparently they don't feed their goats, they clean up what is left from the ponies and graze around the field. So you don't throw them 2 flakes of your expensive alfalfa horse hay every day??? And Tim told me about someone in his area that uses the goats to keep the noxious weeds under control i.e. star thistle and other horrible awful disgusting weeds. So, I am taking a new approach to the goats and how they will be cared for from this day forward. Thank you Kittee and Dale.

I suppose I should note my year end achievements in our local club. Cruiser and I managed to come home with the high point English horse, novice rider and high point senior horse. I am the points keeper for our club so I tally all the points as the year goes along and then notify people in October of their standings and they are issued a check to buy their own awards to make sure they get exactly what they want. Just the right style, size and color. This year I indulged in a horse vacuum. My friend has one that she let me borrow at a few shows last year and it was so so so nice for those early shows when it is just too darn cold to wash your horse. Can't wait to put it to good use this spring. Tonight is another banquet for the state Quarter horse association but I have already arranged for someone to pick up my awards so I will be sharing those later.

This is an exciting weekend for the kids. This morning we are going to take them to Home Depot for the projects they offer kids once a month. It is really fun, they have little home depot aprons for them and provide all the materials to make things like bird houses, tool boxes, fire trucks, etc. We meet our friends there with their two little boys. And tonight we will be going to the annual Christmas light parade downtown. A favorite for everyone.

Doug's track has been getting a lot of work recently. His friend, Doug, has been coming out and grooming it and keeping the track in good shape and hopefully everyone will be able to use it today and get some good time in. Doug has such nice friends, there isn't one of them that I don't enjoy having around and visiting with.

I was able to ride earlier in the week when Betty watched the kids. Gosh it feels good to spend time in the saddle. I got to use my Christmas present from Doug. He bought me a saddle that in my previous riding life I wouldn't have been caught dead in. It is a Tucker endurance saddle and it is SO comfortable. Because of the leathers being so similar to the English saddles it makes it easy to post when I trot out through the fields and is enough like my English saddle that I can practice keeping my leg in the right position. I love it.

With that I better go feed my horses who are patiently awaiting my appearance with hay and grain in hand. And those darn goats aren't getting a THING! They can clean up the ton of stems from leftover hay around their pen. Tough love.

21 Days and counting...

A friend sent this picture of a cat taken with a trail camera which was set up next to the remains of a deer. It is about 10-15 miles from our home. The mountain lion populations continue to grow in the northwest and I would guess it wouldn't be too many more years before we see them further down in the valley. In fact, one official with the department of natural resources said the numbers say there is probably already one living down along our creek somewhere but I doubt it since I haven't seen any evidence. They are beautiful animals and I enjoy seeing photos. Hope I don't run into one face to face.

I am cracking up. My kids CRACK ME UP!! Let's start with Hadley (pictured below with Grass). She is totally into Christmas this year. She was up at the crack of down on Monday signing a song about it being the first day of December. She LOVES winter. And December is an over the top exciting month for her because of Christmas AND her birthday. So I ask her...what do you want from Santa? Ummmm....well...."I want an x-ray." Surely I misunderstood what she wants. "A what?" And she confirms it, "I want an x-ray." A chest x-ray to be exact because, she explains, it's the only way she can really see what is inside her. Wow. And when asked what she wants me sister and her family to get her she said she wants a diamond size snow globe (and what would that be??) and an accordion. So chew on that for awhile.

And then there is Kate. We were reading one of her little golden books last night and it is Pinocchio. But she has her own way to saying it. It is pokin' okie. Too cute.

So we are gearing up for Christmas. I still have some lingering fall decorations around that I will need to get down asap if Hadley is to be happy. She wants lights, lights and more lights. It will be fun to see what we can put together this season. We were supposed to be hosting the Christmas party for Doug's office but they decided to move it to a local restaurant. It would have been fun to have everyone out to the farm but a tremendous amount of work so I am thankful for the change.

Here is a funny picture of Kate I took last week. I got a great big box of new paints, brushes, etc. for the kids (primarily Hadley) to use in their crafting activities. This is what happens when 2 years olds are left unattended with paint. But as you can see, she has her apron on to keep her from getting paint on her clothes.

For the time being, everyone seems pretty healthy. We were fighting the crud over Thanksgiving so my very funny sister and her very funny family showed up for dinner looking like this. We had to take a few pictures to make sure we got one with everyone smiling.

The weather has been damp and dreary. And it seems I have been stuck inside for far too long. I haven't been able to ride and the horses are standing in mud, I really hate this part of the year in terms of horse ownership. Last year at this time Cruiser was living large in California at the trainer's. I apologize to him daily when I feed that he can't be enjoying the same lap of luxury this winter season. But if he was gone Elvis would be so lonely.

I am enjoying a quiet evening since the kids are in bed and Doug is still at work catching up on the endless paperwork. I can't even recall the last time it was quiet at this time of the night. Usually I have to be up at 2 am to enjoy this kind of solitude! So, on that note, I better get some other things done.