Go with the horse, or go with a nap?

I took Royal out the other day with the cart and we drove all around. She has such a nice road trot, she extends so pretty! It was exhilarating! then I was going to do the same thing the next day, but after doing errands in town, I came home and took a very long nap instead. My body is still having troubles adjusting from sleeping day to sleeping nights. So I took her out today for a ride looking for my cat, Toaster, who didn't come home this morning. He's been liking to go out these warmer nights and is always waiting to come in in the morning.

So that was an excuse to get the horse out. We rode the fence-line and the road-line, down a nearby dirt road and along the highway and past some neighbors who were in their yard. We visited for a while, but it was obvious that Royal didn't want to have anything to do with just standing in the rain. She wanted to go home! So on our way we went until we got to the horrid horse-eating yellow trash bags left in a pile by the side of the road by the volunteers who pick up the ditches. Horses must see yellow because I had another horse who was good everywhere, but when something yellow went by he was terrified! Roy was controllable, but we had to make our roundabout way around the trash bags! And then we stopped and got the mail on the way in the driveway. I don't like my horses thinking that once in the drive they're done, so we did a large detour around the field. Then once back at the hitching post what do I hear, but a drenched cat meow coming from under the porch. Toaster came and helped me untack and brush Royal down and  then was right behind the dog coming into the house.

So I had a nice ride in the rain and all my critters are where they're supposed to be. The dog by my feet and the cat curled up on top of the printer. Life is good!

Trail ride!

What a wonderful sunshiny day it is!  Rode my horse for an hour around and about. A very rude person with a horrid sounding horn had to get alongside us and honk. My horse had been well trained and she didn't react. I'm sure a younger green horse would have had problems, but my horse has been around and has always brought me back safely whether riding or driving. I can't imagine trying to harm a person by doing that. My g-daughter rides that trail and her horse is young, I do hope she never meets that rude person.

My neighbor is disking my hay field getting it ready for a new crop- I'll get my hay off another field this year. But there are a lot of pseudo-seagulls around right now. We usually see them in parking lots and on the roof of  the mall, but not out here by the lake and fields. I hope they eat the wood and deer ticks! The big tractor was coming right at us as we were going by, but Royal showed no fear. I plan on having her around for a long, long time! I have a POA gelding my daughter is training for me for the g-kids, but I hope to have him driving too. My horses are my 4-legged therapists and friends. I can't imagine life without them.

While I was gone for the ride I put Monty the dog in the outside kennel. She is so small she squeezed out by the hinges of the gate. I'm going to have to find a better way of containing her. She's like the pigs- if it doesn't hold water, it won't hold them!

Off to supper now- I ground some wheat and made a loaf of bread with dried cranberries. My oven is broken so I used my bread machine. It isn't cooking my bread all the way through so while it was warm it did a minute in the microwave. Could of had 2 minutes. It does make good toast with honey on it! The cranberries were the best! Ummm toast for supper!

Phineas stayed the night with me last night so his family could go early this morning to buy 4-H pigs. He makes life so interesting. What goes on inside that little 5 year old head? We were stacking lumber behind the shed this morning trying to get the yard cleaned up. I used the wheelbarrow and he used the little red wagon. It wasn't too long until he was lining small stones up along my walk-way. After lunch we were back at it. Me doing the hauling and Phineas doing the stone organizing. Soon he piped up with, "Nana, I'm over here too much."

"Too much? Don't you have fun here? Don't you like coming here?"

Phineas looked at me and said, "Why would you say that?"

He's back home now with his 3 siblings and their 4 pigs chosen for their cuteness. I'm looking forward to the County Fair end of July!

Today I had the responsibility of getting g-son #2 to pre-school. Did that OK and was waiting outside for it to get over when I got a call from his teacher. It was out at 11am, not 11:30am I was just outside the door when she called so I wasn't more than 5 minutes late, but I felt bad about that. I encroached on the teacher's lunch time.

We got home, ate lunch, and went for a walk around the pasture checking fence. Had to replace 7 staples. I asked g-son #2 to remember 7 and he repeated the number the whole way around the fence! And then if I was more than 4 feet ahead of him he kept saying, "Slow down Nana, I'm too young to get lost!"

When the big kids' school was out their dad brought them over and they played on the hay bales- big round ones- and the boys fought over the little red wagon. G-daughter #1 got the old horse Keila out and saddled her up and went for a nice ride while I was digging post holes for the new hitching post. I'll have to buy 1 more post and then I can finish it off tomorrow. Cooked and ate supper and now to get the kids through the shower and find places for them to sleep. Its a school night so I may have a struggle getting them settled for bed. Nana's world is full of fun for the g-kids.

I noticed my cinch strap is missing for the saddle I have for the g-kids. Have to get one so 2 of us can ride at a time. Keila the 21 year old horse didn't even raise a sweat while g-daughter #1 was riding her, but Royal, Keila's daughter, raised a nice one running up and down the fence line all worried about her mum. It was good for her!

I can see I'm going to have to fence another small pasture for the girls as the one they're in needs some rest to grow a little grass. So it looks like I have my exercise cut out for me for the next few days!

I haven't been so good keeping up on this blogging thing. I've had my youngest grandson, 'Phineas' (grandchildren will have their names changed to protect them) with me for a couple of days and will have him for another day or two. We're having fun even though the weather isn't cooperating for going outside. I had planned on building a hitching post for the horses and planting some strawberries in my new garden.

I have a neighbor who is leasing some of my land in return for putting up my hay, keeping my driveway plowed out in the winter, and plowing my garden. Its a good deal for both of us since I don't have a vehicle to plow with or even haul a trailer to haul my hay. So he plowed and disked a garden spot for me that I have to rake and finish preparing for a garden. The strawberry plants are sitting in a cardboard box that is now totally drenched from the rain and needs attention. The rain also let me know that I have a leaky window in my house. I need to insulate under my home to lose less heat next winter so my gas bill won't be so high. I have more fencing to do. I just lost my job- no longer needed.

So my daughter brought Phineas over the other day and I crawled out of bed to tend to him. We fixed the  north pasture fence line that someone had taken clean off the corner post. Got it stretched and tight. Phineas found large rocks he could carry and put them in the fence line out of the pasture and plowed field. He wants a little hammer to be able to help me! That was a good start to getting me out of my slump. Now he's over here for 3 days, I'm finding I have more energy to do the things that need to be done. Like fill out job applications. I did follow-through calls for 2 jobs yesterday to find out they've been filled. There are a couple more jobs in the area to apply for. After that I may have to seriously think about relocating to an area where nurses are needed and get paid a little better. I would really not like to leave this area where my grandchildren- or most of them- live.

Last Saturday while I was being a lump in the house a friend drove in with his horse trailer and picked up my 2 horses to take to our horse club's annual Coggins Clinic and monthly trail ride. I went over to fill out the paperwork and write the check to the vet and ended up using a borrowed saddle and bridle and going on the trail ride with everyone else. I guess that made me realize that there is more to life than whats just in my backyard- I had FUN! And I wasn't sore the next day either. So now I really need to get the hitching post up and get my horse out on some trails in my own backyard! Maybe my oldest grandaughter can meet me and we can do a little riding together. I really do like my own backyard and have fun living here.

So the depression nearly snuck up on me, but I'm sidestepping it for now. Having a job and income does make life much easier when it comes to paying the bills and keeping the banker at bay, but for now I'll be ok. I'm looking for the next door to open and know there will be a new adventure out there for me to experience!