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May 27, 2006
Bathtime for Kai
In this episode, Derek goes for a visit with Grandma whilst Jessica goes riding and then gives Kai a bath. (Yes, I lead such an exciting life!)
I have been taken over by the bronchitis bug-I went to the doctor on Monday, as I have never had any cold that developed into such a problem before. I have been wheezing, coughing and exhausted. Grandma (Doodah, as Derek calls her)wanted to take Derek for a sleepover. I said, "Okay!" He has been waking me up a few times a night, so I figured I'd get some sleep. (And here I am, writing in my blog instead of sleeping!)
It was a very hot and muggy day, today. So muggy that I turned on the air conditioning for the first time this year.
Cheryl and I figured that we'd go riding first, then give the horses a bath. This was a great plan.
I am once again using the "Dale Evans" western saddle, as I finally got it through my thick skull that the $30 bargain saddle was causing Kai some pain somehow. (He became increasingly difficult to mount when wearing it. I can't figure it out, as it looks like it should fit him, but I'm not going to argue with him, if it bothers him then it must be bad!) The search for a new English saddle will continue, but until I get the money for my Courbette saddle that I consigned to the tack shop, I won't be looking very hard.
The $30 saddle has been banished to a corner of the tack trunk. maybe Cheryl can use it on her new horse.
We had a splendid ride, then the horses really enjoyed their bath. I tried a weird shampoo that is supposed to make black horses really super-black. Well, it doesn't seem to work much, and it comes out of the bottle a very dark blue that stains your hands. Yuck! Fortunately, Cheryl had bought some nice-smelling citronella shampoo. This worked great! Both of the horses came out very shiny.
After the horses were all clean, I went home and cleaned up as I wanted to take advantage of my night of freedom by going to a movie. I wanted to see the daVinci Code. It was very entertaining. Forget the controversy and just enjoy the movie. It isn't reality. It's just a movie!
Posted by Jessica at 11:26 PM | Comments (0)
May 24, 2006
Cookout!
Our first cookout of the season!
Last Saturday, we had a cookout for the first time this year. We had fish, hot dogs and sausages. Yummy! (Well, I'll eat the hot dogs and sausages, but I leave all the fish to everyone else!)
Cheryl and two of her kids came over, and Don and Amy came, too. We were hoping to see Ryan and Danielle, too, but Danielle was feeling under the weather due to some dental work. I hope you are feeling better now, Danielle!
Amy had hurt her back earlier in the day, so I hope she's feeling better, too!
Brian had also invited his brother and sister-in-law, and one of his best friends and his wife, but they couldn't make it.
Derek had loads of fun playing with everybody, especially uncle Don, who twirls him around upside down. I don't know why Derek likes this, but he does!
Cheryl's son, Daniel, also played ball with Derek, and so did the rest of us, who took turns keeping the perpetual motion machine from becoming bored!
I had great fun, but I am now recovering from bronchitis (cough, cough!) The doctor gave me some medicine, so I should be better soon.
Posted by Jessica at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)
Goodbye, Traz...hello, Gambler?
Cheryl and her daughter said goodbye to Traz the Spaz, and are trying a new horsie buddy named Gambler.
Traz had started out seemingly perfect. He was quiet and easy to work with and well-behaved when ridden. He must have had a "Mr.Hyde" hidden inside for he very shortly appeared to have two distinct personalities. When it became clear that "Traz the Spaz" would be the dominate personality, it was decided to return Traz to the horse dealer whence he came.
Cheryl and Shannon are now trying out Gambler, a 14-year-old black Arabian gelding with a star and tiny snip. He is 15hh, and seems to be well-behaved, though he doesn't appear to have had an awful lot of training. He seems to be loads calmer than Traz, and a lot more like Kai.
Cheryl and I were joking that if they decide to purchase Gambler, we'd have an almost matched set of black Arabians!
We couldn't ride today, and tomorrow and Friday look to have a lot of rain, so I don't know when we'll get to ride again. He did seem well-mannered when we tried him out last night, though. We'll see-Shannon doesn't like him much, so they may not keep him. He also has at least one medical problem that we know of, and it looked to me as if he'd had a mild case of founder a few months ago. (He isn't lame, but there are obvious rings in his hooves, and the dealer was hedgy when I asked about it.)
Posted by Jessica at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)
May 14, 2006
Entering the world of timeshare ownership!
I ran across a timeshare week for sale at the very timeshare at which Brian and I had spent our honeymoon. How romantic!
We now own week 17 of an apartment in the Coach House at Clowance, in Cornwall. The week is around the third week of April.
First of all, I LOVE Clowance and Cornwall. That alone would have caused me to bid on the eBay auction. However, owning this timeshare will also allow us to "bank" our week and trade it for another week at any RCI timeshare anywhere worldwide. That's right-we can now vacation just about anywhere we want to.
Personally, I vote for going every year to Clowance, but the airfare might be cost-prohibitive. So we may have to settle for going to Clowance every other year, and banking the unused weeks.
We would also like to visit our friends who recently moved to Oregon. Brian wants to visit Germany. I'd like to visit Ireland. And there are many, many more places in England that we hope to visit someday.
Best of all, we can invite friends and relatives to join us, as our apartment sleeps four!
I really feel quite content in Cornwall, so I hope we will be able to visit soon.
Posted by Jessica at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2006
Kai is lonely!!!
Kai is looking for Mary, Kim and Amanda, but he can't find them anywhere!
Kai wants to tell them that he is looking forward to visiting with them. He has a new living arrangement (in a round pen, not his favourite spot) so he likes to come out and play often.
He will probably be moving to a new stable in the fall, as our friend, Cheryl, and her husband are buying a farm. Hopefully, they will sell their house soon and be able to move in to the farm before too long. Then, we will just have to build fences and Kai will have a pasture again!
Both myself and Kai hope that everything is going okay with all of the Gillmans! We miss them very much!
Posted by Jessica at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)
May 07, 2006
Brian's Second Race...sort of!
Brian entered his second mountain bike race today.
We left Derek on an overnight visit to Doodah and Poppa's house (grandma and grandpa.) That way, we were able to get up early and drive to the race. The bike rack is on the Wrangler so that Brian can go biking right after work on the days when he doesn't have a meeting. The Wrangler is a real pain to get the baby seat into, so we'd rather not have to take Derek with us.
We got to the race location, Ft. Custer recreation area, in plenty of time. Brian got registered, and he got his bike out and checked the tire pressure and rode around a bit. His rear brake wasn't working very well, so he consulted with the bike mechanic and they fixed it up. He was ready to race!
The trail, according to the guys we talked to, was supposed to not be that difficult compared to some of the trails Brian rides on (Pinckney is one that I think they mentioned being pretty tough.) Brian was looking forward to having a much better race than last time.
However, it was not to be. At the start, Brian headed off, pedalled a few feet, and his chain snapped! A great disappointment. He fixed that, but by then his classification had departed. He left last of all.
I had an hour to wait by the finish line. (I brought a book to read.) I waited and waited. After an hour and a half had passed, I knew that Brian had suffered a technical difficulty again. And I was right-here he came, trudging up the trail towards the finish line, toting his bike. About two-thirds through the course, his chain had snapped again, in two places, this time.
I was very proud of Brian for the way he handled these disappointments. He was not the only rider to have mechanical failure, and earlier we had witnessed one man actually throw his broken bicycle down to the ground in anger, a display of extremely poor sportsmanship. Brian was very composed about his own turn of events, and took it all in stride. After the first two mechanical failures, he still had been keen to finish the race, and finish he did. He is a winner in my book!
Brian reported that he had been doing very well on the trail before the last broken chain, so he is very enthusiastic about his next race, even though he is disappointed at not having a good go this time.
Posted by Jessica at 10:38 PM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2006
Bunch of stuff
Well, I've been too busy to update my blog! Some of the things going on have been...
Visits from people! We have been visited recently by my brother, Don and sister-in-law Amy! They came to visit after Amy's dental appointment. She goes to the same dentist I do! Don brought some brownies and a tasty coffee cake-yum! Brian and I had just finished dinner when they called and said they were coming, so we didn't get to go out with them. But I do know where they went after they left our house-Chinese Delight! Henry and Lulu told us they had stopped in for a bite to eat!
We also were visited by Ryan and Danielle. Sometimes we can still have parts of an intelligent, adult conversation before having to revert to "choo-choo!" and "juice!" Derek likes the attention to be on him, and I don't blame him-he is awfully cute!
We also were visited by Dave and Cheryl and family for a nice Beltain celebration (thanks for the delicious cake, Cheryl!)
In other news, Kai is shedding out very well. I also think he's getting a bit plump. The farrier visited today. The crack in Kai's hoof, while not dangerous, is still there. The farrier recommended a supplement that I can try him on, and a good hoof conditioner.
Brian has another bike race this Sunday, and Saturday is our nephew's baptism. Another busy weekend for sure!
Garage sale season is upon us. So far, I have not found a thing, though I've been stopping at the sales. Everything is either unsuitable for my booth, or overpriced. I drove out to Mason for a huge estate sale, and it was slim pickings. I ended up with a couple of old hammers, a vintage Bissell sweeper, and an old enamel-topped table.
Went to a used tack sale today, and I almost laughed. The tack was all moldy or dirty. The halters were so dirty, worn and faded that the original colors almost couldn't be identified. The owner wanted $4-$7 for the halters (yes, each!) The headstalls were priced $10-$40 each. For moldy yucky ones, no thanks! I can buy a new one for that price. (Even Jessica, the Queen of Old Stuff, who loves everything old and antique and ancient, recognizes that some things are just better-and safer-when new!)
Posted by Jessica at 11:06 PM | Comments (1)