I spent most of the morning working on “my” shed project.  I call it mine because great husband is on the road and I am the carpenter/Jane-of-all-trades when he is gone.  The boys helped me finish the outside panels - there are 5, 8 foot long plywood panels - they are supposed to keep the rain and wind out of the shed (there used to be screened “windows”).  Then I went inside to work on one of the “cubbies”… I am trying to put in some shelves for all of my plastic boxed things, holiday decorations and fix up the tack area.  I will post a pic of the “cubby” when I get one of them done.

Then, this afternoon, I went out to the horses - cleaned feet, combed manes and brushed them - all 3 that are ours.  Then I saddled Biggin for my first ride on him.  While I was saddling him, my BFF Nicole, came to drop off feed for her horse, Zzari.  We both rode Biggin in the round pen and we both enjoyed our ride.  He is very smart and figures out what we ask of him within a few minutes.  He is actually for great husband to ride.  When he has his first ride, I will post pics.

This is me.

This is Nicole

Reunion Time

We went to HarvestofDailyLife’s Fleeing Poverty yard sale last Saturday.  It was nice to see them, again, and I got to meet her mother - I read her blog, Life On The Ranch, too.  The yard sale was great and we got to see Dixie, the dog that T & N adopted from us because our old dog, Star- 13yrs old, could not take all the playing that Dixie wanted to do.  Star is having some really bad days, lately.  I hope that I do not have to have her put to sleep.  She is a great dog!

Star

Monsoon

We are getting lots of rain this monsoon… some areas within 10 miles of my house are getting up to 3 inches in two hours.  Flood warnings are everywhere.

But………. the sunsets are beautiful!

I went on my first real ride on Ruskie today.  A friend rode his horse, “Biggin”, over to my house and we left from here.  He was a really big help for me.  His horse told Ruskie that he was not as great and pretty as he thought he was, and was a great leader for him.  My friend kept me calm when Ruskie didn’t want to go across the highway and through a gate.  We rode for almost 2 hours.  It was as I had dreamed of for nearly 2 yrs now.  Ruskie had a wet saddle blanket and I will probably be sore tomorrow - but it was SOOOO FUN!!!

I hope to get many more hours of riding now that I have gotten the first under my belt

First sight of Ruskie’s new friend, Biggin

Me - on top, finally ahhhh

A VERY good friend of mine came over this morning and we put some real Girl Power to work.  I am trying to build a duck house/garden bed/wash dam with some railroad ties, rocks and lots of dirt.  We got most of the foundation for the duck house part done.  My chainsaw would only cut one tie because I need to take it in to be sharpened.  So, we got all of the uncut ones laid - oh, and the one that we did get cut.  The two short ends are laying near where they will be placed, with an end up so that I can get it cut when I get the chainsaw fixed.

Taking a railroad tie from the main pile - we had 40 of them delivered.

Oops, this one didn’t want to fit since it seems to be warped!

So, we took it off and traded it with a lower one and then put the “funny” one on top

Two hours later, this is what we had

We were filthy and tired.  I still have to cut a few to fit. Then I need to build a structure from the railroad ties to make it all about 6ft high (so that I can walk in it), put the fencing around the structure, fill the spaces between the railroad ties,  make a “roof” of plywood over about half of it, build the pond and make a hole in the shed that it is built next to so that I can make a small wooden “house” inside to protect them from the snow and ice we get here.  It will have a heating lamp to warm the “house”.

When the duck housing is done, we will use the rest of the railroad ties to make a dam for the wash that runs through the yard when the snow melts.  Between the dam and the duck house will be about 8-10 feet which we will have filled with dirt so that I can have a veggie or flower garden.  Hopefully, this will harness Mother Nature to control the amount of water and mud in the horse corral.

THANK YOU, Nicole, for all of your hard work today.  It is VERY MUCH appreciated!!

Not the movie, but me.  Yep, I am really pale :-)  But that should change soon since I am going to be horseback riding with a great instructor and a very very great friend.  She called me yesterday morning and asked if I wanted to ride with her out on the prairie that spans for miles behind her house- well, YEEESSSSS!  I rode her beautiful Arabian 2 and a half years ago and I rode him today. Yes, N - 2 and a half yrs!  His name is Zzari  (Ben Rabba x Ariezad)- his name will take you to a page that was written by his loved and lovely owner on Zzari’s 22nd birthday.  They have had a wonderful adventure together for the past 19 yrs.  I am excited because we have made plans to try to ride once a week together.  I know I will enjoy riding him because he is used to all types of riders and I need lots of his experience to get me back to the riding abilities that I had as a younger person….. My grandfather had an Arabian ranch outside of Olympia, Wa and I rode from sun-up to sun-down every day most every summer until I was about 16.  I was pretty good back then - I could even jump on bareback with no aids of any kind…. yesterday, I embarrassed myself because I had to use a bale of straw to help heave myself into the saddle!!    I need to be lean and mean (not that mean!) so that I can ride my own horse, Ruskie, more.  Like I said before, Zzari is used to the unskilled rider - Ruskie thinks HE is in control with the “yahoo” rider.

N took this pic of Zzari and me during our last ride together on the very same prairie.

Thank you, Zzari and N for the great ride and time together… I really hope that there are many more great days ahead for us!

I had the happy experience today to run into someone I met a little over a year ago, but have not seen since.  Some day very soon he will be a real celebrity!  I personally think he is one now….. He and his other half adopted a pup that I had that just was not working out here at my house because of my old dog.  I have seen him on TV a few times working as a newscaster and I look forward to his other half’s blog each day.  He has a great blog, too - all about living “green”.  I wish that I had thought to have someone take a pic of the two of us together.  His other half is Talina and his name is Nathan.  Thanks, Nathan, for the chat today - I really enjoyed seeing and visiting with you!