Here we are - Saturday Night

Anna went to a party at Kylie's house today after our horse ride and is still there. They are watching movies. We watched a movie this evening - The Proposal. It was a funny movie :) I'm not sure it is a movie I would want to watch twice but it was probably worth watching once. I like Betty White and Sandra Bullock.

Oh, did I mention the horse ride. We took the horses out to the Mildred Kanipe ranch today for a trail ride. This is the last weekend we will be able to ride there this year since it will be closing next weekend. The weather was great with the sun peeking out between the clouds most of the day. I didn't even have to wear a jacket. The horses all did very well today with no big surprises. Pretty good considering is been several weeks since we've been on them. One little issue with Dustie and Lacey while going down a fairly steep decline into small valley. There was a ditch in the very bottom and neither horse wanted to go over it to the uphill side. I worked Dustie for a while next to it and finally got her to cross and Delaine took Lacey down the ditch till they found a spot to cross. It was good to have them out.

Mom and Tara, thanks for responding to my I'm curious posting. I've been wondering if anyone reads my blog. I know it's very dry but that's all I have. I'll keep it up and try to post more regular but I can't promise anything

Just Curious

Does anyone out there still read this blog?

Home Coming Dance

Remember when you were in High School and you got to go to the home coming dance? I don't . . . but Anna got to go to the dance this evening. She is still there probably dancing and having a great time with her date Oliver. The play saxophones together in the marching ensemble and in the wind ensemble and in the jazz ensemble. Even though she is 17 now and only a few short months away from 18, I worrying about her being out on a date. I guess that's just a dad thing. :) Devin and Tara, you may be surprised to know I had the same feelings when you were out like that. Like you two, Anna is a very good kid and I trust here completely, just worry by nature I guess. Here is a photo of the two of them on their way out the driveway:

Looks like they are already having fun, doesn't it . . .

I'm still here . . .

I know it's been a while since I posted to this blog, but just wanted to let you all know we're still here and still doing pretty good. Anna is back to school and is very busy with band and other activities associated with going back to school. We've managed to volunteer for the band parents organization so that keeps us occupied when we aren't working and when we aren't doing horse stuff. Once we're back in our groove I'll start posting a bit more often. In the meantime my flickr site is still up so you can enjoy looking at our photos and I log into face book daily.

I hope all of you are doing good . . .

Some of my current concerns:

Health Care/Socialism
9 trillion dollars debt
Mortgage foreclosures
AH1N109

To name a few . . .

Another Fair Coming Up

We are hardened county fair participants as we have been doing 4H and FFA with the girls since around 1989. Devin and Tara started the whole thing with those dang rabbits. Actually the truth of the matter is that Delaine started it by bringing home a rabbit named Apricot that she picked up for free at the girls swim lessons in Medford. So here we go again for another year. This year of course we're in the Douglas County Fair Aug 4th through the 8th and we will be there from the 2nd through the 9th with the animals. Anna's steer is finished and ready for market and she has delivered 20 buyer letters to misc. businesses throughout the Roseburg area. Of course one went to all previous buyers and then she added several letters to folks that have bought but not from her. We know the economy is in tough condition and the odds of getting a good price at the auction are slim but she'll do her best anyway. Then there is Brazo . . . he'll go in Monday afternoon and Anna will compete in events on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. She will compete in western equitation, showmanship and trail on the three different days. Brazo is more mature this year and more settled so she hopes to score higher than she has in the past with him. I'll try to get off long enough to watch at least one of the events, but I'm not taking the week off.

Along with Anna showing her steer and competing with her horse we will be working the gates a couple of evenings during the week with our Posse group. It's one of our main fund raising events for the year so we need it. Delaine will work in the 4H kitchen at least one day and maybe more if needed.

I scored tickets to the Josh Turner concert on Thursday evening and since I'm not a big fan of Josh Turner I gave the tickets to Anna and Delaine. They will get to go back stage and visit with him and have their pictures taken with him and maybe the band, who knows for sure. I think it will be a good relief for them. Then Friday night is the auction . . . I'm sure we will be there late for that and of course we hope Anna sells early so most of the buyers will still be there.

Anyway . . . wish us luck . . . I'm sure we'll need it.

Story Time

A couple of weeks ago on Sunday evening Delaine and Anna wanted to go down to Rob Estabrooks arena and ride the horses. Rob lives just down the hill from us and owns and runs rough-stock with his son-in-law, so his place is set up pretty well for riding. I debated on whether to ride or not because I was still a bit sore from our trail ride the previous weekend. My leg and back were still hurting a some. After some kicking it around, I decided I would take Maverick down and work with him and ride him a bit. I've ridden him a couple of time in our round pen so I figured it might be good to get him out into a larger area to see what he might do. Well we rode around the arena a couple of times slowly while stopping next the several bulls Rob had in pens next to the arena. He was perfectly okay with standing there looking at the bulls and showed no signs of excitement really. He seemed pretty well settled after the walk down the hill and several minutes of groundwork so he was doing what I expected him to do. I rode him back to the end of the arena where Delaine and Anna were parked talking with Rob's daughter Amy and her two sons. We set there and talked for a few minutes then I decided to make another lap. As Maverick and I took off and were about 20' from the group headed across the arena at a walk a gust of wind blew up in our faces and it must have caused some sort of reaction in Maverick's brain when all at once he started bucking while standing in place. I stayed on for about three bucks then lost my balance and went over the left side of his neck head first. Luckily I thought or reacted to tuck my head to my chest and roll with it as I hit the ground on my left side shoulder and arm. Amazing my glasses stayed on. My reflexive reaction was to hang on to the reins and Maverick was backing away from me while I was laying on the ground hanging onto the reins. I guess he dragged me a ways until I heard Delaine, Anna and Amy hollering at me to let go of the reins which I did quickly. When I got up I couldn't breathe well because of the blow from my arm and elbow into my ribcage. Amy told me to raise my arms and breathe which I did and that helped some. I walked around a while catching my breath then got back on Maverick and rode him in circles for a while. I got off and we headed home after that. I didn't go to the doctor because I had full range of motion with my arm and shoulder so even though it was extremely sore I figured there wasn't anything broken inside except maybe a cracked rib or two. After two weeks I'm just now getting to where I can blow my nose and cough without extreme pain in my left side ribcase. It still hurts quite a bit when I sneeze though so I try to avoid that when I can.

Lesson learned? I'm not sure . . . maybe if I had recognized quick enough that he was starting to buck, I could have pulled his head around and stopped him from getting too carried away by throwing him off balance. Rob's suggestion was to add a "dog collar" to the saddle next to the horn to give something to hang onto while he bucks. He said he uses one and has never had a horse put him on the ground when he has been using it. I think I'd rather figure out a way to keep him from bucking, so he is going to get plenty of ground work before I get back on him. Then when I do if he raises his head or rear end I will promptly pull his head around to through him off balance before I lose my balance.

Happy Birthday Ron

Today was a good day! I heard from Dale, Tara, Devin, Mom and Mel (twice). Thanks for singing to me Mel. Delaine and Anna both wished me a happy birthday too. The weather was near perfect today too with no rain! I got up at 6:00am after laying awake in bed for about an hour. With the nice cool morning and overcast sky I figured it was the right time to mow the grass around here. Delaine went to town, Anna went to the school to take the SAT test so I was here all alone so mow I did. I got all the lower area around the round pen mowed and all the area between the driveway and the road mowed as well as all around the goat pen. It looks pretty good right now. Delaine came home from town and planted some flowers in the yard while I finished mowing then we went down town and met Anna for lunch. We had Mexican food . . . it was good. Delaine and Anna stayed in town after lunch and I came home. I laid down on the couch and took a nice long nap. It felt good! I can't remember the last time I took a real nap. That's one of the simple pleasures I really enjoy. In the evening Delaine and Anna took me to Anthony's for dinner. Fox and Mary went with us to help with the celebrations. After dinner we came home and I opened presents and we had carrot cake and ice cream. Now Anna is off baby setting for Ben Tatone and Delaine and I are vegging out in front of the TV.

It's been a good birthday . . .