2010-This year is going way too fast !!!

OMG!!! Where has this year gone??!! We spent New Years in Seaside with Dale, Mary, Frank and Tammy watching storm after storm; playing poker and eating waaaaay too much. When we left home all the ditches were overflowing, our dog run was about to flood and I left our friends son (Kyler) in charge of farmsitting! EEK! We weren't sure what the roads would be like so we drove the truck. Got to the condo in Seaside and guess what?! Underground parking, AGAIN! I had flash backs of our honeymoon in Frisco and Vegas and the truck NOT fitting! Lol. In Vegas we parked with the tour buses; this time we parked with the service trucks. :) The weekend was wonderful in spite of the weather. We stayed up late playing cards, watched movies, did some shopping and of course, ate alot! And, Kyler (our farmsitter) did an awesome job of holding down the fort.

The home projects started early with some yard work- pulling up grass! Then it was on to MORE painting. We started by painting the master bath and pulling up the last of the "wine" colored carpet. A week later we were painting the laundry room and pulling up vinyl in the spare bath and the laundry room. Away with the old toilets too! Once that was done we had porcelain tile installed (yes, paid to have it installed!). It was quite an experience. That project put up a good fight! First, the flooring guys that they couldn't install it over our subflooring. We had a couple "miscommunications" followed by them running out of flooring! They came back the next day with more tile and things were looking up! The spare bath looked great and the laundry was on it's way to being done and so was the master bath, until........the water line in the floor that connects to the toilet BROKE off under the house!!! AAAAAAAAAH! Of course, the flooring guys couldn't fix it (they install floors not plumbing) and Jim wasn't sure how to fix it. To be honest, I probably could have fixed it but, I DON'T GO UNDER HOUSES!!! :) So, we called a plumber....and waited and waited and waited some more. Just when I thought all was lost and the flooring guys were gonna run off on us, the plumber showed up. He fixed it lickity split and we were back on track. But, wait! Now it's around 8pm and the flooring guys are finally installing the new toilet in the master bath and discover that the fitting on the NEW pipe does not fit the toilet fixture. GRRRR! Oh, but they have a piece of flexi hose that should fit. Oh drat......the end we need won't fit and the end we don't need will fit. DANG! By then it was too late to do anything so, they finished the flooring which looked WONDERFUL and the next day we called the plumber and they replaced the pipe for free! PHEW! It was a stressful couple of days but we love the tile!

In the meantime, Jim was preparing to retire after 36 yrs working for the State. 36 years!!! It gives me anxiety just thinking about it! Jim had a great retirement party with several co-workers and a couple ODOT retirees.


So, his last day was March 31st. He has a 1977 280Z and you'll notice that before he retired it was a decent looking car. On April 1st I pulled into the garage and saw that he had sanded down a spot on the back hatch! LOL. Now, the poor car is tore apart waiting to be repainted. LOL. Only one day and he's already bored??!! hehe. Easter was really nice this year because Nini came down with mom and Michael. I was so happy she felt up to the trip and could see all the things we've done to our place. And, I surprised them all with a little activity.....an indoor EASTER EGG HUNT! I got the adults to do one several years ago and of course they moaned and groaned as they did it. LOL. Well. I decided to do it again. :) The funny part was that after dinner I announced that I had something for them to do and my dad says......"I hope it's not another Easter egg hunt!" Oops! He had just been telling a friend about the time I made him search for eggs so, it was fresh on his mind. hehe. Yes, I still made them do it and yes, they moaned and groaned but, it was still fun. When it was all done my parents said "I guess she's getting even for being traumatized by Easter egg hunts as a child". I assured them that they hadn't caused me any "childhood trauma".....I'm just devious. LOL. Now that the painting and flooring was done we could concentrate on the yard (between rain storms!). First order of business was to pull shrubs. Andrew was nice enough to let us throw them on his burn pile and, oh what a pile it became! He finally lit her up one night and we had a neighborly BBQ and made s'mores.

Apil 19th was Nini's 93rd birthday!!! HOLY MOLY! We had a party for her at my aunt and uncles. She even made a wish and blew out the candles. Way to go Nini!! The following weekend my mom came down and we had pony time. What a blast! Minnie helped my mom learn the 7-games. Jeanie came over with Sue and we brought Angel along too. It still amazes me how much easier it is to communicate with horses "naturally". I haven't played with Angel in many months and yet she was playing the 7-games with me and Jim. And then there's Minnie. My mom was just muddling her way through but, Minnie was patient and figured out what my mom wanted. In May we finally did it! We started building our pond. We built a foundation and Jim started digging and, digging. This went much, much faster than it did at our house in Turner. There's alot less rock here however, there's alot more water!! The pond reached about 2 ft. deep and started filling up! GRRRRR! Needless to say, that project was put on hold. LOL. May 21st we were off to Redmond, OR to see Pat and Linda Parelli! This year Pat and Linda each chose a person who would bring their horse to Redmond and have a lesson in front of everyone! Emma and Lil got chosen once again! We had such an awesome weekend. This year my mom and family friend, Sue went with us. The four of us stopped in Sisters first. Did some shopping and had lunch at The Gallery (of course) and then we were off to Redmond. My friend, Tina (who recently started Parelli) met us there and Emma's parents came along too. And of course, Kip and Beth. :)  We all stayed together in a glorious house in Eagle Crest and had an absolute blast!!! Words can not describe how happy I was to have my mom and Sue there and to finally be able to share the experience with Tina.

Friday night we gave Emma a little surprise birthday celebration. I brought cake and mom made horse turds and Kip kept her occupied while we set things up. It was great fun!! There's also an amusing story of Jim, my mom, Sue, Tina and I going for a walk and getting lost within Eagle Crest and Emma's parents being locked out of the house but, you'll have to hear that one in person. LOL. So, Pat and Linda put on an incredible show as usual full of amazing people and horses and packed full of new and insightful information. And, it's interesting to see how new people react to what they see. Sue had tears within the first 1/2 hour followed by....."I always knew there was a better way". Sunday, Emma had her lesson with Linda and I recorded the whole thing, nearly 2 hrs!! It was amazing to watch Linda transform Emma AND Lil right in front of our eyes. The issue at hand was that Lil can't handle crowds. She had a melt down last year in Reno and so Emma asked that her lesson be about Lil being able to relax in front of a crowd. If you'd like to see the video, it's on Emma's blog-under "Getting Unconscious"   http://emmakline.blogspot.com/ .  It was a wonderful trip!!! And my hat is off to Emma for being so brave. Starting in June we hit the yard work hard. I discovered that the storm ditches up the road were full of rocks just the right size for borders around the flowerbeds. We made alot of trips up and down the road with our quad and little baby trailer! That poor trailer will never be the same! We moved rocks, rocks and more rocks and spread 7 1/2 yds of barkdust and ordered another 7 1/2 yds! There were a few stolen moments with our horses but not many. Besides our home projects, we had the Scio Buckaroos. I'm the club President this year which means I'm in charge of making sure things get done. UGH! Our June show had to be postponed due to wet weather. Not that it was raining but, the ground was still so wet that we couldn't prepare the grounds for the show. The wet ground also meant our pond project was still on hold as well. We pumped it out twice and it filled back up and it was now the end of June! But hey, the flowerbeds were looking great!

July 25th, the pond was finally dried out and we got the liner in and filled it up with CLEAN water. It was 95 that day and we got the wise idea to go get a load of slate we found on craigslist! Sounds simple unless some of the pieces way as much as you do! The "wise" idea came later when we paid Kyler to unload it. :) He's such a trooper! So, I mentioned in my last post that we had tore down my Jeep and taken it to be refurbished. Well, it's still there. Jim had tore apart the 280Z thinking it could be repainted by the same guy but, it's in line behind my Jeep.   :)~ 


Anyway, Jim got bored and decided to shop for a "muscle car". After alot of rejected prospects and a couple disappointing test drives he finally decided on a 1970 Mustang (351-Cleveland, if you want to know). Let's just say our garage is full! But, it's a really, really nice car and I can't wait to go to car shows and cruise-ins. What I haven't mentioned yet is that in Spring I set a date for a big BBQ and then set nearly impossible goals of redoing our landscaping, building a pond and remodeling the rec room all before the BBQ. Every spare moment has been spent working in the yard. We spread a total of 16 yds of barkdust and a ridiculous amount of rock! By the middle of August the pond was at a standstill. I was out of energy and out of inspiration and my poor mom was out of ideas too. LOL. But, our friend, Stan had a few good ideas so, I enlisted his help and bribed him with goodies! We were right down to the wire but we got it done (mostly done). It looks amazing! I love to sit out there and listen to the waterfall and the birds and frogs. With any luck at all, the tree frogs will move to the pond and leave our hot tub alone! And, the BBQ was a success but I'll save that for another post........  :)