The Long Awaited Little Bugger!

Well - here he is! I don't have a barn name for him yet, but his registered name will be something along the lines of Skippin' Leo Chex. Rumba waited until all the nasty weather was past. It snowed like crazy again last Friday and Saturday, and now it's expected to be in the 60's and 70's for the rest of this week! Yeah!

He has some congenital angular limb deformities in his front legs. This is pretty normal, especially for a late term baby that I can't figure out how he actually fit into momma (he's REALLY tall) , but I'm talking with the vet to see what I can do to help out the situation. His one leg has straightened out already a lot, his right knee is a little deviated from center. The vet said to just watch it and if in a month it isn't getting better there is an low impact invasive surgery they can do to help take the pressure off and straighten it out. So things should be just fine!

Otherwise, he IS perfect and quite into everything. Yesterday he walked through the water buckets and today he tipped himself into the feed bin. So I have to turn everything over so he can't get stuck in it for now! He comes right up to me and isn't scared of ANYTHING.

His grulla coloring is a perfect mouse grey with VERY silver legs! He has a white off hind stocking and a star and snip which looks like a 'U'. He also has an awesome little ermine marking that looks like someone scribbled on him with a marker. Rumba has a few of these and passed on the trait!

Mom is extremely protective, and giving what happened to her last colt that was killed by another horse (yes, killed - it shook the foal like a dog shakes it's prey after busting through a post and iron fence), I've been giving her a lot of room. She been totally alright with me in there, but gets a little nervy when other people are around - or I am for too long. Maggie is still in the pasture with her because when I moved her to another pasture she cleared a 5 1/2 foot fence to get back (she isn't really tall enough to do that but did anyway). Rumba doesn't let her anywhere near the colt and Maggie is respecting the distance so I'm alright with them. Plus I'm paneling off a section this evening anyway so they can visit over the fence for a bit.

Wore out after an adventure

Rumba thought if she buried her baby maybe I'd go away

Where'd he go? It's a hay bale with legs!

What? Are you STILL here? (That is a BOY in the background...*gasp*)

Peekaboo!

I see you!

Hey! Who was playing with the Sharpies? The ermine mark

My tall 'little' man! Rumba's over 5 2 hands

I think it's only fair not to count the 'due date' contest since it was SOOOO out of wack. I wasn't there for the birth by the way - she never waxed or showed signs of anything being different than any other day or night. I checked her at 1am Saturday, and had a phone call in the morning to go check the field (I slept in a little later than normal...hey. I gotta live a little too you know).

Therefore, I will be having a naming contest soon. LOOK FOR IT!

I Had a Dream...

Of a bouncing baby boy. A grulla colt to be exact. Guess what I found on day 470 in the pasture? Exactly that. I'll post pictures tomorrow!

Did You Know?

Chickens are descended from Dinosaurs? Really. I'm not kidding about this. And guess WHICH dinosaur scientists believe have the closest genetic connection?

The Tyrannosaurus Rex

Really. I have mini T. Rex's running around in my backyard. Really - and I have proof:

Doesn't she sound like a dinosaur? That's T. Rex 1 and 2 in my coop.

She's broody. She thinks she's going to hatch some eggs, except there aren't any eggs under her, and if there were they wouldn't be fertile right now because my neighbor's dog killed my big beautiful Ancona rooster. His replacement is only 7 weeks old.

Easter, Snow and No Baby

Well, with the crazy barometric highs and lows combined with a full moon I thought for sure I'd have a baby to share with you by now, but alas, no go. Rumba's hangin' on! I'd love to try and get this on video, but baby sure is active! He (because I want a bouncing baby boy) has been pushing against Rum's side and you can actually see the hoof move across the back of her rib cage. I hope this means he's moving around and finally getting into position to be born! This is the worst week ever also because I have drama productions and group photos planned for the yearbook. Oh well.

I just had a nice long four day weekend due to P/T conferences and Easter. It was an eventful weekend (weather wise). A full moon here is awesome. The night lights up like a cloudy day. It's pretty cool.

Who needs to color eggs for Easter? Mine come colored au natural! Greens and Blues, rose, browns, cream and white! The big white one is a goose egg. It makes the BEST fluffy scrambled eggs EVER!

Did I mention we had a blizzard on Easter? I couldn't make it to mass it was so bad. Everyone had to bundle up because it was so wet out. It just kept snowing....

And snowing....And snowing....And then Monday dawned sunny and booootiful!!!! Look at that blue ski!

Have I mentioned there still is no baby?

When it Rains, it Pours

Not really. At least not here in the SLV. In fact, SLVer's LOVE the rain since technically we're a high mountain desert and rain is a nice change. So rarely is there a day when one wants to hide out inside due to nasty weather...except in the spring. In the spring there comes the Foehn winds, the Chinooks, the really nasty oh-my-God-is-my-truck-going-to-blow-away winds. Seriously. This happens as the snow melts off the mountains and a combination of pressure changes and air from the ocean waaaayyyy over yonder causes gigantic wind storms here.

Dust Bowl circa 1932

Not really (again) that's just me driving home from work yesterday. Loverly eh? That's part of the reason why there's a giant pile of sand on the east side of the valley

On another note - my neighbors are creepy eh? I'd say so!!! Their strange behavior began when their dog cornered me and then tried to kill Wrigley a few days later. I have been polite to them, and always have been. Word from the vet is they STILL haven't paid the bill. What jerks. And WHY do I deserve to be treated like this? I have proof, in the form of doggie footprints chasing a horse OUTSIDE the pen (I did some investigative work). I didn't let my horse walk through knee deep spiky chico brush with a dog trailing behind him, so I wonder how those got there? Hmmmm...it is illegal in this open range state to allow your animal to chase livestock. I'm not kidding when I say I'm going to shoot the dog (which is legal). And it's not cruel and unusual. What is cruel and unusual is a dog chasing an expensive horse through an expensive fence and not doing anything about it. Especially when the owner of that expensive horse and expensive fence is broke, and didn't get home 'till after dark, and was fixing fence in the dark in high heels because if I was changing I was getting in the shower, and because SHE IS responsible for her animals. So there.

Right. So here's Rumba telling me to screw off and stop taking pictures and poking at her bag and, "Just let me eat already! Jeesh!" (see all the things floating through the air from the wind?)

Could her belly get any bigger?

The Gnomes Came Back

And they evidently can read minds as I was just thinking yesterday that I haven't had any untowards events occur lately at home, but that I shouldn't say that out loud; just in case...Didn't matter anyway it seems...

I was at parent / teacher conferences until late last night and didn't get home until almost 9. Have I ever mentioned HOW MUCH I LOVE P/T CONFERENCES!!! REALLY? REALLY? Seriously, that is what it does to my brain.

So anyway, I pull up to a dark house (another reason why I need a man, so a porch light can be turned on for me) and miss something EXTREMELY OBVIOUS (but I'll tell you that later) and head into the house to start chores (yet ANOTHER reason I need a man, so chores can be done on these late nights and I don't have to do them in the dark).

I decided to take care of the chicks and ducklings first before the dogs are all over me for food, but wait! What's missing! The ducklings! They escaped the brooder and evidently spent an afternoon amusing themselves amongst a bunch of empty boxes and books - as given away by their poop. So guess what I'm doing today? They made is safely back into the brooder after I found them sleeping on some ankle weights.

Then I let the dogs in and fed them and turned out Mav and Wrig to do their business while I fed the horses. But WAIT! I only see TWO horses where there should be THREE! Where oh where is Charlie? This is what I missed that was extremely obvious earlier. My hay stack is next to where I park. Evidently Charlie is practicing the art of camouflage and was standing very, very still when I pulled up and parked. So once I got him returned to his home and everyone else fed, I looked for the damage. He only dug into a half bale, but how did he escape? I have a strong suspicion the dog next door was let loose yesterday...The back of the pen was all torn down and it looked like Charlie had been run through it.

I AM going to catch that dog out one day (I think they turn him loose when I'm not home) and shoot him. It's not fair!

THEN - as it was way late once I managed to fix the fence by the light of the moon - I needed a shower,... and lost my nose ring. So I was putting a new one in (I always have a spare 'cause they get lost every now and then...) and just couldn't do it! I COULDN'T get it to just GO IN! I spent a good hour trying to get that darn thing in! A lot of it is because I have such a small ring and I had my contacts out so I was like 2 inches from the mirror TRYING to see what I was doing...and it sucked. But I eventually got it in and went to bed. Thank God.

Oh -and on another note - my neighbors SPY on me. I'm SO not kidding. I catch them staring out the blinds at me ALL THE TIME! I think they are waiting for me to not be around so they can make a run for a vehicle, because a lot of the time I hear them drive away after I catch them spying on me. Whenever I see the blinds pulled aside I stare at the window and then wave like crazy. I guess the kindness IS killing them since saying 'hi' back to me whenever I do catch them outside is no longer an option.

In the meantime it's stressing me out. I wish the Gnomes would go harass them instead.

Oh yeah! And Rumba STILL hasn't foaled (obviously). She's now 19 days over the average. However, there is a full moon and I hope this is finally going to be it for her. Please oh please...

The Creative Revival

So I DID say I was going to start harnessing my inner creativity again. Some of you may know and some of you may not, but I was THIS CLOSE to going to art school in Chicago on a partial scholarship. Unfortunately 'partial' barely covered a semester at that pricey place. I don't regret it though, because I have two degrees I'm using and enjoy AND I get to be creative when it suits me. The past few years have not seen much in the way of art concerning my life, but lately I've really started to get back into it all. For someone who's had their work published I think it's important I 'keep the juices flowing' per se. For example, I'm really proud of learning how to use Photoshop enough to create my new header and background!

My mom is a fabric artist, and though I traditionally worked in pencils and ink, I've expanded to 3 dimensional (but am still scared of my sewing machine...so I'm working up to it).

I like how a lot of my photography has been coming along, and I've got some other really great ideas, but this is what I was inspired to work with this weekend:

When Randi was in town I picked up the pendant at a store in Creede. I had a lot of natural stone from past inspirations (that I hadn't acted on) and Lapis sent to me from Afghanistan, so I decided it was time...

This is what it looks like on: I know it's not a great pic - but for size reference...

What do you think? Would my work be worth selling? I really had fun doing this and have had a lot of compliments! It's hammered silver and silver wire, lapis, turquoise, agate, smokey quartz, amber and a few small red crystals that match the pendant and to bring out the reds.

Hmmmm....

Being a visual perfectionist...
and the manipulation continues....

But at least you all can read it better for now!

I Think, I Think, I Think....HELP!

Everything is showing up alright?!!

And I've been designing my own background and header in Photoshop! There's some great tutorial's on TheCutestBlogOnTheBlock.com and I decided I wanted to design my own. So I HOPE that is showing up alright also! Let me know! The background should look a bit like this:

AND....Does anyone know how to manipulate the HTML so I can put a background behind the posts so they are easier to read???!!!

Keep the Comments Coming...

For all you helping me figure this all out - PLEASE keep the comments coming! I obviously am seeing things differently than many of you and need your feedback as things change. I have a techie giving me a hand and I need to be able to pass on info to help find a solution!

Right now everything should be WHITE and my header is a bit larger than it should be because I haven't re-sized it.

Those of you who have had NO PROBLEMS: Please tell me what browser you are using, what program on the computer, etc (i.e - Internet Explorer, Microsoft Vista).

Those of you HAVING PROBLEMS: Tell me what you cannot see and give me the same info as above!

Thanks to all who are helping me out!

Update: Ok - I'm messing with the colors and sizes of things now, but keeping it simple (I just can't DEAL with a blah looking blog) but let me know if you CANNOT see anything that should be there - namely the sidebar or my posts...

In Response...

No BABY! Making me nuts....*grumble* I think she's having a contest with Pearl over at Swamp Suburbia to see who can hold out the longest.

Also - I moved my bookshelf to the side bar to see if that clears up any issues. I've had some comments from people saying they CAN see the post, but whoops, it disappeared later on - Some say the book shelf may be causing issues - Some with no problems....

So, please comment and let me know if my post appear on the main page. If not, my next step is to remove the book shelf and see if that is an issue (even though blogger IS having problems with other blogs too). If you still can't see the post, then we know it's not the bookshelf bit.

I need knee surgery in response to Figure Skating on them for 25 years and skiing on them for almost 20. They are just plain 'ol wore out and have started to ache when I crouch down or after a particularly long day in the saddle. It's a meniscus thing...

UpDate: I've removed the bookshelf. Let me know if it's working...yet...and I've done a re-publish of all posts to see if that helps. I CAN see everything so I'm depending on you all to let me know what's going on!!!

Wish List...

In order of importance, rather than actual want (it's the only thing responsible about the entire post). This is for me in case I forget...

1) Eye Exam, New Contacts and Glasses (Insurance doesn't cover this...)

2) Truck Tune Up (It's misfiring...maybe because the spark plugs were supposed to be replaced 40,000 miles ago?)

3) My Wisdom Teeth Out (Insurance doesn't cover this either...)

4) Knee Surgery (Because it's going to be expensive even with insurance)

5) New Truck Tires (I'm the Flat Tire Queen on the Valley)

6) My Old Horse Trailer fixed up

7) BIG Professional Digital Camera (I love my Minolta, but it's film)

8) Cool Camera Strap from Riley G

8) Nintendo Wii

9) Amazon Kindle

10) A 5th Wheel Horse Trailer

11) Winning Lotto Ticket

12) A Rich - NICE - Cowboy with a ranch...cutish too if possible

13) Expensive Matching Kitchen Appliances for my Ranch Kitchen

14) See #12

15) See #12 Again

See how realistic I am? I've been dreaming about kitchen appliances lately. Cool colorful ones for cooking and baking. Seriously. I think my subconscious has it figured out that dreaming about cute cowboys on horseback (Like Hugh Jackman in Australia) isn't realistic.

ADD ONS:

16) LASIK!!!! So I can wake up and not have to be 2 inches from the clock to see what time it is!

17) A New Computer (that doesn't belong in a museum)

Random Weekend...

Just some random thoughts...

I sure appreciate all the comments on my last post. Please remember that until Blogger gets their stuff together you just have to click through my archives. I like google reader, but I really think it makes certain things impersonal. It's great for following a cooking blog, but not so much for the blogs of your friends and family. Isn't that sort of what blogging is about? A community? Everything is so fast paced today and here we are not able to call or write to keep in touch like we would like, and now we don't even take the time to be in touch much at all. Don't get me wrong, I think technology is great; I wouldn't be able to do half the thing I do in such a small community and school that I do without it, but I think it's important that we don't forget about true human contact (or at least the best we can do). Afterall, most of us are already half-way across a continent from one another...

On that note - Rumba is officially 10 days over the average due date and all previous observations with her last pregnancy are out the window. It's making me crazy too...I'm losing all sorts of sleep checking

So it's been a mild winter here in the SLV. We typically get a bit of wet snow in March, but it's been beautiful so far; warm and sunny. And then I woke up Friday morning:

And it snowed. A LOT! And the plow seemed to forget that people lived out my way...

And it DRIFTED! A LOT!

And all the animals are super confused because they thought we were done with this too...

And Wrigley got to break out his winter coat again...though he'd prefer to stay inside...

Seriously?!

Ok - I'm going to rant. Namely because what happened yesterday put me in a horrible mood - and then that gets me thinking about other stuff that irks me off as well.

For starters...I started blogging to keep in touch with my college friends back home. I miss you all. I miss not being able to attend your weddings, play with your babies, hang out and just get girl-time... I miss not having the gals to confide in and impromptu bottles of wine with you... I miss being able to relax and having people know who I am and love me for who I am...Bottom Line: I miss you guys and I purposely make sure that when I sit down and blog I am leaving little messages and comments for you all so you know that I'm still here and alive and care about your lives and families and woes and whatever! Randi and I had a talk about this and she feels the same way...

I would love comments on my photography! About my milestones and adventures! Advice, support, questions? A few of you stike up e-mail conversations with me from time to time and I LOVE IT! Seriously, ask Randi - I think my phone rang ONCE the whole week she was here. You guys remind me the outside world exists and it keeps me sane.

Other than a few of you who consistently leave me comments, do the rest of you care? You're all my lifeline to who I am. I think I have blog friends who follow me and know more about my life than some of you who have spent years with me. I love it out here, but I'm still building relationships (and it's hard to do in such an isolated spot) and not only do I miss all you gals, but you have no idea what it means to me to know that my friends care and are interested in my life. I'm not some Neanderthal striking rocks to start a fire each night! I'm using both my degrees, working hard and doing the best I can to build a little bit of my dream all the time. It's a hard go at it alone and knowing that some of you are interested in what I'm up to give me that much confidence to keep plowing ahead. I'm am human afterall...

What set me off in the first place:

Dear student who broke into the school through my room (and yes, we KNOW it was a student),

Do you seriously think you are going to get away with this? The fact you broke in through my room window, but left my two laptops sitting where I left them, does not negate in my mind that I am INVOLVED! I AM taking this personally. I realize you probably left my computers alone because you know I would line up all suspects and torture you all for information, that and maybe a yearbook wouldn't get published and you wouldn't be immortalized in print forever, but that doesn't excuse your actions. Going through the next classrooms adjoining door and stealing his computer, breaking into the office and stealing keys, messing with another computer lab, and stealing two other laptops is a felony. We have our eye on you, and I have never hoped more than now that there are students out there that follow this particular blog - especially you. Watch your back, because I will be sure there are charges pressed and you are old enough to be charged as an adult.

Your extremely pissed off teacher

The Week in Pictures

Can you all see my blog now without going through the archives?

Rumba Update: NO BABY!!!!! She's going to explode and is really cranky. Randi and I got to watch baby kicking the crap out of mom from the inside.

So as many of you know my friend Randi came to visit over break! We did SOOOOO much! We put a little over 1000 miles on the truck just tooling all over!

This is a rundown of the week in pictures:

Sunday: Randi's arrival and Blanca Wetlands (we also hiked to the top of the Hot Springs to soak at night.

Monday: Worked horses and drove Maggie. Then hiked up to Zapata Falls and took the dogs for a run on the sand dunes. The falls were frozen and both Randi and I had a few spills!

The colt I'm working

The dogs looking out through the hike into the falls

Dogs playing in the creek at the dunes

Tuesday: Skied Wolf Creek and soaked in the local Hooper hot pools



Wednesday: Worked horses again and introduced Maggie to a cart! Randi hopped on a huge old Belgium to warm up for riding later! Took Maggie and Charlie out to the sand dunes for Randi's first horseback ride ever!


Thursday: Skied Monarch Mountain!
Friday: Drove out to Creede and went shopping after driving through the mountains and checking out the old mines! Great clearance sales!

Look what I made Randi buy!

Look what Randi made me buy! I feel like the abominable snowman!

Randi had to go home Saturday and missed out on the cattle drive, but here's a pic of me with a newborn calf that crawled under a semi truck to try and take a nap! She got to ride with me but pee on my leg.

Also - I bought a few replacement chicks for the ones I lost! When I stopped by the feed store the other day they had baby ducks and I couldn't resist...they're so cute and fuzzy!

I AM Domesticated...I Swear!

This is going to be the start of a chapter in the "Book of my Life" that I really am going to write one day...

It was a Friday evening like any other; gathered up down the road with a few friends to share our weekly pitfalls over a beer or two. My girlfriend Charla had a few of her cousins visiting and as we all caught up and met one another it came out that the eldest, Jackie, is a lesbian. She's rather comfortable with the fact, though she really doesn't fit the profile I always thought - butch and manly. Instead, Jackie is slender and willow-like with long ash-blond hair. She's also extremely musically talented and she and her uncle broke out the guitars as the night went on.

We all were listening to them play and sing when suddenly it occurred to meet Jackie kept looking at me as she played...
"hmmmm...no WAY!" I thought; as she did it again, and again...suddenly I found myself trying to find anywhere else to look...

Yuppers...Jackie thinks I'm cute. Not that I have anything against lesbians, but well, I just don't swing that way. Why couldn't Charla's cousin be a nice heterosexual male? I swear I was having Brigit Jones flashbacks...

Anywho - thought you all needed a laugh - and here's the project that kicked off my Spring Break this last Thursday:

Last Friday I received a call from a friend who mother-in-law works at the local college library. They are redecorating and had tables and chairs to give away. Knowing I needed a kitchen table and chairs they thought of me! The catch? I had to re-upholster the chairs if I didn't want the retro 70's orange dayglo colors screaming out at me each morning. This is the first time I ever re-upholstered, but I think I did a good job!

Before:

After:

I found the cutest western fabric, but it was $13/yard and there was this other stuff for $2/yard and it was super heavy - so $39 vs. $6 project? The $6 won, and I bought some super cute table cloths and placemats to brighten it all up! Bunni has approved and somewhat matched the decor...

Happy, Happy Monday!

Do you ever hear me say that?!!!

The first thing I learned this morning was that school has been cancelled for Thursday and Friday due to the plethora of students that will be at both Science Fair and State Basketball. YEAH!!! I get to start spring break 2 days early!!!

This is good as the other English Teacher has been canned ( I believe, but am not 100% sure, she did something really, really bad) and now I have to help with lessons for the substitute until the end of the year. Does it even end in my world? At least I get a quicker respite this week!!!

Very windy this weekend! But I still went out and started the colt I have as a side job for a neighbor and brought Maggie out to drive! She was fantastic and took the harness without any issues. She also had no problems ground driving in it (as I ground drive her often in a surcingle) and took the tire without any issue as well:

She would take our standing on the tire for a bit, but then was confused at the change in weight and would pause before moving on. That's fine though as I won't be using her to pull, just drive. We'll have another lesson next week.

I also have been following through with my photography as promised. I really need to start harnessing my inner creativity. I used to do all sorts of things and have been published numerous times. It's time I found myself with this all again: