The garden

I love purple flowers! These are cool!

 Had to take a picture of the giant, with the others behind it, for a little perspective. I would bet it is over 10 inches in diameter!!!

 My favorite so far! Never can get the colors just right, on the camera, but close.

 Made me happy to see this one opening up! I was my favorite from last year, and there are two plants now!!! Happy!

 So far I have four of this color, that are blooming.

 The giant yellow, is a bit smaller than the purple, but not by much.

 White isnt my favorite, but it is a prolific plant!

 My garden! On the right are Giant sunflowers which quickly overtook the corn! LOL Which is ok here, the corn didnt like this spot very well. Replanted it 2-3 times in spots. The two rows to the left are the happy corn! Then tomatoes.

 Broccoli and cauliflower, zucchini, then pole beans, with more sunflowers. Alas, probably wont be a good green bean year. The Voles have cut quite a few at the bottom, little pests! They run in the Mole tunnels and eat some of the garden at times.

 Nasturtiums in the zucchini. Buddy planting, they are supposed to help with any pests.

 View of the sunflowers from the side by the tomatoes. They are pushing 10 feet tall, some of the stalks are 4 inches in diameter! Trees I tell you!!! LOL

 Broccoli. Right before I picked it! I have been picking them kind of small, its been so warm, mid to high 80's, and they bolt fast. Would rather have broccolets! to eat than nothing.

 And my lost row of broccoli, all the extras I thinned/pulled that I couldnt bear to throw out!  My bro-inlaw has four rows, 2 corn, 2 pole beans, he has been ill so I have been watering and mostly weeding his garden too. He only got about 12 corn plants in two rows. Beans look good though.

Lots of work, lots of water! I tilled again the other day, to keep the weeds down. Harvesting lots of zucchini!! Any one want some!!! LOL LOL The zucchini fairy may show up at your house!
Loving Summer.

Summer is in full swing! Dahlias are blooming, harvesting lots of zucchini, and a little bit of broccoli.

This is Hubby's new car! LOL LOL Sis in-law and his brother put it together special for him! NASCAR!! LOL Dublin approves. They found a PS2 gaming chair and steering wheel to put in it! LOL LOL Bro built the little console for the steering wheel!

 We have had visitors to the yard, all these little brats have been visiting. The horses just watch them and dont care! They also dont seem to get shocked by the electric fence. There was a third one in the pasture.

 Burgundy Nasturtiums, love this color, its different form all the orange and yellow I have had in the past. I planted a lot of Nasturtiums this year!

 Variegated Nasturtiums, love the leaves! A small Dahlia in there too.

 The BIG yellow one bloomed.

 Alas, the deer are brats, I am glad they do not like to eat Dahlias! But the poor roses suffer! They ate all the rose buds and leaves, except for this one that is blooming now.

 Giant purple! I took these pics after sundown this evening. Will get some in the light soon!

 Purple with white tips! So far I am very happy with what has survived my digging and storing!

 Bright Nasturtium pot!!! There is a Dahlia in there too. They are so iridescent!

Need to go on another ride soon!! Loving the weather, mid to high 80's, it did rain a little this morning?? Low clouds, it was like being at the coast!

We have been working on clearing, cleaning, gleaning, tossing, and rearranging Grammy's house. Our goal is to clean it up and stage it for an Estate sale the first week of August. Lots of work! Sis in-law has been there every morning this week! Tired and sore and a little overwhelmed by all the stuff. But it is almost done, the guys have to get up and clear the attic and we should be close, then the pricing starts! So much work! Now I know why people have the Syroptimists come in and do it all. Just Wow. Found a few treasures, a lot of junk, and lots of memories.
This is Hubby's Grandparents house, where they lived for more than 35 years. We live across the street in his parents house, that his parents lived in when he was born(built in '66) Family has been on this property for 47 years! Dont know what is going to happen with the Grandparents house. It would have to be completely renovated, its pretty deteriorated now.

2013 Trail Trials, on Emma!

Saddle on, almost ready to go!

 Judy and Carol Saddling up!

 Our friend Glenna!

 Almost ready to ride.

 I zoomed in on the start, Glenna is just about ready to go.

 This is our first trip with our, new to us, trailer! Hauls great! Small issue with the brakes, had to turn the trailer brakes way down, was locking up the tires when I would barely touch the brake peddle. Quick call to Hubby and resolved that problem! I couldnt see the adjuster wheel when I was driving, had to pull over and park and call him. Lets just say, the brakes work!

 Off we went! Judy left us in the dust for the first few obstacles. Emma took a few moments to check out the bridge, I didnt know if she would go at first. She has to look, back off, look again, wait, I didnt put any pressure on her, wait, then she put a foot on, it made a sound so she took it off, encouragement again and she walked over it! The bridge is pretty narrow, with high rails. There were 12 obstacles, possible points on each obstacle are 5 for horse, 5 for rider.
1. Tack check, had to lead up to the start with a halter on, unless you have a hackamore, which Judy and Carol ride with one. Then clean out both front feet, check tack and mount up, total points 10, mine, horse=3, she wouldnt stay still, rider=3, scored 6. I dropped my lead while cleaning a foot, oops, LOL.
2. Bridge, which I explained above, Horse=3, rider=5, comment was "Horse hesitated was tense about crossing, Rider did very well.
3. Step up, horse=0, rider=3 comment, "Horse refused 3 times, then went over." Emma is very slow about going through new things. This is a box of timbers, filled with dirt covered in grass, two steps up one side and one on the other. I was happy with her that she did it!! On her own time! LOL
4. Horse ball, Horse=3, rider=5 Big open field, two cones with a big green ball in the center! LOL I have played with Emma with a smaller blow up ball, but not a green ball! She finally walked up to it and put her nose on it, then shoved it! LOL 8 isnt a bad score!
5. Maze Horse=4, rider=5, Not bad! this was hay bales set out in a giant E shape with the top and bottom centers pulled out, you had to ride through the bales, one side was the extreme side and had balloons and glittery stuff! Emma went through, after a short hesitation. Comment "Good Job!"

 6. Log pull, Horse=5, rider=5. perfect score! Here is Carol reading the description of the obstacle, they give you a little card to read before each obstacle that tells you what you are to do.

 Judy waiting after we finally caught back up with her. They had pulled the log already in this pic.

 I was admiring the beautiful scenery, this little vale with the wind mill in it.

 7. Homestead, had to ride by a small old sod house, near the cone and around a clearing to where there was a giant stuffed dog in the grass. Horse=4, rider=5, Emma did pretty good, here is the comment "Horse startled at the 1st because he didnt realize there was something there (dog) as soon as he realized all was good he very willing walked up and moved the dog with nose. LOL Emma did push the stuffed dog! LOL
8. Camp, You can see here the tents and balloons were back! I was worried about the balloons, but they didnt bother Emma at all! She did look at the tent, but didnt react to it. The gal judging this obstacle is someone I worked with at Wilco! Our daughter works with her now.

Waiting at the other end I was again admiring the family BBQ area! so cool!

 What a place for family cookouts, weddings or? Off to the left in this pic is a tree house and swings too!

 Judy and Rhythm coming through! He was scarred of the balloons at first.

 Love the big grin on Judy's face! He did it!!! LOL

 Carol and Jazzy! They did good! Jazzy has seen this before! LOL

 The Wind Mill from this side, and the beautiful field below the Picnic area.

 This is the tail of the Wind Mill.

 9. Railroad, there are two old railroad tracks on top of this little hill, you have to ride up and over the middle. No problem here. Horse=5, rider=5, Emma did good. Comment "Great Job!"
10. Trash pick up. You had to take a plastic garbage sack from the helper and carry is down and put it in the trash can. Horse=3, rider=5, I thought Emma did better, but, she was antsy at the start, she was stressing and just wanted to go, go , go! She bobs her head up and down when she stresses. I just try to stay quiet and not encourage her. Carol is waiting here to go.

 Jazzy wasnt afraid of the bag.

 We found where they penned the cows for the day, they didnt look happy, although they have plenty of grass!

 There are small sheds, and barns everywhere, and farm junk everywhere too! Some of it interesting, some not! This looked like some kind of chipper.

 Racks of pipe and stuff, for irrigation?

 And on up the hill!

 Old hay equipment, manure spreaders, etc. Pretty cool old stuff.

 11. Tunnel. The tunnel consisted of two tarps, one on each side about 8 foot long, that you had to walk between, they were also about 10 feet apart. Horse=4, rider=5. She looked at it, I let her, and then she walked through.
12. Creek crossing. Emma has crossed many creeks, but she took her time, there are rocks in the bottom. Horse=3, rider=4, Comment "Very hesitant" Thats ok, dont know what I got marked down on though?
I had Carol take a picture of me! LOL I am usually the one taking all the pics!

 Cropped for closer up. Yes I ride with a helmet, I have a hole in the back of my head, from surgery, so if I fell and hit the back of my head, well, probably wouldnt be pretty. Not that I need an excuse to wear one. This is my new helmet Meg gave me for Christmas! Along with the over strap for my breastcollar.

 I had a great day! Judy and Rhythm, Carol and Jazzy, and Me on Emma!  Glenna took the picture for us! Thanks Glenna!

 One last pic, of my number! LOL dont know why, just cuz :O)

 Emma actually had a bath yesterday, but she chose to wallow in the dust all night I guess. It was to cold to hose her off this morning! It was 44 degees! So we have dirty sweat marks!

 Up to the house for all the results.

 Everyones scores, not placings. I havnt figured out that yet. Not that it matters. We got 97 points out of 120! Not bad for Emmas first Trial!

Bye for now, from my pretty girl!

Hope you liked the ride!

P.S. We Got 18th place! 


https://sites.google.com/site/ccfmptrailtrials/2013-results-1  The link to their web results page!