What the hubby does when I play with horses.....

This is what my Hubby loves to do, this first pic is quit a few years ago......"aint he cute" (sorry hun LOL)

One of the more successful trips that they have taken!! I think there were 3 of them(fishermen) in the boat. If you all havnt caught it yet we live by the Columbia River, and that is what these are, Columbia river white sturgeon. This is back when they could keep 2 each.

You have to measure each fish to make sure they are in the size requirments 42-60 inches.




This.......

Is what an over sized sturgeon looks like after youve fought it for a long time, I think this one was 9-10+ feet long, you can see Hubbys hand in its mouth, they do not have teeth. Last time I was with them when an over size was caught, she was so pretty she had dapple spots on her side! and was longer than the boat was wide! We figured about 9ft, you cant bring these in and measure them LOL, they weigh to much!

And releasing the over sized fish.

It is great fun to take kids fishing especially when they catch a fish, Master Bailey was a very happy fisherman!

Sorry hun I couldnt tell your eyes were closed! LOL Just blame it on the heavy fish you are holding.

A threesom this day, arent they cute! LOL LOL They eat well! I dont remember who caught all of these but they were happy!

This is oldest brother in-law, I have two, my hubby is the baby. He is in front of Hubbys boat, a lot of fish were caught in that boat, unfortunately he sold it last year. I promised him he could have another some day.

So this is what Hubby does every time he gets a chance, me, I go once and awhile, I dont like being stuck in the boat for that long, but it is fun on a summer day. But..... I do hunt with Hubby, but that is another story.

Just for Tammy, Those Beautiful red horses!

This is Sara with Easy up at Washinton State Fair in Puyallup WA, Sept. 2001.

Can you say copper penny shine! They are both wearing red and in front of the red barn, a red theme hmmmm, that was Saras color with her.

Fascination with S P O T S..........

Appy spots that is........

I dont remember how old I was when I became fascinated with Appaloosa SPOTS. We never had Appaloosas when I was growing up, but friends of ours did.

This is a good family friend, we did 4-H together, Kelly on Pumpkin, she was a realy cute mare, I remember her having hauling problems though. Kelly used to take lessons with Richard Schrake, and I went with them once, and saw the most drop dead gorgeous Appy mare I have ever seen, she was liver chestnut with a perfect micro snowflake blanket over her hips, the riding instructor actually took her blanket off so we could see her. Yes I got to meet Richard Schrake in his barn when he was in Hillsboro Or. All the awards on the walls and his big cowboy hat and boots, I was impressed, as a kid, I have talked to him as an adult too and am not so impressed anymore LOL. But he is nice enough. Kellys folks got into showing Appys on the circuit, bought a few mares in foal, my Mom hauled two home from Calif. for them one time. Eventually Kellys parents divorced, and He married Shannon McCullough, so I had some influence from the Appy world still. Shannon and Kellys dad just divorced too.

Ya dont laugh, thats me on the left and my cousin Matt on the right, I dont have any idea where I got my fashion sense, LOL, fine ok laugh LOL, thier mare had just foaled and we went to see the new baby, I just love Appaloosa blankets .....sigh......... he probably roaned out like his mama but he was a cute baby.

So at 33 years old I finally got my Appy spots, and I love her! Like the tongue LOL she is such a character. So is Meghan. I bought Emma when she was two, she is now nine.(or will be on Jan 10th, she was a very early baby. So I will continue my love of Appy spots, Pony Girls, Boy, is realy gorgeous, love his color! Maybe I will have to do a post of the Appy color patterns I like some day.

Old Dusty, found a pic of Dustys Sundance......

as Mom named him. Val was named Dustys Valentine because he was born on Valentines day.

Sunny is 1/2 Arab and QH, he is about 19 now.

snowing snowing snowing.......

Its not very often here that we get three snowstorms in a row, usually we get one and then it goes away, but it looks like we may get more on the weekend too.

This is where we measure the snow, on the deck railing, not much yet, I will get another pic later and see how much more there is, we are supposed to get 2-6 in.

Luxor prints in the snow.

View out the front door, snowing pretty good off and on.

I am glad I am in here looking out and not out there, although it has warmed up this after noon to 33f.

Memories of Summer 2008.......

It hard to believe that we have been going to the 4-H fair for 13 years, since Sara was nine and she is now 22. Sure have a lot of good memories. These are from this year, do you remember all the classes you rode in at the fair? and.....

The grandmas and Dads, decorating......

Showmanship lineup, showmanship was always the first class.........

Closer look and Meghan and Easy, Easy she always stands square and looks good, silly old mare.

Huntseat class, "Meghan get your elbows back" "shoulders back" "M O M! ! !" I just cant let it go I have to bug her about her equitation LOL, she doesnt like it and gets mad at me.

Western equitation, Easy was funny and more hollow backed that normal, see how tense her neck is, she has always done that, she is not a performance horse, the judge thought that she may be out in her neck, shes 23 years old and has always been like this, without a running martingale or something. Her teeth were fine.

Groom squad contest, and being the oldest and an all Senior team, they won and went to state fair in this contest, where they placed 6th.

Gaming..... what Meg lives for, she has the best time doing this, and she loves her pink and green.......

a few stretches before a run......

Easy was really fast in her day, she now gets sore in her stifles, so Meghan has officially "retired" her, thats why she is riding Rocket, a friends horse.

Memories of warmer, and good times.

Man, dumb name for a horse........and Ceasar

This colt we only had for a short time, but he has an interesting story. My dad was doing some carpet or vinyl work for a lady. The ladys daughter had been keeping her mare and colt at her moms house. Man was @ 18 mos or so at this time, and were she lived was along a walking route to the local middle school. Well can you guess what the kids did to the colt? they teased him, and Man had developed a really bad habit of charging people. The Mom was terrified of him, she would run from him, all about 700 lbs of him. Anyway I think Dad bought him for cheap and brought him home, with warnings that he charged you.

He was a brat, I remember going out to catch Dusty or Joe and only having a baling twine in my pocket, and the little brat charged me, I was probably only 11 or 12, you should have seen his face when I didnt run and brandished the baling twine in his face! He was a little better with me after that. I had started getting on him and walking him around, after he turned 2, and teaching him some things and Dad sold him. I remember Dad saying that he really never got over charging people. Here is a pic of Dad doing some groundwork with him. He wasnt a bad looking colt, gelding, QH I think grade, kinda thoroughbredy.

Another horse we had at about this time, I think the most we had at one time was 6. Ceasar, I couldnt find any pics of him, dont know if any were taken. He was Dads horse, 17H blood bay no white, big boy, Mom always thought he looked like a Cleveland Bay. He was a decent horse, a lot for a 12 year old to manage, to catch him I had to take only a halter out and catch him, lead him halfway up the pasture and tie him to the tree, other wise he would drag me back to the bottom of the field. Then I would go in the barn and get his bridle with the bit and proceed to put that on him so I could bring him out of the field, and he was fine. He was never mean, just big and he knew it.

We took him on one camping trip where Dad got him stuck in the mud, he never panicked just layed there until Dad took his saddle off and then he got up and struggled out of the mud. He taught me a lot about how to handle a big horse, as a small child. The folks sold him to a teenage girl who wanted to jump, I hope he made a good jumper, he was unflappable.

The wind and snow has arrived!!

See the wind blowing the snow, looks like fog LOL, and horse tails too! Big babies they are like, "the people went in the house, we want more food, this white stuff has it all covered"

Boy is it cold for here brrrrr thermo says 24f, we dont get this kind of cold except maybe a couple times a year. Mucked stalls and threw the mares out for a couple of hours, they were running and playing and bucking and kicking goofballs!! Sorry the pic is blurry, the winds blowing like crazy and I was trying to hurry.

Lower pasture, when we get a lot of rain it turns into a lake.

Out the front door. Not to much accumulation yet, but starting to get small drifts. The light is on the well switch and the heater is on in the well house, as long as the power doesnt go out we will have water, and heat, you can see the wood pile in the first pics, just in case, It is supposed to stay in the 20's all week. I love snow storms if I dont have to be out in it, except for hunting season, I love snow then!

Good news!

I received a letter from my MD today, with very good news! I still have to see my neurologist on Jan 12th, but this helps my anxiety level a lot before the holidays!

It says " the site of the surgery looks very good.

there are no suspicious findings

there is no recommendation for further followup

by the radiologist

It is such a relief!!!!!!

The tree is finally up! and decorated.......

Luxor got to help us decorate the Christmas tree, as others have said "isnt this just the perfect dog torture picture!?" His eyes are closed LOL

All decorated.

I would say more than half of the oranments we have I have painted or made. These are my Santa, cow, and hunting Santa Stars. Made out of Fimo clay.

one of my favorites I cut out and painted all of these, sorry about the light, the house is really dark., and the flash was washing everything out.

Just a few of my favorites.



And our tree topper is a trout! LOL my husband and I were so excited when we found this at the Mall one year!

Old Dusty and foals she gave mom.

This is the old mare at 27 years old the fall before she died, its hard to believe its been 5 years already, she died at the ripe old age of 28 of natural causes in her stall. She still looked pretty darn good for as old as she was getting.

Dustys first foal is a half Arab gelding, Sunny, or Dustys Sundance as mom named him, I couldnt find an adult pic of him in my stuff, he is a light buckskin, instead of having black points he has brown points, as did his mama, typical half Arab look to him. Lots of mane and tail. LOL and he has Arab gaits, which mom has always had a problem sitting after riding QHs for so long, the way they move is so different.

This is Dustys last foal, Dustys Valentine, mom named him. he was a bit of a puzzle when he was born because we had never seen a cremello before, in this pic I can see the star on his face, and maybe some socks, he is so light colored it is hard to tell. Val is out of a QH stud that is a Hollywood gold bar, son. Hollywoods Dynamo, he is in his late 20s now. Having the buttermilk buckskin and the stud is a very strong gene palomino, we got the cremello, he has the most gorgeous blue eyes. Mom still has these two, she was greatly disappointed that Dusty didnt give her a filly to carry on the maternal line.

Thats all about Dusty now, Man will be my next story.

Funny story from Sara.......

Just a quick note.....

Sara is driving from Mississippi to Texas today after finishing some weather schooling in Biloxi. She called me laughing and said she was driving through Louisiana and there was 3 inches of snow and snowmen on the median in the middle of the highway LOL, not just one or two but a whole bunch, she said traffic must have been stopped for awhile last night or this morning. I guess its been awhile since folks have seen snow down there, it just struck her as funny, and it made me laugh, so I thought I would pass it on.

oooo.... our nasty storm has come in, wet and cold and snow tomorrow, I think I will leave the girls in today.

More Dusty pictures...............

Mom and I on Dusty and Easy. I forget sometimes what a cute little horse that Dusty was, she had a babydoll head good conformation. We kept her usable despite her severed tendon, and stress founder in that foot.

My sister rode her in the Twin City Saddleclub rodeo court. Sadly the saddle club is gone now, and condos have been built over the arena. You can see that right hind leg now and how rocked back she was on it. It amazes me that she never had more trouble with that foot. When she got older she had a few abscesses in it, thats when dad would do his magic on it so it would drain, but other than that she did pretty darn good.

Grandma and Sara giving Dusty a bath.