My goodness it has been a long time since I've posted an update.

Let's see. Colin and I had a secret date where I arranged for us to meet some friends at our favorite restaurant in Palo Alto, we then went to a Sharks' game, and spent the rest of the weekend meeting up with other friends. It was really fun to get away for a weekend.

I've been having a really sore back for quite a while. I think it is because of my barn chores and stall cleaning. Chiropractic didn't help, acupuncture mildly helped, and I was afraid that I would become addicted to pain killers that Colin has from previous surgeries. I only resorted to their use when the pain was so unbearable that I couldn't sleep. Just in the past couple weeks I started going to the gym with Colin and doing cardio and light weight training, and that has actually really seemed to help. I haven't had the back pain since starting that. Also, I'm sure it helped that Colin took over poo chores for a couple weeks and let me rest.

The ponies are doing well. Paddy has learned his lead-changes, which pleases me mightily! I'm letting him have a break from hard work for a couple months, so we've been doing mostly trail riding with a couple days of arena work for good measure. Miles has some sort of issue going on that I'm having the vet look into, but he's sound for trail riding so we've been doing a lot of that. Colin actually came with me today and he rode Paddy and I rode Miles. I decided I'd go bareback, and all was going well until we took a turn onto a trail and on the other side of the road there was some odd noise (like a loud scooter or chainsaw or something) that really got Miles going and he had a couple bucking fits! Not fun without a saddle on!

We spent Thanksgiving at home and had some Bay Area friends to come up and visit, which was a lot of fun. We got to go for a couple rides and mostly just relax and hang out. The boys did all the cooking and the girls did all the cleaning. We're gearing up for Christmas when we'll go to our neighbor's house for dinner on the 24th and then another friend's house for dessert on the 25th. I think this is the first year that I won't be with my parents on both Thanksgiving and Christmas!

I've been thinking of cutting my hair off again and going short. Actually, I've been thinking of shaving my head, but I don't know if I'm ready to make that big of a change at the moment. Maybe I'll save the head shaving for the summertime. ;-)

The outhouse is almost done. We spent last Saturday painting it and just need to do some finishing touches on the trim.

Oh! I almost forgot! Colin's Xmas present is....DUMPY! Dumpy the wonder dump-trailer has found his way into our home. I bought it before Xmas because it was the last one left on the lot and they aren't making that size anymore (they are only making bigger ones and I don't want a bigger one!). So Colin came home one day and dumpy was in the driveway and he was very happy with his present. (In case y'all don't know what a dump trailer is, it is a 5x8 trailer that can be pulled behind the truck or trailer on a 2 5/16 ball. It has a motor which lifts the bed and, well, DUMPS stuff!) We used dumpy on Saturday to go get some hay, and Colin is going to use it this weekend to go pick something else up. And we use it for manure (filling and holding) while it is raining, and just think of all the things we can fill and dump with it! Wooo hooo!

My tummy hurts because I just ate the rest of the chocolate buttercream squares that Colin made over the weekend. I mean, they were just sitting there - what was I supposed to do, leave just one or two in the box?!
- posted by Susan @ 7:09 PM