Sheesh, it is feast or famine as far as our blogging goes, huh?

I have news to report. I cut my hair. Big whoop, you say. Well I cut over 10 INCHES off!!!

Here is me in my .
just-been-washed-but-not-yet-combed hippie hairstyle

Here is me not two hours later in my fresh new 'do.

I had been growing out my hair for months in order to cut it off and donate it to Locks of Love (www.locksoflove.org). Locks of Love takes donations of hair (more than 10 inches) and uses the hair to make wigs for kids who have lost their own due to disease or cancer treatments.

When I went in for my cut, I asked for the remaining hair to be long enough for a little ponytail so that I could still pull it back and tuck it under my riding helmet. I did not end up with hair long enough for a little ponytail so that I could still pull it back and tuck it under my riding helmet. Oh well, I think it is cute anyways.

And, as long as I'm writing, I thought y'all might like to know that Colin is making lasagne for dinner and it should be ready soon. It smells really good in here! Mmmmm, lasagne.
- posted by Susan @ 5:46 PM

 
Oh My Goodness! I just realized that I didn't post the results of our Surprise Get Away Weekend!

We went to....drumroll, please...INDIANA!!! Why did we go to Indiana, you want to know? Because they only have the Best Drive-In Ever!

Let's back up a little bit. I have never (or had-never at that point) been to a drive-in movie theater. Turns out we have one a few towns over and Colin swore that he'd get me to the drive-in. And I was game, until our neighbor told us not to go there, as it was a Very Dangerous Place. So I said no way, I wasn't going.

That's when the idea was hatched...take her to a known, safe, quality drive-in!

And also Colin wanted to show me where he grew up.

We had a wonderful weekend. We flew first class, woo hoo!, and of course had to take advantage of the free drinks all around. We stayed at a very cute B&B, complete with creaky wooden floors and a 12" difference in floor height in a span of 10' or so from our bedroom to the bathroom (and there were NO stairs in that stretch of flooring!). We ate well, we drank well, and I got to see all the places where Colin lived and went to school. We walked around the campus of IU and it was just gorgeous. What a great weekend! Oh yeah, and we went to the movies and saw Batman Begins (okay) and Miss Congeniality Two (sucked so we left early). The drive-in was so nice - quaint, cute, a real piece of Americana.

I have a surprise date planned for him, but not for a few weeks. And I hate to say it but it is not nearly as exciting.
- posted by Susan @ 9:13 PM

 
Colin caught the rattlesnake!!!

This afternoon as I was leaving the house (thankfully I had already put the dogs in the garage), I stepped outside and heard a buzzing/hissing...ok, RATTLING noise. I wasn't paying attention because I was fumbling with my purse and my cell phone. It took a couple seconds for me to take note that it was an unusual noise and I looked down and lo and behold there he was, little guy. He was trying to give me the mighty rattlesnake staredown, combined with the warning of the rattle, and so I left him alone and went in the house to get something to cover him up with. I came back outside and he was slithering away into the bushes. I wasn't about to go after him at that point.

So I called Colin, who was on his way home from playing hockey, and told him to be careful because the snake was back and was in the bushes.

When I got home, Colin came out to greet me to say he caught the snake after trimming...actually demolishing...the bush that the snake lived in. We went for a walk down the ditch and relocated the snake to his new home off our property but under cover of great brush ,and under the watchful eye of some neighborhood vultures.

So that made today a Good Day. Hopefully he won't be back to bother the dogs. He wasn't really a bother for me and Colin because we like snakes and think they're pretty. But the dogs don't know any better (obviously - refer to previous posts if you need a reminder).

On a horsie-note, I was entered in a local horse last weekend. I entered Paddy in the show, but he hurt himself the week prior and wasn't healed enough in time to compete. So I thought I'd take Miles instead. I had a lesson with our neighbor, and he was really good, despite not having brakes. We jumped for the first time since last summer and had a lot of fun. So while I wasn't expecting to actually do well at the show, I though we could go in and participate and get some experience.

Well, I thought wrong. I took him to the showgrounds a day earlier than we were scheduled to compete and at first everything was great. We went for a walk around the showgrounds and despite being bombarded by screaming kids riding bikes up his butt, he was a perfect gentleman. He didn't flinch, didn't spook, didn't care. So then we headed to the warm-up arena. Walking around, again he was fine. But when it came time to work and go forward and do some flat work, he EXPLODED!!! Buck, buck, buck. Not one series of bucks, but three or four (I lost count). Mothers were swearing at me under their breath, as their children scattered in fear of being trampled or kicked or otherwise assaulted by the Cutest Pony Ever. In the spirit of safety for all competitors, I excused myself from the area and spent another half an hour walking around, trying to mentally cool down and then we left. Forget it. I decided not to show. It was too much, too exciting, too ... something. So the following day we went for a 2-hour trail ride. And of course he was perfect. Go figure.

I just sent my entry in for a show in Woodside later this summer. I'm going to bring Paddy to compete and Miles to "school" for experience. Should be fun!
- posted by Susan @ 8:54 PM

 
Thanks for posting about the rattlesnake bite, Putty. The pictures are cute, in a pitiful sort of way.

Let's see. On the good side, I have found out that we have two readers of our blog. A shout out to aunt Marilyn and our friend Logan. Just after my last post, they both emailed to say that they do indeed read our happenings, so this isn't just going into thin air.

On the bad side, I'm in a bad mood today. It is raining. In California. IN JUNE. IT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO RAIN IN JUNE! And we're supposed to go out of town tomorrow on our surprise weekend. It seems like it always rains when we're supposed to go somewhere. And also a horse gets injured the day before we are supposed to leave. And sure enough, Paddy got hurt. I don't know how he did it, but he cut his leg - right at the coronet band (where the leg meets the hoof). It was bleeding a lot but didn't look deep or too big. So I hosed it off, cleaned it with Betadine, and wrapped it up with a maxi-pad of all things (they are good for putting on cuts - absorb and blood but don't stick to the wound). I'll go check on it after dinner and re-wrap it. That is if I don't drink too much wine...

Did I write about my new ring already? It is so gorgeous. I had to file my nails and put on clear polish so that my nails would look decent enough to show off such a gorgeous piece. Colin and I were admiring it last night and commenting that it looks fake because it is just so pretty. I've got to get a picture of it up here.

I guess that's all for now. Colin packed for me; I still don't know where we're going.
- posted by Susan @ 6:41 PM

 
Last night, as Susie let the girls out before bedtime, she called out, "Colin, there's a snake here." As I pondered the ramifications of this revelation, she said, "It's a rattlesnake and it bit Barley." I guess I won't be able to sit this one out.

So poor Barley got bitterated by a rattlesnake. The snake was sitting coiled up just outside of our mudroom door on the sidewalk. It was less than a foot long, so just a baby, I guess, and still rattling. We passed on the opportunity to catch the snake in favor of finding Barley, who had bravely run off into the night. A couple of minutes' search found her waiting at the presumedly snake-free back door. Susie called the vet's answering service and they vectored us in.

Barley normally looks more or less like this. Last night, after the venom from the bite and the subsequent cortisone and penicillin shots, she looked like this. The vet told us the swelling will get a little worse before it gets better, and, sure enough, here's what she looks like today.

The vet told us that she was almost certainly bitten by a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. It is unusual to encounter them at night and, even untreated, most dogs will survive a bite. Still, it was best, he said, that we brought her in. Poor princess.
- posted by Colin @ 9:21 AM

 
OK, my last post was lame. You don't want to hear what I have to write, you want pictures! So, here we are repairing some winter erosion in the small pasture (contains the barn): Susie, me. These creatures are called "Jumping Jacks" or, "bammers", as we dubbed them. They each weigh about 130 pounds and are like a combination of outboard motor and giant sewing machine needle. Why did we do this? Well, first, we did this. When we were done with the bammers, it looked like this. Too bad it didn't stay that way. We had like Noah's Arc kind of rain this winter, so the digging eroded where the slope was steepest. I had a different idea for this project and I let myself be talked out of it by the backhoe guy. I should've stuck to my guns, dammit. Oh, well.

As you may know, the stoopid NHL skipped this season with labor difficulties. We had to make do with the NCAA championships, aka the Frozen Four. Jesse and Mari came up to visit, and we made and decorated a cake for the occasion. I thought North Dakota University would win, but it ended up being Denver University.

One morning, I woke up and the pond looked like this. For those of you keeping score at home, that's way too low. I poked around and found this hole. So I did this. Yay! Captain Concrete to the rescue. Of course, another hole soon developed around the edge of the new patch. Sigh.

We decided to combat our flies this year with biowarfare. We subscribed (yes, subscribed) to a service that sends us the Wasp-of-the-Month every month. They're called Fly Predators and they eat the flies before they're born. So far, it's worked really well. Cool.

Susie and I have been going to the Empire Mine for trail riding lately. Usually, I ride Miles, but here's Susie on Miles.
- posted by Colin @ 9:28 PM

 
Shame on me. Shame, shame, shame. I have not posted in eons. I wonder if it matters - does anyone other than us actually read this?

(Forgive me for any typos that may come up - I'm on my third glass of red wine!)

Let's see, what else are we up to at the farm? We started a neighborhood wine club. We get together once a month and try new wines. Duh. We've hosted it twice and have had a wonderful time getting to know our neighbors. We've also managed to get quite sloshed in the process. Last time (last weekend) I ended up on the bathroom floor at the end of the night. It just hit me after everyone left and I stopped talking and moving. Oh well. I didn't have a hangover the next day, though!

Yes indeed, Paddy and I went to our first horse show - a Combined Training event - and came home with a second place ribbon! He was a superstar and was a total pro. He had his gameface on and was just perfect. I cannot say enough good things about this horse. We've been XC schooling in preparation for our first official Horse Trials (3 day show - dressage, cross country (XC) and stadium jumping) in Woodside in August. In the meantime, we're going to practice with some local shows. We're actually entered in the County Fair show at the end of June. Should be a fun adventure. Amazingly, they have a lot of prize money classes, and I entered three of them.

I have a love/hate relationship with the riding arena on our property. I have decided that we have the wrong kind of sand. I spent the month of May removing sand. About halfway, I decided I could get better precision doing it by hand than by trying to move it around with the tractor. So I'm not terribly excited to get out there and work it over again, but I will. We're going to have a different kind of sand brought in and mix it with the current sand and hope that helps firm it up and compact it a little bit. If not, I'm SOL and will have to pay to have someone come in and take all the sand out, make any repairs to the base, then do a "sub-footing", with another footing on top. This is a bigger PITA than I ever expected it to be.

And while I was working on the arena, I spent a lot of time at the mine, trail riding. Miles is now back in work and loves going out on the trails. So much so that I'm thinking about getting more info on competitive trail riding to see if it is something he'd enjoy. In the meantime, we go out and explore and have fun. Colin joins us sometimes - he'll ride Miles and I'll ride Paddy and off we go! Miles gives him a run for his money, since he is a bratty pony after all, and Colin has done a really good job of handling it all. I've just started Miles back to work in the arena, which he doesn't like as much but he's getting better.

Let's see - my new project (since I'm in limbo with the arena until the end of the month) is weed eating. Since our property is so rocky and hilly, we can only mow about half of it, if that. The rest has to be done with the weed whacker. One tank of gas lets me go for 45 minutes. I've done part of the hockey rink area, the forbidden pasture, the strip, the large pasture, and now I have to finish the rest of the hockey rink area, which should take me a solid week.

Can I just take a moment to say that Colin and I are watching the National Geographic Channel and there is a show on about bugs? The TV just showed people who have had spider bites which have resulted in some kind of necrotic tissue blah blah blah - basically a flesh eating result that is absolutely disgusting to watch on the TV.

Back to our regularly-ok, not-so-regularly, scheduled blogging.

Hmmm...

Oh yes! Jewels! "Jewels?" you ask! Indeed! We took our left over jewelry from our previous marriages to the jeweler in town. Colin had an emerald ring with two diamonds on the side. I had my diamond engagement ring. We had the emerald re-set into a new ring which is just gorgeous! The two diamonds from his ring and my one diamond are being made into a bangle bracelet which won't be ready until the end of the month. I have never had such lovely jewelry as I've had since I've been lucky enough to have Colin in my life. Wow. We need to go to the big city (i.e., Roseville) so I have an excuse to wear these lovely pieces.

Backtracking a bit, we had a lovely time in Hawaii. My parents' house is just so beautiful; more than I ever imagined, and we really enjoyed spending time with them and their friends. We went to Haleakala and checked out the crater, but I must say I was feeling like crap because of my dad's bad driving. Sheesh! But we got a cute picture anyways. We went out for a lovely dinner one night, but one of their friends was sick and couldn't join us. I'm hoping to get pictures emailed to me of the rest of us who did make it.

My dad has loaned us his fancy digital camera, and we went out last night on a neighborhood "photo shoot" walk. Here are some pictures (goat, daisies, me & the Old Man). We've talked about taking a photography course at the local community college this fall. We both love to take photos, so it should be fun.

Colin is trying to compete with me right now by blogging at the same time, so you'll get more for your money tonight!

Cheers!
- posted by Susan @ 9:14 PM

 
Sorry it's been so long since last we posted. We've just been sitting around with our feet up, relaxing and enjoying farm life. No, wait, that's not right. We've been, as usual, busting our little humps.

First, a quick update on my big project, the irrigation shed, or, as one of our neighbors calls it, the outhouse. The fourth wall went up on 3/13. Next came the walls and the ceiling joists (notice the addition of the pneumatic nail gun and air compressor - my new favorite tools). The roof came next, which has turned out to be the hardest part, so far. I'll post a few more pictures of the current state next. It's coming along nicely and has not fallen down even once so far.

Susie had a big show that I'll her tell you about, but here's a hint.

We also had a nice trip to Maui. We lounged by the pool and enjoyed the scenery.
- posted by Colin @ 8:52 PM