OH MY... OPENING DAY? YOU DON'T SAY!

What? Oh no you didn't!  Shut up, no way... you just stop!  Do not...  not gonna listen!  Shut up!  NO Way!  JUST STOP!  Slow it down... You're killin' me...  didja know?  You're killin' me!  STOP!

Scary stuff...

So that little soliloquy is the rap that roars into my head when the Bestest Eventing Buddy tells me that she...  let's see...  has already printed out her entries for the first two Area 1 Events.  And when I gasp my surprise, she mentions that Opening Day is two weeks away and that the first Event is just eight weeks away.

Eight weeks...  Just eight weeks to put my big girl panties on and get the 2013 season started.  Sigh....  just eight weeks.  That's kind of like working out the timing for getting a boy friend, falling in love and having a child and then children...  you know, just completing a life's cycle.  



2012 Season... not too shabby

What do I need to do now to be able to start my season in just eight weeks?  {{{I think getting a boyfriend, marrying and having a child might be easier.}}}

Progress is slow but steadily climbing upward.  We're jumping better, with less hysterics from the two of us...  And, I swear that I actually had fun this last jumping lesson.  Trust...  that's what the Eventing Trainer said...  Sugar and I are beginning to develop trust again.  So the very scary jump won't kill her and when I say, "Sug, you must jump the scary jump because I say so..."  Her reply has been...  "Oh?  Oh, OK!"  And that IS good!

Eight weeks...  so little time... so much to do!  Breathe in...  Breathe out!  Eight weeks... gonna be a good year!  Just you wait and see...

A WHOLE LOTTA LOVE

Best Facebook status of the day...  "Some call it Valentine's Day, I call it Thursday!"

Nothing like the love of a good biscuit!

For the record, I am not one of those  "I hate Valentine's Day" types, nor am I a lonely spinster (although I believe my mom thinks I am) or the inevitable single-never-been-married-animal hoarder.   Occasionally, I sometimes look like a "Cat Lady" even though I do not have cats. (No, I will not enter "What Not to Wear"!)

It's just that Valentine's Day forces people to acknowledge love as if it had to be forced.  I say...  Love always, acknowledge often...  whenever, wherever to whomever.



Loving the City Barn view



Once, way back when, I believed that love was finite, as if there was this one bucket filled with love for all to have and use.  If someone used it to give to another, the bucket had less love for the rest.  It was a tough world to live in when you hoarded love and only dolled it out when absolutely necessary.  And god forbid if you gave some away and it was not returned in kind....

Today, that bucket is sitting on a geyser... not only overflowing but on a slightly regular and often basis it erupts into gushers of love, happiness and good will.  Today, I find this is the bucket I want in my life... 

So on this Valentines Day...  I send a bucket out to all my peeps and hope that I follow my own words and work to make this a frequent appreciation of love:

• The  Villagers who keep me sane...
• My Family who love me despite their confusion
• My Sistah Friend whom I adore



Photo used with permission
www.yokinaphotos.com

• Dressage Trainer, Eventing Trainer and Bestest Eventing Buddy who make my world fun
• New Barn Girl and the Berlin Gang for making it bright
• Hunt Club Peeps for kicking it up a bit
• And of course...  Da Boys and Sugar for the buckets they give me every day
• (Note, I would have to reread my posts to remember the other names I've given to memorable Peeps...  I haven't forgotten you....)

Give a whole lotta love...  you would be surprised at how much it expands...  Wooooo hoooo!

Confessional Note - I can be a grumpy, pissy girl too...  that just makes me human and gives the Villagers and a Professional Friend or Two some great topics to work on and improve!!!

ODE TO THE WINTER BARN WORKER



"Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire inside is delightful. And, since we've got no place to go... Let it snow, let it snow... LET IT SNOW!"

Nemo was a beautiful blizzard with it's light fluffy snow flakes and howling winds whipping through bare trees.  I was nestled comfortably between a sleeping hound and napping lab.  It was the perfect night to catch up on things...  personal things, like cooking and cleaning projects, doing taxes and maybe a nap or two. 

The state wide driving ban prevented a visit to the barn to be sure Ms Sug was warm and comfortable.  I knew she was in good hands but I still wondered and worried just a bit...

 Of course we appreciate them... sometimes with a holiday gift or two.  Yet, while I was cuddled up on the couch snugglying Mr Floppy...  The City Barn woke to drifts over 20 feet high, blocking barn doors.  And, with the blizzard still roaring, they used the school ponies to get to the barns to feed our lil princesses and princes.

If it were me, I might have cried myself back to sleep.   Instead, they worked and dug and worked and dug...  little by little what was once a mound of white was transformed into the barn we trust will keep our ponies safe... 

I dream of owning this barn... my plans are quite amazing if I do say so myself.  (I can really go on and on about what I'll do when I win the big, big lottery.) 

When I saw the Barn Owner tacking up his horse just 48 hours after the blizzard hit, I thanked him.  And then asked him to send me these pics on the day I win that big lottery... 

It is a real reminder that Barn Work and Ownership is a huge under taking and not as easy as the vision of my dreams...

 

Yes, City Barn Boarders and Friends, I saw your Facebook posts and I know we're grateful for the efforts this past weekend.  I wonder, sometimes, if an appropriate token of our gratitude could be one less text reminding the Barn Worker to put on the green sheet after taking off the blue blanket or perhaps, maybe... one less suggestion (complaint) about how to better do the stalls or manage the indoor. 

You see, I'm not sure I would have wanted to be the first person to walk down from the warm house or barn apartment and be greeted with the beautiful white fluffy snow "gently" blowing around the hill.  So, my penance for being tucked away, cozy and warm, is a ban on any thoughts, comments or suggestions on anything that looks like "improvements"...  cause after Finding Nemo, I am not worthy to "improve" upon anything!

City Barn Workers and Owners...  I humbly bow in your general direction and say...  YOU ROCK!  And THANKS!!!!

And for all of you who do this work so well...  Boarders and Friends thank you too... 

Note - All photos are courtesy of the Orchard Hill Equestrian Center Staff and Friends  (www.orchardhillequestriancenter.com)