The New Place

Chad and I have been looking for our own place since September of last year.  We have been through everything you can imagine...its been ridiculous to say the least.  Our real estate agent was already a family friend, but if she hadn't been to start out with, she would have been after this wild and long ride! 

Partial front of house.

So we are now going to be residing just outside the lovely city of Spirit Lake.  We are only 15 minutes from "The Ranch" so its making moving easy.  A little bit every night and once the fence is in, a nice short ride for my equine buddies!!  ( :

Barn...with Chad testing the stalls.

The house, garage, and the barn are move in ready...but the pasture, not so much.  So we have that little project in full swing, and I'll show you pictures of that next.  For now here's the place!

Garage and Ham radio tower.

Its 10 acres with its own gravel pit.  Yeup, gravel pit, its grandfathered in, so if we so choose, we could put it into production.  We won't, but we could!  ( :  All the gravel you see 'round this place is from it.  And its natural, it hasn't been ground.  We do have plenty of large rock that could be ground and or used in landscaping.  But we will see...I don't love rock gardens, so I won't be doing that.

Green house, kind cool isn't it?

The house's story is a sad one.  The couple that lived here, moved from Utah to retire here.  Then the wife was diagnosed with cancer.  After treatment, they decided to move back to their family and friends.  As their network wasn't as strong as they wanted.  They were pretty much heart broken to have to leave.  I am heart broken for them...having family members who have been through cancer. 

Chads woodshed, for the stove in the garage...which will be home for the Bronco!!  Maybe we can get started on it this year!!

I am happy for us though!!  It will be such a nice feeling to be able to be in charge of how I keep the horses and not have any dip shits showing up to bug the crap out of me!  And if I don't like a horse, I don't have to feed it!  ( :  Although its smaller than The Ranch, we can't really see the neighbors and they can't see me...so that's good.

Door to the apartment...anyone wanna come visit? Its got a 3/4 bath!

We should be out of here within the week!!  Oh, the joy!!  The new guy is just waiting for me to get out so he can get in...I will meet with him on Sunday afternoon and give him the low down on everything that I do around here.  Good luck to you buddy...that's what I will be thinking the entire time I am talking to him...but I'm a bitch that way sometimes!!

Cute little tractor!!  Chad can't wait to blow snow with it!

On another note, the vets office called me back.  Tari's fasting blood sugar level was perfect.  Dr. Reuss said that she may just be one of those horses that isn't happy pregnant.  I am relieved that Tari doesn't have any medical issues, but really wish she would find her happy place and stop being such a mean old bag to the rest of the girls.  Maybe a change of scenery might make her a nicer horse!  ( :  I think it might make me a nicer person...maybe!!

Quick Catch Up

We signed on our house on Friday the 6th and the thing got audited...so it didn't close until the 12th.  That was painful....but we are now home owners!  Whoopppeeee!!  Had practically the whole fam damily out helping us ready the place for pasture and fencing...will share more and some photos later!!  My mom made potato salad and carrot cake...that made the weekend even better!  ( :

A.T. is weak, but has been moved from ICU to the regular medical floor and was headed to the hospice floor last news I received.  Although I doubt he will ever be able to live alone again, he may be burning up the halls of a care center or some such place in a couple of weeks.  Don't tell him he has a deadline to meet, he will make his own!  And a big thank you Karen for the thoughts and prayers!!

I have started reading Brown Eyed Cowgirls blog...and in her A Pill For Everything posting, I had a light come on inside my mind.  Scary I know...but 90% of the signs and symptoms her gelding are exhibiting are things I have been muddling through with Tari.  Soooo, Tari has a vet appointment tomorrow morning to do a fasting blood sugar.  I am hoping that this will come back and tell me she is not insulin intolerant, but one only knows.  Because if that's not it, what kind of demon semen has she been inseminated with?  She has become quite the hag....

Stay tuned....

Loosing A Friend....

Its been a long week...full of just waiting on stuff.  Things that suddenly seem so meaningless, yet were so important just 1 hour ago.

Mindy and I are loosing an old friend.  A crazy little old man that we both spent many hours with.  Both together and separately doing odd jobs with him and listening to his stories of his younger days.  Stories of his days on the railroad......stories of Texas/Mexico whore houses...stories of drunken benders and wild times before he found A.A.  Oh, the stories he told us...things you would never expect to hear from the little old guy up the street.

He could make a logger blush...  I will NEVER forget the day he told me that no matter what I did in life, never get pubic lice.  He then proceeded to tell my why I never wanted pubic lice and how he got it and then cured it.  Thinking about it now, I just laugh...  It was his way of sharing a life lesson with out all of the p.c. bullshit people sling now-a-days. 

He never made excuses for the way he was....and always found light in his mistakes.  He also found joy in his 40 years of sobriety, and loved to take everyone he knew to his daily AA meetings.  He always spoke at them, giving advice in his own fashion.  All of the serious members loved him...those passing through also enjoyed his tales I am sure.

He also appreciates a woman that can cuss...I am quite good a cussing as is Mindy, with all three of us together we would cuss a blue streak as we worked.

He was a never ending source of entertainment and work.  And some wisdom as well. 

He told his daughter today he had 82 great years and no one should feel bad for him.  This came right after the doctor told him he had 3 day to live (as his white cell count climbs higher and higher daily, with no reaction to antibiotics) and he retorted with, no I think I will live 5 more days. 

After knowing him for the last 12 years, I am quite sure that he will make damn sure he makes it another 5 days.  I am sure of this because ever since I met him, A.T. has done exactly what he wanted at exactly the time that makes him happy. 

He had his daughter tell Mindy to have us call him tomorrow.  So we will.

I am not sure how you talk to a man that you enjoyed so much with, knowing that he is dieing and that you won't be there for him in the end.  How do you keep from breaking down when just trying to thank him from being him and apologising to him for not making it to Texas one last time to finish the fence you started 3 years ago...  Even though you have been promising to find the time to get there for a few days...

Where does that time go?  How did I waste that time....

I Dunno...

These are in the order that I took them.

Just sitting on the porch, talking on my cell phone...

...with my sister.

Honestly I don't even know how to work all the functions on my camera.

So how I got this last pic is beyond me....hmmm.

Had To Stay Home This Weekend!

Rather than having my own private pity party right here.  About how I had to stay home and mess around with this house stuff...that seems to be almost at a negative end...leaving me still stuck here, rather than seeing my nephew and having a few cocktails with my sister and her husband.  And stuck here at this crazy farm fo God knows how much longer...oh and out of pocket nearly 2k in fee's just to find out the sellers won't get their house in compliance with FHA/HUD.  But I've said more than enough now...

But lets not think about that...lets enjoy my dogs playing this afternoon.

As I look at Abbi, I am thinking that maybe her dad was Gene Simmons...

This one is not really in focus, but I like it, so I share it!

She is soo focused, too bad its not on anything productive!

See her slobber?  Makes me laugh...she drools waiting for the ball.  Crazy kid!

More odd tongue maneuvers.

Her tongue is so heavy, it makes her head drop!  ( :

Now her brother!

This was a lucky catch by me, that is!

He caught this one!

Keeping his eye on the ball, Abbi backing him up...just in case!

Another catch.

He's a hot dog!!  LOL!!