Easy Money Ranch

How many of you read the novel, Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck when you were in high school?  It was required reading for us.  Being as it has been a few years since I was in high school (just a couple) I don't remember it exactly.  But the general idea is that there is this big guy who is a little mentally challenged and he likes small fuzzy things, like mice and rabbits.  Only problem is that he is such a great big guy that he plays with them too rough and ends up killing them.   I think this Looney T unes video illustrates the general idea - what a classic!  I remember it well.  Nothing beats my memories of Saturday morning cartoons with my dad.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JlVqfC8-UI&feature=related

So where am I going with this little trip down memory lane?  I'm getting there!   With this warm and wet weather we have had a plethora (a lot) of frogs and toads this year.  Not plague like yet, thankfully, but a lot.  I'm not a huge frog and toad fan, but Wiley is.  Wiley loves his little hoppers.  But just like the fictional Lenny, he often is disappointed when after a few minutes of "playing" his little friends no longer hop and jump.  He is so darn funny to watch as he uses a paw to encourage them to hop and then he pounces.  And then he flips them over and then he pounces.   We save as many as we can from Wiley's playtime, but he is usually more determined than we are.  Anyone else have dogs fascinated with frogs?  

Sophie says it all the time.  We'll see some jr high or high school students and she'll say, "hey mom - its one of your kids!"  She knows them and she is right, they are "my kids".  I love them all and I am so excited to welcome them back to school next Tuesday.  Tomorrow I go back to work.  Buy bye summer - hello Fillmore Central.  But what a fun year.  A year of changes.  A new room, a new title, and new courses to teach.  I love change.  Change keeps you fresh, keeps you young and keeps you on your toes.  I would hate to get stagnant and lazy.  It is too easy to fall into that rut.  I am a little ahead of my cycle though.  I taught 6th grade for 4 years, 4th grade for 4 years and at the middle school for only 3 before I moved again.  ;)  But that is okay.  See, it is a change and I am okay with that!  the girls and I have my room all unpacked, some decorations up and my desk ready to go.  I am so ready for that first workshop day tomorrow.  We'll get the basics over and done with and then the excitement builds! I can't wait to see all of "my kids" again!  I get to see some of my kids that I sent to the high school several years ago.  I cannot wait.  I am sure I am way more excited to see them, than they are to see me.  But that will not deter my excitement!  Like Sophie says, "Mom - it is one of your kids!"  Yup, Sophie - I have LOTS of kids and they all are equally important to me.

Did I say that out loud?  Yes, yes I did!  We had a blast yesterday at our friends, the Jackels.  We got all of the hay done and put up in the barns and lean to.  Even brought home a few more good bales for a special pony who could use a little extra alfalfa this winter.  Normally I would say I hate haying, especially when it is hot out.  But everything is more fun when you do it with friends.  The girls and I drove the trucks to and from the hay field and the guys loaded and unloaded.  It all went quickly and then the fun began.  They pulled out their new fryer and made some cheese curds, mushrooms, onion rings, you name it.  We all had a snack and then the grilling began.  Good food, good friends and good times!  We shared a lot of laughs around the campfire and eventually we all crashed.  We awoke to Sonny in the kitchen making omelettes and waffles.  What a great way to spend one of the last weekends of summer. 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  I think this one is worth a million.   Libby headed to Rochester on Sunday with high hopes of qualifying in her last two classes with Lady - poles and barrels.  She had a GREAT run going in poles.  She and Lady just get going and dodge those poles, they made it all the way down (the usual struggle for them) and knocked the fourth pole on the way back.  Shannon even heard the judge say that "it was a great run going until she knocked".  Libby then knocked in jump and key (which she has NEVER knocked in key) and went into barrels quite nervous.  Unfortunately it only took a slight bump as she left the first barrel and down it went.  Thankfully she finished with a great run in speed dash - held her own with the "big" kids.  So no barrels or poles for Libby and she is bummed, but still thrilled to get to do games at all. 

Speaking of Champ Show - we hope that many of you can come and cheer her on.  She shows ALL of her pleasure events on Thursday - September 23 starting with showmanship at 7:00, then her two pony classes, then English which is followed by pleasure egg and spoon.  No classes for our kids on Friday, but on Saturday she will run Jump Figure 8 followed immediately by Rescue Race.    Sunday she'll have key and then we head home!  And then we all stumble to work/school on Monday.  Fun, fun!  At least we aren't like some of our friends who have state fair, then 4H horse project, then Champ Show.  Three weeks at the Great Minnesota Get Together grounds might just do me right in!

So back to Libby:  Libby knows that Lady Bug, as she calls her, is going back to her family after this season and she is more bummed about that than anything.  She has been perusing the POA International sale ponies, hoping to find a game pony that she can afford.  Unfortunately she has about $200 saved, which just happens to be the minimum bid at the POA sale.  I don't think she'll have much luck - but I'm not about to crush her dreams.  I keep telling her that I don't think she has enough, but what do I know!  There were some real buys there last year.   If you're looking for a pony, check out the listings at:  http://www.poac.org/shows/intlsale/ponies.php?sort=lot  The sale is held online and we will have our trailer there to haul a pony back for you if you find one you like!  Libby kind of  likes lot #87 (note the description). 

A month or so ago I posted about my daughter the perfectionist, Libby.  I vented about how helpless I felt in guiding her through the stress she was putting on herself and her pony to be perfect.  I asked friends and family how to help her deal and got a lot of good suggestions.  We tried a new technique of having her focus on a goal instead of on a placing and that helped quite a bit.  She might set a goal of getting her diagonals in an English class for example.  But she was still frustrated with herself too much of the time.  Enter a sweet little bay mare named Lady.  Lady is a game horse.  On a whim the Jackels had Libby ride Lady at a game show in mid July.   Libby was hooked.  Since that day the Jackels have hauled that little bay mare for Libby to ride at every show.   Even to a mid week fair show last Wednesday where Lady and Libby qualified for Champ Show in jump figure 8 and key.  As pleasure people we know nothing of games, but Lady was a great tutor.   Lady took excellent care of Libby and Libby has had a blast riding Lady.  She hasn't always placed in her classes, she knocks a lot, but it doesn't matter.  She is having fun.  She doesn't stop smiling at shows now.  And not just during the games.  She smiles all day long.  There are no more tears when she forgets something or misses something.  She just shrugs and goes, "oops - I will have to work on that".  No more pressure on Giggles to be perfect.  She either comes out of the ring saying, "wow - she was so good today" or "ha - did you see her head!  We have work to do".   This has been a great opportunity for Libby.  Lady won't be available for her next year as the owners have other plans for her, so we are so thankful for every run that the two of them get to make for the rest of the season.  Thank you so much to Lady's owner, the Jackels family AND Lady for giving Libby back the joy she should feel with her horses and peace of mind!  She will always remember the summer of 2010!

I love our willow tree.  It is a grand old willow that resides along the stream in our front yard, with long sweeping branches that brush the grass.  The kids love to climb the willows broad spreading branches.  Birds love to nest in the many nooks and crannies among the web of stems in the willow.  I love to sit under the shad of the willow, it is like a cave under there with the branches protecting you from the sun.  It makes a stunning backdrop for pictures and helps to keep the front yard a little drier as it soaks up the water table around us.  Shannon hates the willow.  Of course that is because he gets whipped in the face by the branches when he mows under it.  He says he wishes the tree no ill will but I have heard him mumble things like "pole saw" and "chain saw" under his breath as he looks upon my gorgeous tree.  AND, oh this is just the worst, he sprayed my tree with herbicide this summer!  He "claims" it was just an accident.  That he was spraying the yard and it got hit by overspray.  I don't believe him!  Lucky for him she is a tough old Grandmother Willow and all that happened was a band of leaves shriveled up and fell off.  It is almost looking good again.  My dad said I can take branches off the tree and plant them.  This is one thing I am going to try!  How beautiful would a willow look right up by the house!  Especially since we lost our big shade tree to the south for no reason earlier this summer. I think Shannon will just learn to love them all. 

Okay, I'm going to rest my case on this one.  Here is a video of an older gentleman that trains horses in Nebraska.  This is a video on hobble breaking.  We can get into the merits or pitfalls of hobble breaking in a later blog, however, that is not why I am posting.  Go to the comments on this video and read the horrific spelling that went back and forth.  Some kid comes on (you have to go back to page 2 to see the start of the bantering) and can't even write a legible thought down and pdj comments back.  The longer the kid tries to argue his point, the worse it gets.  Now maybe this young gal or girl actually had a point - the world will never know.  BUT NO ONE TAKES YOU SERIOUSLY IF YOU CAN'T EVEN SPELL THE WORDS - "way"  "my"  "just"  etc...  Use spellcheck people!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SbYFHKkwAM

That said, have a great Thursday everyone!

Well, this has been back to school week for me.  The kids have been helping me at my new room in the high school.  What a job it is to move my entire collection of "stuff" (not what Shannon calls it - I bet you guess what he calls it) from Preston to Harmony.  The really scary thing was that most of my stuff was missing for a while.  But thanks to the Driver's Ed instructor we found it stored in the back corner of the garage. I asked around for a janitor, but since none were available the girls and I moved it all from the garage to my room by ourselves.  Let me tell you this though, if I had known we were going to have to move it ourselves I wouldn't have packed those boxes so darn heavy!  We did get it all moved and unpacked, just in time for the janitor to show up.  *sigh*  There are still stacks of things on the tables waiting for Shannon to get some shelves up and/or fixed.  I have a lot of stuff.  It is kind of fun unpacking and rediscovering all the goodies that were stored in the dark recesses of my closet at the middle school.  Such fun!  And I love all the windows in my new room.  It is also bizarre for me to be teaching in a classroom I spent so much of my high school career in.  Any kids out there remember Mr. Tribon's WCCO quizzes?  And then to think I am teaching in the room where my dad went to school.  It is such a great old building with such a great history.  It is just beautiful.  I love being there!  I think today we will head up to do some decorating.  Time to make it my own!

We had our first real disappointment in dealing with horse people today.  Yesterday we took a pony that Libby has been bonding with and riding to a horse show.  She took this pony that had been kind of sitting in a paddock, not being used, and spent a week working on showmanship, walk/trot, etc...  She and Quincy were doing great together and had really hit it off.  Meanwhile her current project, that she had been working with since he was a yearling, was sold and headed for a new home.  Thank goodness Quincy was there to take his place and keep her busy.  We didn't buy the little guy, just were trying him out.  So on Wednesday we took him with as we headed to Austin to a fun show.  As Libby sat on Quincy she was approached by someone who wanted to know if he was for sale.  Libby, being the good kid that she is, told them that we hadn't bought him yet.  She told them where he came from and what his name was.  And then they approached me and asked about Quincy.  Of course I wanted to help the wonderful folks at Sweet Memories Stable out and shared that they had other ponies for sale, gave them the name, told them about their website, etc...  Guess what they did to pay us back for all of our kindness?  They went behind our back and tried to buy Quincy out from under us.  Yep, contacted the seller and tried to buy him out from under us.  Can you believe it?  Really?  In this world of ponies upon ponies, why in the world would you try to buy a pony out from under a little girl.  Poor Libby who had just seen her little friend sold and had soothed the hurt by working with another pony and YOU EVIL PERSON tried to buy him out from under her.  I hope that you, and you know who you are, are out there reading this and feeling remorse for what you did.   I've done some shitty stuff in my life that I will forever be sorry for.  But NEVER, in my life, have I purposedly tried to hurt the feelings of a child.  You do NOT deserve to be in the POA organization.  POA people are generous, kind, welcoming and giving.  You do not get that.  There is no room in this organization for backstabbing, money grubbing, evilness.  This is a family organization, and families do not STEAL from family.  And in my eyes, what you tried to do is no worse than stealing.  And God Bless the Dykstras at Sweet Memories for not letting you take that sweet boy from the little girl that loves him.  He has a caretaker and best friend already.  Sorry, but his heart is spoken for.  Oh and by the way, I know a few folks in the POA organization.  I suggest NOT trying to buy from those families because I plan on letting EVERY ONE know what you did.  AND you had better not EVER contact me about a pony that comes through here for sale.  You are NOT welcome here.  I don't use words like EVIL and HATE often.  But mess with my kids and their hopes and dreams and you will walk away burnt.  That I promise. This is what you were trying to break up. 

Good Lord - this is MN!  It is not supposed to be so stinking hot in MN.  I cannot believe the weather we have been having.  The last 3 years we have MAYBE turned the air conditioning on for a day or two here or there.  This year.  It has been on for days in a row.  We always turn it on overnight, but by about noon the following morning we have to turn it back on again. It is so hard to get anything done when it is this hot.  Even today, with the air on, and cleaning the house I got soaked in my own sweat.  But every room got the floors done, dusted and things sorted.  We even cleaned closets!  So how hot is it in MN?  Let's see, it is so hot that -

The robins are laying their eggs sunny side up.

All the water buffalo at the zoo have evaporated.

the trees are whistling' for the dogs.

It's so hot, I saw squirrels fanning their nuts.

The birds had to pick up the worms with potholders.

I saw a dog chasing a cat and they were both walkin'

Farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying hard boiled eggs.