Two weekends ago, C and I took G to the National Western Stock Show in Denver. It was the first weekend of the show. We looked at all the exhibits, especially all the animals. There were horses, cows, chickens, bunnies, sheep, and many more. This is a big show, it goes on for two weeks (3 weekends). The horses come in by breed, and the Quarter Horses are the first to show. There was an AQHA Quarter Horse show the week before the stock show opened.

G checked out all the displays, tried to rope a cow (a dummy cow head stuck on a straw bale that ropers use to practice on), and petted the animals in the petting zoo.

Somehow I thought that we would wear G out and he would be tired, but Grandpa and Grandma were the ones that came home tired!

Ice Hockey

Last Friday, we snagged G from school, hurriedly fed the horses, and loaded up G and Amanda (the dog) and headed for Loveland. This was the last game for James to play goalie. He is moving to another position on the team, and we wanted to take G to watch his Uncle James and Aunt Solitare play hockey.

It was cold, and snowing when we left, the drive thru Denver was long and slooooooowwwwww! because of the weather. We finally got there, left the dog at their house, and went to the game.

Unfortunately, James' and Solitare's team lost, but they played a good game. The pictures above are of James and Solitare playing hockey.

We got back to their house late, went to bed, and got up and left about 5:30 the next morning so that I could get back home in time for my first day of class for the spring semester. All in all, a very fast trip, and we were so tired Saturday night.

A Little Excitement to finish the weekend

Sunday dawned clear and sunny. Thought we'd take the grandkids to the park. It was in the low 40's at home. Colorado Springs (about 20 miles south, and 1000 feet lower) was not having a nice day. Overcast, 16 degrees. Really cold. Revamped the plans. Took the kids to a McDonalds with a Playplace for an hour. Not what we wanted, but what was attainable.

Back at home, we let the mama horses and the babies out. C stepped away from one of the racing around babies, slipped on the ice and fell flat on his back. When we got inside, after catching them and giving everyone water and some hay, we found that the back of his head was bleeding. He kept trying to go to sleep, and then complained that his vision was blurry.

Called the doctor's office, and the triage nurse said to go to the ER because of the blurry vision.
So, after several hours, and a cat scan, it was determined that he had a mild concussion. We got
prescriptions to fill, and then spent time trying to find a pharmacy that was open at 9 p.m. on a Sunday night. (Walgreen's, but only special Walgreen's). Finally got home about 10:30 and fed the poor dog. Bedtime was abuot 11, and the alarm went off at 5 a.m. this morning.

He has a headache, and I'm really tired after working all day........

More about the weekend later.

A Late Christmas/New Year's Wish

Well, I'm on time as usual. Just a little late. This was supposed to be my Christmas card. It is a watercolor of my granddaughter when she was just over one year old and Daisy at one of the horse shows at the Colorado State Fairgrounds. I have been meaning to do something with that photo for several years now. I'm glad I waited until I started doing watercolor, because even tho I think this would look great in colored pencil, I think I like it a lot better in watercolor.

I have many other photos of my grandkids to turn into paintings. They are my favorite subjects, and always give me a good pose. (Even when they aren't trying.)

I've enrolled in watercolor class again at the community college, Watercolor III this time. I hope to get more paintings done and get to work on my backlog of reference photos.

Winter woes on the ranch

Winter is always interesting around here. We haul hay to the horses in a 16 foot dump trailer hooked up to one of our trucks. Sunday it was nice and sunny here. Most of the snow was gone, except in some areas where it had been deep. Unfortunately, that means that there is a lot of mud and soft snow. So Hubby and I hauled a large bale of alfalfa over to the horses. When he backed up into the pen to dump the hay he got stuck, all the way up to the hubs of the truck wheels, and all four wheels. We dumped the hay, and then tried to dig the truck out. No cigar.

Called the trainer, he was on his way over. They got the tractor running, hooked up the truck/trailer with a tow strap, and pulled it out. I didn't have to help at all!

Maybe that's because last year, when I did help (maybe not so much), the truck and trailer were buried in the mud/ice/frozen ground until it thawed and dried out enough to get them out.

That's the picture of the truck and trailer above. Three months of stuck, because right after it got stuck in the mud, it snowed....a lot! And all because I didn't understand the concept of jerking on the tow strap. But really, that truck is a dodge one ton dually pickup. And the trailer is heavy too! And I only drive a measly dodge three-quarter ton non dually pickup.

So, I no longer have to help unstick trucks and trailers...

Leader of the Herd

So, the other day, my friend who LIKES to clean stalls comes out with a friend of hers and they CLEANED all the stalls! I like friends like that (but I helped, really I did). She also brings bags of cut up apples for all the horses. After feeding all the apples, they got out the peppermints.
My horses love peppermints (a handy liking when they have to take foul tasting medicine).

Hubby goes in with the horses, and they all line up and wait patiently for their turn to get a peppermint. You can barely see Hubby's head in with the horses. Have you ever seen such nicely mannered horses?

I'm lucky they don't trample me when I go in there with treats!

My meds = horse meds!

So, I got a sharp pain in my stomach area last night. Hubby says I kept him awake all night with my tossing and turning and moaning (I don't remember any of that!). Felt better this morning, but only got 12.5 minutes on the nordik trak (not my usual 20) before I had to quit....

Then I fixed breakfast, and sat down. It seems as long as I was sitting I was fine...Got up and went out to clean stalls. Got one done and I was back inside lying down..Hubby took one look at me and said we're calling the doctor...

So it seems I have an infection.. Guess what the meds are for that?

Went to WalMart and filled the prescription, got home and pulled the bottle out and it was for
SMZ-TMPs better known to us as horse antibiotics which we always have on hand in big horse sized pills.....

Who would of thought?

A Dreary Day

Well, the clouds and cold weather moved in mid-morning, it's been dreary all day. And it's snowing now. I started cleaning the computer room/office and have about half of it done. The done part looks really good, the not done part still looks really bad. And I haven't done any of the rest of the house or the laundry!

And this is just my second post, don't really have anything interesting to talk about. Had G and M for two days this week, took them home yesterday, so things have been quiet since.

So, to be able to check my adding images, I'm including a self portrait that I did for a photography class.