Monday, January 31, 2011 - Fabulous Ride Day

Picnic Area with Hitching Rail

Set the alarm for 8:00, had breakfast, then packed up the saddle bags with plans to take the longest loop in the forest, almost 15 miles, leaving about 10:30. It's been such a long time since we had a long ride, but as this might be the only nice weather we have while we're here, we decided to make the most of it. Our only concern was that with all the rain, there might be some impassable places. Last year, when we were here in February, we had plans to take the Blue trail, but the water was so high that we couldn't cross a bridge. In fact, the water was up the to horses' chests when we were still 10 yards from the bridge, and the water was running fast enough for us to turn around. This year, though, the bridge was clear and we were able to easily pick our way through all of the water hazards, most of them were no more than knee-high. The day started out cloudy, but as the day passed, the clouds broke up, the sun came out, and it warmed up enough for me to strip down to my sleeveless tank top, a perfect day weatherwise. We LOVE these trails. The footing is sand, clay, grass and pine needles, or any combination thereof, which means no boots, no rocks, excellent draining for the most part, just great footing except for a very few slippery spots. The trails are extremely well marked, and we only missed one fork because an arrow on one tree was tipped to the left instead of to the right, but we discovered our mistake just a few hundred yards out when the trail petered out, so we turned around. We stopped at the old POW camp (from WWII, when they brought captured Germans here) for lunch at the Horse Rest Area (I'm not kidding, there's an actual sign there), which was about 2/3 of the way around the loop. There are picnic tables and hitching rails all along the trail and we stopped at several to take a break, to stretch our legs and rest the horses. They were brilliant, by the way, they didn't seem to mind the long journey one bit. In fact, we've gained so much confidence in the past year, we were trotting and cantering a lot, and Hubby even got a few gallops in! He's been a little nervous about those in the past, but he's learning to relax and sit more deeply in the saddle, which is making a huge difference for him. My horse is learning to canter on cue better than ever, and we did a lot of it today. A great ride that lasted until we arrived back in camp about 5:00, stiff and sore, but happy that we survived an all-day journey (though we'll likely be in need of pain killers tomorrow!) These are the kind of days that we LIVE for! And the very best part? There's no fee for camping here! If it wasn't going to get cold on Wednesday, we'd probably stay a lot longer, but because of incoming rain, hail and cold air, we'll be moving on, on the only sunny day that's forecasted, Wednesday.

Sunday, January 30, 2011 - Rain and Rest Day



Today's Backyard

The day started out misty and drizzly, and stayed that way until the afternoon, when it turned to intermittent rain, then steady rain, and occasionally heavy rain. Fortunately, it stayed warm, so we weren't worried about the horses, they needed a rinse off anyway. Spent the day watching movies and relaxing, with plans to ride tomorrow, as the forecast looks much more promising.

Saturday, January 29, 2011 - Drive Day to Bigfoot Horse Camp

Set the alarm for 7:00 and headed out early, as it's going to be a long drive today. We managed to get out with no problem, for which we were grateful, and headed straight to the Walmart in Lake Charles, where we did our shopping and got fuel. Afterward we detoured to the Post Office to mail a letter, though was disappointed that it was closed on Saturday. Dropped it anyway, so I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. Stopped once at a Winn-Dixie to pick up salad mix that I forgot earlier, and to give the horses a drink. After one wrong turn that Gracie (my GPS) made me take, we were soon back in familiar territory. This was the first camp we've been back to since we left in December 2009, and it was a welcome sight. We filled up with water at the maintenance office by the Airey Tower, then drove back down to the Horse Trail and Camp. It was very crowded, which was a rare and pleasant surprise, it's been so long since we've been at a horse camp with lots of other campers. Of course, that's one of the reason we seldom arrive on Saturday, but we know this place was big enough to handle whatever crowd was here, and weren't worried. We ended up backing into a space at the far end, a place we had remembered from last time, that's close to the water (not that we'll necessarily need it), and away from the rest of the crowd. There was one guy here in a small truck nearby that looked like a homeless guy and his dog, and in fact, we seemed to recall he was here last time we were here (without a horse) back in February 2010. We set up so the horse trailer gave us a "circle the wagons" kind of privacy, but I guess that wasn't enough for the guy, he packed up and moved out. Well, it's a free country, and there's no designated camping sites, just fire rings, corrals and picnic tables scattered around. Besides, it's a HORSE CAMP, which means you should be camping with a HORSE, not taking up space when there are campgrounds elsewhere you could go without a horse. Anyway, things worked out, and we set out our highline, got settled in, satellite dish and all, in no time.

Friday, January 28, 2011 - Ride Day at Rutherford Beach

After a rocky start yesterday, we were looking forward to a pleasant ride today. The forecast looked good yesterday, with 5-10 mph breezes, but by this morning, that had changed to 15-20 mph winds, and they were a bit cool, so we had to bundle up in parkas for our beach ride. For some reason (likely the clover), the horses were VERY antsy today, skittish at everything, leaping sideways for no reason. We took the dogs with us on this trip, and that probably didn't help much, but it wasn't the reason. We headed east until we reached a fence, surprised at the number of platform (we assumed oil) just off the coast. The beaches were much wider than anything we've been on except maybe Assateague Island in Maryland, but there was quite a bit of trash, though not as bad as some we've seen. Once we turned around and headed back west, the horses seemed to have burned off most of the excess energy, and we enjoyed the ride back a bit more. We passed the road we came in on, going a bit more west, but ran across more blockades, so we headed back to the homesite, having been out maybe 90 minutes at the most, just a few miles round trip, but enough to give the horses some exercise. Nevertheless, it was a good place to stop halfway between between Bigfoot Horse Camp and Houston, which has a dearth of places to overnight with horses, and no doubt we'll be back again if and when we head west along I-10 again.

Thursday, January 27, 2011 - Travel Day to Rutherford Beach, LA

Today's backyard

Got up fairly early, packed up, loaded the horses into their new, fantastic trailer, and headed out to our next stop, Rutherford Beach, LA. We found out about it on www.horseandmuletrails.com, which has become one of our favorite websites for finding out of the way places. Not always accurate, but a good start nevertheless. It had listed this place, along with the name and number of a very kind Southern gentleman, who is essentially a parish commissioner, who welcomed us heartily, and reminded us of how much we missed Southern hospitality. Though people have been nice almost every place we've been, there's something about the "above and beyond" that Southerners do that warms the heart. After stopping at an RV park on Sabine Lake, just before crossing into Louisiana to pick up water, and after we took the ferry across into Cameron (which was a pleasant surprise, but did slow us down a bit), I tried to call this gentleman (his name was Scott), but my cell phone didn't have a signal. I figures we could go down to the area we knew we were going and try to reach him again, but after we passed through Cameron, I received a text message from Scott, saying he saw us going through town, so he hopped in his truck and followed, then passed us and led us out. Right off the beach there are two streets where there used to be houses, but those were wiped out during Hurricane Rita a few years back and for the most part, never rebuilt. There were several structures that essentially were covers and porches for RV's, but only one real house on stilts. The lot he had gotten permission for us to use had part of a concrete pad and some wood stills, and the rest was plush green clover, something I knew the horses would love, but we would have to limit their intake and make sure they had plenty of water to protect them from colic. After Scott left us (after we declined his invitation to take us to dinner :-), we started getting settled in. Unfortunately, we got a little too settled. The clover was so dense that we didn't realize just how soft the ground was underneath, and when we back the horse trailer up toward the back of the lot, the wheels of the van got stuck, and we couldn't move. We took out the horses and tied them to a couple of posts, then had to unhook the van and reposition it to get out of the ruts we had made. We put a couple of pieces of plywood under the wheels as well, but that still wasn't enough. So we had to move the RV back up on the road and unhook it, so that we could use the truck to pull out the van and horse trailer. Finally in tandem, we were able to move everything out. We backed the horse trailer between the stills so that the van's wheels were on the concrete pad. Then we hooked the truck back up to the RV trailer, and pulled that in, trying to stay somewhat close to the road in an effort to not get stuck there. That didn't work either. We ended getting the truck stuck as well, because the weight of the trailer sank deeply into the soft ground. So then we had to unhook the van from the horse trailer and move that to the front of the line and try to use that to pull out the truck and the RV. Unfortunately, that didn't work, and a couple of times the wheels of the van spun and slipped so badly I thought it was going into the ditch next to the road! So we had to unhook the truck from the RV again, reposition it at a different angle, hook the van up at the front and try again. Fortunately, this time we made it! We finally repositioned the RV along a previous set of tire tracks where the ground seemed firmer because the clover had died off along that path, and kept the truck as close to the road as possible to hopefully avoid any further problems. Then we ran a highline from one of the stilts to an electrical pole, which gave the horses a pretty good run, and fed them some more hay (they had already gotten tired of the clover, would you believe!). In all, it took us more than two hours to get settled, which was absurd considering it was an open lot, but at least we managed in the end to get it done before dark, which was all that mattered. Our new back yard faces the sunset, so we enjoyed that as our reward for a hard job well done (though I felt like our troubles were mostly self-inflicted by not being careful enough, which is always rather unsettling). After feeding the dogs, then us, we settled in for the evening, watching the good action film The Bourne Identity, before crashing into bed around 11:00.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011 - Laundry and Prep Day

Spent the day doing laundry, cleaning and generally getting ready for our long-awaited departure tomorrow. Discovered the box of books I had ordered had arrived, albeit a day late. As it turned out they weren't necessary at all because of the low attendance in the end, which means we now have to haul them around for awhile, extra weight we really didn't need. At least we got the laundry done.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011 - Work Day

Made ourselves at home, had breakfast and then got ready for the day. Didn't have quite as many attendees to her private session as we had hoped in the end, and started later than anticipated, but still had a pretty good session. As soon as we finished, we packed up, had a quick meal and headed back to Houston. Stopped for groceries and gas, arrived back late, went to bed exhausted.

Monday, January 24, 2011 - Misc. Day

Ignored the alarm when it went off at 8:15. We both had been awakened by a heavy downpour about an hour earlier, so needed a few extra zzzz's. Finally got up, had breakfast, piled some hay in the barn so the horses would get fed while we went to Austin for a day or two, packed a bag, and left, late, to get to my physical therapy appointment. Arrived 15 minutes late, partly because my Verizon GPS was giving me fits. I had been charged for downloads I never made last month, so when I called to complain, they put a lock on my Media Center because they assumed I was accidentally hitting buttons that were creating wrong downloads, and in the process I think they shut out my Navigator, though I had used it once or twice yesterday, but it was taking 8 or 10 tries to hook up. Anyway, they graciously took me anyway, despite my tardiness. After we finished, we headed out to Austin, with a now unblocked Navigator that worked fine the whole trip. Two and a half hours later, we stopped at a Chinese restaurant for a dish of House Special Fried Rice, which, according to Hubby, was the closest thing he's ever been in this country to his beloved Singapore memories of Nasi Goreng. Afterward, we re-pointed ourselves to downtown Austin, to find our hostess' condo, which was just two blocks from the Capitol in Austin. She hadn't arrived yet, and had been unreachable by phone or text so far, but a quick call to son David set the concierge straight, followed almost immediately by a call from our hostess as well, and we were allowed upstairs to let ourselves in and make ourselves at home. Made ourselves comfortable as we await her arrival, going out on the balcony to see the lovely view of the Capitol building at night. Expect we'll talk for a few hours when she gets back, then get a good night sleep on what looks like a nice plush guest bed.

Sunday, January 23, 2011 - Ride Day at WG Jones State Forest

 
Set the alarm for 8:00, then after breakfast we got the horses loaded up in the new trailer and headed for a short 15 minute ride to nearby WG Jones State Forest in Magnolia, TX. Had no trouble finding the horse trailer parking area from the map I downloaded from the internet, where we joined half a dozen other horse trailers in the dirt parking lot. Saddling up was so easy, with everything right there in the dressing room. One thing I learned, I have to have a lead rope ready before I open the back door, my gelding tried to come out on his own and got a bit scared when the tie-in rope stopped him halfway out. I quickly calmed him, got his lead rope on and backed him out, sort of sideways, as he's so used to backing out straight he wasn't quite sure what to do, and neither did I. Hubby's mare came out easy, and after a quick brushing, hoof picking and rasping on my guy's front hooves (his hooves grow SO fast!), we were soon on our way. The beginning of the trail was like a tunnel, with wild privet on both sides. That led shortly to a dirt/sand road, which is the predominant type of trail here. It almost looks like someone had the idea of making it a planned housing development, as the roads are on a grid, but it never got even far enough for gravel roads, it's all pretty much soft footing, thank goodness. We headed down Cochran Trail to the south, then turn west on Middle Lake Trail, because I wanted to see the "lake." It was more of a pond, actually. We ran into several other riders and hikers, but it never seemed crowded. They bill this as an Urban Wilderness, which is an apt description. The park is surrounded by busy roads, and you can hear traffic noises whenever you get near the edges, but once you get more in the middle, you don't hear them so much. After we got out fill of roads and got a lay of the land, we broke off to follow some real trails that came off the roads. That was pleasant as well, with signs of a well managed forest, mostly white pine I guess, along with the undergrowth. One area had been bulldozed, but I suppose it's because they can't exactly do a prescribed burn with so many houses so close by. We were out for a little more than two hours (it's only 1700 acres), but it was the perfect length considering how long the horses have been stuck in a stall. They seemed very happy to be out riding, with Hubby's mare walking faster than she usually does. They didn't get crazy or too frisky, but they definitely seemed to enjoy themselves just as much as we did. When we got back to the trailer it was so easy unsaddling and putting everything away, it was like a dream! We stopped at Walmart on the way back to pick up a portable vacuum cleaner to keep the carpet in the dressing room clean, as well as the interior of the vehicles (especially my truck), and a couple of other items. Had no troubles getting the horses put away, but during the trip, one of the windows dropped unexpectedly, and for some strange reason, the door to the dressing room opened up when we turned down the driveway, even though I had locked it before we left the park. We spent a couple of minutes fixing that (just needed a little more of a bend in the catch), and I put up the windows screens with some new hooks I bought yesterday at Tractor Supply. Still need a few more to finish the job. Fixed one screen that had a broken loop as well. Spend some time organizing my office (I bought a shoe rack that hangs over a door, which I put inside the laundry door to be able to keep my office paperwork sorted out, it just seems to keep piling up!), then settled down for the evening. Oh, and I forgot to mention, at last, one of the mares in the pasture had her baby this morning, it was frolicking around chasing mama already! Still have two more we're watching and waiting to see born, one more in the pasture and one in the barn. Enough for today, off to bed!

Saturday, January 22, 2011 - Sold the Old Trailer Today!

Joined our hostess for breakfast that she prepared for us this morning, and chatted with her until our appointment, Maribel, showed up. She ended up getting a bit lost, and arrived just before 11:00. She had asked beforehand whether it would be okay to have the trailer inspected by a local trailer service place (she apparently had had a bad experience previously), to which we, of course, agreed. After looking at the trailer and liking what she saw, we hooked it up to her pickup and led her to ASAP trailer in Tomball, where a young main took a look at it. He found only minor problems, nothing that would hurt it functionality, and actually when asked what he would charge for it if he was selling it, he quoted a price almost $1000 more than what we had agreed on, so she was satisfied. We took her down to Tractor Supply to get some proper hooks for her safety chains, finalized the deal and went on our way, thrilled that we won't have to leave the trailer behind for our hostess' son to sell for us. Reconvened with our hostess for the rest of the afternoon before she and her hubby had to get ready for a dinner. During that discussion, and with a phone call from a friend of our hostess, our plans changed again. Now it looks like we won’t be here for two weeks, but we’ll be done here in Houston (for now) as of next Wednesday or so, so I guess we’ll be able to get to Florida sooner than we though! (Yeah!) Then we took the horses for a walk around the property, with my gelding jumping and hopping, obviously getting a bit stir crazy being in a stall for so long. We had a little practice run putting them into the trailer to see how they liked, and they had almost no hesitation getting in. They LOVED being able to stick their heads out the windows on the side when we opened, and the trailer seems so much more open and less claustrophobic, they had no problems at all. Afterward we had a quiet evening at home, watching the movie Angels and Demons, and deciding that we will go riding tomorrow, as the temps are supposed to be in the low 60's with only a 20 percent change of rain. We found a park with horse trails only about 12 miles away (and near where my therapy clinic is), with good reviews on the internet. Looking forward to that, and so, I'm sure, are the horses!

Friday, January 21, 2011 - Dump and Medical Day

Woke up to discover Luis had already completed the repairs on the dump plumbing using only some of our parts, as he had apparently had gone out and got some of his own. So, after breakfast we ran the slides in and drove up to the dump and took care of business there. Had another physical therapy appointment at 1:00, this time Hubby came with me, where he made me laugh and counted my reps for me. Afterward we did some more running around, trying to find all the little bits and pieces of things we'll have more trouble when we're back on the road, and returning the plumbing parts that Luis didn't use. Once we got back, we finally moved all of our stuff from the old horse trailer to the new one, which seems to have an incredible amount of room! I just want to make sure we don't just fill it up with stuff, but we keep it neat and tidy. Can't wait to get the horses in it and take this baby for a drive! Maybe over the weekend, if the weather improves. It was sunny and a bit warmer today, but still had a chill in the air. Meanwhile, I re-listed the old trailer on craigslist, hoping we can get this baby sold before we leave, though it may be mid-February if plans remain the same (and how likely is that? :-) Before the evening was through, we had an appointment for someone to come see the trailer at 10:00 tomorrow morning!

Thursday, January 20, 2011 - Runaround Day

Had a busy day running around doing errands, picking up some things for the new trailer, doing laundry, etc. We also picked up some plumbing PVC, as our hostess miraculously actually has an RV dump connected to their septic tank (something we're getting to be in dire need of), though the above-ground piping had been crushed by too many lawnmowers and bulldozers running over it. Their grounds managed Luis dug it out, and so we picked up the pieces necessary to finish it off. A cold, windy day. Getting tired of this cold, thought way down here by the gulf it would be warmer, and every one is saying how unusual it is, but that seems to be the story everywhere we go. Really looking forward to getting to Florida, which seems to be the only place in the country (except Arizona) that has the kinds of temps we're looking for. Of course, once we get there, it will probably still be unseasonable cold! It has already been for the most part this winter, according to my sources, but we'll just have to find a horse camp in the Keys if necessary!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011 - Runaround/Medical Day

Hubby left early to find a detail shop to get the new horse trailer washed and vacuumed up, as well as the van, but after several hours, he returned saying he couldn't find it, so he ended up going to a self-serve car wash where he at least got most of the dirt off. As soon as he got back, I headed out to the Sadler Clinic, for an appointment with a physical therapist to try to finally work out the kinks in my shoulder. Though I've made great progress over the past year, there's still some tightness, and lately it's been bone rubbing on bone and a lot of clicking going on, which I know is bound to create more problems later, so I figured I better get help to get it fixed up right. After several false starts, I ended up going to the Urgent Care center to get x-rays (which no one looked at, as far as I could tell), and a doctor's order so that I could get an appointment with the physical therapist, Catherine. She worked me through a number of exercises and did some ultrasound, all of which helped. She didn't really believe my interpretation of what happened, and tried to tell me part of the problem was aging and psychosomatic (which I know isn't true, but I just smiled and kept quiet), and in the end, we made another appointment on Friday and I left with a rubber stretch band to continue with some of the exercises at home, though I'm not sure what I can tie it up to (she suggested a door, but I don't really have one with enough room to exercise around). Whatever, I'll figure it out. I just felt that since we will be here at least 2-3 weeks, it may be my best chance to get it straighted out once and for all. Did laundry in the evening, so we're all set for whatever comes over the weekend.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - Picked up our New Trailer Today!

Slept deeply until 9:30, still groggy even after that long night's sleep. After breakfast, we headed up to Magnolia where our new (to us) trailer was waiting for us. Arrived right on schedule at noon, finished off the paperwork and purchase, and proudly headed back to the ranch. It's a great match, the white of the trailer and the white of the van looks great, and the graphics on the side of the trailer, a line art graphic of a running horse, is the same color as the accents on the RV and the color of our truck, so as a convoy, we are now a perfect match. The size of the trailer seems huge compared to our old trailer, yet the van had no trouble pulling it. It needs a good cleaning, and our host David recommended a good car wash nearby, which we'll likely do tomorrow. I also had designed a brochure for an upcoming workshop, and had to go get it printed today, as well as run a few other errands, which we did for the rest of the afternoon. Got back just in time to feed the horses and dogs, and settle down for the evening.

Monday, January 17, 2011 - Work and Travel Back to Houston (also Government at its Best!)

Up with the alarm by 5:35, dressed, started to pack, and went down to Hampton's free breakfast at 6:00, just as hot omelets were being served. Hubby was good and had oatmeal and an English muffin, I had one of their omelets, one patty of sausage and an English muffin. More than I needed really, I just convinced myself it was a long time till our next meal (not true, but I can be so persuasive :- ). Afterward we quickly finished packing and headed out about 6:40, arriving at our client's office at 6:50. Though we were early, everyone was already there, so we got busy right away. Had an excellent session, lasting until 9:30, another satisfied customer. Meanwhile, I had been communicating with a very helpful young man at the TN Agriculture department trying to get our Horse Passports renewed, and he graciously volunteered to come in to the office (despite the fact that the office was closed for MLK day) so that we could pick them up rather than having him send them through the mail and risk missing us on the road. We met him right at 10:00, and he had us fixed up and ready to go with Passports in hand in 20 minutes! Then we headed for the airport (I still love Nashville's airport the best of all the ones we fly in to, it's just so easy to find everything, unlike in so many others!) Dropped off the rental, found a nice little restaurant in the terminall called Noshville Deli and had some lunch. Again, I ordered a small Matzoh ball soup and Hubby ordered a large chicken noodle, and this time, she brought a small chicken noodle and a large Matzoh ball, so AGAIN I had more food served to me than I wanted. This time, I truly left some in the bowl, I just couldn't eat it all without too much guilt. Had another uneventful flight back to Houston, and arrived safe and sound back at the ranch by 5:00, tired but satisfied we had a good day. In bed early, expecting to crash as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

Sunday, January 16, 2011 - Travel Day to Nashville

Woke up to the alarm around 7:30, had breakfast, finished packing, then headed out to IAH, Bush International Airport, which is the closest airport to where we are staying. An uneventful Continental Express flight on a small jet (2 seats on one side of the aisle, one seat on the other), picked up a rental car at Thrifty, headed in the general direction of the Hampton in Brentwood before stopping at Pantera Bread for some nice soup. Hubby had chicken noodle and I had bean soup, and even though I ordered a cup they served me a bowl, so I ended eating more than I wanted. We left with a salad to share for dinner tonight. Stopped off at Target to pick up soda and some stockings, swung by our client's office to see where it was so we would be able to find it easily in the morning, then headed to the Hampton just across the road. Got a good room at the end of the hall, away from the elevators and vending machines, then settled down for the night after printing some materials we needed for our meeting in the morning, followed by showering and sharing our salad. Hubby was asleep by 10:00, me by 11:00.

Saturday, January 15, 2011 - Prep Day and Dinner Out

Slept late, and spent the morning getting ready for our flight out tomorrow, then I spent several hours with our host and hostess, who then spontaneously asked us out to dinner to meet some other friends who might be instrumental in drumming up some more business while we're here in the Houston area. Went to a South African restaurant called Peli Peli. It had an interesting decor, though not very comfortable, and the food had some interesting spice combos, but wasn't exactly spectacular. The piano/string bass combo was a nice touch, but with all the hard surfaces, the noise level was very high, making conversations even with those directly across the table quite difficult. I was hoarse by the end of the evening. Not the place to go for a quiet or romantic evening, but it was good to meet such nice folks. Got home just after 9:00, we watched a bit of TV, then went to be early, as we will be getting up early in the morning to pack and fly!

Friday, January 14, 2011 - Hanging Around Day

Went grocery shopping and worked on the computer. Otherwise delightfully uneventful.

Thursday, January 13, 2011 - Work Day

Spent the day trying to get my books in order for the year end. Switching from an old bookkeeping program that I've been using since 1993 (which I loved! But is incompatible with Windows 7), to Quicken. I like the fact that with Quicken it can automatically download almost all of my accounts directly, which will save me TONS of time inputting every receipt we collect. It's been a cloudy and cold week (everyone tells us that's uncharacteristic for Houston, another testament to the fraud of global warming), with highs only in the mid-40's. Cold, but nothing like everyone else in the country seems to be having (except Florida, of course!). Kind of wish we'd made it there by now, but the potential for work calls, and we're in a good place, both for the horses and for us, with electric and water for the RV and world-class stalls for the horses, though it would be nice if they had a paddock or pasture in which to stretch their legs. We have been getting them out every couple of days and taking them for a walk around the property, as well as lungeing them for a few minutes, but it would be nice to take them for a ride. Waiting for the weather to warm up!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - Work Day

Hubby did some errands while I did more office work, then I had to run out to the Post Office and run a few more errands. Otherwise an uneventful day.

Tuesday, January 11, 2010 - 1-11-11 The Day of the Ones!

Hubby spent the day getting our old horse trailer washed and ready for sale, while I posted an ad on craigslist and tried to get caught up on a lot of other year-end bookkeeping work. Made travel and hotel arrangements to fly to Nashville on Sunday for a short job there, returning Monday afternoon.

Monday, January 10, 2011 - Found The Trailer!

Day was still chilly and foggy with occasional drizzle, but we confirmed a job in Nashville for next week, and went out in search of a trailer. We started at Texan Trailers here in Tomball, but the only enclosed trailer they had was a HUGE Kiefer Built. Though it was only a two-horse straight load, it was obviously designed for draft horses. I was afraid our horses would get lost in there! A super big tack room, and lots of bells and whistles, but quite a bit over our price range, and just too big for what we needed. Next, we headed 20 miles north to a private seller in Magnolia. Jamie greeted us on her driveway and led us back to her 03 Logan 2 horse slant load. This was a much more manageable size. Though it was extra tall, it was moderately wide, had a big tack room that included a padded bench storage box, 2 hat racks on springs, a shelf, and best of all, a 35-gallon water tank tucked in the corner, an added bonus we hadn't seen before but that will come in tremendously handy. It has Dexter torsion axles (like on our RV), self-adjusting brakes, pretty good tires, and can be completely closed up if necessary. A couple of drop-down windows add to the features as well. It's smaller than the huge thing we looked at earlier in the day, but considerably larger than what we have now. In other words, just about perfect for what we need. It's white, and has a fantastic graphic of a running horse on the side, in a color that will match my truck and the graphics on the RV perfectly,making a perfect set. The final straw was the fact that it's a 2003, which is the same as the van (which we bought new) and the truck we bought in September in Phoenix. 2003 must have been a great year! We negotiated a price only slightly above my price range : - ), and shook hands on the deal. Jamie needs to clean it out, and to keep it to take her mare to Texas A&M for some vet treatment for a few days, then return her next Monday, which will work out just fine for us, as we have to fly to Nashville Sunday, returning Monday. Then we can pick up the trailer next Tuesday and get everything moved over. Meanwhile, David (our hostess' son) is pretty sure he can find a buyer for our old trailer fairly quickly. I'm sure if I put an ad on craigslist I can probably sell it before the week is out in any event. Jamie only just listed hers on Friday, and several of the ads I answered said they'd been sold already, so trailers are apparently in great demand right now. Very happy we solved our problem at last! Stopped at Wal-mart on the way home for some groceries, arrived back to discover our mail STILL hadn't caught up to us (it missed us at Corpus, taking 7 days to arrive even though it was priority mail), and then they forwarded it priority last Thursday. I'm having a hard time understanding why it would take more than four days to travel 100 miles, but there you go. Spent the evening watching a pointless alien slasher movie with Dennis Quaid, trying to keep warm, but happy we're missing the foot of snow they're having at home!

Sunday, January 9, 2011 - Rainy Day

A chilly rainy day, perfect for watching football and movies, which is about all we did today. Still looking online for a trailer, several possibilities that we'll check out tomorrow.

Saturday, January 8, 2011 - More online searching and Time with our Hostess

Spent the morning looking for more trailers online, then spent a few delightful hours in the afternoon with our hostess as she prepares to head to Austin for the new assembly session. Otherwise a relaxing day.

Friday, January 7, 2011 - Laundry and Trailer Search

Everybody had a busy day today, our friends at work and us doing laundry, observing David work with a mare in preparation of breeding her, and searching for a horse trailer. We want to upgrade to something with a full dressing room or tack area for more storage, and possibly even to a 3-horse trailer if we can find the right one. No hurry, our little blue 2-horse works fine, we would just like to reclaim the back seat of my new truck as a seat and not a saddle storage area. Found a couple of possibilities, and actually drove south about 90 minutes to a place that had one for sale, but it wasn't exactly what we were looking for. So many of the trailers in this area are actually stock or combo trailers, but we really want something that can be fully enclosed for those inevitable days that are either cold, or dusty. We'd really like to avoid arriving somewhere with our horses covered in dust just because we came down a few miles of dirt road, which is typical when we stay in National Forests or Wildernesses, and we think a fully enclosed trailer might to the trick. But owner Pammie was very nice anyway, it was delightful to meet and speak with her, I'm sure she won't have any trouble selling the trailer, it was nice and would be fine for short trips, but we really need something with a bit more padding and more closed in. Onward ho!

Thursday, January 6, 2011 - Drive Day to Tomball, TX

Despite intentions to get up early, we ended up laying in bed for more than half an hour. Part of the reason for that was that the horses were extremely agitated for most of the night, snorting and pacing and making a general fuss, very uncharacteristic of them. Finally at about 2:15 am I got up, threw on a bathrobe, grabbed the flashlight and went out trying to find the cause. After several minutes of squinting in the direction the horses were intently looking, I finally saw the problem, a HUGE wild boar digging around in the yard about 50 yards away. It had to be 5 feet long, 3+ feet high and it’s stomach just about hit the ground. It was busy digging, so I grabbed my billy club and headed in it’s direction, making noise and yelling, banging on a picnic table as I went. It didn’t seem to notice. Finally I picked up a stone and threw it at it (from a respectful distance, of course), and it landed near enough to make it start to move off. I found another stone and threw it, this time I think I hit it because it skedaddled off into the woods. I came back and found the horses intrigued by my rescue, and quieter, but still looking off in the direction the boar went. I went to bed, happier now that the horses had settled down, but wide awake having trampled about in the cold night. Finally fell off to sleep, but the need for a few more zzz’s kept us in bed longer than we had planned, but it’s a fairly short trip today, so no worries. Finally got going, I headed back down to the park to dump while Hubby waited for me at the end of Sawgrass Road. Eventually headed north, first stop was fuel, second stop was Lowes on Katy Freeway to pick up a new door for my laundry room, which I had ordered more than a month ago in anticipation of traveling through Houston at some point, and finally arrived at our friend’s house in Tomball. Her son David met us and helped us get the horses settled in and the RV hooked up. A few hours later, our friend arrived home, and soon we were off to a meeting in her district to meet with some of her constituents, and spent a lovely evening making new friends.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - Ride Day at Brazos Bend

The horses had a quieter night, I think they’ve finally figured out it’s probably just deer, another prey animal, and don’t really have anything to worry. Afer a hearty breakfast, and a few morning chores, we set out on our ride, taking the blue trail, the only loop that allows horses. The trail was fantastic! Well, not exactly a trail, more like a road, with mostly dirt and grass base, with the southern stretch covered in small gravel. Very easy, almost completely level. We got in a lot of trots and more canters than we’ve ever had in one ride, actually shortening the ride to just over two hours, even though it was more than 7 miles. Passed by many beautiful, huge old live oak trees, and followed along the great Brazos River for a ways as well. Stopped for a few minutes at the old derrick and let the horses graze on some fresh grass a clover, a luxury they haven’t seen in months! The weather was perfect, and it was a beautiful day all around. When we got back, we spent the rest of the day putting everything away in anticipation of our departure tomorrow, which we still believed would be going to Sam Houston National Forest, and relaxed in the evening once again. Then during the evening hours, I at last got a call from our new friend in Houston, whom we had met in Orlando and had invited us to come by and visit. I had emailed her a few times, but for some reason they were all lost in cyber, so I finally called and left her a message, and she returned the call, reassuring us we were still invited to come, so now our plans changed again (don’t you just love this freedom?) Looking forward to seeing her and her husband again, we went to bed early in anticipation of our early departure.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011 - Work Day

We all had a restless night, with us worrying about the horses and listening to Clio snort like a dragon, while the horses fretted most of the night as well, despite the fact it was very dark and very quiet out here, a welcome change from the many stables where we've been staying lately. Hubby managed to get the satellite dish up and running after breakfast, while I spent the day closing out the books for last year and trying to learn to use my new Quicken bookkeeping program. I've been using the same MoneyCounts program since 1993 (it wasn't even Y2K compatible, would you believe!), but it won't work on my newest computer so I've finally had to acquiesce and upgrade. It seems like it will be easier, as it automatically downloads most of my bank and credit card information directly, which should save me a ton of time now that I won't have to manually input everything, which is what I've had to do up to now. Hubby took a nap in the afternoon after his rough night. Meanwhile, I let the dogs out to run around for a few minutes, and would you believe, at that moment a couple rode by on bicycles. Naturally, the dogs ran after them to say hello, and one of them waved, so we didn't think any more about it, but about an hour later, we had a ranger visit us, telling us that "loose dogs" had been reported, and that they had "chased" the bikers. He said we needed to leash the dogs. The more I thought about it, the more angry I became. Whatever happened to tolerance? Why is my freedom to let my dogs have a few minutes of running around a day less important than those bikers freedoms? They weren't threatened in any way, so what was the big deal? Freedom and tolerance must go hand in hand. If we all relish our freedom, we must realize that what others do with THEIR freedom isn't for us to determine, or criticize, or be intolerant of. All that political correctness has done is to make us more intolerant, and frankly, I'm getting very annoyed by it. Anyway, enough of my rant, I just hate it when people can't make even the slightest effort to get along, even when it costs them nothing. Spent the evening relaxing, walking the perimeter when the horses got excited again, and leaving the scare light on again. They were quieter for the most part, but still became agitated on occasion, but nowhere near as bad as last night, for which we were grateful.

Monday, January 3, 2011 - Drive Day to Brazos Bend State Park

After leaving a donation check with the PeeWee Animal Adoption Center where we stayed for the weekend, we headed out, stopping at IHOP for breakfast while we waited for the Post Office to sort through their mail. I was sure by now our priority package would arrive no later than today, since it was sent last Tuesday, but unfortunately, once again, it still hadn't arrived. Now we were running late, not getting out of Corpus Christi until nearly after 10:30, but we made good time to Markham, where Windmill Farms had good Jiggs Bermuda hay for sale. Arrived about 1:15, loaded up with 21 very nice bales at quite a good price, then headed out to Brazos Bend State Park, just southwest of Houston. After we arrived, checked in, and filled up with water (the horse camp only has stock water in a trough), we headed out the long gravel road to the horse camp, which was behind a locked gate. No one else was here, and it didn't look like anyone had been here for quite some time, confirming my belief that the prices are too high. If this was run by a private company, they'd have to lower the price until people started showing up, add amenities like potable water and electric, then work the prices back up again, giving value for money. Otherwise, they need to just lower the price to reflect the lack of amenities, which, of course, as long as they're subsidized by our tax dollars, isn't likely to happen. The campground itself is lovely, though, with great big trees and a nice gravel loop, and Hubby had no trouble finding a nice pull-through big enough for both vehicles and a possible satellite signal. Strung up our highline and got the horses settled in, and we were soon enjoying a relaxing evening after our busy day. Later on in the evening, we noticed the horses were very skittish for some reason, we figured there must be critters in the woods nearby, so Hubby took a walk with the dogs around the perimeter of the campground, and we left the "scare" light on the RV switched on when we went to bed, in hopes that would keep away those critters for the most part. They were still restless when we went to bed, but a check on the internet seemed to indicate there were no real carnivorous wild animals in this area, so we left them to their own resources, figuring they would let us know if there was any real trouble brewing.

Sunday, January 2, 2011 - Rest/Truck Wash Day

While Hubby did a few chores in the morning while I worked on the computer, he rested in the afternoon while I washed the new truck. Otherwise an uneventful, semi-restful day.

Saturday, January 1, 2011 - Ride Day on Padre Island Beach

The day started out colder, with a brisk northeast wind bringing a chill, but after a while, the sun started to warm things up quite nicely. We got the horses in the trailer and headed out to the North Beach Access of the Padre Island National Seashore. We parked by the side of the road, unloaded and saddled the horses in a matter of minutes, and headed south into the No Vehicle area, which was quite warm going with the wind. The beach had widened up again, with the wind blowing against the tide, which was coming in again. Much of the older seaweed had been buried by a new layer of sand, while a fresh swath of seaweed had accumulated at the new tide line. We walked on the beach first, then eventually moved the horses to the water line so that once again, they had their feet in a body of water that makes up a border of America. Now we just have to finish it off in the Great Lakes, which is the plan for this summer! Rode about 4 miles down to the Malaquite Campground, where we borrowed a pan from a woman coming out of the shower to water the horses before heading back north again. By now, the wind had decreased somewhat, so the northbound journey was a bit cooler, but not as bad as we thought it might be. Overall, it was a lovely ride, but honestly, beaches do get a bit boring rather quickly, with little scenery except the variety of junk on the beach. The only thing that keeps it interesting is working with Apollo, getting him to be less reactive to the waves (he always starts out convinced they're going to swallow him up, so he stops or side steps whenever they come near), but eventually he relaxed enough to walk in a straight line, and we even got a bunch of trots and a few brief canters in the water's edge, with water up to his fetlocks at least. In a little less than four hours, we were back at the trailer. On the way home we stopped at a Lowes to pick up two new door handles (the one on the bathroom and closet doors have worn out), and arrived back just in time to get the horses settled in and fed before the sun set. Relaxed the rest of the evening, satisfied with a very nice ride and reaching another landmark in our journey!