Wifi has a saddle

Wifi is the new owner of this beautiful Bates Isabell Werth saddle.

Its got the CAIR panels & adjustable gullet kit.

Price was $1,195.00.

After tax it ended up being $1,308.52.

It was set at Medium-wide and it works for Wifi.

Its got a nice wide gullet to disperse heat.

Here is my fat ass sitting in it.

And here is the saddle sitting in my car to come home.

I bought this Wintec girth, size 26".

And this Wilson Bradoon 5" bit.

Delicia found a used fleece half pad for $40.00.

Here is Wifi wearing her new saddle. All the other stuff is still borrowed, haven't received any of the new stuff yet. But we will this week. I also need a new dressage pad.

I also need full seat breeches, riding boots, gloves and a good helmet cover for in the rain. I will ride a lot in the rain. Can't wait to finally, FINALLY,  get out on the trails.

Wifi's lesson today

Wifi had another lesson with Delicia today. It wasn't the best lesson ever, in fact, all Delicia did was lunge her. Wifi was high as a kite excited and nobody needed to get dislodged.

Sarah was there with her girls & they were making a lot of noise. Teri, Lance & Brent were there too, talking and standing around. Wifi is used to me & Delicia, not a bunch of other people. Sarah also had her mare in the arena and they aren't friends yet. YET.

The first thing we did was try Teri's endurance saddle on Wifi. Standing there she was fine, it fit pretty well but as soon as she started lunging it started pounding on her back and making a lot of noise. She started bucking and she just doesn't do that so we took it off. Its a nice saddle but not for my girl.

I'm shopping for a Bates Isabell Werth now.

Wish me luck.

MDot Tattoo

I first saw this tattoo on Swim, Bike, Mom, who finished IMCDA an hour before I did. She got this tat within a month.

 

This one is on my right calf so when I pass someone on the bike they will be intimidated by it and they won't see it as they pass me on my left.

 

I've been bugging Linda for a long time to go get one & yesterday we finally did it.

 

This was when he had first started. It did hurt, I knew it would and I was fine until Windy sent me a text. That text made me get teary eyed. I love that girl.

 

Outline

 

Done already!  It actually took him about 35-40 minutes for mine.

 

Then it was Lindas turn. She got the same one as me, he used the same pattern.

Moral supporters: Tim & Kris Bartlett, they just did IM Cozumel last week.

Sonja, Lindas friend

Brayden, Lindas son

and me.

I don't know where Steve is...

 

She was surprised by the pain but handled it better than I did.

 

Just about done

 

Meanwhile, in the other room, Lan is getting ready.

 

He was surprised by the pain too and he had to suffer through a lot more of it than we did.

 

His took about an hour.

 

Going nicely, almost done.

 

And he gets his first look at it.

 

 

I am so happy with mine. I do have a previous one & it hurt more to get, its on my back shoulder blade. Don't get one over bone.

 

I need a picture of all 3 without plastic wrap and all healed.

 

 

24 hours later and mine feels sting-y, its a bit rough and warm to the touch. I've been keeping it moist with lotion and protected from weather and rubbing. One day I'll have to get it recolored but this will last for a while.

Vacation Bids At Work

It took two weeks after the bids went in for me to find out I DID get my 2 weeks in November 2014 that I want off so I can go to Ironman Arizona and volunteer 7 then sign up for the following year to race.

That's all fine and dandy but now I'm looking for another 140.6 race that's NOT Ironman brand. Vineman, in California in late July, isn't Ironman and its only $300. Half the price, or actually less than half price.

There WAS one in BC Canada, Bigfoot Tri, but I don't know if they still do it. HITS in Napa Valley, Expedition Man in South Tahoe <- 2="" 2nd="" and="" any="" awesome="" before="" can="" city="" costs="" do="" don="" elevation.="" else="" entry="" for="" havasu="" hits="" how="" i="" if="" in="" is="" it="" lake="" let="" no="" november="" p="" race.="" reason="" someone="" t="" thanks="" that="" the="" they="" to="" transfer="" until="" up="" weekend="" weeks="" will="" you="" your="">
I'm not locked into Ironman Arizona, I have lots of time to change my mind and do any other fall/winter race.

Still dont know

We should have gotten the results from out work vacation bid by now but the man who is in charge of this is ON VACATION. How ironic. And how MORONIC. Shouldn't that asshole be working on our vacations, since that's one of the huge things he does? Otherwise he is JUST a supervisor and we all know they don't do a whole lot.

Seriously, they do the daily paperwork, maybe handle a small problem like call IT if the ticket kiosk isn't working or maybe not even that since its been broken for 6 months.

So this asshat should fucking be working this week or not be the one person who is in charge of our vacations. Fucker.

In One Week

In One Week I'll find out if I get the two weeks off next year that I requested.  I have to bid on vacation days and I chose November 9th thru November 22nd so Lan and I can go to Arizona and volunteer for Ironman Arizona 2014 & sign up for IMAZ 2015. Then, I can train for 2 years AND share my working out with my coworkers. I can also share my race with them and be all excited for it, not have to hide it from them like before.

 

I'm about 99% sure I'll get the two weeks off next year, not a lot of people want to take time at that time of year, they all want May or June. I think IMAZ 2015 will work beautifully for me, it gives me 2 years to get ready. Most importantly, it gives me all of next summer to ride the horses.

 

I really want to do the endurance riding with Sarah, that should be a lot of fun work. Now that Karen is going to be at Bton dock, she is ahead of me on the seniority list so she will get the hours I would have gotten but I'll be back to more time off, to do fun stuff. I do have my priorities.

Handy, going out to pasture

I need another one of these so very badly!

 

Linda and I both need these.

 

I have almost everything together to make a shadow box but I've lost my swim cap! Also, I threw out the yellow tag for my loved one to pick up my stuff, I have no idea what the thing on the bottom right is and I don't have a love note from my wife. But I'm sure I can put something else in there, like the toilet paper roll Lan carried for me.

 

I do have the medal, bike number, helmet number, bib, blue wristband and my envelope, plus extras like the small maps of the course, a FINISHERS sticker and glow I in the dark plastic necklace. Id like to make one for Lan too.

Horse Trailer Repairs

The horse trailer now has a new floor. This is the old original floor.

 

The 3 right side boards were rotten, not unexpected for being 15 years old.

Not so rotten that they were going to fall through on the next ride but it was time.

 

We decided to replace 6 of the 7 boards because

1)it will be done 

2)the ends of all the boards were rotten 

3)they weren't THAT expensive.

 

Lan had to remove the front kick mat off the wall. That's when he noticed the rust.

 

He had to sand blast a few parts, cut out some others, replace a few pieces of angle iron & sheet metal. This is the front wall between horses & tack room.

 

Lan, BREAKING BAD.

 

He was sand blasting here, had sand everywhere. Including in his ears.

 

Flintstones.

 

So hes got the floor boards in & bolted down, now just to trim the side mat that has stretched & bunched up.

 

And bring the mats in.

 

He still needs to replace the front wall mat. He didn't want to, said he would do it later. But I know when later is:

 

NEVER.

 

So I made him go to the store, get rivets and he did it tonight. That way I wont have to bitch about it forever and its finished.

 

 

Probably the only job he has ever completed in a reasonable amount of time and actually finished.

 

There is still a light pole hole between the arena and pasture, its not safe for turn out in either of those places. I didn't realize the arena had half the hole. Shit, any of the horses could have got a broken leg.

13.1

 

I ran in Race For A Soldier today, a local half marathon supporting soldiers with

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

 

  I used Lindy's entry because she's on another vacation, this time in Maine or someplace nice and beautiful like that. She travels a lot so that's probably why she didn't want to run this race herself. lets see, do I travel or run 13.1 miles?

 

 They made the shirts red this year and used the same material as they did the first year and I like that shirt a lot. Long sleeved, perfect weight for running in.

 

 We had to run down Peacock Hill Blvd into Gig Harbor; last year it was a little different than that and the first year it was a 75% different course.

 

 With a forecast of rain I was overdressed for what we actually got, only a little light rain and it wasn't enough to make me cold or wet. So right before mile 3, at the bottom of the hill, I handed off my extra shirt, gloves and ear warmers to Lan.

 

I really wished I could have kept that shirt on, it's one of my 140.6 FINISHER shirts I got at Ironman. I paid $129.99 for each one and I have 2 so I want to wear them and in places where people can appreciate them.

 

 Lan caught me walking! But in my defense, it was uphill and I wasn't the only one.

 

After we came down Peacock it was mostly all uphill after that, so basically 10 miles of uphill. But if they did it backwards I wonder how it would be/ To run UP Peacock after 10 miles?

 



 I chicked this guy with less than 2 miles to go! and believe it or not I was running in this photo.

I did the last 2 miles in 20 minutes.

 

FINISHERS medal.

 

 

Technically I was in the F 65-69 division but I'm 50 so I will compare myself to others of my age.

 

2:38:26 finish time

 

852nd out of 995 finishers

 

377th out of 472 females

 

32nd out of 36 F 50-54

 

12:06 Pace

 

2:13:31 Average time, including males

Going Away

Cassie and Patti have left my barn.

Cassie was my barn girl for 3 years and Patti is her mare, a nice Appy with 'Birdcatcher' spots on her back, otherwise all chestnut.

Cassie and her boyfriend have moved on to a local farm and they have room for Patti. I'll miss them!

 

So we had a Going Away party for Cassie last night.

 

Page, Cassie, Janis, Hannah & Sarah

 We sat around for a couple hours and chatted

And had a BBQ & potluck, YUM!

We gave Cassie gifts, I gave her a basket with a bunch of single servings of wine, doggy treats & chocolates, some cute little birdy salt & pepper shakers and horsey place mats and napkins.

Hagen loves to join in

It was a lot of fun to just sit and chat with all the girls. Sarah brought her daughters, they played around the farm and in the fire. Pyros! They cooked/burnt our marshmallows for our s'mores.

Sarah is the one who did Endurance riding this summer and came in 10th out of 54 in her first race, now shes hooked. I'm going to do it with her next year. Hopefully on Wifi. We'll see how that goes.