Falling

Its been awful wet out, the back pasture/sacrifice area is totally mud. I can leave two horses in the arena all day to stay dry but that means two have to go out into the crap. So this morning I made sure everyone was blanketed and let them all go into the front pasture. Its nice and grassy, only mud is by the gates (so where do you think they stood??) but no shelter, hence the blankets.

 

I brought them into the arena at 4:30pm, just at dark and removed soaking wet blankets and put on dry ones. Sunshower and Wifi are naked tonight but they have the hair for it. Joey and Roses both got clean heavier blankets. Actually, Joeys lighter weight blanket weighed more soaking wet than the dry heavy weight blanket. Go figure.

 

But while they were outside standing in the front pasture Roses was falling asleep, not just going to sleep, but actually falling each time she dozed off. I've seen her do it before so I wasn't worried about her but it is funny to see. I wish she was able to sleep in her stall but its hard when its flooded and sloppy deep mud.

 

Tonight I put her into Joeys stall, which is drier, and left him out loose inside the arena. He still has his hay and grain but he can move around.  We desperately need the barn to be built.

 

Triathlon stuff

 

I've been dealing with Plantar Fasciitis for 6 months and recently started taping my left foot like this and its getting better. Exciting to me, that's for damn sure. Today it was just some first step pain, not every step I take pain. Hoping it continues to improve and that I can run again. 

Black Friday

Today is Black Friday, traditionally the day everyone goes shopping in the big stores and malls, fighting over the 5 TVs on sale for a super good price, pushing old ladies into the street in order to get her place in line to get through the door faster. I've only gone shopping on this day a few times and not for Christmas gifts but usually for groceries or a piece of lumber at Lowes.

 

Last year REI decided to start something new,

 

 

I won't be able to go hiking or running but I'll certainly stay away from the stores.

 

 

This awesome signed picture is now mine. Affirmed, Secretariat and Seattle Slew, ridden to victory in the Triple Crown, autographed by their jockeys. I'm very excited to get it.

 

Rumors Of A Death

 

There is a rumor going around this morning that someone might have died over at

The Riding Place yesterday.

 

That would be sad, if might have been someones little girl.

Results IMAZ 2016

Dave didn't Finish, as NO ONE thought he would. He 'CRASHED' on his bike at about mile 40 and had to stop. Whaaa. Poor big baby. He didn't finish a single race or long ride this summer because every time, SOMEONE ELSE made him crash or 'hit him with their car'... EVERY time. So no one is surprised.
His swim was OK, 1:46:45.

Siked Up For Nothing

After getting myself all siked up to go to Pt D, they have figured out another mistake on the work bids and I'll be staying at SouthWorth. Which is fine, I am really enjoying the hours I have there. All days off, only staying up like I'm watching tv late into the night. I do miss some sleep but Its working out for me anyway.

Watched a terrible movie about a lady training for a triathlon, she wants to qualify for Kona but she barely trains and a 5 yr old kid can ride a bike faster and better than she can. It was actually a movie about a

psycho serial killer/ personal trainer. I read a review earlier in the day so when Lan found it on Netflix I knew we had to watch it. We had fun shredding it to pieces. I can't see ANYONE wanting to become a triathlete after watching this movie.

The appraiser is coming tomorrow so today we spent the day cleaning house. It looks good now, hope it looks good in a week. I hope he gives us a good result.

Ironman news:
Tomorrow after the guy is gone I'll be showing Lan the Ironman training plan and explaining how it works. Hes not going to like it because he doesn't like anything structured but that's why it will work, its structured. I'll volunteer to go to the pool with him to count laps and time him, I'll go to the track to do the same thing there. I'll keep tabs on all his bike rides; miles ridden, speeds, HR, hilly/flat/fast/tempo. He will appreciate it after we've got a month of time in and he can SEE results.

He did awesome at his first Ironman, we can make him so much faster that he can beat half the guys in his A/G if he lets us do it.

Shorter Days

When Lan left for work yesterday it was dark and when he got home it was dark. In 3 months it will be light for a few minutes after he gets home. Right now I'm able to enjoy the days, I get up at about 9am and have all day to do whatever I want before I go to work at 8pm. Its been a lovely stretch.

But things will change for me in a few weeks, I'll be moving to the Pt Defiance

dock, working mornings starting at 5:40am till 1:40pm. I'll land the boats, load the cars, put up the apron & then hop onto the boat to ride across to Tahlequah and do it all again, then back and forth all day. 20 landings in all.
I hope the crew likes me.
I hope the dock supervisor is nice to me.
I hope Nicoles aunt who sells at Pt D is nice to me.
I hope I don't get hurt jumping around.

I'll be getting home at 2:30pm and have a few hours to myself before Lan gets home.
Now, heres the deal. I'll be working 40 hours, bringing home almost as much money as Lan. I'm thinking he should pick up a titch of the laundry chores, maybe put some of his dirty dishes into the dishwasher. I'll have to ask.

More Arena Lights

Hardwood

The installer came to measure the floors and make room dimensions today and he had a couple suggestions. With so many options for types/colors/thickness, etc of new floors, its hard to make decisions. We don't even know what questions to ask. This is the one I really like, Acac

ia.

I like it because it has various colors so it would hide dog hair and dirt well and its also not flat so it would hide scratches.

This is Karens house where they used it, its gorgeous.

This is a google photo, shows the wave of the planks.

 

This is the floor in the store where I was standing on it. It was taking a beating and still looking good. 





 

But Lan doesn't like it, he wants something more traditional like our old house.

NO. I'm not in to the old oak stuff this time.

 

I love the look of this Hickory but its not as hard as we need.

 

Bent Out Of Shape

Someone keeps getting bent out of shape about me not riding all the horses. I think its fucking funny that they can't mind their own business and that they even care in the first place. So just to make this person understand, I'll explain why I don't ride all my horses.

 

Joey is retired. He's 20 years old and has lead a damn easy life but hes got a stifle injury (inherited) that is now catching up to him and he hurts. He will continue to live here with us throughout his golden years.

I don't 'Get rid of' my horses just because they are old.

 

Joey in the shitty halter because someone stole his leather one.

 

Sunshower!

Shes the perfect mare. I do ride her, shes my trail horse now and shes loving it, a lot. Joey was always my trail horse before but now my girl is picking up the slack.

 

 

And Wifi. My beautiful girl. Stinkpot. Spoiled rotten.

Shes got a career as a dressage horse and that's going along smoothly. Shes not liking that she has to work again but she sure as hell enjoys the attention she gets.

 

 

Other barn news:

We should be able to start the barn build within the month and we're pretty excited about that. I'm going to the county for the permit next week.

 

I've already been doing the research on use of different types of woods for the walls, etc. and have been to 3 stores to price things. I know the walls so far will be about $5,000 but that doesn't include stall fronts, hardware or the roof/floor of the loft. I'm having so much fun drawing up plans for everything and then getting to redo them when we figure out I did it wrong. I wish I had paid more attention to the stall doors in the old barn but Lan remembers how they were. I know we're definitely going to use pressure treated boards on the bottom of the walls so they don't rot out from pee and the first 4 boards will be 2x12x12 so they have added strength. I've seen too many 2x8s that horses kick and get injured because owners were too cheap to purchase stronger boards.

 

 

Inside the house we're prepping to take out 1 wall and replace all the down stairs flooring. I'm thinking about adding a gray slate inside the front door and going into the bathroom. We've also priced hardwood flooring for inside the house and spoken to a lot of people who have so much info to share. I've had hardwood before but we've never been the ones to choose and install it. 

Ironman Arizona 2017

I'll find a way to get there, even if I have to call in sick.

 

Lan will be racing and I'll be damned if I make him go alone. I'll drive the car down and probably back or he can drive it back and I'll fly...

 

But this next year is going to be dedicated to his race.

 

He asked a local coach to help him but as far as I know Lan hasn't heard back yet. I'll be pissed off if the coach doesn't at least tell him personally why not, if he doesn't want to coach him. Lan has tons of potential to do very well at IMAZ, even in the largest A/G.

 

At Vineman he was 96th out of 217 in his A/G and he admits to being under trained. If he had a coach, someone that would demand accountability, then he could get into the top 25% and that's HUGE. He won't listen to me though so I can't help him at all and he's going to have to speak up when he has a problem, any problem.