Live Cameras In Places I've Been

 Overland Hotel, Pioche, Nevada

Weather Cam | The Overland Hotel & Saloon

Annecy, France

annecy-tourisme webcam - Le Lac

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England

【LIVE】 Live Cam Newcastle - Central Station | SkylineWebcams

Mt Rainier, Washington, USA

Mountain Webcam (U.S. National Park Service)

Kaanapali Beach

Maui, Hawaii, USA

Kaanapali Beach, West Maui Webcam | Maui Kai

Whistler, Canada

We drove up to Whistler, its about a 5 hours drive, 275 miles.

Here's the Port Mann Bridge, when the loan was paid off, they removed the toll.

We go up to celebrate the Canadian Thanksgiving with Kari, Eldon & their family.

In Whistler Village

Namesake: Whistler was originally called London Mountain (named in 1932 for heavy fog and rain), but was renamed Whistler in the 1960s to honor the loud, piercing warning whistles of the local marmots and attract more resort visitors.

Here's a Photo of the Hoary Marmot.

We went on a 3 mile hike to the Ancient Cedars Grove, quite a nice UPHILL hike. The trees are up to 1,000 years old.

On the way up Lan had an 'episode', kind of like low blood sugar. He was sweating and light headed and had to stop a few times. We told everyone it was his back and leg but we both know. We NEED to change our diet, lose weight and get back to being healthy.

The participants in this years Thanksgiving dinner were:

Lan & me

Kari & Eldon

Jason, Jelaine, Wilder, Wynter and Harrison

Jolly, Quinton, Anna, Amelia and Louie

and Q's sister, Crystal.

All the kids are 6 or under, with both babies only a year old. It was loud & none of the parents followed through with their threats to their kids & the kids were brats. Jumping on furniture, throwing things, yelling, crying. 

 

Ah, Work

On Sunday Cathy & I had a little fun at work.  

It was a beautiful day and we decided to make it fun.

Took a bunch of photos and had Mike take a few as well.

We were even allowed into the wheelhouse for a photo but I can't show it here.

Then on Monday the MEBA engineers had a sick out with 23 people calling out sick and only 5 of 18 boats running. Most of the day was fine but toward evening an old lady got in my face & started blaming US. I tried to be nice to her, really did, but once you start blaming people who are actually AT WORK for the boats not running, that's BS. So I walked away and told her if she's going to be that way she can just leave. 

It was very stressful, just knowing that someone could/would start bitching at us and then a few issues with loading cars, nothing big but weirdness. Then we had SO MANY walk-on people coming to the wrong place. OPs called at 2:55 to cancel the 3:00, making it the 4:15, then we were supposed to have a 7:55 but it got cancelled at literally the last minute. That's the boat the old lady was supposed to get on and if it had run, she wasn't in her car and would have missed it anyway. Bitch.

I stand with the engineers and do not blame them one bit, they haven't had more than a 2% raise in the last 4 years and the state doesn't want to give them one for another 2 years. That's bullshit.

We're leaving Thursday to go up to Whistler, Canada for their Thanksgiving with Lans cousins. Last year we were there & they had a shit ton of drama, I hope the asshole DIL gets her shit together and can relax this year.

 

SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder

Its Fall, when everyone gets depressed & grumpy.

I try hard every fall not to let the changing weather affect me but sometimes it still does. 

I hope you all have a great Fall and Winter.

In horse news, Wifi and Amble are happy to be back together and eating pasture grass. There's a big storm rolling in and I'd like to have them in the barn but right now the truck & dump trailer are in there with a load of currently dry firewood. I do not trust the mares to leave the truck alone or not hurt themselves on the trailer so they will stay out front with protection for the weather under the huge Fir trees.

R2 & Sarah will be joining us for dinner, steak and salmon, I can't wait.

 

We Lost Clare Yesterday

 I'm sad that I can't find a single photo of Clare on my PC since my son 'cleaned it up for me'.

Clare was our English Mastiff, we'd gotten her when she was 4, and she had just had her 4th litter of puppies. She was a good girl every day but for the last couple years she'd had one issue after another. Icky ears, allergies, weight loss; lately she'd been puking up everything she ate so we made the decision to let her go.

This is the first time in many, many years that I woke up without a dog in the house.

Negative

This is what we wanted to see

But Amble is not pregnant. 

What we can do is have the stud owner gather semen and ship it over here, the vet said there was NO WAY she would have gotten pregnant at the time she was there because her body wasn't ready. He did say she would be receptive in 4-5 days... hhhmmm... that's exactly what the vet in Spokane said.

So I've got about 36 hours to decide what to do. I'll need to get in touch with the vet and ask him if he WILL do it, then tell the breeder and she would need to get the stud to the vet, collect him & get it shipped here, to be received Monday or Tuesday.

The expenses would be high, $250 to collect, shipping is $150+ and the vet said upwards of $1,500 for him to inseminate her. And still no guarantees. But AI is still cheaper than taking her back there at this point. I've just sent the breeder a text saying we'll try in the spring.

Amble weighs 1,294#. I NEED to get her measurements today and photos so I can keep track of her. The vet said she's about 100# over weight and that's not bad.

I should throw her saddle on her and start riding.

And wish for a 2028 baby.

Veterinarians

I never knew this girl would need twice as much tranq as normal but here we are.

Ambles last vet bill was $245 and most of that was immunizations, her Reproductive Ultrasound was $78.75.  I'll be taking her to the local vet and I am betting the SAME ULTRASOUND will cost over $500. 

I called our local vet a month ago to see about getting an appointment for a pre-breeding appointment but they couldn't see Amble for 3 weeks, much to late for us. Now that she's HOPEFULLY bred, I needed the vet again, but TODAY was the last day if she had taken on the 1st breeding date (August 30th) and Friday was the last day for the last (September 5th) breeding date. Their office gave me an appointment for next Monday which was the soonest (but 10 days late) they could see her but then they called back a while later and gave us a Friday appointment after all. YAY.

I sent thru the whole Katie Van Slyke webpage on their breeding timeline and wrote it all down with the dates changed to what we need. Thank God for Katie! Now I know sorta when we need a vet and/or ultrasound, when to change feed and when to get shots and which shots they are.

  

Ambleside Is Home

Ambleside was bred several times between August 30th and September 5th and she was ready to return home September 6th.  Lan & I have jobs, so we planned on going over Friday, staying the night & coming back Saturday but once he got home Thursday night we decided to leave and we were on the road by 5pm. We drove about 4 hours, to Moses Lake, and stayed at the Lakeside Hotel.

$122, nice room, comfy bed, AWESOME continental breakfast included.

We were woken at 6:20am by Phuckin Phildo, wanting me to work but I only said 'I'm in Spokane' and I hung up. Phuck You Phildo.

Anyway, I digress.

We were on the road by about 8am but went into Idaho first to fill up on fuel and it was about $240. YIKES.

From there, we headed out to 2291 Heine Rd to get our girl.

 It was over an hour away and we arrived right at noon, right when I had told her we would get there. It took less than 15 minutes to hook up out trailer, put Ambles fly mask on, get her loaded and pay Kirk & Brandy Preston, the breeders, for the service. It was $1,000.00 plus I gave them $200 for mare care, even though Brandy said none was due but Kirk originally wanted $45 DAILY and I had signed the contract agreeing to $20 daily. 

And the dude, Kirk, was shirtless, again. How unprofessional and creepy. Ewww. Just Ewww.

We arrived home right at 7:30pm and Wifi immediately started to whinny and ran as fast as she was able toward the driveway, and Amble whinnied back to her. They were so happy to be back together.

 Wifi will be an aunty in August 2027, I hope.

Now, I have 10 months to come up with a name for our future baby. While we were traveling in France I saw a sign that was cool and I said I'd someday name a horse that, but I've no idea what it was and we didn't go to that village. We did go to Annecy and Chamonix and I do like that name.

Ambleside is named after a village in England

Anyway, I am going to be looking for the name of that French village to see if I can remember the name.

 

 

Breeding My Gypsy Mare

Last year I saw an ad on FB about a Gypsy stallion that was in Spokane, Washington, only 400 miles/6 hours away. I inquired about his breeding fee but it was $2,000, a lot for a stallion that hadn't done anything; he's not broke to ride or drive, hasn't been shown.

This year, about 2 months ago, the owner again listed him as a stud but has it priced at $1,000 so I immediately got in touch with her again and began making arrangements. I had to get the Ok from my husband, even though he wouldn't ever tell me no to anything I ask (unless its more goats) but we had to have a plan. So I saved up enough money for fuel and travel and since my hubby was going to be in Spokane for 2 weeks for work anyway, it was a perfect time to take Amble over. 

On August 21, 2026 I loaded her up at 6am and headed out but I first took her to a vet located in Newton Lake, just north of Spokane. There they palped her and found that she had ovulated 12-48 hours earlier so we we're just past the breeding window. The vet gave me a syringe that the breeder would give her 5 days later on August 26, then she should come into heat 5 days later on August 31 but she was receptive on August 30th. The breeder said she was receptive till September 5th, a good week. 

I'll be bringing Ambler home this next weekend and I'll HAVE to get a preg check at about 19 days ish.

I DO NOT want twins, they are not a blessing.

RETIREMENT

Can't come soon enough. 

Successful Breeding

Black Orchid Ambleside

was successfully bred today 

and her due date will be about August 5, 2027

to 

Wisteria Farms Birthday Boy

These are the possible colors a foal might end up with the chances but I'm sure it will be a Piebald

Bay Tobiano

9 in 32

Black Tobiano

3 in 32

Chestnut Tobiano

1 in 8

Buckskin Tobiano

9 in 32

Palomino Tobiano

1 in 8

Smokey Black Tobiano

3 in 32

 

Stallion + Mare = ?

Amble is in Spokane, Washington, meeting her new mate.

His barn name is Bubba, his real/registered name is Wisteria Farms Birthday Boy.

I took Amble to the vet office in Newman Lake and they examined her, said she had ovulated 12-24 hours earlier.

She had to have a double dose of tranq to get her to relax.

The vet gave me a shot that will be administered to her today, then in another 4-5 days she should be in heat and Bubba will live cover her. Then the vet visits to see if she is in foal & if she is, I will drive back to Spokane/Chewella to bring her home and hope we get a baby in 340 days, Thursday, August 5, 2027.

The stallion owners are Kirk and Brandy Preston and they're sort of scamming. I asked specifically about mare care and she said it was free but once I got there he insisted I had to pay & wanted $45 DAILY. Fuck that, asshole, I agreed to $20 fucking daily but not a penny more. So if Amble is there for 21 days, minimum, then thats another $420 that I'll need to pay them, at least. But if thats an issue, I can find another place that will be cheaper and better care. If I were to pay $45 that equals $945 and I could take her to a damn nice boarding facility for half that.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Wifi has never been a single horse living alone, ever before in her life and shes lonely.

 

Stupid Supervisor

There is a supervisor at work that NO ONE likes and he scared the shit out of me the other day. If I ever have to work with him again I'll avoid him like the plague. I'm also writing a formal complaint which I will send to my regular supervisor, the union and HR.  NO ONE should be allowed to bully other people but especially not people with power. He is also the 'president' of the supervisors union. 

Overtime At Work Pays Off

 I've spent so much of MY time working that now its finally paying off. Over 60 hours overtime in June, then 40 in July, now I've already gotten 10 in August. Summer is the time of plenty but in winter its a time of drought and us on-calls will struggle to get hours. The state requires we get 40 hours each week but they don't do it until we beg for it.

I got a nice check again today and I'll be putting a significant amount into the safe for hay and our fall trip to Pioche. I've already got an envelope overflowing with cash & think I need to get another way to hold it all.

We're heading to Pioche September 25th till October 3rd. 

There are many ways to get there and we try to go a different route each time.

This is the most direct & fastest (16 hours drive time) route and the one we'll probably take this trip due to only 1 week off.

But look at all the options, we could go thru Vegas but we hate Vegas.

We could go thru central oregon which is beautiful but seems like such a long drive.

Thru California to Tahoe & then over...

We only have a week so it'll be the direct route.

And we HAVE to have a plan on exactly what we're going to do while there. I'd LOVE to put in another window, get rid of the old one with the built in A/C unit that Lan broke on our last visit. We can take another unit, that's not an issue, but I'd like to get a window in.

We also need to prep for next spring when we're going to rent an excavator for a full week and remove the back two rooms and the old bathroom and then we have to make new outside walls. Or something, not sure on that yet. We WILL need a lot of wood, nails, screws, saw blades, etc, etc. We might need to take more than 2 weeks for next springs trip.

And we HAVE to have a plan in place for a roof over it.

I LOVE planning trip and things to do on the house while we're there.

Horse News:

Ambleside now has a properly fitted saddle and its XXXX Wide!  That girl needs to lose weight.

Saddle Fitter Sarah found:

 an older Wintec for $330.30

Gullet system $140

3rd saddle fit $50

And me riding alone for the first time in the new to us saddle

Two days later this became available, a Gypsy Gold 'Appleby' saddle for $1,200.

I'm supposed to haul Amble over to The Riding Place on the other side of town tomorrow to check it out. I do have the cash for it but then I'm stuck with the wintec too. Oh well, I might never get another chance to purchase a saddle like this while I have money to buy it.

This would be a great saddle for Amble if I can get her down in weight, right now she's a tank.

Oh yeah, I took her to a show last week & she got 2nd in Halter