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

Camping Fun

 We borrowed Terrys RV and took Soren camping at Spillman Campground, at Tahuya OHV state forest. He's 14 now, knows everything, still a kid at heart. 

We took the sxs and the guys took it out a few times and got good & dirty.

I stayed in camp, did a lot of cross stitching and relaxing.

BUT.

And there's always a BUT.

The neighbors were tweakers and on Thursday night they were screaming at each other for a while at about 10pm, on Friday they yelled a few times during the day and raked the forest floor...  We no longer felt safe with them there and more were showing up, plus their dog barked and barked and barked.

So we came home early.

And that was OK, since Soren had had his fill of camping, he missed his electronics and his girlfriend.

Fun was had, good food was cooked over the campfire, Soren had his Taki's and I hardly limited his eating. He also got to chop as much wood as he wanted and kept the fire stoked all day. 

Camping

 We're taking the 14 1/2 year old great nephew camping for 2 nights about 30 miles from home, taking the mtn bike for him to ride and the SXS for us all to enjoy. I'll take my cross stitch so they can go ride & I'll work on that, have a nap, enjoy snacks.

It'll be fun.

Cars On Trips

Which car will we take?

The 2025 Ford F-350? 

It still smells new & has everything but diesel is more expensive than gas and this gets lower mileage.

If 20 mpg, it will use 125 gallons of gas with cost of $686.25

The 2009 Subaru Impreza?

It gets the best mileage at 30+ but needs new tires and isn't yet 100% reliable. This would save on fuel but tires will be a few hundred bucks. Lan can mount them himself and we'll need them anyway but getting them for the trip means trip money goes to tires.

If 30 mpg, it will use 83.3 gallons of gas with cost of $374.17

The 2010 Ford Escape?

It also has a few quirks but its only getting about 20 MPG anymore and isn't 100% reliable either. With this we could make a run into Cedar City, Utah and bring back more than we could fit into the Impreza, plus we can take it off road. 

If 20 mpg, it will use 125 gallons of gas with cost of $561.25

If we take the truck it would be a bit slower just because its bigger but we can haul anything in it and go off road if needed.

If we take the Subaru we'll 'save' on fuel overall but no fun stuff.

If we take the Escape it will cover all the bases.

 

 

How To Proceed

OK, so here is our house in Pioche, what it looks like right now.

Living room on the left, kitchen on the right. It is 20' wide across the front.

This is a rough drawing of the house

And this is a rough drawing of what it might look like when we're done rebuilding it.

We're going back to see the house in September or October, we do need to winterize the trailer and get all the measurements and make final plans on how we're going to do next springs demolition of the utility, kitchen & bathroom and THEN we need to get it all covered again so the basement doesn't flood in the winter from any rain and snow. They haven't had much of either for 2 years so they're due for a good amount, I think, this winter.

The bedroom is already framed in and it will be 12'x12' with the closet on the side along the living room, to provide a little sound proofing.

We both want to have a large window out the back of the house to see the views of the valley but as of right now, we're not exactly sure how that's going to work out.

I had so many ideas of things we could do with this house but all those photos are lost and it kinda makes me sick.

 

Over Time Is Done

 We got home on June 5th and I had another week off, but got called in for OT on June 11th. Then starting Sunday June 14th, I worked 6 straight days for that first 60 hours, I had Saturday June 20th off, then another week of 60 hours, 1 day off and this week I worked the last FIFA hours yesterday. I'll work Thursday and Friday for only 40 hours this week.  There were 2 holidays when I got OT so cash wise they were each $1,000 days but I chose Comp days so I'll get more time off. Today & tomorrow are the first 2 days I'll have off together since June 12th & 13th.

What I need to accomplish in these 2 days is:

Get the RV cleaned out and set up for Jeffs visit Monday

Put bedding and stuff out there 

Make sure there is water in it so he can use the toilet if he wants

Shop for snacks and treats, and beer for Jeff

          Shop for gluten free foods since he is intolerant 

Shop for an awesome Birthday gift for Jeff, he will be 66 on Monday

 

On July 11th there will be a memorial for Aunt Rita and there will be far more people there that I don't want to see than the few I do want to see. Until 2 months ago I thought that things were good between Sali and me but then I caught her in a lie so I no longer care to see her. And YES, that's petty but she simply didn't need to lie to me in the first place. 

I wonder how many more family members will die before I see them all again?

 

Back To Work

 We've been home a week and during that time I worked 50 hours, 10 is overtime on a holiday so I'll earn about $1000 that day, now for my second week I'll work 60 hours so worked time is 110 hours plus a holiday, which for the regular holiday time I'll take as comp.

I did not plan on working so much right off the bat but its available and I'm high enough in seniority to get better shifts but honestly I enjoy every position on the dock.  Mostly I sell but traffic and plank are as easy as pie.

All this OT is due to the FIFA in Seattle; they are paying for extra people to be on the dock so I said 

SIGN ME UP!

The OT will be about 70 hours each week through July 10, by the time it's over I'll be wiped out.

Next Trip Planning

We're hoping to take another trip down to Pioche in the fall to winterize and prep for the big demo next spring, when we remove the utility room, kitchen, basement stairs and bathroom.

Here's a diagram of the current house, it measures about 20' wide by 36' deep and the bathroom is 5x5

This is maybe what our future house will look like. This isn't to size but you get the gist.

We still need to figure out how to get into the basement after we remove the stairs down to it.

This section on the left is the bathroom that we will remove, and the brick chimney on the other side, the metal one is already gone. The part on the right is the kitchen & utility and they will be gone too.

Here's a better photo of the chimney

This is the utility room, the door leads to the stairs that go 3 up to the utility room and 7 down to the basement floor; all the blue area will be removed along with the door/stairs,

This is the basement stairs thing. Its all going to go.

We will need to make sure the exterior walls are straight and cover them up with new siding of some kind. Currently the house has stucco on it but we're not sure what we will use on the new sides.

 

After the Trip

We left home at 5pm Thursday May 21, 2026 and drove till we were tired, Friday we woke early and drove to Dugway Geodo Beds, where we spent the entire day digging and found a lot of them, couple 5 gallon buckets full.

Spent the night there, then in the morning we drove to the Topaz dig area and got some but by the time we got there it was very warm and I just wasn't into it. Lan was able to dig some nice small ones right out of the rocks.

Then we headed out and arrived in Pioche at dusk.

Our home when we first saw it this trip.

Lan worked hard to replace two front windows, making them both bigger and straight, and he worked to suck in the side of the house where the stucco wants to bulge out.

Neither of those were easy jobs but both look much better now.

After the stucco was dry I got to paint & since I knew it wasn't going to be an easy job at all, I decided to use the best tools and paint I could afford and I chose 'Pure Turquoise' as the color, or as neighbor Tom says, Brothel Blue.

The 12" boards at the top of the walls are painted white but its old and peeling. I didn't have supplies to clean that up and its probably going to need replacing eventually so I left it alone. The blue is just to protect the walls.

While Lan was working on the windows and walls, I was tearing out the inside walls of the kitchen. I removed all the cupboards and cabinets and took down a lot of the many layers of walls, there was plywood, boards, wallpaper, linoleum and cloth. 

There were a lot of iffy things on the walls so we made sure to use the good filters.

We did a lot of sxs riding too, one day up to the top of Mt Wilson, another trip out to Hackett Ranch and others. We saw a lot of wild horses and that made my heart happy.

We went to neighbor Toms yard sale and paid $50 for the Traeger smoker and have used it twice, for Brisket and ribs. WOW, its fun to use. I'll be cooking another brisket (ok, this one will be a chuck roast) and ribs today. I do need to go to the store for the roast since I didn't think to thaw one of ours.  I'll need another bag of pellets too.