Seasonal Greetings

 Winter starts tomorrow.

Three days later it's Christmas Eve.

One day later it's Christmas.

Five days later its New Years Eve, aka our Anniversary.

One day later its New Years 2026 Day.

Two days later we fly to Las Vegas.

One day later we drive to Palm Springs.

Two days later we drive back to Las Vegas, catch a plane and come back home.

135 days later our vacation begins and we SHOULD be hauling Ambleside to Hyak & North Bend area to begin my bucket list ride across the state. If she or I am not ready then we will be hauling the truck & sxs down to Pioche for a nice three week long vacation.

Busy times ahead.

Vacation Days

 I keep thinking all my time off for the year has been taken but then more and more things come up. Yesterday we got an invitation to go to a family gathering on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Centralia with Lans dads family, then last night Lan told me his dad invited us to go Merrys house for Thanksgiving, and Lan agreed, telling me after I got home from work. 

I just want to be home. I don't want to go to work but I must, so I go. Right this minute I'm sitting here thinking about going back to bed but that's not happening either, since I have to get into the shower in 15 minutes. 

I have a part time shift at work right now with Thursdays and Fridays off, so Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas and New Years Day, all the holidays off. That's great, till I WANT the extra pay to pay bills and have enough to save for expenses and feed us. I'll have to find out what time Merry is thinking about having Thanksgiving and if its later int he day I could work a morning shift then COMP the free 10 hours of holiday pay to use at a later date.

In January we're going to be driving to California to meet up with Michelle and Guy and I'm excited for that, just a few days to mess around. 

I've got May 21st through June 13th, 2026 off for the cross state ride, a bucket list item for me. If I can't do that ride, I'll haul my mare with me down to Pioche and ride her in the desert.

Last night after work I went to a meeting with the 40 Something Cowgirls and they couldn't stop talking about how much everyone loves this one guy who lives in eastern Washington and is the best trainer and we should go to the cowgirl camp they have there mid-summer and only costs $1,600.  Right. I need a local trainer I can haul to that doesn't cost hundreds just so I can learn how to make my mare move forward. I don't know if this group is going to be right for me.

Vacation Prepping

We'll be leaving home to go to Pioche in about 10 days and I couldn't be more excited.

I've been gathering necessary supplies and stacking them in the living room, I have 5 old kitty litter plastic containers that I'll use to transport our stuff, those containers and uniform size and shape, have sturdy handles and are waterproof.  I've got items ready to put into the containers but am waiting to see just how much stuff I'll have all together before I start stuffing. I already have one with food in it and I'll have at least one more.  I need to freeze a gallon jug of water to use in the cooler to keep things cold. So much to plan for! 

Lan has already begun working on some plumbing things; a distribution panel from hot water to different areas of the house. This consists of red and blue PEX pipe with valves and fittings mounted on a 2x4 piece of plywood; each one will be able to be shut off individually from the rest in case we need to shut off water just to the bathroom or kitchen.  There will be hot water to utility room, kitchen sink, bathroom sink and cold to same areas plus the back yard.

Thats one of the things Lan will be working on, I need to find SOMETHING I can work on while down there. If we had insulation rolls I'd be cutting it and stapling it into the walls but thats not going to happen yet. I do have cross stitch but I'm not going to use that 'work' and work.

In horse news: 

Amble comes home next Saturday. I'm going to have her harness there and ask Wil or Teresa to help fit it to her properly. I'm also going to borrow a saddle from Terry and see if it fits her. God, I'll need a saddle  more than anything.

I suppose I should start my Christmas Wish List, on it I'll need a nice buggy whip.

This coming Friday, the day before Amble comes home, we are having a yard sale, what I always advertise as the BIG ASS BARN SALE. We have a bunch of stuff already inside the garage, need to get it set up better.  Theres stuff all around the walls not for sale and we either need to move it all or cover it.  I have a ton of crap inside the house that I'll take out Thursday night and set out. I need tables and they need to be clean.  There are 2 picnic tables here, a round patio table and a tiny cafe table. I should sell both those last ones, or take the cafe table and its 2 chairs down to Pioche since we only have a couple camping chairs there now.