Two Offers

Our home is officially on the market and today we made offers on two houses in Montana. 

The original one in St Regis that we both love and its perfect for what we want, 

and one in Plains that's close to what we want 

BUT its got a 24 unit storage facility that's part of the deal. 

That would make our house payment for us right there.

Our house & farm are on the MLS and 

FOR SALE

with an asking price of $629,950.00

Its a holiday weekend and its been on the MLS for 3 days and exactly ZERO people have come by to see it. That's a good thing because we're still completing projects.

We had never finished the stair treads with the hardwood flooring so realtor suggested I paint them, so I did, the turquoise you see here. It ties in with the color in the bathroom.

And this evening we're hanging up this sliding barn door Lan made for the downstairs bathroom. 

In this photo its just standing there, not complete. 

In about an hour its going to be FINISHED

and the white door should be gone.

We will save the white door for the future owners of the house 

in case they dislike the barn door and wish to remove it. 

That makes them total losers. 

I hope whoever gets the house and farm love it and continue to improve it.

I've been painting a lot, off white on a bunch of spots where there were either marks on the walls 

or entire places I hadn't finished before. 

I'm also busy painting the porch swing again, its hard to get something orange enough!

NO PHOTO!!

Lan removed a couple busted posts in the cross fence, removed a gate and built this new gate with electric fencing on the top. 

No more horses reaching over. 

Assholes.

I've been painting the metal on the pony cart. I know I'll never teach Gussy to pull it so I'm going to let it go for $500 to another gal. I'll include the leather and nylon harnesses and a whicker basket that I picked up somewhere along the way. I'll get better photos of it tomorrow, this morning I actually painted the arms and back supports. It looks good.

Thinking Of Moving

We've thinking of moving so spent a few days in Idaho looking at properties, saw about 15 of them.

Someone else bought this PERFECT FARM before we had a chance to see it.

But there is always this one

with this amazing barn that's got living quarters

This is the inside of the living part

The ladders both fold up

Through those red X doors is an amazing interior

Open them up and from the other side you see...

This. A French door

Which opens into this interior that's 

PERFECT 

for a wedding venue

just imagine little twinkle lights up there

In the living part there is this awesome farmhouse sink

And then there is the log house at the other end of the property

This is from the ground looking up at 2 of the 4 balconies

The living area

Up these stairs

Around the corner is the kitchen or bathroom area

This is the basement. Its tall and made of concrete so if the river floods 

it doesn't take out the entire house

from above, barn in the background

The Weiser River

More inside

Lan & my dad are going to go back over and do an in depth inspection, looking for rot and bugs. I saw signs of it/them.

What I like: 

Its along the Weiser River Trail

https://visitidaho.org/travel-tips/riding-weiser-river-trail/

where I could ride my bikes, ride a horse or drive a pony & cart, walk my dogs or run a ways.

Its 15 acres.

The barn is beautiful and dry, even though they are just getting ride of 4 feet of snow.

The house has potential.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What I don't like:

I'd have to quit my job.

Its very wet but it is right after 4 feet of snow.

Its going to need $50-$80k to get the house livable.

I'd have to quit my job.

Fences are all barbed wire, some parts falling down.

Barn really isn't suited for horses.

I'd have to quit my job.

Barn is a long way away from the house.

No garage for the Mustangs.

I'd have to quit my job.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I will definitely take Joey, Wifi & Gussy but don't know if I'd take Mack. If I do, he would be mine & I'd have to pay for all his veterinary, all his shoes, all his feed, all his ripped up blankets, all his hay. I'm thinking about calling Julie and asking for Sunshower back & taking her.

AirBnB

Last night I put our spare room on AirBnB and today it has been booked for one night with our guest arriving in a couple weeks. With the low price I asked and the fees I have to pay out, I will get about $30.

Today I went shopping and spent $185.28 on things for our guest, including this beach shower curtain. Its not horsey or western at all but the bathroom is light green and there is already a beach watercolor painting in there.

I DID purchase totally westerny material to make curtains for the 2 big windows in the room. I've got leather scraps to use as tie-backs. There is also a new small lamp that I'm going to put spurs around it to make it westerny.

In horse news:

This horse is Penelope, sporting a home made grazing muzzle & I'm going to get a couple for the minis from the gal who makes them. I have real fleece that I will add as padding so there will be minimal hair loss. Instead of having one long piece around the crown of the head it will have snaps on each side to attach to halters.

Ironman World Championship

Our friend, Heidi, is racing in Kona today, you can follow her here

https://track.rtrt.me/e/IRM-WORLDCHAMPIONSHIP-2017#/tracker/RKBGDTZP

Disneyland

 

I'm getting pretty excited for our upcoming Southern California trip.

 

 

We leave here Tuesday morning, go to Disneyland Wednesday & Thursday, then have 2 open days for whatever. Lan wants to go to Santa Monica Pier.

 

The weather is supposed to be in mid 70's, PERFECT for us.

 

 

326 Days

Lans IMAZ is in 326 days and training starts in 1 week. I gotta admit, I'm kinda jealous and excited for him. As long as I am not to bitchy about his training and he DOES it, he will be golden. Here is the 1st days workout:

Monday
We begin easily enough with one short swim. Nothing too crazy here, just allow yourself some time to get used to the water again and be patient with speed.

SWIM 0:30

WARM UP:

200 Swim - 2 x 100 Kick -

4 x 50 Choice, w/10 sec rest after each

MAIN SET:

5 x 200 w/:20 rest, done as follows:

(50 right arm only - 50 swim - 50 left arm only - 50 swim)

COOL DOWN:

2 x (50 Kick/50 Swim)

See, pretty damn easy. The following day is a 50 minute bike and a 35 minute run, both easy. In fact, so easy that the bike is in the small chain ring. AND HE BETTER DO IT RIGHT.

Another Great Vacation

So our vacation has come to an end. Kona and Ironman was just awesome, watching all those FIT athletes and what they were able to do just amazed me.

While on the big island we went out to see Kilauea erupting lava into the sea.

 

This is an open lava tube. Lan and I walked all around it, safely roped off about 100 feet away, of course. It was warm but not hot for us. But the air was warm, all over the island.

 

It was pretty hot in town too.

Cute bike
 

On Maui Lan and I drove up to Haleakalā and watched the sun rise above the clouds.

 

 

Followed that up with a trip out to Hana, a red sand beach and of course, the Seven Sacred Pools.

 

 

 

We hiked out the trail to Waimoku Falls

 

and this is what you see at the end. 400' of water cascading down the rock wall.

 

The next day we went to my favorite beach, Makena Landing.

 

As always, it was my best day, spent relaxing and enjoying life with Lan.

 

 

 

35 Hours

Officially counting down the hours till we leave for Kona and Maui,

currently at

.

I still have packing to do but I've made arrangements for the dogs, cats, horses and chickens. I've gone shopping for the house sitter and made sure all the animals have enough food to last. The VETERINARIAN EMERGENCY CONCENT FORM has been filled out, printed and signed.

 

I've purchased enough snacks to feed an army on the plane because you never know how long it's going to be before your next meal and who knows what kind of crap they're going to feed ya.

 

I didn't want to get stuck with a big ass heavy carry on but Hawaiian charges $25 for a checked bag so I have to get everything in the carry on and the small backpack.

Backpack still has room but the carry on is getting loaded. I can still unzip the extra 2 inches all around if needed.

What we have done before on trips is go light and come back heavy, purchasing big ass bags where we are at so we only have to pay one way to check them. We've done it before in Hawaii and England and the junk store is by the old jail.

Kona & Maui

We'll be leaving in 4 days.

No weight lost yet

Weighed the same this morning.
Today I went swimming, not hard or fast, swam about 1/3 mile slow, open water without a wetsuit. Swam the way back faster and beat Linda out of the water.

Came home & did a 10 minute legs video.
After work I did the upper body 21 day fix.
Tracking all exercise and food intake.

I better start losing weight soon.

Getting Ready To Run

I'm getting mentally ready to run the Iron Horse Half Marathon on Sunday. I've had yesterday and today off, I work tomorrow morning & then I have 2 days off.
My feet have been giving me pain and I think its Plantar fasciitis; if so, I'm in for a world of hurt if I'm not really careful. I'll be losing some weight this next month and I sincerely hope this helps.

USAT Age Group Nationals

 

A few months ago I told you about how I qualified at Irongirl Sprint Tri 2015 in Seattle for the

USAT Age Group Nationals,

I came in the top 10% and was invited to race in Omaha, Nebraska against the other top 10%

in the nation.

This is the weekend they raced and several of my friends went;

Windy, Barb and Lindy.

 

And this is the medal they all received in the Olympic distance

 

Windy 3:20:39 age 44

Bard 3:25:47 age 54

Lindy 4:18:58 age 70

 

I wish I had been able to go to the race but working where I do just doesn't allow summertime vacations. My supervisor encouraged me to go but I'm not stupid, it would have been a waste of money. Today they were paying overtime for someone else to show up, he would NEVER have given me today off.

 

And its about 100* in Omaha, that would have sucked.



2016 Vineman 70.3

Lan raced Vineman 70.3 on Sunday in Windsor, California

 

The swim and T1 are 20 miles away, in Guerneville in the heart of the Sonoma Valley wine region.

The 1.2 mile swim is in the Russian River, 4-6 feet deep in most places but only about 12" deep at the turn so athletes had to walk the turn around.

 

  Lans swim wave was the 4th to start, 16 minutes after the pros started their swim. First wave after the pros was the 35-40 yr old women, then 3 waves of 45-49 yr old men.

 

 

 

Pros came out of the water in about 25 minutes.

 

Craig Alexander and Andy Potts are just two of the pros in this shot.

 

 

Here is T1

 

Lans swim was 38:01, he was 118th in his age group

 T1 was 4:10

 

The bike was on a rolling hills course through wine country.

The pros finished the 56 mile bike in about 2:10.

 

Here are Craig Alexander and Andy Potts with a couple other pro men heading out on the run and they are after it. These guys were #3, 4 & 5, the other 2 were ahead by 90 seconds.

 

A short time later Lan finished his bike, in 2:47:18,

an average of 20:08mph.

69th in his age group.

 

 

Right about the time he finished his ride the pro men finished their 13.1 mile run;

Andy Potts was the winner with about 3:48.

 

Lan, almost falling as he heads out on his run.

His T2 time was 6:15

 

Here are the pro men chatting after the race, still in the finishers chute.

 

There is Lan in the yellow shirt as he finished his run with a time of 2:17:09,

he was 96th in his age group.

 

Total race time was 5:52:23

There were 217 men in his age group and 1996 total athletes competed.

 

Just happy to be done.