Election

Anxiety. Not disappointment so much, just... worry.
Look at the nice man and the horsey.... its much happier.

Fall horse show

Wow! Today I spent all day at the Oglethorpe Saddle Club at the last horse show for this season. We had the best time! All the kids did fantastic and I was really able to give my friend Gina (Cocoa's previous mom) a big hand with the horses and the craziness that happens when you try to get a bunch of kids to make their events. I'm exhausted, I know I'm going to sleep well tonight- all that fresh air and exercise. The weather was amazing. The leaves are starting to change. It was a beautiful day. Next year, I'm going to be competing on Cocoa, and Josh said he would love to do a class or two with Elle. I'm so happy.

Finding a saddle for Cocoa is proving to be difficult. I'm thinking I'm going to try and Australian stock saddle. The Sidney Saddle Company makes a draft horse saddle that sounds fantastic. The Aussie saddle is a happy medium between an english saddle and a western. I need to take some measurements of Cocoa's back so I can find the perfect gullet width. If any family is reading this and wondering about Christmas.... think horse supplies!

Welcome Home Cocoa(puff)

Yesterday was very eventful. I went to the horsey chiropractor with my new boy for an adjustment before he came home. Yes, that's right, horse chiro. I was skeptical at first, but the difference is immediate and substantial. It makes good sense when you think about it, everything is connected to the back, and most of the work we do on these guys is putting weight on their backs!
Cocoa is a sweetheart. He's taken well to his surroundings and is playing nicely with Elle. When we put them together Elle decided to give a show, walk, trot, canter, gallop around while squealing and nickering and snorting. I think she's smitten with the new man around the house. I hate to tell her though, Cocoapuff is a gelding, and is more likely to want to braid her hair and talk about 'feelings'.
I'm so excited. He's so handsome. I've included some photos from this morning. For my parents and other not so tech-savvy people, you can click on the pics to make them bigger. Love you guys! WELCOME HOME COCOAPUFF!!!

Plants!

Today was a day filled with plants. This morning we woke up to the beautiful sounds of a chainsaw and the crash of falling timber. That's right, we've started real construction on my barn. I'm very excited. The barn site is up the hill around back of the house, apparently we have much more room back there than I originally thought. I don't think I've even explored half of our entire property. So a few trees had to come down, at least we have plenty of firewood for this year! After moving some logs and looking at the area, I can really start to visualize the project. Very cool.



The UGA horticulture club sale was today. Never one to miss out on good plants, I dragged Josh out to the sale. Thankfully we didn't really encounter any gameday traffic, but still I was eager to get my plant and leave. I settled on an August Beauty gardenia. My yard is full sun so I'm always looking for something really sun/heat hardy. Because of the dogs I have to resort to container gardening for now, mostly because I'm not sure where to put raised beds. At any rate, the gardenia has a nice big pot for lots of growing room and I planted it in potting soil with some mulch on top.

After seeing how nice the gardenia looked and noticing my asters are starting to bloom, I decided the yard was looking a little shaggy. I was hopeful that I could finish the mowing before the rain. It sprinkled a little but I finished and the yard looks much better. I found Barty's ropebone. After it hung up in the mower. I like that little electric mower, I wouldn't want it if I had a huge yard, but for the little fenced front yard it works fantastic! Its really quiet. After I mowed I noticed some patchy areas where the grass is yellowing and not growing so well. Lacking any lime, I just threw some fertilizer down on the whole yard. I feel very productive.

Getting back on the horse

I had decided to stop blogging shortly after I graduated college. It was a fun thing to do and I hoped it helped the people trying to keep up, keep up. It was fun. Then I moved away and tried to make blogging work while I was busily trying to be an adult. It was less fun. So I stopped. I worked as a teacher for a couple of years and decided that being an adult is not nearly what it's cracked up to be, so here I am, starting up a blog again. My fiance has a blog, but his blog is more of a work related thing. I keep up with my friend's mom's blog every week and maybe that's what made me decide to do it again. Its often hard for me to track exactly where I've come from and how I've gotten where I am. Its a weird and winding road. So, on to blogging.

This week has been rather exciting. I'm getting a new horse, my birthday horse, some time in the next month. Yeah I know, my birthday was two months ago, but these things take times. Especially for the horse of my dreams. He's perfect, thought not exactly tall, dark, and handsome. He's more short, fat, and easygoing. I imagine him to be the ultimate geek horse. If he had fingers, he'd be a gamer. I went to test drive him on Saturday, he's fantastic, smooth canter and has some real get up and go for a chub. Nothing compared to Josh's corvette horse, but I bet we'll have a chance to run some fun races.

Gave Josh's horse a bath on Monday, so of course it rains. Put the flags in the ground for the new barn site. Hopefully it'll go up before the new horse comes home. Looking forward to being able to put the horses up in the winter rather than messing with sheets.

I'm off to the grocery store today, I need some apples for an apple pie and its already 8 days into October and I haven't made anything with pumpkins! Maybe some pumpkin soup, that'd be awesome, pumpkin soup and apple glaced prok chops. Mmm!