Recent Posts from my Family, page 2

It's been pretty exciting around here this week. 

First of all, I've been chosen to be a member of "Team Easyboot".  Easycare, Inc is a manufacturer of horse hoof boots, which are used as an alternative to traditional nailed-on horseshoes.  I won't launch into a long dissertation on the benefits of using boots over shoes in this post but I can say they've worked very well for our horses.  Overall I think their hooves are healthier and we've actually saved money, as well as are in better control of our horse's hoof health.  Easycare, Inc. put a call out for applications to Team Easyboot.  The basic premise behind it is to get a group of people together that use Easycare hoof boots to be product testers, providing feedback on new designs and ambassadors for Easycare boots and products. 

They chose about 100 people to be on the team, and I'm delighted to be a part of it.  I do really believe in this manufacturer and the products they make, so this is a great opportunity to get the inside scoop and help other horse owners discover the benefits of using boots instead of traditional shoes.

As I've already mentioned in a prior post, I already write articles for Missouri Trailblazing, and one of the articles was a lengthy review of Boa horse boots, made by--of course--Easycare Inc.  I think including a link to the review as well as letting me know I'm a product development (mechanical design) engineer helped me get chosen.

In addition to the excitement of being chosen, it's been a really fun week getting early Christmas presents.  David has been a very bad boy and in addition to getting me a very swish new coat (brown washable suede with faux fur, but not the nasty muppet-type fur) and a new calculator (HP 35S, which does lots of engineering functions and does the RPN style input instead of algebraic), he also got me a new 14 cup Cuisinart, the fine shredding blade, and a blade holder.  I also still have one present from him to open on Christmas, and although I know what it is I won't say since he hasn't given it to me yet. LOL He is indeed a naughty boy!

From friends and coworkers I've also received a nice bath set (I love lotions and shower gels etc, but never buy them for myself), Ghiradelli chocolate (mmm), flavored hot cocoa mixes (also mmm), a pig statue (with wings, pigs really can fly!), a gift card to Qdoba, another to Borders, a check for good ole cash, and a jar of "smoky margarita hot pepper jelly", which sounds divine to me, I can't wait to try it.

We still have our main Christmas celebration at my mom's, as well as our private one Christmas Eve before David has to go to work.  I'll make the ever-tasty Cheesy Ham and Corn Chowder for supper (10,000 cals per serving but oh my!) and we'll exchange the last of our gifts for each other.  I gave him his main gift in November as it was a combined birthday and Christmas present (an Xbox 360 Elite plus 2 games), but I have a small something (that he picked out) wrapped up for him to open. 

Tomorrow I'm going to go visit my friend Sandy at her potbellied pig sanctuary, and possibly pick up some hay that evening if it doesn't rain.  Sunday it's supposed to be very cold, but dry, so hopefully I will get some hay then even if I can't tomorrow.  We're nowhere near out, but since I have 165 bales at my friend's house, I'd like to get it out of her hair and stored in my barn.  Then if we have a lot of rain, I don't have to worry about transporting hay in the rain and it molding afterwards.

I've managed to blab on again, creating yet another massive missive.  I think I'll shut up now.  Bye 'til next time!

Yay!  The snowplow came through!

Of course, it left me with a big ridge of snow piled up right at the cusp on my driveway onto the road where the grade is steepest but it was loose enough I was able to shovel it clear without having a myocardial infarction, although I'm so out of shape I often felt the snow was going to do me in today.

Our road is almost snow-free on the bad part of the hill, the driveway looks manageable, so I should be set to get to work tomorrow. 

Thought I'd post a (mostly) happy post.  I really don't whine all the time....just most. LOL

2/16/08 Edited to fix a stupid spelling mistake.

I hate it!  I hate snow.  I didn't use to hate it when I was a kid.  I used to love to play in the snow.  Now snow just makes life more difficult.

(Like how I started this post almost identically to the dog post?)

We had a big snowstorm last night, ended up with around 8 inches of snow.  I managed to make it to both barns to feed the animals, and did some shoveling of our gravel driveway.  I then spied my neighbor (who has a tractor!) and asked him if I could pay him to plough my driveway.

He doesn't have a snowplow blade, but his front bucket worked just fine.  Even though he said I didn't need to pay him, I handed him a twenty anyway.  He saved me hours worth of back-breaking labor.  In about an hour I had only done about 15-20 feet of the driveway.  It's well over 100 feet long, so you have an idea of how long I'd be out there if my neighbor hadn't been so kind.  Thank you good neighbor!

The thing I hate the most about the snow is driving in it, specifically our driveway and the private gravel road we live on.  The rest of the roads out here get cleaned up pretty well--largely because the county is so rural, no emergency vehicles can get through if the roads aren't plowed.  Usually when we get 4 or more inches of snow, our road committee has someone plow it.  I guess they haven't contracted with anyone this year.  It makes getting out of our area difficult though.

Our driveway goes uphill from the garage to the road.  The road itself is a hillside.  You have to have enough momentum to make it to the top of the driveway, but enough control to make a turn onto the road.  If you turn right, you're going downhill but almost immediately have to make a right turn, go down some more of a hill, then start up a long hill that only ends when you get up to the letter highway.  If you turn left, you're headed up a steeper hill that is fairly long, but when you get to the top it's not as difficult the rest of the way.  Either way it's a nightmare.  One year the road got really icy and no matter how hard we tried, we just kept sliding off the road into the "ditch" on the right side.  Luckily for us, in that area of the road, the ditch is flat.  If we'd have gone off the road on the other side we would have been in a ditch.  After a few attempts I said to hell with it and we called in to work.

David is at work now, he's got the 4x4 truck so I knew he could get out.  I'm more worried about getting the Beetle out.  Not because of traction, mind, but because of ground clearance.  Wish me luck!

Drum roll please…………..

Here it is, my first post on my first-ever blog.  In some ways, you have to drag me kicking and screaming into the 21^st century—and starting a blog is one of them.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself.  I’m no spring chicken but not into my second childhood yet (many would tell you I’m still in my first), and my deepest passion, after my dearest husband, is horseback riding, specifically non-competitive trail riding.  My husband and I have three horses of our own, and two live at home with us, Flirt and Jinx.  The third, Foxy, is retired and takes his job as companion animal for my friend’s horse very seriously.  In addition to riding on trails, I also assist my good friend Laura Vonk with her website,

Missouri Trailblazing, by writing the occasional article and helping her keep trail information in my general part of the state up to date.

I also love potbellied pigs and my husband and I have six:  Q, Ziggy, and CC are the boys and Sweetpea, Truffie (Truffles), and Phoebe are the girls.  All are spayed or neutered and we do not condone breeding these animals with the number of them in sanctuaries across the country.   I’m also the treasurer for a non-profit group, United Pet Pig Registry.  Our goal is to help the pet pig owner through the life of their pet pig.  Any breed is eligible for registration as long as the pet is not used for breeding purposes.

As if this zoo wasn’t enough, we also have 4 cats (Pandora, Wendy, Chris-Chris, and Otter) and a female red rat snake (aka corn snake), Frankie.  Obviously we keep the snake and the cats separate.

Other things I like doing include cross-stitching, cooking—and of course eating, which explains why I’m no longer the petite flower I once was—reading, and elaborately planning the rare vacations that we get to take.

I hope you enjoy reading about whatever it is that I come up with to blather on about, and feel free to contact me any time.  Until next time…….