Good morning, Everyone!!!! Honey and I were sitting and watching the news this morning. Everywhere there is tragedy. Just in the US all the flooding and tornados and destruction, foreclosures are higher, tomatoes are deadly now (gee... who ever thought that the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes would come true!!!), wildfires continue to rage and all the death. And it's not even counting the every day accidents that we don't hear of but still effect a mom, a dad, a family, community. You just don't think that a tornado is going to rip through a boy scout camp leaving four dead and others in the hospital.



Earlier this morning I was up in the garden. Just needed to get out beyond these walls. A few of the plants needed water. No hose will reach up to the garden so with watering can in hand, I watered the plants that seem to be wilting. The watercress I don't think is going to make it. The soil is just WAY too dry. But... never say never.

It was good to pull a few weeds and feel the sun warming not only me but the ground. I just plopped myself down for a moment and let my guard down and just listened. Ahhhhh... The sweet sound of nature. Birds chirping and the wind which is blowing just right is singing through the trees a haunting tale that only they can interpret.

I don't think I can stay inside today. I need to walk in the woods and try absorb the sun. I need to be reminded and connected to something bigger than myself and everything that the world has going on today.



I wish the same for you, too today. I wish for peace and happiness and contentment to sneak up on you and hit you in the rump!!! I wish for your version of the Divine to put arms around you and give a little squeeze and give you a little boost today as well as remind you that no matter what, it's all good, all part of the process and in the end, it will all be okay.

My prayers go to those who have lost everything due to these floods, financial circumstances, and especially the family and community who have to cope with the loss of 2 thirteen and 2 fourteen year old boys. I just don't think that danger is on ones mind when you send your children off to summer camp, boy scouts or not.



Sincerely ~MacKenzie
PS... Next Friday I'll do as best Blogthings will let me to find a super fun Quiz!!!!

Colts at play video:


I have to say first of all that one of the things I found fascinating during my lesson was the behavior of Rita's horses at their different ages. Ms M's colt whom Mom C and Papa have purchased and named Dutch (he has a big long name, but until the poor darling grows into it.... it's Dutch for short ) is only a month or so old. Felt has just turned two and Goober is four. Daddy Friesian is 9, Misty is 10-ish, Ms. M is 19 and Appy, the grandfather of the farm is maybe 24. I didn't know it, but Appy has serious emphysema and the hot humid weather really bothers his lungs.

If you watched the video, you’ll notice the colts nip at each other, bump into each other, rear up, kick out… frolic. Yeah well, Dutch thinks we are his playmates. He’s going through a serious nipping stage and if you pay close attention to his body language, you can sort of either move out of the way before he rears up on you or push him just enough so that he won’t. Because Ms. M and Dutch will be spending time over here with us after the barn is built, I really want to get to know them both well. Ms. M is amazing. She was so alert as to what was going on right outside the stall door where the brothers (Felt and Goober, her older sons) were going in and out. She was very cautious with them around but when they were out side roaming, as long as we gave her some attention as well as Dutch, she was extremely tolerant of us being in there with her month old baby.

Rita showed me all about getting a foal used to human touch. Now for the most part, Dutch loves to be scratched and to snuggle. He's almost like a dog if you don't pay enough attention to him; he'll hit your arm for more and then bite... . There’s a spot right behind Dutch’s ears that he hates to have touched. It’s funny because twice he never saw me going there until it was too late. And then off I went to scratch down his neck and find his “soft spot” that makes his lips nearly quiver. She also showed me how she has already been putting a baby halter on him and how you take a lead rope and wrap it around his back side and try to move him that way rather than pulling at his head… Wow… he wanted none of that, but again…. A month old… all he really wanted to do was mouth the lead. It's all about the patience.

The differences between Goober and Felt, really stood out to me on Monday. Although Goober is still learning to have a rider on his back and what to do, he does really good on a lead line. He has pretty good manners as well and is very easy going and cooperative with requests. He knows how much space there should be between you and him unless you invite him into your space. Rarely do you have to back him away. He can be off by himself for a little bit and is okay.

He was excellent and just the sweetest as I learned to groom a horse... which brushes go first and what they do and how to use them... that sort of thing. He's sooooo tall though. I can barely comb out his mane that falls inbetween his ears when he's standing tall. I kept trying to keep his head down, but the second there was no pressure, up he'd go again.

Felt was acting like a big baby. And I guess in some ways he is. Although he's a pain in the butt to Goober, he needs the security of his big brother around. He was so upset that Goober was in a stall with us and he was left outside. He pooped in front of the door, he tried to stick his head into see Ms. M, he knocked stuff over. He still has space issues. More than once I had to back him up as we kept bumping into each other. He's halter broke, but doesn't really like a rope halter (which is what Rita was showing me how to use). I tried to get him into it and I could get it over his nose, but the little stinker wouldn’t hold still long enough for me to tie it once I got it around his head. He did enjoy his grooming, too although the flies were really bothering him. Then Rita showed me some leading tricks, but Felt just did not want to be cooperative. Once we were 20 feet away from the barn and his brother, he kept looking and wanting to turn back. It was a learn by watching moment as even though he wasn’t happy, Rita made him go enough steps until he relaxed just enough so she could turn him back. We got back to the barn and took the halter off and he just stood there with us like he was one of the gang chatting. It was funny.

I wanted to go back in and brush Ms M, but she just looks so absolutely fantastic after this birth that there was no sense to. So... we just stood in there with her and Dutch and talked some more. You can tell that Dutch is so comfortable with her. He just wants her to play and if he was going to nip, his teeth were usually pointed her way... Gee, lucky her!!!

Next week I am determined to get the knack of leading a horse, Felt or not. I sort of don't get the dynamics of leading a horse when you are walking way back by his shoulders, but... I look forward towards figuring it out.

And Rita was fantastic. Once I figure out the basics, I think we are really going to have a lot of fun. Which, in turn will make the riding experience for any child fun as well. She is so passionate in her work with her horses and she just wants you, too, to grab the enthusiasm and enjoy it, too. More than once she asked if this was what I was looking for in a lesson if this is what I wanted from her. Yes, and eventually I know I will want more.


Photobucket photo

Cheers! ~MacKenzie

On mornings like this, sometimes a childhood song runs through my mind:

Good morning, good morning good morning
Time to rise and Shine;
Good morning, good morning, good morning,
I hope you're feeling fine!
Time to get out of bed Lazy Head and
???(??Start a new day??)????
???????????????????

I can never remember the rest of the song or even where I heard it!!! Yet the melody sings frantically through my head. As the blog post title says I'm nervous, excited jumpy... happy... lots of energy. It's hard slowing down to type as my fingers want to fly over the keyboard, but truly... I'd like to have this readable as well. Most of the time one can either hop over typing errors and still get the feel or at least stop and figure it out. At the rate I'm going, if I don't slow down it will be impossible!!! SO....


Rita called to talk to me. What exactly was I looking for from her, explained more of what she wanted from me... we sort of meshed it together which was pretty easy to do, I thought. So, she says... how soon and what can we do to get you over here to the barn??? We talked a little, played with schedules, hers, mine and Honey's, and I get to start at 3:45 this afternoon!!!!!

Now, technically she is scheduled to have a therapeutic riding lesson today, which will be exciting to observe, however the child's worker was fired two weeks ago and the last she heard no one was hired yet, so no lesson means more hands on learning for me. Yay for me, boo hoo for the kid who has to miss out. Of course, I know absolutely nothing about the kid so maybe the kid could care less. Who knows???

I'm actually excited to meet some of her kids and to have some of that interaction going as well. I enjoyed my days working with kids at the start of my "out of the house" career. I'm really going to have to be careful to bite my tongue when I think the worker should say something and doesn't. I have to let Rita take the lead on this one (literally), especially if somehow the kid and I 'click'. I have to remember today to ask Rita how much interaction is appropriate for me in these lessons and maybe we can devise a wink or something if I need to back off..... tee hee...

My day today has to be busy with motion and activity to help keep me from jumping of out my skin with excitement. It's a job for goodness sakes, not the billion dollar lottery ticket or whatever!!! Although isn't knowledge and skills and proving to yourself you can do whatever or after giving it a try realizing that this path isn't for you a priceless treasure??? I don't see how, but maybe once the "romance" of working with horses gets stripped away and we get down to the reality of working with horses, maybe it will be more than I bargained for. With all the reading and research and knowledge I'm trying to suck in, I don't see how, but never say never. Maybe the first time a horse bites me (shudders... it's happened to Rita twice as she was standing at the wrong place at the wrong time when her stallion stuck his head out of the stall and went for another horse but got her instead), or after my first real fall from a horse or first major injury.. maybe the first time the big brute steps on my foot, maybe suddenly my thoughts will change. Or maybe it will just make me so much more determined to be the absolute best horse woman I can be. That's the goal at the moment anyway!!!!!

Fingers crossed, shamrocks woven though my hair, adventurine stone cross wrapped around my neck, lucky rabbit's foot tucked in pocket (never got that one... I mean the rabbit lost it's FOOT... how lucky can it really be?????), lucky horse shoe in other pocket (suddenly I'm beginning to feel weighed down by all this stuff!!!!), throw in a gargoyle in there somewhere to ward off negativity and such stuff.... Let's see.. I know there are other superstitions that you're supposed to do to have good luck. Hopefully I'll find a penny head side up on my way, and I need to eat an apple a day, oh yeah.... and before I enter the barn, I'll knock on it... you know.. knock on wood.... Ha ha ha!!!!

So what else do I need to do???



Sorry... it's the little things that just keeps my mind amused...

Have an AWESOME Monday and start to the week!!!!
Cheers! ~MacKenzie

Yesterday Honey arranged for Mom C and Papa to watch the girls for the afternoon and evening so that we could go out. Just a simple dinner and a movie with a little shopping thrown inbetween. They kept the girls for a sleep over at there house.....



Our time alone together was EXACTLY what we needed. We talked, we joked, we laughed, and laughed some more.... When we left home skies were growing darker as fog began crawling up the shoreline. We drove out of the fog and into the warm sunshine. When we got home after midnight last night, we walked into the house to find that the girls had picked some lilacs for us and had left them on the kitchen island. The house smelled soooo good!



He took me to a book store and said "Have Fun". Look at this book and that one and should we choose this magazine or that, didn't we all ready have this??? He took me to a few department stores and said, "Have Fun". He took me to a QUILTING shop and said, "Have Fun" (good thing they were closing in 15 minutes). He would have taken me to the tack shop with the same sentiment, but they were closed (maybe, no definitely a good thing....). The one rule was that there were no practical purchases allowed... He spoiled me rotten!!!! And with the exception of the bookstore, I did okay. At one point I had three tablecloths in my hand. Now really... do I need tablecloths???? Of course not!!! However, Mom really likes having a table cloth on the table during Sunday dinner. And when it's our turn to set the table, there's none on there and she doesn't say a thing, but wellll.... So now we have one. And it's super pretty and it will go really well for three seasons out of the year, so.. Yay! Over dinner we talked about horses and houses and farming and gardens and the girls and .... well... LOTS of stuff!



Obviously, I am riding along on love's high today. We were sitting having breakfast with everyone this morning and Mom looked at Papa and said while laughing that maybe it's better we don't go off alone too often... we're just way over the top goofy and smiling. ha ha ha!!!!




It's hot and humid out and later we are hopefully going to get some flowers to plant in planters by the front steps. Can't wait to walk out the front door into a bit more color out there. Honey and Papa are walking in the woods though and once they get back, he may be too tired to go.... either way.. It's certainly okay with me!!!!



Cheers! ~MacKenzie

Your Love Life is Like Titanic

"Promise me you'll survive. That you won't give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless." You think that you only really have one true love in your life. And that you better to anything and everything to be with that person. You tend to be very nostalgic about past loves that didn't work out. There are many secret feelings that you keep to yourself. Your love style: Deep and emotional Your Hollywood Ending Will Be: Bittersweet

say what????????



My love life is predictable? Unsinkable except the occasional surprise iceburg (which we now know happens.... ) Oh my, my, my.... Titanic, huh??? Honey may never go on a ferry again if he sees this one....

Okay everyone, who can top this result? This quiz sounds like it's gonna be funny....


Cheers! ~MacKenzie