Winter Blues

I have been off line at home for a while but then I haven't had a lot to write about. The weather has been very cold and very wet. I was planning on riding Spyke for the first time in months today but at lunchtime the rain arrived....and boy, was it a LOT of rain so the boy had another day off. I did manage to give him a 5 minute lunge in between heavy showers but tomorrow the forecast is much better so, fingers crossed, I may actually manage to get a saddle on him.

I Have a Harness

Yay!! I actually have a harness at last. I ordered a webbing one from The Real Dog Equipment Company and it is perfect!!!! It fits both girls and is completely adjustable so should fit any future dogs too. I haven't got the girls out in it yet though as the weather is still completely awful. In fact, last night we had a pretty impressive lightning storm that scared the living daylights out of Sammie and I. I had a busy weekend (as usual). On Saturday morning first thing, I helped Martina with her foal Bad Jelly The Witch (yes that IS her name and she is quite good at living up to it). BJ had cut her leg so On Friday night I helped when the vet came to inject her with antibugs (although I would have to say that I probably wasn't much help) and then on Saturday I helped Martina to wash it and then give her an oral syringe of more anti bugs.

After treating BJ we both headed up to help Tina with her injured baby (who is a VERY different kettle of fish) and rebandaged young Tilly too. It was great as Tilly didn't need any sedation this time at all, she just stood like a rock. In fact, she just loved having the skin around the wound rubbed really hard, it must be really itchy as she was pulling faces and just loving the scratch...... bless. Having said that, the little troll nipped me as I was leading her back to the paddock. Grrrrrr. LOL

Next on the agenda was a quick run up to Falloons to get some jute sacks for Barbera, popped home for a quick shower and headed off to Ardmore to catch up with Barbera and the crew. Meggie is looking fabulous!!!! AND she got BOB at the first show....YAY!!!!

We went for a walk in the Botanic Gardens after the show and then had dinner at Casablanca in Sylvia Park, which was very tasty.

Sunday was really, really wet!!!!! I had to help Martina first thing. She wanted me to be there but not to do anything as she wanted to see if she could manage by herself. It was not an auspicious beginning as BJ refused to come out of the paddock and when she did her and her mother knocked Martina completely over. It really worries me that Martina might get hurt as both girls are big, strong and bloody minded.

The rest of Sunday was supposed to be dedicated to housey type stuff but, as usual, that didn't happen. Maree was up for her annual girls get together so I caught up with her, Gill and Anita at Bliss for coffee. I love catching up with Maree and I am so thrilled that she will be family (even more than she already is). Once I had left Bliss and fed the boys the weekend was over. I don't know how I managed when I was riding as well!!!! LOL

I am working from home for the first time this week on anotheraudio with Manila and I LOVE it!!!!

Yay Some Pics.

Biscuit at 2 and 1/2

Tilly at 1 and 1/2

The forest after 'harvesting'. Yay!!! They left my favourite side alone.

The frog that appeared in our house.

My 40th birthday ride with......

.....my friend Martina.

Spyke looking handsome (and slightly worried 'cos his girlfriend is over there <<<<<< )

Brina doing what she does best.

Looking almost normal.

Mindy, Tracy and the girls.

Mindy

Brina asleep...yes..it is very normal for her.

You Can Tell It's Winter....

....as I don’t post very often as I don’t have very much to report. Having said that it has been a busy couple of weeks again.

The biggest news of the year though is that Andrew and Maree are engaged!!!! Yay!!!!! I am so excited, my best friend is marrying my brother so I get a GREAT sister. The wedding is in February but the difficult bit is that it is an Art Deco theme…..yikes!!!! What on earth will I wear?

Life has changed at my house as my flatmate of two years has moved out. Tracy was offered a fabulous job in Melbourne and, selfishly (*wink*), accepted it. It is a great move for her and helps her to move in a completely different and exciting direction and we wish her well…..but… I am all alone now. *Sob*. Thank goodness for my dogs, they keep me sane.

I bumped into Tai’s original owners in the forest one day a week or so ago and they came to see him in the weekend. I think they were surprised at just how well the old bugger is looking. They are a lovely, lovely family and I hope to see them again soon.

The weather has been DIABOLICAL and I am very glad (once again) that I made the decision to turn Spyke out for the winter. He had his shoes pulled off in the weekend and I will put them back on probably about the beginning of September. Both boys were wormed last week too. I have decided to add some yeast to Spyke’s feed, he is looking well but he never has any extra covering over his ribs so I want to give him a little boost.

I was at Fieldays this week at Mystery Creek. For those of you overseas it is the biggest agricultural trade show in NZ. If I ever want a BIG tractor, Fieldays is the place to go LOL. I went with my friend Kristina and had a fabulous time. We ‘stalked’ the Rural Bachelor of the Year competitors around all their competitions. It was really worth it too as I won a pair of $150 gumboots, which, bearing in mind the weather, are proving extremely useful.

My friend Tina has a couple of LOVELY foals by Zabalu (well, not really foals, one is two and a half and the other is one and a half) and the youngest one has degloved a back leg so at the moment on a Saturday I am on nursing duty to help rebandage the wee (16hh) soul. She is such a sweetheart but finds the bandaging a bit painful so we have to sedate her. I think she is in a ‘happy place’ once the Sedazine kicks in and stands like a rock with her big sister helping. I will find photos of them.

I think that is all my news. As always I have no photos (sorry), I WILL get them off my camera at some point and download a few.

Update

Right now I am on my lunch break!!! I am spending the entire week on an audio conference with Manila, supporting their trainer who is doing her first induction for us. I am surprised at just how exhausting it is. The phone picks up every sound and I have to really strain to hear what is being said. Also, because I can’t see what is going on I have to work extra hard at catching everything. I hope I don’t have to do this again in a hurry!!!

The other downside is that the AC is from 9am to 6pm so I am leaving work in the dark. Yesterday was my first day and I was REALLY thrilled to get home and find that the girls had managed to keep their legs crossed for an extra hour and a half!! Although Brina frogmarched me straight to the front door. Poor girl was busting!!!!

The horses were funny. Tai gave me a toe tapping, looking at the watch lecture about how tardiness in waitresses is UNACCEPTABLE!!!! Whereas Spyke was almost hyperventilating at the thought that the waitress might have forgotten his dinner. LOL. The boys are currently known as Raspberry and Bluebell due to the lovely, fashion victim (according to Tina) colours of their rugs. He he.

The weather is pretty revolting at the moment too, it doesn’t get much above 13 degrees, which is pretty cold for Auckland. It means that I have turned Spyke out too. It was just proving way too hard to ride so he is now on his winter break. I am sooo glad I didn’t clip.

I had a busy weekend being quite domesticated. I cleaned the car inside and out which was a BIG job!!! It took me a good two hours but I even managed to wax it. However, I still failed my warrant. Grrrr. I have perished brake hoses so it is off into hospital tomorrow for a little op. Surprisingly, the tyres passed!!!! They have done 100,000kms!!! GOOD tyres!!!!

I also got the dogs out again in the weekend. We snuck back up to the forest on the Sunday and it was really busy up there. I think everyone goes on Sunday as they know there won’t be any logging.

A friend came over for dinner on Sunday which gave me the opportunity to try out a couple of new recipes. We had Carbonara (which was really, really rich) and moccachino (sp?) self saucing pudding (which will need refining). I suspect this blog could become quite foodie over the winter.

This weekend Spyke is getting his teeth done….YAY!!!!! Hopefully this will make a difference to his ability to flex at the poll next season. Oh and it happens to mean that I am cooking another meal as the kind vet that is sedating him is doing it in return for a meal. :-)

Hi

Once again, it has been a while since I updated…..sorry. It feels like not much has been happening and yet I feel really busy.

I have been dog walking in the Botanic Gardens with Gill (and Storm), Tracy and Tracy’s mum (with Mindy). It was a very wet day but it was lovely to get out and the dogs really enjoyed it.

I haven’t ridden much as the shorter evenings make it very, very difficult, especially as Spyke tends to be a bit of a klutz when it gets darker. I had two competitions lined up to end the season on but didn’t manage to do either. The first was a show hunter day with the riding club, it was postponed as it was just too windy. The second was a dressage day and was to be our very first novice outing but unfortunately the truck I borrow was making some pretty scary grindy noises so we had to scratch from the competition. I was a bit gutted as Spyke had been going really well the night before.

It is quite cold now. The horses are in their winter woollies and Spyke is possibly getting clipped this weekend. The dogs are quite enjoying the colder weather and actually, so am I (although I’m pretty sure I won’t be saying that in a few months).

It's Been a While

Goodness, it has been ages since I have updated. It has been a very busy few weeks.

After arriving home from Manila I found that being at home without the dogs was just awful!!! I hated it!!! The place just seemed so empty. So, instead of heading down to Hawkes Bay on the Thursday morning I took the Wednesday afternoon off work and headed down to get them. It was FANTASTIC to have them back.

Easter in Hawkes Bay was just fabulous. The only down side was that Mum and Dad couldn't get down due to Dad being hospitalised. :-(

The Thursday, Friday and Saturday were spent preparing, in a liesurely fashion

for The Party on Saturday night.

The party was great. There were a lot of people that couldn't make it due to it being Easter and them already having plans so it was a small and select group that celebrated my 'oldness' with me.

On Sunday, a few of us had brunch on the deck (the weather was STUNNING all weekend) and then we headed to a few wineries, which was very relaxed. On Sunday afternoon my friend Anne came up from Fielding to catch up which was just BRILLIANT!!! Then we all headed to The Old Church for cocktails (that turned into dinner).

On Monday we went to the farmer's market and then I packed!! There was a lot of stuff to take home. As soon as I started packing the dogs put themselves in the car and refused to come out, there was NO WAY they were being left behind. LOL.

We got away from HB at about 2. It was a long drive home but a good one and it was more or less trouble free. The dogs were soooooo happy to be home and have been celebrating ever since.

On Saturday, I rode Spyke in the paddock. I set up a 'grid' (a series of jumps close together that make him think and is quite gymnastic). It took me a while to get him over but once I had it sorted we had a ball!!!!

Yesterday (the 40th birthday) I had a LOVELY ride in the forest with Martina (couple of pics to come). Spyke was just lovely and it was a fabulous way to spend the day. In the evening we had a quiet celebration with those that couldn't make it to HB and some that could. It was really, really nice.