Winter's renovation

Beneath the snow and ice in this pretty winter scene is really a culvert and a swamp! I am hoping that all the renovations that we are doing to our house will prove to be just as wonderful as this...but who can compete with Nature!

Almost all the rooms are painted now and we move this weekend. The major move will be the storage units in Richmond which will be later next week....or so. Basically, all that is here is some clothes, a bed, a chair and my computer! The big part will be moving the 10 dogs, ,2 cats and the parrot cages, kennels and all in one day! But for now I will just look at the peaceful photo and not consider the swamp about to face me this weekend!!!

Bear....Brrrrr!

Is this a bear in a N.Y. zoo? no it's my dog Griz Bear last week in his kennel here in Mathews in the snow. He loves it! Me...nope! I haven't posted in a while because this is my last week in this lovely town. I am packing, painting and cleaning. All my favorite things to do! But the house in Tapp. is coming along just fine...let's see, the kitchen ceiling is torn down, the carpet is all torn out, the old wall unit in the bedroom is trashed, 2 old toilets are history, and no electricity today because it's being rewired...ah...home sweet home!!!!
Actually, when I walk thru that house it is so welcoming and light that I would take it like it is today...except it is grubby...previous owners...sorry but you were slobs!!! and I am not Suzy Homemaker...the house is filthy!!! But fresh paint can do wonders as does 409, Clorox, and a mop and bucket!
Anyway, back to the Bear, he and his buddy Dune are in a very small kennel right now due to the limited space at this rental house. I can't wait to turn them loose in their huge back yard and let them run....in no snow!!!! Please note I do not have a photo of Dune to share...he's in his dog house where it is warm!

HOME!

WE CLOSED!!!!!!

Sheer Frustration or simply the process of closing on a house!

These 2 stalls are empty...still...why? Because FHA lost a single piece of paper! Not one of ours. Not one of the sellers, but one from their appraiser! And thus...we did not close on the 10th. Opps! They found it on Friday at 4:30 p.m....but there's no mail service on Monday...tomorrow because it's a federal holiday...and they won't be in their offices anyway to mail it!! So when do we close....mmmmmm??!!! I dun no!!! That's spelt for you guys in FHA!!!! Me? Upset???? Nawh!!!!!!

friend or worker....both

If you have followed this blog then you know we sold our house in Nov. with only 30 days to move and no where to go. Well, someone gave us the name of a guy to hire to help. His name is Denny. He looks like a young Willie Nelson without the beard, has a deep South West Mountain accent and a constant smile. He must have the ever ready bunny for a cousin. Denny never stops! (I have never heard an impolite word much less a curse word from him) Now I know we paid him well, but this man brought me soup and chicken on his day off when I was sick in bed and fed my horses for me. He was extra careful of my old and tiny dogs when he was working always checking where they were so they didn't get out. He and his wife and friend drove trucks in the pouring down Nor'Ida to get me settled in at night into our rental house, a 9 hour drive, setting up kennels for my dogs, and then driving back halfway unloading at a storage unit in Richmond then completing the 9 hr return trip to return the U Haul trucks that next day.

Well, Denny has stayed in contact with us and I will have no other person but he, come and renovate our house and help us move. (did I mention he is a contractor, who like many is out of work right now) He is coming down on Saturday and is staying probably 2 or 3 weeks until the job is done. Now we don't have money to throw around, but if we are going to pay to have work done I know it will be done right and that Denny will be working sun up til sun down.

If any one reading this is looking for a hard working employee who is honest and skilled, pay him right, Denny will give you 150%

Denny is now a friend, we talk and laugh on the phone, his wife Beverly comments in the back ground, she is ex military Iraq war vet, very serious, a tall, strong, beautiful woman...they are quite a pair. Kind of like my photo of Moon and a stray barn cat.

Actually Denny and I are that way too, My husband refers to him as "My baby boy" He called Denny today and said "Momma wants her baby boy to help her move on Saturday so Dad is sending money" Denny just laughed and said "tell Mom, I'm on my way!"

Point is, you never know where a friendship will develop, the most unlikely character will become a friend, all it takes is shared values, for Denny and me it's hard work, honesty, consideration of others, and a good laugh!

Horse plans that fall apart

Three years ago, when I still had plans of dabbling in horse breeding, showing and selling, as I had been for years, I purchased 2 young colts. The one on the right, Cap, was to be gelded and become my riding show horse. He was from a friend's farm in Iowa. The one on the left, Moon, was to be my stud, he is related to Cap somewhat, and he came from KS. Cap was the sweetest and prettiest moving colt, but when I pulled him off the trailer I noticed his front ankle was enlarged. Hoping that it was just from standing so long on the trailer, I doctored it and let him rest for 2 days...no luck. so in comes the vet with the bad news...basically in English it's juvenile arthritis. Well I discuss it with my friend in Iowa, we don't want him to have to make the trip back, she will only run him thru a sale so I set out to find him a home at a very reduced price. Good news is... the man down the road falls in love with him, buys him, breeds him to his gaited mares, he doesn't care about registration papers, and I can drive by there today and Cap is fat and happy. And the man says he has never sold a horse off his property yet. He trail rides and uses the offspring for his outfit. So, one good out come....then there's Moon....the love of my life...enter BAD BOY!!! Now mind you I have been training and breeding my own horses and have helped out at other farms handling stallions. Can't say I can handle all studs but I am fairly good at it. But I am now up in age with arthritis in my hands, Moon has learned how to flip the lead rope over the crest of his neck and spin away from me, even with a lip chain. So after trying for a few months of working with him in a pen..and he's fine...and walking in the open and losing him, I decide it's time to geld him. Well, he's a big stout boy, and one side will not stop bleeding, my vet comes 3 times, and finally has to do surgery on one of the leaders to stop the bleeding. One month later, darn if Moon didn't run thru, very honestly the one section of barbed wire we had not replaced on the entire farm! it was a 20 ft section in the woods, $10,000 worth of fencing on our property we had installed and he finds this one piece deep in the woods! He cuts the inside of his hind thigh. When I find him he is bleeding so profusely I assume it is an artery and I am going to lose him, that was the vet's initial assessment also. But by the headlights to her truck in 15 degree weather she finds a sliced vein and proceeds to suture it. Amazingly he lives. ( I had the best vet in the world...I hated moving!) So when he heals it's time to get him broke because by now he's 3. I send him off, good trainer, wrong match. As the guy said, well if you can ride the buck out he goes on and rides....My comment was...that was 19 bucks...I told you think "grandma!" do I look like I can ride out 19 bucks....if I could he wouldn't be at a trainer. so I bring him home ride him once and turn him out. ( my confidence was already shattered when I (my fault) got thrown by one of my other horses 1 year prior) Eventually, I just give him to a friend, well my friend gets divorced, only rode him once, can't afford him, turns him out, I go and take him back and he is scalded with the worse case of rain rot I have ever had to care for...so bad the I actually caught the fungus myself ( verified by my Dr.) and he was very underweight. So I promised Moon he would never leave again....so what do I do...I move and have to send him off to be boarded. Well this time I picked a very reputable AQHA trainer, that I have watched train 3 times, and shown 4 times, It's costing me an arm and a leg, but my hopes are that once we move and get settled in, I will finally have my dream horse, and Moon will have forgiven all the plans that fell apart, there's not a mean bone in his body, he's just a spooky horse without a lot of trust, and I don't blame him. I just miss him terribly and want him home....gosh I sound like a teenage girl....when it comes to horses...I still am!!!!

House of cards?

Talking about the fact that we have finally found a home before we actually close, is almost like breathing on a house of cards! Our luck has been so phenomenally bad...or just weird. So I am posting a photo of the public boat landing at Wares Wharf on the Rappahannock River a mile from our hopefully new home.

I am so ready to move, but so sorry that it is not here in Mathews. I have grown so fond of this little town. But it is only an hour away, and this home brings me an hour closer to family, friends, our doctors, and Mike's job.

The house has, other than needing an electrical upgrade, only interior cosmetic problems. Such a relief from the structural and septic issues we faced on all the other homes. And most importantly...in my book, it is ready for my dogs, cats and horses.

Because the realtor has been so kind to rent us a house he has for sale, and because I have senior toy dogs that use piddle pads and think carpet is one big pad! I have been sleeping and living in the eat in section of the kitchen. I will go to great lengths for my little rescued companions, I have had most for 12 years. But as you can imagine living in a kitchen for 2 1/2 months gets a little cramped when you are use to a house. Oh and I have the 2 cats in a large cage in the washer/dryer section of the kitchen. I am not particularly a cat person, but I rescued these 2 cats four years ago, and they lived in my basement in my other house. I can't turn them loose until I get to our new house with its basement. As for Duval the parrot, his cage is on the carpet on a tarp, Sorry can't sleep with his squawking!!

So as you can tell by my rambling, I am stir crazy and ready to move....please don't breathe on my house of cards!