Sunday Afternoon

Last Sunday was truly a beautiful day. It actually got to 86 degrees and there was no wind. On the way to church Mark made the comment that he needs to get back into the habit of making Sundays what they are suppose to be, a day of rest. That comment was brought on because he has been working way to many hours. Sunday afternoon, after he took a nap we took our chairs and sat in the trees on the east side of the yard and watched the horses graze on the hill between the house and the barn for about an hour.





This is Mike. We bought Mike as a yearling, Mark broke him to ride when he was 2 1/2 and sold him after he had ridden him for about two months to a friend. The friend rode him for about 6 mos., then he and his wife split up and he needed money so we bought him back. Mike will live with us forever. Mark showed him for two years in reining and reined cowhorse. They did all right together, but he struggled with his lead changes. Then Mike went lame, after a boat load of x-ray's it turns out he has problems with is hocks (probably been there since birth) and that's why he can't change leads very well. It ended his show career. Now Kaleb and I ride him. He's a great horse, he is honest and dependable. He is also very accident prone and he destroys thing. I could write a novel about the things he has done.


Anyway, Mike gets the pleasure of spending the summer with the mares and colts. The horse colt Beau, likes to hang with Mike. I'm not sure Mike likes him, but he isn't mean to him. Then again, I'm not sure anyone likes Beau.

This is Tari, our broodmare. She will also live her forever.

And this is Tara (higher up on the hill) and Beau. Tara is Tari's baby. Tara's a sweetheart. She is pretty laid back and easy to get along with. She likes to be petted. Beau should have been named The Tormentor. He torments all the other horses and is relentless about it, they have gotten to the place the ignore him and once in awhile will push him away. Poor Tara gets her share of it. I think the barn cats had a party when we moved Beau out of the foaling barn. Beau is cutting horse breed and he definitely has the instincted to move animals. The barn cats got their share of being chased by Beau.

Reining......in the rain

The first weekend in June the Cowboys States Reining Horse Assn. hold their first NRHA show (National Reining Horse Assn) here in Gillette. This picture is of Mark and Annie in their turn around. I tried to post a video I made of one of his runs but I wasn't smart enough to get it done. I'll have to work on that.

Mark and Annie rode in one class on Saturday and two on Sunday of that weekend. He did really well, but one of the runs on Sunday was really awesome. This was Mark's first NRHA show. He mostly shows in the AQHA (American Quarter Horse Assn.) shows. The AQHA shows are very family friendly and pretty laid back, the NRHA is a little different. It seemed like the people there were trainers or people that had come with their trainers and were pretty serious about winning. On Sunday Mark rode in a Non Pro Rookie Level 1 and a Non Pro Rookie Level 2 class. Both classes had 20-23 people in them and Mark place third in both classes. In the warm up pen before one of those classes a woman came up to him and ask him to cinch her saddle up. She explained that her 'trainer' had went to the barn to get her other horse ready and she wasn't sure how to cinch her saddle. So Mark cinched her saddle up for her. Sure enough the woman won the class. Mark got a good laugh out of it. She may have won and he got third but he trained his own horse and he knows how to saddle it.

So we hit the road for three days next week in Rapid City for an AQHA show.

The garden

For Christmas by sister Sue bought me this great bbq cookbook with wonderful marinates in it. Most of the marinates require fresh herbs. After one trip to the grocery store to buy herbs I decided I could grow my own. All I do is fight the deer with my flowers anyway, so I turned my flower bed into a herb and salsa garden.

This wasn't exactly the best year to start a garden considering the weather has been extremely cool. The high today is 71 and that is pretty warm for what we have been having. I had a little frost issue on June 4 and lost a few plants, but Kaleb and I replanted. Mark put up wire cow panels to keep the deer out. Of course I haven't seen a deer within two miles of the house since the April blizzard. It's a little 'rednecky'. Then Kaleb and I decided we better get the tomatoes and peppers staked because we have two tomatoes on one plant. We went to the shop to see what we could turn up and sure enough we found some wood stakes that were about 18" so they were perfect for the peppers. We dug around and turned up some electric fence poles that have spikes you can push in the ground with your foot, they looked perfect to me, so we put them in and staked the tomatoes. I'm pretty sure better homes and garden will not be visiting us.

These are the two tomatoes that we have growing. They are on the worst looking plant that has some frost damage, but they are getting bigger every day.

I can't remember what these flowers are called, but they are perennials that I couldn't bring myself to pull up. They must like the cool weather because they are in full bloom and growing.

Kids

This picture is from last spring's "Crazy Hair Day" at school. Kaleb won the 2nd grade class. These two children got themselves locked in Kalen's bedroom Saturday night. I had sent them up there to wrap Mark's fathers day present. The door knob jammed up and they couldn't get out. Mark had them open one of the windows and he throw the cordless screwdriver up to them with the thought that Kaleb could take the screws out of the door knob. Keep in mind that from the age of two, Kaleb has stripped many things in our house of the screws. We have tried to use this talent for good and not evil, but sometimes things are missing the screws. Anyway, Kaleb gave it a shot and he could not get the screws out of the door. Go figure. It was time for plan B. There was no other choice but for Mark to get a ladder and climb up thru the window. So up he went and in thru the window and he took the hinges off the door and got them out. Kalen told him that he was her hero.

Sometimes the wisdom from this child will stop and make you think about things. Today Kaleb was reading to me and the word 'dumb' was in his story. He pronounced the 'b', so I stopped him and explained to him that the 'b' was silent. He said "that doesn't make sense to put the 'b' on there if it doesn't make a sound." Then he put his finger over the 'b' and said "that's how it should be spelled." There was nothing that I could say other than to agree with him.

BBQ in the rain

I sat outside with ribs on the charcoal grill and watched the rain storm move through. At one point I had to move the grill into the garage. I have complained about the wet and cold this spring, but it was sure a beautiful view. The kids put on their raincoats and played in the rain.

It's been forever.................

It's been forever since I've posted. I keep thinking that I need to get things updated, but I never get that far. But that's the story of my life.

Here are some pictures of my entertainment this spring.

This is Beau. He was born March 18. He has provided a lot of entertainment for us.







This is Tara, she is Tari's baby. She was born April 13. She is a sweetheart. Sometimes we call her TJ, which is short for Tari Junior. Mark and I think Tari cloned herself in Tara.

The kids are finally out of school. This is our first week or no school and no activities. Next week we will do Vacation Bible School and after that we are free for the summer. We have no real plans for the summer other than going to some horse shows.