Oregon Coast Vacation

We took a wonderful trip to the Oregon Coast in September 2012 with our family and our dearest friends, the Kalouseks.  It was late September so we had no idea what to expect for weather, but it was so beautiful we could hardly believe it!  All my trips to the Oregon Coast in the past were cold, dreary, windy, and foggy.  I think the difference was that we were on the Southern coast in Gold Beach, not too far from the California border.

We rented a house with absolutely stunning views.  It sat up on a hillside and was just a short 1/2 mile down to the beach.  It was secluded and had all the amenities that we needed for a big group.  Such a wonderful time!

On the way, we stopped at Crater Lake.

The problem with sunset pictures is that they never do this spectacular feast for the eyes justice (especially with the iphone).

We went for a 2 hour beach horseback ride toward the end of our trip.  We went out on some dunes and got to lope the horses in the surf.  The weather was beautiful the entire time we were there….except that day!  It was quite foggy and drizzly and we all were pretty cold by the time we got in.  But still a wonderful experience.

The day before we left all the adults went on a little hiking/exploring adventure.  We came upon this old growth forest area that had spectacularly tall trees.  We had fun.

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These rocks were just so pretty.  This beach was always completely empty so we felt like we had it all to ourselves.

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Bringing Barbie Home

Here are some pictures from the day Barbie was delivered to our pasture.  She did well but we knew she was missing her pasture buddies.  She calmed down and within an hour or so the girls were riding her bareback.  She is such a sweetie!

Michaela’s Cross-stitch Bookmark

Michaela received as a gift for Easter a kit containing cross-stitch bookmarks for every month of the year.  This is the first one she completed and gave it away as a birthday gift for her friend.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Reid and I got to have a weekend get-away to Jackson Hole to celebrate our 18th anniversary.

Buffalo

Elk Antlers

Hiking through the snow in Grand Teton National Park

Grand Tetons

The Town

The Town

Moose on the side of the road

On the road to Wyoming

Saddle barstools

Fence made from skis

More town

Chick Mix

I have wanted chickens ever since moving to Idaho 5 years ago.  I don’t know why this produced in me a desire for chickens, but the enticement of fresh eggs cannot be understated.  The bottom line is…I love knowing where my food comes from.  Plain and simple.

We lived in the country on an acre where we had more than enough room for chickens but for some reason, the idea didn’t fully “hatch” until we moved into the suburbs.  Funny, isn’t it?  We all started to get excited about chickens this spring and after convincing my hubs how much money we could save in the long run on eggs (we are big egg eaters!), he bought in.

We didn’t do much research on the type of chicks to purchase, feeling pretty confident that our local D&B Supply would have in stock the best egg producers.  I wasn’t much into egg color or how pretty the chickens looked, I just wanted good layers.

A friend of ours gave us her brooding supplies, including a heat lamp, pine shavings, feeders and waterers and a top for our box that she had made out of boards and wire.  So off we went to D&B….

Our biggest discussion in the days preceding their arrival was what we were going to name them.  We decided on a book character theme for all their names, based on characters from books we love.  The yellow (lightest) one is a White Leghorn and we named her Princess Fabrizia from the Castle Carona, one of our all-time favorite audio books.  The black with a white spot on the top of her head is a Barred Plymouth Rock and we named her Madame Eanesco from The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, another all-time fave.  The straight black one is a Black Sex Link named Chevrolet.  Now, I know this is a car brand but it is also the name of Ramona’s favorite doll (from the Ramona and Beezus series).  We think its a hilarious name for a doll…and a chicken.  And last but not least is the caramel colored Golden Sex Link named Pigwidgeon, Ron Weasley’s owl from the Harry Potter series.

We only had a cardboard box to put them in during their brooding stage.  This was okay because it was plenty big and the lid fit perfectly over the top.  They were so cute and cuddly!

Don’t you love that we have our chicken box on top of the treadmill?  What better use for a treadmill!  Well, it worked perfectly to clamp the heat lamp onto.  This was pretty much the only space in the garage too.  The weather was still very cold outside when we brought them home so the garage was a perfect place so they wouldn’t freeze to death.

Finding Barbie, Part 3

Earlier that week I had called on an ad that was posted on Craigslist that sounded promising.  The ad was for a 3 time grand champion POA for $400!   Her only problem was that she was “cinchy”.  I called on the ad and found out it was from someone whom we had met a couple of years ago.  His name is Ken Bateman and he owns about 25 POAs  and raises, shows, and sells them.  All four of us went out at that time to his farm in Meridian and he gave us the grand tour, telling us all about his stock.  So when I talked to him on the phone about this amazing $400 “cinchy” pony, he told me about how sweet she was and that her only problem was with the cinch.  When you go to tighten it, she goes a little crazy.  So for someone to work with her on that and/or that doesn’t mind riding bareback, she’s a great horse.

After visiting Pecos and Abisha earlier that day, we were all in a horsey mood so we went ahead and trekked out to see this POA (named Barbie Doll, by the way).  Ken wasn’t expecting us but he was eager to show Barbie to us.  She and her pasture-mate, Chocolate Bar, were being kept in a pasture.  We pet them and hung out with them for a few minutes and Ken suggested the girls go ahead and ride her bareback.  He didn’t have a nearby bridle so he tied a piece of twine around her face and then got it around her neck (see pic below).  She was so sweet about it and even though the twine was slipping down in her eyes she was calm and not seeming to be bothered at all.  The girls got on and rode her around the pasture.  She was very responsive to leg and voice cues and what little reining they were able to do with the twine, she was responsive to as well.

We all fell in love with her right away and knew she was the horse for us!  We all felt good about how reliable she was and sweet-natured.  This was a gift from God because we knew that He would provide just the right horse for us and that we would know right away.

Camille’s Hair Lovelies

Camille created a couple of fun hair accessories.  The first picture is a beaded figure 8 design.  She saw someone wearing one at ECD and copied the design, using beads and wire.  The second picture is a hair scrunchie that she made from some extra fabric we had and elastic.

Finding Barbie, part 2

Oh so many horses listed on Craigslist!  But our criteria helped us to narrow it down:

• at least 14 hands tall
• gentle, sweet-spirited
• broke to ride
• not been sitting in a pasture for over a year with no human interaction (you would be surprised how many fall into this category)
• up to date on shots, de-worming, feet;  not only is this important, it shows the owner cares for his horses and their well-being, which shows in the horses demeanor
• and last but not least – under $500!

This last category was the tricky one with all the other categories too.  So far, with Brandy, we could see how a horse behaved after not having been worked with for a long time;  uncooperative and a little skittish.  Now, this is not true of all horses and we were willing to look past that a little bit.  After all, we only had $500 to work with.

Our next pair of horses were a sweet, older Tennessee Walker named Abisha.  She’s 18 years old, a bit of a sway-back, really not that attractive to look at.  On the plus side, she had a been-there-done-that personality, very responsive to being ridden with leg cues, neck reining.  Very gentle and sweet.

Michaela and Abisha

Abisha’s buddy was Pecos, a quarter horse gelding.  I can’t remember his exact age but I believe he was 11 years old.  Also a very sweet demeanor about him but needed some work in his cues.  The girls saddled them both up and went for a ride in their yard (they didn’t really have a good riding area).

Camille and Pecos. Notice the very cute pink saddle on Pecos

The girls loved how responsive Abisha was in the saddle and she had a very nice, gentle trot but they really loved Pecos.  He needed more work but was very sweet and they thought he had a lot of potential.

While the girls were saddling up and riding, I had a conversation with the owner about the horses.  He was very upfront and honest with me about the fact that their feet hadn’t been done since the fall and he had not had shots for them in over 4 years.  He did not know much about horses, as he stated, but just liked to go out riding with his son and daughter on the weekend.

The girls and I left feeling pretty positive about Pecos.  Our main reservation was the fact that they had not been well cared for, aside from being fed.  They weren’t neglected by any stretch but just not had some basic needs met.  Most of the time this isn’t a huge issue but there can be problems later on in their health that you may not have noticed right off.

We all thought Pecos had a lot of potential but we still needed to look around at a few more horses before making our decision.

Finding Barbie, part 1

After 7 or 8 months of saving just about every penny Michaela earned teaching piano, and with Camille contributing her lawn mowing money from the summer, they had enough to consider finally buying a horse.  We began the process by looking through Craigslist and responding to ads for horses for sale.

The first horse we inquired about was this cute Mustang named Brandy.  She seemed really good “on paper”.  The owner and I had been emailing back and forth and I asked a lot of questions.  When we got out there to meet her, the owner informed us that she hadn’t been worked with in a long time.  When the owner’s daughter went to put the bridle on, her ear got caught and she wouldn’t let her fix it.  This just sort of threw her off for the rest of the night.  She finally got it on but then when it came time to lunge her, they had trouble getting her to trot and lope.

Brandy the Mustang

On the way home, Michaela and I had the same feeling…she just wasn’t our horse.  We knew that she had potential, and Michaela had even said that she wouldn’t mind a horse that needed a little bit of work – but it just didn’t seem right.  The owner and her daughter were pretty discouraged with how she was behaving so we said we were willing to come and take another look another day.  We were fully willing to give her a second chance but there was that nagging thing that she just wasn’t the right one for us.  I emailed the owner and told her we were going to pass.

No Pepper For Us

We started off the process of buying a horse last year when the girls started working with Phyllis and Al.  They own Pepper, a draft/POA cross and were wanting to sell him to a good home.  Unfortunately, because of his breeding, he was a bit spendy for the girls (they have been saving their own money).  We also had to rule him out because of his size; he is just about 13 hands and Michaela and Camille are not short girls!  He has such a wonderful temperament and was so willing to be trained.  They round-penned him quite a lot and even got on him to  ride (he was only 2 at the time!).  We had worked out an arrangement with Phyllis and Al that the girls would make advance installments on Pepper until he was paid in full.

Michaela and Pepper

Doing some groundwork

Mounting for the first time

We were all very sad to not be buying Pepper because he is such a good horse with a mellow personality.  But this led us to start thinking in terms of how we could, not only pay for a horse, but pay for the ongoing care (food!) for the horse.  We had been talking about Michaela teaching piano lessons for a couple years and this was just the push she needed to get started.