Random Writing

We put a bid in on a house yesterday. Uh, nope, we hadn't been looking for a house...we're quite happy where we are. But my husband was poking around on the Internet, as he often does, and found a pretty house that is  much closer to town with more land. The house is a total fixer-upper. It is in foreclosure and when the bank began working with a Realtor, they had the power turned on to show the house. Unfortunately, no one came by until the next day when they discovered that the upstairs toilet had cracked and water had been leaking all night. Since water follows gravity's rules, sheet rock, wood floors and carpet padding from top down were ruined and have since been stripped out of the house. The house will need major work inside and a lot of work outside from years of neglect. We put in a very low offer and will just have to wait and see.

Tucker was fixed last week. I posted on Facebook that we didn't know he was broken and one of my friends commented that he is now! He was one sad puppy the first night, but it hasn't slowed him down since. We're supposed to keep him quiet for two weeks. Hah! That's a joke! We finished his puppy training class and have begun the intermediate class. The local (as in 15 miles away) PetSmart has an outstanding trainer and Tucker loves the chance to get off the farm, so to speak. He does a great job with all of the commands when he is on leash or in a small area. But, Mr. Smarty Pants knows there isn't much I can do when he is outside and I don't have a handle on him. It is so aggravating!


I haven't had much time to ride, but I did hop on both boys the other day. I visited a neighborhood friend who has an indoor arena. Despite it being a bit chilly out, and even though the boys hadn't been ridden, they were both fantastic. It felt great to be back in the saddle again. I had another brief ride yesterday on Doc.

I found a Dr. Cook's western bitless bridle at a yard sale - it must have been my lucky day! I don't do a lot of yard sale shopping, and my husband rarely will stop at one. We were driving home and saw a yard sale sign stating that everything was half off. Hubby asked if I wanted to go, so we turned around and stopped. The purveyors had a number of horse things hanging on a hatrack. I was immediately drawn to the strips of leather and realized that I was looking at a basically new bitless bridle. The woman said she used it once, and from the condition of the leather, I believe it. The bridle was missing the browband, but I had one from an older bridle, so, no problem. I was able to buy it for half off the $75 price she had on it. I also bought a pair of Prince of Wales English spurs with very small shanks for $ .50. What great deals, eh?!

Our barn kitties, Thing 1 and Thing 2, are spending more and more time outside and showing signs of becoming real 'Barn Cats'. They can often be spotted stalking real or imaginary beasties. While I was in Detroit my hubby reported that they had caught a mouse. Yesterday Thing 2 had a small garter snake. I tried to tell her that the snake is on her side, as far as getting rid of vermin, but I don't think she understood!

Our weather continues to be incredibly gorgeous. We have never, ever had a fall as pretty as this one. We did have a few frosts that have killed the less hardy flowers and vegetables, but snapdragons and petunias are still flowering and we are enjoying root crops from the garden. We were hoping for some rain on Monday, and actually expected the rain to turn into snow as temperatures dropped, but it never happened. We had temperatures in the 50's and mostly cloudy skies, but the sun still managed to peek out and make my day!

I had a post about sheath cleaning in June. Just recently I came across the following 'Sheath Cleaning Song' on YouTube. I thought some of you might be able to relate to this!