Wings Worked!

Hey There Dancing Horse Fans!

Well, if you've been following us on Facebook, you know that the wings were a SUCCESS!! They worked! I was pretty nervous trying to actually get on TOP of Gato with those things on ..... but with Dani's help, we figured it out. I'm glad I redid them and jimmy-rigged a harness on them . I ended up mounting first and then having Dani hand them to me once I was on top. I sloooowly slipped them onto my arms and over my shoulders to get them in place. I was still nervous that Gato was going to freak out since they were so wide. There was virtually no wind out at all .... but even the tiny bit of breeze there was sent them flying since they were so lightweight. **Note to Self: DO NOT ever attempt to wear these if there is any wind out whatsoever. :o)

So anyway .... the parade was a lot of fun. We had some more new friends help us out this time again. Dani didn't ride -- she wanted to take pics and help me in case of an emergency with the wings. Krystle brought her horse, Jake, for his first parade. She also had her little sister, Nadi, and her brother Trevor along to help. Another friend of hers -- Monica -- rode along and ended up driving the big truck in the parade. So we had another full parade team.

OH .... and I can't forget our extra back up dancers that joined in the fun .... Josie brought her horse Boots and dressed up as an Indian; Cody was on his horse Rose and dressed up as a Cowboy. This was Rose's first parade, too. and last but not least was Dannielle riding her horse Aster. Aster actually is sired by a horse bred and raised here on the farm ..... Rey Derringer Bey. Derin was born here and was sold at an early age when weaned. He was gone for a few years and then returned when he was 4 or 5 years old. In the meantime, while he was out with his new owner, he sired a few foals. Aster was one of them. When we got Derin back, we gelded him ...... showed him a little at a few events......then re-sold him again. He's still living with the family we sold him to the second time. He is actually running barrells with his new family and is doing really well. ANYWAY ...... back to the story .... I thought it was sure a small world to accidentally run into Dannielle at the college one day and found out that she owns a Rey Derringer Bey foal. .....and then to become friends and to have them join us in a parade!! What a small world. :o)

Stay tuned for more Dancing Horse adventures!! I wonder who else we'll meet on our journey through life!!

Golden Wings ....

Another Friday ..... come and gone. Didn't do a whole lot. ....but I guess it was enough. Woke up at 5am like I do everyday. Made coffee. Ate breakfast. Played on Facebook for awhile. Watched HGTV. Did chores. Got ready to go to town to go buy more dog food. Noticed the front tire was a little low. Started up the big truck but it turned over kind of slow .... hmmm .... that's bothersome. Then I sat there as it ran a little bit and thought .... have I really not turned this truck on since Monday? Yup. I haven't left this farm since Monday. It's Friday. No wonder I'm going a little batty.

I did have a human being stop here on Tuesday that I talked to .... Schwann Man ... Ty. He didn't stay very long, though. I guess that's the only person I saw on Tues. Nobody on Wed. I did have a few people come out on Thursday for riding lessons. ....so I got to see five actual 'people' yesterday. I didn't even realize I hadn't left here for 3 days until I thought about it this morning. I think I could really hole up here and never leave ...... if I didn't need supplies. I'd be good.

Went and put air in my front tires ..... filled up with gas ..... didn't talk to anybody. Went to the grocery store. Some old guy said "Good Morning" ..... I said "Good Morning" back. Didn't talk to anybody in the store except the check out girl who asked if I got a seedless watermelon or a seeded one. I said I didn't really know. I just grabbed one. I kind of hope it's seedless but I guess if it isn't, I'll deal with it. She laughed. She said I guess you'll find out when you get home, huh. :o) ..... I did talk to the guy who carried my groceries out. I like that guy. Wish I knew what his name was. ....but you know how once you see someone enough times, you can't really ask them their name anymore .... then you move into the 'awkward' period where if you ask them their name, it's offensive because you've known them so long that you really should know their name by now. I don't know. That's how I feel. I've passed the proper 'name asking' time frame with this guy ...... so I guess I'll never know his name. Oh well. Life goes on.

Came home and unloaded groceries. Did dishes. Unwrapped the purple sequined fabric off one of my bridles and re-wrapped it in gold sequins .... then the phone rang. I usually don't have my pohone on. I'm not big on talking or texting on the phone ..... unless I've gone several days without talking to anyone. ....so I answered it. It was my friend Josie. She was asking about the parade tomorrow and asked for advice putting a costume together for her. Ok .... well, that's right up my alley. :o) I think I talked to her for the next hour. She probably was just waiting for me to shut up!! You can definitely tell I haven't talked to anyone in a while. :o) After I got off the phone with her I was kind of pumped up about the parade so I decided to try to put my isis wings together so they stood up on their own.

I went out to the barn .... let Gato out. Searched around in the washrack for a peice of PVC pipe I knew was in there somewhere. Went to the garage to find some more pipe. Got some wire, too. Went in the house ate some lunch then started testing things. I had a hoop skirt wire Stacey brought me last weekend ..... ruled that one out right away. Not sturdy enough. Wire I had from the garage drooped, too. PVC pipe ... PERFECT! Had to cut it .... duck tape it in an "x" shape to hold the 'wings' upwards ..... then proceeded to try to figure out how I was going to strap this contraption to me ???? with a costume over TOP of it.

After considering duck taping it to my body ..... I thought .... I really need a harness or something similar to my angel wings. Straps. Not sure if little straps are going to be strong enough to hold those big wings in place ...... hmmmm ...... what do I have here that might work? I tried some string ... I tried bungie cords ..... nope. Rope? Nope. What do I have here that has 'straps' on it that I could jimmy rig into a harness? I went into my closet....... a belt? no ..... then I saw some bras hanging .... A BRA!!! YES!! I can take an old, crappy bra ... turn it backwards like a backpack. YES! So I took an old one ..... got the duck tape back out and taped it onto the pvc pipes. I slid the arm peices over my back and strapped the huge wings on like a backpack. IT WORKED!!!! Awesome!! But they're HUGE! There's no way Gato's going to let me get anywhere near him with these on. Ok .... I've gotta go outside while he's out grazing hanging out in the pasture and get him used to these monsterous things.

I managed to maneuver my way out of the house after knocking a bunch of things off the counter .... got caught in the ceiling fan ..... almost caught the wings on fire from a candle on the stove. ..... but FINALLY got out the door with them. I was right. As soon as I got to the pasture, Gato snorted and ran the other way! He was having nothing to do with me and those wings. I finally got him to come up and smell them .... but then a wind gust came up and blew the wings towards him and away he ran again. After a while he was getting used to them. We got on the pedestal out there together .... he finally started calming down. I just stood them petting him ..... letting the wings flap over him ...... then a farmer drove by. I waved. He almost went in the ditch staring. I realized that I must look a bit odd .... standing out on a pedestal in the middle of a pasture .... with my horse .... wearing huge, golden wings. Probably not something you see everyday driving down a gravel road.

After I was comfortable enough that he wasn't going to buck me off tomorrow .... I went back in the house. Put the wings away. Worked on more networking on the computer trying to get some boarders and more riding lesson students in here. Took a break and watched Judge Judy with the puppies. Went back outside and did night chores...... cleaned Gato's stall ..... swept.....cobbed (yes, again .....bastards)......loaded up the trailer for tomorrow. ....and now it's 7pm and I'm back inside ready to make some supper and call it a night. I wonder if there's anything good on tv.

Another action packed Friday come and ALMOST gone ..... :o)

Spiders on Red Bull?

Was just outside cobbing .....again. I just cobbed yesterday. Is it just me or do spiders seem to get Herculean webbing tendencies this time of year? It's like they're on Red Bull and Mountain Dew or something. It seems like this time of year you can cob one day and the very next day all the webs are back and sometimes even MORE are built up! You can't stay ahead of them!! I wish I could be more like a spider -- resilient. Never defeated. It's like a tornado completely wipes out their home ....totally destroys it. ....but they don't get depressed and take time to feel down and out. They start webbing again. Building something even more fabulous than their first web. It's amazing. Yep, I want to be like a spider.

Then all of a sudden ..... mid fall ..... it just stops. You go out and cob one day and then ... nothing. and more nothing. The cobs stay gone. It's like the spiders finally gave up and decided screw it, we'll wait until next year to build our condos. It's time to rest now. That's kind of how I feel. Screw it. Everytime I try to build something back up, it seems to get knocked down. ....so I'll just wait til next year to rebuild my life. I'm going to rest now. Maybe I am like a spider.

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words....

Quiet day today ....

This picture sums it all up.

Tama County Fair

Wow .... can't believe four whole days have passed since my last post. Time flies whether you're having fun or not. Well, last time I talked to everyone I was getting ready for the Tama County Fair. That was one of the most fun days I've had in a long time. I felt really comfortable performing each time. The crowd was a nice size .... not too big or overwhelming .... and not too small so Gato wouldn't want to do anything. He sometimes absolutely refuses to dance or do anything if nobody is watching. It's like he is telling me "I already know how to dance and do these stupid tricks. I'm not doing them if nobody is watching. I don't need to 'practice' when I already know them." It is almost IMPOSSIBLE to practice with him unless I get really mean and force him to do it. Put a crowd in front of him and he's a total show off. He will start dancing on his own just so they clap and whistle.

So anyway .... yeah ..... we made it to Gladbrook with only one missed turn and I actually didn't completely panic when we missed that turn this time. I only slightly panicked. No mental break downs. I was able to turn the rig around and get back on track pretty easily. I think the tips that Dannielle L. gave me a few weeks ago about backing gave me a tiny bit more confidence in myself. I even managed to pull the truck and trailer into kind of a tight spot in the fairgrounds. I did get help at the end of the day backing it out but I think I might have been able to back it out myself ...... but figured if someone else is going to offer ..... I'm taking the help. :o)

So yeah. We got there and were greeted by a whole group of people who helped us unload and carry our stuff to our stalls. Even the girls couldn't believe how helpful and friendly everyone was. Our first performance was up right away so instead of setting up our stalls, we decided to hurry up and get Gato ready to go and I went in and got dressed. Our first ride was at 11:15 to start their 4-H Show out. We rode to LMFAO - I'm Sexy and I Know It and Lady Gaga's Born This Way. Krystle said it was our best performance so far this year. It felt really good. :o)

After we were done, Dani untacked Gato while I changed back into my t-shirt. Krystle, Dani, Stacey, and I all worked on finishing setting up the decorations then we headed out to find a bathroom and some food. We ate at a nice little lunch barn run by the Gladbrook Community Center. After we got done we went back to get ready for my next performance ..... the Indian. By that time I had a little entourage of kids following me around. I loved it. Gato was so laid back and calm. He did so well bridleless. He did everything I wanted him to. The whole thing went really well. No bucking ..... no running to the gate ...... it was awesome.

Next up was my very first trick clinic. I went back and while Dani and Krystle were getting Gato ready, Stacey helped me get out of my sticky clothes and into my next outfit. We had a little time before I had to go up so I gave some kids some rides. By the time 3:30 rolled around, I had a nice little crowd gathered again. This time I rode briefly to Purple People Eater then jumped off and talked about how I taught Gato some of the simple little tricks he does and how to sit on a beanbag chair. I also showed them how I made some of my blingy tack. I'm not sure how long the whole thing took. The girls warned me not to talk on and on too long because I would get boring. I think it may have gone around 20 minutes? I know my song was about 2 minutes. I think I talked for about 15 minutes showing everyone stuff and then they asked a few questions.

My last performance was at 5. I was worried that Gato was getting really tired. He didn't really want to dance during the last one and was starting to act up a little. I dressed up in my 50's poodle skirt and at 5pm we had a crowd gathered again for our last performance. When I went in to stand on the pedestal, he was already being a butt man and wouldn't step up on the pedestal. he kept going round and round. Great. This isn't gonna be a good one. I told him to straighten up ... we only had ONE MORE LEFT then we're going home. Sometimes I think he understands me ....... cuz he stepped up on the pedestal after that. He still was pissed ..... but he stepped up there. He had his ears back the whole time like he was saying ....FINE. I'll get up here but I'm not gonna like it. The music started after the announcer announced who we were. I could tell he was sluggish. We went into the dancing and I was happily suprised that he was dancing pretty well, actually. He even did the jumping/hopping thing fairly well. Awesome. He was giving it his all. .....so I decided to cut it short since he was doing so well and I jumped off after a couple minutes and decided to finish up in hand. That's not as strenuous on him. It is on me ..... but easier on him. We did some big stepping ...... but again, he was being a butt and wouldn't really march with me. I tried to dance beside him ..... he kind of did it. He reared. Kind of. I went to sit him down...... he sat for 2 seconds and popped back up. I tried it again and it seemed like it took FOREVER for him to sit. He kept looking at me like ....NOPE. NOT GONNA DO IT AND YOU CAN"T MAKE ME. I have sat on that stupid beanbag a million times today and I want to go home. I'm DONE. .....I finally just looked at him and said PLEASE!!!! Please do this one more time then we'll go home. ....and he sat. and sat. and sat. I pulled and pulled and PULLED to get him up. He finally stood up. We bowed. I went and stood him on the pedestal cuz the music was still playing ....... I curtsied to the audience and while I wasn't paying attention that stinker stepped down off the pedestal. I turned around to see him walking to the other side of the arena. WHAT?! GATO!! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!! He does this at home when he's bored or tired or done. He just leaves. So he left. He was done. The ladies from the fairgrounds came in to help me catch him. I knew chasing him would be futile. When he is in this kind of mood ..... there's no catching him until he wants to be caught. I turned my back to him and started walking to the gate. I told him I'm done ..... I'm going home. He kept going the other way. When he noticed one of the ladies walking after him he picked up into a trot. He's thinking -- YES! They're going to CHASE ME!! When she picked up speed .... so did he. Until he was in an all out gallop .... tail up .... snorting .... blowing. I stood at the gate ..... Great. Just great. My fabulous trick horse is out there putting on his own show. I yelled at him and told him HE"D BETTER NOT ROLL IN MY GOOD SADDLE OR HE"S TOAST!!!! He stopped and looked at me for a second then took off running again. I stood at the gate and yelled at the audience ...... "This is part of the show ..... we seriously meant to do this .... not." They were all laughing. I knew he would eventually come back to me. He's a smart horse. He knows the only way out was that gate and the only way home was ME. He was going to come back ..... it wasn't a matter of IF .. it was a matter of WHEN. Then as I was standing there waiting ..... he decided he'd had enough running around free so he came running full blast straight to me ....just like I figured he would.... and slid to a stop about 3 feet away...... I grabbed at his reins and caught him. We did one final bow to the audience .... then I had them open the gate to let us out.

He was prancing around like a freaking 3 year old stallion. Still snorting. He sure wasn't tired now!! That goofy horse. The kids were running up to him to come talk to us ..... I was a little worried he was too wound up for them to be around him ..... so I just stopped and petted him for a while. Dani wanted to take him from me but I told her no ..... we need to just stand here a minute and calm down. So we stood there with the kids all around him and as we stood his head came down ..... and he stopped shaking ..... and he got calmer and calmer. I had the kids walk up to pet him and as they started touching him it's like they flipped a switch and he turned back off again. Like he took a big SIGH and was back to the old Gato. Aaaahhhh .... I love little kids petting me ......

Yep. It was a good day. We met some great new friends. I had a wonderful time riding my beautiful Gato. We had some high points and some low points but all in all I think the overall day was a good one. I'm so glad they invited us to come.

Captain Crunch Bars .... YUM!!

Easy day today. Got most of my work done yesterday around the farm so today I just had to go get my nails done, get groceries for the weekend, and hook up and load the truck and trailer. It's a little after 2pm and so far ..... everything is right on schedule! :o)

I just had some visitors out to the farm. A really nice mother and daughter (Jessica and Deb) from in town came out to check out the farm and check into possibly taking riding lessons. Jessica is 16 and would like to learn more about horses. I took some time and walked them around the farm and showed them all the animals and talked a little bit about myself and what all I've done with horses. ....and realized .... I sure have done a lot with horses over my lifetime! :o)

I also tried some delicious new bars that I made this morning. I got the recipe from a friend's blog. It looked very intriguing so I just had to try it. Captain Crunch Bars. ...and they are DEEE-licious .... Thanks Country Gal!! If you all want to try them click on this link:

http://www.bluejeansandcottontees.com/captain-crunch-bars/

I love this blog. http://www.bluejeansandcottontees.com/ - it's so inspirational and cheers me up when I'm down. Plus so many great recipes! I have company staying with me this weekend so I baked. I miss cooking. I hate baking when I'm the only one here, because I'll end up eating it all and there goes my diet!! My friend, Stacey, is coming to help tomorrow at the Tama County Fair so I'm trying to clean and make it look like 11 dogs don't live here. :o) I'm anxious for her to come visit again. Krystle and Dani are also both going to the fair with us tomorrow. I'll have three helpers ..... and I have a feeling I'm going to need all of them in this heat!! :o)

In case you haven't seen my other posts on when we're riding tomorrow -- here ya go!

Tama County Fair -- Gladbrook Fairgrounds11:15 - The Dancing Horse (I'm Sexy and I Know It/Born This Way (Lady Gaga)
2:30 - Indian (Bridleless ride to Enigma - Return to Innocence)
3:30 - Trick Show/Clinic (Purple People Eater)
5:00 - The Dancing Horse (50's Poodle Skirt - At the Hop/Jailhouse Rock/Keep on Dancin'

See ya all there!!!!!

Getting Ready!!

I never really realized how long it takes to actually get ready for an event with many costume changes until today. I was going to 'really quick' figure out what I was going to wear and put the outfits and tack together this morning. It's now late afternoon and I'm still not done. I just got done wrapping my last set of reins with sequined material and still have two blankets to cover. I guess I never really sat down and figured out how much time I was really putting in on all this. :o)

...and for some reason I can't find my second pink scarf for my 50's outfit. I tie one around my neck and one around my pony tail ...... I have no clue what happened to that second one. It's driving me CrAzY!!! I've looked everywhere! I think this is what's making me realize how long this is all really taking. There is the pink skarf ..... the turquoise mask I had to dig out.... I had to go track down my purple duck tape to wrap my purple sequined reins. I try to be organized but no matter how hard I try to put things where they belong ... there's just too much STUFF!! I try to put all the 'accessories' to each costume in baggies and then I pin them to the costume to keep everything together. I have so many things that it's hard to track everything down when I need them. The girls were looking for a black boa on Sunday. I needed ONE black boa to wrap around with the blue boa to be Gato's breast collar. Krystle said there's no black boas anywhere. I said -- yes there is ... there's a whole bag of them. Nope. All gone. Ok wait .... I think they're in a bag hanging with the black 20's flapper outfit in the trailer. All the black must be with that .... so Krystle went out and dug back to the 20's outfit .... nope. Not there. The BIG ostrich boa is in that bag .... no regular boas. I told her OK ... I know where they all are .. they're still wrapped up in red on the red and black saloon girl outfit from Horse A Rama in the trailer. Yep .... she found them. Undid that outfit and got the black I needed. Later that night, I was putting everything back away and saw more black boas .... in with the turquoise and white boas .... I used them when I was Alice In Wonderland for the Clarksville parade and never undid them. AAAAHHHH!!! I have a huge tote full of feather boas. I learned early on to put each color in individual bags. Purple in one big bag .... blue in another .... red ... yellow .... green .... then all the mixed colors are individually bagged red/white/blue ..... black/orange.......turquose/white.....etc. I have several sizes and styles of each color to accessorize my outfits. I separate these for this reason ..... so everything is easy to find when I need them. Unless I happen to NOT separate something .... then we panic trying to find something.

I can't sew a stitch ..... on a sewing machine......but I can hand stitch but very slowly. People think I make my costumes. Um yeah .... no. I usually use lots of pins and duck tape and take outfits that are already made and I 'embellish' and 'accessorize' :o)

To get ready for an event I figure out first what costume or 'colors' I want. Then I figure out what I can do to Gato's tack to accompany my outfit. I take fabric that matches my outfit and cut it into strips and wrap it around his bridle and reins and sometimes even cover his saddle blanket in it. Then I have a matching set!! I coordinate his leg wraps ...... figure out if I'm going to put anything in his mane or tail .... then I start thinking about my accessories. Today I'm putting together a 50's outfit that will have a poodle skirt ... bobby socks .... saddle shoes .... those 50's pink cat glasses ..... I'll put my hair in a pony tail and tie a skarf around it ..... and I have decorated up Gato's bridle to match my outfit exactly. PERFECT!! ....but it doesn't stop there ...now I write everything down in a tablet .... each outfit and all the things that go with it one by one. I outline how Gato needs to be tacked up -- what bridle ... what reins .... what leg wraps ... what blanket ... and any other plumes or feathers or clips or anything else that goes on him. I give this to the girls who are there helping me so they know exactly how to tack him up for each performance. I usually have one girl on Gato getting him ready and one girl on me helping me get all my crap on. :o)

Are we done? Nope! Now for the perfect music. After I figure out the outfit and have everything recorded, now I have to figure out what song I'm going to dance to. It has to match my outfit or the event or my mood. :o) For the 50's performance I mixed together 3 songs .... At the Hop/Jailhouse Rock/and Keep on Dancin'. Each song is approximately 2 minutes long making the entire performance a little over 6 minutes. I burn a CD so I can give it to the DJ at the event to play on their system. AND I also put it on my ipod and I stick in the bose player in case we have a sound system failure during the event (which has actually happened before .... more than once that Bose radio has pulled us out of a silent jam! Luckily it puts out great sound and always comes through for us when there's no sound. :o) I have the songs that go with each outfit written on the sheet so the girls know what to take to the office or whereever they're playing the music.

So yeah ..... it takes a while to get ready. For everything to go smoothly .... ya gotta be organized. I did this for the haunted barn too .... and the shows. I had lists. Where everybody went and what everybody was supposed to do when, where, and how. ....and then everything goes like clockwork. :o)

SO ..... I am still working on Tama. I'll probably work on loading everything up tomorrow. We'll be leaving early Saturday morning to go unload all the outfits and tack and get ready for our four rides in Gladbrook. If anybody is around there, I'll also be doing a short 'clinic' showing everyone how to teach your horse how to do simple tricks. I didn't teach Gato how to dance or bow or lay down but I did teach him the simple tricks he does and how to sit in a beanbag chair. So I'll show everyone how I did that. I thought I might talk about how I put my costumes together as well and show everyone how to 'bling' up your tack. :o) I'm excited to go!! Come and see us if you're not busy!!

El Gato, The Magical Dancing Horse

One bright, sunny day in April a very special white colt was born. Some say his birth was foretold by the ancients. Others say magic had entered into his existence, for this particular white foal had an aura about him. When he was born, the kingdom of fairies and woodland sprites presented him with a mystical gift. A gift he would later use to go onto do things no other horse has ever done. For you see, this tiny baby was so very special that fantasy and magic would follow him throughout his entire life.

The fairies called their little beauty …. El Gato …. “The Cat”.…Because he was so agile and swift and while playing he would sometimes take on the warlike aspect of a lion. The ancient ones believed that cats were special angels sent from heaven to guide humans through their journey. They believed that their little one …. El Gato ….. was put on earth to do just that. so they gave him his unique name to foretell his future. He was incredibly brave and yet still extraordinarily kind. This was good because he desperately needed this bravery in order to defeat the wickedness he would encounter as he continued through his journey of life. El Gato could do anything. The fairies and sprites raised him as an exalted soul.

As El Gato grew he continued to nurture his special gift and started to understand what he was put on Earth to do. He travelled around to many different human owners and each one agreed that he wasn’t like other horses. He wouldn’t settle down with any of those humans. He knew they weren’t who he was meant to be with to complete his daunting mission so he did whatever he could to find the human he was supposed to be with. He was naughty and incredibly mischeivious with all of them so they wouldn’t want him around…until one day … he met her ….

One magical day he was introduced to an enchanting girl whose hair matched his. The two instantly forged a bond that could never be broken. Once they were together everything seemed right with the world and this special girl agreed to care for El Gato’s every need for the rest of his life It was at this time the fairies gave El Gato the spiritual ability to communicate and talk to this one special human being. Her name was Miss Kelly Christine.

Miss Kelly loved El Gato and he loved her. Miss Kelly quickly saw that El Gato had a special gift and was able to lift little childrens spirits when he pranced in front of them. El Gato also loved it when the little children would laugh and clap so he learned how to do simple little tricks to entertain them. Sometimes he would even see the adults smiling and clapping when he would do fancy movements to the music and silly tricks. Little did Miss Kelly know that while El Gato was performing his dancing ‘magic’, he was actually REALLY spreading magical cheer that was silently defeating the demons, trolls, and other evil creatures in the fairy realm. For this was the special gift that El Gato had been given by the kingdom of fairies and sprites on the day he was born. The ability to spread happiness and cheer to defeat depression and sadness brought on by evil creatures from the other realm.

After El Gato whispered to Kelly and told her what he secret gift was and that he could really see these evil, horrid beings and was able to defeat them with his magical dancing, Kelly decided to take El Gato out to spread his magic to everyone that needed happiness injected into their lives to defeat sadness everywhere.

They were quickly booked by several people to come dance and do tricks to make everyone laugh and be happy and to drive away downheartedness and gloom. Miss Kelly and El Gato would dress up in sparkly, elaborate costumes to please their audiences and to distract the evil creatures of the other realm until they could drive them away.

One day during their travels, they showed up at this unusually dark and desolate barn that looked like no one lived there. El Gato was incredibly uncomfortable and told Miss Kelly that he didn’t want to go inside. She reassured him that everything was going to be ok. It was obvious that the people who lived here were so very unhappy that their entire farm was overcast with sadness. There must be some terribly evil creatures living on this land causing this incredible darkness and gloom. If anyone needed El Gato’s magic, it was these people. He couldn’t back down now. This would be the fight of his life.

As they entered through the double doors of the barn, it was very silent. There was a party going on but the people inside were in such misery and despair that they could hardly smile or laugh any longer. Little did they know that a few years before this farm had been inhabited by trolls. The people living there didn’t know the trolls had moved in but they had sensed sadness and grief and an overall sense of doom and that is something that spreads very quickly. These people had now been overcome with desperation and terrible depression. The only one that could save them is El Gato, the magical Dancing Horse.

They had heard about El Gato and Miss Kelly and their ability to make everyone happy with their dancing and trick show so they had purposely put together a party and asked them to come help them rid their farm of this despair. They were helpless as they stood there not knowing what to do.

El Gato cannot speak to any human other than Miss Kelly but he can see and sense magical creatures from other realms that humans cannot. He instantly saw the trolls in the barn and knew the only way to defeat these miserable beings was to drive them far, FAR away from this farm so laughter and delight could once again prevail. The only thing that defeats sadness …. Is happiness. El Gato knew what he had to do. ….and he started dancing. And prancing. Spinning and jumping. Making everyone in the room happier and happier. Laughing and clapping ….El Gato danced for his life …. For the lives of these sad, sad people. ….until the darkness was finally shattered.

El Gato alone could hear the horrible screams of the trolls as they ran away with their hands over their ears…..for trolls can’t stand laughter. They will not live where there is happiness and glee. As the trolls ran further and further away from the farm, the brightness moved in and the people were so very happy. They giggled and laughed and clapped and El Gato danced and danced and as he danced everything was better.

The hosts of the party and owners of the farm could not thank El Gato and Miss Kelly enough for forever breaking the curse that the evil trolls had put on their farm. Miss Kelly explained to the people that they would need to continue to stay happy and joyous in order to keep the trolls away for good because it is so very easy for new families of trolls and other horrid creatures of sorrow to move in when sadness and despair take over any location. The people agreed to follow their words of advice and have regular parties and celebrations that bring smiles and laughter to everyone in order to keep the wicked spirits from returning.

El Gato and Miss Kelly Christine continue on their journey through life traveling from venue to venue … party to party …. Event to event …..looking to defeat those that live in the shadows. They have been chosen to conquer sadness by bringing smiles to children’s and adult’s faces. For only El Gato can see the evil from the other realm and only he, teamed up with his human riding partner, Miss Kelly, can rid the land of depression and gloom forever.

The Bloody Barn Gang Visits...

...so no parade yesterday. The Franklin County Fair Parade was held yesterday afternoon in town but it was ungodly hot out with livestock warnings everywhere. I remember I almost passed out on Gato at the Humboldt Parade a few weeks ago and it was even HOTTER here yesterday.

I'm glad we didn't go. ...bummed that we don't have any cool pictures to share ..... but glad we didn't make ourselves sick trying to ride. Instead the girls both came over after they got off work and I made a pizza for us and we just visited in the cool house. :o)

I did have some excitement here on Monday ..... I had a group of people come from "The Bloody Barn" in southern Iowa drive up to pick up the last of my haunted house stuff. Brent, Sid, Summer, and Dale made the long road trip up here to load everything up. They put together a haunt down in Atlantic, IA and were happy to get the last remaining items I had left from "The Dragon's Eye Haunted Barn". They took one last trailer full .... gut stantions, dentist chair, skull shaker, castle walls, dead bodies, bones, misc body parts, bloody Barbies, old cemetary fence with skull toppers ..... and some misc skulls and other crap just laying around. That makes about 5 trailer fulls of halloween props that I've donated to various haunts in the state. I still have a few fun halloween items for little kids that I retained to bring to "Boo At The Zoo" in October. ...but for the most part, all the blood and guts, nasty scary stuff is all gone now. The end to a very fun part of my life. Lots of memories came from that scary Haunted Barn. If anybody out there is interested in visiting their haunt ..... click on

http://thebloodybarn.weebly.com/index.html for more info and pics.

So now I'm working on getting ready for the Tama County Fair coming up on Saturday. Gato and I are doing 4 performances including a Trick Training Clinic/Demo. I've never done one of those before and am really looking forward to it. Gotta get my outfits and tack all ready to go. Hopefully it won't be so hot out there this weekend!!

High Five To Life ....

I am glad to report that I am feeling much better since my last post on Friday. Thank to many, MANY wonderful friends out there who wrote me inspirational messages and encouraged me to get through this very difficult time in my life. Two people that continue to help me everyday get through life in general are my two beautiful daughters ... Krystle and Dani. I was feeling so very low last week that I really didn't want to leave the house and do anything....especially another parade. Dani put it very bluntly that -- "YOU ARE GOING TO THAT PARADE DAMN IT." Cut and dry. No arguing ..... we're going if I have to drag you into that truck and throw you on your horse.... you're going. .....and we went. and I had an absolutely wonderful time and forgot about all my problems, once again. My good friend, Mindy, drove TWO HOURS to Dumont to come help take pictures to commemorate the day. I now have 93 gorgeous pictures to look at for the rest of my life to remind me how beautiful life is and how great good friends and family are. If you'd like to see the pictures Mindy took of us, click on :

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4271534784479.2176375.1169403749&type=1

...and then the very next day on Sunday we had a big birthday party out here for Riviera Nelson. Last week I was dreading it ..... every day as it drew closer. I was freaking myself out ... convincing myself that I can't do this. Again, Dani told me to basically suck it up and get over it .... she said if I even tried to take my birthday party fliers down anywhere she would follow me and put them right back up. I'm doing this .... whether I want to or not .... I'm doing this.

Yup. ...and that's what I needed. A kick in the shorts. By Saturday I was back to being motivated to put this place together and to give that little girl the best darn birthday party of her life. I got up at 6am and started putting the barn together to get ready for 40 guests to come see an El Gato Dancing/Trick Show .... Pony Rides .... Cake .... Presents .... a Water Fight ..... just a good all around 9 year old birthday party!! I worked my tail off cleaning and hanging posters and getting everything decorated just right. I tried to imagine what I would want when I was 9 years old. I made Riviera a throne to sit on ...... put saddles on racks so kids could sit on saddles if the ponies were busy ..... I put the donkeys in ...... had a couple puppies outside to pet....... and with my girl's help .... I put together a dancing/trick show that didn't turn out too awful bad. It was actually kinda good.

I overheard one little boy say ..."This is the best party ever! They have donkeys .... and ponies .... AND DOGS to pet!!! That made me feel really good. I have no clue how the parents liked it because it was around 98 degrees out and hotter than the devil. I have never sweated so much. I'm sure the parents would have preferred an air conditioned venue of roller skating or bowling or maybe a restaurant or something with less flies, dust, and HEAT. ...but I think the kids really liked it. :o) and that's all that really matters because it was for them.

If you'd like to see more pictures of our very first birthday party here at the farm, click on this link:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4272693013434.2176400.1169403749&type=1

All in all it wasn't a bad weekend after all. What started out last week as totally hopeless turned into not so bad. I told the girls as we were setting up the farm to get ready for the dancing/trick show ..... I wonder if this is the first step to building our own Dancing Horse Theatre right here at home? Why not? We built an amazing haunted house that thousands of people all over the state came to visit. Why not put together a Dancing Horse Show with performances three or four times a year...... and invite over special guests. I've seen the guys in Chicago do that all the time. Tickets are $100 each. Hmmmm ...... maybe? People said we were crazy to even try to put together a haunted house? Hmmmmm ...... ya never know.......

An Ode to Chubawumba....

Was laying in bed last night just thinking. …what has happened to me? Where has the Kelly I used to know gone? How can a person who used to be so confident and self assured now be so scared and stupid and just plain pathetic? It’s so bad that I don’t even want to be around me myself.

Yeah, I know I said I wasn’t going to be such a downer on facebook or on my blog ….nobody wants to read depressing crap all the time. But I’m going to write this. This is how I’m feeling and I’m going to just write it. Maybe there is a tiny piece of the old Kelly in here that thinks … screw it, if you all don’t like it, then don’t freaking read it. It’s my blog. ...so if you don't want to be depressed stop reading now. Here we go ....

I used to teach a team building personality class. I truly believe that you are what you think you are. Your mind is so very powerful. When you are confident, you carry yourself differently. People are drawn to others who seem to be comfortable in their own skin. They want to be around you. They seek your approval. Think about when you go into a restaurant with a group of people. The waiter/waitress doesn’t know anyone in the group but he/she will look immediately to the one person at the table to appears to be in charge. That person doesn’t have to be loud or obnoxious ….. just confident. It’s an ‘aura’ …. It’s easily sensed by others. I used to be that person. The only other person whose ‘aura’ was bigger than mine ….. was Russ. If we were both in a room …. Watch out. We took over wherever we went.

And on the contrary … when you're feeling defeated and unsure of yourself, you subconsciously show it. Nobody wants to be around that. Your whole ‘aura’ changes. People shy away. They pity you and feel sorry for you. People treat you differently. I am ashamed to say that this is what’s happening to me and I don’t know how to stop it. This post is going to probably get weird. But I’m just going to type out all that’s in my head. It seems to make me feel better and think things through. Bear with me.

I used to have a great career. I made a tons of money. I had a bunch of people working for me …who did whatever I said…..I had an assistant ….a huge, beautiful office …..I worked my ass off and in turn was living the dream. I was so very confident with myself. Ask anyone who knew me back then. It seemed like anything I touched, turned to gold. Whatever decision I made was the right one. …. But of course if I happened to make the wrong decision from time to time, who cares – everyone makes mistakes – get out of my face and move on. I rock. You suck. I said get out of my way or I’ll run you over.

Then …I had an opportunity presented to me where I had a choice. Leave the career I had been working so hard in for many, many years to let my husband continue to move up in the company or stay and continue my reign of power. Well, we all know what happened there. I ‘retired’ back in 2003. Quit. I left to go manage the farm while Russ got his promotion. …thinking the whole time I rock and you suck. I deserve this. I’ll turn this stupid little farm into something FABULOUS!

Everything was good. I won’t lie to you, though. I lost a tiny bit of that confidence I had before. A little bit of swagger left me when I left my position at Ball. I used to be a really strong person. Ok … let’s just say it. I was a complete bitch in the old days. People got out of my way. How would you put it nicely? I had a very ‘high ego strength’. :o) Now I no longer have that big time position in a Fortune 500 company …. I’m at home on a farm. Scooping crap. Talking to animals. Hmmmm. Yeah. I convinced myself over time that because I had WILLINGLY left … I wasn’t fired or laid off, that I was still “Kelly”. I was still special. I ‘retired’. …..Willingly. So, yeah ….. I still rock. I’m still “all that”. Just now I’ll be amazing at home.

So I went to a website class … learned how to do my own website. Then I truly believe because of my confidence in general, my friends asked me to do their sites. I told them I don’t really know how to seriously do websites. I just took one 8 hour course. They didn’t care. They wanted me. Ok …. Whatever. Sure…..but you guys hire me at your own risk cuz I don’t know what I’m doing. …but I believe even though I said that …. I believed that I was good. Inside. I knew I rocked when it came to designing sites. I had the ‘knack’. Cuz I was “Kelly”. And even though I pushed people away, I eventually grew that business to over 40 sites going at once. People were begging me to do their sites. I was stunned … but not surprised. Cuz I’m Kelly. Of course they want me to do their stuff. I rock.

Still bored. Still need challenged. I’m better than this. Hey! Let’s open a haunted house. Wanna run a horse show? Sure!! Bring it on! How ‘bout I run two? Or Three?!! I can do it ALL!! …and on and on. My initial ‘cockiness’ and ‘bitchiness’ had subsided and calmed to a happy medium since I had left my job but I was still super confident in just about everything I did. If I couldn’t do something I just thought ‘screw it, I didn’t want to do that anyway.’ Whatever …. It’s stupid. And I moved on. I never once thought I COULDN’T do it …. I just didn’t WANT to do it. Totally different mindset.

I got hypothetically ‘hit’ a bunch of times by people who didn’t think I was as great as I thought I was. But it didn’t phase me. They tried to knock me completely down but they couldn’t. ….Because I rock and they basically all SUCK. When you have a huge ego, people can throw things at you, body check you, do their worst to try to knock you down but they can’t. What they do doesn’t matter. When you’re invincible in your head, you’re so strong. You can do anything. Screw everybody else. You tend to think ‘outside the box’ …. Because there’s really nothing you can’t do. If you think it, you can do it. I hated hanging with people who didn’t see things that way. They’re pathetic. I’m awesome. I can do ANYTHING. Just ask me. …and people did. You’d be surprised what people ask you when you’re confident in yourself. When you exude an aurora of all knowing excellence people want to be around you. People would call me with the weirdest questions. ….Because I could answer them. …and if I couldn’t, it was a stupid question anyway. ;o) See how that works? You’d think right now ….. what a horrible person I was. On the contrary, I had a lot of friends. People were calling me to do their websites, to run their horse shows, to write even more blogs – only professionally this time, or to work for them doing something or another. I just attracted all kinds of great things……. Confidence does that for you.

Until recently. I received a blow so hard. It knocked me completely down. Totally off my feet. I’ve never felt this way before. It’s like someone pulled a plug on my body and all my confidence and self–belief has slowly leaked out over the last few months. It’s like someone has torn my heart and soul out of my body.

..and it’s a vicious cycle. The more horrible you feel, the more dreadful things around you start becoming. It's like my brother said to me recently .... Kelly, bad things used to happen to you like they are now, only you never noticed them. Things are no worse or no better now. Only now you focus on the bad things instead of the good things and the despair is overcoming you. Before you thought you were invincible so bad things were just tiny bumps in the road. Now they're complete road blocks. I know he's completely right. I just don't know how to re-program my thinking to go back to the way I was before.

Like I said earlier --- you are what you think you are. If you think you’re a loser ….. It’s amazing how quickly you actually become one. When you’re confident people are jealous of you and admire you and want to be you (or at least you think that in your head :o) When you are down, they pity you and feel sorry for you and eventually stay away from you (or again, it may not be true but if you think that in your head, it becomes truth). You no longer have an inner light shining that says – I am awesome. It’s more like a fog …. That says – I’m sorry I suck so bad but please be my friend even though all I can do is cry now.

It’s a killer. The old Kelly couldn’t be shaken. ….I thought, yeah I’m bored now. Gonna take a dying horse show and make it the biggest around. I can do it. Hmmm …still bored … I’m gonna build the biggest haunted house in the state …. What? I can’t do it? Watch me. And again …still bored…..I’m going to go find a part time job. I don’t have to work but I think I’ll go see what I can shake up. …so I find that receptionist job at a local law office. It was a hoot. My friends laughed and said I wouldn’t last there two weeks. I’m too bossy. And demanding. There’s no way I can work somewhere where I’m not the boss and running things. I told them – let’s just see. I bet I can. Watch me ….I’m Kelly so I can do whatever I set my mind to. Turned out, I actually really liked my little job.

But then something happened mid-stream. When a person gets knocked down, their whole mindset changes. When you’re on the ground looking up … everything changes....the view is pretty scary from down there. I realized that life wasn’t going to ever be the same again. I wasn’t just playing now. I NEEDED that job. It’s wasn’t for fun anymore. I HAVE to work there. What?! It hit me ….. Oh My God …. I’m a receptionist. Working for $11 an hour 3 hours a day. What in the hell has happened to me?! This isn’t me. I used to be contracted at $100 an hour by Pepsi North America. And $75 an hour by Ball Corporation. People BEGGED me to work for them. What the hell am I thinking? I need out of here. This is NOT ME. ….but I was paralyzed. That plug had been pulled and the confidence was already leaking out of me. I went to a couple interviews ….. where of course I’m invicible. …kind of. ...I’m Kelly? There’s no doubt I’m going to get these loser jobs. …Sure. I’m Kelly for God’s sake. I would go in and basically try to be my old self but it somehow wasn’t the same. I was now a bit scared. Ok, who am I kidding ... I'm in a complete PANIC. I’m in trouble. I don't have a job ... this isn't good. .....and it showed. Subconsciously. Of course I didn’t get any of the the jobs I've interviewed for so far. And that dislodges the confidence plug just a little more as my poise and self-assuredness rolls out even faster.

I thought …. Um, ok …. What the heck is going on here? Well, they’re just scared. They’re not hiring me because they know I’ll take over their popsicle companies in two weeks if they brought me on. They’re a bunch of chicken shits. I don’t need them. Didn’t want that job anyway. Whatever. The old Kelly was still in there ….. deep down. ….but she was fading away …. Fast. I told myself it’ll all be ok. I’m too good to work for them anyway. Whatever. ….yeah ….whatever.

In the meantime as time passes ….I was still at the little office. Still being a receptionist. Now realizing this isn’t just a hoot job for fun ….. this is really my JOB. This is my LIFE?!! ….and I’m now seeing that it really SUCKS ASS. (sorry if you guys are reading this from work …. I loved the people I worked with ….they were all awesome and the best people you could hope to have around during this tough time … but I just really HATED what I was doing) It was like driving a knife in my heart day after day after day ….. the confidence was draining out of me so fast. I felt myself even walking different. I would sit there and think …. Do they even know who I used to be?! What I used to do? OMG! What am I doing here????!!!!!! I AM KELLY! I grew a stupid little show to nothing to SHOW OF THE YEAR for God’s sake. I had one of the largest haunts in Iowa … in a stupid BARN … in the middle of NOWHERE. I can’t even do websites but I have a bigger business than most real website companies. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!?!!?! But I couldn’t leave ….. because I had nothing else to go to. Because nobody was hiring me. I have found that once you get knocked off your feet …. It’s a lot easier to get knocked down again …. And again. Like Chubawumba … I Get knocked down … but I get up again. Yeah, but after a while it gets harder and harder to get back up again. I find that you tend to stay down a little longer each time.

You know …. People ask me how I can get up in front of all those people and do the dancing horse thing. Aren’t you scared? I laugh and think…I probably should be because I really don’t know how to ride a dancing horse and I really have no clue how to do these stupid tricks and movements. I’m not a performer….. but it’s really the same thing as the website biz that I had no clue about …. Nope it’s not hard at all.....if you're awesome.....and can do anything in your head. It’s really easy to get out there and dress up and go in front of hundreds of people flitting around doing my best to ride a dancing horse looking a bit ridiculous in all those off the wall costumes But I wing it. …. Cuz in my head … I can do no wrong. I’m awesome. And then when people tell you you’re awesome, it just fills your confidence level to overflowing and you continue to get that ‘fix’ every time you go out there. Doesn’t matter if people make fun of you or criticize that you’re doing this wrong or that wrong because you don’t hear those people – you only hear the people that are saying you’re beautiful and so talented and AWESOME! :o) and over time – you become AWESOME. …. But when your plug is pulled ….. those compliments don’t stay inside as long. They tend to run out faster and faster. Until the bad comments begin to stick ….. and you start hearing those in your head instead of the good ones. …and everything in your life gets harder and harder …. and harder ….

The last interview I had was different. Don’t get me wrong …. I think I did ok. Maybe. I don’t know. (um … can you see what I’m doing here already? The old Kelly would have said I rocked in that interview. I’m probably the best applicant they’ll get … overqualified … FOR SURE ….it’s their loss if they don’t hire me. … but now …. I’m not sure. Maybe I did ok? WTF?!?!?!! Did I actually just type that????!!! ) When the lady asked me what my strengths were …. I hesitated. I actually hesitated?? Yep. It’s scary. I ….. hesitated. I couldn’t think of any. She looked at my resume and broke the awkward silence and said …. Well, this is probably a stupid question for you because it looks like you can do just about anything. I snapped out of it and laughed (her compliment temporarily filled me up a tiny bit of confidence again) and I said OH …. Ok, yeah ….. I can do this and this and this……. My strengths. :o) ….but the scary part was. I hesitated. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?! I’M KELLY!!! I’m AWESOME! I CAN DO ANYTHING! I am so messed up in the head right now the only thing running through my mind was don’t say this or don’t say that. They’re not gonna like me. OMG! The old Kelly would have laughed and said WTF …. Who cares if they don’t like me …. Their loss. They have no clue who I am. This new Kelly is a timid, pathetic, stupid creature that even I don’t like very much. I wouldn’t even hire me.

I’m now worried about this birthday party coming up on Sunday. 40 people. I don’t know if I can handle 40 people. WHAT?! WHAT AM I SAYING?!!! I had HUNDREDS of people here a NIGHT for the haunted house. I handled HUNDREDS of people daily at the show. I can’t do 40 stinking people? This is a walk in the park.

…but the bad thing is …. If you think you can’t. You can’t. It works the same way as invincibility. Goes both ways. You can tear yourself down in your head the same way you pump yourself up. I’m a teacher. I teach people this stuff. I know this stuff. …so I sit here typing this. Knowing I’m sabotaging myself more and more everyday. I’ve been knocked down so many times I am now crawling. I can’t get up anymore. I’m pathetic. I’m a loser. I cry all the time …. Everyday. I used to make OTHER people cry. I never cry. WTF IS WRONG WITH ME!

I need to find the plug. The plug is now completely gone. Compliments run in and out in minutes. They don’t stick. I’m filled up with despair and hopelessness. I feel worthless. This is not me. I don’t know where the plug is so the cocky Kelly can come back. The confident, 'can do no wrong', 'knows everything' Kelly. I worked YEARS building that Kelly. Who knew that years of confidence built up can run out so fast when that plug is pulled.

I now see how homeless people become what they are. When they were once successful, confident people. Now shunned. Living on the streets. I could never figure out why they don’t just suck it up and get over it and get back out there. They’re losers. Now I know. It’s a vicious, horrible, nasty cycle that is so very hard to pull out of .

I end this post with the words of Chubawumba again …. I get knocked down ….

…and that’s where the song seems to end for me now. I’m not hearing the entire chorus anymore. I need to figure out where that plug is, stick it back in, and start filling up my confidence tank

….. and get back up again. …somehow ....but at this point, I don't know if I can get back up again. It's a lot easier to stay down.

Henry, Alex, and Dannielle Come to Visit

Had a great afternoon visiting with Henry, Alex, and Dannielle. The boys came to 'test ride' my new pony, Candee. I'm too big to ride her and I needed someone to come 'test ride' her before our big birthday party on Sunday for Riviera Nelson. Candee did great! I think she had fun walking around with the boys on her back. It was a ton of fun. Little Alex is 5 years old and Henry is 6. Henry has been here before with his Aunt Dannielle. Last time he was here he rode Gato. Both boys took the camera and took some great shots to commemorate the afternoon. They left a little while ago headed over to the Hardin County Fair to the rodeo they're having there tonight.

Thanks again for such a great afternoon kids!! I'm sure Candee and all the other animals enjoyed having you over today. Can't wait to do it again!!

Thursday's Horoscope

You may get a bit lazy today because something tells you that everything is going to be OK. You know that worrying won't help matters, even if some things are not quite right. The fact is that there aren't any quick fixes to life's current intriguing dilemmas, so let yourself off the hook for now. There is nothing you must do except be fully present in the moment. The rest will follow.

Emphasis on "Everything's going to be OK."

Overqualified .....Again.

So today started out kinda slow. Did chores ..... finished mowing down all the weeds in the little pen that I've been working on . Got all that done before 8am. Then went inside to figure out what I was going to do the rest of the day. Had a meeting set up at 1 in town so I was getting ready for that but then got a call that the meeting got postponed. Ok ..... so yeah. I'm here all day. Sitting. Back to trying to figure out what I'm going to do to keep me busy.

Saw the mail come so I went out and got it. While I was sitting reading the paper I spotted a Help Wanted ad ...... Ackley Vet Center ..... hmmmm ..... I mapquested Ackley. I know where it's at .... I just wondered if I got a job there, how long it would take me to get to work everyday. Only 20 miles. Hmmmm....... should I? or shouldn't I? I always wanted to work at a vet office but I worry that I'll end up with 27 dogs and 50 cats and goats and sheep and God only knows what else in my backyard. So ..... should I? I don't know what hit me but I got all dressed up, fixed up my resume and included a cover letter and took off to Ackley.

They seemed like really nice people there. The girls at the front desk were super friendly. There was a little dog wandering around. Looked like he was old. He liked having his butt scratched. :o) There was a huge cat laying in the window and one on the counter. It was awesome. I figured I'd just drop my stuff off and they'd likely call me to come back in later ..... nope. They had me fill out an application while I was there and then called me back into their little examination room for an interview right then. I WAY wasn't prepared for that! ...but it was fun. :o) The first thing the lady said as I sat down ....... "I just looked over your resume and you know you're way over qualified for this job." The words I'm learning to hate hearing. .....over and over. I think it's secret code for .... 'so you're likely not going to get this job but I'll interview you anyway because i'm really curious why you're here.'

I'm getting more and more frustrated trying to find what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. I know when it crosses my path -- I'll know. I feel good about this one. I don't know what to put in my resume or how to write it so people quit saying that I'm over-qualified. I have changed it a million times now. I am learning when I hear those words ........ it usually means I'm not 'a good fit' for what they're looking for.

Seriously though ..... what are you supposed to say when they say that to you? "Thanks?" ..... "No I'm not. I'm really not that smart" ..... or "Awww shucks ma'am, i ain't that great" ...... I just smiled when she said that. Like I normally do. My heart sunk a minute when she said it but I tried to snap back out of it. I think it was a good interview. She asked good questions. ....but then I thought some of the other interviews I had were good too ..... and I never got those jobs. So we'll just have to wait and see. I think I'd like working at this place. The people seemed friendly. I liked the little dog in the office. They had a test at the end where you had to alphabetize a bunch of names ...... then you had to solve some simple math problems. I wonder if I passed? :o) It was kind of fun getting out and seeing some people. I put one of the El Gato Dancing Horse fliers with my resume. She said they do some parades and dog shows where they dress everybody up. Well, that goes without saying that's right up my alley. :o) So, yeah ..... that's what I did today. They said I was the first person to come in to apply because their ad just came out today. Yup ..... I saw it and jumped at it. She said they'd contact me again in a couple weeks after they'd gone through all the applicants that come in from their ad. I guess if it's meant to be ....... it'll happen. If not ..... I wasn't meant to do that either.

Got home from that and walked into the house and WOW! It was a sauna again! OMG! I walked back outside and it was cooler OUTSIDE than inside. I walked around to check out the air conditioner and sure enough --- it was making a loud buzzing sound and the fan wasn't turning. Oh no. I hurried back inside and shut the whole thing down and called the air people again. They were just out a couple weeks ago and the guy said it's on it's last legs. He didn't know if it was gonna make it through the summer. It was put in back in 1998. It's 14 years old. That's pretty old for a central air unit. So I told them what was wrong this time and they came back out again right away to help me. Yup .... outside unit was messed up this time. Capacitor went out. The guy put a new one in and started right up. We caught it in time before the motor completely blew out. PHEW!! He went inside and looked at my thermostat .... which was around 30 years old...... and asked if I wanted a new one. Sure, why not. So he put in a new high tech digital one. Yup.... that old one wasn't working at all. Might as well not even had one on the wall. I look at it and it feels like I'm in a brand new house. :o) .... it's so fancy. :o)

Anyways .... so that was my day today. Not too bad. I think I might have company coming over tomorrow. Dannielle and her nephews might be coming to test ride my new pony. :o) I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow. I might even have new pics to post. :o)

See my new thermostat? Is that snazzy or what? :o) New life .... new thermostat. Yup. It's all good. :o)

Just Trying to Stay Busy....

Day started early at 5am. Made myself breakfast .... went out and did chores. Walked around to see if I could see anything lurking around. No sign of the longhorn cow. He either wandered home or farther away from them. If you're wondering why in the world I was looking for a longhorn cow, you'll have to read yesterday's posts. :o) Came back inside and laid on the couch watching HGTV again until around 8ish. I must have fallen asleep but woke up when I heard Russ turn off the blow dryer in the bathroom and then walk across the floor to come in to tell me he's going to work ...... but then I realized that was just a dream. Now I'm hearing things, too. That was really creepy. I could have sworn he was here.

Decided to get up ..... checked Facebook and email again. Nothing. Went back outside and mowed. Even though it really didn't need it. I mostly just drove the mower round and round topping off the dandelions. The grass is pretty much dead with no rain lately. I like to mow. Actually, I LOVE to mow. I get to sit there and ride and think. If someone drove by when I was mowing today they would have thought I was crazy. At one point I was smiling .... thinking of all the good times ..... the summers when Lauren was here and she rode in the wagon behind me mowing. She grabbed a Mountain Dew and Happy and jumped in the wagon and off we went. That was fun. It was a bitch to mow with a wagon hooked on but it was fun. Then at one point I was crying my eyes out. Again .... just remembering .... so many memories on this farm. Then looking around at how run down all the fences are ..... and the barns. The pastures.

I remember years ago Russ and I would schedule weekends when we would do nothing but work outside fixing fences and cleaning and just maintaining because things fall apart so fast with animals around. I had 'lists' a mile long. It seems like we worked so hard all the time. The last few years we were so on the go all the time that things got put aside and let go because we just didn't have the time or the energy to work on them. It seems like we were travelling somewhere every single weekend. A few years of neglect really takes it's toll on landscaping, fences, pastures, .......yeah.

I look around and think but it was only last year when we put that up or built this or fixed that ...... That sure didn't last very long. ....but then I go look at pictures and the pics are dated 2005 or 2006. Wow. Really? It's been 7 years? 8 years?! ....Man. It seems like we just did that not too long ago. ..... or I think well, we did that just a couple years ago when I retired from Ball ....... but that was in 2003. Almost 10 years ago. .....Yikes. Seriously? That much time has passed? It sure doesn't seem like it.

Went out and put Gato out for a bit. It was so nice out that I decided I was going to try to put that gate together that I've been wanting to build for so long. ....I found all the tools I needed to do it except the screwdriver. I figured what the heck .... they didn't have automatic screwdrivers in the old days -- I'm just gonna use a regular old screwdriver. Yeah. That turned out to be a bad idea. I needed to take out 48 screws by hand. I got 24 out and realized my hands were bleeding. I had apparently been working so hard that I didn't notice I had a few blisters started and then ripped them open. ....until they really started hurting. By the time I stopped to look at my hands, they were bleeding. Ow!! .....so, I stopped. I gotta find that screwdriver. I know it's somewhere around here. I just had it a few weeks ago. I can't remember where I set it down. ??? I looked in the barn and in the house and in the garage. Nowhere. so yeah .... I got half a gate built. or maybe more like 1/4 of a gate built.

Ti (Schwann Man) stopped this afternoon. Haven't seen him for a while. He's been on another route. He always cheers me up when he stops. I'm glad he's back again. ....so we visited awhile. .... jeez my hands really hurt. ....ok, I gotta stop typing. I have blisters on the tips of my fingers. Guess I'm not as tough as I thought I was.

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GATE UPDATE!!

I went out to put Gato back in and give him and the rest of the animals their supper ..... brought my gloves out to work on taking out more screws in that stupid gate. ....but I found my screwdriver!!! YAY! That was MUCH easier. ....and an hour later ..... I HAVE A GATE!!!!! I BUILT A GATE!!!!! I have to still figure out how to hang the gate but at least I HAVE A GATE!! So I present to you .... my new gate. :o) ....I'm gonna go make myself some pancakes and celebrate. I built a gate all by myself. :o)

Monday Update ....

Hahaha! Just found out who owns the longhorn cow that's loose out in the fields. Turns out it isn't Vossburgs ..... it's Krukows. They raise longhorns up the road from us a little ways away. I didn't think it would wander that far away but I guess it did. They just pulled in the driveway to let me know that they've been trying to catch the darn thing since early this morning but they can't get him. He was out west of the farm in the back field this afternoon. Apparently he is now out behind the arena .....east of the barn. They're going to leave him there tonight and hope that he eventually wanders back home. They just wanted to let me know that he's out there. I laughed. :o) I asked them if they rope them when they get out like this .... they said no, they eat them. Hahahaha!! I think this guy is in some trouble if he does eventually wander back home. Hmmm .... I wonder if that's what the dogs were barking at late last night??

Monday

Another day ..... done. Finally. Seems like every day is 10 years long. Seems absolutely endless sometimes.

I slept in this morning. I didn't get up until 6:00am. That's late for me. Probably because I got up at 2am this morning because everybody was barking their freaking heads off at some invisible intruder in the yard. I let everyone out to show them that there's nothing there. ....but it still broke up my night. and took me a while to go back to sleep.

I made myself an egg and cheese on an english muffin with coffee. Went out and did chores around 6:30. Wandered around the farm for a bit. Went back inside and watched HGTV for awhile. Played on Facebook a little bit ... updated the NIAHAC website ..... did dishes.

Went back outside and used up the rest of my weed killer spraying weeds in the little pen by the barn. Wandered around some more. Filled the mower up with gas ...... lawn doesn't really need mowed so I didn't mow.....just filled the tank .... cuz the gas can was sitting there ..... and it looked empty. Figured why not. I might mow tomorrow. That'll give me something to do tomorrow. I kept on dinking around outside picking up stuff laying around the yard. Went out and petted Miss Candy Cane in the mini pasture. She comes to me now. The donkeys swarmed me when I was out there. I stayed and petted them for a while then saw Deb, the mail lady, drive by so I walked out to the mailbox and got the mail. Nothing good, just bills. Then I went back inside and called Dan to see if I could pick up a round bale sometime today. He said 1:00pm worked for him.

It was about 11:30ish at the time so I made myself some lunch. Sweet corn. Ate alone ....with the puppies sitting at the table with me while I watched tv. I kenneled everybody up around noon.......then decided to let Cally ride with me today to get hay.

Went into town to Casey's to put some air in my front tire. It just won't stay inflated. Still not where it needs to be, but it was better. Figured I was on half a tank so I got some gas, too, since Casey's has diesel now. Cally sat in the truck waiting for me to finish filling up, then we headed over to Aredale. Got halfway there and it started to get dark out. Looked like a storm was coming but it wasn't really forecast. It started sprinkling as Dan dropped the bale in the back end of the big truck ....He said "Looks like rain." I said "Yep, sure does." I thanked him, handed him his check, and headed off.

As I drove, sprinkles turned to rain which turned into a complete down pour. It was nasty. Luckily no wind or my bale would have blown right out -- just torrential rain -- out of nowhere. I had to slow down at one point because it was so bad. As I kept driving it finally went away. ....but then came back again once I passed Highway 3. Again with the heavy sheeting. I saw a couple little cars pulled over on the side of the road. I thought ... it's bad, but it's not that bad people. Geesh. As I kept driving towards home it slowed down. Got to the lake and the sun came out and all of a sudden ..... it was completely gone. Just like that. That fast.

Got on the gravel road and it was dusty. What?! Yup. No rain touched my place. In that whole thunderstorm .... the line was right at the lake. Nothing to the west was touched. I got home ....had a grain bucket sitting out thinking it would be filled with water ..... nothing. So I pulled up ...... went to the barn and got some grain for Huck, Tess, and Reymond ..... coaxed them into the adjoining pasture .... shut the gate ..... opened the big gate .... dropped my tailgate ....and as I turned around I saw Kent, the farmer who farms the ground next to us, pull in the driveway....

He says, "Hey .... Do you guys have a longhorn cow?" ..... No. Why? He says "There's a longhorn cow out standing in my field over there." I laughed and told him it was likely Vossburgs. A few years ago, we had a young longhorn cow in our yard and it turned out to be Vossburgs so I'm guessing that's the same one only older and bigger. He thanked me and took off to go let them know their cow was in his field. ....Ok, so you may be laughing thinking that was odd .... Nope, just another day, here on the farm. There's so many weird things that happen here I don't even notice them anymore.

SO ... after Kent left, I jumped in the big truck with Cally ... put it in 4 wheel drive and away we went into the pasture. Dropped the bale out then drove out. I opened the little gate back up to let the horses back in and closed the big gate. Parked the truck, walked around and lifted Cally out of the passenger seat (she hurt her back and can't jump so she needs help getting in and out of the big truck) Then we walked to the barn together to let Gato out.

I went back in the house to let the hoard of animals out who I swear haven't seen me in a year the way they were acting. I think that's why I love them so much -- doesn't matter how long I'm gone, they always act like I've just come home from overseas and I'm their biggest hero in the world. You can just see in all their eyes that they love me so much and are so happy I'm finally home -- even if I've only been gone for 30 minutes.

After they all finally settled down and I had petted everyone, I sat down and checked emails. Nothing important. Played on Facebook a little again. No wash to do. Dishes were done. Saw my El Gato scrapbook sitting on the organ bench so I sat down and went through it updating it with new pics of our last outings with the puppies sitting around me. Got done doing that and was tired so I laid down and took a nap with the puppies. Got up around 4 and ate an apple. Went outside because Gato was shaking his head up and down standing by the gate. That's his sign that he wants back in. He's hot. ....and he's getting mad. When he wants in ..... he wants in NOW. He's such a baby.

Soooo ...grabbed my sweet corn cob from lunch and the apple core I just made with my snack and headed outside to give him a treat so he'd quit waving his head around like a loser. I cleaned his stall .....brought him inside .....gave him his supper then brushed him while he was eating. Then I changed a light bulb that burned out and swept the barn.

After that I went to check on donkey waters. Filled up both tanks ..... overflowed them so it was a little muddy. They like standing in the mud...must be cool on their feet. Puppies like playing in the mud, too. Ducky (llama) lays in the mud. So I just stood there overflowing the tanks for a while. Laughing at the puppies fighting over the mud with the donkeys. Boo Boo found a peice of dried poop that she thought was quite a prize and tried burying it with her nose but then Baby Girl came up to her and she quickly grabbed it and ran away taking it behind the water tank where she tried to cover it up again to hide it. I walked over laughing at her and said -- you know I can see that. She looked up at me in horror realizing that I have seen her hiding place, then she grabbed it and ran away as fast as she could running up under the horse trailer then layed there guarding it with her life. I couldn't quit laughing. What a nut. :o) Those puppies are so funny.

Ducky came up close and touched my hand when I was filling the little tank. That's about as close as you can get to him. Since Fluffy passed last year, he's gotten more social but still keeps his distance. He's awfully soft when you finally get a chance to touch him.

So yeah .... that was pretty much my day today. I'll likely skip supper ..... not very hungry. Didn't really work up an appetite doing anything. I will probably take a shower a little later ....... and will sit and watch tv with the puppies until I fall asleep tonight. Yup ..... so that was pretty much my Monday. I guess it wasn't all that bad actually. Sitting here writing it all out .... I did do something. I took care of everybody. It wasn't such a wasted day after all. Maybe it's ok if I'm not super busy all the time 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I didn't change the world or create something phenomenal ..... I just existed. ....and helped others exist. I guess that's not so bad.