Mikey's Blog

Friday, August 31st, 2007

Good Horses

After a long hard week

It’s a welcome sight to see the Date Creek Ranch horses roll in

Aren’t they cool?

They look like they’re ready to jump out and go to work

They stand well

They don’t cause any problems

We LOVE them

We finished before dark for once

I got the opportunity to shoot THIS on the way home

Looks like the sky is on fire

I can’t thank God enough that I live this life

It’s hard, it’s exciting, it’s beautiful!

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Wednesday, August 30th, 2007

Heart Attacks and Horse Trailers

We finally did it

We bought a bigger trailer

We own 15 horses, one measuring close to 17 hands

The bumper pull wasn’t cutting it

So we bought this

I really really like it

Now if we can find time to go somewhere….

__________________

Here’s the heart attack part

My beautiful gray horse, Monte

Had himself an accident last night

I’d just put new shoes on him. He was way over due.

His feet had completely grown over his shoes (shame on me!)

I let him loose to run around afterwards, since it was close to feeding time

He wouldn’t go anywhere, right?

WRONG

He skipped out the gate and galloped around

Showing us how fast he could run in his new shoes

I saw him go and started telling him he needs to get back in here

I was heading for the hay, figured if I started feeding he’d come in

He stopped, then you could see him decide “Just one more run”

He took off at high speed, heading for a 10 ft gap between my fence and the neighbors

I left it that way so I could ride through if I needed to

Note: he is familiar with all these fences

All of the sudden, there’s a crash, big cloud of dust and my horse is down!

I saw it happen, but I can’t see far away so well anymore

I thought he’d clipped the fence and stumbled

I yelled for Wade, who was inside, on the phone talking to the other neighbor, Brett

Who was saying “Your horse is out”

I ran, Wade came running, Brett came running

Poor Monte was shook up, but he got right up and then stood there

Wondering how to get out of this yard

(these neighbors aren’t living there, the house is empty)

We checked him over and he’s ok

Just a bit of road rash

The fence is totaled

We tried to put it back up, but it’s going to need some work

See those birdhouses?

Yeah, me too

How come Monte didn’t see those??

Still standing

You know this hurts

If there is something you can’t imagine them doing

They will surely manage to do it

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Sunday, August 26th, 2007

How bout them cowgirls?

This is the face of a happy 3 yr old

Mercy and Grandma

Casper knows what to do

“You go like this Grandma”

_________________

Off subject

Guess which toe is probably broken

_________________

Happiest on her horse

Follow the leader

It’s a stretch to get that flag!

(she does get it)

Vinnie says “No way, not gonna happen”

Mikey says “Guess again”

Mercy bites her nails while Mommy and Vinnie

discuss this “fear of the flag”

I got off and wiped Vinnie with

the flag until he decided it wasn’t going to eat him.

This took a few minutes.

Flag in hand

We have a clean run and quit

Cruisin da hood

Cowgirl style

The perfect ending

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Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

Gymkhana time

Flag race practice

Now how do I reach that ?

Got it!

Whoa Casper!

Oh no!! Too far!!

You won’t do it for me?

I’ll just CRY

And get over it 2 minutes later to go run barrels

__________________

Waiting on the bus

She’s learned to use the camera. Great!

A candid of Mikey as she usually is

On the phone - in the truck

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Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

Bull snakes, shoeing and freedom

There’s a bull snake in my tack room.

I’m ok with this, mostly.

We have a mice/rat problem happening and it

won’t be long before they eat on our saddles.

Then I will be mad

So the other night while I was feeding, this little bull snake darted in there

I let him

I even gave him some water

I screamed a little when I saw him, I admit it

Wade keeps asking

“Are you sure it was a bull snake?”

Yes, I’m sure

I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture of it for you

But rest assured, it was not a rattlesnake

I promise

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We did some shoeing at home last night

Mercy and Wade did all the work

I took pictures

Mercy demonstrates proper position

And improper foot attire

The jackals wait for any scrap tossed their way

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As I post these pictures, I think to myself

This is a truly amazing life

What’s even better are the moments that don’t get photographed

The “you had to be there” moments

I’ll try to describe a recent one

We were on the porch the other night - being idiots

Wade asked me to pop his back, which is a big joke

I never can do it right

But I try

So after two attempts, his way and mine

I come up with one more way

I tell him, now you have to let me, and you have to hang

We’re both grinning like fools

I grab his arm and sling him over my shoulder

Wheezing “HANG, YOU GOTTA HANG”

Which makes us both start laughing

I’m trying my dangedest to hold onto him

And he’s LAUGHING

Then it happens

You feel that moment coming

And you know

You’re gonna pee your pants

Worse is, he knows

(or he’s going to pee his too)

I let him down

Both of us doubling over laughing so hard

Tears are rolling

And we’re both trying not to pee

No one but us to witnesses this

(thank Heaven)

I think to myself

How great it is

that we can laugh like this.

Then I think…

Somewhere in a foreign country

An American is not laughing

He’s dying

So I have the freedom to laugh and have fun

Be thankful for every moment you have

Don’t forget those who make it possible

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Thursday, August 16th, 2007

The stuff I live for

Sorry it’s been so long!

But WHAT A BUSY WEEK

Milestones!!

Mercy went to school this week for the first time

Big smiles on our way in

She got to ride THE BUS

Because we are unashamedly redneck,

for her reward we let her ride a bull

That’s Mossy Oak Mudslinger

In case you didn’t recognize him

Another milestone

Wade tries his hand at the

business accounting program

Now he knows why it takes me

2 ½ hrs to do it

for good measure I tugged on his shirt and cried

“Mommy, Mommy, I need ice cream RIGHT NOW”

so he got the full effect

Then we had big fun!

Robert and Cora came over and got under some horses

Kids, dogs, horses…

Cora learning the fine art of rasping

Both these kids are naturals

They jumped right under these horses

Looks like a pro at work

What I like best is when we say get under the horse,

he really can get under the horse

Cora did a full trim on Olga by herself

She totally reminds me of someone…..

Oh right

ME

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Saturday, August 11th, 2007

Tender Moments

Hello beautiful

Shhhhh

I’m horse whispering

Spooky is listening