I guess I'm just feeling chatty tonight. I should be cleaning the house (really, it's disgusting) but I find myself cruising the Internet instead. Actually, we had a tornado warning a little while ago and I was outside watching the clouds rotate. Doh! That particular cell was a few miles north of us so I wasn't in imminent danger. I did bring all the dogs in the house and open up the hall closet in case I had to herd them in there but it prooved unneccesary. Larry, who is 25 miles away in south Tulsa, was in more danger than I was. A different tornadic storm. But hey, what would Spring in Oklahoma be without a few tornados. I wouldn't be suprised if we had at least one tornado warning per week until the beginning of June. The storm watchers freakin' preempted American Idol however so I am a bit annoyed by that. I guess its more important that people in the path of a tornado receive warnings than it is for me to laugh gleefully at Simon's evilness. But it WAS Barry Manilow night!
Speaking of Reality TV, I wonder if I qualify for The Swan. Momma needs new boobs. Ok, I really have to go do something constructive.
Sean's post to my comment about being a Redneck got me thinking. I posted a reply to his reply but, upon further contemplation, I find I have more to say.
In jest I called myself a Redneck but that is really a perjorative term I reserve for a "special" breed of people we have here in Oklahoma. On first glance, it may appear, especially to those of us raised in California, that Oklahoma is awash in Rednecks but in reality they're closer to Hicks. What is the difference you wonder? Well, a Hick may drive a pick-up truck, hunt deer and have cow shit on his boots but he's had the same job for years, he doesn't beat his wife and he mows his yard. He may talk funny but that don't make him no Redneck. He may even live in a TRAILER, but he's still not a Redneck.
The guy down the road who uses a Confederate flag as a window dressing is a Redneck.
The overweight Welfare mother with the overweight kids who uses her food stamps to buy Pepsi, Corn Dogs and Doritos as the family's main source of sustenance is a Redneck.
In the same vein, the woman who takes her kid out in public dressed only in a diaper is a Redneck.
The guy down the road who lives in a delapidated trailer yet drives a $40,000 pick-up is a Redneck.
The guys who thinks hunting consists of putting out deer corn, sitting in a tree platform drinking beer all day, just waiting for a hapless deer to cross his path so he can use his 'marksman" skills to shoot the poor thing (really, where's the skill in THAT?) is a Redneck.
The guy that doesn't want "Queers" or "A-Rabs" moving to his town is, in addition to being an ignorant bigot, a Redneck.
The guy that killed his roosters the day they banned Cock Fighting in Oklahoma is a Redneck.
The County Sheriff who looks the other way when the locals still insist on having Cock Fights because "those people need to make a living and it's not hurting anyone" is a Redneck. (By the way, Cock Fighting was JUST recently banned in this state but not without a court fight).
I know I sound like Jeff Foxworthy but I'm not really trying to be funny. These are all behaviors or attitudes I encounter somewhat frequently and they drive me insane. Come to think of it, these people (or their brethren) lived in Modesto as well. I really don't have a point to this blog. I just got to thinking that while I don't mind "hicks" (and am probably turning into one myself), I am definetly NOT a Redneck and please, for the love of God, do an intervention if I ever become one.
It's been kind of a ho hum semi-productive day. I planned it to be a very productive day but that didn't happen. We worked on the electric fence last night and got the top strand almost all the way around. So far Peg has figured out it kind of hurts to lean over the fence but little Chloe is still able to stick her head and neck through the middle of the fence. Tomorrow (or later) we'll run another strand towards the bottom of the fence to keep Chloe in line. Private is moving tomorrow to the barn down the street. He'll have a nice comfy stall, turn out every day, grain twice a day and lots of new horsy friends. For me, I get an indoor arena and an outdoor arena to ride in, both with lights, a cross country course to play on (not that I'll probably ever do cross country but I can ride around the jumps), a wash stall to bathe the dirty boy and access to a riding instructor so I can actually take riding lessons on a horse I own. All the years I spent riding as a teenager, I never owned a horse I took lessons on so I'm very excited about that. Another plus is that he will be stalled and therefore I won't have to spend twenty minutes trying to catch him. I've only had him since the beginning of the year and we still haven't really bonded. Now that he'll be "captive", he'll have no choice but to spend time with me. Lol! I'll still have Peg and Chloe at home to work with. Which leads me to another sore subject of mine. I bought a round pen back in February so I'd have a confined space in which to train the horses. Our ground is clay, and really hard, so I needed some soft dirt to put in the round pen to protect the horses' legs. I called a local dirt company, told them what I wanted and why and the guy said they had some sandy loam that would work. I bought two truck loads ($180.00) and had them dump it in the round pen. The 'sandy loam" turns out to be mostly clay and was impossible to spread around with a rake, or even a shovel. It's since rained and I now have two mounds of cement in my round pen, rendering it useless for training horses. I called the dirt guy and complained and he was apologetic but said he couldn't help me get rid of the dirt although he did offer to bring out some sand for free. That's fine, I can use the sand in place of dirt but I'm still stuck with the frickin' piles of clay. Larry and I thought of uses for it around the property (filling in potholes in the driveway, a new floor for the loafing shed) so it won't go to waste but it's going to be a bitch moving it around without heavy equipment. So I'm still a little peeved about the whole situation.
What else is going own? We went to the farm supply store today ( I LOVE the farm supply store...I'm such a freakin' redneck) and bought some materials to finish the fence, some horse stuff (I can't go that store without buying some horse stuff) and a bag of chicken feed. We then went to Blockbuster and rented "Somethings' Got To Give" and the final Matrix movie, whatever that's called. We also recently upgraded our Directv fro the basic Basic package to the next higher package (no premium channels). We've been watching VH-1 Classics pretty much nonstop since Thursday night. Is it just me or did 80's videos really suck that hard? I mean, good God! Very entertaining though. I've seen crap I haven't seen in twenty years. I've also recently discovered RFD-TV which is a channel devoted to rural living (read 'Must See Hick TV). NOw, I don't tune in to watch the Farm Report but they have many programs about horses and horse training and a show called "Cumberland" something or other that showcases Bluegrass music. Now, I'm not as hip on the Bluegrass music scene as Brie, but I've always enjoyed the music (even bought a Bill Monroe CD years ago) and this show is really neat. So far the acts seem to be regional ( or at least they're no one I've ever heard of like Allison Krause) but the musicianship is phenomenal. Anyways, that what's I do for fun these days, cruise the Farm Supply store and watch Hick Tv. Speaking of which, I just realized Larry is listening to Prairie Home Companion in NPR in the living room so I must join him. Adios!
Howdy y’all. Thought I should post a blog even though not much is going on. I find when I’m stressed or troubled it helps to get my thoughts down on paper (or virtual paper) and I’m feeling a good deal of stress lately. It’s nothing specific, just a sort of free form anxiety and sense of dread. I’m seriously thinking of obtaining a prescription for Paxil but I hate to treat the symptom without knowing the cause. Just what am I stressed about? Let’s explore it.
HORSES
I think the majority of the stress started when we brought home Peg, the new horse, and the other horse (Private) didn’t accept her right away. He’s respecting her now but he just looks unhappy. Today I noticed he’s lame on his right side (last week it was left side) and I tried to give him some Bute (an anti-inflammatory for horses) but he was being cranky and wouldn’t let me get the syringe in his mouth. The vet is coming out today for his Coggins test and I don’t know if I’ll be able to catch him. So I’m stressed about that. Also, last night Peg practically knocked down the back fence to get to the grass on the other side and I had to lock her up in the round pen. She hates the round pen. So I’m also stressed about that. Larry bought some stuff today so we can electrify the fence but it may be a couple days before we can get it set up. I bought the horses so I could enjoy spending time training and riding them and so far I haven’t been able to do either due to weather and time constraints. All I do now is worry about them constantly. Are they getting enough to eat? Are they healthy? Are they happy? I don’t think they’re happy and that’s what bothers me the most.
MONEY
Ok, who among us doesn’t stress out about money, whether they have it or not? I finally finished our taxes the other day and the outcome wasn’t pretty. I knew we would owe money and I can’t say I was surprised at the amount but I still wasn’t ready to accept reality. We don’t have that much cash on hand and I don’t want to put it on a credit card so we’re going to have to make payments to the IRS. I don’t feel too bad about this however. I took a huge chunk of our cash and opened up a SEP IRA in order to reduce our tax liability. My reasoning is I’d rather pay myself then pay the IRS. I figure even with the penalties and interest the IRS is going to charge me on the outstanding amount, it’s still less than what I would’ve owed without the IRA. To add to my stress, we tried to e-file with the IRS and they rejected our filing because Larry’s B-day doesn’t match their records. As far as I know his birthday hasn’t changed. I’m assuming they’re confusing Larry with his father (Larry is a JR.). I guess it’s not that big of a deal. We just have to mail the returns now. Hope I don’t forget .
IN-LAWS
I’m not really stressed about this anymore but I was last week. Larry’s parents came for a visit and, as usual, we weren’t really sure if they were coming or not until the day they left. Due to health problems, neither his mom nor dad is supposed to drive right now so some friends of theirs offered to drive them down. This wasn’t such a great idea. They couldn’t leave on the weekend because Larry’s brother had a court date on Monday and his mom didn’t want to leave town until it was over. Why a 33 yr old man can’t attend a minor court hearing by himself is beyond me but what do I know? So that took three days off their trip. Then it turns out the friends had to be back in Indiana before the next weekend for business reasons. This means his parents would be visiting with us only during the week. Larry and I both had to work and Kyrielle had school. When did they expect to see us? To make matters worse, they all drove down in some 40 ft behemoth RV that the man couldn’t negotiate into our driveway. The nearest campground is fifteen minutes away so they couldn’t even stay close to us. We figured in the three nights they were in Oklahoma, they spent maybe a total of six or seven hours with us. 2 ½ of those hours were in Wal-Mart because God knows they might have different stuff in our Wal-mart then the Wal-Mart in Indiana. I declined to go on the Wal-Mart trip. Before they left they gave us the usual guilt trip about never spending time with them and how they never get to see Kyrielle. At least his mom didn’t cry this time. Larry and I did decide however that we should try to get up there for a few days at the end of the summer, no matter how stressful it is.
Well, there are other things I’m stressed about but this post is getting too long and I have work to do. I’ll try to post again soon.
We got the horse delivered and she is so adorable...and big. Her hair color matches Larry's. Predominately red with some white :). Introducing her to the "herd" went ok. Horses are herd animals and will naturally establish a pecking order with a "herd boss" down to the "low man." Private was the herd boss of Chloe and he rarely had to get aggressive with her to keep her in line. I didn't know what his reaction to the new mare would be. Peg (we'll probably change her name) was the herd boss at home. When we put her in the field, Private quickly tried to put her in place with an aggressive manuever and she let him have it with both barrels and one of those big ol' dinner plates....er...I mean feet ... caught him square in the front of his shoulder. I held my breath thinking she could break his breast bone but he escaped with only a scratch. He stood his ground however and drove her away. About thirty minutes later they were all grazing together seemingly in peace but it will take a few days for Private to firmly establish his dominance...if she doesn't kick him in the head first. After some debate I decided to feed Private his grain. Because we don't have a barn with stalls I have to put his grain in a rubber tub and slide it under the fence. Chloe knows well enough to stay away. Peg does not. She walked up to the fence to see what was going on and he went after her again with teeth bared. She didn't hesitate to turn around that big ol' butt of hers and let those feet fly again. This time she caught him on the upper right leg, scraping off quite a lot of skin. This scared me even more because if she was really trying she could've broke his leg. I know this sounds horribly violent and dangerous but it's perfectly natural behaviour for the horses and there's little us humans can do about it. Like I said, they usually sort these issues out quickly and get on with their life. Occasionally you will get two horses that just refuse to get along and you have to separate them but I don't think it will come to that.
What really scared me is that Larry decided he would "help" by getting in the pasture and holding back Peg, the 1600 lb horse. That was an idiot move. I don't think its fair to bad mouth your spouse to others but in this case its 100% appropriate. His actions were ignorant, dangerous and just plain dumb. I yelled at him to get the F@#& out of there but he just dismissed me with a wave of the hand. What he doesn't realize is if those two horses decided to get into it again Larry wouldn't be able to move fast enough and horses don't give a shit whose in their way when they're fighting. One well placed kick would kill Larry instantly, even if it was from little Chloe. People are hospitalized, paralyzed and killed every year, usually unintionally, by horses. And in larger numbers than you would think. If you're around horses long enough, you're bound to require medical attention at some point. You must recognize and RESPECT their size, strength and mentality. After it was all said and done, Larry laughed at me for being "afraid" of the horses and pointed out that nothing bad happened to him. Not this time you bone head. I could play Russian Roulette with a six shooter five times in a row and have nothing bad happen to me. Yes, I admit, I have my fair share of fear when it comes to the horses but I prefer to call it common sense. What he forgets, or just plain disregards, is that I have the horse experience, he does not. I've been bit, kicked, thrown, stepped on, stomped, knocked over and charged. I've had a horse rear on me and almost squish me underneath it when it lost its balance and went over backwards. Luckily, I've never been seriously hurt. But I've been "scared" into respecting the beasts. Larry is just being a cocky stupid a-hole and its going to get him hurt or worse. I'm sorry to go on but he's scaring me to death with his cavalier attitude. I'm hoping he reads this later and at least gets pissed enough to confront me on the issue. Maybe that will make him listen. Or a trip to the hospital. Either one. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
well ok...I'll give into the peer pressure. It's great hearing from everyone else by the way. Here's some daily stuff. I bought another horse yesterday. I mentioned her already on the messgae board but I'll describe her again. She's an 11 year old Belgian draft mare. Belgian's are similar to Clydesdales (the Budweiser horses) but tend to be stouter and are usually blond in color. This girl is a dark strawberry roan with a flaxen mane and tail which means she's strawberry blond with a light golden mane and tail. She's 16.3 hands tall which means she stands 5'7 at the withers (base of neck where it meets her back). That's small for a Belgian. The seller had a gelding as well that stood close to 19 hands which means he was about 6'3 at his withers. Keep in mind a horse usually holds their head at least a foot higher than their back. That's big! I bought this mare because she's basically bomb proof and Larry and Kyrielle can both ride her and mess around with her without too much worry. Supposedly she's been trained to drive by the Amish but I've never driven a horse nor do I have the equipment (harness and wagon) so I can't really prove that. She's also been fertility tested so I can breed her if I want. If I did it would be to a lighter breed like a Thouroughbred or a Paint. The resulting offspring between a draft and a light breed is referred to as a Sports Horse or Warmblood and they are very popular on the dressage and three day event circuit. My only drawback with this mare is that she's not registered. The Amish are notorious for not registering their drafts even though their purebreds and I don't know how hard it will be to get her registered without a pedigree. We'll see.
I'll post more later. Larry needs my help with something.