Our Yard

This morning I took some pictures of the beautiful crab apple trees in our back and front yards, and the beginnings of some gardens I put in last fall. I hope to continue the work this summer and have many more blooms next spring!

The tree in the back yard, with some of its blossoms:

The front tree - actually two that have grown together, creating a beautiful combination of white and pink blooms (and my peonies coming up underneath!):

The front garden by our driveway - asiatic and glory lilies in the back, astilbe in the middle, and chives and some little white and yellow ground cover in the front. Morning glories also climb up the railing in the summer!

The hasta plants I put in last fall in the side yard are starting to come up:Sadie keeps watch over the yard while I check the gardens and take pictures. :)

Fun with Sadie!

Don't we have a beautiful little girl? Sadie loves the barn, not only because she gets to pose for her beauty queen shots ;), but also because she gets to play with the jumps in the arena! Here are a few action shots of our flying pup doing her own version of agility:

Flying through the air with the greatest of ease!

...ears flapping in the breeze... :)

Look at that form!

"Yay, I LOVE to jump!"

"Geez mom, that was hard work - hold me up and get me some water!"

Spring Things

Well, it seems like posting is becoming a monthly occurence around here, which I guess is better than never! Although being busy is not a good excuse, it is at least true - since Luke and I hit the ground running here on April 1st I worked 28 out of the past 30 days (working the last two Sundays at horse shows) and Luke not only headed back to his part-time carpentry work and his own farrier practice but also took on several clients from a fellow farrier who pinched a nerve in his back and is still recuperating from surgery! April and May are definitely some of the busiest months around here, what with horses getting spring tune-ups to be show-ready by summer (both training-wise and shoeing-wise!), our annual HGF Open House which we had on Apr. 20th, spring cleaning both at the barn and at home and continuing with all the "regular" stuff like keeping food in the cupboards, routine maintenance on the vehicles and rotating clothes through the washer and dryer on a somewhat regular basis. :)

While our bodies are weary at the moment - Luke's from doing every type of carpentry work imaginable in addition to doing 6-8 horses in a day on his "days off," mine from jumping over 200 jumps the weekend of Apr. 19-20th and regularly working 4-7 horses per day - we are very happy to have mostly warm temperatures and mostly sunshine finally permeating our northern outpost. ;) We are looking at more rain this week but can't really complain since most of April was brilliantly sunny (several time the forcast was for "abundant sunshine!") and unseasonably warm.

This month we are also looking forward to reconnecting with family and friends. Luke is travelling out to Montana May 13-19 to visit his hometown and attend a friend's wedding, while I am headed to Boston on the 16th and 17th for Jonathan's graduation from Gordon. Afterwards the Pinckney clan will be returning to our home for a much anticipated 4 days of visiting before they head back down south. So in case we don't get around to posting on the blog, you'll know where we are. ;)

Enjoy the spring weather, wherever you are!

62 degrees colder!

Last week we enjoyed a wonderful vacation at my grandparents' second home in Myrtle Beach, SC. It was sunny all week, in the low-mid 70s, with temps even reaching low 80s on Friday. Now we are back in NY, and the low is supposed to be 18 tonight. I love New England... =P
The best part of going on vacation to a place you've been many times is you don't feel pressured to "do everything," because it's not a once-in-a-lifetime chance. We felt free to sleep in, laze around the house, watch movies, play golf on my grandfather's computer (yes, we did and I'm not ashamed because we had fun and laughed together while relaxing), and generally do whatever we felt like doing. We also enjoyed the usual "beach house" activities - lots of mini golf, dinners out, breakfast at the pier, go-carts at the NASCAR speedway, and, of course, hanging out on the beach. Sadie LOVED chasing her ball, running up and down the beach, jumping over the channels of water left at low tide, digging furiously in the sand, and happily greeting everyone who walked by! Here is a sampling of pictures from our activities:

Putting carefully...

This one is an action shot! Note the ball suspended in midair above the hole :)

Yay, we love sunshine and 70s!

Luke, intent on not letting the next guy get past...

... and Sadie, intent on not letting that darn seashell get away!

One of our favorite parts of the trip was seeing Cirque de Soleil at Broadway at the Beach - if you've never seen them, it's a MUST! Even Luke, who at first was skeptical, loved the show and thought they were incredible. Who else combines amazing acrobatic feats with cats dressed in elaborate costumes sitting stock still as they're pulled around the stage on a coach by a standard poodle???

Now we are back home, both sore from returning to work and a little tired from all the driving, but refreshed from our week away. We have resolved to not wait another 3 years before taking another vacation. :)

He's Here!!!

"Bailey" finally arrived at 10:30 last night, a huge foal with incredibly long, spindly legs. It took him longer than usual to stand and nurse because he couldn't figure out how to get those long legs organized! But he's walking and nursing on his own now and both mama and baby are doing well. Bella is an excellent mother, cleaning, encouraging and helping her baby every step of the way - we are so proud of her! His full name is "Bailintin" - an Irish name meaning "valiant," which he has already proved himself to be! He has three white socks like his dad, a beautiful dish face exactly like his mama's, and already looks like his big brother, Paladin. We are so excited to have the first HGF baby, this gorgeous little Irish stud colt.

Jamie's sister Jenny took LOTS of pictures and video last night, and I'll be posting them as soon as she has them up. For now, the webcam is on and we are all getting some well-needed rest after a long, exciting night.

Delayed and Waiting

Well, we were supposed to be in Myrtle Beach this week. But we weren't. Instead, we were here in NY waiting for Jamie's mare Bella to have her first foal. She is now 2 1/2 weeks overdue and all of us are exhausted from the late nights of waiting for this baby and the many false alarms she has given us. Luke and Sadie crashed last Sat. afternoon on the couch after a late Friday night checking Bella's webcam every hour because she seemed to be going into labor:

(I was still up checking the camera!) Poor Bella is cranky and uncomfortable. Her bags are just about bursting with milk, and they keep getting bigger every day - a good sign for us, but not very comfy for her! We are hoping for a colt, and Eric says that 95% of the time when cows are late it's a bull, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. This will be a half-sibling to my horse, Paladin, and the last foal their daddy, Mountain Pearl, bred in the US before he was shipped back to Ireland last April. So we have one special baby coming, whenever it decides to get here! We have long lists of Irish names that we are considering - if you know of any good ones, please leave them as comments or email them to me!

After living out of our suitcases for almost a week, waiting for the baby to be born so we could leave, we decided to officially postpone our trip to Myrtle Beach so that we could unpack and go grocery shopping, since we had eaten all the good food in the house in preparation for leaving. We are now planning to be gone the last week in March, so we can visit everyone in Charlotte for Easter and hopefully have some nice warm weather at the beach. We can't wait to see what Sadie thinks of the ocean!

Sadie pictures!

Sadie is all healed up now, and she has been providing a lot of entertainment lately. She is such a cuddler, and will do anything to be near us while we're hanging out at home. Here are some pictures from one night she was "desperate."

Lounging with Luke - she climbed on top because I was lying next to him, but got up to take the picture. :)

When I lay back down, Luke moved a little and Sadie was wedged in tight between him and to couch. She didn't seem to mind!

She was so please to be cuddling, she just conked out and started snoring!

Sadie's friend Schnapps comes up to the barn every Saturday while his owner's daughter has her lesson. They love to play in the tack room, and will roughouse for over 2 hours at a time! Needless to say, we love it because she comes home and immediately flops on her bed. :)

Sometimes they get a little tired and lie on the floor next to each other, growling and playing without having to stand up and hold their own weight... lazy bums! This picture is taken looking straight down on them from above.If we're at home in the mornings, Sadie loves to nap in the sunshine from the single living room window, and she'll move with the sunbeam. Right now though, she looks pretty content where she is!

Snowy Pictures!

It has been very warm here the past week, with record-breaking temperatures on Tues. and Wed. in the 60s! But the two weeks before that were very snowy with a couple of bitterly cold days (single digits, with wind chills in the negative teens). So here are some snowy New England pictures, taken on New Year's Eve, for those of you who don't get to enjoy "the awful white stuff," as Thomas once called it.

The view from our driveway.

Our house and my car buried in snow!

Heading down the barn driveway for a snowy trail ride. :)

Luke and Babe, a training mare, crossing a stream in the trail.

Apollo, another training horse, and me waiting for Luke and Babe!

We've been having lots of fun riding in the snow, and are looking forward to more snowfall next week. At least there are a few good things about cold weather!

Merry Christmas and Pray for Sadie

Merry Christmas everyone! It's been a whirlwind fall, time feels like it has flown by (as always!). We pray that everyone is enjoying this wonderful season and remembering the great Gift which we celebrate.

We have a prayer request today. Last night our precious little Sadie went out as usual to do her business and Luke left her out a little longer than we usually do. When he went to call her, she was nowhere to be found. We looked as long as we could, drove up and down our road calling to her, but eventually had to leave for our Christmas Eve service without finding her. I was worried the whole service and as soon as it was over we rushed home. She was here waiting for us, overjoyed to see us when Luke noticed she was limping. She had a very bad cut/tear on the back of her wrist on her left front leg.

We immediately called the vet who said we should come in, so we took her to the hospital. They ended up putting her under anesthesia, exploring and flushing the wound, and stitching it up in a "T" shape. The vet said we were extrememly lucky (translate blessed!) because the laceration came withing a hair of several major tendons and one major artery in the leg - if it had hit the artery, she probably would have bled to death before we got home. Scary! They also took an x-ray to make sure the leg wasn't broken, which it isn't (praise God!). She also has a scrape and nasty bruise in the armpit area of her right front leg which they cleaned up. If only animals could talk so we would know what happened to her!

We arrived back home with her at 1am this morning. She slept restlessly all night, frequently whining quietly and sometimes crying out. At 5 I got up to console her - that was about the time they told us her pain meds would wear out, and she was not a happy camper. This morning Luke left to help with chores at the barn at 6:45 and I tried to coax her to eat so she could have her pain medicine (it has to be taken with food). I finally found the trick - some chicken I had bought for Luke! I never thought I would be cooking tiny pieces of chicken at 7am on Christmas morning and hand-feeding them to a dog, but this morning I felt like a hero when she gobbled them down after refusing everything else.

The pain meds have started to kick back in but, being a hound, she is a big crybaby about everything. They told us she would have to go outside within a couple hours because they gave her IV fluids during surgery, but so far she cries loudly every time she tries to stand and then gives up and lies back down. So that's our next hurdle. Here she is sleeping on her bed with her poor bandaged leg and the food and water she won't touch. You can also see the bruise on the inside of her bottom leg:

Please pray for our sweet little doggie! We are praying for quick healing and that she doesn't pull any stitches. Also that this pain med. really helps because it is so sad to hear her cry and she has the most pitiful look on her face ever! Right now I am off to attempt a trip outside again, and then to finish my cooking for Christmas dinner.

Luke's Latest Work

Luke has set up a photo album with some of the tack he's been working on lately. Logan got to be the model... boy is he a ham! :) Take a look!

http://cuerogear.shutterfly.com

Introducing... SADIE!

That's right, our family has grown again! Last Wednesday we adopted an absolutely adorable little hound mix named Sadie. She is super sweet and her favorite thing in the whole world is to cuddle. She is two years old, housetrained, and is now sleeping through the night (the first two nights were a little tough). She does have some separation anxiety and is always thrilled to see us in the morning or if we've been gone somewhere. So far she has only had one accident in the house (when we were gone) and chewed up one plastic bag (also while we were gone). She knows "sit" fairly well, has learned "on your bed" (the nighttime instruction!) and we are working on "come," "no," and "off." Here are some pictures of our beautiful little girl:

The side view - she's a little girl (only about 35lbs.)!

Isn't that face too cute?!

We sometimes let her up on the couch, and she loves to put her head on the pillows!

She loves attention and she loves Luke... she's good at giving kisses!

One of her favorite places - her bed in the corner of the kitchen.

She keeps us laughing, trying to bury a chew toy on her bed by pushing at the bed with her nose, stalking the coffee table after Luke pushed it with his foot and it made a noise, and getting so excited her whole body just wriggles and shakes when we get home!

She's also been sneezing and coughing quite a bit the past two days, so if anyone has any thoughts on why or helpful remedies, they'd be much appreciated! We have a physical scheduled in two weeks, but may try and move it up to get the hacking checked out. She's not perfect, but she sure is a cutie and we are enjoying being dog owners. :)

The Summer's (almost) Over!

Well, it's been a crazy summer and I feel like every time I sit down at the computer I think, "I should do a blog entry today," but it's always late and there are a thousand reasons not to. So today, I'm going to just blow through the summer so I don't have this huge backlog of stuff I need to write about hanging over me.

Perhaps one of the most fun things of the past 3 months is that Paladin went to his first horse show ever! He was wonderful and we had tons of fun... here are some pictures of my handsome boy in action!

Jumping his heart out (can you tell which way we're turning next?)...

Good boy!!!

Hangin' out with the gang - L to R, Jamie, me, Juliette, Melissa and Galen (that would be, horse-wise, Spike, Paladin, Arrow, Jestic and the big boy, Jazz!)

It was a great experience and we can't wait for little schooling shows to start again in the spring. And, speaking of shows, we are just two weeks away from our first show at HGF! We've been planning like crazy and still have a ways to go, but we are hosting an "Eclectic Horse Show Series" for the holidays, with one show in Oct., one in Nov., and one in Dec. Instead of the usual classes from just one discipline, like jumping or dressage, we are incorporating lots of disciplines into a fun show for everyone. We will have groundwork and round pen classes, dressage classes, jumping classes, and some other fun classes including a costume class in October and hopefully a pairs class in November!

While I've been crazy with this stuff at the barn, Luke has been working weekends at a dude ranch, leading trail rides! 1000 Acres Ranch is located near Lake George, almost an hour and a half from here, so Luke stays up there the weekends that he works. He's enjoyed the different experience, but is ready for it to be over (he has one more weekend to go).

One weekend while he was gone, I redid our entire bedroom! I pulled up old carpet, stripped old wallpaper, primed and painted and got the room set back up again before he returned as a complete surprise. I have lots of pictures step by step, so I'll have to post them sometime soon.

Well, I'm up to the barn to teach some lessons and hopefully ride my own horse today! I know I've said this before, but we promise to not let it be another 3 months before posting... eek.

Would You Have Guessed This?

You scored as Elinor Dashwood, As Marianne's older sister, Elinor lives at the other end of the emotional spectrum. She rarely reveals her intense feelings and is more concerned with being honest and loyal than having what she deserves. Even though her intentions are pure, she sets herself up for loss by constantly placing other people before her own needs. Overall, Elinor is gentle and rational but is just as capable of radical emotions (despite her withholding them) as her sister. Elinor Dashwood 91% Elizabeth Bennet 72% Jane Bennet 66% Emma Woodhouse 56% Marianne Dashwood 44% Charlotte Lucas 44% Lady Catherine 25% Which Jane Austen Character are You? (For Females) Long Quiz!!! created with QuizFarm.com

"Tasty Little Morsels of Perfect Goodness"

There are many little things in life to be thankful for: the beautiful color on my kitchen walls, the fact that my car gets good gas mileage, a well-braided rawhide honda (guess who contributed that one? ;)), a truck that has over 250,000 miles and is still going strong ("if you can't Dodge it, RAM IT!)... but sometimes even the littler things in life are worth enjoying.

This evening, we had to make a late run into town to deposit some checks and pick up some feed for the barn, so we decided to swing by the grocery store and pick up a few necessities as well. And, well, some not-so-necessities. I try to be very good about making lists, comparing prices, only buying things I need, getting healthy food, never shopping on an empty stomach, etc... but... we were late getting to the store, tired and very hungry since we hadn't had dinner yet. When we walked in, the artisan breads looked so delicious that I picked up a rosemary-olive oil demi loaf and thought, "I'll just have a bite to quell my stomach so I'm not shopping hungry." Yeah, right. Within 10 minutes we had devoured the loaf and sheepishly brought the bag along with us to the cashier... "We were hungry and it looked sooo good, we just couldn't wait!"

And then, all good intentions aside, I looked at the candy bars and completely caved. Splitting Reeses cups (my favorite) with Luke on the way home from the grocery store, the car filled with good food, is definitely one of life's little, simple, slightly naughty pleasures that is oh so good. As Luke put it, "They're tasty little morsels of perfect goodness." You said it, honey!

What are you thankful for today? :)

More Roping Pictures!

Here are some of the great pictures that Jamie's sister Jenny got from Luke and Eric's roping demo:

Luke and Eric, ready for the chase :)

Laying down the cow
Logan holding the rope tight while Luke ties the cow - what a team!Close-up of Luke multi-tasking: controlling his horse, tieing the cow, and answering a question all at the same time! The cows - left to right, Baldy, Big Red and Dolly - happy to be done for the day and ready to go back home!

All in all it was a great day and people really enjoyed the show. Now Luke and Eric are working on gathering a few more cows to rope and practicing for their next big appearance, yet to be scheduled. Luke is going to be giving roping demonstrations for a local corn maze in September and October, but it is as yet undetermined whether or not the cows will be going along for the ride. ;) We'll keep y'all posted on his rise to fame!

I'm Sick...

Ugh. Please pray for me. Thursday night I started getting a sore throat, Friday morning it was much, much worse, and Friday afternoon I started getting stuffed up. This morning I could barely talk. After sucking on 18 cough drops I was able to teach two lessons, but my nose is still running like a freight train and is now all red from blowing it all day. Now the summer cold is moving into my chest and this afternoon I've been coughing more. I'm still living on cough drops and have taken several decongestants but they don't seem to be helping at all. Ugh.

I must say I'm not surprised... one of the chore girls has been on vacation this week so I've been filling in, which means early mornings and longer days than I do already. Thurs. and Fri. I worked, then last night was there till midnight braiding a horse for a show today. This morning I was awaken by a phone call because a horse was colicking... and the day just got better from there!

Now, I don't want to complain because this is a very small trial compared to what many people face, but it's frustrating to me because I rarely get sick. So your prayers for my health would be much appreciated.

How can we pray for you? Whether big or small, no request is too small for our Father!

In the Newspaper!

Last Saturday, Luke and his friend Eric did a roping demonstration at the bicentenial celebration for a little town about 25 minutes from here. A reporter from the Albany Times Union, one of the biggest newspapers in the area, didn't stay for the demo but took lots of pictures of Luke and Eric practicing their roping beforehand. Although they weren't mentioned in the short article (mostly about the history of the town), both pictures that accompanied the article were of Luke! The paper only posted one picture in the online version though, so here it is:


Jamie's sister Jenny got some wonderful pictures of the actual demo, so hopefully I'll have those to post soon.

Things I'm Thankful For/Am Currently Enjoying About Life

- New England summers with days like today: mid-seventies, breeze, slightly overcast with breaks of beautiful sunshine - just perfect!
- A job where my days are filled with incredible variety - none of the "same old, same old" for me! (This, of course, can also be stressful as it requires constant adaptation, but it's always an adventure)
- Two wonderful veterinarians who take amazing care of all the horses at the barn, including mine, and are friendly and great to work with as well.
- My goofy horsey teenager who is a bratty pain-in-the-butt and a sweet, wonderful, athletic, hilarious, amazing blessing all at the same time. He never fails to make me smile and he's just so adorable!
- An incredible husband who takes wonderful care of me and is so sweet and supportive of everything I do.
- Trail riding. It's just great.
- New job hours that mean I get more sleep and more time to get things done at home.
- Coming home at the end of the day exhausted but content, knowing I put in a good day's work and can now rest, relax and be refreshed for tomorrow.

Thank you, Lord, for all Your simple yet magnificent blessings.

Ice Cream Bandit

Can you guess who this is???

This is a little fact that most people don't know about Erin. She is an awesome cook when it comes to meats!! Most of you know that Erin is a vegetarian, and I'm not, but she will still cook meat for me. She made this meatloaf the othernight that was the best I'd ever eaten! It was even better than I could have cooked it. Just thought you should know.

Tagged!

So, I've been feeling guilty about not having written anything, and being tagged by Mommy was just the push I needed to write again. So here they are, 8 facts/habits about myself that you may not know.

1. I have a very hard time making decisions, so deciding what 8 things to put in this list is going to be tough!
2. I'm an overachiever and always plan on doing more than I'm actually able to accomplish. Case in point: our living room walls have now been pockmarked and scraped from having wallpaper taken down for five months (wow, I can't believe it's been that long!), while we've been trying to finish up painting the kitchen cabinet doors and work our crazy more-than-full-time schedules. And I thought we could finish both rooms in a week... :-P
3. I'm a homebody - my favorite ways to spend leisure time all involve just staying home and either getting housework done, napping, or curling up with a cup of tea and a good book, especially on a rainy afternoon. I love coziness!
4. The first time I met Luke, my husband, I hated him because he had punched my little brother in the stomach.
5. When I'm riding in Luke's truck, I like the volume on his stereo to be set at a number divisible by five (usually 20 or 25). Don't ask me why, I have no idea, it's just the digital display and I like having it there... Luke said that was too quirky a fact to leave out!
6. Despite being a homebody, I also LOVE to travel... on my list of places to go: Europe (Vienna, Paris, Greece and Italy), Cameroon again, Kenya again, NC to see family, one of the Caribbean islands, pretty much anywhere I haven't been.
7. I have a horse who, if I sit on the fence of a pasture or corral that he's in, will walk over to me without a halter or bridle on and position himself so that his back is right next to me. Then, he won't let me get off the fence unless I climb on him. Isn't that cool? I LOVE that he wants to be ridden so much! :-)
8. I love to cook, particularly comfort foods like soup and good breads, but I also love trying new recipes or looking for unusual ingredients in the grocery store that might be fun to use in something. My most recent dish was a combination of onions, chick peas, and coconut milk simmered with spices. Yummy and sooo good for you!

So there's the list, and now I have no idea who to tag... I'll have to come back later and add tags (and don't worry, I really will get to it tonight).

We're Back!

Well, after a long hiatus, we're finally back online. Luke called earlier in the week and set up an installation for today, so now we'll be able to keep up better and keep everyone posted on life in the far north. The past few months have been filled with frozen buckets and water tanks, slippery roads and driveways (whose idea was it anyway to put the barn at the TOP of the hill...), gale force winds, hot chocolate, hats and gloves, five layers of long underwear, steaming horses, and one very special baby! Our friend (and boss) Jamie had her son on Jan. 17th. Cole Jackson is now over 11 pounds and has started making day trips up to the barn on days when the temperature gets above 40. He is absolutely adorable and has been a very sweet, though not always easy, baby.

Our kitchen is painted now, thanks to a visit from Luke's parents, who were a HUGE blessing! Our horses are doing well, although poor Paladin was neglected most of the winter while I was busy doing all the riding for both Jamie and myself, since she was great with child. We are tired at the end of every day and just coming into a very busy training season, but we still enjoy our work and love living in this beautiful, though not always cooperative, area of the country. We look forward to being more in touch in the months to come!

Coming Up for Air

Whew! The last month has been crazy! We don't have internet access at our house yet, and the few hurried times I've managed to run to the library to pay bills online have not afforded any time for blogging. I miss it! All's going well at our house, although much more slowly than we had hoped. Currently the kitchen is primed and waiting to be painted after Christmas, the living room is missing some wallpaper (although not all - there are six layers to be stripped!), our pots, pans and food supplies are living in the spare bedroom, and we are still sleeping on an air mattress on the living room floor next to our wood stove. But we love having our own home and wouldn't trade it for anything! I promise to post pictures as soon as we get our own internet connection, so that I can upload them from my computer (which is also on the floor in the spare bedroom :-P).

Right now I can blog freely because we are visiting my family in NC. YAY!!!! This is a MUCH needed break for us - we realized a couple days before coming down that we hadn't actually had a full day off since we visited down here last Christmas! This past year every day has been at least partially filled with schoolwork, building the barn, moving, or working at the barn. It's been a crazy, busy, tiring year but wonderful all the same. We love what we're doing and are excited about all the opportunities and blessings God has given us over the past year.

We are also incredibly thankful, for many things: jobs that we love, a house of our own, the luxury and joy of our horses, the opportunity to work closely together much of the time, our wonderful church, good friends, family that loves us and with whom we can rest, relax, recuperate and recharge. But most of all, we are thankful for God's incredible, indescribable, incomprehensible gift of Christ, His Son. Without Him and His grace, abundantly poured into our lives, these blessings would mean nothing. He is the ultimate source of all the joy, strength, patience, love and community we have experienced this year, and words cannot express our thankfulness and adoration. It is our hope that each of you would draw close enough this Christmastime to see and feel the joy, hope and love this babe in the manger, this Savior on the cross brings into the world.

A House of Our Own

Well, it's taken me awhile to post this amidst all the craziness, but we are now homeowners!!! We closed on Wednesday afternoon, moved some clothes and other things over Thursday, and spent several hours this evening trying to scrape old wallpaper off the kitchen and living room walls. We're house-sitting at Camp DuBoff this week, so we won't actually move in until Saturday evening, which is nice because it gives us some time to get organized.

We are also hoping to paint the kitchen and living room before we move in. After tonight, that may be an ambitious goal, but we're going to try! We discovered this evening that the kitchen has not one, but three layers of wallpaper on the walls. And the living room has not three, but SIX layers of old wallpaper!!! Most of it actually started coming off fairly easily in the living room, although it's somewhat disconcerting because it feels like you're taking a whole chunk of the wall off! But the bottom layer is pretty sticky, so we may have to get a steamer for that. We'll see. We don't have internet or anything set up yet, so updates may be spotty for awhile, but I'll try and stay up to date as much as possible.

Draughts and Pearls

I think I mentioned before that Paladin is and Irish Draught/Quarter Horse cross. Although I don't know his QH bloodlines yet (I don't yet have his papers, but I'll be getting them from the breeder), I do know about the Irish Draught side. Here's a little about IDs from the website for the Irish Draught Horse Society of North America:

"Over a century of selection has produced a warm-blooded breed which are very sound, sensible animals with good bone, substance and quality. It is proud of bearing, deep of girth and strong of back and quarters. The Irish Draught is neither as massive nor as heavily feathered as it's name implies and has movement that is smooth and free, without exaggeration, and not heavy nor ponderous. Standing over a lot of ground, the Draught has an exceptionally strong and sound constitution, great stamina and an uncanny jumping ability. In addition, this breed possesses a fabulous temperament made up of willingness, intelligence, docility and common sense."

Here is a little about Paladin's daddy, a purebred Irish Draught named Mountain Pearl:

"Mountain Pearl is one of the Irish Draught world's best known and popular stallions. He is a horse of exceptional athleticism with superb, people oriented temperament. He is 17.1 hh and bright bay. He was foaled in 1989 in County Cork, Ireland and passed performance testing by the Irish Horse Board in 1993. We imported him in late 1997 and he stands stud in eastern Iowa.

His jumping ability and movement speak for themselves:


Even so, the characteristic Mountain Pearl and his foals are most noted for is temperament. When people visit, be they horse people, or children, or grandparents they are amazed at his attitude. He is gentle, kind, and curious, yet majestic. Wow! is the most common reaction from people, then they want to get close and touch him - which he loves."

A Horse of My Own

It may surprise some of you to know that, although I've loved horses as long as I can remember, ridden them since I was 7, trained them since I was 16, and now make my living working with them, I have never owned a horse of my own. There have been several special horses in my life, but they've all been owned by other people.

Now, there are some nice things about that. For one, it's nice to have someone else picking up the tab for board, shoes, blanekts, food, shots, etc. I often joked that I had the best of both worlds - training and spending time with horses I loved, without having to pay for or worry about them.

But, seeing one favorite horse after another get sold and leave the farm gets old and sad after awhile. And there was one special boy I just couldn't bear to let go. Yep, that's right, I BOUGHT A HORSE!!! I'm now the very proud and excited owner of my very first horse, an amazing 4-year-old Irish Sport Horse named Palladin.

I started Palladin this summer and fell in love with him before I ever rode him, but never even considered buying him. He has a quirky, goofy personality that is comical and lovable at the same time. He loves attention and play and turns to mush when you pet his face or scratch one of his favorite spots. But I love most of the horses I work with, and I wasn't looking for a horse.

Then, when I rode him, I couldn't believe what I was feeling. There is absolutely no way to describe this to someone who hasn't ridden nice horses or doesn't ride at all, but Palladin's canter is the most incredible thing I've ever felt on a horse. Most babies are gawky and awkward (and he can be sometimes too!) and need help finding a rhythm, but his canter is the smoothest, most naturally rhythmic gate I have ever felt. It's like riding a waltz played in perfect time by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

And then we started jumping him.

It was all downhill from there. So I joked about finding somebody to buy him for me, but prepared myself to say goodbye, because I knew he'd sell quickly once we started advertising him. But driving home from dinner with Jamie one night, she mentioned that she knew I loved him and we could figure something out with his price. Luke and I debated the pros and cons, went back and forth, and decided not to buy him - after all, we are closing on our first house next week! But after sitting down and really crunching the numbers, we figured out that we really did have the money after all, and so today Jamie called the 16 people, some as far away as California, that had seen his ads on the internet and were seriously interested in buying him.

It still hasn't quite sunk in yet. I OWN MY OWN HORSE!!! :) I've been trying to post a couple of pictures, but it's not working. There are a couple pictures of him from this summer on Jamie's website, but I'll try and post some new ones as soon as possible. I can't wait to show him off. ;) He's just adorable and stunning at the same time.

So I finally have a horse of my own. :)

The First Snowfall!

Well, we knew it was supposed to be nasty weather last night, but we had no idea it was supposed to snow! We looked outside this morning and saw about 1/4 inch of snow covering the ground and roofs around us.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised, as it's typical New England weather - bale 3rd cut hay one day, get snow the next! At least the snow waited til November...

God is Good!

Yay! We keep moving forward towards our closing. Today we had the septic system inspected (it's over 50 years old!) and everything checked out, so we're good to go there. Our lawyer was going to finish the title work either today or early tomorrow and send it to our mortgage company, so we should be able to close next week!

God continues to show Himself all-sufficient and all-powerful through this whole process. Several people have asked us if we need help moving - we thank them, but tell them we don't really need help, because all the furniture we own is a table and four chairs. Then today, Luke's boss offered us a whole living room set - a couch, love seat, and recliner that he and his wife are getting rid of! Amazing! Some other folks from church offered us another recliner, so we'll have lots of places to sit in our new house. :) We are so blessed by the generosity of those around us.

House and Horse News

Well, despite a few hiccups, we're still moving steadily towards our closing, which is scheduled for a week from Tuesday (yep, Halloween!). We've secured our homeowners' insurance, and have sent a flurry of faxes back and forth with our mortgage company, getting all the necessary paperwork completed. The people we've been working with are absolutely amazing - fast, helpful, continually going above and beyond to help us get in this house and understand the process. They work nationally, so anyone who's thinking of looking for a home, let me know and I will give you the names of the guys we've been working with. I really can't recommend them enough.

We do have one prayer request. We've been trying to get the septic system inspected by a specialist, but have so far not been able to find one who will travel out to our area! Even the realtor has been unsuccessful in finding someone to come out. So, you can pray that we will be able to find someone who will travel to this area and is able to come this week, so we can proceed with our closing.

In other news, I took several training horses to a show today along with a couple other girls from the barn, and they were all wonderful! I rode a huge grey quarter horse/thoroughbred cross who is at the farm so we can train him to jump and win. He is very fancy but can also be explosive. Thankfully, he was wonderful and really settled in as the day went on. Galen showed a pony that I started just two months ago. He jumped his first jump last week, cantered a jump for the first time yesterday, and ended up competing in six jumping classes today! We discovered that he has incredible natural talent over fences, and he won ribbons in two of his classes (out of 30 entries!). He was amazing! We also took two other horses that have only been jumping for about a month, and they were both great - very brave to the fences, trying hard for their riders, and doing extremely well for their age and experience level. We'll be going to one of these shows every month during the winter, so hopefully everybody will just keep getting better.

We Got It!

Today we met with the realtor and owners for the house we are interested in, and they accepted our offer! We're buying a house!!! We are so, so excited. It needs new paint in pretty much all the rooms, and eventually we hope to pull up the linoleum and carpeting to get to the wood floor beneath, and expand the bathroom, but it's a great little house with a nice big kitchen, large living room, and two-car garage with a workshop in the back that is perfect for Luke's leather-working and farrier stuff. Both the living room and workshop have woodstoves, which we really like, it has a good-sized yard with excellent gardening soil, and there are blueberry and rasberry bushes in the backyard. Did I mention we're really excited? We're already fully approved for our mortgage, and are hoping to close within a month.

God has answered so many prayers and opened (and closed) so many doors in the past few months to lead us to this point, and we're so thankful. We are overwhelmed by His goodness right now, and also can't wait to be living in our new home! We'll try to take and post some pictures as soon as we can.

House Hunting and Good Friends

Would y'all pray for us? After several months spent fruitlessly waiting for a promised rental to be ready for us, Luke and I moved on about a month ago and have started looking for other places to live. We had waited so long because this place seemed perfect, but the people kept delaying getting work done on it so our move-in date kept getting moved back, then they wanted to charge us more money than they originally said, so after several frustrating months, we are looking for something else. We would prefer to buy, and actually looked at a house this weekend that seems like it would be great for us. But whether this house works out or we find another one, we just want to be in our own place soon. We are incredibly thankful for the hospitality of those we've stayed with, but are very ready to have our own home again!

Since we're house-hunting, we're also mortgage-hunting, and this is where we really need prayer. Most lenders are a little wary, as Luke is self-employed and has only been so since May (they want him to have been self employed for anywhere from 6 months - 2 years!) and I am also relatively new in my job. So we're talking to several different companies and local banks and asking friends in the area for recommendations on good lenders.

Speaking of friends, Luke and I are so thankful for the one thing in our lives that has been stable and wonderful for the past few months: our church. We found it shortly after moving here, and have greatly enjoyed getting to know the people and becoming part of the body at Coila Church. There are several younger couples that we have gotten together with and we all have a lot of fun together. There are also many delightful families and older people in the church, so it's a great mix. We are part of a great Sunday school class on marriage, and are enjoying the bi-weekly "home fellowship" meetings on Sunday nights: a small group of (mostly older) people get together in someone's home, spend an hour and a half in study and prayer (right now they're finishing up The Purpose Driven Life), and then share a potluck meal. It's been great to spend time with smaller groups of people in the church, and everyone has been incredibly welcoming and friendly. Praise God for the members of His body He places in our lives at just the right time! Here's a huge hug and "thank you" to everyone who has been placed in our lives at one time or another as a friend and encouragement to us. We hope to give the same to others. We love y'all!

Fall, Cooking, and Visitors

I love fall. It is, without a doubt, my favorite time of year. The air gets crisp and clear, the leaves blaze into glory and then crunch underfoot, and the last brilliant wildflowers fill the air with a sharp, sweet scent, mixing with slight hints of decay, smoke and cold to create that unique smell which tells you that colder weather is on the way.

Everything about fall days is glorious. The cold, sharp mornings when you can barely see your breath and there's a new energy in the air... horses are a bit more restless, more alert, and everyone's blood is pumping a bit harder; the mellow afternoons when the sun on your back provides just the right amount of warmth, the horse under you is relaxed yet responsive, leaves rustle in the resting woods, and an uphill gallop is the perfect end to a long work day; the chilly, clear evenings when the exquisite sunset fades into a brilliance of stars and bundling up is necesary to stay warm... I absolutely love this time of year.

I also love fall foods. There are still fresh, brightly colored vegetables to be had, but the cold weather also inspires heartier foods such as creamy soups, squash, root vegetables and warm baked goods - cornbread, apple pie, pumpkin bread - yep, fall is the time for me! Although I love cooking, I haven't done much of it the past four months. But this past week we've had soup almost every night - thick lentil and hearty vegetable-barley, which both smell delicious while cooking and warm up a chilled body instantly.

There's a farm stand not far from here which has the best sweet corn we've ever tasted, as well as all sorts of lovely fresh produce. Yesterday afternoon I stopped to pick up some corn and found a novelty: purple peppers! I'd seen green, red, yellow, and orange, but never purple before, so I bought a couple, along with my butter-and-sugar corn (so named for its white and yellow kernels, but which is also very taste-descriptive), some red onions and fresh tomatoes.

Luke's parents arrived last night for a week-long visit from Montana, and so today we cooked a big Sunday dinner. We had my fresh corn on the cob, as well as a lovely fresh vegetable salad. It was such a delight to chop up purple peppers, red onions, yellow pepper, and deep red, juicy tomatoes and enjoy the lovely fall colors drizzled with a simple vinaigrette of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, a tablespoon of sugar, a dash of sesame oil, and a tablespoon or so of lime juice. Mmmmm. While chopping veggies and boiling corn, we simmered rice on the stove and baked biscuits in the oven. The crowning glory was the slow cooker roasted chicken. I discovered this recipe online, and every time I want an easy crowd pleaser, I use it. Today it was lovely to simply stick the chicken in the crock pot before church and return home to a fragrant house and a warm meal for my guests. Here's the recipe for anyone who's interested:

1 whole chicken (the recipe says 3lbs., but any size works - today mine was 5lbs.)
1/2 c chicken broth (or water and boullion)
1/3 c soy sauce
1/3 c olive oil
1/4 c honey
1 t Worcestershire sauce
2 t balsamic vinegar
2 t lemon juice
1 t sesame oil
2 T minced garlic

Rinse the chicken, pat it dry and place it in the crock pot. Whisk all the other ingredients together and pour over the chicken. Cook for 4 hrs. on high or 8 hrs. on low and enjoy!

No, I haven't tried it (yes, I'm still a vegetarian), but everyone I've served it to loves it.

So here's a toast to fall, home cooking, warm comfort foods, and time with family!

Apologies and Anonymity

Sorry for any confusion generated by my last post... just trying to keep everyone on their toes! ;) For us, having a new horse and a new car is very exciting right now!

Okay, new rule. NO ANONYMOUS COMMENTS! Even if I don't know you very well, I'd at least like to know who you are. I don't want to change my settings so that only blogger members can comment, but if you're not a blogger member, please at least leave your name with your post. It's a little eerie to know that someone is interested enough in my life to leave a note, but isn't even willing to let me know who they are...

Okay, rant over. Back to regularly scheduled programming. :)

Our Family is Growing!

We have exciting news! This week we welcomed two new additions to our family: Logan, a 6-year-old Morgan/mustang cross, and a dark teal green '97 Saab 900S hatchback.

Logan is Luke's new project horse, which I bought for him as an advance birthday present. He has only been ridden three times - once by me, and twice by Luke. Luke is learning a lot from him and will also be teaching him a lot, such as how to be a good roping horse. Although Logan isn't tall, he's strong as a freight train and a quick mover, so he'll make a great cow pony.

The Saab is my new car, which we bought from a boarder at the barn. I love it and am so excited to actually buy my first car that's all my own. Plus, it's not white! YAY! My first car was a white Tercel that I shared with Daddy. My next car was a small white Toyota pickup that was given to our family. Luke's big Dodge is white. And I've never even liked white cars! Although the Saab needs a couple of things tuned up, it runs well, is in excellent condition inside and out, and is a very fun car to drive. Although Luke has sworn up and down that he'll never be seen driving a car around, he actually enjoys driving the Saab because it's so peppy. I think I may have to hide the keys!

In other news, I've had some exciting rides the past couple weeks. Jamie isn't riding anymore, so I get all the ruffians. ;) I'm being stretched and learning a LOT! This winter will be a huge growing time for me, since I have some awfully big shoes to step up and fill.

My birthday was pretty quiet - Luke and I both had to work, so we stayed home and rested that evening, but went out for dinner with friends the next night. Then, on Sunday, we celebrated by going to a horse show and I rode a slightly crazy horse for four hours straight! But we really had a breakthrough there, and I think he'll be much better now.

Well, it's time for the Cosby Show, so I'm off to watch it and laugh. Hope things are well with y'all!