Attention logophiles!

Here's a laugh to start your weekend: Weird Al Yankovic's "Word Crimes," set to Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines."

Nerds have fun, too.

I have nothing else to add right now, so here's a pic of my two pony girls!

Chica looks so short. Have a good Friday!

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My little Ponderosa

So I've taken to calling Rosa "Ponderosa." I myself find it really weird, especially since a Ponderosa is a tall, slender pine tree, but it is what it is. I also call her "Rosa Rizo" after a tongue twister I learned in high school Spanish class--"Rosa Rizo reza Ruso, Ruso reza Rosa Rizo"--which feels more appropriate, given my flair for Spanish horse names.

Anyway, last night I got some photos and videos of Rosa FINALLY. Poor Rosa practically doesn't exist compared to how many pictures I have of Chica and Sienna. Here are some of the best:

She started off grumpy and refused to look at me or put her ears forward.

Then I unclipped her and posed her in my driveway, and she was much happier.

And then Romeo walked over and gave her something to look at. Good job, Romos.

She looks like such a horse now! I'm really happy with how she's turning out. She's a small cow horse, but I think she's a pretty cow horse. My pictures of her from before didn't do her justice.

In other news, this post was going to just be about Rosa, but then I discovered these pictures Philip took of Sienna and I a couple months ago while we were waiting for a prospective buyer to come try her out...enjoy!

Could we be any less friends here?

HAHAHA THIS. I can't even!

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The 4th and Beyond!

Well, Sienna has been gone a week and a half now. I do still miss her, but I've found it very easy to fall into the "less work" routine of being down one horse. Plus her new owners seem very happy with her, which makes me happy.

This fourth of July weekend was fun. Philip and I went and met my mom, sister, brother, and grandparents at my aunt and uncle's house north of Austin. We swam, watched fireworks, and got to ride horses! My aunt and uncles have five horses and are looking for a sixth to add to their herd. They have three kids, so with the sixth horse, everyone will be able to go riding together (one of their horses is my aunt's retired, 30 year old quarter horse who is getting to spend his days hanging out).

After riding around the pasture, my aunt, Philip, and I went out to ride around the neighborhoods and roads around their house. My aunt rode the horse she is trying out, Weller, a 16.1 hand quarter horse, I rode Stretch, a quarter horse who is also 16+ hands, and Philip rode Rusty, a maybe 14.3 gelding that one of the kiddos usually rides. It brought me a lot of laughter.

Riding was a lot of fun, especially with such bomb-proof horses. At one point a jack rabbit practically exploded through the bushes right next to Stretch, and he didn't even flinch. Another time 4 birds flew up in his face. None of the horses batted an eyelash.

We reached a mowed down section of open pasture, and I decided to let Stretch, well, stretch out his legs a bit. My aunt had told me that he had really smooth gaits, almost like a gaited horse. And she wasn't lying. I don't think I've ever ridden a smoother horse. It was just lovely. At one point I looked up, and there went Philip, loping by on Rusty. He just smiled at me, perfectly at ease.

I wish I had photos of us riding. My grandmother had been in charge of that. However, when I asked her to send me the photos she took, she replied, "Apparently I took videos instead." Womp womp.

This weekend was also exciting in that Romeo returned!

Turning into a distinguished, older gentleman

He had spent the last couple of weeks in Katy with my parents while I went to the job interview in Dallas and had the exterminator come (meaning one less animal to take to work that day). I'm not sure who was happier to see him, me or Fiona. Or who he was happier to see, for that matter. He immediately reclaimed his spot on my bed that night.

Fiona is always snuggled up with someone

Oh, and about me taking Ramses and Fiona to work? Ramses sat in his carrier the first part of the day, but at lunch I shut the door to my office and let him explore, which he happily did, chatting me up all the while.

Why hello, mother! What are we doing in this weird place?

Then, after his curiosity had been satisfied, he walked up under my desk, laid down at my feet, and stayed there until I put him back in his kennel.

He is the best, and most luxurious, cat.

Yes, peasant, continue petting me.

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Sienna in her new home

I love that Sienna's new owner is sending me so many pictures. Here are a few of her new place:

The stable

Her HUGE stall and bucket!

And Sienna, happily munching on grass.

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Goodbyes are hard.

I knew I was going to cry. Heck, I've been crying for the last week in anticipation of this moment. What I didn't expect, though, was that I wouldn't cry. Not while I signed the paperwork over (though my hands were shaking), not while I counted the bills, not even when I took our last picture together. For once in my life, my brain allowed me to wait until the people were in their vehicle, pulling away with Sienna in their trailer, before the tears began to fall.

Sienna began calling to Rosa and Katnip as the trailer moved down the driveway, prompting the two year olds to run like crazy horses around their paddock and scream back at her. I just told her I loved her over and over until she was out of earshot and pleaded with her to be a good girl.

I knew this day was going to be hard, and I wasn't wrong. It does make it easier that she's going to a good home. Her new owner has been sending me pictures of her new (huge) stall, complete with a water bucket painted with her name. It makes it that much sweeter that her name is still Sienna. I know I've left my mark in a big way already on that mare, but that just makes me smile.

So, goodbye Sienna. Thank you for the pleasure of owning you, working with you, and turning you into the wonderful horse that you have become. I hope your new owner loves you just as much, if not more, than I do, and I hope you behave for her better than you even did for me. I hope you get along with her daughter's mare and don't beat her up. I hope you realize how good you're about to have it. And I hope that one day, I'll get to see you again.

I love you, Too Shy To Unzip.

Even as silly as it looks, this picture couldn't be more perfect. I don't think any other has captured our relationship so perfectly. Plus, we kind of form a heart... :)

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Sacrebleu!

Since Sienna is the first horse I've tried to sell (for myself), I have to say that the horse selling industry has left me rather disillusioned. It has made me a better person in that I will make sure to NEVER contact someone about their horse unless I am super serious about buying it/going to see it/etc. And I will keep my appointments with people, rather than canceling at the last minute and never speaking to them again.

That being said, I think I've finally got a buyer for Sienna. A lady contacted me from my ad on equinenow.com, and today she and her daughter came out to try her out. It was a cloudy, stormy day--which actually worked out perfectly. Thunder was rolling in the distance, and the lady was impressed that it didn't bother Sienna in the least. Sienna behaved very well for both of them. They fell in love. Tale as old as time!

Sienna would be the lady's horse so that she can go riding with her daughter. The lady really doesn't want to do anything more than walk/trot with her new horse, and she asked me if Sienna would get bored with that. I almost couldn't say fast enough "Are you kidding?? That would be this mare's dream come true!" These people have 10 acres, a barn with two stalls, and another mare. They said they would stay in touch with me and send me pictures and that I could come visit. Everything sounds better than I could have ever asked for. They are coming back Monday with the money and their horse trailer.

In a time in my life that I've been doubting things would ever turn around, I have to laugh at God's sense of humor. I've been praying so much about Sienna, Rosa, Chica, new jobs, relationship, everything--and I didn't think my prayers were being listened to. Suddenly, the perfect person that I would absolutely pick for Sienna calls me up one day, out of the blue, comes out to my house, falls in love with Sienna, and wants to give me what I'm wanting for her. I just can't get over how perfectly this has fallen into place.

While I am happy, I am also sad. I have 6 more days with Sienna, and I'll be in Dallas for three of them. She and I have bonded a lot over the last two and a half years, and I am very sorry to see her go. With Chica on-again-off-again lame, and with Rosa in the beginning of her training, I'm not going to have a solid horse to ride for a while. Which is ok; I can use the extra time for my part time job and can ride Rosa more consistently now. And, as every horse owner knows, removing one horse from my feed/vet/farrier bill will be liberating. But she has been such a good horse, both for me and for others who come out to ride, and I'm sad to be losing that.

This is the tired face of a filly that says "Please, no more work!"

Guess it's time to find another!! Haha. No, not until/unless I sell Rosa. I'm not going back up to three horses any time soon. But that doesn't mean I can't (and haven't already) look, right? Dangerous ground, that is. I may or may not have three dreamhorse ads currently open in my web browser.

But no worries, family. I mean what I say about not getting another horse right now.

Speaking of others coming out to ride Sienna, look who got some bonding time in this weekend?

He was trotting all over the place with her and even got a few (accidental) canter steps in, too. He needs a different saddle, though, as my western saddle doesn't fit him properly. Hmmm...his birthday *is* coming up...but he also needs boots, and maybe his own horse while we're at it... ;)

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Country Living

First, a couple pictures of my babies, because why not?

Ramses is my love

Fiona selfie

So Philip listens to me complain. A lot. What about, you might ask?

Bugs.

As you may have gathered from reading this blog, I hate bugs. All bugs. I know that they are here for a purpose, and I appreciate that...but can we all agree to just eradicate some types? Like, scorpions, mosquitoes, ticks, flies...I'll even keep wasps if we can get rid of the rest of those. Yes? No? Sigh.

So last night I happened to open my back door just in time to see a scorpion walking along the railing of my porch. It settled down into a groove, so I decided to do an experiment. I've been told by many people that if you put alcohol (rubbing) on a scorpion, it will "go mad and sting itself." So, I enlisted the help of my roommate, then tried this out myself.

All that happened was that the scorpion started at the feel of the liquid on its back and ran under the railing, where it hung like a silent, lethal ninja.

We tried to knock it off with a flyswatter (with me holding a boot, ready to stomp it when it fell), but it fell into a pile of leaves, and neither of us wanted to go traipse around to find it. So, my roommate went and got bug spray and doused the pile very liberally, spraying all around the porch afterward for good measure. I'm not sure we got any spray on the scorpion; perhaps last night it was one of the lucky few that got away.

Afterwards I walked back inside. I was experiencing the same prickly feeling I get after seeing any scorpion--my skin starts feeling like things are crawling all over it--particularly against the back of my leg. I dismissed it as my usual paranoia and went and laid down on my bed. I kept feeling something itchy against the waistband of my pants, so I reached back to grab the tag and move it, thinking it was the source of the discomfort. It was then that I realized that whatever was bothering me was not attached to my pants. I folded the waistband down, caught a glimpse of something brown, and....

Well, you can imagine the string of profanity that poured forth. Into poor Philip's ear, as I was on the phone with him.

No, it was not a scorpion (my first thought). It was this:

I have no idea what it is, and frankly, I'm pretty sure I'd rather stay blissfully ignorant. Philip had to talk me down after the incident (I was shaking so hard I could barely put on another pair of pants--because I wasn't putting the others back on). I lamented living where I do and not being able to sleep super well because I'm constantly worried about something getting into bed with me.

He finally responded with, "You know, you don't have to deal with all of these bugs if you live in the city."

To which I replied, "I know, but I love living in the country!"

Sigh.

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