Lizards, horses, and gluten.

Due to an accident with my phone, I have no photos of anything in this post, but pics will come one day!

Ringo has settled well into his new home. He's gone from not eating anything to eating meals of 10+ crickets every other day. It's so funny to watch him hunt the crickets; right before he strikes, his tail starts whipping in a frenzy. He's starting to learn that Philip and I aren't as scary as he thought, and he voluntarily walked into my hand the other night. It's been fun watching him get settled in and less stressed out.

In even more exciting news, Rosa and I jumped for the first time on Saturday, then did it again on Sunday! She seemed to enjoy it; I think it was a welcome change from our usual arena work. Since she's 4 years old, we only spent a couple minutes trotting and cantering over a small cross rail both days, but it was exhilarating for me – especially seeing how far she has come in both her training and her trust in me from when she was a yearling. The rest of both sessions we worked on her picking up the canter from my seat – no verbal commands – which she did really well at. She had gotten to where she anticipated the canter and exploded into it when I asked verbally, but she was much more relaxed with the subtle cue. Maybe I'll have a jumping horse (pony) yet!

In less exciting news, I was diagnosed with celiac disease a few weeks ago, which was absolutely DEVASTATING since I LOVE bread, cookies, cakes, all baked goods... But, I've been able to settle into a routine. I've gotten to where I read all labels, and I've getting over my anxiety about asking people if there is gluten in the food they make. Even better, I've had people send me recipes for gluten free cookies, cakes, pies, breads, tortillas...you name it. Pinterest has been a godsend for finding recipes, and I'm thankful for the gluten free diet craze, as I've been able to find almost anything that I crave in gluten free form (except Papa John's pizza).

So it has not been as bad as expected, although I do still think about certain favorite dishes at restaurants that I will never eat again with longing and despair at times. And then I go make myself a gluten free chocolate chip mug cookie, which takes a grand total of about 6 minutes from start to consumption. And all is a little better.

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Valentine's Day and a new acquisition.

This should come as no surprise after my last post, but lately I've been missing owning a reptile. While I enjoyed my bearded dragon and my snakes, I'd been thinking about getting something a little less demanding. Annabelle, my beardie, had to be fed chopped up vegetables every morning, something that I did not always have time to do, and also needed a 40-gallon aquarium when she got to be an adult. The snakes were low maintenance, but they still had to be caught and taken out of their tanks to feed on a regular basis, a process that involved keeping frozen mice in my freezer (and heating up said frozen mice).

I had been leaning towards a leopard gecko for a while. They only require a 10-gallon tank, and adults eat mealworms and crickets. They do not require special lighting, like Annabelle, so start-up costs aren't as expensive. Plus they are typically pretty relaxed to handle, unlike the zippy corn snakes.

When I saw that the North American Reptile Breeders Conference was scheduled for Feb. 13-14 in Arlington, I was excited. I purchased Annabelle, and possibly Rosalie, from the fall NARBC in 2009, so I was familiar with how things worked. I could take Philip, as it is a neat place to go see lots of exotic reptiles, and if we happened to stumble over some cute little gecko while there, all the better for us both to be there!

As it turned out, I fell in love with a couple leopard geckos at the first leo booth we stopped at. The first one was an albino male, who was really pretty, but as I looked over the others I noticed a snow male who was just way prettier than all the other snow morphs at the table. For some reason, I kept coming back to him. We moved on from the table, but none of the other leopard geckos at the other vendor tables held a candle to this one. And plus, he was cheaper.

I jokingly (at first) suggested that we needed a reptile in our lives, but Philip wasn't having it. We made our way around the booths and then stopped back at the leo booth one more time. As I was talking to the owner, the snow gecko looked straight up at me, into my eyes, and seemed to lock on. My heart melted, and I made puppy dog eyes at Philip, but he took my hand and we walked away. As we did so, I saw a girl walk up to "my" gecko and coo, "Ooh, look at this one! Isn't he the prettiest little snow gecko?" And my heart sank.

I continued to give Philip a hard time that afternoon about the gecko, and told him that if we weren't going to get him, we had to get a guinea pig. We joked about it all evening, and I told Philip I'd let him name the guinea pig (to which he came up with "Kregg" and we laughed a lot. Idk.).

The next day after church, Philip casually suggested we go back to the reptile show. As we had already been through everything and there was nothing left to see, I knew where this was going, but I feigned innocence. Besides, I was pretty sure my little snow gecko had been purchased by that girl, and if he and the albino gecko were both gone, I was going home empty-handed.

We got back to the show and I steeled myself as I walked up to the table, but there he was! The albino gecko was gone, but my little snow was still there. I held him, and Philip asked if I seriously wanted him, to which of course I said yes! And he said "Happy Valentine's Day."

So now, after much ado, we have "Ringo." Philip came up with the name after probably an hour of us researching "male names that begin with 'R'" since Romeo and Ramses both start with R. Other names we considered were Rembrandt, Rutherford and Riddley, but Ringo stuck. He's settling into his new mansion and slowly getting used to me, Philip, Fiona and Ramses gawking at him (Romeo does not care). New pics to come soon!

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Snakesssss

Once upon a time, I had a lot of reptiles. There are mentions of Annabelle, my bearded dragon, in other posts, so this one is all about the snakes. I started out with a ball python that I got off Craigslist from a guy that wasn't taking very good care of her. That was Roxy:

Roxy was super chill, so much so that she helped me out with my Halloween costume one year ("Whatever I Can Throw Together"). She was a cool snake that really seemed to enjoy any time spent out of her tank.

After Roxy, I think my next purchase was Rowan, a motley sunburst corn snake. I ordered him from a breeder, and he was so tiny when he arrived:

He was always very vibrant, but in the time I owned him, he seemed to grow even prettier with each passing day.

One I had two, it was like potato chips. While at a reptile show, I picked up a baby snow corn snake, who slowly became this beauty:

Though Rosalie wasn't super friendly when I first got her, over time she turned into a very sweet snake.

I couldn't believe the yellow she developed:

The only snake I regretted buying was Ysmay, an impulse purchase I picked up at another reptile show. The guy was selling her for cheap, so I took advantage of it.

Though she was cute with her big eyes, she turned out meaner than my other three snakes. She struck at me so many times that I lost count, and to this day, I don't believe she was full corn snake. Unfortunately she died not too long after I got her, leading me to believe that she was probably so cheap because the guy knew something was wrong with her. She was a pretty girl, though.

This post was inspired by me finding photos of my snakes tonight, which I thought were lost forever. I'm so excited to see them again. When I moved to my small country house back in 2011, I rehomed my remaining three snakes (Roxy, Rowan and Rosalie) since in addition to them I also owned two dogs, a cat, a horse, two guinea pigs and a bearded dragon, and I thought that was probably enough for my new roommate to handle without kicking me out. While I do not know what happened to Roxy, the people I gave Rowan and Rosalie to still own them, and I'm hoping to get updated photos soon. I can't believe it has been five years, and I'm excited to see what they look like all grown up!

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Colorado wedding

Three weeks ago we flew to Denver, Colorado for Philip's sister's wedding. It was a little dicey flying in, for when we arrived, the weather was like this:

Of course, none of the shoes I brought along were sensible for snow. I spent the entire weekend wearing high-heeled boots since they were the only ones that went above my ankle. Relatedly, RIP high-heeled boots since they were ruined by walking through the snow and ice.

We took advantage of the wonderful weather (blowing snow and precipitation) to walk around Denver and see the places Philip frequented when he lived there.

 Though I froze, I liked seeing the restaurants he hung out at and the places he played his guitar. We also checked out the architecture he studied during his Master's degree – places like the library and an art museum that looks like a rock formation. We ate pizza at Mellow Mushroom for lunch, forgetting that we were having pizza at the rehearsal dinner later that evening. No regrets.

The wedding the next evening was held at a beautiful venue made even better by all of the snow on the ground.

We had a great time partying and hanging out with his family and enjoyed lots of niece and nephew time. It was also nice to get to see the mountains again, especially when they looked like this:

I hope to return to Colorado one day soon in the spring or summer so I can actually go up into the mountains!

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Horse show travels: Augusta, GA

A recent horse show took me and a coworker to Augusta, Georgia, for the Augusta Futurity. The show is put on by the parent company of my company, so my duties were a lot more involved than usual. In addition to my normal event coverage, I also helped my coworker put together a program for Saturday night's finals, which consisted of interviewing tons of people and writing lots of little profiles about them. I had a good time at the show in spite of the cold, wet Augusta weather. For example, I woke up to this one morning:

It's not as impressive since it had already started melting, but that didn't stop children from running around outside my hotel room screaming "DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN???!??!" while throwing snowballs at each other.

Though we weren't staying on the Riverwalk, we drove over to check it out one chilly afternoon. It was beautiful in winter, and I imagine it's even prettier in spring.

 

Also, during some rare time off, I drove over to Aiken, South Carolina so that I could cross another state off my list. I chose Aiken because I read that it was a pretty horse-friendly city, and I think that description serves it well. There are parts of the town where the roads are dirt, and you'll see signs at intersections that say, "Yield to horses in intersection." We saw several people out driving horses or riding, and there were big parks for people to train in.

My next show is Texas-based, so I have no idea right now which state I'll find myself in next. All I know is that we need to get reining, cutting or cow horse events up in the Northeast states so that I can travel there! I need to cross one more state off my list to be halfway to 50!

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Horse show travels: Oklahoma City

Although I'm a native Texan, I had never been to Oklahoma until my husband and I went camping in Ardmore a few months ago. I then got to experience it again when a coworker and I drove up to Oklahoma City for the NRHA Futurity in November. Thankfully, there was no icy or bad weather during our visit, but in spite of my taking lots of Vitamin C while I was there, I still managed to come home with the Futurity Crud. But there's no time for sick days when you're trying to get a magazine out the door!

The NRHA Futurity was so much fun to watch. I made new friends, and it was exciting to celebrate with one of them when the horse he trained as a 2-year-old ended up winning the Non-Pro. Additionally, the horse and rider that I interviewed in Las Vegas after they won the Futurity Open ended up winning the whole shebang in OKC after a run-off. I absolutely ADORE that mare, and I was so excited to see her win.

Another horse I was excited to see was Smokey, aka American Pharoah's pony horse! A former reiner, he was at the Futurity to be a reining ambassador, and he demonstrated the patterns before the finals classes. He also stood (somewhat grumpily, but who can blame him) to let people take photos with him. People such as myself!

Oklahoma City was a fun way to finish my travel for the year. It's always better traveling with a coworker, and when that coworker happens to be your BFF in DFW, all the better. After a nice break for Christmas and New Years and lots of time with family and friends, I'm getting geared up to strike out again on more travels soon.

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Horse show travels: Paso Robles, CA

Whelp, this is long overdue, but in October I flew to San Jose, California, only to rent a car and drive about 2.5 hours to Paso Robles, California, for the PCCHA Futurity. While the route I took on the way over did not sport very scenic views, I went back on Highway 1, and that drive along the coast was quite beautiful!

Paso Robles is wine country, as evidenced by the many wineries that call it home. The town itself is not very big, but it does boast a good pizza place called Rustic Fire. I may have eaten there multiple times on my trip; I may crave it every day now. Don't worry about it.

Alas, I did not drink even a sip of wine, but I did see impressive expanses of grape vines as I drove through the country. On my way back to San Jose, I stopped several times whenever the view warranted it. Times like this:

And this:

It was a tad windy on the coastline:

I tried to go see Hearst Castle, but I discovered when I got to it that I had to pay for a tour that included a bus ride to the top of the mountain where it sits, and I didn't feel like spending 2.5 hours doing that or being that social. So I just looked at it from afar.

After I left Hearst Castle, I was driving along Highway 1 when I spotted a sign that said "Elephant Seal Lookout" with an arrow pointing towards a parking lot. Naturally, I swerved in. And I was not disappointed:

There were so many! And they were sleeping and arguing and making great noises...best stop yet.

I always love California and was really happy to get to go twice in 2015 (including the side trip I took to Lake Tahoe while in Reno). Maybe I'll get to visit again this year!

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