Use Turnouts!

Why is it that many people think road signs only apply to others?

I had to run some errands this afternoon and got stuck behind a pick-up towing a travel trailer. The driver had 13 cars behind him on a 2 lane highway that has signs that say "Slower vehicles use turnouts". The driver was traveling 30-40 mph when the speed limit is 55mph. This is an ongoing problem on a few of the roads around here. Many people don't think these signs apply to them. They have no problem going past people who get over for them but they won't budge for the rest of us!

It starts

As fuel prices continue to creep up, we are currently at $3.70 a gallon for regular unleaded and over $4.00 a gallon for diesel, I'm starting to notice a climb in prices of everything else.

The first thing I noticed was shipping rates. Last time I ordered horse supplies online the oversize charge was 40 cents a pound, up from 20 cents a pound before that. Now the charge is 70 cents a pound. That adds up quickly on some of the bigger items making it cheaper to get them in the city even though the selection isn't very good. The next thing I noticed was food at the local market, the price of meat and milk is inching up. We found that the price of milk at Sam's Club actually went down by 70 cents a gallon so we made sure to stock up there.

Today I found out the farrier has raised his rates by $10! The price to get the horse's hooves trimmed, a 10 minutes job at most, is now $45. I'm really pleased with the availability and skill our farrier has so we will continue to support this young man, but it was quite a shock. I'm just hoping Ginger's hooves continue to only need trimming every three months!

Wash and stuff

This week hasn't been a very good one so I'm really glad it's about over!

After being sick for a few weeks, Paul went to the doctor. He was given codeine cough syrup and meds because he has bronchitis. He's feeling much better.

Lorna had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon yesterday. We had to leave at 4:30am to get there by 8:30am. We then sat there for 2.5 hours before she was called for an x-ray. The surgeon then popped his head in to say everything is progressing nicely and he would see us next week. So all that driving and waiting for a 2 minute visit. He didn't even look at the surgery site! Of course there were no open appointments so we have to wait until a week from Tuesday. That means Lorna has to have the catheter in an additional 4 days because the surgeon is so busy. Frustrating.

This pictures ends my week.



The washer stopped working this week. The repairman said the belt slipped and cannot be put back on because he needs a few more parts. He is replacing the pump as well since he said it didn't sound quite right, at least it will save me another call a few months from now. Everything is under warranty so I'm only inconvenienced for the next 8 days. I could rent a washer and get reimbursed but since there is no where to do that in town I'm going to skip it; it's not worth the hassle of driving to the big city 50 miles away.

Overall none of this stuff is really all that big of a deal but coming on the heels of the surgery last week I'm exhausted. Next week will be better I'm sure.

Update

I didn't mean to let it go so long before posting again. Lorna had surgery last Friday and we were gone until Sunday. So far the recovery is going well. She was up this morning feeding her horse for the first time since the surgery. The surgeon gave us the bad news that she won't be able to ride for 3 months. That was the first thing she asked in recovery, when she could get back on her horse. I'm a little skeptical though. The surgeon said she could go back to her normal activities including any sports in a month or two, but when I mentioned her horse he blew a gasket. It seems he doesn't like horses or "horse people" as he put it so he said it would be longer. I'm having a difficult time figuring out how riding a bike or anything else is different than a horse. She will be having a number of appointments as she continues to heal so I'll probably just keep asking when she can get back to riding, maybe he will change his mind as things progress :)

Affluenza part 2

I finished the book a few days ago and have been thinking about the "treatment" prescribed. I agree with a lot of it but I do not agree with one of their methods for changing things, through legislation. No matter whether I agree with them or not I don't thinking forcing people to change their habits is the answer. I think education and social pressure go a lot further toward changing attitudes than any benefits gained through mandating change.

I also have a problem with some of the examples they use. There were a number of people the authors mentioned that had made great changes within their lives. These people downsized and learned to live with less, and in a few cases started their own organizations to help bring about change in other peoples' lives. In all of these cases though the people had good incomes to start out with. It's like a number of the homesteading magazines I have read. They talk about how these people live on very little and have no bills but it's only because they started out with land and supplies. These people are not your average citizen deciding to make some changes in their life. I'm not saying it's a bad thing just pointing out that it's a lot easier to liquidate your possessions and downsize when you have something to liquidate.

The overriding premise was that we can and should live with less. I firmly agree with that idea. My reasons for doing that are different than the authors' though. I also stand by the idea that money may not buy happiness but I think it can go a long way to buying piece of mind. It's a lot easier to consider changes in your life when you aren't worried how you are going to pay the electric bill and put food on the table. Of course, my ideas of having enough are way different than many others.

March Gymkhana

This was Lorna's best show yet!
The past month Lorna and Ginger have been working on loping without bucking and it has paid off. Lorna beat all her previous times in the 7 events today, some by as much as 40 seconds! She was consistent in her placing with 4 second places and 3 first places winning high points for her division. We are so proud of Lorna. It was amazing to see her confidence after making it through the day loping the events. Everyone remarked that she did incredibly and her instructor couldn't be more pleased. It's incredible to think that when she started lessons last August that she was terrified of her horse. She's only been doing gymkhana shows on Ginger since January so this is a great accomplishment. If you've been looking at the pictures as I've posted them you should see a difference in these.




The increase in speed is apparent when you look at Ginger's hooves and mane.

Malachi continued helping out the club by scooping manure. In recognition for his hard work the club has decided to add $1 to everyone's fees to pay him. A few others gave him a few additional dollars in thanks as well. We had the biggest turn-out we've seen with 30 riders so it was a long day of being on scooping duty.

Affluenza

I've been slogging through the book Affluenza for the last few days.

I want to start off by saying that a lot of what the book has to say so far is good. I'm about half-way through but I'm starting to get frustrated with the on-going "preaching" about the problems of society. I think by page 50 I got the idea. I'm now ready for the "cure" or at least "treatment" for this disease.

I'm also having a hard time with a few of the arguments. One thing that is really bothering me is the idea of the exploitation of the poor unskilled laborers of the world. America's fixation with acquiring things isn't healthy and it's done at the expense of those poor people working for low wages. But if we were to fix our problems with consumption wouldn't these poor people be without any income and thus worse off? If we stop buying they stop working, how is this going to solve their problems? Can you complain about the country's love of buying things in one breath and then complain about the low wages of the people making these products? Something just doesn't seem right about the argument.

I'm also wondering about the lack of explanation about how much is too much. My definition of waste is probably different than most others. We are extremely frugal when it comes to electric and water usage so I think most people waste a tremendous amount. But even my electric usage could be considered a problem by someone who doesn't use any. Is it too much to own a second home, or boat, or ATVs, or is it just too much to want a nice first home? Is it just the desire to acquire more no matter what we have?

I guess I'm just wondering how far the author is advocating we go to treat the "disease" he claims we have. The farther I read the more it seems that any possessions are too much but maybe I'm missing the point.

Sick

Paul and I have been sick for the last week but it finally looks like it's just about over. Usually when we take Lorna down for appointments with the specialists one or more of us come back with a cold. This time Paul and I came back with the flu. Most of the weekend was rainy and cold so I don't feel like I missed out on much. Yesterday was just beautiful with temps in the 60's. Since I was still feeling rotten I didn't get to enjoy it. I plan on making up for that today since I'm feeling better, the weather is still wonderful, and my seeds from Baker Creek came in the mail yesterday! For once I was ready before the seeds got here since I got the dirt ready last week before I got sick.

Surgery Scheduled

After months of fighting with insurance and doctors, Lorna's surgery is scheduled for March 14th. The surgeon said they expect her to be released on the Sunday following. Since we live 3+ hours away we decided to get a room as close to the hospital as possible. UCLA has a hotel for families of patients but they are booked, the school has a hotel and it's booked as well. We found a small hotel that offers little more than a bed and bathroom a few blocks away that had a room available, they don't provide parking. I think we have all the problems worked out, we plan on paying for hospital parking and then walking to the hotel. Maybe I'm just cheap but it seems a bit much to charge patients for parking. Since they charge $8 every time you enter the structure (even if it's the same day) we don't plan on moving the car until it's time to leave.

Whiskey Flat Days part 2

We went back today so the kids could participate in the pet parade. They entered the best theme category. Lorna dressed Buster up with a cowboy hat and bandanna and Malachi dressed Pookie up with a bonnet and bandanna.





Lorna took second place and Malachi won first. It was really amusing to see all the different dogs and costumes. Some of the people went all out dressing up to match their pets for the matched pair competition.



We spent the rest of the day walking around looking at all the booth and going down to sit by the river. Yesterday's attendance was figured at over 50,000 people, today was a much more relaxing day with about half that amount.

Whiskey Flat Days

Today was the second of 4 days that there is a large rodeo/western event in our valley. Lorna rode in the parade that was the official kick-off. This is a huge deal for the entire valley since the population of the town that holds the event can swell from 2000 regular residents to 20,000+ over the weekend.

The parade was great with a number of equestrian groups, wild west reenactors, and local groups participating.

Kern County Mounted Police

Tagged

Glenda tagged me with a book meme.

Here are the instructions:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

The nearest book is The Harlequin by Laurell K Hamilton. It's the 15th book in a series about a vampire hunter named Anita Blake. As with most of these types of books it has were-animals as well vampires, that is what these sentences are talking about...

If I hadn't seen Chimera shift from one form to the other
like water spilling back and forth between hands, I'd have
said Micah was the best at shifting I'd ever seen.
Micah looked up at Richard. "Nathaniel would have been
trapped in leopard form for hours."

Exciting books but they can be graphic, luckily this particular section was really tame :) I'm gonna break the rules and forgo tagging anyone since most of the blogs I read have already done this particular meme.

More horse pics

We spent all day Saturday at yet another gymkhana show. There were a lot more kids than normal so it made for a long day. Lorna did well and got her best ever time in the speedball event, this event requires you run up to a cone and drop a golf ball in the top. Usually she has problems lining her horse up alongside the cone close enough to bend over and drop the ball, this time she got Ginger lined up perfectly on the first try. It was a fun day for Lorna since she got to try out her new tack and matching blanket. We have made plans to have Lorna ride in the Whiskey Flats Day parade next Saturday.

Malachi did his usual manure scooping and brought home more donations from his "fans". I completed the major task of finishing our taxes and having them accepted via e-file. It's a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and we are already making plans to spend the refund on some much needed home improvements.

Snow day

Monday we decided to take a snow day to enjoy the snow that was falling.

Malachi played and sledded down the driveway.


There are no pictures of Lorna because she said it was too cold to play for very long. I spent the afternoon sewing curtains for Malachi's area.

Reuse and Recycle

In an effort to reuse the stuff that we have, I spent the afternoon making canvas grocery bags out of old curtains. The curtains were made of heavy canvas material and were originally used as a bedroom door in the yurt. Each curtain made one bag with very little waste. Since the curtains were already hemmed I had to do very little sewing.



Instead of buying something new I wanted to recycle something old, I found this bean pot in a junk store down the road. I really wanted a soaker pot for the bathroom that looked nicer that the ice cream container I was currently using. It fits well on the shelf above the toilet and it looks quite nice.

Clouds, the Internet, and Laundry

I woke up to more rain. Because our well really needs rain I am rejoicing that we've had so much over the past few weeks. The only downsides to rain are laundry and clouds. The laundry I've learned to work around, the clouds create problems with our internet access. Since we have satellite internet we already have slower access than most others, when the clouds roll in we have little to no access. Since I just use the internet for email and fun stuff it's no big deal, it is a big deal for Paul though. He uses the connection for most of his paperwork. He has to fight with the connection on a good day because everything is done through a VPN, which doesn't play well with our satellite. On a bad day, like today, he can't get anything done because the VPN won't connect.

I am thankful all we have is rain, the snow and really low temps of the past few days have made it difficult for the washer. No matter how much I insulate the hoses and pipes I still have to wait for the ice to melt out of the machine before it will run. I think we will be building an insulated shed for the washer over the summer so we can avoid this problem next year. Maybe we will even be able to get the electric box fixed and add a 210v outlet for the dryer. It's nice to dream :)

Vanishing snow

Yesterday's plans for riding lessons were interrupted by snow. We woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground and more coming down. It snowed pretty hard most of the day but within 30 minutes of it stopping it was all gone. I didn't even get a picture since it disappeared so quickly. It was the oddest thing, it abruptly stopped snowing and then vanished.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week changes by the hour. They can't decide if it's going to be sunny, or rainy, or if it will snow for the rest of the week. Lorna's riding instructor will be calling us later in the week to reschedule since the changing predictions make it difficult to plan more than one day in advance.

Change of Plans

We never made it to the doctor's appointment or IKEA because the I-5 was closed due to snow. It was closed all day with no plans to reopen and then we got hit again last night. Since they are expecting a huge amount of accumulation over the next few days we are going to postpone our Sunday plans as well. Waiting one more week to go to church won't be the end of the world but it's still a little depressing.

Since we made it all the way to the closed section of freeway we spent the day in Bakersfield shopping. Most everything was horse related but still fun. We went to 3 different stores that sell tack and still came away without a new blanket to match the purple tack Lorna picked out. It took all of 5 minutes online to find exactly what we were looking for and at a price lower than I expected. Sometimes I think we would be better off shopping online exclusively. I also got some ideas about how to go about making our own colored nylon tack. I can't seem to find a complete set in a color that Lorna wants but I found all the components needed to make it myself. It's something I want to look at doing in a few months.

The best news of the day was that the kids' insurance was renewed for another year. I've been fighting with the state since the beginning of October. We faxed 5 different proof of income documents only to have them deny us. Since we did qualify I appealed and they finally reversed the decision. This is the last year we need to do this since we will be able to add the kids to Paul's employer plan at the end of the year, it's not a great plan (65% coverage after the deductible is reached) but at least we won't need to use the state plan any longer.

Inside projects

I'm still plugging along trying to get things cleaned up around the property but the weather has turned my focus inside yesterday and today. I managed to get my room straightened up. You would think that a small house and bedroom would mean that it's easy to keep things picked up, but that's not the case. We have a table in the corner of our bedroom that had become a catchall. I finally got everything from the table either put away or thrown out. I'm hoping to get at least one scrapbook page a week done now that I have a place to set out my supplies. I just realized that I didn't get one single page done in the last year so I'm hoping to change that. I've got pictures everywhere that need to be put in books and no lack of supplies.

Today we cleaned all the baseboards and floor moldings around the house. Since we have laminate flooring there is a quarter round that sits in front of all the baseboards. Dust and dirt seem to gather in all the little cracks and it makes the floor look awful even when it's just been mopped. We each took a section of the floor and had it done in 5 minutes. Since these projects are so easy the kids are more than willing to help and have actually been asking if they can come up with some!

I got a bonus project done this morning while waiting for the kids to finish up their schoolwork; I was able to clean out the top drawer of our file cabinet. That drawer holds all the files that we access on a regular basis. Instead of having to force things in the files now everything just easily slides in place. Since we will be gone all day tomorrow for a doctor's appointment with the surgeon who will be working on Lorna, I'm glad I got an extra task done. We plan on going to IKEA after the appointment and now I don't have to feel guilty :)

I also wanted to share our great news; Paul will be back to working only one job by the end of next week. At the end of last year Paul's day job rolled out a new compensation plan for the sales staff. The promises were big and exciting, but having been disappointed by previous employers we were skeptical. We both were optimistic but wanted to wait for the first paycheck to really see how things would go. Now that we have seen that all the promises are true, Paul was able to give his notice at McDonald's. We are so excited that Paul will be home every night!

Outside clean-up

I don't really set myself goals for the year but I've decided that I need to start working at getting the property cleaned up some more. Lorna's riding lessons and gymkhana shows have really helped me be more positive about the area we live in. I still run across lots of rude and unhappy people but I've been able to find others that more than balance them out.

I seem to be coming out of my funk of just reading and have decided to try doing one small outside project a day. Yesterday we cleaned up junk in front of the house. It seems that this is going to be a task that needs to be done every month or so since the wind brings stuff onto the property. Today we moved all the firewood into the holder and under the carport. It seemed like the perfect thing to do since it may rain tonight and tomorrow. Doing just one thing every day for a few minutes makes it easier to motivate myself to keep going. It shouldn't take more than a few weeks to get everything outside completely cleaned up and organized. I figure I might as well do the same thing inside on days where the weather won't cooperate with outside work.