The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a truly amazing book. The opening chapter had me torn into a million emotional little pieces as I sobbed on the bed, but once I was able to pull myself together and continue to chapter two I was completely hooked. The story is written from a dog's perspective as he witnesses his families' and owner's highs and lows and is their faithful companion through it all. I highly recommend this book especially to anyone that has or does own a dog.

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Today was just as great as yesterday. I woke and did the morning chores then decided to head out for a ride. I had a great time with Tucker on this cool crisp morning. After the ride and a quick shower I went with friend to lunch and Cowboy Christmas. It was such a neat place. We tried to find a cache on the way home but something about it was really creeping us out so we called off the search. On the way home we stopped for ice cream and a cup of coffee. Life is so very good!

I had such a fun day today. Several of my co-workers brought their dogs over to play. Including mine we had 8 dogs here. We had gorgeous weather in the high 60's and all the dogs got along really well. Many of them paired up according to size and play style. The dogs ran, wrestled, chased and explored out in the yard while the humans chatted and snacked on the deck. All the ingredients were there to make for a very enjoyable afternoon. My dogs are now sleeping soundly on the couch.

Life has lacked a little bit of the luster it usually has so I'll warn you now this may get a bit whiney.

I took a fall of Tucker this past weekend and it has left my back, tailbone and butt sore and bruised and I'm ready to be over it so I can get back my daily life pain free. It sucks to hurt while sitting in my desk chair all day or trying to walk out to the barn to feed. It's taking way longer than I thought it would.

In addition to the hurt, we have had the left overs of Ida for the past three days and a constant rainfall. Everything is a muddy nasty mess. Cool temperatures that would normally be tolerable are now brutal mixed with the wind and moisture. The horses have been miserable not wanting to be in stall or pasture, the stall is too confining, the pasture is too wet. The dogs can barely stand to go outside and potty.

We were supposed to take the horses and dogs camping this weekend but with all the moisture and mud we have doubts as to being able to get the trailer across the field to our site. I guess it may be for the best because who knows if I am going to be healed by then.

At least it is supposed to clear up for the weekend.

I love the cooler weather, I hate the time change.  Why can't we have one without the other :(

I woke up to kind of icky weather this morning.  It's not really raining but if you go outside you get wet.  It's that foggy misty moisture in the air kind of precipitation.  I fed all the animals and then crawled back into bed. 

When I woke again I put the horses out in the riding ring to eat down some of the grass that has decided to grow in there.  Apparently being hyped up on the sugar with the drizzle falling is the greatest thing that ever happened to Tucker.  He is tearing around the ring in endless laps at a speed I did not even believe this horse could go.

I had a couple of options for my entertainment this morning.  I could ride in a poker run for a charity event that is going on at one of the local parks that has equestrian trails.  I really wanted to do it, but I could not find anyone that wanted to ride with me and I was too chicken to ride in it by myself.  Boo on lack of confidence.  I could have also gone to the campsite with hubby.  He had to mow out there and I am sure the dogs would have enjoyed some hiking this morning.  With the weather being gross I am now at home doing laundry, updating LJ and watching out the window as my gelding acts like a mad man.

This afternoon when the poker run portion is over they are having a "woofin & hoofin" event at the park offering demonstrations and vending and what not as part of the same charity event.  I would like to go see all that they having going on.  It will not be the same as riding but there should be some interesting stuff going on.

The time changes tonight and I'm not looking forward to it.  Already the winter and earlier dark has cut into the time and opportunities I have to ride during the week.  After tonight this will pretty much force me into weekend riding only.  It will be dark by the time I get home from work and we have no lights on the riding ring :(

I hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0910/off_the_map_.html

I'll be curious to see how they do.

Well things did not go as planned, which often seems to be the case with Lance and I but as is also the case we still had a good time. 

We had planned to head out to our campsite early yesterday morning and spend the night to come home today around lunch.  Once we got there we planned to hike the dogs to tire them out, then pack a lunch, ride up the mountain, stop to picnic at the top and ride back down.  Well I woke with a headache, so that delayed us about two hours, which of course threw off the timing of our lunch plans because we had to stop on the way as we were both starving.  We got there and everything was a complete muddy mess making getting the trailer in an interesting task (the sites are in a big field).  The temps were also very chilly and the forecast  held more rain. 

We started our hike and the trails were very slick with lots of huge mud puddles.  We did make a friend while hiking.  A black lab decided she wanted to be part of our group.  Radar loved her and the two of them played up and down the trails.  Jules on the other hand was not thrilled to have another female attempting to break into her pack.

After our hike Lance confessed he did not really want to stay the night.  It was supposed to drop even further in temperature and he feared if we did get more rain that would make getting the trailer out of the field even more difficult than it was to get in.  I agreed that was probably the smartest decision, even if it was not the most fun.

Since we came all the way out there I was not about to leave without a ride though.  So head still hurting and muddy, slick trails ahead we headed out.  We slipped around on the trails for a bit and decided to ride out the country road instead.  The lab stuck with us the entire time we rode was well.  In fact it would run out in the woods, get behind us and then come running to catch up.  The first couple times she did that it really spooked Tucker but by the end of the ride he was really good about it.  I was kind of glad she was there to help desensitize him to that kind of thing.  She also kept his mind off the scary cows because he was so focused on watching her that he did not even realize we were riding past fields full of cows.

After our ride we ate what was supposed to be our lunch then we loaded everybody up and headed home.  It was a great day!!!!!

It's been awhile since I posted anything besides a book review.  I had to have my appendix removed and after the surgery I was pretty boring because I felt to crappy to get out and do anything soooooo I have not had much worth writing about.  Well I am finally feeling recovered (for the most part) and life has been pretty damn good.

A friend of mine and I took a trip to Jekyll Island, GA.  It was absolutely beautiful.  The island is very un-commercialized so there is a lot of natural beauty there.  Other than a few  hotels, a couple of restaurants, water park, mini-golf and one tiny shopping center everything else is all outdoorsy activities.  There is a beautiful historic district on the island.  Unfortunately there was a shrimp and grits festival going on while we were there so that dominated the historic district and we did not get a chance to appreciate it in it's normal state.  We did lots of caching while we were there and as we were searching for one we came across this fun contraption.

Riding it certainly messed up some of the post surgery tummy muscles but it was damn fun ride!!!!  The highlight of the trip was the release of three sea turtles that had been rehabilitated in the sea turtle hospital on the island.  It was pure luck that we happened to be there while it was going on and I have to say watching those turtles head back out to see was one of the cooler moments of my life.


This past weekend was a very nice one.  Saturday was filled with chores, but Sunday Lance and I got in the car and headed up the road about an hour for a very enjoyable lunch at one of our local vineyards.  The food was delicious, the wine pleasant and afterward they took us on a hayride tour of the grounds.  It was a beautiful place and the weather was perfect.

Today was yet another awesome day.  Lance and I cut out of work early and loaded up the horses for a trail ride.  We had not had the horses out away from home since June so it was great to get out there.   I had been riding around the house a little bit since the surgery but I am feeling the muscle exhaustion way more than I thought I would after the ride.  I guess surgery and the break from riding really made me lose the muscle tone and memory.  Poor Tucker was probably like "what the hell is she doing up there".  It was great to be back out there though and I know I will get it back with time.

I almost forgot!!!  Right before I had the surgery we added a member to the family.  He is the total opposite of what I ever thought I would have in a dog, but I love him and he is the cutest little baby you could ever see.  I felt kind of bad that two days after we got him I was in the hospital for two days, but I think he loved having me home during the recovery process.  The other two were a little leery of him at first but everyone seems to have slipped into the routine and accepted that we are all family.  Jules is back to her normal queen bee self and Radar is as wild as ever!  The newbie...Napoleon or better known as Poe, is my little shadow and he seems to falsely believe that I am just the most amazing person ever to live.  This of course was the point of getting him ;)


All else is well.  Busy around the house keeping up with everything.  I am enjoying living here sooooo much.  I'm thankful everyday for all the wonderful things that make up my life.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book was about an elderly woman that lived in an insane asylum and a doctor that had to assess her situation to determine if she had been placed there properly. The institution she was currently being held in was being destroyed and he had to determine what the next appropriate step would be for her.

The book was written from both the perspective of the doctor and the old woman and much of the book has you in the dark as to what reality is truth as it pertains to the old woman's life. Her memories and other historical accounts do not always match so you never know what is actual until the end.

There were parts of the book that I really enjoyed and there were parts I found myself wishing the author would just get on with it. The book wound around and brought you back for a happy and surprising ending.

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Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This series definitely went downhill towards the end but I had to see it through. At least I enjoyed the fourth novel more than the third. I'm glad it is over.

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I'm loving life in the new place and other than having to go to work everyday I feel like I am on a vacation.  I love that I can look out my window and there the horses are grazing in the field.  I have had some good rides, done lots of yard work and I'm slowly getting used to the new routine of daily life with horses. 

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I'm not enjoying the later novels in the series nearly as much as I enjoyed the first ones, but now I am sucked into the series and will see it to the end.

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This weekend has been good, bad, productive, fun, relaxing, stressful, enjoyable and crappy all in a matter of 3 days.

I started my three day weekend by getting up early and taking the pups for a walk.  After the walk I headed to the barn and had one of the best rides on Tucker that I have had in a really long time.  We worked in the ring and rode out on the pasture trails and it was one of those rides where we were both relaxed and I think really enjoyed each other.  After the ride I was able to find a couple caches and go buy some boxes to start the never ending process of packing. 

Packing I did indeed.  I spent many hours this weekend filling boxes and trash bags, and yet when I look around the house it does not look like I've done anything at all yet.

Saturday morning I took Radar to the dog park.  I let him burn some of his energy and then came home and traded dogs.  Jules and I headed to some neighboring areas to find some more caches.  This was a really nice way to spend the 4th.  We cached until Jules told me it was too hot for her to be out there anymore, then we came home and cooled off in the pool.  To celebrate the evening I went with some friends to Kings Mountain where we watched a Revolutionary re-enactment and fireworks.  Kings Mountain was a great place to watch the fireworks because it is one of the historic sites of a significant battle in the Revolutionary War. 

All had gone pretty well in the weekend so far, it was about 1 am were things took a turn for the worse.  I woke up getting sick and it lasted into early this morning.  I'm no longer getting sick, but I still feel exhausted and not right yet.  I think I ate something bad at the fireworks last night.  In spite of feeling crappy all day today I had to pool enough energy to get the house clean.  I learned last night that we MAY have someone interested in coming to look at the house.  It is not listed yet and we were really planning on waiting until we moved out to prep it to show, but how could I miss an opportunity that presents itself.  I took Radar back to dog park so he would sleep and leave me alone while I was cleaning.   I spent most of the day getting things in order and now I'm just laying around hoping to feel good soon. 

You Are What You Eat: The Plan That Will Change Your Life by Gillian McKeith

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was an informative book on nutrition. It was pretty basic in discussing the benefits of eating raw fruits and vegetables. It talked about using supplements to make up for what is lacking in our diets and could be causing illness or problems within our bodies. It was certainly a glimpse into how poorly humans as a whole eat and the bad things we are doing to our bodies because of that.


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I'm exhausted today after lots of vitamin D therapy.  Life has been moving along and all is going well, although it seems like I rarely take the time to post about it anymore.

Lance and I are working on buying a small horse farm.  It's 3.5 acres with a cute little house on it and an existing barn and riding ring.  It is the perfect place for us.  I think it would be a great farm for us to be on with the horses and dogs with enough room for everyone, but not so much that we would be in over our heads.  The sale is moving along about as they always do, stressful but exciting.  We had not really planned to do this just yet but we came across an incredible deal and did not want to miss out.  Our house is not on the market yet and that has me a bit nervous, but I remain hopeful it will all work out.

Other than the farm we are just enjoying our summer.  The pool has been lots of fun this year and I am already thinking about how much I am going to miss it after we move.  The horses have been having some skin problems which has drastically cut back on how much we can use Freckles.  We have been to the barn lots lately but it does not seem like I have been doing as much riding as normal.  I think the heat of summer is also a contributor to my lessened riding.

Life is good and I am really just enjoying it right now.

While I was walking the dogs this morning a man that I see pretty regularly on my morning walks stopped and said to me "You get stuck with walking the dogs huh?"  I laughed it off at the time.

The truth is my morning walk with my dogs (and sometimes husband) is one of the best parts of my days.  If I miss it, I feel completely off of my routine and it seems to take forever to wake up.

It is interesting to someone else it seems like a chore.

I also reflected on how interesting it is the people that you interact with and develop relationships with as part of your daily routine.  Walking my dogs which at first was fairly isolated due to the early hour has turned into quite the social event.  I greet the local mechanic every morning as he starts his day, an elderly woman that admires the dogs will at least wave if not stop her car in the middle of the road to chat and there is another walker we pass a couple times a week that usually has a "Good Morning" for us.

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
The saga continues and I am still loving it. This one hinted at adding what I think will be a very interesting layer.


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