Winning Buckle

Here's the winning buckle for the July 3rd and4th buckle series. The little stones on the lower right are purple and white.

Bragging Rights

I am so proud of Dara and Copper. They have really been an awesome team lately. It all started at the end of June and the July 3rd and 4th buckle series. She ran her fastest time ever in the Cleburne outdoor the weekend before the 4th. They ran a 17.8 with the winning time being around a 15.3. The next weekend at the buckle series on Friday night, she ran a blazing 17.7 in the youth and a 17.8 in the open on the 3rd. She also brought home a check winning the youth 3D. Then we went back on the 4th for the second day. I gave Copper a gram of bute before we left because he had been running for two weekends in a row.

I had a lady give him a message before her youth run. Still had some trouble in the alley. She let him really run this time and they ran the fastest time EVER a 17.1 in the youth. She won 1st in the youth 3D. Then it came time for her open run...had trouble in the alley. Finally got him in. She again let him run and they ran a 17.7. Winning time in the open was 15.3. She didn't place in the open, but that was OK.

The best part was that she won the youth 3D buckle. They awarded the buckles on an average of both days and then they put those times into D's. YEA!!!! Copper can rest until she gets to South Dakota.

NBHA tonight

Ok it's been a long time since I've posted anything. There has been so much happening since the last one that it will take me forever to tell it all. The most important thing is Dara came home tonight with 2 checks. YEA!!! Haven't seen two in a long time. Now she has come home with one check, but not two.

She won 1st place in the youth 3D, and won 4th in the open 4D. She was only 91 cents short of winning back her entry fees. YEAH!!!

A few things I'm thankful for

First I've got to say that I need to be more diligent with my postings. I'm not sure if anyone reads them or not. So maybe if I blog more someone might read them. Having said that, I've got some things I'm thankful/proud of today.

The first one is it was such a BEAUTIFUL day today. It was neither too hot, nor too windy. It was the kind of day that you knew spring was here. The wind was blowing JUST enough to keep you cool. It was so nice outside. With being so nice outside I decided to get off my duff and ride one of the two rideable horses we have.

That brings me to the second thing I'm proud of today. I caught Copper, saddled him, and Jenn are you ready for this...I got on him. I rode that big bad stead for about 45 min. We just meandered around the front acre several times. Then we went around the second acre several times. Then back up to the front. I even walked through the poles, and around the barrels a couple of times. Yes, around the barrels (walking of course). So I decided I was through with that and headed to the back 3 acres. We walked through low hanging tree limbs, down some pretty steep washouts, back up the washouts, all the while with dogs following. They would actually walk under and around Copper's feet. They are small dogs and have been kicked and stepped on by all three horses. You'd think they'd have learned by now. Believe it or not, Copper did not do one thing other than duck his head, swing his head back at me to get at the flies. The flies were the biggest problem I had with Copper. Bless his heart they were eating him alive.

I am so proud of myself for having the nerve to get on him. I think I like riding him. I know I know, I haven't been to an alley of an arena yet. That might be a different story. He might act a complete fool, who knows. But for now, it's the small steps that count.

Swine Flu

I know I know I know, enough is enough about this new thing. I don't know about my school district, nor do I understand the small town mentality. Every district within 20 miles, save for Alvarado, was closed this week due to the Swine Flu. Of course, no we don't close. No this isn't the problem...but part of it. The fourth grade was to have a field trip today to Corsicana to the planetarium at the college. Well, hell no we can't take off for the flu, but we can sure cancel a field trip. Can't call school off with a few probable cases...NOOO, but we can sure as hell cancel a field trip.

Now, the kicker is that the person over buses...we're speculating didn't fulfill our request for buses. But, there seems to be enough buses and drivers to transport the fifth graders over to the middle school tomorrow.

I'll be so glad when this year's over!!!!! Can anyone tell?????

Rude Teenagers

I went with Dara to a Freshman/Parent's meeting tonight. Sitting two rows behind us was a group of girls who have dealt Dara misery for two years now...just found out tonight about it. As we were getting ready to leave the auditorium, a wadded up piece of paper hit my legs. I pick it up and ask the two girls behind me if they were the ones who threw it, and they shook their heads no and pointed to the group of girls behind them.

~~Jennifer and Jill~~the one who threw the wad was the girl who was arguing with Dara about how to turn a barrel. Remember she was the one who said that you squeeze with your knees to turn/hold on/ride a horse while running barrels. Shows what she knows.

Anyway, I tossed it back and said that they needed to make sure it goes in the trash this time. There was A/just one parent with the whole group of about 4 girls who said loud enough for me to hear, but not to my face "She better not hit one of my girls". Well, you don't do something like and not expect the person not to take care of it. The whole entire time we were there the one who says she can ride stared at me...like that was going to intimidate me...NOT!!!

I'm calling the principal tomorrow to complain. This will stop tomorrow or else... I only found out about these girls tonight when Dara told me that that one girl even threw gum in her hair last year. She also tried to start something earlier in the year with Dara, but Don called the principal and got that stopped. Now it's her and one other girl who is at it again. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!

I've told Dara that the reason why she's doing this is because she's jealous of her because she can't do what she does as good as she does it. I'll be so glad to get through these teenage years without Dara being scarred by what others do or say to her.

I just screwed up

I lost all my blogs I'm following on my blog page. HELP!! I don't know what I did. I was trying to add a video, and my whole entire blog page changed. I tried to return it back to what it was before...but to no avail. I don't know what to do???? Even the font sizes changed. What to do What to do???!!! If anyone can help let me know.

Dara NBHA 4/26

Video on Youtube

Dara's run that I commented on in the post before is on youtube, title Dara NBHA Cleburne 4/26. I never could upload the video to here.

Beating one's own time or winning

We went to an NBHA in Cleburne Sunday. For some reason Dara doesn't like the outdoor arena. She entered the youth and the open. She usually carries her time over to the open, but she decided to ride in the open instead.

She had a smoking run for her...she ran a 17.8. The winning time was a 16.0...so she was just 1.1 off the fastest time. You can't even take a breath that quick. That is the fastest she's EVER run in the outdoor pen. When it came time to run in open, she ran a 18.1, and the winning time was a 16.1. That was only 2 seconds off the winning time. I know, I know, I know 2 seconds is a big gap especially in barrel racing.

The good part was that Molly Powell was there. I think she ran a 16.3 or 4. So that made Dara run only a little over a second slower, almost two seconds, than Molly. That in itself is a great accomplishment.

But the BIG thing was that she beat her all time fastest time. She normally runs a 19 or 20 in that pen. The difference you ask? She borrowed a shin guard from a friend. She told me that with the shin guard she didn't have to look down at the barrel and worry the whole time that she was going to smash her knee into it. All this time I refused to buy her some because I thought that would give her an excuse to not try to stay off the barrels. If I had known it would work I'd done it all long time ago. I'm going to try to upload the video that run for all to see.

So proud of myself

I have been one of the biggest chickens in the world especially when it comes to thinking about getting on Copper. In the past I have ridden her horses around a little. Since he was a half a hair away from being blown up before Dara and Copper went to Jennifer and fixed the problem, I have been way too scared to even think about sitting on him.

Monday afternoon I took them to Rendon for Dara to get some practice in before this Sunday. After Dara got done with all her exhibitions, I told her I wanted to ride Copper and cool him down for her. So I climbed on him, nervous as hell. He stood still while I got my feet in the stirrups, and got settled. I asked him to walk off, and HE DID!!! Dara said good luck...and by the way stay out his mouth (this came from Dara?) and away from the alley. I knew that I wasn't going near the alley anyway. So, I took off toward the front parking lot. He was a dream for me. I cowgirl upped, got brave, and walked him inside the arena (not the actual arena but inside the arena where the stands are). We walked to announcers stand and stood between the stand and the bleachers. He did absolutely nothing. I walked him halfway down between the announcers stand and the alley area...he DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I was scared out of my mind that he would act up with me and I'd fall and get hurt...I have no sick days left until June 4. I walked him around the back parking lot area by the alley, and he did nothing.

I know you guys are laughing your asses off right now, but this is a HUGE step for me. I NEVER thought I'd ever get on Copper's back for anything. I did it and that is a big mountain I overcame. So, I'm thinking that I might get on him some more and walk around. I've always wanted to beat Dara at her own game on her own horse. If we still had Gus I know I'd be there by now, that was the best learner horse in the world. Copper on the otherhand, is for experienced riders only. So maybe just maybe I'll do it.

It would help if I had someone who would help me get my seat and balance, or just to ride with without Dara around.

Maybe, I'll eventually get up the nerve to walk him around an alley and into the arena. Who knows....

Am I the only one who backs out?

I was just wondering tonight in Wally World if I was the only one in the world who backs out before paying out. I had about an hour and half to waste. Dara and a friend went to the movies tonight in Cleburne. I didn't want to waste diesel driving home then back to Cleburne, wayyyy too far. So, I went to Wally World to waste time.

I wondered through the clothes only to find that they didn't have anything new. Speaking of clothes...I wear plus size clothing. I know that's not a shocker. But, the problem is that the plus size section in ANY store is about 2 to if we are lucky 10 racks of clothes...and those clothes look like some little old 80 year old lady going to the doctor's office would wear...or they look like something I wouldn't put on my dog. The clothing buyers don't think that there are large sized women and GIRLS who don't want to look like their grandmother or great-grandmother, so they don't buy for us large people. It is so DAMN infuriating...I have many, many, many times called and filed a complaint with the corporate offices of several clothing stores about this.

So, moving off my soap box...then I moved to the bedding, kitchen, and household goods section. The one in Cleburne has a section that has a discounted aisle of just these things. I found several slip covers they had marked down. The only problem was that they didn't have a love seat and sofa of the same color. The sofa slip cover was only $35 and the love seat slip cover was $25. Thinking this is a great deal, I threw a dark green and a light green one in the basket. I carried these slip covers around with me for over an hour, wondering how I was going to make these two different shades work together.

The closer it got to the movie being over the more I decided that I didn't need to spend that $60. Again, as always, I put them back because I figured that my family needs something else more importantly that slip covers. I DO THIS ALL THE TIME.

Most of the time it is makeup, clothing, shoes, under garments, hair spray, etc. that I put back because I think that I don't need to spend that much money on something for me and not the family. I'll pick it up, carry it around, get to the check out and ask the cashier to put it back.

Am I the only one who backs out like this? Just wondering...

Baby's First Vet's Visit

Today was Satch's first visit to the vet's office. I sure hope it doesn't leave a bad mental blurr in his mind. The little guy was gelded today. Dara and I got to watch the whole procedure. It's not much different than castrating a calf. I felt so sorry for him.

We had to take his buddy with him in order for him to get in the trailer. It was pretty easy...once Rhum walked in we just had to give Satch a little coaxing with a few smooches and in he went. He never really fought us AT ALL. He just wasn't sure what we wanted him to do until Rhum climbed in. Now coming out was a different story. He was too scared to put his feet down on the ground. He hesitated a few times and then just stepped off like he'd been doing it all his life. He really is a pretty smart little guy. We really haven't found anything that he is terrified of. There are times, of course, that he is a little skittish. But, isn't that how all babies act?

By the way Jennifer, that is Rhum in the background. You really can't tell much about him other than how big he is to be a year and 17 days.

Kids, Parents and Demerits

Four and a half years of college...BS degree in Elementary Ed...with a minor in English...Elementary teaching certificate...English as a Second Language endorsement...21 years experience teaching mostly Reading/Language Arts/Writing, and a parent of one of my students has the gaul to tell me that I must have went to college to learn how to write demerits because I do it so well. A second time she writes...that all I must have done is study how to write demerits.

Now let's not address the issue that her son had been told many, many, many times to turn around and stop talking over several weeks. I finally had had enough of him disrupting the class by turning around and talking that I did give him a demerit. I usually try to give the students a few chances to change their behavior before I take action. This time he was turned around one too many times and talking one too many times.

Again, let's not address the issue that her son was wasting time by drawing instead of working on his writing benchmark test (which is a mini-TAKS test). Again, he was told many, many, many times to get busy...not to mention that he had to take three days to complete the stupid thing when it should've only been a two day test. (Now, to interject here, the actual TAKS test is only a one day test. I was only giving the mini-test to both my classes in one day, so that meant that they had a half a day each day to complete it. I only have each class for a half a day.)

So, I write her a letter back stating that I need to address both of her gratuitous comments (you like the word? I bet she had to get a dictionary to learn what it meant), and tell her that even though she doesn't like him getting demerits for disrupting the class he will continue to get them as they are warranted (like that word?), and according the student handbook blah blah blah.

I never heard a word from her. He came up to me to tell me that his dad was getting out of jail and they had to go to Huntsville (jail? how bout prison) to get him. He said his mom has to talk to immigration to see if he can stay here when he gets out. WHOLLY SHIT are you thinking what I'm thinking? Two days ago he came in all teary eyed, and I asked him if he was ok. He told me that his dad did get out of jail, but he was deported back to Mexico. He doesn't know how to speak spanish nor does he understand it...mom doesn't speak spanish either.

Does anyone else besides me see a problem?

Cost Cutting?

I'm taking Jenn's post about cost cutting...Spin Cycle topic. I posted about this before...I titled it You (I) might be a redneck if... Well, to start off the car engine blew, the truck's clutch burned up, our cell phones got turned off, we moved our double-wide home onto 5 acres with my mother in another double-wide home, have a 1974 motor home that hasn't run in over 3 years parked in the front yard being used as a storage facility, and I could go on and on.

But that is not what this about...it's about cutting cost. To replace the car we bought another one for $250.00 plus tax/title/license plus a water pump. We called someone that buys vehicles running or not. He came and got the dead car, gave us $100, and towed it off for free, so the one we bought actually cost us $150. Yeah a car that has fewer miles than the one that cratered. To fix the clutch...we asked a good friend if he knew of anyone who did clutches and he had a friend who would do it for just the cost of the clutch $300. Mom is still living next to us, and that seems to be working out ok because she does the cooking and we're not eating out AT ALL (so saving that money). She buys the groceries, and will not take any money from me or let me pay for them. We are using that money we are saving on groceries and eating out to get the phones turned back on. We're also saving money on a having to not rent or buy a storage building by using the motor home for storage.

So yes, cutting costs is hard to do. But every little bit helps. How often do you get to buy a car for $150? Now is that cutting cost or what?

My Little Tanner

I'm so upset I could literally shoot someone right now. The neighbor two doors down stopped me in the road to tell me my Tanner got attacked by a pack of dogs from across the street from them. He told me his wife heard their dogs (in a fence) carrying on, and her horse making a commotion, and looked out and saw a pit bull with what she thought was a rabbit or a small cat. But as they got closer it wasn't...it was my 2 year old Chihuahua Tanner. This is the second fight he has been in. The first one costs us around $400 in vet bills. The second one cost him his life, and the loss of my sweet little man.

So needless to say, if I see those dogs they are dead. Everyone in the neighborhood have lost many dogs, a show rabbit, a show goat, many cats, and house pets. They have tried to attack another neighbor's yearlings they raise and sell. So I guess I'm going to be the one to get rid of these killers.

Movin on up

Dara tested for her next belt in Karate...an orange belt. The order is white, orange, green, red, blue, brown, and black. She's offically now an orange belt. She's pretty good at it too. All the students have a nickname, and you guessed it her's is Cowgirl.

Dara's 2nd race since Oct. 25

There have been 2 NBHA's for this new year. The first one was at Cleburne Indoor arena. This is usually her favorite arena. She took it very slow and easy...can you blame her? That was the first time she has been around the barrels since her accident. She got a no time in the youth, and did a 20 something in the open...not too bad I guess. This past Sat. was another one. This time it was at Rendon. She had never run there since they redid the arena. She had a pretty good youth run. She won 3rd in the 3D...$17...that was only 2.5 seconds off. She didn't win any money in the open...again she was 2.8 seconds off in that one. Not too bad for second time since her jaw breaking accident. She's never been that close to the winning time...yea! Now if she would quite being so timid going to the first. She is getting off her butt to ride...she forgets when she's in the middle of a run. Now if I can get her to get off her butt after she's left the barrel...she could pick up that 2 seconds...wishful thinking on my part. A person can always wish.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=51526962

Jennifer here's her run at Rendon. I don't know how to put that little box since I'm coping from a my space site. The my space page is the karate academy she goes to. What do you think? She's still pretty timid. Copper looks like he wants to try for her. You'd have been very proud of her the other day. She went and saddled him, and went to the pasture to ride. I looked out and saw her practicing...we don't have barrels so she was using the poles. I went out there to see what was going on and how he was working for her, and she told me that she has to keep his nose tipped to the inside and his body rounded...use her inside leg to push him off the barrel...OMG!!! I think she's finally figured out how his body is supposed to be positioned...Jill would be so proud of her also since Dara was having a hard time doing this when we had the money to go to her.

Bad Weather Days

I just love to get that phone call telling me no school. The only problem is that after the call I can't go back to sleep. Our district has this calling system that sends out mass callings to everyone. I got this call an hour before I got the call from the person ahead of me on the paper calling tree. So, I'm thinking this calling tree thing isn't as effective as the district's mass calling. So having said that...Dara and I get a day off. Even though there is sleet all over the ground...the temperature is supposed to reach the 40's by noon. So that's even way cooler than being off...getting the day off with the temperature rising to a decent temp.

I'm doing nothing but watch movies, laundry, sweep, straighten the house, and watch movies.

Need another vacation

I know I just had 2 weeks off, but I need another 2 weeks. I taught in Ft. Worth for about 5 years before Dara was born. While I was there one of the schools I taught at was on a year round calendar. I didn't like it when we first started the year round thing. I only had 5 weeks off in the summer, but I got to have 3 weeks off 9 weeks later. So every 9 weeks...I had 3 weeks off. I guess if I didn't work at all, I'd be bored to some extent. I could be a stay at home mom at a drop of a hat, or a retired mom. I still need to reach that magic number of 80 before I can retire, or so the state says I do in order to get 80% of the retirement I paid into the Teacher Retirement System. That'll be about 6 years from now, but with Dara going to college it'll be another 40 before I get to retire.

So basically, I need another week or two off. And what does this have to do with the price of rice in China...NOTHING!!! Just another rambling post about wanting more time off.

In-laws

No I'm not talking about the parent in-laws...I'm talking about the sisters-in-law. We just got an email from Don's youngest sister informing us that she got married yesterday. That's not the bad part...she didn't tell her own mother and father about until the day of. My mother and father-in-law came to the metroplex to visit us and Don's brother and his wife for the weekend. They were at Jason's house and got a call from this daughter telling Mom, Dad, and brother about getting married.

I don't care one way or another about it...it just bothers me that this is par for the course for the two sisters. Both of Don's sisters live in Bandera, and pretty much exclude their mom and dad, and two brothers out of their lives. The eldest sister, acts like her shit doesn't stink, and that her and her family is so much better than everyone else.

Well, this so called snob sister has three daughters...two of which dropped out of college (both had full ride scholarships), moved in with boyfriends, one gets married and the other is still living with boyfriend, the youngest is graduating from high school this spring...she has to have everything her way, or she'll throw a fit and wind up getting it anyway (can you say spoiled).

The other sister is also one who thinks her shit doesn't stink either. She disapproved of Dara having a my space page, and told her about it. This sister also had a baby without being married, and had to test four guys before she found out who the daddy was...became engaged to an alcoholic who had emotional problems and who eventually shot himself in the head...told her parents who were sharing the rent with her that they could not walk through her living area to go to their cars, but to walk all the way around the house to get to their car in all kinds of weather (not mention that they are in their 70's)...met another guy and got pregnant AGAIN, the first kid is a total hellian, kicks, screams, throws herself down and throws fits etc., and pretty much expects everyone do everything her way.

Don's brother and his wife, and mother and father are the only ones that we get along with. Jason's wife was one of the sisters until she had her wedding shower...she got to see how it feels to be an outsider in the family, because they treated her like they have always treated me all these years. Up until her shower, she was one of the girls, but not now.

So not all in-laws are the parents, it is in this case the female siblings.