Posts

Showing posts from December, 2012

Best Quotes of the Holidays

The holidays always produce a few "laugh out loud" moments. Here are a few of my highlights. At our office holiday luncheon, Maryann and I were eating the peanut M&M's off the dessert table while everyone else was eating appetizers. Someone jokingly said, "You can't eat those, they're on the dessert table!" Maryann looked at me, picked up the bowl of M&M's and put it on the appetizer table. "Problem solved," she said. At the same luncheon, Lin was telling us all about a new theater that recently opened up and the hypnotist show her niece went to see. "They hypnotized her and she did that thing where you talk and swear at the same time," Lin said. "Oh, you mean rap," Deb asked. "Yes, that's it!" We all laughed. My brother and I were both Christmas shopping at the same time, in different stores. He was shopping for me and called and said, "I'm going to get you a present at

Farewell to my Barn Dog

Image
Ivy arrived at my parent's horse barn while I was living in Maine. A couple of years later when I came back (via Massachusetts and Nevada), she was one of a group of goats my brother had. I've never liked goats. But I noticed that the other goats picked on Ivy. When it was raining out, she would be outside, because they didn't let her in the goat house (which was big enough for everyone). When they did let her in, she was usually off by herself. Having a soft spot in my heart for an underdog, I decided to help Ivy out, literally. I let her out of the goat pen and turned her into my "barn dog." She had the complete run of the barn, and she loved it. Ivy had her own pen, the same size as the other goat pen, but she didn't have to share. She never left, was usually underfoot, and could hear the tack room door open from yards away; and was somehow instantaneously in the tack room stealing grain. Ivy in summer 2009, enjoying her job as barn dog She l

Happy Thoughts

Image
Amidst all of the sadness of the past week with the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, there have also been a lot of really great moments in the past week. I feel guilty having a good week, when there are so many people with so much sadness in their life, but I think its important to embrace the good moments in life too. I spent the weekend in North Carolina with my sister and her two children. They are ages one and three. We made gingerbread houses, we had brunch with Santa at the Country Club. We made cookies. One of my friends from First Descents came over for dinner and we spent some quality time catching up. It was a great weekend. Yesterday was another day with lots of little things that brought a smile to my face. John's whinny as I walked into the barn in the morning. A couple of good phone calls. Conversations with friends. A Christmas card in the mail with the reminder of an upcoming adventure for 2013. And the closing line of an email that made me l

Remembering Sandy Hook

Image
I’ve spent the last four days in much the same way everyone else in Connecticut has. Watching the news, reading updated reports online and talking to friends and family about the horrific events in Sandy Hook; and the same questions and heartbreak keep coming up. The Sandy Hook I remember was a quiet, peaceful town. It’s been about 12 years since I visited the town. When we were state FFA officers, two officers lived in Sandy Hook, and I went to their house several times for meetings. I still remember how to get there. From all of the reports I am reading; Sandy Hook and Newtown haven’t changed much; until Friday, it still was a peaceful town. I live next door to an elementary school. Once in a while, I’m around in the morning when the neighborhood kids are walking over to school. On these mornings, I see two little boys and one little girl race to school. They look like they are in first grade. I root for the little guy that wears the monkey hat every day, and if I’m in

Once In A Lifetime Experience

Image
When I talk to people about my recent trip to Peru with First Descents , almost everyone says, "Wow, that was a once in a lifetime experience." My friend took this photo of me hiking in Peru And I think, well, yes it was, but I want to do something like that again very soon. Why should we only have these awesome things happen to us once in a lifetime (besides the pesky facts that they are expensive, require vacation time from work, someone to feed your horses, etc)? Over the last couple of weeks, I've been working on an article for Massachusetts Horse magazine and have talked to some really incredible horse people. One horse trainer I talked to did the "Best of America by Horseback" ride in 2009 from Mexico to Canada with two of her geldings. She also regularly goes riding with Windwalker Expeditions in Arizona. These guys are endurance riders that take people out riding through Arizona. I can guarantee you that will be on my next Trail Ride Bucke

We'll Be Singing....

When We're Sleeping? This post is for all of you that have ever slept in the same camper at a horse show, or barn at a fair as me. We'll start with the background information to the above statement. The year was 1996 - I was 16 years old and it was the weekend of the Tolland County 4-H Fair. My horse was one of two horses staying at the fair and I slept over in the barn with her. In the same barn were the beef cows and some turkeys. It should be noted here that I hate turkeys (and all poultry in general). I woke up in the morning and was feeding my horse and all of that fun stuff when Mrs. Holden, who had been chaperoning us overnight in the barn, came back to the barn looking like she wanted to kill me. I said, "What did I do?!?" Natalie started laughing. Apparently sometime in the middle of the night I had started screaming bloody murder and woke everyone (except myself) up. Mrs. Holden said she nearly had a heart attack and asked what I had been dream

5 Reasons My Gelding is Fatter Than My Mares

I originally posted this in March 2011, but it still makes me laugh - especially now as John heads back into work from some time off - because it is so true. This is the original post: He works twice as hard as the mares, but he is fatter than either of them. I've spent a few days thinking and a few days watching them. This is what I have come up with: 1. Both mares are taller than he is, but I feed them all the same. Probably ought to change my feeding habits. 2. When the girls run around because a school bus drives by, John stands there and eats. 3. When the girls go visit the other horses over the fence, John stands there and eats. 4. When the girls run to the gate because I pull in the driveway, John stands there and eats. 5. I think four reasons is enough. Not much comes between John and his hay, so I guess I better come between John and his hay :) *On a side note, I could probably add a fifth reason - John knows exactly how to tug at my heart strings and get t

A Day on Cape Cod

Image
I spent the day in Brewster, Massachusetts yesterday (Cape Cod) exploring the trails of Nickerson State Park for a trail guide for the February/March issue of Massachusetts State Park. It was a very cool day.