Kick Up Your Heels

     I officially bought Roni today, completing the paper work and payment and bringing him back to his new forever home.  I am so happy and excited,
                                                                                   I want to kick up

my heels.  He is so cute and so sweet... I am so honored to be his new guardian and I am so thankful Marj was willing to part with him.  I was also glad that the new bridle I bought him fits.  Two nights ago, I did something to my back, neck, and shoulders... so my excitement had to be more contained.  A nice quiet ride (just the two of us) in the indoor arena at Marj's was perfect... before loading him on the trailer and driving him 3 miles down the road to our farm.

     Because Marj was busy most of last Thursday -> Sunday with a Mark Russel horse training clinic, and because we were going to wait till Roni was wormed and had his hooves checked, and a vet look at him for chiropractic reasons, we had decided to wait for me to bring him home until after our lesson today.  Fortunately, Marj was very kind in letting me ride him through Sunday while she was in the clinic.  The first 3 days of the week I am always so busy with school work, that it works to give Roni those days off. 

     Last Saturday morning there was a crisp fall feeling in the air.  Zorro was extra spunky being walked out to the front pasture to graze.  I lingered at my desk having an extra cup of hot tea needing both the caffeine and the warmth.  Joe and I did some weeding and tree trimming, using our new little trailer to put all the branches in. 

Then Joe headed off for his NFL Fantasy Football draft/poker party and I headed to Wellgreen Farm to work with Roni.  Marj and I had a great chat... making plans for moving forward with Roni.  I ended up riding him out front with Richard part of the time.  I continue to be patient with him and work on getting him to relax and go where I want to go at the speed I want to go at.  Once he is "with me" we get along great.  In the evening when I was bringing Zorro back in, he was even rowdier than in the morning.  The breeze was blowing and he felt good.  He even spun, kicked out, and reared up a little.  So, I tied him to the horse trailer, finished my chores and then took him to the barn for his dinner.  Sunday he was much better behaved on our walks back and forth between the grazing pasture and barn.  I know he really wants to run and kick up his heels.

     Sunday after Church when I was riding Roni, I took him down the lane from Marj's towards our house.  I had him go across the bridge and then turned back.  He did not do quite as well, probably because I took him out of sight of Marj's barn.  This really makes him nervous.  We worked through some issues with rushing and wanting to turn back towards the barn, and made some progress I think. 

     The weekend flew by as usual.  I worked on weeding the rock garden and watering everything. Joe and I also worked at moving cows and horses, cleaning stalls and chicken coop, etc. I did not get near enough school work done, only half of the grading... but I did read through the 504s, IEPs, and CARES plans for all my students.   

Some sunrise pictures, including Frankie:

     Monday after school I shopped for food for our pot luck, graded, made the salad, dropped by Courtney and Mike's new house and went to our Growth Group potluck, came home and graded some more, and went to bed.  Seeing Courtney and Mike and their new house and food and fellowship at Growth Group were the high lights of my day.

     Tuesday morning I was up and out of bed at 4:30 due to a clock malfunction.  I got extra work done before going to school.  I stayed at school for a 504 meeting, and then set up for a lab.  I didn't get home till 5 pm...  hungry, thirsty, tired and with a headache.  Fruit juice and a shower revived me as did the dinner Joe fixed.  I got the rest of my plans done for the week and then tackled more grading... Labs and the metric work sheets are so time consuming.  I did treat myself to some outdoor time walking Amiga after dark.

      Wednesday morning I put my nose to the grind stone (kind of the opposite of kicking up my heels) and finished up all of my grading which I was planning to hand back to the students.  By the time I got home from school, the temperature was back up in the low 90's.  Everything needed watering again.  The rain predicted for last night was no more than a spittle, not even settling the dust.  I ate a very late lunch so skipped dinner and went to Marj's to work with Roni a little bit.  I just did ground work because he had gotten a hoof trimming in the morning.  There were several people out there working horses, so it was fun to visit and watch what was going on.

     Thursday while driving home from school I was falling asleep (literally) catching myself on the shoulder two different times.  I was tempted to pull over and take a nap right there... it was too hot to open the window and stick my head out, so I just turned up the air and aimed all the vents at my
                                                                                    face, and made it

home.  I took a 30 minute power nap, ate some left overs for lunch and rushed off to Marj's to mess with Roni again.  I had limited time.  Rushed back home, fed the horses, took a shower and headed back out the door with an ice cream cone for dinner.  We had our Open House at school, which went well... good turn out of parents.  Although I noticed that I had very low numbers to my 6th hour class and interestingly enough, that is also my most difficult class in terms of attendance and number of students who are struggling with organization, getting home work done, or keeping up with our fast paced curriculum.  I got home just after 9 pm, gave the horses more hay and water, tried to grade but hit the bed by 10:30.

     The tile work has been on hold all week, waiting for the new replacement pipe to come in, but at least we found out that the cost of the work is being helped out by neighbors...woot woot

Exuberant Roni

 

     "Live for today, love for tomorrow, and laugh at all your yesterdays. Never regret the past, always hope for the future, and cherish every moment you have."  A soldier's wife from the 236th ICTC.
     And don't forget to kick up your heels.
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