Dillusions of Grandeur

Well, I'm completely exhausted after reading Jaenne's blog!  But it got me feeling like a schlepp, so I started thinking about what my plans are for the next few months.  Thankfully, my schedule is not nearly as nuts as hers!

My to-do list to complete in between fun stuff ... in no particular order ... but I've numbered them ... because.  This will be a good way to make me accountable for getting all of this stuff done.

1.  Fill up the whiskey barrels on the patio and get them planted with herbs and morning glory.  (This is more of a pain in the ass because of trying to find dirt to haul over there.

2.  Dig the irrigation ditch between the privacy fence and the west pasture.  Load dirt and put some of it in the whiskey barrels.

3.  Burn the huge pile of crap in the driveway.

4.  Arrange the railroad ties to start the garden.

5.  Germinate seeds for the garden.

6.  Fix the gate for the round pen.

7.  Worm sheep, trim hooves, and clip mohawks.

8.  Use bricks as trim around the rocks under the living room window and figure out what kind of walkway to do to the back deck.

9.  Fence off some of the weeds on the other side of the irrigation canal so we can have the sheep graze it.

10.  Groom Zip.

11.  Electric fence in the front pasture.

12.  Find a horse water trough.

13.  Dig out my irrigation access area (huge).

14.  Finish painting the dog room and get everything hung up and organized.

That's all I can think of for now.  Oh wait.

15.  Kick Zip's hairy ass.

Why you ask?

Let's see.  I went to the store last night.  I bought, among other things, a ten pound bag of flour....

... that is now in my shop vac.  Thank you, Zippy.

Here's something a little cooler.  I went shopping with Mark on Saturday.  Stopped at D&B and got duck food, wormer for the sheep, etc.  Also went to a couple of antique stores and picked up a few cool things (an old pair of sheep clippers among them...), and then went to a couple of western tack/saddle shops.  One of them was out in Caldwell, and I picked up a few horseshoe hooks.  Brought them home and asked my neighbor if he wouldn't mind mounting the three hooks on a piece of wood for me.  Well, I went over to the neighbors' today, and was sitting there chatting, when Brooke said, "Well what do you think?" and pointed at the rack that was leaned up against the wall damned near right in front of me.  It was gorgeous!  So I thanked Dean for the lovely job he did on it ... it was perfect!  So we sat and talked for about an hour, all the while I was so impressed with his woodworking skills.  As I was leaving, he said, "By the way, Tommy made that."  LOL!  Tommy ... the contractor that did my dog room for me!  Anyway ... here it is.

Can't wait to see it hung in the dog room.  I love the hooks on it because they'll hold 1400 leashes, 800 collars, and all of the ropes and things I usually hang from these types of things.  I've been wanting to do this for a while, and it's finally done.  Woo hoo!  Now I can hang the other, ancient, reminder-of-the-drunken-ex-husband in the garage for tack.

Colleen is down in the Twin Falls area for work this week.  She'll be coming up this weekend.  There's a group of us going out to dinner at that good sushi place in Meridian, Sa Wad Dee, and then Colleen will spend the night at my place.  On Saturday, provided the weather cooperates, we'll be going riding.  Then she takes off on Sunday morning, and Mark and I will head over to one of his friend's houses to pick up a camper shell for my truck.

Oh, I also put the trailer into the shop to have it re-wired.  So the next time I see it, it will be road worthy.  It will still need work to make it comfortable, but it's functional, at least.  It will be a while before I can afford to have it sandblasted and painted, but it will get done.  I'll also have new tires put on it, too.  I don't mind dumping a bit of money into it since a) I got it for a song; and b) I've wanted one for so long.  And this one seems like a good one.

Katie's services were today.  That was tough, and I'm wiped out.  Off to bed,
J

Sara Evans - Count me out ...

Well, I liked Sara Evans at one point enough to go see one of her shows.  To say I was not impressed with the live show would be putting it lightly.  It was all about ... her.  She didn't introduce anyone in her band.  The band would come on first, and then she makes her grand entrance ... and when she's done, she walks off, and the band finishes off the song and then leaves the stage.  Really really poor.

But here's the latest.

She wants to have a baby with her new hubby. 

However...

She doesn't want it to affect her figure, or interrupt her drinking habits.

Amazing what a little success does to a person.

You see it everywhere.

Even in sheep trialing ... which is truly pathetic.

Sad.

Caught a Rainbow...

What a gorgeous day!  I haven't gotten a whole lot done, but just been putzing with this or that.  The half-barrels are in place on the deck, and are half filled with gravel from around the front yard.  They are ready for dirt and to be planted.

I went to D&B today and bought a few things, one of which was a red rose bush.  It's time to actually start planting things around here instead of just cleaning up all of the time.  I put the rose bush in a place that I hope it does well, but it might not get enough sun.  If I see it's not getting enough sun, I'll just move it.  Anyway ...

I was outside fartin' around, and looked over my shoulder and saw this.  Sorry ... there are many photos of it.  It's not often I get a rainbow right over my house ... or that I have my camera handy when it happens.

From my deck.

From my front yard:

Here's my rose bush.  Sorry ... it was raining and I didn't want to get my camera wet.  Was just a quick half-blind shot.

And I forgot about these.  This is one of those little pieces of evidence that someone once cared about this place.  I'll have to expand on these at some point.

Not looking forward to going back to work.

J

A Heavy Heart

We lost a wonderful person yesterday.  Her name is Katie.  Despite the mountain of obstacles life dealt her with and continued to throw at her, she remained a happy, joyful, bright shining start in the life of everyone that came in contact with her.  The research done on Katie has helped numerous others, something Katie was very proud of.  Her healthy organs will be used to help more people ... something, no doubt, she would want to do.  Katie was loved by one of the best, most devoted dads in the world. 

Sleep well, Katie.  You will be missed forever.

Canyon County Dog Laws

As many of you know, I have ranted about the dog laws in Canyon County repeatedly ... and will continue to do so.  If you are going to write to me about my opinions and would like information based on my extensive research, please note a few things.

1.  If you are wanting to change the dog laws, but you are not in compliance with the dog laws already on the books, please understand that your arguments fall on deaf ears.  You start out with people not taking you seriously because you've done nothing about the laws until you're up against them.  It doesn't bode well for you.

2.  If you write to me and find out that I'm a sarcastic bitch, tough shit.  Don't write to me.  Ever.

3.  If you've got non-herding or non-livestock guardian type dogs, and are hoping to base your defense on something like the "Right To Farm" Act, please don't rely on me for support.  It. Won't. Happen.  I am not interested in trying to pass a law that gives puppymills the "right to farm" puppies.  I don't care if your dogs are registered with the Allbreed Kissmyass Committee or one of the lesser registries, if your dogs are registered at all, or if you claim your dogs are purebred, or if they're mutts.  If they are not herding dogs or livestock guardian dogs, they do not belong anywhere near the "Right to Farm" act.

4.  If you're writing to threaten me with legal action, please have more experience in law than I do, and have a clue what you're talking about.  See deaf ears comment earlier.

Do I think the dog laws in Canyon County need changing?  Absolutely.  $2,000 for a conditional use permit for anything over five dogs is outrageous, and is not likely to lead to very many people volunteering to stick their heads up and request one.

Do I think there should be a personal kennel license and a commercial kennel license, where the differences would be the amount of allowed dogs and the price of the license?  Hell no.  Why not?  Because handing out a "commercial" kennel license is giving people permission to be a legal puppymill so long as they lay out enough money.  Unfortunately, because there are people in this world who don't care about the dogs, and will produce a bazillion litters and keep their breeding dogs in filth and squalor, there needs to be laws.  And I think those laws should hold true for everyone ... same number of dogs ... same rules to follow.  With one exception...

Working dogs.

Police dogs ... do they fall under the same pet laws that pets do?  If they do, that should be changed.

Service dogs ... do they fall under the same pet laws that pets do?  If they do, that should be changed.

Search & rescue dogs ... do they fall under the same pet laws that pets do?  If they do, that should be changed.

Herding dogs ... They fall under the same pet laws that pets do, and that should be changed. 

Livestock Guardian dogs ... They fall under the same pet laws that pets do, and that should be changed.

Because I deal with the latter two, I can speak most knowledgeably about them.  The simple solution is to deem them as livestock, and then they would fall under a different set of rules.  However, does that mean all herding breeds whether or not they are actively working?  Is it only the listed herding breeds that it would apply to?  Or would mixed breed working dogs be okay, too?  If someone claims their dogs are working dogs, how does that get proven?  Is there manpower enough for an officer -- who has been previously educated on what a herding dog does -- to go out and validate such claims?  This is where it gets complicated.  But then if we lump in non herding dogs, basic couch potato, useless ankle biter biscuit eaters ... it blurs the lines completely.  And puppymills jump and grasp at anything ... especially when their backs are up against the wall.  It's one of the reasons I haven't pursued this any further.  I haven't figured out a good enough plan to propose.

Maybe some day I will.  But until then, I will actively oppose any such legislation attempting to deem non-working dogs as livestock.  I promise.

An Electrician, I am not!

So, when I was at work this afternoon, I came up with the bright idea of trying to put on a plug on the new trailer when I got home.  I didn't check what kind of plug I needed before I left for work, but I guessed it was a 4-pin.  Stopped at O'Reilly's and picked one up, and happily went on my way.  Got home, and quickly realized that it's a 6-pin.  Looked at my truck receptacle thingie-ma-jig, and it is a 7-pin.  So I went back to O'Reilly's and talked to the guy, who assured me I could use a 7-pin, and just don't hook up the middle pin, which would be the brakes that my trailer doesn't have.  So I was happily on my way once again.

I got home, took apart my new toy, sat at the computer watching tutorials as to how to get the right wire with the right pin, etc., gathered all of the proper tools, and set out in the weather to go put on my new plug.  I clipped the existing wires down far enough so they were clean (looks like they were chewed), and set about connecting my little wires to the little pins and put the whole thing back together, and all of the screws were used and I was jazzed. 

Backed my truck up to the trailer, hooked up my new plug, went up and turned my lights on.

Nothing. 

Jimmied the plug a bit.

Nothing.

Jimmied it again.

Nada.

The ground is wet.  I don't want to lay down and look under the trailer ... or the truck ... to see where the problem is. 

So there the trailer sits ... with a new ... useless ... plug.

Oh well.

A Sweet Deal!

Well, I've been looking for a 2-horse trailer for quite a while now.  When you see them on Craigslist for like $500 in rough condition, they're gone before you can send an email.  It's been a bit frustrating.  So, I finally posted a message that I was looking for one, and fell into the perfect deal.  Went and picked it up today, and got a great deal on it.

The electrical plug needs replacing, and it obviously needs a paint job, but other than that, it's pretty solid.  I'll mess with little things, like a latch here and there, or replacing a cracked window, etc.

I'll take some better photos when it's light out.  But I love the rack and the water tank on top!

The endless smell of smoke starts.  This pile is still too wet, and too green, to go up like the bonfire I was hoping for.  But I burned a lot of leaves that my neighbor came over and helped me clean out.

We got quite a bit of stuff cleaned out.

I love having a view, even if it just is of the road.  Feels a lot less ... claustrophobic.

This is my next project.  I moved the hay off the wood pallets.  We're going to make a pen for the sheep out of those.  That should look pretty cool, and if it works well, I'll do some more.

One Gear - "GO!"

Spring Cleaning ...

I didn't do a thing over the weekend, so I've been feeling pretty guilty about it.  Came home tonight, and cleaned up the front yard from crap I had laying around over the winter, some leftover stuff from the deconstruction in the house, etc.  Oh by the way ... you know the doors on the dog boxes?  Well, I am minus one door.  Whose?  I know ... you're thinkin' Reese, right?  Wrong!  Zip!  Came home one day and not only was the door off the hinge, the entire door frame was apart and the metal grate was all separated from the wood.  I don't think I am going to bother having Tommy fix it.  I think we'll just leave it off.  He doesn't need it ... so now he just stays loose in the house.  And if I leave any little shred of food anywhere, things are in a million pieces when I get home!  Isn't that special?  Thanks Zip!

Anyway, I raked up the little yard area right around the deck ... you know ... first things first.  Need to clean the windows and wipe the house down.  Being white, it gets quite dirty over the winter.  I also now have a little propane grill that I can cook on, so I'm excited about that.

I also passed all of the blogs (except this one) to Jaenne.  It's so nice looking at my dashboard and seeing just the KPR blog.  Got rid of several email addresses I wasn't using, deleted my facebook account, and unsubbed from several chat groups.  Feels awesome!

I am still hunting for a two-horse trailer ... I am sure I'll find one pretty soon.  It will be nice to be able to take the sheep to the desert to work the dogs, but more importantly, I can go pick Doc up and go riding.  I am really excited that Spring is coming in and I can go do stuff I've been wanting to do for a long time.  Meeting new people and having a great time!

Everyone here is fine.  Ducks are cranking out the eggs.  I need to put the chickens back on scratch (they're just eating corn for now), and see how that changes the egg production.  I am not sure if some of the eggs are chicken eggs, or just smaller duck eggs or whatever.  Not a big deal, but eventually, I think I'll coop the ducks.  Need to get out and trim their wings before the fly away.  The irrigation water should be hitting the canal soon, and that's a huge draw for them.  I hate even typing the word "irrigation."  Makes my head spin.  There are certain parts of spring I'd like to forget about ... like needing to dig ... by hand ... an irrigation canal to get water to my west pasture.  It will look great all greened up, but it's going to be a ton of work getting there.  My back hurts just thinking about it. 

It was gorgeous out today ... and I'm hoping it will be this way all week, but I heard a rumor it's supposed to rain.  I'd like to get more raking done, and raking is a drag when what you're raking is soaking wet. 

The weekend is filling up already ... looking forward to another fun one!  Woo hoo!  And today is only Monday...

J

What's Up, Doc?

Meet Doc.  This is one of Bud's horses that I've been riding.  He's a great babysitter!

He's very nice, responsive, smooth, trustworthy, and sure-footed.  This weekend, I actually was able to get up on him all by myself!  Didn't need Bud's shoulder pushing my fat ass up on him or nothing!  And I did it like 3 or 4 times!  I was very proud of myself!

It was quite foggy at the beginning of the ride.  When we got to the river, and pulled up a fire, the fog started to clear.  So you'll see how my photos start out pretty foggy and end up with blue sky, eventually.

This is Don's mare.  I hope to be able to ride her at some point.  She's got a bit more spunk than Doc, and I'm not sure I'm ready for that just yet, but I'd love to try her out.

Gorgeous, isn't she?

This is Bud's Paint that he was riding.

Bud.  He likes whiskey.

And here's Cash.  I love this dog.  I see so much of him in Reese.

He likes whiskey too.

Here's Bud, Don, and Cash.

Here's Don.  He likes whiskey, too.

More Cash.

Some scenery.  (I'm good at the narrative here, aren't I?)

What a great time!  I am so looking forward to some warmer weather and getting out and riding some more.  Doing a couple of weekend trips would be great!  There is a lot of gorgeous territory to go exploring!

In the interest of full disclosure, and because I'm sure this story will get told, we got all the way back to the trailer, and I dismounted ... and landed right on my ass!  ... And everything! 

Apparently, I like whiskey, too!  ;-)

"WINNING!!!"

J

Oh Cinderella!

Just got done scrubbing the tile floor in the entryway after all of the rains, and the dogs bringing in mud, etc.  It's nice to see my new tile, again, but I definitely understand how the story of Cinderella came about!  Add another 20 square feet, and I'd be wishing Price Charming would come whisk me away, too!

Life ...

I deleted the rant about the Canyon County Animal Shelter. Why? Well ... not because the licensing woman wasn't a bitch. She was. But ... because they didn't overcharge me. After many phone calls, including a call to my bank who still couldn't clue me in, the director at the CCAS finally figured out what it was. Last Saturday, after paying the licensing fee online, I did a whole slew of work outside my place, and then ... I went to the dump ... where it cost me $4.63 to dump the stuff in the trailer. Ugh! The weird thing was ... these two transactions happened at least 9 hours apart, yet were listed on my bank statement as happening at the exact same time, and they were both done by the same company because they were both country entities. Anyway, thanks to Carly and her diligence in figuring out what happened.

Today is my mom's birthday. She would have been 79 today. She's gone five years now, and I am sick thinking about it. Here is one of my favorite photos of her. I was probably 14 or so. She was young, healthy, and when I would point the camera at her, she would always say the same thing. "Oh come on! Don't take a picture of me! I haven't even brushed the hair.." (It was always "the" hair ... not "my" hair. And "hair" came out with the thick Jersey accent ... "haaaa")

I miss you, Mom.  I miss your laugh ... I miss your fiestiness ... I miss you embarrassing me ... and asking me 14,000 questions ... I miss spending time with you ... hanging out doing nothing ... or crafting ... or shopping ... or driving around the desert looking for your needle in a haystack ... I miss your sexy legs and wish I had them.   Nothing compares to this.  Nothing ever will.  I only wish to be half the woman you were and still are to me.  You're my hero and I love you more than you'll ever know.

Me

Who does this???

This is amazing to me. I don't allow my own dogs to do this to my pig, there is no way I'd allow anyone else's. Just another fine example of the lack of respect shown to someone else's livestock. Disgusting.

Rain is a Good Thing ...

"Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey ..."

It's been nice for most of the week, and when the weekend moved in, it rained ... of course.

I started taking the CommuterRide last week.  It's not bad.  There's not many people riding my route right now, so it's very few stops, and a nearly empty van.  This won't last, especially with the gas prices going up.  But it works.  And it's saving me a ton of cash in gas.

The puppies both have homes and are doing well.  Woo hoo!  Echo2 is still here, but she has been claimed and will be going to her new home soon.

Cleaned out my email, cleaned up my contacts, cleaned up my blog list, deleted several online accounts, etc. and basically got rid of a lot of shit.  You know how you sign up for something, and then you lose interest in it, and then just never delete yourself off of it?  I did a bunch of that yesterday.  Kinda the same thing with reading blogs.  Some blogs are always the same thing ... here's a profile of someone that has a dog from me, isn't he/she great? (... when it should read ... I once owned this dog, but being that I suck, I couldn't get the dog to work well, but now I sold it and it's doing great.  I didn't breed the dog, but I'll take credit for it anyway.)  Or I've decided I'm the best blogger around so now my blog is so graphic heavy, your computer explodes when you click on it. 

Egads.  Yeah.  This type of crap was clogging up my life.

I thought I was going to have to head to the animal shelter to re-up Zip's registration so I don't get in big, fat trouble with the city because they are looking to generate revenue because the county is putting pressure on them.  Shit rolls downhill, don'tcha know?  Because it's me and my three little dogs that are the problem here in the city, and the county, and hell ... the state!  We are probably one of the few homes in Idaho that wouldn't notice if the animal shelter shut down, but we need to pay for it.  Yeah.  Makes a lot of sense.  But at least I have dogs.  Look at all of the people who have to pay takes toward the animal shelter, and they don't even own animals!  I don't even want to take a look into the taxes I am paying because I'm sure it will only serve to further piss me off.

Wow.  Sorry ... got off on a tangent.  Anyway, come to find out the animal shelter is moving up in the world ... finally.  You can now license your dogs online, so long a you've licensed that dog in person before.  So I didn't have to go up there.  Paid like $1.50 to avoid dealing those idiots, and it was the best $1.50 I've ever spent!

I can't seem to find my handheld GPS.  I was going to start geocaching again, but that's sort of the important part of the whole thing.  I am going to turn this house upside down this weekend and find it.  I really don't want to buy another one.

Did some cleaning up this weekend.  I've been throwing junk into the trailer and finally took it to the dump.

And now the trailer is for sale.  If anyone is interested, please let me know.  It's got a very sturdy axle, complete with shocks, trails great, tires are in good condition, and it's got a brand new trailer jack.  Asking $450, but will entertain offers.

So, ya see that big ugly bush at the end of my property?

It's gone now.

My neighbor and I cut it down to the ground.  It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get back to a ridiculous size again. 

Now there's just a massive pile of brush in my driveway waiting for a bon fire.

But the front of the house is getting cleaned up and is starting to look more like someone actually lives here.

And I have a much better view now that all of the ornamental grasses are out of the way, in addition to that huge bush.

I'm trying to get the pasture all cleaned up so I can bring a horse in.  I still need to do a strand of hotwire around the top of the fence, and actually finish the field fencing, but I am also going to clean this up ... not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but it's an eyesore.

And I haven't decided if I'm going to leave the pine tree in or take it out.  It's really not very healthy, I don't think.

And this thing ... this is at the head of my driveway, between the fence and the street.  Eventually I'll have to see what it's connected to and get rid of it.  Apparently, it's an old telephone service access thing, I think. 

But geesh, there's so much cleanup work to do.  I should have the whole place raked up by the time the leaves are ready to fall again.

In the next few weeks, I am hoping to get my garden going.  I've got a few railroad ties, need a few more, and a load of mulch and I'll be off to a good start.  The neighbor grows awesome tomatoes, and a lot of them, so I can grow all kinds of other stuff.  I'm excited!  I haven't had a garden in a long time.

The two pups I placed are doing well.  Got a call from the guy who took Spur (that's a name I'm going to use for my next pup, I think ... I kinda like it) ... and said he's doing great.  Is already looking at cows, which is great news considering he had no interest in the ducks when we exposed him to them. 

I'm not usually one to complain about the cold weather, but I can tell you ... this year ... I'm sick of it.  I'm ready for some color ... some sun ... and some nice warm air. 

I haven't been training dogs.  I'm taking a break for a while, but I will start getting serious about starting Reese.  She's looking very nice when she escapes into the pastures to help me when I don't ask her to. 

Jodi

("This changes everything." <--- Truer words were never spoken.)