Arrrr!!! I be disappointed in Google...

Google be a search engine I use alot, and I be using their services fer a lot o' things. I likes 'em, but they be disappointin' me in the worst possible way.

See, Google be havin' this habit o' putting nifty little pictures in their name fer special occasions. Not just big holidays like Christmas and Halloween, but they be goin' it fer things like Giovanni Schiaparelli's Birthday (??) and anniversary of the first phone call and other things.


http://www.google.com/logos/

And yet they don't be havin' one fer Talk Like A Pirate Day! They been havin' ones for things about science, things about celebrities, and things about stuff not a no one ever heard of before but not talk like a pirate day? Them bleedin' ALIENS in there UFOs be getting one even! YARRRRR, that be chappin' me hide.

Come on Google, it be time fer you to be recognizin' the most important holiday of the yarrr... I mean year... Next year I be expectin' to see an eye patch on yer logo.


Aye, I be greatly disappointed in ye, Google. greatly disappointed in ye, indeed.


edit to be addin this: Crop circles? Arrrr ye kiddin' me? CROP CIRCLES be gettin' their own special logo but not talk like a pirate day? *sobs into her skull and cross bones hanky*

Avast! It Be Talk Like A Pirate day, ARRR!!!!

Avast, me mateys! The day be here! Show yer plunderin' and pillagin' ways and talk like a pirate, arrrrrrrr!

The "talk like a pirate day" song:




The Four Aarrrrrr's of Talkin' like pirate!!!!




And if ye don't be so good at talkin' like a pirate yer self there be translators to help ye!


http://www.talklikeapirateday.com/translate/

Batteries charged... check! Horse to work.. check!!

Nothing exciting to write about, today's work session with the hairy bear went great. I got some pictures.


Mary, scratching her neck on the rtty old door frame because she is growing in her winter hair and is itchyitchyitchy:



Warming up. I used an old harness back pad before but it really is a bit too big for him so instead this time I used my bare back pad and the rings on the girth.

Trot dissa way:



Now trot datta way:



Then time for reins. Not many pictures of that because I need all my hands but we did REALLY well. About half the time I get a good solid easy whoa/stop and the other half the time he clearly knows what I want but protests. He is getting lighter and lighter on the stops but still resists his turns when he think he should be done working.

The tail end of a turn:




Here we have just done a pretty good whoa (after his best stops he would stand there and chew, as you can see if you look at this picture close):



Then after that was done we just did some free schooling. The slight hills on each end of this work area seem to be really doing his butt some good. It's starting to round out some:

I remembered the camera...

... but the batteries were dead. So I charged them up and ended up mowing the lawn and working in the big barn and blah blah blah and yadda yadda yadda.


I got a lot done, but no horse training today. However, I did get a few pictures and video.

First, the video. Have I mentioned how stickin' much i LOVE this horse?!?!?!



AWWWEEEE!!! Isn't that SWEEEET! He does then when ever I whistle. The other two never have done that but Jamie did, and Trooper did. And now Brego does. *happy sigh*

It's really funny if I am in the barn and I whistle he runs around and around from one side of the lot to the other looking for me, until he hears the grain in his feed bucket, then he comes ripping in to the barn, hahaha!!!!


Sparrow is getting fuzzy:





Mary is putting on her winter weight *roll eyes* and getting fuzzy:





Brego is shedding like an absolute fiend. He heard the bus pull up:



then had to walk over to see what was going on:



I annoyed the kid by getting a few pictures of her, too. Her barely making it down our horrible impassable driveway, lol:



And then I got in her face:



but then I let her go and went back to taking pictures of the hairy bear:




And now I am tired. I did a lot today.

Also, mailman managed to make it all the way up the driveway without wrecking (amazing considering how horrid our driveway is, right?), got OUT of the car and got 4 packages out of the back seat and was all, "Yes ma'am, you're welcome, ma'am!"

That is the FIRST time I have ever seen him get out of his car ever. lol.

Uh oh. The mailman is mad at us!

So.... we have this mail man. We've had issues with him off and on since I lived here before, and he and my in laws butted heads a few times. He refuses to come up our driveway because he says it is "one massive pot hole and I can't even get my car down it." Which is true for about two weeks each april, and was true when my inlaws were here over three years ago now. But now? Well, judge for yourself. This is the whole entire driveway. Granted it needs a good mowing but does this look impassable?

The parking area in front of the trailer:



standing in the same spot facing the road:



Standing just past the barn looking at the road:



That is the whole entire "impassable massive pot hole" of a driveway that is so bad he can't get down it.

Which, funny enough, wasn't even the issue that started this. The issue was that when we have packages that won't fit in our box he just lays them on top of the mailbox. Where they get rained on, or knocked off, or stolen. I don't care so much if he brings the package to the house, or if he leaves a card and we have to get it from the P.O., I just don't want my books or electronics sitting top of my mailbox getting ruined by rain or knocked into the road or ripped off by the punks up the road. But instead of just saying OK when my husband sent a complaint Mr. Mailman responded by saying, "Yeah well, YOUR DRIVEWAY SUCKS!"

Nice.


The other mail delivery person gets up and down our "impassable" driveway with no problem at all. And our friend with the newer Mustang gets up it just fine. I mean, am I in denial? Is it worse than I think? Because honestly, that driveway looks pretty good to me. Better than most rural driveways, in fact.

Now, in addition to this issue we have also had issues with him pulling in (back when he still would) and sitting outside laying on the horn until someone goes outside to get the package... then if the package is big he tells me to just get it out of the back of the car myself. Where it sits there, surrounded by everyone else's sorted mail. And the honking makes the dogs freak out, and the combination of laying on the horn half way up the drive and the dogs freaking obviously wakes Tsu up. Now the other delivery person pulls in, gives the horn a short beep, then starts to bring the package up to the door. It doesn't even make the dogs wake up. So if she can manage that why does this guy have such an issue? Now to give him credit, I did tell him, nicely, that he only needs to beep the horn once, quickly, and if I am home I will hear it. I told him why, and after that for quite a while he was better about it. Then he went back to laying on the horn, and then he just stopped coming up altogether and started stacking packages on top of the mailbox instead.

*sigh*

I want to get one of those huge mailboxes, it will solve most of this issue. Most of the packages we get are small enough to fit into one of those big boxes and he wouldn't have drive up our horrid car eating massive solid pot hole of a driveway. *rolls eyes*


This has been a weird week. Seriously.

Bus update...

When Tiff got on the bus yesterday the bus driver said, "Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you I would be coming by earlier now."


So today we went out at 6:20am... and the bus got here at 6:31am.

So what have I been doing with my horse?

Forgetting to take my camera out when I work him for one thing. *dur*

I added ANOTHER dividing fence to make the work area smaller so I could long line him instead of ride/longe him. Today I longed him in the smaller area (about 60 feet by 80 feet) then put the long lines on him and worked on our whoa. He is getting it slowly but surely and he can't really pull any foolishness in this area. I'm quite pleased. And the side rein lesson seems to have worked, NO head tossing at all!


He is nice and forward, and doesn't take much work to get him to slow down/whoa. OK he is better on the slow down then he is on the whoa, but he is getting it, lol.

I got him a bit. His first brand new baby bit. It is a baby blue korsteel happy mouth bit, peppermint flavored. Like this, but with a baby blue mouth piece:



Under $10 on ebay. Can't beat that with a big stick.

I'm not ready to put a bit in his mouth but it is only a matter of time and this one looks really comfy for him.

When I work him tomorrow I need to take the camera.

I'm confused.

At the start of the school year I got a post card that said my daughter's bus would arrive at 6:39am, that it would be subject to change as the routes were finalized, and that we should be out there at least 5 minutes before the bus is supposed to be there. Sounds reasonable to me.

So first day of school we go out at 6:30am. Bus gets there at about 6:36. OK, so going out at 6:30 is good. For the first week it worked great. The yesterday we head out at 6:28 just because we were ready a few minutes early and the bus is pulling up just as we go out. So I figure, "HM, maybe we should head out closer to 6:26 just in case." I open the front door at 6:26 this morning and the bus is already sitting at the end of the drive waiting.


Seriously? I'm supposed to have her out there 5 to 10 minutes before the bus arrives but now we have a 15 minute window of when it might arrive? So I should be out there between 6:16 and 6:21 to wait for a bus that could get there at any time from 6:26 until 6:39??? So what happens this winter when it is wind chills of -10F? We have to stand out there for 20 minutes?

At least the driver was waiting for her out there. We had to run all the way down the drive. The time the bus gets here seems completely unpredictable. and it doesn't come from the same direction every day, one day it comes around the corner from the east the next it might come from straight south. The days it comes from the south are the days it is early. But how do I know from one day or the next? MEH! So now I have to get Tiff up 10 minutes earlier and get out there 10 minutes earlier.

Some days I seriously consider home schooling. *sigh*

*rantrantrant*

RIdiculous, not REdiculous.

REgardless, not IRREgardless.

COULDN'T care less, not COULD care less.

MOOT point, not MUTE point.

INTACT... not in tack or entack.

ConfIrmation: Something that confirms; verification. ConfOrmation: manner of formation; structure; form, as of a physical entity.

The huge arrows in directional parking lots? NOT just suggestions.

If it is supposed to be full and you make it empty? Throw it away or refill it.

If it is supposed to be empty and you make it full? Empty it or start a new container.

If you are running out of something and you will need to me make, clean or buy more of it for you, tell me BEFORE you actually run out.

If I'm doing something that annoys you man up and say so before you get so pissed you can't talk about it like a civil human being. If you don't have the balls to speak up it is your OWN fault for not saying anything.

I'm not a mind reader.

My memory is shot. Anyone close to me knows this. I don't know if it is age, hormones or the fever I had when I had the flu in 95 and my temp hit 106 for several hours but ya'll know about it. If you tell me to remind you of something and I forget then you have no right to get pissed at me for forgetting because you should know better. If I can't remember something spending an hour raking me over the coals trying to force me to remember is a waste of both of our time, and is just going to piss me off. If it is gone it is GONE. Making me feel like crap for not being able to remember is just petty and cruel because I CAN'T HELP IT.

Tsu works nights. He has worked friggin nights for almost an entire decade. His days and nights are almost completely reversed. This isn't hard to figure out people, he has been on this schedule long enough that you have no excuse for not having it figured out especially when it has been explained to you ad nauseam. If he is still asleep at 2pm on a saturday he is NOT just being lazy. That is the middle of his night. Have some common courtesy and respect that fact. Expecting him to magically switch to day shift two days out of the week is like expecting you to switch to night shift two days of every week. It's thoughtless, rude and infuriating. Trust me, I hate it as much as everyone else but that is life. STOP making it even harder by being so damn dense about it. TEN YEARS, unless you have some sort of mental defect you should be capable of understanding it by now.

No, I am NOT going to outgrow or get over "this horse thing". So just stop. Seriously. You don't have to understand it but kindly shut up about it.

Yes, I still have some days where I can't do some things because of my hands. Just because I could do it yesterday doesn't mean I can do it today. I'm not faking it to get out of having to do something unpleasant. Acting like I am malingering is both insulting and hurtful. Just because you can't SEE my injuries doesn't mean they aren't there.

I'm not a messenger service. If you want my kid, my husband, my inlaws or my parents to know something call them yourself. Your phone works just as friggin well as mine does.

Yes, I know my dog is bald. I don't give a crap if you think he is ugly. I think your kids are ugly but I'm polite enough to keep that opinion to myself.

Yes, I know my hair is getting thin. I know you can see my scalp. Pointing it out like a joke is just cruel. Especially if you barely know me (or don't know me at all *stranger in the Fairway store, I'm looking at you!*). What kind of douchebag does that?

No, I'm not expecting. My daughter is 14 now. Thanks for pointing out that I have a bulge of left over skin and tissue from childbearing and weight loss. That is FANTASTIC for my self esteem. Especially since there is nothing short of surgery I can do to fix it.

It's not all about you. Absolutely NOTHING I have ever done has EVER been motivated by trying to one-up someone else or make them feel bad. I didn't buy the horse to rub anyone's nose in how much money I have (HAHAHA! If anyone knows what I have gone through to get this horse that would be totally laughable!) I don't upgrade my computer because I want it to be faster and more powerful than yours. By the same token, I do not give a flying rats tookus if your new TV is bigger than mine or if you got a nice new house. You seriously flatter yourself if you even think I care. In fact most of the time I am HAPPY for you. The only one who thinks it is a damn contest is YOU.

*takes a deep breath* I feel better already.

Tsu's new toy....

Tsu got himself a new ride. He is LOVING it! The whole thing started when our buddies Jer and Tory got the bright idea to get dirtbikes or ATVs. Something fun for everyone to do that didn;t involve logging on, killing virtual monsters, or breaking the law. *grin*

At any rate it was looking like Tsu was going to be the last of the three to be able to get a ride and considering how crappy he has been feeling lately this was quite a depressing prospect. But we were able to figure out a way to make it happen. Unfortunately our buddies got totally screwed and it may be spring before they can get their rides. Until then Tsu is very nicely sharing his and just about everyone is taking a turn... except me. Yet.

It is a 2008 (but still brand new fresh out of the crate) Suzuki Ozark. It's a "sport utility" model which means we can haul stuff with it, on it, etc or use it for trail riding and that sort of stuff. Honestly, it has to earn it;s keep a bit and be multi use because we could not justify spending the money on something that was just a toy and not also a tool. This puppy will be hauling my hay from the big barn to the barn lot this winter most likely, among other things.

Anyway, we made sure Tsu got a helmet too:



Jer borrowed Tsu's Jayne Cobb knit hat. See how Tsu's hand is bluring in this picture?


That is because he has a hard time getting his picture taken without doing this:



Tsu had ZERO experience with ATVs, so Jer hopped on back to give him some coaching. We dug some smelly rodent urine covered pillows out of the barn, covered them in a trash bag and bungee corded them down to make a passenger seat. pretend there isn't a sticker on the thing saying to never carry passenger. *doh*

After they got back Tsu reclaimed his Jayne hat. Pretty cunning hat, eh?



So then Tory took a ride on it, and after almost missing a corner and going into the weeds off track Jer decided to give him some coaching as well... but first he had to feel up his boobs a little. Looks like they might both be enjoying it:



Little bit of male bonding on the "back 40".



Tory, driving our truck back up to the house, he stopped to rip on me about something. hehe.




Brego was just glad they didn't all want to ride him (he was delightfully unconcerned about the whole thing going on outside his paddock)...



While they were doing their manly man stuff I was making some knit wrist warmers. I totally underestimated how ruffly the yarn overs and new cast off technique I tried would make them. I was making them as a gift but they are just toooo ruffly, IMO, so I am going to list them on Etsy later on.





with the blue velvet jacket it looks a little Austin-Power-ish, lol (EWW my nails look filthy in that picture. Gross. They weren't dirty but they sure look it. Yuck).



I made a ruffly but not THIS ruffly pair the next day to give as the gift.