Promotion Day!

My amazing husband woke up early on this particular morning (March 2, 2007) a very happy man. Okay, he wakes up most mornings a very happy man. Mornings when he wakes an unhappy man have usually involved having to get up during the night because my dog, Sydney, needed to go outside. He also rises with a frown after I have had a rough night filled with bad dreams. He claims I become physical in my REM confrontations. I plead the 5th.

This morning, regardless of how my night might have been, would only bring promises of excitement. This was the day he would be promoted. It was a very, very long time in coming. He overcame many obstacles and fought his share of battles.

This day would see the end of gold oak leaves as they would be replaced by silver oak leaves.

My parents flew in from Colorado that morning to be present for the ceremony. My dad was the special guest. My husband had requested my dad attend and say a few words about him. My dad, pleased to do so, found a set of his silver oak leaves from his active duty days and presented them to my husband. It was touching.

Notice the gentlemen at the podium. I think he is wiping a tear. I, however, was so proud of my husband that I could only grin until my cheeks hurts. My dad did say very nice things about the man I married and the soldiers with whom he serves.
After highlighting the noteworthy military accomplishments of my husband's career, my dad pinned on one silver oak leaf, and I pinned on the other. Our daughter pinned a third on his beret.
Once our family congratulations were finished, we posed for an official photograph. My mother, the official photographer, is behind the lens and is not in the picture.

Our foreign exchange student, Mona, was also taking photographs on this momentous occasion.


I took the photograph of the cake. My mother is holding the cake. Those are her hand to the side.

My husband, in his spare time, ordered all of the food and organized the ceremony. He even ordered the cake. On the red frosting side of the cake, that half is chocolate cake. The white frosting side of the cake is white cake.

Neither my mother nor I was aware of this until after all of the chocolate side had been eaten and we noticed that the color of the cake had changed.

Evidence That I Do Not Bounce...I Splat

This past November, I took a trip down to Oklahoma to visit my sister and participate in a horse clinic. Refresh your memory by visiting the post dated December 21st.

Well, this is the bruise on my backside. My brain probably had a very similar bruise that was hidden only by my skull, scalp and hair. Yes, my brain did hurt as much as this bruise looks like it hurt.

The Ides of March

March 15th, the Ides of March is Kadance's birthday. She is two years old. And in true two-year old fashion, has temper tantrums.

The day before her birthday, I was at the barn working with the horses. I really want her to be a good horse that I can feel confident while riding and ride well. I know it will take a long time and a lot of work to reach that point. I decided to bring her in from the pasture, groom her and begin playing Parelli ground games.

Bringing her in from the pasture was easy. Having her stand still while grooming was difficult. Having her raise and hold up her feet for picking, impossible. Playing ground games, by this point, futile.

Kadance does not stand still for very long. She still has to learn that skill. She does enjoy being brushed, but looses interest quickly and investigates EVERYTHING around her: the groom bucket, the water dish, the lead rope, the cross tie ropes, the spicket, the hose, the barn cats, the bits of hay blowing around in the wind, bits of dried mud, my hair, my boot laces, the brush. I do mean EVERYTHING. Recognizing my effort to continue with grooming would be an exercise, I chose to stop while I was ahead and move on to the next task, picking up feet.

HA HA HA. It is to laugh. She takes no issue to having her feet touched. She will, with encouragement, pick up her front feet. Keeping them up...a completely different story. She prefers them to remain on the ground. Never mind that I am trying (trying being the operative word) to maintain proper foot care. The first time the foot came up, it was immediately placed down on top of the bridge of my left foot. Apparently, she was comfortable in that position because it took effort (porcupine game?...ha ha ha) to get her to shift her weight and allow blood flow to return to my toes. Next attempt ended with her foot atop the big toe of my right foot. The hind feet...well, I was successful in raising it a fraction of an inch off the ground and only for a fraction of a second. Kadance decided she didn't want to cooperate and walked off, taking my thumb with her. Talk about seeing stars.

I snatched my hand back and walked away fighting back tears of pain. Bent over and taking deep breaths, I contemplated how I was going to break through the communication barrier. I was frustrated, but not angry. The situation was making me more sad than anything. I so desperately want to have a melding of the minds with my horse. As she is curious, she meandered (yes, that is exactly what she did. She is a big fat warmblood, afterall.) over to see what I could possibly be doing. I stood up, pet her (lots of friendly game) and made another attempt. Same results.

Now, my thumb was throbbing and both feet were hurting, I decided that I needed to change focus. Okay, let's go with lots more friendly game. Well, remember when I said she is two years old? TEMPER TANTRUM.

She huffed and puffed and nearly blew the arena down. I let loose of the lead rope because there was no holding her back. She ran around, kicking up her heals, snorting and squealing. When she finally wore herself out, she stood still. I cautiously approached. She was breathing hard and moist with sweat. She was also ready for a scratch on the chin and a rub on the cheek.

Enough for today, but must finish on a positive note. I was successful in getting her to back up and to come forward; the Parelli yo-yo game.

By the time I returned to the barn from releasing her back in the pasture, I was disappointed, dejected, discouraged, and depressed.

The next day, I woke up with a big bruise on the top of my left foot, my big toe on my right foot nearly black, and my poor thumb...too painful to even open a bottle of soda. Once I got to the barn, I asked for help from Wanda. My girl is such a warmblood. She was none-to-happy about the driving game. More temper tantrums. At one point she spun around and presented her hindquarters to Wanda. Tsk, tsk, she shouldn't have done that. Wanda tagged her fanny. Now, Kadance was really put out and squealed and kicked up her heels. Lots and lots and lots of protesting and trotting in circles. Generally unhappy behavior. Eventually, she calmed down and when asked to pick up her front feet, she did. With no resistance, either. The hind feet, well...we need to work on that some more.

The good news is that I no longer want to put a For Sale sign on her stall.

Lots of Substituting

Leavenworth County Public Schools have been testing third, fourth and fifth graders for the past two weeks. Luckily, I've been selected as a substitute to monitor the testing. Easy, easy days. The only downside to sitting in a room and watching teachers proctor a standardized test is that access to the internet is limited. The school district restricts certain websites and my blog is one of those off limits sites. I'm not exactly sure why stories about squirrel attacks should be considered to have a negative impact on young minds. Actually, I believe the website host is the off limits page. They'd rather have young minds playing mathematical and logic games than reading blogs. It's understandable, but really a drag for me.